I. DE SS. EVANGELISTIS. UCUNDARE, plebs fidelis, JUCUN Cujus Pater est in cœlis, Prophetæ præconia : Est Joannes testis ipsi, Circa thronum majestatis, Cum spiritibus beatis, Astant animalia. Formam primum aquilinam, Et secundum leoninam, Sed humanam et bovinam 5 10 15 I. Clichtoveus, Elucidat. Eccles. vol. ii p. 218; Sequentiæ de Tempore, Argentinæ, 1516, p. 21; Corner, Promptuarium Devotionis, Viennæ, 1672, p. 346; Daniel, Thes. Hymnol. vol. ii. p. 84; Gautier, Adam de S. Victor, vol. ii. p. 425. 22. 5. testis ipsi] Cf. Rev. iv. 6-8 with Ezek. i. 4—28; x. 9 6-8. Cf. Rev. xxi. 5; xxii. 6. 12. animalia] The Cŵa of Rev. iv. 6, &c., are in our Version "beasts;" -"living creatures" it should have been, as animalia in the Vulgate; and "beast" should have been reserved for the Onpíov of the 13th and later chapters. The distribution made in Formæ formant figurarum Hi sunt Marcus et Matthæus, Pater tibi misit, Deus, Dum laxaret retia. 20 this hymn of these four to the four Evangelists is St Jerome's, (Comm. in Ezek. c. 1; Prol. in Matt.; Ep. 50), is that of St Ambrose (Prol. in Luc.), of Gregory the Great (Hom. 4 in Ezek.; Mor. xxxi. 47), and through his influence became the prevailing though not the exclusive one (for Bede has another), during the middle ages. In earlier times there was much fluctuation in the application of the four to the four; and, strangely enough, even the eagle was not by universal consent attributed to St John Irenæus, the first who makes the application at all, giving the lion to him, and the eagle to St Mark (Con. Hær. iii. 2. 8); his other two are as in this hymn; and so Juvencus. Athanasius (Opp. vol. ii. p. 155), shifts them in another fashion. Leaving St Matthew untouched, he gives the calf to St Mark, the lion to St Luke, and the eagle to St John. Augustine (De Cons. Evang. 1. 7), whom Bede follows, makes yet another transposition. With him the lion belongs to St Matthew, the man to St Mark, the calf and eagle respectively to St Luke and St John. One might be tempted by these variations to dismiss the whole matter as an idle play of the fancy; and yet there was more than this, and indeed a deep insight into the nature of the Gospels, in the desire which thus manifested itself of claiming for them to be at once four and one, an εὐαγγέλιον τετράμορφον (Irenæus), TETρáуwVOV (Origen), setting forth, in four cardinal aspects, the inexhaustible fulness of the life of Christ. The subject in its artistic aspect is fully treated by Mrs. Jameson, Poetry of Sacred and Legendary Art, vol. i. pp. 98—110. Formam viri dant Matthæo, Ut præmonstrat in Scripturâ, Marcus, leo per desertum Sed Joannes, alâ binâ Caritatis, aquilinâ Formâ fertur in divina Puriori lumine. Quatuor describunt isti Quadriformes actus Christi, Et figurant, ut audîsti, Quisque suâ formulâ. Natus homo declaratur, 25-28. Mat. i. 1-16. 29-32. For explanation of these lines see ver. 37-42 in the next hymn. 37. alâ binâ] The love of God, and of our neighbour. Thus H. de S. Victore (Serm. 97): Columba sancta Ecclesia est: quæ duas alas habet per dilectionem Dei et proximi, a dextris dilectionem Dei, a sinistris dilectionem proximi. 41, 42. Clichtoveus: Scilicet Matthæus Nativitatem, Lucas Passionem, Marcus Resurrectionem, et Johannes Ascensionem Christi. Leo mortem deprædatur, Ecce forma bestialis, Quam scriptura prophetalis Currunt rotis, volant alis; Paradisus his rigatur, Fons est Christus, hi sunt rivi, Fons est altus, hi proclivi, Ut saporem fontis vivi Ministrent fidelibus. 53-56. currunt...volant] Wheels run on earth, wings soar to heaven. In these symbolic representations of the Evangelists we hear of both; for they now tell of the earthly life of the Saviour (currunt rotis); they now ascend to the contemplation of the heavenly world (volant alis). The gressus æqualis is the mutual consent of the four; they keep step. But the allusions to the medieval typology in this and the next following hymns are so infinite and complex, that I should exhaust my room long before I had exhausted them. I must be content but to touch on a few, only observing that the key to a multitude of them lies in Gregory the Great's homilies on Ezekiel (Opp. vol. i. p. 1183, sqq. Bened. ed.). 57-64. Irenæus, in his famous passage (iii. 11. 8), the foundation of so much which has followed in the same line, does not refer to the four streams of Paradise, as prefiguring the four F Horum rivo debriatis Sitis crescat caritatis, Horum trahat nos doctrina Vitiorum de sentinâ, Sicque ducat ad divina Ab imo superius. 65 79 70 Evangelists, near as such an application lay to him, and likening as he does the four to the four principal winds, wavτaxólev πνέοντας τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν, καὶ ἀναζωπυροῦντας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. Nor does St. Ambrose (De Paradiso, c. 3), though finding a mystical meaning in the four streams, find this one. We meet it in Jerome (Ep. ad Euseb.): Quemadmodum unus fluvius erat Paradisi, qui in quatuor capita dividitur; ita unica Christi evangelica doctrina per quatuor ministros ad irrigandum et fœcundandum ecclesiæ hortum est distributa; cf. Prol. in Matt.; Augustine, De Civ. Dei, xiii. 21, and Durandus, Rational. vii. 46. The image has passed into the region of Christian Art (Aringhi, vol. i. pp. 181, 183, 195), where we often find in the early mosaics a hill surmounted by a cross, or by a lamb holding a cross, and four streams flowing out in several ways from its sides; in the words of Paulinus of Nola : Petram superstat Ipse, petra ecclesiæ, or, as we may express the thought in an English quatrain: And did the whole world water, four ways going, With spiritual freshness fill our thirsty earth Four streams of grace from one cleft mountain flowing. each Sometimes, as in the magnificent mosaic filling the cupola of St. Mark's, at Venice, the Evangelists appear as four aged men, with his urn, from which a stream of water flows. 65. debriatis] In some editions ebrietatis; but thus, plainly in ignorance of there being such a word as debrio. It is a medieval form of inebrio (see Du Cange, s. v.); I find it as early as Gregory the Great (Hom. 6. in Ezek.). |