Prudentius: LIBER PERISTEPHANON

Scripta sunt caelo duorum martyrum uocabula,
aureis quae Christus illic adnotauit litteris,
sanguinis notis eadem scripta terris tradidit. Pollet hoc felix per orbem terra Hibera stemmate,
hic locus dignus tenendis ossibus uisus deo,
qui beatorum pudicus esset hospes corporum. Hic calentes hausit undas caede tinctus duplici,
inlitas cruore sancto nunc harenas incolae
confrequentant obsecrantes uoce, uotis, munere.

The names of two martyrs have been written in heaven,
which Christ there has annotated with golden letters,
and he has handed down the same, written with marks of blood, to the earth. This happy Iberian land prevails throughout the world by this lineage,
this place seemed to God worthy for holding the bones,
that it might be a chaste host of the bodies of the blessed. Here, stained with twofold slaughter, it drank the hot waves,
the sands smeared with holy blood the inhabitants now
throng, beseeching with voice, with vows, with offering.

Exteri nec non et orbis huc colonus aduenit,
fama nam terras in omnes percucurrit proditrix
hic patronos esse mundi, quos precantes ambiant. Nemo puras hic rogando frustra congessit preces,
laetus hinc tersis reuertit supplicator fletibus
omne, quod iustum poposcit, inpetratum sentiens. Tanta pro nostris periclis cura suffragantium est,
non sinunt inane ut ullus uoce murmur fuderit,
audiunt statimque ad aurora regis aeterni ferunt.

Foreigners, and likewise the world’s inhabitant, comes hither;
for report—betraying herald—has run through all lands,
that here are the patrons of the world, whom they court in praying. No one here, by asking, has heaped up pure prayers in vain;
the suppliant returns hence joyful, his weepings wiped dry,
perceiving that everything which he justly requested has been obtained. So great is the care of the intercessors on behalf of our perils,
they do not allow that anyone should pour forth a murmur with his voice to no effect;
they hear, and straightway carry it to the ears of the eternal King.

Inde larga fonte ab ipso dona tetris influunt,
supplicum causas petitis quae medellis inrigant;
nil suis bonus negauit Christus umquam testibus, testibus, quos nec catenae, dura nec mors terruit
unicum deum fateri sanguinis dispendio,
sanguinis, sed tale damnum lux rependit longior. Hoc genus mortis decorum, hoc probis dignum uiris:
membra morbis exedenda texta uenis languidis
hostico donare ferro morte et hostem uincere.

Thence, from his very bountiful fountain, gifts flow to the gloomy,
which irrigate the cases of suppliants with sought remedies;
the good Christ has never denied anything to his own witnesses, witnesses whom neither chains nor harsh death terrified
to confess the one God at the expenditure of blood,
of blood; but such a loss longer light repaid. This kind of death is decorous, this worthy of men of probity:
to donate to hostile steel, by death, limbs, to be eaten away by diseases, woven with languid veins,
and to conquer the enemy.

Pulchra res ictum sub ense persecutoris pati,
nobilis per uulnus amplum porta iustis panditur,
lota mens in fonte rubro sede cordis exilit. Nec rudem crudi laboris ante uitam duxerant
milites, quos ad perenne cingulum Christus uocat,
sueta uirtus bello et armis nunc fidei militat. Caesaris uexilla linquunt, eligunt signum crucis
proque uentosis draconum, quos gerebant, palliis
praeferunt insigne lignum, quod draconem subdidit.

A fair thing it is to suffer a stroke beneath the sword of the persecutor,
through the ample wound a noble gate is opened to the just,
the washed mind in the red fountain springs from the seat of the heart. Nor in their former life had the soldiers deemed themselves raw to rough labor,
whom Christ calls to the everlasting girdle;
valor accustomed to war and arms now militates for faith. They leave Caesar’s standards, they choose the sign of the cross,
and instead of the wind-blown palls of dragons which they bore,
they carry before them the emblematic wood which subjected the dragon.

Vile censent expeditis ferre dextris spicula,
machinis murum ferire, castra fossis cingere,
inpias manus cruentis inquinare stragibus. Forte tunc atrox secundos Istrahelis posteros
ductor aulae mundialis ire ad aram iusserat,
idolis litare nigris, esse Christi defugas. Liberam succinta ferro pestis urgebat fidem;
illa uirgas et secures et bisulcas ungulas
ultro fortis expetebat Christi amore interrita.

