Paulus Diaconus: Carmina

1.
UT so that with loosened RE strings may resound
MI of the wondrous deeds FA of your servants,
SOL free the guilt from the stained LA lip,
Saint Iohn!

2. Nuntius celso veniens Olympo

2.
Messenger coming from lofty Olympus

te patri magnum fore nasciturum,
nomen et vitae seriem gerendae
ordine promit.

that you will be born great to your father,
and promises a nomen and the series of a life to be lived
in due order.

3.
Ille promissi dubius superni
perdidit promptae modulos loquelae;

3.
He, doubtful of the promised from above,
marred the measures of prompt speech;

sed reformasti genitus peremptae
organa vocis.

but you re-formed the vocal organs of one born of the slain,
the organs of voice.

4.
Ventris abstruso positus cubili
senseras regem thalamo manentem,
hinc parens nati meritis uterque

4.
Placed in the ventral hidden couch of the womb
you had perceived the king remaining in the chamber,
hence each parent of the child by merits

abdita pandit.

he reveals the hidden things.

5.
Antra deserti teneris sub annis
civium turmas fugiens, petisti,
ne levi saltim maculare vitam
famine posses.

5.
You sought the caves of the desert, in your tender years fleeing the companies of citizens,
lest at least by a light hunger you be able to stain your life.

6.
Praebuit hirtum tegimen camelus,
artubus sacris strofium bidentis,
cui latex haustum, sociata pastum
mella locustis.

6.
A shaggy camel furnished a covering,
a strophium bident for his sacred shanks,
to which milk, once drawn, and honey, joined as pasture,
were food for locusts.

7.
Caeteri tantum cecinere vatum

7.
The others sang only of the poets

corde praesago iubar adfuturum;
tu quidem mundi scelus auferentem
indice prodis.

with a presaging heart that light would be at hand;
you indeed, coming forth as a witness,
remove the world's crime.

8.
Non fuit vasti spatium per orbis
sanctior quisquam genitus Iohanne,

8.
There was not, across the vast expanse of the world,
anyone born more holy than John,

qui nefas saecli meruit lavantem
tingere limphis.

who deserved to wash away the nefas of the age
by bathing in the waters.

9.
O nimis felix meritique celsi
nesciens labem nivei pudoris,
prepotens martyr heremique cultor,

9.
O too-fortunate and worthy of the High One,
knowing not the stain of snowy chastity,
a mighty martyr and devotee of the desert,

maxime vatum!

greatest of poets!

10.
Serta ter denis alios coronant
aucta crementis, duplicata quosdam;
trina centeno cumulata fructu
te, sacer, ornant.

10.
Garlands of thirty crown others
augmented by increments, some doubled;
threefold, accumulated with a hundredfold fruit
they adorn you, O sacred one.

11.
Nunc potens nostri meritis opimis
pectoris duros lapides repelle
asperum planans iter, et reflexos
dirige calles,

11.
Now, powerful by our abundant merits,
repel the hard stones of the breast,
smoothing the rough way, and guide the turned-back paths,

12.
ut pius mundi sator et redemptor

12.
that the pious creator and redeemer of the world

mentibus pulsa luvione puris
rite dignetur veniens sacratos
ponere gressus.

with minds cleansed by a pure washing
may he, coming, duly deign to set down
his sacred steps.

13.
Laudibus cives celebrant superni
te, deus simplex pariterque trine,

13.
With praises the heavenly citizens celebrate you, God simple and likewise threefold,

supplices ac nos veniam precamur:
parce redemptis!

we, supplicants, also beseech pardon:
spare the redeemed!

