Bernard of Cluny: DE CONTEMPTU MUNDI LIBRI DUO

Domino et patri suo Petro dignissimo abbati clunacensium fratrum Bernardus eius filius eorum frater inaurem auream unam. Quod ad aures publicas sive ad multorum ora profertur sapientis est correctione accusandum iudicio absolvendum. Opus quippe suum etiam atque etiam retractare auctori gloriam conparat; temere et precipitanter exponere ignominiam.

To his lord and father Peter, the most worthy abbot of the Cluniac brothers, Bernard, his son, their brother, presents one golden earring. What is brought to public ears or to the mouths of many, in the wise judgement, is to be accused with correction and absolved by judgment. For to revise his work again and again wins glory for the author; to expose it rashly and precipitately brings ignominy.

Quo fit ut in alterutram partem omnis scriptor se conferat, et si quidem aliorum prudentium examine stilum suum corrigit, prudentis sibi titulum et nominem et si non querit adquirit. Si vero superbum spirans ferule manum submittere dedignatur non minus fatuitatis quam superbie arguitur, ac propterea nec a rudibus quidem nec ipse nec eius sermo accipitur. Mentior si non etiam Flaccus Oratius ad Pisones suos illos instruendos et ad nos reprimendos qui iuxta illud poetae scribimus indocti doctique poemata passim, mentior, inquam, si non et Flaccus in arte poetica idem quod ego consentit; quippe ibi precipit ut scriptum quod non multa dies et multa litura cohercuit atque perfectum decies non castigavit ad unguem, nonum prematur in annum.

Whereby it happens that every writer turns himself to one side or the other, and if indeed he corrects his stylus by the examination of other prudent men, he gains for himself the title and name of a prudent man, and if he does not, he at least seeks to acquire them. But if, breathing arrogance, he scorns to submit his hand to the rod, he is accused of no less folly than pride, and for that reason neither he nor his speech is accepted even by the unskilled. I lie if not even Flaccus Oratius agrees with me that those men, the Pisones, are to be instructed and we to be restrained — who, beside that poet, write learned and unlearned poems promiscuously; I say I lie, if Flaccus in the poetic art does not consent to the same as I; for there he urges that what is written, which many days and many corrections have not restrained and what ten times he has not perfected to the point, should not be pressed into a year.

Ceterum imprudentes immo impudentes quique sua inventa, sua passim scripta et efferunt et inferunt, qui "semper discentes et nunquam ad scientiam pervenientes," dum alienum iudicium reprobant contenti suo aliquid scire putant. Et quoniam ipsi sibi magistri ipsi auditores sunt, et in ingeniolis suis gloriantes confidunt, aliena quidem dicta vel nullius vel parvi sua vero magni faciunt. At contra sapientis et docti sunt cum doctorum eloquiis sua conferre, in illis et cum illis et ab illis scribendi formam modumque addiscere, et tum sensuum tum verborum ipsorum positionem emulari sequi structuram.

Moreover, the imprudent—nay, the impudent—who everywhere publish and bring forth their own inventions and writings, who "always learning and never coming to knowledge," while they reject another’s judgment, deem themselves to know something. And since they are their own masters and their own listeners, and trusting, boasting in their small talents, they make others’ sayings either of no account or of little, but their own things great. But, on the contrary, the wise and the learned are those who compare their own with the eloquences of the teachers, and in them and with them and from them learn the form and manner of writing, and strive to emulate and follow the arrangement of both the senses and the very positions of the words—their structure.

Moris nimirum est omni erudito sua maiorum iudicio studia si diligentiori egent lima, elimare, si ornatu, expolire, si emendatione, corrigere. Si nullo horum tum demum legenda absolvere. Haec ego considerans opus subiectum quod de mundi contemptu dactilico metro paravi et peroravi vestre auctoritati, pater doctissime, preostendere non neglexi.

It is plainly the custom of every erudite man, by the judgment of his elders, if his studies need a more diligent file, to smooth them away; if ornament, to polish; if correction, to emend. If by none of these, then at last to complete the things to be read. These things I having considered, I did not neglect to present this work, which I prepared and closed in dactylic meter concerning contempt of the world, to your authority, most learned father.

Non neglexi, inquam, preostendere. Neque enim libera fiducia aut fida libertate promulgandum iudicavi, nisi prius lingua Petri et vere Petri esset approbatum, favore munitum, iudicio correctum, testimonio roboratum. Quod nudo nomine tantam personam vocaverim rogo nemo mihi succenseat quod tantam laudem geminans inculcaverim nemo adulationi appingat.

I did not neglect, I say, to put it forward. For I judged that it should not be published in free confidence or trusted liberty unless first the voice of Peter, and truly Peter’s, had been approved, fortified by favour, corrected by judgment, and strengthened by testimony. I ask that no one be angry with me for having named so great a person by his bare name, nor that anyone attribute adulation to me for having, by doubling the praise, impressed so great a commendation.

Scio quia sicut apud male liberas mentes gloria sive laus excidium virtutis est, sic econtra apud egregias incitamentum. Nec falso a poeta dictum est, "Gloria calcar habet." Studet enim semper liberalis animus quotiens aliquid de se laudis dicitur, ut si non ita est sicut dicitur, sit ita quia dicitur. Nichil vero quisquam absurdum fecerit si virum bonum et timoratum laudet, quando ei ipsa laus virtutis materia est.

I know that just as among ill-liberated minds glory or praise is the ruin of virtue, so conversely among excellent ones it is an incitement. Nor was it falsely said by the poet, "Gloria calcar habet." For the liberal spirit always strives, whenever anything of praise is spoken of him, that if it is not as it is said, it may be so because it is said. Yet truly no one will have done anything absurd if he praises a good and God‑fearing man, when the praise itself is the very matter of virtue.

Sed de his satis.

But enough of these things.

Nunc ad omissum revertar. Vestrae igitur correctioni, doctissime pater et domine, committendum opusculum de contemptu mundi excogitavi. Scripsi, distinxi, nondum omnino absolutum edidi.

Now I will return to what was omitted. Therefore I have devised a little work on the contempt of the world to be committed to your correction, most learned father and lord. I have written it, I have arranged it, I have not yet published it entirely finished.

Cur autem metri potius tenore quam producta oratione scribere placuerit, si vel alius quis vel etiam vosipse queritis, sic accipite. Nimirum ut poeticis verbis utar, "aut prodesse volunt aut delectare poetae aut utrumque, et honesta et idonea dicere vitae." Quippe quod metrico carmine digestum edicitur et libentius auditur et avidius legitur, eoque facilius altae memoriae conmendatur. Quo fit ut dum specie versuum dum sonoritate verborum lector allicitur, ad exhibitionem eorum quae vel legerit vel audierit accendatur et accingatur.

But if you yourselves or any other ask why it pleased me to write rather in the tenor of meter than in prolonged prose, accept it thus. Namely, that I employ poetic words, "poets wish either to benefit or to delight, or both, and to speak things honorable and fit for life." For that which is composed in metrical song is issued and is heard more gladly and read more eagerly, and is thereby more easily committed to high memory. Hence it comes about that, while the reader is allured by the appearance of the verses and by the sonority of the words, he is stirred up and prepared for the exhibition of those things which he has either read or heard.

Et dum verborum elegantiam considerat efficaciam exerceat. Quare sicut in metro plurimum decoris est, sic in decore plurima utilitas, alterutrumque horum duorum pendet ex altero. Quod videri perfacile est.

And while he ponders the elegance of words, let him practise their efficacy. Therefore, just as in metre there is the greatest share of grace, so in decorum there is the greatest usefulness, and each of these two depends upon the other. Which is very easy to see.

Si enim lector in illo delectatur consequenter et in isto. Etenim qui sollicitus contemplatur verborum speciem, sepe sollicitior amplectitur ipsarum rerum frugem. Hinc est quod poete omnia, aut pene omnia, quae scripserunt metrice scripserunt; metrica ut ita dicam cantione scripta emiserunt, scilicet id vel maxime attendentes, ut quae minus poterant plano sermone digesta, metrico depicta grata redderent.

For if the reader is delighted in that, he will consequently be delighted in this. For he who anxiously contemplates the form of words often more anxiously embraces the fruit of the things themselves. Hence it is that poets wrote all, or almost all, that they wrote in metre; they issued their metrical pieces, so to speak written in song, having this chiefly in mind — that what could be less agreeable when composed in plain speech would, when portrayed in metre, be made pleasing.

Hinc quoque accedit quod et ipsum (sicut patres perhibent) psalterium lirici conposuere pedes. Pretereo quod plurimae testamenti paginae quibus enumerandis supersedeo; ob superius datam rationem in metro emissae sunt, non in metrum transmissae. Nam in tempore revelatae gratiae, iam fide, iam evangelio, iam crucifixo nostro Iesu ubique gentium regnante, eo processit versificatoriae artis gratia ut quidam catholicorum non timuerunt maiestatem quoque evangelicae paginae in spondeum dactilumque transmittere.

Hence also it is added that even the psalter, they say, the lyric composers (as the fathers report) set into feet. I pass over that very many pages of the Testament, which I omit from enumerating; because by the reason given above they were issued in metre, not transferred into metre. For in the time of revealed grace — now by faith, now by the gospel, now with our crucified Jesus reigning everywhere among the nations — the practice of versifying advanced so far that some of the Catholics did not fear to render even the majesty of the evangelical page into spondee and dactyl.

Sic igitur et ego horum quos emulor Dei emulatione stilum imitatus; et si non valui quantam illi vel in hoc vel in aliis exercitiis scientiam assequi, sequi tamen et volui et valui et secutus sum. Nam quia inter contemporaneos meos fama bene versificandi mihi licet immerito circumvolabat, et vicia perditorum vix aliquis aut nullus viva voce nedum litterali reprehendebat, concaluit cor meum intra me; cumque in meditatione mea non paucos dies et noctes exardesceret ignis zeli, tandem accinxi me, et locutus sum in lingua mea quod animo conceptum diu celaveram apud me. Quippe ego sepe ab sponso audieram, sed non exaudieram, "Sonet vox tua in auribus meis." Et mihi iterum a dilecto clamabatur, "Aperi mihi soror mea." Quid igitur? Surrexi ut aperirem dilecto meo, et dixi, "Domine ut cor meum cogitet ut stilus scribat ut os annuntiet laudem tuam, infunde et cordi et stilo et ori meo gratiam tuam." Et dixit mihi Dominus, "Aperi os tuum et ego adinplebo illud." Aperui igitur os meum, quod inplerit Dominus spiritu sapientiae et intellectus, ut per illam vera, per istum perspicua dicerem.

Thus then I too, imitating the stylus of those whom I emulate by the emulation of God; and if I was not able to attain as much knowledge as they in this or in other exercises, yet I wished to follow, and I was able, and I followed. For, because among my contemporaries a reputation for versifying well hovered about me, though undeservedly, and scarcely any or no one of the ruined censured vices with the living voice, much less in writing, my heart grew hot within me; and when in my meditation for not a few days and nights the fire of zeal was blazing, at length I girded myself and spoke in my tongue that which I had long hidden conceived in my soul. For I had often heard from the Bridegroom, but had not hearkened, "Let your voice sound in my ears." And to me again from the Beloved was cried, "Open to me, O my sister." What then? I arose to open to my beloved, and I said, "Lord, that my heart may think, that the stylus may write, that the mouth may proclaim your praise, pour forth your grace into my heart and into my stylus and into my mouth." And the Lord said to me, "Open your mouth and I will fill it." Therefore I opened my mouth, which the Lord filled with a spirit of wisdom and understanding, that by the one I might speak truths, and by the other clear things.

Non ego arroganter sed omnino humiliter affirmaverim quia non spiritus sapientiae et intellectus mihi affuisset et affluxisset, tam difficili metro tam longum opus contexere non sustinuissem. Id enim genus metri, tum dactilum continuum exceptis finalibus trocheo vel spondeo, tum etiam sonoritatem leonicam servans ob sui difficultatem iam pene ne dicam penitus obsolevit. Denique Hildebertus de Lavardino, qui ob scientiae prerogativam prius in episcopum post in metropolitanum promotus est, et Wilchardus Lugdunensis canonicus, versificatores praestantissimi quam pauca in hoc metrum contulerint palam est.

I would not arrogantly but wholly humbly have affirmed that, had the spirit of wisdom and understanding not been present and flowed to me, I could not have endured to weave so long a work in so difficult a metre. For that kind of metre, namely the continuous dactyl except in the endings by trochee or spondee, and also keeping a leonine sonority, on account of its difficulty has already almost, not to say utterly, fallen into disuse. Finally Hildebertus of La Vardine, who by reason of the prerogative of learning was first promoted to bishop and afterwards to metropolitan, and Wilchardus of Lyon, a canon, most outstanding versifiers—how few they have contributed to this metre is plain.

Quorum Hildebertus dum illam beatam peccatricem Mariam (loquor Egyptiam) exametris commendaret hoc metro quattuor tantum coloravit versus; Wilchardus vero plus minus triginta in sua illa contra quosdam satyra. Quorsum haec? Ut illud scilicet intelligatur quod non nisi Deo cooperante et sermonem confirmante tres libellos eo scripsi metro quo illi paucos immo paucissimos scripserunt versus.

Of whom Hildebert, while he commended that blessed sinner Mary (I mean the Egyptian) in hexameters, adorned only four verses in that metre; Wilchardus, however, more or less thirty in his satire against certain men. Whither these things? That is to say, let it be understood that I wrote three little books in that very metre only with God cooperating and confirming the discourse, in which metre those wrote few, nay very few, verses.

Et haec pace illorum dicta sint. Iam vero vestri examinis censurae, pater doctissime, meditata nostra exhibeo, et obedientiam vobis velut inaurem unam auream offero. Ante hos enim dies cum essetis Nogenti et aliquam opusculorum nostrorum acceptione vestra dignatus fuissetis, hoc etiam quia et de hoc apud vos mentionem induxeram vobis oblatum iri percepisti.

And let these things be said with their leave. Now furthermore I present to you, most learned father, the deliberated result of your examination’s censure, and I offer obedience to you as to a single golden earring. For before these days, when you were at Nogent and had deigned to accept some of our little works, you perceived that this also would be offered to you, because I had earlier introduced mention of it before you.

Quod quia tunc non potui, non enim ad manum habebam, nunc tribus libellis discretum vobis exhibeo; et hic correctionem vestram, si necesse fuerit, peto. Nec ab re est succincte praelibare quam cuique libro materiam indiderim. In primo namque de contemptu mundi disputatum est.

Because I could not then — for I did not have it at hand — I now present to you that which I had separated into three little booklets; and here I ask your correction, if it shall be necessary. Nor is it beside the point to preface briefly what subject I have assigned to each book. In the first, namely, there is a discussion on the contempt of the world.

In duobus subiectis tam materiei quam intentionis una facies respondet; quia et materia est mihi viciorum reprehensio et a viciis revocare intentio. Quae scribere quid utilitatis pariat, quid honesti neminem latet. Quid multa?

In the two subjects proposed, both of matter and of intention, one face corresponds; for the matter is, to me, a reprehension of vices and the intention a calling back from vices. What usefulness writing these things will produce, what of the honorable, is hidden from no one. What more need be said?

Opus nostrum qualecumque vobis, pater, assignavi; assignatum scripsi. Scriptum Deo fautore, vel mittam absens vel offeram praesens. Accipiat ergo gratanter gratiosus pater scriptum filii, magister discipuli, dominus servi; teste enim conscientia mea fidenter audeo dicere et dico quia sum vobis filius, non adulterinus.

Our work, such as it is, I have assigned to you, father; I have written what was assigned. Written with God as helper, I will either send it while absent or present it while present. Therefore may the grateful, gracious father gladly receive the writing of his son, the teacher of the disciple, the lord of the servant; for with my conscience as witness I confidently dare to say—and I say—that I am to you a son, not an adulterine.

Sum vobis discipulus, non alienus. Sum vobis servus, non servilis. Quid vos michi?

I am to you a disciple, not an alien. I am to you a servant, not servile. What are you to me?

Immo et ego vobis? Plane, vos eritis mihi in patrem et ego vobis in filium. De cetero, Deus pacis et dilectionis vos et vestros in pace in idipsum conservet pater venerande.

Indeed — I also to you? Truly, you will be to me as a father and I to you as a son. Henceforth, may the God of peace and of dilection preserve you and yours in peace and in that very same state, venerable father.

Amen.

LIBER PRIMUS

BOOK ONE

Hora novissima, tempora pessima sunt — vigilemus.
Ecce minaciter imminet arbiter ille supremus.
Imminet imminet ut mala terminet, aequa coronet,
Recta remuneret, anxia liberet, aethera donet.

The last hour, the worst of times are — let us be watchful.
Behold, threateningly there looms that supreme arbiter.
He looms, he looms to put an end to evils, to crown the just,
to reward the right, liberate the anxious, and grant the heavens.

Auferat aspera duraque pondera mentis onustae,
Sobria muniat, improba puniat, utraque iuste.
Ille piissimus, ille gravissimus ecce venit rex.
Surgat homo reus; instat homo deus, a patre iudex.

May he take away the harsh and hard weights of a mind laden,
May he soberly fortify, may he punish the wicked, both justly.
Behold he comes, that most pious, that most grave king.
Let the guilty man rise; the god-man presses on, a judge from the Father.

Surgite, currite simplice tramite, quique potestis;
Rex venit ocius ipseque conscius, ipseque testis. 10
Dum licet, impia, dum vacat, omnia fluxa laventur,
Detur egentibus, alta parantibus ima parentur.
Imminet arbiter ille fideliter expositurus,
Quae dabit aut dedit; ad bona lux redit, ad mala durus.
Qui modo spernitur, ille videbitur imperiosus,
Intolerabilis, irrevocabilis ac animosus.

