for help, and his aspirations are put into words in the last part of the hymns—this part being in each case a spiritual application of the opening verses. All are composed to the same pattern. The first seven or eight lines (in 25, the first twelve lines) are an address to God, with the main verb, an imperative, coming in the second part. Thus the Vesper hymns for Sunday to Friday form a series quite unlike those for Matins or Lauds, as they have unity of author and subject as well as unity of purpose and style. The Saturday hymn is a short one in which we praise the Blessed Trinity and pray, that when the working week of our life is over, we may be privileged to sing God's praises for ever. It is not by the writer of the other Vesper hymns. Whether it displaced one of the series and, if so, what happened to the one displaced, are unsolved questions. The name, Compline, is due to St Benedict, but the thing preceded him. It is of later origin than Vespers and began as monastic night prayer. St Benedict, in his Rule, gave it the form which we know, except that the Church has added to the non-monastic form the Nunc dimittis. The hymn suggests that some light still remained, lucis ante terminum, when Compline was said. Notes on Hymn 22 Author. ?St Gregory. The common opinion favours St Gregory, but certainty on the point seems impossible at present. As the Latin text of Genesis was the inspiration of the writer, the relevant part of Genesis 1, with the verse divisions, is given with each hymn. In principio creavit Deus caelum et terram. 2. Terra autem erat inanis et vacua, et tenebrae erant super faciem abyssi; et Spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquas. 3. Dixitque Deus: Fiat lux. Et facta est lux. 4. Et vidit Deus lucem quod esset bona. Et divisit lucem a tenebris. 5. Appellavitque lucem diem, et tenebras noctem. Factumque est vespere et mane, dies unus. Gen. 1, 1-S. 2. proferens; cf. 12, 2. 3. primordiis, first beginning, because the luminaries were not yet created; lucis, i.e. the lux of Gen. I, 3; novae, newly created. 5. mane and vesperi (dative), nouns as in Gen. 1, 5; cf. 17, 9 and 20, 3. 7. illabitur tetrum chaos, the frightening and confused darkness (of night) is descending (illabitur; cf. 12, 5; 17, 2). Tetrum from teter, tra, trum, foul, loathsome, shocking. Chaos: (1) the state of the world in Gen. 1, 1; and cf. Ovid. Met. I, 5-7; (2) an image of night (frequently in Prudentius) and of hell; Virgil, Aen. IV, 510 personifies Chaos as one of the gods of the lower regions. Here, with tetrum, chaos signifies the darkness and terrors of the night; (3) the spiritual chaos, as suggested in lines 9–12. 8. preces, as given in the following lines—the purpose in 9-12 and the prayer in 13-16. Preces cum fletibus; cf. 13,9-10. 10. exsul, deprived of the gift, munere. Exsul may govern an ablative, as here and in 2, 29, or a genitive. II. nil ... cogitat, has no thought of eternity; 'thoughts and schemes of sense and time', Newman. 12. illigat, entangles; funibus peccatorum suorum constringitur (impius), Prov. 5, 22. 13. pulset (and tollat), sc. mens. 14. vitale, instead of vitae and answering vitae of line 10; tollat, may it receive, take, win. Immense caeli conditor, 5 Firmans locum caelestibus Infunde nunc, piissime, 10 Donum perennis gratiae, Fraudis novae ne casibus Nos error atterat vetus. Lucem fides adaugeat; 15 Haec vana cuncta proterat; Hanc falsa nulla comprimant. Hymn 23 Monday Vespers Mighty creator of the firmament, You divided the streams of water that, if left together, would cause confusion, and made the firmament the line of division. You fixed a place for the waters of heaven and one for those of earth so that the burning heat, tempered by water, should not scorch the face of the earth. Pour into us now, most gracious God, a stream of never-failing grace that the wrong of past days may not be repeated and wear our virtue away. Let faith increase the light in our souls. O that faith would bring its radiant light. May faith trample under foot all vanity and let nothing that is false suppress our faith. Telluris alme conditor, Mundi solum qui separans, Pulsis aquae molestiis, Terram dedisti immobilem. 