Sedulius: CARMEN PASCHALE

Has inter virtutis opes iam proxima paschæ
Cœperat esse dies, Domini cum gloria vellet
Ponere mortalem, vivamque resumere carnem,
Non aliam, sed rursus eam, quam munere plenam
Lucis, ab infernis relevans, ad sidera duxit. 5
Exclamansque palam; Pater, ista memet ab hora
Salvifica: sed in hanc ideo veni tamen horam;
Clarifica, dixit, nomen tuum; magnaque cœlo
Vox resonans venit per nubila: Clarificavi,
Clarificabo iterum. Quid apertius est Patre teste, 10
Cœlo assertore? At nec sic agnoscere Christum
Gens voluit Iudæa Deum; pars esse ferebat,
Hoc tonitrum: pars angelicam crepuisse loquelam.

Amid these feats of virtue the day already next to the Pasch
had begun to be, when the Lord in glory willed
to lay down the mortal flesh, and to take up the living flesh again,
not another, but the same once more, which, full with the gift
of light, raising it from the infernal regions, he led to the stars. 5
And crying out openly: Father, save me from this hour;
but for this hour I nevertheless came for this reason;
Glorify, he said, your name; and a great voice
resounding came through the clouds from heaven: I have glorified,
I will glorify again. What is more open, with the Father as witness,
with heaven as asserter? But not even thus to acknowledge Christ
as God did the Judaean nation wish; some maintained this was thunder;
others that an angelic speech had sounded.

O gens cæca oculis, o gens durissima corde!
Non tonitrus potuit Christum, sive angelus ullus 15

O nation blind in eyes, O nation most hard in heart!
Neither thunder could be Christ, nor any angel 15

Auctorem generasse suum, qui, nomine Patris
Audito, responsa daret, sed ab ore Tonantis,
Natum agnoscentis, populus quo crederet astans,
Vox emissa suo respondit consona verbo.
Annua tunc sacræ celebrans per munera cœnæ               20
Paschales ex more dapes, humilemque ministrum
Se faciens, et grata suis exempla relinquens,
Assurgit, famulisque libens famulatur, et omnem
Linteolo accinctus tantum inclinavit honorem,
Discipulis ut sponte lavans vestigia cunctis,               25
Nec Iudam exciperet, quem proditionis iniquæ
Noverat auctorem. Sed nil tibi gloria, sæve
Traditor, illa dabat pedibus consistere mundis,
Qui sensu pollutus eras, velut omne sepulcrum
Exteriora gerens albæ velamina formæ,               30

that his Author had begotten him, who, when the name of the Father
had been heard, would give answers—but from the mouth of the Thunderer,
recognizing the Son—so that the people standing by might believe,
a voice sent forth responded, consonant with his word.
Then, celebrating through the gifts of the sacred supper               20
the Paschal feasts according to custom, and making himself a humble
minister, and leaving grateful examples for his own,
he rises, and gladly serves the servants, and, girded
with a linen cloth, so greatly bowed down all honor,
that, of his own accord washing the feet of all the disciples,               25
he did not except Judas, whom he knew the author of iniquitous
betrayal. But that glory gave you nothing, savage
Traitor, to stand with clean feet,
you who were polluted in mind, like every sepulcher,
bearing outwardly the veils of a white appearance,               30

Sordibus interius, fœdoque cadavere plenum.
Nec Dominum latuere doli, scelerisque futuri
Prodidit auctorem, panem cui tradidit ipse,
Qui panis tradendus erat: nam corporis, atque
Sanguinis ille sui postquam duo munera sanxit,               35
Atque cibum, potumque dedit, quo perpete numquam
Esuriant, sitiantque animæ sine labe fideles:
Protinus in Iudam, sedes ubi livor habebat,
Spiritus intravit teterrimus, armaque sumens
In Dominum, servile dedit consurgere bellum,               40
Pactus grande nefas quavis mercede: nec illi
Culpa datur pretio, sed inhærent crimina facto.
Tantumdem sceleris, terdena numismata sumens
Argenti, parvo cæcatus munere gessit,
Quantum, cuncta simul terrarum regna, marisque               45

Inwardly with filth, and full of a foul cadaver.
Nor did the deceits lie hidden from the Lord, and he revealed the author of the future crime, to whom he himself handed the bread—
the bread that was to be handed over: for after he sanctioned the two gifts of his body and of his blood,               35
and gave food and drink by which, perpetual, the faithful souls without stain may never hunger and thirst:
straightway into Judas, where envy had its seat,
a most foul spirit entered, and, taking up arms
against the Lord, he set a servile war to rise,
having bargained a great nefarious wrong for any wage: nor is blame imputed to the price, but crimes inhere in the deed.               40
Taking thirty pieces of silver, he, blinded by a small gift, committed just as much crime
as if all the kingdoms of the lands together, and of the sea,               45

Divitias, omnemque vagis cum nubibus æthram
Si caperet, gesturus erat: neque enim bona mundi
Sufficerent magni fuso pro sanguine Christi,
Qui pater est mundi, qui fecerat, hunc quoque nasci.
Atque utinam sterili damnatus matre nequisset               50
Natalem sentire diem, nec luminis huius
Hausisset placidas flabris vitalibus auras
&Aelig;terno torpore latens, miseroque fuisset
Sors melior nescire datam, quam perdere vitam,
Aut male fusus humo, confestim munera lucis               55
Perderet, ut pulvis, quem ventus proiicit ingens
A facie terræ, rapidisque volatibus actus
Spargitur in vacuas nebulis obscurior umbras.
Tune cruente, ferox, audax, insane, rebellis,
Perfide, crudelis, fallax, venalis, inique,               60

