I.
The eſtabliſhed verſion of the hymn is known as that of Paris. It differs in but one line from that of Rome, which has for the third line of the firſt ſtanza, Crucis expandens vexilla.
There have been ſtanzas prefixed to the hymn and others added; but, in its great ſtrength, it has ſhaken off all ſuch ſpurious additions. A marble ſlab in the Church of St. Francis, at Mantua, bore a copy of the hymn prefaced by five ſtanzas, which many ſcholars have thought, from the great age of the church, authentic. But the church is a century younger than the hymn, and theſe ſtanzas condemn themſelves:
Dies illa, dies iræ
Quam conemur prævenire,
Obveamque Deo iræ.
The inverſion of the Scriptural text, the poverty of the rhyme, and the weakneſs of the thought, are not faults of the Dies Iræ. Its author undoubtedly took the quotation from Zephaniah as a text, and placed it at the head
