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        Title: Songs and Hymns of the Earliest Greek Christian Poets
   Creator(s):
               Chatfield, Allen W. (1808-1896) (Translator)
  Print Basis: Fifth Edition: London
       Rights: Public Domain
   LC Call no: BV467.C1 1876
  LC Subjects:

               Practical theology

               Worship (Public and Private) Including the church year, Christian
               symbols, liturgy, prayer, hymnology

               Hymnology

               Hymns in languages other than English
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                                SONGS AND HYMNS
                                       OF
                         Earliest Greek Christian Poets
                               BISHOPS AND OTHERS
                         Translated into English Verse

BY
ALLEN W. CHATFIELD, M.A.
VICAR OF MUCH MARCLE

   RIVINGTONS
   WATERLOO PLACE, LONDON
   Oxford and Cambridge
   1876
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PREFACE

   Four years ago the Anthologia Graeca Carminum Christianorum (Leipsic,
   1871) was put into my hands by a friend, to look for hymns, Eucharistic
   especially, which, when rendered into English, might be suitable for
   the general use of the Church. Of Eucharistic hymns I did not find one
   in the volume. But I lighted frequently on detached passages here and
   there, which might form the groundwork of useful and popular hymns for
   general Christian worship. I did not then know that the late [1]Dr. J.
   M. Neale had applied his magic wand to several of such passages which
   are to be found in the later portion of the Anthologia.

   My attention, however, was at once arrested by the beauty and majesty
   of the earlier portion of the volume, which contains the Odes of
   Synesius, the Hymns and Songs of Gregory Nazianzen, a Hymn of Clement
   of Alexandria, and the Bridal Song of the earlier Methodius. In my
   humble opinion there is nothing in the second, the later, and by far
   the larger portion at all comparable in point of spirit or originality
   with what I have specified in the first short portion of the book.
   Moreover, all, or almost all, the later Greek Church poetry, or
   harmonious prose, which gradually took the place of the old poetry, is
   full of Mariolatry, of which I find nothing in the older portion
   referred to.

   Such is the marvellous versatility of the Greek language and its power
   of wort-bilden, or compounding of words, that in or before the sixth
   century such words as theotokos, theometor, theogennetor, came into
   general use; grammatically and beautifully formed, and logically too,
   so far as school logic is concerned; for if the Blessed Virgin is the
   mother of Him who is also God, she is, says such logic, the mother of
   God. Thus, by the genius of the language, aided by miserable school
   logic, the Blessed Virgin, the mother of the Man Christ Jesus, is made
   the mother of God; and as darkness and ignorance rapidly prevailed, so
   the worship of the Blessed Trinity is literally capped by the worship
   of the theotokos, the prayer or doxology to the Virgin in each case
   forming the grand climax. [1]

   Rome, as always in the old times, borrowed from Greece, and then
   stamped these and other monstrous departures from primitive truth with
   the seal of her own falsely assumed authority, and it became law like
   that of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.

   But let the descendants of the once noblest people on earth, the
   inheritors also of the glorious and divine treasures preserved in the
   old language--the finest ever spoken--let the Greek people and the
   Greek Church think and act with the mind unfettered; let them go back
   to the pure fountain and drink for themselves. The eye of the mind will
   be enlightened; they will see that neither Mariolatry, nor saint
   worship, nor angel worship, has any place in God's own truth. "See thou
   do it not," said the angel to St. John, [2] when he was about to fall
   down and worship (only proskunesai) before his feet. Oh that in
   obedience to such divine injunction the great Eastern Church would
   arise and shake itself from the dust; would cast to the moles and to
   the bats such relics of past darkness and idolatrous practice!

   I was attracted also to the first part of the volume by the grand old
   Greek metres. To me they are vastly to be preferred to the later
   metrical or harmonious prose, or the mediaeval and modern jingle. This
   last form of poetry may be required by the English and other modern
   languages which have not the metrical perfection natural to the old
   Greek and Latin tongues; but to adopt the modern fashion in reference
   to the ancient Greek and Latin seems to me an unnecessary and miserable
   distortion. That the old metres can express sublime thought and divine
   truth is abundantly attested by the Anacreontics of Synesius and
   Gregory. The dactylics also of the latter, his hexameters and
   pentameters, as well as his iambics, bear the same evidence.

   How the change gradually took place in Greek poetry, how accent
   strangled quantity, and how harmonious prose succeeded to the grand old
   poetry, is elaborately set forth in the preface of the learned editors
   of the Greek Anthology. The same contains also a masterly essay on the
   music of the Greek Church.

   I follow their order as convenient, though chronologically the reverse
   of what it ought to be, and place Synesius first.

   MUCH MARCLE VICARAGE,
     September 1, 1876.
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   [1] See, for example, throughout the "Great Canon," by St. Andrew of
   Crete, the last stanza of each of the nine Odes, pp. 147-157.

   [2] Rev. xxii. 9.
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SYNESIUS
BISHOP OF PTOLEMAÏS

   (Born circ. A.D. 375, Died 430).

   Synesius was a man of mark in his day, and would have been a man of
   mark in any day.

   To begin with the advantages which belonged to him by birth, he could
   boast a pedigree such as, says Gibbon, "could not be equalled in the
   history of mankind," of seventeen centuries from earliest heroic times,
   down through the kings of Sparta, and the founders of Cyrene: "all the
   names recorded in the public registers of Cyrene;" and he was well
   worthy of his "pure and illustrious pedigree." [3]

   As a philosopher, his merits, measured by the standard of the age in
   which he lived, are of high order. Otherwise, it is easy, in our age,
   to condemn the whole Neoplatonic philosophy as "tumid, inflated, and
   false."

   As a statesman and patriot, he deserves the highest praise. For three
   years (A.D. 397-400) he toiled, as he himself tells us in his third
   Ode, and strove and wept at the court of Arcadius, endeavouring to
   stimulate his degraded and degenerate countrymen to worthy efforts
   against the Goths, who were threatening not only his own beloved Libya,
   but the whole empire. His noble appeal, and his continued exertions,
   called forth abundant commendation and praise, but no permanent
   results. "The court of Arcadius indulged the zeal, applauded the
   eloquence, and neglected the advice of Synesius."

   But there must have been some lull in the rising storm, or some partial
   success; for Synesius expresses, in the ode referred to, his heartfelt
   thankfulness for the same. Certainly within the three following years
   considerable victories were gained by Stilicho in Italy. Hence may have
   arisen relief to Libya. And Synesius may have composed the Ode, or
   added the part referred to, after those events.

   With regard to his Christianity and theological views, it seems to me
   Synesius has had scant justice done to him. The learned editors of the
   Anthologia (see Prolegomena, p. x, lib. i., where sex must be a
   misprint for quinque) think that he had not yet even professed
   Christianity when he wrote five (viz. I. Il. III. IV. VI.) out of the
   ten hymns or odes; that in the third, the very long one, he speaks of
   going round to pagan temples in supplication to the gods. But I would
   ask, had not pagan temples been put down finally, at least some years
   before Synesius visited Thrace? Whatever new life paganism may have
   received during the short reign of Julian (A.D. 360-363), it was
   crushed out during the reign of Theodosius the Great (A.D. 382-395).
   His sons divided the empire, Honorius reigning in the West, Arcadius in
   the East. It was to the court of Arcadius that Synesius went as a
   deputy from Cyrene. Again, may not Synesius be understood as speaking
   of Christian churches or temples, Christian ministers or guardian
   saints (in the growing notion of the day), and Christain rites and
   ceremonies, though employing in his poetry terms that in pagan times
   might have been applied to pagan worship? I am persuaded that it is so;
   and that, if not always orthodox, he yet shows himself in all these
   poems to be a reverent and sincere Christian.

   I cannot enter at length into the famous dispute as to what Synesius
   held, or did not hold, on the doctrine of the Resurrection. It has been
   commonly said that he did not accept it at all. Gibbon reiterates the
   same; and in reply to Bishop Jeremy Taylor and others, who, I believe
   rightly, qualify this, thinking that Synesius dissembled, or
   represented his difficulties too strongly, in order that he might not
   be forced into the holy office, Bingham [4] quotes and interprets, but
   I think not fully nor fairly, the words of Synesius himself: ten
   kathomilemenen anastasin ieron ti kai aporreton egemai, kai pollou deo
   tais tou plethous upolepsesin omologesai . . . . Surely there is much
   qualification here. "The every-day-talked-of resurrection I have
   regarded as a sacred thing, and that cannot be spoken of." He does not
   say that he does not believe it at all, but that, whereas it is in
   every one's mouth, stated and defined, he has been in the habit of
   regarding it as a sacred and ineffable mystery; and that he is far from
   acceding to the notions of the multitude (on it or other points).

   That he held the doctrine itself is to me clear, from what he himself
   says, both elsewhere, and particularly in his beautiful tenth Ode. He
   believes in, and adores, the risen Saviour, and looks forward with
   longing desire in the future state to be with Him, and to "sing His
   praise who is the Healer of souls and the Healer of limbs, with the
   Great Father and the Holy Spirit." I know not how Mosheim can call such
   a man a semi-Christian. [5] Mosheim's translator and annotator [6] does
   something in the way of correcting or qualifying such judgment.

   It is certain that, when later in life (viz. A.D. 410) he was made
   Bishop of Ptolemaïs, Synesius acquitted himself nobly and faithfully in
   the sacred office to which, entirely against his will, he had been
   appointed. "The philosophic bishop supported with dignity the character
   which he had assumed with reluctance." [7]

   All admit that he was a man of learning and wisdom, of excellent
   character, and blameless life. His refinement of mind, his delicacy of
   feeling, and his loving disposition, as well as his zeal and energy,
   must strike every attentive reader. I would specially refer to his
   eighth Ode, in which is presented to us a picture of conjugal,
   parental, and domestic tenderness, that nowhere can be surpassed.

   His poetry in the original Greek will be allowed by all scholars to be
   pure, varied, sweet, and beautiful.

   Much must be lost in any translation whatever. If I may have had only
   slight success in attempting to reproduce to the English reader the
   mind of this good and great man, I shall indeed be thankful.

    Odes: [2][1] [3][2] [4][3] [5][4] [6][5] [7][6] [8][7] [9][8] [10][9]
    [11][10]
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Synesius.
I.

   'Age moi, ligeia phorminx,

   (Anacreontic: Dimeter ionic.)


   Wake, wake, I pray thee, shrill-toned lyre!

   No more to fan the Teïan [8] fire,

   No more the Lesbian [9] strain to raise,

   Wake, wake to hymn of nobler praise!

   Sound Dorian [10] ode, in other guise,

   Than once to maid with laughing eyes,

   Or youth whose form and golden tresses

   Might woo the wanton air's caresses!

   A better theme inspires my song,

   10And bears my soul far hence along.

   A Virgin's God-conceiving throes,

   Wisdom's own cure for mortal woes--

   This bids me now my harp-strings ply,

   And earth's black loves and miseries fly.

   For what is strength, or beauty's sway,

   Or gold, or fame--what doth it weigh--

   Or royal honours--in the scale?

   What these 'gainst search for God avail?

   Let this man urge the well-horsed car,

   20That shoot the true-aimed arrow far;

   Another watch o'er golden heap,

   And safe his hoarded treasure keep;

   To one be pride of glossy hair

   Flowing o'er neck in wavelets fair;

   Another court the favouring glances

   Of boys and girls in hymns and dances.

   Not such for me! But this I pray,

   Unknown to spend life's quiet day;

   To this vain world unmarked, unknown,

   30But God's truth knowing as my own.

   Wisdom present herself to me!

   Good guide of youth and age is she,

   Of wealth good stewardess and queen,

   Alike in poverty serene;

   Beyond earth's sorrows smiling gay,

   To calm content she points the way.

   That priceless wisdom first I ask,

   To guide and sweeten all life's task,

   And then sufficient humble store

   40To keep me from my neighbour's door;

   That I may ne'er, oppressed with need,

   Harbour dark thoughts of selfish greed.


   Hark! 'tis the sweet cicada's song:

   He drinks the dew, and chirps along.

   And, lo! my strings unbidden sound,

   And here and there a voice around!

   What in the world--what melody

   Will pang divine bring forth to me?


   'Tis so! Self-sprung Beginning He,

   50Father and Lord of all that be:

   Not made, not born, on high alone

   He hath o'er lofty heaven His throne.

   There glory changeless He displays,

   And sceptre there eternal sways;

   Of unities pure Unity,

   And Sole of sole existence He!

   High ether pure He did combine,

   And quicken into Life Divine.

   He then, ere yet the ages ran,

   60In mode ineffable to man,

   The Godhead through the Firstborn poured: [11]

   Hence Three, yet One, the Triune Lord.


   And now the heavenly fount around

   Behold, with children's beauty crowned,

   Forth from the centre as they spring,

   Or round it flow in joyous ring.


   But stop, rash lyre, thy lofty flight,

   Nor touch things hid from mortal sight!

   To men below it is not given

   70To tell high mystic rites of heaven.

   The things beneath do thou reveal;

   The things above let silence seal.


   But Mind now cares for worlds alone,

   In which reflected mind is shown:

   A good beginning this we sing,

   For thence man's spirit hath its spring:

   For now to matter came there down

   Mind incorruptible, high crown,

   Severed in each, and fragment small,

   80Yet true descent from God of all.

   This whole, in every part one-centred,

   Whole into whole as it hath entered,

   Takes station at the eternal poles,

   And heaven's resplendent circle rolls.

   Divided next, to those again,

   In given form who yet retain

   Their dowry unimpaired of mind,

   There are high offices assigned;

   The chariot race of stars one guides,

   90One o'er the angelic choir presides.

   But, ah! another, empty, vain,

   Self-dragged by down-inclining chain,

   Hath found a form of lower earth,

   Deep fallen from his heavenly birth:

   From home apostate far he flew,

   And cups of Lethe's darkness drew;

   Of eyeless soul and murky mind,

   To heaven's true joy and glory blind;

   Fain he to joyless earth repaired,

   100A god by mortal things ensnared.

