The Hymns of Prudentius

by Prudentius

VI. HYMNUS ANTE SOMNUM

Ades Pater [supreme,] quem nemo vidit unquam, Patrisque sermo Christe, et Spiritus benigne. 5O Trinitatis huius vis una, lumen unum, Deus ex Deo perennis, Deus ex utroque missus. Fluxit labor diei, 10redit et quietis hora, blandus sopor vicissim fessos relaxat artus. Mens aestuans procellis curisque sauciata 15totis bibit medullis obliviale poclum. Serpit per omne corpus Lethaea vis, nec ullum miseris doloris aegri 20patitur manere sensum. Lex haec data est caducis Deo iubente membris, ut temperet laborem medicabilis voluptas. 25Sed dum pererrat omnes quies amica venas, pectusque feriatum placat rigante somno: Liber vagat per auras 30rapido vigore sensus, variasque per figuras, quae sunt operta, cernit. Quia mens soluta curis, cui est origo caelum, 35purusque fons ab aethra iners iacere nescit. Imitata multiformes facies sibi ipsa fingit, per quas repente currens 40tenui fruatur actu. Sed sensa somniantum dispar fatigat horror, nunc splendor intererrat qui dat futura nosse. 45Plerumque dissipatis mendax imago veris animos pavore maestos ambage fallit atra. Quem rara culpa morum 50non polluit frequenter, nunc lux serena vibrans res edocet latentes. At qui coinquinatum vitiis cor inpiavit, 55lusus pavore multo species videt [tremendas.] Hoc patriarcha noster sub carceris catena geminis simul ministris 60interpres adprobavit. Quorum reversus unus dat poculum tyranno, ast alterum rapaces fixum vorant volucres. 65Ipsum deinde regem perplexa somniantem monuit famem futuram clausis cavere acervis. Mox praesul ac tetrarches 70regnum per omne iussus sociam tenere virgam dominae resedit aulae. O quam profunda iustis arcana per soporem 75aperit tuenda Christus, quam clara! quam tacenda! Evangelista summi fidissimus magistri signata quae latebant 80nebulis videt remotis: ipsum tonantis agnum de caede purpurantem, qui conscium futuri librum resignat unus. 85Huius manum potentem gladius perarmat anceps et fulgurans utrimque duplicem minatur ictum. Quaesitor ille solus 90animaeque corporisque ensisque bis timendus prima ac secunda mors est. idem tamen benignus ultor retundit iram 95paucosque non [piorum] patitur perire in aevum. Huic inclitus perenne tribuit Pater tribunal, hunc obtinere iussit 100nomen supra omne nomen. Hic praepotens cruenti extinctor antichristi, qui de furente monstro pulchrum refert tropaeum. 105Quam bestiam [capacem] populosque devorantem, quam sanguinis charybdem Ioannis execratur. Haec nempe, quae [sacratum] 110praeferre nomen ausa est, imam petit gehennam Christo perempta vero. Tali sopore iustus mentem relaxat heros, 115ut spiritu sagaci caelum peragret omne. Nos nil meremur horum, quos creber inplet error, concreta quos malarum 120vitiat cupido rerum. Sat est quiete dulci fessum fovere corpus: sat, si nihil sinistrum vanae minentur umbrae. 125Cultor Dei memento te fontis et lavacri rorem subisse [sanctum,] te chrismate [innotatum.] [Fac,] cum vocante somno 130castum petis cubile, frontem locumque cordis crucis figura signet. Crux pellit omne crimen, fugiunt crucem tenebrae: 135tali dicata signo mens fluctuare nescit. Procul, o procul vagantum portenta somniorum, procul esto pervicaci 140praestigiator astu! O tortuose serpens, qui mille per Maeandros fraudesque flexuosas agitas quieta corda, 145Discede, Christus hic est, hic Christus est, liquesce: signum quod ipse nosti damnat tuam catervam. Corpus licet fatiscens 150iaceat recline paullum, Christum tamen sub ipso meditabimur sopore.

[VI. HYMN BEFORE SLEEP]

Draw near, Almighty Father, Ne'er seen by mortal eye; Come, O Thou Word eternal, O Spirit blest, be nigh. One light of threefold Godhead, One power that all transcends; God is of God begotten, And God from both descends. The hour of rest approaches, The toils of day are past, And o'er our tired bodies Sleep's gentle charm is cast. The mind, by cares tormented Amid life's storm and stress, Drinks deep the wondrous potion That brings forgetfulness. O'er weary, toil-worn mortals The spells of Lethe steal; Sad hearts lose all their sorrow, Nor pain nor anguish feel. For to His frail creation God gave this law to keep, That labour should be lightened By soft and healing sleep. But while sweet languor wanders Through all the pulsing veins, And, wrapt in dewy slumber, The heart at rest remains, The soul, in wakeful vigour, Aloft in freedom flies, And sees in many a semblance The hidden mysteries. For, freed from care, the spirit That came from out the sky, Born of the stainless aether, Can never idle lie. A thousand changing phantoms She fashions through the night, And 'midst a world of fancy Pursues her rapid flight. But divers are the visions That night to dreamers shows; Rare gleams of straying splendour The future may disclose; More oft the truth is darkened, And lying fantasy Deceives the affrighted sleeper With cunning treachery. To him whose life is holy The things that are concealed Lie open to his spirit In radiant light revealed; But he whose heart is blackened, With many a sin imbued, Sees phantoms grim and ghastly That beckon and delude. So in the Egyptian dungeon The patriarch of old Unto the king's two servants Their fateful visions told: And one is brought from prison The monarch's wine to pour, One, on the gibbet hanging, Foul birds of prey devour, He warned the king, distracted By riddles of the night, To hoard the plenteous harvests Against the years of blight. Soon, lord of half a kingdom, A mighty potentate, He shares the royal sceptre And dwells in princely state. But ah! how deep the secrets The holy sleeper sees To whom Christ shows His highest, Most sacred mysteries. For God's most faithful servant The clouds were rolled away, And John beheld the wonders That sealed from mortals lay. The Lamb of God, encrimsoned With sacrificial stains, Alone the Book can open That destiny contains. By His strong hand is wielded A keen, two-edgèd brand That, flashing like the lightning, Smites swift on either hand. Before His bar of judgment Both soul and body lie; He whom that dread sword smiteth The second death shall die. Yet mercy tempers justice, And few the Avenger sends (Whose guilt is past all pardon) To death that never ends. To Him the Father yieldeth The judgment-seat of Heaven; To Him a Name excelling All other names is given. For by His strength transcendent Shall Antichrist be slain, And from that raging monster Fair trophies shall He gain: That all-devouring Dragon, With blood of martyrs red, On whose abhorrèd power John's solemn curse is laid. And thus the proud usurper Of His high name is cast By Him, the true Christ, vanquished To deepest hell at last. Upon the saint heroic Such wondrous slumber falls That, in the spirit roaming, He treads heaven's highest halls. We may not, in our weakness, To dreams like these aspire, Whose souls are steeped in error And evil things desire. Enough, if weary bodies In peaceful sleep may rest; Enough, if no dark powers Our slumbering souls molest. Christian! the font remember, The sacramental vow, The holy water sprinkled, The oil that marked thy brow! When at sleep's call thou seekest To rest in slumber chaste, Let first the sacred emblem On breast and brow be traced. The Cross dispels all darkness, All sin before it flies, And by that sign protected The mind all fear defies. Avaunt! ye fleeting phantoms That mock our midnight hours; Avaunt! thou great Deceiver With all thy guileful powers. Thou Serpent, old and crafty, Who by a thousand arts And manifold temptations Dost vex our sleeping hearts, Vanish! for Christ is with us; Away! 'tis Christ the Lord: The sign thou must acknowledge Condemns thy hellish horde. And, though the weary body Relaxed in sleep may be, Our hearts, Lord, e'en in slumber, Shall meditate on Thee.

[VII. HYMNUS IEIUNANTIUM]

