Prudentius: LIBER PERISTEPHANON

Innumeros cineres sanctorum Romula in urbe
uidimus, o Christi Valeriane sacer.
Incisos tumulis titulos et singula quaeris
nomina: difficile est, ut replicare queam.
Tantos iustorum populos furor inpius hausit,
cum coleret patrios Troia Roma deos.

Innumerable ashes of the saints in the Romulean city
we have seen, O Valerian, sacred to Christ.
Inscribed titles on the tombs, and you ask
the individual names: it is difficult, that I might be able to recount.
So many peoples of the just did an impious fury drink up,
when Troy-Rome was worshiping the ancestral gods.

Plurima litterulis signata sepulcra 1oquuntur
martyris aut nomen aut epigramma aliquod,
sunt et muta tamen tacitas claudentia tumbas
marmora, quae solum significant numerum.
Quanta uirum iaceant congestis corpora aceruis,
nosse licet, quorum nomina nulla legas.
Sexaginta illic defossas mole sub una
reliquias memini me didicisse hominum,
quorum solus habet conperta uocabula Christus,
utpote quos propriae iunxit amicitiae.

Very many sepulchres marked with little letters speak
either the name of a martyr or some epigram;
and yet there are mute marbles closing silent tombs,
marbles which signify only the number.
How many bodies of men lie in heaped-up piles,
you may know, though you read no names.
Sixty there I remember I learned were buried beneath one single mass,
the relics of men,
whose ascertained names Christ alone possesses,
inasmuch as He joined them to His own friendship.

Haec dum lustro oculis et sicubi forte latentes
rerum apices ueterum per monumenta sequor,
inuenio Hippolytum, qui quondam scisma Nouati
presbiter attigerat nostra sequenda negans,
usque ad martyrii prouectum insigne tulisse
lucida sanguinei praemia supplicii.
Nec mirere senem peruersi dogmatis olim
munere ditatum catholicae fidei.
Cum iam uaesano uictor raperetur ab hoste
exultante anima carnis ad exitium,
plebis amore suae multis comitantibus ibat;
consultus quaenam secta foret melior,
respondit: 'fugite, o miseri, execranda Nouati
scismata, catholicis reddite uos populis!

While I survey these things with my eyes and, wherever by chance, I follow through the monuments the hidden chief points of ancient affairs,
I find Hippolytus, who once, a presbyter, had approached the schism of Novatus, denying that ours were to be followed,
to have borne, advanced to the distinction of martyrdom, the shining rewards of a blood-stained punishment.
Nor marvel that the old man, once endowed by the gift of perverse dogma,
was enriched for the catholic faith. When now, as victor, he was being snatched away by the frenzied foe,
his soul exulting, to the destruction of the flesh,
by love of his people, with many accompanying, he was going; when asked which sect would be better,
he answered: ‘Flee, O wretched ones, the accursed schisms of Novatus; restore yourselves to the catholic peoples!’

Vna fides uigeat, prisco quae condita templo est,
quam Paulus retinet quamque cathedra Petri.
Quae docui, docuisse piget: uenerabile martyr
cerno, quod a cultu rebar abesse dei.'
His ubi detorsit laeuo de tramite plebem
monstrauitque sequi, qua uia dextra uocat,
seque ducem recti spretis anfractibus idem
praebuit, erroris qui prius auctor erat,
sistitur insano rectori christicolas tunc
ostia uexanti per Tiberina uiros.
Illo namque die Roma secesserat, ipsos
peste Suburbanos ut quateret populos,
non contentus humum celsae intra moenia Romae
tinguere iustorum caedibus assiduis.

Let one faith thrive, which was founded in the ancient temple,
which Paul maintains and the cathedra of Peter as well.
What I taught, I regret to have taught: venerable martyr,
I discern what I supposed was absent from the worship of God.'
When by these things he turned the people from the left-hand path
and showed them to follow where the right way calls,
and he, the same who earlier had been an author of error,
offered himself as a leader of the right, the windings spurned,
he is set before the insane ruler, then harassing the Christ-followers
through the Tiber mouths at Ostia.
For on that day he had withdrawn from Rome, so that he might batter
the very Suburban peoples with a pest,
not content to stain the soil within the walls of lofty Rome
with the continual slaughters of the just.