   All dark! yet, lo! to mortal eyes

   A ray of cheering light doth rise!

   A door of hope is opened high,

   And helping hand is stretched out nigh,

   To lift the fallen here on earth

   Back to the honours of their birth,

   When they, emerging from the strife

   And din and cares of storm-tossed life,

   To holy paths have turned indeed,

   110Which to their Father's palace lead.

   Blest he who from the entangling mesh

   Of matter and of greedy flesh

   Hath fled, and on with springing bound

   The upward way to God hath found!

   Blest he who, after fates severe,

   And toils and many a bitter tear,

   And all the crowd of anxious cares

   Which earth to all her votaries shares,

   To mind's true course at length restored,

   120Hath God's own shining depth explored!


   A task it is, to lift above

   Whole outstretched soul in new-born love

   Yet only make determined start,

   With wings of mind and honest heart,

   And nigh to thee will He appear

   With stretched-forth hands, thy Father dear.

   Before will run a shining light,

   And all thy upward paths make bright:

   Fields of sweet thought thou now shalt tread,

   130Pledge of true beauty, for thee spread!

   Come, O my soul, and drink of this,

   A fountain flowing with all bliss;

   And to thy Father, lifting prayer,

   Without delay, up-mount the air.

   Leaving to earth the things of earth,

   In God assert thy godlike birth;

   And mingling with thy Father, Friend,

   Taste joys above that never end.
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   [8] Anacreon was of Teos.

   [9] Sappho of Lesbos.

   [10] The Dorian dialect was generally used for graver and sublimer
   subjects.

   [11] Lit.: The Sole Unity poured forth through the first-sown Form in
   an ineffable way had a threefold supreme help.
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Synesius.
II.

   Pali phengos, palin aos,

   (Anacreontic: Dimeter ionic.)


   Again we hail the opening morn,

   Again breaks forth the day new-born,

   Which, rising in victorious might,

   Chases away black-wandering night!

   Again, my mind, in early songs

   Praise Him to whom all praise belongs;

   Who gave to morning dawn the light

   Who gave the glittering stars to night,

   Which to their Maker and their King

   10Around the world in chorus sing.

   For o'er prolific matter, high,

   Moves ether pure in fiery sky;

   Where glides the moon in glorious trim,

   Cutting the last encircling rim:

   For to the eighth revolving stream

   The star-borne courses brightly gleam.

   But now beyond the starry poles

   A counter sea of glory rolls,

   Unbosomed; and with dance divine

   20Doth the Eternal Mind enshrine,

   Which covered hath with hoary wings

   The palace of the King of kings.

   What is beyond none may relate,

   Nor mind of man can penetrate:

   Eternal severance restrains,

   And happy silence ever reigns.

   From Root, or Spring, or Fountain one

   A threefold lighted Form hath shone:

   For where the Father dwells above,

   30There dwelleth too His own heart's love,

   His glorious Son, wisdom perfèct,

   And of all worlds the Architect:

   And in the Unity combined

   The Spirit's holy Light hath shined.

   One Root of Good, one Fount of Love,

   Whence sprung the bliss supreme above:

   And the bright holy lamps divine

   In equal glory ever shine.

   And thence in this fair world of ours,

   40With high-born intellectual powers,

   A chorus now of deathless kings

   The Triune glory ever sings.

   And near the Fount of Love and Truth

   Angelic band in changeless youth,

   Guided by holy Wisdom's mind,

   Immortal wreath of beauty find.

   But some with dark averted eyes

   Fall mindless from the lofty skies

   Downward the gloomy depths among,

   50And bring the higher world along;

   Down, down to Matter's utmost bound,

   Where, settling in the depth profound,

   Nature assigns them birth and place,

   A God-like, [12] though God-fallen race.


   Hence giant heroes took their birth,

   The mighty conquerors of earth;

   And hence Breath sown o'er all the ground

   Each varying type of life hath found.

   But all things to Thy counsel hold,

   60Things past, or present, new or old:

   Whate'er we have, whate'er we share,

   Of all from Thee the sources are.

   The Father and the Mother Thou,

   Male, female, unto Thee we bow:

   Or voice be heard, or all be still,

   'Tis just as ordered by Thy will.

   'And Thou or Nature Thyself art,

   Or Nature is Thy counterpart:

   And Thou art King; and ages all

   70Within Thine age unmeasured fall.

   May I my song aright renew,

   O Thou! the Root whence all things grew!

   Hail! Thou, the world's Original;

   Hail! Thou, the Spring, First Cause of all.

   All numbers blending into one,

   The Uncreated, God alone!

   All hail, all hail, [13] Thou One Divine!

   All joy, all happiness be Thine!

   Bend Thou, O bend propitious ear,

   80And this my hymn of praises bear,

   Speed on true Wisdom's opening day,

   Pour blessings down in rich array:

   Yea, grace-distilling streams pour down,

   That I may win contentment's crown

   In life's sweet calm; the happy mean

   Give me, riches and want between.

   Off from my limbs diseases ward,

   My soul from stormy passions guard:

   Let no dark thoughts my steps attend:

   90My life from biting cares defend;

   Lest, mind, borne down by earthly ill,

   To soar should find nor time nor will.

   But grant me with free wing to rise,

   And join the chorus of the skies,

   And there with Thine for ever sing

   The glories of my God and King!
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   [12] Lit: A much-talking and much-plotting crowd of demons (i. e.
   demigods).

   [13] chaire--chairois--chairein. We cannot imitate in English the
   beautiful play on these words.
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Synesius.
III. [14]

   'Age moi psucha

   (Anapaestic monometer.)

I. (1-11).

II. (11-22).

III. (23-36).

IV. (37-50).

V. (51-67).

VI. (68-75).

VII. (76-85).

VIII. (86-94).

IX. (95-107).

X. (108-117).

XI. (118-125).

XII. (126-137).

XIII. (138-146).

XIV. (147-157).

XV. (158-165).

XVI. (166-173).

XVII. (174-183).

XVIII. (184-190).

XIX. (191-198).

XX. (199-209).

XXI. (210-216).

XXII. (217-224).

XXIII. (225-231).

XXIV. (232-240).

XXV. (241-253)

XXVI. (254-265).

XXVII. (266-275).

XXVIII. (276-285).

XXIX. (286-300).

XXX. (301-311).

XXXI. (312-319).

XXXII. (320-328).

XXXIII. (329-334).

XXXIV. (335-342).

XXXV. (343-357).

XXXVI. (358-367).

XXXVII. (368-374).

XXXVIII. (375-380).

XXXIX. (381-391).

XL. (392-400).

XLI. (402-409).

XLII. (410-416).

XLIII. (417-427).

XLIV. (428-440).

XLV. (441-454).

XLVI. (455-462).

XLVII. (463-473).

XLVIII. (474-489).

XLIX. (490-497).

L. (498-505).

LI. (506-523).

LII. (524-532).

LIII. (533-543).

LIV. (544-553).

LV. (544-563).

LVI. (564-574).

LVII. (575-585).

LVIII. (586-592).

LIX. (593-602).

LX. (603-611).

LXI. (612-627).

LXII. (628-635).

LXIII. (636-645),

LXIV. (646-653).

LXV. (654-661).

LXVI. (662-670).

LXVII. (672-683).

LXVIII. (684-693).

LXIX. (694-703).

LXX. (704-713).

LXXI. (714-725).

LXXII. (726-734).


   Lift up thyself, my soul,

   Above this world's control!

   Spend and be spent in holy hymns of praise:

   Be armed with pure desire,

   Burn with celestial fire:

   Unto the King of gods our voice we raise:

   To Him a crown we weave, and bring

   A sacrifice of words, a bloodless offering.


   Thee on the troubled deep,

   Thee o'er the islands steep,

   Thee through the mighty continents of land,

   Thee in the city's throng,

   Or mountain tops along,

   Or when in celebrated plains I stand,

   Thee, Thee, O blessed One, I sing,

   Thee, Thee, O Father of the world, Eternal King!


   Thy praise I hymn by night,

   Thy praise at morning light,

   Thy praise by day, Thy praise at eventide.

   This know the hoary stars,

   And moon with silver bars,

   And chiefly he that doth on high preside

   O'er all the host of heaven, the sun,

   Who measuring time for holy souls his course doth run.


   Fain to thy folds I sped,

   And to Thy bosom fled,

   Winging my steps from Matter's wide-spread rule:

   Now on famed mountain peak,

   Thy face alone to seek;

   Now on the plain I hailed thy vestibule.

   A suppliant thus to many a shrine

   Of sacred rites I came, and mysteries divine.


   And now to southern land,

   And Libya's desert strand

   I roamed, where neither godless spirit reigns,

   Nor teeming cities' strife

   Calls men to busy life;

   That so my soul, from woeful toils and pains

   And passions' war and groans set free,

   And all the ills of fate, might harmonize with Thee.


   And might, in blest relief,

   Unshackled now from grief,

   With lips and tongue all cleansed, and hallowed mind,

   Repay the hymn to Thee,

   The hymn full due from me.

   Be Earth and Ether holily combined

   And Air and Sea with one accord

   Be still, and join in adoration to the Lord!


   Swift breath of winds, be still,

   And whirling pool and rill,

   And floods that are at rivers' mouths forth hurled;

   And streams from fountain-heads

   That rush down rocky beds:

   And hushed be ye, deep hollows of the world;

   While breath in holy hymns is spent,

   And sacrifice of praise in upward strains is sent.


   Down sink the serpent's trail!

   Nor let their craft prevail!

   Down sink the wingèd dragon underground;

   Who loves to cloud the soul,

   The god who doth control

   This lower world, and idol-worship found,

   And urgeth on the dogs of hell

   Against God's praying people, His true Israel!


   O blessèd Father, Friend,

   My soul do Thou defend.

   From soul-devouring dogs; defend my prayer,

   Defend my deeds, my life,

   From their destructive strife

   And charge Thy holy angels, that they bear

   To Thee this offering of my mind:

   For hymns they carry that with Thee acceptance find.


   Now am I borne along

   To lists of sacred song:

   Now holy words in streams spontaneous flow:

   A voice within me rings,

   And toucheth my heart-strings:

   But unto me, O Father, mercy show;

   Forgive, O Blessèd, if I stray,

   In theme divine, and miss the rightful ordered way.


   What eye can steadfast gaze,

   When Thy dread beacons blaze?

   What eye so wise, so strong, of mortal man,

   That it unclosed may bear

   Thy vivid lightning's glare?

   E'en of the mighty ones on high none can,

   However strong, however bold,

   The glorious brightness of Thy Majesty behold.


   Now aims the mind too far,

   And finds repelling bar,

   Nor can it penetrate by utmost strain

   The depths so dazzling bright,

   Where Thou dost dwell in light:

   So, falling back from efforts feebly vain,

   It courts within its proper scope

   An object known whereon to fix the eye of hope;


   That for Thy hymns it might

   Thence pluck fair flowers of light,

   Nor leave to thankless winds an offering:

   But render back to Thee

   Thine own, for Thine they be;

   For what of all things is not Thine, O King?

   O Father of all fathers, Thou!

   To Thine eternal Fatherhood all beings bow!


   But Father Thou hadst none;

   Thou art the self-sprung One,

   Before all worlds the sole great Mind existing:

   Germ of whate'er we see,

   Spur of all things that be

   Root of first worlds, by Thee alone subsisting:

   Light of all light, Truth's basis sure;

   And Wisdom's everflowing stream, and fountain pure.


   O Mind immutable!

   O Light inscrutable!

   Thine is the eye that guides the lightning fire:

   In Thee the ages live,

   Thou dost their limits give;

   Who can Thy praises reach, Eternal Sire?

   Thou art beyond the dreams of men;

   Beyond the reach of mind, or highest angel's ken.


   O'er all Thy rule is spread,

   The living and the dead;

   To minds that be, the parent Mind Thou art;

   All heaven Thou dost control,

   Thou nourishest the soul,

   And dost to spirit energy impart;

   The Spring Thou art whence all things flow,

   And from eternity the Root whence all things grow.


   The only One, yet all;

   In Thee all numbers fall;

   The only One, yet countless evermore:

   The self-existent Mind,

   Yet mind with law combined;

   Mind's realm, yet all the realm of mind before:

   Through all, yet all beyond, art Thou:

   To Thee, the Seed of all existing things, we bow.


   Thou art the Eternal Root,

   Thou art the spreading Shoot!

   Or male or female Thou be called, 'tis one;

   To mind Thou nature art,

   And dost Thyself impart,

   But mind enlightened ne'er can say, 'tis done;

   But here and there a word outpours,

   While feebly it the unfathomed depth around explores.


   Thou art the Parent Tree,

   All have their life from Thee,

   Or stem or branch, whatever is, is Thine.

   Thou art the Light of light,

   The Light of day so bright,

   The Light that shineth evermore Divine:

   Thou art, again, the hidden Light,

   By its own glory hidden far from mortal sight.


   Yet one, yet all, one Lord,

   One only, yet forth poured,

   Through all forth poured in holy Mystery:

   Of Thee thus sprung the Son,

   Wisdom, the glorious One,

   Creator of the universe to be.

   The Godhead severed into twain

   By birth ineffable, unsevered doth remain.


   Yet One, though Twain, though Three:

   Mysterious Trinity!

   For Thou art One in Three, and Three in One.

   I sing Thee, Unity!

   I sing Thee, Trinity!

   The Triune King, the Father, Spirit, Son!

   The Light divided is not spent,

   The One pervading mind, though parted, is not rent.


   Thy holy Will is done,

   'Tis through the Eternal Son;

   And from the outpoured Godhead forth there springs,

   Which cannot be exprest

   In words, the Spirit Blest,

   The Uncreated! we of wondrous things

   Have spoken; but we speak not there:

   We dare not if we could, we could not if we dare.


   Who knows the Eternal Laws?

   Who knows the First Great Cause?

   We may not say a Second, or a Third.

   O Birth beyond our reach;

   O Spring defying speech!

   What mortal to the task himself could gird?

   O matchless Holy One, between

   The Father and the Son Thy Light doth intervene.