They deem it base to bear darts in unencumbered right hands,
to smite the wall with engines, to gird camps with ditches,
to befoul impious hands with blood-soaked slaughters. By chance then a cruel
leader of the world’s court had ordered the latter offspring of Israel
to go to the altar, to sacrifice to black idols, to be deserters of Christ.
The pest, girt with iron, was pressing the free faith;
she, brave, of her own accord, was seeking rods and axes and two-forked claws,
undaunted by love of Christ.

Carcer inligata duris colla bacis inpedit,
barbaras forum per omne tortor exercet manus,
ueritas crimen putatur, uox fidelis plectitur. Tunc et ense caesa uirtus triste percussit solum
et rogis ingesta maestis ore flammas sorbuit,
dulce tunc iustis cremari, dulce ferrum perpeti. Hic duorum cara fratrum concalescunt pectora,
fida quos per omne tempus iunxerat sodalitas,
stant parati ferre, quidquid sors tulisset ultima,

Prison hinders necks bound with hard shackles,
the torturer exercises barbarous hands through the whole forum,
truth is considered a crime, the faithful voice is punished. Then too virtue, cut down by the sword, struck the sad soil
and, heaped upon mournful pyres, with its mouth gulped the flames,
then it was sweet for the just to be cremated, sweet to endure iron. Here the dear hearts of two brothers grow warm,
whom faithful sodality had joined through all time,
they stand ready to bear whatever the final lot would have brought,

seu foret praebenda ceruix ad bipennem publicam
uerberunt post uim crepantum, post catastas igneas,
siue pardis offerendum pectus aut leonibus. 'Nosne Christo procreati mammonae dicabimur
et dei formam gerentes seruiemus saeculo?
absit ut caelestis ignis se tenebris misceat.

whether the neck should be offered to the public two‑edged axe,
after the force of the cracking lashes, after the fiery racks,
or the breast be offered to pards or to lions. 'Shall we, begotten for Christ, be dedicated to Mammon
and, bearing the form of God, serve the world?
far be it that the heavenly fire should mix itself with darkness.

Sit satis, quod capta primo uita sub chirografo
debitum persoluit omne functa rebus Caesaris,
tempus est deo rependi, quidquid est proprium dei.

Let it be enough that life, first taken captive under a chirograph,
has paid in full every debt, having discharged the affairs of Caesar;
it is time for God to be repaid whatever is proper to God.

Ite, signorum magistri, et uos, tribuni, absistite,
aureos auferte torques, sauciorum praemia!
clara nos hinc angelorum iam uocant stipendia. Christus illic candidatis praesidet cohortibus
et throno regnans ab alto damnat infames deos
uosque, qui ridenda uobis monstra divos fingitis.' haec loquentes obruuntur mille poenis martyres,
nexibus manus utrasque flexus inuoluit rigor
et chalybs adtrita colla grauibus ambit circulis.

Go, masters of the standards, and you, tribunes, stand aside,
carry off the golden torcs, the prizes of the wounded!
from here already the bright stipends of the angels call us. Christ there presides over white-clad cohorts,
and, reigning from a lofty throne, condemns the infamous gods
and you as well, who for yourselves fashion laughable monsters as gods.' As they speak these things, the martyrs are overwhelmed by a thousand punishments,
and, bent, stiffness wraps both hands in bonds,
and steel encircles abraded necks with heavy collars.

O uetustatis silentis obsoleta obliuio!
inuidentur ista nobis fama et ipsa extinguitur,
chartulas blasfemus olim nam satelles abstulit, ne tenacibus libellis erudita saecula
ordinem, tempus modumque passionis proditum
dulcibus linguis per aures posterorum spargerent. Hoc tamen solum uetusta subtrahunt silentia,
iugibus longum catenis an capillum pauerint,
quo uiros dolore tortor quaue pompa ornauerit.

O outworn oblivion of silent antiquity!
these things are begrudged to us, and fame itself is extinguished,
for once a blasphemous henchman removed the little papers,
lest learned ages, with tenacious little books,
should scatter through the ears of posterity with sweet tongues
the order, the time, and the manner of the passion that had been handed down.
Yet this alone do ancient silences subtract:
whether with perpetual chains they have pounded the long hair,
with what pain the torturer has adorned the men, and with what pomp he has decked them.

