{"prudentius-cathemerinon/0.1":{"o":"Per quinquennia iani decem,\nNi fallor, fuimus: septimus insuper\nAnnum cardo rotat, dum fruimur sole volubili.\nInstat terminus, et diem\nVicinum senio iam Deus adplicat.\nQuid nos utile tanti spatio temporis egimus?\nAetas prima crepantibus\nFlevit sub ferulis. Mox docuit toga\nInfectum vitiis falsa loqui, non sine crimine :\nTum lasciva protervitas,\nAc luxus petulans (heu pudet, ac piget!)\nFoedavit iuvenem nequitiae sordibus ac luto.\nExin iurgia turbidos\nArmarunt animos, et male pertinax\nVincendi studium subiacuit casibus asperis.\nBis legum moderamine\nFrenos nobilium reximus urbium;\nIus civile bonis reddidimus, terruimus reos.\nTandem militiae gradu\nEvectum pietas Principis extulit,\nAdsumptum propius stare iubens ordine proximo.\nHaec dum vita volans agit,\nInrepsit subito canicies seni,\nOblitum veteris me Saliae consulis arguens:\nSub quo prima dies mihi,\nQuam multas hiemes volverit, et rosas\nPratis post glaciem reddiderit, nix capitis probat.\nNumquid talia proderunt\nCarnis post obitum vel bona, vel mala ,\nQuum iam, quidquid id est, quod fueram, mors abolerit?\nDicendum mihi, quisquis es,\nMundum quem coluit, mens tua perdidit.\nNon sunt illa Dei, quae studuit, cuius habeberis.\nAtqui fine sub ultimo\nPeccatrix anima stultitiam exuat:\nSaltem voce Deum concelebret, si meritis nequit:\nHymnis continuet dies,\nNec nox ulla vacet, quin Dominum canat ;\nPugnet contra hereses, catholicam discutiat fidem,\nConculcet sacra gentium,\nLabem, Roma, tuis inferat idolis,\nCarmen Martyribus devoveat, laudet Apostolos.\nHaec dum scribo vel eloquor,\nVinclis o utinam corporis emicem\nLiber, quo tulerit lingua sono mobilis ultimo!","t":"For ten periods of five years,\nif I am not mistaken, I have lived; and the hinge of time\nis turning a seventh year besides, while I enjoy the circling sun.\nThe end is near, and already God\nbrings close the day that borders on old age.\nWhat useful thing have I done in so long a space of time?\nMy early years wept\nunder the cracking cane. Soon the toga taught me,\nstained with vices, to speak falsehoods, not without guilt.\nThen wanton impudence\nand unruly self-indulgence (alas, I am ashamed and sorry!)\ndefiled the young man with the filth and mud of wickedness.\nAfter that, quarrels armed\na troubled mind, and a perversely stubborn\ndesire to win exposed me to harsh mishaps.\nTwice, by the governing power of the laws,\nI held the reins of noble cities;\nI gave civil justice to the good and struck fear into the guilty.\nAt last the emperor’s kindness\nraised me, promoted in rank of service,\ntaking me closer and bidding me stand in the next rank to him.\nWhile life sped on in this way,\nwhite hair crept suddenly on the old man,\nconvicting me of having forgotten the old consul Salia,\nunder whom my first day dawned;\nhow many winters it has rolled by since, and how often it has given roses\nback to the meadows after the ice, the snow on my head proves.\nWill such things, good or bad,\nprofit me after the death of the flesh,\nwhen death has abolished whatever it was that I had been?\nThis must be said to me: “Whoever you are,\nyour mind has lost the world it cherished.\nThe things it pursued are not God’s, whose you will be.”\nYet, near the very end,\nlet my sinful soul put off its folly;\nlet it at least celebrate God with its voice, if it cannot with merits;\nlet it link day to day with hymns,\nand let no night be idle of singing the Lord;\nlet it fight against heresies, set out the catholic faith,\ntrample on the rites of the pagans,\nbring ruin, Rome, on your idols,\ndedicate a song to the martyrs, praise the apostles.