   All reverence to Thee,

   Eternal Spirit, be!

   Thou of the Three the middle rank dost hold.

   And now, most glorious Son,

   Thy praises be begun!

   Thy birth, thy generation, is untold:

   The Father's Son, the Father's Will,

   With Him Thou present wast, and present Thou art still.


   Thou with the Father art,

   And ever next His heart;

   Nor can deep flowing Time Thy birth reveal;

   Nor aged Aeon say

   When was Thy natal day;

   He never learned, nor could remove the seal.

   Son with the Father! He the same

   Who should hereafter give to Aeon birth and name.


   Who hath adjudged the eye

   Into God's depths to pry?

   The subtle tongue will dare, but man is blind.

   Such daring is in vain,

   'Tis godless, and profane.

   Thou dost to Thine pour light upon the mind,

   And guard their hearts with holy care,

   That they in darkness sink not through gross matter's snare.


   To Thee all holy praise

   It well befits to raise;

   For Thou of all art Father, all are Thine:

   Thou all the worlds didst found,

   Thou dost all ages bound,

   Thou framedst all the host of heaven divine;

   To Thee all minds of light do sing,

   And starry spheres intelligent hail thee their King!


   While round in holy choir

   Dance their bright orbs of fire,

   The blest ones all do shout and sing before Thee;

   The world within, around,

   They all Thy praise resound,

   All in their stations evermore adore Thee:

   Those in the zones; and those outside,

   Who yet their several posts assigned in wisdom guide.


   These come to guard, or tame,

   Earth's helmsmen, sons of fame;

   Of link angelic, and who draw their birth

   From old heroic race;

   Who ever take their place,

   By hidden ways, o'er men and things of earth:

   And though of an unyielding will,

   To dark-rayed worldly glories ever yield they still.


   To Thee blithe nature sings,

   And all from her that springs:

   For Thou with heavenly breath dost them renew,

   Forth pouring from above

   Thy stores of grace and love,

   Which ever fresh descend in showers and dew;

   Thou to all nature nature art,

   O Lord of worlds unstained! and dost Thine own impart.


   For nature Thou didst train

   And school, that she again

   Might parent be of every mortal thing;

   The faithful counterpart

   Of all that Thyself art,

   Of life and health the everflowing spring!

   That to the world's extremest bound

   Each part in turn with living beauty might be crowned.


   For it were never right

   That things should jar and fight,

   Or dregs of earth with excellence contend;

   But all by Thy decree

   Is wrought in harmony;

   Nor aught shall perish, nor the chorus end;

   But each from other takes its share,

   And all through one another taste Thy loving care.


   The eternal wheel revolves,

   And the dark riddle solves;

   Things die; Thou sendest forth Thy breath, they live,

   And in fresh glory bloom,

   Renewed from mortal doom.

   Thus nurtured nature nurturing doth give;

   And she doth sing a deathless song

   To Thee by all her children through the ages long.


   In colour or in skin,

   Without, or life within,

   And deeds, however varied they may be,

   Yet nature moulds them all

   Obedient to her call;

   And links them fast in holy unity;

   And from all creatures thus doth raise

   Of differing voices one harmonious hymn of praise.


   To Thee, their Lord and King,

   All things their tribute bring

   Of ceaseless praise; the night, the morn, the sky,

   The lightning flash, the snow,

   And things that spring and grow;

   All bodies and all spirits; birds that fly,

   And beasts that graze; seeds, plants, and roots;

   The sea with all that swims, and earth with all her fruits.


   The waves of trouble roll;

   Look Thou upon my soul,

   To act so powerless, to learn so slow,

   Where on Thy Libyan sands

   The mystic temple stands;

   For hither I, Thy holy will to know,

   Oppressed with grief, my steps have bent,

   On prayer and supplication unto Thee intent.


   Before Thy favouring eye

   Earth's gloomy vapours fly:

   Look Thou on me, and bid my sorrows cease.

   'Tis so! e'en now my heart

   Through food Thy hymns impart--

   For Thine they are--hath nourishment of peace,

   And points my mind with keen desire

   To rise afresh to thoughts and words of heavenly fire.


   But send, O King, Thy light,

   To quicken my dull sight,

   And guide me on the road that leads to Thee.

   And, Father, grant, I pray,

   That from the body's sway

   My better part, escaping, may be free,

   And not again be downward hurled

   Beneath the floods and eddies of this troubled world.


   Yet here, while in the strife

   Of world-enchainèd life,

   O Blessèd, may kind fortune smile on me;

   Nor stormy tempest blow

   To check the holy glow,

   Or rudely break the mind's tranquillity;

   Lest inrush of the worldly flood

   Should leave to me no leisure for the things of God.


   And whereto I have striven,

   By grace which Thou hast given,

   (For all good gifts of help and strength are Thine),

   May I the ground retain,

   Nor e'er fall back again.

   For which Thy gifts this humble wreath of mine

   From holy fields to Thee I bring,

   O Thou of all creations pure the Eternal King;


   To Thee and to Thy Son,

   Thine own, the only One,

   Alone of Thee begotten, the All-wise,

   Whom from eternity

   Thou hadst, and hast, with Thee,

   Though forth from Thee He came to harmonize

   All things, and fashion, form, and guide,

   By wisdom's breath outpoured, and over all preside.


   The hoary ages wake,

   And their due course take,

   At his command; and of His matchless skill,

   And workmanship divine,

   As if by plumb and line,

   This rugged world He mouldeth to His will,

   Whate'er exists above the ground,

   Or on its surface, or within its depths profound.


   And merciful and kind

   He shines with holy mind

   On toiling mortals; and doth bring relief;

   For He doth loose the chain

   Of toilsome care and pain;

   Effects their good, and drives away their grief.

   The God who did the world create,

   What marvel that His own He guard from whelming fate?


   And hither southward now,

   That I might pay this vow

   To Thee the mighty world's eternal guide,

   I came from northern Thrace,

   Where three years' dreary space

   Near the Imperial Court I did abide,

   In toil, with tears and anguish sore,

   For on my shoulders I my mother country bore,


   And well Thou know'st, good Lord,

   How from my limbs was poured

   A sweat of agony from day to day:

   Nor rest had I by night

   In that dire mental fight:

   But watered was the couch on which I lay

   From streaming eyes. Then to and fro,

   To every shrine a suppliant I made haste to go.


   To all in turn I bring

   Prayer, chaplet, offering,

   And water with my tears each sacred floor,

   That I might not with pain

   Have journey made in vain,

   But that Thou wouldst wide-open hopeful door.

   Thus in my own and country's need

   I with Thy holy ones through fruitful Thrace did plead;


   And who across the main,

   Guard Carthaginian plain,

   I sought them all, if they might succour me,

   Throughout the region round,

   Whom Thou with rays hadst crowned

   Angelic, Thine attendant saints to be.

   The blest ones helped my eager prayers,

   They helped my many toils, and soothed my many cares.


   Life did no pleasure yield,

   While my poor country reeled

   Half stunned: but Thou hast righted her, O King!

   The Rock of Ages Thou,

   To whom the world doth bow!

   Crushed were my limbs, my soul a lifeless thing:

   But Thou from Heaven hast breathed at length

   New vigour on my soul, and on my limbs new strength.


   For Thou hast-brought relief,

   And stayed o'erflowing grief:

   Toils have an end, the wearied soul hath rest.

   'Twas by Thy wisdom planned,

   'Twas wrought out by Thy hand.

   Thou to my mind hast given refreshment blest.

   Now, O my God, do Thou ordain,

   That to the Libyans these Thine own sweet gifts remain;


   Of our long tribulation,

   Of Thy so great Salvation,

   A lasting record! Hear Thy suppliant's prayer;

   And henceforth may my life

   Be safe from harmful strife.

   Loose me from toil, disease, and deadly care.

   Thus to Thy servant bow Thine ear,

   And grant my mental life be ever bright and clear.


   I would not showers of wealth

   To try the soul's best health,

   And leave no leisure for the things divine;

   Nor poverty would I,

   With downcast sullen eye,

   Black spectre to the house, prone to repine,

   Bowed down to earth with earthly cares.

   Both grovel on the ground, and both are dangerous snares.


   And both forgetful are

   Of better things by far,

   The mind, and all that to the mind doth cling,

   Unless, O heavenly Friend,

   Thou shouldst Thy help extend.

   Yea, Father, wisdom's holy self and spring,

   Upon this faltering soul of mine

   The light of mind from Thine own bosom cause to shine.


   And on my heart, I pray,

   Turn Thou blest wisdom's ray,

   With helping hand, and point the holy road

   That leadeth unto Thee;

   And set Thy seal on me,

   And let me have the token of my God;

   And from my life, and from my prayer,

   Drive earthly demons of presumption and despair.


   And may my body be

   From all dishonour free,

   As fortress unassailable to foe;

   And may my spirit pure

   Unto the end endure

   By Thine all-saving help. Full well I know,

   That I do bear dark worldly stain,

   And held in bondage am by earthly passions' chain;


   But Thou deliverer art,

   And cleanser of the heart.

   From evils circling round escape afford,

   And from diseases all,

   And bonds that fret and gall.

   I bear Thy seed, of noble mind, good Lord,

   A spark that issued forth from Thee,

   And flashing down through depths of matter lit on me.


   For in the world, O King,

   Thou mad'st a soul to spring,

   And in the body, through the soul, a mind:

   O pity then Thine own,

   The handmaid from Thy throne:

   From Thee descending, hapless I did bind

   Myself as labourer free to earth:

   Not labourer now, but slave, downfallen from my birth.


   For, me the world around

   With witchery hath bound,

   Some little strength may yet remain in me

   Of secret inner light,

   Not yet extinguished quite:

   But o'er my head is rolled a mighty sea,

   That doth make blind the mental eye

   That would its God and things of heavenly worth descry.


   O look with pitying eye,

   And hear the mournful cry

   Of Thine own child, O Father good and kind:

   Whom oft when she would rise

   Up to her native skies,

   Impelled by holy efforts of the mind,

   Yet fascination of this world

   Hath choked, and back to earth's dark mazes hurled.


   But O! send forth Thy light,

   A beacon fire through night,

   To guide' and cheer me on my upward way;

   And may that seed take root,

   And, striking out its shoot

   From small beginning, bead of flower display.

   O Father, such Thy help divine,

   Enthrone me in the light of life above to shine;


   Where nature cannot clasp

   With her resistless grasp:

   And whence no longer earth, or web of fate,

   Can back recall to woe

   And vain desires below.

   Let brood deceitful that I scorn and hate

   Of worldly passions scattered be,

   And leave thy servant, O my God, at peace with Thee!


   Me and earth's din betwixt

   Be fiery barrier fixed.

   Thy grace, O Father, to my soul reveal;

   And let thy suppliant find,

   With outspread wings of mind,

   The ascending path, and bear aloft Thy seal,

   A terror to the up-springing foe,

   Who breathe to mortals godless thoughts from depths below;


   But badge and token known

   To those about Thy throne,

   The holy ones, who all the heights survey

   Of Thy bright world, and stand

   As guards in high command,

   Bearing the keys of upward fiery way,

   That they may give an entrance free,

   And open wide the gates of heavenly light to me.


   But still while creeping here

   Upon this empty sphere

   Of earth, yet not of earth grant me to be;

   But from a better root

   E'en here attesting fruit

   To bear of fire-proved deeds, my God, to Thee;

   And Thy true voice to hear and know,

   And whate'er warms and makes in souls blest hope to grow.


   It doth me now repent

   Of life on earth ill-spent:

   Begone, the blear-eyed haze of godless men,

   And built-up cities' strength

   Begone, ye breadth and length

   Of worldly aims, nor harass me again,

   Ye sweet calamities, ye toys

   Of mighty seeming, bootless boons, and joyless joys.


   Tranced by your bravery

   The soul in slavery

   To earth is held; and wretched is indeed;

   For of her own good things

   This cup oblivion brings:

   And things, wherewith to satisfy her need

   She hoped, are forthwith snatched away;

   And from vain dream she wakes to envy's shaft a prey.


   For fortune here below

   A double face doth show,

   False queen: whom if you haply win and trust,

   And in her livery shine,

   And at her table dine,

   Soon rue your lot with bitter tears you must,

   When down from pedestal so high

   You fall in widespread ruin, and neglected lie.


   For here, from adverse sides,

   Now good, now ill, betides:

   To mortals such is life's necessity.

   To God, or what hath birth

   From God, but not to earth,

   Is good unmingled with adversity.

   Did cup of sweets intoxicate?

   Ensnared I learnt by crop of woes a lesson late.


   I hate these laws of change

   And hence now upward range,

   With wings expanded, to the peaceful sky:

   To bright ethereal plains,

   Where my dear Father reigns,

   From earth, and earths two-sided gifts I fly.

   O Steward of the life of mind,

   To Thee I look; with Thee may I acceptance find.


   My soul doth hang on Thee:

   Heed Thou Thy suppliant's plea,

   Bound here on earth, yet struggling to ascend

   The upward paths of mind:

   As Thou thus far hast shined,

   O shine yet more: light wings of succour lend

   Snap double passions' bond, and chain

   Of earth unloose, and let my soul her freedom gain.


   For nature by these chains

   Her treacherous power obtains,

   And binds me down to earth a helpless prey;

   But from the body freed,

   And all its direful need,

   Grant me to take swift flight to realms of day,

   To Thine own halls and Thine own breast,

   Whence flows the Fountain of the soul; and be at rest.


   A drop from Fountain Head

   Poured, forth, to earth I sped,

   An exile and a wanderer from Thee;

   Me now, I pray, restore

   To where I was before:

   With light ancestral may I mingled be!

   Tune Thou my mind with Thine own choir

   In holiness to sing the hymns Thou dost inspire.


