Others have special peculiarities in each line (number of words or letters) while the eighth poem (the versus anacyclici) may be read backwards without any effect upon sense or metre.
[2] The manuscript tradition attributes to Optatianus an extensive, but uneven, body of work, which includes poems written at various times and using different techniques.
Despite the presence of poems composed well before his fall from grace, the central core of the work is still made up of the panegyric sent to Constantine in the hope of obtaining forgiveness.
Optatianus was inspired by Lucan and Silius Italicus, but especially by Ovid, who is the main touchstone for the author, especially because of their mutual experience of exile.
The letters which compose the name of Jesus and the central P (Rho) form the lines Nate deo, solus salvator, sanctae bonorum, tu deus es justi, gratia tu fidei ("Son of God, the only savior, of the holy woman of the good, you are the god of the righteous, you are the grace of faith") and sit victor comes Aug et natis eius ("He shall be a triumphant companion to Aug and his children").