FOOTNOTES:
[1] Claudian wrote about 400, mainly in hexameters and elegiacs. Sidonius refers to him; and he is often cited later as a model of verse.
[2] About 480-524. Tractates and De consolatione philosophiæ, text and translation, ed. Stewart (H. F.) and Rand (E. K.), London and New York, 1918 (Loeb Classical Library). For bibliography, see Manitius I; for introduction to the manifold significance, Stewart’s Boethius, an essay, Edinburgh and London, 1891.
[3] De consolatione philosophiæ I, Metr. ii. 9.
[4] I, Metr. iii. 6.
[5] ARP 126-127.
[7] Hymns echoing this measure may be traced in Mearns. Bede cites two, which he erroneously ascribes to St. Ambrose (De arte metrica, Keil VII. 255, 256).
[8] In this poem or recurs at the same place in 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19; 22 rimes with 24 on -entis. The rime of adjective with noun is frequent of course; but Boethius marks it by putting one at the cæsura, the other at the end. His most frequent rimes of this sort are on -as. For the recurrence of -os, -us, with neighboring -o see III. ii. 32-35.
[9] Aurelius Prudentius Clemens, Spaniard, 348-about 410; prepared a complete edition of his works 405. Often cited in the middle age, his works were printed in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, and have been studied often since. Lanfranchi reëdited the Bodoni edition in 1894 (Turin, second ed., 1904).
See, besides Manitius, Boissier, Monceaux, and Glover: Puech, Prudence, étude sur la poésie latine chrétienne, Paris, 1888; Lease, A syntactic, stylistic, and metrical study of P., Baltimore, 1895; Maigret, Le poète chrétien P., Paris, 1903; Ermini (F.), Peristephànon, studi Prudenziani, Rome, 1914; Bergman, Aulus Prudentius Clemens, der grösste christliche Dichter des Alterthums, Dorpat, 1921-1924.
[10] 454.
[12] For Martianus Capella see above, Chapter III; for Alain, below, Chapter VI.
[14] Puech, however, calls Prudentius in the Peristephanon “l’un des derniers représentants de la déclamation latine,” and perhaps with no more warrant, “le prédécesseur des peintres castillans ou valenciens du xvie ou du xviie siècle” (page 129).
[15] Nor has Prudentius, though he is fond of alliteration, much word-play. His verse, rather strictly quantitative, seems undoubtedly to have been so composed, though later it was rendered accentually.
[16] Apotheosis, 1089 verses on the Incarnation; Hamartigenia, 974 on the origin of sin; two books Contra Symmachum, 1756 directly polemic. J. Bergman regards him as a pioneer even in these poems. After pointing out the influence of the Psychomachia on the whole middle age, he adds that Apotheosis and Hamartigenia are “kühne Versuche, die kühnsten seit Lucretius’ Tagen, Philosophie in Form einer Dichtung zu bieten.” Aulus Prudentius Clemens, der grösste christliche Dichter des Alterthums, Dorpat (Acta et Comment. Univer. II. 1), 1924.
[17] Fifth century; works in CSE and in PL.
Bede praises Sedulius for internal rime in hexameters. “Optima autem versus dactylici ac pulcherrima compositio est cum primis pænultima ac mediis respondent extrema, qua Sedulius frequenter uti consuevit, ut
et
Non tamen hoc continuatim agendum, verum post aliquot interpositos versus.” De arte metrica, Keil VII. 244.
[18] A solis ortus cardine for Lauds on Christmas Day, and Crudelis Herodes, Deum for Epiphany Vespers (AH 50: 58).
[19] Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus, about 530-600; went from Italy to Gaul, 565; Bishop of Poitiers, 599. Works, ed. Leo, MGH.
See, besides the general works, Elss, Untersuchungen über den Stil und die Sprache des Venantius Fortunatus, Heidelberg, 1907.
[20] Rime appears early in Irish hymns. See AH 51, Part II.
[21] Carmina IX. vi.
[22] An excellent introductory summary is that of Blume (article hymnody) in the Catholic Encyclopedia, which may also be consulted for Ambrose, etc., and for some of the greater hymns. Britt makes the best known Latin hymns available in one volume, with carefully selected translations, trustworthy ascriptions, biographical and bibliographical notes, indexes, and brief historical introduction. But this admirable work, though otherwise constantly useful, does not give for most of the hymns the earliest known text. This will be found, through the invaluable index of Mearns, in AH. Other references will be found in Britt’s preface.
