Prudentius: LIBER PERISTEPHANON

Germine nobilis Eulalia
mortis et indole nobilior
Emeritam sacra uirgo suam,
cuius ab ubere progenita est,
ossibus ornat, amore colit. Proximus occiduo locus est,
qui tulit hoc decus egregium,
urbe potens, populis locuples,
sed mage sanguine martyrii
uirgineoque potens titulo. Curriculis tribus atque nouem
tris hiemes quater adtigerat,
cum crepitante pyra trepidos
terruit aspera carnifices
supplicium sibi dulce rata.

Eulalia, noble in lineage,
and nobler by death and by nature,
the holy virgin adorns her own Emerita,
from whose breast she was begotten;
with her bones she adorns it, with love she cherishes it. Near to the west is the place,
which bore this distinguished glory,
powerful in its city, wealthy in peoples,
but more powerful by the blood of martyrdom
and by the virginal title. By courses three and nine
she had touched three winters four times,
when, with the pyre crackling, she frightened
the trembling, harsh executioners,
having deemed the punishment sweet for herself.

lam dederat prius indiciun,
tendere se patris ad solium
nec sua membra dicata toro:
ipsa crepundia reppulerat
ludere nescia pusiola; spernere sucina, flere rosas,
fulua monilia respuere,
ore seuera, modesta gradu,
moribus et nimium teneris
canitiem meditata senum. Ast ubi se furiata luis
excitat in famulos domini
christicolasque cruenta iubet
tura cremare, iecur pecudis
mortiferis adolere deis,

Already she had previously given an indication,
that she was tending to the Father’s throne
and that her limbs were not dedicated to the marriage-bed:
she herself had driven away the rattles,
a little girl unknowing how to play; to spurn ambers, to weep over roses,
to reject tawny necklaces,
severe in countenance, modest in gait,
and in conduct, beyond very tender years,
she had meditated the hoariness of elders. But when the maddened pestilence
stirs itself up against the servants of the Lord
and the blood-stained bids the Christ-worshipers
to burn incense, to offer up the liver of a beast
to death-bringing gods,

infremuit sacer Eulaliae
spiritus ingeniique ferox
turbida frangere bella parat
et rude pectus anhela deo
femina prouocat arma uirum. Sed pia cura parentis agit,
uirgo animosa domi ut lateat
abdita rure et ab urbe procul,
ne fera sanguinis in pretium
mortis amore puella ruat. Illa perosa quietis opera
degeneri tolerare mora
nocte fores sine teste mouet
saeptaque claustra fugax aperit,
inde per inuia carpit iter.

the sacred spirit of Eulalia roared,
and fierce in genius prepares to shatter the turbulent wars,
and, with a rude breast panting for God,
as a woman she provokes a man’s arms. But the pious care of a parent contrives
that the spirited maiden hide at home,
hidden in the countryside and far from the city,
lest, with a savage love of death,
the girl rush into blood as the price. She, hating the works of quiet,
to tolerate a degenerate delay,
by night moves the doors without a witness
and, a fugitive, opens the fenced bars;
thence she picks her way through pathless places.

Ingreditur pedibus laceris
per loca senta situ et uepribus
angelico comitata choro
et, licet horrida nox sileat,
lucis habet tamen illa ducem. Sic habuit generosa patrum
turba columniferum radium,
scindere qui tenebrosa potens
nocte uiam face perspicua
praestitit intereunte chao. Non aliter pia uirgo uiam
nocte secuta diem meruit
nec tenebris adoperta fuit,
regna Canopica cum fugeret
et supra astra pararet iter.

She advances with lacerated feet
through places rough with neglect and with brambles,
accompanied by an angelic chorus;
and, although the horrid night is silent,
nevertheless she has a guide of light. Thus the noble throng of the fathers
had the column-bearing ray,
which, powerful to sunder the tenebrous,
provided through the night a way, with a perspicuous torch,
as chaos was perishing. Not otherwise did the pious virgin,
following the way by night, merit the day,
nor was she covered by darkness,
when she fled the Canopic realms
and prepared a route above the stars.

Illa gradu cita peruigili
milia multa prius peragit,
quam plaga pandat Eoa polum;
mane superba tribunal adit
fascibus adstat et in mediis uociferans: 'Rogo, quis furor est
perdere praecipites animas
et male prodiga corda sui
sternere rasilibus scopulis
omnipatremque negare deum? Quaeritis, o miseranda manus,
christicolum genus? en ego sum
daemonicis inimica sacris,
idola protero sub pedibus,
pectore et ore deum fateor.

She, swift with ever-wakeful step,
traverses many miles before
the Eoan quarter opens the sky;
in the morning she proudly approaches the tribunal,
she stands by the fasces and, shouting in their midst: 'I ask, what frenzy is this
to destroy your headlong souls,
and, ill-prodigal, to strew hearts that squander themselves
upon polished crags,
and to deny the All-Father God? Do you seek, O pitiable band,
the race of Christ-worshipers? Behold, I am she—
an enemy to demonic rites;
I trample idols underfoot;
with heart and mouth I confess God.'

