Sedulius: CARMEN PASCHALE

Paschales quicumque dapes conviva requiris,
     Dignatus nostris accubitare toris,
Pone supercilium si te cognoscis amicum,
     Nec quaeras opus hic codicis artificis:
Sed modicae contentus adi sollemnia mensae               5
     Plusque libens animo quam satiare cibo.
Aut si magnarum caperis dulcedine rerum
     Divitiasque magis deliciosus amas,
Nobilium nitidis doctorum vescere cenis,
     Quorum multiplices nec numerantur opes.               10
Illic invenies quidquid mare nutrit edendum,
     Quidquid terra creat, quidquid ad astra volat.
Cerea gemmatis flavescunt mella canistris
     Conlucentque suis aurea vasa favis.

Whoever, as a guest, you seek Paschal feasts,
     having deigned to recline at our couches,
Set down the supercilious brow if you recognize yourself a friend,
     nor seek here the work of a codex craftsman:
But, content with a modest table, come to the solemn table               5
     and more gladly with mind than to be sated with food.
Or if you are captivated by the sweetness of great things
     and, being more fastidious, you love riches more,
Feed on the polished banquets of noble learned men,
     whose manifold opulence is not even counted.               10
There you will find whatever the sea nourishes for eating,
     whatever the earth creates, whatever flies to the stars.
Waxy honeys grow golden in bejeweled baskets,
     and golden vessels shine with their own honeycombs.

At nos exiguum de paupere carpsimus horto, 15

But we have plucked a meager bit from a poor garden, 15

Rubra quod adpositum testa ministrat, holus.

the red earthenware dish serves a side-dish, greens.

LIBER PRIMUS

BOOK ONE

Cum sua gentiles studeant figmenta poetae
Grandisonis pompare modis, tragicoque boatu
Ridiculoque Geta seu qualibet arte canendi
Saeva nefandarum renovent contagia rerum               20
Et scelerum monumenta canant, rituque magistro
Plurima Niliacis tradant mendacia biblis:
Cur ego, Daviticis adsuetus cantibus odas
Cordarum resonare decem sanctoque verenter
Stare choro et placidis caelestia psallere verbis,               25
Clara salutiferi taceam miracula Christi?
Cum possim manifesta loqui, Dominumque tonantem
Sensibus et toto delectet corde fateri:
Qui sensus et corda dedit, cui convenit uni
Facturam servire suam, cui iure perenni               30

While the gentile poets strive to parade their fictions
with grand‑sonorous modes, and with a tragic bellow,
and with the ridiculous Geta, or by whatever art of singing,
they renew the savage contagions of unspeakable things               20
and sing the monuments of crimes, and, with rite as master,
hand down very many lies to the Nile papyri:
why should I, accustomed by Davidic songs to make odes
of ten strings resound, and reverently in the holy choir
to stand and to psalm celestial things with placid words,               25
keep silent about the bright miracles of the salvific Christ?
Since I can speak manifest things, and the thundering Lord
it delights the senses and the whole heart to confess:
who gave senses and hearts, to whom alone it is fitting
that his workmanship should serve, to whom by perennial right               30

Arcibus aetheriis una est cum patre potestas,
Par splendor, communis apex, sociale cacumen,
Aequus honor, virtus eadem, sine tempore regnum,
Semper principium, sceptrum iuge, gloria consors,
Maiestas similis. haec est via namque salutis, 35
Haec firmos ad dona gradus paschalia ducit.
Haec mihi carmen erit: mentes huc vertite cuncti.

In the ethereal citadels there is one Power with the Father,
equal Splendor, a common apex, a social summit,
equal honor, the same virtue, a kingdom without time,
ever the beginning, a perpetual scepter, a consort in glory,
a similar Majesty. this is indeed the way of salvation, 35
This leads firm steps to the Paschal gifts.
This shall be my song: turn your minds hither, all.

Hanc constanter opem laesis adhibete medullis,
Quos letale malum, quos vanis dedita curis
Attica Cecropii serpit doctrina veneni, 40
Sectantesque magis vitam spirantis odorem
Legis Athenaei paedorem linquite pagi.
Quid labyrintheo, Thesidae, erratis in antro
Caecaque Daedalei lustratis limina tecti?
Labruscam placidis quid adhuc praeponitis uvis 45

Apply this aid steadfastly to your wounded marrows,
you whom a lethal ill, you whom, given over to vain cares,
the Attic doctrine of Cecropian poison creeps upon, 40
and, seeking rather the fragrance of living breath,
leave the stench of the Athenian village’s law.
Why, sons of Theseus, do you wander in the labyrinthine cavern
and scan the blind thresholds of Daedalus’s house?
Why do you still prefer the wild grape to placid grapes 45