If he could have seized riches, and the whole aether with the wandering clouds,
he would have been ready to carry them off; for the goods of the world
would not suffice for the blood of mighty Christ poured forth,
who is the Father of the world, who had made it, to be born himself as well.
And would that, condemned to a barren mother, he had been unable               50
to feel the natal day, nor had he quaffed the gentle airs of this light
with life-giving breaths, lying hidden in eternal torpor; and his lot, poor wretch,
would have been better to be ignorant of the life given than to destroy it;
or, spilt wretchedly on the ground, he would at once lose the gifts of light,
like dust which the vast wind hurls from the face of the earth, and, driven by rapid flights,               55
is scattered into empty shades, darker than mists.
Then, blood-stained, fierce, audacious, insane, rebellious,
perfidious, cruel, fallacious, venal, iniquitous,               60

Traditor immitis, fere proditor, impie latro,
Prævius horribiles comitaris signifer enses?
Sacrilegamque aciem, gladiis, sudibusque minacem
Cum moveas, ore ora premis, mellique venenum
Inseris, et blanda Dominum sub imagine prodis? 65
Quid socium simulas, et amica fraude salutas?
Numquid terribiles aut pax coniurat in enses,
Aut truculenta pio lupus oscula porrigit agno?

Harsh traitor, almost betrayer, impious robber,
going before as standard-bearer do you accompany terrible swords?
And when you set in motion the sacrilegious battle-line, threatening with swords and stakes,
you press mouths with your mouth, and insert poison into honey,
and under a coaxing image do you betray the Lord? 65
Why do you pretend to be a comrade, and do you greet with friendly fraud?
Does peace conspire upon terrible swords,
or does the truculent wolf proffer kisses to the pious lamb?

Traditus ergo viris operator sanctus iniquis,
Consuetam non liquit opem, pueroque revulsam 70
Ense Petri, nequa pius a pietate vacaret,
Reddidit auriculam; nec enim vindicta Tonanti
Conveniens humana fuit, qui millia Patrem
Angelicas sibimet legiones poscere posset
Plus duodena dari, si mallet sumere pœnas 75

Therefore, handed over to unjust men, the holy worker did not leave his accustomed aid, and to the boy the ear torn off by Peter’s sword—lest the pious one in any way be void of piety—he restored the ear; for human vengeance was not becoming to the Thunderer, who could ask the Father that angelic legions, more than twelve, be given to himself, if he preferred to exact penalties. 70

De meritis, quam sponte suas ignoscere plagas.
Tunc parci mucrone iubet, quia venerat ipse
Ponere pro cunctis animam, non tollere cuiquam.
Namque Petro, clara iamdudum voce fatenti,
Cum Domino se velle mori, Prius aliger, inquit, 80
Quam gallus cantet, hac me ter nocte negabis,
Non reprobando fidem, sed prædicendo timorem.

According to merits, rather than of his own accord to forgive his wounds.
Then he orders the blade to spare, because he himself had come
to lay down his soul for all, not to take it away from anyone.
For to Peter, confessing long since with clear voice,
that he wished to die with the Lord, “Before the wing-bearer,” he says, 80
“before the cock sings, you will deny me three times this night,
not by reprobating the faith, but by predicting fear.”

Continuo ad tristes Caiphæ deducitur ædes.
Ille sacerdotum fuerat tunc denique princeps,
Et princeps scelerum, namque hoc residente cathedra 85
Pestifera, falsis agitatum testibus ardet
Concilium, iam iamque volant mendacia mille
In Dominum, vanis hominum conflata favillis,
Et pereunt levitate sui, velut ignis oberrans
Arentes stipulas, vires cui summa cremandi 90

Straightway he is led to the gloomy house of Caiaphas.
He was then, at last, the chief of the priests,
And the chief of crimes; for, with this pestiferous cathedra 85
presiding, the council, agitated by false witnesses, blazes;
and again and again a thousand mendacities fly
against the Lord, conflated from the vain embers of men,
and they perish by their own levity, like a wandering fire
over arid stubbles, which has the utmost powers of burning 90

Materies infirma rapit, victoque furore
Labitur invalidæ deformis gloria flammæ.
Postquam nulla dolis patuit via, brachia tolli
Armat in insontem sævus furor: heu mihi! quantis 95
Impedior lacrymis rabidum memorare tumultum
Sacrilegas movisse manus? non denique passim
Vel colaphis pulsare caput, vel cædere palmis,
Aut spuere in faciem plebs exsecranda quievit.

The weak fuel catches, and, its fury conquered,
the misshapen glory of the feeble flame slips away.
After no way lay open for wiles, savage furor arms
the lifting of arms against the innocent: alas for me! by how great 95
tears am I hindered to recount the rabid tumult
that sacrilegious hands set in motion? nor, in the end, did the execrable plebs,
either to strike the head with buffets, or to smite with the palms,
or to spit into the face, cease far and wide.

Ille tamen patiens subiecto corpore totum
Sustinuit, nostræque dedit sua membra saluti. 100
Namque per hos colaphos caput est sanabile nostrum,
Hæc sputa per Dominum nostram lavere figuram,
His alapis nobis libertas maxima plausit,
At senior, cui cuncta potens prædixerat auctor,
Quæ ventura forent, quoniam transire nequibat 105

Yet he, patient, with his body subjected, endured the whole,
and gave his members for our salvation. 100
For by these buffets our head is made curable,
these spittings, through the Lord, wash our form,
by these slaps the greatest liberty applauded for us;
but the elder, to whom the all-powerful Author had foretold
the things that were to come, since he was not able to pass through, 105

Infectum, quod Christus ait, se prorsus adesse
Ipsius ex sociis, semel, ac bis, terque negavit,
Et gallus cecinit; completa est sanctio Christi,
Et sensus rediere Petri: memor ille malorum
Immemoris damnavit opus, gemituque sequente, 110
Culpa fugit, cedunt lacrymis delicta profusis,
Et dulcem veniam, fletus, generastis, amari.
Iamque dies aderat, nocturna mœstior umbra,
Flagitium visura novum, tenebrisque remotis,
Pandebat populis Iudææ crimina gentis. 115
Mox igitur Dominum Pilati ad mœnia duci.
Nexibus astrictum, Iudas ut vidit iniquus,
Diriguit, scelerisque sui commercia reddens
Incassum, facti pretium, non facta reliquit.