Isis, Apollo, Venus nihil est,
Maximianus et ipse nihil,
illa nihil, quia facta manu,
hic, manuum quia facta colit,
friuula utraque et utraque nibil. Maximianus, opum dominus
et tamen ipse cliens lapidum,
prostituat uoueatque suis
numinibus caput ipse suum,
pectora cur generosa quatit? Dux bonus, arbiter egregius,
sanguine pascitur innocuo
corporibusque piis inhians
uiscera sobria dilacerat
gaudet et excruciare fidem.

Isis, Apollo, Venus are nothing,
Maximianus himself too is nothing,
she is nothing, because made by hand,
he, because he worships things made by hands,
both are frivolous, and both are nothing. Maximianus, lord of wealth,
and yet himself a client of stones,
let him prostitute and vow
his own head to his deities,
why does he shake noble hearts? A good leader, an outstanding arbiter,
he feeds on innocent blood
and, gaping after pious bodies,
he rends the sober viscera
and rejoices to excruciate faith.

Ergo age, tortor, adure, seca,
diuide membra coacta luto!
soluere rem fragilem facile est,
non penetrabitur interior
exagitante dolore animus'. Talibus excitus in furias
praetor ait: 'rape praecipitem,
lictor, et obrue suppliciis!
sentiat esse deos patrios
nec leue principis imperium.

Therefore come, torturer, sear, cut,
divide the limbs kneaded from clay!
to dissolve a fragile thing is easy,
the interior spirit will not be penetrated,
though pain harasses.' Roused to frenzies by such words
the praetor said: 'Snatch him headlong,
lictor, and overwhelm him with tortures!
let him feel that the ancestral gods exist
and that the prince’s imperium is not light.

Quam cuperem tamen ante necem,
si potis est, reuocare tuam,
torua puellula, nequitiam!
respice, gaudia quanta metas,
quae tibi fert genialis honor!

How I would wish, however, before death,
if it is possible, to recall your,
grim little maiden, naughtiness!
look back, how great joys you reap,
which the nuptial honor brings to you!

Te lacrimis labefacta domus
prosequitur generisque tui
ingemit anxia nobilitas,
sole quod occidis in tenero
proxima dotibus et thalamis. Non mouet aurea pompa Ioui,
non pietas ueneranda senum,
quos temeraria debilitas?
ecce parata ministeria
excruciabilis exitii: aut gladio feriere caput
aut laniabere membra feris
aut facibus data fumificis
flebiliterque ululanda tuis
in cineres resoluta flues.

you the house, shaken by tears,
escorts, and the anxious nobility of your race
groans, because, a sun, you set in tender age,
closest to dowries and bridal-chambers. the golden pomp does not move Jove,
nor the venerable piety of the old men;
what reckless feebleness? behold the ministries prepared
of excruciating destruction: either your head will be struck by the sword
or you will have your limbs torn by beasts
or, given to fuming torches,
and to be wailed over tearfully by your own,
you will flow, dissolved, into ashes.

Haec, rogo, quis labor est fugere?
si modicum salis eminulis
turis et exiguum digitis
tangere, uirgo, benigna uelis,
poena grauis procul afuerit'. Martyr ad ista nihil, sed enim
infremit inque tyranni oculos
sputa iacit, simulacra dehinc
dissipat inpositamque molam
turibulis pede prosubigit. Nec mora, carnifices gemini
iuncta pectora dilacerant
et latus ungula uirgineum
pulsat utrimque et ad ossa secat
Eulalia numerante notas.

These things, I ask, what toil is it to flee?
if you, maiden, kindly should be willing
to touch with your fingers a little of salt in tiny pinches
and a small bit of incense, the heavy penalty
will have been far away.' The martyr to these says nothing, but indeed
she growls, and into the tyrant’s eyes
she casts spittle; then she dissipates the idols
and with her foot presses down the sacrificial meal placed
upon the censers. No delay: the twin executioners
lacerate the paired breasts,
and the virginal side the claw strikes on both sides and cuts to the bone,
Eulalia counting the marks.

'Scriberis ecce mihi, domine,
quam iuuat hos apices legere,
qui tua, Christe, tropea notant,
nomen et ipsa sacrum loquitur
purpura sanguinis eliciti'. Haec sine fletibus et gemitu
laeta canebat et intrepida,
dirus abest dolor ex animo
membraque picta cruore nouo
fonte cutem recalente lauant. Vltima carnificina dehinc:
non laceratio uulnifica
crate tenus nec arata cutis,
flamma sed undique lampadibus
in latera stomachumque furit.