\nWhile I write or speak these things,\noh, that I might spring free from the bonds of the body\nto wherever my nimble tongue has carried me with its last sound!","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 0.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–46; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/0-1)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/1.1":{"o":"Ales, diei nuntius,\nLucem propinquam praecinit ;\nNos excitator mentium\nIam Christus ad vitam vocat.\nAuferte, clamat, lectulos\nAegros, soporos, desides;\nCastique, recti, ac sobrii\nVigilate: iam sum proximus.\nPost solis ortum fulgidi\nSerum est cubile spernere ,\nNi parte noctis addita,\nTempus labori adieceris.\nVox ista, qua strepunt aves,\nStantes sub ipso culmine,\nPaullo ante quam lux emicet,\nNostri figura est iudicis.\nTectos tenebris horridis,\nStratisque opertos segnibus,\nSuadet quietem linquere\nIamiamque venturo die ;\nUt, quum coruscis flatibus\nAurora caelum sparserit,\nOmnes labore exercitos\nConfirmet ad spem luminis.\nHic somnus, ad tempus datus,\nEst forma mortis perpetis :\nPeccata, ceu nox horrida,\nCogunt iacere ac stertere.\nSed vox ab alto culmine\nChristi docentis praemonet,\nAdesse iam lucem prope,\nNe mens sopori serviat ;","t":"The bird, messenger of day,\nsings in advance of the approaching light;\nnow Christ, who rouses minds,\ncalls us to life.\n“Take away,” he cries, “your beds,\nsickly, drowsy, slothful;\nand, chaste, upright and sober,\nkeep watch: now I am very near.”\nAfter the bright sun has risen\nit is late to spurn one’s couch,\nunless, by adding part of the night,\nyou have added time to your labor.\nThat voice with which the birds clamor,\nperched beneath the very roof-top\na little before the light flashes out,\nis a figure of our Judge.\nUs, covered by bristling darkness\nand buried under sluggish bedclothes,\nhe urges to leave our rest,\nsince the day is coming now, even now;\nso that, when with flashing breezes\nthe dawn has sprinkled the sky,\nhe may strengthen all who are worn with labor\nto hope for the light.\nThis sleep, given for a time,\nis an image of everlasting death;\nsins, like bristling night,\nforce us to lie down and snore.\nBut the voice of Christ, teaching\nfrom the high roof-top, warns beforehand\nthat the light is now near at hand,\nso that the mind may not be a slave to sleep;","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 1.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/1-1)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/1.33":{"o":"Ne somnus usque ad terminos\nVitae socordis opprimat\nPectus sepultum crimine,\nEt lucis oblitum suae.\nFerunt, vagantes daemonas\nLaetos tenebris noctium,\nGallo canente exterritos\nSparsim timere et cedere.\nInvisa nam vicinitas\nLucis, salutis, numinis,\nRupto tenebrarum situ,\nNoctis fugat satellites.\nHoc esse signum praescii\nNorunt repromissae spei ,\nQua nos, soporis liberi,\nSperamus adventum Dei.\nQuae vis sit huius alitis\nSalvator ostendit Petro,\nTer ante quam gallus canat,\nSese negandum praedicans.\nFit namque peccatum prius,\nQuam praeco lucis proximae\nInlustret humanum genus,\nFinemque peccandi ferat.\nFlevit negator denique\nEx ore prolapsum nefas ,\nQuum mens maneret innocens,\nAnimusque servaret fidem.\nNec tale quidquam postea\nLinguae locutus lubrico est;\nCantuque galli cognito,\nPeccare iustus destitit.","t":"so that sleep may not, right up to the end\nof a slothful life, overwhelm\na heart buried in guilt\nand forgetful of its own light.\nThey say that the roaming demons,\nwho rejoice in the darkness of night,\nare terrified when the cock crows\nand scatter in fear and withdraw.\nFor the hated nearness\nof light, of salvation, of the divine power,\nbreaking up the mouldering darkness,\nputs to flight the attendants of night.