438 THE METHODIST HYMN-BOOK ILLUSTRATED
the Venerable. There he spent his life. His great satire, De Contemptu Mundi, was written in the midst of the most luxurious monastery in Europe. Its church was unequalled by any in France ; its services were renowned for their elaborate ritual. It was the head of some two thousand monasteries scattered all over Europe. Bernard of Clairvaux accuses them of gross self-indulgence. Who could say, to speak of nothing else, in how many ways eggs are cooked and worked up ? with what care they are turned in and out, made hard or soft, or chopped fine ; now fried, now roasted, now stuffed ; now they are served mixed with other things, now by themselves. Even the external appearance of the dishes is such that the eye, as well as the taste, is charmed, and when the stomach complains that it is full, curiosity is still alive. Bernard would say as he walked in the cloister, Dear brethren, I must go ; there is some one waiting for me in my cell. That was his Master and Saviour, with whom he wished to have communion.
Hora novissima, tempora pessima sunt, vigilemus !
The poem from which this translation is made contains about 3,000 lines. Bernard says that unless the Spirit of Wisdom and Knowledge had been with him, and had flowed in upon him, he could not have sustained the task of weaving together so long a poem in so complicated a metre. The metre was well suited, however, to the subject. Denunciation of an evil world is interwoven with longings for the joy and rest of Paradise. Dr. Neale s translations are far too jubilant to give any idea of the prevailing tone of the original. Mr. C. L. Ford has published a translation of some parts of the first book in the original metre, with Latin and English side by side- Here, life how vanishing ! short is our banishing, brief is our pain ; There, life undying, the life without sighing, our measureless gain. Rich satisfaction ! a moment of action, eternal reward ! Strange retribution ! for depth of pollution, a home with the Lord
The poem was written about 1145.
This hymn is a translation of the lines beginning- Hie breve vivitur, hie breve plangitur, hie breve fletur.
It was published in Dr. Neale s Mediaeval Hymns, 1851.
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