O Nazarene, lux Bethlem, verbum [Patris,] quem partus alvi virginalis protulit, adesto castis Christe parsimoniis, [festumque] nostrum rex serenus adspice, 5ieiuniorum dum litamus victimam. Nil hoc profecto purius mysterio, quo fibra cordis expiatur uvidi, intemperata quo domantur viscera, arvina putrem ne resudans crapulam 10obstrangulatae mentis ingenium premat. Hinc subiugatur luxus et turpis gula, vini atque somni degener socordia, libido sordens, inverecundus lepos, variaeque pestes languidorum sensuum 15parcam subactae disciplinam sentiunt. [Nam] si licenter diffluens potu et cibo ieiuna rite membra non coerceas, sequitur frequenti marcida oblectamine scintilla mentis ut tepescat nobilis, 20animusque pigris stertat in praecordiis. Frenentur ergo corporum cupidines, detersa et intus emicet prudentia: sic excitato perspicax acumine liberque flatu laxiore spiritus 25rerum parentem rectius precabitur. Elia tali crevit observantia, vetus sacerdos, ruris hospes [aridi:] fragore ab omni quem remotum et segregem sprevisse tradunt criminum frequentiam, 30casto fruentem syrtium silentio. Sed mox in auras igneis iugalibus curruque raptus evolavit praepete, ne de propinquo sordium contagio dirus quietum mundus adflaret virum, 35olim probatis inclitum ieiuniis. Non ante caeli principem septemplicis Moyses tremendi fidus interpres throni potuit videre, quam decem recursibus quater volutis sol peragrans sidera 40omni carentem cerneret substantia. Victus precanti solus in lacrimis fuit: nam flendo pernox inrigatum pulverem humi madentis ore pressit cernuo, donec loquentis voce praestrictus Dei 45expavit ignem non ferendum visibus. Ioannis huius artis hand minus potens, Dei perennis praecucurrit filium, curvos viarum qui retorsit tramites et flexuosa conrigens dispendia 50dedit sequendam calle recto lineam. Hanc obsequelam praeparabat nuntius mox adfuturo construens iter Deo, clivosa planis, confragosa ut lenibus converterentur, neve quidquam devium 55inlapsa terris inveniret veritas. Non usitatis ortus his natalibus oblita lactis iam vieto in pectore matris tetendit serus infans ubera: nec ante partu de senili effusus est, 60quam praedicaret virginem plenam Deo. Post in patentes ille solitudines amictus hirtis bestiarum pellibus setisve tectus hispida et lanugine secessit, horrens inquinari et pollui 65contaminatis oppidorum moribus. Illic dicata parcus abstinentia potum cibumque vir severae industriae in usque serum respuebat vesperum, parvum locustis et favorum [agrestium] 70liquore pastum corpori suetus dare. Hortator ille primus et doctor novae fuit salutis, nam sacrato in flumine [veterum] piatas lavit errorum notas: sed tincta postquam membra defaecaverat, 75caelo refulgens influebat spiritus. Hoc ex lavacro labe dempta [criminum] ibant renati non secus, quam si rudis auri recocta vena pulchrum splendeat, micet metalli sive lux argentei, 80sudum polito praenitens purgamine. Referre prisci stemma mine ieiunii libet fideli proditum volumine, ut diruendae civitatis incolis fulmen benigni mansuefactum Patris 85pie repressis ignibus pepercerit. Gens insolenti praepotens iactantia pollebat olim, quam fluentem nequiter conrupta vulgo solverat lascivia, et inde bruto contumax fastidio 90cultum superni negligebat numinis. Offensa tandem iugis indulgentiae censura iustis excitatur motibus, dextram perarmat rhompheali incendio nimbos crepantes et fragosos turbines 95vibrans tonantum nube flammarum quatit. Sed paenitendi dum datur diecula, si forte vellent inprobam libidinem veteresque nugas condomare ac frangere, suspendit ictum terror exorabilis 100paullumque dicta substitit [sententia.] Ionam prophetam mitis ultor excitat, paenae inminentis iret ut praenuntius, sed nosset ille qui minacem iudicem servare malle, quam ferire ac plectere, 105tectam latenter vertit in Tharsos fugam. Celsam paratis pontibus scandit ratem, udo revincta fune puppis solvitur, itur per altum, fit procellosum mare: tum causa tanti quaeritur periculi, 110sors in fugacem missa vatem decidit. Iussus perire solus e cunctis reus, cuius voluta crimen urna expresserat, praeceps rotatur et profundo inmergitur: exceptus inde beluinis faucibus 115alvi capacis vivus hauritur [specu.] * * * * * Intactus exin tertiae noctis vice monstri vomentis pellitur singultibus, qua murmuranti fine fluctus frangitur, salsosque candens spuma tundit pumices, 130ructatus exit seque servatum stupet. In Ninivitas se coactus percito gressu reflectit, quos ut increpaverat pudenda censor inputans opprobria; Inpendet, inquit, ira summi vindicis, 135urbemque flamma mox cremabit, credite. Apicem deinceps ardui montis petit visurus inde conglobatum turbidae fumum ruinae cladis et dirae struem, tectus flagellis multinodis germinis, 140nato et repente perfruens umbraculo. Sed maesta postquam civitas vulnus novi hausit doloris, heu supremum palpitat: cursant per ampla congregatim moenia plebs et senatus, omnis aetas civium, 145pallens iuventus, eiulantes feminae. Placet frementem publicis ieiuniis placare Christum, mos edendi spernitur, glaucos amictus induit monilibus matrona demptis, proque gemma et serico 150crinem fluentem sordidus spargit cinis. Squalent recincta veste bullati patres, setasque plangens turba sumit textiles, inpexa villis virgo bestialibus nigrante vultum contegit velamine, 155iacens arenis et puer provolvitur. Rex ipse Coos aestuantem murices laenam revulsa dissipabat fibula, gemmas virentes et lapillos sutiles, insigne frontis exuebat vinculum 160turpi capillos inpeditus pulvere. Nullus bibendi, nemo vescendi memor, ieiuna mensas pubis omnis liquerat, quin et negato lacte vagientium fletu madescunt parvulorum cunulae, 165sucum papillae parca nutrix derogat. Greges et ipsos claudit armentalium sollers virorum cura, ne vagum pecus contingat ore rorulenta gramina, potum strepentis neve fontis hauriant, 170vacuis querelae personant praesepibus. Mollitus his et talibus brevem Deus iram refrenat temperans oraculum prosper sinistrum, prona nam clementia haud difficulter supplicem mortalium 175solvit reatum fitque fautrix flentium. Sed cur vetustae gentis exemplum oquor? pridem caducis cum gravatus artubus Iesus dicato corde ieiunaverit, praenuncupatus ore qui prophetico 180Emanuel est, sive NOBISCUM DEUS. Qui corpus istud molle naturaliter captumque laxo sub voluptatum iugo virtutis arta lege fecit liberum: emancipator servientis plasmatis 185regnantis ante victor et cupidinis. Inhospitali namque secretus loco quinis diebus octies labentibus nullam ciborum vindicavit gratiam, firmans salubri scilicet ieiunio 190vas adpetendis inbecillum gaudiis. Miratus hostis posse limum tabidum tantum laboris sustinere ac perpeti, explorat arte sciscitator callida, Deusne membris sit receptus [terreis,] 195sed increpata fraude post tergum ruit. Hoc nos sequamur quisque nunc pro viribus, quod consecrati tu magister dogmatis tuis dedisti Christe sectatoribus, ut, cum vorandi vicerit libidinem, 200late triumphet inperator spiritus. Hoc est, quod atri livor hostis invidet, mundi polique quod gubernator probat, altaris aram quod facit placabilem, quod dormientis excitat cordis fidem, 205quod limat aegram pectoris rubiginem. Perfusa non sic amne flamma extinguitur, nec sic calente sole tabescunt nives, ut turbidarum scabra culparum seges vanescit almo trita sub ieiunio, 210si blanda semper misceatur largitas. Est quippe et illud grande virtutis genus operire nudos, indigentes pascere, opem benignam ferre supplicantibus, unam paremque sortis humanae vicem 215inter potentes atque egenos ducere. Satis beatus quisque dextram porrigit, laudis rapacem, prodigam pecuniae, cuius sinistra dulce factum nesciat: illum perennes protinus conplent opes, 220ditatque fructus faenerantem centuplex.

[VII. HYMN FOR THOSE WHO FAST]

O Jesus, Light of Bethlehem, True Son of God, Incarnate Word; Thou offspring of a Virgin's womb, Be present at our frugal board; Accept our fast, our sacrifice, And smile upon us, gracious Lord. For by this holiest mystery The inward parts are cleansed from stain, And, taming all the unbridled lusts, Our sinful flesh we thus restrain, Lest gluttony and drunkenness Should choke the soul and cloud the brain. Hence appetite and luxury Are forced their empire to resign; The wanton sport, the jest obscene, The ignoble sway of sleep and wine, And all the plagues of languid sense Feel the strict bonds of discipline. For if, full fed with meat and drink, The flesh thou ne'er dost mortify, The mind, that spark of sacred flame, By pleasure dulled, must fail and die, And pent in its gross prison-house The soul in shameful torpor lie. So be thy carnal lusts controlled, So be thy judgment clear and bright; Then shall thy spirit, swift and free, Be gifted with a keener sight, And breathing in an ampler air To the All-Father pray aright. Elias by such abstinence, Seer of the desert, grew in grace, Who left the madding haunts of men And found a peaceful resting-place, Where, far from sinful crowds, he trod The pure and silent wilderness. Till by those fiery coursers drawn The swift car bore him through the air, Lest earth's defiling touch should mar The holiness it might not share, Or some polluting breath disturb The peace attained by fast and prayer. Moses, through whom from His dread throne The will of God to man was told, No food might touch till through the sky The sun full forty times had rolled, Ere God before him stood revealed, Lord of the heavens sevenfold. Tears were his meat, while bent in prayer Through the long night he bowed his head E'en to the thirsty dust, that drank The drops in bitter weeping shed; Till, at God's call, he saw the flame No eye may bear, and was afraid. The Baptist, too, was strong in fast-- Forerunner in a later day Of God's Eternal Son--who made The byepaths plain, the crooked way A road direct, wherein His feet Might travel on without delay. This was the messenger's great task Who for God's advent zealously Prepared the way, the rough made smooth, The mountain levelled to the sea; That, when Truth came from heaven to earth, All fair and straight His path should be. He was not born in common wise, For dry and wrinkled was the breast Of her that bare him late in years, Nor found she from her labour rest, Till she had hailed with lips inspired The Maid with unborn Godhead blest. For him the hairy skins of beasts Furnished a raiment rude and wild, As forth into the lonely waste He fared, an unbefriended child, Who dwelt apart, lest he should be By evil city-life defiled. There, vowed to abstinence, he grew To manhood, and with stern disdain He turned from meat and drink, until He saw night's shadow fall again; And locusts and the wild bees' store Sufficed his vigour to sustain. The first was he to testify Of that new life which man might win; In Jordan's consecrating stream He purged the stains of ancient sin, And, as he made the body clean, The radiant Spirit entered in. Forth from the holy tide they came Reborn, from guilt's pollution free, As bright from out the cleansing fire Flows the rough gold, or as we see The glittering silver, purged of dross, Flash into polished purity. Now let us tell, from Holy Writ, Of olden fasts the fairest crown; How God in pity stayed His hand, And spared a doomed and guilty town, In clemency the flames withheld And laid His vengeful lightnings down. A mighty race of ancient time Waxed arrogant in boastful pride; Debauched were they, and borne along On foul corruption's loathsome tide, Till in their stiff-necked self-conceit They e'en the God of Heaven denied. At last Eternal Mercy turns To righteous judgment, swift and dire; He shakes the clouds; the mighty sword Flames in His hand, and in His ire He wields the roaring hurricane 'Mid murky gloom and flashing fire. Yet in His clemency He grants To penitence a brief delay, That they might burst the bonds of lust And put their vanities away; His sentence given, He waits awhile And stays the hand upraised to slay. To warn them of the wrath to come The Avenger in His mercy sent Jonah the seer; but,--though he knew The threatening Judge would fain relent Nor wished to strike,--towards Tarshish town The prophet's furtive course was bent. As up the galley's side he climbed, They loosed the dripping rope, and passed The harbour bar: then on them burst The sudden fury of the blast; And when their peril's cause they sought, The lot was on the recreant cast. The man whose guilt the urn declares Alone must die, the rest to save; Hurled headlong from the deck, he falls And sinks beneath the engulfing wave, Then, seized by monstrous jaws, is plunged Into a vast and living grave. * * * * * At last the monster hurls him forth, As the third night had rolled away; Before its roar the billows break And lash the cliffs with briny spray; Unhurt the wondering prophet stands And hails the unexpected day. Thus turned again to duty's path To Nineveh he swiftly came, Their lusts rebuked and boldly preached God's judgment on their sin and shame; "Believe!" he cried, "the Judge draws nigh Whose wrath shall wrap your streets in flame." Thence to the lofty mount withdrew, Where he might watch the smoke-cloud lower O'er blasted homes and ruined halls, And rest beneath the shady bower Upspringing in swift luxury Of twining tendril, leaf and flower. But when the guilty burghers heard The impending doom, a dull despair Possessed their souls; proud senators, Poor craftsmen, throng the highways fair; Pale youth with tottering age unites, And women's wailing rends the air. A public fast they now decree, If they may thus Christ's anger stay: No food they touch: each haughty dame Puts silken robes and gems away, In sable garbed, and ashes casts Upon her tresses' disarray. In dark and squalid vesture clad The Fathers go: the mourning crowd Dons rough attire: in shaggy skins Enwrapped, fair maids their faces shroud With dusky veils, and boyish heads E'en to the very dust are bowed. The King tears off his jewelled brooch And rends the robe of Coan hue; Bright emeralds and lustrous pearls Are flung aside, and ashes strew The royal head, discrowned and bent, As low he kneels God's grace to sue. None thought to drink, none thought to eat; All from the table turned aside, And in their cradles wet with tears Starved babes in bitter anguish cried, For e'en the foster-mother stern To little lips the breast denied. The very flocks are closely penned By careful hands, lest they should gain Sweet water from the babbling stream Or wandering crop the dewy plain; And bleating sheep and lowing kine Within their barren stalls complain. Moved by such penitence, full soon God's grace repealed the stern decree And curbed His righteous wrath; for aye, When man repents, His clemency Is swift to pardon and to hear His children weeping bitterly. Yet wherefore of that bygone race Should we anew the story tell? For Christ's pure soul by fasting long The clogging bonds of flesh did quell; He Whom the prophet's voice foretold As GOD WITH US, Emmanuel. Man's body--frail by nature's law And bound by pleasure's easy chain-- He freed by virtue's strong restraint, And gave it liberty again: He broke the bonds of flesh, and Lust Was driven from his old domain. Deep in the inhospitable wild For forty days He dwelt alone Nor tasted food, till, thus prepared, All human weakness overthrown By fasting's power, His mortal frame Rejoiced the spirit's sway to own. The Adversary, marvelling To see this creature of a day Endure such toil, spent all his guile To learn if God in human clay Had come indeed; but soon rebuked Behind His back fled shamed away. Therefore let each with all his might Follow the way the Master taught, The law of consecrated life Which Christ unto His servants brought; Till, with the lusts of flesh subdued, The spirit reigns o'er act and thought. 'Tis this our jealous foe abhors, 'Tis this the Lord of earth and sky Approves; by this the soul is made Thy holy altar, God Most High: Faith stirs within the slumbering heart And sin's corroding power must fly. Swifter than water quenches fire, Swifter than sunshine melts the snow, Crushed out by soul-restoring fast Vanish the sins that rankly grow, If hand in hand with Abstinence Sweet Charity doth ever go. This too is Virtue's noble task, To clothe the naked, and to feed The destitute, with kindly care To visit sufferers in their need; For king and beggar each must bear The lot by changeless Fate decreed. Happy the man whose good right hand Seeks but God's praise, and flings his gold Broadcast, nor lets his left hand know The gracious deed; for wealth untold Shall crown him through eternal years With usury an hundredfold.

