Prudentius: Psychomachia

Senex fidelis prima credendi uia
Abram, beati seminis serus pater,
adiecta cuius nomen auxit syllaba,
Abram parenti dictus, Abraham Deo,
senile pignus qui dicauit uictimae,
docens ad aram cum litare quis uelit,
quod dulce cordi, quod pium, quod unicum
deo libenter offerendum credito,
pugnare nosmet cum profanis gentibus
suasit, suumque suasor exemplum dedit,
nec ante prolem coniugalem gignere
deo placentem, matre uirtute editam,
quam strage multa bellicosus spiritus
portenta cordis seruientis uicerit.
uictum feroces forte reges ceperant
Loth inmorantem criminosis urbibus
Sodomae et Gomorrae, quas fouebat aduena
pollens honore patruelis gloriae.
Abram sinistris excitatus nuntiis
audit propinquum sorte captum bellica
seruire duris barbarorum uinculis:
armat trecentos terque senos uernulas,
pergant ut hostis terga euntis caedere.

The faithful old man, the first way of believing,
Abram, the late father of the blessed seed,
whose name an added syllable augmented,
called Abram by his parent, Abraham by God,
who consecrated the aged pledge for a victim,
teaching that, when one wishes to sacrifice at the altar,
what is sweet to the heart, what is pious, what is unique,
must be willingly offered to the trusted God—
he urged us ourselves to fight with profane nations,
and as persuader gave his own example,
nor to beget conjugal progeny
pleasing to God, brought forth by the mother Virtue,
before the bellicose spirit, with much slaughter,
shall have conquered the portents of a servile heart.
victors, fierce kings had by chance taken captive
Lot, lingering in the criminal cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah, which, as a newcomer,
he cherished, strong in the honor of a paternal-uncle’s glory.
Abram, roused by sinister tidings,
hears that his kinsman, captured by the lot of war,
serves in the harsh chains of barbarians:
he arms three hundred and eighteen homeborn servants,
that they might go to smite the back of the enemy in his going.

quem gaza diues ac triumphus nobilis
captis tenebant inpeditum copiis.
quin ipse ferrum stringit et plenus deo
reges superbos mole praedarum graues
pellit fugatos, sauciatos proterit,
frangit catenas et rapinam liberat:
aurum, puellas, paruulos, monilia,
greges equarum, uasa, uestem, buculas.
Loth ipse ruptis expeditus nexibus
attrita bacis colla liber erigit.

whom rich treasure and noble triumph, with captured forces, held impeded.
nay rather he himself draws the iron, and, full of God,
drives the proud kings, heavy with the mass of plunder,
harried in flight; he tramples the wounded,
breaks the chains and frees the spoils:
gold, girls, little ones, necklaces,
herds of mares, vessels, clothing, heifers.
Lot himself, the bonds broken, unencumbered,
lifts up, free, his neck chafed by collars.

Abram triumphi dissipator hostici
redit recepta prole fratris inclytus
ne quam fidelis sanguinis prosapiam
uis pessimorum possideret principum.
adhuc recentem caede de tanta uirum
donat sacerdos ferculis caelestibus,
dei sacerdos, rex et idem praepotens,
origo cuius fonte inenarrabili
secreta nullum prodit auctorem sui,
Melchisedech, qua stirpe, quis maioribus
ignotus, uni cognitus tantum deo.
mox et triformis angelorum trinitas
senis reuisit hospitis mapalia,
et iam uietam Sarra in aluum fertilis
munus iuuentae mater exsanguis stupet,
herede guadens, et cachinni paenitens.

Abram, dissipator of the enemy’s triumph,
returns illustrious with the brother’s offspring recovered,
lest any lineage of faithful blood
should be possessed by the force of the worst princes.
as yet fresh from so great a slaughter, the man
is presented by the priest with celestial courses,
a priest of God, and likewise a prepotent king,
whose origin, hidden in an inenarrable fount,
discloses no author of itself to anyone,
Melchizedek—by what stock, with what ancestors—
unknown, known only to God alone.
soon too the three-formed Trinity of angels
revisits the mapalia of the aged host,
and Sarah, now withered, at a womb made fertile,
the gift of youth, an exsanguine mother, is astonished,
rejoicing in an heir, and repenting of her titter.

haec ad figuram praenotata est linea,
quam nostra recto uita resculpat pede:
uigilandum in armis pectorum fidelium,
omnemque nostri portionem corporis,
quae capta foedae seruiat libidini,
domi coactis liberandam uiribus;
nos esse large uernularum diuites,
si quid trecenti bis nouenis additis
possint figura nouerimus mystica.
mox ipse Christus, qui sacerdos uerus est,
parente inenarrabili atque uno satus,
cibum beatis offerens uictoribus
paruam pudici cordis intrabit casam,
monstrans honorem trinitatis hospitae.
animam deinde spiritus conplexibus
pie maritam, prolis expertem diu,
faciet perenni fertilem de semine,
tunc sera dotem possidens puerpera
herede digno patris inplebit domum.

This line has been pre-noted for the figure,
which our life may recarve with a straight step:
we must keep vigil in the arms—armor—of faithful hearts,
and every portion of our body
which, captured, would serve foul libido,
must be freed by forces gathered at home;
that we are abundantly rich in house-born slaves,
if we should know what the mystical figure of 318,
with twice nine added to three hundred, can achieve.
Soon Christ himself, who is the true priest,
begotten of an ineffable and single Parent,
offering food to the blessed victors,
will enter the little cottage of the chaste heart,
showing the honor of the guest Trinity.
Then the Spirit, by its embraces, the soul piously wedded,
long without offspring,
will make fertile with perennial seed;
then the late-in-childbed mother, possessing her dowry,
will fill the house with a worthy heir of the father.

Christe, graues hominum semper miserate labores,
qui patria uirtute cluis propriaque, sed una,
(unum namque deum colimus de nomine utroque,
non tamen et solum, quia tu deus ex patre, Christe)
dissere, rex noster, quo milite pellere culpas
mens armata queat nostri de pectoris antro,
exoritur quotiens turbatis sensibus intus
seditio atque animam morborum rixa fatigat,
quod tunc praesidium pro libertate tuenda
quaeue acies furiis inter praecordia mixtis
obsistat meliore manu. nec enim, bone ductor,
magnarum virtutum inopes neruisque carentes
Christicolas uitiis populantibus exposuisti.
ipse salutiferas obsesso in corpore turmas
depugnare iubes, ipse excellentibus armas
artibus ingenium, quibus ad ludibria cordis
oppugnanda potens tibi dimicet et tibi uincat.

Christ, who have always pitied the grievous labors of men,
who are renowned by paternal virtue and by your own, yet as one—
(for we worship one God under either name,
yet not him alone, since you, Christ, are God from the Father)—
expound, our king, with what soldiery to drive out faults
the mind, armed, may be able from the cavern of our breast,
whenever within, with the senses troubled,
sedition arises and the brawl of diseases wearies the soul,
what garrison then for defending liberty,
or what battle-line, when furies are mingled among the inmost parts,
may stand against with the better hand. For indeed, good leader,
you have not exposed the Christ-followers, poor in great virtues and lacking sinews,
to vices that ravage. You yourself bid the health-bringing cohorts
to fight it out in the besieged body; you yourself arm the wit
with excellent arts, by which, for the mockeries of the heart to be stormed,
being powerful, it may contend for you and conquer for you.

uincendi praesens ratio est, si comminus ipsas
uirtutum facies et conluctantia contra
uiribus infestis liceat portenta notare. prima petit campum dubia sub sorte duelli
pugnatura Fides, agresti turbida cultu,
nuda umeros, intonsa comas, exerta lacertos;
namque repentinus laudis calor ad noua feruens
proelia nec telis meminit nec tegmine cingi,
pectore sed fidens ualido membrisque retectis
prouocat insani frangenda pericula belli.
ecce lacessentem conlatis uiribus audet
prima ferire Fidem Veterum Cultura Deorum.

the present method of conquering is this: if at close quarters it be permitted to mark the very faces of the virtues and the portents wrestling against them with hostile forces. first, under the doubtful lot of the duel, Faith, about to fight, seeks the field, turbulent in rustic attire, bare in her shoulders, hair unshorn, arms uncovered; for a sudden heat of praise, seething for new battles, remembers neither to gird herself with weapons nor with a covering, but trusting in a stout breast and with limbs laid bare she challenges the insane dangers of war to be shattered.
ecce, as she provokes, with forces brought together the Cult of the Gods of the Ancients dares first to strike Faith.

illa hostile caput phalerataque tempora uittis
altior insurgens labefactat, et ora cruore
de pecudum satiata solo adplicat et pede calcat
elisos in morte oculos, animamque malignam
fracta intercepti commercia gutturis artant,
difficilemque obitum suspiria longa fatigant.
exultat uictrix legio, quam mille coactam
martyribus regina Fides animarat in hostem.
nunc fortes socios parta pro laude coronat
floribus ardentique iubet uestirier ostro.

she, rising higher, makes to totter the hostile head and the temples adorned with fillets,
and she presses to the ground the mouths sated with the blood of cattle,
and with her foot she treads upon the eyes crushed in death, and the malign spirit
the broken channels of the intercepted throat constrain,
and long sighs weary the difficult death.
the conquering legion exults, which, gathered of a thousand
martyrs, Queen Faith had animated against the enemy.
now she crowns her brave comrades with flowers for the praise won
and bids them be clothed with blazing purple.

exim gramineo in campo concurrere prompta
uirgo Pudicitia speciosis fulget in armis,
quam patrias succincta faces Sodomita Libido
adgreditur piceamque ardenti sulpure pinum
ingerit in faciem pudibundaque lumina flammis
adpetit, et taetro temptat subfundere fumo.
sed dextram furiae flagrantis et ignea dirae
tela lupae saxo ferit inperterrita uirgo,
excussasque sacro taedas depellit ab ore.
tunc exarmatae iugulum meretricis adacto
transfigit gladio; calidos uomit illa uapores
sanguine concretos caenoso; spiritus inde
sordidus exhalans uicinas polluit auras.

then, prompt to run together on the grassy field,
the maiden Chastity gleams in splendid arms,
whom Sodomite Libido, girded with ancestral torches,
assails, and a pitchy pine-torch with burning sulphur
she thrusts at her face and at her bashful eyes she aims with flames,
and tries to suffuse her with hideous smoke.
but the undaunted maiden strikes with a stone the right hand of the blazing fury and the fiery
weapons of the dread she-wolf, and drives the shaken torches away from her sacred face.
then the throat of the disarmed harlot, with the sword driven in,
she transfixes; she vomits hot vapors
concreted with filthy blood; then, exhaling a sordid breath,
she pollutes the neighboring auras.

"hoc habet," exclamat uictrix regina, "supremus
hic tibi finis erit, semper prostrata iacebis,
nec iam mortiferas audebis spargere flammas
in famulos famulasue dei, quibus intima casti
uena animi sola feruet de lampade Christi.
tene, o uexatrix hominum, potuisse resumptis
uiribus extincti capitis recalescere flatu,
Assyrium postquam thalamum ceruix Olofernis
caesa cupidineo madefactum sanguine lauit,
gemmantemque torum moechi ducis aspera Iudith
spreuit et incestos conpescuit ense furores,
famosum mulier referens ex hoste tropaeum
non trepidante manu uindex mea caelitus audax?
at fortasse parum fortis matrona sub umbra
legis adhuc pugnans, dum tempora nostra figurat,
uera quibus uirtus terrena in corpora fluxit
grande per infirmos caput excisura ministros.