He denied as undone what Christ says, that he was utterly present
as one of His associates—once, and twice, and thrice;
and the cock crowed; the sanction of Christ was fulfilled,
and Peter’s senses returned: mindful of the evils
he condemned the deed of the unmindful (himself), and with a groan following, 110
guilt flees, delicts yield to tears poured forth,
and you, bitter weepings, begot sweet pardon.
And now day was at hand, sadder than the nocturnal shadow,
about to behold a new flagitium, and with the darkness removed,
it was disclosing to the peoples of Judaea the crimes of the nation. 115
Soon therefore the Lord was led to the walls of Pilate.
When the iniquitous Judas saw him bound with bonds,
he was paralyzed, and, paying back the proceeds of his crime in vain,
he left behind the price of the deed, not the deeds.

Quidnam etenim prodest, illic trepidare timore, 120

For what indeed does it profit, to trepidate there with fear, 120

Nullus ubi timor est? aut quæ confessio tetro
Lucet in inferno, cum iam demersa securis
Arboris infandæ radicibus, exitialem
Quæ peperit fructum, feralia germina vertat
Funditus, et dignis pereant mala robora flammis? 125
Continuoque trucis correptus mente furoris,
Se quoque morte petit; quamquam tunc sanior esset,
Cum scelus ulcisci præcurreret, ipsaque diræ
Guttura vocis iter, cuncti quæ vendere mundi
Ausa redemptorem, nodatis faucibus angens 130
Infelicem animam laqueo suspendit ab alto.
Lenior ira quidem tantæ pro crimine culpæ,
Cunctorum cui nulla foret par pœna malorum.

Where is there no fear? Or what confession shines in the foul inferno,
when already the axe, sunk to the roots of the unspeakable tree,
which begot a baneful fruit, might utterly turn its funereal shoots
from the base, and the evil timbers perish in deserved flames? 125
And straightway, seized in mind by savage furor,
he also seeks himself by death; although he would then have been saner,
had he forestalled to avenge the crime, and, the very throat,
the path of the dire voice—which dared to sell the Redeemer of the whole world—
compressing with knotted jaws, he hung his unhappy soul by a noose from on high. 130
A milder wrath indeed for the crime of so great a guilt,
for whom no punishment of all evils would be equal.

Exitus hic mortis tamen, et sublime cadaver
Ostendit populis, quanto de culmine lapsus 135

Yet this outcome of death, and the lofty corpse
Showed to the peoples from what pinnacle he had fallen 135

Pridem discipulus, qui nunc reus, alta relinquens
Sidera, tartareum descendit ad usque profundum;
Tunc vir apostolicus, nunc vilis apostata factus.
At Dominus patiens cum præsidis ante tribunal
Staret, ut ad iugulum ductus mitissimus agnus,               140
Nil inimica cohors insontis sanguine dignum
Repperiens, regem quod se rex dixerat esse,
Obiicit, et verum mendax pro crimine ducit.
Nec mirum, si iura Dei gens perfida vitet,
Imperiumque neget, lucos quæ semper amavit,               145
Idola dilexit; simili nam more furentes,
Tunc coluere Baal, nunc elegere Barabbam,
Damnatoque pio, conservatoque protervo,
Mutavit per utrumque viam sententia iustam.
Auctor mortis erat, iussus qui sumere lucem;               150

Formerly a disciple, who now is a defendant, leaving the high stars
he descended down to the Tartarean depth to the very bottom;
then an apostolic man, now made a vile apostate.
But the patient Lord, when before the governor’s tribunal
he stood, like a most gentle lamb led to the throat,               140
the hostile cohort, finding nothing worthy of the blood of the innocent,
objects that he had said he was king,
and the liar takes truth as a crime.
Nor is it a marvel if the perfidious nation shuns the laws of God
and denies the imperium, which has always loved groves,               145
loved idols; for raging in a similar manner,
then they worshiped Baal, now they chose Barabbas,
and with the pious condemned and the insolent preserved,
through both the sentence changed its just course.
He was the author of death, who was ordered to take up the light;               150

Auctor lucis erat, iussus qui sumere mortem.
Credite iam Christum, pro cunctis credite passum.
Quid dubitatis adhuc?

He was the author of light, who was ordered to assume death.
Believe Christ now; believe that he suffered for all.
Why do you still doubt?

en sectus terga flagellis,
Subditus opprobriis, pœnas amplectitur omnes,
Ne dignus sentire necem vel latro periret. 155
Heu! falx torva patrum, segetem cæsura nepotum,
Heu! facinus, Pilate, tuum!

lo, his back cut by scourges,
subjected to opprobrium, he embraces all penalties,
lest even a robber worthy to feel death might perish. 155
Alas! the grim sickle of the fathers, about to cut down the crop of the grandsons,
Alas! your crime, Pilate!

quot gesseris uno
Crimina iudicio, vigili si mente notares,
Non solas lavisse manus, sed corpore toto
Debueras sacrum veniæ sperare lavacrum. 160
Corripis insontem, sistis sub præside regem,
Præponis humana Deo; qua morte teneris,
Qui Dominum numerosa cruci per vulnera figis?
Cumque datus sævis ad pœnam Sanctus abiret
Militibus, vilem rubri sub tegmine cocci 165

how many crimes you have committed in a single judgment, if with a vigilant mind you should note them,
you ought not to have washed your hands alone, but with your whole body
you ought to hope for the sacred laver of pardon. 160
You seize the innocent, you set the King under the presiding governor,
you prefer human things to God; by what death are you held fast,
you who affix the Lord to the cross through numerous wounds?
And when the Holy One, given over to savage soldiers for punishment, was going away
under the covering of red scarlet, a cheap cloak, 165

