The Hymns of Prudentius Part 23

97 For the _obstetrix_, cf. _Proto-Evangelium of the Pseudo-James_ (a Greek romance of the fourth century), -- 18 _et seq._, where Joseph is represented as seeking and finding a Hebrew midwife.

100 Cf. Milton's _Ode on the Nativity_, ll. 157-164:--

"With such a horrid clang As on Mount Sinai rang While the red fire and smould'ring clouds outbrake: The aged earth aghast With terror of that blast, Shall from the surface to the centre shake; When at the world's last session The dreadful Judge in middle air shall spread his throne."

XII

1 This poem has given four hymns to the Roman Breviary:-- (1) For the Feast of the Transfiguration, Vespers and Matins consisting of ll. 1-4, 37-40, 41-44, 85-88.

(2) For the Epiphany at Lauds, beginning _O sola magnarum urbium_, ll. 77-80, 5-8, 61-72.

(3) For the Feast of Holy Innocents at Matins, beginning _Audit tyrannus anxius_, ll. 93-100, 133-136.

(4) Also the Feast of Holy Innocents at Lauds, beginning _Salvete flores martyrum_, ll. 125-132.

5 For a curious parallel to these opening lines see Henry Vaughan's _Pious Thoughts and e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns_ (the Nativity):--

"But stay! what light is that doth stream And drop here in a gilded beam?

It is Thy star runs Page and brings Thy tributary Eastern kings.

Lord! grant some light to us that we May find with them the way to Thee!"

12 Cf. Ignatius, _Ep. ad Ephes. xix._: "All the other stars, together with the Sun and Moon, became a chorus to the Star, which in its light excelled them all."

15 Prudentius mentions the constellations of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor (to which latter the Pole Star belongs) as examples of stars in constant apparition. All the Little Bear stars are within about 24 from the Pole; hence, if viewed from Saragossa, the birthplace of Prudentius, the lowest alt.i.tude of any of them would be 18 above the north horizon. The same applies to the majority of the stars in the Great Bear. Some few would sink below the horizon for a brief time in each twenty-four hours; but the greater number, especially the seven princ.i.p.al stars known as the "Plough," would be sufficiently high up at their lowest northern alt.i.tudes to be in perpetual apparition. [My friend, Rev. R. Killip, F.R.A.S., has kindly furnished me with these particulars.] Allusions to the Bears are constantly recurring in the cla.s.sical poets (cf. _e.g._ Ovid., _Met._ xiii. 293, _immunemque aequoris Arcton_, "the Bear that never touches the sea"). The idea that these stars are mostly hidden by clouds, though perpetually in view, is a poetic hyperbole intended to enhance the uniqueness of the Star of Bethlehem.

49 Jerome (_ad Eustoch._ Ep. 22) commenting on the pa.s.sage in Isa.

xi. 1, "And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root" (Vulg.), remarks: "The rod (_virga_) is the mother of the Lord, simple, pure, sincere ...

the flower of the rod is Christ, who saith, 'I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys.'"

69 This symbolism of the gifts of the Magi is also found in Juvencus (I. 250): "Frankincense, gold and myrrh they bring as gifts to a King, a Man and a G.o.d," and is again alluded to by Prudentius in _Apoth._ 631 _et seq._ The idea is expressed in the hymn of Jacopone da Todi, beginning _Verb.u.m caro factum est_ (Mone, _Hymni Latini_, Vol. 2):

"Gold to the kingly, Incense to the priestly, Myrrh to the mortal:"

and it has pa.s.sed into the Office for Epiphany in the Roman Breviary: "There are three precious gifts which the Magi offered to their Lord that day, and they contain in themselves sacred mysteries: in the gold, that the power of a king may be displayed: in the frankincense, consider the great high priest: in the myrrh, the burial of the Lord"

_et pa.s.sim_.

172 The idea that Moses defeated the Amalekites because his arms were outstretched in the form of a cross is found also in one of the hymns (lxi.) of Gregory n.a.z.ianzen. The symbol of the Christian religion, the cross, "was fancifully traced by the Fathers throughout the universe: the four points of the compa.s.s, the 'height, breadth, length and depth' of the Apostle expressed, or were expressed by, the cross.... The cross explained everything" (Maitland, _Church in the Catacombs_, p. 202).

193 The discomfiture of the heathen G.o.ds wrought by the Incarnation is elaborated by Milton, whose lines recall this and similar pa.s.sages in Prudentius:--

"Peor, and Baalim Forsake their temples dim

And sullen Moloch fled, Hath left in shadows dread, His burning idol all of blackest hue.

Our Babe, to show his G.o.dhead true, Can in his swaddling bands control the d.a.m.ned crew."

FINISH