"He has it," cries the conquering queen, "this will be your last end; you will ever lie prostrated,
nor any longer will you dare to scatter mortiferous flames
against the male and female servants of God, in whom the inmost vein of a chaste spirit burns solely from the lamp of Christ.
Do you hold, O vexatrix of men, that, your forces resumed,
you could grow warm again by the breath of an extinguished head,
after the neck of Holofernes, cut off, washed the Assyrian bridal-chamber
soaked with lustful blood, and harsh Judith spurned the be-gemmed couch of the adulterous leader
and with the sword checked his unchaste furies,
the woman bringing back a famed trophy from the foe—my avenger, heaven-bold—with a hand not trembling?
But perhaps the matron was little brave, still fighting under the shadow
of the Law, while she was prefiguring our times,
to which the true Virtue flowed into earthly bodies,
to cut off the mighty head through weak ministers.

numquid et intactae post partum uirginis ullum
fas tibi iam superest? post partum uirginis, ex quo
corporis humani naturam pristina origo
deseruit carnemque nouam uis ardua seuit,
atque innupta deum concepit femina Christum, mortali de matre hominem, sed cum patre numen.
inde omnis iam diua caro est quae concipit illum
naturamque dei consortis foedere sumit.

Is there by any chance even any divine right over the virgin untouched after childbirth
now left to you? after the virgin’s childbirth, from which
the pristine origin abandoned the nature of the human body
and a lofty force sowed a new flesh,
and an unwedded woman conceived God Christ—man from a mortal mother, but with the Father a divinity.
thence now all flesh which conceives him is divine
and by the covenant of consort it assumes the nature of God.

Verbum quippe caro factum non destitit esse
quod fuerat, Verbum, dum carnis glutinat usum,
maiestate quidem non degenerante per usum
carnis, sed miseros ad nobiliora trahente.
ille manet quod semper erat, quod non erat esse
incipiens: nos quod fuimus iam non sumus, aucti
nascendo in melius: mihi contulit et sibi mansit.
nec deus ex nostris minuit sua, sed sua nostris
dum tribuit nosmet dona ad caelestia uexit.

For indeed the Word made flesh did not cease to be
what it had been, the Word, while he cements the use of flesh,
with majesty indeed not degenerating through the use
of flesh, but drawing the wretched to nobler things.
He remains what he always was, beginning to be what he was not:
we are now no longer what we were, augmented
by being born into the better: to me he bestowed, and to himself he remained.
Nor did God from our things diminish what is his, but while he grants his own to ours,
he has carried us ourselves by gifts to heavenly things.

dona haec sunt, quod uicta iaces, lutulenta Libido,
nec mea post Mariam potis es perfringere iura.
tu princeps ad mortis iter, tu ianua leti,
corpora conmaculans animas in tartara mergis.
abde caput tristi, iam frigida pestis, abysso;
occide, prostibulum; manes pete, claudere Auerno,
inque tenebrosum noctis detrudere fundum.

these are the gifts: that, conquered, you lie prostrate, mud-befouled Libido,
nor after Mary are you able to shatter my laws.
you the chief to the road of death, you the door of doom,
defiling bodies, you plunge souls into Tartarus.
hide your head in the gloomy, now-chilled pestilence, abyss;
die, prostitute; seek the Manes, be shut in Avernus,
and be thrust down into the shadowy bottom of night.

te uoluant subter uada flammea, te uada nigra
sulpureusque rotet per stagna sonantia uertex,
nec iam Christicolas, furiarum maxima, temptes,
ut purgata suo seruentur corpora regi."
dixerat haec et laeta Libidinis interfectae
morte Pudicitia gladium Iordanis in undis
abluit infectum, sanies cui rore rubenti
haeserat et nitidum macularat uulnere ferrum.
expiat ergo aciem fluuiali docta lauacro
uictricem uictrix, abolens baptismate labem
hostilis iuguli; nec iam contenta piatum
condere uaginae gladium, ne tecta rubigo
occupet ablutum scabrosa sorde nitorem,
catholico in templo diuini fontis ad aram
consecrat, aeterna splendens ubi luce coruscet. ecce modesta graui stabat Patientia uultu
per medias inmota acies uariosque tumultus,
uulneraque et rigidis uitalia peruia pilis
spectabat defixa oculos et lenta manebat.

may the fiery shallows roll you beneath, may the black shallows
and a sulphureous whirlpool spin you through the resounding pools,
and no longer, greatest of the Furies, may you tempt Christ-worshipers,
that bodies cleansed may be kept for their own king."
she had said these things, and, glad at the death of slaughtered Lust,
Chastity washed her stained sword in the waves of the Jordan,
on which gore had clung with ruddy dew and had blotched with the wound
the gleaming iron. So she expiates the edge with a fluvial, well-taught
lavacrum, the victress victorious, abolishing by baptism the stain
of the enemy’s throat; and now not content to sheathe the purified
sword in the scabbard, lest covert rust seize the washed brightness
with scabrous filth, in the catholic temple at the altar of the divine font
she consecrates it, where, shining, it may flash with eternal light. Lo, modest Patience
stood with grave countenance, unmoved through the midst of battle-lines and various tumults,
and she looked upon wounds and the vital parts made pervious by rigid pikes,
with eyes fixed, and remained steadfast.

hanc procul Ira tumens, spumanti feruida rictu,
sanguinea intorquens subfuso lumina felle,
ut belli exsortem teloque et uoce lacessit,
inpatiensque morae conto petit, increpat ore,
hirsutas quatiens galeato in uertice cristas.
"en tibi Martis," ait, "spectatrix libera nostri,
excipe mortiferum securo pectore ferrum,
nec doleas, quia turpe tibi gemuisse dolorem."
sic ait, et stridens sequitur conuicia pinus
per teneros crispata notos, et certa sub ipsum
defertur stomachum rectoque inliditur ictu,
sed resilit duro loricae excussa repulsu.
prouida nam Virtus conserto adamante trilicem
induerat thoraca umeris squamosaque ferri
texta per intortos conmiserat undique neruos.

her, from afar, swelling Anger, hot with foaming gape,
rolling her blood-red eyes, suffused with bile,
as she provokes the one exempt from war both with weapon and with voice,
and, impatient of delay, seeks her with a pike, rebukes her with her mouth,
shaking the shaggy crests on her helmeted crown.
"lo for you of Mars," she says, "spectatress free of our warfare,
receive the death-bearing iron with a secure breast,
and do not grieve, since for you it is shameful to have groaned at pain."
thus she speaks, and the pine-spear, hissing, follows her revilings
rippling through the gentle south-winds, and, unerring, right at the very
pit of the stomach is borne and is dashed on with a straight blow,
but it rebounds, shaken off by the hard repulse of the cuirass.
for provident Virtue had put upon her shoulders a triple-twined
corselet with adamant interlaced and had fastened scaly weaves of iron
everywhere by twisted sinews.

inde quieta manet Patientia, fortis ad omnes
telorum nimbos et non penetrabile durans.
nec mota est iaculo monstri sine more furentis,
opperiens propriis perituram uiribus Iram.
scilicet indomitos postquam stomachando lacertos
barbara bellatrix inpenderat et iaculorum
nube superuacuam lassauerat inrita dextram,
cum uentosa leui cecidissent tela uolatu,
iactibus et uacuis hastilia fracta iacerent,
uertitur ad capulum manus inproba et ense corusco
conisa in plagam dextra sublimis ab aure
erigitur mediumque ferit librata cerebrum.

thence Patience remains quiet, strong against all
showers of missiles and, enduring, not penetrable.
nor was she moved by the javelin of the monster raging without rule,
awaiting Wrath to perish by her own forces.
namely, after the barbarian warrioress, by fretting, had strained her untamed arms
and with a cloud of javelins had wearied her useless right hand to no effect,
when the missiles had fallen with windy, light flight,
and the spear-shafts lay broken from empty casts,
the shameless hand turns to the hilt, and with the coruscating sword
the right hand, aiming at the stroke, high from the ear,
is lifted and, well-poised, strikes the midmost brain.

aerea sed cocto cassis formata metallo
tinnitum percussa refert aciemque retundit
dura resultantem, frangit quoque uena rebellis
inlisum chalybem, dum cedere nescia cassos
excipit adsultus ferienti et tuta resistit.
Ira, ubi truncati mucronis fragmina uidit
et procul in partes ensem crepuisse minutas,
iam capulum retinente manu sine pondere ferri,
mentis inops ebur infelix decorisque pudendi
perfida signa abicit monumentaque tristia longe
spernit, et ad proprium succenditur effera letum.
missile de multis, quae frustra sparserat, unum
puluere de campi peruersos sumit in usus:
rasile figit humi lignum ac se cuspide uersa
perfodit et calido pulmonem uulnere transit.

but the helmet, formed of bronze, with metal tempered,
when struck gives back a ringing and blunts the edge
hard, rebounding, and the rebellious vein also breaks
the dashed steel, while, knowing not to yield, it takes in vain
the assaults for the smiter and safely stands resisting.
Wrath, when she saw the fragments of the truncated point
and that the sword had clattered afar into minute parts,
now with her hand holding the hilt, with no weight of iron,
bereft of mind, casts away the unhappy ivory and the perfidious signs
of shameful adornment, and she scorns far off the sad monuments,
and she is inflamed toward her own savage death.
One missile of the many which she had scattered in vain
she picks from the dust of the field for perverted uses:
she fixes the polished wood in the ground and, the point turned toward herself,
she pierces through herself and passes her lung with a hot wound.

quam super adsistens Patientia "uicimus," inquit,
"exultans Vitium solita uirtute, sine ullo
sanguinis ac uitae discrimine; lex habet istud
nostra genus belli, furias omnemque malorum
militiam et rabidas tolerando extinguere uires.
ipsa sibi est hostis uesania seque furendo
interimit moriturque suis Ira ignea telis."
haec effata secat medias inpune cohortes
egregio comitata uiro; nam proximus Iob
haeserat inuictae dura inter bella magistrae,
fronte seuerus adhuc et multo funere anhelus,
sed iam clausa truci subridens ulcera uultu,
perque cicatricum numerum sudata recensens
millia pugnarum, sua praemia, dedecus hostis.
illum diua iubet tandem requiescere ab omni
armorum strepitu, captis et perdita quaeque
multiplicare opibus, nec iam peritura referre.

Upon this, standing by, Patience says, "we have conquered,"
"the exultant Vice by our accustomed virtue, without any
risk of blood or life; our law holds this kind of war:
to quench by endurance the frenzies and the whole soldiery of evils
and their rabid forces. Madness is an enemy to itself,
and by raging against itself it does itself in, and fiery Wrath dies by its own weapons."
Having spoken these things she cleaves with impunity the middle of the cohorts,
attended by an outstanding man; for next to her Job
had clung amid the hard wars of the unconquered instructress,
stern of brow still and gasping from much slaughter,
but now, with grim countenance, smiling at his wounds closed,
and through the tally of his scars counting over the thousands
of battles sweated-through—his own prizes, the foe’s disgrace.
The goddess bids him at last to rest from all
the clangor of arms, and to multiply with wealth both the captures
and whatever had been lost, and no longer to bring back what is destined to perish.

ipsa globos legionum et concurrentia rumpit
agmina, uulniferos gradiens intacta per imbres.
omnibus una comes uirtutibus adsociatur,
auxiliumque suum fortis Patientia miscet.
nulla anceps luctamen init uirtute sine ista
uirtus, nam uidua est quam non Patientia firmat.

she herself breaks the masses of the legions and the converging columns,
advancing untouched through the wound-bearing showers.
to all the virtues one companion is associated,
and brave Patience mingles in her own aid.
no virtue enters a perilous wrestle without her,
for widowed is the virtue which Patience does not make firm.

forte per effusas inflata Superbia turmas
effreni uolitabat equo, quem pelle leonis
texerat et ualidos uillis onerauerat armos,
quo se fulta iubis iactantius illa ferinis
inferret tumido despectans agmina fastu.
turritum tortis caput adcumularat in altum
crinibus, extructos augeret ut addita cirros
congeries celsumque apicem frons ardua ferret.
carbasea ex umeris summo collecta coibat
palla sinu teretem nectens a pectore nodum.

by chance, inflated Pride was flitting through the poured-out squadrons
on an unbridled horse, which she had covered with a lion’s hide
and had laden its sturdy shoulders with shaggy hairs,
that, propped upon the ferine manes, she might carry herself more vauntingly,
looking down on the ranks with tumid disdain.
she had heaped her head, turret-like, on high with twisted locks,
so that an added congeries might augment the built-up curls
and her steep brow might bear a lofty apex.
a carbasine mantle, gathered from the very top of her shoulders,
came together at her bosom, tying a terete knot from her chest.