Vestitur chlamydem, species ut cuncta cruentæ
Mortis imago foret; spinis circumdedit amplum
Nexa corona caput, quoniam spineta benignus
Omnia nostrorum susceperat ille malorum;
Implet arundo manum, sceptrum quod mobile semper,               170
Invalidum, fragile est, vacuum, leve: moxque alienos
Deponens habitus, proprium suscepit amictum,
Scilicet humanæ positurus tegmina carnis,
Et sumpturus item, nil iam ut mutabile ferret,
Post mortem propria cum maiestate resurgens,               175
Humano ponens mortalem tegmine carnem.
Nec sine divino constat moderamine gestum,
Quod vinum cum felle datum, tristemque saporem
Suscipiens tetigit labiis, et ab ore removit.
Quippe necem parvo degustaturus amaram               180

He is clothed with a chlamys, so that the whole appearance might be an image of bloody
Death; they encircled the broad head with a crown woven of thorns,
since he, benign, had undertaken all the thorn-brakes of our evils;
a reed fills the hand, a scepter which is always mobile,
weak, fragile, empty, light: and soon, laying aside alien
garb, he took up his own vesture,
namely about to lay down the coverings of human flesh,
and to take them up likewise, so that he might bear nothing now mutable,
after death rising again with his own majesty, 170
laying down the mortal flesh, the human covering.
Nor did it come to pass without divine governance,
that, when wine with gall was given, and the gloomy flavor
receiving, he touched it to his lips and removed it from his mouth.
Indeed, being about to taste in small measure the bitter death 175

Tempore, quam reduci contemnere carne pararet.
Protinus in patuli suspensus culmine ligni,
Relligione pia mutans discriminis iram,
Pax crucis ipse fuit, violentaque robora membris
Illustrans propriis, pœnam vestivit honore,               185
Suppliciumque dedit signum magis esse salutis,
Ipsaque sanctificans in se tormenta beavit.
Neve quis ignoret, speciem crucis esse colendam,
Quæ Dominum portavit ovans, ratione potenti
Quattuor inde plagas quadrati colligit orbis.               190
Splendidus auctoris de vertice fulget Eous,
Occiduo sacræ lambuntur sidere plantæ,
Arcton dextra tenet, medium læva erigit axem,
Cunctaque de membris vivit natura creantis,
Et cruce complexum Christus regit undique mundum.               195

At the time when he was preparing, with flesh to be restored, to contemn it.
Straightway, suspended on the summit of the outspread wood,
by devout religion changing the wrath of the crisis,
he himself was the peace of the cross, and the violent timbers with his own limbs
illumining, he clothed the penalty with honor,               185
and he made the punishment to be rather a sign of salvation,
and, sanctifying in himself the torments themselves, he blessed them.
And lest anyone be ignorant that the form of the cross is to be venerated,
which bore the Lord rejoicing, with potent reason
thence gathers the four regions of the quadrate world.               190
Splendid, the East shines from the crown of the Author,
by the setting star the sacred feet are lapped,
the right hand holds the Bear, the left uplifts the middle axis,
and all nature lives from the limbs of the Creator,
and Christ by the cross rules the world embraced on every side.               195

Scribitur et titulus, Hic est rex Iudæorum,
Quo nihil a deitate vacet: nam cœlitus actum
Hoc Hebræa refert, hoc Græca, Latinaque lingua.
Hoc docet una fides, unum ter dicere regem.
Huius in exuviis sors mittitur, ut sacra vestis. 200
Intemerata manens, a Christo schisma vetaret.

And the title too is written, This is the king of the Jews,
by which nothing may be vacant from deity: for it was wrought from heaven.
This the Hebrew tongue relates, this the Greek, and the Latin tongue.
This one faith teaches, to say “one king” thrice.
For his garments the lot is cast, that the sacred garment, 200
remaining undefiled, might forbid schism from Christ.

Quin etiam insontis latere ex utroque cruentos
Constituere viros, meritum licet omnibus unum
Non faciat similis quamvis sententia; namque
Inter carnifices sancto pendente latrones, 205
Par est pœna trium, sed dispar causa duorum.
Hi mundo sunt quippe rei pro crimine multo;
Huic reus est mundus, salvatus sanguine iusto.
Suppliciisque tamen rerum dominator in ipsis
Iura potestatis non perdidit: æquus utrumque 210

Indeed, they even placed blood-stained men on either side of the innocent
they set men, though the desert for all is not one and the same,
the sentence, although like, does not make them similar; for
with the holy one hanging among executioners, the robbers, 205
the punishment of the three is equal, but the cause of the two is different.
These, to be sure, are defendants to the world for much crime;
to this one the world is defendant, saved by just blood.
And yet, even in the punishments themselves, the ruler of things
did not lose the rights of power: equitable toward both 210

Iudex namque tuens, hunc eligit, hunc reprobavit,
Amborum merita præcelso examine pensans.
Unus enim, quem vita ferox nec morte reliquit,
In Dominum scelerata movens convicia, dictis
Mordebat propriis, et tamquam setiger hircus               215
Ore venenoso vitem lacerabat amœnam:
Alter, adorato per verba precantia Christo,
Saucia deiectus flectebat lumina, tantum
Lumina, nam geminas arcebant vincula palmas.
Quem Dominus, ceu pastor ovem deserta per arva,               220
Colligit errantem, secumque adducere gaudet
In campos, paradise, tuos, ubi flore perenni
Gramineus blanditur ager, nemorumque voluptas,
Irriguis nutritur aquis, interque benigne
Conspicuos pomis non deficientibus hortos               225

