188 NOTES ON STYLE 



little attention has hitherto been paid to the extraordinary 

 plasticity of Latin in the decline of antique civilisation. 

 Responding to altered spiritual conditions, Jerome clad the 

 Roman strength of speech with Asiatic pomp, bent its im- 

 perial stiffness to Greek subtlety, drew from its iron chords 

 the melodies of Syrian lyres and harping hallelujahs of 

 apocalyptic ecstasy. At the moment when classical style 

 was expiring in the conceits and reminiscences of poets like 

 Ausonius, a fresh and varied style appeared, adapted in its 

 elasticity and 'plangent music to the utterance of modern 

 emotion. And while the instrument of prose was being 

 reconstructed thus, metre discarded quantity for accent, 

 invented new rhythms and new stanzas, adopted the orna- 

 ment of rhyme. 



The Vulgate is so all-important in this change of national 

 style, which prepared the Latin language to be the cosmo- 

 politan vehicle of expression in Europe during the next 

 900 years, that I may be pardoned for exhibiting its 

 prose by illustrations. With any passage of Cicero, or 

 Livy, or Quintilian, in our minds, let us read the following 

 extracts : 



Post heec aperuit Job os suum, et maledixit diei suo, et locutus est. 



Pereat dies in qua natus sum, et nox in qua dictum est : conceptus 

 est homo. 



Dies ille vertatur in tenebras, non requirat eum Deus desuper, et non 

 illustretur lumine. 



Obscurent eum tenebrae et umbra mortis, occupet eum ealigo, et 

 involvatur amaritudine. 



Noctem illam tenebrosus turbo possideat, non computetur in diebus 

 anni, nee numeretur in mensibus. 



Sit nox ilia solitaria, nee laude digna : 



maledicant ei qui maledicunt diei, qui parati sunt suscitare leviathan : 



Obtenebrentur stellse caligine ejus : expectet lucem et non videat, nee 

 ortum surgentis auroras : 



Quia non conclusit ostia ventris qui portavit me, non abstulit mala 

 ab oculis mcis. 



Quare non in vulva mortuus sum, egressus ex utero non statim 

 perii ? 



Quare exceptus genibus ? Cur lactatus uberibus ? 



Nunc enim dormiens silerem, et somno meo requiescerem : 



