Preface: Hymns For The Christian's Day Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDBEFFGHFEEFFFHBFEE BEHFIFEEGEFEFBEEFEBB FFCBB E J HFKDEFEFEFBBFCDHEBEC HFFFCEFFEEEFCDEFFEFL BMKAF| PRAEFATIO | A |
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| Per quinquennia iam decem | B |
| ni fallor fuimus septimus insuper | C |
| annum cardo rotat dum fruimur sole volubili | D |
| Instat terminus et diem | B |
| vicinum senio iam Deus adplicat | E |
| Quid nos utile tanti spatio temporis egimus | F |
| Aetas prima crepantibus | F |
| flevit sub ferulis mox docuit toga | G |
| infectum vitiis falsa loqui non sine crimine | H |
| Tum lasciva protervitas | F |
| et luxus petulans heu pudet ac piget | E |
| foedavit iuvenem nequitiae sordibus ac luto | E |
| Exin iurgia turbidos | F |
| armarunt animos et male pertinax | F |
| vincendi studium subiacuit casibus asperis | F |
| Bis legum moderamine | H |
| frenos nobilium reximus urbium | B |
| ius civile bonis reddidimus terruimus reos | F |
| Tandem militiae gradu | E |
| evectum pietas principis extulit | E |
| adsumptum propius stare iubens ordine proximo | B |
| Haec dum vita volans agit | E |
| inrepsit subito canities seni | H |
| oblitum veteris me Saliae consulis arguens | F |
| ex quo prima dies mihi | I |
| quam multas hiemes volverit et rosas | F |
| pratis post glaciem reddiderit nix capitis probat | E |
| Numquid talia proderunt | E |
| carnis post obitum vel bona vel mala | G |
| cum iam quidquid id est quod fueram mors aboleverit | E |
| Dicendum mihi Quisquis es | F |
| mundum quem coluit mens tua perdidit | E |
| non sunt illa Dei quae studuit cuius habeberis | F |
| Atqui fine sub ultimo | B |
| peccatrix anima stultitiam exuat | E |
| saltem voce Deum concelebret si meritis nequit | E |
| hymnis continuet dies | F |
| nec nox ulla vacet quin Dominum canat | E |
| pugnet contra hereses catholicam discutiat fidem | B |
| conculcet sacra gentium | B |
| labem Roma tuis inferat idolis | F |
| carmen martyribus devoveat laudet apostolos | F |
| Haec dum scribo vel eloquor | C |
| vinclis o utinam corporis emicem | B |
| liber quo tulerit lingua sono mobilis ultimo | B |
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| Preface Hymns For The Christian's Day | E |
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| Newly Translated Into English Verse By R Martin Pope | J |
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| Full fifty years my span of life hath run | H |
| Unless I err and seven revolving years | F |
| Have further sped while I the sun enjoy | K |
| Yet now the end draws nigh and by God's will | D |
| Old age's bound is reached how have I spent | E |
| And with what fruit so wide a tract of days | F |
| I wept in boyhood 'neath the sounding rod | E |
| Youth's toga donned the rhetorician's arts | F |
| I plied and with deceitful pleadings sinned | E |
| Anon a wanton life and dalliance gross | F |
| Alas the recollection stings to shame | B |
| Fouled and polluted manhood's opening bloom | B |
| And then the forum's strife my restless wits | F |
| Enthralled and the keen lust of victory | C |
| Drove me to many a bitterness and fall | D |
| Twice held I in fair cities of renown | H |
| The reins of office and administered | E |
| To good men justice and to guilty doom | B |
| At length the Emperor's will beneficent | E |
| Exalted me to military power | C |
| And to the rank that borders on the throne | H |
| The years are speeding onward and gray hairs | F |
| Of old have mantled o'er my brows | F |
| And Salia's consulship from memory dies | F |
| What frost bound winters since that natal year | C |
| Have fled what vernal suns reclothed | E |
| The meads with roses this white crown declares | F |
| Yet what avail the prizes or the blows | F |
| Of fortune when the body's spark is quenched | E |
| And death annuls whatever state I held | E |
| This sentence I must hear Whate'er thou art | E |
| Thy mind hath lost the world it loved not God's | F |
| The things thou soughtest Whose thou now shalt be | C |
| Yet now ere hence I pass my sinning soul | D |
| Shall doff its folly and shall praise my Lord | E |
| If not by deeds at least with humble lips | F |
| Let each day link itself with grateful hymns | F |
| And every night re echo songs of God | E |
| Yea be it mine to fight all heresies | F |
| Unfold the meanings of the Catholic faith | L |
| Trample on Gentile rites thy gods O Rome | B |
| Dethrone the Martyrs laud th' Apostles sing | M |
| O while such themes my pen and tongue employ | K |
| May death strike off these fetters of the flesh | A |
| And bear me whither my last breath shall rise | F |
Aurelius Clemens Prudentius
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