For the Judge, indeed, looking on, chose this one, reprobated that one,
weighing the merits of both with a most exalted examination.
For the one, whom a savage life did not leave even in death,
moving wicked invectives against the Lord, with his own words
he was biting, and, like a bristle-bearing he-goat,               215
with a venomous mouth he was lacerating the pleasant vine:
the other, with Christ adored through prayerful words,
wounded and cast down, was bending his eyes, only
the eyes, for bonds were holding back the twin palms.
Whom the Lord, as a shepherd a sheep through deserted fields,               220
gathers when astray, and rejoices to bring with himself
into your fields, O Paradise, where with perennial flower
the grassy field cajoles, and the delight of the groves
is nourished by irrigating waters, and among kindly
conspicuous gardens with unfailing fruits               225

Ingemit antiquum serpens habitare colonum.
Ambo igitur varium diverso calle latrones
Agressi facinus violentum grande patrarunt.
Infernas adit ille fores, adit iste supernas;
Ille profunda sequens penetravit claustra gehennæ, 230
Abstulit iste suis cœlorum regna rapinis.

The ancient serpent groans that a husbandman inhabits.
Both, then, the robbers, by a different path, having undertaken a varied exploit,
perpetrated a great violent deed.
That one approaches the infernal doors, this one the supernal;
That one, following the deep, penetrated the bars of Gehenna, 230
This one, by his own rapines, carried off the realms of the heavens.

Interea horrendæ subito venere tenebræ,
Et totum tenuere polum, mœstisque nigrantem
Exsequiis texere diem; sol nube coruscos
Abscondens radios, tetro velatus amictu, 235
Delituit, tristemque infecit luctibus orbem.
Hunc elementa sibi meruerunt cernere vultum,
Auxiliis orbata patris, lætata per ortum,
Mœsta per occasum. Nam lux ut tempore fulsit
Nascentis Domini, sic, hoc moriente, recessit, 240

Meanwhile horrendous darkness suddenly came,
and they held the whole pole, and, blackening with mournful
exequies, they covered the day; the sun, in a cloud hiding his coruscant
rays, veiled with a grim cloak, 235
hid himself, and stained the sad orb with griefs.
This visage the elements merited to behold for themselves,
bereft of the Father’s aids, rejoicing at the rising,
mournful at the setting. For the light, as at the time it shone
at the Lord’s birth, so, with this one dying, it withdrew, 240

Non absens mansura diu, sed mystica signans
Per spatium secreta suum; quippe ut tribus horis
Cæca tenebrosi latuerunt sidera cœli,
Sic Dominus clausi triduo tulit antra sepulcri.
Nec tellus sine clade fuit, quæ talia cernens 245
Funditus intremuit, dubioque in fine supremum
Expavit natura modum, ne cogeret omnem
Summus apex inferna petens succumbere molem,
Auctoremque sequens per tartara mundus abiret.
Sed pietas immensa vagas properabat ad umbras, 250
Perdita restituens, non consistentia perdens.

Not absent to remain long, but marking its mystic secret
for a span; for indeed as for three hours the blind stars of the darkling heaven lay hidden,
so the Lord for three days bore the caverns of the closed sepulcher.
Nor was the earth without disaster, which, beholding such things, 245
trembled to its foundation, and at the doubtful end nature dreaded the utmost limit, lest the highest apex,
seeking the infernal regions, should compel the whole mass to succumb,
and the world, following its Author, should depart through Tartarus.
But boundless piety was hastening to the wandering shades, 250
restoring the lost, not destroying what persists.

Nulla tamen tanti metuerunt signa pericli,
Qui Dominum fixere cruci, quin insuper haustum
Cum peteret sitiens, unus de plebe nefanda
Peniculo infusum calamo porrexit acetum. 255

Yet no signs of so great a peril did those fear who fixed the Lord to the cross,—nay, moreover, when, thirsting, he sought a draught, one from the nefarious rabble proffered vinegar, soaked in a sponge, on a reed. 255

Mamzeribus populis in deteriora volutis
Conveniens liquor ille fuit: nam dulcia vina
Sicut in horrendum dum convertuntur acetum,
A mensis proiecta iacent: ita tempore prisco
Gens accepta Deo, nunc est odiosa propago.               260
Ergo ubi cuncta boni completa est passio Christi,
Ipse animam proprio dimisit corpore sanctam,
Ipse iterum sumpturus eam, quia mortuus idem,
Idem vivus erat, membris obeuntibus in se,
Non obeunte Deo, cuius virtute retrorsum               265
Infernæ patuere viæ, ruptæque fatiscunt
Divisa compage petræ, rediviva iacentum
Corpora sanctorum fractis abiere sepulcris,
In cineres animata suos; subitoque fragore
Illud ovans templum, maioris culmina templi               270

For the mamzer peoples, rolled into worse things,
that liquor was fitting: for as sweet wines
when they are converted into horrendous vinegar
lie cast forth from tables: so in the ancient time
the race accepted by God is now a hateful progeny.               260
Therefore when the whole Passion of the good Christ was fulfilled,
he himself dismissed his holy soul from his own body,
he himself about to take it again, since the same who was dead,
the same was alive, with the members going to their end in him,
not God going to death, by whose virtue backward               265
the infernal ways lay open, and the rock, its structure divided,
cracks and gapes; the bodies of the saints who lay, revived,
went forth from their broken sepulchers,
animated into their own ashes; and with a sudden crash
that rejoicing temple—the pinnacles of the greater temple—               270

