Ecce sub ingenti ramorum tegminis umbrâ Fons erat hic nullo casu turbante serenum Perspicuis illimis aquis, et gramina circum Fundebant lætos vario de flore colores.

35

Hunc circum innumeræ gentes populique coibant, 30
Quam varii generis, sexûs, ætatis, honoris,
Innuptæ, nuptæque simul, viduæque, nurusque,
Infantes, puerique, viri, juvenesque, senesque:
Hic ubi multigenis flexos incumbere pomis
Cernebant ramos, avidis attingere dextris
Gaudebant madidos cœlesti nectare fructus.
Nec prius hos poterant cupidis decerpere palmis,
Quam lutulenta viæ vestigia fœda prioris
Detererent, corpusque pio de fonte lavarent.
Ergo diu circum spatiantes gramine molli,
Suspiciunt altâ pendentes arbore fructus.
Tum si qui ex illis delapsa putamina ramis,
Et dulces, multo rorantes nectare, frondes
Vescuntur, veros exoptant sumere fructus.

Ergo ubi cœlestem ceperunt ora saporem,
Permutant animos, et mentes perdere avaras
Incipiunt, dulcique hominem cognoscere sensu.
Insolitum multis stomachum movisse saporem
Vidimus, et fellis commotum melle venenum
Rejecisse bonos turbatâ mente sapores,
Aut avide sumptum non dilexisse, diuque
Et male potatum tandem evomuisse saporem.
Sæpe quidem multi, renovatis mentibus, ægros
Restituere animos; et quæ se posse negabant,
Pertulerant, fructumque sui cepere laboris.
Multi etiam sanctos ausi contingere fontes,

40

Discessere iterum subito, retroque relapsi
Sordibus et cœno mixti volvuntur eodem.
Multi vero bono portantes pectore, totis
Accipiunt animis, penitusque in viscera condunt. 60

Ergo qui sacros possunt accedere fontes,
Septima lux illos optatas sistit ad undas,
Tingit et in liquidis jejunos fontibus artus.
Sic demum illuviem mentis, vitæque prioris
Deponunt labem, purasque a morte reducunt
Illustres animas, cœlique ad lumen ituras.
Hinc iter ad ramos et dulcia poma salutis;
Inde iter ad cœlum per ramos arboris altæ;
Hoc lignum vitæ est cunctis credentibus. Amen.

65

62. Septima lux] Forty rather than seven was the number of days which generally the ancient Church desired to set apart for the immediate preparation for baptism: yet within that forty, the last seven may, and would, have had an intenser solemnity, even as the traditio symboli very often did not take place till the seventh day preceding; thus, not till Palm Sunday, for those who should be baptized on Easter Eve.

ADAM OF ST VICTOR.

XLIII. DE S. APOSTOLIS.

STOLA regni laureatus,

Summi Regis est senatus
Cœtus apostolicus;

Cuï psallant mens et ora;
Mentis mundæ vox sonora
Hymnus est angelicus.

Hic est ordo mundi decus,
Omnis carnis judex æquus,
Novæ petra gratiæ;
Ab æterno præelectus,
Cujus floret architectus

Ad culmen Ecclesiæ.

XLIII. Gautier, Adam de S. Victor, vol. ii. p. 407.-This magnificent hymn, a glorious addition to the medieval hymnology, was published by Gautier for the first time. The unity which pervades the hymns of Adam of St Victor is very worthy of remark and admiration. Thus he has, besides this, two others, In Communi Apostolorum. In them he traces the history of the Apostles, their calling, their characters, the spheres of their labour, with no slightest introduction of symbolism. This on the contrary deals with the symbolism alone, and does not once touch what would be to it the alien element of history.

1-3. Cf. Matt. xix. 28; Luke xxii. 29, 30; 1 Cor. vi. 3. 8. judex] Cf. Matt. xix. 28.

11. architectus] Elsewhere the Apostles are honoured with the

Hi præclari Nazaræi
Bella crucis et tropæi
Mundo narrant gloriam ;
Sic dispensant verbum Dei
Quod nox nocti, lux diei
Indicant scientiam.

Onus leve, jugum mite
Proponentes, semen vitæ
Mundi spargunt terminis;
Germen promit terra culta,
Fœneratur fruge multâ
Fides Dei-hominis.

Paranymphi novæ legis

Ad amplexum novi Regis
Sponsam ducunt regiam,

title of the "architects" of the Church; as in a fine hymn addressed to St Paul (Mone, vol. iii. p. 85), which commences thus:

Paulus, Syon architectus,
Est a Christo præelectus.

So too St Augustine styles the same Apostle (Ep. 185) Ecclesiæ magnus ædificator. Here, however, it is the architect in chief who manifestly is intended.

14. tropai] See note, p. 89.

16-18. It is well known that the words of the nineteenth Psalm (1-4), mainly on the strength of St Paul's adaptation of them (Rom. x. 18), have constantly received a spiritual application. The Church is the firmament which shews the handywork of God; in which day transmits to day and night to night in unbroken succession to the end of time, and to all the world, the wondrous story of the glory and grace of God.

25. Paranymphi]=viol vvμpŵvos (Matt. ix. 15; cf. John iii. 29; 2 Cor. xi. 2).

Sine rugâ, sine nævo,
Permansuram omni ævo
Virginem Ecclesiam.

Hæc est virgo gignens fœtus,
Semper nova, tamen vetus,
Sed defectûs nescia;

Cujus thorus mens sincera,
Cujus partus fides vera,
Cujus dos est gratia.

Hi sunt templi fundamentum,
Vivus lapis et cæmentum

Ligans ædificium.

Hi sunt portæ civitatis,

Hi compago unitatis

Israël et gentium.

Hi triturant aream,

Ventilantes paleam

28. Cf. Ephes. v. 27.

37. Cf. Ephes. ii. 20; Rev. xxi. 14.

40. portæ] Cf. Rev. xxi. 12; Ezek. xlviii. 31-34.

of St Victor (Sup. Apoc. xxi. 21): Per portas vero S. Apostolos intelligimus, per quorum fidem et doctrinam sanctam Civitatem introimus. Augustine (Enarr. in Ps. lxxxvi. 2): Quare sunt portæ [Apostoli]? Quia per ipsos introimus ad regnum Dei. Prædicant enim nobis.

41, 42. Cf. Ephes. ii. 20.

43-48. The treading out the corn on the barn floor, which is the work of oxen, is the link between the first part of this stanza and the last. The Apostles, the treaders out of the corn (St Paul, by his quotation at 1 Tim. v. 18, of Deut. xxv. 4, justifies the image), from which afterwards they winnow away the chaff (cf. Matt. iii. 12), are prefigured by the twelve brazen