sk of interesting the literary
circles of the Empire in the evangel of Christ? Why not present the truths
of Christianity in a poetic guise, wrought into forms of beauty and set
forth in the classical metres of Roman literature? This became the passion
of his life, and however we may view the results of his toil, the spirit
in which he went to work, as described in the touching _Epilogue_,
cannot but evoke our profound admiration. He is but a vessel of earth, but
whatever the issue may be, it will be a lasting joy to have sounded forth
the praise of Christ in song.

This then is how Prudentius becomes the first poet of the Christian Church,
or, as Bentley called him, "the Virgil and Horace of the Christians."
Doubtless there were other influences at work to determine the sphere to
which he was naturally attract. Ambrose, who was Bishop of Milan when
Prudentius was twenty-six years of age, had written the first Latin hymns
to be sung in church. Augustine in a familiar passage of the _Confessions_
(ix. 7.) describes how "the custom arose of singing hymns and psalms, after
the use of the Eastern provinces, to save the people from being utterly
worn out by their long and sorrowful vigils." "From that day to this," he
adds, "it has been retained and, many might say, all Thy flocks throughout
the rest of the world now follow our example." To Ambrose and Augustine the
Church of Christ is for ever indebted: to the latter for a devotional
treatise which is the most familiar of all the writings of the fourth
century: to the former for the hymns of praise which he composed and the
practice of singing which he thus inaugurated in the worship of the
Western Church. But the Church owes something also to Prudentius, a much
more gifted poet than Ambrose. The collection of hymns known as the
_Cathemerinon_ or _Hymns for the day_ is as little adapted for
ecclesiastical worship as Keble's _Christian Year_, although excerpts
from these poems have passed into the hymnology of the Church, just as
portions of Keble's work have passed into most hymn books. For example,
seven of these excerpts in the form of hymns are to be found in the Roman
Breviary, and thus for centuries the lyrics of Prudentius have been sung in
the daily services of the Church.

Seeing that Prudentius must address himself to most English readers through
the imperfect medium of a translation, it may be well to remind those who
make their first acquaintance with him that a