| Abstract
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Juvencus’ epic portrayal of Christ establishes a new kind of Christian heroism, a concept refined through intertextual engagement with the Old Latin Bible, the Aeneid, and imperial Latin epic. Christ-as-verbum, The Word, wields verbal power against the furor of the enemies of salvation. His virtus, transcending and redefining the martial valor of the Vergilian tradition, is derived not from human achievement but from the vertical economy of grace—it is a gift (munus, donum) of God the Father streaming abundantly from heaven to earth. Juvencus takes advantage of the expanded semantic range of virtus in late antiquity to subvert and repurpose the heroic core of Latin epic: the miracles (munera, dona) of Jesus expose the helplessness of humanity, and restore it to physical and spiritual health through forceful word-deeds (vitalia gesta, vitalia verba). Through its close identification with fides, Christ’s expansive virtus imparts heroic stature to even the weakest disciple. Juvencus’ epic portrayal of Christ establishes a new kind of Christian heroism, a concept refined through intertextual engagement with the Old Latin Bible, the Aeneid, and imperial Latin epic. Christ-as-verbum, The Word, wields verbal power against the furor of the enemies of salvation. His virtus, transcending and redefining the martial valor of the Vergilian tradition, is derived not from human achievement but from the vertical economy of grace—it is a gift (munus, donum) of God the Father streaming abundantly from heaven to earth. Juvencus takes advantage of the expanded semantic range of virtus in late antiquity to subvert and repurpose the heroic core of Latin epic: the miracles (munera, dona) of Jesus expose the helplessness of humanity, and restore it to physical and spiritual health through forceful word-deeds (vitalia gesta, vitalia verba). Through its close identification with fides, Christ’s expansive virtus imparts heroic stature to even the weakest disciple.
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