Chapter IX

"O qui perpetua mundum ratione gubernas Terrarum caelique sator qui tempus ab aeuo Ire iubes stabilisque manens das cuncta moueri. Quem non externae pepulerunt fingere causae Materiae fluitantis opus, uerum insita summi 5 Forma boni liuore carens, tu cuncta superno Ducis ab exemplo, pulchrum pulcherrimus ipse Mundum mente gerens similique in imagine formans Perfectasque iubens perfectum absoluere partes. Tu numeris elementa ligas ut frigora flammis 10 Arida conueniant liquidis, ne purior ignis Euolet aut mersas deducant pondera terras. Tu triplicis mediam naturae cuncta mouentem Conectens animam per consona membra resoluis. Quae cum secta duos motum glomerauit in orbes, 15 In semet reditura meat mentemque profundam Circuit et simili conuertit imagine caelum. Tu causis animas paribus uitasque minores Prouehis et leuibus sublimes curribus aptans In caelum terramque seris quas lege benigna 20 Ad te conuersas reduci facis igne reuerti. Da pater augustam menti conscendere sedem, Da fontem lustrare boni, da luce reperta In te conspicuos animi defigere uisus. Dissice terrenae nebulas et pondera molis 25 Atque tuo splendore mica! Tu namque serenum, Tu requies tranquilla piis, te cernere finis, Principium, uector, dux, semita, terminus idem.

IX.[133]

"O Thou, that dost the world in lasting order guide,
Father of heaven and earth, Who makest time swiftly slide,
And, standing still Thyself, yet fram'st all moving laws,
Who to Thy work wert moved by no external cause:
But by a sweet desire, where envy hath no place,
Thy goodness moving Thee to give each thing his grace,
Thou dost all creatures' forms from highest patterns take,
From Thy fair mind the world fair like Thyself doth make.
Thus Thou perfect the whole perfect each part dost frame.
Thou temp'rest elements, making cold mixed with flame
And dry things join with moist, lest fire away should fly,
Or earth, opprest with weight, buried too low should lie.
Thou in consenting parts fitly disposed hast
Th'all-moving soul in midst of threefold nature placed,
Which, cut in several parts that run a different race,
Into itself returns, and circling doth embrace
The highest mind, and heaven with like proportion drives.
Thou with like cause dost make the souls and lesser lives,
Fix them in chariots swift, and widely scatterest
O'er heaven and earth; then at Thy fatherly behest
They stream, like fire returning, back to Thee, their God.
Dear Father, let my mind Thy hallowed seat ascend,
Let me behold the spring of grace and find Thy light,
That I on Thee may fix my soul's well clearéd sight.
Cast off the earthly weight wherewith I am opprest,
Shine as Thou art most bright, Thou only calm and rest
To pious men whose end is to behold Thy ray,
Who their beginning art, their guide, their bound, and way.[134]

[133] This poem is a masterly abridgment of the first part of the
_Timaeus_, and was eagerly fastened on by commentators of the early
Middle Ages whose direct knowledge of Plato was confined to the
translation of that dialogue by Chalcidius.

[134] Cf. the string of nouns in _Tr._ iv. (_supra_, p. 70 _ad fin._).