\nThose who foresee know this to be the sign\nof the hope that has been promised,\nin which we, set free from sleep,\nhope for the coming of God.\nWhat the force of this bird is\nthe Savior showed to Peter,\nforetelling that before the cock crowed\nhe would deny him three times.\nFor the sin is committed first,\nbefore the herald of the approaching light\nshines on the human race\nand brings an end to sinning.\nThen at last the denier wept\nfor the wrong that had slipped from his mouth,\nthough his mind remained innocent\nand his heart kept its faith.\nNor did he ever afterwards say anything like it\nwith a slippery tongue;\nand when he recognized the cock’s crowing,\nthe righteous man ceased to sin.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 1.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/1-33)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/1.65":{"o":"Inde est, quod omnes credimus,\nIllo quietis tempore,\nQuo gallus exsultans canit,\nChristum redisse ex inferis.\nTunc mortis oppressus vigor,\nTunc lex subacta est Tartari,\nTunc vis diei fortior\nNoctem coegit cedere.\nIam iam quiescant improba,\nIam culpa furva obdormiat,\nIam noxa letalis suum\nPerpessa somnum marceat.\nVigil vicissim spiritus\nQuodcumque restat temporis,\nDum meta noctis clauditur,\nStans ac laborans excubet.\nIesum ciamus vocibus,\nFlentes, precantes, sobrii:\nIntenta supplicatio\nDormire cor mundum vetat.\nSat convolutis artubus,\nSensum profunda oblivio\nPressit, gravavit, obruit\nVanis vagantem somniis.\nSunt nempe falsa et frivola,\nQuae mundiali gloria,\nCeu dormientes, egimus :\nVigilemus ; hic est veritas.\nAurum, voluptas, gaudium,\nOpes, honores, prospera,\nQuaecumque nos inflant mala,\nFit mane, nil sunt omnia.\nTu, Christe, somnum disiice,\nTu rumpe noctis vincula :\nTu solve peccatum vetus,\nNovumque lumen ingere.","t":"That is why we all believe\nthat at that hour of rest\nwhen the cock crows exultantly\nChrist returned from the dead.\nThen the strength of death was crushed,\nthen the law of Tartarus was subdued,\nthen the stronger power of day\nforced night to give way.\nNow, now let wicked things be still,\nnow let dark guilt fall asleep,\nnow let deadly harm\nsuffer its own sleep and wither.\nLet the spirit in turn be wakeful\nfor whatever time remains,\nuntil the end of night is reached,\nand keep watch, standing and toiling.\nLet us call on Jesus with our voices,\nweeping, praying, sober;\nearnest supplication\nforbids a pure heart to sleep.\nLong enough has deep forgetfulness,\nwith our limbs rolled up,\npressed down, weighed down and overwhelmed our sense\nas it wandered in empty dreams.\nFor false and trivial are the things\nwe did for worldly glory,\nas if asleep:\nlet us wake; here is the truth.\nGold, pleasure, joy,\nwealth, honors, success,\nwhatever evils puff us up:\nmorning comes, and they are all nothing.\nYou, Christ, scatter sleep,\nyou break the chains of night;\nyou loosen the old sin,\nand pour in new light.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 1.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–101; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/1-65)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/10.1":{"o":"Deus, ignee fons animarum,\nDuo qui socians elementa,\nVivum simul ac moribundum\nHominem, Pater, effigiasti,\nTua sunt, tua, rector, utraque ;\nTibi copula iungitur horum :\nTibi dum vegetata cohaerent,\nEt spiritus et caro servit.\nRescissa sed ista seorsum\nSolvunt hominem perimuntque;\nHumus excipit arida corpus,\nAnimae rapit aura liquorem.\nQuia cuncta creata necesse est\nLabefacta senescere tandem,\nCompactaque dissociari,\nEt dissona texta retexi.