Rise up, run upon the simple track, and you who are able;
The King comes swifter, himself conscious, himself a witness. 10
While it is permitted, O impious ones, while there is leisure, let all fleeting things be washed away,
Let what is needed be given to the needy, let the low be made ready for those preparing high things.
That judge looms, about to expound faithfully
what he will give or has given; to good things light returns, to bad things he is harsh.
He who is now scorned will then appear imperious,
intolerable, irrevocable, and bold.

Agmina sobria dextra, nefaria laeva tenebit,
Hinc reprobabilis ordo, probabilis inde manebit.
Hinc chorus impius indeque sobrius, audiet, "Ite
Ite manus rea; grex meus in mea regna venite." 20
Ibit in aethera concio dextera, praeduce Christo.
Perdita crimine, planget in ordine turba sinistro
Crimine perdita, crimine debita, turba gehennae.

The sober ranks the right hand will hold, the wicked left will possess,
From this side a reprobate order, from that side a reputable one will remain.
From this side an impious chorus and from that side a sober one will hear, "Go
Go, guilty hand; come my flock into my kingdoms." 20
The right assembly will go into the ether, Christ going before as leader.
Lost by crime, a crowd will beat their breasts in the left order,
Lost by crime, guilty by crime, a crowd of Gehenna.

Stat modo, tunc ruet, hic stat, ibi luet acta perenne.
Tunc sacra concio sacra creatio percipietis,
Perpetualia, credite, gaudia, qui modo fletis.
Grex renovabitur ac removebitur a grege latro;
A veteri novus, a reprobro probus, albus ab atro,
Hostis ab ausibus, agnus ab hostibus, haedus ab agnis,
Pauperioribus astra petentibus, ima tyrannis. 30

Now it stands, then it will fall, this stands, there it will atone for deeds eternal.
Then the sacred assembly, the sacred creation you shall perceive,
Perpetual joys, believe, you who now weep.
The flock will be renewed and a robber removed from the flock;
From the old, new; from the reprobate, upright; white from black,
An enemy from the bold, a lamb from enemies, a kid from lambs,
To the poorer, seeking the stars, the lowest things to tyrants. 30

Cedet ad aethera, qui flet; ad infera qui male gaudet.
Carnea gaudia, mens luet ebria, sobria plaudet.
Denique montibus altior omnibus ultimus ignis
Surget inertibus ima tenentibus, astra benignis.

He who weeps shall ascend to the heavens; he who rejoices ill shall go to the underworld.
Carnal joys — the mind will atone, the drunken will suffer, the sober will applaud.
Finally, a last fire, loftier than all mountains,
will rise against the inert who hold the depths; the stars will be benign.

Flammaque libera surget in aera, surget ad astra,
Diruet atria, regna, suburbia, moenia, castra.
Excoquet omnia sorde fluentia nunc elementa
Reddet et omnia luce nitentia, iam lue dempta.
Mundus habebitur atque novabitur ipse, sed alter,
Alter imagine, non et origine; non ibi pauper, 40
Non ibi debilis aut homo flebilis, aut furor aut lis,
Aut cibus aut cocus aut Venus aut iocus aut tumor aut vis.

And a free flame will rise into the air, will rise to the stars,
It will pull down halls, kingdoms, suburbs, walls, camps.
It will burn up all the elements now flowing with filth
And will restore all things shining with light, now cleansed of stain.
The world will be possessed and itself renewed, yet another,
Another in image, not in origin; there will be no poor there, 40
There will be no weak one there nor a pitiable man, nor madness nor quarrel,
Nor food nor cook nor love nor jest nor swelling (pride) nor force (violence).

Terra novabitur et reparabitur orbis imago,
Quam modo polluit, obtinet, obruit una vorago.
Terra patrum gerit ossa; dehinc erit ut paradisus;
Amplius, ut solet, incola non colet hanc, bove nisus.
Non erit amplius aeris istius ista figura,
Sed nive, nubibus igne, tonitribus, imbreque pura.

The earth will be renewed and the image of the world restored,
which now a single abyss pollutes, holds, and overwhelms.
The earth bears the bones of the fathers; thenceforth it will be like a paradise;
moreover, as is wont, the inhabitant will no longer till it by oxen’s toil.
No longer will that figure of this bronze exist,
but pure with snow, with clouds, with fire, with thunders, and with rain.

Solis et orbita lunaque concita tunc sita stabunt,
Astra, polus, mare circuitum dare non properabunt. 50
Omnia sidera coelica dextera clarificabit,
Sideribus dupla lux, tibi septupla sol radiabit.
Gens pia flens modo, tunc ita quomodo sol renitebit,
Doctaque pectora pulchraque corpora prorsus habebit,
Pulchra, citissima, fortia, libera, deliciosa,
Sana, vigentia iamque carentia morte perosa.
Absolon indecor esset ibi decor, et coma nec non
Pes piger Asahel et manus Israel, arida Samson.

The sun and the moon’s orbit, then roused, will stand fixed,
the stars, the pole, the sea will not hasten to run their circuit. 50
All the heavenly stars the right hand will make bright,
to the stars a double light, to you the sun will shine sevenfold.
A pious people now weeping, then will so as the sun shine brightly,
and will have learned hearts and beautiful bodies outright,
beautiful, fleetest, strong, free, delightful,
healthy, flourishing, and already free from the burden of death.
There Absalom uncomely would be comely, and hair likewise;
the slow foot Asahel and the hand of Israel, arid Samson.

Nullaque Caesaris inscia comparis illa facultas,
Et Salomonia nulla potentia, nulla voluptas. 60

Nor that resource of Caesar, unknown to a companion, nor any Salomonic power, nor any pleasure. 60

Non Moyses ibi sana daret sibi lumina, dentes,
Matusalas breve viveret, haec bene quaerite mentes.
Quaerite, quaerite, quaerere surgite gaudia pura,
Gaudia stantia, non pereuntia, nec peritura.
Nonne patentia fert latro gaudia de cruce flenda,
Raptus ad afflua regna vel ardua sceptra regenda?

Not Moses there would grant himself sound eyes, teeth,
Methuselah would live briefly; seek these things well, minds.
Seek, seek, arise to seek pure joys,
Abiding joys, not perishing, nor about to perish.
Does not patience bring the thief joys from the wept cross,
Snatched up to abundant kingdoms or to lofty scepters to be ruled?

Sunt sua tristia nullave gaudia iuncta supernis
Confer eis, ca nil fore terrea gaudia cernis.
Illa videbimus, illa tenebimus, illa sciemus,
Gaudia coelica, qui modo lubrica singula flemus. 70
Omnibus omnia clausa patentia perspicientur:
Membraque singula quomodo lumina constituentur.
Lumina sobria, clausa per omnia sicut aperta
Aspicient ibi, quippe Deus sibi visio certa.

There are their own sorrows and no joys joined with the supernal ones
Compare them, for you see that no earthly joys will be. Those we shall see, those we shall hold, those we shall know,
heavenly joys, which now we weep as slippery particulars. 70
All things closed will be seen openly by all: and how each limb will set up its lights.
Sober lights, closed in all things as if open,
they will behold there, for God is to himself a certain vision.

Ora videbimus et penetrabimus abdita nostra
Nilque verbere; probra patescere flendo reposta.
Ille sciet tua crimina, tu sua, nilque pudebit.
Gratia gratior hinc, manus altior illa patebit.

We shall see and penetrate our hidden things
and not by scourge; reproaches laid up will be disclosed by weeping.
He will know your crimes, you yours, and nothing will bring shame.
From this shall come a more gracious grace, that higher hand shall be revealed.

Quo magis effera sunt tua vulnera, sive querela,
Tanto probatior et manifestior illa medela. 80
Clausa vel omnia tunc dbi pervia, nil erit obstans.
Scis bona fingere, plura lucrabere, vox mea constans,
Orbeque fortior, ibis et ocior alite visu,
Fortis habebere secula vertere vel sine nisu.
Par superis eris, actibus hos geris, arte sequeris,
Et patris illius, O sonus hic pius!

The more savage your wounds, or complaint,
the more proved and more manifest that remedy will be. 80
When all things closed are then opened, nothing will stand in the way.
You know how to fashion goods, you will gain more, my voice is steadfast,
and stronger than the world, you will go and swifter than winged sight,
brave enough to turn the ages even without effort.
You will be equal to the supernal ones, you will enact these deeds, you follow by art,
and of that father, O this pious sound!

ore frueris;
Stans super aethera, sub nigra Tartara tuto videbis,
Moesta, molestaque, flenda timendaque nulla timebis.
Turba nefaria perdita gaudia nunc procul ante
Iudicium videt; hinc flet et invidet impia sanctae. 90

you will enjoy by the mouth;
Stans super aethera, sub nigra Tartara tuto videbis,
Standing above the ether, beneath black Tartarus you will safely see,
you will fear nothing mournful, troublesome, lamentable, or to be feared.
The nefarious, perdite crowd now beholds joys far off before
Iudicium videt; hinc flet et invidet impia sanctae. 90

Flet quia plurima stat sibi lacrima, gaudia sanctis.
Flet quia decidit illaque perdidit ora tonantis.
Ut reprobam proba sic modo reproba turba beatam
Mutuo conspicit, illaque despicit hanc sibi stratam.

She weeps because many tears stand for her, joys for the saints.
She weeps because that one has fallen and thereby ruined the face of the Thunderer.
Just as the good reprove the reprobate, so now the reprobate crowd reproves the blessed
They behold each other mutually, and thus that one despises this one laid out for herself.

Pulcrior est olor ex merula, color albus ab atro,
Ex gemitu tonus, ex pice nix, bonus ex reprobato.
Nec bona filia matre fit anxia, nec patre natus.
Illa stat, haec ruit, hic bona fert, luit ille reatus.

The swan is fairer than the blackbird, its color white from the black,
From a groan, a tone; from pitch, snow; good from the rejected.
Nor is a good daughter made anxious by her mother, nor (by) her father born.
That one stands, this one falls; this one bears good, that one pays the guilt.

Ut placet aequore nunc tibi cernere ludere pisces,
Sic apud infera nec tua viscera visa gemisces. 100
Curre vir optime, lubrica reprime, praefer honesta,
Fletibus angere, flendo merebere coelica festa,
Luce replebere iam sine vespere, iam sine luna;
Lux nova, lux ea lux erit aurea, lux erit una.
Cum sapientia sive potentia patria tradet
Regna patri sua, tunc ad eum tua semita vadet,
Tunc nova gloria pectora sobria clarificabit,
Solvet aenigmata veraque Sabbata continuabit.
Liber ab hostibus et dominantibus ibit Ebraeus,
Liber habebitur et celebrabitur hinc iubilaeus. 110
Patria luminis inscia turbinis, inscia litis,
Cive replebitur, amplificabitur Israhelitis.

As it pleases on the sea now for you to behold fishes playing,
So in the underworld nor will you groan that your viscera are seen. 100
Run, best man, curb the slippery, prefer the honorable,
To press with tears, by weeping you will deserve heavenly feasts,
To replenish with light now without evening, now without moon;
A new light, that light will be golden, the light will be one.
When wisdom or power shall deliver the kingdoms to their fatherland,
Then your path will go to him,
Then new glory will soberly brighten the breasts,
It will solve enigmas and will continue true Sabbaths.
Free from enemies and from rulers shall go the Hebrew,
He will be reckoned free and shall be celebrated hence as a Jubilaeus. 110
The fatherland of light, ignorant of whirlwind, ignorant of strife,
Shall be filled with citizens, shall be magnified for the Israelites.

Patria splendida terraque florida, libera spinis,
Danda fidelibus est ibi civibus, hic peregrinis.
Tunc erit omnibus inspicientibus ora tonantis
Summa potentia, plena scientia, pax rata sanctis;
Pax erit omnibus illa fidelibus, illa beata,
Inresolubilis, invariabilis, intemerata;
Pax sine crimine, pax sine turbine, pax sine rixa,
Meta laboribus atque tumultibus, anchora fixa. 120

A splendid homeland and a land flowery, free from thorns,
To be given to the faithful there as citizens, here to strangers.
Then to all who behold it the visage of the Thunderer will be
Highest power, full knowledge, peace confirmed for the saints;
That peace will be to all those faithful, that blessed one,
Indissoluble, unchangeable, undefiled;
Peace without crime, peace without turmoil, peace without quarrel,
An end to labors and to tumults, an anchor fixed. 120

Pax erit omnibus unica, sed quibus? immaculatis,
Pectore mitibus, ordine stantibus, ore sacratis.
Pax ea pax rata, pax superis data, danda modestis,
Plenaqae vocibus atque canoribus atria festis.

There will be one peace for all, but for whom? for the immaculate,
with gentle heart, standing in order, with consecrated mouth.
That peace a settled peace, a peace given to the supernal, to be granted to the modest,
and halls full with voices and harmonies for festive rites.

Hortus odoribus affluet omnibus hic paradisus,
Plenaque gratia plenaque gaudia, cantica, risus,
Plena redemptio, plena refectio, gloria plena,
Vi, lue, luctibus aufugientibus, exule poena.
Nil ibi debile, nil ibi flebile, nil ibi scissum;
Res ibi publica, pax erit unica, pax in idipsum. 130
Hic furor, hic mala scismata, scandala, pax sine pace;
Pax sine litibus et sine luctibus in Sion arce.
O sacra potio, sacra refectio, visio pacis,
Mentis et unctio, non recreatio ventris edacis.

Hortus odoribus affluet omnibus hic paradisus,
And a garden flowing with fragrances for all, this paradise,
Plenaque gratia plenaque gaudia, cantica, risus,
And full of grace and full of joys, songs, laughter,
Plena redemptio, plena refectio, gloria plena,
Full redemption, full refreshment, full glory,
Vi, lue, luctibus aufugientibus, exule poena.
With force, pestilence, sorrows put to flight, punishment exiled.
Nil ibi debile, nil ibi flebile, nil ibi scissum;
Nothing weak there, nothing lamentable there, nothing rent there;
Res ibi publica, pax erit unica, pax in idipsum. 130
There public affairs, peace will be one, peace in itself.
Hic furor, hic mala scismata, scandala, pax sine pace;
Here fury, here evil schisms, scandals, peace without peace;
Pax sine litibus et sine luctibus in Sion arce.
Peace without quarrels and without laments in the citadel of Zion.
O sacra potio, sacra refectio, visio pacis,
O sacred drink, sacred refreshment, vision of peace,
Mentis et unctio, non recreatio ventris edacis.
Of the mind and anointing, not the recreation of the devouring belly.

Hac homo nititur, ambulat, utitur, ergo fruetur.
Pax rata, pax ea spe modo, postea re capietur.
Iesus erit pius et decor illius esca beatis,
Pascua mentibus hanc sitientibus ac satiatis.

By this one a man leans, walks, uses, therefore will enjoy.
Peace confirmed, that peace only by hope for the moment, afterwards will be seized in reality.
Jesus will be pious, and his splendour a food for the blessed,
pasture for minds both thirsting and satisfied.

Et sitiens eris et satiaberis hac dape vitae
In neutro labor; una quies, amor unus utrinque. 140
Civibus aetheris associaberis, advena civis.
Hic tuba, pax ibi, vita manens tibi qui bene vivis.
Hic erit omnibus una fidelibus ultima coena.

And thirsty you will be and you will be satisfied with this banquet of life
There will be no labor for either; one rest, one love for both sides. 140
You will be associated with the citizens of the ether, a stranger made citizen.
Here a trumpet, there peace, life remaining for you who live well.
Here will be for all the faithful one final supper.

Tunc cumulabitur atque replebitur illa sagena.
Denique piscibus integra pluribus, integra magnis
Glorificabitur, hic removebitur anguis ab agnis,
Scissa ruentibus, integra stantibus integritate.
Inde cremabitur, hinc solidabitur, O Deus a te,
Gens nova, grex novus, et numerus bonus ille bonorum
Ierusalem petet; hic dat, ibi metet ordo piorum. 150

Tunc cumulabitur atque replebitur illa sagena.
Then that net shall be heaped up and filled. Denique piscibus integra pluribus, integra magnis
Finally intact for many fishes, intact for the great. Glorificabitur, hic removebitur anguis ab agnis,
It will be glorified; here the serpent will be removed from the lambs, Scissa ruentibus, integra stantibus integritate.
torn for those rushing, whole for those who stand in integrity. Inde cremabitur, hinc solidabitur, O Deus a te,
Thence it will be burned, hence it will be made firm, O God, by you, Gens nova, grex novus, et numerus bonus ille bonorum
a new nation, a new flock, and that good number of the good Ierusalem petet; hic dat, ibi metet ordo piorum. 150

Grex erit inclytus hoc patre praeditus, hoc duce nixus,
Qui tulit omnia sanguine noxia, rex crucifixus.
Grex sacer ordine, splendidus agmine, lumine plenus,
Vivet eo duce, qui tulit in cruce, rex Nasarenus.
Pastus odoribus interioribus, atque superno
Nectare dulcia protrahet ocia perpete verno.

Grex erit inclytus hoc patre praeditus, hoc duce nixus,
A flock will be renowned, endowed with this father, relying on this leader,
Qui tulit omnia sanguine noxia, rex crucifixus.
Who bore all things injurious in blood, the crucified king.
Grex sacer ordine, splendidus agmine, lumine plenus,
A sacred flock by order, splendid in array, full of light,
Vivet eo duce, qui tulit in cruce, rex Nasarenus.
It will live by that leader who bore on the cross, the Nazarene king.
Pastus odoribus interioribus, atque superno
Fed by inward fragrances, and by supernal
Nectare dulcia protrahet ocia perpete verno.