Ianiculum cum iam madidum, fora, rostra, Suburam
cerneret eluuie sanguinis affluere,
protulerat rabiem Tyrreni ad litoris oram
quaeque loca aequoreus proxima portus habet.
Inter carnifices et constipata sedebat
officia extructo celsior in solio,
discipulos fidei detestandique rebelles
idolii ardebat dedere perfidiae.
Carcereo crinita situ stare agmina contra
iusserat horrendis excrucianda modis.

When he now saw the Janiculum, the forums, the Rostra, the Subura
to overflow, soaked with a deluge of blood,
he had carried forth his rage to the shore of the Tyrrhenian littoral
and to whatever places the sea-borne harbor holds nearest.
Among executioners and the packed offices he sat,
loftier on a built-up throne,
he burned to hand over the disciples of the faith and rebels
detesting the idol to perfidy.
He had ordered ranks, long-haired with prison-filth,
to stand before him, to be tortured by horrendous modes.

Inde catenarum tractus, hinc lorea flagra
stridere, uirgarum concrepitare fragor,
ungula fixa cauis costarum cratibus altos
pandere secessus et lacerare iecur.
Ac iam lassatis iudex tortoribus ibat
in furias cassa cognitione fremens --
nullus enim Christi ex famulis per tanta repertus
supplicia, auderet qui uitiare animam --
inde furens quaesitor ait: 'iam, tortor, ab unco
desine, si uana est quaestio, morte agito.
Huic abscide caput, crux istum tollat in auras
uiuentesque oculos offerat alitibus;
hos rape praecipites et uinctos conice in ignem,
sit pyra, quae multos deuoret una reos.

From there the dragging of chains, from here leather scourges
stridulating, the rattling crash of rods clattering;
the hook fixed in the hollow lattices of the ribs to open up deep
recesses and to lacerate the liver.
And now, with the torturers wearied, the judge was passing
into furies, roaring at a fruitless inquest --
for no one, out of the servants of Christ, found through such great
torments, would dare to defile his soul --
then the raging inquisitor says: 'now, tormentor, from the hook
desist; if the inquiry is vain, drive on with death.
Cut off this one’s head; let the cross lift that one into the breezes
and offer his living eyes to the birds of prey;
snatch these headlong and, bound, hurl them into the fire—
let there be a pyre which may devour many guilty at once.

En tibi, quos properes rimosae inponere cumbae
pellere et in medii stagna profunda freti.
Quos ubi susceptos rabidum male suta per aequor
uexerit et tumidis caesa labarit aquis,
dissociata putrem laxent tabulata carinam
conceptumque bibant undique naufragium.
Squamea caenoso praestabit uentre sepulcrum
belua consumptis cruda cadaueribus.'
Haec persultanti celsum subito ante tribunal
offertur senior nexibus inplicitus.

Lo, for you, those whom you may hasten to set upon a leaky skiff
to drive and into the deep pools of the mid-sea.
When, once taken on, the rabid sea, with seams ill-sewn, has carried them over
and, smitten, it totters on the swollen waters,
let the sundered planks loosen the rotten hull
and drink in on every side the conceived shipwreck.
A scaly beast will furnish a sepulcher with its muddy belly,
raw with cadavers it has consumed.'
As he was capering with these things, suddenly before the lofty tribunal
there is presented an old man, entangled in bonds.

Stipati circum iuuenes clamore ferebant
ipsum christicolis esse caput populis:
si rorer extinctum propere caput, omnia uulgi
pectora Romanis sponte sacranda deis.
Insolitum leti poscunt genus et noua poenae
inuenta, exemplo quo trepident alii.
Ille supinata residens ceruice: 'quis', inquit,
'dicitur?' adfirmant dicier Hippolytum.

