VIII. STATIUS.
40-95 A.D.
Statius, whose father before him was a poet, was born at Naples. His works consist of the Thebais, an epic in imitation of the Aeneid and having for its subject the story of the Seven against Thebes; the Achilleis, intended to celebrate the deeds of Achilles, but never completed; and the Silvae, a collection of thirty-one miscellaneous poems, of which our selection is one.
For Reference: Fr. Vollmer, Silvae, Leipzig, 1898.
Metre: Dactylic Hexameter, B. 368; A. & G. 615.
1. 1. placidissime divum: cf. Statius, Thebais, 10. 126, 127: mitissime divum, Somne; Ovid, 11. 623-625-.
Somne, quies rerum, placidissime Somne deorum, pax animi, quem cura fugit, qui corda diurnis fessa ministeriis mulces reparasque labori;
and Shakspere, Macbeth, II. 2. 37 ff.:
Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,…
Chief nourisher in life's feast.
4. simulant…somnos: rounded tree-tops take the semblance of tired sleep. cacumina might mean mountain tops, but the parallelism of the passage with Aeneid, 4. 522-528 favors the interpretation as tree-tops. The trees, their rounded outline no longer broken by the winds, seem to sleep as if exhausted by their tossing. 6. terris…adclinata: we are reminded of those Elgin marbles which represent Thalassa, the personified sea, as resting in the lap of Gaea, the personified land. Cf. with lines 3-7 Goethe, Wanderer's Nachtlied, 1-6: 'Über allen Gipfeln Ist Ruh, In allen Wipfeln Spürest du Kaum einen Hauch; Die Vögelein schweigen im Walde.' 7. Septima…Phoebe: the seventh moon-lit night. 8, 9. totidem…lampades: a second expression of the thought that it is the seventh night since he has slept. Oetaeae Paphiaeque: the planet Venus is called Oetaean since poetical tradition pictures it as shining from above Oeta, a mountain of Thessaly; and Paphian because the goddess Venus, whose star it is, was worshipped with especial devotion at Paphos in Cyprus. lampades: each nightly appearance of the star is poetically thought of as the kindling of a new torch. Tithonia: Aurora, the dawn, wife of Tithonus, to whom she had been able to give immortality, but not eternal youth. She is thought of as sprinkling the dew from the lash with which she drives her chariot team. 13. Argus: Io's thousand-eyed custodian, who was sacer, devoted to death, since he was doomed to be slain by Hermes, her liberator. 18. leviter…transi: pass lightly hovering above me.
Wordsworth's three sonnets To Sleep should all be compared. The best is as follows:
A flock of sheep that leisurely pass by,
One after one; the sound of rain and bees
Murmuring; the fall of rivers, winds, and seas,
Smooth fields, white sheets of water and pure sky;
I have thought of all by turns and still do lie
Sleepless! and soon the small birds' melodies
Must hear, first uttered from my orchard trees;
And the first cuckoo's melancholy cry.
Even thus last night and two nights more I lay,
And could not win thee, Sleep, by any stealth;
So do not let me wear to-night away:
Without thee what is all the morning's wealth?
Come, blessed barrier between day and day,
Dear mother of fresh thoughts and joyous health!
IX. MARTIAL.
43-104 A.D.
He was a man of genius, of quick intelligence and vivacity, with a great deal of wit and pungency in his writings, and at the same time great candour.—Pliny, Epistula 3. 21 (Sellar's translation).
Martial was born at Bilbilis in Spain. At twenty-three years of age he came to Rome, where he resided for thirty-five years in limited circumstances, returning to his birthplace three years before his death. He composed fourteen books of Epigrams.
As a man he was social and popular. As a writer he was eminently sincere (except when playing the courtier), natural, and witty. He had no equal among the poets of his time as a lifelike painter of the actual world of his day.
For Reference: Sellar and Ramsay, Extracts from Martial (Edinburgh,
1884), Introduction; Teuffel, Schwabe, and Warr, History of Roman
Literature, vol. 2, p. 121 ff.; Friedländer, Martialis Epigrammaton
Libri (Leipzig, 1886); Paley and Stone, Select Epigrams from Martial
(London, 1881).
Metres: Choliambic, A. & G. 618, a, b, c. Selections 4, 12.
Phalaecian, A. & G. 623, 624,625. 11: Selections 1, 5, 7, 11. Elegiac,
B. 369, 1, 2; A. & G. 616: Selections 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 13.
1. 5. tu: the attorney who is conducting Martial's case. 6. periuria ff.: to a Roman the name of Carthaginian (Punicus) was a synonym for treachery. 7. Muciosque: Mucius, when captured in an attempt to assassinate King Porsena, showed his insensibility to threats by voluntarily holding his hand in the flame of an altar. Livy, 2. 12. The plurals in this line may be rendered by Sullas, Mariuses, etc.
4. Bassus is met at various points on the Appian Way farther and farther out from Rome. 1. pluit: because of the leaky aqueduct above. 2. Phrygium…ferrum: the priests of Cybele washed their knives in the Almo, a branch of the Tiber near Kome. 3. Horatiorum…campus: the traditional scene of the combat between the Horatii and Curiatii. 4. pusilli: the statue is small. fervet: is alive with worshippers. 10. coronam: hoop. 12. nondum victa faba: too young yet to crunch the bean. 15. Immo: No indeed!
5. 2. sed…fenestra: window-gardens were common in Rome. 4. nemus Dianae: i.e. a forest of 'big timber.' 7. corona: not understood. 16. sus Calydonius: the type of a huge and ferocious wild animal. 17. ungue Prognes: the talon of Progne, i.e. of the swallow. For myth see Harper's Classical Dictionary, 'Tereus.' 20. et…picata: a nut will take the place of the pitch-bedaubed dolium. 22, 23. praedium…prandium: lands…a lunch.
