In the last 40 years there has been an increasing interest in Prudentius’ works, and in the Peristephanon in particular. Having said that, the lack of commentaries and a new critical edition of his œuvre have been repeatedly pointed out. F.'s commentary on Peristephanon 1, 3–4, 6–8 and 10 complements his earlier commentary on Peristephanon 2, 5, 9, 11–14 published a decade earlier (Les sept passions de Prudence: (Peristephanon 2. 5. 9. 11–4) Introduction Générale et Commentaire [2003]).

The book starts off with a short general introduction in which F. picks up on topics discussed more broadly in his first commentary. F. repeats his view that the seven poems included in his previous commentary are the earliest and should be perceived as a unit, whereas Peristephanon 1, 3, 4 and 6 postdate them without the intent of forming a group (see below). Other issues discussed are Prudentius' Spanish patriotism, canonical elements of the cult of the martyrs that we find in his poetry, the order of Prudentius' works in the manuscripts, the correlation between some of the poems included in this commentary and poems of the Cathemerinon, and the dating of the Peristephanon poems.

Each of the seven poems is preceded by its own introduction (and there is an additional joint introduction to 7 and 8). In these F. gives an outline of sources and sections on the cult of the relevant martyr, genre, metre, themes, a summary, the structure of the poem, a list of rare words and a bibliography. For the commentary itself, F. provides the text of each stanza followed by a French translation and then a word-by-word commentary, occasionally preceded by a more general discussion on the theme(s) or stylistic features of the following stanza(s). A general index and a bibliography conclude the book.

The reference to tragédie in the book's title is misleading. As F. explains (pp. 237–40), although Prudentius' hymn to Romanus (Peristephanon 10) shares many characteristics with tragedy, it cannot be considered as a tragedy stricto sensu.Footnote ¹ The title could mislead a reader unfamiliar with Prudentius' poems, and also overplays the importance of tragedy over other equally important generic influences on the poem, such as satire.

As mentioned above, F. draws a distinction between Peristephanon 2, 5, 9, 11–14, the earlier poems that refer mainly to Roman Saints and are perceived as a unit, and Peristephanon 1, 3, 4 and 6, poems on Spanish martyrs which are not to be taken as a group. This view is mainly based on chronology and the fact that the former group of poems are referred to in the MSS as passiones, the latter as hymni.Footnote ² Chronological indications for the Peristephanon are scanty and highly debatable. F. frequently identifies allusions to other poems in the collection, and uses this as evidence to establish the chronological order in which the poems were composed. His findings are therefore often speculative. Another possible problem with his theory is that Peristephanon 2, the poem dedicated to Saint Lawrence and considered as one of the oldest even among the seven passions, is actually labelled as hymnus in Parisinus Latinus 8084 (Puteanus), the oldest manuscript transmitting Prudentius' text.

In one of his discussions of chronology, suggesting that Peristephanon 10 predates Contra Symmachum, F. points out a difference of tone: unlike Contra Symmachum (1.309–53), the hymn to Romanus lacks ‘une dénonciation du déterminisme astral et l'affirmation du libre arbitre’, although Prudentius has the chance to include one when the martyr Romanus refers to the creation and the end of the world (lines 327, 537–8) as well as when the judge Asclepiades makes an oath to the sun (line 573). F. wonders whether that reveals that Prudentius had initial sympathies for the doctrine of Priscillian of Avila, widespread in Spain at the time, but abandoned them by the time he wrote Contra Symmachum (p. 200). It is more tempting, however, simply to consider the oath to the sun as an established part of the tradition of Romanus' martyrdom, attested as it is in all versions of his passion (see, e.g., Delehaye AB 50 [1932], 250, 256, 262).

F.'s lemmata are concerned with language, metre, style, intertextuality and textual criticism. F. could have been more selective in cross-referencing within Prudentius' works. Citing all the lines where the word nex occurs in the Peristephanon (without any striking difference or connection in terms of meaning, connotations or context) does little to enhance our understanding of the text (on Peristephanon 3.101). There are numerous similar examples in the commentary. In addition, it would have been useful if F. not only cited allusions to Classical authors, as he does for the most part, but also discussed whether they are meaningful and how they enrich the text. More importantly, I would expect a closer engagement with themes recurrent in late-antique Christian literature, against which Prudentius' text could have been more fully appreciated. For example, in Pe. 6.37–40 and Pe. 10.401–15, 583–5 there is no discussion of the common charge that Christian doctrine is very recent compared with pagan religion, a charge that many Christian authors addressed (e.g. Tertullian, Apology 19; Tatian, Oratio ad Graecos 36–41; Lactantius, Institutiones Divinae 4.5). Finally, although the bibliography given in the final section of the book is extensive, citations of it are often under-explained.

Due to space limitations I have laid more emphasis on the negatives than the book deserves. But there is a great deal to be appreciated in it, above all the sheer amount of text discussed (which makes it inevitable that the commentary sometimes seems too cursory). F. has a keen eye for detail, makes numerous astute observations on language and style, and brings to light works of scholarship otherwise neglected. His commentary fills an important gap in the bibliography of Late Antiquity and is to be welcomed. Along with other recent monographs on Prudentius (in the last five years, Malamud's and Dykes' books on the Hamartigenia, O'Daly's on the Cathemerinon) and a plethora of articles, it shows that we are living in a golden age for scholarship on Prudentius.