Satisfactio

work by Dracontius

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July 13, 2026

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Satisfactio is an elegiac work by Blossius Aemilius Dracontius, a prominent Christian Latin poet of 5th-century Africa. Written during his imprisonment, it is a plea for pardon addressed to the Vandal king Gunthamund. The poem showcases Dracontius's rhetorical skill, a characteristic also found in his other works like the Romulea and De laudibus dei. While Satisfactio itself is a plea for clemency, the term "satisfaction" can also refer to the fulfillment of a need, contentment, or the discharge of a legal obligation.12

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Blossius Aemilius Dracontius
…poems reappears in his elegiac Satisfactio, a plea for pardon addressed to Gunthamund during his imprisonment, and is evident even in his most religious poem, De laudibus dei. This last poem, considered his most important work, comprises 2,327 hexameters in three books: Book I describes the Creation and Fall and…
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…poems reappears in his elegiac Satisfactio, a plea for pardon addressed to Gunthamund during his imprisonment, and is evident even in his most religious poem, De laudibus dei. This last poem, considered his most important work, comprises 2,327 hexameters in three books: Book I describes the Creation and Fall and…
Read More