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The end is nigh! Aurora cursus provehit, Morn in her rosy car is borne; aurora totus prodeat, Let him come forth our perfect morn, in patre totus filius The Word in God the Father one, et totus in verbo pater. The Father perfect in the Son. I don't find the first two lines easy, so I solicited the help of old Howlers [David Howlett, editor of Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British sources]: 'How would you construe these lines'. He replied, 'I would construe them as you would.' Thanks, old man. I think we must take 'cursus' as plural - Dawn continues her courses; the subject of the next line must be 'totus', referring to Christ - 'May he show himself entirely to be the dawn.' There are many other biblical references which I have not mentioned comparing Christ with the dawn. e.g. the Benedictus, the Song of Zacharias in Luke 1:68-79: 'Per viscera misericordiae Dei nostri: in quibus visitavit nos, oriens ex alto: Illuminare his qui in tenebris et in umbra mortis sedent: ad dirigendos pedes nostros in viam pacis.' - Through the bowels of compassion of our God, in which he has visited us, the dawn from on high, to illuminate those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace. Ego sum radix, et genus David, stella splendida et matutina - Rev. 22:16. 'I am the root and offspring of David, the splendid morning star.' The O-Antiphons to the Magnificat on the week preceding Christmas are rather later than Ambrose, otherwise one would discuss 'O Oriens' - 'O Day-spring, Brightness of Light everlasting, and Sun of Righteousness: Come and enlighten him that sitteth in darkness and the shadow of death.' It derives from the common stock of ideas, biblical references and images which inform this hymn. The last lines derive from John 14:10, 'Non credistis quia ego in Patre, et Pater in me est?' Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?' Or John 17:21, 'sicut tu Pater in me, et ego in te' 'as you, Father, are in me, and I in you.' The identification of Christ with the Verbum, the Word, is of course from John 1, passim. Let me conclude with some words from Raby, 'Christian-Latin Poetry' (p.35): 'The hymns of Ambrose reflect the mind of the great teacher of the Latin Church. Bred as a lawyer and man of affairs, with all the practical genius of the Roman and that leaning to the ethical outlook which characterised the Roman mind, Ambrose cared little for the speculations which exercised such a fascination over the Greek fathers. He naturally accepted the orthodox Trinitarian position and he spent his life in building up his flcok in this faith, inculcating thosepractical virtues and that simple piety which were always for him the true and characteristic fruit of the Gospel. For Ambrose is always the teacher rather than the theologian. His homilies, full as they are of allegory and the most curious and strained interpretations which he borrowed from the Greek fathers, have always the single aim of moral and spiritual edification. None of the great Latin bishops, before or after, so thoroughly won the hearts of his people by his eloquence, his devoted service, and his own example. 'In speaking of the importance of the hymns of Ambrose in literary history, Ebert remarks that they are the beginning not merely of the Christian lyric, but also of true Christian poetry in general in the West. "The hymns appear", he says, "as the ripest fruit of the process of the assimilation on the part of Christianity of the formal education of the ancient world."' What shall we do next? Oriens. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%