[Footnote 230: August. Confess., lib. ix., c. 12.]
"Deus creator omnium
Polique rector, vestiens
Diem decoro lumine
Noctem sopora gratia.
"Artus solutos ut quies
Reddat laboris usul,
Mentesque fessas adievet
Lactusque solvat anxios."
Ambrose was born about the year 340; his father was a prefect of Gaul, and belonged to a noble family. Before the age of thirty he himself was consul of Liguria, and dwelt in Milan. Up to this time he had no notion of becoming an ecclesiastic. But Anxentius, the Arian bishop, having died, a dispute arose between the citizens of Milan and the emperor, as to who should appoint the successor, each trying to evade the responsibility. It was left to the people; the city was in a state of great excitement, and a tumultuous assemblage filled the cathedral, in the midst of whom appeared Ambrose in his civil capacity, to command peace, and it is said that in the lull which ensued, a voice was heard crying, "Ambrose is bishop," which the whole mass of people, seized by a sudden impulse, repeated. [{820}] Soon afterward he was ordained and consecrated. The majority of the people were opposed to Arianism, and he was soon involved in a dispute with the Empress Justina, who required him to give up the Portian Basilica to the Arians. He refused, and accompanied by a multitude of people, took possession of the church, and fastened the doors. The imperial troops besieged them for several days, during which time the people kept singing the hymns of Ambrose. Monica, the mother of Augustine, is said to have been amongst the crowd in the church. One of Ambrose's hymns was used for centuries as a morning hymn, called Hymn at the Cock-crowing; another Advent hymn, Veni Creator gentium; one for Easter, Hic est dies verus Dei. St. Hilary, Bishop of Arles in the sixth century, is the next of the Ambrosian period; the best known of his hymns is that to the morning, Lucis largitor splendide. But the most prominent name of the period after Ambrose is Prudentius, who was born about 348, practised in the courts as a pleader, and in his fifty-seventh year forsook the world, and spent the rest of his days in religious exercises. One of his great hymns is for Epiphany, O sola magnarum urbium, another on the Innocents, Salvete flores martyrum; but the hymn most known is a very beautiful, perhaps his most beautiful composition, a funeral hymn, beginning Jam maesta quiesce querela. After the reformation, this hymn was adopted by the German Protestants as their favorite funeral hymn, their version beginning "Hört auf mil Trauern und Klagen."
The resurrection of the body is thus expressed—
"Non si cariosa vetustas
Dissolverit ossa favillis
Fueritque cinisculus arens
Minimi mensura pugilli:
"Nec si vaga flamina et aurae
Vacuum per inane volantes
Tulerint cum pulvere nervos
Hominem periisse licebit"
"For though, through the slow lapse of ages,
These mouldering bones should grow old,
Reduced to a handful of ashes.
A child in its hands may enfold.
"Though flames should consume it and breezes
Invisibly float it away,
Yet the body of man cannot perish,
Indestructible through its decay."
The next period of hymnology is what we have termed the barbarian, because it began at the time when the northern invaders were settling down in the various parts of Europe, which had fallen to their arms. Though not so fertile in hymns, yet some beautiful things were produced in this period. We shall only mention three hymn-writers—Gregory the Great, Venantius Fortunatus, and Bede. The principal hymn of Gregory's is the Veni Creator Spiritus; but the most distinguished hymn-writer of this era is Fortunatus; he was an Italian, born about 530; a gay poet, the delight of society, until Queen Radegunda persuaded him to be ordained, and to settle at Poictiers, where she, having left her husband, was presiding over a monastic establishment. There is a beautiful hymn of his, which commences—
"Pange lingua gloriosi
Praelium certaminis."
We quote two verses (v. i. and viii.) of the late Dr. Neale's translation:
I.
"Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle,
With completed victory rife.
And above the cross's trophy,
Tell the triumph of the strife;
How the world's Redeemer conquered,
By surrendering of his life.
VIII.
"Faithful cross, above all other,
One and only noble tree,
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit, compares with thee;
Sweetest wood and sweetest iron,
Sweetest weight sustaining free."
A portion of one of his poems, on the resurrection of our Lord, was sung in the Church for ten centuries as an Easter hymn. It commences, Salve festa dies toto venerabilis aevo. [Footnote 231] In another of his poems, De Cruce Christi, there occurs a beautiful image of the Cross as the tree around which the True Vine is clinging: