Here the very idea expressed in the Old Testament, and later in Horace’s Epistle, has been Christianized. Before our eyes, the Christian “captor captured” motif has emerged (i.e., Satan undone by his own evil, see General Introduction § 5). Although it is highly unlikely that Paul knew the Horatian text, educated Romans of the classical and post-classical age would likely have known it and would thus have been well prepared to receive the idea as a central part of Christian biblical teaching.
