The “Pervigilium Veneris” is written in a quaint3 and affected4 taste, and seems unworthy of the noble simplicity6 of the reign7 of Augustus. It is possible that this hymn to Venus may have been chanted in the festivals celebrated8 in honor of that goddess; but it cannot be doubted that the poem of Horace was chanted with much greater solemnity.
It must be allowed that this secular poem of Horace is one of the finest productions of antiquity9; and that the hymn, “Ut queat laxis,” is one of the most flat and vapid10 pieces that appeared during the barbarous period of the decline of the Latin language. The Catholic Church in those times paid little attention to eloquence11 and poetry. We all know very well that God prefers bad verses recited with a pure heart, to the finest verses possible chanted by the wicked. Good verses, however, never yet did any harm, and — all other things being equal — must deserve a preference.
Nothing among us ever approached the secular games, which were celebrated at the expiration12 of every hundred and ten years. Our jubilee13 is only a faint and feeble copy of it. Three magnificent altars were erected14 on the banks of the Tiber. All Rome was illuminated15 for three successive nights; and fifteen priests distributed the lustral water and wax tapers16 among the men and women of the city who were appointed to chant the prayers. A sacrifice was first offered to Jupiter as the great god, the sovereign master of the gods; and afterwards to Juno, Apollo, Latona, Diana, Pluto17, Proserpine, and the Fates, as to inferior powers. All these divinities had their own peculiar18 hymns19 and ceremonies. There were two choirs20, one of twenty-seven boys, and the other of twenty-seven girls, for each of the divinities. Finally, on the last day, the boys and girls, crowned with flowers, chanted the ode of Horace.
It is true that in private houses his other odes, for Ligurinus and Liciscus and other contemptible21 characters, were heard at table; performances which undoubtedly22 were not calculated to excite the finest feelings of devotion; but there is a time for all things, “pictoribus atque poetis.” Caraccio, who drew the figures of Aretin, painted saints also; and in all our colleges we have excused in Horace what the masters of the Roman Empire excused in him without any difficulty.
As to forms of prayer, we have only a few slight fragments of that which was recited at the mysteries of Isis. We have quoted it elsewhere, but we will repeat it here, because it is at once short and beautiful:
“The celestial23 powers obey thee; hell is in subjection to thee; the universe revolves24 under thy moving hand; thy feet tread on Tartarus; the stars are responsive to thy voice; the seasons return at thy command; the elements are obedient to thy will.”
We repeat also the form supposed to have been used in the worship of the ancient Orpheus, which we think superior even to the above respecting Isis:
“Walk in the path of justice; adore the sole Master of the Universe; He is One Alone, and self-existent; all other beings owe their existence to Him; He acts both in them and by them; He sees all, but has never been Himself seen by mortal eyes.”
It is not a little extraordinary that in the Leviticus and Deuteronomy of the Jews, there is not a single public prayer, not one single formula of public worship. It seems as if the Levites were fully25 employed in dividing among themselves the viands26 that were offered to them. We do not even see a single prayer instituted for their great festivals of the Passover, the Pentecost, the trumpets27, the tabernacles, the general expiation28, or the new moon.
The learned are almost unanimously agreed that there were no regular prayers among the Jews, except when, during their captivity29 at Babylon, they adopted somewhat of the manners, and acquired something of the sciences, of that civilized30 and powerful people. They borrowed all from the Chaldaic Persians, even to their very language, characters, and numerals; and joining some new customs to their old Egyptian rites31, they became a new people, so much the more superstitious32 than before, in consequence of their being, after the conclusion of a long captivity, still always dependent upon their neighbors.
?. . . . . In rebus33 acerbis
Arcius advertunt animos ad religionem.
— Lucretius. book iii., 52, 53.
?. . . . . The common rout34,
When cares and dangers press, grow more devout35.
— Creech.
With respect to the ten other tribes who had been previously36 dispersed37, we may reasonably believe that they were as destitute38 of public forms of prayer as the two others, and that they had not, even up to the period of their dispersion, any fixed39 and well-defined religion, as they abandoned that which they professed40 with so much facility, and forgot even their own name, which cannot be said of the small number of unfortunate beings who returned to rebuild Jerusalem.
