Prudentius: LIBER PERISTEPHANON

Beate martyr, prospera
diem triumfalem tuum,
quo sanguinis merces tibi
corona, Vincenti, datur! Hic te ex tenebris saeculi
tortore uicto et iudice
euexit ad caelum dies
Christoque ouantem reddidit. Nunc angelorum particeps
conlucis insigni stola,
quam testis indomabilis
riuis cruoris laueras,

Blessed martyr, make to prosper
your triumphal day,
on which the recompense of blood,
the crown, Vincent, is given to you! This day, out of the darkness of the world,
with the torturer and the judge conquered,
lifted you up to heaven
and returned you rejoicing to Christ. Now a participant with the angels
you shine together in a distinguished stole,
which, an indomitable witness,
you washed in streams of blood,

cum te satelles idoli
praecinctus atris legibus
litare diuis gentium
ferro et catenis cogeret. Ac uerba primum mollia
suadendo blande effuderat,
captator ut uitulum lupus
rapturus adludit prius. 'Rex', inquit, 'orbis maximus,'
qui sceptra gestat publica,
seruire sanxit omnia
priscis deorum cultibus.

when the satellite of the idol,
girt with black laws,
was compelling you with iron and chains
to propitiate the gods of the nations. And at first he had poured out soft words,
blandly persuading,
as a captor, the wolf,
about to snatch a calf, first plays. “The greatest king of the world,” he says,
“who bears the public scepters,
has ordained that all things serve
the ancient cults of the gods.”

Vos, Nazareni, adsistite
rudemque ritum spernite!
haec saxa, quae princeps colit,
placate fumo et uictima!' Exclamat hic Vincentius,
leuita de tribu sacra,
minister altaris dei
septem ex columnis lacteis: 'Tibi ista praesint numina,
tu saxa, tu lignum colas,
tu mortuorum mortuus
fias deorum pontifex,

You, Nazarenes, stand by
and spurn the rude rite!
appease these stones, which the prince worships,
with smoke and a victim!' Here Vincent exclaims,
a levite from the sacred tribe,
a minister of the altar of God
from the seven milk-white columns: 'May those divinities preside over you,
do you worship stones, do you worship wood,
may you, a dead man, become
pontiff of dead gods,

nos lucis auctorem patrem
eiusque Christum filium,
qui solus ac uerus deus,
Datiane, confitebimur'. Hic ille iam commotior:
audesne, non felix', ait,
'ius hoc deorum et principum
uiolare uerbis asperis, ius et sacratum et publicum,
cui cedit humanum genus,
nec te iuuentae feruidae
instans periclum permouet?

we the author of light, the Father,
and his Christ the Son,
who alone is the sole and true God,
Datianus, we will confess'. Then he, now more agitated:
'Do you dare, unlucky one,' he says,
'to violate this law of the gods and of the princes
with harsh words, a law both sacred and public,
to which the human race yields,
nor does the imminent peril
move you, in fervid youth?

Hoc namque decretum cape:
aut ara ture et caespite
precanda iam nunc est tibi
aut mors luenda est sanguine.' Respondit ille altrinsecus:
'age ergo, quidquid uirium,
quidquid potestatis tibi est,
palam reluctor, exere! Vox nostra quae sit, accipe:
est Christus et pater deus,
serui huius et testes sumus,
extorque, si potes, fidem!

For take this decree:
either the altar is now at once to be supplicated by you with incense and turf,
or death is to be paid for with blood.' He answered in turn:
'come then, whatever of strength,
whatever of power is yours,
I resist openly; exercise it! Hear what our voice is:
Christ is, and the Father is God;
we are his servants and witnesses,
extort, if you can, the faith!"

'Tormenta, carcer, ungulae
stridensque flammis lammina
atque ipsa poenarum ultima,
mors, christianis ludus est. O uestra inanis uanitas
scitumque brutum Caesaris!
condigna uestris sensibus
coli iubetis numina: excisa fabrili manu
cauis recocta et follibus,
quae uoce, quae gressu carent,
inmota, caeca, elinguia.

'Torments, prison, hooks,
and the plate shrieking with flames,
and even the very ultimate of punishments,
death, are a sport to Christians. O your empty vanity,
and the brutish decree of Caesar!
Befitting your senses,
you order divinities to be worshiped: carved by a smith’s hand,
re-fired in hollow molds and by bellows,
which lack voice and step,
motionless, blind, tongueless.

