Wine, Women, and Song

eter, thou praepotent warder of Paradise,
Hear thou with mildness the prayer of thy votaries;
When thou art seated to judge the twelve tribes, O then Show thyself merciful; be thou benign to men;
And when we call to thee now in the world's distress,
Take thou our suffrages, master, with gentleness.

"Paul, to our litanies lend an indulgent ear,
Who the philosophers vanquished with zeal severe:
Thou that art steward now in the Lord's heavenly house, Give us to taste of the meat of grace bounteous;
So that the wisdom which filled thee and nourished thee May be our sustenance through the truths taught by thee."

A curious secular piece of the tenth century deserves more than passing mention. It shows how wine, women, and song, even in an age which is supposed to have trembled for the coming destruction of the world, still formed the attraction of some natures. What is more, there is a certain modern, as distinguished from classical, tone of tenderness in the sentiment. It