   Once saved from mortal plight,

   Once mingled with the light,

   O Father, grant I never enter more

   Within earth's black domains

   Of penalties and pains;

   But while I yet am chained to this dark shore,

   And bear life's drudgery below,

   Bid Thou that fortune's breezes on me gently blow.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [14] In the Greek, however short the metre and however long the ode,
   there is no weariness from monotony; for the interchange of anapaest,
   dactyl, and spondee, in the lines of from only four to six syllables
   each, makes a constant and pleasing variety. But this being impossible
   in an English translation, I have adopted the measure which Milton so
   beautifully employs in the Hymn of the Nativity. For the convenience of
   those who may wish to refer to the original, I mark the lines at the
   head of each stanza.
     __________________________________________________________________

Synesius.
IV.

   Se men archomenas,

   (Anapaestic monometer.)

VIII. (68-79).

II. (10-17).

III. (18-27).

IV. (28-37).

V. (38-48).

VI. (49-59)

VII. (60-67).

VIII. (68-79).

IX. (80-88).

X. (89-95).

XI. (96-109).

XII. (110-124).

XIII. (125-135).

XIV. (136-146).

XV. (147-159).

XVI. (160-170).

XVII. (171-180).

XVIII. (181-192).

XIX. (193-212).

XX. (213-226).

XXI. (227-237).

XXII. (238-250).

XXIII. (252-259).

XXIV. (260-274).

XXV. (275-280).

XXVI. (281-290).

XXVII. (291-299).


   To Thee at evening gray,

   To Thee at growth of day,

   To Thee at noon, to Thee at vesper hour,

   And when now fades the light,

   And poured forth is the night,

   (Both night and day are Thine, and show Thy power),

   I sing, O Healer of the soul,

   And of the body too: Thou only mak'st it whole.


   And wisdom's spring Thou art,

   And dost of it impart;

   And Thou dost drive diseases far away,

   And unto souls dost give

   Untroubled life to live,

   Which earthly care may not stamp down nor sway,

   Who mother is of pain and woe,

   And all the thousand ills that culminate below.


   From which O grant to me

   My life be ever free!

   That I may praise in thankful hymn and song

   The hidden Root of all,

   Nor severed be, nor fall

   From God, through ills that to this world belong.

   To Thee, O Father Blessèd, I will sing,

   Who art of this great universe the glorious King.


   Hushed be the world, and still,

   While I my task fulfil,

   And lift to Thee, Supreme, the hymn divine;

   And while my prayers I pour,

   Let all on earth adore!

   For earth, and all her workmanship, is Thine.

   Let blustering winds their tumults cease,

   And rustling trees and shrill-voiced birds be all at peace.


   Let ether listener be

   To holy psalmody:

   Let air be silent too: and rapid streams

   Adown the earth that pour,

   And waves that lash the shore,

   Let all be stayed, as it in prayer beseems.

   And demon foes to holy strain,

   Who haunt recesses dark, and in the tombs remain;


   Fly they--far, far away--

   While I my offerings pay:

   But all the good, throughout creation's range,

   The happy ones who serve,

   Nor from the precepts swerve

   Of the Great Parent, now in interchange

   Of holy thought and mind may they

   Befriend, and upward these my hymns and prayers convey!


   The One, the only One,

   The Father Thou alone,

   The One beginning whence all else began;

   The Fount whence all founts flow,

   The Root whence all roots grow;

   The Good whence good in all its channels ran;

   The Star that to all stars gave birth;

   The World whence sprang all worlds from highest heaven to earth.


   The Form of all forms known:

   All beauty is Thine own:

   The hidden Seed, the ages' Parent Prop:

   Of worlds intelligent

   The Father, whence forth sent

   Ambrosial Breath, and floating drop by drop

   Upon embodied bulk, combines

   A second world, which in reflected glory shines.


   O Blessèd, Thee I praise,

   Or whether voice I raise,

   Or solemn silence keep; for to Thine ear

   Not more the uttered speech

   Than Mind's still voice doth reach:

   Unuttered though the word, yet Thou dost hear.

   With Thee I praise the First-born One,

   The First-sprung Light, Thine own Begotten only Son.


   Thou Lord of power and might,

   Light of the Father light,

   Of the Ineffable the glorious Word;

   With the great Father Thee

   I hymn in unity;

   And Holy Spirit too in blest accord,

   Who did Himself divinely spring

   Forth from the Father and through Thee, with Thee I sing.


   True counsel He unfolds

   And middle rule [15] He holds:

   Breath holy! Spur of Father, Spur of Son!

   Self-Parent, and Self-Kin,

   Self-nurtured Root within,

   The Uncreated, Unbegotten One.

   The Eternal glory is out-poured

   Upon the Son: through whom forth springs the Spirit Lord.


   God and of God is He,

   Mid light in Trinity.

   Thee Trinity and Unity we name;

   For Thou art Three, yet One,

   The Father, Spirit, Son:

   Though severed, yet unsevered, One the same.

   Forth went the Son to do Thy will,

   And yet with Thee the Father He remaineth still.


   Thy rule to bear He goes,

   And upon worlds bestows,

   Whence He Himself received, life's happy store.

   The Word! to Thee I raise

   With the Great Father, praise.

   The Mind of the Ineffable, before

   All worlds, did Thee beget; and Thou

   Begotten art the Father's Word, to whom all bow!


   Thou first from the first Root

   Didst spring, the glorious Shoot;

   And since Thy birth all things have birth from Thee.

   The Eternal One, the Seed

   Of all things, so decreed,

   That Thou, first-sown, the Seed of all shouldst be.

   For Thou dost all in all fulfil;

   And 'tis by Thee that nature lived and liveth still;


   Where she is highest seen,

   Where in the ranks between,

   Where lowest: all good gifts of quickening powers

   From God the Father she

   Doth taste and hold through Thee.

   Guided by Thee, this ageless sphere of ours

   Turns her strong wheels on easy poles,

   And seventh in the dance of stars unwearied rolls.


   The many lights on high

   One surface beautify

   In Thy great world: for Thou dost so ordain:

   And Thou, God's glorious Son,

   Didst make the ages run,

   And in unbroken course dost them sustain.

   All in this globe Thou dost survey,

   And all in circuit tend; and all Thy laws obey.


   And in the depths of sky

   Unfathomed we descry

   Thy ruling hand and power; for it is there

   That Thou the stars dost lead,

   And in Light's pastures feed

   The glittering host, with a true Shepherd's care.

   To all in heaven, in earth, below,

   Thou dost their tasks assign, and life on all bestow.


   To gods and mortal kind,

   Whoe'er have quaffed of mind,

   By kindly fate, the intellectual shower,

   Thou Lord and Steward art:

   And soul Thou dost impart

   To those whose life hath nought but soul for dower,

   And nature's unrestrained control

   For hangs on Thee the growth of even eyeless soul.


   And things that lack Thy breath

   Are yet upheld from death;

   For Thou hast linked them to the One Supreme:

   Whence flows to earth by Thee

   Life's channel still kept free

   Through trackless worlds; and the descending stream

   Of good doth mould this world of ours

   To form of unseen world of highest mental powers.


   A second sun hath shone

   This lower world upon:

   Parent of later light: and bright-eyed lord

   Of what doth live to-day,

   To-morrow to decay,

   Base matter: he doth yet to us afford

   All world-born good, by Thy decree;

   And is, O Thou God-born, type visible of Thee.


   Beyond mind's utmost reach,

   Beyond all power of speech,

   Ineffable, unknown, O Father dread!

   Thou art of mind the Mind,

   Of souls the Soul combined,

   Of natures all Thou art the Fountain-head.

   Behold! Thy servant bends the knee,

   And down on earth a poor blind suppliant falls to Thee.


   But Thou the light dost give,

   The light for mind to live;

   To suppliant soul, O Bless'd, pity show:

   Diseases chase away,

   And cares the soul which slay,

   And shameless earthly dog, and fiendish foe:

   Far from my soul and from my prayer,

   Far from my life and deeds, chase every hurtful snare.


   Armed may my body be

   Against the enemy,

   And armed my spirit, and whate'er is mine;

   Nor may he entrance find

   Within my heart or mind.

   Out be he cast, and out, by help Divine,

   Remain, and leave me, and take flight,

   The worldly fiend, who gives to passions strength and might.


   And who obstructs the road

   Which upward leads to God;

   And quencheth aspiration's holy flame.

   But, O great King, give me,

   Companion meet to be,

   An angel of Thine own, of holy name,

   Of holy aid, an angel friend,

   Who may God-lighted prayer, and all good deeds defend.


   A guardian may he be

   Of soul and life to me,

   And to my prayer and deeds protection yield;

   My body may he save

   From trouble's rushing wave,

   And sickness; and from harm my spirit shield,

   And o'er my soul oblivion pour

   Of earthly passions which disturbed my peace before.


   So may I spend my life

   All calm and free from strife!

   So may my soul, in hymning Thy high praise,

   Mount up with strengthened wing

   From earth, and heavenward spring!

   So may I cleanse from worldliness my ways,

   Till I, set free from earth-bound chain,

   No longer subject am to Fate's imperious reign;


   But gain those halls above,

   And Thy blest folds of love,

   Whence forth doth flow the fountain of the soul!

   But Thou propitious be,

   And helping hand give me!

   Call me, O Blessèd! all my ways control!

   Hear Thou Thy humble suppliant's cry,

   And lift my soul from earth to native realms on high!
     __________________________________________________________________

   [15] Middle Rule. See note on line 57, Ode V.
     __________________________________________________________________

Synesius.
V.

   'Umn?men kouron eumphas,

   (Tetrapod: spondaic: catalect.)


   Awake, our lute, the child to sing

   Of bride unwedded, holy maid;

   True Son of the Eternal King,

   4Ere earth's foundations yet were laid.


   Ineffable Thy counsels, Lord,

   Father of all, by which was born

   The Christ! a virgin's throes afford

   8The Light of Life to world forlorn!


   A Man! and yet of ages gone,

   And of all ages yet to come,

   Throughout eternity, the One

   12Upholder, Perfecter, and Sum.


   Thyself, O Christ, art Fount of Light,

   Light of the Father's Light, bright Ray!

   Dark matter thou didst burst; and night

   16To holy souls Thou turn'st to day.


   Yea! Founder of the world Thou art,

   And moulder of each starry sphere:

   To earth her spurs Thou dost impart;

   20While men hail Thee their Saviour dear.


   For Thee his chariot Titan drives,

   The quenchless fount of morning light.

   From Thee the bull-faced moon derives

   24Her power to loose the gloom of night.


   By Thee the year with fruit is crowned:

   By Thee the flocks and herds are fed:

   Productive Thou dost make the ground;

   28And to the poor Thou givest bread.


   For Thou from Thine o'erflowing store

   Of grace ineffable and love,

   O'er surface of all worlds dost pour

   32The fertile sunshine from above.


   And from Thy bosom forth did spring

   To life both light, and mind, and soul:

   O pity then Thine own offspring

   36Imprisoned under hard control,


   By mortal limbs, by flesh and blood,

   Coerced, and measures stern of fate:

   O save Thine own, Thou great and good,

   40Nor let sick mind sick body hate!


   Persuasion to my words nod Thou,

   And to my deeds such honest fame,

   That truth I never disavow,

   44Nor Sparta [16] nor Cyrene shame!


   But may my soul, unbowed by grief,

   Draw all her nourishment from Thee,

   Stretching both eyes, in calm relief,

   48Up to Thy light, from sorrow free!


   That, cleansed from dregs of worldly soil,

   I may by straight course upward mount,

   And 'scaping from earth's care and toil,

   52Be mingled with the soul's own fount!


   Life such of pure content and praise,

   Do Thou to Thy poor harper grant,

   While still to Thee the hymn I raise,

   56And glory to the Father chant,


   And Spirit, [17] mid-enthroned compeer,

   The Parent Root and Branch between!

   Be such on earth my bright career,

   60Nor sin nor sorrow intervene;


   Until, within the courts above,

   The travail of my soul shall cease,

   Still singing hymns of heavenly love

   64In glory and in perfect peace.


   Thee, Thee, the Fount of love, we bless,

   O Father, rock and strength of Thine;

   And Thee alike, His form express,

   68And seal, all beauty, Son Divine;


   And Holy Breath, of both the crown,

   Whose quickening gifts like billows roll:

   Thou with the Father, send Him down

   72To cheer and fertilize my soul!
     __________________________________________________________________

   [16] Synesius was a native of Cyrene, which was an ancient colony of
   Sparta.

   [17] Here, as elsewhere, Synesius represents the Holy Spirit as seated
   between the Father and the Son, or holding the middle rank; cf. Ode
   III. l. 220; Ode IV. l. 97, in which latter place, as if to mend
   Synesius' theology, some sciolist has made additions contrary to the
   context, which additions I follow the learned editors in rejecting. In
   the New Testament the sacred order given in Matt. xxviii. 19, is not
   strictly or always followed; e. g. 2 Cor. xiii. 14, 1 Pet. i. 2, Rev.
   i. 4, 5. May this help to explain the difficult passage Heb. xii. 23,
   24?
     __________________________________________________________________

Synesius.
VI.

   Meta magas agias autolocheutou

   (Trimeter ionic.)


   Thee, with the holy self-sprung Fount, we sing,

   Who art from all eternity great King,

   God and of God, immortal, glorious One,

   The, only Father's true and only Son!

   To Thee, with Him, our praises all belong;

   Thee will we crown with choicest flowers of song.

   Son of the Father, Thou by birth Divine!

   In Thee all bright the Father's glories shine.

   And from the Father and through Thee, behold!

   10The spirit issues--mystery threefold!

   And takes the middle place [18] of light and mind,

   In Trinity and Unity combined.

   Poured was the sacred Fountain into Thee;

   Yet One it was, and is eternally.

   The Father's Wisdom, Mind, and beauteous Ray,

   Eternal Son, Thou dost to all display.

   Of hidden Deity the outstanding light,

   In Thee the purposes Divine are bright;

   For thus the Eternal Father did decree,

   20That Thou Beginning to all worlds shouldst be;

   And bring to bodies shape and form combined

   With powers, from highest source, of thought and mind.

   The orb of heaven in wisdom Thou dost guide,

   And shepherd o'er the flock of stars preside.

   Thou leader art of angels' choir and band;

   Thou dost the phalanx of God's hosts command.

