Faltonia Betitia Proba

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Faltonia Betitia Proba (circa AD 306/315 – circha AD 353/366) was a Latin Roman Christian poet from a powerful aristocratic family, the Petronii Probi. Her father, Petronius Probianus, was consul in 322, and her brother, Petronius Probinus, was consul in 341; her grandfather Pompeius Probus had been consul in 310. She married Clodius Celsinus Adelphus, who was the urban prefect of Rome in 351, linking her to the gens Anicia. They had at least two sons, Quintus Clodius Hermogenianus Olybrius and Faltonius Probus Alypius, who became high-ranking officials. Her granddaughter Anicia Faltonia Proba was the daughter of Olybrius. The family owned the Horti Aciliorum on the Pincian Hill in Rome.

Proba came from a pagan background but converted to Christianity as an adult and influenced her husband and sons to convert as well. She died before her husband and was probably buried with him in the Basilica di Sant’Anastasia al Palatino in Rome; their funerary inscription was moved to Villa Borghese and later disappeared.

Works: There were two poems attributed to "Proba." The first, Constantini bellum adversus Magnentium (The War of Constantine against Magnentius), is lost and known only from the opening lines of the second poem; scholars think Proba rejected this pagan work and may have had it destroyed.

Her best-known work is Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi (A Virgilian Cento Concerning the Glory of Christ). It is a cento, a poem made by rearranging verses from Virgil to tell the life of Christ. It has 694 lines, organized as a proemium (invocation), episodes from the Old Testament (sixth to the 345th lines), episodes from the New Testament (346th to 688th lines), and an epilogue (689th to 694th lines). The poem presents Christian themes using Virgil’s style and is widely accepted as Proba’s major achievement. Some scholars once suggested her niece Anicia Faltonia Proba might have written it, but most identify Faltonia Betitia Proba as the author.