[VIII. HYMNUS POST IEIUNIUM]

Christe servorum regimen tuorum, mollibus qui nos moderans habenis leniter frenas facilique septos lege coerces: 5ipse cum portans onus inpeditum corporis duros tuleris labores, maior exemplis famulos remisso dogmate palpas. Nona submissum rotat hora [solem] 10partibus vixdum tribus evolutis, quarta devexo superest in axe portio lucis. Nos brevis voti dape vindicata solvimus festum fruimurque [mensis] 15adfatim plenis, quibus inbuatur prona voluptas. Tantus aeterni favor est magistri, doctor indulgens ita nos amico lactat hortatu, levis obsequela ut 20mulceat artus. Addit et, ne quis velit invenusto sordidus cultu lacerare frontem, sed decus vultus capitisque pexum comat honorem. 25Terge ieiunans, ait, omne corpus, neve subducto faciem rubore luteus tinguat color aut notetur pallor in ore. Rectius laeto tegimus pudore, 30quidquid ad cultum Patris exhibemus: cernit occultum Deus et latentem munere donat. Ille ovem morbo residem [gregique] perditam sano male dissipantem 35vellus adfixis vepribus per hirtae devia silvae. Inpiger pastor revocat lupisque gestat exclusis humeros gravatus, inde purgatam revehens aprico 40reddit ovili: Reddit et pratis viridique campo, vibrat inpexis ubi nulla lappis spina, nec germen sudibus perarmat carduus horrens: 45Sed frequens palmis nemus et reflexa vernat herbarum coma, tum perennis gurgitem vivis vitreum fluentis laurus obumbrat. Hisce pro donis tibi, fide pastor, 50servitus quaenam poterit rependi? nulla conpensant pretium salutis vota precantum. Quamlibet spreto sine more pastu sponte confectos tenuemus artus, 55teque contemptis epulis rogemus nocte dieque; Vincitur semper minor obsequentum cura, nec munus genitoris aequat, frangit et cratem luteam laboris 60grandior usus. Ergo ne limum fragilem solutae deserant vires et aquosus albis humor in venis dominetur aegrum corpus inervans, 65Laxus ac liber modus abstinendi ponitur cunctis, neque nos severus terror inpellit, sua quemque cogit velle potestas. Sufficit, quidquid facias, vocato 70numinis nutu prius, inchoare, sive tu mensam renuas cibumve sumere temptes. Adnuit dexter Deus et secundo prosperat vultu, velut hoc salubre 75fidimus nobis fore, quod dicatas carpimus escas. Sit bonum, supplex precor et medelam conferat membris, animumque pascat sparsus in venas cibus obsecrantum 80christicolarum.

[VIII. HYMN AFTER FASTING]

O Christ, of all Thy servants Guide, Mild is the yoke Thou mak'st us bear, Leading us gently by Thy side With gracious care. Thy love took up our life's hard load And spent in grievous toils its might: Thy bond-slaves tread the easier road Led by Thy light. Nine hours have run their course away, The sun sped three parts of its race: And what remains of the short day Fadeth apace. The holy fast hath reached its end; Our table now Thou loadest, Lord: With all Thy gifts true gladness send To grace our board. Such is our Master's gentle sway, So kind the teaching in His school, That all find rest who will obey His easy rule. Thou would'st not have us scorn the grace Of cleanliness and vesture fair: Thou lovest not a soilèd face And unkempt hair. Let him that fasts, Thou saidst, be clean, Nor lose health's fair and ruddy glow: Let no wan sallowness be seen Upon his brow. 'Tis better in glad modesty Of our good works to shun display: God sees what 'scapes our neighbour's eye And will repay. That Shepherd keen seeks one lost sheep Sickly and weak, strayed from the fold, Fleece torn with briers of thickets deep, Foolishly bold. He drives the wolves far from the track: And found He brings on shoulders borne To sunlit pen the wanderer back, No more forlorn: Yea, to the meads and grassy fields The lamb restores, where no thorn balks, No rough burrs tear, no thistle yields Its bristling stalks: But leaves of green herbs brightly glance And in the grove the palm-trees dream, And laurels shade the eddying dance Of crystal stream. For all these gifts, O Shepherd dear, What service can I render Thee? No grateful vows my debt shall clear For love so free. Though by self-chosen fasts severe Our strength of limb we waste away: Though, spurning food, we Thee revere By night and day: Yet our works never can o'ertake Thy love or with Thy gifts compare: Our toils this earthen vessel break, The more we dare. Therefore lest failing powers consume Our fragile life and shrivelled veins Pale 'neath the tyranny of rheum And weakening pains: Thou dost not rule perpetual Lent For man, nor modest fare deny: Fearless may each unto his bent His wants supply. Enough that all our acts by prayer Be sanctified unto Thy will, Whether we fast, or with due care Our needs fulfil. Then shall God bless us for our good And lead us to our soul's true wealth; For, if but consecrated, food Shall bring us health. O Lord, grant that our feast may spread Marrow and strength throughout our flesh: And may all Christly souls be fed With vigour fresh.

[IX. HYMNUS OMNIS HORAE]