Neglectisque rosis saliuncam sumitis agri?
Quid lapides atque aera coli, quid fana profana
Proderit et mutis animas damnare metallis?
Parcite pulverei squalentia iugera campi
Et steriles habitare plagas, ubi gignere fructum               50
Arida nescit humus, nec de tellure cruenta
Livida mortiferis vellatis toxica sucis,
Tartareo damnata cibo: sed amoena virecta
Florentum semper nemorum sedesque beatas
Per latices intrate pios, ubi semina vitae               55
Divinis animantur aquis et fonte superno
Laetificata seges spinis mundatur ademptis,
Ut messis queat esse Dei mercisque futurae
Maxima centenum cumulare per horrea fructum.
Omnipotens aeterne Deus, spes unica mundi,               60

And with roses neglected do you take the field spikenard?
What will it profit that stones and bronzes be worshiped, what that profane fanes
be tended, and souls be condemned to mute metals?
Forbear the squalid acres of the dusty field
and to inhabit sterile regions, where to beget fruit               50
the arid soil knows not, nor from the blood-stained earth
pluck you the livid poisons with death-bringing juices,
damned by Tartarean food: but the pleasant green-places
of ever-blooming groves and the blessed seats
enter through the pious waters, where the seeds of life               55
are animated by divine waters, and by the supernal fountain
the gladdened crop, with thorns taken away, is cleansed,
so that it may be the harvest of God and for future merchandise
may heap up through the granaries the greatest hundredfold fruit.
Almighty eternal God, the sole hope of the world,               60

Qui caeli fabricator ades, qui conditor orbis,
Qui maris undisonas fluctu surgente procellas
Mergere vicinae prohibes confinia terrae,
Qui solem radiis et lunam cornibus imples
Inque diem ac noctem lumen metiris utrumque,               65
Qui stellas numeras, quarum tu nomina solus,
Signa, potestates, cursus, loca, tempora nosti,
Qui diversa novam formasti in corpora terram
Torpentique solo viventia membra dedisti,
Qui pereuntem hominem vetiti dulcedine pomi               70
Instauras meliore cibo potuque sacrati
Sanguinis infusum depellis ab angue venenum,
Qui genus humanum praeter quos clauserat arca
Diluvii rapida spumantis mole sepultum
Una iterum de stirpe creas, ut mystica virtus,               75

You who are the fabricator of heaven, who are the founder of the orb,
you who forbid the sea’s wave-sounding storms, as the surge rises,
to submerge the borders of the neighboring land,
you who fill the sun with rays and the moon with horns,
and for day and night you measure each light,               65
you who count the stars, whose names you alone
know—the constellations, powers, courses, places, times—
you who formed the diverse earth into diverse bodies
and to the torpid soil gave living members,
you who restore the perishing man, by the sweetness of the forbidden apple               70
undone, by a better food and by the drink of consecrated
blood, you drive out the infused venom from the serpent,
you who, the human race—except those whom the ark had shut in—
buried by the rapid mass of the foaming deluge,
create again from one stock, so that the mystical virtue,               75

Quod carnis delita necant, hoc praesule ligno
Monstraret liquidas renovari posse per undas,
Totum namque lavans uno baptismate mundum:
Pande salutarem paucos quae ducit in urbem
Angusto mihi calle viam verbique lucernam               80
Da pedibus lucere meis, ut semita vitae
Ad caulas me ruris agat, qua servat amoenum
Pastor ovile bonus, qua vellere praevius albo
Virginis agnus ovis grexque omnis candidus intrat.
Te duce difficilis non est via; subditur omnis               85
Imperiis natura tuis, rituque soluto
Transit in adversas iussu dominante figuras.
Si iubeas mediis segetes arere pruinis,
Messorem producit hiems; si currere mustum
Vernali sub sole velis, florentibus arvis               90

that what the sins of the flesh slay, he might show—under the presidency of the wood—can be renewed through the limpid waves,
for indeed washing the whole world with one baptism:
unfold for me the saving way which leads the few into the city by a narrow path,
and the lamp of the word; grant to shine for my feet, that the pathway of life 80
may drive me to the folds of the countryside, where the Good Shepherd keeps the pleasant
sheepfold, where, with white fleece going before,
the Lamb of the Virgin and the whole white flock enters.
With you as leader the road is not difficult; all nature is subjected
to your commands, and with the ordinary course loosed
it passes, at the ruling command, into opposite forms.
If you bid the crops to wither amid frosts,
winter produces a reaper; if you will the must to run
beneath the springtide sun, with the fields flowering 90

Sordidus inpressas calcabit vinitor uvas:
Cunctaque divinis parebunt tempora dictis.
Indicio est antiqua fides et cana priorum
Testis origo patrum, nullisque abolenda per aevum
Temporibus constant virtutum signa tuarum. 95
Ex quibus audaci perstringere pauca relatu
Vix animis conmitto meis, silvamque patentem
Ingrediens aliquos nitor contingere ramos.
Nam centum licet ora movens vox ferrea clamet
Centenosque sonos, humanum pectus anhelet, 100
Cuncta quis expediet, quorum nec lucida caeli
Sidera nec bibulae numeris aequantur harenae?