6. To a friend who has long been saying that to-morrow he will change it all and really live. 4. In the Orient, the region of the sunrise, is where that happy to-morrow is hiding, if anywhere. 5. These two are types of longevity.
7. 4. focus perennis: a kitchen fire never idle. 5. toga rara: a dress suit seldom. The toga was connected with burdensome duties, as with the service of client to patron. 6. vires ingenuae: a gentleman's measure of strength. 10. torus: wife. 12. quod…malis: Martial's principle in life, 'to be yourself and not strive to be somebody else.'
8. The eruption is that of 79 A.D., which destroyed Herculaneum and Pompeii. Epistles 6. 16 and 6. 20 of the younger Pliny, and the final chapters of Bulwer-Lytton's Last Days of Pompeii may be read in this connection. 1. modo: but now. 2. presserat lacus: had filled the vats. 3. Nysae: a mountain in India where, according to the myth, Bacchus was born. 5. Veneris sedes: Venus was the protecting deity of Pompeii. 6. Herculaneum was named from and protected by Hercules. 7. mersa favilla: Pliny, writing of the eruption, says, Epistula 6. 20. 18, 'Everything was covered with deep ashes as with snow.' 8. nec…sibi: and the gods could wish they had not been permitted this.
9. When Brutus, the slayer of Caesar, committed suicide after the defeat at Philippi, his wife Porcia also took her own life. The common story was that her friends, suspecting her design, removed all weapons out of her way, and that she thereupon destroyed herself by swallowing live coals. The real fact may have been that she suffocated herself by the vapor of a charcoal stove,—a common method of suicide with the Romans. 4. fatis: by his death. patrem: Cato the Younger, who slew himself at Utica after the disastrous battle at Thapsus. 6. ferrum: emphatic.
10. 1. Arria: the wife of Caecina Paetus. In 42 A.D., on the charge of conspiracy against the government, Paetus was ordered by the Emperor Claudius to put an end to his own life. When he hesitated, Arria stabbed herself and handed him the dagger, saying, Paete, non dolet.
Pliny, Epistula 3. 16. 6, says of her conduct on another occasion when, fearing the effect of the news on her husband, then dangerously ill, she concealed from him the death of their son:
Glorious indeed that act of hers, to bare the steel, to thrust her bosom through, to draw the dagger forth, to hand it to her husband, to add words immortal and almost divine, 'Paetus, I feel no pain!' But, doing this and saying this, glory and eternal fame were in her thought. How much greater is it, without the prize of fame, without the prize of glory, to hide the tears, conceal the grief, and, bereaved of a son, still to act the mother! 4. sed…dolet: i.e. it is your wound that will give me pain.
11. 1. Flaminiam: sc. viam. 2. noli…marmor: the roads leading out from Rome were lined with tombs. 3. salesque Nili: Paris appears to have been an Egyptian. 6. omnea Veneres Cupidinesque: imitation of Catullus, 3. 1 (Selection 3. 1). 7. Paris: a popular Roman actor, put to death by Domitian.
12. This and the following selection are in memory of a child whose parents were slaves on Martial's estate. 1. senibus cygnis: 'swans sing sweetest when they die.' Notice that all the objects with which Erotion is compared in lines 1-6 are white. Martial is thinking of the whiteness of her complexion, a quality admired by the Romans. 2. The Tarentine wool was highly prized. 4. lapillos: pearls. 5. dentem: tusk. 7. Baetici gregis: the flocks on the Guadalquivir whose wool was naturally of a yellowish color. 8. Rhenique nodos: the hair of the Germans gathered into a club. Erotion's hair was the light flaxen of the Teutonic type. 9. Paesti: a city in Lucania, celebrated for its twice-blowing roses,— Vergil, Georgics, 4. 119, biferi rosaria Paesti. 10. Atticarum cerarum: Attica—and particularly Mt. Hymettus—was famous for its honey. 11. Martial several times refers to the agreeable odor of amber when warmed by holding or rubbing with the hand. 13. sciurus: derived from Greek [Greek: skia] and [Greek: oura], lit. 'the shadow-tail.' Our word 'squirrel' comes through the Late Latin diminutive forms, scuriolus, squirolus, squirelus. 19. pariter: in like manner with myself. 20. vernulae: contrasted with nobilem of line 22. 23. Quid esse fortius potest: Can any one display more fortitude? 24. Ducenties: lit. 20,000,000 sesterces, here of indefinite value.
13. Martial at the tomb which has just received Erotion's ashes appeals to his dead parents to keep the child from fear at sight of the 'black spectres' and monstrous Cerberus. 2. oscula: in apposition to puellam. 5. modo:, just. In six days she would have been six years old. 7. patronos: protectors, i.e. Fronto and Flacilla. 9, 10. nec…fueris: sit tibi terra levis, of ten found as S. T. T. L., is a phrase common upon Roman tombstones.
In another epigram (10. 61), a translation of which by Leigh Hunt follows, the poet, about to depart finally from the estate where Erotion is buried, thus beautifully commends to his successors the care of her tomb:
Underneath this greedy stone
Lies little sweet Erotion;
Whom the Fates, with hearts as cold,
Nipped away at six years old.
Thou, whoever thou mayest be,
That hast this small field after me,
Let the yearly rites be paid
To her little slender shade;
So shall no disease or jar
Hurt thy house or chill thy Lar;
But this tomb be here alone
The only melancholy stone.
X. JUVENAL.
About 55-138 A.D.
Facunde Iuvenalis.—Martial, 7. 91. 1.
Irati histrionis exsul.—Sidouius Apollinaris, Carmen 9. 273.
Quidquid agunt homines, votum, timor, ira, voluptas, gaudia, discursus, nostri est farrago libelli.—Satira 1. 85-86.
