Author. Prudentius; cf. 13. Notes on Hymn 14 This is a cento from the second hymn in the Cathemerinon, called Hymnus matutinus, and comprises lines 1-8, 48, 49, 52, 57, 59, 60, 67 and 68 of the original. I. Nox... turbida, vocatives with discedite of line 4; nubila, clouds; neut. plur. of adj. used as a noun. The imagery of this verse is primarily spiritual, but in the next verse it is physical. 3. lux ... venit. Three urgent reasons why night etc. should depart. Albescit, grows bright; cf. ut primum albescere lumen/vidit, Virg. Aen. IV, 586, 7; polus, cf. 11, 10, note. 4. discedite; a common formula bidding the uninitiated or the unclean to depart from a sacrifice; cf. Discede, Christus hic est, Prud. Cath. VI, 145. Cf. also the use of procul in procul o procul este, profani, Virg. Aen. VI, 258 and Procul o procul vagantium/Portenta somniorum, Prud. Cath. VI, 137; cf. also 29, 5. 5. caligo; cf. 6, 1, note on contegit. 6. spiculo, ray; cf. 17, 3. 7. rebusque; cf. 6, 1, note on nox atra. 8. vultu; i.e. at the appearance of; sideris, star (of the day), i.e. the sun; cf. 3, 10. 9. te with novimus; te in 10 with quaesumus (dis 11. flendo, canendo, instead of present participles— a classical construction which became very common in late Latin; cf. 44, 12. 12. intende, sc. animum, with dative, as here, or with in or ad and the accusative; direct one's mind to, and so, help, bring help. Sensibus; cf. 11, 29. 13. fucis. Fucus, a sea-weed from which a red dye was made; hence, red colour, 'rouge'; figuratively, pretence, disguise, deceit. IS. vera lux caelestium. Prudentius has rex eoi sideris and breviaries, other than the Roman, lux eoi sideris. Eous in Virgil and elsewhere means the rising sun, the dawn. If the revisers meant to put the same thought into different words, caelestium is a supposed equivalent of eoi sideris. Editors, by printing caelestium with a capital, presumably see a reference to the citizens of heaven. 16. sereno, bright. So Ambrose says that Easter day is sancto serenus lumine. Notes on Hymn 15 Author. Prudentius; cf. 13. Like 14 it is from Cathemerinon II, and comprises lines 25, 93, 94, 96108 of the original. 2. pallens, colourless; for the idea, cf. 6, 1-2 and 14, 7. Facessat (facesso, 3) to do eagerly, despatch; intrans., as here, to go away, depart. The variant fatiscat means fail, give way. Caecitas, the equivalent of caligo, tenebrae. 3. praeceps, danger, destruction; used as a noun governed by in. 4. devio seems to be used actively, i.e. which leads from the right path; otherwise errore devio=devious tracks. 5. lux, i.e. Christ, because of sibi in the next line. Serenum, as a noun, fair weather; metaphorically, contentment, peace of soul; cf. also 14, 16, note. If serenum is taken here to mean bright, puros may suggest the result in us, namely freedom from sin. 6. praestet, make us, present us. 7. subdolum, deceitful. 8. volvamus, turn over in our minds; obscurum nihil, no dark thought; cf. obscura in 6, 11. 9. Sic is explained by ne in 10; decurrat, run to its close. 10. mendax, prone to lie; for lines 10 and II cf. 18, 5-8. II. lubrici, in its literal sense of easily moving, cf. 2, 21, note; for its position at the end of the line, cf. 12, 12, note. 12. ne may be like ne in 10 or may be dependent on ne peccent. Cf. James 3, 6. Noxa, guilt; 3, 14. D Speculator astat desuper, Qui nos diebus omnibus Is Actusque nostros prospicit A luce prima in vesperum. in heaven is like a watchman. He sees us and our actions from first light of the day until evening. Aeterna caeli gloria, Castaeque proles virginis, 5 Da dexteram surgentibus, Exsurgat et mens sobria, Flagrans et in laudem Dei Grates rependat debitas. Ortus refulget lucifer 10 Praeitque solem nuntius, Cadunt tenebrae noctium; Lux sancta nos illuminet, Manensque nostris sensibus Noctem repellat saeculi Is Omnique fine temporis Purgata servet pectora. Quaesita jam primum fides In corde radices agat, Secunda spes congaudeat, 20 Qua major exstat caritas. Hymn 16 Friday Lauds Eternal glory of heaven and blessed hope of earth, only Son of the most high Thunderer and Son of a pure Virgin, stretch