It is, therefore, at that period that the two tribes, or rather the two tribes and a half, seemed to have first attached themselves to certain invariable rites, to have written books, and used regular prayers. It is not before that time that we begin to see among them forms of prayer. Esdras ordained41 two prayers for every day, and added a third for the Sabbath; it is even said that he instituted eighteen prayers, that there might be room for selection, and also to afford variety in the service. The first of these begins in the following manner:
“Blessed be Thou, O Lord God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the great God, the powerful, the terrible, the most high, the liberal distributor of good things, the former and possessor of the world, who rememberest good actions, and sendest a Redeemer to their descendants for Thy name’s sake. O King, our help and Saviour42, our buckler, blessed be Thou, O Lord, the buckler of our father Abraham.”
It is asserted that Gamaliel, who lived in the time of Jesus Christ, and who had such violent quarrels with St. Paul, ordered a nineteenth prayer, which is as follows:
“Grant peace, benefits, blessing43, favor, kindness, and piety44 to us, and to Thy people Israel. Bless us, O our Father! bless us altogether with the light of Thy countenance45; for by the light of Thy countenance Thou hast given us, O Lord our God, the law of life, love, kindness, equity46, blessing, piety, and peace. May it please Thee to bless, through all time, and at every moment, Thy people Israel, by giving them peace. Blessed be Thou, O Lord, who blessest Thy people Israel by giving them peace. Amen.”
There is one circumstance deserving of remark with regard to many prayers, which is, that every nation has prayed for the direct contrary events to those prayed for by their neighbors.
The Jews, for example, prayed that God would exterminate47 the Syrians, Babylonians, and Egyptians; and these prayed that God would exterminate the Jews; and, accordingly, they may be said to have been so, with respect to the ten tribes, who have been confounded and mixed up with so many nations; and the remaining two tribes were more unfortunate still; for, as they obstinately48 persevered49 in remaining separate from all other nations in the midst of whom they dwelt, they were deprived of the grand advantages of human society.
In our own times, in the course of the wars that we so frequently undertake for the sake of particular cities, or even perhaps villages, the Germans and Spaniards, when they happened to be the enemies of the French, prayed to the Holy Virgin50, from the bottom of their hearts, that she would completely defeat the Gauls and the Gavaches, who in their turn supplicated51 her, with equal importunity52, to destroy the Maranes and the Teutons.
In England advocates of the red rose offered up to St. George the most ardent53 prayers to prevail upon him to sink all the partisans54 of the white rose to the bottom of the sea. The white rose was equally devout and importunate55 for the very opposite event. We can all of us have some idea of the embarrassment56 which this must have caused St. George; and if Henry VII. had not come to his assistance, St. George would never have been able to get extricated57 from it.
§ II.
We know of no religion without prayers; even the Jews had them, although there was no public form of prayer among them before the time when they sang their canticles in their synagogues, which did not take place until a late period.
The people of all nations, whether actuated by desires or fears, have invoked58 the assistance of the Divinity. Philosophers, however, more respectful to the Supreme59 Being, and rising more above human weakness, have been habituated to substitute, for prayer, resignation. This, in fact, is all that appears proper and suitable between creature and Creator. But philosophy is not adapted to the great mass of mankind; it soars too high above the vulgar; it speaks a language they are unable to comprehend. To propose philosophy to them would be just as weak as to propose the study of conic sections to peasants or fish-women.
Among the philosophers themselves, I know of no one besides Maximus Tyrius who has treated of this subject. The following is the substance of his ideas upon it: “The designs of God exist from all eternity60. If the object prayed for be conformable to His immutable61 will, it must be perfectly62 useless to request of Him the very thing which He has determined63 to do. If He is prayed to for the reverse of what He has determined to do, He is prayed to be weak, fickle64, and inconstant; such a prayer implies that this is thought to be His character, and is nothing better than ridicule65 or mockery of Him. You either request of Him what is just and right, in which case He ought to do it, and it will be actually done without any solicitation66, which in fact shows distrust of His rectitude; or what you request is unjust, and then you insult Him. You are either worthy5 or unworthy of the favor you implore67: if worthy, He knows it better than you do yourself; if unworthy, you commit an additional crime in requesting that which you do not merit.”