Facit indignatio versum.—Satira 1. 79.
Satire appears to have originated in impromptu dramatic performances. It was looked upon by the Romans as a purely native product. Quintilian says of it (10. 1. 93) satura quidem tota nostra eat. The word seems to be connected with the adjective satur, the distinctive mark of the earlier satire being fulness and variety. As lanx satura is a dish filled with various kinds of fruit, so satire in this earlier sense is a poem which may deal with any subject and employ several measures and languages. With Lucilius, satire, while retaining its dramatic and discursive character, became didactic as well, and thus the word assumed its modern signification.
The principal names in the history of Roman satire are Ennius (239-160
B.C.), Lucilius (148-103 B.C.), Varro (116-27 B.C.), Horace (65-8 B.C.),
Persius (34-62 A.D.), Seneca the Younger (3 B.C.-65 A.D.), Petronius
(flourished about 60 A.D.), and Juvenal.
Juvenal was born at Aquinum in Latium and was the son or foster son of a wealthy freedman. He practised declamation till middle life, was tribune of the first Dalmatian cohort, was for some reason banished (the story says for verses offensive to an actor who had influence at court), and died while in exile. He was a friend of the poet Martial.
We possess sixteen of his satires divided into five books. 'Those which are most characteristic portray the vices of Roman society with passionate, unsparing ferocity' and in an extremely highly colored style. In some passages the most prominent quality is wit, which consists chiefly in the exaggerated and strongly contrasted situations. Other passages reach a lofty height of moral earnestness and dignity.
For Reference: Wright, Juvenal (Boston, 1901); Mayor, Juvenal
(London, 1886).
Metre: Dactylic Hexameter, B. 368; A. & G. 615.
1. 1 ff. Praeneste, Volsiniis, Gabiis, Tiburis: country towns at a moderate distance from Rome. ruinam: 'The spontaneous collapse of the tenement houses was such a common occurrence that nobody paid attention to it, though it is an event that would fill our newspapers with a thrilling subject for days….There were companies formed for the purpose of propping…houses.'—Lanciani, Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome, Conclusion, p. 563. The entire chapter should be read in connection with this selection. 3. proni: i.e. on a hillside. 4. urbem: i.e. Rome. tibicine: prop. 5. labentibus: the falling walls. 6. vilicus: the owner's agent. 8. incendia: fires were common at Rome. Especially memorable were the great conflagrations in the reigns of Nero, Titus, and Commodus. The Temple of Vesta was almost or entirely destroyed five times by fire. 10. Ucalegon: your neighbor on the next floor below; called Ucalegon because iam proximits ardet, Vergil, Aeneid, 2. 311. tabulata tertia: the third or attic story where you live. 11. trepidatur: the cry of 'Fire!' is raised. 13. ultimus ardebit: and likewise will get the alarm last. 14. Codro: any poor man in this situation. Procula minor: too short for Tom Thumb. Procula was probably a dwarf. urceoli: displayed on the sideboard, or abacus, beneath which was a reclining statuette of the Centaur Chiron. 17. Iam: modifies vetus. 18. divina carmina: the Greek books just mentioned. opici: a name given by the Greek colonists of southern Italy to the native races. Since these were of inferior refinement, the word came to mean barbarian. It is applied to the mice since they destroy the manuscripts. 20, 21. ultimus cumulus: the last straw. 21. frusta: a mouthful of food. 23. Asturici: type of a rich man. 24. differt vadimonia: puts off the time at which the defendant had given security (vadimonium) to appear. 26. Ardet: impersonal. 28. Euphranoris: a Greek sculptor of the fourth century B.C. Polycliti: a Greek sculptor of the fifth century B.C. He made a famous gold and ivory statue of Hera. 29. ornamenta deorum: stolen from some temple. Roman conquerors and governors (like Napoleon in modern times) freely robbed subject countries of works of art. 30. forulos mediamque Minervam: bookcases and a Minerva among them. A 'bust of Pallas,' the goddess of wisdom, is appropriate to a library. 32. Persicus: the same person as Asturicus. The name is given because of the reputed wealth of the Orient. So our expression 'nabob' originally meant a viceroy in India. Cf. Milton, Paradise Lost, 2. 3-4:
where the gorgeous East, with richest hand, Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold.
orborum lautissimus: richest of childless men. It is on this account that all assist him, hoping eventually to receive a legacy. Asturicus understands their motive; hence Juvenal's humorous suspicion.
34 ff. avelli: middle. circensibus: the games consisted of many kinds of entertainment, especially chariot racing. As with the opera to-day for lovers of music, these games formed one of the chief attractions of life in a great city. Sorae, Fabrateriae, Frusinone: these are country towns of Latium. 36. tenebras: a dark hole. 37. brevis: shallow. 40. Pythagoreis: Pythagoras, believing that the human soul might pass into one of the lower animals after death, forbade animal food to his disciples. 42. unius dominum lacertae: i.e. of the small area which would be necessary to furnish food to one lizard.