a ceruice fluens tenui uelamine limbus
concipit infestas textis turgentibus auras.
nec minus instabili sonipes feritate superbit,
inpatiens madidis frenarier ora lupatis.
huc illuc frendens obuertit terga, negata
libertate fugae, pressisque tumescit habenis.

a hem flowing from the neck with a thin veil
catches the hostile airs with woven, swelling folds.
no less does the steed exult in unstable ferocity,
impatient that its mouth be reined by dripping wolf-bits.
this way and that, gnashing, he turns his back, with the liberty of flight denied,
and swells beneath the reins pressed tight.

hoc sese ostentans habitu uentosa uirago
inter utramque aciem supereminet et phaleratum
circumflectit equum, uultuque et uoce minatur
aduersum spectans cuneum, quem milite raro
et paupertinis ad bella coegerat armis
Mens Humilis, regina quidem, sed egens alieni
auxilii proprio nec sat confisa paratu.
Spem sibi collegam coniunxerat, edita cuius
et suspensa ab humo est opulentia diuite regno.
ergo Humilem postquam male sana Superbia Mentem
uilibus instructam nullo ostentamine telis
aspicit, in uocem dictis se effundit amaris:
"non pudet, o miseri, plebeio milite claros
adtemptare duces ferroque lacessere gentem
insignem titulis, ueteres cui bellica uirtus
diuitias peperit, laetos et gramine colles
imperio calcare dedit?

showing herself in this garb, the windy virago
towers between both battle lines and wheels her caparisoned
horse, and with face and voice she threatens,
looking toward the opposing wedge, which with sparse soldiery
and poverty-stricken arms Humble Mind had mustered for wars—
Humble Mind, a queen indeed, but in need of another’s
aid, nor enough trusting in her own preparation.
She had joined Hope to herself as a colleague, whose
opulence is elevated and suspended from the ground by a wealthy realm.
therefore, after mad Pride sees Humble Mind
equipped with cheap weapons, with no ostentation,
she fixes her gaze and pours herself into voice with bitter words:
“Are you not ashamed, O wretches, with plebeian soldiery to attempt
renowned leaders and to provoke with iron a people
distinguished in titles, to whom warlike valor
has begotten ancient riches, and has granted to tread the joyful, grassy hills
under their dominion?”

nunc aduena nudus
nititur antiquos, si fas est, pellere reges!
en qui nostra suis in praedam cedere dextris
sceptra uolunt! en qui nostras sulcare nouales
aruaque capta manu popularier hospite aratro
contendunt, duros et pellere Marte colonos!

now a naked newcomer
strives, if it be right, to drive out ancient kings!
behold those who want our scepters to yield as prey to their own right hands!
behold those who to furrow our noval fallows
and to depredate, with a stranger’s plow, the fields seized by hand,
strive, and to drive out by Mars the hardy colonists!

nempe, o ridiculum uulgus, natalibus horis
totum hominem et calidos a matre amplectimur artus,
uimque potestatum per membra recentis alumni
spargimus, et rudibus dominamur in ossibus omnes.
quis locus in nostra tunc uobis sede dabatur,
congenitis cum regna simul dicionibus aequo
robore crescebant? nati iam luce sub una
et domus et domini paribus adoleuimus annis,
ex quo plasma nouum de consaepto paradisi
limite progrediens amplum transfugit in orbem,
pellitosque habitus sumpsit uenerabilis Adam,
nudus adhuc, ni nostra foret praecepta secutus.

surely, o ridiculous mob, at the natal hours
we embrace the whole human and the warm limbs from the mother,
and we scatter the force of the powers through the members of the fresh nursling,
and we all domineer over the raw bones.
what place was then given to you in our seat,
when the kingdoms with co-born dominions were growing together with equal
strength? born now beneath one light
both the house and the lords have grown up with equal years,
from the time when the new plasm, advancing from the fenced enclosure of paradise,
crossed over the boundary and fled into the ample orb,
and venerable Adam took on fur-clad garments—
still naked, if he had not followed our precepts.

quisnam iste ignotis hostis nunc surgit ab oris
inportunus, iners, infelix, degener, amens,
qui sibi tam serum ius uindicat, hactenus exul?
nimirum uacuae credentur friuola famae,
quae miseros optare iubet quandoque futuri
spem fortasse boni, lenta ut solacia mollem
desidiam pigro rerum meditamine palpent.
quidni illos spes palpet iners, quos puluere in isto
tirones Bellona truci non excitat aere,
inbellesque animos uirtus tepefacta resoluit?

Who is this hostile one from unknown shores now rising—importunate, inert, ill-fated, degenerate, demented—who, an exile until now, claims for himself so late a right?
Surely the frivolous tales of empty rumor will be believed, which bid the wretched sometimes to desire perhaps a hope of future good, so that slow solaces may fondle soft sloth with a sluggish meditation on things.
Why should not inert hope stroke them, whom, in this dust, Bellona does not rouse as tyros with grim bronze, and whose unwarlike spirits tepid valor unstrings?

anne Pudicitiae gelidum iecur utile bello est?
an tenerum Pietatis opus sudatur in armis?
quam pudet, o Mauors et uirtus conscia, talem
contra stare aciem ferroque lacessere nugas,
et cum uirgineis dextram conferre choreis,
Iustitia est ubi semper egens et pauper Honestas,
arida Sobrietas, albo Ieiunia uultu,
sanguine uix tenui Pudor interfusus, aperta
Simplicitas et ad omne patens sine tegmine uulnus,
et prostrata in humum nec libera iudice sese
Mens Humilis, quam degenerem trepidatio prodit!

Is the cold liver of Pudicity useful for war?
Or is the tender work of Piety sweated out in arms?
How it shames, O Mavors and virtue conscious, to set such a battle-line in opposition and to provoke trifles with iron,
and to match the right hand with virginal dances,
where Justice is ever needy and Honesty poor,
arid Sobriety, Fasts with a pale visage,
Pudor scarcely suffused with thin blood, open
Simplicity and, a wound laid bare, exposed to everything without covering,
and the Humble Mind prostrate on the ground and not free to be its own judge—
how trembling betrays it as degenerate!

faxo ego, sub pedibus stipularum more teratur
inualida ista manus; neque enim perfringere duris
dignamur gladiis, algenti et sanguine ferrum
inbuere fragilique uiros foedare triumpho."
talia uociferans rapidum calcaribus urget
cornipedem laxisque uolat temeraria frenis,
hostem humilem cupiens inpulsu umbonis equini
sternere deiectamque supercalcare ruinam.
sed cadit in foueam praeceps, quam callida forte
Fraus interciso subfoderat aequore furtim,
Fraus detestandis Vitiorum e pestibus una,
fallendi uersuta opifex, quae praescia belli
planitiem scrobibus uitiauerat insidiosis
hostili de parte latens, ut fossa ruentes
exciperet cuneos atque agmina mersa uoraret;
ac ne fallacem puteum deprendere posset
cauta acies, uirgis adopertas texerat oras,
et superinposito simularat caespite campum.
at regina humilis, quamuis ignara, manebat
ulteriore loco nec adhuc ad Fraudis opertum
uenerat aut foueae calcarat furta malignae.

I will make sure that feeble band be ground beneath our feet in the manner of straw; for we do not deign to shatter with hard swords, to imbue the iron with gelid blood, and to befoul men with a fragile triumph."
Shouting such things she urges on with spurs her rapid charger, and reckless she flies with loosened reins, wishing to strew the lowly foe by the impact of the equine umbo and to trample over the cast-down ruin.
But she falls headlong into a pit, which crafty Fraud had secretly undermined beneath the level surface, the plain having been cut through—Fraud, one of the detestable plagues of the Vices, a wily artificer of deceiving—who, foreknowing the war, had vitiated the flat ground with treacherous pits, lurking on the enemy’s side, so that the ditch might catch the rushing wedges and swallow the sunk ranks;
and lest the cautious battle-line be able to detect the deceitful well, she had covered the edges with rods overlaid, and with turf placed above had simulated a field.
But the humble queen, although unaware, remained in a farther place and had not yet come to Fraud’s covered contrivance nor trodden the thefts of the spiteful pit.

hunc eques illa dolum, dum fertur praepete cursu,
incidit, et caecum subito patefecit hiatum.
prona ruentis equi ceruice inuoluitur, ac sub
pectoris inpressu fracta inter crura rotatur.
at Virtus placidi moderaminis, ut leuitatem
prospicit obtritam monstri sub morte iacentis,
intendit gressum mediocriter, os quoque parce
erigit et comi moderatur gaudia uultu.

that horsewoman, while she is borne in a swift-winged course,
falls upon this trick, and suddenly laid open the blind yawning gap.
headlong she is entangled in the neck of the plunging horse, and, under
the press of its breast, shattered, is rolled between its legs.
but Virtue, of placid governance, when she beholds the levity
crushed of the monster lying under death,
advances her step moderately, and also sparingly
raises her face and with a kindly countenance moderates her joys.

cunctanti Spes fida comes succurrit et offert
ultorem gladium laudisque inspirat amorem.
illa cruentatam correptis crinibus hostem
protrahit et faciem laeua reuocante supinat,
tunc caput orantis flexa ceruice resectum
eripit ac madido suspendit colla capillo.
extinctum Vitium sancto Spes increpat ore:
"desine grande loqui; frangit deus omne superbum,
magna cadunt, inflata crepant, tumefacta premuntur.

to the hesitating one Hope, a faithful companion, runs to the rescue and offers
the avenging sword and inspires a love of laud.
she, grabbing the enemy by her hair, all blood-stained,
drags her forth and, with the left hand drawing it back, upturns her face,
then the head of the one begging, the neck bent, cut off,
she snatches and holds it aloft by its dripping hair.
Hope rebukes the extinguished Vice with a sacred mouth:
"cease your grand talk; God breaks every proud thing,
great things fall, inflated things crack, swollen things are pressed down."

disce supercilium deponere, disce cauere
ante pedes foueam, quisquis sublime minaris.
peruulgata uiget nostri sententia Christi
scandere celsa humiles et ad ima redire feroces.
uidimus horrendum membris animisque Goliam
inualida cecidisse manu: puerilis in illum
dextera fundali torsit stridore lapillum
traiectamque cauo penetrauit uulnere frontem.

learn to lay down the supercilious brow, learn to beware
the pit before your feet, whoever menaces on high.
the widely-spread saying of our Christ stands strong:
the humble climb the heights, and the fierce return to the depths.
we have seen Goliath, dreadful in limbs and spirit,
fall by a feeble hand: a boyish right hand against him
whirled with sling’s whizzing a little stone,
and with a hollow wound pierced through his brow.

ille minax, rigidus, iactans, truculentus, amarus,
dum tumet indomitum, dum formidabile feruet,
dum sese ostentat, clipeo dum territat auras,
expertus pueri quid possint ludicra parui
subcubuit teneris bellator turbidus annis.
me tunc ille puer uirtutis pube secutus
florentes animos sursum in mea regna tetendit,
seruatur quia certa mihi domus omnipotentis
sub pedibus domini, meque ad sublime uocantem
uictores caesa culparum labe capessunt."
dixit, et auratis praestringens aëra pinnis
in caelum se uirgo rapit. mirantur euntem
Virtutes tolluntque animos in uota uolentes
ire simul, ni bella duces terrena retardent.

he menacing, rigid, vaunting, truculent, bitter,
while he swells untamed, while he boils formidable,
while he ostentates himself, while with his shield he scares the airs,
having experienced what the ludic playthings of a small boy can achieve,
the turbulent warrior succumbed to tender years.
me then that boy, following me in the bloom of virtue,
stretched his flourishing spirits upward into my realms,
for a sure house of the Omnipotent is kept for me
beneath the Lord’s feet, and me, calling to the sublime,
the victors, the taint of faults hewn down, lay hold of."
she spoke, and, dazzling the air with gilded pinions,
the maiden snatches herself into heaven. They marvel at her going;
the Virtues lift their spirits, and, willing in vows to go together,
were it not that earthly wars of leaders hold them back.

