RHYMED POETRY 
studies and to the “barren diversion” of secular 
poetry. The poem is so charmingly done, is so 
simple and yet so distinguished, the style easy yet 
so resonant of the classic poets of Rome, that it is no 
wonder that it was popular. 
Sedulius'® was manifestly a very broadly learned 
scholar. He must have known his Virgil almost by 
heart for he has Virgilian phrases and words con- 
stantly at his fingers’ ends. There is distinct evi- 
dence however that he read besides Virgil, Ovid 
and Lucan as well as Tibullus and Terence and 
probably Martial and Catullus. 
The first stanza of the portion of the Carmen 
Paschale™ relating to the Nativity is an excellent 
example of Sedulius’ use of rhyme. Not all the 
stanzas are so happy as this in rhyming. 
“A sclis ortus cardine 
Ad usque terrae limitem 
Christum canamus principem, 
Natum Maria virgine.” 
The third stanza is less successful as an example 
of rhyme but it shows the tendency toward perfect- 
ing it as an instrument which was to make itself felt 
in the next succeeding generations. 
“Castae parentis viscera 
Coelestis intrat gratia: 
Venter puellae baiulat 
Secreta, quae non noverat.” 
The fourth and fifth stanzas of the portion of 
the poem devoted to the Epiphany, which like that 
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