Part 7

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."

IV

15 Prudentius here, as again in v. 160, emphasises his belief in the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son. The "filioque" clause was not actually added to the Nicene Creed till the Council of Toledo (589 A.D.), but the doctrine was expressly maintained by Augustine, and occurs in a Confession of Faith of an earlier Synod of Toledo (447 A.D.?), and in the words of Leo I. (_Ep. ad Turib._, c. 1), "_de utroque processit._" The addition was not embodied into the Creed as used at Rome as late as the beginning of the ninth century. (_Vid._ Harnack, _Hist. of Dogma_, iv. 132.) Prudentius probably followed, as regards the Trinity, the doctrine generally held by the Spanish Church of his day; in many points it is difficult (cf. note on iii. 2), but appears to be derived partly from Tertullian and partly from Marcellus.

59 The identification of the Habakkuk of this legend (_vid._ the Apocryphal "Bel and the Dragon") with the O. T. prophet is erroneous. This version of the story of Daniel is sometimes represented in the frescoes of the Catacombs, where the subject is a very favourite one, as is natural in an age when the cry "_Christiani ad leones_" so often rang through the streets of Rome.

V

1 There has been much doubt as to the title and scope of this hymn. Some early editors (_e.g._, Fabricius and Arevalus) adopt the title "_ad incensum cerei Paschalis_," or "_de novo lumine Paschalis Sabbati_," and confine its object to the ceremonial of Easter Eve, which is specially alluded to in ll. 125 _et seq._ Others, following the best MSS., give the simpler title used in this text, and regard it as a hymn for daily use. This view is supported by the weight of evidence: the position of the hymn among the first six (none of which are for special days), and the fact that the Benediction of the Paschal Candle was not in use, at any rate in Rome, in the pontificate of Zacharias (_ob._ 752 A.D.) point in this direction. In the Spanish Church particularly the very ancient custom of praying at the hour when the evening lamps were lighted had developed into the regular office of the _lucernarium_, as distinct from Vespers. The Mozarabic Breviary (seventh century) contains the prayers and responses for this service, and the Rule of St. Isidore runs: "In the evening offices, first the lucernarium, then two psalms, one responsory and lauds, a hymn and prayer are to be said." St. Basil also writes: "It seemed good to our fathers not to receive in silence the gift of the evening light, but to give thanks as soon as it appeared." It is probable, therefore, that Prudentius intended the hymn for daily use, and that after speaking of God as the source of light, and His manifestations in the form of fire to Moses and the Israelites, his thoughts pass naturally, though somewhat abruptly, to the special festival--Easter Eve--on which the sanctuaries were most brilliantly illuminated. The question is fully discussed by Brockhaus (_A. Prudentius Clemens in seiner Bedeutung für die Kirche seiner Zeit_), and Roesler (_Der catholische Dichter A. Prudentius_). Part of this hymn is used in the Mozarabic Breviary for the First Sunday after Epiphany, at Vespers, being stanzas 1, 7, 35, 38-41.

7 The words _incussu silicis_ are perhaps reminiscent of the Spanish ceremonial of Easter Eve, when the bishop struck the flint, lighting from it first a candle, then a lamp, from which the deacons lighted their candles; these were blessed by the bishop, and the procession from the _processus_ into the church followed.

21 Cf. Vaughan, _The Lampe_:--

"Then thou dost weepe Still as thou burn'st, and the warm droppings creepe To measure out thy length."

119 The _folium_ here is probably the ancient _malobathrum_, generally identified as the Indian cinnamon. The Arab traders who brought this valuable product into the Western markets, surrounded its origin with much mystery.

125 The following stanzas, in which Prudentius elaborates the beautiful fancy that the sufferings of lost spirits are alleviated at Eastertide, have incurred the severe censure of some of the earlier editors. Fabricius calls it "a Spanish fabrication," while others, as Cardinal Bellarmine, declare that the author is speaking "poetically and not dogmatically." That such a belief, however, was actually held by some section of the ancient Church is evident from the words of St. Augustine (_Encheiridion_, c. 112): _Paenas damnatorum certis temporum intervallis existiment, si hoc eis placet, aliquatenus mitigari, dummodo intelligatur in eis manere ira Dei, hoc est ipsa damnatio._ "Let men believe, if it so please them, that at certain intervals the pains of the damned are somewhat alleviated, provided that it be understood that the wrath of God, that is damnation itself, abides upon them."

140 It is somewhat startling to find Prudentius speaking of the Holy Eucharist in terms which would recall to his contemporary readers Virgilian phraseology and the honeyed cake (_liba_) used in pagan sacrifice. It must be remembered, however, that in the early days of the Church paganism and Christianity flourished side by side for a considerable period; and we find various pagan practices allowed to continue, where they were innocent. Thus the bride-cake and the bridal-veil are of heathen origin; the mirth of the Saturnalia survives, in a modified form, in some of the rejoicings of Christmas; and the flowers, which had filled the pagan temples during the Floralia, were employed to adorn God's House at the Easter festival.