Per sacra lilia, perque virentia germina florum
Exspaciabitur ac modulabitur ordo piorum,
Pectora plausibus atque canoribus ora parabit,
Dum sua crimina lapsaque pristina stans memorabit. 160
Quo fuit amplior error, iniquior actio mentis,
Laus erit amplior, hymnus et altior hanc abolentis,
Unica cantio; tunc miseratio plena tonantis.
Laus erit unica pro stipe coelica praemia dantis,
Pro stipe praemia, pro cruce gaudia, pro nece vita;
Illa tenebitur, unde replebitur Israhelita.
Hic breve vivitur, hic breve plangitur, hic breve fletur.

By the sacred lilies, and by the green shoots of flowers
the order of the pious will widen and will be chanted,
hearts and faces will prepare with clapping and with song,
while he, standing, will recount his own crimes and former falls. 160
Where error was greater, where the mind’s action more unjust,
praise will be greater, a hymn and loftier alone abolishing this,
a single song; then pity full of thunder will be.
There will be one praise for the stake of the heavenly reward giver,
for the stake rewards, for the cross joys, for the death life;
that one will be held, from which an Israelite will be replenished.
Here life is brief, here lamentation brief, here weeping brief.

Non breve vivere, non breve plangere, retribuetur.
O retributio, stat brevis actio, vita perennis;
O retributio, coelica mansio stat lue plenis. 170
Quid datur? Et quibus?

They will not live briefly, they will not lament briefly; retribution will be rendered.
O retribution, the deed is brief, life everlasting;
O retribution, the heavenly dwelling stands for the fully purified. 170
What is given? And to whom?

Aether egentibus et cruce dignis,
Sidera vermibus, optima sontibus, astra malignis.
Coelica gratia luminis omnia non modo donat,
Sed super aethera suscipe viscera tanta coronat.
Omnibus unica coelica gratia retribuetur,
Omnibus omnibus ulcera flentibus accipietur.

The ether to the needy and to those worthy of the cross,
Stars to worms, the best things to the guilty, the constellations to the malign.
Heavenly grace of light not only gives all things,
But above the ether it receives the inward parts and crowns them thus.
To all a single heavenly grace will be repaid,
To all, to all who weep, wounds will be received.

Tunc rosa sanguine, lilia virgine mente micabunt,
Gaudia maxima te pia lacrima te recreabunt.
Nunc tibi tristia, tunc tibi gaudia, gaudia quanta,
Vox nequit edere, lumina cernere, tangere planta. 180

Then roses will gleam with blood, lilies with a maidenly mind will sparkle,
Greatest joys will restore you, a pious tear will refresh you.
Now for you sorrows, then for you joys, what great joys,
the voice cannot utter, the eyes cannot discern, the sole cannot touch. 180

Post nigra, post mala, post fera scandala quae caro praestat,
Absque nigredine lux, sine turbine pax tibi restat.
Sunt modo proelia, postmodo praemia, qualia? plena,
Plena refectio nullaque passio, nullaque poena.

After black things, after evils, after the fierce scandals which the flesh affords,
Without blackness light, without storm peace remains for you.
There are now battles, afterwards rewards — what sort? full,
Full refreshment, and no passion of suffering, and no punishment.

Spe modo vivitur, et Sion angitur a Babylone;
Nunc tribulatio, tunc recreatio, sceptra, coronae.
Ergo Rachel Lea tunc patriae via, Martha Mariae,
Ira Saul David, Assyrii Iudith, Achab Eliae
Cedet, et omnia mitibus obvia, spes speciei,
Semina fructibus et sonus actibus, umbra diei. 190
Qui modo creditur, ipse videbitur atque scietur,
Ipse videntibus atque scientibus attribuetur.
Plena refectio, tunc pia visio, visio Iesu;
Hunc speculabitur, hoc satiabitur Israel esu,
Hoc satiabitur, huic sociabitur in Sion arce.

One lives only by hope, and Zion is distressed by Babylon;
Now tribulation, then recreation, scepters, crowns.
Therefore Rachel and Leah then the way of the fatherland, Martha of Mary,
Saul's wrath (against) David, the Assyrians (and) Judith, Ahab (and) Elijah
Will yield, and all things will meet the mild one, the hope of the race,
Seeds into fruits and sound into deeds, shadow of the day. 190
He who is now believed will himself be seen and known,
He himself will be bestowed upon the seers and the knowers.
Full refreshment, then a pious vision, a vision of Jesus;
He will behold him, Israel will be sated by this food,
This will be satisfied, to this one will be joined in the citadel of Zion.

O bone Rex, ibi nullus eget tibi dicere, "Parce."
Cor miserabile, corpus inutile non erit ultra,
Nulla cadavera nullaque funera, nulla sepulcra;
Quodque beatius est, mala longius omnia fient.
Ob tua crimina, iam tua lumina non madefient, 200
Flendaque gaudia blandaque praelia carnis abibunt.
Fraus, probra, iurgia, quid moror?

O good King, there will be no need for any to say to you, "Spare."
A pitiable heart, the body will no longer be useless, nulla cadavera nullaque funera, nulla sepulcra;
And what is more blessed, all evils will be made far away.
Because of your crimes, now your eyes will not be wet, 200
And tearful joys and the enticing battles of the flesh will pass away.
Fraud, reproaches, quarrels—why do I linger?

omnia prava peribunt,
Nulla gravamina, iam cruciamina nulla timebis:
Nulla nefaria, nulla nocentia, nil grave flebis.
Quae cruce se terit, haec caro flos erit, haecque favilla
Non erit amplius, unde sit anxius ille vel illa.
Nec stipe pascere, nec prece flectere, quem quis egebit,
Nec lue perditus aut nece territus aut cruce flebit.

All perverse things will perish,
You will fear no burdens, no torments any more:
No wickedness, no harm, nothing grievous will you mourn.
The flesh that wears itself on the cross shall be a flower, and this ash
will no longer be that from which he or she is anxious.
Nor to feed on alms, nor to bend in prayer for one whom anyone shall need,
Nor will anyone be ruined by plague or terrified by death or will weep at the cross.

Flendo merebere gaudia sumere, sumere vitam
Nec stipe, nec prece, nec lue, nec nece, nec cruce tritam. 210

By weeping you will deserve to take up joys, to take up life
Not by stipe (alms), nor by prayer, nor by pestilence, nor by slaughter, nor by a cross crushed. 210

Coelica copia, coelica gloria compatefiet,
Lux nova mentibus, et Deus omnibus omnia fiet.
Gens bene vivida vitaque florida, fons David undans
Lux erit aurea, terraque lactea, melle redundans.
Lux ea vespere, gens lue funere vita carebit.

Celestial abundance, celestial glory shall be revealed,
a new light to minds, and God shall be all things to all.
A people well-living and flourished in life, the wellspring of David welling
will be a golden light, and the land milky, abounding in honey.
That light at evening, the people will be without plague, funeral, or death.

Iesus habebitur, ipse tenebitur, ipse tenebit.
Lux erit illius, illius unius esca benignis,
Absque cibo cibus his proprie quibus est cor ut ignis.
Hunc speculabimur, et saturabimur hunc speculando,
Cum chorus infimus, astra replebimus agmine sancto. 220
Spe modo nitimur, ubere pascimur hic, ibi pane.

Jesus will be had, he himself will be held, he himself will hold.
Light shall be his; the food of that one a fare for the benign,
Without food a food truly to those whose heart is as fire.
We shall behold him, and we shall be sated by beholding him,
When we, the lowest chorus, shall fill the stars in a holy array. 220
We lean only on hope; here we are fed from the breast, there with bread.

Nox mala plurima dat, dabit intima gaudia mane,
Gaudia passio, regna redemptio, crux sacra portum,
Lacrima plaudere, poena quiescere, terminus ortum,
Iesus amantibus afferet omnibus alta trophaea;
Iesus amabitur atque videbitur in Galilaea.
Mane videbitur, umbra fugabitur, ordo patebit,
Mane nitens erit, et bona qui gerit ille nitebit.
Tunc pia sentiet auris et audiet, "Ecce tuus Rex.

The most grievous night gives, will give the deepest joys at morning,
Joy — passion, kingdom — redemption, the sacred cross a haven,
Tears to applaud, punishment to rest, the terminus a rising,
Jesus will bring to lovers all high trophies;
Jesus will be loved and will be seen in Galilee.
In the morning he will be seen, the shadow will be driven away, order will be revealed,
The morning will shine, and he who bears good things will shine.
Then the pious ear will perceive and hear, "Behold your King."

Ecce Deus tuus, ecce decor suus hic stat, abit lex." 230
Pars mea, Rex meus, in proprio Deus ipse decore
Visus amabitur, atque videbitur auctor in ore.
Tunc Iacob Israel, et Lea tunc Rachel efficietur.
Tunc Sion atria pulchraque patria perficietur.

"Behold your God, behold his beauty, here he stands, the law departs." 230
My portion, my King, God himself in his proper beauty
The seen will be loved, and the author will be seen in the mouth.
Then Jacob will be Israel, and Leah then will be made Rachel.
Then Zion's courts and the fair homeland will be perfected.

O bona patria, lumina sobria te speculantur,
Ad tua nomina, sobria lumina collacrimantur;
Est tua mentio pectoris unctio, cura doloris,
Concipientibus aethera mentibus ignis amoris.
Tu locus unicus illeque coelicus es Paradisus.
Non ibi lacrima, sed placidissima gaudia, risus. 240

O good patria, sober lights behold you,
At your names, sober lights are shed with tears;
Your mention is the anointing of the heart, the cure of pain,
To minds conceiving the heavens the fire of love.
You are that unique place and heavenly Paradise.
There is no tear there, but most placid joys, laughter. 240

Est ibi consita laurus et insita cedrus hysopo;
Sunt radiantia iaspide moenia, clara pyropo.
Hinc tibi sardius, inde topazius, hinc amethystus;
Est tua fabrica concio coelica, gemmaque Christus,
Lux tua mors crucis, atque caro ducis est crucifixi.
Laus, benedictio, coniubilatio personat ipsi.

There is planted the laurel and implanted the cedar, hyssop;
There are walls radiant with jasper, bright with pyrope.
From here to you a sardius, thence a topaz, from here an amethyst;
There is your workmanship, a heavenly assembly, and Christ is the gem,
Your light is the death of the cross, and the flesh of the leader is of the crucified.
Praise, blessing, nuptial-union resounds to him.

Dos tibi florida gemmaque lucida Rex Nasarenus,
Iesus homo-Deus, annulus aureus, hortus amoenus,
Ianua, ianitor, ipseque portitor ipseque portus.
Ipse salutifer est tibi lucifer, arrha-vir, ortus. 250
Tu sine littore, tu sine tempore, fons modo rivus,
Dulce bonis sapis, estque tibi lapis undique vivus.
Ipse tuus Deus et lapis aureus est tibi murus,
Inviolabilis, insuperabilis, haud ruiturus.

A dowry to you, a flowery gift and a bright gem, the Nazarene King,
Iesus homo-Deus, a golden ring, a pleasant garden,
A door, a doorkeeper, and he himself both ferryman and harbor.
He himself is for you health-bearing light-bearer, arrha-vir, risen. 250
You without shore, you without time, a spring now a stream,
You taste sweet to the good, and for you a living stone is everywhere.
He himself your God and a golden stone is for you a wall,
Inviolable, unsurpassable, not about to crumble.

Est tibi laurea, dos datur aurea, sponsa decora,
Primaque principis oscula suscipis; inspicis ora,
Candida lilia viva monilia sunt tibi sponsa;
Agnus adest tibi sponsus, ades sibi tu speciosa;
Pax tua praemia conditor atria, crux sacra portae,
Ars tua plaudere, munera vivere iam sine morte. 260
Tota negocia cantica dulcia, dulce sonare,
Tam mala debita, quam bona praebita coniubilare.
Sors tua gaudia sine carentia, nil dare triste,
Lex tua psallere, "gloria" dicere, "Laus tibi Christe."
Urbs Sion urbs bona, patria consona, patria lucis,
Ad tua gaudia corda soles pia ducere dulcis.
Ierusalem, pia patria, non via, pulcra platea,
Ad tua munera fit via dextera Pythagoraea.

There is for you a laurel, a golden dowry is given, a comely bride,
and you receive the first kisses of the prince; you behold the faces,
white lilies alive are garlands to you, O bride;
the Lamb is present as your bridegroom, be present yourself fair to him;
your peace is the founder of rewards, the sacred cross of the gate,
your art is to applaud, to live the gifts now without death. 260
All affairs are sweet songs, to sound sweetly,
to wed in nuptial-chant both evil owed and good bestowed.
Your lot is joys without lack, to give nothing sad,
your law is to psalmodize, to cry "glory," "Praise to you, Christ."
City Sion, a good city, a consonant homeland, a homeland of light,
to your joys you sweetly lead hearts pious, as is your custom.
Jerusalem, pious homeland, not a way but a fair street,
to your offerings the right-hand Pythagorean way becomes the path.

Urbs Sion aurea, patria lactea, cive decora,
Omne cor obruis, omnibus obstruis et cor et ora. 270

City Sion golden, motherland milky, adorned with citizens,
You overwhelm every heart, you bar for all both heart and mouths. 270

Nescio, nescio quae iubilatio, lux tibi qualis,
Quam socialia gaudia, gloria quam specialis.
Laude studens ea tollere mens mea, victa fatiscit.
O bona gloria, vincor in omnia laus tua vicit.

I do not know, I do not know what jubilation this is, what sort of light is yours,
What communal joys, how special the glory.
My mind, striving by praise to lift these things, overcome, grows faint.
O good glory, I am conquered in all things; your praise has prevailed.

Sunt Sion atria coniubilantia, martyre plena,
Cive micantia, principe stantia, luce serena.
Sunt ibi pascua mitibus afflua praestita sanctis.
Regis ibi thronus agminis et sonus est epulantis,
Gens duce splendida, concio candida vestibus albis;
Sunt sine fletibus in Sion aedibus, aedibus almis. 280
Sunt sine crimine, sunt sine turbine, sunt sine lite,
In Sion arcibus editioribus Israhelitae.

There are in Zion courts rejoicing together, full of martyrs,
gleaming with citizens, standing with a prince, in serene light.
There are there pastures flowing, provided to the meek saints.
There is the king’s throne of the procession, and the sound of the revelers,
a people splendid under their leader, an assembly bright in white garments;
There are without tears in Zion houses, nourishing houses. 280
There are without crime, without tumult, without strife,
in Zion, Israelites in loftier citadels.

Pax ibi florida, pascua vivida, viva medulla;
Nulla molestia, nulla tragoedia, lacrima nulla.
O sacra potio, sacra refectio, pax animarum;
O pius, O bonus, O placidus sonus, hymnus earum.
Sufficiens cibus est Deus omnibus ipse redemptis,
Plena refectio propria visio Cunctipotentis.

Peace there flourishing, pastures vivid, the living marrow;
No trouble, no tragedy, no tear.
O sacred potion, sacred refreshment, peace of souls;
O pious, O good, O placid sound, their hymn.
God himself is sufficient food for all who are redeemed,
Full refreshment—the very vision of the Almighty.

Eius habent satis, his tamen est sitis eius anhela,
Absque doloribus, absque laboribus, absque querela. 290
Huic magis, huic minus, ille patens sinus est deitatis,
Plurima mansio stat, retributio plurima patris.
Luna minoribus ante fit ignibus et sibi Phoebus,
Praeest ea noctibus hiique fretantibus, ille diebus.
Cernis in aethere plus renitescere sidere sidus;
Sic mediocria summaque praemia credito fidus.

They have enough of it, yet for these there is a panting thirst for it,
without pains, without labors, without complaint. 290
For this more, for this less, there stands the open bosom of deity,
Many a dwelling is established, the most abundant retribution of the Father.
The moon is appointed to the lesser ones with fires, and Phoebus to himself,
She presides over the nights and those who traverse them, he over the days.
You see in the ether one star gleam more brightly than another star;
Thus, faithful believer, trust in middling and highest rewards.

Urbs Sion inclyta, gloria debita glorificandis,
Tu bona visibus interioribus intima pandis,
Intima lumina, mentis acumina te speculantur,
Pectora flammea, spe modo, postea sorte lucrantur. 300

O renowned city Zion, glory due to those to be glorified,
You unfold your good things to inward visions, the inmost things,
The inmost lights, the acutenesses of the mind behold you,
Flaming hearts, by hope for now, thereafter they obtain (by) lot. 300

Urbs Sion unica, mansio mystica condita caelo,
Nunc tibi gaudeo, nunc mihi lugeo, tristor, anhelo.
Te, quia corpore non queo, pectore saepe penetro;
Sed caro terrea terraque carnea, mox cado retro.
Nemo retexere, nemoque promere sustinet ore,
Quo tua moenia, quo capitolia plena nitore;
Id queo dicere, quomodo tangere pollice coelum,
Ut mare currere, sicut in aere figere telum.

City Zion unique, a mystic mansion founded in heaven,
Now I rejoice for you, now I grieve for myself, sorrowful, panting.
You, since I cannot reach you with my body, I often penetrate with my breast;
But flesh of earth and earthly earth, soon I fall back.
No one is able to unveil, nor to bring forth with the mouth,
Where your walls are, where capitols shine full with brightness;
That I can say how to touch heaven with the finger,
As the sea runs, as a missile is fixed in the air.

Opprimit omne cor ille tuus decor, O Sion, O Pax;
Urbs sine tempore, nulla potest fore laus tibi mendax. 310
O nova mansio, te pia concio, gens pia munit,
Provehit, excitat, auget, identitat efficit, unit.
Te Deus expolit, angelus excolit, incolit ordo,
Cui cibus additur, et sonus editur a decachordo;
Florida vatibus, aurea patribus es duodenis,
Clara fidelibus esurientibus hic, ibi plenis;
Sunt tibi lilia, pura cubilia virginitatis,
Est rosa sanguine, purpura lumine sobrietatis;
Teque patrum chorus ornat, et est torus immaculatus,
Sacraque victima sacraque lacrima, poena reatus. 320
Rex tibi praesidet et tua possidet atria magnus,
Qui patris unicus est leo mysticus, et tamen agnus.
Rex tibi filius unicus illius ille Mariae,
Stirps sacra virginis, auctor originis osque Sophiae.