The sordid vintner will trample the pressed grapes:
and all seasons will obey the divine dicta.
As indication there is ancient faith, and the hoary age of the ancients;
witness is the origin of the fathers, and the signs of your virtues stand constant,
to be abolished by no times through the age. 95
Of which to touch upon a few with audacious recital
I scarcely commit to my mind, and, entering the open forest,
I strive to touch some branches.
For though, moving a hundred mouths, an iron voice should shout
and a hundredfold sounds, the human breast would pant, 100
who will unfold all things, whose number neither the shining stars
of heaven nor the thirsty sands in their numbers equal?

Primus abusque chao meritis vivacibus Enoch
Multa per innumeros iam saecula contigit annos
Natura perdente modum: quem iure creandi 105

Enoch, first from Chaos onward, by life‑long merits,
attained many years across already innumerable ages,
Nature losing her measure; whom by the right of creating 105

Terra tulit genitum, sed mors miratur ademptum.
     Saucia iam vetulae marcebant viscera Sarrae
Grandaevo consumpta situ, prolemque negabat
Frigidus annoso moriens in corpore sanguis:
Cum seniore viro gelidi praecordia ventris               110
In partum tumuere novum tremebundaque mater
Algentes onerata sinus, spem gentis opimae
Edidit et serum suspendit ad ubera natum.
Mactandumque Deo pater obtulit, at sacer ipsam
Pro pueri iugulis aries mactatur ad aram.               115
O iusti mens sancta viri!

The earth bore the begotten, but Death marvels at him taken away.
     Already the wounded entrails of the aged Sarah were withering,
Consumed by the decay of very-great age, and the cold blood,
Dying in the aged body, denied offspring:
With her elder husband the cold inmost parts of the womb               110
Swelled for a new birth, and the trembling mother,
Her chilly bosoms burdened, brought forth the hope of a rich nation,
And hung the late-born son at her breasts.
And the father offered him to God to be immolated, but the sacred ram itself
Is immolated at the altar in place of the boy’s throat.               115
O holy mind of the just man!

pietate remota
Plus pietatis habens contempsit vulnera nati
Amplexus praecepta Dei, typicique cruoris
Auxilio ventura docet, quod sanguine Christi
Humana pro gente pius occumberet agnus. 120

with familial piety set aside
having more piety he despised the wounds of his son,
embracing the precepts of God, and by the aid of typic blood
he teaches the things to come: that by the blood of Christ
for the human race the pious Lamb would meet death. 120

     Loth Sodomae fugiente chaos, dum respicit uxor,
In statuam mutata salis stupefacta remansit,
Ad poenam conversa suam: quia nemo retrorsum,
Noxia contempti vitans discrimina mundi,
Aspiciens salvandus erit, nec debet arator               125
Dignum opus exercens vultum in sua terga referre.
     Ignibus innocuis flagrans apparuit olim
Non ardens ardere rubus, nec iuncta calori
Materies alimenta dabat, nec torrida vivens
Sensit damna frutex, sed amici fomitis aestu               130
Frondea blanditae lambebant robora flammae.
     Mitis in inmitem virga est animata draconem,
Per flexos sinuata globos linguisque trisulcis
Squamea colla tumens inimicos ore chelydros
Sorbuit et proprii redit in virgulta rigoris.               135

     Lot, fleeing the chaos of Sodom, while his wife looks back,
changed into a statue of salt, remained stupefied,
turned into her own punishment; for no one, backward,
shunning the noxious perils of the despised world,
looking, will be saved; nor ought the plowman               125
while exercising a worthy work, to turn his face to his own back.
     Once there appeared, blazing with innocuous fires,
a bush burning yet not burning, nor did the material joined to the heat
supply nourishment, nor did the living shrub, though torrid,
sense harm; but with the heat of friendly fuel               130
the leafy, coaxing flames were licking the timbers.
     A mild rod was animated into a savage dragon,
coiling through curved coils, and with three-forked tongues
swelling with scaly necks it gulped the hostile serpents with its mouth
and returns into the twig-wood of its own rigor.               135

     Pervia divisi patuerunt caerula ponti
In geminum revoluta latus, nudataque tellus
Cognatis spoliatur aquis, ac turba pedestris
Intrat in absentis pelagi mare, perque profundum
Sicca peregrinas stupuerunt marmora plantas.               140
Mutavit natura viam, mediumque per aequor
Ingrediens populus rude iam baptisma gerebat,
Cui dux Christus erat, clamat nam lectio: multas
Vox Domini super extat aquas; vox denique verbum est.
Verbum Christus adest, geminae qui consona legis               145
Testamenta regens veterem patefecit abyssum,
Ut doctrina sequens planis incederet arvis.
     Quid referam innumeras caelesti pane catervas
Angelicos sumpsisse cibos.

