Quem amplecti paucis pronum; Deviantem a Simone, 110 115 120 120. a Simone] Here, as so often, Simon is put for the sin of simony to which he lent his name. Thus, in some energetic Q Qui sic pugnet in virtute lines first published by Edélestand du Méril (Poés. popul. Lat. 1847, p. 178), and by him confidently ascribed to Thomas à Becket: Rosæ fiunt saliunca, Domus Dei fit spelunca : Illi donat diadema, Jam se Simon non abscondit, 122. opes] Should we read oves? L. Clichtoveus, Elucidat. Eccles. p. 186; Gautier, Adam de S. Victor, vol. i. p. 155.—This hymn, of which the theme is, the dignities and glories of the Church, as prefigured in the Old Testament, and fulfilled in the New, is the very extravagance of typical application, and, were it only as a study in medieval typology, would be worthy of insertion; but it has other and higher merits; even though it must be owned that the poet's learned stuff rather masters him, than that he is able effectually to master it. Its title indicates that it was composed for the occasion of a church's dedication, the services of which time were ever laid out for the carrying of men's thoughts from the temple made with hands to that spiritual temple, on earth or in heaven, "whose builder and maker is God." 1-6. The first two lines are a manifest allusion to Ps. lxxxiii. 2, 3 (Vulg.): Quam dilecta tabernacula tua, Domine virtutum ! Concupiscit, et deficit anima mea in atria Domini. The last four lines adapt the Lord's words, Matt. vii. 24, 25, to that house built indeed upon a Rock, upon Christ Himself. The poet writes architecti, including among these such as, under the great master-builder, carried up the walls-Apostles and prophets (Ephes. ii. 20; Rev. xxi. 14). 10-12. Latus Ade] Augustine (Enarr. in Ps. lvi. 5), shewing themystery of the sleep which God sent on Adam, when about to fashion the woman from his side, asks, Quare voluit costam dormiente auferre? and replies, Quia dormiente Christo in cruce facta est conjux de latere. Percussum est enim latus pendentis de lanceâ, et profluxerunt Ecclesiæ sacramenta. Hugh of St Victor: Adam obdormivit, ut de costâ illius fieret Eva ; Christus morte sopitus est, ut de sanguine ejus redimeretur Ecclesia. 18. Gaudium] Hugh of St Victor: Isaac, qui interpretatur risus, designat Christum, qui est gaudium nostrum. See note, p. 166. 19. Servus bibit] Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, represents, in the allegorical language of that day, the apostles or legates of Christ, who were themselves refreshed by the faith of that Gentile world which they brought as a bride to Christ—who, so to speak, drank of the streams which that world ministered to them, as Eliezer drank from the pitcher of Rebecca. The whole allegory of Gen. xxiv. is set out at length in a sermon of Hildebert's, Opp. p. 741. 23. Aptat sibi] As Rebecca puts on the bracelets and earrings which Isaac sent her (Gen. xxiv. 22), so the Gentile Church adorns herself for her future Lord; but with ornaments of his giving. 25-27. divagatur] Hugh of St Victor (Alleg. ii. 11): Esau foris venationi deserviens, benedictionem amittens, populum Israel significat, qui foris in literâ justitiam quærit, et benedictionem cœlestis hæreditatis dimittit. 28, 29. Liam-Rachel] Leah and Rachel signify, as is well known, the active and contemplative life; they are, so to speak, the Martha and Mary of the Old Testament; but they also signify the Synagogue and the Church-Leah the Synagogue, lippa, unable to see Christ, the true end of the law; but Rachel, or the Church, videns, seeing the things that belong to her peace. 31. tegens nuda] Cf. Gen. xxxviii. 14. For a general defence of such ugly types as this, and that which presently follows, 49-51, and of the seeking a prophetic element even in the sins of God's saints, see Augustine, Con. Faust. xxii. 83; |