\nHanc tu, Deus optime, mortem\nFamulis abolere paratus,\nIter inviolabile monstras,\nQua perdita membra resurgant ;\nUt, dum generosa caducis,\nCeu carcere clausa, ligantur,\nPars illa potentior extet,\nQuae germen ab aethere traxit.\nSi terrea forte voluntas\nLuteum sapit, et grave captat,\nAnimus quoque, pondere victus,\nSequitur sua membra deorsum.\nAt si, generis memor ignei,\nContagia pigra recuset ,\nVehit hospita viscera secum,\nPariterque reportat ad astra.","t":"God, fiery fountain of souls,\nwho, joining two elements,\nfashioned man, Father,\nat once living and mortal,\nboth are yours, yours, ruler;\nthe bond that joins them is joined for you:\nwhile, quickened, they cling together for you,\nboth spirit and flesh serve you.\nBut when these are torn apart,\nthey release man and destroy him;\nthe dry earth receives the body,\nthe breeze snatches away the clear substance of the soul.\nFor all created things must\nat last decay and grow old,\nthings compacted must be separated,\nand dissimilar things woven together be unwoven.\nThis death, best God,\nyou, ready to abolish it for your servants,\nshow an inviolable road\nby which the lost limbs may rise again;\nso that, while noble things are bound\nto perishable ones, as if shut in a prison,\nthat more powerful part may stand out\nwhich drew its seed from heaven.\nIf perhaps an earthly will\nsavors of clay and seeks what is heavy,\nthe soul too, overcome by the weight,\nfollows its limbs downward.\nBut if, mindful of its fiery race,\nit refuses sluggish contagions,\nit carries its guest, the flesh, with it\nand brings it back likewise to the stars.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 10.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/10-1)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/10.129":{"o":"Non immemor illa requiret\nPropriique aenigmata vultus.\nVeniant modo tempora iusta,\nQuum spem Deus impleat omnem,\nReddas patefacta necesse est,\nQualem tibi trado figuram.\nNon, si cariosa vetustas\nDissolverit ossa favillis,\nFueritque cinisculus arens\nMinimi mensura pugilli;\nVacuum per inane volantes,\nTulerint cum pulvere nervos,\nHominem periisse licebit.\nSed dum resolubile corpus\nRevocas, Deus, atque reformas,\nQuanam regione iubebis\nAnimam requiescere puram?\nGremio senis abdita sancti\nRecubabit, ut illa Lazari,\nQuem floribus undique septum\nSequimur tua dicta, Redemptor,\nQuibus, atra e morte triumphans,\nTua per vestigia mandas\nSocium crucis ire latronem.\nPatet, ecce, fidelibus ampli\nVia lucida iam paradisi;\nLicet et nemus illud adire,\nHomini quod ademerat anguis.\nIllic, precor, optime ductor,\nFamulam tibi praecipe mentem\nGenitali in sede sacrari,\nQuam liquerat exul et errans.\nNos tecta fovebimus ossa\nViolis et fronde frequenti;\nTitulumque et frigida saxa\nLiquido spargemus odore.","t":"Not unmindful, it will require\nthe riddles of its own face.\nOnly let the just times come,\nwhen God fulfils every hope:\nopened, you must give back\nsuch a form as I hand over to you.\nNo, even if decaying age\nhas dissolved the bones into ashes,\nand there is only a dry little cinder,\nthe measure of the smallest handful;\n[nor if winds and breezes,]\nflying through the empty void,\nhave carried off the sinews with the dust,\nwill it be possible for the man to have perished.\nBut while you recall and refashion,\nO God, the body that can be dissolved,\nin what region will you bid\nthe pure soul to rest?\nHidden in the bosom of the holy old man,\nit will recline, as does the soul of Lazarus,\nwhom, hedged on every side with flowers,\n[the rich man, burning, sees from afar.]\nWe follow your words, Redeemer,\nby which, triumphing over black death,\nyou bid the thief, companion of your cross,\nto go in your footsteps.\nSee, the bright road of the spacious paradise\nnow lies open to the faithful;\nand they may enter that grove\nwhich the serpent had taken from man.