43. Plurimus aeger: many sick men. aeger, though singular, is used for a plural with the adjective of plural signification. vigilando: the final o is short. 44. inperfeptus: undigested. 45. ardenti: inflamed. meritoria: lodgings. 46. Magnis opibus: ablative of price. Martial says, 12. 57. 4, 'There is no place in Rome for a poor man to sleep.' Wagons were not allowed under ordinary circumstances to pass through the streets till the late afternoon, so that the heavy teaming was at night. 47. arto: the medium width of the principal living streets of Rome was only from 16 to 20 feet. 48. stantis oonvicia mandrae: the mingled noises of the penned-up herd, i.e. the abuse of the drivers and the lowing of the animals. 49. Druso: probably the Emperor Claudius, who was lethargic. vitulis marinis: Pliny says, Natural History, 9. 42, that no animal sleeps more soundly than the seal. 50. officium: e.g. the duty of attendance on his patron. 53. clausa fenestra: effected in some instances by drawing the curtains, in others by closing the windows of mica. 55. unda prior: the human tide, or surging crowd in front. 56. assere: the chances were that this would be the pole of a litter, as that of the rich man just mentioned. 59. clavus militis: the soldier's boot was studded with hobnails. 60. quanto celebretur sportula fumo: in the midst of how great a smoke they throng after the sportula. The sportula is in this instance the food given by the patron to the client in return for his attendance. 61. convivae: the clients. culina: a portable kitchen to keep the food warm. 62. Corbulo: type of a strongman; as we might say 'a Samson.' Tacitus, Annales, 13. 8, describes a Roman general of this name as ingens corpore. 65. longa ff.: a long fir tree sways to and fro as its trucks come on. A similar picture of the crowded city streets is found in Horace, Epistulae, 2. 2. 70. 68. procubuit: once falls over. saxa Ligustica: the marble from Luna on the border between Etruria and Liguria. The Romans knew hundreds of varieties of marble and used them in vast quantities. 'As Tibullus says, the streets of the city were always obstructed by carts laden with transmarine columns and blocks,—columns measuring sometimes 1.97 metres in diameter and 17.66 metres in length, like those of Trajan's temple; or blocks weighing sometimes 27 tons.'—Lanciani, Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome, p. 524. 71. Obtritum perit more animae: ground to powder, is gone like a breath. 72. domus: the slaves, pueri, of the client just killed. Even a poor man might have several. 74. striglibus: to remove perspiration or oil from the body. gutto: oil cruet. 76. ripa: of the Styx. Cf. for the scene Vergil, Aeneid, 6. 298 ff. novicius: a complete stranger, i.e. never having died before,—a grim joke. Juvenal's wit has been called 'the earliest known instance of American humor.'—Peck and Arrowsmith, Roman Life, etc. 77. nec sperat: he cannot cross the Styx since he has not received the rites of burial. 78. porrigat ore: offer with his mouth. A coin was often put in the mouth of the dead to pay Charon's fee. 80. Spatium: i.e. how high the roofs are. Cicero describes Rome as 'suspended in the air.' Some of the houses were 100 feet in height. 83. silicem: even the volcanic stone which forms the pavement of the street is broken. 85 ff. quot patent vigiles fenestrae: this may be punningly rendered,—as many as there are windows up.—Peck and Arrowsmith, Roman Life, etc.
2. 9. sacellis: the shrines of the Lares found in every house. The common offering at them was a pig. 10. tomacula: minced meat. 17. Sardanapali: effeminate and luxurious, the last king of Assyria. When a conspiracy against him was about to succeed, he burned himself with his treasures. Byron has a drama Sardanapalus. 19. virtutem: Virtueland. 20. Nullum numen abest: the gods are all on the side of the provident. Fortune is no deity and only we mistaken men think her such.
3. 3. quae lacrimas dedit: i.e. in that she gave us tears. haec: i.e. sympathy. 4. ergo: i.e. this gift of tears implies that, etc. 5. squaloremque rei: persons on trial often appeared in court with unshorn beard, unwashed toga, and other signs of mourning. 6. circumscriptorem: his dishonest guardian. 7. puellares capilli: boys wore long hair till they put on the toga virilis. 10, 11. minor igni rogi: minor with the ablative here means too small for. It was unusual to burn the bodies of very young children. face dignus arcana: i.e. worthy of initiation into the Eleusinian mysteries. On the fifth day of the festival the initiated marched in a torch-light procession from Athens to Eleusis. They must be holy in thought and deed. 13. mutorum: dumb animals. venerabile: reverential. 14. divinorumque capaces: with a capacity to know God. 16. sensum ff.: a feeling from above, i.e. sympathy. Man with his religious nature, with his power to practice the arts, and his erect posture, is given this also as a crowning mark of distinction from the lower creation. 18. indulsit: in his goodness gave. 19, 20. tantum animas: merely life. animum: a soul. mutuus adfectus: a feeling of brotherhood. 24. tutos: protected by. 25. collata fiducia: confidence due to union. 27. defendier: archaic form of defendi.
4. 1. Di: sc. date or dent. sine pondere terram: cf. Martial, Selection 13. 9, 10 and note. 2. spirantis: fragrant. perpetuum ver: because the urn is always supplied with flowers.
2. procul, a procul inde: a part of the formula used to warn away the unhallowed from sacred rites. Cf. Vergil, Aeneid, 6. 258, procul, o procul este profani. The phrase, accordingly, has attached to it a religious earnestness and solemnity, like In the name of God, away! 3. pernoctantis parasiti: the contemptible guest who, for a dinner, stays all night, entertaining his host with low songs. 5. nec contempseris annos: do not think your child too young to observe and imitate.
XI. HADRIAN.
76-138 A.D.
Hadrian was of Spanish descent and related to Trajan, whom he succeeded as emperor in 117. His reign, except its closing years, was noteworthy for good legislation, for the construction of magnificent buildings, and for his journeys to every part of the Empire.
Metre: Iambic Dimeter Acatalectic, G. & L. 757, 765.
1. The emperor is said by Spartianus to have composed this poem upon his death-bed.
The diminutives express affection and compassion.
4. pallidula and rigida refer to animula, the soul being conceived as presenting the appearance of the dead body. nudula also refers to animula, as disembodied, or, metaphorically speaking, 'unclothed'; cf. 2 Corinthians 5. 3, 4 and Plato, Cratylus, 403 B,' the soul denuded of the body.' Line 5 is equivalent to a fourth adjective, sad.