5 Ut germen aptum proferens, Fulvis decora floribus, Fecunda fructu sisteret Pastumque gratum redderet, Hymn 24 Tuesday Vespers Loving maker of the world who, by separating the soil of the earth and banishing the troublesome waters, set the land firm so that it may produce seeds of different kinds, be beautiful and bright with flowers, abundant in fruit and yield desirable food-cleanse with the Author. As 22. Notes on Hymn 23 6. Dixit quoque Deus: Fiat firmamentum in medio aquarum, et dividat aquas ab aquis. 7. Et fecit Deus firmamentum, divisitque aquas quae erant sub firmamento ah his quae erant super firmamentum. Et factum est ita. 8. Vocavitque Deus firmamentum caelum. Gen. 1, 6-8. 1. caeli, i.e. the firmament, here and in line 4; cf. Gen. 1, 8. The firmament or vault of heaven is thought of as solid. 2. mixta, nominative, and referring to fluenta in line 3; confunderent, make confusion, W or, perhaps, mingle together, B. It does not seem to be the equivalent of vastarent, as has been suggested. 3. fluenta; fluentum, neut., river, stream. 4. dedisti, sc. fluentis; limitem, as their boundary, line of division. 5. firmans, establishing; suggested by firmamentum and texts such as verbo Domini caeli firmati sunt, Ps. 32, 6; caelestibus, sc. rivulis of next line, and=quae erant super firmamentum, Gen. 1, 7. 6. terrae, answering caelestibus; quae erant sub firmamento, Gen. 1, 7. 7. flammas=aestus, burning heat. It describes a creative act preparatory to the creation of the dry land, 24, and of the sun, 25. 8. terrae solum, the soil, face, of the earth; cf. 24, 2. Dissipent, sc. flammae, destroy, waste. A better reading is dissipet, sc. unda; for such a use of dissipare, cf. neque erit deinceps diluvium dissipans terram, Gen. 9, II. 11-12. Various interpretations are given. Vetus error has been taken as the devil and fraudis to casibus as the fresh disguises under which he appears; or vetus error as Adam's sin which is repeated in subsequent sins; or vetus error as some former personal sin which would beguile us in new ways. The basic idea of 11-16 seems to be that, by God's grace, our soul should be firmly established, a spiritual firmament dividing the lower and the higher desires. Casibus, cf. 12, 15, note, is purposely contrasted with the single error, but its meaning is hard to determine; and cf. perpetuae mortis eripuisti casibus, Collect of Second Sunday after Easter. Atterat, wear away, exhaust; contrast 24, 12. 13. lucem fides; cf. 12, 27. 14. sic; O that it may.. Each of lines 13-16 is a new petition, and the sic does not connect this line with the preceding. 15. haec and hanc, of 16, seem to refer to the same thing, namely to fides, B; but W refers haec to lux and hanc to fides. Proterat, trample down, defeat. MSS vary between terreat and conterat. 16. falsa nulla, perhaps the devil and his emissaries, W; others take it as plural for singular, no falsehood. Author. As 22. Notes on Hymn 24 9. Dixit vero Deus: Congregentur aquae, quae sub caelo sunt, in locum unum, et appareat arida. Et factum est ita. 10. Et vocavit Deus aridam Terram, congregationesque aquarum appellavit Maria. Et vidit Deus quod esset bonum. II. Et ait: Germinet terra herbam virentem et facientem semen, et lignum pomiferum faciens fructum juxta genus suum, cujus semen in semetipso sit super terram. Et factum est ita. 12. Et protulit terra herbam virentem, et facientem semen juxta genus suum, lignumque faciens fructum, et habens unumquodque sementem secundum speciem suam. Et vidit Deus quod esset bonum. Gen. 1, 9-12. 1. Telluris, the earth-apparently as the planet; but commentators differ greatly. 2. mundi, the earth as an ordered thing of beauty; cf. 8, 2, note; solum, earth, i.e. the soil which, after the action described in line 3, became arida, Gen. 1, 9, and was called terra, ib. 10. 3. aquae molestiis; troublesome waters, W, or troubling waters, Newman, rather than troubled waters, B. The waters are troublesome if dry land and its vegetation are wanted. It is explained by separans of 2 (or the much better eruens of the original) and by 5-8. 