| Line | |
| [2] | Word-begot. The original verbigena, on the analogy of such words (cf. terrigena, Martigena, etc.), can only mean "begotten of the Word." It is evident, therefore, the "Word" in this connection is not the Johannine Logos or Second Person in the Trinity. Prudentius cannot be guilty of the error which he expressly condemns (Apoth. 249) as perquam ridiculum and regard the Logos as begetting Himself. Consequently, both in this passage and in [xi. 18] (verbo editus) the "Word" must be taken as approximating rather to the Alexandrian conception of the Logos as the Divine Reason. In this way Christ is expressly described as the offspring of the Intellectus Dei, the immanent Intelligence of the Deity. If this conception is considered to be beyond Prudentius, we can only suppose that both here and in [xi. 18], his language is theologically loose. Some excuse may be offered for this on the ground that the Latin language is ill-adapted for expressing metaphysical truths. The late Bishop Westcott remarked on the inadequacy of the Latin original of "the Word was made flesh" (verbum caro factum est), both substantive and verb falling short of the richness of their Greek equivalents. (Vid. also [note on iv. 15].) |
| [11] | Cf. Ambrose, Hymn vii.:--
"Christusque nobis sit cibus Potusque noster sit fides; Laeti bibamus sobriam Ebrietatem Spiritus." Translation. "May Christ be now the Bread we eat, Be simple Faith our potion sweet: Let our intoxication be The Spirit's calm sobriety." The idea is familiar to readers of Herbert and Herrick, though it is elaborated by them with quaint conceits somewhat foreign to the Latin poet. Cf. Herbert, The Banquet:-- "O what sweetnesse from the bowl Fills my soul! * * * * * Is some starre (fled from the sphere) Melted there, As we sugar melt in wine? * * * * * Doubtless neither starre nor flower Hath the power Such a sweetnesse to impart: Only God, Who gives perfumes, Flesh assumes, And with it perfumed my heart." Also Herrick, A Thanksgiving to God:-- "Lord, I confess too, when I dine, The pulse is thine. * * * * * 'Tis thou that crown'st my glittering hearth With guiltless mirth, And giv'st me wassail bowls to drink, Spiced to the brink." |
| [28] | The original dactylico refers to the metre of the Latin of this poem. For a rendering of ll. 1-65 in the metre of the original see Glover, Life and Letters in the Fourth Century, pp. 267-269. |
| [58] | This and the following lines should satisfy the most ardent vegetarian who seeks to uphold his abstinence from animal food by the customs of the early Church. In Christian circles, however, the abstinence was practised on personal and spiritual grounds, e.g., Jerome (de Regul. Monach., xi.) says, "The eating of flesh is the seed-plot of lust" (seminarium libidinis): so also Augustine (de moribus Ecc. Cath., i. 33), who supports what doubtless was the view of Prudentius, namely that the avoidance of animal flesh was a safe-guard but not a binding Christian duty. |
| [75] | Unwed. Prudentius thus adopts the view of the ancient world on the question of the generation of bees. Cf. Virgil, Geo. iv. 198, and Pliny, Nat. Hist., xi. 16. Dryden's translation of Virgil (l.c.) is as follows:-- "But (what's more strange) their modest appetites, Averse from Venus, fly the nuptial rights; No lust enervates their heroic mind, Nor wastes their strength on wanton womankind, But in their mouths reside their genial powers, They gather children from the leaves and flowers." |
| [86] | Cf. Ps. liv. 18, 19 (Vulg.): Vespere et mane et meridie narrabo et annuntiabo et exaudiet vocem meam. "In the evening and morning and at noonday will I pray, and that instantly and he shall hear my voice" (P. B. Version). |
| [127] | This is, strictly speaking, an error: it is the woman's seed which is to bruise the serpent's head. The error was perpetuated in the Latin Church by the Vulgate of Gen. iii. 15, ipsa conteret caput tuum, where ipsa refers to the woman (= she herself). |
| [157] | The epithet "white-robed" refers to the newly-baptized converts who received the white robe as a symbol of their new nature. Cf. Perist. i. 67: Christus illic candidatis praesidet cohortibus, and Ambrose (de Mysteriis, vii.): "Thou didst receive (that is, after baptism) white garments as a sign that thou hast doffed the covering of thy sins and put on the chaste raiment (velamina) of innocence, whereof the prophet spake (Ps. li. 7), 'Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow'" (Vulg.). |
| [199] | Phlegethon (rendered "Hell"), one of the rivers of the Virgilian Hades, is
used to express the abode of the lost. Cf. Milton, P. L., ii. 580:--
"... fierce Phlegethon,
Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage."
