Page:Medivalhymnsand00nealgoog.djvu/231

Day of calm serenity,
By no twilight followed—
Day when age was changed to youth,
Death in victory swallowed.
There, Mauritius, spite his name,^[1]
Shines in heavenly whiteness:
Ethiopian Candidus
Puts on candid brightness:
Exuperius o'er his foes
There superior standeth;
Victor, vanquished though by death,^[2]
With the victors bandeth;
Innocentius meetly falls,
Innocence defending:
And Vitalis for his meed
Hath the life unending.
Six the chiefs that led the war,
Thousands six they guided;
For the truth they stood in fight,
Careless what betided:
Though their necks endured the sword,
They, the gallant-hearted,
From their Head—their Head and ours—
Never could be parted.
Pray, ye valiant six, that we
Still may bid defiance,
So we gain the six-stepped^[3] Throne,

To the twice six lions: