Petrus de Ebulo: PETRUS DE EBULO LIBER AD HONOREM AUGUSTI SIVE DE REBUS SICULIS

<INCIPIT LIBER PRIMUS>
Incipit prima primi regis Siciliae particula
Dux ubi Roggerius, Guiscardi clara propago,
Iam fastidiret nomen habere ducis,
Altius aspirat. Qui, delegante Calisto,
Ungitur in regem. Rex nova regna facit.

<THE FIRST BOOK BEGINS>
The first section of the first king of Sicily begins
When Duke Roger, the illustrious progeny of Guiscard,
now disdained to have the name of duke,
he aspires higher. He, with Calixtus delegating,
is anointed king. The king makes new realms.

Quem fera barbaries timuit, quem Nilus et omnis
Circulus oceani.
Rex ut regna suis subduxit plurima regnis,
Disposuit nomen perpetuare suum
Inclita cui peperit plures Albidia natos:
Occubuit tandem mater et orba suis.
Successit viduo post hanc Sibilia lecto:
Infelix sterilem clausit aborsa diem.

Whom savage barbarism feared, whom the Nile and the entire
circuit of the ocean.
The king, how he drew very many realms under his own realms,
arranged to perpetuate his name.
To whom famed Albidia bore several sons:
at length the mother fell, bereft of her own.
After her, Sibilia succeeded to the widowed bed:
unhappy, having miscarried, she closed a barren day.

Sic erat in fatis, ut tercia nuberet uxor,
Per quam Romani cresceret orbis honor.
A magnis veniens natalibus orta Beatrix,
Concipit a sole, lux paritura, diem.
Virtutem virtus, docilem proba, casta pudicam,
Formosam peperit pulchra, beata piam.

Thus it was in the fates, that he should wed a third wife,
through whom the honor of the Roman orb would grow.
From great natal origins coming, Beatrix arose,
She conceives from the sun, a light about to give birth to the day.
Virtue bore virtue; the upright the docile, the chaste the modest,
the fair bore the beautiful, the blessed the pious.

Nascitur in lucem de ventre beata beato,
De Constantini nomine nomen habens.
Traditur Augusto coniux Constantia magno;
Lucius in nuptu pronuba causa fuit.
Lucius hos iungit, quos Celestinus inungit:
Lucidus hic unit, celicus ille sacrat.

She is born into the light from the womb, a blessed one for the blessed,
bearing a name from the name of Constantine.
Constantia is delivered as wife to the great Augustus;
Lucius, at the wedding, served in the role of pronuba.
Lucius joins these whom Celestine anoints:
Lucid, this one unites; celestial, that one consecrates.

Tertius in sexto digne requiescit uterque:
Sic notat Henricus sextus utrumque patrem.
Nominibus tantis utinam respondeat actus !
Adsint et meritis nomina digna suis !
Luceat in sanctis unus, celestiat alter,
A quibus Henricus munera bina capit.
Tercius antistes sacrat hanc, et tercius alter
Copulat, et patri tercia nupta tulit.

Each, the third, worthily reposes in the sixth:
thus Henry the Sixth notes each father.
Would that deed might answer to such great names!
And let names worthy of their own merits be present!
Let one shine among the saints, let the other be celestial,
from whom Henry receives twin gifts.
A third prelate consecrates this woman, and another third
couples them, and as a third bride she was borne to the father.

Non licuit quartam patri traducere nuptam,
Nam paritas numeri displicet ipsa Deo.

It was not permitted to conduct a fourth bride for the father,
For the parity of the number displeases God himself.

Particula II.: Obitus Wilelmi secundi formosi regis Sicilie
Post obitum, formose, tuum, que sceptra gubernet
Et regat, ex proprio sanguine prole cares.
Nec facis heredem, nec, qui succedat, adoptas:
Ex intestato debita solvis humo.
Quis novit secreta tue purissima mentis ?
Quod tua mens loquitur, mundus et ipse taces.

Part 2.: The death of William the Second, the handsome king of Sicily
After your death, O handsome one, you lack offspring from your own blood
who might govern and rule the scepters.
Nor do you make an heir, nor do you adopt one who may succeed:
by dying intestate you pay what is due to the earth.
Who knows the secrets of your most pure mind ?
What your mind speaks, the world keeps silence about, and you yourself are silent.

Certus eras certe, quoniam iustissimus heres
Expugnaturus regna parentis erat.
Nam satis est iurasse semel, te prole carente,
Quod tuus in genero sceptra teneret avus.
***
Iurat cum multis Archimatheus idem.

You were surely certain, since a most just heir
was about to conquer the realms of your parent.
For it is enough to have sworn once, you being without progeny,
that your grandsire would hold the scepters in your son-in-law.
***
Archimatheus swears the same along with many.

Post miseros morbos, post regis triste necesse,
Nocte sub oscura, sole latente, pluit.
Postquam dimisit rex, res pulcherrima, mundum,
Inglomerant sese prelia, preda, fames.
Furta, lues, pestes, lites, periuria, cedes
Infelix regnum diripuere sibi.

After wretched maladies, after the king’s sad necessity,
in the dark night, with the sun hidden, it rained.
After the king—most beautiful thing—dismissed the world,
battles, prey, famine mass themselves together.
Thefts, lues, pestilences, suits, perjuries, slaughters
have torn to pieces the unhappy kingdom for themselves.

Sol hominum moritur, superi patiuntur eclipsim,
Anglica Sicilidem luna flet orba diem.
Solis ad occasum commotus eclipticat orbis,
Di flent, astra dolent, flet mare, plorat humus.

The Sun of men dies, the gods above suffer an eclipse,
the English moon, bereft of day, weeps the Sicilian day.
At the Sun’s setting, the world, stirred, goes into eclipse,
the gods weep, the stars grieve, the sea weeps, the earth laments.

Particula III.: Lamentatio et luctus Panormi
Hactenus urbs felix, populo dotata trilingui,
Corde ruit, fluitat pectore, mente cadit:
Ore, manu, lacrimis clamant, clamoribus instant
Cum pueris iuvenes, cum iuniore senes;
Dives, inops, servus, liber, pius, impius, omnes
Exequias equo pondere regis agunt;
Cum viduis caste plorant, cum virgine nupte.
Quid moror in lacrimis ? Nil nisi questus erat!
Qui iacet in cunis, medio qui robore fretus
Et quibus est baculus tercia forma pedum,
Per loca, per vicos, per celsa palacia plorant.

Particle 3.: Lamentation and mourning at Palermo
Hitherto a happy city, endowed with a trilingual people,
it collapses at heart, fluctuates in breast, falls in mind:
with mouth, with hand, with tears they cry out, they press with clamors
with boys the young men, with the younger the old men;
rich, poor, slave, free, pious, impious, all
conduct the exequies of the king with equal weight;
with widows they chastely weep, with the virgin the brides.
Why do I linger in tears ? Nothing was there but complaints!
He who lies in cradles, he who relying on strength in his mid-vigor,
and those for whom the staff is the third form of feet,
through places, through streets, through lofty palaces they weep.

Desiccat lacrimas nona peracta dies.
Tunc pater antistes fuit hec affatus ad omnes
Nec potuit lacrimans plurima verba loqui:
"Hactenus herrantes correximus, hactenus atros
Mens erat a stabulis pellere nostra lupos.
Hactenus ad caulas, nullo cogente, redibant
Vespere lacte graves opilionis oves.

It dries up the tears, the ninth day having been completed.
Then the father-prelate thus addressed all,
nor, weeping, could he speak very many words:
"Thus far we have corrected the erring; thus far our mind
has been to drive the black wolves from our stables.
Thus far to the folds, with no one compelling, there returned
in the evening, heavy with milk, the shepherd’s sheep.

Hactenus unguiferos bos herrans nulla leones,
Rostriferas aquilas nulla timebat avis.
Hactenus ibat ovans solus per opaca viator;
Hactenus insidiis nec locus ullus erat.
Hactenus in speculo poterat se quisque videre,
Quod mors infregit bustaque noctis habent.

Thus far no wandering ox feared claw-bearing lions,
No bird feared beak-bearing eagles.
Thus far the traveler went rejoicing alone through the shady places;
Thus far there was no place for ambushes.
Thus far in the mirror each person was able to see himself,
Which death has shattered, and the tombs of night hold.

Hactenus ardebant miseri candelabra regni:
Ipsa sub oscura flamma cinescit humo.
Mittite, quod properet Phebi soror et Iovis uxor,
Imperii cornu iungat utrumque sui."

Thus far the wretched candelabra of the realm were burning:
Itself beneath the dark earth the flame turns to cinders.
Send, that the sister of Phoebus may hasten, and the wife of Jove,
Of her own empire let her yoke together both horns."

Particula IV.: Adversa et diversa petentium voluntas
Post lacrimas, post exequias, post triste sepulchrum
Scismatis exoritur semen in urbe ducum.
In sua versa manus precordia sanguinis hausit
Urbs tantum, quantum nemo referre potest.
Postquam sacrilego fuit urbs saturata cruore,
A propria modicum cede quieta fuit.

Part 4.: Adverse and diverse will of the petitioners
After tears, after obsequies, after the sad sepulcher
The seed of schism arises in the city of the leaders.
A hand turned against its own drank the heart’s blood
The city suffered so much as no one can recount.
After the city was sated with sacrilegious gore,
By its own slaughter for a little while it was at rest.

Quisque sibi petit in regem, quem norat amicum:
Hic se maiorem querit, et ille parem;
Hic consanguineum querit, petit ille sodalem;
Hic humilem laudat, laudat et ille ferum.
Quisque sibi regem petit hunc, legit hunc, petit illum;
Non erat in voto mens pharisea pari.
Tancredum petit hic, comitem petit ille Rogerum:
Quod petit hic, negat hic; quod negat hic, petit hic.

Each seeks for himself as king whom he had known as a friend:
This one looks for someone greater than himself, and that one an equal;
This one seeks a consanguine, that one a comrade;
This one praises the humble, and that one praises the fierce.
Each one for himself seeks a king—he elects this one, he seeks that one;
The Pharisaic mind was not in a like vote.
This one seeks Tancred, that one seeks Count Roger:
What this one seeks, that one denies; what that one denies, this one seeks.

Ambo duces equitum, rationis uterque magister;
Hic dator, ille tenax, hic brevis, ille gigas.
Intus at interea vicecancellarius ardet:
Ut sibi Tancredum gens petat, unus agit.
Hoc negat antistes, qui gualterizatur ubique,
Votaque Mathei curia tota negat.

Both commanders of cavalry, each a master of reason;
this one a giver, that one tight‑fisted; this one short, that one a giant.
But meanwhile within the vice-chancellor burns:
that the people may seek Tancred for themselves, one man drives it.
This the bishop denies, who is everywhere “Walterized,”
and the whole curia of Matthew denies the votes.

Ille suis ceptis magis ac magis instat iniquis,
In votis animam dans nichil esse suam.
Vi, prece, promissis, trahit in sua vota rebelles,
Tendens multimodis recia plena dolis.
Pollicitis humiles, prece magnos, munere faustos
Vincit, et antistes simplicitate ruit.

That man presses more and more upon his unjust undertakings,
in vows giving up his soul, counting his own as nothing.
By force, by prayer, by promises, he draws the rebels into his vows,
stretching in many ways nets full of wiles.
With promises he conquers the humble, with prayer the great, with a gift the fortunate,
and the prelate, through simplicity, falls.

Particula V.: Suasio vicecancellarii dissuadentis ad presulem Panormi
Sol erat occiduus; faciente crepuscula Phebo,
Venit Scariothis flens, ubi presul erat.
Sic ait: "Alme pater, lux regni, gloria cleri,
Utile consilium, pastor et urbis honor,
Pacis iter, rationis amor, constantia veri,
Respice consiliis regna relicta tuis.
Consule, ne pereant; vestro succurre roseto,
Ne Nothus aud Boreas, ne gravis urat yeps.

Little Part 5.: Persuasion of the vice-chancellor dissuading the prelate of Palermo
The sun was setting; as Phoebus was making the twilight,
Iscariot came weeping, to where the prelate was.
Thus he said: "Kindly father, light of the realm, glory of the clergy,
helpful counsel, shepherd and honor of the city,
path of peace, love of reason, constancy of truth,
look back upon the realms left to your counsels.
Take counsel, lest they perish; succor your rose-garden,
lest Nothus or Boreas, lest heavy Winter scorch."

Elige, quis regnet! Quis erit?" - "Constancia regnet!
Sic lex exposcit, sic sua iura volunt." -
"Disce prius mores Augusti, disce furorem!

Choose who should reign! Who will it be?" - "Let Constance reign!
Thus the law exacts, thus their own rights will it." -
"First learn the mores of the Augustus, learn the fury!

Teutonicam rabiem quis tolerare potest?
Parce tuis canis: pueri tibi more licebit
Discere barbaricos barbarizare sonos?"
"Ad solium regni comitem gerit Andria dignum! " -
"Set ius et mores et sua facta negant.

Who can tolerate Teutonic rage?
Spare your gray hairs: in the manner of a boy it will be permitted to you
to learn to barbarize barbaric sounds?"
"Andria bears to the throne of the kingdom a Count worthy! " -
"But law and customs and his own deeds deny it.

Absit, ut incestus regum mechetur in aula,
Absit, ut era ducum spargat aperta manus,
Absit, ut eveniens uxor de rege queratur,
Absit, ut alterius vindicet acta reus !
Aptus ad hoc Tancredus erit, de germine iusto,
Quem gens, quem populus, quem petit omnis homo.
Quamvis fama sibi, quamvis natura repugnet,
naturam redimat gracia, crimen honor.
Qui, quanto duce patre superbiat, hic quoque tanto
Ex merito matris mitior esse potest.

Far be it that the incest of kings commit adultery in the palace,
Far be it that the mistress of the dukes scatter with an open hand,
Far be it that a coming-in wife complain of the king,
Far be it that an accused vindicate the deeds of another!
Tancred will be apt for this, from a just sprout of lineage,
whom the clan, whom the people, whom every man seeks.
Although report to him, although nature resist,
let grace redeem nature, honor redeem crime.
He who, by how much he prides himself on a leader-father, by so much also here
can be gentler by the merit of the mother.

Non habet, ut timeas, dubium brevis unda profundum:
Quovis defertur remige parva ratis."
Talibus almi patris Matheus adulterat archam
Et legit ex tacito presulis ore fidem.

"It does not have, for you to fear, a deep, the shallow wave:
by whatever oarsman a small raft is borne."
With such things Matthew adulterates the ark of the benign father
and reads faith from the silent mouth of the prelate.

Particula VI.: Epistola ad Tancredum
Protinus accepta bigamus notat ista papiro;
Hec in nocturnis verba fuere notis:
"Hanc tibi Matheus mitto Tancrede salutem,
Quam, cito ni venias, qui ferat, alter erit:
Rumpe moras, venias comitatus utraque prole;
Prole recepturus regia sceptra, veni.
Rumpe moras, postpone fidem, dimitte maritam.
Ipse tibi scribo, qui tibi regna dabo.

Part 6.: Letter to Tancred
Straightway, the bigamist, the letter having been received, notes these things on paper;
These were the words in nocturnal notes:
"I, Matthew, send this greeting to you, Tancred,
which, unless you come quickly, the one to bear it will be another:
Break delays, come accompanied by both offspring;
to receive the royal scepters with your offspring, come.
Break delays, postpone troth, dismiss your wife.
I myself write to you, I who will give the realms to you.

Per me regnabis, per me tibi regna dabuntur;
Fac cito quod venias, nam mora sepe nocet.
Inceptis desiste tuis, irascimur illis;
Nam, sicut debes, non sapienter agis.
Cui facis heredi regnum iurare vel urbes ?
Quem legis heredem ? Cui tua regna paras ?
Absenti domino magnas inducitis urbes,
Ut iurent; aliis das, quod habere potes.

Through me you will reign, through me kingdoms will be given to you;
Do quickly that you may come, for delay often harms.
Desist from your undertakings, we grow angry at them;
For, as you ought, you are not acting wisely.
For whom, as heir, do you cause the realm or the cities to swear?
Whom do you appoint as heir? For whom are you preparing your kingdoms?
To an absent lord you induce great cities, that they may swear;
You give to others what you are able to possess.

Nec te, si qua fides, nec te periuria tardent:
Gloria regnandi cuncta licere facit.
Andronicus si forte suo iuravit Alexi,
Ipse cruentato sceptra nepote tulit.
Heredem regni fidei maculare pudorem
Non puduit profugum sub Manuele senem.

Nor—if there is any good faith—let perjuries hold you back:
The glory of reigning makes everything licit.
If Andronicus perchance swore to his own Alexius,
he himself took the scepters with the nephew bloodied.
To stain the honor of good faith toward the heir of the kingdom
did not shame the old exile under Manuel.

Unum natorum" - si phas foret atque liceret! -
Debueras dure subdere sponte neci.
Ipse ego, triste pedes quotiens sinthoma perurit,
Non hominum dubito sanguinis esse reus."

"One of the children" — if it were right and licit! —
You ought, harshly and of your own accord, to have subjected to death.
I myself, whenever the grim symptom sears my feet,
I do not doubt that I am guilty of human blood."

Particula VII.: Spuriosa unctio regni
Nec mora, perlectis que miserat ille figuris,
Consuluit mentis triste cubile sue.
Stare pudet, properare timet, cor fluctuat intus.
Ut puer ascensum territus optat equi,
Et timet et gaudet, luit et ludit, modo sursum
Aspirat, modo se colligit inque manus.

Part 7.: Spurious anointing of the kingdom
Without delay, the figures which he had sent having been read through,
he consulted the sad couch of his mind.
He is ashamed to stand still, he fears to hasten; his heart surges within.
As a boy, terrified at the mounting of a horse, longs to mount,
he both fears and rejoices, he suffers and plays; now upward
he aspires, now he draws himself together into his hands.

Corporis exigui memori sub mente pudorem
Colligit et quatitur sicut arudo comes.
Tandem Siciliam gemina cum prole petentis
Obprobrium patris natus uterque tegit.
Fabarie cum prole comes descendit avite;
Illinc a multis plurima doctus abit.

Under a mindful mind he gathers the modesty of his exiguous body,
and the count is shaken like a reed.
At length, as he seeks Sicily with twin progeny,
each son veils the opprobrium of the father.
To ancestral Fabaria the count disembarks with his progeny;
from there he departs, taught very many things by many.

Primo mane subit, vestem ferruginis instar
Induit: hic habitus signa doloris habet.
Heu heu, quanta die periuria fecit in illa,
Qua comes infelix unctus in urbe fuit!
O nova pompa doli, species nova fraudis inique,
Non dubitas nano tradere regna tuo ?
Ecce vetus monstrum, nature crimen aborsum;
Ecce coronatur simia, turpis homo !
Huc ades Allecto, tristis proclamet Herinis,
Exclament Satiri: semivir ecce venit.

At first light he comes up, he puts on a garment like ferruginous rust;
this habit bears the signs of grief.
Alas, alas, how many perjuries he committed on that day,
on which the unhappy count was anointed in the city!
O new pomp of guile, new aspect of iniquitous fraud,
do you not hesitate to hand over your realms to your dwarf?
Behold the ancient monster, nature’s crime, an abortive birth;
behold, an ape is crowned, a foul man!
Come hither, Allecto; let the sad Erinys proclaim,
let the Satyrs cry out: behold, the half-man comes.

Ne cadat obprobrium, Lachesis sua fila moretur;
Ludibrium mundi perpetuate, dies.
Quam bene conveniunt redimito cimbala mimo!
Ne quemquam lateat, erea plectra sonant.

Lest the opprobrium fall, let Lachesis delay her threads;
Days, perpetuate the mockery of the world.
How well the cymbals suit the garlanded mime!
So that it be hidden from no one, brazen plectra resound.

Et quibus auditum sors aut natura negavit,
Ut videant, alto simia fertur equo.
Altera mellifluens paradisus, dulce Panormum,
Quam male compensas dampna priora tibi!
Quam male Scariothis redimit tua festa Matheus,
Qui titulos cauta polluit arte tuos !
Pro Iove semivirum, magno pro Cesare nanum
Suscipis in sceptrum!

And for those to whom lot or nature has denied hearing,
so that they may see, the ape is borne on a high horse.
O other honey-flowing paradise, sweet Palermo,
how badly you compensate your earlier damages for yourself!
How badly does Matthew redeem your feasts by Scariot,
who pollutes your titles with cautious art!
In place of Jove a half-man, in place of great Caesar a dwarf
you take up for the scepter!

Particula VIII.: Casus anathematizati et derisio nascentis
Debuit illa dies multo pice nigrior esse,
Qua miser adscendit, quo ruiturus erat.
Illa dies pereat nec commemoretur in anno,
In qua Tancredus regia sceptra tulit.
Illa dies pereat, semper noctescat abysso,
In qua Tancredus preredimitus abit.

Particula 8.: The fall of the anathematized and the derision of the nascent
That day ought to have been much blacker than pitch,
on which the wretch ascended, to where he was going to fall.
Let that day perish and not be commemorated in the year,
on which Tancred took up the royal scepters.
Let that day perish, let it ever grow night into the abyss,
on which Tancred, already wreathed, departs.

O nimis infelix memorabilis unctio regni!
Uncxit abortivum que manus ausa virum?
Embrion infelix et detestabile monstrum,
Quam magis alta petis, tam graviora lues.