The passage contains an unusual number of words which occur but once (vagula, blandula, nudula), or very rarely (pallidula).
Pope translates:
Ah, fleeting Spirit! wand'ring fire,
That long hast warm'd my tender breast,
Must thou no more this frame inspire?
No more a pleasing, cheerful guest?
Whither, ah whither art thou flying?
To what dark, undiscover'd shore?
Thou seem'st all trembling, shiv'ring, dying,
And Wit and Humor are no more.
At Steele's request that he should write an ode in imitation of
Hadrian's poem, but of a 'cheerful dying spirit' Pope composed the hymn:
Vital spark of heav'nly flame!
Quit, oh quit this mortal frame:
Trembling, hoping, ling'ring, flying,
Oh the pain, the bliss of dying! etc.
XII. ANONYMOUS.
Metre: Dactylic Hexameter, B. 368; A. & G. 615.
1. 1. Lindi: a city of Rhodes. 2. Ephyra: another name for Corinth. 7. Cecropius: Attic. Cecrops was the first king of Athens. induperabit: indu is an old form of in.
SACRED LATIN POETRY.
The Latin hymns differ from classical poetry in that accent and rhyme prevail instead of syllabic quantity. This is in accordance with the genius of a language which never disregarded accent and in which rhyme occurs even in its earliest extant literature, as in Ennius' Andromacha:
Haec omnia vidi inflammari,
Priamo vi vitam evitari, etc.
Among the famous authors of Latin hymns are Adam of St. Victor; St.
Ambrose; Fortunatus; Robert the Second, King of France; Bernard of
Clairvaux; Bernard of Cluny; and Abelard. Among the greatest of the
hymns are the Te Deum, the Veni, Creator Spiritus, the Stabat Mater, the
Veni, Sancte Spiritus, the Dies Irae, the Ut Iucundas, the Iesu, Dulcis
Memoria, and the Hora Novissima.
For Reference: Trench, Sacred Latin Poetry (London, 1874); March, Latin Hymns (New York, 1874); Daniel, Thesaurus Hymnologicus (Leipzig, 1841-1856, 5 vols.); Merrill, Latin Hymns (Boston, 1904); Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (London, 1907). In all see indices of first lines.
ANONYMOUS. FOR CHRISTMAS DAY.
This was till recently a favorite in the Lutheran churches of Germany. Like most of the other hymns in this collection, it has often been translated; as by Schaff in his Christ in Song. The oldest text known is as early as the fourteenth century.
The subject is the birth of Christ. Cf. Matthew 2. 1. Bethlehem: indeclinable, like most proper names of Hebrew origin. 5, 6. The ox and ass were believed to have occupied the stable with Christ on the combined authority of the Septuagint reading of Hahakkuk 3. 2: 'Between two animals shalt thou be known'; and of Isaiah 1. 3: 'The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib.' quod: that. 7. Reges: Isaiah 60. 3; Psalms 72. 10, 15. Saba: Psalms 72. 10, 15. 11. Sine serpentis vulnere: without 'original sin.' Cf. Genesis 3. 14, 15; 1 John 3. 5.
FOR EASTER DAY.
This fine sequence was highly esteemed by Luther and became a favorite in many countries. Its composition was as early as the eleventh century. At first sight it appears to be prose, but proves on closer examination to be rhymed throughout. The dialogue form made possible its dramatic use in the Easter Mystery Plays and the church service. For this and for translations see Julian, p. 1223 ff.
The subject is the Resurrection. Cf. Matthew 28. 1-15; John 20. 1-18.
2. Agnus: John 1. 29. oves: John 10. 11. 3. regnat: Matthew 25. 34. 4-9.
Dic ff.: the conversation supposed to have taken place between Mary
Magdalene and the disciples after her return from the sepulchre.
Surrexit: Luke 24. 34.
PLAUDITE CAELI.
This hymn was composed by a member of the Jesuit Order. Its date is of the fourteenth to the sixteenth century; its subject the Resurrection.
1. Plaudite: cf. Flumina plaudent manu, Psalms 97. 8; 'All the trees of the field shall clap their hands.'—Isaiah 55. 12. 2. aether: the upper air. 3, 4. Let the heights and the depths of the world rejoice. 5, 6. The black storm-rack has passed by. 7. almae: bountiful. 11, 12. pictis…campis: cf. 'daisies…do paint the meadows.'—Love's Labour's Lost, V. 2. 905. 17, 18. Full veins are metaphorical for the full strong flow of song. 20. Barbytha: bad spelling for barbita, lutes. 26. Ludite: flow merrily.
The hymn has been translated into English by Mrs. Charles, Christian Life in Song, p. 184, and by Duffield, Latin Hymns, p. 398. The latter thus renders ll. 9-24:
Spring breezes are blowing,
Spring flowers are at hand,
Spring grasses are growing
Abroad in the land,
And violets brighten
The roses in bloom,
And marigolds heighten
The lilies' perfume.
Rise then, O my praises,
Fresh life in your veins,
As the viol upraises
The gladdest of strains,
For once more he sees us,
Alive, as he said;
Our holy Lord Jesus
Escaped from the dead.
PONE LUCTUM, MAGDALENA.
The subject is the appearance of the risen Christ to Mary Magdalene at the tomb, John 20. 11-18.
1. Pone: dismiss thy grief. 3. Simonis: Mary Magdalene, as in Dies Irae, 37, is identified with 'the woman which was a sinner' of Luke 7. 37-50, who, while Jesus sat at meal in the house of Simon, the Pharisee, 'weeping, began to wet his feet with her tears,' 1. 4. 22, 23. Lift thy face, O Magdalen! Behold the risen Christ. 25. Quinque plagas: the five strokes are the nail prints in Jesus' hands and feet and the spear wound in his side, Luke 24. 40; John 20. 24-29. inspice: as Thomas and the other disciples beheld.