That beauty of yours, O Sion, O Peace, overwhelms every heart;
A city without time, no praise can be false for you. 310
O new dwelling, you the pious congregation, a pious people fortifies,
It bears you forward, awakens, increases, makes identity, unites.
God polishes you, an angel cultivates you, an order dwells in you,
To whom food is added, and a sound is issued from the decachord;
You are flowery to the poets, golden to the twelve fathers,
Bright to the hungry faithful here, there to the full;
You have lilies for beds, pure couches of virginity,
There is a rose of blood, a purple of light of sobriety;
And the chorus of fathers adorns you, and there is an immaculate couch,
And a sacred victim and a sacred tear, punishment, guilt. 320
A great king presides for you and possesses your courts,
Who is the father's only one, a mystic lion, and yet a lamb.
A king for you is that only son of Mary,
The sacred stock of the virgin, the author of origin and the mouth of Wisdom.

Hic sapientia linguaque patria, patria dextra.
Continet arbiter omnia sub, super, intus et extra,
Astra regit Deus, astra cinis meus audet in illo,
Qui quasi propria continet omnia facta pugillo.
Cum patre filius atque paraclitus aequus utrique,
Omnia continet, omnibus eminet, omnis ubique. 330

Here is wisdom and the native tongue, the native right hand.
The arbiter contains all things below, above, within and without,
God rules the stars, my ash dares into that star,
Who as it were contains all made things in his little fist.
With the Father the Son and the Paraclete equal to each,
He contains all things, he excels for all, all everywhere. 330

Hunc bene quaerimus, ergo videbimus, immo videmus.
Hunc speculabimur, hoc satiabimur, hunc sitiemus.
Cernere iugiter atque perenniter ora tonantis
Dat lucra iugia, perpetualia, dat lucra sanctis.

We seek him well, therefore we shall see him, nay we see him.
We will behold him, we will be sated with him, we will thirst for him.
To behold ever and perpetually the faces of the Thunderer
gives everlasting rewards, perpetual gains, gives rewards to the saints.

O sine luxibus, O sine luctibus, O sine lite,
Splendida curia, florida patria, patria vitae,
Urbs Sion inclyta, patria condita littore tuto,
Te peto, te colo, te flagro, te volo, canto, saluto.
Nec meritis peto, nam meritis meto morte perire,
Nec reticens tego, quod meritis ego filius irae; 340
Vita quidem mea, vita nimis rea, mortua vita,
Quippe reatibus exitialibus, obruta, trita.
Spe tamen ambulo, praemia postulo, speque fideque,
Illa perennia postulo praemia nocte dieque.

O without luxuries, O without griefs, O without strife,
Splendid court, flourishing patria, patria of life,
City Zion illustrious, patria founded on a safe shore,
I seek you, I cultivate you, I burn for you, I will, I sing, I salute you.
Nor do I seek by merits, for by merits I reap to perish by death,
Nor, keeping silence, do I hide that by merits I am a son of wrath; 340
My life indeed, life too guilty, dead life,
Indeed overwhelmed by ruinous crimes, crushed and worn away.
Yet I walk in hope, I demand rewards, by hope and by faith,
Those eternal rewards I demand night and day.

Me Pater optimus atque piissimus ille creavit,
In lue pertulit, ex lue sustulit, a lue lavit.
Spes mihi plurima, spes validissima stat, stet in ipso,
Qui sua lumina post tua crimina praebet abysso.
Dum sua suppleo robora, gaudeo; dum mea, ploro,
Cum sibi gaudeo, tum mihi defleo, flere laboro. 350
Dum sua cogito viscera, suscito gaudia cordis;
Dum mea sordida, mens iacet algida, conscia sordis.

That best and most pious Father created me,
He bore me in plague, removed me from plague, washed me from plague.
Very many hopes are mine, a most mighty hope stands, may it stand in him,
Who gives his own lights after your crimes to the abyss.
While I supply his strengths, I rejoice; while (I supply) mine, I weep,
When I rejoice for him, then I bewail for myself, I toil to weep. 350
While I ponder his inward things, I raise joys of the heart;
While my sordid things (I ponder), the mind lies cold, conscious of filth.

Magna potentia, maxima gratia laxet iniquo
Magna piacula, maxima vincula daemone victo,
Gratia coelica sustinet unica totius orbis
Parcere sordibus interioribus, unctio morbis;
Diluit omnia, coelica gratia, fons David undans
Omnia diluit, omnibus affluit, omnia mundans.
O pia gratia, celsa palatia cernere praesta,
Ut videam bona festaque consona, coelica festa. 360

Great power, greatest grace may loosen the unjust
Great expiations, greatest chains with the demon conquered give,
Heavenly grace alone sustains the whole orb
To spare the inward filth, anointing for diseases;
Heavenly grace washes away all, the wellspring of David overflowing
Washes all away, flows to all, cleanses all. O pious grace, grant that I behold the lofty palaces,
That I may see the good things and festivals consonant, heavenly festivals. 360

Non animo coquar aut sequar aut loquar omne profanum;
Iungar habentibus aethera civibus, et sequar agnum.
Sim lue pectoris intro carens, foris hoste, labore,
Frigore, grandine, carne, libidine, morte, timore.
O sine crimine vel sine turbine, patria coeli,
Te reus ardeo (plus loquar audeo mente fideli)
O mea spes, mea tu Sion aurea, clarior auro,
Agmine splendida, stans duce, florida perpete lauro.

I will not be seared in spirit, nor follow, nor speak any profane thing;
I shall be joined to the citizens who hold the ether, and I will follow the Lamb.
May I be within, free from the plague of the heart; without: enemy, toil,
from cold, from hail, from the flesh, from lust, from death, from fear.
O without crime or without tumult, homeland of heaven,
I, accused, burn for you (I dare to speak more with a faithful mind)
O my hope, you my Zion, golden, brighter than gold,
resplendent in array, standing with a leader, ever-flourishing with laurel.

O bona patria, num tua gaudia teque videbo?
O bona patria, num tua praemia plena tenebo? 370
Dic mihi, flagito, verbaque reddito, dicque, "Videbis."
Spem solidam gero; remne tenens ero? Dic: "Retinebis."
Plaude, cinis meus, est tua pars Deus, eius es et sis.

O good homeland, will I see your joys and you?
O good homeland, will I hold your prizes full? 370
Tell me, I demand, and give back words, and say, "You will see."
I carry a steadfast hope; will I be holding the thing? Say: "You will retain."
Rejoice, my ashes, it is your portion: God; you are his, and may you be.

Rex tuus est tua portio, tu sua; ne sibi desis.
Mens mea, mens rea, non tibi pars ea iam rapietur;
Est tibi lacrima pars erit optima, posce, feretur
Optima portio, plena refectio, pax rata mentis,
Visio numinis oraque luminis omnipotentis.
Huic sitis intima sanctaque lacrima spirat, anhelat,
Flendo fit hostia, flet sua noxia, flendoque velat, 380
Membra gravans gravat, acta, cor, os lavat et levat aeque,
Despicit extima, pulsat ad intima nocte dieque
Se flet et improbat, angit, agit, probat, est sibi fornax;
Flendo cor excitat atque reclamitat: "O Sion, O Pax."
Est lacrimantibus, esurientibus, exanimatis,
Pneuma, refectio, vivificatio, visio Patris.

Your king is your portion, you are his; do not abandon yourself.
My mind, guilty mind, that part will no longer be snatched from you;
There is for you a tear that will be the best portion; ask, it will be brought
The best portion, full refreshment, firm peace of mind,
A vision of the deity and the faces of the omnipotent light.
To this the innermost thirst and holy tear breathe, gasp,
By weeping a sacrifice is made, it weeps away its own guilt, and by weeping it veils, 380
Weighing the limbs it burdens, deeds, heart, mouth it washes and lifts alike,
It despises externals, it strikes at the inmost things night and day
It weeps itself and reproves itself, it anguishes, acts, tests, it is a furnace to itself;
By weeping it quickens the heart and cries aloud: "O Sion, O Peace."
It is for those who weep, who hunger, who are faint,
A spirit, refreshment, vivification, a vision of the Father.

O sacer, O pius, O ter et amplius ille beatus
Cui sua pars Deus; O miser, O reus hac viduatus.
Omnis et unica gloria coelica, conditor unus,
Muneris est dator, ipse poli sator ipseque munus. 390

O sacred, O pious, O thrice and more that blessed one
to whom God is his own portion; O miserable, O guilty one thus bereft.
All and sole heavenly glory, one creator,
is the giver of the gift, himself the sower of the heavens and himself the gift. 390

Cor fovet illius, illius unius ora videre,
Agmina cernere, praemia sumere, lumen habere.
Gens pia vocibus, impia gressibus, invida morum,
Cur male vivitis et bona perditis illa bonorum?
Gens adamantina, saxea germina, germina dura,
Quid bona spernitis atque requiritis interitura?

The heart cherishes him, that one alone, to behold his face,
to behold the ranks, to take rewards, to possess light.
A people pious in words, impious in steps, envious of morals,
Why do you live ill and ruin those goods?
A people adamantine, rock-born shoots, hard shoots,
Why do you scorn good things and seek those things destined to perish?

Gens male provida turbaque turbida turbine mortis,
Gens foris actibus introque cordibus orba retortis,
Quid retro ceditis illaque spernitis intima dona?
Manna relinquitis atque recurritis ad Pharaona. 400
Cur ea quaeritis, unde peribitis, unde ruetis?
Cur pereuntia fine, ruentia morte tenetis?

Gens male provida turbaque turbida turbine mortis,
Gens foris actibus introque cordibus orba retortis,
Quid retro ceditis illaque spernitis intima dona?
Manna relinquitis atque recurritis ad Pharaona. 400
Why do you seek those things by which you will perish, whence you will plunge?
Why do you cling to perishing things in their end, things rushing to death?

Turba theatrica, turba phrenetica, quo properatis?
Quo rea pectora, quo rea corpora praecipitatis?
Quid, rogo, spernitis ante requiritis ire retrorsum?

Theatrical throng, frenetic throng, to what place are you hastening?
To what place do you plunge guilty breasts, to what guilty bodies do you hurl headlong?
What, I ask, do you scorn, and why do you first seek to go back?

Perdita gens satis, ad scelus os datis, ad bona dorsum.
Fluxa manentibus, obruta stantibus, ultima primis,
Cur homo praeficis altaque despicis, omnis in imis?
Surge, revertere, tende resurgere, tende reverti,
Pande reum reus; ultor adest Deus, ultor operti. 410
Detege vulnera, detege funera quatriduana,
Vulnera detege flendoque contege, percute sana;
Gens Babylonia surgite noxia gaudia flere,
Flendo repellere pulsaque tergere, tersa cavere.

A people thoroughly lost, with face given to crime, with back turned to goods.
Flowing to the remaining, overwhelmed to the standing, the last to the first,
Why, O man, do you scorn those set above and the things lofty, while you are wholly in the depths?
Rise, return, strive to rise again, strive to return,
Uncover the guilty, guilty one; an avenging God is present, an avenger of the hidden. 410
Lay bare the wounds, lay bare the four-day funerals,
Reveal the wounds and cover them with weeping, strike and heal;
Babylonian people, rise to weep your guilty joys,
By weeping to repel and to wipe away what was driven off, when wiped be wary.

Hora novissima, lux venit ultima, crimina torrens,
Grata sed effera, blanda sed aspera, clara sed horrens.
Imminet ultio, mors, tribulatio, qualis? amara,
Luxque iacentibus evigilantibus horrida clara.

The final hour, the last light comes, a torrent of crimes,
pleasing yet savage, blandishing yet harsh, bright yet horrible.
Vengeance looms, death, tribulation — what sort? bitter,
and the light for those who lie awake and watch, dreadfully clear.

Qui modo sustinet, arbiter imminet ille, sed ille
Versibus editur atque retexitur ore Sibyllae. 420

He who but now sustains, that arbiter looms near, yet he
is produced in verses and rewoven by the mouth of the Sibyl. 420

O tremor omnibus igne ruentibus, his quoque coelis.
Rex venit ocius, hunc tremet impius atque fidelis.
Hoc duce praemia, iudice gloria percipietur;
Hoc quoque vindice fraus ruet, indice culpa scietur.

O terror to all rushing in fire, to these heavens too.
The King comes swiftly; both the impious and the faithful shall tremble at him.
By this leader rewards, by this judge glory will be received;
By this same avenger deceit shall fall, by this accuser guilt shall be made known.

Mitis atrocior, agnus acerbior, alter at idem
Ipse videbitur et famulabitur aether eidem.
Aetheris agmina summaque culmina concutientur;
Aether, humus, mare tunc sonitum dare conspicientur.
Celsa cacumina sunt simul agmina celsa ruenda,
Summa vel infera, sol, mare, sidera concutienda. 430
Qui modo conticet, ut bene iudicet, ille tonabit;
In mala rugiet, in mala saeviet, in mala stabit.

Mild yet more atrocious, a lamb more bitter, another yet the same
He himself will be seen, and the aether will serve that same one.
The hosts of the aether and the highest summits will be shaken;
Aether, earth, and sea then will be seen to give forth a sound.
The lofty peaks together with the lofty ranks are about to fall,
Highest things and lowest, the sun, the sea, the stars to be shaken. 430
He who but now is hushed, that he may judge rightly, that one shall thunder;
Into evils he will roar, in evils he will rage, in evils he will stand.

Blandus amantibus, efferus hostibus aspicietur;
Hinc revocabilis, intolerabilis inde feretur.
Unius ipsius, his gravis, his pius (O stupor ingens)
Vultus habebitur, his miserebitur, illa refringens.
Longanimis, bonus, ille ferens onus hic reproborum,
Tunc mala puniet ipseque muniet acta bonorum.

He will be seen charming to lovers, fierce to enemies;
On this side recallable, on that carried as intolerable.
Of the single man himself, to some stern, to others pious (O immense wonder)
a countenance will be held; he will pity these, shattering those.
To the long-suffering he is good, he who bears the burden here of the reprobate,
then will he himself punish evils and fortify the deeds of the good.

Hunc meritum teret, hunc pietas feret unica patris,
Nec sibi debita, sed sibi praebita gratia gratis. 440
Cum via sordeat, actio langueat una duorum,
Hic reprobabitur, ille merebitur alta polorum.
Cum via lubrica, cum sit et unica causa duobus,
Alter amabitur, alter habebitur hostis et orbus.
Plurima pluribus immo vel omnibus hic fit abyssus,
Quod bene sumitur, hic bene pellitur, ille remissus,
Impenetrabilis, irreserabilis, hic labyrinthus.

This merit is worn away, this piety alone of the father will bear him,
Nor the grace owed to himself, but the grace offered to him gratuitously. 440
When the path is foul, one of the two acts will languish,
This will be rejected, that will be merited by the high heavens.
When the way is slippery, when it is the sole cause for two,
One will be loved, the other will be held an enemy and bereft.
For many, for many even or indeed for all, here it becomes an abyss,
What is well received here is well cast away, that one relaxed and remitted,
Impenetrable, unopenable, here a labyrinth.

Nos bona corporis, aspicimus foris; auctor at intus.
Corda Deus pia scit, negat impia, iustus utrisque.
Quisque tremat sibi, gaudeat et tibi, Gratia, quisque. 450

We behold the goods of the body outwardly; the author, however, within.
God knows pious hearts, denies impious ones, is just to both.
Let each one tremble for himself; let each one also rejoice in you, Grace. 450

Quisque scelus fleat atque tremens eat, et tremebundus.
Cras ruit ordine, qui stat in agmine nunc quasi mundus.
Omnia qui regit, hos premit, hos legit omnipotens Rex.

Let each one bewail his crime and go off trembling and fear-stricken.
Tomorrow, in order, he who now stands in the column as if pure will be swept away.
The omnipotent King, who rules all things, crushes some and chooses others.

Est hominis via nunc mala, cras pia, nunc rosa, cras fex.
Mox rosa fit rubus, ipseque cras lupus haeret ovili.
Os homo, cor Deus inspicit, est reus huic, bonus illi.

A man's way is now bad, tomorrow pious; now a rose, tomorrow dregs.
Soon the rose becomes a bramble, and he himself tomorrow a wolf clings to the sheepfold.
The mouth is man's, the heart God inspects; to the one he is guilty, to the other good.

Facta tremat sua quisque, Deus, tua viscera fidat,
Fidat, et impia fedaque gaudia flendo relidat.
Ludite, ludite, corpore sospite, gens Babylonis,
Ludite, cordibus ad bona segnibus, ad mala pronis. 460
Lux venit ultima quae procul optima vestra fugabit,
Vestra palatia, gazophylacia vestra cremabit.
Rex veniet pius, et furor ipsius, absque furore,
(O tremor intimus) his rigidissimus, his pius ore.

Let each tremble at his deeds; God, may He trust your entrails,
May He trust, and by weeping wash away impious and foul joys.
Play on, play on, with your body spared, O people of Babylon,
Play on, your hearts sluggish toward good, prone toward evil. 460
The final light comes, which from afar will drive away your best things,
It will burn your palaces, your treasuries.
A pious king will come, and his fury, without fury,
(O inward trembling) most rigid with these, pious in word.

Virga ruentibus ordine mentibus, adveniet rex,
Stantibus ordine mitior, et sine vindice iudex.
Iudicium tulit esseque pertulit ante Pilatum;
Iustus id exeret, id tulit, inferet id toleratum.
Virgine rex satus, ipse dator datus, ipse patebit.

