in Literature, Reception

Juvencus and Hesiod

Juvencus, in Book 4 of his Evangeliorum Libri Quattuor, writes in a passage about the end of the age:

livor erit terris, erroribus omnia plena

et falsi surgent populorum labe profetae. (4.112-13)

Envy will be on the earth, all things will be full of errors

and false prophets will rise because of the fall of the peoples.

This is a paraphrase of Matt. 24:10-11: ‘And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.’ Juvencus has modified the idea of ‘hatred’ and replaced it with ‘envy’ (livor). Though ‘envy’ is not in the biblical prototype, Juvencus’ reworking did remind me of another apocalyptic prophecy: that of Hesiod, when he writes of the end of the Iron Race in the Works & Days. Hesiod has predicted familial betrayal (182-88; cf. the apocalyptic prophecy in Mark 13, specifically v. 12), and then states:

ζῆλος δ᾽ ἀνθρώποισιν ὀιζυροῖσιν ἅπασι
δυσκέλαδος κακόχαρτος ὁμαρτήσει, στυγερώπης. (195-6)

Envy will accompany all the sorry men,
bringing disturbance, loving evil, hate-faced. (Caldwell’s tr., with ‘Envy’ replacing his transliteration ‘Zelos’)