not in use, at any rate in Rome, in the
     pontificate of Zacharias (ob. 752 A.D.) point in this direction. 
     In the Spanish Church particularly the very ancient custom of
     praying at the hour when the evening lamps were lighted had developed
     into the regular office of the lucernarium, as distinct from
     Vespers.  The Mozarabic Breviary (seventh century) contains the
     prayers and responses for this service, and the Rule of St. Isidore
     runs:  “In the evening offices, first the lucernarium, then two
     psalms, one responsory and lauds, a hymn and prayer are to be
     said.”  St. Basil also writes:  “It seemed good to our fathers not
     to receive in silence the gift of the evening light, but to give
     thanks as soon as it appeared.”  It is probable, therefore, that
     Prudentius intended the hymn for daily use, and that after speaking
     of God as the source of light, and His manifestations in the form
     of fire to Moses and the Israelites, his thoughts pass naturally,
     though somewhat abruptly, to the special festival—­Easter Eve—­on
     which the sanctuaries were most brilliantly illuminated.  The
     question is fully discussed by Brockhaus (A.  Prudentius Clemens
     in seiner Bedeutung fuer die Kirche seiner Zeit), and Roesler (Der
     catholische Dichter A. Prudentius).  Part of this hymn is used in
     the Mozarabic Breviary for the First Sunday after Epiphany, at
     Vespers, being stanzas 1, 7, 35, 38-41.

7 The words incussu silicis are perhaps reminiscent of the Spanish
     ceremonial of Easter Eve, when the bishop struck the flint, lighting
     from it first a candle, then a lamp, from which the deacons lighted
     their candles; these were blessed by the bishop, and the procession
     from the processus into the church followed.

21 Cf.  Vaughan, The Lampe:—­

                    “Then thou dost weepe
          Still as thou burn’st, and the warm droppings creepe
          To measure out thy length.”

119 The folium here is probably the ancient malobathrum, generally
     identified as the Indian cinnamon.  The Arab traders who brought this
     valuable product into the Western markets, surrounded its origin with
     much mystery.

125 The following stanzas, in which Prudentius elaborates the
     beautiful fancy that the sufferings of lost spirits are alleviated
     at Eastertide, have incurred the severe censure of some of the
     earlier editors.  Fabricius calls it “a Spanish fabrication,” while
     others, as Cardinal Bellarmine, declare that the author is speaking
     “poetically and not dogmatically.”  That such a belief, however, was
     actually held by some section of the ancient Church is evident from