His sumptuosa splendido
delubra crescunt marmore,
his colla mugientium
percussa taurorum cadunt. 'At sunt et illic spiritus'.
'Sunt, sed magistri criminum,
uestrae et salutis aucipes,
uagi, inpotentes, sordidi, qui uos latenter incitos
in omne conpellumt nefas:
uastare iustos caedibus,
plebem piorum carpere.

For these, sumptuous shrines grow with splendid marble,
for these, the necks of bellowing bulls, smitten, fall. ‘But there are spirits there too.’
‘There are, but masters of crimes,
trappers of your salvation,
wandering, impotent, filthy, who covertly spur you
and drive you into every nefarious deed:
to lay waste the just with slaughters,
to tear at the plebs of the pious.

Norunt et ipsi ac sentiunt
pollere Christum et uiuere
eiusque iam iamque adfore
regnum tremendum perfidis. Clamant fatentes denique
pulsi ex latebris uiscerum
uirtute Christi et nomine
diuique et idem daemones.' His intonantem martyrem
iudex profanus non tulit,
conclamat: 'os obtrudite,
ne plura iactet inprobus!

They too know and sense that Christ prevails and lives, and that his tremendous (tremendous/terrible) kingdom is at hand forthwith for the perfidious. They cry out, confessing at last—driven out from the hiding-places of the viscera by the virtue (power) and name of Christ—both the “divine ones” and likewise the same demons.' At these things, the profane judge could not bear the martyr thundering; he shouts: 'Stop up his mouth, lest the shameless man vaunt more!'

Vocem loquentis claudite
raptimque lictores date,
illos reorum Plutones
pastos resectis canibus! Iam faxo ius praetorium
conuiciator sentiat,
inpune ne nostris sibi
dis destruendis luserit. Tibi ergo soli, contumax,
Tarpeia calcentur sacra,
tu porro solus obteras
Romam, senatum, Caesarem?

Shut the speaker’s voice,
and swiftly, lictors, deal it out,
you those Plutos of the defendants,
fattened on butchered dogs! Now I will make sure the praetorian law
is felt by the reviler,
that he has not with impunity
toyed with destroying our gods. To you then alone, contumacious man,
shall the Tarpeian sacred things be trampled,
and you, moreover, alone do you crush underfoot
Rome, the senate, Caesar?

Vinctum retortis bracchiis
sursum ac deorsum extendite,
conpago donec ossuum
diuulsa membratim crepet. Posthinc hiulcis ictibus
nudate costarum abdita
ut per latebras uulnerum
iecur retectum palpitet.' Ridebat haec miles dei
manus cruentas increpans,
quod fixa non profundius
intraret artus ungula.

Bound, with arms twisted behind,
stretch him upward and downward,
until the framework of the bones,
divulsed limb by limb, cracks. After this, with gaping blows,
lay bare the hidden places of the ribs,
so that through the recesses of the wounds
the liver, uncovered, may throb.' The soldier of God laughed at these things,
chiding the bloody hands,
because the hooked claw, though fixed,
did not enter more deeply into the limbs.

Ac iam omne robur fortium
euiscerando cesserat
nisusque anhelus soluerat
fessos lacertorum toros, ast ille tanto laetior
omni uacantem nubilo
frontem serenam luminat
te, Christe, praesentem uidens. 'Quis uultus iste, pro pudor!'
Datianus aiebat furens,
'gaudet, renidet, prouocat
tortore tortus acrior!

And now all the strength of the strong
had yielded by eviscerating,
and breathless exertion had loosened
the weary bulges of the biceps; but he, all the happier,
illuminates with serenity a brow
vacant of every cloud,
seeing you, Christ, present. 'What visage is that—shame on it!'
said Datianus, raging,
'he rejoices, he beams, he provokes—
the tortured keener than the torturer!'

Nil illa uis exercita
tot noxiorum mortibus
agone in isto proficit,
ars et dolorum uincitur. Sed uos, alumni carceris,
par semper inuictum mihi,
cohibete paulum dexteras,
respiret ut lassus uigor. Praesicca rursus ulcera,
dum se cicatrix colligit
refrigerati sanguinis,
manus resulcans diruet.'

