AMBROSE's LYRIC POETRY J. Den Boeft at the Very Beginning of The
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CANTATUR AD DELECTATIONEM: AMBROSE’S LYRIC POETRY J. den Boeft At the very beginning of the fifth century Nicetas of Remesiana vis- ited Nola in Campania. When he left to return to Moesia, Paulinus wrote a propemptikon in Sapphic stanzas. In this poem he imaginarily accompanies his distinguished visitor on his journey home, first over- land to Hydruntum (Otranto), where he boards a ship in order to cross to Greece. The sea will be smooth and a gentle westerly wind will be blowing; moreover, the ship will be protected by the sign of the cross. Then follows the 28th stanza, in P.G. Walsh’s translation: “The sailors will joyfully sing their usual rowing-songs, but adapt the melodies to make them hymns. With their devoted voices they will draw breezes on to the sea to accompany them”.1 It is a wonderful scene, in which the christianization of life and manners has reached the domain of navi- gation, turning the rhythmic songs of the oarsmen into pious hymns. Presumably such a transformation would not have been wasted on the author of a sermon De utilitate hymnorum,2 one of the few writings of Nicetas which have been preserved. Of course, in this sermon Nicetas is not dealing with utopian sit- uations, but with the reality of Church liturgy and the examples of hymn singing in various parts of Scripture. Within Paulinus’ oeuvre we encounter the word hymnus in comparable contexts. As far as I can see, he does not refer to Ambrose’s hymns, in spite of his respect and admi- ration for the Milanese bishop, which appears in the admittedly rather scarce evidence about the contacts between the two prominent church- men.3 The singing of hymns at the times of worship dates from the earliest phase of Christianity and developed further through the ages. 1 Paulinus Nolanus, Carm. 17.109–112: nauitae laeti solitum celeuma/concinent uersis modulis in hymnos/et piis ducent comites in aequor/uocibus auras. 2 Nicetas of Remesiana, De utilitate hymnorum, ed. C.H. Turner, in: JThS 24 (1923) 225–253. 3 S. Costanza, ‘I rapporti tra Ambrogio e Paolino di Nola’, in: G. Lazzati (ed.), Ambrosius Episcopus, Milan 1976,vol.2, 220–232.D.E.Trout,Paulinus of Nola,Berkeley 1999, 49–50. 82 j. den boeft Unfortunately, the relevant information which we have at our disposal leaves much to be desired and the same holds true as to the precise def- inition. Commenting on the well-known ψαλμ ς κα μν ις κα δας πνευματικας (psalmis, hymnis et canticis spiritualibus) in Ephesians 5.19 and Colossians 3.16, Jerome remarks about hymni: fortitudinem et maiestatem praedicant Dei et eiusdem semper uel beneficia uel facta mirantur,4 and Augustine contrives this definition in his explanation of psalm 72: “Hymns are songs containing the praise of God. In case of praise and indeed praise of God, but not sung, it is not a hymn. In order to be styled a hymn, it should have three components: praise, God and song.”5 Ambrose would have agreed with such reflections, as is illustrated by his words in De officiis: “We can fear, love, entreat, honour a man, but a hymn is specifi- cally performed for God.”6 So praise of God is the core of hymn singing, and, although this is not expressed in the quoted passages, it is quite clear that it is the singing of a group, a congregation or a choir, primarily in some type of liturgy. The psychagogic potential of such singing was not lost on Ambrose and he deliberately used it in his tenacious struggle against the Milanese homoeans, or Arians, as he used to call them. When he was accused of mesmerizing his flock by his hymns, he cheerfully conceded that this was what he was after: plane nec hoc abnuo,“Yes indeed, and I am not denying this”.7 In my contribution, however, I shall not go into this aspect, but rather focus on the poetical side of Ambrose’s remarkable creation. Whereas in the field of Christian Latin poetry others had already explored the possibilities of epic poetry, he became the pioneer of truly lyric poetry, choosing an existing metrical pattern, which had never functioned independently.8 By his own example he proved the huge potential of this metrical pattern, which he moulded into its succesful form: eight stanzas of four verses, each in the jambic dimeter, in its pure form eight syllables. The first characteristic which catches the 4 Hier. in Epist. ad Eph. 5.19,PL26,561. 5 Si sit laus, et non sit Dei, non est hymnus; si sit laus, et Dei laus, et non cantetur, non est hymnus. Oportet ergo ut, si sit hymnus, habeat haec tria: et laudem, et Dei, et canticum (Aug. Enarr. In Ps.LXII1; cf. id., ib. CXLVIII 17). 6 Sed possumus et hominem timere, diligere, rogare, honorare; hymnus specialiter Deo dicitur (Ambr. De officiis 1.221). 7 Hymnorum quoque meorum carminibus deceptum populum ferunt, plane nec hoc abnuo (Ambr. Epist. 75a, 34 Zelzer). 8 See J. den Boeft, ‘Ambrosius Lyricus’, in: J. den Boeft, A. Hilhorst, Early Christian Poetry (Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 22), Leiden 1993, 78–79..