This hymn was composed by a member of the Jesuit Order. Its date is of
the fourteenth to the sixteenth century; its subject the Resurrection.
1. Plaudite: cf. Flumina plaudent manu, Psalms 97. 8; 'All the trees of
the field shall clap their hands.'--Isaiah 55. 12. 2. aether: the upper
air. 3, 4. Let the heights and the depths of the world rejoice. 5, 6.
The black storm-rack has passed by. 7. almae: bountiful. 11, 12.
pictis...campis: cf. 'daisies...do paint the meadows.'--_Love's Labour's
Lost_, V. 2. 905. 17, 18. Full veins are metaphorical for the full
strong flow of song. 20. Barbytha: bad spelling for barbita, lutes. 26.
Ludite: flow merrily.
The hymn has been translated into English by Mrs. Charles, _Christian
Life in Song_, p. 184, and by Duffield, _Latin Hymns_, p. 398. The
latter thus renders ll. 9-24:
Spring breezes are blowing,
Spring flowers are at hand,
Spring grasses are growing
Abroad in the land,
And violets brighten
The roses in bloom,
And marigolds heighten
The lilies' perfume.
Rise then, O my praises,
Fresh life in your veins,
As the viol upraises
The gladdest of strains,
For once more he sees us,
Alive, as he said;
Our holy Lord Jesus
Escaped from the dead.