\nThere, I pray, best guide,\ncommand this soul, your servant,\nto be consecrated in its native seat,\nwhich it had left as an exile and wanderer.\nWe shall cherish the covered bones\nwith violets and many leaves;\nand the inscription and the cold stones\nwe shall sprinkle with liquid perfume.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 10.129 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 129–170; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/10-129)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/10.33":{"o":"Nam quod requiescere corpus\nVacuum sine mente videmus,\nSpatium breve restat, ut alti\nRepetat collegia sensus.\nVenient cito saecula, quum iam\nSocius calor ossa revisat,\nAnimataque sanguine vivo\nHabitacula pristina gestet.\nQuae pigra cadavera pridem\nTumulis putrefacta iacebant,\nVolucres rapientur in auras,\nAnimas comitata priores.\nHinc maxima cura sepulcris\nImpenditur: hinc resolutos\nHonor ultimus accipit artus,\nEt funeris ambitus ornat.\nCandore nitentia claro\nPraetendere lintea mos est,\nAdspersaque myrrha Sabaeo\nCorpus medicamine servat.\nQuidnam sibi saxa cavata ,\nQuid pulchra volunt monumenta,\nRes nisi quod creditur illis\nNon mortua, sed data somno?\nHoc provida Christicolarum\nPietas studet, utpote credens\nFore protinus omnia viva,\nQuae nunc gelidus sopor urguet.\nQui iacta cadavera passim\nMiserans tegit aggere terrae,\nOpus exhibet ille benignum\nChristo pius omnipotenti.","t":"For that we see the body at rest,\nempty, without the mind,\nmeans that a short space remains until\nit seeks again the company of the high sense.\nThe ages will come soon, when\nthe companion warmth revisits the bones,\nand, animated with living blood,\ncarries its former dwelling.\nThe sluggish corpses that long\nlay rotting in tombs\nwill be snatched into the flying breezes,\naccompanying their former souls.\nHence the greatest care is spent\non tombs; hence the last honor\nreceives the loosened limbs,\nand the procession of the funeral adorns them.\nIt is the custom to spread out linen cloths\ngleaming with clear whiteness,\nand myrrh sprinkled on it\npreserves the body with Sabaean remedy.\nWhat do the hollowed rocks mean,\nwhat the beautiful monuments,\nexcept that the thing entrusted to them\nis not dead, but given to sleep?\nThis the provident piety of Christ’s worshipers\npursues, believing, as it does,\nthat all things will soon be alive\nwhich cold sleep now oppresses.\nHe who, pitying, covers with a mound of earth\ncorpses thrown down here and there\nshows, in his piety, a kindly work\nto Christ almighty.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 10.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/10-33)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/10.65":{"o":"Gemitum dare sorte sub una,\nCognataque funera nobis\nAliena in morte dolere.\nSancti sator ille Tobiae,\nSacer ac venerabilis heros,\nDapibus iam rite paratis\nIus praetulit exsequiarum.\nIam stantibus ille ministris,\nCyathos et fercula liquit,\nStudioque accinctus humandi,\nFleto dedit ossa sepulcro.\nVeniunt mox praemia caelo,\nPretiumque rependitur ingens ;\nNam lumina nescia solis\nDeus inlita felle serenat.\nQuam sit rationis egenis\nMordax et amara medela,\nQuum lux animum nova vexat.\nDocuit quoque non prius ullum\nCaelestia cernere regna,\nQuam nocte et vulnere tristi\nToleraverit aspera mundi.\nMors ipsa beatior inde est,\nQuod per cruciamina leti\nVia panditur ardua iustis,\nEt ad astra doloribus itur.\nSic corpora mortificata\nRedeunt melioribus annis ;\nNec post obitum recalescens\nCompago fatiscere novit.\nHaec, quae modo pallida tabo\nColor albidus inficit ora ,","t":"to groan under one and the same lot,\nand to grieve for funerals as our kin\nin the death of strangers.