§ 116. THE LATIN POETS AND HYMNS
Of the thirty to a hundred so-called Ambrosian hymns, however, only twelve, in the view of the Benedictine editors of his works, are genuine ; the rest being more or less successful imitations by unknown authors. Neale reduces the number of the genuine Ambrosian hymns to ten, and excludes all which rhj-me regularly, and those whicli are not metrical. Among the genuine are the morning hymn : " Sterne rernm conditor;'"* the evening hymn: "Deus creator omnium;'" and the Advent or Christmas hymn : " Yeni, Redemptor gen tium." This last is jnstly considered his best. It has been frequently reproduced in modern languages,* and we add this specimen of its matter and form witli an English version:
"Veni, Rederaptor gentium, Ostende partum Virginis ; Miretur omne saeculum : Talis partus decet Deum.
" Non ex virili semine, Sed mystico spiramine, Verbum Dei factum est caro, Fnictusque ventris floruit.
" Alvus tumescit Yirginis, Claustrum pudoris permanet, Vexilla virtutum mieant, Versatur in tempio Deus.
" Come, Thou Redeemer of the earth, Come, testify Thy Virgin Birth : All lands admire — all times applaud : Such is the birth that fits a God.
" Begotten of no human will. But of the Spirit, mystic still, The Word of God, in flesh arrayed, The promised fruit to man displayed.
"The Virgin womb that burden gained With Virgin honor all unstained : The banners there of virtues glow : God in His Temple dwells below.
' Daniel, ii. pp. 12-115.
* The genuineness of this hymn is put beyond question by two quotations of the contemporary and friend of Ambrose, Augustine, Confess, ix. 12, and Retract, i. 12, and by the affinity of it with a passage in the Ilexaemeron of Ambrose, xxir. 88, where the same thoughts are expressed in prose. Not so certain is the genuineness of the other Ambrosian morning hymns : " jEterna ccoli gloria," and '' Splendor paternaj gloriae."
' The other evening hymn : " 0 lux beata Trinitas," ascribed to him (in the Roman Breviary and in Daniel's Thesaur. i. S6), is scarcely from Ambrose : it has already the rhyme in the form as we find it in the hymns of Fortunatus.
* Especially in tie beautiful German by John Frank: "Komm, Heidenheiland, Losegeld," which is a free recomposition rather than a translation. For ai othe? English version (abridged), see " The Voice of Christian Life in Song," p. 97 :
" Redeemer of the nations, come ; Pui-e offspring of the Virgin's womb. Seed of the woman, promised long. Let ages swell Thine advent song."
THIRD PERIOD, A.D. 311-590.
"Procedit e tlialamo 8uo, Pudoris aulil regi4, Gemiiiie Gigas substantiae, Alacris ut currat viam.'
" Egressus ejus a Patre, Regrcssus ejus ad Patrem, Excursus usque ad inferos, Recursus ad sedem Dei.
"^qualis aetcmo Patri, Carnis tropaeo' cingere, Infirma iiostri corporis Virtute fimians perpeti.
" Praesepe jam fulget tuum, Lumenque nox spirat novum, Quod nulla nox interpolet, Fideque jugi luceat."
" Procccdiiig from Ilis chamber free, The royal hall of chastity, Giant of twofold substance, straight His destined way lie runs elate.
"From God the Father He proceedg, To God the Father back Ue speeds'. Proceeds — as far as very liell : Speeds back — to light ineffable.
"0 equal to the Father, Thou ! Gird on Thy fleshly trophy (mantle) noi» The weakness of our mortal state With deathless might invigorate.
" Thy cradle here shall glitter bright, And darkness breathe a newer light, Where endless faith shall shine serene, And twilight never intervene."
By far the most celebrated hymn of the Milanese bishop, which alone would have made his name immortal, is the Ambrosian doxology, Te Deum landamns. This, with the Gloria in excelsis^ is, as already remarked, by far the most valuable legacy of the old Catholic church poetry ; and will be prayed and sung with devotion in all parts of Christendom to the end of time. According to an old legend, Ambrose composed it on the baptism of St. Augustine, and conjointly with him ; the two, without preconcert, as if from divine inspiration, alternately singing the words of it before the congregation. But his biographer Paulinus says nothing of this, and, according to later investigations, this sublime Christian psalm is, like the Gloria in fxcelsis^ but a free i-eproduction and expansion of an older Greek hymn in prose, of which some constituents appear in the Apostolic Constitutions, and elsewhere.'
' This is an allusion to the "giants" of Gen. vi. 4, who, in the early church, were supposed to have been of a double substance, being the offspring of the "sons of God," or angels, and the " daughters of men," and who furnished a forced resemblance to the twofold nature of Christ, according to the mystical interpretation of Pa. xix. 5. Comp. Ambr. De incarnat. Dombii, e. 5.
' On the difference of reading, tropmo, troph(ro, and stropheo or stropkio (stro phium = "cincugulum aureum cum gemmis"), see Daniel, torn. i. p. 14.
' For instance, the beginning of a morning hymn, in the Codex Alexnndrin'te of the Bible, has been literally incorporated into the Te Deum :