Gesammelte Aufsätze zur romanischen Philologie. Erich Auerbach
innumerable times by images such as fontis vitae cisterna;48 caritascaritas and castitascastitas are among her principal virtues (cf. note 45); Christ as lumen summae claritatis refers to several Biblical passages, the most important of which is the vision of St. Paul, Acta Apost. 22, 11.
Twelfth stanzaStanze: salutis nostrae porta refers again to the gate of Ezek. 44, 2 (cf. p. 132); this gate was interpreted as a figure of the Virgin: et ante partum incorrupta, et post partum mansit illaesa.49 It occurs in a hymn as early as Venantius FortunatusVenantius Fortunatus:
Tu regis alti ianua
et porta lucis fulgida.50
Adam is the great master of the eulogies composed of series of figures; there are many which, like our text, use the tu anaphoraAnaphertu-Anapher, such as ‘Salve mater salvatoris’51 or the sequence addressed to the Holy Spirit ‘Qui procedit ab utroque …’52 But some of the most characteristic eulogies are composed in other forms, e. g. the sequence ‘In Resurrectione Domini’ (‘Zyma vetus expurgetur …’)53 where, as in our text, the method is explained:
Lex est umbra futurorum,
Christus finis promissorum.
As a last specimen of the figurative style, I present a hymn originating from Styria, an anonymous sequence ‘In nativitate Domini’:54 although the eulogy is not composed with the tu anaphoraAnaphertu-Anapher, it has been selected as one of the most striking examples of the combination of typological figures with figures of sound:
| 1 | Candor surgens ut aurora Solvit chaos pulsa mora Noctis de caligine. | ||
| 2 | Geniturae novo iure Non de viro feta miro Deum parfit ordine. | 3 | Lex naturae matris purae Causam nescit, nec marcescit Feta flos in virgine. |
| 4 | Matris risus te signavit Matrem ducis qui salvavit Luto fessum et oppressum In Aegypto populum. | 5 | Arca dudum quod servavit Manna profers in quo David Gaudet ludens, ludus prudens In te laudat parvulum. |
| 6 | Illa mitis Moabitis Ruth quaerebat quod latebat Tunc Noemi gaudium. | 7 | Bethlemitis botrus vitis Iam non latet quod non patet Spes Ulla per alium. |
| 8 | Veri lectus Salomonis Contra regem Aquilonis Parvum fovit qui removit Grave iugum oneris. | 9 | Quid sit, vide, rationis, Quod conflictus Gedeonis Non salvaret, si non daret Virtutem ros velleris. |
| 10 | Quam amoenus ager plenus Madet rore quem ab ore Gabrielis suscipit, | 11 | Cuius fructus fit conductus Per quem fretus exsul vetus Stolam primam recipit. |
| 12 | Audi filia pulchra facie, | 13 | Fer praesidia plena gratiae. |
| 14 | Te placata vivit reus, Quod vis praestat homo Deus Qui mamillas captans illas Tuo flebat gremio. | 15 | Quem lactasti tuum pridem Non est alter, regnat idem Honor matris, splendor patris In coelorum solio. |
The typological eulogy of the Virgin starts with the fourth stanzaStanze;55 we begin again by explaining what has become unfamiliar to modern readers.
Fourth stanzaStanze: we are already familiar with the risus; here, it is Mary’s mother Anne who is laughing;56 she is sometimes prefigured and replaced, on account of the identity of names, by Anne (Hannah), mother of Samuel,57 who first wept and later exulted; both belong to the series of long barren and lately blessed mothers, a series beginning with Sarah, the laughing mother. Anne’s laughter marks Mary as the mater ducis, and for Christ the dux, Moses is introduced. The departure of the Jews from Egypt (Exodus and Ps. 113) is one of the fundamental figures of the salvation through Christ; lutum, mud, is one of the symbols of oppression and servitude (Exodus I, 14 and 5, 7: lutum, later, palea)58 with figurative meaning; as Moses liberated his people from servitude in Egypt, Christ liberated mankind from the servitude of sin and perdition.
Fifth stanzaStanze: this passage, with its elegant poetical use of sounds (gaudet ludens, ludus prudens in te laudat), refers to David’s dance, when he brought the Ark of God into his city (II Sam. 6, 12ff.). The Ark figures Mary, and the manna kept in it (Exod. 16, 32–34, and Hebr. 9, 4) figures Christ; thus, David’s dance prefigures the glorification of Christ’s birth.
Sixth stanza: Ruth is often considered, like most of the women of the Old TestamentAltes Testament, as a figure of the Church or of the Virgin;59 here she appears as one of the ancestors of David, and consequently of Christ. It was this still hidden future which she was seeking (quaerebat: Ruth 4, 17–18), when, on the advice of her mother-in-law Naomi, she ‘laid herself down’ at the feet of Boaz; and her son was a joy for Naomi (Ruth 4, 14–17), the Jewess who had lost her own sons; Ruth, too, is a figure of the pagan peoples converted to Christianity.
Seventh stanzaStanze: Bethlemitis botrus vitis is Christ; this is a typological reference to the botrus qui in vecte portatur (Numeri 13, 24), and also to botrus Cypri dilectus meus mihi (Cant. 1, 13). For this later passage, see the Sermones in Cantica of Saint Bernard;60 for the passage of the book of Numbers, let me quote again Rabanus MaurusRabanus Maurus:61
Ille autem botrus uvae quem in ligno de terrae repromissionis duo advexere vectores, botrus pendens ex ligno, utique Christus ex ligno crucis promissus gentibus de terra genitricis Mariae; terrenae stipis secundum camera visceribus effusus.
The comparison between Mary and the earth (‘virgin soil’) is traditional;62 the words non patet spes per alium refer to passages such as MatthMatthäus (Evangelist). 11, 3 or Luke 7, 19.
Eighth stanza: Mary has been identified above (p. 16) as lectus Salomonis; the rex Aquilonis is probably the king of Babylon (Is. 14, 13) as a figure of the devil or of King Herod.
Ninth stanza: for vellus Gedeonis, see p. 133.
Tenth stanzaStanze: Ager plenus refers to Gen. 27, 27: ecce odor filii mei sicut odor agri pleni, cui benedixit dominus; det tibi Deus de rore caeli … For the explanation of Jacob in this passage as figure of Christ, cf. Rabanus MaurusRabanus Maurus,63 or any other mediaeval commentator on Genesis. In our passage, the ager plenus is, of course, the Virgin.
Eleventh stanza: the exsul vetus is Adam, or fallen mankind; his stola prima refers to the parable of the Prodigal Son (LukeLukas (Evangelist) 15, 11ff.), where the father says: Cito proferte stolam primam, et induite ilium. There is also an allusion to Apoc. 7, 14.
The boldness and elasticity in the use of the figurative images and the continuous play of rhyme and alliteration confers upon this text a remarkable unity of style: joyful, playful, and still expressing the highest mystery. The realismRealismus of the last strophes – qui mamillas captans illas, corresponding to non est alter, regnat idem – is entirely in harmony with this sweet spirituality. It is, however, not yet the emotional and passionate realism of the later Franciscan poets, which we are going to discuss in the following pages.
IV
The figurative eulogies are a new type of an old form. They present historical events (for our purpose it does not matter whether