confligunt Vitiis seque ad sua praemia seruant. uenerat occiduis mundi de finibus hostis
Luxuria, extinctae iamdudum prodiga famae,
delibuta comas, oculis uaga, languida uoce,
perdita deliciis, uitae cui causa uoluptas,
elumbem mollire animum, petulanter amoenas
haurire inlecebras et fractos soluere sensus.
ac tunc peruigilem ructabat marcida cenam,
sub lucem quia forte iacens ad fercula raucos
audierat lituos, atque inde tepentia linquens
pocula lapsanti per uina et balsama gressu
ebria calcatis ad bellum floribus ibat.

they clash with the Vices and reserve themselves for their own prizes. There had come from the westering limits of the world the enemy,
Luxury, prodigal of a fame long since extinct,
her hair anointed, with roving eyes, with a languid voice,
ruined by delights, for whom the cause of life is voluptuousness,
to soften the enervate spirit, petulantly to quaff pleasing allurements
and to unloose senses that were broken.
and then, wilted, she was belching the all‑night supper,
because toward dawn, as by chance she lay by the platters, she had heard
the hoarse trumpets; and from there, leaving the tepid cups,
with a step slipping through wines and balms,
drunk she was going to war over trampled flowers.

non tamen illa pedes, sed curru inuecta uenusto
saucia mirantum capiebat corda uirorum.
o noua pugnandi species! non ales harundo
neruum pulsa fugit, nec stridula lancea torto
emicat amento, frameam nec dextra minatur;
sed uiolas lasciua iacit foliisque rosarum
dimicat et calathos inimica per agmina fundit.

not, however, on foot, but borne in a charming chariot,
she was seizing the wounded hearts of the marveling men.
o new kind of fighting! no winged shaft,
when the string is struck, flees; nor does a strident lance from a twisted
thong dart forth, nor does the right hand threaten the framea;
but wanton she hurls violets and with the leaves of roses
she fights, and as an enemy she pours baskets through the ranks.

inde eblanditis Virtutibus halitus inlex
inspirat tenerum labefacta per ossa uenenum,
et male dulcis odor domat ora et pectora et arma
ferratosque toros obliso robore mulcet.
deiciunt animos ceu uicti et spicula ponunt,
turpiter, heu, dextris languentibus obstupefacti
dum currum uaria gemmarum luce micantem
mirantur, dum bratteolis crepitantia lora
et solido ex auro pretiosi ponderis axem
defixis inhiant obtutibus et radiorum
argento albentem seriem, quam summa rotarum
flexura electri pallentis continet orbe.
et iam cuncta acies in deditionis amorem
sponte sua uersis transibat perfida signis
Luxuriae seruire uolens dominaeque fluentis
iura pati et laxa ganearum lege teneri.

thence, with the Virtues coaxed, an enticing breath
breathes in tender poison through bones whose strength is loosened,
and a sweet-in-an-ill-way odor subdues mouths and breasts and arms,
and it soothes the iron-studded couches with their strength gnawed away.
they cast down their spirits as if conquered and set down their javelins,
shamefully, alas, benumbed as their right hands grow languid,
while they marvel at the chariot flashing with the diverse light of gems,
while at the reins rattling with little foils, at
the axle of precious weight from solid gold,
they gape with gazes fixed, and at the sequence of spokes
whitening with silver, which the outermost bend of the wheels
contains in a circle of pale amber.
and now the whole battle-line, into a love of surrender,
of its own accord was treacherously passing over with the standards turned,
willing to serve Luxury and to endure the laws of a flowing mistress,
and to be held by the lax law of the eating-houses.

ingemuit tam triste nefas fortissima Virtus
Sobrietas, dextro socios decedere cornu
inuictamque manum quondam sine caede perire.
uexillum sublime crucis, quod in agmine primo
dux bona praetulerat, defixa cuspide sistit,
instauratque leuem dictis mordacibus alam
exstimulans animos nunc probris, nunc prece mixta:
"quis furor insanas agitat caligine mentes?
quo ruitis?

the most stalwart Virtue, Sobriety, groaned at so sad a wickedness,
that comrades should withdraw from the right wing,
and that a once unconquered band should perish without bloodshed.
she plants the lofty standard of the Cross, which the good leader
had carried in the foremost line, halting it with the point fixed,
and she rallies the light wing with biting words,
goading their spirits now with reproaches, now with mingled prayer:
"what frenzy stirs your crazed minds in a gloom?
whither are you rushing?

cui colla datis? quae uincula tandem,
pro pudor, armigeris amor est perferre lacertis,
lilia luteolis interlucentia sertis
et ferrugineo uernantes flore coronas?
his placet adsuetas bello iam tradere palmas
nexibus, his rigidas nodis innectier ulnas,
ut mitra caesariem cohibens aurata uirilem
conbibat infusum croceo religamine nardum,
post inscripta oleo frontis signacula, per quae
unguentum regale datum est et chrisma perenne,
ut tener incessus uestigia syrmate uerrat
sericaque infractis fluitent ut pallia membris,
post inmortalem tunicam quam pollice docto
texuit alma Fides, dans inpenetrabile tegmen
pectoribus lotis, dederat quibus ipsa renasci,
inde ad nocturnas epulas, ubi cantharus ingens
despuit effusi spumantia damna Falerni
in mensam cyathis stillantibus, uda ubi multo
fulcra mero ueterique toreumata rore rigantur?

to whom do you give your necks? what bonds at last,
O shame, is there a love for men-at-arms to bear upon their brawny arms
lilies shining between yellowish garlands
and crowns flowering with iron-rust colored bloom?
does it please them to hand over hands long accustomed to war
to fetters, to have rigid forearms fastened with knots,
so that a golden mitre restraining manly hair
may soak up nard poured in with a saffron fastening,
after the seal-marks of the forehead inscribed with oil, through which
royal unguent has been given and the perennial chrism,
so that a tender gait may sweep its footprints with a train
and silken mantles may flow on limbs left unbraced,
after the immortal tunic which kindly Faith,
with skillful thumb, wove, granting an impenetrable covering
to washed breasts, to whom she herself had given to be reborn,
then to nocturnal banquets, where a huge tankard
spits upon the table the foaming losses of outpoured Falernian,
with cups dripping, where the couch-supports, in much unmixed wine,
and chased with old “dew” of the vintage, are drenched?

excidit ergo animis eremi sitis, excidit ille
fons patribus de rupe datus, quem mystica uirga
elicuit scissi salientem uertice saxi?
angelicusne cibus prima in tentoria uestris
fluxit auis, quem nunc sero felicior aeuo
uespertinus edit populus de corpore Christi?
his uos inbutos dapibus iam crapula turpis
Luxuriae ad madidum rapit inportuna lupanar,
quosque uiros non Ira fremens, non idola bello
cedere conpulerant, saltatrix ebria flexit!

has the thirst of the desert then fallen from your minds, has that
fountain fallen away which was given to the fathers from the rock, which the mystic rod
drew forth, leaping from the vertex of the split stone?
did the angelic food flow as a bird into your first tents,
which now, happier by a later age, the evening people
eats from the body of Christ?
you, steeped in these banquets, now foul crapulence
importunately drags to the sodden brothel of Luxury,
and the men whom neither raging Wrath nor idols had compelled in war
to yield, a drunken dancing-girl has bent!

state, precor, uestri memores, memores quoque Christi
quae sit uestra tribus, quae gloria, quis deus et rex,
quis dominus meminisse decet. uos nobile Iudae
germen ad usque dei genetricem, qua deus ipse
esset homo, procerum uenistis sanguine longo.
excitet egregias mentes celeberrima Dauid
gloria continuis bellorum exercita curis,
excitet et Samuel, spolium qui diuite ab hoste
adtrectare uetat nec uictum uiuere regem
incircumcisum patitur, ne praeda superstes
uictorem placidum recidiua in proelia poscat.

stand, I pray, mindful of yours, mindful also of Christ—
what your tribe is, what glory, who is God and King,
who is Lord it befits to remember. You, noble Judah’s
offspring, even unto the God-bearer, by whom God himself
would be man, have come in the long bloodline of the nobles.
let the most celebrated glory of David, exercised by the continual
cares of wars, rouse distinguished minds, let Samuel also rouse you,
who forbids handling the spoil from a wealthy foe and does not allow
a conquered uncircumcised king to live, lest surviving booty
should summon the placid victor into renewed battles.

parcere iam capto crimen putat ille tyranno,
at uobis contra uinci et subcumbere uotum est.
paeniteat, per si qua mouet reuerentia summi
numinis, hoc tam dulce malum uoluisse nefanda
proditione sequi; si paenitet, haud nocet error.
paenituit Ionatham ieiunia sobria dulci
conuiolasse fauo sceptri mellisque sapore
heu male gustato, regni dum blanda uoluptas
oblectat iuuenem iurataque sacra resoluit.

he deems it a crime to spare a tyrant now captured,
but for you, contrariwise, the wish is to be conquered and to succumb.
let it repent you, by whatever reverence of the Most High Divinity
moves you, to have wished to follow this so sweet evil by nefarious
betrayal; if you repent, the error does not harm.
Jonathan repented of having violated the sober fasts with a sweet
honeycomb, with the scepter, and with the savor of honey—
alas, ill tasted—while the coaxing voluptuousness of kingship
delights the youth and dissolves the sworn sacred bonds.

sed quis paenituit, nec sors lacrimabilis illa est,
nec tinguit patrias sententia saeua secures.
en ego Sobrietas, si conspirare paratis,
pando uiam cunctis Virtutibus, ut malesuada
Luxuries, multo stipata satellite, poenas
cum legione sua Christo sub iudice pendat."
sic effata crucem domini feruentibus offert
obuia quadriiugis, lignum uenerabile in ipsos
intentans frenos. quod ut expauere feroces
cornibus obpansis et summa fronte coruscum,
uertunt praecipitem caeca formidine fusi
per praerupta fugam.

but who has repented, nor is that lot lamentable,
nor does the savage sentence dye the ancestral axes.
behold, I am Sobriety; if you are prepared to conspire,
I open a way for all the Virtues, so that beguiling
Luxury, packed with many a satellite, may pay penalties
with her own legion to Christ as judge."
thus having spoken, she offers the Lord’s cross, meeting the raging
four-yoked team, aiming the venerable wood at their very
reins. when the fierce beasts, with horn-tips hooded and their brow’s summit flashing,
took fright at it, they wheel headlong, poured out in blind terror,
and through the precipitous places they turn their flight.

fertur resupina reductis
nequiquam loris auriga comamque madentem
puluere foedatur. tunc et uertigo rotarum
inplicat excussam dominam; nam prona sub axem
labitur et lacero tardat sufflamine currum.
addit Sobrietas uulnus letale iacenti,
coniciens silicem rupis de parte molarem.

she is borne supine, the charioteer, with the reins drawn back in vain,
and her hair, soaked with dust, is defiled. Then too the vertigo of the wheels
entangles the mistress flung out; for, prone beneath the axle,
she slips and with a torn brake-shoe slows the chariot.
Sobriety adds a lethal wound to the one lying there,
hurling a millstone-sized flint from the side of the crag.

hunc uexilliferae quoniam fors obtulit ictum
spicula nulla manu sed belli insigne gerenti,
casus agit saxum, medii spiramen ut oris
frangeret, et recauo misceret labra palato.
dentibus introrsum resolutis lingua resectam
dilaniata gulam frustis cum sanguinis inplet.
insolitis dapibus crudescit guttur, et ossa
conliquefacta uorans reuomit quas hauserat offas.

since chance offered this blow to the standard-bearer,
carrying no little darts in his hand but the insignia of war,
the mishap drives the stone, so that it might shatter the breathing passage of the mid-face
and mingle the lips with the hollow palate.
with the teeth loosened inward, the tongue, torn, fills the severed throat
with scraps along with blood.
the gullet grows cruel with unaccustomed feasts, and, devouring
liquefied bones, re-vomits the mouthfuls which it had gulped down.

"ebibe iam proprium post pocula multa cruorem,"
uirgo ait increpitans, "sint haec tibi fercula tandem
tristia praeteriti nimiis pro dulcibus aeui.
lasciuas uitae inlecebras gustatus amarae
mortis et horrifico sapor ultimus asperat haustu."
caede ducis dispersa fugit trepidante pauore
nugatrix acies. Iocus et Petulantia primi
cymbala proiciunt; bellum nam talibus armis
ludebant resono meditantes uulnera sistro.

"Drink down now your own gore after many goblets,"
the maiden says, chiding, "let these at last be your courses,
sad in place of the too-sweet delights of the bygone age.
the tasting of bitter death and the ultimate savor
with a horrific draught makes harsh the lascivious allurements of life."
With the leader slain, the trifling battle-line, scattered, flees in trembling fear.
Jest and Petulance are the first to throw away their cymbals;
for with such arms they were playing at war, meditating wounds with a resounding sistrum.

dat tergum fugitiuus Amor, lita tela ueneno
et lapsum ex umeris arcum pharetramque cadentem
pallidus ipse metu sua post uestigia linquit.
Pompa, ostentatrix uani splendoris, inani
exuitur nudata peplo; discissa trahuntur
serta Venustatis collique ac uerticis aurum
soluitur, et gemmas Discordia dissona turbat.
non piget adtritis pedibus per acuta frutecta
ire Voluptatem, quoniam uis maior acerbam
conpellit tolerare fugam; formido pericli
praedurat teneras iter ad cruciabile plantas.

the fugitive Love turns his back, his weapons smeared with venom
and the bow slipped from his shoulders and the quiver falling
he himself, pallid with fear, leaves his own footprints behind.
Pomp, the ostentatrix of empty splendor, is stripped, laid bare of her peplos; torn are dragged
the garlands of Venusty, and the gold of neck and head
is loosened, and Discord, dissonant, throws the gems into disorder.
it does not irk Pleasure, with abraded feet, through sharp thickets
to go, since a greater force compels her to endure the bitter
flight; the dread of peril steels the tender soles for a path excruciating to travel.

qua se cumque fugax trepidis fert cursibus agmen,
damna iacent, crinalis acus, redimicula, uittae,
fibula, flammeolum, strophium, diadema, monile.
his se Sobrietas et totus Sobrietatis
abstinet exuuiis miles damnataque castis
scandala proculcat pedibus, nec fronte seueros
coniuente oculos praedarum ad gaudia flectit.
fertur Auaritia gremio praecincta capaci,
quidquid Luxus edax pretiosum liquerat, unca
corripuisse manu, pulchra in ludibria uasto
ore inhians aurique legens fragmenta caduci
inter harenarum cumulos.

wherever the fugitive column bears itself in panicked courses,
losses lie—hairpin for the hair, headbands, fillets,
brooch, little saffron veil, strophium, diadem, necklace.
From these spoils Sobriety and the whole soldiery of Sobriety
abstains, and they trample underfoot the scandals condemned by the chaste,
nor, knitting the brow, do they bend their stern eyes toward the joys of plunder.
Avarice is reported, girded with a capacious bosom,
to have snatched with a hooked hand whatever edacious Luxury had left as precious,
gaping with vast mouth to make mock of fair things and picking out
fragments of fallen gold among the heaps of sand.

nec sufficit amplos
inpleuisse sinus; iuuat infercire cruminis
turpe lucrum et grauidos furtis distendere fiscos,
quos laeua celante tegit laterisque sinistri
uelat opermento; uelox nam dextra rapinas
abradit spoliisque ungues exercet aënos.
Cura, Famis, Metus, Anxietas, Periuria, Pallor,
Corruptela, Dolus, Commenta, Insomnia, Sordes,
Eumenides uariae monstri comitatus aguntur.
nec minus interea rabidorum more luporum
Crimina persultant toto grassantia campo,
matris Auaritiae nigro de lacte creata.

nor is it enough to have filled her ample lap; it delights her to stuff the purse with base lucre
and to distend money-bags heavy with thefts,
which, the left hand concealing, she covers with a covering of the left side;
for the swift right hand snatches rapines and with the spoils trains her brazen nails.
Care, Hunger, Fear, Anxiety, Perjuries, Pallor,
Corruption, Guile, Fabrications, Insomnia, Filth,
various Eumenides are driven as the retinue of the monster.
no less meanwhile, in the manner of rabid wolves,
Crimes leap about, ranging over the whole field,
begotten from the black milk of mother Avarice.

si fratris galeam fuluis radiare ceraunis
germanus uidit conmilito, non timet ensem
exerere atque caput socio mucrone ferire,
de consanguineo rapturus uertice gemmas.
filius extinctum belli sub sorte cadauer
aspexit si forte patris, fulgentia bullis
cingula et exuuias gaudet rapuisse cruentas:
cognatam Ciuilis agit Discordia praedam,
nec parcit propriis Amor insatiatus Habendi
pigneribus spoliatque suos Famis inpia natos.
talia per populos edebat funera uictrix
orbis Auaritia, sternens centena uirorum
millia uulneribus uariis: hunc lumine adempto
effossisque oculis uelut in caligine noctis
caecum errare sinit perque offensacula multa
ire, nec oppositum baculo temptare periclum.

if a brother has seen his fellow-brother-in-arms’ helmet radiate with tawny cerauni (thunder-stones),
he does not fear to draw the sword and strike his comrade’s head with the blade,
about to snatch the gems from his kinsman’s crest.
if by chance a son has caught sight of his father’s corpse,
fallen under the lot of war, he rejoices to have snatched
belts gleaming with bosses and the bloody spoils:
Civil Discord drives kin-plunder,
nor does the insatiate Love of Having spare its own pledges,
and impious Famine despoils her own sons.
such funerals was Avarice, victress of the world, wreaking through the peoples,
strewing hundreds of thousands of men with manifold wounds: this one, with light taken away
and his eyes gouged, it lets wander blind as if in the murk of night
and go through many stumbling-blocks,
nor to test with a staff the danger set before him.

porro alium capit intuitu fallitque uidentem,
insigne ostentans aliquid, quod dum petit ille,
excipitur telo incautus cordisque sub ipso
saucius occulto ferrum suspirat adactum.
multos praecipitans in aperta incendia cogit
nec patitur uitare focos, quibus aestuat aurum,
quod petit arsurus pariter speculator auarus.
omne hominum rapit illa genus, mortalia cuncta
occupat interitu, neque est uiolentius ullum
terrarum Vitium, quod tantis cladibus aeuum
mundani inuoluat populi damnetque gehennae.

furthermore she seizes another by a glance and deceives the one seeing,
ostentating some insignia, which while he seeks it,
unguarded he is caught by a weapon, and right beneath the heart
wounded he gasps, the hidden iron driven in.
precipitating many, she forces them into open fires
nor does she allow them to avoid the hearths, wherein the gold seethes,
which the avaricious speculator seeks, destined likewise to burn.
she snatches the whole race of men, she seizes all mortal things
in destruction, nor is there any more violent Vice
upon the lands, which with such calamities enwraps the age
of the worldly people and condemns it to Gehenna.

quin ipsos temptare manu, si credere dignum est,
ausa sacerdotes domini, qui proelia forte
ductores primam ante aciem pro laude gerebant
uirtutum, magnoque inplebant classica flatu.
et fors innocuo tinxisset sanguine ferrum,
ni Ratio armipotens, gentis Leuitidis una
semper fida comes, clipeum obiectasset et atrae
hostis ab incursu claros texisset alumnos.
stant tuti Rationis ope, stant turbine ab omni
inmunes fortesque animi; uix in cute summa
praestringens paucos tenui de uulnere laedit
cuspis Auaritiae.

nay, she even dared to try with her hand, if it is worthy to believe, the very priests of the Lord, who, as leaders, bravely were waging the battles before the foremost line for the praise of virtues, and were filling the war‑trumpets with great breath.
and perhaps she would have dipped the steel in innocent blood, if Reason, armipotent, the one ever faithful companion of the Levitical tribe, had not thrown a shield before them and from the onrush of the black enemy had covered her illustrious pupils.
they stand safe by the aid of Reason, they stand immune from every whirlwind, their spirits stout; scarcely on the topmost skin, grazing a few, does the point of Avarice wound with a slight hurt.

stupuit Luis inproba castis
heroum iugulis longe sua tela repelli;
ingemit et dictis ardens furialibus infit:
"uincimur, heu, segnes nec nostra potentia perfert
uim solitam, languet uiolentia saeua nocendi,
sueuerat inuictis quae uiribus omnia ubique
rumpere corda hominum; nec enim tam ferrea quemquam
durauit natura uirum, cuius rigor aera
sperneret aut nostro foret inpenetrabilis auro.
ingenium omne neci dedimus; tenera, aspera, dura,
docta, indocta simul, bruta et sapientia, nec non
casta, incesta meae patuerunt pectora dextrae.
sola igitur rapui quidquid Styx abdit auaris
gurgitibus.

The shameless Plague stood amazed that from the chaste
jugulars of heroes her missiles were driven far away;
she groans, and, burning with Fury-like words, begins:
“We are vanquished, alas; we are sluggish, and our potency does not deliver
its accustomed force; the savage violence of harming grows faint—
that which had been wont with unconquered powers everywhere
to burst the hearts of men; nor has Nature hardened any man so iron
whose rigor would spurn bronzes or be impenetrable to our gold.
We have devoted every ingenuity to death; the tender, the harsh, the hard,
the learned and the unlearned alike, brutish and wise, and likewise
chaste and unchaste breasts have lain open to my right hand.
I alone, therefore, have snatched whatever the Styx hides in greedy
whirlpools.”

nobis ditissima Tartara debent
quos retinent populos. quod uoluunt saecula nostrum est,
quod miscet mundus, uesana negotia, nostrum.
qui fit praeualidas quod pollens gloria uires
deserit et cassos ludit fortuna lacertos?

to us the most wealthy Tartarus owes the peoples it retains.
what the ages will is ours,
what the world mixes—the insane dealings—is ours.
how is it that abounding glory deserts very strong forces,
and Fortune makes sport of empty arms?

sordet Christicolis rutilantis fulua monetae
effigies, sordent argenti emblemata, et omnis
thensaurus nigrante oculis uilescit honore.
quid sibi docta uolunt fastidia? nonne triumphum
egimus e Scarioth, magnus qui discipulorum
et conuiua dei, dum fallit foedere mensae
haudquaquam ignarum dextramque parabside iungit,
incidit in nostrum flammante cupidine telum,
infamem mercatus agrum de sanguine amici
numinis, obliso luiturus iugera collo?

to Christ-worshipers the tawny effigy of the ruddy coin
is sordid, the emblems of silver are sordid, and every
treasure, its honor blackening, grows cheap to their eyes.
what do the learned fastidiousnesses want for themselves? Did we not win a triumph
over Iscariot, who was great among the disciples
and a dinner-guest of God, while he breaks the covenant of the table
to one by no means unaware and joins his right hand with the dish,
he fell upon our weapon with flaming cupidity,
having purchased the infamous field with the blood of the friend
of the divinity, destined to pay for the acres with a chafed neck?

uiderat et Iericho propria inter funera quantum
posset nostra manus, cum uictor concidit Achar.
caedibus insignis murali et strage superbus
subcubuit capto uictis ex hostibus auro,
dum uetitis insigne legens anathema fauillis
maesta ruinarum spolia insatiabilis haurit.
non illum generosa tribus, non plebis auitae
iuuit Iuda parens, Christo quandoque propinquo
nobilis et tali felix patriarcha nepote.