141 The brilliant illumination of churches on Easter Eve is very ancient. According to Eusebius, Constantine "turned the mystical vigil into the light of day by means of lamps suspended in every part, setting up also great waxen tapers, as large as columns, throughout the city." Gregory of Nyssa also speaks of "the cloud of fire mingling with the rays of the rising sun, and making the eve and the festival one continuous day without interval of darkness."

153 Cf. _Paradise Lost_, iii. 51:--

"So much the rather thou, Celestial Light, Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers Irradiate."

VI

The last seven stanzas of this hymn are used in the Moz. Brev. at Compline on Passion Sunday, and daily until Maundy Thursday.

56 Cf. Job. vii. 14: "Then Thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions."

95 In the translation of this stanza the explanation of Nebrissensis is adopted, an early editor of Prudentius (1512) and one of the leaders of the Renaissance in Spain. He considers that "the few of the impious who are condemned to eternal death" are the incurable sinners, _immedicabiles_. Others attempt to reconcile these words with the general belief of the early Church by maintaining that _non pii_ is not equivalent to _impii_, but rather refers to the class that is neither decidedly good nor definitely bad, and that the mercy of God is extended to the majority of these. A third view is that the poet is speaking relatively, and means that few are condemned in proportion to the number that deserve condemnation. In whatever way the words are explained, it is interesting to find an advocate of "the larger hope" in the fourth century.

105 Cf. Rev. xvii. 8: "The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go into perdition."

109 Cf. 2 Thess. ii. 4: "The son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."

127 The phrase _rorem subisse sacrum_ would suggest baptism by sprinkling, except that Prudentius uses the word loosely elsewhere. Immersion was undoubtedly the general practice of the early Church, "clinical" baptism being allowed only in cases of necessity.

128 The anointing with oil showed that the catechumen was enrolled among the spiritual priesthood, and with the unction was joined the sign of the Cross on the forehead.

VII

1 This entire hymn is used in the Moz. Brev., divided into fifteen portions for use during Lent.

27 The word _sacerdos_ here, as in ix. 4, is used in the sense of "prophet"; but in both passages there is some idea of the exercise of priestly functions. Elijah may be called "priest" from his having offered sacrifice on Mount Carmel, and David from his wearing the priestly ephod as he danced before the Ark.

69 The old editors discuss these lines with much gravity, and mostly come to the conclusion that "locusts" were "a kind of bird, of the length of a finger, with quick, short flight"; while the "wild honey" was not actual honey at all, but "the tender leaves of certain trees, which, when crushed by the fingers, had the pleasant savour of honey."

76 A gloss on one of the Vat. MSS. adds: "This is not authorised; for John merely baptized with water, and not in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost; therefore his baptism was of no avail, save that it prepared the way for Christ to baptize." Many of the Fathers, however, while expressly affirming that John's baptism differed from that of Christ, allowed that the stains of sin were washed away by the former. St. Chrysostom draws this distinction: "There was in John's baptism pardon, but not without repentance; remission of sins, but only attained by grief."

100 The story of Jonah, as a type of the Resurrection, is one of the most frequent subjects of the frescoes of the Catacombs. In one very ancient picture, a man in a small boat is depicted in the act of placing the prophet in the very jaws of the whale.

115 Two stanzas are omitted in the text, which depict the sufferings of Jonah with a wealth of detail not in accordance with modern taste. For the sake of giving a complete text, we append them here:--

"_Transmissa raptim praeda cassos dentium eludit ictus incruentam transvolans inpune linguam, ne retentam mordicus offam molares dissecarent uvidi, os omne transit et palatum praeterit._

_Ternis dierum ac noctium processibus mansit ferino devoratus gutture, errabat illic per latebras viscerum, ventris recessus circumibat tortiles anhelus extis intus aestuantibus._"

194 Prudentius appears to have believed that the mystery of the Incarnation was concealed from Satan, and that the Temptation was an endeavour to ascertain whether Jesus was the Son of God or no. Cf. Milton, _Par. Reg._ i.:--

"Who this is we must learn, for Man he seems In all his lineaments, though in his face The glimpses of his Father's glory shine."

VIII

9 The day of twelve hours appears to have been adopted by the Romans about B.C. 291. Ambrose (_de virginibus_, iii. 4), commenting on Ps. cxix. and the words "Seven times a day do I praise thee," declares that prayers are to be offered up with thanksgiving when we rise from sleep, when we go forth, when we prepare to take food, when we have taken it, at the hour of incense, and lastly, when we retire to rest. He probably alludes to private prayer. The stanza here indicates that the second hour after midday has arrived, when the fasting ended and the midday meal was taken.