That force, exercised in so many deaths of the guilty,
achieves nothing in this agon;
even the art of pains is conquered. But you, servants of the prison,
the pair ever unconquered for me,
hold back your right hands a little,
so that weary vigor may breathe. Pre-dry the sores again,
while the scar of cooled blood gathers itself;
the hand, re-furrowing, will tear them down.'

His contra leuites refert:
'si iam tuorum perspicis
languere uirtutem canum,
age, ipse maior carnifex, ostende, quo pacto queant
imos recessus scindere,
manus et ipse intersere
riuosque feruentes bibe! Erras, cruente, si meam
te rere poenam sumere,
cum membra morti obnoxia
dilancinata interficis.

In reply to this the levite retorts:
'if now you perceive
the valor of your dogs to be languishing,
come, you yourself, the greater executioner, show by what manner they can
rend the inmost recesses,
and you yourself thrust in your hands
and drink the boiling streams! You err, blood-stained one, if you think
you are taking my punishment,
when, tearing to pieces, you slay the limbs
that are subject to death.'

Est alter, est intrinsecus,
uiolare quem nullus potest,
liber, quietus, integer,
exsors dolorum tristium. Hoc, quod laboras perdere
tantis furoris uiribus,
uas est solutum ac fictile,
quocumque frangendum modo. Quin immo nunc enitere
illum secare ac plectere,
qui perstat intus, qui tuam
calcat, tyranne, insaniam!

There is another, there is one within,
whom no one can violate,
free, quiet, entire,
exempt from doleful pains. This, which you labor to destroy
with such forces of fury,
is a loosened and fictile vessel,
to be broken in whatever way. Nay rather, now strive
to cut and to punish that one,
who persists within, who
treads underfoot, tyrant, your insanity!

Hunc, hunc lacesse, hunc discute,
inuictum, inexsuperabilem,
nullis procellis subditum
solique subiectum deo!' Haec fatur et stridentibus
laniatur uncis denuo;
cui praetor ore subdolo
anguina uerba exsibilat: 'Si tanta callum pectoris
praedurat obstinatio,
puluinar ut nostrum manu
abomineris tangere,

This one, this one provoke, this one dash to pieces,
unconquered, insuperable,
subject to no tempests
and subject only to God!' He speaks these things and with strident
hooks he is torn anew;
to whom the praetor, with a sly mouth,
hisses out serpentine words: 'If such obstinacy
hardens the callus of your breast,
that you abominate to touch
our sacred cushion with your hand,

saltim latentes paginas
librosque opertos detege,
quo secta prauum seminans.
iustis cremetur ignibus'. His martyr auditis ait:
'quem tu, maligne, mysticis
minitaris ignem litteris,
flagrabis ipse hoc iustius. Romfea nam caelestium
uindex erit uoluminum
tanti ueneni interpretem
linguam perurens fulmine.

at least the hidden pages
and the covered-shut books uncover,
whereby the sect, sowing the perverse.
may be consumed by just fires'. On hearing these things the martyr said:
'that fire which you, malicious one, against the mystic letters
you threaten,
you yourself will blaze in this more justly. For the Romfea of the heavenly
volumes will be the avenger,
searing with a thunderbolt the tongue
of the interpreter of such poison.

Vides fauillas indices
Gomorreorum criminum,
Sodomita nec latet cinis
testis perennis funeris. Exemplar hoc, serpens, tuum est.
fuligo quem mox sulpuris
bitumen et mixtum pice
imo inplicabunt tartaro.' His persecutor saucius
pallet, rubescit, aestuat
insana torquens lumina
spumasque frendens egerit.

You see the cinders, indicia of the crimes of the Gomorreans,
nor does the Sodomite ash lie hidden, the perennial witness of the funeral. This exemplar, serpent, is yours,
whom soon the soot of sulfur, bitumen, and that mixed with pitch
will entangle in lowest Tartarus.' At these words the persecutor, wounded,
grows pale, blushes, seethes,
twisting his mad eyes, and, gnashing, he spits out foam.

Tum deinde cunctatus diu
decernit: 'extrema omnium
igni, grabato et lamminis
exerceatur quaestio.' Haec ille sese ad munera
gradu citato proripit
ipsosque pernix gaudio
poenae ministros praeuenit. Ventum ad palestram gloriae,
spes certat et crudelitas,
luctamen anceps conserunt
hinc martyr, illinc carnifex.