A rod for minds falling from order; a king will come,
to those standing in order more gentle, and a judge without an avenger.
He bore judgment and brought it before Pilate;
the just would have cast it out; he bore it, he brought it, he will bring it as endured.
Born of a virgin the king, himself the Giver given, himself will be made manifest.

Cur morulas paro? Carne satum caro cuncta videbit. 470
Turba nefaria cernet et impia quem crucifixit,
Cui bene vocibus improperantibus, heu maledixit.
Fructus in horrea tendet, et area discutietur,
Sumet in omnia secula gaudia cui modo fletur.

Why do I prepare mulberries? Flesh born of flesh will see all things. 470
The nefarious and impious throng will behold him whom they crucified,
to whom, with voices rightly full of reproach, alas he was cursed.
Fruit will be laid up in barns, and the threshing‑floor will be upturned,
joys will take possession for all ages of him for whom now there is weeping.

Gens ruet impia, pars Babylonia nata perire;
Cedet ad aethera pacis, ad infera filius irae.
Tunc cumulabitur atque replebitur illa gehenna,
Agmine criminis atque libidinis agmine plena.
Huic ibi mitius, huic erit acrius, hinc fuga nulla.

The impious nation will collapse, a part born of Babylon to perish;
He will yield to the airy realms of peace, to the underworld the son of wrath.
Then that Gehenna will be heaped up and filled,
full with a host of crime and a host of lust.
To one it will there be milder, to another it will be more severe, from here no escape.

Deinde remissio sive redemptio non erit ulla. 480

Then there will be no remission nor redemption. 480

Hic mala plangite, caetera quaerite, vos genus Evae;
Hic dolor utilis, ordo parabilis hic, ibi "Vae, vae".
Fraus ibi vapulat et tumor eiulat, at sine fructu.
Flet petulantia, luget inertia perpete luctu.
Cor variabile maeret inutile, plorat amarum,
Fit sine se, sine spe, sine nomine gens tenebrarum.

Here bewail evils, seek the rest, you race of Eve;
Here useful sorrow, here an order to be obtained, there "Woe, woe".
Fraud there is whipped and swelling howls, yet all without fruit.
Petulance weeps, idleness laments perpetually with mourning.
A variable heart grieves in vain, weeps bitterly,
It becomes without itself, without hope, without name, a people of darkness.

Quos Veneris modo, pessima postmodo flamma gehennae,
Torret, agit, terit, his furit, hos ferit, ultio poenae.
Pectora crimine, membra libidine, torrida torret,
Falsiloquos premit, in tumidos fremit, omnibus horret. 490
Innovat et necat, integrat et secat, ut moriantur
Non morientia corpora, stantia non statuantur,
Frigus ut ardeat, ignis ut algeat, idque petatur
Hunc fugientibus, hunc repetentibus id fugiatur.
Mors ibi plurima, flamma nigerrima, lux tenebrosa,
Singula tangere, non pede paupere, non queo prosa;
Ut nequit edere vox, homo prodere laeta bonorum,
Sic nequit edere vox, homo prodere moesta malorum.

Those whom just now the love of Venus, afterwards the most dreadful flame of Gehenna,
scorches, drives, wears away; to these it rages, those it strikes — vengeance of punishment.
It scorches chests with crime, limbs with lust, burning it burns;
it crushes liars, it bellows against the swollen, it horrifies all. 490
It renews and kills, restores and cuts, so that bodies not dying may die,
the standing not stand firm,
that cold may burn, that fire may be frozen, and that this be sought —
this be fled by those fleeing, that be shunned by those returning.
There very much death, flame most black, light shadowy,
To touch each, I cannot with a poor foot, nor in plain prose;
As a man cannot give utterance to sing the joyful goods,
so cannot a man give utterance to tell the sorrowful evils.

Cui dolus est modo, tortio postmodo dura doloris,
Tortio turpia mentis, et impia puniet oris, 500
Ut flagra scilicet ultio duplicet in mala gesta,
Pectora devoret ossaque perforet intus et extra.
Audiat hoc pius ut stet, et impius ut cito surgat.
Stare timor creat huncque statu beat, hunc lue purgat.

To whom deceit is now, afterwards the torment—hard of pain,
Torment of shameful mind, and it will punish the impious of the mouth, 500
So that, verily, vengeance may double into ill deeds,
May devour the breasts and bore the bones within and without.
Let the pious hear this that he may stand, and the impious that he may quickly rise.
Fear makes one stand and thereby makes him blessed, the other it cleanses by plague.

Poena iacentibus inferet auribus ultima sensum,
Veraque lacrima plectet ad ultima cor reprehensum,
Quos scelus alligat hic, ibi colligat ultio plectens,
Mollia mollibus, improbioribus improba nectens.
Nunc levis actio, tunc ligat ultio sordidiores
Sordidioribus, improbioribus improbiores. 510

The final penalty will bring perception to the ears of those lying,
and a true tear will chastise the heart reproved unto the last,
whom crime binds here, there vengeance will bind, inflicting punishment,
joining the mild to the mild, the more shameless binding the more shameless.
Now a slight action, then vengeance binds the baser
to baser, the more shameless to the more shameless. 510

Criminis agmina quomodo sarcina stricta ligantur,
Et, quia sunt sine fructificamine, ligna cremantur.
Sunt sine fructibus interioribus, arida ficus,
Ramus inutilis, immo cremabilis, utpote siccus.
Sunt caro terrea terraque carnea, grex reproborum,
Prava creatio, mixta ligatio fasciculorum,
Postmodo fletibus, hic modo risibus excipiuntur.

How the ranks of crime are bound like a tight-packed bundle,
and, because they lack fructification, the woods are burned.
They are without inward fruits, a withered fig-tree,
a useless branch, indeed burnable, being dry.
They are fleshly earth and earthy-fleshed, the flock of the reprobate,
a perverse creation, a mixed binding of little bundles,
afterward received here with tears, there now with laughter.

Mortis in ignibus inque doloribus haud moriuntur.
Quantaque crimina sunt, cruciamina tanta malignis;
Cum mala plurima, tum duo pessima frigus et ignis, 520
Sed neque levius est neque mitius illud ab isto;
Corpora cordaque crux premit, utraque vindice Christo.
Temporis hic focus est ad eum iocus umbraque dictus.

They do not perish in the fires and in the torments of death.
And as many as the crimes are, so great the tortures for the malign;
With very many evils, moreover two most dire ones, cold and fire, 520
But that punishment is neither less severe nor gentler than the other;
The cross presses bodies and hearts, both with Christ as avenger.
This is the furnace of time, to him called a jest and a shadow.

Est levis ignibus iste perennibus, et quasi pictus.
Hic ita plurimus, hic ita maximus ignis habetur,
Ut neque fluctibus aequoris omnibus opprimeretur.
Frigora sunt ea tanta quod ignea sarcina montis
Inde gelasceret; haec mala perferet actio sontis.

That is a light thing beside those perennial fires, and as if painted.
Here fire is held so plentiful, here so great a fire is reckoned,
that it would not be overwhelmed by all the waves of the sea.
The colds are so great that the fiery sarcina of the mountain
would freeze therefrom; this guilty action will endure these evils.

Lumina, tempora, frons, labra, pectora, viscera, mammae,
Os, gula, mentula cruraque pabula sunt ibi flammae. 530
Flent ibi lumina, flent sua crimina transita pridem,
Foetor et horridus, et grave foetidus horror ibidem.
Visio daemonis illaque Gorgonis ora rigescunt;
Omnibus omnia foeda vel impia facta patescunt.
Gens mala vermibus haud morientibus instimulatur,
Atque draconibus igne flagrantibus excruciatur.

Eyes, temples, brow, lips, breasts, entrails, bosoms,
Mouth, throat, penis and legs are fodder for the flames. 530
There the eyes weep, there they weep for their crimes long past,
A stench and horrid smell, and a heavy fetid horror there.
The vision of the demon and the faces of that Gorgon grow rigid;
To all things all filthy or impious deeds are laid open.
The evil race is urged on by worms that do not die,
And is tortured by dragons blazing with fire.

Vermis in ignibus ille realibus est ita vivens,
Sicut in aequore piscis, et haec fore sic, lego scribens,
Crux, flagra, malleus, ignis et igneus est ibi torrens.
O caro, nox ibi densa manet tibi, lumen abhorrens. 540

That worm in those real fires is thus living,
just as a fish in the sea, and that these things will be so, I read, writing,
a cross, scourges, a hammer, fire, and a fiery torrent is there. O dear one, a dense night remains there for you, abhorring light. 540

Nox simul omnibus est habitantibus in regione
Mortis. Homo geme, plange, dole, treme, terrea pone.
Ignea vincula denique singula membra catenant,
Corpora lubrica membraque scaenica vincula frenant.

Night is at once for all who dwell in the region
of Death. Man, groan, bewail, mourn, tremble, put aside earthly things.
Fiery bonds at last chain each limb,
Slippery bodies and scenic limbs are checked by bonds.

Stat cruce triplice gens rea, vertice mersa deorsum,
Ora tenet sua dorsa simul sua versa retrorsum,
Sunt super horrida nam lue sordida, crura pedesque,
Inferius caput. Haec mala sunt apud infera certe.
Gens rea, plangite non ego, credite, talia fingo.

A guilty people stands on a triple cross, with the vertex plunged downward,
Their faces keep their backs and at once are turned rearward,
For above are dreadful, by a filthy plague, the shins and feet,
Below is the head. These evils are certainly among the infernal regions.
Guilty people, lament; not I, believe me, do I invent such things.

Haec noto paucula (non scio singula) plura relinquo. 550
Sermo ratus meus, ut clibanum Deus ignis iniquos
Ponet; id astruit, hos David innuit orbis amicos.
Collige, mens mea, quam gravis est ea flamma furoris:
Hic clibani calet, haud clibanus solet esse caloris.
Volvito pectore cur clibanus fore dicitur ignis.

These few things I note (I do not know the particulars) I leave the rest. 550
I hold my speech, that God will set the unjust in a clibanus of fire; he arranges this, David intimates these things to the friends of the world.
Gather, my mind, how heavy is that flame of fury:
here the clibanus grows hot, a clibanus is not wont to be mere warmth.
Turn over in your breast why the fire is said to be a clibanus.

Mens pigra, mens vana, disce timens flagra parta malignis.
Si mala suggeris hic, ibi redderis ipsa tibi fax,
Ipsa cremans eris, ipsa cremaberis ignea fornax.
Heu lacrimabile, vae miserabile, mens mea clama,
Non ibi lucida, crede, sed horrida, sed nigra flamma, 560
Quae tamen emicat et mala duplicat igne micante,
Nam patet huic tua poena, tibi sua luce nigrante.

Lazy mind, vain mind, learn, fearing the flames born of malign things.
If here you urge evils, there you will be repaid with that very torch to yourself,
You yourself will be burning, you yourself will be cremate by a fiery oven.
Alas tearful, woe miserable, my mind cries aloud,
Not there bright, believe, but horrid, but black flame, 560
Which nevertheless flashes forth and doubles evils with gleaming fire,
For your punishment is open to it, its light blackening for you.

Ultio pectora frigore, corpora concremat igne;
Utraque pars ruit in scelus, hoc luit utraque digne,
Quod gravioribus iste reatibus est cruciatus,
Dicit homo-Deus illeque Iob meus, ille probatus.
Qui male praeminet ultroque sustinet interiores,
Ut Deus astruit, in tenebras ruit exteriores.
Hic nisi fles, ibi fletus erit tibi denteque stridor.

Vengeance chills the breasts with cold, and scorches bodies with fire;
Both parts rush into sin, each duly pays this penalty,
for that torment is for the graver crimes,
so says the man‑God, and that my Job, that proved one.
He who excels in evil and moreover endures the inner things,
as God ordains, the outward things fall into darkness.
If you do not weep here, there will be weeping for you there, and the gnashing of teeth.

Fumus ab ignibus hunc cremat editus, hunc gravis algor. 570

Smoke from the fires burns this one when kindled, this one a grievous cold. 570

Sana probatio quod cruciatio frigoris, ignis,
Sit pereuntibus atque luentibus acta malignis.
Iob quoque pagina, si sacra carmina Iob bene signes,
Hos ait incitus a nive transitus urget ad ignes.
Testis et hic ratus; ergo stili latus est mihi tectum,
Rege, satellite, principe, milite, quod bene septum.

A sound proof that the torment of cold and fire
applies to the perishing and to those who atone, deeds enacted for the malignant.
The page of Job too, if you well mark the sacred verses of Job,
he says these: driven on, he who is carried across from the snow presses toward the fires.
This likewise stands as witness; therefore the pen's side is to me a roof,
a guard by king, by satellite, by prince, by soldier, which is well fenced.

Quomodo praemia, sic flagra iugia, regna piorum,
Regna perennia, perpetualia flagra malorum.
His decor amplior, his dolor auctior est sine fine.
Pars habet aethera, perditur altera strata ruinae. 580
Corpora lubrica, corda tyrannica percruciantur;
Frigore grandinis haec, face fulminis illa cremantur.

As the rewards, so the burning yokes, the realms of the pious,
everlasting kingdoms, perpetual flames of the wicked.
For these the glory is greater, for those the pain is increased without end.
One part possesses the aether, the other is ruined, a layer of collapse. 580
Slippery bodies, tyrannical hearts are pierced with torment;
by the cold of hail these, by the torch of lightning those are burned.

Arctat, arat, terit, angit, agit, ferit illa gehenna,
Vi, cruce, pondere, frigore, verbere, perpete poena.
Est ibi, credite, crux sine stipite, mors sine morte,
Vox sine carmine, lux sine lumine, nox sine nocte.
Non ibi publicus arbiter Aeacus aut Rhadamanthus;
Non ibi Cerberus aut furor inferus, ultio, planctus.

Arctat, arat, terit, angit, agit, ferit illa Gehenna,
By force, by the cross, by weight, by cold, by scourge, perpetual punishment.
There is, believe it, a cross without a stake, death without death,
a voice without song, light without luminosity, night without night.
Not there the public judge Aeacus or Rhadamanthus;
Nor there Cerberus or infernal fury, vengeance, lamentation.

Non ibi navita cymbaque praedita voce Maronis;
Sed quid? adustio, nox, cruciatio, mors Babylonis. 590
Non tenet Orphea, lex data Typhea fortia lora,
Non lapis hic gravis aut lacerans avis interiora.
Poena nigerrima, poena gravissima, poena malorum,
Mens male conscia cordaque noxia, vermis eorum.

Not there the boatman and boat endowed with the voice of Maro;
But what? burning, night, torture, the death of Babylon. 590
No Orpheus holds, no law given to Typhoeus, strong reins,
No heavy stone here nor bird lacerating entrails.
The blackest punishment, the gravest punishment, the punishment of the wicked,
a mind ill-conscious and guilty hearts, their worm.

Caeditur invida mens, caro sordida membraque lena,
Perpete vulnere, perpete sulphure, perpete poena.
Assur ibi tremit et sua gens gemit, esca draconis;
Post sua lilia perdita, filia flet Babylonis.
Quam male florida, quam sibi fulgida, quam stetit aucta,
Tam modo marcida, tam iacet horrida, tam labefacta. 600

The invidious mind is beaten, the sordid flesh and lascivious limbs,
by perpetual wound, perpetual sulphur, perpetual punishment.
Asshur there trembles and his people groan, food of the dragon;
after her lilies lost, the daughter of Babylon weeps.
How ill in bloom she was, how to herself resplendent, how she stood increased,
now so withered, now lies so horrid, now so overthrown. 600

Est meretrix ea facta sibi dea, plena venenis;
Subdita sordibus extitit, omnibus est quoque poenis.
Dulce mel illius, immo fel ipsius, ore biberunt,
Qui modo lubrica sive volatica gaudia quaerunt,
Qui pereuntia lucra, ruentia regna, perenni
Anteferunt male, qui fatuo sale sunt sibi pleni.
Vina cupidinis atque libidinis illius hausit
Turba nefaria cui Babylonia sidera clausit.

She was made a meretrix, a goddess to herself, full of poisons;
Placed under filth she appeared, and is likewise subject to every penalty.
The sweet honey of her, nay the very gall of her, they drank with their mouths,
those who now seek slippery or volant delights,
who ill prefer perishable gains, collapsing realms, to the perennial;
those who are full of themselves with a foolish savor.
The nefarious throng drained the wines of her cup of desire and lust,
for whom Babylon sealed the stars.

Vertitur alea; quam fuit antea deliciata,
Tam cruciatibus asperioribus est modo strata. 610
Quid modo noscitur aut fore cernitur illa favilla?
Illa peraruit illaque corruit, et ruit illa.
Illaque Iezabel, illa tonans Babel ore rebelli
Ivit in infera; plaudite sidera, psallite coeli!

The die is turned; which formerly was pampered,
Now is laid open to much harsher torments. 610
How now is that spark known or seen to be about to be ash?
It burned through, and by that it collapsed, and it falls.
And that Jezebel, that Babel thundering with rebellious mouth,
went into the underworld; applaud, stars, sing, heavens!

Quae male creverat auctaque dixerat, "Est meus orbis!"
Se quoque perdidit, occidit, occidit in loca mortis.
Terra profundior ac tenebrosior est ea terra;
Gens ibi flet rea, sed nimis est ea lacrima sera.
Terra nigredine terraque turbine mortis operta;
Mors ibi plurima certaque lacrima, passio certa. 620
Illa tragoedia durat in omnia secula, durat,
Cum dolor ubera, tortio viscera, flamma cor urat.

She who had grown ill and, swollen, had proclaimed, "It is my orb!"
She also destroyed herself, she perished, she perished in places of death.
That land is deeper and darker is that land;
There the people weep, guilty, but that tear is too late.
A land blackened and covered by the whirlwind of death;
There are very many and sure deaths, and certain suffering. 620
That tragedy endures into all ages, endures,
with pain the breasts, torture the entrails, flame burns the heart.

