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neo-Latinist poets we meet a large number of preach-
ers, school-rectors, university and grammar-school
professors, who translated the Psalms into Horatian
metres, converted ecclesiastical and edifying songs of
every type into the most divine ancient strophes^ and
finally, in an immeasurable number of occasional
poems, celebrated in verse princes and potentates, re-
ligious and secular festivals, the consecration of
churches, christenings, marriage, interments, installa-
tions, occasions of public rejoicing and calamity
(Baum^artner). The Jesuits were as distinguished
for theu" fruitful activity in the field of lyrical poetry
as in the school drama. With Sarbiewski (q.v.)» the
Polish Horace, were associated by Urban VIIl for the
revision of the old hymns in the Breviary Famian
Strada, Tarauinius Galuzzi, Hieronymus Petrucci,
and Cardinal Robert Bellarmine. In addition to
Balde (q. v.) there were amon^ the German Jesuit
poets a notable number of lyricists. Of the many
names we may mention Jacob Masen, Nicola Avan-
cini, Adam Widl, and John Bissel, who must be num-
bered among the best-known imitators of Horace. In
the Nethermnds, France, Italy, England, Portugal,
and Spain, their number was not smaller, nor their
achievements of less value. For example the Dutch
Hosschius (de Hossche, 1596-1669) excels both Balde
and Sarbiewski in purity of language and smoothness
of verse. Simon Rettenbacher (1634-1706), the
Benedictine imitator of Balde, whose lyrics show a
true poetic ^ft, also deserves a place among the neo-
Latinist writers of odes. The nineteenth century
added but one name to the list of Latin lyricists, that
of Leo XIII, whose poems evince an intimate knowl-
edge of ancient classical literature. The other trend
of neo-Latinist lyric poetry embraces religious hym-
nody. "The whole career of ecclesiastical and devo-
tional hynmody from its cradle to the present day may
be divided into three natural periods, of which the first
is the most important, the second the longest, and the
third the most insignificant. Such is the division of
Latin ecclesiastical hymnody (q. v.) given by the
fl;reatest authority, the late Father Guido Dreves,
formerly a memlx^r of the Society of Jesus.
C. The neo-Latin Epic. — ^The epic forms, as is nat- ural, the largest part of our inheritance of Christian Latin poetry. As a lucid treatment according to any regular division of the subject-matter is difficult, we slmll content ourselves with a chronological sketch of it. The foundation of the Benedictine Order was in every respect an event of prime importance. The Benedictines advanced the mterests of culture, not only to supply the needs of life, but also to embellish it. Thus among the earliest companions of St. Bene- dict we already find a poet. Marcus of Monte Cas- sino, who in his distich san^ the praises of the deceased founder of his order. Dunng the sixth century, while the foundations of a rich literature were being thus laid the culture formerly so flourishing in Northern Africa had almost died out. The imperial governor, Flaviua Cresconius Corippus, and Bishop Verecundus were still regarded as poets of some merit: but the for- mer lacked poetic inspiration, the latter, poetic form. Among the Visigoths in Spain, however, we find true poets, e. g., St. Eugenius II with his version of the Hex- aemeron. In Gaul in the sixth century flourished the most celebrated poet of his age, Venantius Fortunatus. Most original is his '* Epithalamium " on the marriage of Sigebert I of Austrasia to the Visigothic princess Brunehaut, Christian thought being clothed in ancient mythological forms. About 250 more or less exten- sive poems of Venantius are extant, including a " Life of St. Martin" in more than two thousand hexameter verses. Most of his composition are occasional poems. In addition to his well-known hymns " Vexilla regis" and ** Pange lingua", his elegies treating of the tragi- cal fate of the family of Radegundis found the greatest appreciation. About the same period there sprang up
in the British Isles a rich harvest of Latin culture
One of the most eminent poets is St. Aldhelm, a scion
of the royal house of Wessex: his great •work "De
laudibus virginum", containing 3000 verses, attained
a wide renown which it long enjoyed. The Venerable
Bede also cultivated Latin poetry, writing a eulogy of
St. Cuthbert in 976 hexameters.
Ireland transmitted the true Faith, together with higher culture, to Germany. The earliest pioneers were Saints Columbanus and Gall: the former is cred- ited with some poems, the latter founded Saint-Gall. The real apostle of Germany, St. Boniface, left behind some hunareds of didactic verses . The seeds sown by this saint flourished and spread under the energetic Charlemagne, who succeecled, without neglecting his extensive affairs of state, in making his Court a Roimd Table of Science and Art, at which Latin was the collo- quial speech. The soul of this learned circle was Al- cuin, who showed his knowledge of classical antiquity in two great epic poems, the " Life of St. Willibrord and the history of his native York. In command of language and skill of versification as well as in the number of poems transmitted to posterity, Theodulf the Goth surpassed all members of the Round Table. Movements similar to that at Charlemagne's Court are observed in the contemporary monastic schools of Fulda, Reichenau, and Saint-Gall. It will suffice to mention a few of the chief names from the multitude of poets. Walafrid Strabo's " De visionibus Wettini". containing about 1000 hexameters, is justly regarded as the precursor of Dante's "Divine Comedy". His verses on the equestrian statue of Theodoric, " Versus de imagine tetrici ", are of literary importance, because he represents the king as a tyrant hating God and man. Highly interesting also for the art of gardening is his great poem "Hortulus", in which he descries the monastery garden with its various herbs etc. Con- temporary with Walafrid and characterized by the same spirit were the poets Ermoldas, Nigellus, Ermen- rich, Sedulius Scottus, etc. As a " real gem from the treasury of old manuscripts" F. RQckert describes the elegy on Hathumod, the first Abbess of Gandersheim, written by the Benedictine Father Agius. From the same monk of Corwey we have the poem "On the translation of St. Liborius" and a poetical biography of Charlemagne. A peculiar work was written by Albert Odo of Cluny under the title "Occupatio": it is an epico-didactic poem against pride and debauch- ery, which he demonstrates to be the chief vices in the history of the world.
The golden age of Saint-Gall begins with the end of the ninth century, after which opens the epoch of the four famous Notkers and the five not less renown^ Ekkehards. The first Ekkehard is the author of the welUknown "Waltharius" which Ekkehard IV re- vised. About the time when the " Waltharius" was revised, there appeared another epic poem "Ruod- lieb" — a romance in Latin hexameters by an unknown author, describing the adventurous fate of the hero — which is unfortunately only partly extant. The name of the poet who in 1175 composed in Latin hexameters the first "animal" epic, "Ecbasis cuius- dam captivi per tropologiam", is also unknown. The frame-work of the poem is the story of a monk who runs away from the monastery but is brought back again under the form of a calf. The "Fable of the l£es" forms the "animal" epic in which the enmity of the wolf and fox is the central point. In the twelfm century this "animal" epic received an extension, probably from Magister Nivardus of Flanders, under the title "Ysengrimus" or "Renardus vulpes : from the poem thus extended an extract was made later, and this is the last product of the " animal" epic in the thirteenth century. Like Charlemagne Otto the Great (936-73) sought to make his Court the centre of science, art. and literature. The most brilliant reDr&- sentative ot this period is the nun Hroswitha, pupu at