O far too ill‑fated, memorable unction of the realm!
What hand dared to anoint an abortive man?
Unhappy embryo and detestable monster,
the more you seek the heights, the graver penalties you will suffer.

Corpore te geminas, brevis athome, semper in uno,
Nam puer a tergo vivis, ab ore senex.
Hoc ego dum dubia meditarer mente profundum,
Que res nature dimidiasset opus,
Egregius doctor et vir pietatis amicus
Explicuit causas talibus Urso michi:
Ut puer incipiat, opus est ut uterque resudet,
Ex quo perfectus nascitur orbe puer.
Non in Tancredo sementat uterque parentum,
Et, si sementent, non bene conveniunt.

You double yourself in body, brief atom, always in one,
for you live a boy at the back, at the face an old man.
While I was pondering with a doubtful mind this profundity,
what thing of nature had halved the work,
a distinguished doctor and a man a friend of piety
explained the causes thus to me, Urso:
that, for a boy to begin, it is needful that each sweat,
whence a boy is born perfected in the orb.
Not in Tancred does each of the parents sow,
and, if they do sow, they do not well convene.

Dux alter de stirpe ducum, de stegmate regum,
Altera de media stirpe creata fuit.
Naturam natura fugit: fornacis aborret
Gemma luem, nec humus nobilitate coit.
Evomit humorem tam vilis texta virilem:
Concipitur solo semine matris homo.

Another leader from the stock of leaders, from the stemma of kings,
the other was created from a middling stock.
Nature flees nature: the gem abhors the furnace’s taint,
nor does soil cohere by nobility.
So base a woven stuff spews out the virile humor:
a human is conceived by the mother’s seed alone.

Quantum materies potuit pauperrima matris,
Contulit et modicum materiavit opus.
Hunc habuisse patrem credamus nomine, non re:
Rem trahit a matre dimidiatus homo.
Qui purgata solo bene culto semina mandant,
In lolium versos sepe queruntur agros.

As much as the very poor material of the mother could,
she contributed and “materialized” a modest work.
Let us believe that he had a father in name, not in reality:
the halved man draws the matter from the mother.
Those who consign seeds to a cleansed soil, well cultivated,
often complain that their fields have been turned into darnel.

Sepius infelix conceptum vacca iuvencum
Monstriferumque pecus mollis abortit ovis.

Too often the unlucky cow aborts the conceived young bullock;
and the gentle ewe aborts a monster-bearing offspring.

Particula IX.: Abortivi fallax iniquitas proscribit ascriptos
Ridiculum, natura, tuum: res, simia, turpis,
Regnat, abortivi corporis instar homo.
Qua ratione ? Sibi sacra convenit unctio regni,
Quem negat heredem non bene nupta parens ?
Que vis, que probitas potuit, que fama, quis ensis
Maiestativum promeruisse decus ?
Non sua semper amans, quotiens, qui nil dedit illi
Seu dedit et petiit, non minus hostis erat?
Moribus et vite pauper, nec fama repugnat,
Et modicas vires et breve corpus habet.

Particle 9.: The fallacious iniquity of the abortive proscribes the ascribed;
Ridiculous, Nature, is your own: a thing, an ape, disgraceful,
There reigns a man, the likeness of an abortive body.
By what rationale? Does the sacred unction of kingship befit one
whom a not well-wed parent denies as heir?
What force, what probity could, what fame, what sword
have merited the majesty-bearing honor?
Not always loving his own—how often he who gave him nothing,
or gave and then demanded, was no less an enemy?
Poor in morals and in life, nor does report gainsay it,
and he has modest forces and a short body.

Ingenii vitemus opes et recia mentis,
In quibus egregios scimus obisse viros.
Cum foret ille tuus falso comes, Andria, captus,
Codoluit magnis rebus obesse fidem;
Quem periura fides, quem pacis fedus inique
Fallit, et oscuro carcere clausus obit.
Quam male credis aque trepidantia vela quiete,
Quas hodie Zephirus, cras aget Eurus aquas !
Heu ubi tanta iacet saturate copia mense,
Que numeri nulla lege coacta fuit!

Let us shun the wealth of genius and the nets of the mind,
in which we know distinguished men have perished.
When he, your own, O Andria, was captured, a false companion,
he greatly sorrowed that trust hindered great affairs;
whom perjured faith, whom the pact of peace unjustly
deceives, and, shut in a dark prison, he dies.
How badly you entrust trembling sails to tranquil waters,
the waters which today Zephyrus, tomorrow Eurus will drive!
Alas, where lies so great abundance, surfeited by the table,
which was compelled by no law of number!

Heu ubi tanta iacet maturi forma gigantis,
Iusticie rector!
Prodigus in dando vix vix retributa recepit,
Prevenit meritum semper aperta manus.
Hunc aliosque viros fallax intoxicat anguis,
In quibus apparet Cesaris esse fides.

Alas, where lies the form of the mature giant so great,
Rector of Justice!
Prodigal in giving, he scarcely, scarcely received recompense,
his ever open hand forestalled merit.
A deceitful serpent intoxicates him and other men,
in whom it appears there is Caesar’s fidelity.

P<articula> X.:Imperialis unctio
Serta recepturus cum Cesar venit in urbem,
     Exultat pompis inclita Roma novis.
Ad Petri devenit eques venerabile templum,
     Quo pater antistes preredimitus erat.
Balsama, thus, aloe, miristica, cinnama, nardus,
     Regibus assuetus ambra modestus odor,
Per vicos, per tecta fragrant redolentque per urbem,
Thuris aromatici spirat ubique rogus.

S<ection> 10.:Imperial anointing
About to receive garlands, when Caesar comes into the city,
     Renowned Rome exults with new pomps.
To Peter’s venerable temple the horseman comes,
     Where the father-prelate had been pre-crowned.
Balsam, frankincense, aloe, myristica, cinnamon, nard,
     A modest fragrance of amber, accustomed to kings,
Through the streets, through the homes they are fragrant and waft through the city,
Everywhere the pyre of aromatic frankincense breathes.

Vestit odora viam mirtus sociata diathis,
Luxuriant croceis lilia iuncta rosis.
Prima domus templi bisso vestitur et ostro,
Stellificat tedis cerea flamma suis.
At domus interior, ubi mensa coruscat et agnus,
Purpurat aurato, res operosa, loco.

Fragrant myrtle, joined with dianthus, clothes the way,
Lilies luxuriate, joined with saffron-hued roses.
The first house of the temple is clothed with byssus and purple,
A waxen flame with its own torches makes starry.
But the inner house, where the table and the lamb gleam,
Is empurpled in a gilded place—an elaborate work.

A vice, Petre, tua pius introducitur heros:
Inclitus, altaris sistitur ante gradus.
Primo papa manus sacrat ambas crismate sacro,
Ut testamentum victor utrumque gerat.
Brachia sanctificans, scapulas et pectus inungens:
"In Christum domini te deus unxit", ait.

In your stead, Peter, the pious hero is introduced:
Renowned, he is set before the steps of the altar.
First the pope consecrates both hands with sacred chrism,
so that, as victor, he may bear each Testament.
Sanctifying the arms, anointing the shoulders and the breast:
"God has anointed you as the Lord’s anointed", he says.

Post hec imperii correptum tradidit ensem,
Quem Petrus abscissa iussus ab aure tulit.
Ensis utrimque potens, templi defensor et orbis,
Hinc regit ecclesiam, corrigit inde solum.
Iura potestatis, pondus pietatis et equi,
Signat in Augusta tradita virga manu.

After these things he handed over the sword of the empire, grasped,
which Peter, when ordered, took away from the severed ear.
A sword mighty on both edges, defender of the temple and of the world,
from here he rules the Church, from there he corrects the realm.
The rights of power, the weight of piety and of equity,
he signifies with the rod delivered into the August hand.

Anulus ecclesie, regnorum nobilis arra,
Offertur digitis, Octaviane, tuis.
Quam geris aurate, Cesar, diadema thiare,
Signat apostolicas participare vices.
Post hec cantatis ad castra revertitur ymnis,
Mandat, in Apuliam quisque quod ire paret.

The ring of the Church, a noble pledge of realms,
is offered to your fingers, Octavian.
The diadem of the tiara, which you, gilded Caesar, wear,
signifies that you participate in apostolic functions.
After these things, with hymns sung, he returns to the camp,
he orders that each prepare to go into Apulia.

Particula XI.: Regni legatio
Suscipit interea legatos scripta ferentes,
Quos proceres regni, quos docuere duces.
Primus magnanimus scripsit comes ille Rogerus,
Scripserat infelix semivir ipse comes.
Scripsit Consanus, patrio comes ore venustus,
Scripsit Molisius, inclitus ille comes.

Section 11.: The legation of the kingdom
Meanwhile he receives envoys bearing writings,
which the nobles of the kingdom, which the dukes had dictated.
First the magnanimous Count Roger wrote,
the unhappy half-man, the count himself, had written.
Consanus wrote, a count charming in his native speech,
Molisius wrote, that renowned count.

Scripsit Tricarici comes et comes ille Gravini,
Scripsit cum triplici prole Philippus idem.
Et gemini fratres magni scripsere Lupini,
Scripsit et antistes hoc Capuanus idem.
Scripsit et antistes, dominorum gemma Panormi,
Scripserat et presul Bartholomeus idem.

The count of Tricarico wrote, and that count of Gravina,
Philip likewise wrote, with his threefold offspring.
And the twin brothers of great Lupinus wrote,
And the Capuan prelate likewise wrote this.
And the prelate, the gem of lords, at Palermo, wrote,
And Prelate Bartholomew likewise had written.

Scripsit cum multis pius archilevita Salerni,
Cuius pura fides purior igne manet.

The pious archilevite of Salerno wrote along with many,
whose pure faith remains purer than fire.

Particula XII.:Primus imperatoris ingressus in regna Sicilie
En movet imperium mundi fortissimus heros,
Et venit armata nobilitate ducum.
Non patitur falso laniari principe regnum,
Quod sibi per patrios iura dedere gradus.
Hoc avus, hoc proavus quandoque dedere tributis,
Que pater a Siculis regibus ipse tulit.

Particle 12.: The First Entry of the Emperor into the Realms of Sicily
Lo, the most mighty hero moves the empire of the world,
and he comes with the nobility of dukes armed.
He does not allow the realm to be mangled by a false prince,
which the rights have given to him through paternal degrees.
This did the grandsire, this the great-grandsire once render with tributes,
which the father himself received from the Sicilian kings.

Si numerare velis genitos a Cesare magno,
In medio Carolus fulminat orbe tuus.
Nec minor est Fredericus eo, qui duxit ab illo
Et genus et septrum, nomen et esse tuum.
Cuncta sibi, quecunque vides, servire coegit:
Vicit in hoc Carulos, fortior hasta, suos.

If you should wish to enumerate those begotten from great Caesar,
in the midst of the world your Charles thunders.
Nor is Frederick lesser than he, who drew from him
both lineage and scepter, your name and very being.
He compelled all things, whatever you see, to serve him:
in this he outdid his Charleses, stronger by the spear, his own.

Quantum laudis habet mundus quantumve triumphi,
Fama minus titulis asserit esse suis.
In modicum reputans tandem pro viribus orbem,
In Domino voluit spe meliore frui.
Alter in hoc Moyses, aliam populosus Egyptum
Deserit, ut redimat regna domumque dei.

How much praise the world has, or how much of triumph,
Fame asserts to be less than its own titles.
Reputing at last, in proportion to his powers, the orb as a small thing,
he wished to enjoy a better hope in the Lord.
Another Moses in this, he deserts another populous Egypt
so that he may redeem the realms and the house of God.

Iam sua vota videns inter sua gaudia, Christo
Migrat et eternis militat albus equis.
Plena postestatis fastidit ymago triumphos;
Est satis ex omni parte videre suum.
Ex hoc, ex aliis verus dinosceris heres,
Nam tua Pipinis gloria maior erit.

Now, seeing his vows amid his own joys, to Christ
he migrates and serves as a soldier with eternal white horses.
An image full of power scorns triumphs;
it is enough in every part to behold its own.
From this, from other things, you are recognized as the true heir,
for your glory will be greater than Pippin’s.

Augustos imitare tuos, defende tuum ius,
Coniugis et magni iura tuere patris.
Tam tua quam soceri limes conterminet unus,
Nam ius consortis in tua iura cadit.

Imitate your Augusti, defend your right,
Guard the rights of your spouse and of your great father.
Let a single boundary be conterminous with both yours and your father-in-law’s,
For the right of your consort falls within your rights.

Particula XIII.: Castrorum inclinatur proceritas
Castra movens Cesar Montis volat arva Casini,
In quo Rofridus, cura fidelis, erat.
Cum grege, cum populo fecit, quod debuit abbas:
Sola refrenavit Cesaris arma fides.
Quando capta est per vim Rocca de Archis
Subditur inperio nota vi gloria castri,
Quo dux a misero rege Burellus erat.

Particula 13.: The eminence of the camps is inclined
Moving the camp, Caesar flies to the fields of Mount Cassino,
in which Rofridus, a faithful guardian, was.
With the flock, with the people, the abbot did what he owed:
Faith alone reined in Caesar’s arms.
When the Rocca of Archis was seized by force
the famed glory of the castle is subjected to dominion by notable force,
where Burellus was leader for the wretched king.

Exemplum cuius quam plurima castra sequuntur,
Archis enim 'princeps' nomen et esse gerit.
Quam castigato natura creavit acervo,
Hostes non recipit, saxa nec arma timet.
Quando Capuanus antistes gaudens Augustum recepit
I, Capuane pater, nec te consulta morentur;
Armos quadrupedis calcar utrumque cavet.

Whose example very many camps follow,
for Archis bears both the name and the reality of “princeps.”
Which Nature created with a well-disciplined heap,
it does not admit foes, nor does it fear rocks or arms.
When the Capuan prelate, rejoicing, received the Augustus
Go, father of Capua, nor let consultations delay you;
the shoulders of the quadruped beware each spur.

Quem tua spectabant suspiria, vota petebant,
Ecce venit dominus, quem tua vota petunt.
Assigna populos aquilis victricibus, orna
Menia, quod doleas, ne furor ensis agat.
Postpositura fidem tua gens, sanctissime presul,
Suscipit ancipiti corde salutis opem.

He whom your sighs were watching for, your vows were beseeching,
behold, the lord comes, whom your vows seek.
Assign the peoples to the victorious eagles, adorn
the walls, lest the fury of the sword bring to pass what you would lament.
Your people, most holy prelate, destined to set aside faith,
receives with a two-minded heart the aid of salvation.

Particula XIV.: Urbs Neapolis obsessa resistit
Ut mare spumescit subito, nubescit ut aer,
Obsidet ut quercum multa columba brevem,
Sic tua, Parthenope, confinia Cesar obumbrat,
Et, nisi pugnassent munera, victa fores.
Iussit ut a dextris Cesar tentoria figi,
Circuit in celeri menia celsus equo.
Sat premunitam gaudens circumspicit urbem
Menibus et vallo, turribus atque viris.

Part 14.: The city Neapolis, besieged, resists
As the sea suddenly foams, as the air clouds over,
as many a dove besets a small oak,
thus does Caesar overshadow your borders, Parthenope,
and, unless the defenses had fought, you would have been conquered.
He ordered that the tents be pitched on the right,
lofty he circles the walls on a swift horse.
Rejoicing, he looks around at the city well fortified enough
with walls and rampart, with towers and men.

Machina construitur, celsis se menibus equans
Porrigit ad lapides brachia longa graves.
Ex hac Colonii pugnant, hac parte Boemi,
Hac dux Spoleti menia temptat eques.
Ex hac turma virum plenis succinta pharetris
Pugnat, et hac equitum plurima tela micant.

A machine is constructed, equaling itself to the lofty walls
it stretches toward the stones its long, heavy arms.
From this side the men of Cologne fight; on this side the Bohemians,
on this side the Duke of Spoleto, a knight, assays the walls.
From this side a troop of men, girt with full quivers,
fights, and on this side very many missiles of the horsemen flash.

Hic notat in muro, sinuato cominus arcu,
Mussantem cupidum bella videre virum;
Hic alium fantem convicia plura minantem
Colligit et medio corrigit ore minas.
Unus erat, qui saxa suos iactabat in hostes;
Vocibus insultans, talia verba dabat:
"Iam sine cesarie vel iam sine Cesare facti,
Vix alacer de tot milibus unus erit.
Noster si qua potest Augustus, more leonis
Augustum vestrum tondet et eius oves."
Hunc aliquis fantem baliste cornua flectens
Percutit, et summa lapsus ab arce ruit.

Here he targets on the wall, at close quarters with a bent bow,
a muttering man eager to see wars;
Here another speaker, menacing more contumelies,
he gathers up and corrects his menaces in mid-mouth.
There was one who was hurling stones at his foes;
insulting with his cries, he gave such words:
"Now, made either without hair or now without Caesar,
hardly will there be one lively man out of so many thousands.
If our Augustus can in any way, in the manner of a lion
he fleeces your Augustus and his sheep."
Someone, bending the horns of the ballista, strikes this speaker,
and, slipping from the topmost citadel, he falls headlong.

Particula XV.: Comitis percussio et Salerni exaudita petitio
Cum comes egregius, Tancredi gloria spesque,
Cesaris invicti cernere castra velit,
Se tegit electis et menia scandit in armis,
Illudensque viris, ars quibus arcus erat.
Quem quis percipiens liceum plicat auribus arcum
Lapsaque per medias arsit arundo genas.
Ut fragor antique nemus ylicis implet et auras,
Turbine que rapido vulsa vel icta ruit,
Sic a strage tua, comes, omnis murmurat etas,
Et rex ille tuus de breve fit brevior.

Particle 15.: Count’s striking and Salerno’s petition heard
When the distinguished count, Tancred’s glory and hope,
should wish to behold the camp of the unconquered Caesar,
he covers himself with chosen arms and scales the walls in arms,
and, mocking the men, whose art was the bow.
Someone perceiving him strings the bow at the ears with a cord,
and the reed, having sped, burned through the middle of his cheeks.
As the crash fills the ancient grove of holm-oak and the airs,
and, torn up or struck, it falls with a rapid whirlwind,
thus from your slaughter, count, every age murmurs,
and that king of yours from brief becomes briefer.

At miser antistes comitis succingitur ense,
Polluit oblita religione manus.
Pars rate tuta vagans lunatos explicat arcus,
Per mare quos sequitur nante Boemus equo.
Supplicat interea preciose nuncius urbis,
Exponens iuvenum pectora, vota senum,
Corda puellarum, mentes et gaudia matrum,
Et quicquid voti mens puerilis habet.

But the wretched prelate girds himself with the count’s sword,
he pollutes his hands, religion forgotten.
A part, roaming safe by raft, unfolds crescent-shaped bows,
whom a Bohemian follows over the sea, his horse swimming.
Meanwhile the city's nuncio supplicates with costly gifts,
setting forth the hearts of the youths, the vows of the elders,
the hearts of maidens, and the minds and joys of mothers,
and whatever of vow the boyish mind has.

Sic ait archoticon: "Veniens tua nobilis uxor
Sublimis sedeat patris in urbe sui.
Hic victor fera bella geras; tua nupta Salerni
Gaudeat et dubiam servet in urbe fidem.
Nam si bella placent, non desunt prelia longe:
Hen turris maior bella diurna movet;
Est prope non longe Iufonis inutile castrum,
In quo furtivi militis arma latent.

Thus says the archoticon: "Coming, your noble wife
let her sit exalted in the city of her father.
Here, as victor, may you wage fierce wars; your bride at Salerno
let her rejoice and keep a doubtful faith in the city.
For if wars please, battles are not lacking far away:
Ah, the greater tower stirs diurnal wars;
There is near, not far, the useless castle of Iufonis,
in which the arms of a furtive soldier lie hidden.

Est prope dulce solum, nobis satis utile semper,
Ebolus, aspirans, quod petit urbis honor.
Est prope Campanie castrum, specus immo latronum,
Quod gravat Eboleam sepe latenter humum."
Hec ubi legatus fert coram principe mundi,
Magnanimis princeps: "Quod petis", inquit, "erit."
Protinus almipater Capuane sedulus urbis,
Suscipit a domino talia iussa suo:
"I, bone namque pater, mentis pars maxima nostre,
Facturus semper, quod mea nupta velit."
Hec ubi legatus notat impetrata Salerni,
Sollempnem peragunt gaudia plena diem.
Exiit edictum dominam cras esse futuram,
Cuius in adventum se sibi quisque parat.

There is near a pleasant soil, ever quite useful to us,
Eboli, aspiring to that which the honor of the city seeks.
There is near in Campania a fort—nay rather a cave of robbers—
which often secretly weighs down the Ebolian ground."
When the legate bears these things before the prince of the world,
the magnanimous prince: "What you seek," he says, "shall be."
Straightway the nourishing-father of the Capuan city, zealous,
receives from his lord such commands:
"Go, good father—for indeed the greatest part of our mind—
ever to do what my bride wishes."
When the legate notes at Salerno that these things have been obtained,
they perform a solemn day full of joys.
An edict went forth that the lady would be arriving on the morrow,
and for whose advent each and every person prepares himself.

Particula XVI.: Augustalis ingressus in urbem
Sol ubi sydereas ammovit crastinus umbras,
Urbs ruit et domine plaudit osanna sue.
Trinacriis pars fertur equis, qui flore fruuntur
Oris et etatis, pars sedet acta rotis.
Ipsa puellaris vittis insignis et auro,
Occurrit cultu turba superba suo.