   And Thou too dost the mortal race befriend,

   And all their paths and wandering steps attend.

   The Spirit undivided Thou dost spread

   30O'er earth, and gather back to fountain-head

   Thy gifts unwasted; for Thou dost unchain

   Death's captives, bringing them to life again.

   Accept, my King, this wreath of hymns, from me;

   And O! propitious to Thy servant be!

   Grant Thou calm life: and stay the wandering tide,

   And bid the flood through worldly straits subside;

   From soul and limbs diseases dire repel;

   And all pernicious rush of passions quell.

   Or wealth or poverty extreme forefend;

   40And to just deeds fame honourable send.

   Among the people good report accord;

   And with persuasion crown the gentle word;

   That waveless thus my mind may reap repose,

   And I ne'er groan oppressed with earth's dark woes;

   But watered from thy heavenly-flowing rill,

   My mind I may with wisdom's produce fill.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [18] See note on Ode V. 1. 57.
     __________________________________________________________________

Synesius.
VII.

   Protos nomon euroman

   (Logaoedic.)


   I first invented in Thy praise,

   O Blessèd, these new metric lays.

   Immortal Thou! of virgin mild

   The holy ever glorious Child:

   Hope of the world, salvation's stem,

   O Jesus of Jerusalem!

   To Thee I raise the song on high;

   To Thee my harp-strings joyful ply.

   O show me favour, heavenly King!

   10Accept the music which I bring

   Of holy melodies; for Thou

   Art He to whom my soul doth bow,

   God over all, God's mighty Son,

   The ever blest Immortal One!

   The Eternal Father gave Thee birth;

   Birth Thou hast given to heaven and earth.

   All worlds are Thine; all nature Thine;

   And wisdom infinite, divine.

   In heaven, as God, Thy fame is spread;

   20Below, as mingled with the dead.

   But when the blessèd day had shone

   That Thou shouldst mortal flesh put on

   Of virgin mother, then the star,

   Seen by the magi from afar

   In eastern clime, perplexed their mind

   And varied skill; nor could they find

   Or who, or what, the child might be,

   Or what the hidden deity;

   No answer could their wisdom bring;

   30Or God, or doomed to die, or king.

   'Tis well! meet be your offerings:

   Bring myrrh for death's last sufferings:

   Bring royal presents of fine gold;

   And gifts of frankincense unfold.

   My God! here frankincense behold!

   My King! deign to receive the gold!

   And O! Thou Saviour born to die,

   Myrrh, for Thy tomb let me supply!

   And cleansèd was the earth by Thee,

   40And cleansèd were the waves of sea;

   And all the paths which upward bear,

   In slender element of air;

   And dark recesses underground,

   In succour to the dead there bound,

   By Thee, great Conqueror, were trod;

   And Hades stood aghast at God.

   But O! propitious be, great King!

   Smile on the tribute which I bring

   Of tuneful songs and measured lays

   50Designèd for Thy holy praise.
     __________________________________________________________________

Synesius.
VIII.

   'Upo dorion armogan

   (Logaoedic.)


   O! 'Tis no theme of common things

   That wakes my ivory-fastened strings!

   To Thee, in solemn Dorian [19] strain,

   I lift my heart and voice amain,

   O blessèd, O Immortal One,

   The holy Virgin's glorious Son!

   But, O great King, save Thou my life

   From cares and woes and worldly strife,

   That from calamity all free

   10Both night and day I may praise Thee.

   And to my mind mayst Thou convey

   From mind's own fount, a clear bright ray.

   Unto my youth mayst Thou impart

   Soundness of limbs and manly heart:

   And may my deeds reflect Thy light

   In honour, truth, and glory bright.

   And on the ripeness of mine age

   Mayst Thou the wisdom of the sage

   Bestow, with health, the blessed mead

   20Of harvest rich from well-sown seed.

   And on that darling son of mine

   May Thy preserving mercy shine,

   Whom, when just passing gate of death,

   Thou didst restore to vital breath.

   O Lord of life, 'twas Thou didst wrench

   From Death's firm grasp, his prey, and quench

   My burning grief in floods of joy;

   For Thou didst give me back my boy;

   And tears, O Father, Thou didst dry,

   30In answer to Thy suppliant's cry!

   May son and daughter, much loved pair,

   Thy kind protection ever share,

   And all my house, in happy calm,

   Be sheltered by Thine hand from harm!

   And, O my Saviour King, bless Thou

   The partner of my wedded vow;

   From sickness and from sorrow free,

   Faithful, one-minded, may she be,

   Preserved by Thee from thought of sin,

   40All bright without, all pure within!

   Untouched by roving passions' tide,

   My honoured wife, my love, my pride!

   Loose Thou my soul from baneful chains

   Of worldly life, its cares and pains,

   And floods of dismal grief and woe,

   Which overwhelm this earth below.

   O! thus prepared may I be found

   With holy worshippers around

   To lead the choir, and chants to raise

   50To Thy all-glorious Father's praise;

   And to Thy majesty, great King,

   Loud hymns again I hope to sing;

   Again in voice of praise Thy name

   To bless, Thy honours to proclaim;

   May be, my harp I shall again

   Tune all-unhurt to highest strain.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [19] He uses the epithet Dorian in a general sense, to express that
   which is grave and sublime.
     __________________________________________________________________

Synesius.
IX.

   Poluerate, kudime,

   (Logaoedic.)


   To Thee, much loved, be honour paid,

   O glorious Child of Hebrew maid!

   To Thee I raise the hymn anew,

   Who didst the serpent's wiles subdue,

   And drive afar the infernal foe

   That filled e'en Paradise with woe:

   For, subtle with forbidden fruit,

   Of woeful knowledge nurse and root,

   Our primal founder he o'ercame,

   10And smote the world with death and shame.

   All-glorious Thou with many a crown!

   Thou didst to wretched earth come down,

   To dwell with man by death assailed,

   Thyself in mortal body veiled;

   And Thou dark Tartarus didst tread,

   Midst countless nations of the dead,

   Then Hades, ancient-born, amazed,

   Did shudder as on Thee he gazed;

   And the all-devouring savage hound [20]

   20Backward recoiled with frightened bound.

   But lo! to holy souls, oppressed

   With direful woes, Thou gavest rest,

   That they in chorus led by Thee,

   To praise the Father might be free.

   And from below when Thou didst rise,

   The demon-hosts beneath the skies,

   Unnumbered, quaked, O mighty King,

   To hear the judgment Thou shouldst bring.

   Then did the stars, immortal band,

   30Gazing at Thee, astonished stand.

   But Ether laughed, the father he--

   The father wise--of harmony;

   And mingled from his seven-toned lyre

   Bright notes of music's holy fire,

   Raising to Lord of earth and sky,

   The song of victory on high.

   And Lucifer, the guide of day,

   With smiling countenance was gay;

   And golden Hesperus afar

   40Shot beams, the Cythereïan star.

   And shepherdess of right, the Moon

   Filled her bright crescent with festoon,

   And flowering wreath of liquid fire,

   And led her peers in joyous choir.

   And through the trackless paths of air

   Titan spread out his flaming hair:

   For God's own Son, the master Mind

   Which did all things create and bind

   In mutual law, full well he knew,

   50From whom his primal fire he drew.

   But Thou, as plying heavenly oar,

   Or wing of bird, didst upward soar

   With holy feet; and o'er the skies

   And dark-blue-vaulted heaven didst rise,

   Up-mounting to the spheres of light,

   The realms of Mind for ever bright.

   There goodness from the Fountain-head

   In bliss through silent heaven is spread;

   There nor deep-flowing restless Time

   60Drags earthborn children through the slime

   Of coarser matter, nor hard fates

   Roll turbid floods o'er mortal states;

   But Age himself, the ancient-sprung,

   Is ageless, old at once, and young;

   And in the unfading courts of love

   is steward to the blest above.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [20] The fabled Cerberus, Janitor Orci.
     __________________________________________________________________

Synesius.
X. [21]

   Mnoeo Christe,

   (Anapaestic monometer.)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.


   Lord Jesu, think on me;

   And this poor offering,

   Which I do humbly weave for Thee,

   Accept, O Christ, my King.


   Lord Jesu, think on me,

   And purge away my sin:

   From earthborn passions set me free,

   And make me pure within.


   Lord Jesu, think on me,

   With care and woe oppressed;

   Let me Thy loving servant be,

   And taste Thy promised rest.


   Lord Jesu, think on me

   Amid the battle's strife:

   In all my pain and misery

   Be Thou my Health and Life.


   Lord Jesu, think on me,

   Nor let me go astray:

   Through darkness and perplexity

   Point Thou the heavenly way.


   Lord Jesu, think on me,

   When flows the tempest high:

   When on doth rush the enemy,

   O Saviour, be Thou nigh.


   Lord Jesu, think on me,

   That when the flood is past,

   I may the Eternal Brightness see,

   And share Thy joy at last.


   Lord Jesu, think on me,

   And grant me my desire,

   That I, with mind and limbs set free,

   May join the heavenly choir.


   Lord Jesu, think, on me,

   That I may sing above

   Praise to the Father, and to Thee,

   And to the Holy Dove.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [21] In translating this ode I have given my spirit more liberty. It
   may be considered as a paraphrase or amplification, rather than an
   exact translation of the original. A brief form of it appears in Hymns
   Ancient and Modern.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [3] See The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Oxford edition, 1827,
   vol. ii. p. 446, and the foot notes. Also vol. iv. pp. 38, 39.

   [4] Christian Antiquities, vol. i. pp. 464-5, London edition, 1843.

   [5] See Ecclesiastical History. London edition, 1845, vol. i. pp. 310,
   439.

   [6] See the Notes, ibid.

   [7] Gibbon, Decline and Fall, vol. ii. p. 446.
     __________________________________________________________________

GREGORY
BISHOP OF NAZIANZUS

   (Born A.D. 325. Died, 389).

   This eminent man needs no introduction from my humble pen. His praises
   are, and always have been, in the Church. Born near Nazianzus in
   Cappadocia, he succeeded his father in that episcopate. He cultivated
   his natural gifts, and increased his learning, at Athens. Thence he
   went forth to be a champion of the Christian faith, and a luminary in
   the great Church constellation of the fourth century. After the
   deliverance from the last effort of paganism contrived and led by the
   Emperor Julian, who had once been his friend and fellow-collegian, he
   displayed his great talents and eloquence at Constantinople, of which
   great Eastern capital for a time he became bishop. But soon he retired
   to the solitary cell, which he bad before loved and frequented, near
   his native place, Nazianzus; and there renewed and exercised his gift
   of sacred poetry, of which, to name but one, his Hymn to God is an
   undying record, and may bear comparison with any similar composition in
   any age.
     __________________________________________________________________

Gregory Nazianzen.

I.
HYMN TO CHRIST.

   Se ton aphthiton monarchen

   (Dimeter ionicus.)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.


   O Thou, the One Supreme,

   O thou, the deathless King,

   Be Thou my only theme:

   Grant me Thyself to sing.

   To Thee the hymn, to Thee the praise,

   Celestial choirs for ever raise.


   For Thee the ages run

   In order as was given;

   For Thee shines forth the sun,

   The day-born eye of heaven:

   For Thee the moon, and grand array

   Of stars, hold on their nightly way.


   With reasonable soul

   For Thee learns favoured man

   His passions to control,

   And the Divine to scan;

   For Thou of all Creator art,

   Thou madst the whole and every part.


   All march in ordered band:

   O'er all Thou hold'st the reins:

   All creatures of Thy hand

   Thy Providence sustains.

   For Thou the word didst speak--'twas done--

   That Word of Thine is God the Son.


   For of same honour He,

   Thine own begotten Son,

   In form and quality

   With Thee the Father one:

   Who placed all things in harmony,

   That over all He King might be.


   And all Thy works infolding

   In bonds of love and truth,

   The Spirit all-upholding,

   Renews creation's youth

   Foreseeing, He for all provides,

   And Guardian over all presides.


   Thee, Thee, the Triune King,

   The One Eternal Lord,

   Thee evermore I'll sing,

   By earth and heaven adored,

   The Three in One, the One in Three,

   The ever-living Trinity.


   Immovable of mind,

   Of ways past mortal ken,

   The boundless, undefined,

   Wisdom's deep origin,

   Upholder of the heavenly towers,

   Ruler of all created powers.


   Beginning none, nor end:

   The self-sprung Light art Thou:

   We cannot comprehend,

   But to Thy Brightness bow,

   Whose eye, repelling mortal gaze,

   All things above, below, surveys.


   Unseen, yet ever near,

   Father, propitious be:

   This my petition hear,

   This boon accord to me:

   That Light to serve through endless day,

   And have my sins all washed away;


   That I, with conscience clear

   From every evil thought,

   May love with filial fear,

   And worship as I ought,

   Pure holy hands and heart upraising,

   And Christ the Lord for ever praising.


   To Thee I bend the knee;

   When He shall come, grant me,

   That I His glory see,

   That I His servant be:

   When He shall come--shall come again;

   When He shall come--shall come to reign.


   Father, propitious be!

   On me Thy mercy show!

   Bow down Thine ear to me,

   On me Thy grace bestow;

   For Thine the glory, Thine the grace,

   While countless ages run their race.
     __________________________________________________________________

II.
HYMN TO GOD.

   'O panton epekeina · ti gar themis allo se melpein;

   (Dactylic hexameter.)

1.

2

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.


   O Thou, the One Supreme o'er all! [22]

   For by what other name

   May we upon Thy greatness call,

   Or celebrate Thy fame?


   Ineffable! to Thee what speech

   Can hymns of honour raise?

   Ineffable! what tongue can reach

   The measure of Thy praise?


   How, unapproached, shall mind of man

   Descry Thy dazzling throne;

   And pierce, and find Thee out, and scan,

   Where Thou dost dwell alone?


   Unuttered Thou! all uttered things

   Have had their birth from Thee:

   The One unknown! from Thee the springs

   Of all we know and see!


   Mindful, and mindless, all things yield

   To Thy parental sway

   For Thou to all art life and shield:

   They honour and obey.