Clamor ibi tacet, horror ibi iacet umbraque mortis;
Fert ibi crimina, fert cruciamina fortia fortis.
Corda potentia sunt patientia flagra potenter.
Ardet edax gula linguaque garrula crapula, venter,
Tortio plurima constat et intima poena malignis,
Plurima tortio, plurima passio, plurimus ignis.

There the clamour is silent, horror lies there and the shadow of death;
There crimes are borne, there the brave endure mighty tortures.
Hearts are potency, patience powerfully fans the flames of passion.
A devouring gluttony burns, and drunkenness with its garrulous tongue, the belly;
Many tortures and the innermost punishment stand against the wicked,
Very many tortures, very many passions, very great fire.

Undat ibi niger ignis et impiger excruciare,
Corda nefaria luxuriantia membra cremare. 630

There rises there a black fire, swift to excruciate and eager to torment,
to burn wicked hearts and luxuriant limbs. 630

Nox mala duplicat et Stygis emicat olla vaporans,
Flamma nigerrima torret et intima, nil ibi rorans.
Planctibus insonat, ignibus intonat unda camini;
Non ea tristia, non querimonia subdita fini.
Ignea flumina, nigra volumina flamma retorquet;
Brumaque torrida flammaque frigida pectora torquet.

The evil night doubles, and from the Styx a steaming cauldron bursts forth,
the blackest flame scorches even the inmost, nothing there dew-moist.
It resounds with laments, the chimney’s wave thunders with fires;
not those sad things, not complaints yielded to an end.
Fiery rivers, black volumes the flame twists about;
and the parching winter and the cold flame wrench the breasts.

Vermis edax scatet et puteus patet altus abyssi.
Sunt ibi pectore, sunt ibi corpore quique remissi.
Ludite, vivite foenore divite, gens aliena!

There swarms a devouring worm, and a deep well of the abyss lies open.
There are there some relaxed in heart, there some relaxed in body.
Play on, live rich by usury, O alien people!

Vos caro decipit hic, ibi suscipit illa gehenna. 640
Non ibi visio, non ibi mansio luce repleta,
Non locus ordinis aulaque luminis arvaque laeta.
O Maro falleris hic ubi conseris arva piorum;
Elysios ibi non reperis tibi, scriptor eorum.
Musa poetica, lingua scholastica, vox theatralis,
Haec quia disseris et male falleris, et male fallis.

Here the flesh deceives you, there that Gehenna receives you. 640
There is no vision there, no dwelling there filled with light,
No place of order, nor court of light, nor fields joyful.
O Maro, you are deceived here where you sow the fields of the pious;
There you will not find for yourself the Elysian places, their author.
Poetic Muse, scholastic tongue, theatrical voice,
Because you discourse on these things, you both argue ill and are ill-deceived, and you deceive ill.

Fulgurat ignibus haud radiantibus illa gehenna;
Plena nigredine plenaque turbine plenaque poena.
Plena libidinis ac vitiaminis est famulabus,
Exilientibus hinc, recidentibus huc animabus. 650
Quos vomit hos vorat undique perforat, undique pestes,
Vitaque mortibus est venientibus una superstes.
Uritur inguinis atque libidinis ignis in igne,
Uritur, uritur; ista rependitur ultio digne.

Gehenna flashes with un-radiant fires;
full of blackness, full of whirlwind, and full of penalty.
It is full to its servants of lust and of vice,
with souls springing forth hence, with souls sinking back hither. 650
Whom it vomits it devours, whom it swallows it pierces everywhere, everywhere are plagues,
and life endures together with the deaths that come.
The fire of the groin and of lust is burned in the very fire,
It burns, it burns; that vengeance is repaid deservedly.

Qui male tollitur hic, ibi plectitur actus ad imum;
Tunc loca pessima, tunc tenet infima, qui modo primum.
Qui laniat, capit, excruciat, rapit, hic rapietur,
Dilaniabitur, excruciabitur, arripietur.
Quos modo fictio, tunc premit ultio, quos probra moeror,
Quos Venus ustio, quos gula tortio, quos lucra terror. 660

He who is raised ill here, there is punished, his act brought down to the very lowest;
Then the worst places, then the nethermost hold him, he who but a little while ago was first.
He who rends, seizes, torments, plunders—here shall be plundered,
torn to pieces, tortured, seized.
Those whom mere fiction now favors, then vengeance will press; those whom reproach, (those) whom sorrow;
those whom Venus with burning, those whom gluttony with torturing, those whom gain with terror. 660

Dum licet auribus haec vigilantibus accipiatis,
Qui lucra conditis, in lucra curritis, ad lucra statis.
Gens cita pascere viscera viscere carneque carnem,
Qui tumidis satis exiguis datis heu! neque panem.

While it is permitted that you receive these things with watchful ears,
you who lay up profits, you run into profits, you stand at profits.
A fleet people to feed entrails with entrails and flesh with flesh,
who, giving meagre dole to the swollen, alas! not even bread.

Est modo Lazarus hic, ibi Tartarus, et gula pridem
Ebria potibus, ebria pastibus ardet ibidem.
Dives obit sine spe, sine nomine dives, (egenus
Nomine Lazarus) unde flet inferus, est modo plenus.
Dives aquam petit, esuriens metit ubera plena;
Gratia fletibus, ebrietatibus est modo poena. 670
Post sua funera dives ad infera, pauper ad astra.

Now here is Lazarus, there Tartarus, and gluttony of old
drunk on drinks, drunk on foods burns there likewise.
The rich dies without hope, without a name rich, (poor
by the name Lazarus) whence the nether world weeps, is now full.
The rich begs for water, the starving reaps full udders;
By tears is grace, by drunkenness is now punishment. 670
After his funerals the rich to the infernal regions, the poor to the stars.

Qui flet in ulcere gaudet in aethere, flet gula pasta.
Stillula quaeritur et gula plangitur oraque sicca.
Non data stillula.

He who weeps on an ulcer rejoices in the ether, the gorged glutton weeps.
A small drop is sought, and the glutton laments, his mouth dry.
No drop is given.

Cur? quia parvula non data mica.
Qui minus haud dedit ad minimum redit ille petendum.

Why? because a tiny crumb was not given.
He who gave less — indeed gave nothing to the least — returns to seek the least to be given.

Ad phialas stetit et fluvium petit haud tribuendum.
Gratificans ape vina, dapes dape, vesteque vestes,
Fert sua crimina, fert cruciamina, fert modo pestes.
Flos ruit et decus in Stygium specus, in specus atrum.

He stood at the phials and sought the river, not to be granted.
Bestowing, like a bee, wines, feast for feast, robe for robe,
He brings his own crimes, brings torments, now brings plagues.
The flower falls and honor into the Stygian cave, into a black cavern.

Flos quasi flos fuit; enituit, ruit ad cruciatum. 680
Cui fuerat minus huic Abrahae sinus, huic paradisus;
Cui magis ustio, lacrima, tortio poenaque, risus.
Nunc ubi pallia? Nunc ubi prandia?

He was a flower as if a flower; he flourished, he falls into torment. 680
To whom the lesser place was Abraham’s bosom, to this a paradise;
To whom rather burning, tears, twisting and punishment, and derision.
Now where are the cloaks? Now where the meals?

Nunc ubi coena?
Pallia, prandia sunt fugientia; stat sibi poena.
Purpura transiit escaque finiit; ultio restat.

Now where is the dinner?
Cloaks, meals are fleeing; punishment stands for him.
The purple has passed and the food is finished; vengeance remains.

Restat et acriter, immo perenniter illa molestat.
Flamma, fames, sitis, ultio divitis extat egentis,
Pro grue, pro sue, pro dape, pro lue, pro face ventris.
Grus, lepus, ostrea vel caro taurea, iuncta suillae,
Faxque cupidinis, alea criminis et iocus ille, 690

And it remains and fiercely, nay perpetually, torments. Flame, famine, thirst, the vengeance of the rich rises against the needy,
for crane, for sow, for banquet, for plague, for the torch of the belly.
A crane, a hare, an oyster or bull's flesh, joined to pork,
and the torch of desire, the gamble of crime and that jest, 690

Maneque prandia, sero cibaria praeterierunt;
Luce tyrannica nocteque lubrica facta ruerunt.
Ille vir affluus, ille vir efferus illeque multus
Est apud infera, fert ita littera sacra, sepultus.
Aure capescite, mente recondite talia, dites:
Tollite saucia, ferte iacentia, pascite mites,
Hos stipe pascite qui prece divite vos bene pascant,
Ne vel egentia vel sitientia membra labascant.

Maneque prandia, sero cibaria praeterierunt;
At morning-meals and lunches, late provisions went past;
Luce tyrannica nocteque lubrica facta ruerunt.
When the light grew tyrannical and the night made treacherous, they rushed forth.
Ille vir affluus, ille vir efferus illeque multus
That man affluent, that man fierce, and that great one
Est apud infera, fert ita littera sacra, sepultus.
Is among the underworld is buried, so the sacred letter bears.
Aure capescite, mente recondite talia, dites:
Lay hold with ears, hide such things in your mind, O rich ones:
Tollite saucia, ferte iacentia, pascite mites,
Lift up the wounded, carry those who lie, feed the meek,
Hos stipe pascite qui prece divite vos bene pascant,
With a stipend feed these, who by prayer may well nourish you, O wealthy,
Ne vel egentia vel sitientia membra labascant.

Condite mentibus, edite moribus, edite factis,
Quaeque fides pia clamat, amat via sobrietatis. 700
Mente reponite, vocibus edite, re date rectum:
Sitis egentibus esca, viantibus atria, tectum.
Vos date vestraque; vult Deus utraque, gaudet utrisque;
Se domino sua pauperibus lucra det bene quisque.
Multa quid astruo?

Set (into) minds, bring forth in morals, bring forth in deeds,
And whatever pious faith proclaims, the way of sobriety loves. 700
Restore in mind, give forth with voices, return what is right:
Be food to the needy, halls to wayfarers, a roof.
You give and give your own; God wills both, rejoices in both;
Let each rightly give his goods to the Lord as profit for the poor.
Why do I heap up many things?

Iam simul instruo vos ego mecum.
Demus egentibus ima gerentibus optima secum.
Qui dedit omnia Christus ad ostia nostra gemiscit;
Indiget, eiulat, ultima postulat, "huc date" dicit.

Now at once I instruct you, I with me.
Let us give to the needy, to those who bear the lowest things, the best with them.
Christ, who gave all, groans at our doors;
He is in need, he wails, he demands the last things, and says "give here."

Nemo dat, indiget. Ergo quid? Exiget ipse negatum.

No one gives; he is in need. Therefore what? He himself will demand the denied.

Tollimus ebria gens, modo gaudia, post cruciatum. 710
Ecce peculia lucraque grandia condis, Avare,
Nec numerum geris hic, quia pauperis est numerare.
Impia bestia, cernis ad ostia plangere Christum,
Esurientibus et sitientibus hic modo mixtum.
Hinc tibi Lazarus indeque Tartarus, hic fugis illum.

We raise a drunken folk, now joys, afterwards torment. 710
Behold, you hide peculia and great lucre, O Avaricious,
Nor do you keep a count here, for counting is the poor man's task.
Impious beast, you see Christ lamenting at the doors,
here now mixed for the hungry and the thirsty.
Hence for you Lazarus and thence Tartarus, here you flee him.

Pasce, fer, aspice, ne reus abiice corde pusillum.
Terrea tu sibi, pauper homo tibi coelica praestat.
Pane Deum dabit; hic obit, hic abit, hic tibi restat.

Feed him, bring him, look upon him; do not cast away the little guilty one from your heart.
You give him earthly things; the poor man bestows heavenly things for you.
With bread he will give to God; here he dies, here he departs, here he remains for you.

Terrea gloria, terrea copia plena favillae.
Gloria corruit et status aruit illius ille. 720

Earthly glory, earthly plenty full of ashes.
Glory has fallen and that man's status has withered away. 720

Audiat auribus interioribus, audiat orbis.
Orbis ut orbita vertitur incita turbine mortis;
Praeterit et perit et nebulam gerit orbis amoenum.
Tollitur ocius ipse vel ipsius omne serenum.

Let him hear with inner ears, let the orb hear.
As the orbit is turned, urged by the whirlwind of death;
The fair world passes by and perishes and bears a mist.
Soon is he himself, yea all his serenity, lifted away.

Orbis honor levis est, atomus brevis, et breve festum;
Nil dat amabile, nil amat utile, ridet honestum.
Hosteque pectoris hosteque corporis intus et extra,
Horruit aridus, aruit horridus et sua festa.
Orbis amor perit atque suos terit orbis amantes,
Et sua gaudia, gaudia tristia vera putantes. 730
Evigilabimus an remanebimus in lue mundi,
Quem patet ignibus, alluvionibus, hoste retundi?

The world's honor is light, an atom brief, and a brief festival;
It gives nothing lovable, loves nothing useful, laughs at the honorable.
Both enemy of the heart and enemy of the body, within and without,
It shudders dry, withers dreadful, and its own festivals.
The world's love perishes and grinds away its lovers,
And its joys — thinking them truly joys — are sad joys. 730
Shall we awake or remain in the plague of the world,
which lies open to fires, to floods, to be battered down by the enemy?

Quid vaga, quid rea corda colunt ea quae nihil extant,
Quae breve plaudere, non breve plangere, post breve praestant?
Cur caro proximus ignis et intimus hostis amatur?
Carnis amor perit; est rosa, fex erit; ergo spuatur.

Why do wandering, why guilty hearts worship those things which have no being at all,
which give a brief applause, not a long lamentation, and afterward yield but briefly?
Why is the dear next one, a fire and intimate enemy, loved?
The love of the flesh perishes; it is a rose, it will be dregs; therefore spit upon it.

O caro candida, post breve foetida plenaque fecis,
Flos modo, mox fimus, et fimus infimus, unde tumescis?
O caro carnea iam, modo glarea, postmodo vermis;
Nunc homo, cras humus, istud enim sumus. Unde superbis? 740
O caro debilis, O cito labilis, O male mollis,
Quid petis ardua, quid tibi cornua ferrea tollis?

O fair flesh, white, after a short time fetid and full of feces,
a flower just now, soon dung, and lowest dung, whence then do you swell?
O carnal flesh now, just now gravel, presently a worm;
now man, tomorrow earth, for that indeed we are. Whence pride? 740
O weak flesh, O quickly slipping, O ill‑soft,
what do you seek in high things, why do you lift to yourself iron horns?

Quid tibi crapula milleque fercula milleque pastus?
Res lue proflua vivaque mortua, cur tibi fastus?
Unde superbia?

What to you is drunkenness, and a thousand courses and a thousand feedings?
Things are a plague, fleeting and overflowing, living and dead — why arrogance for you?
Whence comes your pride?

Fex tua gloria; morte remissa.
Fex tua prandia, fex tua gaudia, fex es et ipsa.
Quid tibi balnea vestis et aurea?

The dregs are your glory; death delayed.
The dregs are your meals, the dregs your joys, you yourself are dregs.
What profit to you are baths, a garment, and gold?

Quid tibi venter?
Culta licet caro, semper eris caro, nec caro semper.
Post hominem cinis es, caro desinis esse, putrescis.

What good is a belly to you?
Though the flesh be adorned, you will always be flesh, and flesh not forever.
After the man you are ashes, you cease to be flesh, you rot.

Vis tibi quantula sit docet urnula massaque fecis. 750

The little urn and the mass of dregs teach you how small your strength is. 750

O caro lactea, nunc rosa, postea sarcina vilis,
Flos tibi corruet et rosa defluet haec iuvenilis.
Quae modo florida, cras erit horrida plus loquor, horror,
Horror amantibus horror et hostibus, omnibus horror.
Cras eris horrida, cras eris arida, vilis, amara,
Tu modo candida, tu modo florida, tu caro cara.

O milky-flesh, now a rose, afterwards a vile bundle,
A flower will fall for you and this youthful rose will fall away.
That which now is blooming, tomorrow will be horrid — I speak further, horror,
Horror to lovers, horror to enemies, to all a horror.
Tomorrow you will be horrid, tomorrow you will be dry, base, bitter,
You now bright-white, you now blooming, you dear flesh.

Tristia replico, defluet illico forma decoris,
Illico defluet, illico corruet, hic nitor oris.
Plurima quid sequor? Illa caro, decor ille peribit,
Haec Venus, hic calor, ars ea seu valor ibit, obibit. 760
Quid caro labilis aut quid inutilis est homo?

I repeat sorrows, at once the form of beauty will flow away,
At once it will flow away, at once it will fall, here the sheen of the face.
Why do I pursue so many things? That flesh, that beauty will perish,
This Venus, this warmth, that art or that worth will go, will perish. 760
What is flesh but fleeting, or what is man but useless?

Coenum.
Quid, rogo, carnea gloria? Glarea.

Mud.
What, I ask, is carnal glory? Gravel.

Quid rosa? Foenum.
Carnea gloria carnis et omnia, carne vigente,
Sunt quasi stantia, deficientia deficiente.

What is a rose? Hay.
The carnal glory of the flesh and of all things, while the flesh is reigning,
are as it were standing things, failing when the failing thing fails.

Cur homo nascitur aut puer editur? Ut moriatur.
Exit in aera, sustinet aspera, migrat, humatur.

Why is man born or a boy brought forth? That he may die.
He goes forth into the air, endures hardships, departs, is buried.

Glarea labilis, aura volatilis est homo natus.
Mane stat aggere, nec mora, vespere fertur humatus.
Qui modo flos fuit, in spacio ruit unius horae.