Particula 16.: Augustal ingress into the city
When the morrow’s Sun removed the sidereal shades,
the city rushes and applauds hosanna to her lady.
A part is borne on Trinacrian horses, who enjoy the bloom
of face and of age; a part sits, driven by wheels.
She herself, maidenly, distinguished by fillets and by gold,
the proud throng comes to meet, in its own array.

Mollis et insolitus gressus fastidit arenam,
Tardat arenosum litus et unda pedes.
Cinnama, thus, aloe, nardus, rosa, lilia, mirtus
Inflamant nares, aera mutat odor.
Tantus odor nares nardinus inebriat afflans,
Quod nova perfundi balsama quisque ferat.

A soft and unaccustomed gait loathes the sand,
the sandy shore retards, and the wave the feet.
Cinnamon, frankincense, aloe, nard, rose, lilies, myrtle
inflame the nostrils; the odor changes the air.
So great a nardine odor, breathing upon, inebriates the nostrils,
that each one may bring new balsams to be drenched.

Iunonem spectare suam quis tardat in urbe?
Cesaris in laudes cantica nemo silet.
Ut modulantur aves foliis in vere renatis
Post noctes yemis, post grave tempus aque,
Non aliter verno venienti plauditur ore;
Testantur pariter: luminis ecce dies !
Ingreditur patrias tandem Constancia sedes,
Que Tancridinam sentit in urbe fidem.

Who delays to behold his own Juno in the city?
No one is silent in canticles for Caesar’s praises.
As the birds modulate upon the leaves reborn in spring
after the nights of winter, after the heavy season of water,
not otherwise is applause given, with spring coming, by the mouth;
they bear witness together: behold, the day of light !
At last Constance enters the ancestral seats,
which in the city feels the Tancredian fealty.

Quam plures tacita collecti voce susurrant,
Inter se referunt omina versa ducum.
Mons fugit a castro, quantum volat acta sagitta
Et quantum lapides mittere funda potest.
Hunc super ascendunt, fit machina, pugna vicissim
Contrahitur, variant mutua bella vices.

A great many, gathered, whisper with a silent voice,
Among themselves they recount the leaders’ omens turned about.
A mountain flees from the camp, as far as a driven arrow flies
And as far as a sling can send stones.
Upon this they climb; a machine is made; the fight in turn
is joined; mutual battles vary their vicissitudes.

Hinc fera tela volant, fluviales inde lapillos
Funda iacit, lassant iactaque saxa manus;
Et modo tentantes mixtim prope menia pugnant,
Pugnando miscent tela manusque sonos.
Ut canis intcr apros furit, e quibus eligit unum,
Ut rapit accipiter, quam legit inter aves,
Non aliter nostri vellunt ex hostibus unum;
Commixto rapiunt ordine sepe duos.
P<articula> XVII.: Legatorum exquisicio et principis infirmitas
Principis interea veniens legatus in urbem,
Eligit e multa nobilitate viros,
Quos ad Neapolim mittit, qui multa timentes
Expediunt dubia mente laboris iter.

Hence wild missiles fly, from there the sling hurls fluvial pebbles,
the hurled stones weary the hands; and now, making attempts, mingled they fight near the walls,
by fighting they mingle the sounds of missiles and of hands.
As a dog rages among boars, from which he chooses one,
as a hawk snatches the one it has chosen among birds,
not otherwise do our men pluck from the enemies one;
with ranks commingled they often seize two.
P<articula> 17.: The inquiry of the legates and the prince’s infirmity
Meanwhile the prince’s legate, coming into the city,
chooses men from much nobility,
whom he sends to Naples, who, fearing many things,
make ready the journey of toil with a doubtful mind.

Inter quos fuit Alfanides cognomine Princeps,
Aldrisius, populi publica lingua sui,
Libraque iudicii Romoaldus; cetera turba,
Quid velit, auguriant, nescia causa vie.
Principis ut veniunt ad castra, magalia circum
Herrant, mirantes agmen et arma ducum.
Exquirunt spectare suum per castra tonantem,
Nec datur accessus, dux ubi magnus erat.

Among whom was Alfanides, by surname “Princeps,”
Aldrisius, the public tongue of his people,
and Romuald, the balance-scale of judgment; the rest of the crowd—
let them augur what he wills—ignorant of the cause of the journey.
As they come to the camp of the prince, around the huts
they wander, marveling at the column and the arms of the leaders.
They seek to behold their own thunderer through the camp,
nor is access granted, where the great leader was.

Attamen ingreditur, quem gens cognominat Archos;
Exclusis sociis, quem petit, unus adit.
Ut videt Augustum magnis a febribus actum
Lentaque purpureo menbra iacere thoro,
Tum color et species, tum sanguis ab ore recessit,
Tristis et exaguis procidit ante thorum.
Ut gravis e sopno cum mater in ubere natum
Invenit exanimem, territa mente caret,
Sic ruit in gemitum lacrimabilis archilevita,
Certans pro tanto principe velle mori.

Nevertheless he enters, whom the people surnames Archos;
with his companions shut out, he alone approaches the one he seeks.
As he sees the Augustus driven by great fevers
and his limbs lying slack on the purple couch,
then both color and appearance, and the blood withdrew from his face,
sorrowful and bloodless he fell forward before the couch.
As when, from heavy sleep, a mother finds upon her breast her child
lifeless, terrified she is bereft of mind,
thus the tearful archdeacon rushes into a lament,
striving to be willing to die for so great a prince.

Tunc pius Augustus, quamvis grave corpus haberet,
Conatur tenui taliter ore loqui:
"Parce tuis oculis, fidissima cura Salerni,
Sum bene, ne timeas, tercia febris abest.
Fer sub veste manum, pulsum perpende quietum,
Spes est de vita, quod mea menbra madent".
Plurima cum vellet, sopor est furatus ocellos,
Hinc rapit intuitus, surripit inde loqui.
Artis ypocratice servans mandata Girardus
Attente famulis ora tenere iubet.

Then the pious Augustus, although he had a heavy body,
tries thus to speak with a faint mouth:
“Spare your eyes, most faithful care of Salerno,
I am well; do not fear; the tertian fever is absent.
Bear your hand beneath the garment; weigh the calm pulse—
there is hope concerning life, because my limbs are moist.”
When he wished to say very many things, sleep stole his little eyes;
hence it snatches his gazes, thence it filches his speech.
Girardus, keeping the mandates of the Hippocratic art,
carefully orders the servants to hold their mouths.

Nature servabat opus studiosus amicum,
Nam sopor et sudor signa salutis erant.
Exiit ad socios tandem pius archilevita,
Conantur lacrime non minus ore loqui.
Alter in alterius iactabant lumina vultus,
Miscentes lacrimas, mutua verba dabant.

Nature, a studious friend, was preserving the work,
for sleep and sweat were signs of health.
At last the pious archdeacon went out to his companions,
tears strive to speak no less than the mouth.
One into the other's face they were casting their eyes,
mixing tears, they were giving mutual words.

Particula XVIII.:Exeundi prohibitio
Cereus ille comes sociis munitus et auro
Mandat, ut educat nullus ab urbe pedem.
Sic ait: "In densis latitans philomena rubetis
Non timet adverso mitis ab ungue capi.
Cum domino mundi quis enim contendere bello
Ausus erit, vel quis obviet ense pari ?
Si placet, o cives, meliori mente fruamur:
Pro nobis aurum pugnet et arma ferat." - (Nicolaus:)
"Si sapitis cives, comes exeat, instet in armis:
Laus est pro domino succubuisse suo.

Section 18.:Prohibition of going out
That waxen count, fortified with allies and with gold,
commands that no one lead a foot out from the city.
Thus he speaks: "Hiding in dense bramble-thickets the nightingale
does not fear, though mild, to be seized by an adverse claw.
For who will have dared to contend in war with the lord of the world,
or who will oppose him with an equal sword?
If it pleases, O citizens, let us enjoy a better mind:
let gold fight on our behalf and bear arms." - (Nicholas:)
"If you are wise, citizens, let the count go out, press on in arms:
it is a praise to have succumbed for one’s own lord.

Parcite parcendis, electis parcite vestris,
Quisque, suas vires, noverit, unde timet;
Robore forte caret medio, quam cernitis, arbor:
Sub vacuo spirat cortice nulla fides.
Pronior ad casum, quanto procerior arbor,
In quam ventus agit, fulminat ipse deus."
Quid Nicolaus agit, puer actu, nomine presul?
Quid nisi femineas abluit ipse genas ?
Credite pastori pecudes, pecudes, alieno,
Tam male qui proprium curat ovile suum !
Quid facis, o Cesar?

Spare those to be spared, spare your chosen ones,
Let each know his own forces, whence he should fear;
Perhaps the tree, which you see, lacks robustness in its core:
Beneath hollow bark no faith breathes.
The taller the tree, the more prone to a fall,
which the wind drives against, God himself hurls lightning."
What does Nicholas do, a boy in act, a prelate in name?
What but bathe his feminine cheeks ?
Trust to an alien pastor, you sheep, you sheep,
he who so ill tends his own sheepfold !
What are you doing, O Caesar?

Quid frustra menia temptas ?
Obnebulant socios regia dona tuos,
Qui falso remeare rogant, ne morbus in artus
Fortius insurgat, qui grave reddat iter.
P<articula> XIX.: Imperialis ab obsidione regressus
Ut videt ere duces saturatos Cesar et aurum
Eructare suos, mens subit ista loqui:
"Qui fluvios nostros dudum siccastis Yberos,
In fontes Siculos mergitis omne caput.
Equor adhuc superest, licet inpotabile, vobis,
Nec mare, quod saturet vos, nec abyssus habet.

Why do you in vain attempt the walls ?
Royal gifts becloud your allies,
who under false pretexts ask to return, lest the sickness
rise more strongly into the limbs, which would render the journey heavy.
P<articula> 19.: Imperial return from the siege
When Caesar sees the leaders sated with money and his men
belching forth gold, this thought comes to speak:
"You who long since dried our Iberian rivers,
you plunge every head into Sicilian springs.
The level sea still remains, though undrinkable, for you;
neither does the sea have what may satiate you, nor the abyss."

"
Nec mora comperta tunc Cesar fraude suorum
Arripit a tritea febre coactus iter.
O quantum pene quantumve timoris in omnes
Sollicitans animos intulit illa dies!
Ut coadunat oves timor a pastore relictas,
Quas canis exclusit solus ab ore lupi,
Non aliter, quos imperii pia gratia fovit,
Hic flet, et ille dolet: regnat ubique metus.

"
Nor delay: then Caesar, his own men’s treachery discovered,
he seizes the march, though constrained by a tertian fever.
O how much—well-nigh how much—of fear into all
did that day, soliciting their spirits, bring!
As fear gathers the sheep left by the shepherd,
which the dog alone has shut out from the wolf’s maw,
no otherwise, those whom the pious favor of the empire has fostered—
here one weeps, and another sorrows: fear reigns everywhere.

Quid tibi tunc animi, que mens fuit, archilevita,
Cum recipis vetitum posse videre Iovem,
Et tamen evelli subito temtoria cernis!
Nox erat et castris nec fragor ullus erat.
Funes comburi, testudinis ossa cremari
Cernis et auxilium Palladis omne rui.

What spirit had you then, what mind was there, archdeacon,
when you acknowledge it is forbidden to see Jove,
and yet you behold the tents suddenly torn up!
It was night and in the camp there was not any crash.
You behold ropes being burned, the tortoise’s bones being cremated,
and all the aid of Pallas rush to ruin.

Ut quatit aura novas resecande messis aristas,
Ut movet equoreas Eolus asper aquas,
Sic sic Alfanides patrii cognominis heres
Et sine spe reditus et sine mente tremit.
Tunc dolor et lacrime singultibus ora fatigant,
Tunc mens Socratici pectoris omnis hebet.
Anxius ignorat, quid agat.

As the breeze shakes the new ears of a harvest to be reaped,
as rough Aeolus moves the sea-waters,
so, so Alfanides, heir of his paternal cognomen,
both without hope of return and without his wits, trembles.
Then grief and tears weary his lips with sobs,
then the mind of a Socratic breast is altogether dull.
Anxious, he does not know what to do.

Responsa referre
Ulla times ? Labor est Itala castra sequi.
Quem non matris amor nec presens gloria rerum
Nec fratrum pietas nec grave vicit iter,
Imperium sequitur, subit alta mente labores.
***
At Tancridini redeunt, rumoribus implent
Urbem, de magno principe falsa ferunt:
Hic: "Obit!", ille: "Obiit!", "Calet!" hic, "Frigescit!" et ille
Asserit; incerto fluctuat ore fides.

Do you fear to refer any responses? It is a labor to follow the Italian camp.
He whom neither a mother’s love nor the present glory of affairs
nor the brothers’ piety nor the grievous journey has overcome
follows the command; with a high mind he undergoes labors.
***
But the men of Tancred return, they fill the City with rumors,
they report false things about the great prince:
this one, “He dies!”, that one, “He has died!”; “He is hot!” here, “He grows cold!” that one
asserts; faith fluctuates upon an uncertain lip.

P<articula> XX.:Fidei oblita religio
Ut rude murmur apum fumoso murmurat antro,
Sic novus orbanda rumor in urbe sonat.
Hic tres, hac septem, bis sex ibi, quattuor illic
Conveniunt, tenui murmure plura loqui.
Consilio stimulata malo gens seva Salerni
Peccatum redimit crimine, fraude dolum.

Section 20.:A religion forgetful of faith
As the raw murmur of bees murmurs in a smoky cave,
thus a new rumor to be bandied about resounds in the city.
Here three, here seven, twice six there, four in that place
gather, to say more in a thin murmur.
Goaded by evil counsel, the savage people of Salerno
redeems sin by crime, guile by fraud.

Obsequium prestare putant periuria regi,
Tancredum curant pacificare sibi.
Ast ubi circumdant inmensa palacia regum,
Que Terracina nomen habere ferunt,
Exclamant: "Quid agis, Constancia ? Stamina pensas ?
Fila trahis ? Quid agis ? An data pensa legis ?
Cesar abest. Nos certe et te, miseranda, fefellit!

They think to render obsequious service to the king by perjuries,
they strive to pacify Tancred for themselves.
But when they surround the immense palaces of the kings,
which they are said to have the name Terracina,
they exclaim: "What are you doing, Constance? Are you weighing the warp-threads?
Are you drawing threads? What are you doing? Or are you reading the allotted tasks?
Caesar is absent. He has surely deceived both us and you, poor woman!"

Quem nimis ardebas, dic, ubi Cesar abit ?
Quem tociens fausto iactabas ore potentem,
Dic, ubi bella gerit, qui sine crine iacet ?
Felix Parthenope, que nec te sola recepit!
Urbs pro te, quod te viderit, ista ruet.
Te vir dimisit.

Say, where has Caesar gone, whom you burned for too much ?
Whom so often you vaunted with an auspicious mouth as potent,
Say, where does he wage wars, he who lies without hair ?
Happy Parthenope, who did not receive you alone!
This city will fall for you, because it has seen you.
Your husband has dismissed you.

Non vir set apostolus egit:
Hostia pro nobis predaque dulcis eris."
In dominam iaciunt furibunde spicula lingue
Saxaque cum multis associata minis.
Quicquid funda potest, quicquid balistra vel arcus,
Nititur in dominam!
Ut cornix aquila strepitat quam plurima visa,
Quam fore noctivolem garrula credit avem -
Unguibus et rostris furit et movet aera pennis
Inque modum fabri flamina versat avis,
Hic ferit, ille salit, saliens sequiturque cadentem,
Versat <ut> inverso malleus ere vices -,
Sic furit in dominam gens ancillanda potentem,
Vertitur in lolium triste cremanda seges.

Not a man but an apostle acted:
“You will be a sacrificial victim for us and a sweet prey.”
Upon the lady they furiously cast the darts of the tongue
and stones joined with many threats.
Whatever the sling can do, whatever the ballista or bow,
is aimed at the lady!
As a crow, when it has seen an eagle, chatters very much,
which the garrulous one believes to be a night-flying bird —
with claws and beaks it rages and sets the air in motion with wings,
and, in the manner of a smith, the bird turns the blasts,
here one strikes, there another leaps, and leaping he pursues the falling one,
the hammer turns its strokes, upon inverted bronze, in turn —
thus does a people to be enslaved rage against a powerful lady,
the crop is turned into wretched darnel, to be burned.

P<articula> XXI.: Imperialis populo resistenti loquutio
Ex hinc Teutonicus verbis respondet et armis:
Ospes in ignota dimicat orbe fides!
Illa tamen constans, ut erat de nomine constans,
Et quia famosi Cesaris uxor erat,
Hostes alloquitur audacter ab ore fenestre.
Sic ait: "Audite, quid mea verba velint.

S<ection> 21.: Imperial speech to the resisting people
From here the Teuton responds with words and with arms:
Faith, a guest, fights in an unknown world!
She, however, constant, as she was constant by name,
And because she was the wife of the famous Caesar,
Addresses the enemies boldly from the mouth of the window.
Thus she says: "Hear what my words would mean.

Saltim dum loquimur, compescite tela manusque.
Pauca loquar, multo pondere verba tamen.
Gens magne fidei, rationis summa probate,
Que sim, que fuerim, nostis, et inde queror.

At least, while we speak, restrain the weapons and the hands.
I will speak few things, yet words with much weight.
People of great faith, prove by reason’s conclusion,
what I am, what I have been, you know, and for that I complain.

Cesar abit vel obit, vobis ut dicitur; ergo,
Si placet, exul eam Cesaris orba mei.
Ad mentem revocate fidem, cohibete furorem,
Nec vos seducant littera, verba, sonus.
Nec quociens resonant in nube tonitrua celi,
Emisso tociens fulminat igne deus.

Caesar goes away or dies, as it is said to you; therefore,
If it pleases, let me go forth an exile, bereft of my Caesar.
Recall faith to mind, cohibit fury,
Nor let letter, words, sound seduce you.
Nor, as often as the thunders of heaven resound in the cloud,
does God fulminate with fire sent forth.

Si presul scripsit, tamen, ut reor, irrita scripsit.
Hic patrie fraudis curat et artis opus,
Hic trahit in species scelerum genus omne malorum;
Quod patris ora vomunt, filius haurit idem.
Credite pastori profugo, qui natus ab ydra
Ut coluber nunquam degenerare potest;
Est igitur virtus quandoque resistere verbis
Et dare pro fidei pondere menbra neci.

If the prelate wrote, yet, as I reckon, he wrote invalid things.
This man tends the work of native fraud and of artifice,
He draws every kind of evil into the species of crimes;
What the father’s lips vomit, the son drinks in the same.
Believe the fugitive pastor, who, born from the Hydra,
just as a serpent can never degenerate.
It is therefore virtue at times to resist words
and to give one’s limbs to death for the weight of faith.

Si pugnare licet, superest michi miles et aurum:
In propriam redeat, consulo, quisque domum.
Est michi Corradus Capue, Dipoldus in Archi:
Hic pars milicie, dux erit ille ducum.
Darius Eboleos, ut ait michi nuncius, agros
Hac cremat, hac radit ille Thetinus oves.

If it is permitted to fight, there remain to me soldiers and gold:
let each, I advise, return to his own home.
I have Conrad of Capua, Diepold in Archi:
this one is a part of the militia, that one will be leader of leaders.
Darius, as a messenger tells me, burns the Ebolian fields
on this side; on that side that Theatine shears the sheep.

Gens pure fidei mediis exquirit in armis
Velle meum, pro me sponte parata mori;
Nec sine velle meo, multo licet hoste cohacta,
Ad Tancridinum vult repedare scelus.
Huius ad exemplum, cives, concurrite gentis,
Que sit in Ebolea, discite, gente fides.
Ebole, ni peream, memori tibi lance rependam,
Pectoris affectus, que meruere boni."
Durus ad hec populus truculentior aspide factus
Acrius insurgit.

A people of pure faith, in the midst of arms, seeks out my will,
ready of their own accord to die for me;
nor, without my will—though constrained by many an enemy—
does it wish to fall back into the Tancredine crime.
To this people’s example, citizens, run together;
learn what the faith is in the people that is in Eboli.
Eboli, unless I perish, I will repay to you with a mindful scale
the affections of my heart, which your good deeds have merited."
Hard at these things, the people, made more truculent than an asp,
rises up the more fiercely.

Particula XXII.: Augustalis oratio pro vindicta
Illa, genu flexo, pansis ad sidera palmis,
Plenaque singultu fletibus uda suis,
Sic orans loquitur, clausis hinc inde fenestris,
- Fecerat ambiguam clausa fenestra diem -:
"Alfa deus, deus O, mundi moderator et auctor,
Ex hiis vindictam, supplico, sume dolis.
Alfa deus, deus O, liquide scrutator abyssi,
In me periuras contine, queso, manus.
Alfa deus, deus O, stellati rector Olimpi,
Pena malignates puniat alta viros.

Part 22.: Augustal oration for vengeance
She, with knee bent, with palms spread to the stars,
and, full of sobbing, wet with her own tears,
thus praying speaks, the windows shut on either side,
- the closed window had made the day ambiguous -:
"Alpha God, O God, governor and author of the world,
take vengeance, I beseech, for these wiles.
Alpha God, O God, lucid searcher of the abyss,
hold back, I beg, the perjured hands against me.
Alpha God, O God, ruler of starry Olympus,
let lofty penalty punish the malign men.