Versus in laudem Larii, Comensis laci in Italia (circa 765)

Verses in praise of Larius, the Lake of Como in Italy (circa 765)

Ordiar unde tuas laudes, o maxime Lari?
Munificas dotes ordiar unde tuas?
Cornua panda tibi sunt instar vertice tauri,
Dant quoque sic nomen cornua panda tibi.
Munera magna vehis divinis, dives, asilis,

Whence shall I begin your praises, O greatest Lar?
Whence shall I begin your munificent gifts?
The spreading horns to you are like the crest of a bull,
and thus the horns likewise give you your name, Cornua Panda.
Great presents you bear to the divine, wealthy, Asilis,

Regificis mensis munera magna vehis.
Ver tibi semper inest, viridi dum cespite polles,
Frigora dum superas, ver tibi semper inest.
Cinctus oliviferis utroque es margine silvis,
Numquam fronde cares cinctus oliviferis.

You bear the great munera of the kingly month.
Spring ever dwells in you, while you thrive on green turf,
While you surmount the colds, spring ever dwells in you.
Girt with olive-bearing woods on either margin you are,
Girt by olive fronds you never lack foliage.

Punica mala rubent laetos hinc inde per hortos,
Mixta simul lauris Punica mala rubent.
Mirtea virga suis redolet de more corimbis,
Apta est et foliis mirtea virga suis.
Vincit odore suo delatum Perside malum,

Punic fruit redden, here and there through the joyful gardens,
Punic fruit redden together mingled with laurel.
A myrtle sprig exhales fragrance from its customary corimbuses of its own,
The myrtle sprig is also fitted with its own leaves.
The apple brought from Persia conquers by its scent,

Citreon has omnes vincit odore suo.
Cedat et ipse tibi me iudice furvus Avernus,
Epirique lacus cedat et ipse tibi.
Cedat et ipse tibi vitrea cui Fucinus unda est,
Lucrinusque potens cedat et ipse tibi.

The citron conquers all these by its scent.
Let dark Avernus himself yield to you too, with me judge,
and let the lakes of Epirus themselves yield to you.
Let also the glassy lake to which the Fucine wave belongs yield to you,
and powerful Lucrinus himself yield to you too.

Vinceres omne fretum, si te calcasset Iesus,
Si Galilaeus eras, vinceres omne fretum.
Fluctibus ergo cave tremulis submergere lintres,
Ne perdas homines fluctibus ergo cave!
Si scelus hoc fugias, semper laudabere cunctis,

You would conquer every strait, if Jesus had trod upon you,
If you were a Galilean, you would conquer every strait.
Therefore beware to plunge skiffs into the trembling waves,
Lest you lose men — therefore beware the waves!
If you flee this crime, you will be praised always by all,

Semper amandus eris, si scelus hoc fugias.
Sit tibi laus et honor, Trinitas inmensa, per aevum,
Quae tam mira facis, sit tibi laus et honor!
Qui legis ista, precor, «Paulo» dic «parce, redemptor»,
Spernere neve velis, qui legis ista, precor.

You will be ever beloved, if you flee this crime.
May praise and honor be yours, O immense Trinity, through the ages,
You who work such wonders, may praise and honor be yours!
Who reads these things, I pray, say «Paulo» say «spare, redeemer»,
Do not desire to spurn, I pray, you who read these things.

De puero, qui in glacie extinctus est (ca. 782)

Of the boy who died in the ice (c. 782)

Trax puer adstricto glacie dum ludit in Hebro,
Frigore concretas pondere rupit aquas.
Dumque imae partes rapido traherentur ab amni,
Praesecuit tenerum lubrica testa caput.

A boy, while he played on the ice pressed hard on the Hebrus,
by the cold he broke waters congealed by weight.
And while the lowest parts were being drawn off by the swift stream,
a slippery shard severed his tender head.

Orba quod inventum mater dum conderet urna,
«Hoc peperi flammis, cetera», dixit, «aquis».

The bereft mother, while she hid the found thing in an urn,
said, “This I bore for the flames; the rest,” she said, “for the waters.”