Packed around, the youths were proclaiming with a clamor
that he himself was the head for the Christ‑worshipping peoples:
if the head were promptly extinguished, all the hearts of the mob
would of their own accord be consecrated to the Roman gods.
They demand an unusual kind of death and novel inventions of penalty,
devised so that others might tremble by the example.
He, sitting with neck upturned: 'who,' he says,
'is named?' They affirm that Hippolytus is said.

'Ergo sit Hippolytus, quatiat turbetque iugales
intereatque feris dilaceratus equis.'
Vix haec ille, duo cogunt animalia freni
ignara insueto subdere colla iugo,
non stabulis blandius manu palpata magistri
imperiumque equitis ante subacta pati,
sed campestre uago nuper pecus e grege captum,
quod pauor indomito corde ferinus agit.
Iamque reluctantes sociarant uincula bigas
oraque discordi foedere nexuerant:
temonis uice funis inest, qui terga duorum
diuidit et medius tangit utrumque latus,
deque iugo in longum se post uestigia retro
protendens trahitur transit et ima pedum.
Huius ad extremum, sequitur qua puluere summo
cornipedum refugas orbita trita uias,
crura uiri innectit laqueus nodoque tenaci
adstringit plantas cumque rudente ligat.

'Therefore let it be Hippolytus; let him shake and throw into turmoil the yoke-fellows,
perish, too, torn to pieces by wild horses.'
Hardly had he said this, when the reins compel two creatures,
unknowing, to submit their necks beneath an unaccustomed yoke,
not those more coaxed by a master's hand, stroked in the stables,
and previously broken to endure a horseman's command,
but a field-beast lately seized from a wandering herd,
which a feral fear drives with an untamed heart.
And now the bonds had joined the reluctant pair to the two-horse chariot
and had bound their mouths with a discordant compact:
in place of the pole there is a rope, which divides the backs of the two
and, in the middle, touches either side,
and from the yoke, stretching itself out long backward after their footprints,
it is dragged and even passes beneath the lowest of the feet.
At the end of this, where, in the topmost dust,
the worn track follows the fleeing paths of the hoof-footed,
a noose entwines the man's legs and with a tenacious knot
constricts the soles and ties them together with the cable.

Postquam conposito satis instruxere paratu
martyris ad poenam uerbera, uincla, feras,
instigant subitis clamoribus atque flagellis
iliaque infestis perfodiunt stimulis.
Vltima uox audita senis uenerabilis haec est:
'hi rapiant artus, tu rape, Christe, animam!'
Prorumpunt alacres caecoque errore feruntur,
qua sonus atque tremor, qua furor exagitant.
Incendit feritas, rapit impetus et fragor urget
nec cursus uolucer mobile sentit onus.

After, with the preparation set in order, they sufficiently equipped for the martyr’s punishment scourges, bonds, and wild beasts,
they goad him on with sudden shouts and with whips, and they stab his flanks with hostile goads.
The last word heard of the venerable old man is this:
“let these seize the limbs; you, Christ, seize the soul!”
They burst forth eager and are borne in blind wandering, where sound and shaking, where frenzy drive them on.
Savageness inflames, the impetus snatches them along and the crash urges, nor does the flying course feel the shifting burden.

Per siluas, per saxa ruunt, non ripa retardat
fluminis aut torrens oppositus cohibet,
prosternunt saepes et cuncta obstacula rumpunt,
prona, fragosa petunt, ardua transiliunt.
Scissa minutatim labefacto corpore frusta
carpit spinigeris stirpibus hyrtus ager.
Pars summis pendet scopulis, pars sentibus haeret,
parte rubent frondes, parte madescit humus.

Through forests, through rocks they rush; not the bank
of the river retards, nor does a torrent set against restrain;
they lay low hedges and break all obstacles;
they seek sloping, broken places, they leap over the steep.
Torn pieces, bit by bit, from the loosened body
the bristly field plucks with thorn-bearing stalks.
Part hangs from the highest crags, part clings to brambles;
in part the fronds redden, in part the soil grows wet.