Procubuisse videns, ritu plangentis alumni,
Saucia discisso nudavit pectora velo,
Interiora sui populis arcana futuris
Iam reseranda docens, quia lex velamine Moysi
Tecta diu, Christo nobis veniente, patescit.               275
Dic, ubi nunc, tristis, victoria, dic, ubi nunc sit,
Mors, stimulus, horrenda, tuus? quæ semper opimis
Insaturata malis, cunctas invadere gentes
Pœnali ditione soles; en pessima, non tu
Pervenis ad Christum, sed Christus pervenit ad te,               280
Cui licuit sine morte mori, quique omnia gignens,
Omnia constituens, te non formavit; ut esses,
Semine vipereo, culpa genitrice crearis,
Et, venia regnante, peris. Iam spiritus artus
Liquerat ad tempus, patulo iam frigida ligno               285

Seeing him lie prostrate, in the rite of one lamenting her foster-child,
wounded, she bared her breasts with the veil torn asunder,
teaching that her inner arcana were now to be unbarred for future peoples,
since the Law, long covered by the veil of Moses,
is laid open to us with Christ coming.                275
Say, where now, sad one, is thy victory, say, where now is it,
Death—horrendous—where is thy stimulus? thou who, ever unsated
with rich evils, art wont to invade all nations
with penal dominion; behold, most evil one, not thou
dost reach Christ, but Christ has reached unto thee—               280
to whom it was permitted to die without Death; and he who, generating all things,
establishing all things, did not form thee, that thou mightest be—
by viperous seed, with guilt as mother, thou art begotten,
and, with pardon reigning, thou perishest. Already the spirit
had left the limbs for a time, now cold upon the gaping wood.               285

Viscera pendebant, et adhuc furor, arma ministrans,
Cuspide perfossum violat latus: eque patenti
Vulnere purpureus cruor, et simul unda cucurrit.
Hæc sunt quippe sacræ pro relligionis honore,
Corpus, sanguis, aqua, tria vitæ munera nostræ.               290
Fonte renascentes, membris, et sanguine Christi
Vescimur, atque ideo templum deitatis habemur:
Quod servare Deus nos annuat immaculatum,
Et faciat tenues tanto mansore capaces.
Ergo ubi depositi thesaurum corporis amplum               295
Nobilis accepit Domino locus ille iacente,
Nobilior surgente tamen, generatio fallax
Augebat sub corde nefas, quod nocte silenti
Discipuli Christum raperent, et abisse referrent,
Ter redeunte die, sicut prædixerat ipse.               300

The viscera were hanging, and still frenzy, supplying arms,
violates the side, pierced through by a spear-point: and from the gaping
wound crimson gore, and at the same time a wave, ran.
These are indeed sacred for the honor of religion:
the Body, the Blood, the Water, three gifts of our life.               290
Being reborn from the font, on the members and the blood of Christ
we feed, and therefore we are held a temple of Deity:
may God grant us to preserve this immaculate,
and make the lowly capable of so great an In-dweller.
Therefore when the ample treasure of the deposited body               295
was received by that place, noble, with the Lord lying,
yet nobler with him rising, the deceitful generation
was increasing in its heart a crime, that in the silent night
the disciples would snatch Christ away, and report that he had departed,
when the day had returned thrice, just as he himself had foretold.               300

Quo stimulante metu, vigilum munimina poscunt
Plura dari, sævaque locum obsidione teneri.
Si nondum post vincla crucis, post vulnera ferri,
Post obitum mortis, numerosa cæde cruentum,
Carnifices, implestis opus, nec creditis illum, 305
Qui toties imis animas produxit ab umbris,
Posse suam revocare magis, peioribus aptos
Consiliis armate dolos, signate sepulcrum,
Ponite custodes, monumento advolvite saxum.
Quis poterit servare Deum, cui cardine rerum 310
Cuncta patent?

With that fear goading them, they demand that more muniments of the watch be provided,
and that the place be held in savage siege.
If, not even after the bonds of the cross, after the wounds of iron,
after death, bloodied with manifold slaughter,
executioners, you have fulfilled the task, and yet you do not believe him, 305
who so often brought forth souls from the deepest shades,
to be able the more to call back his own—fit for worse counsels—
arm yourselves with wiles; seal the sepulcher,
set guards; roll a stone to the monument.
Who will be able to keep guard over God, to whom, at the hinge of things, 310
all things lie open?

undis habitat, per tartara regnat,
Et cœli de nube tonat. Quid, sæve tumultus,
Excubiis deperdis opus? quid niteris illam
Explorare fidem, cui non vis credulus esse?

he inhabits the waves, he reigns through Tartarus,
and from a cloud of heaven he thunders. Why, savage tumult,
do you squander labor on watches? why do you strive to explore
that faith to which you do not wish to be credulous?

Cœperat interea post tristia sabbata felix 315

Meanwhile, after the sad Sabbaths, the happy 315

Irradiare dies, culmen qui nominis alti
A Domino dominante trahit, primusque videre
Promeruit nasci mundum, atque resurgere Christum.
Septima nam Genesis cum dicit sabbata, claret,
Hunc orbis caput esse diem, quem gloria regis,               320
Nunc etiam proprii donans fulgore tropæi,
Primatum retinere dedit; hoc luminis ortu
Virgo parens, aliæque simul cum munere matres
Messis aromaticæ, notum venere gementes
Ad tumulum, vacuumque vident iam corpore factum,               325
Sed plenum virtute locum. Nam missus ab astris
Angelus amoti residebat vertice saxi,
Flammeus aspectu, niveo præclarus amictu.
Qui gemina specie terrorem, et gaudia portans,
Cunctaque dispensans, custodibus igne minacem               330

Irradiate began the day, which draws the summit of a lofty name from the Dominant Lord, and first deserved to see the world be born, and Christ to rise again.
For when Genesis calls the sabbaths the seventh, it is clear
that this is the head-day of the world, which the glory of the King,               320
now also, gifting with the splendor of his own trophy,
has given to retain the primacy; at this rising of the light
the Virgin mother, and other mothers likewise with the offering
of an aromatic harvest, came lamenting to the well-known
tomb, and they see it now made empty of the body,               325
but the place full of virtue. For sent from the stars
an Angel was sitting on the summit of the removed stone,
fiery in aspect, illustrious in snowy attire.
Who, bearing in double guise both terror and joys,
and dispensing all things, to the guards menacing with fire               330