Man is born of shifting gravel, a volatile breeze is man born.
In the morning he stands on a mound, and without delay, by evening he is borne away, buried.
He who but now was a flower, collapses within the space of one hour.

Mox rapitur, licet ingenio micet atque decore. 770
Fit cinis infimus, ille probissimus et preciosus,
Irreparabilis, irrevocabilis, officiosus.
Gleba reconditur atque recluditur hospite tumba.
Laus stat imaginis umbraque nominis, immo nec umbra.

Soon he is snatched away, although he glitters in genius and in beauty. 770
He becomes lowest ash, that most virtuous and precious one,
Irreparable, irrevocable, dutiful.
A clod is laid up and shut in by the tomb as host.
Praise remains of the image and the shadow of the name, nay not even a shadow.

Vir subit Aethera, si bene; Tartara, si male gessit.
Corpus humi iacet, ars perit, os tacet, aura recessit.
Fex fit, homo fuit, hunc et amans spuit, horret amatus,
Nosseque denegat, instat ut obtegat ocius artus,
Instat ut efferat, et flet et imperat et parat urnam,
Nec triduum gemit; heu!

A man rises to the Aether, if he has lived well; to Tartarus, if he has borne himself ill.
The body lies on the ground, art perishes, the mouth is silent, the breath has withdrawn.
He becomes dregs, he was a man; the lover spurns him, the loved one recoils,
And refuses to know him, presses on to cover his limbs more quickly,
Presses that he be borne forth, and he weeps and he commands and prepares the urn,
Nor does he mourn for three days; alas!

lacrimam premit ungue diurnam. 780

he presses back the diurnal tear with his nail. 780

Mox feretrum vehit aut feretrum praeit aut subit orans;
Denique planctibus exequialibus it quasi plorans.
Flens it, ovans redit; ut tumulo dedit ossa, recessit;
Cessit amor pius, ut manus illius afflua cessit.
Occidit, occidit hic ubi perdidit aes et amicum
Qui sibi riserat; aeris amans erat, O cor iniquum!

Soon he bears the bier or goes before the bier or takes his place beneath it, praying;
At last he goes with funeral lamentations, as if weeping.
He goes weeping, returns exulting; when he gave the bones to the tomb, he withdrew;
Pious love yielded, as his bounteous hand ceased.
He has fallen, he has fallen here where he lost his money and his friend
who had once smiled on him; he was a lover of money, O unjust heart!

Ille probissimus, ille potissimus, ille vir, ille,
Ille quid est, precor, illius et decor? urna favillae.
Pulcher, amabilis, irreparabilis, unicus, aptus
Instar aquae fluit, e medio fugit illico raptus. 790
Occidit ut pecus et decor et decus omne repente,
Et calor et color alget, abit dolor inde iuventae.

That most upright, that foremost, that man, that one,
What is that man's beauty, I pray? an urn of ashes.
Handsome, lovable, irreparable, unique, meet (apt),
Like water he flows, from the midst he flees straightaway, snatched. 790
It perished like cattle—and beauty and every grace all at once,
And heat and color grow cold, thence departs the pain of youth.

Cur morulas paro? Cara iacens caro, fex es, humaris,
Esse quod es sinis; in cineres cinis extenuaris.
Quid fluitat cibus et gula potibus undat et escis?

Why do I prepare little morsels? Dear, lying flesh, you are dregs, you are buried,
you allow yourself to be what you are; into ashes you are thinned as ash.
Why does food float, and the throat swell with drinks and with victuals?

Pasta cibis cibus es caro, vermibus, atque putrescis.
Est tua cernere pallida funere membra vel ora
Funere pallida, sensibus algida, seque minora.
Flava vel aurea, quam per eburnea colla rotabas,
Caesaries iacet, et cor et os tacet, unde tonabas. 800
Lumina visibus auris et auribus, os caret ore,
Nasus odoribus et cor amoribus, ossa calore.

Once food, now you are food for foods—flesh for worms, and you rot.
It is yours to behold pale limbs or faces at death,
pale with death, numbed to the senses, and shrunken in themselves.
Yellow or golden hair, which you once wound about ivory necks,
lies fallen, and heart and mouth are silent, whence you once thundered. 800
Eyes for seeing and ears for hearing, the mouth lacks speech,
the nose for smells and the heart for loves, the bones for warmth.

Ad mala pes citus ac oculus situs in muliere
Collaque lactea, brachia cerea computruere.
Cerea brachia tam specialia quam speciosa,
Membraque lubrica continet unica parvaque fossa.
Candidus antea dens, labra flammea, flos faciei
Et gena lucida sunt modo putrida, pars saniei.

To evils a swift foot and an eye fixed upon the woman
and milky necks, waxen arms have decayed.
Waxen arms as special as they are fair,
and the slippery limbs one single small hollow contains.
A tooth formerly white, lips flaming, the flower of the face
and the cheek bright are now putrid, a part of the sanies.

Nunc ubi pocula, nunc ubi fercula, fercula mille?
Flos ubi primulus et rubicundulus est color ille? 810

Now where are the cups, now where the dishes, the dishes a thousand?
Where is the flower, the primrose, and that somewhat ruddy color? 810

Vox ubi fractior, illecebrosior est ubi risus,
Sermoque lubricus atque phreneticus in probra visus?
Nunc ubi baltheus, annulus aureus, aurea vitta?
Patria nomina nunc ubi culmina sunt proavita?

Where the voice is more broken, there the laughter is more enticing,
and the speech slippery and frantic seems directed at reproaches?
Now where the baldric, the golden ring, the golden fillet?
Where now the names of the fatherland, where the forefathers’ heights?

Rege caro sata vermibus est data factaque vermis;
Regibus edita rebus et obsita, nunc es inermis.
Corpus amabile nunc es inutile corpus, et atrum;
Morte resolveris atque cadaveris es simulacrum.
Terrea gloria nunc quasi lilia, cras quasi ventus:
Pulchra fugit modo tempore postmodo morte iuventus. 820
Splendida pectora, splendida corpora corpus habentur,
Utque senilia sic iuvenilia busta videntur.

Royal flesh, sown to worms, is given and made worm‑food;
Born of kingly things and sown among kings, now you are unarmed.
A once‑lovely body, now you are a useless body, and blackened;
By death you are undone, and you are the simulacrum of a cadaver.
Earthly glory now like lilies, tomorrow like the wind:
Fair beauty flees now in time, next moment in death, youth. 820
Splendid breasts, splendid bodies are counted as mere body,
And as old tombs, so too are youthful sepulchers seen.

Mox puer interit ut rosa deperit edita vere,
A valido vigor, eripitur nitor a muliere.
Lyncea lumina mentis acumina si quis haberet,
Fellea dulcia pulchraque turpia, credo, videret;
Corpora candida, pectora vivida, membra venusta
Ossaque regia sint modo qualia, consule, busta.
Vociferantia seque minantia busta loquuntur:
"Primus et ultimus, altus et infimus, hic capiuntur." 830
Est homo res levis, est homo res brevis, est homo non ens;
Est homo glarea terraque terrea mente reponens.

Soon the boy perishes as the rose that has newly sprung in spring,
from robust vigour his sheen is plucked away by a woman.
If any had lyncean eyes and the sharpness of mind,
he would, I think, see sweet things turned bitter and fair things foul;
fair bodies, vivid breasts, graceful limbs
and royal bones are now such as tombs, O consul.
The shouting and threatening tombs themselves speak:
"First and last, high and low, here are taken." 830
Man is a slight thing, man a brief thing, man a non-being;
man is gravel and earth, and man with an earthbound mind is laid away.

Est homo flosculus atque statunculus est animatus.
Hunc vegetat, fovet, implet, agit, movet, ad breve flatus.
Hic ubi descrit ossa vir interit, est caro sordens;
Est caro carnibus una vel omnibus amplius horrens;
Mortua vilior, aegra remissior, est caro nostra,
Quam caro caetera, sicque cadavera nulla reposta.

Man is a little flower and a little standing statue, an animated thing.
One nourishes this one, cherishes him, fills him, drives him, moves him, to a brief breath.
When here his bones are traced out the man perishes, the flesh grows sordid;
the flesh becomes loathsome to one or to all, increasingly horrid;
dead, cheaper, more sickly, more slack is our flesh,
than other flesh, and thus no corpses are laid away.

Verme cito scatet atque (satis patet) aegra dehiscit,
Moxque per aspera, per flagra, per fera quaeque fatiscit. 840

From the worm it quickly sprouts forth and likewise the sick thing bursts open (this is plainly evident),
and soon through asperities, through sores, through every savage thing it wastes away. 840

Quod cito morbida, quod cito sordida fiat, omitto;
Quod cito putrida, quod cito tabida, dicere vito.
Adde quod horrida morte quod hispida quod fera plus est,
Foetida plus olet, aegra magis dolet, illico pus est.
Non tibi funere sive cadavere de pecuali;
Vel metus ingruit aut febris irruit, ex sociali.

I pass over what soon grows morbid, what soon grows sordid;
what soon becomes putrid, what soon grows wasting, I avoid speaking.
Add what is more in dreadful death, what bristly, what savage besides,
it smells fouler, it pains the sick more, immediately there is pus.
Not from a funeral or from a corpse of cattle alone;
but fear presses on you or fever bursts in, from social contact.

Caesus iter secus, inde vir, hinc pecus efflat uterque;
Eius an istius est timor amplius? Eius, aperte.
Non tibi fit metus exanimum pecus aequore prati;
Amplius effera sunt tibi funera fratris humati. 850
Ossa revisere vel prope pergere nocte timebis,
Cum minime secus exanimum pecus ire pavebis.

A slain one lies beside the road; on that side a man, on this side a herd — each breathes out;
Which of these two is the greater fear? His — plainly.
You do not feel fear at a lifeless herd upon the meadow's surface;
More savage to you are the funerals of a buried brother. 850
You will fear to revisit the bones or to pass near them by night,
Since you will most dread, above all, to see a lifeless herd go by.

Nostra cadavera nostraque funera foetidiora,
Esse relinquitur esseque noscitur, horridiora.
Flatus homo levis atque vapor brevis, ad breve paret;
Paret et enitet; illico delitet, herba fit, aret.
Flens homo nascitur et cito tollitur; efflat, humatur.

Our cadavers and our funerals are left more foul,
and are left to be and are known to be more dreadful.
A man's breath, light and a brief vapor, yields to the brief;
it yields and strains; immediately it lurks hidden, becomes grass, withers.
A man is born weeping and is quickly taken up; he breathes out, he is buried.

Stat breve, mox cadit; est modo, cras abit, hic breve statur.
Turbo levissimus atque brevissimus est homo flatus.
Ipse laboribus, ipse doloribus est generatus. 860
Hic caput exerit, emicat, interit, est quasi bulla;
Bulla citacius, aura fugacius haud perit ulla.

It stands briefly, soon falls; it is but now, tomorrow it goes, here it is shortly established.
A most light and most brief whirlwind is man, a breath.
He himself is begotten by labors, by pains. 860
Here the head thrusts forth, flashes up, perishes; he is like a bubble;
A bubble swifter, a breath more fugitive; nothing perishes more swiftly.

Est caro terrea terraque carnea, fumus, imago,
Massa putredinis, unda voraginis, immo vorago.
Dum sibi coelitus influit halitus est rosa, floret;
Cum vapor abfuit, illico corruit, est fimus, horret.
Hic homo gignitur ex lue, nascitur ex muliere;
Nuper homo satus est lacrimis datus, hic sibi flere.

There is flesh earthy and earth fleshly, smoke, an image,
a mass of putrefaction, a wave of the abyss, nay, a gulf.
While from on high a breath flows into it, it is a rose, it blooms;
when the vapor has gone, straightway it collapses, is dung, it bristles with horror.
This man is begotten from pestilence, born of a woman;
recently a man was sown, given to tears; here he is to weep for himself.

Vagit ad ubera, vivit ad aspera, mors vocat, itur.
Qui modo floruit illico corruit et sepelitur. 870

He cries to the breasts, lives amid hardships, death calls, he goes.
He who but now blossomed at once collapses and is buried. 870

Illico labitur, illico tollitur, illico transit.
Transit, abit, ruit; hic modicum fuit, hic breve mansit.
Huc cito prodiit, hinc cito transiit, et quasi nunquam
Exstiterit, perit; hic tribulos serit, hic saliuncam.

At once it slips away, at once it is lifted up, at once it passes.
It passes, departs, rushes; here it was a little while, here it remained briefly.
It quickly came forth to this place, quickly it passed away from here, and as if it had never existed it perishes; here it plants thornbriers, here shallots.

Hic tribulos petit, hic tribulos metit, hic tribulatur.
Laetitiae favet et flet, amat, pavet, inde gravatur.
Donec homo viget, affluit, indiget, ut rota currit;
Dat, rapit, it, fremit, opprimitur, premit, uritur, urit.

Here he seeks tribules, here he reaps tribules, here he is tribulated.
He favors joy and weeps, loves, fears; from this he is burdened.
Until a man flourishes, overflows, is in need, as the wheel runs;
He gives, he seizes, he goes, he bellows, is overwhelmed, he presses, he is burned, he burns.

Urit et uritur, angit et angitur; ad mala crescit.
Gaudet honoribus inque laboribus his requiescit. 880
Crux sibi plurima qui petit infima summa petendo.
Ergo tumultuat, obstrepit, aestuat, haec satagendo.

He burns and is burned, he torments and is tormented; he grows toward evils.
He rejoices in honors and in these labors finds rest. 880
Many a cross for himself he seeks who, in seeking the smallest, seeks the sum of the least.
Therefore he is tumultuous, he clamors, he seethes, in striving after these things.

Ut rota vertitur, ut rosa cernitur, et quasi daret.
Dives eget, tremit, altus ovans gemit, affluus aret.
Denique mortibus undique pluribus excruciatum
Urna furens capit, opprimit et rapit, O grave fatum!

As the wheel is turned, as the rose is perceived, and as though it were giving.
The rich is in need, trembles; the lofty, exulting, groans; the affluent dries up.
Finally, maddened, the urn seizes one tortured by many deaths on every side,
it overwhelms and snatches away — O grave fate!

Laude superstite, nomine divite, dives habetur;
Urna putredine, patria nomine tota repletur.
Fama fit, est sonus; hic probus, hic bonus, hic fuit ille
Clarus origine, fortis imagine, plenus Achille. 890
Fama virum dabat ipsaque mox labat aret et ipsa,
Ad breve florida, post breve marcida, scissa, remissa.
Mox ubi transiit, hic homo desiit esse, vocari.

With praise surviving, rich in name, one is held wealthy;
The urn is filled with rot, the fatherland filled only in name.
Reputation arises, it is a sound; here upright, here good, there was that man
Famous by origin, brave in aspect, full of Achilles. 890
Fame bestowed the man and soon it itself slips and withers too,
For a short while flourishing, afterward briefly withered, torn, relaxed.
Soon when he passed, this man ceased to be, and to be called.

Haud anima calet, haud animal valet ergo probari.
Truncus iners iacet, ille modo tacet; ante tonabat.
Fex iacet horrida, qui rosa florida culmine stabat.

The soul is not warm, nor is the animal well, therefore to be proved.
The inert trunk lies; he just now is silent; before he thundered.
The horrid dregs lie, he who stood on the flowering summit like a rose.

Vita volubilis, immo volatilis est quasi punctum,
Quod geometrica dat tibi fabrica, quam cito sumptum!
Mors via maxima, mors patet ultima linea rerum,
Quo pede testea calcat et aurea; nil sibi serum. 900

Life fickle, nay volatile, is like a point,
which geometric craft gives you, how swiftly taken!
Death the greatest road, death lies open as the ultimate line of things,
with which foot even the gilded shell treads; nothing is late unto itself. 900

Imminet omnibus, hinc famulantibus, inde tyrannis.
Irruit ocius, unica totius est via carnis.
Socrate doctior, Hercule fortior, a triduana
Febre resolvitur, indeque noscitur omnia vana.

It hangs over all, on this side the attendants, on that the tyrants.
It rushes in more swiftly; the sole way of the whole is of the flesh.
Wiser than Socrates, stronger than Hercules, is undone by a three-day
fever, and from that all things are known vain.

Vanaque vivere vanaque currere, sole sub isto.
Omnia perspice, denique codice scito magistro.
Ecce patentibus ad mala visibus, ad bona caecis,
Igniculus febris est tibi funebris; unde tumescis?

To live vainly and to run vainly under that sun.
Consider all things; finally know the code as your master.
Behold, to the seeing evils are open, to the blind the goods,
A little spark, a fever, is for you funereal; why then do you swell?

Quid tibi roboris? illius Hectoris, illius ossa,
Quae minus eminet, unica continet arctaque fossa. 910
Quid tibi grammatis? arida Socratis ossa tenentur.

What strength is there for you? of that Hector, of that one's bones,
Which projects little, a single and narrow tomb contains. 910
What use to you is grammar? the dry bones of Socrates are held.

Vox animae Plato, iusticiae Cato, pulvis habentur.
Quid tibi faminis? illa Demosthenis et Ciceronis
Lingua peraruit, aura superfluit artis et oris.

Plato is named the voice of the soul, Cato of justice; they are held to be dust.
What of fame to you? That tongue of Demosthenes and of Cicero has entirely parched, a breath overflows with art and with oratory.

Quid tibi sanguinis est vel originis? et Fabiorum
Stirps ruit ardua turbaque mortua fluxit eorum.
Te decor extulit, Absalon; abstulit ultio duplex.

What of blood or of origin is yours? and the stock of the Fabii falls; their proud line rushed down and their dead throng flowed away.
Te decor extulit, Absalon; abstulit ultio duplex.

Fex caro lactea, redditur aurea caesaries fex.
Quae tibi culmina? quae tibi nomina?

