2 ttd S. IX. June SO. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



505 



show that the charge of interpolation, though it 

 may be " a clever piece of criticism," is in fact 

 totally destitute of foundation. 



It seems that one of the arguments on which 

 stress is laid is, that the hymn is, " according to 

 the venerable testimony of antiquity," amcebcean, 

 and that the three versifies on the Trinity inter- 

 fere with the regular alternation which its amas- 

 bsean character requires. St. Augustin would 

 not have the last response ; but St. Ambrose 

 would both begin and end the hymn. Now, 

 wei'e I to concede the amasbaean nature of the 

 hymn, I should still be disposed to dispute the 

 necessity of the second interlocutor having the 

 last word ; especially in the unique instance al- 

 luded to, — the extemporised doxology of St. Am- 

 brose and St. Augustin on the occasion of the 

 hitter's baptism, through the ministry of the 

 former. But I contend that the hymn is not 

 amaebasan at all : certainly not from its internal 

 construction ; the alternate versicles not being at 

 all the necessary response to the preceding : — in 

 fact, the arrangement of versicles being a mode 

 adopted in comparatively modern times. The 

 " Te Deum" is not more amasbaean than the solo 

 canticles of the " Magnificat " of the Blessed 

 Virgin, the " Benedictus " of Zachary, or the 

 " Nunc dimittis " of Simeon. 



Neither can its alternating construction be 

 proved from- the supposed fact alluded to — the 

 mutual responses of St. Ambrose and St. Au- 

 gustin at the baptismal font. That fact sound 

 criticism has shown to be apocryphal. On what 

 testimony was it supposed to rest ? On a certain 

 chronicle which bore the title of the Chronicle of 

 St. Datius, who was Bishop of Milan, and died Jan. 

 14, an. 552-3. His testimony, both on account 

 of his office, and his proximity to the times of 

 St. Ambrose, was considered entitled to credence. 

 I give the extract immediately bearing on the 

 point : — 



" Finita admonitione quam act populum B. Ambrosius 

 ministrabat, privatim ad eum Augustinus pervenit. At 

 B. Ambrosius, cognita, ejus scientia, patefactaque ejus 

 discipline, quid in arte valeret, qualiter in 6de Catholica 

 dissentiret, et per Spiritum Sanctum cognoscens, quali- 

 terque fidelis et Catholicus futurus esset, placidissime et 



multiim charitative eum suscepit Tandem nutu divino, 



non post multos dies, sicut multis videntibus et sibi con- 

 sentientibus palam observaverant, sic in funtibusqui Beati 

 Johanni* adscribuntur, Deo opitulante, a B. Ambrosio, 

 cunctis fideiibus liujus urbis adstantibus et videntibus, in 

 nomine San eta: et individual Trinitatis baptizatus et cou- 

 tiriuatus e-t. In quibus fontibus, prout Spiritus Sanctus 

 dabat eloqui illis, Te Deum laudamus decautantes, ennctia 

 qui aderant audientibus et videntibus, simulque mirantl- 

 bu j , ill posteris cdidcrunt quod ab unireTSB Eccli iuCatho- 

 lleft usque liodie tenetur et religiose decantatur." — E x 

 Chronico JJutii, lib. i. cap. '.'. 



This is the principal foundation for the alleged 

 joint improvisation of the "Te Deum" by St. 

 Ambrose and St. Augustin. But the illustrious 



Muratori has shown, in the Appendix ad 1. torn. 

 Anecdotorum, cap. 6., and in his Preface to the 

 History of Landulphus Senior {Rerum Italicarum 

 Scriptores) that the so-called Chronicle of St. 

 Datius.was not written by St. Datius at all, but 

 by Landulphus, Senior, who lived several hun- 

 dred years later ; and that there is nothing to 

 prove that St. Datius ever wrote a Chronicle at 

 all; but that certainly that which passes under 

 his name is supposititious as to the authorship. 

 This must be, as it since has been, considered 

 well-nigh fatal to the authority of the Chronicle 

 in this matter; not only on account of the eminent 

 erudition of Muratori, but also of the office he had 

 held of keeper of the Ambrosian library. The 

 title of " Chronicle of St. Daiius" had in fact 

 been affixed to the codices by a comparatively 

 recent hand. The answer, also, of A. M. Pus- 

 terla, Librarian of the Metropolitan Chapter of 

 Milan, to Mahillon's enquiries as to the genuine- 

 ness of St. Datius' Chronicle, confirms the conclu- 

 sions of Muratori. It was as follows (Anulecta 

 Mabil. torn. i. p. 5.) : — 



" Non modb non eadem manu descriptum, verum neque 

 ab eodem anctore; nam primam partem scripsit Landul- 

 phus senior; secundam Arnulpbus, et tertiam Landulphus 

 junior, omnes Mediolanenses Historici. Titulus Cbroni- 

 corum est recentior, isque est bujusmodi: Chronica Datii 

 Archiepiscopi Mediolani nuncupata." 



Another editor of " Fragments of Milanese 

 Historians" makes this remark : — " Libellis qui- 

 busdam historicis imperite prapositum Datii no- 

 men vidimus." And Merati informs us that at the 

 end of the Metropolitan Codex is written, " vetus- 

 tissimis characteribus," — " Explicit Liber histo- 

 riarum Laudulphi historiographi." Now Landul- 

 phus senior, Arnulphus, and Landulphus junior, 

 all wrote between the years 1000 and 1100. 



As this passage in the Chronicle was the prin- 

 cipal support of the alternate improvisation, I 

 think it will be acknowledged that it has received 

 a rude shock at the hands of so eminent a critic 

 as Muratori. I will also here remark upon the 

 inherent a priori improbability of the story. St. 

 Augustin, although a learned and distinguished 

 man, was yet, on the occasion, only a layman, just 

 rising from the humble attitude of a catechumen ; 

 while St. Ambrose was art officiating Pontiff', de- 

 riving, at the moment, from the solemnity of the 

 function and of the place, an exalting superiority 

 over the neophyte. 



However, it must be acknowledged that there 

 was, previously to the time of Landulphus, a 

 floating tradition of the sort, otherwise he could 

 not have recorded it. There exists also a MS. 

 Psalter, which was, anno 772, presented by Char- 

 lemagne to Pope Adrian I., who in the year 788 

 bestowed it upon the church of Bremen, where it 

 was preserved during the space of 800 years, and 

 which is now, I believe, in the Vienna library. In 



