A collection of any number
sometimes merely quoted by its initial words, sometimes given at length, and with inverted commas, is an Ode.
Let the Hirmos, be as before --
"With my lips have I," &c.
and the Ode might follow thus: --
Hirmos.
"With my lips have I been telling: of all the judgments of Thy mouth.
"Let us break their bonds asunder: and cast away their cords from us.
"I am weary of my groaning: and every night I wash my bed.
"For he lieth waiting secret: ly as a lion in his den.
"I am poured out like water: and all my bones are out of joint."
Glory.
"I will talk of thy commandments: and have respect unto thy ways."
Both now.
And let this be most carefully observed: an Ode is simply a [94]Sequence under somewhat different laws. Just when the Greek system of ecclesiastical poetry was fully developed, S. Notker and the Monks of S. Gall hit out a similar one for the Latin Church: the Sequence or the Prose. It was not copied from the East, for we have [95]S. Notker's own account of the way in which he invented it. It prospered to a certain extent; that is, it became one, though the least important, branch of Ecclesiastical verses.