In a word, we offer up prayers to God only because we have made Him after our own image. We treat Him like a pasha, or a sultan, who is capable of being exasperated68 and appeased69. In short, all nations pray to God: the sage70 is resigned, and obeys Him. Let us pray with the people, and let us be resigned to Him with the sage.
We have already spoken of the public prayers of many nations, and of those of the Jews. That people have had one from time immemorial, which deserves all our attention, from its resemblance to the prayer taught us by Jesus Christ Himself. This Jewish prayer is called the Kadish, and begins with these words: “O, God! let Thy name be magnified and sanctified; make Thy kingdom to prevail; let redemption flourish, and the Messiah come quickly!”
As this Kadish is recited in Chaldee it has induced the belief that it is as ancient as the captivity, and that it was at that period that the Jews began to hope for a Messiah, a Liberator71, or Redeemer, whom they have since prayed for in the seasons of their calamities72.
The circumstance of this word “Messiah” being found in this ancient prayer has occasioned much controversy73 on the subject of the history of this people. If the prayer originated during the Babylonish captivity, it is evident that the Jews at that time must have hoped for and expected a Redeemer. But whence does it arise, that in times more dreadfully calamitous74 still, after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, neither Josephus nor Philo ever mentioned any expectation of a Messiah? There are obscurities in the history of every people; but those of the Jews form an absolute and perpetual chaos75. It is unfortunate for those who are desirous of information, that the Chald?ans and Egyptians have lost their archives, while the Jews have preserved theirs.
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1
hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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secular
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| n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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vapid
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| adj.无味的；无生气的 | |
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eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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expiration
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| n.终结，期满，呼气，呼出物 | |
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jubilee
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| n.周年纪念；欢乐 | |
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ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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tapers
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| （长形物体的）逐渐变窄( taper的名词复数 )； 微弱的光； 极细的蜡烛 | |
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Pluto
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| n.冥王星 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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hymns
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 ) | |
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20
choirs
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| n.教堂的唱诗班( choir的名词复数 )；唱诗队；公开表演的合唱团；（教堂）唱经楼 | |
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contemptible
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| adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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revolves
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| v.（使）旋转( revolve的第三人称单数 )；细想 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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viands
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| n.食品，食物 | |
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trumpets
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| 喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花 | |
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expiation
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| n.赎罪，补偿 | |
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captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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30
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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31
rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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32
superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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33
rebus
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| n.谜,画谜 | |
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rout
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| n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮 | |
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35
devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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36
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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destitute
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| adj.缺乏的；穷困的 | |
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39
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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41
ordained
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| v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定 | |
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42
saviour
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| n.拯救者，救星 | |
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43
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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45
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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46
equity
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| n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票 | |
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47
exterminate
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| v.扑灭，消灭，根绝 | |
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48
obstinately
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| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
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49
persevered
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| v.坚忍，坚持( persevere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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51
supplicated
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| v.祈求，哀求，恳求( supplicate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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importunity
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| n.硬要，强求 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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54
partisans
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| 游击队员( partisan的名词复数 )； 党人； 党羽； 帮伙 | |
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importunate
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| adj.强求的；纠缠不休的 | |
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56
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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57
extricated
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| v.使摆脱困难，脱身( extricate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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invoked
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| v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求 | |
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59
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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immutable
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| adj.不可改变的，永恒的 | |
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62
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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fickle
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| adj.(爱情或友谊上)易变的，不坚定的 | |
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ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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solicitation
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| n.诱惑；揽货；恳切地要求；游说 | |
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implore
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| vt.乞求，恳求，哀求 | |
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exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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appeased
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| 安抚，抚慰( appease的过去式和过去分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争） | |
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sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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liberator
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| 解放者 | |
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calamities
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| n.灾祸，灾难( calamity的名词复数 )；不幸之事 | |
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controversy
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| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
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calamitous
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| adj.灾难的，悲惨的；多灾多难；惨重 | |
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chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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