Da puer plectrum, choreis ut canam [fidelibus] dulce carmen et melodum, gesta Christi insignia: hunc camena nostra solum pangat, hunc laudet lyra. [Christus] est, quem rex sacerdos adfuturum protinus 5infulatus concinebat voce, chorda et tympano, spiritum caelo influentem per medullas hauriens. Facta nos et iam probata pangimus miracula, testis orbis est, nec ipsa terra, quod vidit, negat, cominus Deum docendis proditum mortalibus. 10Corde natus ex parentis, ante mundi exordium alpha et Ω cognominatus, ipse fons et [clausula] omnium, quae sunt, fuerunt quaeque post futura sunt. Ipse iussit et creata, dixit ipse, et facta sunt terra, caelum, fossa ponti, trina rerum machina, 15quaeque in his vigent sub alto solis et lunae globo. Corporis formam caduci, membra morti obnoxia induit, ne gens periret primoplasti ex germine, merserat quam lex profundo noxialis tartaro. O beatus ortus ille, virgo cum puerpera 20edidit nostram salutem feta sancto spiritu, et puer redemptor orbis os sacratum protulit. [Psallat] altitudo caeli, psallite omnes angeli, quidquid est virtutis usquam psallat in laudem Dei: nulla linguarum silescat, vox et omnis consonet. 25Ecce quem vates vetustis concinebant seculis, quem prophetarum fideles paginae spoponderant, emicat promissus olim: cuncta conlaudent eum. Cantharis infusa lympha fit Falernum nobile, nuntiat vinum minister esse promptum ex hydria, 30ipse rex sapore tinctis obstupescit poculis. Membra morbis ulcerosa, viscerum putredines mando, ut abluantur, inquit; fit ratum, quod iusserat, turgidam cutem repurgant vulnerum [piamina.] Tu perennibus tenebris iam sepulta lumina 35inlinis limo salubri, sacri et oris nectare, mox apertis hac medela lux reducta est orbibus. Increpas ventum furentem, quod procellis tristibus vertat aequor fundo ab imo, vexet et vagam ratem: ille iussis obsecundat, mitis unda sternitur. 40Extimum vestis sacratae furtim mulier attigit, protinus salus secuta est, ora pallor deserit, sistitur rivus, cruore qui fluebat perpeti. Exitu dulcis iuventae raptum ephebum viderat, orba quem mater supremis funerabat fletibus: 45surge, dixit: ille surgit, matri et adstans redditur. Sole iam quarto carentem, iam sepulcro absconditum Lazarum iubet vigere reddito spiramine: fetidum iecur reductus rursus intrat halitus. Ambulat per stagna ponti, summa calcat fluctuum, 50mobilis liquor profundi pendulam praestat viam, nec fatiscit unda sanctis pressa sub vestigiis. Suetus antro bustuali sub catenis frendere, mentis inpos efferatis percitus furoribus prosilit ruitque supplex, Christum adesse ut senserat. 55Pulsa pestis lubricorum milleformis daemonum conripit gregis suilli sordida spurcamina, seque nigris mergit undis et pecus lymphaticum. Quinque panibus peresis et gemellis piscibus adfatim refecta iam sunt adcubantum milia, 60fertque qualus ter quaternus ferculorum fragmina. Tu cibus panisque noster, tu perennis suavitas; nescit esurire in aevum, qui tuam sumit dapem, nec lacunam ventris inplet, sed fovet vitalia. Clausus aurium meatus et sonorum nescius 65purgat ad praecepta Christi crassa quaeque obstacula, vocibus capax fruendis ac susurris pervius. Omnis aegritudo cedit, languor omnis pellitur, lingua fatur, quam veterna vinxerant silentia, gestat et suum per urbem laetus aeger lectulum. 70Quin et ipsum, ne salutis inferi expertes forent, tartarum benignus intrat, fracta cedit [ianua,] vectibus cadit revulsis cardo indissolubilis. Illa prompta ad inruentes, ad revertentes tenax, obice extrorsum repulso porta reddit mortuos: 75lege versa et limen atrum iam recalcandum patet. Sed Deus dum luce fulva mortis antra inluminat, dum stupentibus tenebris candidum praestat diem, tristia squalentis aethrae palluerunt sidera. Sol refugit et lugubri sordidus ferrugine 80igneum reliquit axem seque maerens abdidit: fertur horruisse mundus noctis aeternae chaos. Solve vocem mens sonoram, solve linguam mobilem, dic tropaeum passionis, dic triumphalem crucem, pange vexillum, notatis quod refulget frontibus. 85O novum caede stupenda vulneris miraculum! hinc cruoris fluxit unda, lympha parte ex altera: lympha nempe dat lavacrum, tum corona ex sanguine est. Vidit anguis inmolatam corporis sacri hostiam, vidit et fellis perusti mox venenum perdidit, 90saucius dolore multo colla fractus sibilat. Quid tibi, profane serpens, profuit, rebus novis plasma primum perculisse versipelli hortamine? diluit culpam recepto forma mortalis Deo. Ad brevem se mortis usum dux salutis dedidit, 95mortuos olim sepultos ut redire insuesceret, dissolutis pristinorum vinculis peccaminum. Tunc patres sanctique multi conditorem praevium iam revertentem secuti tertio demum die carnis indumenta sumunt, eque bustis prodeunt. 100Cerneres coire membra de favillis aridis, frigidum venis resumptis pulverem tepescere, ossa, nervos, ac medullas glutino cutis tegi. Post, ut occasum resolvit vitae et hominem reddidit, arduum tribunal victor adscendit Patris, 105inclitam caelo reportans passionis gloriam. Macte index mortuorum, macte rex viventium, dexter in parentis arce qui cluis virtutibus omnium venturus inde iustus ultor criminum. Te senes et te iuventus, parvulorum te chorus, 110turba matrum virginumque simplices puellulae, voce concordes pudicis perstrepant concentibus. Fluminum lapsus et undae, littorum crepidines, imber, aestus, nix, pruina, silva, et aura, nox, dies, omnibus te concelebrent seculorum seculis.

[IX. HYMN FOR ALL HOURS]

Let me chant in sacred numbers, as I strike each sounding string, Chant in sweet, melodious anthems, glorious deeds of Christ our King; He, my Muse, shall be thy story; with His praise my lyre shall ring. When the king in priestly raiment sang the Christ that was to be, Voice and lute and clashing cymbal joined in joyous harmony, While the Spirit, heaven-descended, touched his lips to prophecy. Sing we now the works sure proven, wrought of God in mystic wise; Heaven is witness; earth confesses how she saw with wondering eyes God Himself with mortals mingling, man to teach in human guise. Of the Father's heart begotten, ere the world from chaos rose, He is Alpha; from that Fountain all that is and hath been flows; He is Omega, of all things yet to come the mystic Close. By His word was all created; He commands and lo! 'tis done; Earth and sky and boundless ocean, universe of three in one, All that sees the moon's soft radiance, all that breathes beneath the sun. He assumed this mortal body, frail and feeble, doomed to die, That the race from dust created might not perish utterly, Which the dreadful Law had sentenced in the depths of Hell to lie. O how blest that wondrous birthday, when the Maid the curse retrieved, Brought to birth mankind's salvation, by the Holy Ghost conceived; And the sacred Babe, Redeemer of the world, her arms received. Sing, ye heights of heaven, His praises; angels and archangels, sing! Wheresoe'er ye be, ye faithful, let your joyous anthems ring, Every tongue His name confessing, countless voices answering. This is He whom seer and sibyl sang in ages long gone by; This is He of old revealèd in the page of prophecy; Lo! He comes, the promised Saviour; let the world His praises cry! In the urns the clear, cold water turns to juice of noblest vine, And the servant, drawing from them, starts to see the generous wine, While the host, its savour tasting, wonders at the draught divine. To the leper worn and wasted, white with many a loathsome sore, "Be thou cleansed," He said; "I bid it!" swift 'tis done, His words restore; To the priest the gift he offers, clean and healthful as of yore. On the eyes long sealed in darkness, buried in unbroken night, Thou didst spread Thy lips' sweet nectar, mixed with clay: then came the sight, As Thy gracious touch all-healing brought to those dark orbs the light. Thou didst chide the raging tempest, when the waves with foaming crest Leaped about the fragile vessel, buffeted and sore distressed; Wind and wave, their fury stilling, sank to calm at Thy behest. Once a woman's timid fingers touched Thy garment's lowest braid, And the pallor left her visage, healing power the touch conveyed, For the years of pain were ended and the flow of blood was stayed. Thou didst see men bear to burial one struck down in youth's glad tide, While a widowed mother followed, wailing for her boy that died; "Rise!" Thou saidst, and led him gently to his weeping mother's side. Lazarus, who lay in darkness till three nights had passed away, At Thy voice awoke to soundness, rising to the light of day, As the breath his frame re-entered touched already with decay. See, He walks upon the waters, treads the billow's rolling crest; O'er the shifting depths of ocean firm and sure His footsteps rest, And the wave parts not asunder where those holy feet are pressed. And the madman, chained and tortured by dark powers, from whom all fly, As the tombs, that were his dwelling, echo to his savage cry, Rushes forth and falls adoring, when he sees that Christ is nigh. Then the legion of foul spirits, driven from their human prey, Seize the noisome swine, that feeding high upon the hillside stray, And the herd, in sudden frenzy, plunges in the waters grey. "Gather in twelve woven baskets all the fragments that remain:" He hath fed the weary thousands, resting o'er the grassy plain, And His power hath stayed their hunger with five loaves and fishes twain. Thine, O Christ, is endless sweetness; Thou art our celestial Bread: Nevermore he knoweth hunger, who upon Thy grace hath fed, Grace whereby no mortal body but the soul is nourishèd. They that knew not speech nor language, closed to every sound their ears, To the Master's call responding break the barriers of years; Now the deaf holds joyous converse and the lightest whisper hears. Sickness at His word departed, pain and pallid languor fled, Many a tongue, long chained in silence, words of praise and blessing said; And the palsied man rejoicing through the city bore his bed. Yea, that they might know salvation who in Hades' prison were pent, In His mercy condescending through Hell's gloomy gates He went; Bolt and massy hinge were shattered, adamantine portals rent. For the door that all receiveth, but releaseth nevermore, Opens now and, slowly turning, doth the ghosts to light restore, Who, the eternal laws suspended, tread again its dusky floor. But, while God with golden glory floods the murky realms of night, And upon the startled shadows dawns a day serene and bright, In the darkened vault of heaven stars forlorn refuse their light. For the sun in garb of mourning veiled his radiant orb and passed From his flaming path in sorrow, hiding till mankind aghast Deemed that o'er a world of chaos Night's eternal pall was cast. Now, my soul, in liquid measures let the sounding numbers flow; Sing the trophy of His passion, sing the Cross triumphant now; Sing the ensign of Christ's glory, marked on every faithful brow. Ah! how wondrous was the fountain flowing from His piercèd side, Whence the blood and water mingled in a strange and sacred tide,-- Water, sign of mystic cleansing; blood, the martyr's crown of pride. In that hour the ancient Serpent saw the holy Victim slain, Saw, and shed his hate envenomed, all his malice spent in vain; See! the hissing neck is broken as he writhes in sullen pain. Aye, what boots it, cursèd Serpent, that the man God made from clay, Victim of thy baleful cunning, by thy lies was led astray? God hath ta'en a mortal body and hath washed the guilt away. Christ, our Captain, for a season deigned to dwell in Death's domain, That the dead, long time imprisoned, might return to life again, Breaking by His great example ancient sins' enthralling chain. Thus, upon the third glad morning, patriarchs and saints of yore, As the risen Lord ascended, followed Him who went before, From forgotten graves proceeding, habited in flesh once more. Limb to limb unites and rises from the ashes dry and cold, And the life-blood courses warmly through the frames long turned to mould, Skin and flesh, anew created, muscle, bone and nerve enfold. Then, mankind to life restoring, Death downtrodden 'neath His feet, Lo! the Victor mounts triumphant to the Father's judgment-seat, Bringing back to heaven the glory by His passion made complete. Hail! Thou Judge of souls departed: hail! of all the living King! On the Father's right hand thronèd, through His courts Thy praises ring, Till at last for all offences righteous judgment Thou shalt bring. Now let old and young uniting chant to Thee harmonious lays, Maid and matron hymn Thy glory, infant lips their anthem raise, Boys and girls together singing with pure heart their song of praise. Let the storm and summer sunshine, gliding stream and sounding shore, Sea and forest, frost and zephyr, day and night their Lord adore; Let creation join to laud Thee through the ages evermore.