\nThe father of holy Tobias,\na sacred and venerable hero,\nwhen his meal was already duly prepared,\nput the duty of burial first.\nWhile the servants stood waiting,\nhe left the cups and the dishes,\nand, girt with zeal for burying,\ngave the bones to a tomb with weeping.\nSoon rewards come from heaven,\nand a great price is paid back;\nfor God clears his eyes, which knew not the sun,\nsmeared with gall.\nHe taught how biting and bitter a remedy\nis to those who lack reason,\nwhen the new light troubles the mind.\nHe taught too that no one\nsees the heavenly kingdoms\nbefore he has endured the harsh things of the world\nin night and painful wound.\nDeath itself is the more blessed for this,\nthat through the tortures of dying\nthe steep road is opened to the righteous,\nand one goes to the stars through pains.\nSo bodies put to death\nreturn in better years;\nnor does the frame, growing warm again after death,\nknow how to fall apart.\nThese faces, which now, pale with corruption,\na whitish color stains,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 10.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/10-65)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/10.97":{"o":"Tunc flore venustior omni\nSanguis cute tinguet amoena.\nIam nulla deinde senectus\nFrontis decus invida carpet;\nMacies neque sicca lacertos\nSucco tenuabit adeso.\nMorbus quoque pestifer, artus\nQui nunc populatur anhelos,\nSua tunc tormenta resudans\nLuet inter vincula mille.\nHunc eminus aere ab alto\nCernet sine fine gementem,\nQuos moverat ipse, dolores.\nQuid turba superstes, inepta\nClangens ululamina miscet?\nCur tam bene condita iura\nLuctu dolor arguit amens?\nIam moesta quiesce querela;\nLacrimas suspendite, matres :\nNullus sua pignora plangat;\nMors haec reparatio vitae est.\nIam mortua, iamque sepulta ,\nQuae reddita cespite ab imo\nVeteres meditantur aristas.\nNunc suscipe terra fovendum,\nHominis tibi membra sequestro,\nGenerosa et fragmina credo.\nAnimae fuit haec domus olim\nFactoris ab ore creatae:\nFervens habitavit in istis\nSapientia, principe Christo.\nTu depositum tege corpus:","t":"then blood, more charming than any flower,\nwill tinge them with lovely skin.\nNo old age thereafter\nwill grudgingly pluck the beauty of the brow,\nnor will dry leanness\nthin the arms by eating away their sap.\nDisease too, the pestilent thing\nthat now ravages the panting limbs,\nwill then sweat out its own torments\nand pay for them amid a thousand chains.\nFrom the high air, far off, [the flesh] will see it\ngroaning without end\nat the pains which it itself had caused.\nWhy does the surviving crowd, wailing,\nmingle unseemly lamentations?\nWhy does mad grief accuse\nsuch well-founded laws with mourning?\nBe still now, sad complaint;\nmothers, hold back your tears:\nlet no one mourn for his dear ones;\nthis death is the renewal of life.\n[So dry seeds grow green,]\nalready dead and already buried,\nwhich, given back from the depth of the turf,\nare planning the ears of old.\nNow, earth, receive him to cherish;\nI entrust to you the limbs of a man,\nand I give you noble fragments.\nThis was once the house of a soul\ncreated from the mouth of its Maker;\nin these limbs dwelt fervent\nwisdom, with Christ as its prince.\nCover the body that is laid down:","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 10.97 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 97–128; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/10-97)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/11.1":{"o":"Quid est, quod arctum circulum\nSol iam recurrens deserit?\nChristusne terris nascitur,\nQui Iucis auget tramitem?\nHeu quam fugacem gratiam\nFestina volvebat dies!