Epitaphium Hildegardis filiae (783)

Epitaph of Hildegard, daughter (783)

Hildegard, rapuit, subito te funus acerbum,
Ceu raptat Boreas vere ligustra novo.
Explevit necdum vitae tibi circulus annum,
Annua nec venit lux geminata tibi.
Parvula, non parvum linquis, virguncula, luctum

Hildegard, sudden bitter death has snatched you away,
As Boreas in spring seizes the privet newly budded.
The circle of life had not yet fulfilled your year of life,
No annual doubled light came to you.
Little one, you leave not a small sorrow, little maiden, grief

Confodiens iaculo regia corda patris.
Matris habens nomen renovas de matre dolorem,
Postquam vixisti vix quadraginta dies.
Pectore nos maesto lacrimarum fundimus amnes,
Tu nimium felix gaudia longa petis.

Stabbing with a javelin the royal heart of your father.
Bearing the name of mother, you renew sorrow for your mother,
After you have scarcely lived even forty days.
From our sorrowful breast we pour forth rivers of tears,
You, too-fortunate, seek long joys.

Versus Pauli Diaconi ad regem Karolum precando (ca. 782)

Verses of Paul the Deacon to King Charles, beseeching (ca. 782)

Verba tui famuli, rex summe, adtende serenus,
Respice et ad fletum cum pietate meum!
Sum miser, ut mereor, quantum vix ullus in orbe est,
Semper inest luctus tristis et hora mihi.
Septimus annus adest, ex quo nova causa dolores

Attend, serene, to the words of your servant, most high King,
Look upon and regard my weeping with pity!
I am wretched, as I deserve, as much as scarcely any is in the orb of the world,
Sad grief and sorrow are ever present to me at all hours.
The seventh year approaches, since when a new cause of pains

Multiplices generat et mea corda quatit:
Captivus vestris extunc germanus in oris
Est meus afflicto pectore, nudus, egens.
Illius in patria coniunx miseranda per omnes
Mendicat plateas ore tremente cibos;

It multiplies and disturbs my heart in manifold ways:
From now on your captive brother on your coasts
Is mine with an afflicted breast, naked, needy.
His wife, pitiable, throughout the streets begs
Food with a trembling mouth;

Quattuor hac turpi natos sustentat ab arte,
Quos vix pannuciis praevalet illa tegi.
Est mihi, quae primis Christo sacrata sub annis
Excubat, egregia simplicitate soror;
Haec sub sorte pari luctum sine fine retentans

This vile art sustains four born from it,
Whom scarcely can that woman be covered with little rags.
I have a sister, consecrated to Christ in her earliest years,
A sister of singular simplicity who keeps vigil;
She, under an equal lot, retaining endless grief

Privata est oculis iam prope flendo suis.
Quantulacumque fuit, direpta est nostra supellex
Nec est, heu, miseris qui ferat ullus opem.
Coniunx est fratris rebus exclusa paternis
Iamque sumus servis rusticitate pares.

She is deprived of her eyes, now almost weeping for them.
Whatever little there was, our household goods have been torn away
And there is, alas, no one to bring any aid to the wretched.
The wife is shut out from her brother’s paternal estates
And now by our rusticity we are like slaves.

Nobilitas periit, miseris accessit egestas;
Debuimus, fateor, asperiora pati.
Sed miserere, potens rector, miserere, precamur,
Et tandem finem his, pie, pone malis!
Captivum patriae redde et civilibus arvis,

Nobility has perished, want has come upon the miserable;
We have deserved, I confess, to endure harsher things.
But have mercy, powerful ruler, have mercy, we beseech,
And at last, pious one, set an end to these evils!
Give back the captive to his fatherland and to his civil fields,

Cum modicis rebus culmina redde simul,
Mens nostra ut Christo laudes in saecla frequentet,
Reddere qui solus praemia digna potest!

Give up crowns together with modest possessions,
that our mind may frequently hymn praises to Christ through the ages,
who alone is able to render worthy rewards!