[X. HYMNUS AD EXEQUIAS DEFUNCTI]

Deus ignee fons [animarum,] duo qui socians elementa vivum simul ac moribundum hominem Pater effigiasti: 5Tua sunt, tua rector utraque, tibi copula iungitur horum, tibi, dum vegetata cohaerent, et spiritus et caro servit. Rescissa sed ista seorsum 10solvunt hominera perimuntque, humus excipit arida corpus, animae rapit aura liquorem. Quia cuncta creata necesse est labefacta senescere tandem, 15conpactaque dissociari, et dissona texta retexi. Hanc tu, Deus optime, mortem famulis abolere paratus iter inviolabile monstras, 20quo perdita membra resurgant: Ut, dum generosa caducis ceu carcere clausa ligantur, pars illa potentior extet, quae germen ab aethere traxit. 25Si terrea forte [voluntas] luteum sapit et grave captat, animus quoque pondere victus sequitur sua membra deorsum. At si generis memor ignis 30contagia pigra recuset, vehit hospita viscera secum, pariterque reportat ad astra. Nam quod requiescere corpus vacuum sine mente videmus, 35spatium breve restat, ut alti repetat conlegia sensus. Venient cito secula, cum iam socius calor ossa revisat animataque sanguine vivo 40habitacula pristina gestet. Quae pigra cadavera pridem tumulis putrefacta iacebant, volucres rapientur in auras animas comitata priores. 45[Hinc] maxima cura sepulcris inpenditur: hinc resolutos honor ultimus accipit artus et funeris ambitus ornat. [Candore] nitentia claro 50praetendere lintea mos est, adspersaque myrrha [Sabaeo] corpus medicamine servat. Quidnam sibi saxa cavata, quid pulchra volunt monumenta, 55nisi quod res creditur illis non mortua, sed data somno? Hoc provida [Christicolarum] pietas studet, utpote credens fore protinus omnia viva, 60quae nunc gelidus sopor urget. Qui iacta cadavera [passim] miserans tegit aggere terrae, opus exhibet ille benignum Christo pius omnipotenti: 65Quin lex eadem monet omnes gemitum dare sorte sub una, cognataque funera nobis aliena in morte dolere. Sancti sator ille [Tobiae] 70sacer ac venerabilis heros, dapibus iam rite paratis ius praetulit exequiarum. Iam stantibus ille ministris cyathos et fercula liquit, 75studioque accinctus humandi fleto dedit ossa sepulcro. Veniunt mox praemia caelo pretiumque rependitur ingens: nam lumina nescia solis 80Deus inlita felle serenat. Iam tunc docuit Pater orbis, quam sit rationis egenis mordax et amara medela, cum lux animum nova vexat. 85Docuit quoque non prius ullum caelestia cernere regna, quam nocte et vulnere tristi toleraverit aspera mundi. Mors ipsa beatior inde est, 90quod per cruciamina leti via panditur ardua iustis et ad astra doloribus itur. Sic corpora mortificata redeunt melioribus annis, 95nec post obitum recalescens conpago fatiscere novit. Haec, quae modo pallida tabo color albidus inficit ora, tunc flore venustior omni 100sanguis cute tinget amoena. Iam nulla deinde senectus frontis decus invida carpet, macies neque sicca lacertos suco tenuabit adeso. 105Morbus quoque pestifer, artus qui nunc populatur anhelos, sua tunc tormenta resudans luet inter vincula mille. Hunc eminus aere ab alto 110victrix caro iamque perennis cernet sine fine gementem quos moverat ipse dolores. Quid turba superstes [inepta] clangens ululamina miscet, 115cur tam bene condita iura luctu dolor arguit amens? Iam maesta quiesce querela, lacrimas suspendite matres, nullus sua pignora plangat, 120mors haec reparatio vitae est. Sic semina sicca virescunt iam mortua iamque sepulta, quae reddita caespite ab imo veteres meditantur aristas. 125Nunc suscipe terra fovendum, gremioque hunc concipe molli: hominis tibi membra sequestro generosa et fragmina credo. Animae fuit haec domus olim 130factoris ab ore creatae, fervens habitavit in istis sapientia principe Christo. Tu depositum tege corpus, non inmemor illa requiret 135sua munera fictor et auctor propriique aenigmata vultus. Veniant modo tempora iusta, cum spem Deus inpleat omnem; reddas patefacta necesse est, 140qualem tibi trado figuram. Non, si cariosa vetustas dissolverit ossa favillis, fueritque cinisculus arens minimi mensura pugilli. 145Nec, si vaga flamina et aurae vacuum per inane volantes tulerint cum pulvere nervos, hominem periisse licebit. Sed dum resolubile corpus 150revocas, Deus, atque reformas, quanam regione iubebis animam requiescere puram? Gremio senis addita sancti recubabit, ut est Eleazar, 155quem floribus undique septum Dives procul adspicit ardens. [Sequimur] tua dicta redemptor, quibus atra morte triumphans tua per vestigia mandas 160socium crucis ire latronem. Patet ecce fidelibus ampli via lucida iam paradisi, licet et nemus illud adire, homini quod ademerat anguis. 165Illic precor, optime ductor, famulam tibi praecipe mentem genitali in sede sacrari, quam liquerat exul et errans. [Nos] tecta fovebimus ossa 170violis et fronde frequenti, titulumque et frigida [saxa] liquido spargemus odore.

[X. HYMN FOR THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD]

Fountain of life, supernal Fire, Who didst unite in wondrous wise The soul that lives, the clay that dies, And mad'st them Man: eternal Sire, Both elements Thy will obey, Thine is the bond that joins the twain, And, while united they remain, Spirit and body own Thy sway. Yet they must one day disunite, Sunder in death this mortal frame; Dust to the dust from whence it came, The spirit to its heavenward flight. For all created things must wane, And age must break the bond at last; The diverse web that Life held fast Death's fingers shall unweave again. Yet, gracious God, Thou dost devise The death of Death for all Thine own; The path of safety Thou hast shown Whereby the doomèd limbs may rise: So that, while fragile bonds of earth Man's noblest essence still enfold, That part may yet the sceptre hold Which from pure aether hath its birth. For if the earthy will hold sway, By gross desires and aims possessed, The soul, too, by the weight oppressed, Follows the body's downward way. But if she scorn the guilt that mars-- Still mindful of her fiery sphere-- She bears the flesh, her comrade here, Back to her home beyond the stars. The lifeless body we restore To earth, must slumber free from pain A little while, that it may gain The spirit's fellowship once more. The years will pass with rapid pace Till through these limbs the life shall flow, And the long-parted spirit go To seek her olden dwelling-place. Then shall the body, that hath lain And turned to dust in slow decay, On airy wings be borne away And join its ancient soul again. Therefore our tenderest care we spend Upon the grave: and mourners go With solemn dirge and footstep slow-- Love's last sad tribute to a friend. With fair white linen we enfold The dear dead limbs, and richest store Of Eastern unguents duly pour Upon the body still and cold. Why hew the rocky tomb so deep, Why raise the monument so fair, Save that the form we cherish there Is no dead thing, but laid to sleep? This is the faithful ministry Of Christian men, who hold it true That all shall one day live anew Who now in icy slumber lie. And he whose pitying hand shall lay Some friendless outcast 'neath the sod, E'en to the almighty Son of God Doth that benignant service pay. For this same law doth bid us mourn Man's common fate, when strangers die, And pay the tribute of a sigh, As when our kin to rest are borne. Of holy Tobit ye have read, (Grave father of a pious son), Who, though the feast was set, would run To do his duty by the dead. Though waiting servants stood around, From meat and drink he turned away And girt himself in haste to lay The bones with weeping in the ground. Soon Heaven his righteous zeal repays With rich reward; the eyes long blind In bitter gall strange virtue find And open to the sun's clear rays. Thus hath our Heavenly Father shown How sharp and bitter is the smart When sudden on the purblind heart The Daystar's healing light is thrown. He taught us, too, that none may gaze Upon the heavenly demesne Ere that in darkness and in pain His feet have trod the world's rough ways. So unto death itself is given Strange bliss, when mortal agony Opens the way that leads on high And pain is but the path to Heaven. Thus to a far serener day Our body from the grave returns; Eternal life within it burns That knows nor languor nor decay. These faces now so pinched and pale, That marks of lingering sickness show, Then fairer than the rose shall glow And bloom with youth that ne'er shall fail. Ne'er shall crabbed age their beauty dim With wrinkled brow and tresses grey, Nor arid leanness eat away The vigour of the rounded limb. Racked with his own destroying pains Shall fell Disease, who now attacks Our aching frames, his force relax Fast fettered in a thousand chains: While from its far celestial throne The immortal body, victor now, Shall watch its old tormentor bow And in eternal tortures groan. Why do the clamorous mourners wail In bootless sorrow murmuring? And why doth grief unreasoning God's righteous ordinance assail? Hushed be your voices, ye that mourn; Ye weeping mothers, dry the tear; Let none lament for children dear, For man through Death to Life is born. So do dry seeds grow green again, Now dead and buried in the earth, And rising to a second birth Clothe as of old the verdant plain. Take now, O earth, the load we bear, And cherish in thy gentle breast This mortal frame we lay to rest, The poor remains that were so fair. For they were once the soul's abode, That by God's breath created came; And in them, like a living flame, Christ's precious gift of wisdom glowed. Guard thou the body we have laid Within thy care, till He demand The creature fashioned by His hand And after His own image made. The appointed time soon may we see When God shall all our hopes fulfil, And thou must render to His will Unchanged the charge we give to thee. For though consumed by mould and rust Man's body slowly fades away, And years of lingering decay Leave but a handful of dry dust; Though wandering winds, that idly fly, Should his disparted ashes bear Through all the wide expanse of air, Man may not perish utterly. Yet till Thou dost build up again This mortal structure by Thy hand, In what far world wilt Thou command The soul to rest, now free from stain? In Abraham's bosom it shall dwell 'Mid verdant bowers, as Lazarus lies Whom Dives sees with longing eyes From out the far-off fires of hell. We trust the words our Saviour said When, victor o'er grim Death, he cried To him who suffered at His side "In Mine own footsteps shalt thou tread." See, open to the faithful soul, The shining paths of Paradise; Now may they to that garden rise Which from mankind the Serpent stole. Guide him, we pray, to that blest bourn, Who served Thee truly here below; May he the bliss of Eden know, Who strayed in banishment forlorn. But we will honour our dear dead With violets and garlands strown, And o'er the cold and graven stone Shall fragrant odours still be shed.

