IX] EARLY LATIN CHRISTIAN POETRY 273 more truth than Paulinus suspected. He is speaking of his conversion to the religious life, and says : — Mens nova mi, fateor, mens non mea, non mea quondamt Sed mea nunc auctore deo, qui si quid in acXu Ingeniove meo sua dignum ad munera vidit, Ghratia prima libit tibi gloria debita cedit. Cuius praeceptis partum est quod Christus amaretA — "A new mind is put in me from God; if He sees any- thing in me worthy of His rewards, the thanks and glory is thine (Ausonius), from whose precepts has sprung whatever Christ would love." It was true that a new spirit had come to Paulinus with his con- version; it was also true that his poetic skill was rooted and nourished in his pagan culture, received from his master, Ausonius ; and that his poetic talent could never break away from his early lessons. Yet, so far as his manner of speech and forms of verse permit, he feels as a Christian. Two poems of Paulinus in elegaic metre are of special interest. One is a most Christian epithala- mion, in which purity is praised almost in monastic tone, and all lust and folly exorcised : — Concordes animae casta sociantur amore, Virgo puer Christi, virgo puella dei, Christe deus, pariles due ad tun frena columbas Et moderare levi subdita colla jugo. Namque tuum leve, Christe, jugum est, quod prompta voluntas Suscipit etfacilifert amor obsequio.^ These are sentiments of Christian purity and obedi- ence, virtues which, with patience and humility, were to characterize Christian souls. The poem proceeds, 1 Carmen X, 142-146. < Carmen XXV, 1-6. T