Exemplar sceleris paries habet inlitus, in quo
multicolor fucus digerit omne nefas,
picta super tumulum species liquidis uiget umbris
effigians tracti membra cruenta uiri.
Rorantes saxorum apices uidi, optime papa,
purpureasque notas uepribus inpositas.
Docta manus uirides imitando effingere dumos
luserat et minio russeolam saniem.

A wall, plastered over, holds the exemplar of the crime, in which
multicolored pigment arranges every nefarious deed;
the painted appearance above the tomb thrives with limpid shadows,
depicting the bloody limbs of the man dragged along.
I saw the dripping tips of the rocks, most excellent Pope,
and purple marks imposed upon the brambles.
The skilled hand, by imitation, had played at fashioning green thorn-bushes,
and with minium a russet-red gore.

Cernere erat ruptis conpagibus ordine nullo
membra per incertos sparsa iacere situs.
Addiderat caros gressu lacrimisque sequentes,
deuia quo fractum semita monstrat iter.
Maerore attoniti atque oculis rimantibus ibant
inplebantque sinus uisceribus laceris.

It was to see, with the joints broken, in no order
the limbs lying scattered through uncertain sites.
He had added the beloved, following with their step and with tears,
where a devious footpath points out the broken way.
Thunderstruck with grief and with eyes searching they went
and were filling the folds of their garments with lacerated entrails.

Ille caput niueum conplectitur ac reuerendam
canitiem molli confouet in gremio;
hic umeros truncasque manus et bracchia et ulnas
et genua et crurum fragmina nuda legit.
Palliolis etiam bibulae siccantur harenae,
ne quis in infecto puluere ros maneat.
Si quis et in sudibus recalenti aspergine sanguis
insidet, hunc omnem spongia pressa rapit.

That one embraces the snowy head and the reverend
grayness, and cherishes it in his soft lap;
this one gathers the shoulders and the truncated hands and the arms and the ulnae,
and the knees, and the bare fragments of the legs.
Even the bibulous sands are dried with little cloaks,
lest any dew remain in the tainted dust.
And if on the stakes blood, with a still-warm sprinkling,
settles, a pressed sponge snatches all of it away.

Nec iam densa sacro quidquam de corpore silua
obtinet aut plenis fraudat ab exequiis.
Cumque recensetis constaret partibus ille,
corporis integri qui fuerat numerus,
nec purgata aliquid deberent auia toto
ex homine extersis frondibus et scopulis,
metando eligitur tumulo locus, ostia linquunt,
Roma placet, sanctos quae teneat cineres.
Haud procul extremo culta ad pomeria uallo
mersa latebrosis crypta patet foueis.

No longer does the dense woodland hold anything from the sacred body,
or defraud it of full obsequies.
And when, with the parts recensed, there stood firm
the number which had been of an intact body,
nor should the purged trackless places be owing anything from the whole man,
with the leaves and crags wiped clean,
by meting-out a place is chosen for the tomb; they leave Ostia,
Rome pleases, to hold the holy ashes.
Not far from the outermost rampart, near the tended pomerium,
a crypt, submerged and open with lurking pits, lies exposed.

Huius in occultum gradibus uia prona reflexis
ire per anfractus luce latente docet.
Primas namque fores summo tenus intrat hiatu
inlustratque dies limina uestibuli.
Inde ubi progressu facili nigrescere uisa cst
nox obscura loci per specus ambiguum,
occurrunt celsis inmissa foramina tectis,
quae iaciant claros antra super radios.

This downward way into the hidden, with steps bent back,
teaches one to go through windings, while the light lies latent.
For the first doors are entered only as far as a topmost yawning gap,
and daylight illuminates the thresholds of the vestibule.
Then, when with easy advance the dark night of the place
seemed to grow black through the ambiguous cavern,
apertures let into the lofty roofs present themselves,
which cast bright rays over the caverns.

