HILDEBERT.

XLIII. SOMNIUM DE LAMENTATIONE

PICTAVENSIS ECCLESIÆ.

[ОCTE quâdam, viâ fessus,

NOCTE

Torum premens, somno pressus,

In obscuro noctis densæ,
Templum vidi Pictavense,

XLIII. Hildeberti et Marbodi Opp., p. 1357.-In the Gallia Christiana, t. 2, p. 1172, the circumstances are detailed, and at some length, which alone will enable us fully to enter into and to understand this noble vision. William Adelelm, the rightful bishop of Poitiers, was in 1130 violently expelled from his see, and driven into exile, by the faction of the antipope, Anacletus the second, and of the Count of Poitiers, who sided with him; and an intrusive and schismatic bishop, Peter of Chasteleraut, usurped his throne, and exercised infinite vexations and oppressions upon the Church. William was at length restored in 1135, mainly owing to the menacing remonstrances of St Bernard. See in his Life, (Opp., t. 2, p. 1122,) a most characteristic account of the manner in which Bernard terrified the Count into this restoration. It was during the period of the usurpation, and when now it had lasted three years, (ver. 79-81,) that this poem was composed. I cannot be sure how far the reader's impression in regard of it will coincide with my own, nor whether I may not somewhat overrate its merits; but certainly it seems to me to deserve something very different from that utter oblivion into which it has fallen. I know of no nobler piece of versification, nor more skilful management of rhyme, in the whole circle of Latin rhymed poetry.

Sub staturâ personali,
Sub personâ matronali :
Situs quidem erat ei
Reverendæ faciei;

Sed turbârat frontem ejus

Omni damno damnum pejus;
Sic est tamen rebus mersis,
Ut perpendas ex adversis
Quanti esset illis annis,
Quibus erat sine damnis.
Juvenilis ille color,

Nullus erat unde dolor,
Nullus erat, sed in ore
Livor erat pro colore.
Hæret crini coronella,

Fracta nimbis et procellâ :

Vicem complet hic gemmarum
Grex corrosor tinearum.
Sunt in ventre signa famis,
Quem ostendit rupta chlamys:
Hæc est chlamys, hic est cultus,
Quem attrivit annus multus,
Ab extremo quidem limbo
Gelu rigens, madens nimbo.
Est vetustas hujus vestis
Novitatis suæ testis,

330

29-34. I understand Hildebert to mean-The oldness of this, the Church's robe, and that it had endured so long, and survived so much, was a witness for its everlasting freshness and youth, and implied with how great care it had been woven at the first, even though now it was rent and tangled and torn, and scarcely hung about her limbs :-but doubtless the novitatis is difficult.

20

25

15

10

5

Mox infigens vultum cœlis,
Ora solvit his querelis:
Deus meus, exclamavit,
Quis me turbo suffocavit?

Quæ potestas impotentem?
Quæ vis urget me jacentem?
Unde metus? unde moeror?
Unde veni? vel quo feror?
Qui vel quales hi piratæ,
Qui insultant mersâ rate?
Quæ procellæ vel qui venti
Sic insurgunt resurgenti ?
Nauta bone, via bonis,
Utens remo rationis,
Quàm ineptè, quàm incautè
Sese habent mei nautæ!
Sed nec nautæ dici debent,
Qui fortunæ manus præbent,

35