     The cerulean of the sea, divided, lay open, passable,
rolled back into a twin flank, and the bared earth
is despoiled of its kindred waters, and the pedestrian throng
enters into the sea of the absent deep, and through the profound
the dry marbles stood amazed at the pilgrim soles.               140
Nature changed the way, and through the midst of the level sea
the people, entering, was already bearing a primal baptism,
for whom the leader was Christ, for the Lesson cries: the Voice
of the Lord stands upon many waters; the Voice, in fine, is the Word.
The Word—Christ—is present, who, ruling the concordant of the twin Law’s               145
Testaments, opened the ancient abyss,
so that the following doctrine might proceed upon level fields.
     What shall I recount—that numberless cohorts with celestial bread
have taken angelic foods.

nimbisque superni
Nectaris aeria populum dulcedine pastum 150

and by the clouds of supernal
Nectar the people fed with aerial sweetness 150

In pluviis habuisse dapes et in imbribus escas?
Rursus in exustis sitiens exercitus arvis,
Qua nimium loca sicca, diu qua terra negatis
Aegra iacebat aquis, qua spes ablata bibendi
Vivendique fuit, subitas arente metallo 155
Hausit aquas, sterilique latex de rupe manavit,
Et ieiuna novum vomuerunt marmora potum.
His igitur iam sacra tribus dans munera rebus,
Christus erat panis, Christus petra, Christus in undis.

To have had banquets in the rains and food in the showers?
Again, in burned fields the thirsty army,
where the places were excessively dry, where for a long time the earth lay sick with waters denied,
where the hope of drinking and of living had been taken away, from parched flint 155
it drew sudden waters; liquid flowed from a sterile rock,
and fasting marbles spewed forth a new draught.
Therefore, now giving sacred gifts in these three things,
Christ was bread, Christ rock, Christ on the waves.

     Angelicis tremefacta minis adfatur asella               160
Sessorem per verba suum, linguaque rudenti
Edidit humanas animal pecuale loquellas.
     Sol stetit ad Gabaon mediique cacumine caeli
Fixit anhelantem dilato vespere lucem,
Insolitus frenare diem, nec luna cucurrit               165

     Shaken by angelic threats, the little she-ass addresses her rider               160
through words, and with a braying tongue
the herd-animal uttered human little utterances.
     The Sun stood at Gabaon, and on the summit of mid-heaven
fixed the panting light, evening being delayed—
a thing unusual, to rein in the day—and the Moon did not run.               165

Ordine pigra suo, donec populantibus armis
Fervidus ingentem gladius consumeret hostem
Coniurante polo: iam tunc famulata videbant.
Sidera venturum praemisso nomine Iesum.
Heliam corvi quondam pavere ministri 170
Praebentes sine more dapes, alesque rapinis
Deditus atque avido saturans cava guttura rostro
Tradidit inlaesam ieiunis morsibus escam.

Slow in its own order, until with ravaging arms
a fervid sword would consume the enormous enemy,
with the heaven conspiring: already then, made to serve, they beheld
the stars that Jesus would come, with the name sent ahead.
Ravens once fed Elijah as ministers, 170
providing banquets without rule, and the bird devoted to rapine,
and, with an avid beak, filling hollow throats,
delivered the food uninjured by hungry bites.

Nunc bonus Heliae, qui perfidus antea Noe,
Abluit in terris quidquid deliquit in undis.               175
     Plenus at ille Deo postquam miracula terris
Plura dedit meritisque suis succedere dignum
Heredem propriae fecit virtutis amicum,
Aurea flammigeris evectus in astra quadrigis,
Qua levis aerios non exprimit orbita sulcos,               180

Now, good to Elijah, who earlier was perfidious to Noah,
it washes on the earth whatever delinquency it committed in the waves.               175
     But he, full of God, after he gave more miracles to the lands
and by his merits made a friend worthy to succeed,
an heir of his own virtue,
borne aloft in golden, flame-bearing four-horse chariots into the stars,
where a light orbit does not press out airy furrows,               180

Sidereum penetravit iter curruque corusco
Dexteriora petens spatio maiore triumphum
Duxit et humani metam non contigit aevi.
Quam bene fulminei praelucens semita caeli
Convenit Heliae! meritoque et nomine fulgens 185
Hac ope dignus erat: nam si sermonis Achivi
Una per accentum mutetur littera, sol est.

He penetrated the sidereal way, and with a coruscating chariot,
seeking the right-hand regions, in a greater expanse he led a triumph,
and he did not touch the goal-post of human age.
How well the pre-lucent path of the fulminant sky
befit Elijah! and, both by merit and by name, shining 185
he was worthy of this help: for if in the speech of the Achaeans
one letter be changed by accent, he is the sun.