Illa laus occulta non est nec senescit tempore,
missa quod sursum per auras euolarunt munera,
quae uiam patere caeli praemicando ostenderent. Illius fidem figurans nube fertur anulus,
hic sui dat pignus oris, ut ferunt, orarium,
quae superno rapta flatu lucis intrant intimum. Per poli liquentis axem fulgor auri absconditur
ac diu uisum sequacem textilis candor fugit,
subuehuntur usque in astra nec uidentur amplius.

That praise is not hidden nor does it grow old with time,
because the gifts, sent upward, flew out through the airs,
which, by shining in advance, showed that the way of heaven lies open. A ring is said to be borne in a cloud, shaping a token of his faith,
here, as they say, a handkerchief gives a pledge of his own face,
which, snatched by a supernal breath, enter the inmost of light. Along the axis of the limpid pole the glow of the gold is hidden,
and for a long time the textile whiteness eludes the pursuing gaze,
they are borne up to the stars and are seen no more.

Vidit hoc conuentus adstans, ipse uidit carnifex
et manum repressit haerens ac stupore obpalluit,
sed tamen peregit ictum, ne periret gloria. Iamne credis, bruta quondam Vasconum gentilitas,
quam sacrum crudelis error immolarit sanguinem?
credis in deum relatos hostiarum spiritus?

The assembly standing by saw this; the executioner himself saw it
and, clinging in hesitation, he checked his hand and grew pallid with stupefaction,
but nevertheless he carried through the stroke, lest the glory perish. Do you now believe, O once-brutish people of the Vascones,
how much sacred blood cruel error has immolated?
do you believe that the spirits of the victims have been borne up to God?

Cerne, quam palam feroces hic domentur daemones,
qui lupino capta ritu deuorant praecordia,
strangulant mentes et ipsas seque miscent sensibus.

Behold, how openly the ferocious demons are here tamed,
who, in lupine rite, devour the precordia they have seized,
strangle minds and mingle themselves with the very senses.

Tunc suo iam plenus hoste sistitur furens homo
spumeas efflans saliuas, cruda torquens lumina,
expiandus quaestione non suorum criminum, audias, nec tortor adstat, heiulatus flebiles,
scinditur per flagra corpus, nec flagellum cernitur,
crescit et suspensus ipse uinculis latentibus. His modis spurcum latronem martyrum uirtus quatit,
haec coercet, torquet, urit, haec catenas incutit,
praedo uexatus relictis se medullis exuit.

Then the man, now full of his own enemy, is set forth raging,
breathing out foamy spittle, wrenching his wild eyes,
to be expiated by inquisition for crimes not his own—you would hear piteous wailings—and no torturer stands by;
the body is torn by lashes, and no scourge is seen,
and he himself rises, suspended by hidden bonds. By such means the power of the martyrs shakes the filthy brigand;
this restrains, racks, burns; this hurls on chains,
the marauder, tormented, strips himself away, leaving the very marrows.

Linquit inlaesam rapinam, faucibus siccis fugit,
ungue ab imo usque ad capillum salua reddit omnia
confitens ardere sese; nam gehennae est incola. Quid loquar purgata longis alba morbis corpora,
algidus cum decoloros horror artus concutit,
hic tumor uultum relinquit, hic color uerus redit? Hoc bonum saluator ipse, quo fruamur, praestitit,
martyrum cum membra nostro consecrauit oppido,
sospitant quae nunc colonos, quos Hiberus alluit.

He leaves the plunder uninjured, with dry jaws he flees,
he renders back everything safe and sound, from the nail up to the hair,
confessing that he burns; for he is an inhabitant of Gehenna. What should I say of bodies made white, purged from long diseases,
when a chill horror shakes discolored limbs,
here swelling leaves the face, here true color returns? This good the Savior himself has furnished, that we may enjoy it,
when he consecrated the limbs of the martyrs in our town,
which now safeguard the settlers whom the Hiberus bathes.

State nunc, hymnite, matres, pro receptis paruulis,
coniugum salute laeta uox maritarum strepat,
sit dies haec festa nobis, sit sacratum gaudium!

Stand now, hymn, mothers, for the recovered little ones,
let the glad voice of the married women resound for the safety of their husbands,
let this day be festal for us, let the joy be consecrated!