I translate literally; the Septuagint confirming the Vulgate in the differences from our common rendering, several of which are important. "1. Oh Lord, our own Lord, how admirable is thy Name in all the earth! 2. Because thy magnificence is set above the heavens. 3. Out of the mouth of children and sucklings thou hast perfected praise, because of thine enemies, that thou mightest scatter the enemy and avenger. 4. Since I see thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast founded. 5. What is man that thou rememberest him, or the son of man, that thou lookest on him? 6. Thou hast lessened him a little from the angels; thou hast crowned him with glory and honour, and hast set him over all the works of thy hands. 7. Thou hast put all things under his feet; sheep, and all oxen-and the flocks of the plain. 8. The birds of the heaven and the fish of the sea, and all that walk in the paths of the sea. 9. Oh Lord, our own Lord, how admirable is thy Name in all the earth!" 10. Note in Verses 1 and 9.-Domine, Dominus noster; our own Lord;' Κύριε, ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν; claiming thus the varied and capricious: thus, here in the fifth verse, c in constituisti stands for "con merely by being turned the wrong way. I prefer its text, nevertheless, to that of more elaborate MSS., for when very great attention is paid to the writing, there are apt to be mistakes in the words. In the best thirteenth-century service-book I have,2 "tuos" in the third verse is written "meos." of contractions" of which Ruskin speaks, but a reversed "c" for " con is not uncommon. The letters of the text were, no doubt, the best the printers could do with the type at their disposal in the way of following Ruskin's transcript of the MS. The text has hitherto had (in line 13) "paulominu;" this is here corrected to paulominus," as the terminal "s" had clearly been misread as a semicolon. "Ejus" is unusual for "eius," and the Vulgate (which is the text followed by the scribes) has, in line 12, quoniam ("qum"), not quia. In this edition, in order that the reader may in fact have before him "the letters and form the psalm as it appears on an actual page of thirteenth-century MS., a plate is here inserted, giving by photographic process the passage in question from a MS. in the British Museum. The plate is made from f. 19 of the Royal MSS. 1 D x; the Psalter has in the Kalendar Edward, March 18, Edmund, November 20, and Cuthbert, March 20-as have nearly all English books (written generally for private individuals, and not for churches or cathedrals), whatever their provenance. With the analysis of the Psalm here given, Letter 75, § 4 (Vol. XXIX. p. 58), should be compared, where Ruskin contrasts the Eighth with the Nineteenth Psalm.] 1 [In italicising the word in his own copy of Fors, Ruskin notes "Compare Le Beau Dieu d'Amiens" (Bible of Amiens, ch. iv. § 3).] [The editors are unable to identify the thirteenth-century service-book, referred to by Ruskin.] Fatherhood. The "Lord our Governor" of the Prayer- Verse 2.-Thy magnificence. Literally, "thy greatness in working" (Gk. μeyaλoπpéπeia-splendour in aspect), distinguished from mere "glory" or greatness in fame. Verse 3.-Sidney has it : "From sucklings hath thy honour sprung, Thy force hath flowed from babies' tongue." 2 The meaning of this difficult verse is given by implication in Matt. xxi. 16.3 And again, that verse, like all the other great teachings of Christ, is open to a terrific misinterpretation; *—namely, the popular evangelical one, that children should be teachers and preachers,-(" cheering mother, cheering father, from the Bible true ""). The lovely meaning of the words of Christ, which this vile error hides, is that children, remaining children, and uttering, out of their own hearts, such things as their Maker puts there, are pure in sight, and perfect in praise.* Verse 4. The moon and the stars which thou hast founded-" fundasti "-éleμeλiwσas. It is much more than "ordained": the idea of stable placing in space being the main one in David's mind. And it remains to this day the wonder of wonders in all wise men's minds. The earth Compare the Crown of Wild Olive, § 47 [Vol. XVIII. p. 428]. 1 [Isaiah ix. 6.] [See Rock Honeycomb for Ruskin's notes on Sidney's version.] ["And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?"] [See above, pp. 99, 323; and below, p. 667.] [See Letter 50, § 8 (p. 260).] swings round the sun,-yes, but what holds the sun? The sun swings round something else. Be it so, then, what else? Sidney : "When I upon the heavens do look, Which all from thee their essence took, Verse 5.-That thou lookest on him; ÉTIσKÉTTY AUTÓv, "art a bishop to him." The Greek word is the same in the verse "I was sick and ye visited me."1 Verse 6. Thou hast lessened him ;-perhaps better, thou hast made him, but by a little, less than the angels: ἠλάττωσας αὐτὸν βραχύ τι. The inferiority is not of present position merely, but of scale in being. Verse 7.-Sheep, and all oxen, and the flocks of the plain: κτήνη τοῦ πεδίου, Beasts for service in the plain traversing great spaces, camel and horse. "Pecora," in Vulgate, includes all "pecunia," or property in animals.' Verse 8. In the Greek, "that walk the paths of the seas" is only an added description of fish, but the meaning of it is without doubt to give an expanded sensea generalization of fish, so as to include the whale, seal, tortoise, and their like. Neither whales nor seals, however, from what I hear of modern fishing, are likely to walk the paths of the sea much longer; and Sidney's verse becomes mere satire : "The bird, free burgesse of the aire, Oh Lord, that rul'st our mortal lyne, How through the world thy name doth shine!" 1 [Matthew xxv. 36.] [Compare Vol. XIX. p. 323.] 3 τὰ διαπορευόμενα τρίβους θαλασσῶν. In the Vulgate, "pisces maris qui perambulant semitas maris." In the version on p. 325 Ruskin substitutes "in" for the "through" in the English version.] 11. These being, as far as I can trace them, the literal meanings of each verse, the entire purport of the psalm is that the Name, or knowledge, of God was admirable to David, and the power and kingship of God recognizable to him, through the power and kingship of man, His vicegerent on the earth, as the angels are in heavenly places.1 And that final purport of the psalm is evermore infallibly true,—namely, that when men rule the earth rightly, and feel the power of their own souls over it, and its creatures, as a beneficent and authoritative one, they recognize the power of higher spirits also; and the Name of God becomes "hallowed" to them, admirable and wonderful; but if they abuse the earth and its creatures, and become mere contentious brutes upon it, instead of order-commanding kings, the Name of God ceases to be admirable to them, and His power to be felt; and gradually, license and ignorance prevailing together, even what memories of law or Deity remain to them become intolerable; and in the exact contrary to David's-" My soul thirsteth for God, for the Living God; when shall I come and appear before God?" 2 -you have the consummated desire and conclusive utterance of the modern republican : "S'il y avait un Dieu, il faudrait le fusiller." 8 12. Now, whatever chemical or anatomical facts may appear, to our present scientific intelligences, inconsistent with the Life of God, the historical fact is that no happiness nor power has ever been attained by human creatures unless in that thirst for the presence of a Divine King; and that nothing but weakness, misery, and death have ever resulted from the desire to destroy their King, and to have thieves and murderers released to them instead. Also this fact is historically certain, that the Life of God is 1 [See Letter 75, § 4 (Vol. XXIX. p. 57), where Ruskin refers to this summary of the Eighth Psalm and relates it to the Nineteenth.] 2 [Psalms xlii. 2.] [An adaptation of the well-known saying of Voltaire (Epitres, 96): "Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer." Compare, below, pp. 735–736.] 4 [Matthew xxvii.] |