Venerat in formam, Christum quærentibus albam.
Illæ igitur Dominum calcata vivere morte
Angelica didicere fide; perterritus autem
Miles in ancipiti retinet discrimine vitam,
Deserta statione fugax, testisque timoris 335
Vera refert gratis; postquam data munera, fallit
Discipulumque globum placidi sub tempore sumni
Clam sibi nocturna Christum abstraxisse rapina
Compositus simulator ait. Fare, improbe custos,
Responde, scelerata cohors, si Christus, ut audes 340
Dicere, concluso furtim productus ab antro,
Sopitos latuit, cuius iacet intus amictus,
Cuius ad exuvias sedet Angelus?

He had come in a form, white for those seeking Christ.
Therefore they learned by angelic faith that the Lord lives, death trampled underfoot;
but the soldier, thoroughly terrified, holds his life in precarious peril,
his post deserted, in flight, and a witness of fear 335
he reports truths for free; after gifts were given, he deceives,
and says that the band of disciples, under the time of placid sleep,
had secretly snatched Christ away from him by a nocturnal theft,
says the contrived dissembler. Speak, shameless guard,
Answer, wicked cohort, if Christ, as you dare 340
to say, was stealthily brought out from a closed cavern,
did he elude those asleep—he whose garment lies within,
at whose cast-off wrappings the Angel sits?

anne beati
Corporis ablator velocius esse putavit
Solvere contectum, quam devectare ligatum? 345

or did the remover of the blessed Body think it swifter
to unloose what was wrapped, than to carry off what was bound? 345

Cum mora sit furtis contraria, cautius ergo
Cum Domino potuere magis sua lintea tolli.
Mentita est vox vana sibi; tamen ista figuram
Res habet egregiam: Iudæis constat ademptum,
Quem nos devoto portamus pectore Christum. 350
Plange sacerdotes perituros, plange ministros,
Et populum, Iudæa, tuum pro talibus ausis.
Non tuba, non Unctus, non iam tua victima grata est.

Since delay is contrary to thefts, therefore more cautiously their linen cloths could have been carried off along with the Lord.
The vain voice lied to itself; nevertheless this matter has an excellent figure:
it is established that from the Jews has been taken away
the Christ whom we carry in a devout breast. 350
Lament the priests about to perish, lament the ministers,
and your people, Judaea, for such daring deeds.
Not the trumpet, not the Anointed, not now is your victim pleasing.

Quænam bella tibi clanget tuba, rege perempto?
Quis tuus Unctus erit, quæ verum amiseris Unctum? 355
Victima quæ dabitur, cum victima pastor habetur?
Discedat synagoga, suo fuscata colore,
Ecclesiam Christus pulchro sibi iunxit amore,
Hæc est conspicuo radians in honore Mariæ:
Quæ cum clarifico semper sit nomine mater, 360

What wars will the trumpet blare for you, the king having been slain?
Who will be your Anointed, you who have lost the true Anointed? 355
What victim will be given, when the shepherd is held as a victim?
Let the synagogue depart, darkened by its own color,
Christ has joined the Church to himself with fair love,
she is the one shining in the conspicuous honor of Mary:
who, being mother, is always with a glorifying name, 360

Semper virgo manet; huius se visibus astans
Luce palam Dominus prius obtulit, ut bona mater,
Grandia divulgans miracula, quæ fuit olim
Advenientis iter, hæc sit redeuntis et index.
Mox aliis conviva potens in fragmine panis               365
Agnitus enituit, qui verus panis apertis
Semper adest oculis, fidei quos gratia claros
Efficit, ut Dominum viventem cernere possint.
Sæpe dehinc proprios diversi temporis horis
Discipulos manifestus adit, vescentibus illis,               370
Extemplo nunc ora ferens, nunc piscis obusti,
Atque favi mandens epulas, quo rite doceret,
Corporeas res esse dapes, seseque videri
In membris, quibus ante fuit. Formidine rursus
Plebis apostaticæ, Dominum quæ cæca negasset,               375

She remains ever virgin; to her sight, standing by, the Lord first openly offered himself in the light, as a good mother, publishing grand miracles—she who once was the path of the Coming One, let this one be also the index of the Returning. Soon thereafter, to others as a powerful dinner‑guest in the fragment of bread he was recognized and shone forth, he who, the true bread, is always present to opened eyes, which the grace of faith makes bright, so that they may be able to discern the living Lord. Often thereafter, at hours of different times, he openly approaches his own disciples, while they are eating, 370
at once now proffering his mouth, now a piece of roasted fish, and chewing the banquet of honeycomb, whereby he might duly teach that the viands are corporeal things, and that he is seen in the members in which he had been before. For fear again of the apostate people, which blind had denied the Lord, 375

Cum foribus clausis resideret turba fidelis,
Pace salutantis sese intulit, atque foratas
Expediens palmas, nudat latus: ast ibi Thomas,
Cui Didymus cognomen erat, cum fratribus una
Non fuerat, dubiamque fidem sub corde gerebat.               380
Donec rursus, eo pariter residente, veniret,
Qui numquam subtractus erat. Tunc limine clauso
Constitit in medio, non dedignatus apertum
Discipulo monstrare latus, tactuque probari
Vulneris, et mentem patienter ferre labantis.               385
Agnitus hinc potius, quod sit dubitantis amicus.
Quisquis enim artifices cæca sub imagine fraudes
Instruit, et vanas cupit exercere figuras,
Non vult agnosci, non vult, sua facta requiri,
Ut lateant sub nube doli, nebulaque recludens               390

