Poems, Volume 1

6. A HYMN BEFORE SLEEp

HYMNS 6. A HYMN BEFORE SLEEp! Be with us, great Creator, Ne'er seen by eye of mortal,2 And Christ, Word of the Father, With Holy Spirit of comfortl o Trinity supernal, One in Thy might and power,3 o God from God eternal, And God from both proceedinglf The toil of day is ended, And now the hour of quiet Brings sleep with sweet caressing To bodies faint and weary.!1 39 5 10 1. Tertullian (De oratione 25) speaks of morning and night prayers as obligatory on all Christians. St. Ambrose (De virginibus 3.4.18-19) recommends prayer before sleep for virgins consecrated to God. The origin of the Canonical Hour of Compline has been ascribed to St. Benedict in the sixth century. That ascetics of the fourth century observed a prayer of rule before retiring, in addition to Vespers at the ninth or tenth hour, is evidenced by St. Basil's prescription of prayer at the beginning of night that sleep might be sinless and untroubled by dreams. Cf. Regulae fusius tractatae 37.5. Lines 125-152 are used as a hymn for Compline in the Mozarabic Breviary (PL 86.962). 2. Cf. John l.l8. 11. Vis ac potestas una. Several MSS have vis una, lumen unum here, accepted by Arevalus and others. 4. See Hymn 4, n. 8. 5. Cf. Vergil, Aeneid 2.2511. 40 AURELIUS PRUDENTIUS CLEMENS The mind by tempests shaken And racked by cruel anguish6 Drinks deep the cup of soothing 15 That stills the voice of memory.7 The Lethean streams now stealing Through every vein of mortal Dispel the aching sorrow In hearts forlorn and grieving.s 20 This law by God was given To fragile human bodies That pleasure, pure and healing, Might temper labor's harshness. But while the welcome languor 25 Goes pulsing through our members, And while the heart is resting, Bedewed by gentle slumber,9 The soul set free flies swiftly Through the limpid air of heaven.lO 30 And sees in divers figures Things veiled from earthly vision.ll For freed from care and worry, The mind, of source celestial From purest fountain flowing, 35 Is ever alert and active.12 6. Cf. Ibid. 4.1 and 9.798. 7. Cf. Ibid. 6.715. 8. Cf. Ibid. 6.714 and 2.268. 9. Cf. Ibid. 1.691; Ambrose, De virginibus 3.4.19. 10. Cf. Tertullian, De anima 43.12 (Vol. 10, this series, p. 278); Ambrose, De Abraham 2.8.58. II. Cf. Claudian, De raptu Proserpinae 3.124. 12. Cf. Tertullian, op. cit. 45.1; Ambrose. loco cit. HYMNS 41 A thousand dreams it fashions Of its own form and substance, And through this world it wanders, Pleased with its empty fancies.1s . 40 But in this land fantastic Oft terror plagues the sleeper. Sometimes a heavenly splendor Gives vision of the future.14 More often dark phantasms 45 Obscure the truth, misleading Through black and dreary mazes The souls whom fear has saddened. To him who stains but rarely His soul with sin's offenses 50 A light serene and radiant Reveals celestial secrets.11i But he who has polluted His heart by impious vices Is mocked by many terrors 55 And sees appalling phantoms.1s Of this our Seer was witness11 When to the royal servants, With him in chains of prison, He showed their dreams' foreboding. 60 U. Cf. Tertullian, op. cit. 4!1.12. 14. Cf. Cicero, De senectute 22.81; Tertullian, op. cit. 46. 15. Cf. Tertullian, op. cit. 47.2. 16. Cf. Job 7.14. Tertullian, op. cit. 47.1. 17. Cf. Gen. 40-41. 42 AURELIUS PRUDENTIUS CLEMENS One to his post returning Bears cup again to the tyrant; The other, preying vultures Devour on a lofty gibbet. Then that imperious monarch, 65 Perplexed by dubious dreaming, He warned of coming famine That harvests might be hoarded. Soon as a prince and guardian He ruled throughout the kingdom 70 And shared the royal scepter In the mighty ruler's palace. o how profound the secrets Christ shows to His just servants When wrapt in peaceful slumber,ls 75 How dazzling and ineffable! That faithful friend of the Master, Evangelist of, the Highest, Saw through the clouds receding Things sealed from mortal vision: 80 The Lamb of God empurpled With blood of cruel slaying, Him who alone can open The book that...