Scum, milky-fleshed, the golden hair is restored to scum.
What summits for you? what names for you?

quid tibi laudis?
Culmina, nomina, laus quoque pristina quod ruit, audis. 920
Quae tibi gloria, quae tibi gratia, quid tibi doni?
Non tibi gloria nec tibi gratia quae Salomoni.

what praise is yours?
the summits, the names, even the ancient praise that has fallen, you hear. 920
what glory to you, what grace to you, what gift to you?
Not to you glory nor to you grace like that of Solomon.

Est tibi regia magnificentia; prole Philippi
Non eris altior at meritis minor hoc quoque scribi.
Huic pudor, ocia, sessio regia, colla fuere,
Ludere, proelia, cunctaque moenia sponte patere.
Orbis et extima vidit et ultima, vir fore natus,
Gentibus, urbibus et dominantibus est dominatus.

You have royal magnificence; by the offspring of Philip
you will be neither loftier nor, in merits, lesser — let this also be written.
To him were shame, idleness, the royal seat, the necks;
to play, to fight, and to have all the walls yielded of their own will.
The world beheld both its outermost and its uttermost, a man born to be so;
he is lord over peoples, over cities, and over those who rule.

Vicerat omnia; vincitur obvia fata secutus.
Post hominem cinis est, quasi turbinis aura solutus. 930

He had conquered all; he is conquered, having followed the opposing fates.
After the man there is ash, as if loosened by the breeze of a whirlwind. 930

Flos erat, est fimus, ille potissimus illeque fortis;
Vix modo sportula parva vel urnula quo prius orbis.
Est ubi gloria nunc Babylonia, nunc ubi dirus
Nabuchodonosor et Darii vigor illeque Cyrus?
Qualiter orbita viribus incita praeterierunt.

He was a flower, he is dung now; that foremost and that brave one;
Scarcely now a small sportula or little urn compared with what he once was to the world.
Where is Babylon's glory now, and where now the dread
Nebuchadnessar, and Darius' vigor, and that Cyrus?
How the orbit, urged on by their forces, has passed them by.

Fama relinquitur illaque figitur; hi putruerunt.
Nunc ubi curia pompaque Iulia? Caesar, obisti.

Rumor is left behind and fastened to it; these have rotted.
Now where is the curia and the Julian pomp? Caesar, you have died.

Te truculentior, orbe potentior ipse fuisti.
Orbis ut extera sanguine, sidera laude subires,
Mota furentia sunt tibi brachia, proelia, vires. 940
Cum genero sene brachia non bene conseruisti,
Nec socer illius aut socius pius esse tulisti.
Qui cinis es modo, tantus eras homo, quantus et orbis.

You yourself were fiercer, more powerful than the world.
As if by foreign blood you would climb the stars with praise,
Your arms, your battles, your forces were set raging for you. 940
Yet versus an old son‑in‑law you did not well keep your arms,
Nor did you endure to be that man's father‑in‑law or a dutiful ally.
You who are now ashes, so great a man you were, as great as the world.

Vi tibi subditus extitit ambitus urbis et orbis.
Ecce resolveris area pulveris, urna favillae;
Caesar et nudus es et prope nullus es; O ferus ille!
Nunc ubi Marius atque Fabricius, inscius auri?

By force, ambition of the city and of the world was made subject to you.
Behold, your bronze is dissolved to dust, your urn to ashes;
Caesar, you are both naked and almost nothing; O that savage one!
Now where are Marius and Fabricius, ignorant of gold?

Mors ubi nobilis et memorabilis actio Pauli?
Diva Philippica vox ubi coelica nunc Ciceronis?
Pax ubi civibus atque rebellibus ira Catonis? 950
Nunc ubi Regulus aut ubi Romulus aut ubi Remus?

Where is death, the noble and memorable action of Paulus?
Where now the divine Philippic voice, the celestial of Cicero?
Where is peace to citizens and to rebels, and where the wrath of Cato? 950
Now where is Regulus, or where Romulus, or where Remus?

Stat Roma pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus.
Quam cito labilis atque volubilis orbita sphaerae;
Corda valentia, corpora fortia praeteriere.
Et breve floruit et cito corruit unda priorum,
Gloria finiit, area transiit omnis eorum.

Old Rome stands by name, we possess mere naked names.
How quickly the slippery and revolving orbit of the sphere;
valiant hearts, brave bodies have passed away.
And it bloomed briefly, and soon the wave of those before collapsed,
glory has ended, all their precinct has passed.

Nos quoque tollimur, et proficiscimur ad quod et ipsi?
Imus ad infera, perdimus aethera, mente remissi.
Mors vocat; ibimus, haud retinebimus orbis honores.

We too are lifted up, and we set out — to what place, even we?
We go to the infernal realms, we lose the aether, our minds relaxed.
Death calls; we will go, we will not retain the honors of the world.

Mors animantibus imminet omnibus, ibimus omnes. 960

Death hangs over all living beings, we shall all go. 960

Ibimus, ibimus atque redibimus. Ad quid? ad imum.

We will go, we will go and we will return again. To what? To the lowest.

Ima petentia sunt profitentia corpora limum;
Est via libera mentis ad aethera, carnis ad ima.
Haec bene suscipit, haec male despicit ad sua prima.
Stat caro, mens gemit, Eva virum premit, inde reatus;
Mens levat et lavat, at caro cor gravat, inquinat actus.

Bodies professing seek the lowest slime;
There is a free way of the mind to the aether, of the flesh to the depths.
Haec well receives, haec ill despises its own prima.
The flesh stands, the mind laments, Eve presses the man, whence guilt;
The mind lifts and washes, but the flesh burdens the heart, pollutes acts.

Dulcia iurgia dum feret obvia cornua luna;
Haec aget illaque desinet, utraque facta quod una.
Cur caro carnea terraque terrea ferre laboras?
Carnea, terrea, temporis alea versat in horas. 970
Tempus et omnia temporis inscia stare rotantur;
Singula currere, nulla recurrere fluxa probantur.

While the moon’s meeting horns will bring sweet quarrels;
This one will drive and that will cease, both being one deed.
Why do you toil to bear fleshly flesh and earthly earth?
Fleshly, earthly, the alea of time turns into hours. 970
Time and all things unaware of time are turned to stand;
Separate things run on, none of the flowing things are proven to return.

Corporis optima cerne simillima currere vento;
Currere singula, currere saecula caeca memento.
Est resolubilis, immo volubilis orbis ut orbis,
Illius omnia peste ruentia, tabida morbis.
Lux sua claruit; ecce peraruit eius amoenum;
Lux sua floruit et cito corruit; est modo coenum.

Observe the body's finest parts running very like the wind;
Remember that each thing runs, remember that blind ages run.
The orb is resolvable, nay rotatable, the circle as circle,
All of it doomed to fall by plague, wasted by disease.
Its light shone; behold its fair grace has wholly withered;
Its light once blossomed and quickly fell; it is now mere clay.

Quomodo flumina cerne volumina currere rerum.
Orbis honos ruit et fugit et fluit orbe dierum. 980
Ut rota volvitur indeque pingitur ut rota mundus,
Quippe volubilis et variabilis ac ruibundus.
Irritus est ratus, instabilis status est status eius.

Behold how rivers, the volumes of things, run forth;
The world's honor rushes down and flees and flows in the circle of days. 980
As the wheel is turned, and from it the world is therefore pictured as a wheel,
for it is revolving and variable and rushing headlong.
He who deems it lasting is mistaken; its condition is an unstable condition.

It, redit, ut mare, denique nunc male, cras ibi peius.
Gloria terrea, quomodo glarea stat labefacta;
Glarea flumine, gloria turbine labitur acta.
Cuncta fluentia, nulla manentia sunt bona mundo.

It returns, like the sea; at last now ill, tomorrow there worse.
Earthly glory — how the gravel stands undermined;
Gravel by the river, glory is borne away by the whirlwind.
All things are flowing; no remaining goods are in the world.

Ridet honoribus exterioribus intus arundo.
Gloria terrea, gloria vitrea, vitrea plane,
Illico tollitur atque resolvitur eius inane. 990

A reed laughs with exterior honors, hollow within.
Earthly glory, glassy glory, glassy plainly,
Thereupon its inane is lifted up and then resolved. 990

Si bene sentio, fit variatio quaque dierum.
Et bene sentio, fit variatio, fit fuga rerum.
Mundus et omnia quomodo somnia vana recedunt,
Signaque plurima tempora proxima iudicis edunt.

If I perceive rightly, a variation of every day occurs.
And I perceive rightly: change happens, a flight of things takes place.
How the world and all things depart like vain dreams,
and very many signs proclaim the times near of the Judge.

Sidera flammea lunaque ferrea visa refertur,
Sol sine lumine, terra voragine subruta fertur.
Terra locis tremit, Eumenidum fremit umbra proterva;
Bellica currere fertur in aere visa caterva.
Agmina mortua currere conflua visa feruntur.

Flaming stars and an iron-like moon are reported seen,
the sun without light, the earth is said to be hewn away by a chasm.
The earth trembles in places, the bold shadow of the Eumenides roars;
a warlike throng is reported seen running in the air.
Columns of the dead are reported seen running together in crowds.

Signa gravissima monstraque plurima conspiciuntur. 1000
Gratia corruit, ordo refriguit, undat iniquum,
Quisque dolo studet; esse probum pudet, esse pudicum.
Ius premitur cruce, grex grege, dux duce rexque regente,
Agmen et agmine, culmina culmine, gens quoque gente.
Omnia lubrica sunt modo publica, nulla teguntur,
Ingenialia vel furialia probra coluntur.

Most grave signs and very many monsters are observed. 1000
Grace has fallen, order has chilled, injustice surges,
Everyone applies himself to guile; to be upright is a shame, to be modest is shameful.
Law is oppressed by the cross, flock by flock, leader by leader and king by the ruling king,
A host and by host, summits by summit, a people likewise by people.
All things are slippery and now public, nothing is hidden,
Natural or fury-born disgraces are cultivated.

Ah! petulantia militat ebria nocte dieque.
Vox sacra displicet; illicitum licet et libet aeque.
Qui fore vult bonus est miser, est onus, est onerosus;
Qui mala postulat ille deambulat imperiosus. 1010
Iustitiae via nulla manet quia virgo recessit,
Cumque sororibus introeuntibus aethera cessit.

Ah! petulance wages war, intoxicated by night and by day.
The sacred voice displeases; the illicit is permitted and is pleasing alike.
He who would be good is miserable, is a burden, is burdensome;
He who demands evils walks about imperiously. 1010
No road of Justice remains because the virgin has withdrawn,
and when her sisters entered the aether yielded.

Ius ruit, officit; ars mala proficit, ars mala prodest.
Fraus stat, amor iacet, ordo flet, ars placet, et gula frons est:
Haec praeeuntia certaque nuntia credite finis.
Finis enim venit, orbis honor perit hoste, ruinis,
Seditionibus, illuvionibus, igne, procellis,
Lite, libidine, fraude, gravedine, sanguine, bellis.

Iustice collapses, duty is obstructed; evil art advances, evil art profits.
Fraud stands, love lies prostrate, order weeps, art pleases, and gluttony is the front:
Believe these forerunners and sure heralds of the end.
For the end comes; the world's honour perishes by the foe, by ruins,
by seditions, pollutions, fire, storms,
by strife, by lust, by fraud, by burdens, by blood, by wars.

Surgite, surgite spemque resumite, spe tremebundi;
Cernite currere regna, labascere culmina mundi. 1020

Rise, rise and take back hope, you trembling with hope;
Behold kingdoms running, the summits of the world sinking. 1020

Ultima tempora, ni sacra littera fallit, aguntur.
Dicta prophetica verbaque coelica perficiuntur.
Fertur ut alea gloria carnea, plena favillae.

The last times are being acted, unless the sacred letter deceives.
The prophetic sayings and heavenly words are being fulfilled.
It is said that carnal glory is a gamble, full of ashes.

Ille minaciter imminet arbiter, arbiter ille.
Censor adest Deus, evigilet reus, est prope Christus.
Quid modo detinet?

That arbiter menacingly looms, that arbiter.
God is present as censor, the accused keeps watch, Christ is near.
What now detains him?

en ferus imminet Antichristus.
Stirps venit impia, stirps mala, bestia perditionis.
Quo duce sidera coget in infera cauda Draconis.

behold a fierce Antichrist looms.
an impious stock comes, an evil stock, a beast of perdition.
under whose lead he will drive the stars into the infernal depths with the Dragon's tail.

Imminet impius, est prope filius impietatis,
Imminet imminet et caput obtinet in sibi stratis. 1030
Multiplicabitur et dominabitur hoc dominante,
Mors, tribulatio tantaque passio quanta nec ante.
Iam tuba septima, plaga novissima iam properatur.
Ecce recessio quam tua lectio, Paule, profatur;
Regna labascere, retro recedere Roma videtur,
Nec thronus ipsius aut status ut prius altus habetur.

The impious looms, the son of impiety is near,
The impious looms, he looms and holds the head in his own stratagems. 1030
This dominating one will multiply and will rule,
Death, tribulation and so great a passion as never before.
Now the seventh trumpet, now the last plague is hastened.
Behold the retreat which your reading, Paul, proclaims;
Kingdoms seem to totter, Rome seems to recede backward,
Nor is his throne or his state held high as before.

Actio lubrica fit modo publica, de medio fit.
Roma, prior tua gloria mortua, Rex tibi defit.
His praeeuntibus, immo sequentibus ordine signis,
Imminet impius ille, vel illius horror et ignis. 1040
Suntque patentia signa, minantia, signa furoris,
Prorsus ut ultima iam fore proxima tempora noris.

Lewd action now becomes public, it issues from the middle.
Rome, your former glory dead, a king is lacking to you.
With these going before, nay following in order of signs,
That impious one threatens, or his terror and fire. 1040
And there are open signs, menacing signs, signs of fury,
So that you may plainly know the last times will now be near at hand.

Flammivomus, niger, hispidus, aliger est draco visus
Nuper in aere — Nil ego dicere nunc paro risus —
Claruit omnibus hic equitantibus atque colonis.
Fugit, inhorruit, et fuga terruit illa draconis.
Pestis et horrida transiit oppida transque volavit;
Et loca plurima, fert ita maxima fama, meavit.

Flame‑breathing, black, bristly, winged was a dragon seen
Recently in the air — I prepare to say nothing now in jest —
This one shone before all who rode and the colonists.
They fled, they bristled, and by its flight that dragon terrified them.
A pest and dread thing passed through towns and flew across them;
And over very many places, so great rumour reports, it urinated.

In geminum caput egrediens apud Anglica rura,
Femina prodiit ipsaque finiit in duo crura. 1050

Emerging with a twin head in the English countryside,
a woman came forth, and she herself was cleft into two legs. 1050

Crura quidem duo, sed sibi bis duo brachia stabant.
Hanc duo pectora, quatuor ubera mirificabant.
Vos volo credere me rata dicere, scribere verum.

Two legs indeed, but for it stood two twice two arms.
Two chests, four udders marveled at this.
I want you to believe that I speak what is established, that I write the truth.

Par erat actio, par via, sessio, par mulierum.
Ex mulieribus, immo sororibus, O stupor, istis,
Altera transiit atque superfuit altera tristis.
Post breve denique pars ruit utraque morte soluta,
Utraque pars ruit, hanc obitu fuit illa secuta.

The action was equal, the way equal, the seat equal, the women equal.
Of the women, nay sisters, O wonder, these,
One crossed over and survived, the other remained sorrowful.
After a short while, at last each part collapsed, loosened by death,
Both parts fell; that one was followed by the other in death.

Vir magus actibus in regionibus ivit Iberis,
(Quae noto versibus, haec ego testibus assero veris) 1060
Is sine semine, simplice virgine se fore natum;
(Proh furor!) edidit, et sibi credidit area fratrum.
Dixit ad ultima vipera pessima se fore Christum;
Hoc prope praedicat esse vel indicat Antichristum.
Non minor artibus in regionibus est orientis
Notus et editus ipseque perditus ordine mentis.

A magic man, by deeds, went through the Iberian regions,
(Which I assert known by verses, this I avouch by true witnesses) 1060
He, without seed, by a simple virgin proclaimed himself to be born;
(Proh furor!) he uttered it, and the circle of brothers trusted him.
He told to the last and most wretched viper that he would be Christ;
This almost proclaims him or points him out as the Antichrist.
No less by arts is he in the regions of the East known;
Known and manifest, and himself undone in the order of his mind.

Dixit et impius hic quia maximus esset Helias;
Hinc fore proxima certior ultima tempora scias.
Gens temeraria, dum licet, impia facta fleamus.
Ille minaciter advenit arbiter — expaveamus. 1070
Nemo capescere ius, mala plangere nemo relinquat;
Gaudia flentibus, irreverentibus ira propinquat.

And this impious man also said that Elijah would be the greatest;
Know hence that the coming last times will be the more certain. Let us bewail a rash people, while it is permitted, made impious. He comes as a threatening judge — let us dread him. 1070
Let no one cease to grasp right, let no one desist from lamenting evils;
To the weeping there are joys, to the irreverent wrath draws near.

Iam tuba septima, plaga novissima, lux pia, dira,
Intonat, ingruit, emicat, irruit et venit ira.
Gens male conscia, lubrica gaudia flendo tegamus;
Gens male conscia, quae fugientia sunt, fugiamus.
Stare refugimus, ad mala fluximus; ad bona stemus.

Now the seventh trumpet, the last plague, the pious, dire light,
wrath thunders, presses on, flashes forth, rushes in and comes.
Guilty people, let us cover slippery joys by weeping;
Guilty people, let us flee the things that are fleeting.
We refuse to stand firm, we have flowed toward evils; toward good things let us stem.

Hora novissima, tempora pessima sunt — vigilemus!

The last hour, the worst of times are — let us be vigilant!