This day removes The friend from him he loves, Like two oxen let loose From the yoke which united them :— The day of thy birth Made thy parents happy, The day of thy death Gives sorrow to thy survivors :- THIS hymn, like the two former, is pentasyllabic, in strophes of five verses, the last being antiphonal. With Benedict it is entitled, "On the Death of a Young Person;" but internal evidence would rather claim for it a more general designation. Almost all ages are alluded to in it. Hahn entitles it, "On the Death of the Father of a Family." a "It is anointed with clay." The only meaning given to in the Lexicons is lutum, cænum ; but this scarcely yields a sense harmonizing with the connection. Is not the same as the Latin sanies? Benedict renders the passage," Naturam mors solvit, unde exanime corpus Arabiâ magis ante odoratum, nunc graveolente tabo aspersum putet." We are glad to escape this, alas! too correct, description, in the text. “Dependent.”—P The literal meaning is ablactus, weaned, 1 Sam. i. 24, " And when she had weaned him." The collateral idea, deprived of the natural sources of support, and therefore dependent on others, may justify the translation of the text. allusion to this metaphor is found in the Lexicons. d “The widow is desolate.”—S 4421 the rib is barren. Benedict, "Casta manebit vidua." VI. On the Death of a Private Person. (CANON XXV., tom. vi., p. 275.) "I AM going away, and fear not, For my Lord calleth to me, 'Come, and I will He placeth a wreath of glory on my head The angels who removed thee from us Have conducted thee to Eden; They have given thee as an offering to thy Creator, Depart in peace! An abundant treasure Full of good things, make ready for thy servant, And let his spirit rest in peace In the midst of the kingdom. The cornet sounds And the voice of the trumpet waxeth loud, And the dead live again, and rise up From their sepulchres. The righteous fly Upon the clouds to meet their Lord, And enter with Him into the habitation Which is full of joys. Thy garland is twined. In Eden, O thou blessed one," Glory be to the living voice Which speaks in thunders in the midst of Hades ; And the dead hear it and arise again From their burial places. In the day when the trumpet sounds, To sing Thy praise worthily- In the day of the resurrection. Depart in peace, O beloved fruit which Death hath plucked! Abraham comes forth to meet thee, And bids thee welcome. The gate of Paradise Opens and expects thee to enter, That thou mayest rest and be happy To all eternity. Let praise ascend, O Lord, To Thee from all Thy creatures, THE metre of this hymn is tetrasyllabic in the first and fourth verses, heptasyllabic in the second and third; the strophes of four verses each. The title given by Benedict is, In Funere Clericorum. But there appears nothing in the hymn itself to confine it to a particular class. a “Thou blessed one.”— 100 is frequently applied to departed saints; thus the Syriac translator of the Festal Letters of Athanasius speaks of the blessed Moses, the blessed Esther, &c. (Cureton's text, p. 33.) It corresponds to the Greek ỏ μakapiτηs. In more recent ecclesiastical language 006 has the sense of pious, devout, and is often used as a noun for a monk. (See Hymn VIII.) "Hades." sheol; this word will always be rendered Hades in these translations, unless the sense of the grave is plainly intended. c"O beloved fruit."-If there were any ambiguity in the word translated fruit, the unusual character of the figure would lead probably to the adoption of another term. Benedict has translated it flos, flower, but contrary to all authority. The expression, however, is exceedingly natural and of great beauty. In Hymn I. a child is compared to a flower, on account of its beauty and liability to decay; here, one of advanced life is called fruit, to designate maturity and usefulness. d "The rebellious children of Adam."-sy., >?l? ; the rebellion, or apostacy, of Adam. VII. On the Death of a Presbyter. (CANON IX., tom. vi., p. 236.) My brethren and beloved, By God who hath separated me from you And lighten the dust from my eyes, Even in Hades will arise The Sun of Righteousness, From their sepulchres as from repose, Alas! for the slothful, Who like me have been unprofitable ! In that day He who hired them Will pay them their due; And every one will receive righteously |