THE BOY AND THE GRAPES Et quia Florentiani maioris memoriam fecimus, quid ab eo didicerim nefas puto taceri. Tempore quodam causa legationis Galliciam adiit, atque ad Mironis regis praesentiam accedens, negotia patefecit iniuncta. Erat enim eo tempore Miro rex in civitate illa, in qua decessor eius 5 basilicam sancti Martini aedificaverat, sicut in libro primo huius operis exposuimus. Ante huius aedis porticum, vitium camera extensa per traduces, dependentibus uvis, quasi picta vernabat. Sub hac enim erat semita, quae ad sacrae aedis valvas peditem deducebat. Cumque rex 10 sub hac praeteriens orationis gratia hoc templum adiret, dixit suis: "Cavete ne contingatis unum ex his botrionibus, ne forsitan offensam sancti Antistitis incurratis. Omnia enim quae in hoc habentur atrio ipsi sacrata sunt." Hoc audiens, unus puerorum ait intra se: "Utrum sint 15 haec huic Sancto sacrata an non ignoro. Unum scio quod deliberatio animi mei est ab his vesci." Et statim, iniecta manu, caudam botrionis coepit incidere, protinusque dextera eius adhaerens camerae, arente lacerto, diriguit. Erat enim mimus regis, qui ei per verba iocularia laetitiam 20 erat solitus excitare. Sed non eum adiuvit cachinnus aliquis, neque praestigium artis suae; sed cogente dolore, voces dare coepit ac dicere: "Succurrite viri misero, subvenite oppresso, ferte levamen appenso, et sancti antistitis Martini virtutem pro me deprecamini, qui tali 25 exitu crucior, tali plaga affligor, tali incisione disiungor." Egressus quoque rex, cum rem quae acta fuerat didicisset, tanto furore contra puerum est accensus, ut eius manus vellet abscidere, si a suis prohibitus non fuisset. Dicentibus tamen praeterea famulis, "Noli, o rex, iudicio dei 30 tuam adiungere ultionem, ne forte iniuriam quam minaris puero in te retorqueas," tunc ille compunctus corde, ingressus basilicam, prostratus coram sancto altari, cum lacrymis preces fudit ad Dominum; nec ante a pavimento 5 surrexit quam flumen oculorum huius paginam delicti deleret. Quo a vinculo quo nexus fuerat absoluto, ac in basilicam ingresso, rex elevatur a solo, et sic recipiens incolumem famulum palatium repetivit. Testabatur autem maior, praefatus haec se ab ipsius regis relatione, 10 sicut actum narravimus, cognovisse. Sic enim gloriosus Pontifex suam illustrat urbem miraculis, ut deesse non sentiatur alienis. — IV. 7. A BEESWAX STORY In Ausiensi quoque territorio erat homo, Coelestis nomine, cui multa erant apum alvearia; ex quibus cum exa15 men egressum alta conscendens longe competeret, et ille sequens nullum prorsus suscipiendi obtineret effectum, prostratus solo sancti Martini invocat nomen dicens: "Si virtus tua, beatissime Confessor, hoc examen retinere voluerit eumque ditioni meae reddiderit, quae in poste20 rum ex eo procreata fuerint, mel usibus meis sumam, ceram vero ad luminaria basilicae tuae cum omni soliditate dirigam." Haec effatus, cum adhuc terrae decumberet, statim examen apum super unam arbusculam, quae viro erat proxima, decidit et insedit, collectumque et in alveare 25 reconditum domi detulit; de quo infra duos aut tres annos multa congregavit. Ex quibus cum iam amplius quam ducentas cerae libras aggregatas haberet, rumor hostilitatis obortus est. At ille ne votum suum perire cerneret, ceram fossa humo 6. Quo i.e. the puer. 9. maior: Florentian.-22. Haec effatus: instead of Abl. Abs. ; an anacoluthon.-28. hostilitatis = belli. operuit. Pace quoque reddita, diaconum nostrum, ut eam peteret, accersivit. Erat tunc cum eo puer, qui renum gravissimum perferebat dolorem. Qui accedens ad virum, et cognoscens ab ore eius quae gesta fuerant, ceram quae in terra latebat detegi iubet. Puer vero qui 5 dolorem, quem diximus, patiebatur, accepto sarculo ut terram foderet, ait: "Si tu propitius es, sancte Martine, ad hoc munus hominis huius aspiciendum, contingat virtus tua renes meos, et sit mihi salus cum hanc detexero ceram." Cumque percussisset sarculo terram, sonuit 10 ossiculum renum eius, et statim omnis dolor ablatus est; sicque incolumis cum hac cera beatae basilicae praesentatus est. IV. 15. VENANTII HONORII CLEMENTIANI FORTUNATI MISCELLANEA Venantius Fortunatus (530-609), born in northern Italy, and educated at Milan and Ravenna, was the most facile poet of his age. Having the gifts and temper of a courtier, he found his way about 565 to the court of Sigibert, King of the Franks, where he won favor by his epithalamium on the marriage of that prince with Brunhilda, beginning, Felicem, sol, pande diem, radiisque serenis Sparge comas, thalamos sincero lumine complens : Vincula chara subit, and by various other laudatory verses. The habit of composing poetry on persons and places, especially churches, bishops, and royalty, already acquired before Fortunatus left Italy, was amply exercised during the next succeeding years, as he wandered through France. At Poitiers, an episcopal see, he made the acquaintance of several famous personages, particularly of Radegunda, a Thuringian princess who through the fortunes of war had been forced to marry king Clotaire, but had escaped from him and taken religious vows, becoming the founder of a convent in that city. Fortunatus's ardent attachment to her as his patroness detained him permanently at Poitiers, where in 599 he became bishop. His devotion to St. Radegunda and her sister St. Agnes, abbess of another religious institution in Poitiers, found expression in many poems, many of which are entirely secular in tone; but no breath of scandal has ever attached to this unique friendship. Although Fortunatus wrote a poetical life of St. Martin, and other biographical works in prose, his occasional poems are the foundation of his fame. They are collected in eleven books of Miscellanea, and exhibit the most diverse moods, from extreme self-indulgence to rapturous religious mysticism. The elegy on the death of Gelesvintha, sister of Radegunda, and but recently bride of Chilperic, is full of tender sympathy. Two of the hymns speedily became notable among the best possessions of the church, the Pange, lingua, gloriosi, and the Vexilla regis prodeunt. Both of them illustrate in most interesting fashion the gradual change to accentual form which was coming over Latin lyric verse. The earliest hymns of the church are quantitative; these of Fortunatus are both quantitative and accentual, with incipient rhyme; while before long the wholly accentual and brilliantly rhymed forms triumph. The text may be found in Migne's Patrologia Latina, Vol. LXXXVIII, and, edited by Fr. Leo, in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica. For English versions of the hymns, cf. Christian Life in Song, pp. 131, 133. FORTUNATUS SENDS FLOWERS TO RADEGUNDA O regina potens, cui aurum et purpura vile est, h 5 Suscipe missa tibi variorum munera florum, Quae modo te crucias, recreanda in luce futura, 10 Per ramos fragiles, quos nunc praebemus olentes, 1 sqq. These elegiac verses are quantitative. 3. non res est color: 'color is not an entity.'-ipse: sc. color apparet. |