Quamlibet ancipites texant hinc inde recessus
arta sub umbrosis atria porticibus,
at tamen excisi subter caua uiscera montis
crebra terebrato fornice lux penetrat.
Sic datur absentis per subterranea solis
cernere fulgorem luminibusque frui.
Talibus Hippolyti corpus mandatur opertis,
propter ubi adposita est ara dicata deo.

However much on this side and that the twofold recesses may weave
narrow atria beneath shadowy porticoes,
yet nevertheless beneath the hollow viscera of the hewn mountain
frequent light penetrates through the perforated vault.
Thus, through subterranean places, of the absent sun
to discern the splendor and to enjoy it with the eyes.
In such coverts the body of Hippolytus is consigned,
nearby where an altar dedicated to the god has been set.

Illa sacramenti donatrix mensa eademque
custos fida sui martyris adposita
seruat ad aeterni spem uindicis ossa sepulcro,
pascit item sanctis Tibricolas dapibus.
Mira loci pietas et prompta precantibus ara
spes hominum placida prosperitate iuuat.
Hic corruptelis animique et corporis aeger
oraui quotiens stratus, opem merui.

That table, giver of the sacrament, and likewise
set as the faithful guardian of its martyr,
keeps the bones in the sepulcher in the hope of the eternal Vindicator,
and likewise feeds the Tiber-dwellers with holy banquets.
The wondrous piety of the place and the altar ready for those who pray
helps the hope of men with placid prosperity.
Here, sick with the corruptions of mind and body,
as often as I prayed prostrate, I merited aid.

Quod laetor reditu, quod re, uenerande sacerdos,
conplecti licitum est, scribo quod haec eadem,
Hippolyto scio me debere, deus cui Christus
posse dedit, quod quis postulet, adnuere.
Ipsa, illas animae exuuias quae continet intus,
aedicula argento fulgurat ex solido.
Praefixit tabulas diues manus aequore leui
candentes, recauum quale nitet speculum,
nec Pariis contenta aditus obducere saxis
addidit ornando clara talenta operi.

That I rejoice at your return, that in person, venerable priest,
it was permitted to embrace, I write that these same things,
I know I owe to Hippolytus, to whom God Christ
gave the power to assent to what anyone requests.
The aedicule itself, which within contains those cast-offs of the soul,
gleams with solid silver.
A wealthy hand has fastened plates, gleaming with a smooth surface,
shining as a concave mirror shines,
and not content to sheathe the entrances with Parian stones
added bright talents to adorn the work.

Mane salutatum concurritur: omnis adorat
pubis, eunt, redeunt solis adusque obitum.
Conglobat in cuneum Latios simul ac peregrinos
permixtim populos religionis amor.
Oscula perspicuo figunt inpressa metallo,
balsama defundunt, fletibus ora rigant.

In the morning they run together for salutation: all the youth adores;
they go, they return to the very setting of the sun.
Love of religion conglobates into a wedge both Latins and peregrines,
peoples mingled together.
They fasten kisses, imprinted, upon the clear-shining metal,
they decant balms, they moisten their faces with tears.

Iam cum se renouat decursis mensibus annus
natalemque diem passio festa refert,
quanta putas studiis certantibus agmina cogi
quaeue celebrando uota coire deo!
Vrbs augusta suos uomit effunditque Quirites,
una et patricios ambitione pari
Confundit plebeia falanx umbonibus aequis
discrimen procerum praecipitante fide.
Nec minus Albanis acies se candida portis
explicat et longis ducitur ordinibus,
exultant fremitus uariarum hinc inde uiarmn,
indigena et Picens plebs et Etrusca uenit.

Now when the year renews itself with the months run through,
and the Passion, festive, brings back the natal day,
how great, think you, are the throngs gathered with competing zeal,
and what vows come together for celebrating God!
The august City vomits forth and pours out her Quirites,
and the patricians as one too, with ambition equal,
the plebeian phalanx confounds with equal shield-bosses,
faith headlong precipitating the distinction of the nobles.
No less does a white battle-line from the Alban gates
deploy itself and is drawn in long ranks,
the murmurs of the various roads exulting here and there,
the native folk and the Picene plebs and the Etruscan come.