14 The word _festum_, as in vii. 4, indicates a special fast day. Until the sixth century, fasting was simply a penitential discipline and was not used as a particular mode of penance. In the fourth century it was a fairly common practice as a preparation for Holy Communion. Fasting before Baptism was a much earlier practice. The stated fasts of the Western Church were (1) _annual_, that is, ante-paschal or Lent; (2) _monthly_, or the fasts of the four seasons in the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th months; (3) _weekly_, on Wednesday and Friday. There was also the fast of the Rogations and the Vigils or Eves of holy days. It is doubtful whether all these were in vogue as early as Prudentius.

33 This passage on the Shepherd reminds us of one of the most common pictorial representations of the Catacombs. Christian art owed something to paganism in this matter; ancient sculptures represent the god Pan with a goat thrown across his shoulders and a Pan's pipe in his hand; while the poets Calpurnius and Tibullus both refer to the custom of carrying a stray or neglected lamb on the shoulders of the shepherd. Going further back, the figure is common in the O. T. to express God's care over His people. Our Lord therefore used for His own purpose and transfigured with new meaning a familiar figure. The gradual transition from paganism to Christianity is curiously illustrated by the fact that in several of the Catacomb bas-reliefs and paintings the Good Shepherd holds in His outstretched hand a Pan's pipe. See Maitland's _Church in the Catacombs_, p. 315, for a woodcut of the Good Shepherd with a lamb over His shoulders, two sheep at His feet, a palm tree (or poplar) on either side, and a Pan's pipe in His right hand; and also the frontispiece for a reproduction from the Cemetery of St. Peter and St. Marcellinus.

IX

1 This hymn, which first introduced into sacred song the trochaic metre familiar in Greek Tragedy and the Latin adaptations of it, supplies the Moz. Brev. with some stanzas for use during Holy Week. The lines selected are 22-24, 1-21.

11 The use of the symbol _Ô_, (pronounced here as a single syllable), appears to indicate that the names Omega and Omikron came into use at a later date than Prudentius' time. In Rev. i. 8, the best MSS. read _egô eimi to alpha kai to ô_.

33 The words _vulnerum piamina_ are generally supposed to refer to the "gifts which Moses commanded" to be offered by those healed of leprosy (Lev. xiv. 2). If so, Prudentius' language may imply that the cure was not actually complete until the offering of these gifts, and is at variance with St. Matthew, viii. 43, "and forthwith his leprosy was cleansed." Probably, however, his idea is rather that the gifts to the priest formally marked the leper as a clean man.

71 Cf. note on iii. 199.

X

1 Parts of this hymn are used in the Moz. Brev. in the Office of the Dead, being ll. 1-16, 45-48, 57-68, 157-168.

The burial rites of the primitive Church were simple, and marked by an absence of the ostentatious expression of grief which the pagan peoples displayed. The general practice of cremation was rejected, partly owing to the new belief in the resurrection of the body, and partly from a desire to imitate the burial of the Lord. At Rome, during the first three centuries, the dead were laid in the Catacombs, in which Prudentius took conspicuous interest (see Translator's Note), but after 338 A.D. this practice became less frequent, and was completely abandoned after 410 A.D. Elsewhere, from the earliest times, the Christians purchased special enclosures (_areae_), which were often attacked and rifled by angry mobs in the days of persecution. The body was frequently embalmed (_cf._ ll. 51, 52), swathed in white linen (l. 49), and placed in a coffin; vigils and hymns continued for three or four days, but hired mourners were forbidden (l. 113), and instead of the dirges of the heathens, chants expressive of triumphant faith were sung as the body was carried to the grave, where a simple service was held, and evergreens and flowers were strewn about the tomb (ll. 169, 170). The earliest inscriptions are often roughly scratched on plaster, and consist merely of a name and age, or simple words like--

GEMELLA DORMIT IN PACE

but later (cf. l. 171), they were engraved on small marble slabs.

25 In both thought and language this stanza, as vii. 16 _et seq._, is evidently reminiscent of Horace (_Sat._ 2, ii. 77): _Quin corpus onustum_, etc.

"The Body, too, with Yesterday's excess Burthened and tired, shall the pure Soul depress, Weigh down this Portion of celestial Birth, This Breath of God, and fix it to the Earth." (Francis).

51 Boldetti, in his work on the Catacombs (lib. i. cap. 59), says that on many occasions, when he was present at the opening of a grave, the assembled company were conscious of a spicy odour diffusing itself from the tomb. Cf. Tertullian (_Apol._ 42): "The Arabs and Sabaeans knew well that we consume more of their precious merchandise for our dead than do the heathen for their gods."

57 Prudentius' firm faith in the resurrection of the body is also nobly expressed in the _Apotheosis_ (ll. 1063 _et seq._):--

"_Nosco meum in Christo corpus resurgere; quid me Desperare iubes? veniam, quibus ille revenit Calcata de morte viis: quod credimus hoc est._