CORIPPUS, FLAVIUS CRESCONIUS

flourished 6th century AD important Latin epic poet and panegyrist. Of African origin, Corippus migrated to Constantinople. His Johannis, an epic poem in eight books, treats the campaign conducted against the insurgent Mauretanians by John Troglita, the Byzantine commander, and is the principal source of knowledge of these events. The poem, written about 550, shows the tenacity of the classical tradition in Africa and the continuance of the poetic revival that took place under Vandal rule. In laudem Justini, the four books of which eulogize Justinian I's successor Justin II, was written after the arrival of Corippus in Constantinople, when he found himself in straits. This rhetorical poem contains elaborate description and excessive detail but is interesting for the account it gives of the death of Justinian and his successor's accession and of the embassy of the Avars.