Præsepe jam fulget tuum, 25 manchmal den Infinitiv mit dem Particip wie die Griechen den Aorist, nämlich als historischen Aorist, it is difficult to guess. He can hardly take cingere as the infinitive active. What I understand St Ambrose to say is this: "Equal to the Eternal Father, Thou clothest Thyself with the trophy of redeemed flesh, so strengthening with everlasting strength the infirmities of our body." 25. fulget] Thus in the Evangel. Infant. ch. 3, some enter the cave where the new-born child is laid, et ecce repleta erat illa luminibus, lucernarum et candelarum fulgoribus excedentibus, et solari luce majoribus. 27. nox interpolet] Gregory the Great (Moral. iv. 6): Antiquus hostis dies est, per naturam bene conditus; sed nox est, per meritum ad tenebras delapsus. PISTOR. HE only notice which I have of the probable author THE of the following hymn is drawn from Clichtoveus, p. 198: Auctor ejus fuisse traditur eximius pater Henricus Pistor, doctor theologus Parisiensis, et in religiosâ domo Sti Victoris juxta Parisios monasticam vitam professus, qui etiam Concilio Constantinensi [1414-1418] interfuit, eâque tempestate, doctrinâ et virtute mirifice floruit. Referring to the histories of the Council of Constance, I can find no notice of his having taken any prominent share in its deliberations. Yet the internal evidence of the poem itself, as far as it reaches, is all in favour of this statement. That the writer was an accomplished theologian is plain; and no less so that he was trained in the school, and formed upon the model, of Adam of St Victor, as indeed we have just been told that he was himself a Victorine as well. VII. DE S. JOHANNE BAPTISTA. PRECURSORIS et Baptistæ Diem istum chorus iste Vero die jam diescat, Ut in nostris elucescat Præcursore nondum nato, Nostro sole tunc exclusus, Solis luce typicâ. Prius novit diem verum, Hic renascens nondum natus Clausa pandit, ventre clausus; VII. Clichtoveus, Elucidat. Eccles. p. 198; Rambach, Anthol. Christl. Gesänge, p. 364; Daniel, Thes. Hymnol. vol. ii. p. 169. 20, 21. Cf. Luke i. 41. Linguæ gestus obsequuntur; Tori fructus matri dantur, Et jam matris excusantur 25 Sterilis opprobria. Ortus tanti præcursoris Multus terret, sed terroris Se a mundo servans mundum, Munde vivit intra mundum In ætate tenerâ. Ne formentur a convictu Mores, loco, veste, victu Quem dum replet lux superna, Veræ lucis fit lucerna, Veri solis lucifer; Novus præco novæ legis, Immo novus novi regis Pugnaturi signifer. 27. Cf. Luke i. 25. 29. terret] Luke i. 69. Daniel has tenet; one of the serious misprints with which his book, in many respects so carefully and conscientiously prepared, too much abounds. 36. Cf. Luke i. 60; Matt. iii. 4. 38. lucerna] In the words of the Psalmist, Paravi lucernam Christo meo (Ps. cxxxi. 7, Vulg.), it was very common to find an express prophecy of the Baptist. The application was helped on by the reappearance of lucerna in the Lord's words about him: Ille erat lucerna ardens, et lucens (John v. 35, Vulg.). Cf. Augustine, Serm. 293, 4; Tertullian, Adv. Jud. 9. 39, lucifer] This title of the light-bringer, the morning Singulari prophetiâ Hi futurum, hic præsentem, Dum baptizat Christum foris, Aquæ tactu tingitur: Duos duplex lavat flumen, Baptistæ conceditur. Dum baptizat, baptizatur, 45 50 55 star, was a nomen proprium applied to the Baptist: own Toû Λόγου, ὁ λύχνος τοῦ φωτός, ὁ ἑωσφόρος ὁ τοῦ ἡλίου πρόδρομος, as he was called in the Greek Church. Durandus: Ideo autem Joannes dictus est Lucifer, quia obtulit novum tempus. To remember this, explains St Bernard's comparison of him and that other 'son of the morning,' or Lucifer (Isai. xiv. 12, 13, Vulg.), who sought not to go before the true Sun, but to usurp his place: Lucet ergo Johannes, tanto verius quanto minus appetit lucere. Fidelis Lucifer, qui Solis justitiæ non usurpare venerit, sed prænuntiare splendorem. 43-45. sublimatur] Clichtoveus sees here allusion to Christ's word concerning John, that he was a prophet, and more than a prophet' (Matt. xi. 9); compare Gregory the Great (Hom. 6 in Evang.). But it was often urged as a prerogative of the Baptist, that he was the only prophet who was himself prophesied of before his birth; thus by Augustine (Serm. 288, 3): Hic propheta, immo amplius quam propheta, prænuntiari meruit per prophetam. De illo namque dixit Isaias, |