out Your right hand to us as we rise. Let our soul rise up recollected and, zealous in God's praise, return Him due thanks. The morning star shines clear in the sky and announces the coming of the day; the darkness of night disappears. Do You, holy light, shine on us, dwell in our thoughts, drive out the night of sin and keep our hearts purified from all that would make the night return. First let the faith we have won take root in our hearts; let the second virtue, hope, rejoice with faith. But charity is greater than either. Aurora jam spargit polum, Terris dies illabitur, Lucis resultat spiculum; Discedat omne lubricum. Hymn 17 Saturday Lauds Now is the dawn spreading its light over the heavens, day is gradually coming to the earth; light's rays are mounting in the sky. Darkness and its attendant dangers, depart. Let the night's Author. Unknown; perhaps of the fifth century. It is an alphabetical hymn, though this device is not preserved in any breviary. As the Latin alphabet has only twenty-three letters, letters were sometimes doubled in these compositions. C was used for lines 3 and 4 of this hymn. 1. The hymn is addressed to Christ as God and man; line 3 further explains line 1, and line 4 explains line 2; cf. the opening of 46. 3. summi tonantis unice, only-begotten of the most high (and) thundering, i.e. omnipotent, Father. Original: celsitonantis unice, i.e. of Him who thunders on high; cf. Ps. 17, 14 and Ps. 28. 6. sobria, thoughtful, recollected; cf. 13, 9, note. 9. Ortus; in the original Hortus to make up the alphabet. H could be so used according to the vulgar pronunciation of Latin; cf. insidias Arrius (sc. dicebat) hinsidias, Catullus, 84, 2. Lucifer, the morning star; cf. 11, 9, note. which must 10. Praeitque. MSS have sparsamque, be wrong. Some word with I is necessary; hence the suggestions ipsamque, Mone, and jactamque, W. 11. cadunt, fall away, disappear; cf. labes cadunt, 11, 27. Original: Kadit (for cadit) caligo noctium. 13. manensque, sc. lux sancta of 12. The Breviary's full-stop at the end of 12 is not helpful. 15. omnique. Original: omnique fine diei, from any close of day, W; i.e. from any spiritual darkness or night. This gives a connection between noctem and diei and is like the related metaphors of 12, 28 and 21, 5-6. The revisers' temporis destroys this meaning and gives a text without any meaning. Probably the best thing is to interpret temporis as if it were diei. B's 'till the end of time' does not seem satisfactory. 23. 17. quaesita, sought (and found), i.e. won; cf. 110, 18. in corde. Original, radicet altis sensibus (where sensibus may be a mistake for mentibus), take root in our inmost, deepest, thoughts (or, soul). 19. secunda answers primum of 17. Congaudeat is probably derived from congaudet veritati of 1 Cor. 13, 6, though there it is charity that rejoices. 20. qua must, in effect, refer to fides and spes; cf. I Cor. 13, 13. Exstat=est, is the reading of some MSS. But the form Tunc major exstet caritas is more frequent and better. An indicative seems out of place here. Notes on Hymn 17 Author. Unknown, of date between the fourth and sixth century. The hymn may be interpreted as a summary and completion of the previous Lauds hymns. Its first verse sums up the imagery of dawn and light and the second that of sin and darkness. The third verse looks forward to the dawn of the morning which will have no evening, and asks that it may be to us the beginning of an eternity of light. It is not without difficulties, especially in its revised form. 1. Aurora. The spiritual application is uppermost in this verse. Aurora, dies and lucis spiculum refer to Notes continued on p. 28 5 Phantasma noctis exsulet, Ut mane, quod nos ultimum spectres be banished, the soul's guilt fall away and the soul be freed from whatever dark and horrible sin night has brought. Thus may the morning for which, as the last of all mornings, we here make humble supplication, issue forth with (eternal) light, as it resounds with this song of praise. coming clear; contrast resultet, 81, 2. Spiculum, point, dart, ray, cf. 14, 6, and, of Christ, character, outline, idea. 4. discedat; cf. discedite, 14, 4; lubricum; cf. 2, 21 and 12, 12. 