Then thereafter, having hesitated long,
he decrees: 'let the question be exercised with fire, with the pallet and plates.' With these things he himself to the duties
rushes with hastened step,
and, nimble with joy, he outruns the very ministers of punishment. They came to the palestra of glory,
hope and cruelty contend,
they join a two-sided wrestling-bout—
here the martyr, there the executioner.

Serrata lectum regula
dente infrequenti exasperat,
cui multa carbonum strues
uiuum uaporat halitum. Hunc sponte conscendit rogum
uir sanctus ore interrito,
ceu jam coronae conscius
celsum tribunal scanderet. Subter crepante aspergine
scintillat excussus salis
punctisque feruens stridulis
sparsim per artus figitur.

Serrated bar, with sparse tooth, roughens the bed,
for which a great heap of coals breathes a living exhalation.
This pyre the holy man ascends of his own will,
with undaunted face, as if already conscious of the crown
he were climbing the lofty tribunal. Beneath, with crackling sprinkling,
the shaken-out salt sparkles, and, seething with hissing pricks,
is fixed here and there through his limbs.

Aruina posthinc igneum
inpressa cauterem lauit,
uis unde roris fumidi
in membra sensim liquitur. Haec inter inmotus manet
tamquam dolorum nescius
tenditque in altum lumina;
nam uincla palmas presserant. Sublatus inde fortior
lugubre in antrum truditur,
ne liber usus luminis
animaret altum spiritum.

Thereafter the fat, when pressed, bathed the fiery cautery-iron,
whence a force of steamy dew is gradually distilled into the limbs.
Amid these things he remains unmoved, as though unknowing of pains,
and he lifts his eyes to the height; for the bonds had pressed his palms.
Then taken up from there the stronger, he is thrust into a mournful cavern,
lest the free use of light might animate his lofty spirit.

Est intus imo ergastulo
locus tenebris nigrior,
quem saxa mersi fornicis
angusta clausum strangulant. Aeterna nox illic latet
expers diurni sideris,
hic carcer horrendus suos
habere fertur inferos. In hoc baratrum conicit
truculentus hostis martyrem
lignoque plantas inserit
diuaricatis cruribus.

There is within the deepest dungeon a place blacker than darkness,
which the narrow stones of a sunken vault, shutting it in, strangle.
Eternal night lurks there, devoid of the diurnal star;
this horrendous prison is said to have its own infernals.
Into this barathrum the truculent foe flings the martyr,
and into a piece of wood he inserts the soles, the legs forced wide apart.

Quin addit et poenam nouam
crucis peritus artifex,
nulli tyranno cognitam
nec fando conpertam retro. Fragmenta testarum iubet
hyrta inpolitis angulis,
acuminata, informia,
tergo iacentis sternerent. Totum cubile spiculis
armant dolores anxii,
insomne qui subter latus
mucrone pulsent obuio.

Indeed he also adds a new punishment
an artificer skilled in the cross,
known to no tyrant
nor ascertained by report in former times.
He orders fragments of potsherds,
rough with unpolished angles,
sharp-pointed, misshapen,
to be strewn for the back of the one lying down.
Anxious pains arm the whole bed
with spicules,
which, sleepless, beneath the flank
may strike with an opposing point meeting him.

Haec illc uersutus uafra
meditatus arte struxerat,
sed Belzebulis callida
commenta Christus destruit. Nam carceralis caecitas
splendore lucis fulgurat
duplexque morsus stipitis
ruptis cauernis dissilit. Agnoscit hic Vincentius
adesse quod sperauerat,
tanti laboris praemium,
Christum, datorem luminis.

These things there the crafty one, having devised with wily art, had constructed,
but Christ destroys the clever contrivances of Beelzebul.
For the carceral blindness flashes with the splendor of light,
and the double bite of the stock, with the cavities broken, springs apart.
Here Vincent recognizes that what he had hoped is at hand,
the reward of so great a labor, Christ, the giver of light.

Cernit deinde fragmina
iam testularum mollibus
uestire semet floribus
redolente nectar carcere. Quin et frequentes angeli
stant ac loquuntur comminus,
quorum unus ore augustior
conpellat his dictis uirum: 'Exsurge, martyr inclyte,
exsurge securus tui,
exsurge et almis coetibus
noster sodalis addere!