     Ultima labentis miseratus tempora lucis
Ter quinos quondam regi Deus addidit annos
Usus iure suo, patefactaque limina claudens               190
Mortis ab occasu vitam convertit in ortum.
     Ionas puppe cadens, coeto sorbente voratus
In pelago non sensit aquas, vitale sepulchrum
Ne moreretur habens, tutusque in ventre ferino
Depositum, non praeda fuit, vastumque per aequor               195

     Pitying the last times of the slipping light,
God once added thrice five years to the king,
using his own right, and closing the thresholds that had been opened               190
he turned life from the setting of death into a rising.
     Jonah, falling from the stern, devoured by the gulping sea-monster,
on the deep did not feel the waters, having a vital sepulcher
that he might not die, and safe in the beastly belly
he was a deposit, not prey, and over the vast plain of the sea               195

Venit ad ignotas inimico remige terras.
Cum spirante Deo Babylonia sacra negarent
Tres una cum mente viri durumque subirent
Exitium saevi Chaldaea lege tyranni,
Cuius Achaemeniam rabies accenderat iram 200
Plus fornace sua: medios truduntur in ignes
Nil audente rogo, tantumque ardore calentes
Cordis imagineae vincunt incendia poenae
Igne animi. o quanta est credentum gloria!

He came to unknown lands with a hostile oarsman.
When, God breathing, three men with one mind were denying the sacred rites of Babylon and were undergoing the hard doom by the Chaldaean law of the savage tyrant, whose frenzy had kindled Achaemenian wrath more than its own furnace, 200
they are thrust into the midst of the fires, the pyre daring nothing, and, heated only by the ardor of the heart’s image, they conquer the conflagrations of penal punishment by the fire of the spirit. By the fire of the spirit. o how great is the glory of believers!

flammis
Ardentis fidei restincta est flamma camini.               205
     Digna sed inmitem mox perculit ultio regem.
Nam quod ab humana vecors pietate recessit,
Agrestes pecudum consors fuit ille per herbas
Aulica depasto mutans convivia faeno.
Pronus ab amne bibit, septenaque tempora lustrat               210

by flames
The flame of the furnace was extinguished by the flames of ardent faith.               205
     Yet a worthy vengeance soon smote the cruel king.
For, since he, frenzied, withdrew from human piety,
he was a companion of rustic herds among the grasses,
exchanging aulic banquets for grazed hay.
Bent down he drinks from the river, and he traverses 7 periods               210

Omnibus hirsutus silvis et montibus errans.
Nec minus et Darii furuerunt iussa tyranni,
Ecce etenim sceleri scelus addidit ira furentis
Hebraeumque decus Danihel decernitur insons
Ieiunis cibus esse feris. sed belua iusto 215
Mitis facta viro, sanctos ne laederet artus,
Coepit amare famem; rabies mollita furorem
Deposuit saevisque in faucibus ira quievit,
Et didicere truces praedam servare leones.

Hirsute among all the forests and wandering the mountains.
Nor less too did the commands of Darius the tyrant rage,
Behold indeed, to crime the anger of the raging one added crime,
and Daniel, the Hebrew glory, guiltless, is decreed to be food for the fasting beasts. but the beast to the just man 215
made gentle, lest it injure his holy limbs,
began to love hunger; the rabid rage, softened, laid down its fury,
and in the savage jaws the wrath grew quiet,
and the truculent lions learned to preserve their prey.

Dic, ubi sunt, natura, tuae post talia leges? 220
Qui quotiens tibi iura tulit? qui tartara iussit
Translatum nescire virum, sterilemque marito
Fecundavit anum, sacram praecepit ad aram
Sponte venire pecus, muliebres transtulit artus
In simulacra salis, ramos incendia passos 225

Say, where are, Nature, your laws after such things? 220
Who as often has borne laws to you? who commanded
the translated man to be unacquainted with Tartarus, and the sterile old woman
to be fecundated for her husband, who ordered the flock to come of its own accord
to the sacred altar, transferred womanly limbs
into simulacra of salt, branches that had endured fires 225

Non ardere dedit, virgultum solvit in anguem,
Per pelagus siccavit iter, mirabile nimbis
Manna pluit, saxo latices produxit ab imo,
Quadrupedem fari plano sermone coegit,
Suspensis rapidas elementis distulit horas,               230
Per volucres hominem pasci dedit atque coruscis
In caelum transvexit equis, iam morte gravato
Adiecit tria lustra viro, praedonis in ore
Naufragio fundavit opem, flagrante camino
Servavit sub rore pios, per pascua regem               235
Pavit ut hirsutam pecudem, rictusque leonum
Instimulante fame iussit nescire furorem?
Nempe creatori, cuius quaecumque videntur
Seu quaecumque latent et rerum machina sermo est,
Omne suum famulatur opus sequiturque iubentis               240

