190 NOTES ON STYLE 



Aut sonus validus preBcipitatarum petrarum, aut ludentium animalium 

 cursus invisus, aut mugientium valida bestiarum vox, aut resonans de 

 altissimis montibus echo : deficientes faciebant illos prae timore. 



Omnis enim orbis terrarum limpido illuminabatur lumine, et non 

 impeditus operibus continebatur. 



Soils autem illis superposita erat gravis nox, imago tenebrarum, quaB 

 superventura illis erat. Ipsi ergo sibi erant graviores tenebris. 



Like the darkness of the Dark Ages the darkness which 

 deepened until the pulse of human life well-nigh stopped, 

 and men sat still with indrawn breath, waiting for the mid- 

 night bell to toll the advent of the year of doom these 

 groaning Latin sentences diffuse a sinister obscurity, and 

 symbolise the gloom in which the nations walked, while 

 4 the whole world shined with clear light, and none were 

 hindered in their labour,' but the minds of men wore 

 night around them, and terrified their souls with self-created 

 shadows. 



What strikes us most in this new style is the dissolution 

 of the previous periodic structure of sentences, and the 

 addition of a hitherto unapprehended colour- value to the 

 rich sonority of ample Latin verbs and nouns. Writers of 

 hymns in rhyme presently availed themselves of these 

 peculiarities. The noble blending of long and short words, 

 which we noticed in a quotation from Horace, now came to be 

 employed with different purpose. It gave singular majesty 

 to the religious emotion of stanzas like the following : 



Dum me mori est necesse, 

 Noli mihi tune deesse ; 

 In tremenda mortis hora 

 Veni Jesu absque mora ; 



Tuere me et libera. 

 Cum me jubes emigrare, 

 Jesu care tune appare ; 

 O arnator amplectende, 

 Temet ipsum tune ostende 



In cruce salutifera. 



We have travelled far away from Begulus. Is it possible that 

 the language should be called the same ? 