He then discerns the fragments now of potsherds to clothe themselves with soft flowers, with the prison redolent of nectar. Moreover, frequent angels stand and speak at close quarters, one of whom, more august in countenance, addresses the man with these words: 'Arise, illustrious martyr, arise secure in regard to yourself, arise and, our companion, be added to the kindly assemblies!'

Decursa iam satis tibi
poenae minacis munia
pulchroque mortis exitu
omnis peracta est passio. O miles inuictissime,
fortissimorum fortior,
iam te ipsa saeua et aspera
tormenta uictorem tremunt. Spectator haec Christus deus
conpensat aeuo intermino
propriaeque collegam crucis
larga coronat dextera

Now for you the duties of menacing penalty have been sufficiently run through,
and with the fair exit of death
all the passion has been accomplished.
O most unconquered soldier,
stronger than the strongest,
now the savage and harsh torments themselves
tremble at you, the victor.
Christ God, the spectator of these things,
compensates with an age interminable,
and, as a colleague of his own cross,
with his bountiful right hand crowns [you]

Pone hoc caducum uasculum,
conpage textum terrea,
quod dissipatum soluitur,
et liber in caelum ueni!' Haec ille; sed clausas fores
interna rumpunt lumina
tenuisque per rimas nitor
lucis latentis proditur. Hoc cum stuperet territus
obsessor atri liminis,
quem cura pernox manserat
seruare feralem domum,

Putt down this caducous little vessel,
woven with an earthly framework,
which, dissipated, is dissolved,
and come free into heaven!' So he; but the closed doors
are ruptured by internal lights,
and a tenuous sheen through the cracks
of the hidden light is betrayed. As he, terrified, marveled at this,
the sentry of the black threshold,
whom all-night care had kept
to guard the funereal house,

psallentis audit insuper
praedulce carmen martyris,
cui uocis instar aemulae
conclaue reddit concauum. Pauens deinde introspicit,
admota quantum postibus
acies per artas cardinum
intrare iuncturas potest: uernare multis floribus
stramenta testarum uidet
ipsumque uulsis nexibus
obambulantem pangere.

he hears, moreover, the very-sweet song of the psalm‑singing martyr,
to which the concave chamber returns the likeness of an emulative voice. Then, terrified, he looks within,
bringing his line of sight up to the doorposts so far as a gaze can enter through the tight joints of the hinges: he sees the strewing of potsherds
to be springing with many flowers,
and him himself, his fastenings torn out,
walking about and composing it.

Inplentur aures turbidi
praetoris hoc miraculo,
flet uictus et uoluit gemens
iram, dolorem, dedecus. 'Exemptus', inquit, 'carceri
paulum benignis fotibus
recreetur, ut pastum nouum
poenis refectus praebeat'. Coire toto ex oppido
turbam fidelem cerneres,
mollire praefultum torum,
siccare cruda uulnera.

The ears of the turbulent praetor are filled
with this miracle,
he weeps, overcome, and, groaning, he revolves
wrath, sorrow, disgrace. "Removed from prison," he says,
"let him for a little be refreshed by kindly fomentations,
so that, restored, he may offer fresh fodder
to punishments." From the whole town you would see
a faithful crowd come together,
to soften the propped-up couch,
to dry the raw wounds.

Ille ungularum duplices
sulcos pererrat osculis,
hic purpurantem corporis
gaudet cruorem lambere. Plerique uestem linteam
stillante tingunt sanguine,
tutamen ut sacrum suis
domi reseruent posteris. Tunc ipse manceps carceris
et uinculorum ianitor,
ut fert uetustas conscia,
repente Christum credidit.

That one traverses with kisses the double furrows of the claws,
this one rejoices to lick the body’s purpling gore. Many dye a linen garment
with the dripping blood, so that they may reserve at home for their own descendants a sacred safeguard. Then the very contractor of the prison
and the janitor of the chains,
as knowing antiquity reports,
suddenly believed in Christ.

