4 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts , and Letters . 
The outstanding rhetorical characteristic of the sermon is its 
lively dramatic quality. 11 Aside from the part in which the proph¬ 
ets are summoned to confute the Jews, direct address is employed 
effectively. Section seven, for example, begins as follows : 12 
Die mihi, HaBretice, qui audes dicere quod minor sit Dei sapientia: die 
mihl, altitudo cseli quanta sit, latitudo terrae, profundum abyssi? 
Section ten ends with the following passage : 13 
Die, Herodes, si te Christus ideo offendit, quia ejus Magis annuntiantibus 
audisti regnum, quid te offenderunt bi qui tecum adversus Christum 
sentiebant principes Judaeorum, quorum filios interficiens ipsos magis 
atrocissima poena in suis filiis afflixisti? Nam Christum minime invenire 
potuisti. Sed quid tecum diutius agam? Ipsos, ipsos conveniam Judaeos, 
qui dum infantem Christum noluerunt agnoscere, filios suos cum illo 
compulsi sunt amittere: quos quidem occidit mortique propinavit Herodes 
vester amicus; sed his mortalitatem aeternamque vitam donavit Christus, 
quern vestrum etiam nunc dicitis inimicum. 
It appears, then, that at several points the sermon contains dra¬ 
matic elements and verges upon a dramatic presentation of its 
theme. 
II 
For our present purpose, however, we may dismiss considerations 
bearing upon the sermon as a whole and may center our attention 
upon the sections addressed to the Jews (Cap. xi-xviii). Almost 
the whole of this part is frequently found during the middle ages 
as a separate liturgical lectio for use in Matins of Christmas or of 
some other day of the Christmas season. This liturgical use is 
seen in the following text found in a lectionary of the twelfth 
century from Arles i * 1 
11 On the literary qualities see Sepet, p. 9. 
12 Benedictine edition, Vol. VIII, col. 14. 
13 This passage serves as a transition to the part beginning Vos, inquam, con- 
venio, O Judcei, to be studied below. 
1 Paris, Bibl. Nat., Ms. latin 1018, Lectionarium Arelatense ssec. xii, fol. 
129r—132v. This is the text printed by Sepet (pp. 3-8). My text differs from 
his only in a few details, all of which are recorded in my foot-notes. I have 
seen no cogent reason for collating the texts in Paris, Bibl. Nat., Ms. latin 16819 
(Lectionarium Compendiense ssec. xi, fol. 12v-14r), Oxford, Bodleian Library, 
Ms. Canonici Liturg. 391 (Lectionarium ssec. xii, fol. llv-13v), and Rome, Bibl. 
Vatic., Ms. Vat. Regin. 125 (Lectionarium Porcalqueriense ssec. xiii, fol. 74r-76v), 