Jericho too had seen, amid its own funerals, how much
our hand could accomplish, when Achar, though victor, fell.
Conspicuous for slaughters and proud of the mural ruin,
he succumbed to gold captured from vanquished enemies,
while, picking the marked anathema from the forbidden ashes,
insatiable he drains the mournful spoils of the ruins.
Not him did the noble tribe, nor Judah, father of the ancestral people,
avail to help—Judah, one day akin to Christ
a patriarch noble and happy in such a descendant.

quis placet exemplum generis, placeat quoque forma
exitii: sit poena eadem, quibus et genus unum est.
quid moror aut Iudae populares aut populares
sacricolae summi (summus nam fertur Aaron)
fallere fraude aliqua Martis congressibus inpar?
nil refert armis contingat palma dolisue."
dixerat et toruam faciem furialiaque arma
exuit inque habitum sese transformat honestum;
fit Virtus specie uultuque et ueste seuera
quam memorant Frugi, parce cui uiuere cordi est
et seruare suum; tamquam nil raptet auare,
artis adumbratae meruit ceu sedula laudem.

if the example of the kind pleases, let the form of destruction also please:
let the same penalty be for those whose stock is one.
why do I delay either the compatriots of Judah or the compatriots
of the supreme priest (for Aaron is reported the supreme)
to deceive by some fraud, being unequal to the congresses of Mars?
it matters nothing whether the palm be attained by arms or by tricks."
he had spoken, and he takes off the grim face and Furial arms,
and transforms himself into a respectable habit;
he becomes Virtue in aspect, with severe countenance and dress,
whom they call Frugi, to whom it is at heart to live sparingly
and to conserve what is her own; as though she snatched nothing greedily,
he earned, as assiduous, the praise of a shadowed (adumbrated) craft.

huius se specie mendax Bellona coaptat,
non ut auara lues, sed Virtus parca putetur;
nec non et tenero pietatis tegmine crines
obtegit anguinos, ut candida palla latentem
dissimulet rabiem diroque obtenta furori,
quod rapere et clepere est auideque abscondere parta,
natorum curam dulci sub nomine iactet.
talibus inludens male credula corda uirorum
fallit imaginibus, monstrumque ferale sequuntur
dum credunt Virtutis opus; capit inpia Erinys
consensu faciles manicisque tenacibus artat.
attonitis ducibus perturbatisque maniplis
nutabat Virtutum acies errore biformis
portenti, ignorans quid amicum credat in illo
quidue hostile notet: letum uersatile et anceps
lubricat incertos dubia sub imagine uisus,
cum subito in medium frendens Operatio campum
prosilit auxilio sociis, pugnamque capessit
militiae postrema gradu, sed sola duello
inpositura manum, ne quid iam triste supersit.

to her appearance the lying Bellona fits herself,
so that she be thought not a greedy pestilence, but frugal Virtue;
and she also with a tender mantle of pietas veils
her snaky locks, so that a white palla may disguise the lurking
rabies and, thrown over, the dread fury,
whose nature is to snatch and to steal and to hide greedily what’s gotten,
and to boast the care of offspring under a sweet name.
mocking in such ways the ill‑credulous hearts of men
she cheats with phantoms, and the deadly monster they follow
while they believe it the work of Virtue; the impious Erinys seizes
those easy in consent and constricts with gripping manacles.
with leaders thunderstruck and the maniples thrown into disorder
the battle‑line of the Virtues wavered at the double‑shaped error
of the portent, not knowing what in it to deem friendly
or what to mark as hostile: a changeable, two‑edged death
makes their uncertain sight slip under the dubious image,
when suddenly, gnashing, Operation into the middle of the field
leaps forth to aid her allies and takes up the fight,
last in rank of the soldiery, yet alone about to lay hand on the duel,
lest anything grievous should any longer remain.

omne onus ex umeris reiecerat, omnibus ibat
nudata induuiis multo et se fasce leuarat,
olim diuitiis grauibusque oppressa talentis,
libera nunc miserando inopum, quos larga benigne
fouerat effundens patrium bene prodiga censum.
iam loculos ditata fidem spectabat inanes,
aeternam numerans redituro faenore summam.
horruit inuictae Virtutis fulmen et inpos
mentis Auaritia stupefactis sensibus haesit
certa mori: nam quae fraudis uia restet, ut ipsa
calcatrix mundi mundanis uicta fatiscat
inlecebris spretoque iterum sese inplicet auro?

she had thrown every burden from her shoulders, she went
stripped of coverings and had by much lightened herself of the bundle,
once weighed down by riches and by heavy talents,
now free through pity for the needy, whom with generous kindness
she had fostered, pouring out the paternal estate, well prodigal of her census.
now, enriched in faith, she looked upon empty purses,
reckoning the eternal sum with interest to be repaid.
Avarice shuddered at the thunderbolt of unconquered Virtue, and, not in control
of her mind, stuck fast with senses stupefied, sure to die: for what path
of fraud remains, that she, the treader of the world, might, conquered, grow faint
by worldly allurements, and, gold having been spurned, entangle herself again in gold?

inuadit trepidam Virtus fortissima duris
ulnarum nodis, obliso et gutture frangit
exsanguem siccamque gulam; conpressa ligantur
uincla lacertorum sub mentum et faucibus artis
extorquent animam, nullo quae uulnere rapta
palpitat atque aditu spiraminis intercepto
inclusam patitur uenarum carcere mortem.
illa reluctanti genibusque et calcibus instans
perfodit et costas atque ilia rumpit anhela,
mox spolia exstincto de corpore diripit, auri
sordida frusta rudis nec adhuc fornace recoctam
materiam, tineis etiam marsuppia crebris
exesa et uirides obducta aerugine nummos
dispergit seruata diu uictrix et egenis
dissipat ac tenues captiuo munere donat.
tunc circumfusam uultu exultante coronam
respiciens alacris media inter milia clamat:
"soluite procinctum, iusti, et discedite ab armis!

the most stout Virtue assaults the trembling one with hard
knots of her forearms, and with the throat crushed she breaks
the exsanguine and desiccated gullet; the tightened bonds
of her biceps are fastened beneath the chin, and the narrow jaws
wrench out the spirit, which, snatched with no wound,
palpitates, and, the access of breathing cut off,
suffers a death shut in the prison of the veins.
she, pressing the struggler with knees and heels,
bores through and breaks the ribs and the panting entrails;
soon she strips the spoils from the extinguished body—filthy
chunks of gold, raw material not yet recooked in the furnace—
purses too, eaten through by frequent moths,
and coins overcast with green verdigris;
long hoarded, the victress scatters and dissipates to the needy,
and gives to the lowly as a captive’s gift.
then, looking back with exultant face at the encircling crown,
sprightly she cries out amid the thousands: “loosen the battle-girdle, you just, and depart from arms!”

causa mali tanti iacet interfecta; lucrandi
ingluuie pereunte licet requiescere sanctis.
summa quies nil uelle super quam postulet usus
debitus, ut simplex alimonia uestis et una
infirmos tegat ac recreet mediocriter artus
expletumque modum naturae non trahat extra.
intressurus iter peram ne tollito, neue
de tunicae alterius gestamine prouidus ito,
nec te sollicitet res crastina, ne cibus aluo
defuerit: redeunt escae cum sole diurnae.

the cause of so great an evil lies slain; with the gluttony for lucre perishing it is permitted for the holy to rest.
the highest quiet is to will nothing beyond what due use demands, that simple aliment and a single garment may cover and moderately refresh the feeble limbs, and not drag beyond the filled measure of nature.
about to enter upon a journey, do not take up a satchel, nor go provident with the carrying of a second tunic, nor let the matter of tomorrow trouble you, lest food be lacking for the belly: the diurnal viands return with the sun.

nonne uides ut nulla auium cras cogitet ac se
pascendam, praestante deo, non anxia credat?
confidunt uolucres uictum non defore uiles,
passeribusque subest modico uenalibus asse
indubitata fides dominum curare potentem
ne pereant. tu, cura dei, facies quoque Christi,
addubitas ne te tuus umquam deserat auctor?

do you not see how none of the birds thinks about tomorrow, and how, with God providing, she, un-anxious, believes herself to be fed?
the winged creatures are confident that humble sustenance will not be lacking,
and for sparrows, saleable for a modest as, there underlies an undoubted trust that the powerful Lord takes care that they not perish.
and you, the care of God, the very face of Christ as well,
do you hesitate, lest your own Author ever desert you?

ne trepidate, homines; uitae dator et dator escae est.
quaerite luciferum caelesti dogmate pastum,
qui spem multiplicans alat inuitiabilis aeui,
corporis inmemores: memor est qui condidit illud
subpeditare cibos atque indiga membra fouere." his dictis curae emotae, Metus et Labor et Vis
et Scelus et placitae fidei Fraus infitiatrix
depulsae uertere solum. Pax inde fugatis
hostibus alma abigit bellum, discingitur omnis
terror et auulsis exfibulat ilia zonis.

do not tremble, men; the giver of life is the giver of victuals as well.
seek the light-bringing nourishment by heavenly dogma,
which, multiplying hope, may feed for the inevitable age,
unmindful of the body: he who founded it is mindful
to supply foods and to cherish the needy limbs." with these words, Cares were removed; Fear and Toil and Force
and Crime, and the denialist Fraud of the decreed Faith,
driven off, shifted their ground. Then Peace, the foes put to flight,
benign, drives war away; every terror is ungirded,
and, the belts torn off, unbuckles its loins.

uestis ad usque pedes descendens defluit imos,
temperat et rapidum priuata modestia gressum.
cornicinum curua aera silent, placabilis inplet
uaginam gladius, sedato et puluere campi
suda redit facies liquidae sine nube diei,
purpuream uideas caeli clarescere lucem.
agmina casta super uultum sensere Tonantis
adridere hilares pulso certamine turmae,
et Christum gaudere suis uictoribus arce
aetheris ac patrium famulis aperire profundum.

the garment, descending all the way to the feet, flows down to the lowest,
and a private modesty tempers the rapid step.
the curved bronzes of the horn-blowers are silent,
the placable sword fills its scabbard, and with the dust of the field settled
the clear face of the limpid day returns without cloud,
you may see the sky’s purple light grow bright.
the chaste ranks perceived that above the face of the Thunderer
he smiles, the bands cheerful with the contest driven away,
and that Christ rejoices in his victors in the citadel
of the aether and opens the paternal deep to his servants.

dat signum felix Concordia reddere castris
uictrices aquilas atque in tentoria cogi.
numquam tanta fuit species nec par decus ulli
militiae, cum dispositis bifida agmina longe
duceret ordinibus peditum psallente caterua,
ast alia de parte equitum resonantibus hymnis.
non aliter cecinit respectans uictor hiantem
Istrahel rabiem ponti post terga minacis,
cum iam progrediens calcaret litora sicco
ulteriora pede, stridensque per extima calcis
mons rueret pendentis aquae nigrosque relapso
gurgite Nilicolas fundo deprenderet imo,
ac refluente sinu iam redderet unda natatum
piscibus et nudas praeceps operiret harenas.

Happy Concord gives the signal to return to the camp the victorious eagles and to be gathered into the tents.
Never was there such a spectacle, nor equal honor to any soldiery, when, the ranks set in order, the split columns led far in ordered files of foot, the cohort psalming,
but on the other side the cavalry with hymns resounding.
Not otherwise sang the victor Israel, looking back at the gaping rage of the menacing sea behind their backs,
when, now going forward, he trod the farther shores with a dry foot,
and, hissing along the outmost edges of the heel, the mountain of hanging water crashed down, and with the gulf flowing back caught the black Nile-dwellers on the lowest bottom,
and as the bay ebbed, now the wave gave back swimming to the fishes and headlong covered the bare sands.

pulsauit resono modulantia tympana plectro
turba dei celebrans mirum ac memorabile saeclis
omnipotentis opus, liquidas inter freta ripas
fluctibus incisis et subsistente procella
crescere suspensosque globos potuisse teneri.
sic expugnata Vitiorum gente resultant
mystica dulcimodis Virtutum carmina psalmis.
uentum erat ad fauces portae castrensis, ubi artum
liminis introitum bifori dant cardine claustra.

struck with a resounding plectrum the modulating timpani,
the throng of God, celebrating a wonder and a thing memorable for ages—
the work of the Omnipotent—between the liquid straits’ banks,
with the waves cut and the squall standing still,
that the swells could rise and the suspended masses be held.
thus, with the nation of Vices stormed, there resound
the mystical songs of the Virtues with sweet-measured psalms.
they had come to the jaws of the camp-gate, where the narrow
entrance of the threshold is granted by gates on a two-leaved hinge.

nascitur hic inopina mali lacrimabilis astu
tempestas, placidae turbatrix inuida pacis,
quae tantum subita uexaret clade triumphum.
inter confertos cuneos Concordia forte
dum stipata pedem iam tutis moenibus infert,
excipit occultum Vitii latitantis ab ictu
mucronem laeuo in latere, squalentia quamuis
texta catenato ferri subtegmine corpus
ambirent sutis et acumen uulneris hamis
respuerent, rigidis nec fila tenacia nodis
inpactum sinerent penetrare in uiscera telum.
rara tamen chalybem tenui transmittere puncto
commissura dedit, qua sese extrema politae
squama ligat tunicae sinus et sibi conserit oras.