Translation by Mrs. Charles, Christian Life in Song, p. 182.
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX.
1091-1153 A.D.
SALVE, CAPUT CRUENTATUM.
This selection is taken from a hymn in seven parts, each addressing some member of Christ's body on the cross, the feet, the knees, etc. The composition is more probably by some German poet than by Bernard, but its supposed origin with the latter has become a subject of religious legend. One ancient copy describes the hymn as 'a divine and most devout prayer of the Abbot St. Bernard, which he made when an image of the Saviour with outstretched arms embraced him from the cross.' Again we read, 'The image on the cross bowed itself and embraced him with its wounded arms as a sure token that to it this prayer was most pleasing.'
Julian refers to eight English metrical versions. One of the finest forms in which it has come into the language (through P. Gerhardt's free German version 'O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden') is O sacred Head! now wounded.
3. Conquassatum: mangled. 7. Immutatus: 'His visage was so marred more than any man.'—Isaiah 52. 14. 10. All heaven shudders. The curia is the centre of government. 11. viror: Late Latin for viriditas, vigor; we might freely render brightness. 14. Expressing the extremity of weakness, hanging all in faintness. 19. intersigno: proof, Late Latin. 23-25. From whose mouth I have taken honey with the sweetness of milk, beyond all delights. A figurative use of the story of Samson, who found a honeycomb in the mouth of the carcass of the lion which he had slain, Judges 14. 8, 9. Milk is religiously associated with honey because of the description of Canaan in Deuteronomy 31. 20, terram lacte et melle manantem. 28-30. Now that death is near Thee, lay here Thine head, rest in my arms. 32. gauderem: I would rejoice, were I associated with Thy holy passion; present contrary to fact condition. 40. absque: without, ante- and post-classic preposition. 46. emigrare: depart from life. Cf. qui e vita emigravit, Cicero, De Legibus, 2. 48. 49. Temetipsum: Thine own self. An emphatic -met is suffixed to Te.
'JESUS, THE VERY THOUGHT OF THEE.'
The author is probably St. Bernard, the abbot of Clairvaux and the great preacher of the Second Crusade. Few men in Christendom have ever exercised a personal influence equal to his.
These quartrains are selected from a hymn composed of fifty such, and familiar to English-speaking Christians from Caswall's translation, Jesus, the very Thought of Thee, and Ray Palmer's Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts. It was a favorite of Livingstone who quotes from it in his African Diary. 'No other poem in any language,' says Julian, 'has furnished to English and American hymn-books so many hymns of sterling worth and well-deserved popularity.'
Subject, Jesus.
1-4. Iesu: vocative. We would expect das instead of dans and tui instead of eius. Supply est with praesentia.
13-16.
Thou bliss of souls in bitter need,
Water to lip and light to eye,
All joy thou dost how far exceed,
All yearning more than satisfy.
ROBERT II, KING OF FRANCE.
971-1031 A.D.
'COME, HOLY SPIRIT, FROM ABOVE.'
Robert, the son of Hugh Capet, to whom this hymn is commonly, but probably incorrectly, ascribed, became king of France in 988 A.D. He 'was a kindly, easy man, endowed with all the charming and dangerous virtues which commend themselves in the man and often prove fatal to the king. His reign was a constant struggle, first with the church for his wife, afterwards with his barons for his existence.'—Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. ix, p. 536.
This hymn was in the Middle Ages often called the Golden Sequence. Clichtovaeus (Elucidatorium, Paris, 1516, f. 171) declares it 'above all praise whether by reason of its wonderful sweetness…or of its brevity along with wealth of ideas or…of the elegant grace of its structure.' Trench, Sacred Latin Poetry, says it 'could only have been composed by one who had been acquainted with many sorrows and also with many consolations.'
Julian refers to thirty-eight renderings into English. One of the best of these is A. P. Stanley's version, Come, Holy Spirit, from Above.
The subject is an entreaty to the Spirit to come and to bestow His gifts. To the former thought belong the earlier stanzas, to the second thought the latter stanzas. At the beginning of the poem veni, emphasizing the former thought, is in its position and repetition like da at the close, emphasizing the latter.
3. lucis: cf. lumen cordium, 1. 6, lux beatissima, 1.13. The Spirit, as the 'guide into all truth,' is naturally addressed as light and the giver of light. 7. Consolator: John 14. 16. 9. refrigerium: refreshment. 'May God refresh thy spirit' is a phrase not uncommon in Christian epitaphs of the Catacombs. 7-12. Stanley renders:
O Thou, of comforters the best,
O Thou, the soul's most welcome guest,
O Thou, our sweet repose,
Our resting-place from life's long care,
Our shadow from the world's fierce glare,
Our solace in all woes.
19, 20. Lava, Riga: John 3. 5; Isaiah 44. 3. 27. septenarium: the seven-fold gift. The spirit is septiformis munere, the seven gifts being 'the spirit of wisdom,' 'of understanding,' 'of council,' 'of might,' 'of knowledge,' 'of piety,' and 'of the fear of the Lord,' Isaiah 11. 2, 3.
ANONYMOUS.
PHOENIX INTER FLAMMAS EXPIRANS.
The suggestion of this beautiful poem is from Canticles. The date of composition is the seventeenth century.
The subject is the soul's 'desire to depart and to be with Christ.' The second to the fifth stanzas take their form from the legend of the phoenix, a fabulous bird which was said to build its funeral pyre, to burn itself, singing a death-song, and to rise from its ashes in renewed youth. The soul, passing from this life to immortality, conceives itself as a phoenix consuming in the flames and singing a death-song (the third, fourth, and fifth stanzas).
