Onwards and upwards!
Christusque noster sit cibus, And Christ to us for food shall be,
potusque noster sit fides, From him our drink that welleth free,
laeti bibamus sobriam The Spirit's wine, that maketh whole,
ebrietatem spiritus. And mocking not, exalts the soul.
'And let Christ be our food, and faith be our drink.' The reference is of
course to the eucharist, and especially to John 6:56, 'Caro enim mea vere
est cibus: et sanguis meus, vere est potus', 'for my flesh is truly food,
and my blood is truly drink.' Notice not only the identical vocabulary -
cibus, potus - but also the corresponding parallelism:
caro mea vere est cibus
sanguis meus vere est potus
Christusque noster sit cibus
potusque noster sit fides.
Notice though the chiasmus which Ambrose introduces:
Christus . . . cibus . . . potus . . . fides.
'let us drink, joyful, the sober drunkenness of the spirit'. The reference
is to Pentecost, when the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and
began to proclaim the Gospel, but were supposed to be drunk by their hearers:
'And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other
tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance . . . But others mocking said,
"They are filled with new wine." But Peter . . . [said] "These men are not
drunk, as you suppose" . . .' (Acts 2:4ff). 'And mocking not' from our
verse translation, makes a direct reference to the story.
Notice the oxymoron: sobriam ebrietatem, sober drunkenness. People liked
these rhetorical touches; they noticed them, and applauded them. St
Augustine would get a round of applause if he introduced a clever rhetorical
figure into his sermons.
More tomorrow,
Oriens.
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