'Behold, you are written for me, lord,
how it delights to read these apices,
which mark your trophies, O Christ,
and the very purple of elicited blood
speaks your sacred name.' She sang these things without tears and groaning,
glad and intrepid, the dire pain is absent from her spirit,
and her limbs, painted with fresh gore,
wash the skin as the re-warming fountain flows. Thereafter the final butchery:
not wounding laceration up to a grate,
nor skin ploughed like a field,
but flame on every side with torches
rages against her flanks and stomach.

Crinis odorus ut in iugulos
fluxerat inuolitans umeris,
quo pudibunda pudicitia
uirgineusque lateret honos
tegmine uerticis opposito, flamma crepans uolat in faciem
perque comas uegetata caput
occupat exsuperatque apicem,
uirgo citum cupiens obitum
adpetit et bibit ore rogum. Emicat inde columba repens
martyris os niue candidior
uisa relinquere et astra sequi;
spiritus hic erat Eulaliae
lacteolus, celer, innocuus.

As the fragrant hair, flying, had flowed down upon the throat, rushing over the shoulders,
whereby bashful modesty and virginal honor might lie hidden,
with the covering of the crown set before, the crackling flame flies into her face,
and, enlivened through the tresses, it seizes the head
and overtops the apex,
the maiden, desiring swift death,
makes for and drinks the pyre with her mouth.
Then a sudden dove darts forth,
from the martyr’s mouth, whiter than snow,
seeming to leave it and to follow the stars;
this was Eulalia’s spirit—
milk-white, swift, innocent.

Colla fluunt abeunte anima
et rogus igneus emoritur,
pax datur artubus exanimis,
flatus in aethere plaudit ouans
templaque celsa petit uolucer. Vidit et ipse satelles auem
feminae ab ore meare palam,
obstupefactus et adtonitus
prosilit et sua gesta fugit,
lictor et ipse fugit pauidus. Ecce niuem glacialis hiems
ingerit et tegit omne forum,
membra tegit simul Eulaliae
axe iacentia sub gelido
pallioli uice linteoli.

The necks go slack as the soul departs,
and the fiery pyre dies out,
peace is given to the lifeless limbs,
the breath, exulting, applauds in the ether
and, winged, seeks the lofty temples. He too, the attendant, saw a bird
plainly go forth from the woman’s mouth,
stupefied and thunderstruck,
he leaps up and flees his own deeds,
and the lictor himself flees, fearful. Behold, glacial winter heaps up snow
and pours it in and covers the whole forum,
at once it covers Eulalia’s limbs
lying beneath the gelid axis,
as a little linen in place of a small mantle.

Cedar amor lacrimantum hominum,
qui celebrare suprema solent,
fliebile cedat et officium:
ipsa elementa iubente deo
exequias tibi, uirgo, ferunt. Nunc locus Emerita est tumulo,
clara colonia Vettoniae,
quam memorabilis amnis Ana
praeterit et uiridante rapax.
gurgite moenia pulchra lauit.

Let the love of weeping men yield,
who are wont to celebrate the last rites,
let the tearful duty also yield:
the very elements, at God’s bidding,
bear the exequies for you, O virgin. Now Emerita is the place for the tomb,
the renowned colony of Vettonia,
which the memorable river Ana
passes by and, ravenous with a greening
current, washes the fair walls.

Hic, ubi marmore perspicuo
atria luminat alma nitor
et peregrinus et indigena,
relliquias cineresque sacros
seruat humus ueneranda sinu.

Here, where with perspicuous marble kindly splendor illumines the atria,
both stranger and indigene,
the venerable soil preserves in its bosom
the relics and sacred ashes.

Tecta corusca super rutilant
de laquearibus aureolis
saxaque caesa solum uariant,
floribus ut rosulenta putes
prata rubescere multimodis. Carpite purpureas uiolas
sanguineosque crocos metite!
non caret his genialis hiems,
laxat et arua tepens glacies,
floribus ut cumulet calathos.

The gleaming roofs above glow from aureate coffered ceilings
and hewn stones variegate the floor,
so that you would think the meadows, rosy with flowers,
to be reddening in many ways. Pluck the purple violets
and reap the blood-red crocuses!
not even genial winter lacks these,
and tepid ice loosens the fields,
so that it may cumulate the baskets with flowers.

Ista comantibus e foliis
munera, uirgo puerque, date!
ast ego serta choro in medio
texta feram pede dactylico,
uilia, marcida, festa tamen.

Those gifts from the leaf-tufted leaves
maiden and boy, give!
but I will bear into the midst of the chorus
garlands woven, with a dactylic step,
cheap, withered, yet festive nonetheless.

Sic uenerarier ossa libet
ossibus altar et inpositum,
illa dei sita sub pedibus
prospicit haec populosque suos
carmine propitiata fouet.

Thus it pleases to venerate the bones
and the altar placed upon the bones,
that one of the god, set beneath the feet,
looks out; this one, propitiated by song,
cherishes her peoples.