3. aegram: Canticles 2. 5. 4. Dilecto: Christ in heaven. Cf. Canticles 2. 3. 27-30. The flame leaping toward the sky is a type of the soul in its eagerness to ascend to heaven. Cf.:
Rivers to the ocean run
Nor stay in all their course:
Fire ascending seeks the sun:
Both speed them to their source.
So the soul that's born of God
Pants to view his glorious face,
Upward tends to his abode
To rest in his embrace.
—Seagrave.
THOMAS A CELANO.
DIES IRAE.
Thomas, called a Celano from a small town in central Italy, was a Franciscan monk who lived in the thirteenth century and was custos of certain convents of his order on the Rhine. His authorship of this hymn is probable, not certain.
For the literature see Julian, p. 294.
In the ritual the Dies Irae is used for All Souls' Day and for requiem masses. The most famous musical setting is by Mozart.
Daniel says of this hymn, 'Each word is a peal of thunder.' Trench says, 'The triple rhyme has been likened to blow following blow of the hammer on the anvil.'
Goethe introduces the Dies Irae into a scene of the first part of Faust; the remorse of Gretchen becomes overwhelming as she hears the hymn pealing through the cathedral, the culmination corning with the repetition of the words Quid sum miser tunc, dicturus?
Sir Walter Scott thus quotes and summarizes at the end of The Lay of the Last Minstrel:
Far the echoing aisles prolong
The awful burthen of the song,—
DIES IRAE, DIES ILLA,
SOLVET SAECLUM IN FAVILLA;…
Thus the holy fathers sung.
HYMN FOR THE DEAD.
That day of wrath, that dreadful day,
When heaven and earth shall pass away,
What power shall be the sinner's stay?
How shall he meet that dreadful day?
When, shrivelling like a parched scroll,
The naming heavens together roll;
When louder yet, and yet more dread,
Swells the high trump that wakes the dead.
Oh! on that day, that wrathful day,
When man to judgment wakes from clay,
Be THOU the trembling sinner's stay,
Though heaven and earth shall pass away.
The same poet was heard to quote portions of the hymn on his deathbed, and the last words of the Earl of Roscommon, author of one of the well-known versions, were a rendering of line 51:
My God, my Father, and my Friend,
Do not forsake me in my end!
Hundreds of metrical translations of this hymn exist. A good selection will be found in Nott, _Seven Great Hymns).
1. Dies irae, dies illa, dies tribulationis et angustiae, dies calamitatis et miseriae, etc.—Zephaniah 1. 16. Cf. dies magnus irae, Revelation 6. 17. 2. Shall lay the world in glowing ashes. Cf. 2 Peter 3. 10-12, especially 'The elements shall melt with fervent heat.' 3. Teste David cum Sibylla: Jew and Gentile both testify that the Day of Judgment shall come. As Vergil in his fourth Eclogue was believed to have foretold Christ, so the Sibyl was thought to have prophesied the Day of Judgment. This was due to the still extant 'Sibylline Oracles,' a collection of twelve books in Greek hexameters supposed to have emanated from the Sibyl, but really pretended prophesies composed in the interest of their respective religions partly by Alexandrian Jews, partly by Christians. For the witness of David see Psalms 11. 5, 6; 96. 13; 97. 2, 3. Cf. Trench, pp. 303, 304. Teste David is ablative absolute. 6. Discussurus: investigate, a meaning not classic in the literary language. 7. Tuba: 'the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised.'—1 Corinthians 15. 52. Cf. 1 Thessalonians 4. 16. 11. creatura: every creature. 13. Liber scriptus: Daniel 1. 10; Revelation 20. 12. 16. Matthew 25. 31. 17. Luke 12. 2. 20. patronum: advocate, 1 John 2. 1. 21. vix iustus: 'if the righteous is scarcely saved.'—1 Peter 4. 18. 22-24.
King of awful majesty,
Saving sinners graciously,
Fount of mercy, save Thou me!
23. gratis: freely, Revelation 21. 6. 28-30. Dr. Johnson frequently quoted this stanza with tears. 28. 'Jesus, being wearied with his journey, sat thus by the well.'—John 4. 6. 33. 'After a long time the Lord of those servants cometh and maketh a reckoning with them.'— Matthew 25. 19. 37. The writer identifies Mary Magdalene with 'the woman which was a sinner' to whom Jesus said, 'Thy sins are forgiven thee.' 38. latronem: the penitent thief, Luke 23. 39 ff. 43-48. Matthew 25. 31 ff. 49. acclinis: bowing before Thee. 50. A heart bruised even as ashes. The literal meaning of contritum, 'separated into small pieces,' is strongly in mind. Cf. cor contritum; Psalms 51. 17. Cor is in apposition with the subject of oro. 52-57. These lines adapt the hymn to the service. 56, 57. Note the wonderful sweetness of these lines, like calm after storm.
BERNARD OF CLUNY.
DE PATRIAE CAELESTIS LAUDE.
This writer, born in Brittany of English parents and a contemporary of St. Bernard, was a monk in the monastery of Cluny under Peter the Venerable. The verses here given form the opening of his De Contemptu Mundi, a bitter satire about three thousand lines long upon the corruptions of the time. The passage is described by Neale as 'the most lovely of mediaeval poems.'
The metre is dactylic hexameter with the leonine and tailed rhyme, each line being broken up into three parts. This measure is so difficult that the composer was enabled to master it only, as he believed, by a special inspiration; but two translators into English, Moultrie and Duffield, have attempted to reproduce it, as:
Here we have many fears; this is the vale of tears, the land of
sorrow.
Tears are there none at all, in that celestial hall, on life's bright
morrow.
The great English rendering is by Neale in his Rhythm of Bernard de Morlaix on the Celestial Country. From this many favorite hymns have been drawn.