   For round Thee centre all the woes

   Of night and darkling day,

   The common wants and common throes;

   And all to Thee do pray.


   And all things as they move along

   In order fixed by Thee,

   Thy watchword heed, in silent song

   Hymning Thy majesty.


   And lo! all things abide in Thee,

   And through the complex whole,

   Thou spread'st Thine own Divinity,

   Thyself of all the goal.


   One Being Thou, all things, yet none,

   Nor one nor yet all things;

   How call Thee, O mysterious One?

   A worthy name who brings?


   All-named from attributes Thine own,

   How call Thee as we ought?

   Thou art unlimited, alone,

   Beyond the range of thought.


   What heaven-born intellect shall rend

   The veiling clouds above?

   Be Thou propitious! ever send

   Bright tokens of Thy love!


   O Thou the One Supreme o'er all!

   For by what other name

   May we upon Thy greatness call,

   Or celebrate Thy fame?
     __________________________________________________________________

   [22] Or, O Thou beyond the range of all--panton epekeina.
     __________________________________________________________________

III.
HYMN TO CHRIST ON EASTER DAY
(AFTER LONG SILENCE),

   Cristi anax, se prvton, epei logon heri dvka,
   dhnaion katecwn, fqegxom apo stomatwn,

   (Dactylic hexameter, and pentameter.)


   O Christ the King! since breath pent up so long

   I have outpoured, Thou first shalt be my song;

   May this my word, the current of my mind,

   If lawful thus to speak, acceptance find,

   And unto Thee as holy incense rise

   Of holiest priest, a grateful sacrifice!

   The Father's Brightness, Word of the Great Mind,

   Who cannot be by power of speech defined,

   High Light of highest Light, the Only Son,

   10Image and Seal of the Immortal One,

   Without beginning; from same Fount of Light

   With the Great Spirit; infinite in might:

   All-glorious Thou, and Author of all good:

   From age to age Thy truth hath firmly stood.

   Enthroned Thou reignest high in heaven above,

   Almighty Breath of Mind and Lord of Love.

   Throughout this framèd universe Divine

   Whatever is, or shall be, all is Thine:

   Thou madest all, to all Thou givest life,

   20And all Thou guidest: nowhere fault or strife,

   Nor error in Thy workmanship is found:

   The whole in willing chain to Thee is bound.

   Thou laid'st the world's foundation: and Thy nod

   All things obey, and own their Sovereign God.

   For Thee the lofty sun, the king of day,

   Quenching the stars, holds on his fiery way.

   For Thee, for so Thou bidst, the eye of night,

   The moon, waxes and wanes, full orb of light.

   For Thee the belt of heaven, all-dancing ring,

   30And seasons kindly mingling, laugh and sing.

   For Thee the fixèd stars and planets shine

   In course, and speak Thy wisdom all divine.

   Thy light they are, the heavenly minds that be,

   All sing on high the glorious Trinity.

   Man is Thy glory too, angel below,

   Here placed to sing, O Light, Thy beauteous glow.

   Immortal, fleshless, glory's highest ray,

   Who mortal flesh yet took'st, man's woes to stay,

   For Thee I live, for Thee my songs arise,

   40For Thee I am a breathing sacrifice;

   For this, of all things once possessed by me,

   Alone remains, and this I give to Thee.


   I tie my tongue, and loose it at Thy will;

   In either, what Thou wouldst may I fulfil,

   Speak what is right, nor think aught else beside:

   From mire select the pearl, with Thee my Guide;

   Gold from the sand, the rose from thorny brake,

   From straw-encumbered ears the pure grain take.


   To Thee, O Christ, this wreath of uttered praise,

   50As firstfruits of my loving toil, I raise.


   For from the dead, with whom He mingled lay,

   Great Christ arose, upon this gladsome day;

   Gates of grim Hades He did open fling;

   And broke death's power, and robbed him of his sting;

   Rushed from the tomb, appeared to speaking men,

   For whom, once born, He died and rose again;

   That we new-born might rise, from death set free,

   And ever live, ascending Lord, with Thee.

   This day glad Heaven with acclamation rings,

   60And choir angelic crowning anthem sings.

   This day my closèd lips I loose in song

   To Thee, to whom my lute and breath belong.


   Of mind to Mind, of word to the true Word,

   I here have offered what I could afford:

   Hereafter, if He will, I hope to bring

   To the Great Spirit worthier offering.
     __________________________________________________________________

IV.
"TO HIS OWN SOUL." [23]

   ti soi theleis genesthai;

   (Iambic dimeter catalectic.)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

EPILOGUE.
51.

52.


   O soul of mine, repining,

   What wouldst have done for thee?

   Speak, great or small defining:

   Granted thy wish shall be.


   Of all bright things, prized highest,

   Beneath the rolling sun,

   Tell that for which thou sighest;

   For thee it shall be done.


   Wouldst thou assume the measure

   Of Gyges, Lydia's king,

   To hide or show at pleasure

   By power of magic ring?


   Wouldst thou rich Midas follow?

   "All gold I touch," he cried:

   'Tis given! e'en gold to swallow:

   So all of gold he died.


   Wouldst shine in brilliant trammels,

   With pearls and jewels grand?

   Have flocks, and herds, and camels,

   And acres of fat land?


   Such things we will not barter:

   To thee they were a snare:

   They are not in our charter,

   Nor would I have them there.


   For since to God advancing

   I came at His own call,

   Such cares the soul entrancing,

   I have abandoned all.


   Wouldst have the nations bending

   Beneath thy yoke to day,

   To-morrow thyself lending

   To grace another's sway?


   The sway of one, once marching,

   It might be, at thy side;

   Or menial base, now arching

   His neck in lofty pride?


   Wouldst thou in Love's sweet anguish,

   In indolence and ease,

   Let truth and honour languish,

   And change with changing breeze?


   Wouldst wed a fair Heth's daughter,

   Fair progeny to see?

   Ah me! of woes and slaughter

   Progenitor to be!


   Wouldst have the commons sounding

   The greatness of thy fame,

   And theatres rebounding

   With echoes of thy name?


   Wouldst thou in courts o'erflowing

   With legal mockery,

   Justice and truth o'erthrowing,

   Pillage, and pillaged be?


   Wouldst take a martial bearing,

   And sport with blood and gore?

   Or, Pythian garlands wearing,

   Defy the lion's roar?


   Wouldst have the town applauding,

   And statues reared to thee?

   The world thy merits lauding,

   Wouldst thou its idol be?


   Vain wish! a shadowy dreaming,

   A moan of wind hence bound,

   Whiz of an arrow gleaming,

   A hand-clap's dying sound.


   Such things will fade to-morrow,

   However bright to-day:

   And he must sleep in sorrow

   Who makes them his heart's stay.


   Toys common! bad men's heaven!

   And ah! when hence they go,

   To none is it then given

   To carry aught below.


   What then, O soul repining,

   Since these things nothing be,

   Substantial good defining,

   Wouldst thou have done for thee?


   Wouldst be a god, presiding

   At God's own side most high,

   Angelic chorus guiding,

   All radiant o'er the sky?


   Go thou, on pinions gliding

   Of vehement desire,

   On rapid whirlwind riding

   Whither thou dost aspire.


   To plume thy wing I'm trying,

   Nor spare the friendly goad:

   Mount upward, bird-like flying

   On thine ethereal road.


   But earth's own child on crutches,

   Since, I am yoked to thee,

   As queen in butchers' clutches,

   Just tell how this must be;


   Whom wilt thou have abettor,

   To be upheld in breath?

   For I'm no more thy debtor,

   Nor heed vain threats of death.


   Or wouldst thou perfumed table,

   With dainties covered o'er,

   So art cuisine be able

   To stimulate thee more?


   And lyre, and whirl so maddening

   Of rapid foot and hand,

   And things to tell too saddening,

   Known to the revelling band?


   Art thou for such things wrangling?

   Have thy desire!--but wait:

   Such things, not life, but strangling,

   To friends insatiate!


   For thee, a house abideth,

   A rock with self-formed dome;

   Nature herself provideth:

   We give thee such a home!


   Or if thy fancy leadeth

   To build thyself a cell,

   But little toil it needeth,

   Where thou mayst safely dwell,


   The body claims small payment,

   Ere it returns to dust:

   Skins, camel's hair, for raiment

   Sufficed of old the just.


   And grass, or straw, as chances,

   Make thou thy humble bed:

   And purple heath, or branches,

   Thy coverlet be spread.


   Such for my guests is meetest:

   No fear to great or small:

   Plain table: odours sweetest,

   Kind earth's free gifts to all.


   Thus housed, we will thee nourish,

   As best we can afford:

   Wouldst eat? take bread and flourish:

   Take meal, if on the board.


   Here's salt: and thyme we scant not:

   Such source no toil requires:

   More luxuries we want not,

   Whate'er the world desires.


   Or drink wouldst thou? there springeth

   An everflowing bowl:

   No bane the fountain bringeth,

   Bright cheerer of the soul.


   But wouldst unbend in season,

   And not, o'erstrained, repine?

   We grant in this is reason,

   Nor grudge the rough-made wine.


   But thou dost spurn all measure,

   And wouldst the vessel bore,

   And take huge draughts of pleasure

   Till thou couldst hold no more.


   Then seek another helot,

   All lengths with thee to go,

   No idler I, nor zealot,

   To nurse domestic foe.


   A frozen reptile taken,

   And with fond warmth caressed:

   See! it to life doth waken,

   And wound me in the breast.


   Wouldst boundless gold-roofed mansions,

   Gemmed paragons of art,

   And master-piece expansions,

   To life which almost start?


   Colours with colours blending

   In opposite array;

   Rare tablets, softness lending,

   Or shining bright as day?


   Dost long for robes wide-flowing,

   Pride of the untouched great;

   And wealth on fingers glowing,

   Incredible to state?


   Art thou at beauty aiming?

   The wise would scorn to win:

   More I than all, proclaiming

   That beauty is within.


   Thus I to men benighted,

   of earth the creatures fond,

   For time alone quick-sighted,

   With not a thought beyond.


   But ye who soar up higher,

   A noble life to live;

   Who would to heaven be nigher,

   Behold what God doth give!


   In poorest clay there dwelleth

   That which can never die:

   With this my bosom swelleth:

   For this I food supply!


   God-minded, thyself harden!

   Meet calm the flashing sword!

   Plant trees for God's own garden!

   Be worker, with the Lord!


   Up! living words be building,

   In God's blest truth secure.

   Not robbed by foe's false gilding

   Through pleasure's baneful lure!


   Again of life eternal,

   Approach the blessèd tree

   The way, O Thou Supernal,

   I've found in knowing Thee.


   Past, present, never-ending,

   The One great Light in Three;

   To whom all things are tending:

   To Thee, all glory be!


   To self the wise thus speaketh,

   Turning his eyes within;

   And eager there he seeketh

   To find out lurking sin.


   But who to speak refuseth,

   Will pass his days in vain:

   Nay, more! the ease he chooseth,

   May end in greatest pain.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [23] The original is one of the most spirited pieces anywhere to be
   found, truly forcible and racy.
     __________________________________________________________________

V.
A MORNING PRAYER.

   'Orthros [24] didomi t? The? mou dexias,

   (Iambic trimeter.)


   'Tis dawn: to God I lift my hand,

   To regulate my way;

   My passions rule, and unmoved stand,

   And give to Thee the day:


   Not one dark word or deed of sin,

   Nor one base thought allow;

   But watch all avenues within,

   And wholly keep my vow.


   Shamed were my age, should I decline;

   Shamed were Thy table too,

   At which I stand:--the will is mine:

   Give grace, my Christ, to do.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [24] 'Orthrois violates metre; I would retain the reading orthros, and
   put a colon. Thus, as it seems to me, grammar, sense, and metre, may be
   all satisfied.
     __________________________________________________________________

VI.
A HYMN AT NIGHT, AFTER FAILURE TO KEEP VOW.

   epseusamen se ten aletheian, loge,

   (Iambic trimeter.)


   O Thou, the Word of truth divine!

   All light I have not been,

   Nor kept the day as wholly Thine;

   For Thou dark spots hast seen.


   The day is down: night hath prevailed:

   My Lord I have belied;

   I vowed, and thought to do, but failed;

   My steps did somewhere slide.


   There came a darkness from below

   Obscuring safety's way.

   Thy light, O Christ, again bestow;

   Turn darkness into day.
     __________________________________________________________________

VII.
AN EVENING HYMN.

   Se kai nun eulogoumen,

   (Semi-iambic.)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.


   And now again at night,

   O Christ, the living Word,

   Thou Light of the Eternal Light,

   Be Thou by us adored.


   Thou dost the Spirit give,

   Third Light, in glory one;

   His grace, by whom alone we live,

   Thou dost refuse to none.


   Thou didst the darkness scatter,

   Thou mad'st the light to shine,

   That now through all primeval matter

   Might spring delight divine.


   It, a rude mass before,

   From Thee took order new;

   And shapely form, and steadfast law,

   So beautiful to view.


   And mind of man with light

   From heaven Thou didst endow,

   By word and wisdom that he might

   Thine image bear below;


   And lighted in his soul,

   Thine own great Light might see;

   And thenceforth not in part, but whole,

   Himself all light might be.


   And heaven Thou didst array,

   With those bright orbs above;

   And day to night, and night to day,

   Proclaim Thy law of love;


   Yielding in turn; the one

   To worn-out flesh brings rest!

   The other calls, "Let work be done!"

   Such work as Thou lov'st best.
     __________________________________________________________________

VIII.
ADMONITORY ADDRESS TO A VIRGIN. [25]

   Parthene, numphe Christou,

   (The Greek is of varied metre, arranged in lines of generally seven
   syllables each.)


   O bride of Christ on high,

   Thy Bridegroom glorify!

   Always thyself keep pure,

   In word and wisdom sure,

   That bright with Him all-bright

   Thou e'er mayst dwell in light.

   Far better spouse is He

   Than earthly spouse could be:

   Thy union happier far

   10Than mortal unions are.

