tionis captus est, quia dum in illo appetit escam corporis, transfixus est aculeo divinitatis. Ibi quippe inerat humanitas, quæ ad se devoratorem duceret: ibi divinitas quæ perforaret: ibi aperta infirmitas quæ provocaret : ibi occulta virtus, quæ raptoris faucem transfigeret. In hamo igitur captus est: quia inde interiit unde devoravit. 38. reguli] Regulus, as the diminutive of rex, will exactly answer to Bariλiokos, which word we possess in English, applying the name basilisk to a serpent which has some crownlike, and so kingly, marks upon its head; Pliny (H. N., 1. 8, c. 33): Candidâ in capite maculâ, ut quodam diademate insignis. Cf. Gregory the Great (Moral., 1. 15, c. 15): Regulus namque serpentum rex dicitur. These lines must be explained by Isai. xi. 8 (Vulg.): Et in cavernam reguli qui ablactatus est, manum suam mittet. Christ, according to the favourite interpretation of the Fathers, was "the weaned child;" this evil world the cockatrice's hole into which he thrust in his hand, dragging out Satan from his lurking-place and den. Thus Jerome, in loc., and Gregory the Great, Moral., 1. 26, c. 32. 42-44. Helisei] Hugh of St Victor: Eliseus interpretatur salus Dei. Huic, id est, Christo, illuserunt Judæi exaltato in cruce.... Sed postquam Christus ascendit in Bethel, id est, in domum Dei, in quadragesimo anno immisit duos ursos de filiis gentium, Vespasianum et Titum, qui crudeli strage eos dejecerunt. Cf. Augustine, Enarr. in Ps. xliv. in init. 45. arreptitius] Daniel reads aneptitius-a non-existent word; but afterwards suggests, in a supplement to his third volume, p. 271, that arreptitius is probably the right reading. This is Hircus emissarius, In maxillâ mille sternit, Sic de Judâ Leo fortis, Fractis portis diræ mortis, Die surgit tertiâ. Rugiente voce Patris, 50 55 the three careless enough, seeing that all editions of Clichtoveus, at least that I know, - had so given the passage from the first. Nor can there be any doubt that arreptitius (= arreptus furore,) is the right reading. The allusion is to 1 Sam. xxi. 14, where instead of the Vidistis hominem insanum 2 of the Vulgate, the older Latin Version must have had arreptitium. This is plain from Augustine, Enarr. 1a in Ps. xxxiii., where we have a long exposition of the mystery of David's supposed madness, and the prophecy which was herein of Christ, of whom the people said, "He is mad, and hath a devil." David's escape from the presence of Achish is Christ's escape at his resurrection from the Jews. Augustine uses again the word arreptitius, De Civ. Dei, 1. 2, c. 4.—Daniel is again at fault, when in the next line but one, Et passer effugiunt : he makes his reference to Ps. xi. 1: Transmigra in montem sicut passer. It should clearly have been to Lev. xiv. 49–53. 51. Gase seras] Thus Hugh of St Victor: Samson apportans portas Gazæ ascendit montis supercilium, et Christus, fractis portis inferni, ascendit in cœlum. The typical character of what Samson did, is brought out more at length and with admirable skill by Gregory the Great, Hom. 21 in Evang.; and by Augustine, Serm. 364. 57. Rugiente] I have spoken already, p. 67, of the medieval legend of the lion rousing its dead whelps by its roar. Thus Hugh of St Victor (De Best., 1. 2, c. 1): Cum leena parit, suos catulos mortuos parit, et ita custodit tribus diebus, donec veniens pater eorum in faciem eorum exhalet, ut vivificentur. Sic omnipotens Pater Filium suum tertiâ die suscitavit à mortuis. And Hildebert (De Leone): Natus non vigilat dum sol se tertiò gyrat, Tunc quasi vivescit, tunc sensus quinque capescit; This last line expresses another belief, namely that the lion slept with its eyes open: which open eyes were a further emblem of that life of Christ's divine nature which ran uninterrupted through the three days' sleep of his body in the grave. They quoted in regard of this the words of the Canticles (v. 2): "I sleep, but my heart waketh." It need hardly be said that the mater in the verse following, is the new Jerusalem, "the mother of us all." 64. Botrus Cypri] Cf. Cant. i. 13, (Vulg.) i. 14 (E. V.): Botrus Cypri dilectus mihi, in vineis Engaddi: on which Bernard (In Cant., Serm. 44) with allusion to the verse preceding, "A bundle of myrrh is my beloved unto me:" Dominus meus Jesus myrrha mihi in morte, botrus in resurrectione. 72, 73. The allusion is to Ps. xxix. 6, (Vulg.) xxx. 5 (E. V.): Ad vesperum demorabitur fletus, et ad matutinum lætitia; in which words has been often found a prophecy of Christ, turning by his resurrection the night of sorrow for his disciples into the morning of joy. Thus Augustine, (in loc.) who carries on his thought to yet another morning of joy, after a yet longer night of weeping: Matutinum, quo exsultatio resurrectionis futura est, quæ in matutinâ Domini resurrectione præfloruit. XXX. Flacius Illyricus, Poëmm. de Corrupto Ecclesiæ Statu, p. 66. 4. Tu donum] The middle-age theology made much of the term donum, as being always a nomen proprium of the third Person of the Holy Trinity. He was not a gift, but the gift of God, in so high and exclusive a sense, that the term competed only to him, and thus became his proper name. See an interesting discussion by Aquinas (Summ. Theol., pars la, Qu. 38): Spiritui S. donum est proprium nomen, et personale. 5. lex] Rex in the volume of Flacius Illyricus, where only I have seen this hymn, yet I cannot doubt that lex is the right reading. In the two preceding and two following lines there is an evident antithesis, and plainly one intended also here; but what such would there be between rex and digitus? not to say that rex is a title nowhere specially applied to the Holy Spirit. But the antithesis comes excellently out when we read: Tu lex, tu digitus: "Thou the law, the living law, and the finger which writes that law," -with allusion to such promises as that contained Heb. viii. 10. 9-12. We find continually in medieval theology, the seven |