Ambrose continues:
Laetus dies hic transeat, Rejoicing may this day go hence,
pudor sit ut diluculum, Like virgin dawn our innocence,
fides velut meridies, Like fiery noon our faith appear,
crespusculum mens nesciat. Nor know the gloom of twilight drear.
Did you know that 'dies' can be either masculine or feminine, according to
the sense? When it means the daylight hours, as opposed to night, it is
masculine, as here; when it means a special day, a particular day, an
appointed day, it is feminine, as usually in the liturgy:
Salve, festa dies, toto venerabilis aevo (Venantius Fortunatus).
Dies Dominica, The Lord's Day.
Ambrose takes us through the day: Let our modesty be like the dawn. There
are several words for dawn. Aurora, for example, in the next verse, has
associations with brightness, perhaps (by a false etymology) with
golden-ness; aurora is a bright golden dawn. But diluculum is from
'diluceo', literally to be light enough to tell objects apart, hence to be
clear, evident. Hence it suggests having nothing to hide. There are any
number of New Testaments references to the dawn as suggesting a new life, an
end to the things of darkness.
eg. 'The night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast off the
works of darkness and put on the armour of light; let us conduct ourselves
becomingly as in the day, not in revelling and drunkenness . . .' Romans
13:12 ff. The text which finally converted St Augustine.
Or 1 Peter 2:9, 'that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called
you out of darkness into his marvellous light.'
'fides', 'faith' is a characteristic New Testament word. It occurs hardly
at all in the Old Testament, but in almost every book of the New, especially
in the writings of St Paul. It is something to be shared, displayed, rather
than say, modesty, which is something private and best kept secret. The
profession of faith - at baptism, or during the liturgy, or at a martyrdom -
is a public act of witness to Christ. Hence it is compared with the full
rays of the sun at noon. Cf. Matthew 5:14 ff., 'You are the light of the
world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put
it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.'
'Let the soul not know the twilight' - perhaps a reference to the 'outer
darkness' of e.g. Matthew 8:12 ' . . . into the outer darkness; there men
will weep and gnash their teeth.'
Tomorrow, Deo Volente, we shall conclude our exposition.
The Supple Doctor.
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