subject already in existence, for verbal similarities are sometimes very striking. The unity which the writer achieves in his poem is due partly to the simplicity and nobility of its language and partly to the personal note which is the mark of the Franciscan tradition (cf. Raby, p. 450, and the introduction to 109). So it would seem that we must look among the Franciscans or those most in contact with their tradition for the writer of the Dies irae; and the only person so far suggested who would fulfil these requirements is Thomas of Celano.

St Gregory the Great may be ruled out at once as its author. St Bernard's case might on some grounds seem plausible (cf. 109); yet it must be admitted that the poem is too austere for St Bernard-apart from the fact that it is not known until the thirteenth century. But it is most unlikely that such a poem, if really the work of one as well known as St Bernard, should lie, literally, unsung for a century.

Metre. Trochaic dimeter acatalectic, accentual, in three-lined verse with two-syllabled rhyme. The grouping of three eight-syllabled trochaic lines in a verse is something unique in the hymns, and the triple rhyme which results has 'been likened to blow following blow of the hammer on the anvil' (Trench). The music of the vowels in lines such as Tuba mirum spargens sonum is also worthy of note.

In spite of these qualities, the Dies irae did not please those who were bitten by the bug of classicism. One such sufferer, appalled at its debased Latin, rewrote the first verse in this way:

Illa dies, extrema dies et sacra furori!
O quam terribili complebit lumine terras
Qua, subito emotis convulsus sedibus orbis
Ibit in ultrices, flamma evertente, favillas.
Credite, divino verax ita carmine vates

Regius et veteres olim cecinere Sibyllae.

(cf. Le Bréviaire Expliqué, by C. Villi, C.SS.R., I, pp. 185-6). Anyone who is depressed by the revised text of the Breviary hymns may look at this and find some consolation in the fact that P. du Cerceau was not one of the revisers.

The last six lines of the Missal text of the Dies irae are an addition to the original work. Of these the first four are eight-syllabled, forming one verse in which each couplet rhymes. It is taken from a twelfth-century (or earlier) hymn, its fourth line being changed from Tu peccatis parce Deus to Huic

ergo parce Deus. The last two lines are seven-syllabled, without rhyme.

Use. Sequence at Requiem Masses, for which purpose it was adapted by the addition of the last six lines; (cf. Note on Sequences, p. 96, and 109). Some have regretted its inclusion in the Requiem since the keynote of the Mass is peace, joy and light while the sequence strikes a discordant note of gloom and fear. Others, however, think it is well placed in the Requiem.

The last lines apart, the poem is a pia meditatio on death and judgement. Its first liturgical use, according to common opinion, was for the first Sunday of Advent, though it has been suggested that it was a Trope of the Responsory Libera me Domine. There is certainly some musical kinship between the two. It is well suited to Advent when the Church is thinking also of our Lord's coming as judge (cf. 34-6), and to the mass of the first Sunday of Advent. As far as the present gospel readings go, it would suit the last Sunday after Pentecost as well as, if not better than, the first Sunday of Advent.

The words of the poem have fascinated and been the despair of translators (cf. B and Trench), and the music has found its way into Berlioz's 'Fantastic' Symphony, Saint-Saen's 'Danse Macabre' and Liszt's "Totentanz'.

The plan of the Dies irae is very simple. The first six verses describe the judgement, and the poet introduces himself into the scene of judgment in the seventh and asks who will be able to help him then. As no one can, since all are to be judged, now is the time to prepare for that day. He prays to our Lord Who will then appear as the Rex tremendae majestatis but who is now a fons pietatis to mankind. The first reason for mercy is the Incarnation-quod sum causa tuae viae-together with His labours and death -tantus labor non sit cassus. The other reason is the repentance of the sinner-Ingemisco tamquam reus... mihi quoque spem dedisti. The verses Juste judex and Preces meae are the prayers which end each of the sections. As a result of God's mercy in his regard, he hopes to be with God when the judgement is over, lines 43-8, and the last verse is the cry of humble hope which sums up the whole hymn-Gere curam mei finis.

