BOOK VI.

Their Poetry, Literature, Arts, and Sciences.

THE

CHAP. I.

The Latin Poetry of ALDHELM.

1.

HE poetry of the Anglo-Saxons may be con- c HA P. fidered under two heads; their Latin and their vernacular poetry; and without attempting to discuss what constitutes poetry, we fhall confider as fuch, for our prefent purpose, whatever the Anglo-Saxons invested with the forms of poetical verfification.

THE most ancient of their Latin poetry which has defcended to us, are the compofitions of Aldhelm, who died in 809; his life will be given in an article of their literature. His verfes are preferable to his profe, because the pompous style which he delighted to ufe is more congenial with the diction of poetry.

His poetical works which remain are thefe;
De laude virginum,

De octo principalibus vitiis,

Enigmata.

TOWARDS the clofe of his profe treatife on virginity, he ftated, that he fhould write on the fame fubject in poetry. His preface to the poem is an acroftic address to the abbefs Maxima in hexameter

VI.

BOOK verse. It confifts of thirty-eight lines fo fantastically written that each line begins and ends with the fucceffive letters of the words of the first line; and thus the first and laft lines, and the initial and final letters of each line confist of the fame words. In the last line the words occur backwards. The final letters are to be read upwards.

METRICA TIRONES NUNC PROMANT CARMINA CASTOS

Et laudem capiat quadrato carmine virgO
Trinus in arce Deus, qui pollens fecla creaviT
Regnator mundi, regnans in fedibus altiS
Indigno conferre mihi dignetur in xthrA
Cum fanctis requiem, quos laudo verfibus iftiC
Arbiter altithronus qui fervat fceptra fupernA
Tradidit his cœli per ludum fcandere limeN
Inter fanctorum cuneos qui laude perenn[
Rite glorificant moderantem regna tonanteM
Omnitenens Dominus, mundi formator et aucto R
Nobis pauperibus confer fuffragia cert A

Et ne concedas trudendos hoftibus iftinC
Sed magis exiguos defendens dextera tangaT
Ne prædo pellax cœlorum claudere limeN
Vel fantos valeat noxarum fallere fcen A`
Ne fur ftrophofus foveam detrudat in atraM
Conditor a fummo quos Chriftus fervat Olympo
Paftor ovile tuens ne poffit tabula raptoR
Regales vaftans caulas bis dicere pup puP
Omnia fed cuftos defendat ovilia jam nunC
Maxima præcipuum quæ geftat numine nomeN
Addere præfidium mater dignare precat
Nam tu perpetuum promififti lumine lumeN
Titan quem clamant facro fpiramine vateS
Cujus per mundum jubar alto fplendet ab axE
Atque polos pariter replet vibramine fulmeN
Rex regum et princeps populorum dictus ab ævo
Magnus de magno, de rerum regmine recto R
Illum nec mare nec poffunt cingere cœll

Nec mare navigerum fpumofo gurgite, vallaT
Aut zonæ mundi que ftipant æthera celsA
Clarorum vitam qui caftis moribus iftiC
Auxiliante Deo vernabant flore perenn I
Sanctis aggrediar ftudiis dicere paupe R
Tanta tamen digne fi pauper præmia prodaT
Omnia cum nullus verbis explanat apertE

SOTSAC ANIMRAC TNAMCRP CNUN SENORIT ACIRTEM'. ALDHELM calls this quadratum carmen, a fquare verfe. He was not the inventor of these idle fopperies of verfification. Even the Romans had used them. The panegyric of P. O. Porphyry addreffed to Conftantine the Great is full of fuch. Fortunatus and others had alfo preceded Aldhelm in this tasteless path, in which authors endeavour to surprise us, not by the genius they display, but by the difficulties which they overcome.

THE poem is not divided into books or chapters. It confifts of 2443 hexameter lines, the last eight of which are rhimed; the four first alternately, the others in couplets. We fubjoin them.