[XI. HYMNUS VIII. KALENDAS IANUARIAS]

Quid est, quod artum [circulum] sol iam recurrens deserit? Christusne terris nascitur, qui lucis auget tramitem? 5Heu quam fugacem gratiam festina volvebat dies, quam pene subductam facem sensim recisa extinxerat! Caelum nitescat laetius, 10gratetur et gaudens humus, scandit gradatim denuo iubar priores lineas. Emerge dulcis pusio, quem mater edit castitas, 15parens et expers coniugis, mediator et duplex genus. Ex ore quamlibet Patris sis ortus et verbo [editus,] tamen paterno in pectore 20sophia callebas [prius.] Quae prompta caelum condidit, caelum diemque et cetera, virtute verbi effecta sunt haec cuncta: nam verbum Deus. 25Sed ordinatis seculis, rerumque digesto statu fundator ipse et artifex permansit in Patris sinu, donec rotata annalium 30transvolverentur milia, atque ipse peccantem diu dignatus orbera viseret. Nam caeca vis mortalium venerans inanes nenias 35vel aera vel saxa algida, vel ligna credebat Deum. Haec dum sequuntur, perfidi praedonis in ius venerant, et mancipatam fumido 40vitam barathro inmerserant: Stragem sed istam non tulit Christus cadentum gentium inpune ne forsan sui Patris periret fabrica. 45Mortale corpus induit, ut excitato corpore mortis catenam frangeret hominemque portaret Patri. Hic ille natalis dies, 50quo te creator arduus spiravit et limo indidit sermone carnem glutinans. Sentisne, virgo nobilis, matura per fastidia 55pudoris intactum decus honore partus crescere? O quanta rerum gaudia alvus pudica continet, ex qua novellum [seculum] 60procedit et lux aurea! Vagitus ille exordium vernantis orbis prodidit, nam tunc renatus sordidum mundus veternum depulit. 65Sparsisse tellurem [reor] rus omne densis floribus, ipsasque arenas syrtium fragrasse nardo et nectare. Te cuncta nascentem puer 70sensere dura et barbara, victusque saxorum rigor obduxit herbam cotibus. Iam mella de scopulis fluunt, iam stillat ilex arido 75sudans amomum stipite, iam sunt myricis balsama. O sancta praesepis tui, aeterne rex, cunabula, populisque per seclum sacra 80mutis et ipsis credita. Adorat haec brutum [pecus] indocta turba scilicet, adorat excors natio, vis cuius in pastu sita est. 85Sed cum fideli spiritu concurrat ad praesepia pagana gens et quadrupes, sapiatque quod brutum fuit: Negat patrum prosapia 90perosa praesentem Deum: credas venenis ebriam furiisve lymphatam rapi. Quid prona per scelus ruis? agnosce, si quidquam tibi 95mentis resedit integrae, ducem tuorum principum. Hunc, quem latebra et [obstetrix,] et virgo feta, et cunulae et inbecilla infantia 100regem dederunt [gentibus,] peccator intueberis celsum coruscis nubibus, deiectus ipse et inritus plangens reatum fletibus: 105Cum vasta signum bucina terris cremandis miserit, et scissus axis cardinem mundi ruentis solverit: Insignis ipse et praeminens 110meritis rependet congrua, his lucis usum perpetis, illis gehennam et tartarum. Iudaea tunc fulmen crucis experta, qui sit, senties, 115quem te furoris praesule mors hausit et mox reddidit.

[XI. HYMN FOR CHRISTMAS-DAY]

Why doth the sun re-orient take A wider range, his limits break? Lo! Christ is born, and o'er earth's night Shineth from more to more the light! Too swiftly did the radiant day Her brief course run and pass away: She scarce her kindly torch had fired Ere slowly fading it expired. Now let the sky more brightly beam, The earth take up the joyous theme: The orb a broadening pathway gains And with its erstwhile splendour reigns. Sweet babe, of chastity the flower, A virgin's blest mysterious dower! Rise in Thy twofold nature's might: Rise, God and man to reunite! Though by the Father's will above Thou wert begot, the Son of Love, Yet in His bosom Thou didst dwell, Of Wisdom the eternal Well; Wisdom, whereby the heavens were made And light's foundations first were laid: Creative Word! all flows from Thee! The Word is God eternally. For though with process of the suns The ordered whole harmonious runs, Still the Artificer Divine Leaves not the Father's inmost shrine. The rolling wheels of Time had passed O'er their millennial journey vast, Before in judgment clad He came Unto the world long steeped in shame. The purblind souls of mortals crass Had trusted gods of stone and brass, To things of nought their worship paid And senseless blocks of wood obeyed. And thus employed, they fell below The sway of man's perfidious foe: Plunged in the smoky sheer abyss They sank bereft of their true bliss. But that sore plight of ruined man Christ's pity could not lightly scan: Nor let God's building nobly wrought Ingloriously be brought to nought. He wrapped Him in our fleshly guise, That from the tomb He might arise, And man released from death's grim snare Home to His Father's bosom bear. This is the day of Thy dear birth, The bridal of the heaven and earth, When the Creator breathed on Thee The breath of pure humanity. Ah! glorious Maid, dost thou not guess What guerdon thy chaste soul shall bless, How by thy ripening pangs is bought An honour greater than all thought? O what a load of joy untold Thy womb inviolate doth hold! Of thee a golden age is born, The brightness of the earth's new morn! Hearken! doth not the infant's wail The universal springtide hail? For now the world re-born lays by Its gloomy, frost-bound apathy. Methinks in all her rustic bowers The earth is spread with clustering flowers: Odours of nard and nectar sweet E'en o'er the sands of Syrtes fleet. All places rough and deserts wild Have felt from far Thy coming, Child: Rocks to Thy gentle empire bow And verdure clothes the mountain brow. Sweet honey from the boulder leaps: The sere and leafless oak-bough weeps A strange rich attar: tamarisks too Of balsam pure distil the dew. Blessèd for ever, cradle dear, The lowly stall, the cavern drear! Men to this shrine, Eternal King, With dumb brutes adoration bring. The ox and ass in homage low Obedient to their Maker bow: Bows too the unlearn'd heartless crowd Whose minds the sensual feast doth cloud. Though, by the faithful Spirit impelled, Shepherds and brutes, unreasoning held, Yea, folk that did in darkness dwell Discern their God in His poor cell: Yet children of the sacred race Blindly abhor the Incarnate grace: By philtres you might deem them lulled Or by some bacchic phrenzy dulled. Why headlong thus to ruin stride? If aught of soundness in you bide, Behold in Him the Lord divine Of all your patriarchal line. Mark you the dim-lit cave, the Maid, The humble nurse, the cradle laid, The helpless infancy forlorn: Yet thus the Gentiles' King was born! Ah sinner, thou shalt one day see This Child in dreadful majesty, See Him in glorious clouds descend, While thou thy guilty heart shalt rend. Vain all thy tears, when loud shall sound The trump, when flames shall scorch the ground, When from its hinge the cloven world Is loosed, in horrid tumult hurled. Then throned on high, the Judge of all Shall mortals to their reckoning call: To these shall grant the prize of light, To those Gehenna's gloomy night. Then, Israel, shalt thou learn at length The Cross hath, as the lightning, strength: Doomed by thy wrath, He now is Lord, Whom Death once grasped but soon restored.

[XII. HYMNUS EPIPHANIAE]

Quicumque Christum [quaeritis,] oculos in altum tollite, illic licebit visere signum perennis gloriae. 5Haec stella, quae solis [rotam] vincit decore ac lumine, venisse terris nuntiat cum carne terrestri Deum. Non illa servit noctibus 10secuta lunam menstruam, sed sola caelum possidens cursum dierum [temperat.] Arctoa quamvis sidera in se retortis motibus 15obire nolint, [attamen] plerumque sub nimbis latent. Hoc sidus aeternum manet, haec stella nunquam mergitur, nec nubis occursu abdita 20obumbrat obductam facem. Tristis cometa intercidat, et si quod astrum Sirio fervet vapore, iam Dei sub luce destructum cadat. 25En Persici ex orbis sinu, sol unde sumit ianuam, cernunt periti interpretes regale vexillum Magi. Quod ut refulsit, ceteri 30cessere signorum globi, nec pulcher est ausus suam conferre formam Lucifer. Quis iste tantus, inquiunt, regnator astris inperans, 35quem sic tremunt caelestia, cui lux et aethra inserviunt. [Inlustre] quiddam cernimus, quod nesciat finem pati, sublime, celsum, interminum, 40antiquius caelo et chao. Hic ille rex est gentium populique rex Iudaici, promissus Abrahae patri eiusque in aevum semini. 45Aequanda nam stellis sua cognovit olim germina primus sator credentium, nati inmolator unici. Iam flos subit [Davidicus] 50radice Iesse editus, sceptrique per virgam virens rerum cacumen occupat. Exin sequuntur perciti fixis in altum vultibus, 55qua stella sulcum traxerat claramque signabat viam. Sed verticem pueri supra signum pependit inminens, pronaque submissum face 60caput sacratum prodidit. [Videre] quod postquam Magi, eoa promunt munera, stratique votis offerunt tus, myrrham, et aurum regium. 65Agnosce clara insignia virtutis ac regni tui, puer o, cui trinam Pater praedestinavit indolem. Regem Deumque [adnuntiant] 70thesaurus et fragrans odor turis Sabaei, ac myrrheus pulvis sepulcrum praedocet. Hoc est sepulcrum, quo Deus, dum corpus extingui sinit 75atque id sepultum suscitat, mortis refregit carcerem. [O] sola magnarum urbium maior Bethlem, cui contigit ducem salutis caelitus 80incorporatum gignere. Altrice te summo Patri haeres creatur unicus, homo ex tonantis spiritu idemque sub membris Deus. 85[Hunc] et prophetis testibus isdemque signatoribus, testator et sator iubet adire regnum et cernere: Regnum, quod ambit omnia 90diva et marina et terrea a solis ortu ad exitum et tartara et caelum supra. [Audit] tyrannus anxius adesse regum principem, 95qui nomen Israel regat teneatque David regiam. Exclamat amens nuntio, successor instat, pellimur; satelles i, ferrum rape, 100perfunde cunas sanguine. Mas omnis infans occidat, scrutare nutricum sinus, interque materna ubera ensem cruentet pusio. 105Suspecta per Bethlem mihi puerperarum est omnium fraus, ne qua furtim subtrahat prolem virilis indolis. Transfigit ergo carnifex 110mucrone destricto furens effusa nuper corpora, animasque rimatur novas. Locum minutis artubus vix interemptor invenit, 115quo plaga descendat patens iuguloque maior pugio est. O barbarum spectaculum! inlisa cervix cautibus spargit cerebrum lacteum 120oculosque per vulnus vomit. Aut in profundum palpitans mersatur infans gurgitem, cui subter artis faucibus singultat unda et halitus. 125[Salvete] flores martyrum, quos lucis ipso in limine Christi insecutor sustulit, ceu turbo nascentes rosas. Vos prima Christi victima, 130grex inmolatorum tener, aram ante ipsam simplices palma et coronis luditis. [Quid] proficit tantum nefas, quid crimen Herodem iuvat? 135unus tot inter funera inpune Christus tollitur. Inter coaevi sanguinis fluenta solus integer ferrum, quod orbabat nurus, 140partus fefellit virginis. Sic stulta Pharaonis mali edicta quondam fugerat Christi figuram praeferens Moyses, receptor civium. 145Cautum et statutum ius erat, quo non liceret matribus, cum pondus alvi absolverent, puerile pignus tollere. Mens obstetricis sedulae 150pie in tyrannum contumax ad spem potentis gloriae furata servat parvulum: Quem mox sacerdotem sibi adsumpsit orbis conditor, 155per quem notatam saxeis legem tabellis traderet. Licetne Christum noscere tanti per exemplum viri? dux ille caeso Aegyptio 160absolvit Israel iugo. At nos subactos iugiter erroris inperio gravi dux noster hoste saucio mortis tenebris liberat. 165Hic expiatam fluctibus plebem marino in transitu repurgat undis dulcibus, lucis columnam praeferens: Hic praeliante exercitu, 170pansis in altum brachiis, sublimis Amalech premit, crucis quod instar tunc [fuit.] Hic nempe Iesus verior, qui longa post dispendia 175victor suis tribulibus promissa solvit iugera. Qui ter quaternas denique refluentis amnis alveo fundavit et fixit petras, 180apostolorum stemmata. Iure ergo se Iudae ducem vidisse testantur Magi, cum facta priscorum ducum Christi figuram finxerint. 185Hic rex priorum iudicum, rexere qui Iacob genus, dominaeque rex ecclesiae, templi et novelli et pristini. Hunc posteri Efrem colunt, 190hunc sancta Manasse domus omnesque suspiciunt tribus bis sena fratrum semina. Quin et propago [degener] ritum secuta inconditum, 195quaecumque dirum fervidis Baal caminis coxerat, fumosa avorum numina saxum, metallum, stipitem, rasum, dolatum, sectile, 200in Christi honorem deserit. Gaudete quidquid gentium est, Iudaea, Roma, et Graecia, Aegypte, Thrax, Persa, Scytha, rex unus omnes possidet. 205Laudate vestrum principem omnes beati, ac perditi, vivi, inbecilli ac mortui: iam nemo posthac mortuus.

