E00945: Prudentius, in his Latin Crowns of the Martyrs (Peristephanon), written c. 400 in Calahorra (northern Spain) in a poem on the martyrdom of *Cassianus (teacher and martyr of Imola, ob. 361/363, S00309) tells of his prayer at the tomb of Cassianus.

Liber Peristephanon, Poem IX.93-106

haec sunt, quae liquidis expressa coloribus, hospes,
miraris, ista est Cassiani gloria,
95 suggere si quod habes iustum vel amabile votum,
spes si qua tibi est, si quid intus aestuas.
audit, crede, preces martyr prosperrimus omnes,
ratasque reddit quas videt probabiles.’
pareo, conplector tumulum, lacrimas quoque fundo,
100 altar tepescit ore, saxum pectore.
tunc arcana mei percenseo cuncta laboris,
tunc quod petebam, quod timebam murmuro,
et post terga domum dubia sub sorte relictam
105 et spem futuri forte nutantem boni.
audior, urbem adeo, dextris successibus utor:
domum revertor, Cassianum praedico.


'"This, stranger, is the story you wonder to see represented in liquid colours, this is the glory of Cassianus. Declare now any upright and worthy wish you have, any hope, any desire that burns in your heart. The martyr, you may be sure, hears with all favour every prayer, and fulfils those that he finds acceptable."

I obeyed, clasping the tomb and shedding tears, warming the altar with my lips, the stone with my breast. Then I reviewed all my private distresses, and murmured my desires and fears, with a prayer for the home I had left behind me in the uncertainty of fortune, and my hope, now faltering, of happiness to come. I was heard. I visited Rome, and found all things issue happily, I returned home and now proclaim the praise of Cassianus.'

Text: Cunningham 1966: 329. Translation: Thomson 1953, 226-229.