but later (cf. l. 171), they were engraved on small marble slabs.
25 In both thought and language this stanza, as vii. 16 _et seq._, is
evidently reminiscent of Horace (_Sat._ 2, ii. 77): _Quin corpus
onustum_, etc.
"The Body, too, with Yesterday's excess
Burthened and tired, shall the pure Soul depress,
Weigh down this Portion of celestial Birth,
This Breath of God, and fix it to the Earth."
(Francis).
51 Boldetti, in his work on the Catacombs (lib. i. cap. 59), says
that on many occasions, when he was present at the opening of a
grave, the assembled company were conscious of a spicy odour
diffusing itself from the tomb. Cf. Tertullian (_Apol._ 42): "The
Arabs and Sabaeans knew well that we consume more of their precious
merchandise for our dead than do the heathen for their gods."
57 Prudentius' firm faith in the resurrection of the body is also
nobly expressed in the _Apotheosis_ (ll. 1063 _et seq._):--
"_Nosco meum in Christo corpus resurgere; quid me
Desperare iubes? veniam, quibus ille revenit
Calcata de morte viis: quod credimus hoc est._
* * * * *
_Pellite corde metum, mea membra, et credite vosmet
Cum Christo reditura Deo; nam vos gerit ille
Et secum revocat: morbos ridete minaces:
Inflictos casus contemnite; tetra sepulcra
Despuite; exsurgens quo Christus provocat, ite._"
_Translation._
"I know in Christ my body shall arise;
Why bid me, then, despair? for I shall go
By that same path whereby my Lord returned,
Death trodden 'neath His feet: this is my creed.
Banish, my limbs, all terror; and believe
That ye with Christ our God shall yet return;
He beareth you and with Himself recalls.
Laugh at the threats of sickness; scorn the blows
Of fate; despise the horrors of the tomb;
And fare ye where the risen Christ doth call."
61 The poet expresses as a duty owed to Christ Himself the heathen
obligation of casting three handfuls of earth upon a body discovered
dead.
69 For the incident referred to in these lines, see the Apocryphal
book of Tobias, cc. ii. and xi. Tobit, a pious Israelite captive
in Nineveh, was reduced to beggary as the result of his zeal in
burying those of his countrymen who had been killed and exposed by
royal command. He also lost his sight, which was eventually restored
by the application of the gall of a fish which attacked his son
Tobias, and was killed by him. The "fish" of the legend is probably
the crocodile, whose gall was credited with medicinal properties by
various Greek and Latin writers. Cf. Pliny, _N. H._ xxviii. 8: "They
say that nothing avails more against cataract than to anoint the eyes
with its gall mixed with honey."
113 Cf. Cyprian (_De Mortal._ 20): "We must not lament our brethren
whom the Lord's summons has freed from the world, for we know that
they are not lost, but gone before. We may not wear the black robes
of mourning while they have put on the white raiment of joy. Nor
may we grieve for those as lost whom we know to be living with God."