Hic obseratis uectibus
densae specum caliginis
splendore lucis aduenae
micuisse clausum uiderat. At uero postquam lectuli
martyr quietem contigit,
aeger morarum taedio
et mortis incensus siti --, si mors habenda eiusmodi est,
quae corporali ergastulo
mentem resoluit liberam
et reddit auctori deo,

Here, with the bolts fastened,
he had seen the cavern of dense gloom,
closed, flash with the splendor
of a visiting light. But indeed after the martyr
touched the rest of his little bed,
the sick man, by the weariness of delays
and inflamed with a thirst for death --, if death of such a kind is to be reckoned death,
which from the corporal prison
releases the mind free
and returns it to the Author, God,

mentem piatam sanguine,
mortis lauacris elutam,
quae semet ac uitam suam
Christo inmolandam praebuit --, ergo ut recline mollibus
reiecit aulaeis caput,
uictor relictis artubus
caelum capessit spiritus. Cui recta celso tramite
reseratur ad patrem uia,
quam fratre caesus inpio
Abel beatus scanderat.

the mind expiated by blood,
washed by the lavers of death,
which offered herself and her own life
to be immolated to Christ --, therefore, as, reclining,
she cast back her head upon soft hangings,
victorious, with the limbs left behind,
the spirit takes possession of heaven. For whom a straight way,
by a lofty pathway, is unbarred to the Father,
which the blessed Abel, cut down by his impious brother,
had scaled.

Stipant euntem candidi
hinc inde sanctorum chori
parique missum carcere
baptista Iohannes uocat. At christiani nominis
hostem coquebant inrita
fellis uenena et liuidum
cor efferata exusserant. Saeuire inermem crederes
fractis draconem dentibus:
'euasit exultans', ait,
'rebellis et palmam tulit.

They throng him as he goes, the shining
choirs of saints on this side and that,
and John the Baptist calls the one sent
from a like prison. But the enemy of the Christian name
was being seethed by the ineffectual
poisons of gall, and savage beasts
had torn out his livid heart. You would think the unarmed
dragon, with broken teeth, to be raging:
‘He has escaped exulting,’ he says,
‘the rebel, and has borne off the palm.’

Sed restat illud ultimum:
inferre poenam mortuo,
feris cadauer tradere
canibusue carpendum dare. Iam nunc et ossa extinxero,
ne sit sepulcrum funeris,
quod plebs gregalis excolat
titulumque figat martyris.' Sic frendit et corpus sacrum
profanus -- a dirum nefas! --
nudum negato tegmine
exponit inter carices.

But that last thing remains:
to inflict a penalty upon the dead,
to deliver the cadaver to wild beasts
or give it to dogs to be torn. Right now I will even destroy the bones,
so that there may be no tomb for the funeral,
which the herd-like plebs may cultivate
and fix the inscription of the martyr.' Thus he gnashes, and the profane man -- ah, dire impiety! --
exposes the sacred body,
naked, with covering denied,
amid the sedges.

Sed nulla dirarum famis
aut bestiarum aut alitum
audet tropeum gloriae
foedare tactu squalido. Quin, si qua clangens inprobe
circumuolarat eminus,
trucis uolucris inpetu
depulsa uertebat fugam. Nam coruus, Heliae datus
olim ciborum portitor,
hoc munus inplet sedule
et inremotus excubat.

But neither dire famine nor beasts nor winged creatures dare to defile the trophy of glory with a squalid touch. Nay rather, if any, clanging shamelessly, had been circling from afar, driven off by the onset of a savage bird, it turned to flight. For the raven, once given to Elijah as a porter of provisions, diligently fulfills this office and, not moving from his post, keeps watch.

Hic ex frutectis proximis
infestus alarum sono
oculosque pinnis uerberans
exegit inmanem lupum. Quis perfidorum credere
ausit rapacem beluam,
tauris paratam congredi,
cessisse plumis mollibus? Ibat malignum murmurans
leui uolatu exterritus
praedamque uisam fugerat
custodis inbellis minis.

Here from the nearest thickets
hostile with the sound of wings
and lashing its eyes with feathers
he drove out the monstrous wolf. Which of the perfidious would dare to believe
the rapacious beast,
prepared to engage with bulls,
had yielded to soft plumes? He went, muttering malignantly,
terrified by a light flight,
and had fled the prey he had seen
at the threats of the unwarlike guardian.

Quis audienti talia,
Datiane, tunc sensus tibi,
quantis gementem spiculis
figebat occultus dolor, cum te perempti corporis
uirtute uictum cerneres
ipsis et inpar ossibus
uacuisque iam membris minor? Sed quis, tyranne pertinax,
hunc inpotentem spiritum
determinabit exitus?
nullusne te franget modus?