   In bodily estate

   Thou yet didst imitate

   The intellectual powers,

   Giving to Him thy hours:

   And didst acquire on earth

   The angels' right of birth.

   'Tis "bind and loose" below,

   Bodies from bodies grow:

   Above each stands alone,

   20Nor loosing there is known.

   Of pure existence, they

   First bear the ethereal ray,

   Spirit and fire: none rests,

   Doing great God's behests.

   But now wild matter found--

   All nature flowing round

   With unresisted force--

   A mingled intercourse;

   But God the flood restrained,

   30And marriage laws ordained.

   But thou hast hence escaped,

   And upward thy course shaped;

   From matter's base alloy

   To spirit's holy joy.

   Mind harmonized with mind,

   Doth truest pleasure find:

   Such harmony is thine,

   A harmony divine.

   With flesh thou war dost wage,

   40And helpest God's image:

   For thou art God's own breath,

   With body yoked till death:

   That out of wrestling sore,

   At length the battle o'er,

   And earth well beaten down,

   Thou mayst receive the crown.

   To marriage also raise,

   But only second praise.

   That is for passion given,

   50This is bright light of heaven:

   That founds a pure offspring,

   This is self-offering.

   This honoured was, we hold,

   At seasons marked of old.

   To this in Paradise

   Lo! Adam testifies:

   For this on Sinai's peak

   Doth Moses also speak;

   And Zachary the priest,

   60Of God's true saints not least,

   And whom we hail the rather

   As the Forerunner's father.

   But marriage hath its need:

   Hence springs a holy seed:

   And hence the virgin [26] bride,

   Honoured at God's own side.

   Yet of the flesh it is, and earth,

   All earthly from its birth.

   When law and shadows ruled,

   70And we were sometime schooled,

   Marriage held sceptre mild,

   Yet like a little child.

   But when the letter died,

   The Spirit was supplied:

   For Christ had come and borne

   In flesh our woes and scorn:

   Had brought Redemption nigh,

   And then ascended high:

   Christ, sprung from Virgin's womb,

   80Christ, Conqueror o'er the tomb.

   Then continence did rise,

   And this base world despise,

   Which should its course have mended,

   And high with Christ ascended.


   Thou journey'st well! but haste!

   Behind is fiery waste:

   Take to thy steps good heed,

   And to the mountain speed.

   Cast not one backward glance

   90On Sodom, lest perchance

   Thou, fixed upon the ground,

   A pile of salt be found.

   In battling with the flesh

   Take ever courage fresh,

   Neither by terror bent,

   Nor over-confident.

   Faint not, for He is nigh

   Who will all strength supply.


   A spark may kindle hell:

   100Water the flame cloth quell.

   Full means to thee are lent

   For good self-government.

   Let thou the fear of God

   Freeze the rebellious blood:

   Fasting the flesh control:

   Keep watches o'er thy soul,

   And pour it forth in prayer:

   Such thy true weapons are.

   Add tears: and lowly bed,

   110With reeds or rushes spread:

   One constant flame of love

   Rising to God above,

   And lulling all desire

   Which doth not up aspire.

   The fallen rise by thee!

   The shipwrecked pitied be!

   Thyself live out the gale,

   Expanding Hope's bright sail.


   They fall not who ne'er rise,

   120But they who try the skies.

   Few mount on pinion wings:

   Straight course to humbler things.

   Fell Lucifer through pride

   Angels in heaven reside.

   One, traitor, sunk in night:

   The eleven are stars of light.


   Be pure, be wholly pure,

   Of this make ever sure,

   Lest thou, by heeding not,

   130Christ's spotless robe shouldst spot.

   Let modest be thine eye:

   Thy tongue speak maidenly:

   Thy mind not pandering,

   Thy foot not wandering:

   Nor loud laugh marking thee,

   As one we blush to see.


   Thy poor and tarnished wear,

   Thy unadornèd hair,

   I bonour more than pearls,

   140Or silken dress, or curls.


   Fair flower is modest face,

   And paleness is true grace:

   And virtues plentiful

   Are braid most beautiful.

   With paints let others dress

   The living God's likeness;

   Live tablet they of sin,

   And all that's base within.

   Whate'er thou hast of beauty,

   150Die let it all to duty:

   But beauty of the soul--

   'Tis God's--it keep thou whole.


   Of men, though good they be,

   The sight 'twere best thou flee.

   Some cheat might thee entrance,

   Or be entranced perchance:

   Eye now with eye bespangling,

   And word with word entangling,

   Then cheek with cheek o'erglowing,

   160And mutual passion flowing.

   'Tis well: but not for thee:

   Not thine the accursed tree:

   The tree of Life thy care;

   The serpent's guile beware!


   O maiden, hear my word,

   Have thou no other lord;

   Thy Bridegroom reigns above

   And bids thee faithful prove.

   Thou from the flesh hast fled,

   170And it to thee is dead,

   Why turn to it again,

   And make thy work all vain?

   That singleness of thine

   Is a rare gift divine:

   Few they whom it adorns,

   As rose among the thorns.

   Such grace'tis thine to know:

   High o'er the snares below,

   By which the wicked fall,

   180Thou safely passest all.


   Lo! one no sooner builds,

   And bridal chamber gilds,

   Than she with mournful gloom

   Forth bears him to the tomb.

   Felt one a father's pride?

   At once the loved child died.

   And oh! the mother's pain

   Of travailing in vain!


   And jealousy, ah me!

   190How frightful 'tis to see,

   When each the other taunts,

   Where stolen friendship haunts!


   What wormwood and what gall,

   Worst recompence of all,

   To rear up family,

   And then dishonoured be!


   One care is thine, one call,

   To look to God in all!

   But little thou dost need:

   200That little God will speed.


   Shelter and barley cake

   Sufficient wealth will make:

   Nor shall dire need impart

   Keen edge to tempter's dart,

   As when Christ, hard bestead,

   He bade turn stones to bread.


   By thee, however tried,

   Be all base gain denied:

   Fowls of the air God feeds,

   210Sure then His saints He heeds.


   Of oil, if faith prevail,

   Thy cruse shall never fail.

   By Cherith's desert brook

   At the great Prophet look!

   To feed him ravens sped:

   So too shalt thou be fed!


   How Thecla from the flame, [27]

   And lions, unscathed came,

   Thou know'st: and how great Paul,

   220Preacher of truth to all,

   Bore hunger, thirst, and cold,

   Through death's worst forms still bold;

   That thou might'st look, O maid,

   To God alone for aid,

   Who in the wilderness

   With food can myriads bless.


   Lo! beauty fadeth fast,

   Nor will earth's glories last:

   Wealth is a failing stream,

   230And power an empty dream.


   But thou, faith's sail unfurled,

   Hast fled this erring world,

   Steering thy course on high

   To realms beyond the sky.

   There in the holy shrine

   Thou shalt for ever shine:

   And there with angels raise

   The song of endless praise!


   A better portion far

   240Than sons and daughters are!


   But maidens, be ye wise,

   And watch with longing eyes,

   That when Christ shall return

   Your lamps may brightly burn:

   That with the Bridegroom ye

   May enter in, and see

   The beauty and the grace

   Of His own dwelling place,

   And share in truth and love

   250The mysteries above.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [25] This poem, though lacking the spirit and vigour of the Address to
   his Soul, may yet find acceptance with some; and though the times are
   utterly changed, and what in an age of pagan persecution "was good for
   the present distress" (1 Cor. vii. 26) may be so no longer, yet there
   is much in it of good instruction: the style is pretty and occasionally
   elevated.

   [26] Virgin bride--that is, the Church. So Methodius in his Virgins'
   Song, and all the early Christians. See Rev. xxi. 2, 9, etc.

   [27] Thecla, see The Virgins' Song of Methodius, p. 141.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

  PSALM OF THE NAASSENI. [28]
     __________________________________________________________________

   (THE AUTHOR UNKNOWN.)

   Nomos en genikos tou pantos o protistos noos·

   ((Anapaestic logaoedic.)


   The first Eternal Mind was law to all,

   And did the Universe to being call:

   Next, of the First-born forth was chaos spread

   And thirdly, soul on task of labour sped:

   But it in vesture thin, and slight array,

   O'ercome with toil, to death becomes a prey.

   At one time regnant it beholds the light;

   Then soon laments, cast down in piteous plight.

   'Tis hazard all: now joy, now grief, befalls;

   And now it dies, and now fresh life recalls.

   In never-ending labyrinth of woes

   It, wretched, hither now, now hither goes.

   Then Jesus spake: On earth, O Father, see

   How things have strayed in dire perplexity

   Far from Thy Breath: how floods of evil roll,

   And in base matter overwhelm the soul!

   Escape it seeks from bitter woe all round,

   But knows not where a passage may be found.

   O Father, Me upon this errand send:

   Bearing Thy seals, I will the depths descend;

   Throughout whole ages I will make my way,

   All mysteries of darkness turn to day;

   And godlike forms I thenceforth will display:

   Forth Knowledge I will call to quell all strife,

   And upward show the holy paths of life.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [28] For a full account of the Naasseni, who they were, and what were
   their opinions, I would refer the reader to Hyppolytus, Antenicene
   Christian Library, vol. i. book v. Suffice it here to say that they
   were a learned sect of Gnostics; that they held very strange opinions;
   but were great hymn makers. A translation of this particular Psalm may
   be found in the same volume, p. 153. I had made my translation before I
   was aware of this.
     __________________________________________________________________

METHODIUS
BISHOP AND MARTYR

   (Died about A.D. 311).

   Methodius, a father of the Church, and a martyr, was Bishop of Olympas
   or Patara, in Lycia, and afterwards of Tyre in Palestine. He lived
   during the last half of the third century, and died a martyr at Chalcis
   in Greece, probably A.D. 311, during the Diocletian persecution. Jerome
   [29] ranks him among the popular writers, and commends him especially
   for the neatness of his style. [30]

   This Virgins' Song of his composing is in twenty-four parts, or
   strophies, each beginning with a letter of the alphabet in order from A
   to O. [31] Ten virgins are supposed to be present. Thecla [32] leads,
   giving the strophy in each case, the rest join in chorus, singing the
   burden or refrain (ephumnion). The learned editors refer to the
   Sumposion of Plato, also to the Parthenia of Alcman and Pindar; which
   Methodius may in part have imitated.
     __________________________________________________________________

THE VIRGINS' SONG.

   'Anothen, parthenoi, boes egersinekros echos

   (Iambic metre, varied.)

1.

THE REFRAIN.

2.

THE REFRAIN.

3.

THE REFRAIN.

4.

THE REFRAIN.

5.

THE REFRAIN.

6.

THE REFRAIN.

7.

THE REFRAIN.

8.

THE REFRAIN.

9.

THE REFRAIN.

10.

THE REFRAIN.

11.

THE REFRAIN.

12.

THE REFRAIN.

13.

THE REFRAIN.

14.

THE REFRAIN.

15.

THE REFRAIN.

16.

THE REFRAIN.

17.

THE REFRAIN.

18.

THE REFRAIN.

19.

THE REFRAIN.

20.

THE REFRAIN.

21.

THE REFRAIN.

22.

THE REFRAIN.

23.

THE REFRAIN.

24.

THE REFRAIN.


   The Bridegroom cometh! overhead

   The shout descending wakes the dead!

   Go forth to meet the King,

   The gates just entering!

   Virgins, white-robed, with lamps haste eastward forth to meet Him,

   Haste ye, O haste to greet Him!


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   Earth's mournful bliss I left, and toys

   Of wanton life, and foolish joys:

   To Thee alone I cling:

   Thou art my Life, my King:

   Grant that I may, O Blessèd, ever close to Thee,

   Thy royal beauty see!


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   Thou art my wealth: for Thee I fled

   All worldly lure; and upward sped;

   And come in spotless dress

   Of Thine own Righteousness,

   With Thee to enter in the bridal chamber gates,

   Where perfect bliss awaits.


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   Saved from the dragon's myriad wiles,

   By which the simple he beguiles,

   I bore the dreadful fire,

   And wild beasts' savage ire;

   Waiting till Thou from Heaven, O Hope of all creation,

   shouldst come to my salvation!


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   My home and country for Thy sake,

   And maiden dance, I did forsake,

   And mother's pride and race,

   And thoughts of rank and place;

   For Thou, O Christ the Word, art all in all to me:

   I long for naught save Thee!


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   Hail! Christ the Life, unchanging Day,

   Accept this humble virgin lay:

   To Thee our song of praise

   With heart and voice we raise!

   In Thee, O Thou perfection's flower, O Word Divine,

   Love, joy, mind, wisdom, shine.


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   O Bride, triumphant now in light,

   And clad in robes of purest white,

   Sweet-breathing, sinless, free,

   Ope wide the gates to me:

   Sit we in self-same company near Christ above,

   And sing thy marriage, Love!


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   Ah me! some virgins vainly pour

   Their sobs and cries outside the door:

   Their lamps are quenched, and they

   No burning light display:

   Their error they would mend: but ah! they come too late,

   And closèd is the gate.


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   For they a foolish part had played,

   And from the sacred pathway strayed;

   Oil, they had purchased none:

   Ah! wretched and undone!

   Forbidden with dead lamps the home of bliss to see,

   They wail their misery.


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   Lo! goblet filled with sweetest wine:

   Drink we, O virgins, 'tis Divine;

   And forth-set for our need:

   Lo! this is drink indeed;

   This for the guests, who to the marriage bidden are,

   The Bridegroom doth prepare.


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   First type, O Blessèd One, of Thee

   In Abel shining bright we see:

   To heaven he lifts his eyes,

   Blood-dripping, and thus cries:

   "Me, by my cruel brother slain, receive, O Lord,

   O Thou the Eternal Word."