Here there is born, unforeseen, a lamentable storm of evil by stratagem,
a jealous disturber of placid peace, which would so harry the triumph with a sudden disaster.
Amid the packed wedges of ranks, while Concord, crowded about,
now carries her step within the safe walls, she receives the hidden point
from the stroke of lurking Vice in the left side, although bristling weaves,
with a chain-linked underweave of iron, encompassed her body with stitches
and with hooks spat back the point of the wound, nor would the tenacious threads,
with rigid knots, allow the driven weapon to penetrate into the vitals.
Yet a rare commissure granted the steel to pass through with a slender puncture,
where the outermost scale of the polished tunic binds itself in the fold
and stitches its borders to itself.

intulit hoc uulnus pugnatrix subdola uictae
partis et incautis uictoribus insidiata est.
nam pulsa culparum acie Discordia nostros
intrarat cuneos sociam mentita figuram.
scissa procul palla structum et serpente flagellum
multiplici media camporum in strage iacebant.

The crafty combatant of the defeated side inflicted this wound
and laid in wait for the incautious victors.
for with the battle-line of the Faults driven back Discord had entered our ranks
feigning the figure of an ally.
her torn cloak and a scourge furnished with a many-coiled serpent
were lying in the midst of the carnage of the fields.

ipsa redimitos olea frondente capillos
ostentans festis respondet laeta choreis.
sed sicam sub ueste tegit, te, maxima Virtus,
te solam tanto e numero, Concordia, tristi
fraude petens. sed non uitalia rumpere sacri
corporis est licitum, summo tenus extima tactu
laesa cutis tenuem signauit sanguine riuum.

she herself, displaying hair wreathed with leafy olive,
answers, joyful, to the festive choruses. But she hides a dagger beneath her garment,
seeking you, greatest Virtue, you alone out of so great a number—Concord—by grim
fraud. Yet it was not permitted to break the vital parts of the sacred
body; only to the surface, at the very edge by a touch,
the skin, grazed, marked a slender stream with blood.

exclamat Virtus subito turbata: "quid hoc est?
quae manus hic inimica latet, quae prospera nostra
uulnerat et ferrum tanta inter gaudia uibrat?
quid iuuat indomitos bello sedasse Furores
et sanctum Vitiis pereuntibus omne receptum,
si Virtus sub pace cadit?" trepida agmina maestos
conuertere oculos: stillabat uulneris index
ferrata de ueste cruor, mox et pauor hostem
comminus adstantem prodit; nam pallor in ore
conscius audacis facti dat signa reatus
et deprensa tremunt languens manus et color albens.

Virtue exclaims, suddenly disturbed: "what is this?
what inimical hand lies hidden here, which wounds our prosperities
and brandishes the steel amidst such great joys?
what does it avail to have assuaged the indomitable Furies in war
and every sacred refuge, as Vices perish,
if Virtue falls under peace?" the trembling ranks turned
their mournful eyes: the telltale of the wound, blood, was dripping
from the iron‑clad garment, and soon fear too betrays the enemy
standing at close quarters; for pallor in the face,
conscious of the audacious deed, gives signs of guilt,
and, detected, the languishing hand trembles and the whitening color.

circumstat propere strictis mucronibus omnis
Virtutum legio exquirens feruente tumultu
et genus et nomen, patriam sectamque, deumque
quem colat et missu cuiatis uenerit. illa
exsanguis turbante metu: "Discordia dicor,
cognomento Heresis; deus est mihi discolor," inquit,
"nunc minor, aut maior, modo duplex et modo simplex,
cum placet, aërius et de phantasmate uisus,
aut innata anima est quoties uolo ludere numen;
praeceptor Belia mihi, domus et plaga mundus."
non tulit ulterius capti blasphemia monstri
Virtutum regina Fides, sed uerba loquentis
inpedit et uocis claudit spiramina pilo,
pollutam rigida transfigens cuspide linguam.
carpitur innumeris feralis bestia dextris;
frustatim sibi quisque rapit quod spargat in auras
quod canibus donet, coruis quod edacibus ultro
offerat, inmundis caeno exhalante cloacis
quod trudat, monstris quod mandet habere marinis.

promptly there stands around, with drawn points, the whole
legion of the Virtues, inquiring with fervent tumult
both kind and name, fatherland and sect, and the god
whom she worships, and by whose sending, of what citizenship, she has come. She,
bloodless, fear throwing her into turmoil: "I am called Discord,
by cognomen Heresy; my god is variegated," she says,
"now lesser, or greater, now duplex and now simplex,
when it pleases, airy and seen from a phantasm,
or he is an inborn soul whenever I wish to play a numen;
Belial is my preceptor, and my house and quarter is the world."
The queen of the Virtues, Faith, did not endure further the blasphemy of the captive monster,
but hampers the words of the speaking one
and with a javelin closes the breath-passages of the voice,
transfixing the defiled tongue with a rigid cusp.
the funereal beast is torn by numberless right hands;
each snatches for himself pieces to scatter into the breezes,
to give to dogs, what he might of his own accord offer to ravenous crows,
to thrust into unclean sewers exhaling mud-filth,
what he might consign to sea-monsters to have.

discissum foedis animalibus omne cadauer
diuiditur, ruptis Heresis perit horrida membris.

the entire cadaver, torn asunder by foul animals, is divided;
with limbs ruptured, Horrid Heresy perishes.

conpositis igitur rerum morumque secundis
in commune bonis, tranquillae plebis ad unum
sensibus in tuta valli statione locatis
struitur media castrorum sede tribunal
editiore loco, tumulus quem uerti
exstruitur media castrorum sede tribunal
editiore loco, tumulus quem uertice acuto
excitat in speculam, subiecta unde omnia late
liber inoffenso circum inspicit aëre uisus.
hunc sincera Fides simul et Concordia, sacro
foedere iuratae Christi sub amore sorores,
conscendunt apicem; mox et sublime tribunal
par sanctum carumque sibi supereminet aequo
iure potestatis, consistunt aggere summo
conspicuae populosque iubent adstare frequentes.
concurrunt alacres castris ex omnibus omnes,
nulla latet pars Mentis iners, quae corporis ullo
intercepta sinu per conceptacula sese
degeneri languore tegat, tentoria apertis
cuncta patent uelis, reserantur carbasa, ne quis
marceat obscuro stertens habitator operto.

therefore, with affairs and morals set favorable for the common good,
with the senses of the tranquil populace, as one, placed in the safe station of the rampart,
a tribunal is built in the middle seat of the camp
in a more elevated place; a mound which with a sharp vertex
a tribunal is built in the middle seat of the camp
in a more elevated place; a mound which with a sharp summit
raises into a lookout, whence the gaze, free in unobstructed air,
surveys at large all things lying beneath around. to this peak sincere Faith and Concord together,
sisters sworn by a sacred covenant under the love of Christ,
ascend; soon too the sublime tribunal,
the holy pair dear to themselves, overtops with equal
right of power; they take their stand on the highest agger,
conspicuous, and bid the peoples to stand by in throngs. eagerly they run together, all, from all the camps;
no inert part of Mind lies hidden which, intercepted in any fold
of the body, through its receptacles, might cloak itself
in degenerate languor; the tents, with their curtains opened,
all lie exposed; the canvases are unbarred, lest any
inhabitant grow flaccid, snoring in a dark shut cover.

auribus intentis expectant contio, quidnam
uictores post bella uocet Concordia princeps,
quam uelit atque Fides Virtutibus addere legem.
erumpit prima in uocem Concordia tali
adloquio: "cumulata quidem iam gloria uobis,
o patris, o domini fidissima pignera Christi,
contigit: extincta est multo certamine saeua
barbaries, sanctae quae circumsaepserat urbis
indigenas, ferroque uiros flammaque premebat.
publica sed requies priuatis rure foroque
constat amicitiis: scissura domestica turbat
rem populi, titubatque foris quod dissidet intus.

with ears intent the assembly await, what the leader Concord will summon the victors to after wars,
what law Faith wishes to add to the Virtues.
Concord breaks out first into voice with such
address: "indeed heaped-up glory has already fallen to you,
O most faithful pledges of the Father, of the Lord Christ,
it has come to pass: the savage barbarism, by much contest, has been extinguished,
which had fenced around the natives of the holy city,
and was pressing the men with iron and with flame.
but public repose stands by private friendships in countryside and in forum:
a domestic rift disturbs the people’s commonwealth, and what is at variance within stumbles without.

ergo cauete, uiri, ne sit sententia discors
Sensibus in nostris, ne secta exotica tectis
nascatur conflata odiis, quia fissa uoluntas
confundit uariis arcana biformia fibris.
quod sapimus coniungat amor; quod uiuimus uno
conspiret studio: nil dissociabile firmum est.
utque homini atque deo medius interuenit Iesus,
qui sociat mortale patri, ne carnea distent
Spiritui aeterno sitque ut deus unus utrumque,
sic, quidquid gerimus mentisque et corporis actu,
spiritus unimodis texat conpagibus unus.

Therefore beware, men, lest the sentiment be discordant
in our senses, lest an exotic sect be born beneath our roofs,
fused by hatreds; because a split will confounds the two-formed arcana
with various fibers. Let love join what we know; let what we live
conspire with one zeal: nothing dissociable is firm. And as Jesus
intervenes as a mediator between man and God, who joins the mortal to the Father,
lest the carnal be distant from the eternal Spirit, and so that, as one God, he be both,
so, whatever we carry on by act of mind and of body,
let one Spirit weave with unimodal joinings.

pax plenum Virtutis opus, pax summa laborum,
pax belli exacti pretium est pretiumque pericli.
sidera pace uigent, consistunt terrea pace.
nil placitum sine pace deo: non munus ad aram
cum cupias offerre probat, si turbida fratrem
mens inpacati sub pectoris oderit antro,
nec, si flammicomis Christi pro nomine martyr
ignibus insilias seruans inamabile uotum
bile sub obliqua, pretiosam proderit Iesu
inpendisse animam, meriti quia clausula pax est.

peace the full work of Virtue, peace the sum of labors,
peace is the price of a war finished, and the price of peril.
the stars flourish by peace, earthly things stand firm by peace.
nothing is pleasing to God without peace: not even a gift at the altar
does he approve when you wish to offer it, if a troubled
mind hates a brother beneath the cavern of an unpeaceful breast,
nor, if as a flame-haired martyr for the name of Christ you
leap into the fires, keeping an unlovely vow under oblique bile,
will it profit to have expended your precious soul for Jesus,
because the close of merit is peace.

non inflata tumet, non inuidet aemula fratri,
omnia perpetitur patiens atque omnia credit,
nunquam laesa dolet, cuncta offensacula donat,
occasum lucis uenia praecurrere gestit,
anxia ne stabilem linquat sol conscius iram.
quisque litare deo mactatis uult holocaustis,
offerat in primis pacem: nulla hostia Christo
dulcior: hoc solo sancta ad donaria uultum
munere conuertens liquido oblectatur odore.
sed tamen et niueis tradit deus ipse columbis
pinnatum tenera plumarum ueste colubrum
rimante ingenio docte internoscere mixtum
innocuis auibus; latet et lupus ore cruento
lacteolam mentitus ouem sub uellere molli,
cruda per agninos exercens funera rictus.

it, not inflated, does not swell, not emulous, it does not envy a brother,
patient it endures all things and it believes all things,
never, when injured, does it grieve; it remits every offense,
it longs that pardon may outrun the setting of the light,
anxious lest the conscious sun leave behind stable wrath.
whoever wishes to propitiate God with slain holocausts,
let him offer peace first of all: no victim to Christ is
sweeter: at this gift alone, turning his face toward the holy offerings,
he is delighted by the limpid fragrance.
but yet God himself entrusts to snowy doves
to discern cleverly, with a prying ingenuity, the feathered serpent
in a tender vest of plumes, mixed in among harmless birds;
and a wolf with bloody mouth lies hidden,
masquerading as a milk-white little sheep beneath a soft fleece,
wreaking raw slaughters with lamb-like jaws.

hac sese occultat Photinus et Arrius arte,
inmanes feritate lupi. discrimina produnt
nostra recensque cruor, quamuis de corpore summo,
quid possit furtiua manus." gemitum dedit omnis
Virtutum populus casu concussus acerbo.
tum generosa Fides haec subdidit: "immo secundis
in rebus cesset gemitus.

by this art Photinus and Arius hide themselves,
wolves monstrous in ferocity. our dangers and the fresh gore, though from the supreme body,
reveal what a furtive hand can do." the whole People of the Virtues gave a groan, shaken by the bitter mishap.
then noble Faith subjoined these things: "nay rather, in prosperous matters
let groaning cease.

