DAMIANI. LXIX. DE GLORIA ET GAUDIIS PARADISI. D perennis vitæ fontem mens sitivit avida, АР Claustra carnis præstò frangi clausa quærit anima; Gliscit, ambit, eluctatur, exul frui patriâ. Dum pressuris ac ærumnis se gemit obnoxiam, Nam quis promat summæ pacis quanta sit lætitia, Ubi vivis margaritis surgunt ædificia, Auro celsa micant tecta, radiant triclinia? LXIX. Augustini Opp., Bened. ed., v. 6, p. 117 (Appendix); Rambach, Anthol. Christl. Gesänge, p. 241; Daniel, Thes. Hymnol., v. 1, p. 116.-This poem has been often, but erroneously, attributed to Augustine; evidently on the ground that it finds place in the Meditationes, which were long ascribed to that Father. These Meditationes, however, are plainly a cento from Anselm, Gregory the Great, and many others besides Augustine; from whom they are rightly adjudged away by the Benedictine editors, as indeed they had already been in earlier editions. The hymn is undoubtedly Damiani's, and quite the first and greatest which he has left us. Solis gemmis pretiosis hæc structura nectitur, 10 Hiems horrens, æstas torrens illic nunquam sæviunt; 11. Auro mundo] For the mystical meaning attributed to the pure gold as it were transparent glass" of the heavenly city, (Rev. xxi. 21,) I must quote a passage, though long, of Gregory the Great (Moral., 18): Appellatione auri in sacro eloquio aliquando splendor supernæ civitatis accipitur. Aurum namque, ex quo civitas illa constat, simile vitro dicitur, ut per aurum clara, et per vitrum perspicua, designetur. Auri quippe metallum novimus potiori metallis omnibus claritate fulgere, vitri verò natura est, ut extrinsecus visu pura, intrinsecus perspicuitate perluceat. In alio metallo quicquid intrinsecus continetur, absconditur : in vitro verò quilibet liquor qualis continetur interiùs, talis exteriùs demonstratur, et, ut ita dixerim, omnis liquor in vitreo vasculo clausus patet. Quid igitur aliud in auro vel vitro accipimus, nisi illam beatorum civium societatem, quorum corda sibi invicem et claritate fulgent, et puritate translucent? Quia enim omnes sancti in æternâ beatitudine summâ claritate fulgebunt, instructa auro dicitur. Et quoniam ipsa eorum claritas sibi invicem in alternis cordibus patet, et cùm uniuscujusque vultus ostenditur, simul et conscientia penetratur, hoc ipsum aurum simile vitro mundo esse memoratur. Cf. ver. 38, 39 of this hymn. 12. lues] According to the connexion in which lues is here used, it must have that meaning which once in Petronius it has, (Sat., 123,) namely, of the snow in act of melting, and now stained and fouled by its contact with the impurities of the earth. As nothing is cleaner than the new fallen snow, so nothing uncleaner, more defiling, than the snow in this process of dissolution. And here is the band of connexion between this meaning of lues and the more usual; for, as Döderlein says truly, tracing the different modifications of the meaning of this word (Synonyme, v. 2, p. 58): Die Begriffe von Unreinigheit und Krankheit liegen ziemlich nahe neben einander. Virent prata, vernant sata, rivi mellis influunt ; Non alternat luna vices, sol, vel cursus siderum ; Nam et sancti quique velut sol præclarus rutilant, Omni labe defæcati carnis bella nesciunt, Mutabilibus exuti repetunt originem, Et præsentem veritatis contemplantur speciem, Inde statum semper idem existendi capiunt, Hinc perenne tenent esse, nam transire transiit; 20 25 30 335 19-21. Augusti (Beiträge zur Christl. Kunst-Geschichte, v. 1, p. 72, sq.) has an interesting essay on the artistic character of the Apocalypse, adducing this poem with others as examples of the large use which has been made of it by the chief Latin hymnologists. 22. velut sol] Cf. Matt. xiii. 43. Qui scientem cuncta sciunt, quid nescire nequeunt; Licet cuiquam sit diversum pro labore meritum, 40 Caritas hoc facit suum quod amat in altero: Proprium sic singulorum fit commune omnium. Ubi corpus, illic jure congregantur aquila, Avidi et semper pleni, quod habent desiderant, 45 43. Ubi corpus] It is evident from the connexion in which these words, (borrowed from Matt. xxiv. 28,) appear, that the meaning which Damiani finds in them, is this: "Where Christ is, there his saints and servants will be gathered to him, by the same sure and unerring instinct which gathers the eagles to their prey;" and this was, I believe, the almost universal explanation of the passage in the early Church. Whether it be the right one, and whether the words do not rather mean, "Wherever there is a Church or nation abandoned by the spirit of life, and which has become a dead carcase, to this the eagles, the ministers and messengers of the divine judgements, are quickly gathered together, to remove it out of the way"- -were an interesting question, yet one which cannot here find place. 46-48. Avidi...pleni] Hildebert (Serm. 25) expresses himself nearly in the same way concerning the angels. Of Christ he says, Ipse est enim in quem angeli desiderant prospicere [1 Pet. i. 12]. Prospiciunt quidem in eum, et cum desiderio, quia quæ habent desiderant, et quæ desiderant habent. Si enim desiderarent, et illud non obtinerent, esset in desiderio anxietas, et ita pœna. Si Novas semper melodias vox meloda concrepat, Felix cœli quæ præsentem Regem cernit anima, Christe, palma bellatorum, hoc in municipium Præbe vires inexhausto laboranti prælio, 50 55 Nec quietem post procinctum deneges emerito, Teque merear potiri sine fine præmio. 60 autem haberent et non cuperent, videretur fastidium sequi satietatem. Ne autem sit in desiderio anxietas, vel in satietate fastidium, desiderantes satiantur, et satiati desiderant. 60. These lines of Adam of St Victor have much sweetness in them, and may fitly be appended here; they form part of a poem which it will not need to adduce at full. (Clichtoveus, p. 223.) Confusa sunt hic omnia, Spes, metus, mæror, gaudium; Fit in cœlo silentium. Quàm felix illa civitas, Nec languor hic, nec senium, Mirantur nec deficiunt Quo frui magis sitiunt. |