[23] St. Ambrose; Britt, 71; AH 51: 38.
[24] Recognition of the two methods of verse may be indicated by a line of Fortunatus,
in stanza 11 of Carm. IX. vii (MGH, page 212); but the two words are not necessarily used with the distinction that is clear in Bede (below, in next paragraph).
[25] Videtur autem rhythmus metris esse consimilis, quæ est verborum modulata compositio, non metrica ratione, sed numero syllabarum ad iudicium aurium examinata, ut sunt carmina vulgarium poetarum. Et quidem rhythmus per se sine metro esse potest, metrum vero sine rhythmo esse non potest; quod liquidius ita definitur: metrum est ratio cum modulatione, rhythmus modulatio sine ratione. Plerumque tamen casu quodam invenies etiam rationem in rhythmo, non artifici moderatione servata, sed sono et ipsa modulatione ducente, quem vulgares poetæ necesse est rustice, docti faciant docte. Quomodo et ad instar iambici metri pulcherrime factus est hymnus ille præclarus ... et alii Ambrosiani non pauci. Item ad formam metri trochaici canunt hymnum de die iudicii per alphabetum.... Keil VII. 258.
[26] The work, which is assigned by Keil to Maximus Victorinus, is headed Ars Palæmonis de Metrica Institutione. It begins by defining metrum, and then goes on: “Metro quid videtur consimile? Rhythmus. Rhythmus quid est? Verborum modulata compositio non metrica ratione sed numerosa scansione ad iudicium aurium examinata, ut puta veluti sunt cantica poetarum vulgarium. Rhythmus ergo in metro non est? Potest esse. Quid ergo distat a metro? Quod rhythmus per se sine metro esse potest, metrum sine rhythmo esse non potest. Quod liquidius ita definitur, metrum est ratio cum modulatione, rhythmus sine ratione metrica modulatio. Plerumque tamen casu quodam etiam invenies rationem metricam in rhythmo, non artificii observatione servata, sed sono et ipsa modulatione ducente.” Keil VI. 206.
[27] The importance of the music for the interpretation of a measure gives additional weight to what is in other respects the most specific exposition of the verse of the early hymns, that of Pierre Aubry in Le rythme tonique dans la poésie liturgique et dans le chant des églises chrétiennes au moyen âge, Paris, 1903. For his conclusions as to verse, and more widely as to language, are supported by his expert knowledge of the early history of Church music. They may be indicated by a few leading quotations. “Évolution du langage parlé vers le principe tonique au quatrième et au cinquième siècle” (8). “La rythmique antique est en voie de transformation ... transformation même que subissent les langues de l’antiquité au seuil du moyen âge ... un principe nouveau de vitalité linguistique: l’accent. L’ancienne prosodie, qui reposait sur la distinction des syllabes en longues et en brèves, a disparu dans l’usage vers le même temps. On ne connaît plus que des syllabes accentuées et des syllabes atones. Un rythme d’intensité s’est substitué au rythme quantitatif. L’accent vainqueur a tué la quantité” (54). “Les langues liturgiques ... ont dans chaque mot une syllabe affectée d’un accent tonique.... À l’époque qui nous occupe, cet accent est toujours d’intensité ... ni plus d’acuité, ni plus de durée, mais plus de force” (55). “Un poète comme Claudien faisait des vers latins à la façon d’un amateur de vieux langage.... L’accent tonique prend un rôle de plus en plus prépondérant.... Au septième siècle cette transformation est un fait accompli” (57). “Telles hymnes de saint Ambroise, Consors paterni luminis par exemple, ou de saint Grégoire le Grand, par exemple Rerum Creator optime, sont de pures strophes iambiques dimètres métriques, tandisque le principe tonique domine dans l’hymne ambrosienne Vox clara ecce intonat, et que dans cette autre, Christe, Redemptor omnium, il est assez malaisé de déterminer les règles suivies par le poète” (60). But even readers inexpert in music and in some of the languages quoted will learn much by following the line of exposition throughout.
Aubry’s position as to the dominance of stress is supported by Gastoué, Les origines du chant romain, Paris, 1907, chapter ii, pages 60-67.
[28] See AH 51, Part II, with Blume’s introduction.
[29] 681-691; reproduced in facsimile and transcribed by F. E. Warren for the Henry Bradshaw Society, volume IV, London, 1892; edited and annotated by him in volume X, 1895.