Alfa deus, deus O, iuris servator et equi,
Iam tua conflictus vindicet ira meos.
Alfa deus, deus O, terre fundator amicte,
In me pugnantes ferrea flamma voret.
Alfa deus, deus O, rerum deus omnicreator,
Supplicis ancille respice, queso, preces.

Alpha God, O God, preserver of law and equity,
now let your wrath avenge my afflictions.
Alpha God, O God, founder of the earth, cloaked one,
may iron flame devour those fighting against me.
Alpha God, O God, God of all things, all-creator,
look upon, I beseech, the prayers of your suppliant handmaid.

Iram congemines, acuas penamque furorem
Accendas, tumidos comprime, perde feros,
Contine fastosos, instantes perde superbos,
Da pacem, gladios divide, scinde manus.
Arma cadant, arcusque teras, balistra cremetur.
Rumpe polum, specta, collige, scribe, nota.

Double your wrath, whet both penalty and fury,
ignite, restrain the tumid, destroy the ferocious,
contain the haughty, destroy the onrushing proud,
give peace, divide the swords, split the bands.
Let arms fall, and wear down the bows, let the ballista be burned.
Break the sky, behold, gather, write, mark.

Hos notet exilium, scribat proscriptio, plures
Obprobrium signet.
Rumpe polum, transmitte virum romphea geretem,
Eruat ancillam, dissipet ora canum.
Alfa deus, deus O, genitor, genitura creatrix,
Quod precor, acceptes, Alfa deus, deus O."
P<articula> XXIII.: Oratio salutaris
"Ex oriente deus, Augusti dirige gressus,
Ut meus hinc Cesar te duce sospes eat.

Let exile note these, let proscription write it down, let opprobrium mark more.
Rend the pole, transmit the man bearing the rhomphaea,
let him rescue the handmaid, let him scatter the mouths of the dogs.
Alpha God, O God, Father, generative Creatrix,
what I pray, may you accept, Alpha God, O God."
S<ection> 23.: The Salutary Prayer
"From the East, O god, direct the steps of the Augustus,
so that my Caesar may go safe hence with you as leader.

Ex oriente deus, conserva Cesaris actus,
Ille tuus Raphael preparet eius iter.
Ex oriente deus, Romanum protege solem,
Ut repetat patriam sospite mente suam.
Ex oriente deus, custodi nuper euntem,
Quo tibi pro magno munere vota feram.

From the East, O God, conserve Caesar’s acts,
let that Raphael of yours prepare his journey.
From the East, O God, protect the Roman sun,
that he may return to his fatherland with mind in safety.
From the East, O God, guard the one lately going forth,
so that, in return for a great gift, I may bear vows to you.

Ex oriente deus, dulcem comitare maritum,
Emolli duros, saxea colla doma.
Ex oriente deus, tumidos tere, perde superbos,
Coniugis angelicum fac redeuntis iter.
Ex oriente deus, qui regnas in tribus unus,
Redde virum famule, que perit absque viro.

From the east, O God, accompany the sweet husband,
Soften the hard, subdue stony necks.
From the east, O God, grind down the swollen, destroy the proud,
Make angelic the journey of the returning spouse.
From the east, O God, who as one reigns in three,
Return the husband to the handmaid, who perishes without her man.

Cui mare, cui tellus, cui celum vivit et ether,
Vir meus inter tot dona superstes eat.
Si pereo, per eum pereo, quia Cesare vivo
Triste nichil patiar, dum modo capta ferar."
Proditor interea Gisualdi venit Elias,
Exhonerans famulas sera podagra manus:
Sanguine non hominum didicit lenire dolorem
Nec sapit antidotum, seve Mathee, tuum.
Qui, videt ut dominam, quasi gallicus ore rotundo
Fatur, et in domina, glis satur, exta vomit:
"Heia, si qua potes, nostris virtutibus insta!

To whom the sea, to whom the earth, to whom the heaven and ether live,
may my husband go on surviving amid so many gifts.
If I perish, through him I perish, since by Caesar I live—
I shall suffer nothing sad, so long only as I am borne as a captive."
Meanwhile Elias, the betrayer of Gisuald, comes,
disburdening his servile hands of tardy podagra:
he has not learned to soothe pain with the blood of men,
nor does he know the antidote, O savage Matthew, that is yours.
Who, when he sees the lady, like a Gallic man with rounded mouth,
speaks, and upon the lady, like a sated dormouse, he vomits entrails:
"Heia, if in any way you can, press on with our virtues!

Eia, si qua potes bella movere, move !
Qui cupit omne, quod est, et parti cedere nescit,
Amittet totum.
Sic tibi, dum velles totum, quod volvitur evo,
Contigit, et regno pro breviore cadis.
Est opus, ut venias merito captiva Panormum;
Sic populus, sic rex: hic petit, ille iubet."

Come, if in any way you can move wars, move !
He who desires all that there is, and does not know how to yield to a part,
will lose the whole.
Thus for you, while you wanted the whole of what is rolled by age,
it has befallen, and you fall from your kingdom to a briefer reign.
There is need that you come, deservedly a captive, to Panormus;
Thus the people, thus the king: this one petitions, that one commands."

<Particula> XXIV.: Domine coacta descensio
At domine vultus, pallescere nescius unquam,
Inmodicum pallens, lumina crispat humo.
Nec mora pallor abit: proprii rediere colores.
Simplicibus ludunt lilia simpla rosis,
Ut tenuis quandoque diem denigrat amictus
Et subito, lapsa nube, diescit humus.

<Particle> 24.: Lord, a compelled descent
But, lord, the countenance, never knowing to grow pale,
paling immoderately, puckers its lights toward the soil.
No delay: the pallor departs; his proper colors returned.
Single lilies play with single roses,
as when at times a tenuous garment denigrates the day
and suddenly, the cloud having slipped, the ground becomes day-bright.

Pauca quidem loquitur: "Veniam, Tancrede, Panormum
Et veniam, veniam non aditura tuam."
Protinus obiecit pactum: "Gens annuat", inquit,
"Ut meus hinc salvo pectore miles eat."
Instanti populo placuit sententia talis,
Nec mens in tantis omnibus una fuit.
Nam Tancridini celebres nova sabbata libant,
Non minus inde dolent, archilevita, tui.
Exultant illi munus meruisse triumphi,
Qui titulum tante prodicionis habent.

He speaks but a few words: "I will come, Tancred, to Palermo,
and I will come, I will come, not about to go to your side."
Straightway he put forward a pact: "Let the people nod assent," he says,
"that my soldiery may go hence with breast unharmed."
To the pressing populace such a sentence pleased,
nor was there one mind among all in such great matters.
For the renowned Tancredinians libate new sabbaths,
no less do yours, archdeacon, grieve therefrom.
Those exult to have merited the gift of triumph,
who bear the title of so great treachery.

Guilelmus de Pistilio, vir doctus in armis,
Maluit exilium quam temerare fidem.
Iamque parata ratis, centeno remige tuta,
Accelerat, Zephirus dum mare lentus agit.
O nova consilii species ! Prudentia maior!

William of Pistilio, a learned man in arms,
preferred exile rather than to violate his fidelity.
And now the ship prepared, safe with a hundred oarsmen,
it hastens, while the gentle Zephyr stirs the sea.
O new kind of counsel! Prudence greater!

Induit auratos ut nova nupta sinus,
Induit artiferos preciose vestis amictus,
Ornat et inpiguat pondere et arte comas!
Aurorant in veste rose nec aromata desunt,
Forma teres Phebi pendet ab aure dies.
Pectoris in medio coeunt se cornua lune;
Ars lapidum vario sidere ditat opus.

She dons aurate folds as a new bride,
She dons the artiferous, precious wrappings of a garment,
She adorns and makes heavy with weight and art her tresses!
Roses dawn in the garment, nor are aromata lacking,
The rounded form of Phoebus, the day, hangs from her ear.
In the middle of the breast the horns of the Moon come together;
The lapidary art enriches the work with varied sidereal ornament.

Coniugis amplexus tanquam visura novellos
Fausta venit, navem scandit et illa volat.

As if about to behold the new embraces of her spouse,
Fausta comes; she ascends the ship, and it flies.

<Particula> XXV.: <Domine adventus et loquutio ad Tancredum>
Et modo vela tument, modo brachia iacta resudant,
Attenuat ceptam remus et aura viam.
Suspectas, Palinure, tuas ratis effugit undas,
Nam nova trans vires preda fatigat aquas.
Iam presentit aquas dubia vertigine motas,
Quas vomit et subito gutture Scilla rapit.

<Particula> 25.: <The Lord’s coming and discourse to Tancred>
And now the sails swell, now the flung arms sweat again,
the oar and the breeze attenuate the undertaken way.
Your craft, Palinurus, flees the suspect waves,
for novel prey, beyond its powers, wearies the waters.
Already he perceives the waters stirred by a doubtful whirling,
which Scylla both vomits and suddenly snatches with her throat.

Iam ratis, infide metuens vada ceca Caribdis,
Exercet vires remige, voce, manu.
Messanam veniunt, ubi rex et curia tota
Sperabant facilem, re perhibente, fugam.
A rate descendens, ylari Constantia vultu
Obvia Tancredo triste repensat ave.

Now the ship, fearing the blind shallows of treacherous Charybdis,
exerts its forces with oarsman, with voice, with hand.
They come to Messana, where the king and the whole curia
were hoping for an easy flight, as the facts bore witness.
Descending from the ship, Constance with a cheerful countenance,
meeting Tancred, weighs back the sad greeting.

Tandem suspirans Auguste frigidus inquit:
"Non tibi tocius sufficit orbis honor.
Quid mea regna petis ? Deus est, qui iudicat equum,
In se sperantis vindicat acta viri.
Te tua fata michi turbantem regna dederunt,
Hinc tuus egroto corpore Cesar abit."
Iulia respondit: "Quod ais, Tancrede, recordor:
Ut michi, retrogradum iam tibi sidus erit.

At length, sighing, the Augustus, cold, said:
"Does the honor of the whole orb not suffice for you?
Why do you seek my realms? God is the one who judges the just,
He vindicates the acts of the man who hopes in Him.
Your fates have given you to me, troubling my realms;
hence your Caesar departs with a sick body."
Julia responded: "What you say, Tancred, I recall:
As for me, a retrograde star will now be for you.

Quidquid fata volunt, stat inevitabile semper,
Per varias vario curritur axe vices.
Non tua regna peto, set patris iura requiro.
An tu Rogerii filius ? Absit!

Whatever the fates will, stands inevitable always,
Through various turns a course is run on a varied axis.
I do not seek your realms, but I require the rights of my father.
Are you the son of Roger ? God forbid!

Ego
Heres regis, ego matris iustissima proles;
Lex patris et matris dat michi, quicquid habes.
Regna tenes <patris> tamen, usurpata set illa;
Vivit, inexperta qui petat ense suo.
Que leges, que iura tibi mea regna dederunt?

I
Heir of the king, I the most rightful progeny of my mother;
The law of father and of mother gives to me whatever you have.
You hold the kingdoms of <the father> nevertheless, but they are usurped;
Let him live who would seek it with his own untried sword.
What laws, what rights have given my kingdoms to you?

Nam Lichium vobis gratia sola dedit."
Post hec in talamos patrios se leta recepit,
Italicos mores inperiosa gerens.

For grace alone bestowed Lycia upon you."
After these things she, glad, withdrew into the paternal bridal chambers,
bearing herself with imperious Italian mores.

<Particula> XXVI.: <Tancredus futura cogitans lacrimatur>
Ut videt Augustam Tancredus, gaudia vultu
Pro populo simulans, pectore tristis erat.
Ingreditur thalamum, foribus post terga reductis,
Precipitans humili frigida menbra thoro.
At genus incertum, sexus iniuria nostri,
Talia Tancredum verba dedisse ferunt:
"Eu michi, quis poterit contendere Cesaris armis ?
Hactenus Augusti mitior ira fuit.

<Section> 26.: <Tancred, thinking of the future, weeps>
As Tancred sees the Augusta, feigning joys in his face
for the people, he was sad in his breast.
He enters the bedchamber, with the doors drawn back behind him,
hurling his cold limbs onto the low couch.
But that uncertain breed, the injury of our sex,
they report to have given such words to Tancred:
“Alas for me, who will be able to contend with Caesar’s arms ?
Hitherto the anger of the Augustus has been milder.

Nec me turrite celsis in montibus urbes
Nec me defendent oppida iuncta polo.
Non opus est bello, quia me fortuna reliquit,
Iam vires miserum destituere senem.
Mille meos equites ex augustalibus unus
Vincit et unius lancea mille fugat.

Nor do turreted cities on high mountains defend me
Nor do towns joined to the pole defend me.
There is no need of war, since Fortune has abandoned me,
Already my strengths have deserted the wretched old man.
One from the Augustals conquers my thousand horsemen,
and the lance of one puts a thousand to flight.

Unus Rombaldus regnum michi cum tribus aufert,
In Diopuldeo nomine terra tremit.
Experiar superos: si forte videbor in armis,
Nostram Dipuldus non lacerabit humum.
Absit, ut experiar Dipuldi nomen et arma,
Nec videant oculos lumina nostra suos.

One Rombaldus takes away the kingdom from me, together with three,
At the name of Diopuldeus the earth trembles.
I will try the supernals: if perchance I am seen in arms,
Dipuldus will not lacerate our soil.
Far be it that I should put to the test Dipuldus’s name and arms,
Nor let our eyes look upon his eyes.

Est michi congnatus, procera gigantis ymago,
Sat probus et fortis, set nimis arma timet.
Sunt michi non pauci, quos res michi fecit amicos.
Si res defuerit, denique nullus erit.

I have a kinsman, a tall image of a giant,
quite upright and brave, but he too much fears arms.
I have not a few, whom my resources have made friends.
If resources should fail, in the end there will be none.

Felix argentum, set eo felicius aurum,
Nam ius a superis, a Iove numen emit.
Eu, si forte cadet salientis vena metalli,
Quis michi, quis puero causa salutis erit?
Sex sumus, inbelles: ego, nate, filius, uxor;
Infelix pelago turba relicta sumus."

Fortunate is silver, but more felicitous is gold,
for it buys right from the gods above, and numen from Jove.
Ah, if by chance a vein of springing metal should turn up,
who will be a cause of deliverance for me, who for the boy?
We are six, unwarlike: I, my son, a son, [my] wife;
we are an unhappy band left behind on the sea."

<Particula XXVII.: Corradus obsessus suos alloquitur>
Urbs antiqua, suis uberrima denique campis,
Mater opum, felix presule, plena viris.
Ubere luxuriat tellus, atumnus habundat,
Vite maritatur populus, amnis amans.
Ordine dispositas eadem complectitur ulmos,
Incola fastidit, quod fluit uva merum.

<Part 27: Conrad, besieged, addresses his men>
An ancient city, most fertile in its own fields,
Mother of opulence, fortunate in its prelate, full of men.
In richness the earth luxuriates, autumn abounds,
the poplar is wedded to the vine, a loving river.
The same embraces elms arranged in order,
the inhabitant grows fastidious, because the grape flows unmixed wine.

Ter sata, ter seritur, tria dat responsa colono,
Ter sub sole novo semina pensat humus.
Urbem, quam loquimur, comes obsidione coartat,
Que sola potuit proditione capi.
Hanc ubi Corradus vi defensare fatigat,
Dicitur his verbis ammonuisse suos:
"Qui mecum, proceres, gelido venistis ab axe,
Cernite, quid populus, quid locus iste velit.

Thrice the sown is sown, it gives three responses to the colonus,
thrice under the new sun the soil weighs the seeds.
The city of which we speak the count coarcts by siege,
which alone could be captured by treachery.
When Conrad grows weary of defending this by force,
he is said to have admonished his men with these words:
"You who with me, nobles, have come from the icy axis,
see what the people, what this place wills.

Et locus et populus nostro diffidit amori,
In nos astiferas cernitis esse manus.
Quisque suum nudo pugnet caput ense tueri,
Nec prece nec pretio gens facit ista pium.
Libertas est Marte mori, servire malignum:
Nobis vita mori, vivere pena datur.

Both the place and the people distrust our love,
you see that there are spear-bearing hands against us.
Let each fight to guard his own head with a naked sword,
nor by prayer nor by price does that people do the pious thing.
Freedom is to die by Mars; to serve is malign:
for us, to die is life; to live is given as penalty.

Hinc Augustus abest, Augustaque capta tenetur:
Quid superest nobis ? Restat in ense salus.
Spes est nulla fuge, quia nos foris obsidet hostis,
Intus adest hostis, nec domus hoste caret.
Sicut aper ferus a canibus circumdatus, unco
Dente furens, multos ultus, ab hoste cadit,
Sic vestrum, si forte cadat, sit nullus inultus,
Victorem victi penituisse iuvet."
Exhinc ad cives ita paucis explicat ore:
"Vos, precor, ospitibus non temerate fidem.

Hence Augustus is away, and Augusta, captured, is held:
What remains to us ? Safety remains in the sword.
There is no hope in flight, because outside the enemy besieges us,
Within the enemy is present, nor does the house lack an enemy.
Just as a wild boar, surrounded by dogs, raging with a hooked
tooth, having avenged many, falls by the enemy,
Thus let none of yours, if perchance he falls, be unavenged,
let it please that the victor has repented by the vanquished."
Thereupon to the citizens thus he unfolds with a few words from his mouth:
"You, I pray, do not rashly violate faith to guests.

Augusto servate fidem. Si forte, quod absit,
Tancredum vestrum sanctificare placet,
Nos hinc incolumes obnixius ire rogamus;
Non hic a longo venimus orbe mori.
Augustus si noster abest trans climata mundi,
Ipsum prolixas nostis habere manus."
Actenus arrecta varium bibit aure tumultum
Et stupet et memor est se superesse virum.

Keep faith with Augustus. If by chance—far be it—that it pleases you to sanctify your Tancred,
we more strenuously beg to go away from here unharmed;
we did not come here from a far orb to die.
If our Augustus is away across the climes of the world,
you know that he himself has far-reaching hands."
Thus far, with ear pricked, he drinks in the various tumult
and he is astonished and is mindful that he survives a man.

Ut cum mella volunt examina rapta tueri,
Indiscreta volant, sollicitata fremunt,
Sic in Teutonicos urbs pene tumultuat omnis,
Regem polluto nominat ore suum.
Nonnisi Tancredum clamans se noscere regem,
Preponit monstrum tam breve stulta Iovi.

As when swarms wish to guard honey snatched away,
Indiscrete they fly, agitated they roar,
So against the Teutonics almost the whole city tumultuates,
With polluted mouth it names its king.
Not any save Tancred it cries it knows as king,
The foolish city prefers so short a monster to Jove.

<Particula XXVIII.:Comitis Riccardi proditio et Corradi deditio>
Interea comes ante fores preludit in armis,
Sinones multos novit in urbe viros.
Hen, subito patuere fores, foris obice fracto,
Fit civile nephas, fit populare scelus.
Exter ab ignoto cadit, ospes ab ospite falso.

<Particle 28.:The betrayal of Count Richard and the surrender of Conrad>
Meanwhile the count before the doors preludes in arms,
he knows many Sinons among the men in the city.
Alas, suddenly the doors stood open, the bolt broken from without,
a civil abomination is wrought, a popular crime is wrought.
The stranger falls by an unknown, the guest by a false guest.

Hic latus ense cavat, demetit ille caput.
Loricam lorica premit, furit ensis in ensem,
In clipeos clipei, cassis in era ruit.
A galeis galee fumascunt, ensibus enses,
Tela vomunt flammas iactaque fulgur agunt.

Here one gouges a flank with a sword, that one reaps off a head.
Cuirass presses cuirass, the sword rages against the sword,
Against shields, shields; a helmet rushes upon bronze.
From helmets, helmets smoke; from swords, swords,
Missiles vomit flames and, when hurled, they drive lightning.

Ospitis et cari telo fodit ille cerebrum.
Hic ferus, ille ferox, hic ferit, ille ferit;
Hic salit, ille salit, tenet ille, tenetur ab illo;
Hic levis, ille celer, aptus uterque fuge.
Hic caput, ille caput certat iactare periclis,
Opponit telis hic latus, ille latus.

And he pierces with a weapon the brain of a dear guest.
This one savage, that one ferocious, this one strikes, that one strikes;
This one leaps, that one leaps, that one holds, he is held by that one;
This one light, that one swift, each apt for flight.
This one his head, that one his head strives to cast into perils,
This one sets his flank to the missiles, that one his flank.

Hii certant clipeis, ludentes passibus equis,
Ut ludit socio sepe maritus ovis.
Hic ruit a muris precepsque suum trahit hostem:
A victo victor, victus ab hoste cadit.
    Ut solet a capto Iovis armiger angue ligari,
    Hic ligat, ille tenet, nexus uterque perit:
    Non aliter, qui bella gerunt in menibus altis,
Cum duo se miscent, sunt sibi causa necis.

These contend with shields, playing with the paces of their horses,
as the ram often plays with his mate, the ewe.
This one rushes from the walls and headlong drags his enemy:
as victor from the vanquished, vanquished by the foe he falls.
    As the armor-bearer of Jove is wont to be bound with the snake he has captured,
    here one binds, there one holds; each bound one perishes:
    Not otherwise, those who wage wars on lofty ramparts,
when two commingle, are the cause of death to themselves.