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   Joseph, another type of Thee,

   Won highest prize of purity:

   Whom Thou wouldst own Thy child:

   He scorned to be beguiled

   By, shameless woman; stripped, he yet her wrath defied,

   And straight to Thee he cried:


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   A lamb for sacrifice is sought:

   A lamb-like victim Jephthah brought:

   For rash-made vow he cared,

   Nor virgin daughter spared:

   A type, O Blessèd One, of Thy humanity,

   She poured her soul to Thee:


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   In valour Judith holds high post:

   The leader of the oppressing host

   She smote by beauty's lure,

   Herself a type all pure:

   He headless lay; and unto Thee the conquering maid

   Her love in song displayed:


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   The Judges twain, by passion's flame

   Enkindled, and all dead to shame,

   Would chaste Susannah bind

   To their unhallowed mind:

   To their proposals base she gave a just reply:

   And raised her voice on high:


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   'Twere better far that I should die,

   Than traitress be to marriage tie,

   And yielding to your will

   Both soul and body kill:

   Base men! God's fire of wrath eternal would me seize:

   Save me, O Christ, from these!


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   And he who thousands washed from sin,

   Of Thy true light the bringer-in,

   For virtue's cause alone

   Is into prison thrown

   By wicked king: and staining now the ground with gore,

   He cried to Thee the more:


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   And Thy blest Mother, spotless maid,

   Was thought her vows to have betrayed,

   When travailing with Thee,

   O Lord of purity:

   And found with child of transcendental heavenly birth,

   She raised her voice from earth:


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   Thy saints, all eager that they may

   Behold the glories of the day

   Of Thine espousals high,

   With holy gifts draw nigh:

   For Thou, O Word, hast called them, Thou the angels' King:

   White-robed to Thee they sing.


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   O holy Church, O heavenly Bride,

   With hymns, attending at Thy side,

   We yet on earth below

   Thine honour thus forth-show:

   All snow-white thou, all beauteous spouse of Christ above,

   All purity, all love.


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   Past are corruption, sickness, pain;

   Nor tears shall ever flow again;

   For troubles all have fled;

   And death himself is dead:

   And sin and folly with dark dismal train are gone,

   Since grace in glory shone.


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   No longer Paradise of men

   Is void; for there God wills again

   That man should safely dwell;

   Yea, man the same who fell

   Beneath the serpent's wiles: now in the promised rest,

   Immortal, fearless, blest.


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   Thou now to heavenly places raised,

   By all the virgin choir art praised,

   O Bride of Heavenly King:

   And song all new we sing:

   With lighted torch in hand, with snow-white lilies crowned,

   Thy praise in Christ we sound.


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.


   Father of heaven, supreme in might,

   Dwelling in pure eternal light

   With Thine own Son most dear,

   Admit--for we are here--

   E'en us within the gates of life, to sing Thy love

   In Thy blest courts above.


   With holy feet, and lamps bright burning,

   I go to meet my Lord returning.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [29] De Viris Illust. c. 83.

   [30] MOSHEIM, Eccl. Hist., vol. i. pp. 236-7.

   [31] Cf. Psalm cxlv., with the letters in order of the Hebrew alphabet.
   In Greek poetry many instances of the same thing occur. It was useful
   as an aid to the memory.

   [32] See in Gregory's Admonitory Address to a Virgin, above, p. 125:
   also in the Anacreontic Ode of Sophronius, in which the praises and
   exploits of this first female martyr are set forth, pp. 32, 44-5, of
   the Greek Anthology.
     __________________________________________________________________

CLEMENT
OF ALEXANDRIA

   (A.D. 170-220).

   This is probably the oldest hymn in the volume, as Titus Flavius
   Clement, the Presbyter and illustrious head of the Catechetical School
   at Alexandria, flourished towards the end of the second and the
   beginning of the third century. I bad completed my translation of this
   celebrated hymn, before I was aware that it had been translated by Dr.
   W. L. Alexander. [33]

   In my translation I have followed the arrangement of the learned
   editors of the Anthologia Graeca, beginning with what in other editions
   stands as the ninth line.
     __________________________________________________________________

HYMN TO CHRIST.

   basileu agion, loge pandamator

   (Anapaestic dimeter.)


   O Thou, the King of saints, all-conquering Word,

   Son of the Highest, wisdom's Fount and Lord,

   The prop that doth uphold through toil and pain;

   The joy of ages through immortal reign;

   Yet born of mortal flesh for life's brief span,

   O Saviour Jesus, Shepherd, Husbandman;

   Helm Thou to guide, and bridle to restrain,

   Wing of the holy flock that heaven would gain;

   Catcher of men from evil's whelming sea,

   10The holy fishes, saved that are to be,

   Drawn from the billowy deep with sweetest lure

   Of life that shall for evermore endure:

   O holiest Shepherd of enlightened sheep,

   Lead Thou Thy flock the upward heavenly steep:

   O King of holy children, lead the way,

   And pure may they both follow and obey!

   Thou art, O Christ, the living heavenly Way,

   The ever-flowing Word, unchanging Day,

   Eternal Light, and mercy's healthful Spring;

   20The Perfecter of every virtuous thing;

   Pure Life of all the happy ransomed throng

   Who hymn their God through all the ages long:

   The heavenly [34] milk, from holy breasts that flows,

   By which the infant Church in wisdom grows,

   And graces rare, as it befits the Bride,

   Adorned, O Jesu Christ, for Thine own side.

   Thy feeble children gather with sweet smile,

   To sing with holy mouth, and free from guile,

   Thyself, in songs and praises without end,

   30The children's leader, and the children's friend.


   O little children, thus so gently led,

   So tenderly with truth and reason fed,

   And filled with the Holy Spirit's dew,

   Our hymns and praises feeble, yet all true,


   In grateful homage unto Christ the King,

   Who taught us life, let us together sing:

   A peaceful choir, Christ-born, and undefiled,

   A people wise, sing we the strong-born child;

   Sing we with heart and voice, and never cease

   40To praise with one accord the God of Peace!
     __________________________________________________________________

   [34] In this disputed passage, which I have ventured to render freely,
   I take the gala to be Christ Himself, in same way as biote, pege, &c.,
   above, and read ekthlibomenon.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [33] See Writings of Clement of Alexandria vol. i. pp. 341-345,
   Antenicene Christian Library.
     __________________________________________________________________

POSTSCRIPT

   The task which I had set myself to do is completed. Whatever may be the
   fortune of the little work, I have had much pleasure, and, I hope, some
   profit, in the accomplishment of it.

   At intervals from parochial visiting and ministerial duty, on a walk,
   or reclining by the Wye side, or on the ridge of Marcle Hill, I have
   made, bit by bit, the translation of the first, the earlier and
   shorter, part of the Anthologia Graeca Carminum Christianorum. I have
   had no other edition, no explanatory notes, no help or
   guidance--nothing but the text of the beautiful Leipsic volume, edited
   in 1871 by the eminent scholars, W. Christ and M. Paranikas. Under such
   circumstances, it can hardly be otherwise than that I have made
   blunders which the learned reader will detect here and there, yet I
   trust the errors will be few and pardonable. Owing to the difference of
   idiom, and the exigency of metre, some additions, some omissions, there
   must be. Yet I hope to be able to claim the credit of having fairly and
   faithfully reproduced the poetic thoughts and holy aspirations of the
   grand old Greek Christians whose songs and hymns I have ventured to
   take in hand.

   There remain four short hymns of unknown authorship (umnoi adespotoi),
   not in verse, but measured prose. These I now render into plain
   English, line for line and word for word. They are, I doubt not, true
   specimens of the "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" [35] of the
   earliest Christians, portions of the divine poetry of the Old Testament
   combined with the glorious facts and truths of the New. They show also
   the great antiquity of parts of the Church of England Liturgy and
   Communion Service, and may well be used now in the way they were
   designed of old.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [35] Eph. v. 9; Col. iii. 16.
     __________________________________________________________________

HYMNS
OF UNKNOWN AUTHORSHIP.
     __________________________________________________________________

I.
A MORNING HYMN.


   Glory to God in the highest, and upon earth peace,

   Good-will among men:

   We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we give thanks to Thee,

   We worship Thee, we glorify Thee,

   For Thy great glory.

   O Lord the King in heaven, God the Father Almighty,

   O Lord the only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ,

   And Holy Spirit:

   O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father,

   Who takest [36] away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us:

   O Thou who takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer:

   O Thou who sittest at the right hand of the Father, have mercy upon us:

   For Thou only art holy, Thou only art the Lord,

   Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father.

   Amen.


   Every day will I bless Thee,

   And praise Thy Name for ever, [37]

   And for ever and ever.

   Vouchsafe, O Lord, through this day also

   That we may be kept without sin,

   Blessed art Thou, O Lord God of our fathers,

   And praised and glorified be Thy Name

   For ever and ever. [38] Amen.


   Blessed art Thou, O Lord: teach me Thy judgments.

   Blessed art Thou, O Lord: teach me Thy judgments.

   Blessed art Thou, O Lord: teach me Thy judgments.

   O Lord, Thou hast been our refuge from generation to generation:

   I have said: O Lord, have mercy upon me,

   Heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee.


   O Lord, to Thee have I fled for refuge: teach me to do Thy will,

   For Thou art my God,

   For with Thee is the fountain of life.

   In Thy light shall we see light:

   Extend Thy mercy to them that know Thee.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [36] aireis, takest away, or bearest.

   [37] Lit.: For the age, and for the age of the age.

   [38] Lit.: For the ages.
     __________________________________________________________________

II.
AN EVENING HYMN.


   Praise the Lord, O ye His servants, [39]

   Praise the Name of the Lord:

   We praise Thee, we hymn Thee, we bless Thee

   For Thy great glory.

   O Lord the King, the Father of Christ, the Lamb without blemish,

   Who taketh away the sin of the world,

   To Thee belongeth praise, to Thee belongeth the hymn, to Thee belongeth
   glory,

   The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

   Throughout all ages. [40] Amen.

   Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart, O Lord,

   According to Thy word, in peace:

   For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation,

   Which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people,

   A light to lighten the Gentiles, and (to be) the glory of Thy people
   Israel.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [39] paides, servants, or children.

   [40] Lit.: For the ages of ages.
     __________________________________________________________________

III.
A HYMN AT LAMP-LIGHT.


   Propitious Light of holy glory,

   Of the immortal Heavenly Father,

   Holy, blessed,

   O Jesu Christ,

   Having come to the setting of the sun,

   Having seen the evening light,

   We hymn the Father, the Son,

   And the Holy Spirit, God.

   Thou art worthy at all seasons

   To be hymned with thankful [41] voices,

   O Son of God, who givest life;

   Wherefore the world glorifieth Thee.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [41] aisiais, lit. auspicious.
     __________________________________________________________________

IV.
A PRAYER AT DINNER-TIME.

   FINIS.
     __________________________________________________________________

   LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING
   CROSS.


   Thou art blessed, O Lord, who nourishest me from my youth,

   Who givest food to all flesh.

   Fill your hearts with joy and gladness,

   That at all times having all sufficiency,

   We may abound to every good work

   In Christ Jesus our Lord:

   With whom to Thee (be) glory, honour, and might,

   For ever and ever. Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

                                    Indexes
     __________________________________________________________________

Subject Index

   Clement of Alexandria, [12]songs.clement-p0.1

   Gregory of Nazianzus, [13]songs.gregory-p0.1

   Methodius, Bishop and Martyr, [14]songs.methodiu-p0.4

   Naasseni, [15]songs.naasseni-p0.1

   Synesius, Bishop of Ptolemaïs, [16]songs.synesius-p0.1
     __________________________________________________________________

Index of Scripture References

   Psalms

   [17]145

   Matthew

   [18]28:19

   1 Corinthians

   [19]7:26

   2 Corinthians

   [20]13:14

   Ephesians

   [21]5:9

   Colossians

   [22]3:16

   Hebrews

   [23]12:23-24

   1 Peter

   [24]1:2

   Revelation

   [25]1:4-5   [26]21:2   [27]21:9   [28]22:9
     __________________________________________________________________

Index of Pages of the Print Edition

   [29]i  [30]v  [31]vi  [32]vii  [33]viii  [34]ix  [35]1  [36]2  [37]3
   [38]4  [39]5  [40]6  [41]7  [42]8  [43]9  [44]10  [45]11  [46]12
   [47]13  [48]14  [49]15  [50]16  [51]17  [52]18  [53]19  [54]20  [55]21
   [56]22  [57]23  [58]24  [59]25  [60]26  [61]27  [62]28  [63]29  [64]30
   [65]31  [66]32  [67]33  [68]34  [69]35  [70]36  [71]37  [72]38  [73]39
   [74]40  [75]41  [76]42  [77]43  [78]44  [79]45  [80]46  [81]47  [82]48
   [83]49  [84]50  [85]51  [86]52  [87]53  [88]54  [89]55  [90]56  [91]57
   [92]58  [93]59  [94]60  [95]61  [96]62  [97]63  [98]64  [99]65
   [100]66  [101]67  [102]68  [103]69  [104]70  [105]71  [106]72  [107]73
   [108]74  [109]75  [110]76  [111]77  [112]78  [113]79  [114]80  [115]81
   [116]82  [117]83  [118]84  [119]85  [120]86  [121]87  [122]88  [123]89
   [124]90  [125]91  [126]92  [127]93  [128]94  [129]95  [130]96  [131]97
   [132]98  [133]99  [134]100  [135]101  [136]102  [137]103  [138]104
   [139]105  [140]106  [141]107  [142]108  [143]109  [144]110  [145]111
   [146]112  [147]113  [148]114  [149]115  [150]116  [151]117  [152]118
   [153]119  [154]120  [155]121  [156]122  [157]123  [158]124  [159]125
   [160]126  [161]127  [162]128  [163]129  [164]130  [165]131  [166]132
   [167]133  [168]134  [169]135  [170]136  [171]137  [172]138  [173]139
   [174]140  [175]141  [176]142  [177]143  [178]144  [179]145  [180]146
   [181]147  [182]148  [183]149  [184]150  [185]151  [186]152  [187]153
   [188]154  [189]155  [190]156  [191]157  [192]158  [193]159  [194]160
   [195]161  [196]162  [197]163  [198]164  [199]165  [200]166
     __________________________________________________________________

            This document is from the Christian Classics Ethereal
               Library at Calvin College, http://www.ccel.org,
                   generated on demand from ThML source.

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