“Transmissa raptim praeda cassos dentium eludit ictus incruentam transvolans inpune linguam, ne retentam mordicus offam molares dissecarent uvidi, os omne transit et palatum praeterit.

Ternis dierum ac noctium processibus mansit ferino devoratus gutture, errabat illic per latebras viscerum, ventris recessus circumibat tortiles anhelus extis intus aestuantibus.”

194 Prudentius appears to have believed that the mystery of the
     Incarnation was concealed from Satan, and that the Temptation
     was an endeavour to ascertain whether Jesus was the Son of God
     or no.  Cf.  Milton, Par.  Reg. i.:—­

          “Who this is we must learn, for Man he seems
          In all his lineaments, though in his face
          The glimpses of his Father’s glory shine.”

VIII

9 The day of twelve hours appears to have been adopted by the
     Romans about B.C. 291.  Ambrose (de virginibus, iii. 4), commenting
     on Ps. cxix. and the words “Seven times a day do I praise thee,”
     declares that prayers are to be offered up with thanksgiving when
     we rise from sleep, when we go forth, when we prepare to take food,
     when we have taken it, at the hour of incense, and lastly, when we
     retire to rest.  He probably alludes to private prayer.  The stanza
     here indicates that the second hour after midday has arrived, when
     the fasting ended and the midday meal was taken.

14 The word festum, as in vii. 4, indicates a special fast day. 
     Until the sixth century, fasting was simply a penitential discipline
     and was not used as a particular mode of penance.  In the fourth
     century it was a fairly common practice as a preparation for Holy
     Communion.  Fasting before Baptism was a much earlier practice. 
     The stated fasts of the Western Church were (1) annual, that
     is, ante-paschal or Lent; (2) monthly, or the fasts of the four
     seasons in the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th months; (3) weekly, on
     Wednesday and Friday.  There was also the fast of the Rogations and
     the Vigils or Eves of holy days.  It is doubtful whether all these
     were in vogue as early as Prudentius.

33 This passage on the Shepherd reminds us of one of the most common
     pictorial representations of the Catacombs.  Christian art owed
     something to paganism in this matter; ancient sculptures represent
     the god Pan with a goat thrown across his shoulders and a Pan’s
     pipe in his hand; while the poets Calpurnius and Tibullus both
     refer to the custom of carrying a stray or neglected lamb on the
     shoulders of the shepherd.  Going further back, the figure is common
     in the O. T. to express God’s care over His people.  Our Lord
     therefore used for His