E00813: Prudentius, in his Latin Crowns of the Martyrs (Peristephanon), written c. 405 in Calahorra (northern Spain), in a poem on the *Eighteen Martyrs of Saragossa (north-eastern Spain, S00485), tells of the upbringing of *Vincent (deacon and martyr of Saragossa and Valencia, E00290) in Saragossa (north-eastern Spain). Even though his tomb is at Sagunto (near Valencia in eastern Spain), some of his blood is kept in Saragossa and this city too treats him as its own saint.

Liber Peristephanon, Poem IV.77-108

Prudentius praises the city of Saragossa and its Eighteen Martyrs, and goes on to praise Vincent, who was not martyred in Saragossa, but spent his early years there:

Inde, Vincenti, tua palma nata est,
clerus hic tantum peperit triumfum,
hic sacerdotum domus infulata
80 Valeriorum.

Saeuus antiquis quotiens procellis
turbo uexatum tremefecit orbem,
tristior templum rabies in istud
intulit iras.

85 Nec furor quisquam sine laude nostrum
cessit aut clari uacuus cruoris,
martyrum semper numerus sub omni
grandine creuit.

Nonne, Vincenti, peregri necandus
90 martyr his terris tenui notasti
sanguinis rore speciem futuri
morte propinqua?

Hoc colunt ciues, uelut ipsa membra
caespes includat suus et paterno
95 servet amplectens tumulo beati
martyris ossa.

Noster est, quamuis procul hinc in urbe
passus ignota dederit sepulcri
gloriam uictor prope litus altae
100 forte Sagynti.

Noster et nostra puer in palestra
arte uirtutis fideique oliuo
unctus horrendum didicit domare
uiribus hostem.

105 Nouerat templo celebres in isto
octies partas deciesque palmas,
laureis doctus patriis eadem
laude cucurrit.


'It was here, Vincent, your victory began, here the clergy won their great triumph, and here the mitred (infulatus) family of the priestly Valerii. Whenever in the tempests of ancient times the cruel storm troubled and shook the world, a fiercer fury hurled its wrath on this church, and its raging never passed without bringing honour to our people and without the shedding of famous blood; the number of martyrs ever grew larger under every storm. Did you not, Vincent, due to die a martyr abroad, with a light shower of blood mark on these lands the shape of what was to come, when your death was at hand? This your fellow-citizens reverence, just as if its native ground covered the very body, keeping the blessed martyr's bones in its embrace in his family tomb. Ours he is, though as it befell it was in a strange city far from here that he suffered and in victory gave it the honour of having his burial-place, near the shore of lofty Saguntus. Ours he is; it was in our training school that as a boy he was instructed in the art of goodness and anointed with the oil of faith, and learned to subdue the dire enemy with his strength. He had learned that in this church eighteen famous victories were won, and taught by his native city's laurels he ran his race with the same honour.'

Text: Cunnigham 1966: 288-289. Translation: Thomson 1953, 160-163, lightly adapted.