Quis prius in fpira morfum glomeravit inertem
Idcirco curfim feftinat credere Chrifto
Agnofcens propriam tanta virtute falutem.
Infuper et meritum cumulavit fanguinis oftro,
Præmia fumpturus cum cœli cœtibus almis.
Candida poft fequitur cum binis martyra fertis,
Integritas nitidam, nec non et paffio rubram
Plumabant pariter macta virtute coronam 2.

THE first twenty-two lines of the poem are an invocation to the Deity. The tranflations of the paffages which we felect, as fpecimens of his powers, are made as literal as poffible.

'Maxima Bib. Vet. Patr. T. 13. p. 3.

Ib. p. 19.

С НА Р.

1.

BOOK

VI.

ALMIGHTY Father! Sovereign of the world!
Whose word the lucid fummits of the sky

With ftars adorn'd, and earth's foundations fram'd;
Who ting'd with purple flowers the lonely heath
And check'd the wandering billows of the main
Left o'er the lands the foamy waves fhould rage :
Hence rocks abrupt the fwelling furge controul.
Thou cheer'ft the cultured field with gelid streams,
And with thy dropping clouds the corn diftends.
Thin orbs of light expel night's dreary fhade,
Titan the day, and Cynthia tends the night:
From thee what tribes the fields of ocean roam
What fcaly hofts in the blue whirlpools play!
The limpid air with fluttering crowds abounds,
Whofe prattling beaks their joyful carols pour,
And hail thee as the universal Lord;

Give, Merciful! thine aid, that I may learn
To fing the glorious actions of thy faints 3.

3 OMNIPOTENS genitor mundum ditione gubernans
Lucida ftelligeri qui condis culmina cœli,
Nec non telluris formas fundamina verbo:
Pallida purpureo pingis qui flore vireta:
Sic quoque fluctivagi refrenas cærula ponti,
Mergere ne valeant terrarum littora lymphis,
Sed tumidos frangunt fluctus obftacula rupis :
Arvorum gelido qui cultus fonte rigabis,
Et fegetum glumas nimbofis imbribus auges,
Qui latebras mundi geminato fidere demis;
Nempe diem Titan et noctem Cynthia comit.
Pifcibus æquoreos qui campos pinguibus ornas,
Squamigeras formans in glauco gurgite turmas
Limpida præpetibus fic comples aera catervis,
Garrula que roftris refonantes cantica pipant
Atque creatorem diverfa voce fatentur.

Da prius auxilium, clemens, ut carmina poffim
Indita Sanctorum modulari gefta priorum.

Maxima Bib. Vet. Patr. T. 13. p. 3.

I feek not ruftic verfe, nor court the Nine,
Nor from Caftalia's nymphs their metres woe
Said erft to guard the Heliconian hill,

Nor, Phebus! need I thy loquacious tongue,
Whom fair Latona bore on Delos' ifle-

I'll rather prefs the Thunderer with my prayers,
Who gave to man the leffons of his word;
Words from the WORD I afk, whom David fang,
Sole offspring of the Father; and by whom

Th' almighty Sire created all we know;
So may their gracious inspiration deign
To aid their feeble fervant in his lay *.

He opens his fubject by telling us that there are three descriptions of perfons to whom the praise of chastity belongs; the married who live virtuously; the married who live as if they were fingle; and they who keep in the virgin state. After above an hundred lines in praife of virginity, he proceeds to defcribe forty-five characters who diftinguished the ftate which he prefers; and this biographical panegyric forms the fubftance of his poem. Moft of his applauded perfonages are only known in the calendars of the Romish church. Some of his

4 Non rogo ruricolas verfus, et commata mufas
Non peto Caftalidas metrorum cantica nymphas
Quas dicunt Helicona jugum fervare fupernum,
Nec precor, ut Phœbus linguam fermone loquacem
Dedat, quem Delo peperit Latonà creatrix –
Sed potius nitar precibus pulfare Tonantem,
Qui nobis placidi confert oracula Verbi,
Verbum de verbo peto, hoc Pfalmifta canebat,
Corde patris genitum, quod proles unica conftat,
Quo pater Omnipotens per mundum cuncta creavit.
Sic patris et prolis dignetur Spiritus almus
Auxilium fragili clementer dedere fervo.

CHAP.