The subject of the descensus ad inferos was evidently a favourite
one with Prudentius and his contemporaries. It has been suggested that
apart from the scriptural basis of this conception Prudentius was
influenced by the so-called Gospel of Nicodemus, which embodies two
books, the Acts of Pilate and the Descent into Hell. The latter is
assigned by several critics to 400 or thereabouts, and gives a graphic
account of Christ's doings in Hades. Synesius deals with the subject in
one of his hymns (ix.), and Mrs Browning's translation (see the essay on
The Greek Christian Poets) of a passage in that poem may be quoted:--
"Down Thou earnest, low as earth, Bound to those of mortal birth; Down Thou earnest, low as hell, Where Shepherd-Death did tend and keep A thousand nations like to sheep, While weak with age old Hades fell Shivering through his dark to view Thee. * * * * * So, redeeming from their pain Chains of disembodied ones, Thou didst lead whom thou didst gather Upward in ascent again, With a great hymn to the Father, Upward to the pure white thrones!" For a modern treatment of the theme see Christ in Hades, by Stephen Phillips. |
| [202] | The words suggest the Catacombs, and perhaps refer to the custom of placing in the tomb a small cup or vase containing spices, of which myrrh (a symbol of death, according to Gregory of Nyssa, cf. xii. 71) was most usually employed. Or the allusion may be to the practice of embalming. (See [note on x. 51.]) The body was placed not only in an actual sarcophagus or stone coffin, as expressly mentioned in the text, but in hollow places cut out of rock or earth (loculus). The sarcophagus method seems to have been the earlier, but was superseded by that of the loculus, except in the case of the very wealthy. |
| [205] | The concluding line is beautifully illustrated by the epitaph on the martyr Alexander, found over one of the graves in the cemetery of Callixtus in the Catacombs:-- ALEXANDER MORTVVS NON EST SED VIVIT SVPER ASTRA ET CORPVS IN HOC TVMVLO QVIESCIT ... "Alexander is not dead, but lives above the stars and his body rests in this tomb." |
"Christusque nobis sit cibus
Potusque noster sit fides;
Laeti bibamus sobriam
Ebrietatem Spiritus."Translation.
"May Christ be now the Bread we eat,
Be simple Faith our potion sweet:
Let our intoxication be
The Spirit's calm sobriety."
"O what sweetnesse from the bowl
Fills my soul!
* * * * *
Is some starre (fled from the sphere)
Melted there,
As we sugar melt in wine?
* * * * *
Doubtless neither starre nor flower
Hath the power
Such a sweetnesse to impart:
Only God, Who gives perfumes,
Flesh assumes,
And with it perfumed my heart."
"Lord, I confess too, when I dine,
The pulse is thine.
* * * * *
'Tis thou that crown'st my glittering hearth
With guiltless mirth,
And giv'st me wassail bowls to drink,
Spiced to the brink."
"But (what's more strange) their modest appetites,
Averse from Venus, fly the nuptial rights;
No lust enervates their heroic mind,
Nor wastes their strength on wanton womankind,
But in their mouths reside their genial powers,
They gather children from the leaves and flowers."
"... fierce Phlegethon,
Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage."
"Down Thou earnest, low as earth,
Bound to those of mortal birth;
Down Thou earnest, low as hell,
Where Shepherd-Death did tend and keep
A thousand nations like to sheep,
While weak with age old Hades fell
Shivering through his dark to view Thee.
* * * * *
So, redeeming from their pain
Chains of disembodied ones,
Thou didst lead whom thou didst gather
Upward in ascent again,
With a great hymn to the Father,
Upward to the pure white thrones!"
ALEXANDER MORTVVS NON EST SED VIVIT
SVPER ASTRA ET CORPVS IN HOC TVMVLO
QVIESCIT ...
"Alexander is not dead, but lives above the stars
and his body rests in this tomb."