Ecloga IV

Ecloga IV, versus 4 – 17

IV. ekloga, verše 4 – 17

Eclogue IV, verses 4-17

Origin of the work:
  1665 Amsterdam

Editions:
  1842 Prague, Časopis čes. musea 16, p455

1983 Prague, J. A. Comenii Opera omnia, vol. 4

Contents:

A metrical paraphrasing of the relevant verses of an eclogue by the Roman poet Virgil. Only a fragment has survived. Even at the end of Classical Antiquity Christians believed that in his fourth eclogue Virgil had forecast Christ’s birth and the coming of a Golden Age. Comenius believed this, too, as well as that the bearer of the Golden Age would be Elijah. The surviving fragment is not a word for word translation of Virgil’s eclogue, but rather of its chiliastic form. Only the first two verses are translations of Virgil’s own words. The appended note “Ne ELiášovi to?” shows that Comenius considered the inclusion of this translation into the codex the Clamores Eliae (the Clamores); ultimately, this did not occur.

For further study see also:

J. A. Comenii Opera omnia, vol. 4. Prague 1983, p392