He gave that it not burn, he loosed the brushwood into a serpent,
through the pelagic he dried a way, wondrously with nimbus-clouds
he rained Manna, from the rock’s depth he produced waters,
he compelled a quadruped to speak in plain speech,
with the elements suspended he put off the swift hours,               230
he granted that a man be fed through birds, and with flashing
horses he carried him across into heaven; to a man now burdened with death
he added 15 years; in the mouth of a robber
he founded help at shipwreck; with the furnace blazing
he preserved the pious under dew; through pastures a king               235
he fed like a shaggy flock-beast, and the gaping jaws of lions,
with hunger goading, he ordered to know not fury.
Surely to the Creator, to whom whatever things are seen
or whatever things lie hidden—and the world’s machinery is a word—
every work of his does service and follows the one commanding.               240

Imperium quacumque trahit sententia nutu.
Heu miseri, qui vana colunt, qui corde sinistro
Religiosa sibi sculpunt simulacra suumque
Factorem fugiunt et quae fecere verentur!
Quis furor est?

A decree, by a nod, draws dominion whithersoever it leads.
Alas, wretches, who worship vain things, who with a sinister heart carve religious simulacra for themselves and flee their Maker, and fear the things which they have made! What madness is this?

quae tanta animos dementia ludit,               245
Ut volucrem turpemque bovem tortumque draconem
Semihominemque canem supplex homo plenus adoret?
     Ast alii solem caecatis mentibus acti
Adfirmant rerum esse patrem, quia rite videtur
Clara serenatis infundere lumina terris               250
Et totum lustrare polum: cum constet ab istis
Motibus instabilem rapidis discursibus ignem
Officium, non esse Deum, quique ordine certo
Nunc oritur, nunc occiduas dimissus in oras
Partitur cum nocte vices nec sempter ubique est.               255

what dementia so great toys with minds,               245
that a suppliant man, in full, should adore a winged creature and a turpid ox and a twisted dragon
and a semi-human dog?
     But others, driven with blinded minds,
affirm the sun to be the father of things, because duly it seems
to pour bright lights upon lands made serene and to survey the whole pole;               250
whereas from these motions it is evident
that the fire, unstable in its rapid courses, is an office, not a God, and he who in fixed order
now rises, now sent down to the western shores,
shares turns with night and is not always everywhere.               255

Nec lumen fuit ille manens in origine mundi
Cum geminum sine sole diem novus orbis haberet.
Sic lunae quoque vota ferunt, quam crescere cernunt
Ac minui, stellisque litant quae luce fugantur.
Hic laticem colit, ille larem, sed iungere sacris 260
Non audent inimica suis, ne lite propinqua
Aut rogus exiguas desiccet fortior undas,
Aut validis tenues moriantur fontibus ignes.

Nor was that one a light abiding at the origin of the world
when the new world possessed a twin day without the sun.
Thus they also bear vows to the moon, which they see grow
and wane, and they propitiate the stars which are put to flight by light.
Here one worships water, another the household Lar, but to join them in rites 260
they do not dare, hostile to their own, lest by neighboring strife
either the pyre, being stronger, dry up the scanty waves,
or the thin fires die in the strong springs.

     Arboreis alius ponit radicibus aras
Instituitque dapes et ramos flebilis orat,               265
Ut natos caramque domum dilectaque rura
Coniugiique fidem, famulos censumque gubernent.
Lignee, ligna rogas, surdis clamare videris,
A mutis responsa petis, quae iura domorum
Hac ratione regunt, si caesa securibus actis               270

     Another sets altars at the arboreal roots
and institutes banquets and, tearful, prays to the branches,               265
that they may govern the sons and the dear house and the cherished fields
and conjugal fidelity, the servants and the estate.
O wooden one, you ask woods; you seem to cry out to the deaf,
you seek responses from the mute—what laws of households they govern
in this manner, if felled by axes set to work.               270

Ardua pendentis sustentent culmina tecti,
Aut subiecta focis dapibus famulentur edendis.
     Nonnulli venerantur holus mollesque per hortos
Numina sicca rigant verique hac arte videntur
Transplantatorum cultores esse deorum.               275
     Plura referre pudet, sanctoque in carmine longum
Vel damnare nefas, ne mollia sentibus uram
Lilia, purpurei neu per violaria campi
Carduus et spinis surgat paliurus acutis.
Iam satis humanis erroribus addita monstra               280
Risimus aut potius tales deflevimum actus.