[30] Blume (AH 51: 345) calls it “der älteste uns bekannte rein rhythmische Hymnus;” but by “rein” he too probably means that it has no rhythm but syllabic equality. See note 33, below.
[32] Nevertheless Benchuir bona regula (folio 30, recto; AH 51: 356) may well be reconsidered in this aspect, as well as the two later Irish hymns in AH 51: 351 and 352.
[33] A widespread explanation is that Irish hymns were often composed with no other rhythm than equality between lines in the number of syllables. Even the support of W. Meyer (see especially Spanisches zur Geschichte der ältesten mittellateinischen Rythmik) and of Blume seems insufficient to establish this theory against two grave objections. The first objection is that mere equality in number of syllables hardly constitutes a pattern. It does not provide recurrences marked enough to guide either composer or hearer. It is hardly verse. The idea that a practise so mechanical actually became a habit is repugnant. The second objection is that on this theory Irish Latin verse ignored not only quantities, but word-accent—ignored, that is, either speech-tune. The Irish monks of all men, the best linguists of Europe in this period, were hardly the ones to write Latin verse by ignoring the habit of the language. And in fact the following of the word-accent will often reveal a stress rhythm sufficient for the ruder mnemonic verses and satisfying in the better ones. Moreover this consideration is fortified by what we know of the music (see note 27 above), which leaned on the word-accent. True, such rendering sometimes involves two unstressed syllables in succession, or conversely two stresses without intervention; but this variation is a natural means against monotony. The pattern is kept by the unvarying number of stresses in each line; variety is secured by occasionally shifting their places. The idea that in this period iambic or trochaic rhythmi admitted no effects similar to the substitution of dactyl or anapest in a metrum, or to a spondee, is an assumption unwarranted by either theory or fact.
[34] Dreves (Aurelius Ambrosius, der Vater des Kirchengesanges, eine hymnologische Studie, Freiburg, 1893) settles on the following eighteen hymns, of which he prints the text and indicates the melodies.
- (1) Æterne rerum conditor,
- (2) Splendor paternæ gloriæ,
- (3) Iam surgit hora tertia,
- (4) Nunc sancte nobis Spiritus,
- (5) Rector potens verax Deus,
- (6) Rerum, deus, tenax vigor,
- (7) Deus, creator omnium,
- (8) Intende, qui regis Israel,
- (9) Amore Christi nobilis,
- (10) Inluminans altissimus,
- (11) Agnes, beatæ virginis,
- (12) Hic est dies verus Dei,
- (13) Victor, Nabor, Felix, pii,
- (14) Grates tibi, Iesu, novas,
- (15) Apostolorum passio,
- (16) Apostolorum supparem,
- (17) Æterna Christi munera,
- (18) Iesu, corona virginum.
[37] Blume ad loc. notes that this opening is not unusual. The hymn is mentioned by Cæsarius of Arles.
[38] So is that of the commemorative Bangor hymn Sáncta sanctórum óperá at the end of the manuscript (folio 36 verso; AH 51: 357).
[39] The meter is – ⏓ – – – ⏓ – – – ⏑ – – – ⏑ ⏑ (with – ⏑ permissible instead of – –) For other combinations of stanzas in hymns taken from this poem see AH 50: 25-27.
[41] Part of this, but also used separately, is Lustra sex qui iam peregit.
[42] The evidence is reviewed by Blume, AH 51: 269-271.
[43] De arte metrica, Keil VII. 258.
[45] Blume rejects the ascription to St. Gregory the Great; and the hymn may belong to the next period. Cf. Nocte surgentes vigilemus omnes, page 136. Any one who will render in time rhythm the most familiar of all Sapphics, the “Integer vitæ” of Horace, then sing it to the familiar college tune, then render it as a rhythmus, will realize practically much of what is involved in interpreting a given text of this period of transition. Greenough’s Accentual rhythm in Latin (Harvard Studies IV. 105) pointed out in 1893 that quantitative correctness in medieval use of the Sapphic does not preclude accentual preoccupation.
[47] See Blume ad loc. He admits the possibility, which seems far from a probability, of reading this as a senarius, but prints it with conviction as a four-verse stanza (dividing at the cæsura) after the analogy of other Irish hymns. Some of these are in this manuscript; but none is equal in art, and this one is not so written. I think it must have been sung Sánctí, veníté, Chrísti córpus súmité, though Sáncti, veníte is a more frequent rhythmical opening.