    Alter in alterius subnectens brachia dorsum,
Si ruit, ambo ruunt, unus et alter obit.
    Cantet inauditum, cantet mirabile dictu
Nunc mea Calliope!
    Dum comes iret eques spectatum menia circum,
Et venisset, ubi maxima turris erat,
    Hunc vir Teutonicus summa speculatus ab arce
    Se dedit in comitem, lapsus ad ima miser,
Et nisi fata virum rapuissent [a] strage ruentis,
    Tunc comes elapsum triste tulisset honus!

    The one, linking his arms to the other's back,
If he falls, both fall; the one and the other perish.
    Let her sing the unheard-of, let her sing a marvel to say,
Now my Calliope!
    While the Count went, a horseman, to spectate the walls around,
And had come to where the greatest tower was,
    A Teutonic man, spying this one from the summit of the citadel,
    Hurled himself at the Count—the wretch—slipping down to the depths,
And, unless the Fates had snatched the man away from the [a] crash of the one plummeting,
    Then the Count would have borne the sad burden of the one who had slipped!

    Ut levis inbriferas per nubes fulgurat ether
    Cum sua per rimas nubila ventus arat:
    Non secus in radiis procul armatura coruscat
    Nec non cristatum fulgurat omne caput.
    Post procerum cedes, vitam Corradus et arma
    Vendicat et socios, quos superesse videt.
    Hunc comes et socios dextra securat et ore:
    Non poterant proceres tot sine cede capi.

    As the light ether flashes through rain-bearing clouds
    when the wind plows its own clouds through the fissures:
    not otherwise, from afar the armature coruscates in the rays,
    nor does every crested head fail to flash.
    After the slaughter of the nobles, Conrad both life and arms
    claims back, and the comrades whom he sees to survive.
    Him the Count both by his right hand and by his speech secures, and the comrades likewise:
    so many nobles could not be taken without slaughter.

Ne tabo solvatur humus, quadriga laborat:
Mergitur in fluidis omne cadaver aquis.

Lest the soil be dissolved by gore, the four-horse chariot labors:
Every corpse is submerged in the fluid waters.

<Particula XXIX.: Tancredus mittit Constanciam uxori scribens ei>
Cor breve Tancredi merito diffidit ubique,
Tam sibi quam mundo credit abesse fidem.
Nunc mare, nunc terras animo scrutatur et urbes,
Pectore sollicitus, nec loca fida videt.
Tandem consilio dubitantis pectoris usus,
Curam custodis mittit ut uxor agat.

<Little Part 29: Tancred sends constancy to his wife, writing to her>
The brief heart of Tancred deservedly mistrusts everywhere,
He believes that faith is absent as much for himself as for the world.
Now the sea, now the lands and cities he scrutinizes in his mind,
Anxious in his breast, nor does he see places to trust.
At length, employing the counsel of a wavering breast,
He sends a guardian’s care, so that his wife may act.

Accepto calamo, finitur epistola paucis;
Exul quam didicit, littera greca fuit.
Epistola Tancredi ad uxorem
"Hoc ego Tancredus tibi mitto, Sibilia, scriptum,
Quod, postquam tacito legeris ore, crema.
Tu quondam comitissa, modo regina vocaris,
Tu quondam Licium, tu modo regna tenes.

With the pen taken up, the letter is finished in a few words;
The script which the exile learned was Greek.
Letter of Tancred to his wife
"This writing I, Tancred, send to you, Sibylia,
which, after you have read with silent mouth, burn.
You once were called countess, now you are called queen,
You once held Lecce, now you hold the realms.

Quas nunc fastidis et que quandoque fuere,
Divitias, memori singula mente nota.
Hec est Rogerii protoregis nobilis heres,
Illius est uxor, qui quatit omne solum.
Hanc ego, dulcis amor, mea prebeatissima consors,
Servandam vigili pectore mitto tibi.

The riches which you now disdain and which once were,
the riches—note each particular with a mindful mind.
This is the noble heiress of Roger the proto-king,
she is the wife of him who shakes every soil.
This charge, sweet love, my most blessed consort,
I send to you to be kept with a vigilant heart.

Sis comes et custos et ei sis ospes et hostis;
Hanc nunquam sine te, si sapis, esse sinas.
Una domus vobis, unum de nocte cubile,
Quam cuiquam sine te ne patiare loqui.
Deliciosa duas communicet una parabsis.

Be a companion and a guardian, and for her be a host and an enemy;
do not ever allow her, if you are wise, to be without you.
One house for you both, one bed by night,
do not allow her to speak with anyone without you.
Let one delightful aside communicate two.

Nunc maior, nunc par, nunc minor esse velis."
Post hec, assissis sociis, Augusta Panormum
Convehitur. Multi condoluere senes.
Heu heu clamantes tacito sub pectore flebant:
"Heredem regni que manus ausa tenet!

Now greater, now equal, now lesser may you wish to be."
After these things, with her companions seated beside her, the Augusta is conveyed to Panormus.
Many old men grieved together.
Alas, alas, crying out, they wept within their silent breast:
"The heir of the kingdom—what hand has dared to hold her!

Pro dolor!, ingrediens Augusta palacia patris, -
Pro pudor! - insidias obsidionis habet!
Ipsa tamen gaudens tanquam vicisse resultat
Et quociens loquitur, visa superba loqui.

Alas!, entering the palaces of her father, -
For shame! - she finds the treacheries of a siege!
She herself, however, rejoicing as if she had conquered, exults,
and as often as she speaks, she seems to speak haughtily.

Cerree fastidit opus, fastidit amari,
Fausta sedens neutris imperiosa iubet.
Quo Cerrea dolet - per eam tum sepe vocatur "
Mittit Tancredo talia mota suo.

Cerrea loathes the work, loathes to be loved,
Fausta, seated, imperious, orders for neither side.
Whereat Cerrea grieves — through her then she is often summoned "
She sends to her Tancred such motions.

<Particula XXX.: Uxor Tancredi rescribit viro suo et Tancredus iterum rescribit ei>
Epistola uxoris ad Tancredum suum
"Quid facis, o demens ? Comitem misistis an hostem?
Ecce, quod exarsit, ius patris hostis habet.
Venit ad hoc Cesar, sed ad hoc sua venit et uxor,
Victorem victum preda superba facit.

<Particle 30.: The wife of Tancred writes back to her husband and Tancred writes back to her again>
Epistle of the wife to her own Tancred
"What are you doing, O madman? Have you sent a companion or an enemy?
Behold, what has blazed up: the enemy holds a father's right.
Caesar came for this, but for this his own wife also came,
Proud prey makes the victor conquered.

Non opus est armare viros, velare carinas,
Nec proceres belli nec numerare duces,
Nec vestire sinus maculosi tegmine ferri,
Non ensare manus, non galeare caput.
Protinus ut veniat, nullo discrimine vincet
Regna: per uxorem Cesar habebit opes.
Quas nimis ipse doles, causis male consulis egris:
In caput a stomacho morbus habundat iners.

There is no need to arm the men, to veil the keels,
nor the nobles of war nor to number the leaders,
nor to clothe the breasts with the maculate covering of iron,
not to sword the hands, not to helmet the head.
Straightway, as soon as he comes, he will conquer Kingdoms without distinction:
through the wife Caesar will have wealth.
The things which you yourself lament too much, you ill-consult for ailing causes:
into the head from the stomach the inert sickness overflows.

Quam male dispensas aliis medicamina menbris,
Si caput ignoras.
Si caput egrotet, valeant et cetera membra ?
Ni caput abradas, cetera menbra ruent."
Rescriptum Tancredi ad uxorem
Hec ubi Tancredus legit, que miserat uxor,
Altera rescriptum pagina tale tulit:
"Cara michi coniunx et casti fedus amoris,
Quam michi misisti, pagina robur habet.
Vir magne fidei, mature gratia mentis
Est ibi; consilio fac, rogo, cuncta suo.

How badly you dispense medications to the other members,
if you are ignorant of the head."
If the head be sick, can the rest of the members be well?
Unless you shave the head, the other members will collapse."
The Rescript of Tancred to his wife
When Tancred read these things which his wife had sent,
another page bore such a rescript:
"Dear to me, spouse and covenant of chaste love,
the page which you sent me has sturdiness.
A man of great faith, the grace of a mature mind,
is there; do, I ask, everything by its counsel.

Consule Matheum, per quem regina vocaris:
Illi debemus, quicquid uterque sumus.
Trans hominem divina sapit, videt omnia longe
Achitofel alter, pectus Ulixis habet.
Hunc igitur, michi cara nimis, de more vocatum
Consule, consiliis ipsa quiesce suis."

Consult Matthew, through whom you are called queen:
To him we owe whatever both of us are.
Beyond mere man he is wise with the divine; he sees all things from afar,
another Ahithophel; he has the mind of Ulysses.
This man therefore, too dear to me, when summoned in the customary way,
consult; yourself be at rest in his counsels."

<Particula XXXI.: Uxor Tancredi et bigamus sacerdos>
Uxor Tancredi vocato suo cancellario de viro conqueritur
Nec mora Matheum tristis Cerrea vocavit,
Sic ait: "O veterum bibliotheca ducum,
O regni tutela, fides purissima regum,
Antidotum vite, consule, mesta queror.
Sensato de rege queror, quo nescio pacto
Serpentem medio pectore gnarus alit.
Ad senium properans, dementior exit ab annis
Et iubet, unde iuvat penituisse senem.

<Section 31.: Tancred's Wife and bigamous priest>
Tancred's wife, her own chancellor having been called, complains about her husband
Without delay the sad Cerrea called Matthew,
Thus she says: "O library of the ancient leaders,
O tutelage of the kingdom, the purest faith of kings,
Antidote of life, counsel me—I, sorrowing, lament.
I complain about the sensible king, who by I know not what manner
knowingly nourishes a serpent in the middle of his breast.
Hastening toward senility, he turns out more demented from his years,
and gives orders it would please an old man to have repented of.

Que spes regnandi vel que michi vita superstes,
Cum prope me patrio iure superba sedet ?
Et quotiens video, que Cesaris ore superbit,
A, tociens animus deficit inde meus.
Consule, quid faciam; privatis consule morbis,
Nam cruciant animos nocte dieque meos."
Responsio bigami
Tunc ita Matheus: "Merito Sibilla vocaris,
Nam procul experta mente futura vides.
Regis culpa fuit, certe non inputo regi.

What hope of reigning, or what life remains to me,
since near me, by paternal right, the proud one sits ?
And as often as I see her, who with Caesar’s mouth is overproud,
ah, so often my spirit fails therefrom.
Advise, what am I to do; attend to private maladies,
for they torment my spirits night and day."
Response of the bigamist
Then thus Matthew: "You are rightly called Sibyl,
for with an experienced mind you see the future from afar.
It was the king’s fault; surely I do not impute it to the king.

Plurima cor nostri regis agenda gravant;
Inplicitus multum dominantis sensus oberrat,
Et quandoque iubet, quod rationis eget.
Et quia castra fidem quam plurima non bene servant,
Urbes spem modice credulitatis habent,
Vertitur in dubium, quo sit custode tuenda
Vel quo servetur preda verenda loco."
Inde suos deiecit humo Matheus ocellos;
In cor se referens, premeditatus ait:
"Est locus, est, memini, mediis contentus in undis,
Quem maris ex omni parte tuentur aque,
Quem vis nature cumulum produxit in altum,
Qui circum scopulos sub pede rupis habet.
A rate remivaga scopulis munitur acutis,
Hinc lapis hostiles, hinc vetat unda pedes.

Many agenda weigh down the heart of our king;
the entangled sense of the dominator wanders far astray,
and sometimes he commands what is in need of reason.
And because very many camps do not well keep faith,
the cities have but a modest hope of credence,
it turns into a dubious question by what custodian it should be safeguarded
or in what place the venerable prey should be kept."
Then Matthew cast down his little eyes to the ground;
turning back into his heart, premeditated he said:
"There is a place, there is, I remember, contained in the midst of the waves,
which the waters of the sea protect on every side,
which the force of nature has brought forth as a mound on high,
which has crags all around beneath the foot of the cliff.
Against the oar-roving craft it is fortified with sharp rocks,
here the rock forbids hostile feet, here the wave forbids them."

Qui nomen Salvator habet, quia credita salvat;
Tantaque sit tanto preda tenenda loco."
Cerree placuit nimium, quod dixerat ille;
Scribitur urbano pag<ina> parva viro:
"Hanc, Alierne comes, mu<nito> carcere serves:
Nil super hoc regi gracius esse putes."
Protinus Augustam, Cerrea precipiente,
Ad te, Parthenope, remus et aura vehit.

Who has the name Savior, because he saves the things entrusted;
and prey so great should be held in so great a place."
It pleased Cerrea exceedingly, what he had said;
a small pag<ina> is written to the urban man:
"Guard this, Count Alierne, in a mu<nito> prison:
think that nothing could be more pleasing to the king than this."
Straightway the Augusta, with Cerrea giving the order,
to you, Parthenope, both oar and breeze convey.

<Particula XXXII.: Scelera bigami>
Sic scelus eructat, scelerum sic fumat abyssus,
Thuraque mortiferi sulfuris olla vomit.
Sic vetus exalat fumum putredinis antrum,
Effundit, que vix texta venena capit.
O Sodomea lues, o Gomorrea propago,
Vixeris urbanis morsque ruina tuis.

<Section 32.: Crimes of a bigamist>
Thus crime belches, thus the abyss of crimes smokes,
and the pot vomits the thura of death-bearing sulfur.
Thus the ancient antre exhales the smoke of putrefaction,
and pours out poisons which scarcely woven vessels can contain.
O Sodomite pestilence, O Gomorrean progeny,
live on by your urban ways—and let death and ruin be yours.

Vas, va!, peccati, veteris vetus amfora fraudis,
Fons odiique nephas, exciciale chaos,
Templum Luciferi, qui noctem Lucifer odit,
Qui, quanto voluit celsior esse, ruit.
Duxeris unde genus, gens a me nulla requirat,
Nam Cartago tuos dirruta misit avos.
Paupere lintheolo tecti venere Salernum,
Quorum pauperies quid nisi flere fuit?

Vessel, ah!, of sin, old amphora of ancient fraud,
Fount and abomination of hatred, exitial chaos,
Temple of Lucifer, who Lucifer hates the night,
who, the more he wished to be loftier, fell.
Let no people ask of me whence you have drawn your lineage,
for Carthage, overthrown, sent your grandsires.
Covered with a poor little linen cloth they came to Salerno,
whose poverty—what was it if not to weep?

Quos utinam nunquam vidissent litora nostra!
Ex hiis nature non quererentur opus,
Officium quorum, nature crimen et hostis,
Femineas ceca polluit arte genas.
Exultans odiis, contraria pacis amasti,
Ecclesie stimulus seu rationis honus.

Would that our shores had never seen them!
From these, the work of nature would not be complained of,
whose office is, to nature, a crime and a foe,
defiles feminine cheeks with blind art.
Exulting in hatreds, you have loved the things contrary to peace,
a goad to the Church or a burden upon reason.

Iusticiam viduis, viso non ere, negasti
Multotiens sociis causaque litis eras.
Primicias odii pro regno sepe litasti;
Unde queri poterant secula, solus eras.
Te sinus ecclesie contra decreta recepit:
Peccati bigamum non decet ara dei.

You denied justice to widows, with no bronze having been seen
Many times you were both accomplice and the cause of the litigation.
You often offered the first-fruits of odium for the kingdom;
Wherefore the ages could complain, you stood alone.
The bosom of the Church received you against the decrees:
The altar of God does not befit a bigamist of sin.

Te prece vel precio, sanctissime papa, fefellit,
Nescio quo pacto tanta licere viro,
Ut bigami scelerata manus tractaret in ara,
Cui deus eterno se dedit esse parem.
Sepe laboranti cum nil succurrere posset,
Umano tepuit sanguine gutta pedum.
Ut Paris exussit Troiam fataliter ustam,
Ut Sodomos misere mersit abusa Venus,
Urbs ita Lernina tibi credens, false sacerdos,
Mortis in obprobrium per tua facta ruet.

By prayer or by price, most holy pope, he has deceived you,
I do not know by what pact such things are allowed to the man,
that the criminal hand of a bigamist should handle at the altar,
to whom God Eternal has given himself to be a peer.
Often, when nothing could succor the one laboring,
a drop of the feet grew warm with human blood.
As Paris burned out Troy, fatally scorched,
as abused Venus miserably submerged the Sodoms,
thus the Lernine city, trusting in you, false priest,
will collapse into the opprobrium of death through your deeds.

Quem, miser, extollis, qui ius usurpat et omen,
Qui male consortes precipitando ruet!
Nec tu, Parthenope, quod Cesar abinde recessit,
Exultes: veniet fortior atque ferus.
Ut Iovis ad predam, quanto volat altius, ales
Descendens tanto fortius ungue ferit,
Non aliter Cesar mundi descendet ab ala,
Trux veniet tandem, qui fuit ante pius.

Whom, wretch, do you exalt, who usurps right and omen,
who by headlong hurling will ruin his consorts!
Nor you, Parthenope, because Caesar withdrew from there,
exult: a stronger and a fierce one will come.
As Jove’s bird to the prey—the higher it flies,
descending, so much the more strongly it strikes with the talon,
no otherwise will the Caesar of the world descend from the wing,
a grim one will come at last, who once was pious.

<Particula XXXIII.: Epistula Celestini et liberatio Constancie>
Temporis elapsu spacioque vagante dierum,
A Celestino littera missa fuit:
"Hec, Tancrede, tibi mando per numina celi,
Et nisi, quod iubeo, feceris, hostis ero.
Unde tibi tantus furor aut dementia tanta,
In iubar illicitas solis inire manus ?
Unde tibi tante superest audatia mentis ?
Ausus es Experiam detinuisse diem ?
Iam tumet unda maris, iam fervet et ira leonis,
Iam trepidant montes, iam mea cimba timet,
Iam fera concuciunt sine lege tonitrua mundum
Iam polus ignescit, ethera fulgur agit.
Quam geris inclusam, trans Alpes cornua fundit
Sollicitans solem regia luna suum.

<Part 33.: The Epistle of Celestine and the Liberation of Constance>
With time elapsed and the span of days wandering,
a letter was sent from Celestine:
“These things, Tancred, I command to you by the numina of heaven,
and unless you do what I order, I will be an enemy.
Whence to you so great fury or such great madness,
to lay illicit hands upon the sun’s radiance?
Whence does such audacity of mind remain to you?
Have you dared to detain Hesperia’s day?
Now the wave of the sea swells, now too the lion’s wrath seethes,
now the mountains tremble, now my skiff is afraid,
now wild thunders, lawless, shake the world,
now the pole takes fire, lightning drives the ether.
She whom you bear enclosed, beyond the Alps the queenly moon pours forth her horns,
summoning her own sun.”

Quis tibi iura dedit ? tribuit quis vincula Petri ?
Ius sine iure tenes connubiale viro.
An tibi sceptra parum regni sumsisse videtur?
Infelix, honeri cur superaddis honus ?
Sepius in stragem ruit incidentis et icta
Allidens longe concutit arbor humum.

Who gave rights to you? who bestowed the chains of Peter?
You hold a husband’s conjugal right without right.
Or does it seem to you too little to have assumed the scepters of the realm?
Unhappy one, why do you superadd burden to burden?
More often to destruction rushes, once it is falling and struck,
the tree, dashing down, shakes the ground far away.

Quem gerit, accintus gladiator leditur ense;
Qui prius incepit verbera, plus doluit.
Et tibi contiget, Saladin quod contigit olim,
Cuius Hierusalem lancea vicit humum.
Crux ubi capta fuit, qua certa redemptio nostra est,
Movit in actorem secula preda suum.

He whom he engages, the gladiator, girded with a sword, wounds;
he who first began the blows, suffered more.
And it will befall you what once befell Saladin,
whose lance conquered the soil of Jerusalem.
Where the Cross was captured, by which our redemption is certain,
the ages set their prey upon its perpetrator.

Sic in te tua preda manus converterit omnes
Et compensabit libera preda vices.
Hiis igitur lectis, tibi mitto, remitte maritam,
Ipsa suum poterit pacificare virum."
Hec ubi perlegit, Tancredus ut unda movetur,
Ut quatitur tumidis parvula puppis aquis.
Ignorans, quid agat, dominam dimittere mundi
Fluctuat et contra iussa tenere timet,
Ut citus inveniens nemorum diversa viarum
Compita, quo tendat tramite, nescit homo.

Thus upon you your plunder will turn all hands,
and free plunder will compensate in turn.
These therefore read, I send to you: send back the wife,
she herself will be able to pacify her own husband."
When he has read these through, Tancred is moved like a wave,
as a tiny ship is shaken by the swollen waters.
Ignorant what he should do, to dismiss the mistress of the world
he wavers, and he fears to keep her against the orders,
as, swiftly finding the crossroads of the groves where the roads diverge,
the man does not know by which track he should aim.

Tandem consilium deliberat anxius in se:
Quam tenet inclusam, tristis abire iubet.

At last, anxious, he deliberates counsel within himself:
the one whom he holds enclosed, sad, he orders to depart.