Let them sustain the steep summits of the hanging roof,
or, placed beneath the hearths, let them serve for feasts to be cooked.
     Some venerate the vegetable and, soft through the gardens,
they irrigate dry divinities, and by this art truly they seem
to be cultivators of transplanted gods.               275
     To relate more is shameful, and in a sacred song it were long
even to damn such nefas, lest I scorch with brambles the tender
lilies, nor let the thistle and the paliurus with sharp spines rise
through the violet-beds of the purple field.
Already we have laughed enough at the monsters added to human errors,               280
or rather we have bewailed such deeds.

Nunc coeptam iuvat ire viam montemque per altum
Nitentes firmare gradus; properemus in urbem,
Libertatis opem, radians ubi regia fulvis
Emicat aula tholis, ubi dantur digna petenti, 285

Now it pleases to go the begun way and, over the high mountain,
striving to make firm our steps; let us hasten into the city,
the aid of Liberty, where the regal hall, radiating, flashes forth with tawny
domes, where things worthy are given to the petitioner, 285

Quarentem spes certa manet, claustrisque remotis
Pervia pulsanti reserantur limina cordi.
Hic est ille lapis, reprobum quem vertice gestat
Angulus atque oculis praebet miracula nostris:
Cuius onus leve est, cuius iuga ferre suave est.               290
     Per digesta prius veteris miraculi legis
Rettulimus, sancti coniuncto Spiritus actu
Quae Genitor socia Nati virtute peregit.
Per digesta rudis necnon miracula legis
Dicemus, sancti coniuncto Spiritus actu               295
Quae Natus socia Patris virtute peregit,
Semper ut una manens deitatis forma perennis
Quod simplex triplicet quodque est triplicabile simplet.

For the one seeking a sure hope awaits, and with the bars removed
the passable thresholds are unbarred to the heart that knocks.
This is that stone, which the Corner bears on its summit as rejected,
and offers marvels to our eyes:
whose burden is light, whose yokes it is sweet to bear.               290
     Through what was first set forth of the miracle of the old law
we have recounted, with the conjoined act of the Holy Spirit,
what the Begetter accomplished with the associated virtue of the Son.
Through what is set forth of the miracles of the new law as well
we shall tell, with the conjoined act of the Holy Spirit,               295
what the Son accomplished with the associated virtue of the Father,
so that, ever remaining one, the perennial form of deity
may triplicate what is simple and may simplify what is triplicable.

Haec est vera fides; hanc sprevit habere salutem
Arrius infelix, qui curva per avia rectum 300

This is the true faith; this salvation to have the unhappy Arius spurned,
who sought the straight by curved pathless byways 300

Flectere nisus iter, foveam dilapsus in atram
Conruit et tetri mersus petit ima profundi:
Tam vacuus sensu, iustae quam tempore poenae
Visceribus fusis vacuus quoque ventre remansit.
Demens, perpetui qui non imitanda parentis               305
Iura caducorum gradibus simulavit honorum!
Namque homines inter natum genitore minorem
Lex carnalis habet, quoniam pater ipse parentis
Filius ante fuit, mox et qui filius est nunc
Adsolet esse pater: sic per genus omne nepotum               310
It nova progenies et avi numerantur avorum.
At Dominus, verbum, virtus, sapientia, Christus,
Et totum commune Patris, de lumine lumen,
De solo solus, cui nec minus est Patre quicquam,
Nec quo crescat habet, genitus, non quippe creatus:               315

Striving to bend the path, slipping into a black pit
he collapsed and, plunged, seeks the lowest deeps of the foul abyss:
so empty of sense that, at the time of just penalty,
his guts being poured out, empty also in belly he remained.
Madman, who of the perpetual Parent the not-to-be-imitated rights               305
he counterfeited by the grades of caducous honors!
For among men the law of the flesh holds the son to be lesser than the begetter,
since the father himself, of a parent, was formerly a son, and soon he who is now a son
is wont to be a father: thus through the whole race of descendants
goes ever-new offspring, and grandsires of grandsires are counted.               310
But the Lord—the Word, Power, Wisdom—Christ,
and all that is common with the Father, Light from Light,
the Only from the Only, to whom there is nothing less than the Father,
nor does he have that by which he might grow, begotten, not indeed created:               315

Ipse est principium. nam sicut clarus habetur
In genitore manens, genitor quoque clarus in ipso
Permanet, et rerum caput est Deus unus ubique.
Non quia qui summus Pater est, et Filius hic est,
Sed quia quod summus Pater est, et Filius hoc est. 320
Sic ait ipse docens: 'ego in Patre et Pater in me'.
Rursus: 'ego atque Pater unum sumus'. Arrius 'unum'
Debet scire 'sumus'que Sabellius esse fatendum.

He himself is the beginning. for just as, remaining in the Begetter, he is held bright, so too the Begetter remains bright in him, and the head of things is one God everywhere.
Not because he who is the highest Father is also this Son,
but because what the highest Father is, the Son is this as well. 320
Thus he himself, teaching, says: 'I am in the Father and the Father in me'.
Again: 'I and the Father are one'. Arius ought to know 'one', and by Sabellius 'we are' must be admitted.