5. phantasma; sing. for plur.; cf. noctium phantasmata, 29, 6. It may be understood of any form of spiritual deception; cf. 14, 7-8 and 13-14. Exsulet, the revisers' substitute for decidat, is little more than a → 3. THE LITTLE HOURS From earliest times Christians were exhorted to pray during the day and, in particular, to sanctify the beginnings of the civil divisions of the day. This was a private devotion, with no fixed prayers. In later years the monks made prayer at these times of the day part of the public prayer, and in this way Terce, Sext and None received their present status. Prime, however, was of purely monastic origin, and was sometimes called, by the monks to whose laziness it put an end, altera matutina— not without some emphasis, probably, on altera. This too eventually passed into the Church's Office. One of the pious customs connected with these Hours was the recalling of the Passion. At Prime our Lord, in the custody of the High Priest, offered Himself to the Father to undergo the crucifixion. At Terce-Jam surgit hora tertia/qua Christus ascendit crucem, says St Ambrose in one of his hymns. At Sext began the three hours on the cross, and there was darkness over the whole earth from then until, after pardoning the Good Thief, He died at None. synonym for discedat of line 4. The original is better. As the devils fell before the risen Christ, so may temptations of the devil fall away (decidat) at the rising of the Dawn. Decidat; cf. 21, 6. 6. mentis reatus, i.e. the sense of guilt and liability for punishment, while the next two lines are about the stain of sin. 7. quidquid. Culpae is genitive after quidquid, which is further qualified by tenebris horridum; may whatever dark and horrible (tenebris horridum) sin (culpae) night has brought ..., W. But B orders as: quidquid horridum culpae nox attulit, tenebris cadat (i.e. vanish with the darkness). B's seems rather unnatural and awkward. Cadat, cf. 16, 11, note. 9-12. A difficult verse and 'very obscure', B. The following points should be noted. Mane has been taken as an adverb and as a noun; if as a noun, as referring to the last day of the week or to the Last Day. Ultimum has been taken as an adjective and adverbially (i.e. as the last Lauds of the week). Hoc has been interpreted as nominative with mane and ablative with canore. If the latter, 'this song' refers to praise of the Blessed Trinity, of which the doxology that follows is an example. The original is: Ut mane illud ultimum, Dum hoc tenore concrepat. Here Quod ... cernui might well be parenthetical, like 2, 31. The first and third lines are clearly about the Last Day. The last line is difficult. Some MSS have vox canora, and many have concrepet. Canore of the Breviary does not seem to be in any MSS. Hoc could be ablative, but could easily be nominative in contrast with illud—the last day of the week with the Last Day. B gives this anonymous translation from the So that last morning, dread and great, Though there is no direct reference to these events in the hymns, it is easy to make one. Prime is a public morning offering-an offering of the next step on the way to our death. At Sext the light and heat of the noonday sun may remind us, by contrast, of the darkness of Good Friday. At None, mindful of the Good Thief and of our Lord's death, we pray that our death may be a holy one. But if we look at their direct meaning, the prayer of Prime is the negative one that we be kept from harm while that of Terce is the positive one that the grace of the Holy Ghost will enable us to grow in love and zeal. At Sext we pray that God will temper the heat of temptation and at None we ask for the gift of perseverance. The hymns of the Little Hours, both by their position and by their subject-matter, give a special character to this part of the Office. There is much matter for reflection in these short hymns and they are valuable as prayers outside the Office. Few of prayers for the grace perseverance are as beautiful as the Rerum Deus tenax vigor of None. |