V. LAUS S. SCRIPTURÆ. STRI TRINGERE pauca libet bona carminis hujus, et Laude vel exili magnificare libet. Hic ea triticea est pannisque allata farina Hic illud missum de cœlo manna saporum, Omnem gustanti qui sapit ore cibum: Ut brevius curram per singula; præminet auro Hic facit humano generi quod sol facit orbi; 5 10 V. Leyser, Hist. Poett. Med. Evi, p. 748.-It is the Aurora, a metrical version of the larger part of Holy Scripture, which, as Leyser informs us, the anonymous author of this poem has immediately in his eye. This is the explanation of the carminis in the first line, which would not otherwise be intelligible. He passes, however, at once from it to the praise of Scripture itself. 3, 4. Cf. Exod. xii. 34. 5, 6. The Jewish legend, that the manna tasted to every man like that which he liked the best, is well known (Wisd. xvi. 21). Even such heavenly manna, meeting every man's desires, is Scripture. Gregory the Great (Mor. xxxi. 15): Manna quippe est verbum Dei, et quidquid bene voluntas suscipientis appetit, hoc profecto in ore comedentis sapit. 11. Fons... puteus] The words of Cant. iv. 15 (Vulg.): Fons hortorum; puteus aquarum viventium, quæ fluunt impetu Pascua cœlestis, cellaria regia, cœlum Tot signis fulgens quot sacramenta tegens. Hic calamus Scribæ subito scribentis; hic arcus, 15 Hic rota sive rotæ, quarum ut mare visio mira, de Libano; were applied to Scripture, a fountain for its abundance, a well for its depth. Thus a mystical expositor of the Canticles (Bernardi Opp. vol. ii. p. 125): Accipiamus in fonte sufficientiam doctrinæ, in puteo secretum: in illo abundantiam, in isto alta mysteria. 13. cellaria regia] Cf. Cant. i. 3 (Vulg.): Introduxit me rex in cellaria sua. For the sense in which Scripture is thus the king's cellar, see St Bernard, In Cant. Serm. 23. 15. The old exposition of Ps. xlv. 2, namely, that the Holy Spirit was "the ready writer," and that the Psalmist would say his tongue did but utter, and his hand set down, that which was suggested by that Spirit, must explain this line. The poet transfers to all Scripture what had been spoken of a single Psalm. Ibid. arcus] Gregory the Great, speaking of the different uses of the word "bow" in Scripture, observes (Mor. xix. 30): Aliquando autem per arcum etiam Sacra Scriptura signatur. Ipsa quippe arcus est Ecclesiæ, ipsa arcus est Domini, de qua ad corda hominum, sicut ferientes sagittæ, sic terrentes sententiæ veniunt. 17. Hic rota sive rota] Cf. Ezek. i. 15, 16. At ver. 15, the prophet sees "one wheel;" apparuit rota una (Vulg.), while immediately in the next verse it is said, Et aspectus rotarum quasi visio maris. The wheel or wheels is Holy Scripture; and the wheel within wheel, of which the same verse presently speaks (quasi sit rota in medio rota), is the New Testament; which is contained and shut up in the Old. Gregory the Great (Hom. 6 in Ezek.): Rota ergo in medio rotæ est ; quia inest Testamento Veteri Testamentum Novum. Quod Testamentum Vetus promisit, hoc Novum exhibuit; et quod G Quatuor his facies, species est una: levantur, Stant, vel eunt, prout has Spiritus intro regit. 20 Hic liber in dextrâ regnantis scriptus et intus Et foris; intus habens mystica, plana foris. Hic Moysi facies, quæ velo tecta, videri Non valet; at Christi luce retecta patet. Per Moysen typico, per Christum sanguine vero 25 Hic liber aspersus, remque typumque gerit. Lex nova, res; antiqua, typus: diffusior illa, Hæc brevior: retegit ista, quod illa tegit. illud occulte annunciat, hoc istud exhibitum aperte clamat. Prophetia ergo Testamenti Novi, Testamentum Vetus est; et expositio Testamenti Veteris, Testamentum Novum. Cf. Anselm, Dial. Christ. et Jud. iii. p. 539.-Quarum ut mare visio mira] Et aspectus rotarum et opus earum, quasi visio maris; (Ezek. i. 16, Vulg.) on which Gregory the Great (ibid.): Recte sacra eloquia visioni maris similia narrantur, quia in eis magna sunt volumina sententiarum, cumuli sensuum. These words have nothing answering to them in our text, or in the Hebrew. 19. Quatuor una] Gregory the Great (ibid.): Rota quatuor facies habere describitur [Ezek. i. 15], quia Scriptura Sacra per utraque Testamenta in quatuor partibus est distincta. Vetus enim Testamentum in Lege et Prophetis, Novum vero in Evangeliis atque Apostolorum Actibus et Dictis. Una similitudo ipsarum est quatuor (Ezek. i. 16), quia divina eloquia, etsi temporibus distincta, sunt tamen sensibus unita. 21, 22. intus et foris] Richard of St Victor (In Apoc. v. 1): Liber qui in dexterâ Dei tenetur, est Sacra Scriptura. Intus scriptus est per spiritualem intelligentiam, foris per literam. Cf. Gregory the Great, Hom. 9 in Ezek. § 30. 23, 24. Cf. Exod. xxxiv. 33; 2 Cor. iii. 13-16. 25, 26. Cf. Exod. xxiv. 8; Heb. ix. 19. There is no mention, as is well known, in the former passage, of a sprinkling of the book with blood. 28. retegit] The lengthening of the last syllable of retegit Dumque rei testis typus exstat, abyssus abyssum Nam nisi sic sapiat, sapientem non puto, quando Qui studet his, vel propter opes vel propter honores, 45 here, by the force of the arsis and on the strength of the two more which must here be made, is not without its parallels among the best writers of elegiac verse. It was another sign of the way in which accent was penetrating into the domain of quantity, that the later Latin poets, most of all the medieval, assumed the entirest liberty of making short a long syllable— even a short vowel-at this place, whenever it was convenient to them. They used the same freedom with the hexameter, where, when the cæsura occurred immediately after the arsis in the third foot, the syllable on which the pause thus fell, was always, and on this ground alone, considered long. The reader will find examples of both kinds in this volume, and should not regard them as neglects or ignorances, but as parts of a system. ST AMBROSE. ST T AMBROSE, born about 340, and probably at Treves, was intended by his father, who was prefect of Gaul, for a secular career. He practised as an advocate at Milan; and was already far advanced on the way to the highest honours and offices of the state, having been appointed about 370 Consular Prefect of Liguria, when it became plain that for him other and more lasting honours were in store. For, having won the affections alike of Catholics and Arians by the mildness and justice of his rule, on the death of Auxentius, bishop of Milan, A.D. 374, he was chosen as by a sudden inspiration, and under circumstances which are too well known to need being repeated, his successor, being as yet only a layman and unbaptized. He died in 397. The hymns which are current under the name of Ambrosian are very numerous, yet are not all his; the name having been freely given to as many as were formed after the model and pattern of those which he composed, and to some in every way unworthy of him. The Benedictine editors do not admit more than twelve as with any certainty of his composition: and even these some in later times have affirmed to be "ascribed to him upon doubtful authority;" so the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography; although no evidence |