Jam lucis orto sidere Deum precemur supplices, Ut in diurnis actibus Nos servet a nocentibus. 5 Linguam refraenans temperet Sint pura cordis intima, 10 Absistat et vecordia, Carnis terat superbiam Ut, cum dies abscesserit 15 Mundi per abstinentiam Hymn 18 Prime Now that the sun has risen, let us as suppliants ask of God that in today's acts He preserve us from all that may hurt us. May He check and restrain our tongue so that it be not an instrument of discord and strife. May He screen and protect our eyes so that they do not drink in vanities. May our inmost soul be pure and the folly of impurity find in us no place; may moderation in food and drink wear down the body's pride so that when day has gone and night, as God planned, has returned, we may be found free from sin through our self-restraint and thus sing praise to Him. Notes on Hymn 18 Author. Unknown. It is thought to be of the fifth or early sixth century, but some place it in the eighth century. I. lucis...sidere, the sun; cf. 3, 10. 3. diurnis actibus, the acts of the (coming) day; cf. 3,7. 4. nocentibus, from all that may hurt us; cf. ut noxia cuncta submoveas, Collect Seventh Sunday after Pentecost. 5. refraenans; cf. non refraenans linguam suam, James 1, 26; cf. also Ps. 33, 14 and 1 Peter 3, 10. 6. ne litis; that grating strife (harsh note of strife, Blakeney) may not resound on it (the tongue), W. Insonet understands the ablative lingua, as in calamis insonare, Ov. Met. 11, 161. Litis; cf. unde bella et lites in vobis?, James 4, I. 7. Fovendo, instead of a present participle, cf. 14, II, and balancing refraenans. Fovere combines the ideas of nursing (nutrit et fovet eam, Eph. 5, 29) and of keeping warm (tamquam si nutrix foveat filios suos, I Thess. 2, 7) and so gives the more general meaning of protect. 8. vanitatis; cf. averte oculos meos ne videant vanitatem, Ps. 118, 37. 10. absistat=absit; vecordia, folly, madness, as often in Latin of O.T. The folly here is that of impurity; cf. vecordem juvenem, Prov. 7, 7. 12. parcitas, abstinence from, sparing use of. 14. sors, time in its allotted, ordered course; divine providence, ordinance. 15. mundi; probably an adjective like mundum in 13, 12; but it could be genitive after abstinentiam, as in ceterarum rerum abstinentiam, Num. 30, 14. For the latter meaning, cf. James 1, 27; for the general meaning cf. I Thess. 4, 3 and 5, 22. B. 16. ipsi; either nominative, W, or dative, to Him, Continued from the foot of p. 30 does after affinis, similis, etc. Notes on Hymn 19 3. promptus, without delay; ingeri, practically equivalent to infundi. 4. refusus; a participle, but expressing the result of ingeri, namely the gradual working of the Spirit through us and 'taking possession' of our whole being, as explained in the next line. Effundere is the scriptural word for the coming of the Spirit, Acts. 2, 33 and 10, 45; diffundere is the word used in Romans 5, 5 (cf. note on line 7) for the charity of God being poured over our souls. Refundere here is the equivalent of diffundere, but also hinting at the sobria ebrietas which results; cf. 11, 22 and 12, 24. 5. Os... vigor. Mouth, tongue, soul, thought and strength. The line refers to the effects of the first Pentecost and then to those desired by the singersos, lingua being the external signs and results, mens, sensus the complete transformation of soul and mind, and vigor the zeal of the apostolate. It is the result of refusus, just as the ringing announcement of salvation (personent) by the Apostles followed on the coming of the Spirit. 6. confessionem, declaration of faith or thanks, cf. 5, 7, note; thus the Apostles were loquentes ... magnalia Dei, Acts 2, 11. For the accusative after sonare and its compounds, cf. 11, 31 and 90, 12-the former certainly and the latter almost certainly by Ambrose. 7. igne; cf. linguae tamquam ignis, Acts 2, 3; fons vivus, ignis, caritas, 64, 7. Caritas: cf. Caritas Dei diffusa est in cordibus nostris per Spiritum sanctum, qui datus est nobis, Rom. 5, 5. 8. ardor, in good sense; cf. 3, 6, note. 'And love light up our mortal frame Till others catch the living flame' (Newman). The next division of the day after None is the hour when the sun sets, the evening star, Vesper, appears and the lamps are lit, Lucernarium. It thus marks the beginning of the first watch of the night, and the prayer of Vespers was once classed as a night one-St Benedict being the first to place it among the day Hours. This change was one of classification and did not change the essential character of Vespers. Lauds, after all, is a morning hour and yet, historically Author. See 19. Notes on Hymn 20 I. verax, God of truth, faithful to His promises; cf. Deus verax est, John 3, 33. The promises are (1) such as that made to Noe in Gen. 8, 22 for the physical order and (2) those of help and grace in the spiritual order. 