<Particula XXXIV.: Rex Anglie captus, liber absolvitur>
Cesaris ut fugeret leges tuus, Anglia, princeps,
Turpis ad obsequium turpe minister erat.
Quid prodest versare dapes, servire culine ?
Omnia, que fiunt, Cesar in orbe videt.
Rex sub veste latens, male nam vestitus ut ospes,
Captus defertur Cesaris ante pedes.

<Section 34.: The king of England captured, free he is absolved>
So that he might flee Caesar’s laws, your prince, England,
there was a shameful minister for shameful obedience.
What does it profit to turn the dishes, to serve the kitchen?
Caesar sees in the world all things that are done.
The king hiding beneath a garment—for poorly clothed as a guest—
captured, is borne before Caesar’s feet.

Cesar cesareum vocat ad se more senatum,
Conveniens regem talia questus ait:
"Quis tibi posse dedit, nostrum saturate cruoris,
Nostros nocturna perdere fraude duces ?
Parco tibi, iam liber eas in sanguinis haustum!
Nam tua Jerusalem dextra redemit humum.
Spectat adhuc certe reditus Trinacria nostros,
Que tibi sub falso munere preda fuit.

Caesar calls to himself, in the Caesarean manner, the Caesarean senate,
As the king comes in, complaining of such things, he said:
"Who gave you the power, O sated with our gore,
to destroy our leaders by nocturnal fraud?
I spare you; already you would be going into a draught of blood!
For your right hand has redeemed the soil of Jerusalem.
Trinacria still surely looks for our return,
which was prey to you under the false guise of a gift.

Nam fallis miserum sola formidine regem,
Dissimulans bellum, iura sororis agens.
Te postquam vicit multo Tancredus in auro,
Ausus es in nostrum ius peribere fidem."
Rex ita respondit, tollens ad sidera palmas:
"A meritis", inquit, "collige digna, deus!
O deus omnividens hominum, qui cernis abyssum,
Qui mare, qui terras concutis, astra legis,
Quam bene respondes pacientibus ardua pro te:
Sic tuus emeruit miles ab hoste capi!"
Hinc ait: "O Cesar, quod opus, que causa, quis actus
Me nunc incusant?

For you deceive the wretched king by fear alone,
dissembling war, pressing the rights of your sister.
After Tancred conquered you with much gold,
you dared to pledge faith to our right."
Thus the king replied, raising his palms to the stars:
"According to merits," he says, "gather fitting things, O God!
O all-seeing God of men, who discern the abyss,
who shake the sea, who shake the lands, who read the stars,
how well you answer those being patient in hardships for you:
thus your soldier has deserved to be seized by the enemy!"
Hence he says: "O Caesar, what work, what cause, what deed
accuse me now?

Rem modo causa ferat.
Sum reus ? - Auctor abest nec adest, sed abesse necesse est;
Quisquis erit, vires regis et arma probet.
Salva pace tua, veniat, qui pugnet et instet
Obiectis, faciens ensis utrique fidem.

Let the cause alone bear the matter.
Am I the accused? — The author is absent and not present, but to be absent is necessary;
whoever he may be, let him prove the king’s forces and arms.
With all due peace to you, let him come, to fight and to press on
with the charges alleged, the sword giving proof to both.

An pugnare meo solus cum Cesare veni ?
Absit! In hac humili veste quis arma movet ?
Et si cum domino mundi pugnare licebit,
Unde michi veniet miles et unde pedes ?
O decus inperii, nec me sine iudice dampnes,
Nam tua iudicii crimine iura carent.
Me tibi committens, tuus oro mitius in me,
Quam meritum nostri postulet, ensis agat."
Flectitur hac humili prece, quem non mille talenta
Nec summi potuit flectere carta patris.

Or did I come to fight alone with my Caesar?
Far be it! In this humble garb who sets arms in motion?
And if it be permitted to fight with the lord of the world,
whence will there come to me a soldier, and whence a footman?
O glory of the empire, do not condemn me without a judge,
for your laws are without the charge of bias in judgment.
Committing myself to you, I beg that your sword deal more mildly with me
than the desert of my case would require."
He is bent by this humble prayer, whom not a thousand talents
nor the letter of the supreme Father could bend.

Imperio postquam iurans se subdidit, inquit:
"Vivat in eternum lux mea, liber eo."

After he, swearing, subjected himself to the command, he said:
"May my light live into eternity, I go free."

<Particula XXXV.: Quando Dipuldus aggressus est>
Interea Dipuldus ovans armenta capiscit;
Virtutis sequitur gratia diva virum.
Castra superba cremat, capit oppida, territat urbes,
Ad Tancridinam que rediere fidem.
Sub pede Montis adest uberrima villa Casini,
Que nec pastori credere cauta fuit.

<Part 35.: When Dipuldus attacked>
Meanwhile Dipuldus, triumphant, seizes the herds;
the divine grace of Virtue follows the man.
He burns haughty camps, takes towns, terrifies cities,
and they returned to Tancredian faith.
At the foot of the Mount there is a most fertile estate of Cassino,
which, cautious, would not trust even the shepherd.

Hanc ferus invadens, Dipuldus ab aggere dextro
Dissipat instantes, ut leo magnus oves.
Cuius ab agricolis circumdatus, a tribus horum
In triplici cultro digladiatur equus.
Stans pedes, ense pedes duros detruncat et armos,
Se fore Dipuldum clamat et ense probat.

Attacking this one, fierce, Dipuldus from the right rampart
scatters those pressing on, like a great lion the sheep.
Surrounded by the farmers of it, by three of these,
he duels with a threefold knife, on a horse.
Standing on foot, with the sword he hews off tough feet and shoulders,
he cries that he is Dipuldus and proves it with the sword.

Ut trepidant volucres, Iovis in quas fulminat ales,
Ut lepus algescit, lapsus ab ore canis,
Non aliter gens illa timet victoris ab ense,
In Diopuldeo nomine victa cadit.
Subditur imperio sacrati villula castri,
Et facit invitam dextra coacta fidem.
Idem post modicum, paucis comitatis alumpnis,
Exiit a castro, sortis agebat iter.

As the birds tremble, against whom the bird of Jove hurls thunderbolts,
As the hare grows cold, slipped from the mouth of the hound,
Not otherwise does that people fear from the victor’s sword,
At the Diopuldean name it falls, conquered.
The little villa of the sacred castle is subjected to dominion,
And, the right hand compelled, it makes unwilling fealty.
The same, after a little while, accompanied by a few alumni,
Went out from the castle, he was pursuing a journey of destiny.

Illo forte die propriam comes ibat in urbem,
Ibat in adversum, sorte latente, virum.
Ex hac Dipuldus, comes ex hac obvius ibat;
Alter in alterius nescius ibat iter.
Ventum est ad faciem, fit clamor vocis utrinque,
Confractis sudibus, tela reclusa micant.

On that day by chance the Count was going into his own city,
he was going against the man, with fate latent.
From this side Dipuldus, from that the Count went to meet him;
the one was going his journey unknowing of the other’s.
They came face to face; a clamor of voice arises on both sides,
with the pikes broken, unsheathed weapons flash.

Hic ferit, ille ferit, cadit hic, super hunc stat et ille,
Dentipotens comitem denique vicit aper.
Sic Diopuldeus vir quisque suum ligat hostem,
Captivosque ferunt in sua castra viros.

This one strikes, that one strikes; this one falls, and that one stands over him,
the tooth-powerful boar at last conquers the Count.
Thus each Diopuldean man binds his own enemy,
and they bear captive men into their own camp.

Testo definitivo
Explicit liber primus. Incipit liber secundus

Definitive text
Here ends Book One. Here begins Book Two

<Particula XXXVI.: Stolium et exercitum imperator fieri iubet>
Ut pius armipotens fugat omnem letus eclipsin,
Reddit et Experios in sua iussa deos.
Imperat hinc puppes animosus ubique parari;
Nec mora: que fiunt, vix capit unda rates.
Marchio quinque minus transmisit mille carinas,
Austrinus totidem miserat octo minus,
Turineus centum septem minus equore classes
Annumerat, Scavus non minus equor arat,
Bawarus eversat centeno remige pontum,
Alsaticusque pari remige spumat aquas.

<Little Part 36.: The emperor orders that a fleet and an army be made>
As the pious, armipotent one, glad, puts to flight every eclipse,
he also renders the Western gods to his commands.
Thence the high-spirited one orders ships to be prepared everywhere;
no delay: and they are made; the wave scarcely holds the ships.
The Margrave sent across a thousand keels, five fewer,
the Southerner had sent just as many, eight fewer,
the Turinese reckons fleets upon the sea, a hundred less seven,
the Swabian no less plows the sea,
the Bavarian upturns the deep with a hundred oarsmen,
and the Alsatian with an equal oarsman-crew makes the waters foam.

Ter quater octo rates portantes agmen equorum
Belgicus et totidem linthea Saxo tulit.
Mille rates ter quinque minus Pomeranicus armat,
Flandicus equoreas sulcat amicus aquas.
Sex decies Ligur ventis dedit ampla secundis
Vela, set Olsaticus per freta longa volat.

Ninety-six ships carrying a column of horses
the Belgic and the Saxon bore just as many sails.
The Pomeranian arms nine hundred eighty-five ships,
the Flandic, friendly, furrows the sea-waters.
The Ligur gave sixty broad sails to favorable winds,
but the Holsatian flies through the long straits.

Mille viros etate pares Burgundia mittit,
Mittit victrices Tuscia mille manus.
Mille quidem clipeos, Iovis arma, Suevia gestat,
Mille faretratos magna Boema viros.
Mille coruscantes mittit Lothoringia cristas,
Mittit et ignivomas Anglia mille manus.

A thousand men equal in age Burgundy sends,
Tuscany sends a thousand victorious hands.
A thousand shields, the arms of Jove, Swabia bears,
Great Bohemia a thousand quiver-bearing men.
A thousand flashing crests Lotharingia sends,
And England too sends a thousand fire-vomiting hands.

Mille Polona viros nididis presentat in armis,
Francia mille boum bellica terga tulit.
Mittit silvicole Brabantia tela Diane,
Balistas lectos Frisia mittit humus.
Bis duodena ducum superum sol regna vocavit:
Per mare, per terras numina Cesar habet.

Poland presents a thousand men in shining arms,
France has brought a thousand warlike hides of oxen.
Woodland Brabant sends the weapons of Diana,
The Frisian land sends select ballistas.
Twice twelve realms has the sun summoned of supernal leaders:
Across sea, across lands Caesar holds divine powers.

Letus in Apuliam properat primoque Salernum
Appetit, urbs merito depopulanda suo.
Vulneris elapsi memor est quandoque cicatrix.
Qui spuit in celum, polluit ora sui.

Joyful he hastens into Apulia, and first he makes for Salerno,
a city deservedly to be plundered by its own deserts.
The cicatrix is sometimes mindful of a past wound.
He who spits into the sky pollutes his own face.

Haud procul armipotens, venit archilevita Salernum,
Cum quo, cui nomen Guarna, Philippus erat.
Sic ait: "O cives, ego sum, qui multa laborum
Pondera portavi, multa timenda tuli.
Nunc redeo salvare meam, si creditis, urbem:
Credite concivi, credite, vera loquor.

Not far away, mighty in arms, the archdeacon came to Salerno,
with whom there was Philip, by name Guarna.
Thus he says: "O citizens, I am he who many weights of labors
have carried, many fearsome things I have borne.
Now I return to save my city, if you believe it:
Believe a fellow-citizen, believe, I speak truths.

A domino factum est pro vobis exul ut irem:
Joseph nunc vobis pacifer alter ero.
Peccastis graviter; peccatum noscite vestrum,
Nam mens fessa sibi grande relaxat honus.
Iam prope Cesar adest, iam Cesaris arma coruscant,
Iam vexilla micant, iam sua signa tonant.

By the Lord it has been done for you, that I should go as an exile:
Now I will be to you another Joseph, a peace-bearer.
You have sinned grievously; know your sin,
For a weary mind relaxes for itself a great onus.
Now the Caesar is near at hand, now Caesar’s arms coruscate,
Now the vexilla gleam, now his standards thunder.

Mittite de vestris, qui dicant: 'Reddimus urbem,
Subiacet imperio phisica terra tuo.
Parce tuis servis, non pena, set nece dignis:
Que poterit nostrum pena piare scelus ?'
Ad veniam, credo, flectetur more Tonantis,
Vobiscum faciens absque rigore pium.
Ut Nazarenus deus a patre natus in orbem
Venit, in umano tegmine factus homo,
Ipse quidem tota cum maiestate futurus
Pro meritis iudex omne piabit opus,
Sic meus armipotens primo pius atque benignus
Nos adiit, sed nunc ut grave fulmen adest.

Send some of yours, who may say: 'We give back the city,
the physical earth lies under your command.
Spare your servants, worthy not of penalty, but of death:
what punishment will be able to atone for our crime ?'
He will, I believe, be bent to pardon, in the manner of the Thunderer,
dealing kindly with you, without rigor.
As the Nazarene God, born from the Father into the world,
came, made man in a human covering,
he himself indeed, to be judge with all majesty in proportion to merits,
will atone for every deed,
thus my armipotent one at first pious and benign
approached us, but now he is present like a heavy thunderbolt.

Iam non multa loquar, quia iam Nuceria sentit,
Que loquor; urbs vestra mane videbit idem."
***

Now I will not say many things, because already Nuceria senses,
what I speak; your city will see the same in the morning."
***

Interea Siculis solo terrore subactis,
Dux ratis auguste Cesaris urget iter.
Ut properet, scribit: "Quia iam Trinacria victa est,
Et puppes, profugo rege, redire rogant.
Iam satur a misere spoliis exercitus urbis
Fastidit victa victor in urbe moras."
Mane dato signo, tunc Calandrinus in alto
Milicie socium circuit agmen equo,
Imperat, ut properent; tutum est properare Panormum.

Meanwhile, with the Sicilians subdued by terror alone,
the leader of the ship of the august Caesar urges the journey.
That he should hasten, he writes: "Since now Trinacria is conquered,
and the ships, with the king in flight, ask to return.
Already sated with the wretched spoils of the city, the army
the victor in the conquered city loathes delays."
With the signal given in the morning, then Calandrinus on a tall steed
rides around the allied host of the soldiery,
he commands them to hasten; it is safe to hasten to Panormus.

Nec mora Teutonici iussa iubentis agunt.
Est data Dipuldo renovandi cura Salernum
Nec non totius tradita iura soli.
Vir pure fidei, vir magni nominis, omnis
Milicie titulus, imperiale decus,
Quem nec promissum numerosi ponderis aurum
Movit nec potuit sollicitare timor,
Hostibus in mediis quam plurima castra subegit
Egregios alacer vicit in ense viros.

Nor was there delay: the Teutonics carry out the orders of the one commanding.
The charge of renewing Salerno is given to Dipold,
and likewise the rights of the whole soil are entrusted to him.
A man of pure faith, a man of great name, the title of all soldiery, imperial adornment,
whom neither promised gold of numerous weight moved
nor could fear solicit;
in the midst of enemies he subdued very many camps,
eager he conquered outstanding men with the sword.

Cuius virtutis preconia vidit Aquinum,
Quo vicit victor milia quinque virum.
Vera loquar falsumque nichil mea Musa notabit,
Nec mea Romanas fistula fallet aves.
Quodam forte die veniens Dipuldus ab Archi,
Colligit in multos fulmifer arva sinus,
Innumeras predatur oves, capit agmen equorum,
Agricolas multos et iuga mille boum,
Que venale genus factum vicepastor agebat;
Heu heu, dux prede vile lupanar erat.

Aquinum saw the proclamations of whose virtue,
by which the victor conquered five thousand men.
I will speak truths, and my Muse will note nothing false,
nor will my reed-pipe deceive the Roman birds.
On a certain day, by chance, Dipuldus coming from Archi,
gathers the fields into many lightning-bearing folds,
he preys upon numberless sheep, he seizes a column of horses,
many husbandmen and a thousand yokes of oxen,
which, made into merchandise, the deputy-shepherd drove;
alas, alas, the leader of the prey was a vile brothel.

Cum victor tandem castrum saturatus adiret,
Spectat in adversum milia quinque viros,
Qui predam certare parant, stringuntur in arma,
Et tamen expositos Guido retardat equos.
Tunc Dipuldus ait: "Michi, sors, quam sera videris !
Hoc mens, hoc animus, hoc mea vota petunt!
Me probet esse virum, contra quicunque coruscat."
Exhinc ad socios talia verba dedit:
"Nec vos aspectus numerosi terreat hostis:
Femineos tellus parturit ista viros.

When at last, the victor, sated, he approached the camp,
he beholds facing him five thousand men,
who prepare to contend for the booty; they are drawn up to arms,
and yet Guido holds back the exposed horses.
Then Dipold says: "To me, Fortune, how late you seem !
This my mind, this my spirit, this my vows seek!
Let whoever flashes in opposition prove me to be a man."
Thereupon he gave such words to his allies:
"Nor let the aspect of the numerous enemy terrify you:
this land is in labor to bring forth effeminate men.

Ad speculum natos effeminat umbra quietis,
Quos alit in teneris dulce cubile rosis
Hii Tancridini, sumus et nos imperiales.
Hii pecudes, sed nos dicimur esse sues.
Sus agat in pecudes et eas et vellera portet;
Audaces sequitur sors bona sepe viros."
Hactenus innixus clipeo, commissus et aste,
Dum ferit eversos, terga ferire pudet.

The shadow of repose effeminates the mirror-born,
whom the sweet couch nourishes among tender roses.
These are Tancredian; we too are imperial. These are cattle, but we are said to be swine.
Let the sow drive upon the flocks and carry off both them and their fleeces;
good fortune often follows audacious men."
Thus far leaning upon his shield, and committed to the spear,
while he strikes the overthrown, he is ashamed to strike backs.

Mille viros flexa procer unus inebriat asta,
Et ligat et tondit mille vir unus oves.
Nec tracto, quod Neapolim devicit inhermis;
Quod loquor, expertum Terra Laboris habet.

A thousand men a single nobleman inebriates with a bent spear,
and a single man both binds and shears a thousand sheep.
Nor do I protract the tale, that he conquered Naples unarmed;
what I say, the Land of Labor has experienced.

<Particula XXXIX.: Legatio Panormi>
Interea Cesar, superato Calabre toto,
Venit ad Insanas indubitanter Aquas.
Classibus expositis, furiosas transfretat undas,
Post hec Messane paulo moratus abit.
Fabariam veniens, socerum miratus et illam,
Delectans animos nobile laudat opus.

<Part 39.: Embassy at Palermo>
Meanwhile Caesar, having overcome all of Calabria,
he comes indubitably to the Insane Waters.
With the fleets set ashore, he crosses the furious waves,
after this, having lingered a little at Messina, he departs.
Coming to Favara, having marveled at his father-in-law and at it,
delighting hearts, he praises the noble work.

Legati quem preveniunt ex urbe Panormi,
Debita commisse verba salutis agunt.
Exponunt animos populi mentesque serenas,
Affectum iuvenum propositumque senum.
Ore ferunt uno: "Tu sol, tu lumen in orbe,
Tu spectata dies, qui sine nocte venis,
Tu regni tenebras armata luce fugabis,
Discutiens lites copia pacis eris,
Qui mundum sub pace ligas, qui bella coherces,
Inclita qui regum sub pede colla teris.

Envoys, who go to meet him from the city of Panormus,
perform the due words of entrusted salutation.
They set forth the spirits of the people and their serene minds,
the affection of the youths and the purpose of the elders.
With one mouth they declare: "You the sun, you the light in the orb,
You the awaited day, who come without night,
You will put to flight the kingdom’s darkness with armed light,
you will be an abundance of peace, scattering strifes,
you who bind the world under peace, who restrain wars,
illustrious, you who grind beneath your foot the necks of kings.

Quis rex, quis princeps, quis dux tua iussa recusat ?
Quis valet, armato Cesare, bella pati ?
Nam servire tibi mundo regnare videtur:
Maior in hoc magno Cesare Cesar eris.
Hen, profugus nostram dimisit regulus urbem,
Radicem colubri Catabelotus alit."
Cesar ubi tante fidei legata recepit,
Pace triumphali mandat in urbe frui.
Protinus edictum sonat imperiale per omnes,
Ne quis presumat, unde querela venit,
Et pedes et miles caute pomaria servent,
Cesaris adventus nulla virecta gravet.

What king, what prince, what duke refuses your commands ?
Who is able, with Caesar armed, to endure wars ?
For the world’s serving you seems to be to reign:
You will be a greater Caesar by this great Caesar.
Alas, the petty-king, a fugitive, has left our city,
Catabelotus nourishes the serpent’s root."
When Caesar received the legation of such fidelity,
he orders that in the city they enjoy triumphal peace.
Straightway an imperial edict resounds through all,
that no one presume aught whence complaint comes,
and that both foot and soldier carefully keep the orchards,
let Caesar’s advent burden no green-places.

Hec postquam preco clamando circuit agmen,
Urbem pacifico milite Cesar adit.

After these things, when the herald, by proclaiming aloud, had gone around the host,
Caesar approaches the city with pacific soldiery.

<Particula XL.: Sibille questus>
Hec ubi Tancredi miseri miserabilis uxor
Respicit, ut glacies mane novella riget.
Menbra cruor, calor artus, spiritus ossa reliquit,
Vix a femineis est recreata viris.
At postquam sumpsit dubias in pectore vires,
In lacrimas oculos solvit amara suos.

