Auxit tyrannus anxius is one of the two sections of Prudentius's 52-stanza poem Hymnus Epiphaniae relating to the Massacre of the Holy Innocents.
The eighteenth-century tune, originally written for Psalm 95 of Tate & Brady's "New Version," was composed by Mary Hudson (1766-1801). She succeeded her father, William Hudson, as organist of St. Olave's, Hart Street, London, in 1781.