The subject is the speedy coming of Christ to judge the world and the joys and glories of the New Jerusalem. Cf. Revelation 21 and 22.
3. terminet: subjunctive of wish. 8. homo deus: the God-man; i.e. Christ. 10. non breve vivere: subject of retribuetur. 17. Sion: the church. Babylone: the world. Cf. such passages as Revelation 16. 19. 19. sobria: sober and impliedly watchful. Cf. 1 Thessalonians 5. 6. 24-29.
With jasper glow thy bulwarks,
Thy streets with emerald blaze;
The sardius and the topaz
Unite in thee their rays;
Thine ageless walls are bonded
With amethyst unpriced;
Thy saints build up its fabric,
And the corner-stone is Christ.
The cross is all thy splendor,
The crucified thy praise;
His laud and benediction
Thy ransomed people raise.
Thou hast no shore, fair ocean;
Thou hast no time, bright day
Dear fountain of refreshment
To pilgrims far away.
—Neale.
26. The heavenly throng compose thy fabric and Christ is thy precious stone; i.e. each believer is a stone built into the structure of the heavenly city of which Christ, the 'living stone, elect and precious,' is the foundation. Cf. 1 Peter 2. 3-6. 29. Thou without shore (i.e. unbounded in extent), thou without time (i.e. never ceasing to flow), fountain that art soon a stream. 34.
Beneath thy contemplation
Sink heart and voice oppressed.
—Neale.
49. Plaude…Deus:
Exult, O dust and ashes!
The Lord shall be thy part.
—Neale.
HILDEBERT.
1057-1184 A.D.
THE HEAVENLY CITY.
Hildebert, a contemporary and fellow-countryman of the Bernards, became
Archbishop of Tours in 1125. His verses number more than ten thousand.
The selection is taken from his Address to the Three Persons of the
Holy Trinity.
Cf. Revelation 21 and 22.
3. Auctor lucis: Genesis 1. 3. 5. lapis vivua: 1 Peter 2. 4, 6. 6. Rex festivus: Matthew 22. 2. 12-14. Revelation 21. 4; 1 John 3. 2. 15-18. Cf. O civitas sancta, civitas speciosa, de longinquo te saluto, ad te clamo, te require.—Augustine, De Spiritu et Anima. 26. Revelation 21. 24.
The following is a portion of Neale's translation (Mediaeval Hymns, pp. 35-36):
Mine be Sion's habitation,
Sion, David's calm foundation:
Built by him, light's source immortal,—
To whose streets the cross is portal:
In this city, uninvaded
Peace,—spring endless, light unfaded:
Endless breath of flowerets vernal,
Festal melody eternal.
Home, no change nor loss that fearest,
From afar my soul thou cheerest:
Thee it seeketh, thee requireth,
Thee affecteth, thee desireth.
—-
LATIN
COLLEGE LATIN SERIES
Odes and Epodes of Horace
Edited by Professor CHARLES E. BENNETT, of Cornell University 12mo, cloth, 464 pages. Price, $1.40.
Satires and Epistles of Horace
Edited by Professor JOHN C. ROLFE, of the University of Pennsylvania, 12mo, cloth, 458 pages. Price, $1.40.
Complete Works of Horace
Edited by Professors BENNETT and ROLFE. Printed on Bible paper and bound in flexible covers. 12mo, cloth, 922 pages. Price, $2.00.
IN these volumes each poem is preceded by a careful analysis, giving in a line or two all necessary information regarding the subject, date, and metre.
The comprehensive Introduction to the Odes and Epodes has sections devoted to Horace's Life and Works; Manuscripts, Scholia, and Editions; Classification of the Odes and Epodes; Language (treating the poet's most striking deviations from standard prose usage); The Metres.
The Introduction to the Satires and Epistles is equally exhaustive, and
treats of the Life and Works of Horace; The Development of the Roman
Satire; The Dramatic and Literary Satire; The Schools of Ennius and
Lucilius; General Characteristics of the Satires; The Style of the
Satires; Colloquial Language of the Satires; The Metres.
In both volumes the commentary is eminently judicious, telling the student all he needs to know, but never more than he will understand and appreciate.
The two volumes, printed on Bible paper and bound together in flexible covers, form the most attractive and convenient edition of the complete works of Horace.
Topography and Monuments of Ancient Rome
By Professor S. B. PLATNER, Western Reserve University. 8vo, cloth, 528 pages. Nine Maps and Plans and 95 Illustrations. Price, $3.00.
THIS book is intended to serve as an introduction to the study of the topography of ancient Rome for students of Roman antiquities and history, and incidentally as a book of reference for those who have any special interest in the monuments which still remain. It contains an outline of the successive stages in the growth of the city, a discussion of the topography of each region, and the position of its buildings so far as this is known, and a detailed description of the more important structures.
To facilitate further study, references of two classes have been added: first, to the sources of information in ancient literature and inscriptions, and second, to the most important material in current periodicals and the standard works on topography.
The volume contains five double-page and four single-page maps, nearly all of which are colored. There are ninety-five illustrations, many reproduced from photographs.
There are chapters devoted to each of the hills of Rome, to the Tiber and its Bridges, the Forum, the Campus Martius, Aqueducts and Sewers, Walls, Gates and Roads, the Sacra Via, and to the Transtiberine Region.
Chapters are also devoted to Building Materials and Methods, and the
History of the Development of the City.
Handbook of Latin Inscriptions
By W. M. LINDSAY, M.A., Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford. 16mo, cloth, 134 pages. Price, $1.25.
THE author states very clearly some of the principles of form changes in
Latin, and gives a collection of inscriptions by way of illustration.
These are fifty-eight in number and extend from the earliest period down
to Imperial and Late Latin.
End of Project Gutenberg's Readings from Latin Verse, by Curtis C. Bushnell