<Part 40.: Sibilla's complaint>
When the pitiable wife of pitiable Tancred beholds this,
she grows rigid, as fresh ice hardens in the morning.
Blood left her limbs, warmth her joints, breath her bones;
she was scarcely revived by the women’s efforts.
But after she took uncertain strength into her breast,
she loosed her eyes into bitter tears.

Brachia iactat humo, quos leserat, ausa precari
Sanctos: nec Paulus nec Petrus audit eam.
Colligit in meritum periuria multa mariti
Et cedes hominum nequicieque genus.
Causatur sua gesta prius, causatur et inde
Periuri tociens impia facta viri.

She flings her arms upon the ground, daring to beseech
the Saints: neither Paul nor Peter hears her.
She gathers to his deserts the many perjuries of her husband,
and the slaughters of men and every genus of wickedness.
She alleges her own deeds first; she alleges then also
the impious deeds, so often, of the perjured husband.

Sic ait: "O, utinam Lichio comitissa manerem,
Terrerent animos prelia nulla meos,
Vir michi forsan adhuc superesset et inclita proles.
Nunc Lichium tristis orba duobus eo.
Vidisset numquam visus Trinacria nostros,
Nunc michi deserte dos mea tuta foret.
Quam cito falsus honor nos deserit et fugit omnis,
Ut nova furtivus bruma liquescit honor.

Thus she speaks: "O, would that I remained countess at Lichium,
no battles would terrify my spirits,
perhaps my husband would still survive to me and illustrious progeny.
Now to Lichium, sad, bereft of two, I go.
May Trinacria never have seen our faces,
now for me, deserted, my dowry would be safe.
How quickly false honor deserts us, and all flees,
as new winter-frost stealthily melts away.

Ardeat in medio vicecancellarius orco,
Qui fuit excicii sedula causa mei.
Quantum nequicie quantumve tirannidis ausus
Vir meus, in penas hec tulit hora meas.
Ei michi, quid prodest, quod rex tulit Anglicus aurum ?
Ei michi, quid prosunt, que tibi, Roma, dedi ?
Thesauros exausta meos succurre relicte,
Auxilium perhibe, si potes, ipsa michi.

Let the vice-chancellor burn in the midst of Orcus,
who was the assiduous cause of my ruin.
How much of wickedness, and how much of tyranny, my husband dared—
this hour has inflicted as my penalties.
Alas for me, what profit is it that the English king brought gold?
Alas for me, what use are the things which I gave to you, Rome?
Succor my treasures, I exhausted and left bereft,
proffer aid, if you can, you yourself, to me.

Cur tua carta virum tibi dantem dona fefellit ?
Hen, tuus <egrotus> regnat et arma tenet.
<Mortuus>, hen, vincit, tuus <eger> in urbe triumphat:
Sic tua decepit littera falsa virum.
Ei michi, nec tutum est Romane credere puppi,
Que, quas insequitur, has imitatur aquas.

Why did your charter deceive the man giving gifts to you?
Alas, your <sick> man reigns and holds arms.
<Dead>, alas, he conquers; your <sick> triumphs in the city:
Thus your false letter deceived the man.
Alas for me, nor is it safe to trust the Roman ship,
which, the waters it follows, it imitates these.

Nec michi Greca nurus prodest, dulcissime fili,
Quam, nec adhuc visa fronte, Philippus amat.
Ergo, quod est tutum, veniam summissa precabor,
Effundens lacrimas Cesaris ante pedes.
Singultus, lacrime, gemitus, suspiria, fletus,
Hec vir et hec proles, hec michi frater erunt.

Nor does the Greek daughter-in-law profit me, sweetest son,
whom, not yet seen in face, Philip loves.
Therefore, what is safe, submissive I will beseech pardon,
pouring out tears before Caesar's feet.
Sobs, tears, groans, sighs, weeping,
these will be my husband, and these my offspring, this will be my brother.

Pro me pugnabunt pro me dominumque rogabunt,
Plus facient lacrime, quam mea tela, michi.
Plus poterit pietas quam milia mille Quiritum,
Plus prece quam telis Cesar habendus erit."

For me they will fight, and for me they will also ask the lord,
Tears will do more for me than my weapons.
Piety will be able more than thousands upon thousands of Quirites,
Caesar will be more to be prevailed upon by prayer than by weapons."

<Particula XLI.: Imperator occupat triumphans regiam>
Postquam questa sui lacrimabilis omina fati,
Ad Lichium veniam poscit itura suum.
Inpetrat et supplex nato veniamque nepoti.
Inde triumphantem suscipit aula ducem.

<Particle 41.: Emperor, triumphing, seizes the palace>
After she lamented the tearful omens of her fate,
she asks leave to go to her own Lychius.
As a suppliant she also obtains pardon for her son and for her grandson.
Then the palace receives the triumphant leader.

Regia letatur, tenebrarum nube fugata,
Exultans iubilos promeruisse dies.
Cesar ut accepit sceptrum regale potenter,
Multiplicat Carolis nomen et omen avis.
A viciis mundat sacrata palacia regum
Et Saturninos excutit inde dolos,
Et Iovis et magni tempus novat Octaviani.

The royal palace rejoices, the cloud of shadows having been put to flight,
exulting that the days have deserved jubilations.
When Caesar took up the royal scepter with power,
he multiplies among the Charleses both the name and the omen of the ancestor.
From vices he purges the hallowed palaces of kings
and shakes out from there the Saturnine deceits,
and he renews the time of Jove and of great Octavian.

Integra sub nostro pax Salomone redit:
Que sub Tancredo dudum defuncta manebat,
Cesare sub nostro vivida facta viget!
Cesaris invicti pax nobis exit ab armis,
Nostra stat in nudo Cesaris ense salus.
Putifares omnes claves et scrinia portant,
Adsignant, quasquas fiscus habebat opes.

Whole peace under our Solomon returns:
which under Tancred had long remained defunct,
under our Caesar, made living, it flourishes!
From the arms of the unconquered Caesar peace goes forth to us,
our safety stands in the bare sword of Caesar.
All the putifares carry keys and writing-chests,
they assign whatever wealth the fisc possessed.

Thesauros numerant, quos vermis araneus ille
Auserat et frustra retia nevit apris.
Primus neutrorum claves escriniat omnes,
Alter apodixas explicat, alter opes.
Hec, quantum Calaber seu quantum debeat Afer,
Apulus aut Siculus debeat, orbis habet.

They count the treasures, which that spider-worm had dared to appropriate, and in vain had woven nets for boars.
The first of the neutrals encases all the keys in a coffer,
the next unfolds the apodixes, the other the wealth.
This holds how much the Calabrian or how much the African ought to owe,
the Apulian or the Sicilian ought to owe; it holds the whole world.

Miratur gazas, quas antiquissimus ardor
Sortis in incerte grande redegit honus.
Divicias partitur eis, quos prelia nulla
Terruerant, bello nec renuere mori.
***

He marvels at the treasures, which the most ancient ardor of Fortune
in uncertainty has turned into a great burden.
He partitions riches to those whom no battles
had terrified, and who did not refuse to die in war.
***

<Particula XLII.: Coniuratio proditorum detegitur>
At deus, inpaciens fraudis scelerisque nefandi,
Puplicat in lucem, quod tegit archa nephas.
Nam nichil admittit felix fortuna sinistrum,
Nec possunt, quod obest, prospera fata pati.
Hec tria felices comitantia Cesaris actus
Quam bene dispensant: sors bona, fata, deus!

<Section 42.: The conspiracy of the traitors is detected>
But god, impatient of fraud and of nefarious crime,
publishes into the light what the coffer hides—nefarious crime.
For fortunate Fortune admits nothing sinister,
nor can prosperous fates endure what harms.
These three, accompanying the felicitous acts of Caesar—
how well they dispense: good lot, the fates, god!

Conscius archani quidam secreta revelat
Et docet insidias enumeratque viros.
Detegit et scriptum nocturna lampade factum,
Quod docet in Caypha presule posse capi.
Ostupet armipotens famulos miratus iniquos
Ducit et in dubiam verba relata fidem.

A certain one privy to the arcanum reveals the secrets
and shows the plots and enumerates the men.
He also uncovers a writing made by a nocturnal lamp,
which shows that he can be seized at the prelate Caiaphas.
The armipotent one is stupefied, marveling at wicked servants
and he deems the reported words of doubtful credence.

Postquam certa fides super hiis datur, indice scripto,
Coniuratorum dissimulatur opus.
Curia contrahitur, resident in iure vocati
Quisque sibi dubitans, multa timenda timent.
Iamque silere dato, solio redimitus ab alto
Exolvit querulo Cesar in ore moras:
"Quis pro pace necem vel quis pro munere dampnum
Aut quis pro donis dampna meritur?", ait.

After sure assurance concerning these things is given, by the informer in writing,
the work of the conspirators is dissembled.
The curia is convened; those summoned sit in law,
each one, doubting for himself, dreads many things to be dreaded.
And now, silence having been ordered, enthroned on high
Caesar breaks off delays with a querulous mouth:
"Who for peace deserves death, or who for a munerous gift deserves loss,
or who for gifts merits losses?", he says.

"Nec Christo Cayphas fecit nec sevius Anna,
Quam michi conscripte disposuere manus."
Protinus armiferis pleno iubet ore ministris,
Ut capiant, quosquos littera lecta notat.
Qui cito mandatis inplent pia iussa receptis,
Infectos capiunt prodicione viros.
Dampnatos ex lege viros clementia differt,
Et suffert pietas impietatis honus.

"Neither did Caiaphas do it to Christ, nor Annas more savagely,
than the conscript hands have arranged for me."
Straightway he orders with full mouth the armed attendants,
that they seize whosoever the letter, once read, notes.
They quickly, the mandates received, fulfil the pious orders,
they seize men infected with treachery.
Men condemned by law clemency defers,
and piety bears the burden of impiety.

In condempnatos meritum sententia tardat,
Quo datur, ut vinctos Apula dampnet humus.
Quam Cesar properans ex parte licenciat agmen,
Ne gravet urbanos maxima turba suos.
Bawarus et Scavus, Lonbardus, Marchio, Tuscus,
In propriam redeunt Saxo, Boemus humum.

For the condemned, the merited sentence is slow,
whereby it is granted that the Apulian soil condemn the bound.
But Caesar, hastening, in part dismisses the host,
lest the very great throng burden his townsmen.
The Bavarian and the Swabian, the Lombard, the Marquess, the Tuscan,
the Saxon, the Bohemian return to their own soil.

<Particula XLIII.: Frederici nativitas>
Venit ab Experia nativi palma triumphi
Pernova, felicis signa parentis habens.
Duxerat in gemitum presentis secula vite,
Quod fuerat fructus palma morata suos.
Serior ad fructus tanto constantior arbor
Natificat tandem sicut oliva parens.

<Particle 43.: Frederick’s nativity>
From Hesperia came the palm of a natal triumph,
brand-new, bearing the signs of a happy parent.
The ages of the present life had been led into lament,
because the palm had delayed its proper fruits.
Later to fruits, by so much the more constant, the tree
at last begets, like a parent olive.

Cumque triumphator nudis iam parceret armis,
Nascitur Augusto, qui regat arma, puer.
Felix namque pater, set erit felicior infans:
Hic puer ex omni parte beatus erit.
Nam pater ad totum victrici cuspide partes
Ducet et inperium stare, quod ante, dabit.

And when the triumphator now was sparing the naked arms,
a boy is born to Augustus, who is to rule arms.
Felicitous indeed the father, but the infant will be more felicitous:
this boy will be blessed in every part.
For the father with a victorious spear-point will lead the parts to the whole
and he will grant the imperium to stand, as before.

Hoc speculatur Arabs, et idem suspirat Egyptus;
Hoc Jacob, hoc Ysaac a Daniele sapit.
O votive puer, renovandi temporis etas,
Exhinc Rogerius, hinc Fredericus eris,
Maior habendus avis, fato meliore creatus,
Qui bene vix natus cum patre vincis avos !
Pax oritur tecum, quia, te nascente, creamur;
Te nascente, sumus, quod pia vota petunt;
Te nascente, dies non celi sidera condit;
Te nascente, suum sidera lumen habent;
Te nascente, suis tellus honeratur aristis;
Suspecti redimit temporis arbor opes.
Luxuriant montes, pinguescit et arida tellus,
Credita multiplici sorte respensat ager.

This the Arab observes, and likewise Egypt sighs for;
This Jacob, this Isaac savors from Daniel.
O votive boy, age of a time to be renewed,
From here you will be Roger, from here you will be Frederick,
To be held greater than your grandsires, created by a better fate,
You who, scarcely well born, with your father you surpass your ancestors!
Peace arises with you, because, as you are born, we are created;
With you being born, we become what pious vows seek;
With you being born, day does not hide the stars of heaven;
With you being born, the stars have their own light;
With you being born, the earth is honored with its own ears of grain;
The tree redeems the resources of the time held in suspicion.
The mountains luxuriate, and the arid earth grows fat,
The field recompenses what was entrusted with manifold return.

Sol sine nube, puer, nunquam passurus eclipsim,
Regia quem peperit solis in orbe dies.
Amodo non timeam suspecte tempora noctis:
Per silvas, per humum, per mare tutus eo.
Non aquilam volucres, modo non armenta leonem,
Non metuent rapidos vellera nostra lupos.
Nox ut clara dies gemino sub sole diescit,
Terra suos geminos sicut Olimpus habet.

A sun without cloud, boy, never to suffer an eclipse,
whom a regal day bore in the orb of the sun.
From now on I shall not fear the suspect times of night:
through woods, across the ground, over the sea I go safe.
No longer will birds fear the eagle, no longer the herds the lion,
our fleeces will not fear the swift wolves.
Night, like a bright day, becomes day beneath a twin sun,
the earth has its own twins, just as Olympus has.

<Particula XLIV.: Frederici presagia>
Res rata, quam loquimur, quidam presentat Yberus
Piscem, qui nato Cesare dignus erat.
Quem puer accipiens, bene dispensante magistro,
Dividit.
Pisce tripartito, gemina sibi parte retenta,
Quod superest, patri mittit abinde puer,
Maxima venture signans presagia vite:
Quod sibi detinuit, vesper et ortus erit!

<Little Part 44.: Frederick’s presages>
The matter is fixed, as we speak: a certain Iberian presents
a fish, which was worthy of the Caesar who had been born.
The boy, receiving it, with the master well dispensing,
divides it.
With the fish made tripartite, the twin share kept for himself,
what remains, the boy sends thence to his father,
marking the greatest presages of the future life:
What he kept back for himself will be evening and sunrise!

Tercia pars, que missa fuit, designat, in armis
Tercia pars mundi quod sit habenda patri.
Vive, puer, decus Ytalie, nova temporis etas,
Qui geminos gemina merce reducis avos.
Vive, iubar solis, sol regnaturus in evum,
Qui potes a cunis luce iuvare diem.

The third part, which was sent, designates that, in arms,
the third part of the world is to be held by the father.
Live, boy, ornament of Italy, new age of time,
you who by a twin meed bring back your twin grandfathers.
Live, radiance of the sun, a sun destined to reign for ever,
you who from the cradle can aid the day with light.

Vive, Iovis proles, Romani nominis heres,
Inmo reformator orbis et inperii.
Vive, patris specimen, felicis gloria matris,
Nasceris in plenos fertilitate dies.
Vive, puer felix, felix genitura parentum,
Dulcis amor superis, inclite, vive, puer.

Live, offspring of Jove, heir of the Roman name,
Nay rather, the reformer of the world and of the imperium.
Live, the exemplar of your father, the glory of a happy mother,
You are born into days replete with fertility.
Live, fortunate boy, the fortunate geniture of your parents,
Sweet love to the supernal gods, illustrious one, live, boy.

In media sine nube die tibi panditur Yris,
Omnitenens medio sol stetit orbe suo.
Unde venit Titan et nox ubi sidera condit,
Ex Yri metas sol videt esse tuas.
Vive, puer, dum vesper erit, dum Lucifer ardet:
Nunquam seu nusquam vespere dignus eris.

In the midst of a cloudless day Iris is opened for you,
the all-holding sun stood in the middle of his own orb.
Whence Titan comes and where night hides the stars,
from Iris the sun sees the metes to be yours.
Live, boy, while evening shall be, while Lucifer burns:
never or nowhere will you be worthy of evening.

Vive, puer, dum litus agit, dum nubila ventus,
Ut videas natis secula plena tuis.
Vive, patris virtus, dulcissima matris ymago,
Vive diu, dum sol lucet et astra micant.
Vive diu, Iovis et superum pulcherrime princeps,
Vive diu, proavus factus ad astra voles.

Live, boy, while the shore stirs, while the wind drives the clouds,
so that you may see ages full for your children.
Live, the father’s virtue, the mother’s sweetest image,
live long, while the sun shines and the stars sparkle.
Live long, O most beautiful prince of Jove and of the supernals,
live long; having become a great‑grandfather, you will fly to the stars.

***

<Particula XLV.: Corradi cancellarii loquutio ad proceres regni>
***
Quos ***
Et que dictarat ***
Sit licet immanis commissi sarci<na fraudis>,
Hec Augustali fit pietate minor.
Sic igitur servate fidem, ne sera cicatrix
Vulnus in antiquum rupta redire queat.
Nam meus Augustus, qui lites diligit, odit:
Mites et puros more Tonantis amat.

<Section 45.: Conrad the chancellor’s speech to the nobles of the kingdom>
***
Whom ***
And what he had dictated ***
Although the monstrous burden of the committed fraud may be,
this becomes lesser by Augustan piety.
Thus therefore keep faith, lest a late cicatrix
the wound, once broken, be able to return to its ancient state.
For my Augustus, who delights in lawsuits, hates:
he loves the meek and the pure in the manner of the Thunderer.

Ne quis ob exilium, quod dudum pertulit in se,
Elatus rediens civibus esse velit.
Cesaris oceanum superat clementia magnum,
Et tamen illius commovet ira deos.
Si quis Tancredum nimium dilexerit olim,
Quid, nisi per vanas brachia movit aquas ?
Vivit in Augusto pietas et gratia crescens
Et gladius vindex, vivit et hasta potens.

Let no one, on account of the exile which long ago he endured upon himself,
returning, wish to be exalted among the citizens.
The clemency of Caesar surpasses the great ocean,
and yet his wrath moves the gods.
If anyone once loved Tancred too much,
what did he do, except wave his arms through vain waters?
In the Augustus live piety and increasing grace,
and the avenging sword lives, and the potent spear lives as well.

<Particula XLVI.: Libellus ad Augustum inscribitur>
SOL AUGUSTORUM,
Qui regis ad placitum victor in axe rotas,
Fortunam tua dextra novam sibi condit ubique,
Ducis fortune quo tibi frena placet.
Legi, quos veterum servant armaria, libros:
Inveni titulis cuncta minora tuis.
Nec Salomon nec Alexander nec Iulius ipse
Promeruit, vestri quod meruere dies.

<Section 46.: A little book is inscribed to Augustus>
SUN OF THE AUGUSTI,
you who as victor rule the wheels on the axis at your pleasure,
your right hand everywhere founds for itself a new Fortune,
you lead Fortune where it pleases you to set the reins.
I have read the books which the bookcases of the ancients preserve:
I found all things lesser than your titles.
Neither Solomon nor Alexander nor Julius himself
has deserved what your days have merited.

Sextus ab equivocis sexto quod scriberis evo,
Signas etatis tempora plena tue.
Vivat honor mundi, vivat pax plena triumphis,
Vivat et eterno nomine regnet avus,
Ut videas natis plenumque nepotibus evum,
Tempora zodiaci dum rota solis agit.
Suscipe, queso, meum, sol Augustissime, munus,
Qui mundum ditas, qui regis omne solum.

Sixtus, by a play on words, since you are written as “sixth” in the sixth age,
you mark the times of the age, full of your own era.
Let the honor of the world live, let peace live, full of triumphs,
and let the grandsire live and reign with an eternal name,
so that you may see an age full with sons and with grandsons,
while the wheel of the sun drives the times of the zodiac.
Receive, I beg, my gift, O Sun Most August,
you who enrich the world, you who rule every soil.

Suscipe, queso, meum, lux indefecta, libellum:
Ipse sui vatis vota libellus agat.
Interpretatio huius nominis HENRICI
Collige primas litteras de primis dictionibus subscritorum versuum et nomen habebis imperatoris et de ipsis primis dictionibus eiusdem victoriam imperatoris perpendere poteris.
HIC princeps, ut habet Danielis nobile scriptum,
EXALTABIT avos, subigens sibi victor Egyptum.

Receive, I beg, my little book, indefectible light:
let the little book itself plead the vows of its own poet.
The interpretation of this name HENRY:
Gather the first letters from the first words of the subscribed verses, and you will have the emperor’s name; and from those same first words you will be able to perpend the victory of the same emperor.
THIS prince, as the noble writing of Daniel has it,
will EXALT the forefathers, subduing Egypt to himself as victor.

NOMEN in herede patria virtute quiescet.
ROMANI iuris duplici rogus igne calescet.
IMPERII formam templique reducet ad hastra.

NAME will rest in the heir by the fatherland’s virtue.
ROMAN law’s pyre will grow warm with twofold fire.
EMPIRE’S form and the temple’s he will bring back to the spears.

CUM non hostis erit, sua ponet cum Iove castra.
VICERIT ut mundum, Syon, David arce, redempta,
SICILIAM repetens, Rome reget aurea sceptra.