[XII. HYMN FOR THE EPIPHANY]

Lift up your eyes, whoe'er ye be That fare the new-born Christ to see: For yonder is the shining sign Of grace perennial and divine. What means this star, whose piercing rays Outshine the sun's resplendent blaze? 'Tis token sure that God is come In mortal flesh to make His home. No courtier of the realms of night Nor monthly moon's bright acolyte, This star directs the course of day, Sole sovereign of the heavenly way. Although the Bears their track retrace, Nor wholly their clear beams efface, Yet ofttimes 'neath the dun cloud's haze They hide themselves from mortal gaze. But yon Star's glory hath no end, Nor to the depths can it descend: It ne'er is whelmed by envious cloud That seeks its beauty to enshroud. Now let the baleful comet die, The brood of blazing Sirius fly: God's orb shall quench their sultry heats And drive them from their haughty seats. Lo! from the regions of the morn Wherein the radiant sun is born, The Persian sages see on high God's ensign shining in the sky. Soon as its rising beams prevail The starry hosts in order pale: E'en Lucifer durst not upraise The silvery splendours of his face. Who is this sovereign (they enquire) That lords it o'er the ethereal choir? 'Fore whom the heavens bow down afraid, Of all the worlds of light obeyed? Sure 'tis the sign most reverend Of Being that doth know no end: Of One in state sublime arrayed Ere sky and chaos yet were made. This is the King of Israel, Of all in Gentile lands that dwell: The King to Abram and his seed Throughout all ages erst decreed. To him 'twas given his progeny As stars innumerous to see: First of believers! moved to slay His only son, so God to obey. Behold the Flower of David shine, Of Jesse's root the Branch benign: The sceptre spread with blossoms rare Wields o'er the world its lordship fair. Roused by the portent of the sky The sages fix their gaze on high, And speed them 'neath the furrowed way Marked by the star's effulgent ray. At length its flaming steps it stayed Poised over where the Child was laid: Straightway with downcast mien it shed Its splendours on the sacred Head. Whereat the travellers outpour Of Eastern gifts their treasure-store, Myrrh and sweet-smelling frankincense, Gold meet for regal opulence. Behold herein the triple sign Of Thy pure being, King divine: Seeing the Father willed in Thee To plant a threefold majesty. The gift of gold thee King proclaims: Thee God the fragrant incense names: The myrrh declares that Death shall thrust Within the tomb Thy body's dust. Ah! that dark sepulchre, whose fold God's body quenched in death doth hold: Yet shall He from that durance wake And Death's strong prison-fetters break. O Bethlehem! no longer thou The least of cities: all shall vow That thou art greatest on the earth: For thou man's King didst bring to birth. Yea thou didst on thy bosom bear The All-loving Father's only heir: Man of the Thunderer's Spirit made And God in human flesh arrayed. The prophets witnessed to the bond Which sealed to Him the realm profound: The Father's Kingdom He received And the vast legacy perceived. All things are His in sea and sky, In hell beneath, in heaven on high: From East to setting sun, in fee He holds the earth's immensity. Distraught, the tyrant base doth hear That now the King of Kings draws near To reign in David's seat of state And Israel's empire dominate. "Betrayed are we," he maddened cries, "Our throne's usurper doth arise: Go, soldiers, go with sword in hand And slay all babes within my land. "Spare no male child: each nurse's robe Your scrutinizing steel must probe: Spare not the suckling infant, though O'er mother's breast its life-blood flow. "On Bethlehem our suspicion falls, On every hearth within its walls: Lest mothers with love's tender zeal Some manly scion may conceal." With daggers drawn the infuriate crew Upon their murderous errand flew: Each latest offspring of the womb To bloody death they foully doom. Ah tiny limbs! 'twas hard to know How best to strike the fatal blow: Too wide the sword-blades are to smite Those throats so silken-fragile, slight. O horrid sight! the tender bones Are dashed against the jaggèd stones: Sightless and mangled there they lie, Poor babes! untimely doomed to die. Perchance the still deep river laves Their bodies thrust into the waves: The current with their sighing sighs, Sobs with their latest, broken cries. Ye flowers of martyrdom, all hail! Of rising morn pure blossoms frail! By Jesu's foe were ye downcast, Like budding roses by the blast. Lambs of the flock too early slain, Ye first fruits of Christ's bitter pain! Close to His very altar, gay With palms and crowns, ye now do play. Of what avail is deed so vile? Doth Herod gain by murderous guile? Of all to death so foully done Escapes triumphant Christ alone. Amidst that tide of infant gore Alone He wins the sheltering shore: The virgin's Child survives the stroke, When every mother's heart was broke. Thus Moses 'scaped the mad decree Of evil Pharaoh and set free The flock of God, prefiguring so Christ spared from fate's malignant blow. Vain too the king's hostility Who framed the pitiless decree That Israel's mothers should not rear To manhood's strength their offspring dear. Quickened by love, a woman's mind Found means to thwart that law unkind, And, falsely true, the child concealed Destined to be his people's Shield. On him it was that God did place The august priesthood's holy grace, The law on stony tablets writ Did to his trembling hands commit. And may we not with prophet's eye In such a hero Christ descry? The proud Egyptian's might he broke And freed his kinsmen from the yoke. So we by Error's might hemmed round Were by our Captain's strength unbound: His foe He wounded in the fight And saved us from Death's horrid night. Cheering by sign of flame their feet, Moses renewed with waters sweet His folk, albeit purified From stain, what time they crossed the tide. And he, remote on peaceful height, Amalek's banded hosts did smite: He prayed with arms stretched out above, Foreshadowing the Cross of Love. Yet truer Jesus surely he, Who after many a victory And labours long the tribes' renown With promised heritage did crown; Who when the waters rose on high And now the Jordan's bed was dry, Set up twelve stones of memory, Types of apostles yet to be. Rightly the Wise Men said, I ween, That they Judaea's King had seen, Since noble deeds of other days Prophetic chant the Saviour's praise. Of those old rulers He is King Who did to Jacob judgment bring, King of the Mother Church divine, God's ancient and God's present Shrine. Of Ephraim's sons He is adored: Manasseh's sacred house as Lord Reveres Him: to His might the seed Of brethren twelve their fealty plead. Nay, each degenerate race hath fled Its shameful rites and orgies dread: Grim Baal in glowing furnace cast Sinks to the earth, forsook at last. Idols smoke-blackened, wooden-hewn, Of brass and stone, in dust are strewn: The chiselled deities downtrod: For all confess in Christ their God. Rejoice all peoples, Jewry, Rome, Fair Hellas, Thrace, Aegyptus' home: Persians and Scythian land forlorn, Rejoice: the world's great King is born! Behold your Chief! His praise forth tell: Ye sick, ye hale, all heaven and hell: Ay, you whose vital spark hath sped: For lo! in Him e'en Death is dead.

[EPILOGUS]

Inmolat Deo Patri pius, fidelis, innocens, pudicus dona conscientiae, quibus beata mens abundat intus: 5alter et pecuniam recidit, unde victitent egeni. Nos citos iambicos sacramus et rotatiles trochaeos, sanctitatis indigi 10nec ad levamen pauperum potentes; adprobat tamen Deus pedestre carmen, et benignus audit. Multa divitis domo sita est per omnes angulos supellex. 15Fulget aureus scyphus, nec aere defit expolita pelvis: est et olla fictilis, gravisque et ampla argentea est parabsis. Sunt eburna quaepiam, 20nonnulla quercu sunt cavata et ulmo: omne vas fit utile, quod est ad usum congruens herilem, Instruunt enim domum ut empta magno, sic parata ligno. 25Me paterno in atrio ut obsoletum vasculum caducis Christus aptat usibus, sinitque parte in anguli manere. Munus ecce fictile 30inimus intra regiam salutis; attamen vel infimam Deo obsequelam praestitisse prodest. Quidquid illud accidit, iuvabit ore personasse Christum.