1. dies illa. These words are for the prophet, Soph. 1, 15, and for the poet the real subject, dies irae being in apposition in the poem. The words dies illa or dies Notes continued on p. 256

though the Sibylline oracles were once credited with a more than natural authority. The destruction of the world by fire is found in the oracle connected with the name of Hystaspes, while in the later oracles the destruction of the world by water, fire and such-like disasters is a common theme. St Justin in his Apology says that both Sybil and Hystaspes foretold the destruction by fire, and St Augustine in the De civitate Dei quotes the verses of the Erythraean Sybil as foretelling the end of the world. The passage in question begins with these lines, in which also was discovered the acrostic on the Holy Name:

Judicii signum: tellus sudore madescet,

E caelo rex adveniet per saecla futurus,
Scilicet ut carnem praesens ut judicet orbem.

(Cf. Trench, p. 303; Raby, pp. 443 and 446; Arendzen: Men and Manners in the Days of Christ, pp. 136188; Schuster, I, p. 360).

A dislike of putting the Sybil alongside David led to the alternative line: Crucis expandens vexilla, referring to Et tunc parebit signum Filii hominis in caelo, Mt. 24, 30. But such a line is clearly out of keeping with the rest of the poem; cf. Trench, p. 303 and Arendzen, p. 188.

Cum nihil occultum, cum nihil remanebit inultum?, Radewin, quoted Raby, p. 447.

20. patronum, advocate, counsel. Quem nunc sanctorum mihi deprecer esse patronum, Raby, p. 447. The time for gaining merit will have passed, and, as all are to be judged, no one will be free to be a man's advocate; and even the just will encounter difficulties.

21. vix. Et si justus vix salvabitur, impius et peccator ubi parebunt?, 1 Pet. 4, 18.

22. Rex tremendae majestatis looks back to the first six verses, while fons pietatis looks forward to the rest of the poem, being immediately taken up by Jesu pie. Cf. pia Deitas, tremenda majestas in the prayer ascribed, wrongly, to St Ambrose in the preparatory prayers of the Missal.

26. viae, i.e. of the incarnation and His life on earth.

28. sedisti lassus. Fatigatus ex itinere, sedebat sic supra fontem, John 4, 6. On this St Augustine said: Tibi fatigatus est ab itinere Jesus, and the poet: Quaerens

me.

30. cassus, fruitless, in vain.

33. rationis, reckoning. Reddent rationem de eo in die judicii, Mt. 12, 56; cf. also Rom. 14, 12.

34. reus; in this context, meaning condemned

ciet obviam.

10. Cf. Et dedit mare mortuos ..; et mors et infernus dederunt mortuos . . .; et judicatum est de singulis secundum opera ipsorum, Apoc. 20, 13.

13. liber. Et vidi mortuos, magnos et pusillos, stantes in conspectu throni, et libri aperti sunt; et alius liber apertus est, qui est vitae; et judicati sunt mortui ex his quae scripta erant in libris, Apoc. 20, 12; cf. also Mal. 3,

16-18.

16. sedebit. Probably censebit ought to be read here; censebit, rate, value, assess (the deeds of men).

17-18. Whatever is hidden will then be brought to light; nothing (that is sinful) will remain (hidden and so) unpunished.

This is a commonplace in medieval hymns. Cui latebit nil occultum,/Et manebit nil inultum, Trench, p. 293; and: Ante Dei potero consistere quomodo vultum,/

42. igne; cf. Mt. 25, 41.

46. confutatis, silenced. No further answer on the part of the wicked will be possible when they hear Quamdiu non fecistis ... nec mihi fecistis. For them there only remains: Ibunt hi in supplicium aeternum, Mt. 25, 45-6. Maledictis; the maledicti of Mt 25, 41.

49-51. This final prayer looks to our Lord as the Rex and fons pietatis and to the repentance of the sinner, lines 34-9.

supplex, kneeling; acclinis, bending low; in complete submission.

cor ... cinis. The idea seems to be that the sinful desires of the heart are reduced to powder, burnt up in contrition till nothing but their ashes is left. Cinis seems to be an echo of favilla in line 2. The line is in loose apposition with the subject of oro.

gere curam, governing a genitive; cf. gerunt curam nascentis Ecclesiae, in Adam of St Victor's sequence for St Andrew.

53. favilla, from the ashes, ruins, of the world; cf. line 2.

54. reus, sinner, guilty; contrast line 34.