Sequence - (7)
10. Anguem forat in maxilla
Christi hamus et armilla;
in cavernam reguli
manum mittit ablactatus,
et sic fugit exturbatus
vetus hostis saeculi.
anguis a serpent
foro to pierce
maxilla the jaw
hamus a fish-hook
armilla an iron ring, hoop
'The fish-hook and ring of Christ pierce the jaw of the serpent'. It may
be helpful to repeat what I said while discussing the Pange, lingua or
Fortunatus:
Gregory of Nyssa (c.330-c.395 AD) in his Oratio Catechetica, xxi-xxvi,
presents the Incarnation in terms of a baited hook. His argument was
reproduced by Rufinus of Aquileia, c. 400 AD, in his Commentary on the
Apostles' Creed:
"The purpose of the Incarnation . . . was that the divine virtue of the Son
of God might be as it were a hook hidden beneath the form of human flesh . .
. to lure on the prince of this age to a contest; that the Son might offer
him his flesh as a bait and that then the divinity which lay beneath might
catch him and hold him fast with its hook . . . Then, as a fish when it
seizes a baited hook not only fails to drag off the bait but is itself
dragged out of the water to serve as food for others; so he that had the
power of death seized the body of Jesus in death, unaware of the hook of
divinity concealed therein. Having swallowed it, he was caught straightway;
the bars of hell were burst, and he was, as it were, drawn up from the pit,
to become food for others . . ."
I think that behind this "fish-hook" image lies the rather puzzling myth of
Leviathan or Rahab, which crops up several times in the Old Testament.
According to this ancient creation-myth, God pulls up a sea-monster,
representing chaos, from the depths of the sea, chops it up and feeds it to
the wild beasts. The removal of the element of chaos reduces the elements
to order and is responsible for the creation of the world.
So we have at Job 40:20 [Vulgate]: An extrahere poteris Leviathan hamo, Et
fune ligabis liguam eius? Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish-hook, and
bind his tongue with a cord?
There's your 'hamo'; if you seek 'armilla' and 'maxilla', you need look no
further than the next verse:
Numquid pones circulum in naribus eius, aut armilla perforabis maxillam eius?
'Will you put a ring through his nostrils, or pierce his jaw with a hoop?'
regulus a kind of serpent
ablactatus a weaned child
'the weaned child puts his hand into the cave of the serpent'. This is from
Isaiah, 11:8,
Et in caverna reguli, Qui ablactatus fuerit manum suam mittet.
'And into the cave of the serpent, He who will be weaned will put his hand.'
'And so, having been driven out, the ancient enemy of the world flees.'
More tomorrow,
Oriens.
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