Epistula Pauli Diaconi ad Petrum Pisanum (ca. 782)

Letter of Paul the Deacon to Peter of Pisa (ca. 782)

1.
Sensi, cuius verba cepi exarata paginis,
Nam a magno sunt directa, quae pusillus detulit.
Fortes me lacerti pulsant, non inbellis pueri.

1.
I perceived him, whose words I took, written on the pages,
For they are set down from a great man, which a very small one brought;
Strong arms strike me, not the arms of unwarlike boys.

2.
Magnus dicor poetarum vatumque doctissimus
Omniumque praeminere gentium eloquio
Cordis et replere rura fecundis seminiLus.

2.
I am called great among poets and most learned of seers
and to outshine all peoples in the eloquence of tongue
and to fill heart and countrysides with a fruitful little seedling.

3.
Totum hoc in meam cerno prolatum miseriam,
Totum hoc in meum caput dictum per hyroniam.
Heu, laudibus deridor et cacinnis obprimor.

3.
I see all this misery heaped
upon me, all this said against my head
through irony.
Alas, I am derided by praises et
overwhelmed by cachinnis.

4.
Dicor similis Homero, Flacco et Vergilio,
Similor Tertullo seu Philoni Memphitico,
Tibi quoque, Veronensis o Tibulle, conferor.

4.
I am called like Homer, Flaccus
and Vergil,
I am likened to Tertullus or Philon of Memphis,
To you also, O Tibullus of Verona, am I compared.

5.
Peream, si quenquam horum imitari cupio,
Avia qui sunt sequuti pergentes per invium;
potius sed istos ego conparabo canibus.

5.
May I perish, if I desire to imitate any of these,
who have followed byways, proceeding through unroaded places;
rather will I compare those ones to dogs.

6.
Graiam nescio loquellam, ignoro Hebraicam.
Tres aut quattuor in scolis quas didici syllabas,
Ex his mihi est ferendus maniplus ad aream.

6.
I do not know the Greek loquella, I am ignorant of Hebraic.
Three or four syllables in the scholas which I learned,
Of these a small manipulus must be borne by me to the area.

7.
Nulla mihi aut flaventis est metalli copia
Aut argenti sive opum, desunt et marsuppia.
Vitam litteris ni emam, nihil est, quod tribuam.

7.
I have neither any store of golden metal
Nor of silver, nor of wealth; my purses are lacking.
If I do not buy a livelihood by letters,
There is nothing that I can give.

8.
Pretiosa quaeque vobis dona ferant divites,
Alii conportent gemmas Indicosque lapides:
Meo pura tribuetur voluntas in munere.

8.
Let every precious thing the wealthy bring to you,
let others convey gems and Indian stones:
a pure voluntas of mine shall be bestowed
in the gift.

9.
Anchora me sola vestri hic amoris detinet,
Nectar omne quod praecellit quodque flagrat optime.
Non de litteris captamus vanae laudem gloriae.

9.
The sole anchor of your love holds me here,
every nectar that excels, and that which flames most brightly.
We do not, from letters, grasp the vain praise of glory.

10.
Nec me latet, sed exulto, quod pergat trans maria
Vestra, rector, et capessat sceptrum pulchra filia,
Ut per natam regni vires tendantur in Asiam.

10.
Nor does it escape me, but I exult, that across the seas may go
yours, O ruler, and that the fair daughter may take up the scepter,
so that through the daughter the powers of the realm be extended into Asia.

11.
Si non amplius in illa regione clerici
Graecae proferent loquellae, quam a me didicerint,
Vestri, mutis similati deridentur statuis.

11.
If in that region the clerics do not utter any Greek speech
beyond what they have learned from me,
your men, made like the mute,
will be derided by statues.

12.
Sed omnino ne linguarum dicar esse nescius,
Pauca, mihi quae fuerunt tradita puerulo,
Dicam; cetera fugerunt iam gravante senio:

12.
But lest I be said altogether ignorant of languages,
A few things, which were handed to me as a little boy,
I will speak; the rest have already fled,
with old age pressing heavily.