Who, as you were hearing such things,
Datianus, then were your senses— with how many little darts
did hidden pain pin you as you groaned, when you saw yourself, by the virtue of the slain body,
conquered,
unequal even to the very bones
and now lesser than the empty limbs? But what, pertinacious tyrant,
will determine an end for this unbridled spirit?
Will no measure break you?

'Nullus, nec umquam desinam;
nam si ferina inmanitas
mansuescit et clementia
coruos uoraces mitigat, mergam cadauer fluctibus:
insana numquam naufragis
ignoscit unda et spumeum
nescit profundum parcere. Aut semper illic mobilis
incerta per ludibria
uagis feretur flatibus
squamosa pascens agmina,

'None, nor shall I ever desist;
for if feral enormity
is made mild and clemency
mitigates ravenous crows, I will immerse the cadaver in the waves:
the insane wave never pardons
the shipwrecked, and the foaming
deep does not know how to spare. Or else ever there, mobile,
through uncertain mockeries
it will be borne by wandering gusts,
feeding scaly ranks,

aut sub fragosis rupibus
scabri petrarum murices
inter recessus scrupeos
discissa rumpent uiscera. Ecquis uirorum strenue
cumbam peritus pellere
remo, rudente et carbaso,
secare qui pontum queas, rapias palustri e caespite
corpus, quod intactum iacet,
leuique uectum lembulo
amplum per aequor auferas?

or beneath rugged crags
the scabrous murices of the rocks
amid scrupeous recesses
will burst asunder the riven entrails. Is there any man, stoutly,
skilled to drive a skiff
with oar, rope, and canvas,
who could cleave the sea, who would snatch from the marshy sod
the body, which lies untouched,
and, borne in a light lembus,
carry it off across the ample level sea?

Sed conplicatum sparteus
claudat cadauer culleus,
quem fune conexus lapis
praeceps in altum deprimat, At tu per undas emices
rorante praepes palmula,
donec relictum longior
abscondat aspectus solum.' Haec iussa quidam militum
-- Eumorfio nomen fuit --
uiolentus, audax, barbarus,
furore feruens adripit.

But let an esparto sack, wrapped tight, close up the corpse, which, the stone bound with a rope, may plunge headlong into the deep, But you dart forth through the waves, swift with dripping little palm,
until a longer prospect hides the ground left behind.' These orders one of the soldiers
-- the name was Eumorfio --
violent, bold, barbarous,
seething with fury, snatches up.

Funale textum conserit,
suto quod inplet corpore,
emensus et multum freti
inter procellas excutit. O praepotens uirtus dei,
uirtus creatrix omnium,
quae turgidum quondam mare
gradiente Christo strauerat, ut terga calcans aequoris
siccis mearet passibus,
plantas nec undis tingueret
uasti uiator gurgitis!

He weaves together a plaited cable,
which he fills with the stitched-up body,
and, having traversed much of the strait,
he shakes it out amid the tempests. O all-prepotent virtue of God,
virtue creatrix of all things,
which once had leveled the turgid sea
with Christ walking upon it, so that, treading the backs of the sea,
he might go with dry steps,
nor tint his soles with the waves,
the traveler of the vast whirlpool!

Haec ipsa uirtus iusserat
rubrum salum dehiscere,
patente dum fundo aridum
secura plebs iter terit. Nec non et ipsa nunc iubet
seruire sancto corpori
pontum quietis lapsibus
ad curua pronum litora. Saxum molaris ponderis
ut spuma candens innatat
tantique custos pigneris
fiscella fertur fluctibus.

This very virtue had ordered
the red main to gape,
while the bottom lay open, the dry
way the people securely treads. And likewise this same now bids
to serve the holy body
the sea by lapses of quiet
to lean toward the curved shores. A stone of millstone weight
like foam, gleaming, floats
and the little basket, keeper of so great a pledge,
is borne upon the waves.

Cernunt stupentes nauitae
uectam remenso marmore
labi retrorsum leniter
aestu secundo et flamine. Certant et ipsi concito
pontum faselo scindere,
longe sed artus praeuolant
telluris ad mollem sinum. Prius relatos denique
humus quieta suscipit,
quam pulsa summis nisibus
carina portum tangeret.

The sailors, astonished, behold
it, borne over the re-crossed marble-sea,
glide backward gently
on a favorable tide and breeze.
And they too strive, with a swift
skiff, to cleave the sea,
but the limbs fly far ahead
to the soft bosom of the land.
At last the quiet ground receives
the borne-back limbs,
before the keel, driven by utmost efforts,
might touch the harbor.