Iste fidem ternam, hic non amplectitur unam.
Ambo errore pares, quamquam diversa sequentes. 325
Qualiter adsueti varias producere sectas
Inpugnant sua dicta viri, qui brachia nudis
Ostendunt exerta umeris, nil tradere docti.
Sed tantum certare cati, prudentia quorum
Stulta iacet, quia vana Deo est sapientia mundi. 330

This man embraces a threefold faith; that one does not embrace even one.
Both equal in error, although following different courses. 325
Just as, accustomed to bring forth various sects,
the men impugn their own sayings, who show their arms
thrust out from bare shoulders, trained to transmit nothing.
But only adroit to contend, whose prudence lies foolish,
since the wisdom of the world is vain to God. 330

Hic loquitur nimis, ille tacet; hic ambulat, hic stat;
Alter amat fletus, alter crispare cachinnum:
Diversisque modis par est vesania cunctis.
     Interea dum rite viam sermone levamus
Spesque fidesque meum comitantur in ardua gressum,               335
Blandius ad summam tandem pervenimus arcem.
En signo sacrata crucis vexilla coruscant,
En regis pia castra micant, tuba clamat erilis,
Militibus sua porta patet: qui militat intret,
Ianua vos aeterna vocat, quae ianua Christus.               340
Aurea perpetuae capietis praemia vitae,
Arma quibus Domini tota virtute geruntur
Et fixum est in fronte decus.

This one speaks too much, that one is silent; this one walks, this one stands;
The one loves tears, the other to crisp a cachinnation:
And by diverse modes the madness is equal in all.
     Meanwhile, while duly we lighten the way by discourse
And Hope and Faith accompany my step into the heights,               335
More gently at length we arrive at the highest citadel.
Lo, the banners hallowed by the sign of the cross coruscate,
Lo, the pious camp of the King gleams, the Master’s trumpet cries,
For the soldiers their gate stands open: let whoever soldiers enter,
The eternal gate calls you—the gate which is Christ.               340
You will take the golden rewards of perpetual life,
the arms by which the Lord’s warfare is borne with all might,
and the badge is fixed upon the forehead.

Decus armaque porto
Militiaeque tuae, bone rex, pars ultima resto.
Hic proprias sedes, huius mihi moenibus urbis 345

I carry honor and arms
and of your soldiery, good king, I remain the last part.
Here my own seats, for me within the walls of this city 345

Exiguam concede domum, tuus incola sanctis
Ut merear habitare locis alboque beati
Ordinis extremus conscribi in saecula civis.
Grandia posco quidem, sed tu dare grandia nosti,
Quem magis offendit quisquis sperando tepescit.               350
     Christe, fave votis, qui mundum in morte iacentem
Vivificare volens quondam terrena petisti
Caelitus, humanam dignatus sumere formam,
Sic aliena gerens, ut nec tua linquere posses.
     Hoc Matthaeus agens hominem generaliter implet,               355
Marcus ut alta fremit vox per deserta leonis,
Iura sacerdotii Lucas tenet ore iuvenci,
More volans aquilae verbo petit astra Iohannes.

Grant an exiguous house, that I, your inhabitant, may merit to dwell in holy places and to be enrolled for ages as the lowliest citizen of the blessed white Order.
I do indeed ask grand things, but you know to give grand things; you are more offended by whoever grows tepid in hoping.               350
     Christ, favor the vows, you who, wishing to vivify the world lying in death, once from heaven sought earthly things,
deigning to assume human form, thus bearing what was alien, such that you could not relinquish what was yours.
     Doing this, Matthew in general fulfills the Man,               355
Mark, as the high voice of a lion, roars through the deserts,
Luke holds the rights of the priesthood with the mouth of a young bull,
John, flying after the manner of an eagle, with the word seeks the stars.

Quatuor hi proceres una te voce canentes
Tempora ceu totidem latum sparguntur in orbem. 360

These four princes, singing you with one voice,
are spread through the wide world as just so many seasons. 360

Sic et apostolici semper duodenus honoris
Fulget apex numero, menses imitatus et horas,
Omnibus ut rebus totus tibi militet annus.
Hinc igitur veteris recolens exordia mortis
Ad vitam properabo novam lacrimasque serendo 365
Gaudia longa metam: nam qui deflemus in Adam
Semina mittentes, mox exultabimus omnes
Portantes nostros Christo veniente maniplos.

Thus too the twelvefold apex of apostolic honor ever shines with its number, imitating the months and the hours,
so that in all things the whole year may serve as a soldier for you.
Hence therefore, recalling the beginnings of the old death,
I shall hasten to new life, and by sowing tears I aim at the long goal of joys, 365
For we who bewail in Adam,
sending seeds, soon we shall all exult,
carrying our sheaves at Christ’s coming.