Concurrit Samnitis atrox, habitator et altae
Campanus Capuae iamque Nolanus adest,
quisque sua laetus cum coniuge dulcibus et cum
pigneribus rapidum carpere gestit iter.
Vix capiunt patuli populorum gaudia campi
haeret et in magnis densa cohors spatiis.
Angustum tantis illud specus esse cateruis
haud dubium est, ampla fauce licet pateat.

The fierce Samnite runs together, and the Campanian dweller of lofty
Capua, and now the Nolan is present,
each, happy with his wife and with sweet pledges, longs
to seize the rapid journey.
Scarcely do the spreading fields contain the joys of the peoples;
and the dense cohort sticks fast even in great spaces.
That cave is doubtless narrow for such great crowds,
though it gapes open with a wide throat.

Stat sed iuxta aliud, quod tanta frequentia templum
tunc adeat cultu nobile regifico,
parietibus celsum sublimibus atque superba
maiestate potens muneribusque opulens.
Ordo columnarum geminus laquearia tecti
sustinet auratis suppositus trabibus.
Adduntur graciles tecto breuiore recessus,
qui laterum seriem iugiter exsinuent,
At medios aperit tractus uia latior alti
culminis exsurgens editiore apice.

But there stands close by another, a temple which at that time such a multitude visits, noble with regal cult;
lofty with towering walls and powerful with proud majesty and opulent in gifts.
A twin order of columns supports the coffered ceilings of the roof,
resting upon gilded beams.
Slender recesses are added with a lower roof,
which continuously make the line of the sides undulate;
But a broader way opens the middle stretches, rising with a higher roof
and with a loftier summit of the elevated ridge.

Fronte sub aduersa gradibus sublime tribunal
tollitur, antistes praedicat unde deum.
Plena laborantes aegre domus accipit undas
artaque confertis aestuat in foribus
maternum pandens gremium, quo condat alumnos
ac foueat fetos adcumulata sinus.
Si bene commemini, colit hunc pulcherrima Roma
Idibus Augusti mensis, ut ipsa uocat
prisco more diem, quem te quoque, sancte magister,
annua festa inter dinumerare uelim.

Beneath the facing front a lofty tribunal is raised by steps,
whence the prelate preaches God.
The full house with difficulty receives the toiling waves,
and, cramped, it seethes in the crowded doorways,
opening a maternal lap, wherein it may store its nurslings
and cherish its offspring, with the bosom’s folds heaped up.
If I remember well, most beautiful Rome celebrates this
on the Ides of the month of August, as she herself calls the day by ancient custom,
which I would wish to reckon you also, holy master,
among the annual feasts.

Crede, salutigeros feret hic uenerantibus ortus
lucis honoratae praemia restituens.
Inter sollemnes Cypriani uel Chelidoni
Eulaliaeque dies currat et iste tibi.
Sic te pro populo, cuius tibi credita uita est,
orantem Christus audiat omnipotens;
sic tibi de pleno lupus excludatur ouili
agna nec ulla tuum capta gregem minuat;
sic me gramineo remanentem denique campo
sedulus aegrotam pastor ouem referas;
sic, cum lacteolis caulas conpleueris agnis,
raptus et ipse sacro sis comes Hippolyto.

Believe, this one will bring to those who venerate salvation-bearing dawns,
restoring the rewards of honored light.
Let this day too be counted for you among the solemn days of Cyprian or of Chelidon
and of Eulalia.
So may omnipotent Christ hear you praying for the people whose life has been entrusted to you;
so for you may the wolf be shut out from the full sheepfold,
and may no lamb, once seized, diminish your flock;
so may you, a diligent shepherd, carry me back at last, left behind on the grassy field,
a sick sheep;
so, when you have filled the folds with milk-white lambkins,
may you yourself, caught up, be a companion to sacred Hippolytus.