9 The day of twelve hours appears to have been adopted by the
Romans about B.C. 291. Ambrose (_de virginibus_, iii. 4), commenting
on Ps. cxix. and the words "Seven times a day do I praise thee,"
declares that prayers are to be offered up with thanksgiving when
we rise from sleep, when we go forth, when we prepare to take food,
when we have taken it, at the hour of incense, and lastly, when we
retire to rest. He probably alludes to private prayer. The stanza
here indicates that the second hour after midday has arrived, when
the fasting ended and the midday meal was taken.
14 The word _festum_, as in vii. 4, indicates a special fast day.
Until the sixth century, fasting was simply a penitential discipline
and was not used as a particular mode of penance. In the fourth
century it was a fairly common practice as a preparation for Holy
Communion. Fasting before Baptism was a much earlier practice.
The stated fasts of the Western Church were (1) _annual_, that
is, ante-paschal or Lent; (2) _monthly_, or the fasts of the four
seasons in the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th months; (3) _weekly_, on
Wednesday and Friday. There was also the fast of the Rogations and
the Vigils or Eves of holy days. It is doubtful whether all these
were in vogue as early as Prudentius.
33 This passage on the Shepherd reminds us of one of the most common
pictorial representations of the Catacombs. Christian art owed
something to paganism in this matter; ancient sculptures represent
the god Pan with a goat thrown across his shoulders and a Pan's
pipe in his hand; while the poets Calpurnius and Tibullus both
refer to the custom of carrying a stray or neglected lamb on the
shoulders of the shepherd. Going further back, the figure is common
in the O. T. to express God's care over His people. Our Lord
therefore used for His own purpose and transfigured with new
meaning a familiar figure. The gradual transition from paganism
to Christianity is curiously illustrated by the fact that in several
of the Catacomb bas-reliefs and paintings the Good Shepherd holds in
His outstretched hand a Pan's pipe. See Maitland's _Church in the
Catacombs_, p. 315, for a woodcut of the Good Shepherd with a lamb
over His shoulders, two sheep at His feet, a palm tree (or poplar)
on either side, and a Pan's pipe in His right hand; and also the
frontispiece for a reproduction from the Cemetery of St. Peter and
St. Marcellinus.