When, with the doors shut, the faithful crowd was sitting,
he entered himself with the peace of one greeting, and, unfurling
his pierced palms, he bares his side: but there Thomas,
whose cognomen was Didymus, had not been together
with the brethren, and was carrying a doubtful faith beneath his heart.               380
Until again, while he likewise was sitting there, there came
he who had never been withdrawn. Then, the threshold closed,
he stood in the midst, not disdaining to show the open
side to the disciple, and to be proved by the touch
of the wound, and patiently to bear the mind of the one wavering.               385
Hence rather recognized, as being a friend of the doubter.
For whoever sets up artful frauds under a blind guise
and desires to exercise empty figures,
does not wish to be recognized, does not wish his deeds to be inquired into,
so that deceits may lie hidden under a cloud, and, with a fog concealing,               390

Omnia, sollicitos odit simulator amicos.
Gnarus item Dominus, Petro piscante per æquor
Cum sociis, captum esse nihil, dimittere lina
In dextras hortatur aquas, mox gurgite clauso
Pendula fluctivagam traxerunt retia prædam, 395
Per typicam noscenda viam: nam retia dignis
Lucida sunt præcepta Dei, quibus omnis in illa
Dextra parte manens concluditur, ac simul ulnis
Fertur apostolicis Domini ad vestigia Christi.
Nec piscis, prunæque vacant, et panis, in uno 400
Discipulis inventa loco; quisnam ambigat, unam
Hic rebus constare fidem, quippe est aqua piscis,
Christus adest panis, sanctusque Spiritus ignis.

In all things, the simulator hates solicitous friends.
Knowing likewise, the Lord—while Peter was fishing over the expanse
with his companions, that nothing had been taken—exhorts to let down the lines
into the right-hand waters; soon, with the whirlpool closed,
the hanging nets dragged the wave-wandering prey, 395
to be known by a typical path: for the nets are the lucid
precepts of God, by which everyone remaining on that
right side is enclosed, and at the same time is borne in apostolic arms
to the footsteps of the Lord Christ.
Nor are fish and coals and bread wanting, in one place found
for the disciples; who would doubt that by these things one faith stands firm?—for the fish is water, 400
Christ is present as bread, and the Holy Spirit is fire.

Hinc etenim abluimur, hoc pascimur, inde sacramur.
Tunc epulis præceptor eos invitat odendis, 405

Hence indeed we are abluted, by this we are fed, from there we are consecrated.
Then to feasts the preceptor invites them for eating, 405

Alloquiis de more piis, mensamque petentes
Unanimes nota Domini bonitate fruuntur,
Et Christum sensere suum, modicoque paratu
Postquam victa fames, et surrexere relictis
Rite toris, an corde Petrus se diligat alto,               410
Explorat Dominus: Petrus annuit: ergo nitentes
Pastor amans augere greges, operario in omni
Parte bono commendat oves, commendat et agnos.
Hoc terno sermone monens, ut terna negantis
Culpa recens parili numero purgata maneret.               415
Inde sequenda docens, Pacem omnes, inquit, habete,
Pacem ferte meam, pacem portate quietam,
Pacem per populos monitis dispergite sanctis,
Et mundum vacuate malis: gentesque vocari
Finibus e cunctis, latus qua tenditur orbis,               420

With pious colloquies according to custom, and seeking the table,
unanimous they enjoy the known goodness of the Lord,
and they sensed their own Christ; and, with modest preparation,
after hunger was conquered, and they rose, the couches duly left,
whether Peter loves him with a deep heart, the Lord tests;               410
Peter assents: therefore, striving to augment the flocks,
the loving Pastor commends the sheep, and commends also the lambs,
to a workman good in every part.
Warning with this triple discourse, so that the triple guilt
of the denier, fresh, might remain purged by an equal number.               415
Then teaching what is to be followed: Have peace, he says, all;
bear my peace, carry quiet peace;
disperse peace through the peoples by holy monitions;
and vacuate the world of evils: and that the nations be called
from all the borders, where the side of the orb is stretched wide,               420

Iussis mando meis, omnesque in fonte lavari.
Hæc ubi dicta pio Dominus sermone peregit,
Bethaniæ mox arva petit: coramque beatis
Qui tantum meruere viris spectare triumphum,
&Aelig;thereas evectus abit sublimis in auras.               425
Ad dextram sedet ipse Patris totumque gubernat
Iure suo, qui cuncta tenens excelsa, vel ima,
Tartara post cœlum penetrat, post tartara cœlum.
Illi autem lætis cernentes vultibus, altas
Ire super nubes Dominum, tractusque coruscos               430
Vestigiis calcare suis, veneranter adorant,
Sidereasque vias alacri sub corde reportant,
Quas cunctos doceant: testes nam iure fideles
Divinæ virtutis erant, qui plura videntes,
Innumerabilium scripserunt pauca bonorum.               435

By my orders I command that all be washed in the font.
When the Lord had accomplished these things spoken in a pious discourse,
he straightway seeks the fields of Bethany; and before the blessed
men who had merited to behold so great a triumph,
borne aloft he departs, sublime, into the Ætherial airs.               425
He himself sits at the right hand of the Father and governs the whole
by his own right, who, holding all things, the high as well as the low,
penetrates Tartarus after heaven, after Tartarus heaven.
But they, perceiving with joyful faces the Lord
to go above the high clouds, and to tread with his own footsteps the gleaming tracts,               430
reverently adore,
and carry back within their eager hearts the sidereal ways,
to teach them to all; for by right they were faithful witnesses
of divine virtue, who, seeing more,
wrote a few things of innumerable goods.               435

Nam si cuncta sacris voluissent tradere chartis
Facta redemptoris, nec totus cingere mundus
Sufficeret densos per tanta volumina libros.

For if they had wished to consign to sacred pages all the deeds of the Redeemer,
not even the whole world would suffice to encompass
the dense books through so many volumes.