Concordia laesa est,
sed defensa Fides: quin et Concordia sospes,
germanam comitata Fidem, sua uulnera ridet.
haec mea sola salus, nihil hac mihi triste recepta.
unum opus egregio restat post bella labori,
o proceres, regni quod tandem pacifer heres
belligeri, armatae successor inermus et aulae,
instituit Solomon, quoniam genitoris anheli
fumarat calido regum de sanguine dextra.

Concord has been wounded,
but Faith has been defended: indeed even Concord, safe,
having accompanied her sister-german Faith, laughs at her own wounds.
this is my sole salvation; with her received back nothing is sad to me.
one work remains for the illustrious labor after the wars,
O nobles, which at last the peace-bearing heir of the kingdom,
unarmed successor of a warlike man and of an armed court,
Solomon instituted, since his panting father’s right hand
had been smoking with the hot blood of kings.

sanguine nam terso templum fundatur et ara
ponitur auratis Christi domus ardua tectis.
tunc Hierusalem templo inlustrata quietum
suscepit iam diua deum, circumuaga postquam
sedit marmoreis fundata altaribus arca.
surgat et in nostris templum uenerabile castris,
omnipotens cuius sanctorum sancta reuisat.

for, the blood being cleansed, the temple is founded and the altar
is set; the lofty house of Christ with gilded roofs is established.
then Jerusalem, made illustrious by the temple, in quiet
received God, now divine, after the wandering
ark sat, founded upon marble altars.
and let a venerable temple arise also in our camps,
whose Holy of Holies may the Omnipotent revisit.

nam quid terrigenas ferro pepulisse phalangas
Culparum prodest, hominis si Filius arce
aetheris inlapsus purgati corporis urbem
intret inornatam templi splendentis egenus?
hactenus alternis sudatum est comminus armis:
munia nunc agitet tacitae toga candida pacis,
atque sacris sedem properet discincta iuuentus."
haec ubi dicta dedit, gradibus regina superbis
desiluit tantique operis Concordia consors
metatura nouum iacto fundamine templum.
aurea planitiem spatiis percurrit harundo
dimensis, quadrent ut quattuor undique frontes,
ne commissuris distantibus angulus inpar
argutam mutilet per dissona semetra normam.

for what does it profit to have driven the earth-born phalanxes with iron,
if the Son of Man, having inlapsed from the citadel of the ether,
should enter the city of the body purged of faults
unadorned, needy of a shining temple? Thus far there has been sweating at close quarters with alternating arms:
now let the white toga of silent peace ply its duties,
and let the ungirded youth hasten to establish a seat for sacred rites."
when she had given these words, the queen leapt down from the proud steps,
Concord, sharer in so great a work,
about to measure out the new temple with the foundation laid.
the golden reed runs over the level with spaces measured,
so that the four fronts may square on every side,
lest, with the joints standing apart, an unequal corner
mutilate the precise rule by discordant measures.

Aurorae de parte tribus plaga lucida portis
inlustrata patet, triplex aperitur ad austrum
portarum numerus, tris occidualibus offert
ianua trina fores, totiens aquilonis ad axem
panditur alta domus. nullum illic structile saxum,
sed caua per solidum multoque forata dolatu
gemma relucenti limen conplectitur arcu,
uestibulumque lapis penetrabile concipit unus.
portarum summis inscripta in postibus auro
nomina apostolici fulgent bis sena senatus.

On the side of Dawn the bright quarter, made lustrous by three gates, lies open;
a triple number of gates is opened toward the south;
a threefold gateway offers three doors to the occidental parts;
just so often is the lofty house thrown open toward the axis of the north. There is no hewn stone there,
but a hollow gem, bored through the solid with much chiseling, with a re-lucent arch embraces the threshold,
and a single stone contains a penetrable vestibule.
On the topmost doorposts of the gates, inscribed in gold,
the names of the apostolic senate, twice six, shine.

Spiritus his titulis arcana recondita mentis
ambit et electos uocat in praecordia sensus;
quaque hominis natura uiget, quam corpore toto
quadrua uis animat, trinis ingressibus aram
cordis adit castisque colit sacraria uotis;
seu pueros sol primus agat, seu feruor ephebos
incendat nimius, seu consummabilis aeui
perficiat lux plena uiros, siue algida borrae
aetas decrepitam uocet ad pia sacra senectam,
occurrit trinum quadrina ad compita nomen,
quod bene discipulis disponit rex duodenis.
quin etiam totidem gemmarum insignia textis
parietibus distincta micant, animasque colorum
uiuentes liquido lux euomit alta profundo.
ingens chrysolitus, natiuo interlitus auro,
hinc sibi sapphirum sociauerat, inde beryllum,
distantesque nitor medius uariabat honores.

Spirit with these titles encircles the recondite arcana of the mind,
and calls the elect senses into the precordia;
and wherever the nature of man flourishes, which a fourfold force animates through the whole body,
by triple ingresses he approaches the altar of the heart and with chaste vows tends the sanctuaries;
whether the first sun impels boys, or an excessive fervor inflames ephebes,
or the full light perfects men of consummable age, or the chilly age of Boreas
calls decrepit old age to the pious rites,
the threefold Name meets at the fourfold crossroads,
which the King well arranges for the twelve disciples.
indeed just so many insignia of gems, set apart in woven
walls, gleam, and the high light from the liquid deep pours forth living souls of colors.
a vast chrysolite, overlaid with native gold,
had on this side associated to itself a sapphire, on that a beryl,
and a middle luster was variegating the honors that stood apart.

hic chalcedon hebes perfunditur ex hyacinthi
lumine uicino; nam forte cyanea propter
stagna lapis cohibens ostro fulgebat aquoso.
sardonicem pingunt amethystina, pingit iaspis
sardium iuxta adpositum pulcherque topazon.
has inter species smaragdina gramine uerno
prata uirent uoluitque uagos lux herbida fluctus.

here a dull chalcedony is suffused by the neighboring light of hyacinth;
for, by chance, beside cyanean pools a stone, restraining them, was gleaming with watery purple.
amethystine stones paint the sardonyx; jasper paints the sard set nearby, and the fair topaz.
among these kinds, emerald meadows grow green with spring grass, and a grassy light rolls wandering waves.

te quoque conspicuum structura interserit, ardens
chrysoprase, et sidus saxis stellantibus addit.
stridebat grauidis funalis machina uinclis
inmensas rapiens alta ad fastigia gemmas.
at domus interior septem subnixa columnis
crystalli algentis uitrea de rupe recisis
construitur, quarum tegit edita calculus albens
in conum caesus capita et sinuamine subter
subductus conchae in speciem, quod mille talentis
margaritum ingens, opibusque et censibus hastae
addictis, animosa Fides mercata pararat.

the structure inserts you too, conspicuous, burning
chrysoprase, and adds a star to the star-sparkling stones.
the machine screeched with heavy cable bonds,
sweeping immense gems up to the high pinnacles.
but the inner house, resting on seven columns,
is constructed from the vitreous rock of gelid crystal, cut away;
whose capitals an elevated, albescent small-stone,
cut into a cone, covers, and beneath, drawn back with a curving fold
into the likeness of a shell, which a huge pearl, at a thousand talents,
with resources and assessed estates adjudged by the spear,
high-spirited Faith, having purchased, had prepared.

hoc residet solio pollens Sapientia et omne
consilium regni celsa disponit ab aula,
tutandique hominis leges sub corde retractat.
in manibus dominae sceptrum non arte politum
sed ligno uiuum uiridi est, quod stirpe reciso,
quamuis nullus alat terreni caespitis umor,
fronde tamen uiret incolumi, tum sanguine tinctis
intertexta rosis candentia lilia miscet
nescia marcenti florem submittere collo.
huius forma fuit sceptri gestamen Aaron
floriferum, sicco quod germina cortice trudens
explicuit tenerum spe pubescente decorem
inque nouos subito tumuit uirga arida fetus.

Here puissant Wisdom sits upon the throne and from the high hall arranges all counsel of the kingdom,
and under her heart she reconsiders the laws for protecting man.
In the lady’s hands the scepter is not polished by art,
but is living with green wood; though the stock is cut off,
although no moisture of earthly sod nourishes it,
yet with its foliage uninjured it is verdant; then, interwoven with roses dyed with blood,
she mingles gleaming lilies, ignorant of bowing the flower to a withering neck.
The prototype of this scepter was Aaron’s flowery staff,
which, thrusting forth buds from dry bark,
unfolded a tender beauty with hope burgeoning,
and the dry rod suddenly swelled into new fruits.

reddimus aeternas, indulgentissime doctor,
grates, Christe, tibi, meritosque sacramus honores
ore pio; nam cor uitiorum stercore sordet.
tu nos corporei latebrosa pericula operti
luctantisque animae uoluisti agnoscere casus.
nouimus ancipites nebuloso in pectore sensus
sudare alternis conflictibus, et uariato
pugnarum euentu nunc indole crescere dextra,
nunc inclinatis uirtutibus ad iuga uitae
deteriora trahi seseque addicere noxis
turpibus et propriae iacturam ferre salutis.

we render eternal thanks, most indulgent Doctor,
to you, Christ, and we consecrate the merited honors
with a pious mouth; for the heart is filthy with the dung of vices.
you have willed us, covered by the lurking perils of the corporeal,
to recognize the mishaps of the struggling soul.
we know the ambivalent senses in the nebulous breast
to sweat in alternating conflicts, and with the varied
outcome of battles now to grow in disposition on the right hand,
now, the virtues bent, to be dragged to the worse yokes of life
and to addict themselves to base harms
and to bear the loss of their own salvation.

o quotiens animam, uitiorum peste repulsa,
sensimus incaluisse deo! quotiens tepefactum
caeleste ingenium post gaudia candida taetro
cessisse stomacho! feruent bella horrida, feruent
ossibus inclusa, fremit et discordibus armis
non simplex natura hominis; nam uiscera limo
effigiata premunt animam, contra ille sereno
editus adflatu nigrantis carcere cordis
aestuat, et sordes arta inter uincla recusat.

o how often we have felt the soul, the plague of vices repelled,
grow hot for God! how often the heavenly nature, made tepid
after shining joys, has yielded to a foul anger! fierce wars seethe, they seethe
enclosed in the bones, and with discordant arms there roars
the not-simple nature of man; for the viscera, shaped from mud,
press the soul, but it, brought forth by a serene afflatus, in the prison
of a blackening heart, seethes, and refuses the filth amid tight bonds.

spiritibus pugnant uariis lux atque tenebrae,
distantesque animat duplex substantia uires,
donec praesidio Christus deus adsit et omnes
uirtutum gemmas conponat sede piata,
atque, ubi peccatum regnauerat, aurea templi
atria constituens texat spectamine morum
ornamenta animae, quibus oblectata decoro
aeternum solio diues Sapientia regnet.

with diverse spirits light and darkness contend,
and a twofold substance animates the sundered forces,
until Christ God be present as a protection and set together all
the gems of virtues in a purified seat,
and, where sin had reigned, establishing the golden courts
of the temple, let him weave, by the spectacle of morals,
the ornaments of the soul, with which, delighted by the comeliness,
rich Wisdom may reign forever on the throne.