[EPILOGUE]

The pure and faithful saint, whose heart is whole, To God the Father makes his sacrifice From out the treasures of a stainless soul, Glad gifts of innocence, beyond all price: Another with free hand bestows his gold, Whereby his needy neighbour may be fed. No wealth of holiness my heart doth hold, No store have I to buy my brothers bread: So here I humbly dedicate to Thee The rolling trochee and iambus swift; Thou wilt approve my simple minstrelsy, Thine ear will listen to Thy servant's gift. The rich man's halls are nobly furnishèd; Therein no nook or corner empty seems; Here stands the brazen laver burnishèd, And there the golden goblet brightly gleams; Hard by some crock of clumsy earthen ware, Massive and ample lies a silver plate; And rough-hewn cups of oak or elm are there With vases carved of ivory delicate. Yet every vessel in its place is good, So be it for the Master's service meet; The priceless salver and the bowl of wood Alike He needs to make His home complete. Therefore within His Father's spacious hall Christ fits me for the service of a day, Mean though I be, a vessel poor and small,-- And in some lowly corner lets me stay. Lo in the palace of the King of Kings I play the earthen pitcher's humble part; Yet to have done Him meanest service brings A thrill of rapture to my thankful heart: Whate'er the end, this thought will joy afford, My lips have sung the praises of my Lord.

---

[This edition of the Cathemerinon of Prudentius] has been prepared for the Temple Classics by Rev. R. MARTIN POPE, M.A. (St John's College, Cambridge, translator of the "Letters of John Hus"), who has done the translation of the Praefatio and Hymns i., ii., iii., viii., xi., xii., with notes thereon and the note on Prudentius. For the rendering of Hymns iv., v., vi., vii., ix., x., and the Epilogus with notes thereon, Mr R.F. DAVIS, M.A. (St John's College, Cambridge), is responsible. The text, with some minor alterations in orthography and punctuation, is that of Dressel (Lipsiae, 1860). The frontispiece is due to the kind suggestion of Dr SANDYS, Public Orator of Cambridge University, to whom the thanks of the translators are hereby presented.

[TRANSLATOR'S NOTE]

AURELIUS PRUDENTIUS CLEMENS (to give his full title) was born, probably at Saragossa (Caesaraugusta), in Spain, in the year of our Lord 348. The fourth century exercised a profound influence alike on the destiny of the Roman Empire and of the Christian Church. After a long discipline, strangely alternating between fiery persecution and contemptuous toleration, the Church entered upon a new era, when in 323 Constantine, the first Christian emperor, became master of the Roman world. Two years later the Council of Nicaea met to utter its verdict on the Arian controversy and to establish the terms of the orthodox symbol. A generation later Julian took up the reins of empire and commenced his quixotic and fruitless attempt to revive the glories of Paganism. Athanasius died in 373: but fourteen years later Augustine, his successor in the championship of the faith, was baptized, and in 395, at the death of Theodosius, when the Empire was divided between Honorius and Arcadius, he became Bishop of Hippo, and was marked out by his saintliness and learning as the leader of the Western Church, which he shaped by his splendid ideal of the Civitas Dei into unity and stability, when the secular empire was falling into decay.

We know little more of the life of Prudentius than he himself has disclosed. The Preface, which stands as an introduction to his poems, is a miniature autobiography of great interest. M. Boissier in his Fin du Paganisme calls it mélancolique: though it is rather the retrospect of a serious and awakened, but not morbid, conscience. Prudentius views his past years in the light of that new spiritual truth to which he has opened his soul. We gather that he received a liberal education and was called to the bar. We need not misunderstand the allusion to the deceitfulness of the barrister life, seeing that the ordinary arts of rhetoric stand condemned by his recently adopted ethical standard. He held two important judicial posts and was promoted to a high position, probably in the civil service and not outside the limits of his native province, the provincia Tarraconensis.

He speaks of himself as having reached the age of fifty-seven, which brings us down to 405, and as intending to consecrate his remaining years to the poetic treatment of religious subjects. When and how he became a Christian we do not know, and it were vain to guess, although the suggestion that he may have owed his conversion to the influence of some Christian family of his acquaintance is at least interesting. It is unlikely that he took up poetry for the first time in his old age. His mastery of all kinds of metre--heroic and lyric--prove the practised hand. The probability is that in the years of repose after a busy career his desire to redeem an unspiritual past suggested for the exercise of his natural gifts a field hitherto unoccupied by any of the writers of his age. Why not consecrate his powers to the task of interesting the literary circles of the Empire in the evangel of Christ? Why not present the truths of Christianity in a poetic guise, wrought into forms of beauty and set forth in the classical metres of Roman literature? This became the passion of his life, and however we may view the results of his toil, the spirit in which he went to work, as described in the touching Epilogue, cannot but evoke our profound admiration. He is but a vessel of earth, but whatever the issue may be, it will be a lasting joy to have sounded forth the praise of Christ in song.

This then is how Prudentius becomes the first poet of the Christian Church, or, as Bentley called him, "the Virgil and Horace of the Christians." Doubtless there were other influences at work to determine the sphere to which he was naturally attract. Ambrose, who was Bishop of Milan when Prudentius was twenty-six years of age, had written the first Latin hymns to be sung in church. Augustine in a familiar passage of the Confessions (ix. 7.) describes how "the custom arose of singing hymns and psalms, after the use of the Eastern provinces, to save the people from being utterly worn out by their long and sorrowful vigils." "From that day to this," he adds, "it has been retained and, many might say, all Thy flocks throughout the rest of the world now follow our example." To Ambrose and Augustine the Church of Christ is for ever indebted: to the latter for a devotional treatise which is the most familiar of all the writings of the fourth century: to the former for the hymns of praise which he composed and the practice of singing which he thus inaugurated in the worship of the Western Church. But the Church owes something also to Prudentius, a much more gifted poet than Ambrose. The collection of hymns known as the Cathemerinon or Hymns for the day is as little adapted for ecclesiastical worship as Keble's Christian Year, although excerpts from these poems have passed into the hymnology of the Church, just as portions of Keble's work have passed into most hymn books. For example, seven of these excerpts in the form of hymns are to be found in the Roman Breviary, and thus for centuries the lyrics of Prudentius have been sung in the daily services of the Church.

Seeing that Prudentius must address himself to most English readers through the imperfect medium of a translation, it may be well to remind those who make their first acquaintance with him that a historical imagination is an indispensable condition of interest and sympathy. If Prudentius has a habit of leaving the main issue and making lengthy and tedious détours into the picturesque parables and miraculous incidents of the Old Testament, there is method in his digressiveness. He knows that one of the charms of Paganism lies in its rich and variegated mythology. Yet Christianity also can point to an even nobler inheritance of the supernatural and the wonderful in the mysterious evolutions of its history. Hence the stories of the early patriarchs, of the Israelites and Moses, of Daniel and Jonah, are imported by the poet as pictorial illustrations of his theme. If occasionally the details border on the grotesque, he certainly reveals a striking knowledge of the Old Testament.

The New Testament is also adequately represented. In one poem ([ix.]) the miracles of Christ in His earthly ministry and His descent into Hades are narrated with considerable spirit and eloquence. Besides being a student of the Bible, Prudentius is a theologian. His theology is that of the Nicene Creed. The Fall of man, the personality of the Tempter, the mystery of the Trinity and of the Incarnation, the Virgin-birth, the Death and Resurrection of Christ, the pains of the lost and the bliss of the saints, the resurrection of the Body and the life everlasting--these are the themes of his pen, the themes too of the theology of his age. If the poet's treatment of these truths occasionally appears antiquated and crude to modern ideas, it is at least dignified and intelligent. His mind has absorbed the Christian religion and the Christian theology, and he not unfrequently rises to noble heights in the interpretation of their mysteries. His didactic poems, the Hamartigenia or the Origin of Evil and the Apotheosis, a treatise on the Person of Christ, prove him to be a theologian of no mean calibre. He is also an allegorist, as is proved by the Psychomachia or the Battle of the Soul, a kind of Holy War which was very popular in the Middle Ages. He is a martyrologist: as witness the Peristephanon, a series of poems on Christian, principally Spanish, martyrs. Moreover, he is an undoubted patriot, and in the Contra Symmachum, which he wrote on the famous affair of the Altar of Victory, he proves that, while a Christian, he is also civis Romanus, loyal to the Empire and the powers that be. He is a skilful versifier, and in this connection the quatrains of the Dittochaeon, verses on themes of the Old and New Testaments, may be mentioned in order to complete the list of his works. His mastery of his very varied metres--hexameter, iambic, trochaic and sapphic--is undoubted: everywhere we note the influence of Virgil and Horace, even when these poets are not recalled by echoes of their diction which are constantly greeting the reader of his poems.

Reference has already been made to the influence of Ambrose of Milan upon the thought and style of Prudentius. But there is a second and even more powerful influence that deserves at least briefly to be noted--namely, the Christian art of the Catacombs. Apart from such definite statements as e.g. are found in Peristephanon xi., it is obvious that Prudentius had a first-hand knowledge of Rome and particularly of the Catacombs. Everywhere in his poems we find evidences of the deep impression made upon his imagination by the paintings and sculptures of subterranean Rome. The now familiar representations which decorate the remains of the Catacombs suggested to him many of the allusions, the picturesque vignettes and glowing descriptions to be found in his poetry. Thus, the story of Jonah--a common theme typifying the Resurrection--the story of Daniel with its obvious consolations for an age of martyrs, the Good Shepherd and the denial of Peter may be mentioned among the numerous subjects which were reproduced in early Christian art and transferred by the poet to his verse. The symbolism of the Cock, the Dove, and the Lamb borne on the shoulders of the Good Shepherd is a perpetually recurring feature in the lyrics and martyr-hymns of Prudentius, who thus becomes one of our most valuable authorities on the Christian art of the fourth century.

The poems, of which a new English rendering is presented in this volume, are acknowledged by most critics to illustrate some of his best qualities, his brightness and dignity, his touches of nature-painting and his capacity for sustained and well-wrought narrative. As we study these lyrics of the early Church, we feel anew the mighty change that Christianity wrought in Roman life by its doctrine of immortality, and we note the curious fascination which the circumstances of the Nativity and especially the Adoration of the Magi had for the Western world. Prudentius had a great vogue in the Middle Ages, and the modern renewal of interest in mediaevalism invests with fresh dignity a poet whose works at the Revival of learning provoked the admiration of Erasmus^[1] and the researches of numerous scholars and editors. But it is undoubtedly to the student of ecclesiastical history and dogma and to the lovers of Christian art and antiquities that Prudentius most truly appeals. He claims our interest, not merely because he reflects the Christian environment of his days, but because his poetry represents an attempt to preach Christ to a world still fascinated by Paganism, while conscious that the old order was changing and yielding place to new.

^[1]Prudentium, unum inter Christianos vere facundum poetam.

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