Felix amoeni litotis
secessus ille, qui sacra
fouens harenis uiscera
uicem sepulcri praebuit, dum cura sanctorum pia
deflens adornat aggerem
tumuloque corpus creditum
uitae reseruat posterae! Sed mox subactis hostibus
iam pace iustis reddita
altar quietem debitam
praestat beatis ossibus;

Blessed that retreat of the pleasant shore,
which, fostering the sacred remains in sands,
provided the stead of a sepulcher,
while the pious care of the saints,
weeping, adorns the mound,
and to the tomb the entrusted body
reserves for the after life! But soon, the enemies subdued,
with peace now restored to the just,
the altar grants the due rest
to the blessed bones;

subiecta nam sacrario
imamque ad aram condita
caelestis auram muneris
perfusa subter hauriunt. Sic corpus, ast ipsum dei
sedes receptum continet
cum Maccabeis fratribus
sectoque Eseiae proximum. Simplex sed illis contigit
corona poenarum, quibus
finem malorum praestitit
mortis supremus exitus.

for, laid beneath the sacrarium
and laid at the foot of the altar,
the breath of the celestial gift
suffused beneath, they draw in. Thus the body—yet the very seat of God
holds it received,
with the Maccabee brothers,
and nearest to sawn Isaiah. But to them befell a simple
crown of penalties, to whom
the end of evils was furnished by
death’s supreme exit.

Quid tale sector ausus est?
truncata numquid corporis
segmenta post serram feris
obiecit aut undis dedit? Num Maccabei martyris
linguam tyrannus erutam
raptamue pellem uerticis
auibus cruentis obtulit?

What such a thing did the dissector dare?
truncated segments of the body
after the saw, did he cast to wild beasts or give to the waves? Surely not the tongue of the Maccabean martyr,
torn out by the tyrant,
or the snatched skin of the crown (of the head),
did he offer to blood-stained birds?

Tu solus, O bis inclyte,
solus brauii duplicis
palmam tulisti, tu duas
simul parasti laureas.

You alone, O twice-illustrious,
alone of the double prize
have carried off the palm; you
at once have procured two laurels.

In morte uictor aspera,
tum deinde post mortem pari
uictor triumfo proteris
solo latronem corpore. Adesto nunc et percipe
uoces precantum supplices,
nostri reatus efficax
orator ad thronum patris! Per te, per ilium carcerem,
honoris augmentum tui,
per uincla, flammas, ungulas,
per carceralem stipitem,

In harsh death a victor,
then next, after death, with equal triumph
you trample the robber with your body alone. Be present now and receive
the voices of suppliant pray-ers,
an effectual orator of our guilt
at the throne of the Father! By you, by that prison,
the augmentation of your honor,
by chains, flames, claw-hooks,
by the carceral stake,

per fragmen illud testeum,
quo parta creuit gloria,
et quem trementes posteri
exosculamur lectulum, miserere nostrarum precum,
placatus ut Christus suis
inclinet aurem prosperam
noxas nec omnes inputet! Si rite sollemnem diem
ueneramur ore et pectore,
si sub tuorum gaudio
uestigiorum sternimur,

through that earthenware fragment,
by which the won glory grew,
and which we, trembling descendants,
kiss again and again, the little bier,
have mercy on our prayers,
so that, appeased, Christ to his own
may incline a propitious ear,
and not impute all our offenses! If duly the solemn day
we venerate with mouth and breast,
if beneath the joy of your
footprints we are laid prostrate,

paulisper huc inlabere
Christi fauorem deferens,
sensus grauati ut sentiant
leuamen indulgentiae. Sic nulla jam restet mora,
quin excitatam nobilis
carnem resumat spiritus
uirtute perfunctam pari, ut, quae laborum particeps
commune discrimen tulit,
sit et coheres gloriae
cunctis in aeuum saeculis.

glide down here for a little while,
bringing the favor of Christ,
so that senses weighed down may perceive
the alleviation of indulgence. Thus let no delay now remain,
but that the noble spirit may resume
the awakened flesh,
having accomplished with equal virtue, so that she who, a participant in labors,
bore the common peril,
may also be co-heir of glory
throughout all ages forever.