Merobaudes (poet) facts for kids

Flavius Merobaudes was a smart Roman writer and poet who lived in the 400s. He wrote in Latin.

Merobaudes was from a group of people called the Franks, but he grew up in Spain. He might have been related to a famous general who had the same name, Merobaudes, who lived earlier.

A Famous Writer and Poet

Merobaudes was the official poet for important leaders. These leaders were Valentinian III, who was a Roman emperor, and Aetius, a powerful general.

For a long time, people only knew about Merobaudes from a book called the Chronicle. This book was written by someone named Hydatius in the year 443. Hydatius praised Merobaudes as a great poet and speaker. He even mentioned that statues were built to honor Merobaudes.

Discovering His Works

The Statue Base

In 1813, something exciting was found in Rome. It was the base of a statue with a long message carved into it. This message was from the year 435. It talked about Flavius Merobaudes and praised him for being both a brave warrior and a talented poet.

The Hidden Poems

About ten years later, a scholar named B. G. Niebuhr made another discovery. He found some Latin poems written on a palimpsest in a monastery. A palimpsest is a old piece of writing material, like parchment, where the original text was erased so new text could be written over it.

Niebuhr realized these poems were written by Merobaudes. He figured this out because the way the poems were written was very similar to the writing on the statue base.

His Writings

One short poem, called De Christo, was thought to be written by Merobaudes. However, some people thought another poet named Claudian wrote it. It's still debated whether Merobaudes was a Christian or not.

Merobaudes also wrote a "Panegyric," which is a speech or writing that praises someone. He wrote other smaller poems too. Scholars have studied and published his works over the years so we can read them today.