Vis dicam, quae causa tuos, Romane, labores In tantum extulerit, quis gloria fotibus aucta Sic cluat, impositis ut mundum frenet habenis? 585 Discordes linguis populos et dissona cultu Regna volens sociare Dens, subiungier uni Imperio, quidquid tractabile moribus esset, Concordique iugo retinacula mollia ferre Constituit, quo corda hominum coniuncta teneret 590 Relligionis amor: nec enim fit copula Christo Digna, nisi implicitas societ mens unica gentes. 592 Ius fecit commune pares et nomine eodem 608 Nexuit et domitos fraterna in vincla redegit. Vivitur omnigenis in partibus, haud secus ac si Cives congenitos concludat moenibus unis Urbs patria atque omnes lare conciliemur avito. 612 En ades omnipotens, concordibus influe terris: 634 Iam mundus te, Christe, capit, quem congrege nexu Pax et Roma tenent: capita haec et culmina rerum Esse iubes, nec Roma tibi sine pace probatur: Et pax ut placeat, facit excellentia Romae, Quae motus varios simul et dicione coercet Et terrore premit. 640 PRUDENTIUS, _contra Symmachum_, ii. 583-640 (sel.). +Subject.+ In a remarkable passage, Prudentius (circ. 400 A.D.) views the victorious empire of Rome as preparing the way for the coming of Christ. The triumphs of the Romans were not, he says, the gifts of false gods, grateful for sacrifices, but were designed by Providence to break down the barriers between the jarring nationalities of the world, and familiarise them with a common yoke, by way of disciplining them for a common Christianity. An “universal peace is struck through sea and land,” and Law, Art, Commerce, and Marriage constitute the world one city and one family. Thus the way was paved for the coming of Christ by the unity of the empire and the civilisation of the individual subject. --North Pinder. [Linenotes: 584. +fotibus+ (cf. _fotum_, _foveo_) = _cherishings_, _supports_, post-classical. 585. +sic cluat+ = _is so famed_, for _cluo_ (ante and post-class.) cf. κλέος. 590-591. +quo+ (sc. _iugo_) ... +amor+, i.e. hearts once knit together by a common yoke would best be held together by a common faith. --N. P. 609. +fraterna in vincla+ = _in the bonds of brotherhood, not those of slavery, as_ +domitos+ _would naturally suggest_. 634. +concordibus+ = _now they are in harmony and peace_, emphatic. 635. +capit+ = _is fit to receive thee_.] MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES PROPEMPTICON VERGILIO.[36] _The Perils of the Deep._ A.