4. terram, i.e. aridam; cf. note on line 2. Dedisti Mentis perustae vulnera 10 Munda virore gratiae, Ut facta fletu diluat Motusque pravos atterat. Jussis tuis obtemperet, Nullis malis approximet, 15 Bonis repleri gaudeat Et mortis ictum nesciat. freshness of Your grace the wounds of our sinparched soul that it may wash away in sorrow its evil deeds and wear down the power sin has to attract us. Let our soul obey Your commands and keep far away from anything evil; let it be thankful that it is filled with good and may it never be struck down by death. Caeli Deus sanctissime, Qui lucidas mundi plagas Candore pingis igneo, Augens decoro lumine, 5 Quarto die qui, flammeam Dum solis accendis rotam, Lunae ministras ordinem Vagosque cursus siderum, Ut noctibus vel lumini 10 Diremptionis terminum, Primordiis et mensium Signum dares notissimum, Expelle noctem cordium, 15 Resolve culpae vinculum, Everte moles criminum. Hymn 25 Wednesday Vespers Most holy God of the firmament, You adorn with resplendent radiance the lightsome regions of the universe and enhance them with beauty and light. When You kindled the sun's fiery disk, You also gave the moon her orbit and the stars a speedy course, thus marking a line of separation for night and day and affording an easily recognisable sign for the beginnings of the month. Drive out the darkness from our hearts, wash away defilement from our souls, loosen the chain of our guilt and remove completely the heavy burden of our sins. 10. virore, by the freshness, power, vigour, of grace; cf. virentem of Gen. I, II. There are various MSS readings here. 11. diluat, wash away its (evil) deeds, facta. The subject of diluat and of all verbs to the end is mens, from mentis of 9. 12. atterat, wear away, weaken; cf. 23, 12. 14. approximet, draw near, approach; a late Latin verb for appropinquare, twice used in the Vulgate; non approximabunt and non approximant, Ps. 31, 6 and 9. 15. repleri, sc. se; cf. 6, 16, note. 16. ictum, stroke of (eternal) death, or, of sin. Original: actum, action of eternal death; cf. actu, 2, 29. Notes on Hymn 25 14. Dixit autem Deus: Fiant luminaria in firmamento caeli, et dividant diem ac noctem, et sint in signa, et tempora, et dies, et annos, 15 ut luceant in firmamento caeli, et illuminent terram. Et factum est ita. 16. Fecitque Deus duo luminaria magna: luminare majus, ut praeesset diei, et luminare minus, ut praeesset nocti, et stellas. 17. Et posuit eas in firmamento caeli, ut lucerent super terram, 18. et praeessent diei ac nocti, et dividerent lucem ac tenebras. Gen. 1, 14-18. 1. Caeli, i.e. the firmament, as in Gen. 1, 14 and in 23, I. ... 2. lucidas plagas, lightsome regions of the universe, B. Distinguish plaga, region, from plāga, blow. Original: lucidum centrum poli, i.e. the shining centre of the sky, the place, that is, where the sun is fixed. 3. pingis, pick out, adorn, embellish, as in Virg. Ecl. II, so and Aen. IX, 582, and polum ... pinxisse, Prud. Cath. V, 6. ... 4. augens lumine, enhancing with beauteous light, W; cf. lunae pars ignibus aucta, Lucr. V, 722. The sense of augens being unusual, there are many MSS variants. 5. flammeam, the fiery disk, rotam, of the sun; cf. Lucr. V, 433 and 565. 6. Original: Solis rotam constituens, and MSS vary in the next line between ministrans (which means no verb in the relative clause) and ministras. The re visers introduced dum and a new verb, accendis, in 6 and chose ministras as the verb for qui in 7. 7. lunae... ordinem, did appoint a path, orbit, for the moon. The better reading probably is lunae ministra(n)s ordini/vagos recursus siderum. This implies that the stars return at their appointed time and wait upon their mistress, the moon. 8. vagos, rapid, speeding, not, as B, wandering; cf. pede vago, Catull. 63, 86 and, of the sun, qua vagus oceanas exit et intrat aquas, line 4 of Tempora florigero rutilant distincta sereno, cf. intro. to 61. 9. vel, and; cf. 2, 3. 10. diremptionis terminum, a line of separation; a limit. Terminum, acc. after dares; likewise signum in 12. II. primordiis, the beginnings (of the months); cf. 22, 3. 12. signum; cf. signa, Gen. 1, 14; notissimum, conspicuous, easily recognisable. The rising and setting of the sun are meant in 9 and 10, the changes of the moon in II. 13. Expelle; original: Illumina cor hominum. A direct mention of light, such as illumina, is required, for this is the point to which the hymn about the creation of the luminaries has been leading. 16. everte, overturn, overthrow, destroy completely; moles, heap, load. Cf. tanta mole curarum, Tac. Ann. XII, 66, and peccati mole gravide pressos in a Mozarabic hymn. |