When there will be no enemy, he will pitch his own camp with Jove.
When he has conquered the world, with Zion, the citadel of David, redeemed,
returning to Sicily, at Rome he will rule with golden scepters.

Testo definitivo
<Explicit liber secundus>
Incipit liber tercius ad honorem et gloriam magni imperatoris

Definitive text
<Here ends the second book>
Here begins the third book to the honor and glory of the great emperor

<Particula XLVII.: Sapientiam invocat poeta>
Desine, Calliope; satis est memorasse, quod holim
Tityrus ad fagi tegmina duxit oves.
Desine tu, Pean, celeberrima, desine, Clio:
Sit mugisse satis commemorasse Iovem.
Non mea Calliopes nec Apollinis ara litabit
Carmina, que pecudum, que vorat, exta litant.

<Part 47.: The poet invokes Wisdom>
Cease, Calliope; it is enough to have remembered that once
Tityrus led his sheep to the shelter of the beech.
Cease you, Paean, most celebrated, cease, Clio:
Let it be enough to have commemorated that Jove bellowed.
Neither my altar of Calliope nor of Apollo will propitiate
songs that sacrifice the entrails of the herds, which it devours.

Te peto, te cupio, summi Sapientia patris,
Que legis eterna mente, quod orbis habet.
Tu pelagi metiris aquas, metiris abissum;
Te metuunt solam, te venerantur aque.
Tu patrii legis astra poli, tibi servit Olimpus,
Te sine vita perit; te sine nemo sapit.

I seek you, I desire you, Wisdom of the highest Father,
who read with an eternal mind what the orb contains.
You measure the pelagic waters, you measure the abyss;
the waters fear you alone; the waters venerate you.
You read the stars of the paternal sky; Olympus serves you,
without you life perishes; without you no one is wise.

Nam quod sol hominum, Salomon, David inclita proles,
Sensit seu meruit, creditur esse tuum.
Tu, massam discepta rudem, tu, litis amice
Primicias certo conciliata loco,
Tu depinxisti fatali sidere celum:
Unde venit, nosti, Phebus et unde soror.
Nam quod friget yemps, ver umet, torret et estas,
Siccitat autunnus, creditur esse tuum.

For whatever the sun of men, Solomon, the illustrious offspring of David,
perceived or merited, is believed to be yours.
You adjudicated the rough mass; you, friend of litigation,
reconciled the first-fruits to a fixed place,
You painted the heaven with the fated star:
whence Phoebus comes, you know, and whence his sister.
For that winter is frigid, spring is humid, and summer scorches,
autumn dries, is believed to be yours.

Quod breve litus aquas refrenat turbine motas,
Quod montes, quod humum sustinet unda, tuum.
Tu, pudor eternus, sacrasti virginis alvum,
Tu sata, tu nascens, tu genitura creans.
Thesauros aperi, veniens illabere celo:
Semper es ut verax, da michi vera loqui.

That the brief shore reins back the waters stirred by a whirlwind,
that the mountains stand, that the wave upholds the ground, is your work.
You, eternal Modesty, have hallowed the womb of the virgin,
you the sown things, you the being-born, you creating the geniture.
Open the treasures; as you come, glide down from heaven:
as you are ever veracious, grant me to speak true things.

Tu divina loqui Petro post rete dedisti,
Ex uno per te flumina ventre fluunt.
Nec minor in partes divisa, set integra constas,
Ut vis et que vis, dans tua dona tuis.
Hos genus eloquii, mentes interpretis illos,
Hos virtutis opus promeruisse facis.

You granted Peter, after the net, to speak divine things,
From one belly, through you, rivers flow.
Nor are you lesser when divided into parts, but you stand integral,
as you will and what you will, giving your gifts to your own.
To these the genus of eloquence, to those the minds of an interpreter,
To these you cause to have merited the work of virtue.

Da michi cepta loqui, da ceptis fine potiri,
Possit ut Augusto Musa placere suo.

Grant me to speak the things begun; grant to attain an end for the things begun,
so that the Muse may be able to please her own Augustus.

<Particula XLVIII.: Pax tempore Augusti>
Fortunata dies, felix post tempora tempus,
Que sextum sexto tempore cernit herum !
O nimis etatis felicia tempora nostre,
Propugnatorem que meruere suum!
Gaudeat omnis humus, tellus sine nube diescat,
Rorem spectati muneris astra pluant.
Mane serena dies venit et serotinus imber:
Imperium Cesar solus et unus habet.

<Particle 48.: Peace in the time of Augustus>
Fortunate the day, happy the time after the times,
which beholds the sixth master in the sixth season !
O exceedingly happy times of our age,
which have merited their own champion!
Let all soil rejoice, let the earth break into day without a cloud,
let the stars rain the dew of the looked-for gift.
In the morning a serene day comes and a late shower:
Caesar alone, the one and only, holds the imperium.

Iam redit aurati Saturnia temporis etas,
Iam redeunt magni regna quieta Iovis.
Sponte parit tellus, gratis honeratur aristis,
Vomeris a nullo dente relata parit,
Nec fecunda fimo nec rastris indiget ullis
Mater opum, pecori prospera, grata viris.
Omnis olivescit Phebeis frondibus arbor,
Vix arbor partus sustinet orta novos.

Now returns the Saturnian age of golden time,
Now return the peaceful realms of great Jove.
Of its own accord the earth bears, is laden gratis with ears,
without being turned by any tooth of the plowshare, it brings forth,
nor, though fecund, does it need dung nor any harrows—
the mother of wealth, prosperous for the herd, welcome to men.
Every tree grows olive with Phoebean fronds,
hardly does the tree, once sprung up, sustain its new offspring.

Nec rosa nec viole nec lilia, gloria vallis,
Marcescunt, aliquo tempore nata semel.
Felix nostra dies, nec ea felicior ulla,
Lecior aut locuplex a Salomone fuit.
Evomuit serpens virus sub fauce repostum,
Aruit in vires mesta cicuta suas.

Neither roses nor violets nor lilies, the glory of the valley,
wither, once born at any time.
Happy is our day, nor has any been happier,
more cheerful or more opulent than Solomon.
The serpent has vomited the virus stored beneath its throat,
the sad hemlock has dried up in its powers.

Nec sonipes griphes nec oves assueta luporum
Ora timent: ut ovis stat lupus inter oves.
Uno fonte bibunt, eadem pascuntur et arva
Bos, leo, grus, aquila, sus, canis, ursus, aper.
Non erit in nostris, moveat qui bella, diebus;
Amodo perpetue tempora pacis erunt.

Nor do the hoof-sounding steed, the griffins, nor the sheep accustomed to the wolves’ jaws fear: as a sheep the wolf stands among sheep.
One fountain they drink, the same fields they also graze
Ox, lion, crane, eagle, swine, dog, bear, boar.
There will not be in our days one to move wars;
From now on the times of perpetual peace will be.

Nulla manent hodie veteris vestigia fraudis,
Qua Tancridinus polluit error humum,
Ipsaque transibant derisi tempora regis.
Nam meus Augustus solus et unus erit,
Unus amor, commune bonum, rex omnibus unus,
Unus sol, unus pastor et una fides.

No vestiges of old fraud remain today,
by which the Tancredine error polluted the ground,
And the very times of the derided king were passing by.
For my Augustus alone and one will be,
One love, the common good, one king for all,
One sun, one shepherd and one faith.

<Particula XLIX.: Teatrum imperialis palacii>
Dic, mea Musa, precor, genuit que nobilis alvus
Henricum, vel que dextra cubile dedit?
Que superum nutrix dedit ubera, quis dedit artes ?
Quis puero tribuit scire vel arma viro ?
Quave domo genitus fuerit puer, aurea proles,
Quis pater, unde parens, dic, mea Musa, precor.
Est domus, etherei qua ludunt tempora veris,
Ipse domus paries ex adamante riget.

<Particle 49.: Theater of the imperial palace>
Say, my Muse, I pray, what noble womb begot Henry, or which right hand gave a couch?
Which nurse of the supernal gave the breasts, who gave the arts?
Who bestowed to the boy knowledge, or to the man arms?
And in what house the boy, the golden progeny, was begotten,
Who the father, whence the parent, say, my Muse, I pray.
There is a house, where the seasons of ethereal spring play,
The very wall of the house stiffens with adamant.

Ante domum patulo preludit sole teatrum,
Quo salit in medio fons, Arethusa, tuus.
Ipsa quater denis innititur aula columpnis,
In quibus imperii tota quiescit humus.
Hic Corradus adest, iuris servator et equi,
Scribens edictum, certa tributa legens.

Before the house the theater preludes under the broad sun,
where in the middle your fountain, Arethusa, leaps.
The hall itself rests upon forty columns,
upon which the whole ground of the empire reposes.
Here Conrad is present, guardian of law and equity,
writing an edict, assessing fixed tributes.

Cancellos reserans, mundi signacula solvens,
Colligit Italicas, alter Homerus, opes.
Nulla fames auri, sitis illi nulla metalli;
Res nova, quam loquimur: mens sua numen habet.
Diligit ecclesiam nec matrem filius odit,
Dux evangelii, iuris aperta manus.

Unbarring the lattices, loosening the seals of the world,
he gathers Italian wealth, a second Homer.
No hunger for gold, no thirst for metal is his;
a new thing, which we speak of: his mind has a divinity.
He loves the church, nor does the son hate the mother,
a leader of the gospel, the open hand of law.

Angelus in multos necnon paracletus in omnes
Mittitur, et missi fatur in ore deus.
Hic Marcualdus, cui se Neptunus ad omne
Velle dedit, cui Mars se dedit esse parem.
Illuc conveniunt ex omni cardine mundi,
Dantes Augusto plena tributa, duces,
Quos brevis absolvit positis apodixa tributis,
Quam tua, Corrade, griphea signat avis.

An angel to many and likewise the Paraclete to all
is sent, and God speaks in the mouth of the one sent.
Here Marcualdus, to whom Neptune gave himself for every
wish, to whom Mars gave himself to be an equal.
Thither they convene from every cardinal point of the world,
dukes giving full tributes to the Augustus,
whom a brief apodixa, the tributes having been laid down, absolves,
which your griffin-bird, Conrad, seals.

Hic grave pondus Arabs missi deliberat auri,
Hic melechinas exhibet Indus opes
Et decus et precium, gemmas dat Persis et aurum,
Materiam superans mittit Egyptus opus.
Argentum, gemmas, auri genus, inclite Cesar,
Delicias hominum, quas habet orbis, habes.

Here the Arab weighs the heavy weight of sent gold,
here the Indian exhibits kingly riches
and both adornment and price: Persia gives gems and gold,
Egypt sends workmanship surpassing the material.
Silver, gems, every kind of gold, illustrious Caesar,
the delights of mankind which the world possesses, you possess.

<Particula L.: Domus imperialis palacii>
In talamos sex una domus partitur, et horum
Prima creatoris regia scribit opus.
Illic in specie super undas diva columbe
Maiestas operum pingitur, ipse deus.
Altera fatiferum cataclismi pingit abyssum.

<Particle 50.: The imperial house of the palace>
Into six bridal chambers one house is divided, and of these
the first, the royal hall of the creator, inscribes the work.
There in the appearance above the waves of the divine dove
the Majesty of the works is painted, god himself.
Another depicts the death-bringing abyss of the cataclysm.

Tercia fert Habrahe credulitatis iter.
Quarta Faraonem submergens nudat Egyptum.
Quinta domus David tempora regis habet.

The third bears Abraham’s journey of belief.
The fourth, submerging Pharaoh, lays Egypt bare.
The fifth house holds the times of King David.

Sexta Fredericum divo depingit amictu,
Cesarea septum prole senile latus.
Hic Fredericus ovans in milibus undique fretus
Fervidus in Christo miles iturus erat.
Hic erat annosum multa nemus ylice septum,
Non nisi per gladios silva datura vias.

The sixth depicts Frederick in divine vesture,
his aged flank fenced round with Caesarean progeny.
Here Frederick, exultant, relying on thousands on every side,
a fervid soldier in Christ, was about to set forth.
Here there was an aged grove, hedged with much ilex holm‑oak,
the forest ready to grant paths only by means of swords.

In nemus omne furit ferrum, nemus omne favillat,
Fit via, quod dudum parte negabat iter.
Hic erat, infide, tua fallax, Ungare, dextra,
Qualiter invito te Fredericus abit.
Hic Ysaac mentita fides et fictile fedus,
Illic Grecorum non sine cede dolus,
Hic obsessa Polis necnon plantata per annum
Vinea, cesaree quam coluere manus.

Into the whole grove the iron rages, it reduces the whole grove to ashes,
A road is made, where a little before the route was denying passage.
Here was, faithless one, your treacherous right hand, O Hungarian,
how Frederick departs with you unwilling.
Here Isaac’s mendacious faith and a fictitious treaty,
There the Greeks’ guile not without slaughter,
Here the City besieged and likewise a Vineyard planted for a year
a Vineyard, which Caesarean hands cultivated.

Hic Conii pinguntur opes et bella ferocis,
Hic Frederici ales fulminat ense procer.
Hic pater arma tenet; subit illic filius urbem,
Pars prior Augusto sub seniore cadit.
At postquam Conii spoliis saturantur et auro,
Castra movent; nec eis cura quietis erat.

Here are painted the wealth of Iconium and the wars of the fierce one,
Here Frederick’s eagle fulminates with the sword, O noble.
Here the father holds arms; there the son enters the city,
The prior part falls under the elder Augustus.
But after they are sated with the spoils and gold of Iconium,
They move the camp; nor was there for them any care of rest.

Proh dolor, ad flumen ponunt temtoria Tharsis,
Quo lacerat tumidas nans Fredericus aquas.
Suspectas invenit aquas, qui raptus ab undis
Exuit humanum, servit et ante deum.
Vivit in eternum Fredericus, lancea cuius
Nunquam fraudato cuspide versa fuit.

Alas, they set the tents at the river Tharsis,
where Frederick, swimming, lacerates the swollen waters.
He finds the waters suspect, he who, snatched by the waves,
put off the human, and serves even before God.
Frederick lives forever, whose spear
was never turned with its point defrauded.

<Particula LI.: De septem artibus liberalibus>
Illic diva parens superum, Sapientia mater,
Uberis Henrico munera digna dabat.
Ipsa ministrantes septem conventa sorores,
Ut puerum doceant, officiosa rogat.
Prima loqui recte docet, altera iurgia lingue,
Tercia conditos reddit in ore sonos.

<Little Part 51: On the seven liberal arts>
There the divine parent of the gods, Mother Wisdom,
was giving to Henry gifts worthy of abundance.
She herself, the seven ministering sisters assembled,
dutifully asks that they teach the boy.
The first teaches to speak rightly, the second the contests of the tongue,
the third renders seasoned sounds upon the lips.

Quarta, quid astra velint, cum visa coire retrorsum,
Quinta docet numerum pro ratione legi.
Sexta gradus in voce suos docet impare cantu,
Septima metiri posse magistrat humum.
Suscipit in gremio virtutum gratia mater
Ore virum, iuvenem corpore, mente senem,
Quem virtus dilapsa polo sic possidet omnis,
Singula quod virtus asserat esse suum.

Fourth, what the stars mean, when seen to come together backward,
Fifth teaches number to be read according to reason.
Sixth teaches its steps in the voice with odd-numbered song,
Seventh instructs that the ground can be measured.
Grace, mother of virtues, receives into her lap
a man in mouth, a youth in body, an old man in mind,
whom every virtue, having descended from the pole, thus possesses,
in that each several virtue asserts him to be its own.

Hec mores informat et usibus illa coaptat;
Hec sibi preiustum vendicat, illa pium;
Hec, ubi res poscit, rigidum facit, illa modestum:
Lex quandoque potest de pietate queri.
Arma fatigarant superos, que contulit illa:
Sic sic era rigent, arma quod hoste carent.
Quod Numidos, quod Sarmaticos sibi Roma subegit,
Unde redit Titan, nox ubi prima subit,
Magnus Alexander Darium quod vicit in armis,
Quod fuit imperio terra subacta suo,
Et quod Pompeium Cesar patresque fugavit,
Unde Tolomei crimen Egyptus habet:
Nullus ei similis, nisi proles, nemo secundus,
Diis meus Henricus equiperandus erit.

This one informs morals and that one fits them to uses;
this one claims for itself the most-just, that one the pious;
this one, when the matter demands, makes [him] rigid, that one modest:
the Law can sometimes be complained of on account of Piety.
Arms had wearied the supernal ones, which that one supplied:
thus, thus the bronzes grow stiff, because the arms lack an enemy.
That Rome subdued the Numidians and the Sarmatians to herself,
from where Titan returns, where first Night comes on;
that great Alexander conquered Darius in arms,
that the earth was brought under his imperium;
and that Caesar put Pompey and the Fathers to flight,
whence Egypt bears the crime of Ptolemy:
no one like him, save the offspring; none is second—
my Henry will be to be equaled with the gods.

Dicitur Henricus; latet hac in voce triumphus:
Quod latet, in partes littera ducta parit.
Certant virtutes, certatim munera prebent,
Crescit in Augusto gratia plena meo,
Infra quem gremium Sapientia dulce recepit:
Hec os ore docet, pectore pectus alit.

He is called Henry; in this word a triumph lies hidden:
What lies hidden, the letter, drawn into parts, brings forth.
The virtues contend, they proffer gifts in rivalry,
In my Augustus grace grows full,
Into whose lap Wisdom has sweetly taken her seat:
She teaches mouth with mouth, she nourishes breast with breast.

<Particula LII.: Sapientia convicians Fortune>
Inclita regales crispans Sapientia vultus
Aspera Fortune talia verba dedit:
"Sit tuus Andronicus, saturatus cede nepotis,
Cui cruor Ytalicus potus et esca fuit.
Sit tuus Andronicus, qui crassus cede suorum
Addidit ex omni stirpe necare probos.
Cuius ad extremum licet impar pena reatu,
Mors sua perpetuo vindice feda caret.

<Particle 52.: Wisdom reviling Fortune>
Illustrious Wisdom, corrugating her regal countenances,
gave such harsh words to Fortune:
"Let your Andronicus be, gorged with the slaughter of his grandson,
for whom Italian gore was drink and food.
Let your Andronicus be, who, fat with the slaughter of his own,
went on to slay the upright from every stock.
Although at the end the penalty was unequal to the guilt,
his own foul death lacks a perpetual avenger.

Sit tuus ille senex, qui raptus ut Yccarus alis
Occidit et pelago flet sua mersa ratis.
Occidit, ut quondam series inmensa gigantum,
Quis fuit imperium cura videre Iovis.
Sic et Tancredus multo miser ebrius auro
Occidit, in dominum dum tulit arma suum.

Let that old man be yours, who, snatched like Icarus on wings,
perished, and in the sea his own raft, submerged, laments.
He perished, as once the immense series of the Giants,
for whom it was a concern to behold Jove’s empire.
Thus too Tancred, wretched, drunk with much gold,
perished, when he bore arms against his own lord.

Si potes, Andronicum civilibus eripe telis;
Si potes, alterius regna tuere senis.
Nam meus Henricus materna sede sedebit,
In qua rex Salomon sedit in orbe potens.
Talis erit sedes: ebur uxorabit in auro;
Hoc hominum sensus exuperabit opus.

If you can, snatch Andronicus from civil weapons;
If you can, protect the realms of the other elder.
For my Henry will sit in the maternal seat,
in which King Solomon sat, mighty in the world.
Such will be the seat: ivory will be wedded in gold;
this work will surpass the understanding of men.

Bis senos habitura gradus Henricia sedes,
Ex auro sex, sex ex adhamante gradus,
Per quos fulvescent civili more leones:
Ordine suppositi iussa sedentis agant.
Procedant de sede throni, res ardua, grifes,
Procedant aquile seu Nucerinus aper,
Procedant rigidi nostra de sede leones,
Procedat fenix, nuncia pacis avis.
A leva Neptunus aquas castiget, et omne
Iuppiter a dextris corrigat ipse solum.

The Henrician seat, destined to have twice six steps,
six steps of gold, six steps of adamant,
along which the lions will grow tawny in the civic manner:
set beneath in order, let them carry out the commands of the one sitting.
Let them proceed from the seat of the throne—an arduous affair!—the griffins,
let the eagles proceed, or the Nucerian boar,
let the rigid lions proceed from our seat,
let the phoenix proceed, the bird, messenger of peace.
At the left let Neptune chastise the waters, and let Jupiter himself
on the right correct the whole land.

A leva citharam moveat Mercurius aure,
Omnividens dextra Phebus in aure legat.
Mars pre sede sedens gladiatus territet orbem,
Cogat ad imperium sidera, fata, deos."

On the left let Mercury move the golden cithara;
on the right let all-seeing Phoebus read in the ear.
Mars, sitting before the seat, sword-armed, let him terrify the orb;
let him compel to his command the stars, the fates, the gods."

Ego magister Petrus de Ebulo, servus imperatoris fidelis, hunc librum ad honorem Augusti composui. Fac mecum, domine, signum bonum, ut videant me Tancridini et confundantur. In aliquo beneficio mihi provideat dominus meus et deus meus, qui est et erit benedictus in secula.

I, Master Peter of Eboli, a faithful servant of the emperor, have composed this book to the honor of Augustus. Make for me, Lord, a good sign, so that the Tancredinians may see me and be confounded. In some benefice may my Lord and my God provide for me, who is and will be blessed unto the ages.

Amen.