2. rerum vices, i.e. changes from morning to noon, from summer to winter; cf. qui certis vicibus tempora dividis, Prud. Cath. V, 2 and 11, 3. 3. splendore. Original: splendore mane instruis—a poor line, where a short unaccented syllable is left unelided before a vowel. The revisers' illuminas suits splendore better than ignibus. W suggested splendore mane qui instruis, which is better, for instruis suits both nouns. Mane; noun as in 17, 9 and 22, 5. 5. Exstingue. The idea of temperas is applied in this verse to the life of grace in which, as in the physical order, God is verax. Flammas litium; suggested by ignibus above and homo iracundus incendit litem, Ecclus. 28, 11. Litium; cf. litis, 18, 6. 6. calorem, heat of passion; for calor in a good cf. 12, 19. sense, Author. See 19. Notes on Hymn 21 1. Rerum ... vigor. O God who art the strength which sustains all creation from day to day, W; or, though with less emphasis on the element of time, 'O Strength and Stay upholding all creation'. Rerum after tenax like Horace's tenacem propositi. 2. immotus, unchanged, unmoved; cf. Ps. 101, 27; James 1, 17. In te permanens; cf. (sapientia) in se permanens, Wisdom 7, 27. 3. tempora; cf. 11, 3. 4. successibus, progress, succession of time. Ambrose often uses this word in the plural. 5. vespere, adv., in the evening. Original: largire clarum vespere, where vespere is a noun as in 22, 5. 6. quo, whereby, introducing decidat and instet. Nusquam, at no point in its activity. W. Decidat, fail, decay; cf. 17, 5, note, and vespere decidat Ps. 89, 6. Lumen and vita are thought of spiritually, but vespere seems to be taken in its ordinary meaning. B and the translation mentioned above interpret vespere of the evening of life, but this is implicit in the next lines. 7. praemium... sacrae; predicate after instet, as the reward of........ 8. instet, follow hard upon, immediately; cf. 7, 14. and chorally, it is the conclusion of the night office. In the same way Vespers could be considered either as the prayer which finished the day or the one which began the night. This point is of some importance in relation to the question of the authorship of these hymns. All of them, save that for Saturday, are attributed to St Gregory, a follower of St Benedict; and scholars, looking for signs of the author, have looked to see whether the author thought of Vespers as a day or night hour. The hymns which are said to have been written for Vespers as a night office are considered by some as variations on the lines of St Ambrose: Ut cum profunda clauserit Diem caligo noctium, Fides tenebras nesciat Et nox fide reluceat. With such hymns they contrast those of the Breviary, and say that the latter make no mention of night or nightly rest. And yet perhaps a case could be made out that these hymns too, but in their own way, are variations on the same theme; cf. e.g. 22, 7; 23, 13; 25, 13. But, if they are variations, they are only so as far as the main subject of creation will allow. The opening verses give, in order, the work of each day of creation and, by their use at Vespers, suggest God looking back over each day's work and 'seeing that it was good'. Man also, as the Psalmist says, goes out each day to his work and labours until the evening, Ps. 103, 23. But when he comes to examine the day's work and sees its imperfections, he cannot, as God did, delight in it; moreover night and darkness, symbols of sin, are near at hand. He therefore turns to God for forgiveness and Lucis creator optime, 5 Qui mane junctum vesperi Ne mens gravata crimine Caeleste pulset ostium, Hymn 22 Beneficent creator of light, You brought forth the light of day, furnished the world at its start with the first beginnings of new light and commanded that morning joined to night be called Day. Night with all its fears is now coming down on us; hear our prayers and heed our sorrow that our soul does not become weighed down with sin and deprived of the grace of life while it has no thought for things eternal and entangles itself with sin after sin. Grant that the soul knock on heaven's gate and that it win life as its prize. May we avoid all sin and atone the evil we have done. |