Prudentius ranks as the third lyric poet after Horace and Catullus; he is also the greatest of the early Christian poets. In a short poem, which is the prelude to his chief collection, he gives a sketch of his career, but, unlike Ovid, affords only vague indications. At school he was put under a stern master:

aetas prima crepantibus flevit sub ferulis.

Then, after a stormy youth, he took to the law. Later he entered on a public career and held two high provincial governorships. Afterwards the Emperor (probably Theodosius) brought him to court as his own minister. Finally, when past the age of fifty, with hair already turning white (nix capitis), Prudentius resolved to devote the rest of his life to the praise of the True God.