\nQuam paene subductam facem\nSensim recisa extinxerat !\nCaelum nitescat laetius,\nGratetur et gaudens humus:\nScandit gradatim denuo\nIubar priores lineas.\nEmerge, dulcis Pusio,\nQuem mater edit castitas,\nParens et expers coniugis,\nMediator et duplex genus.\nEx ore quamlibet Patris\nSis ortus, et verbo editus,\nTamen paterno in pectore\nSophia callebas prius ;\nQuae prompta caelum condidit,\nCaelum, diemque, et cetera :\nVirtute Verbi effecta sunt\nHaec cuncta; nam Verbum Deus.\nSed, ordinatis saeculis,\nRerumque digesto statu,\nFundator ipse et artifex\nPermansit in Patris sinu,\nDonec rotata annalium\nTransvolverentur millia,\nAtque ipse peccantem diu\nDignatus orbem viseret.","t":"Why is it that the sun, already turning back,\nleaves its narrow circle?\nIs Christ being born on earth,\nwho lengthens the path of light?\nAlas, how fleeting a favor\nthe hurrying day was rolling along!\nHow nearly, cut short little by little,\nit had put out its withdrawn torch!\nLet the sky shine more gladly,\nand let the earth rejoice and give thanks:\nstep by step the radiance climbs\nonce again its former lines.\nCome forth, sweet Child,\nwhom a chaste mother brings forth,\na parent and yet without a husband,\nMediator, of twofold nature.\nThough you have come forth from the mouth of the Father\nand been brought forth by his word,\nyet in the Father’s heart\nyou were Wisdom, wise before;\nwhich, ready at hand, founded heaven,\nheaven and day and all the rest:\nby the power of the Word all these\nwere made; for the Word is God.\nBut when the ages had been ordered\nand the state of things arranged,\nthe founder and craftsman himself\nremained in the Father’s bosom,\nuntil the rolling thousands\nof years had been turned over,\nand he himself deigned to visit\nthe world that had long been sinning.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 11.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/11-1)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/11.33":{"o":"Nam caeca vis mortalium\nVenerans inanes naenias,\nVel aera, vel saxa algida,\nVel ligna credebat Deum.\nHaec dum sequuntur, perfidi\nPraedonis in ius venerant,\nEt mancipatam fumido\nVitam barathro immerserant.\nStragem sed istam non tulit\nChristus cadentum gentium\nImpune ; ne forsan sui\nPatris periret fabrica,\nMortale corpus induit,\nUt, excitato corpore,\nMortis catenam frangeret,\nHominemque portaret Patri.\nHic ille natalis dies,\nQuo te creator arduus\nSpiravit, et limo indidit,\nSermone carnem glutinans.\nSentisne, Virgo nobilis,\nMatura per fastidia\nPudoris intactum decus\nHonore partus crescere?\nAlvus pudica continet !\nEx qua novellum saeculum\nProcedit, et lux aurea.\nVagitus ille exordium\nVernantis orbis prodidit ;\nNam tunc renatus sordidum\nMundus veternum depulit.\nSparsisse tellurem reor","t":"For the blind force of mortals,\nworshiping empty trifles,\nbelieved bronze, or cold stones,\nor wood to be God.\nWhile they followed these, they had come\nunder the power of the treacherous robber,\nand had plunged their enslaved life\ninto the smoky abyss.\nBut Christ did not let this slaughter\nof falling nations go\nunpunished; lest perhaps his Father’s\nhandiwork should perish,\nhe put on a mortal body,\nso that, raising the body,\nhe might break the chain of death\nand carry man to the Father.\nThis is that birthday\non which the lofty Creator\nbreathed you and put you into clay,\ngluing flesh together by his word.\nDo you feel, noble Virgin,\nthrough the pains of ripening,\nthe untouched glory of your modesty\ngrow with the honor of childbirth?\n[What joys] the chaste womb holds!\nfrom which a new age\ncomes forth, and golden light.\nThat wailing of the infant revealed\nthe beginning of a world in spring;\nfor then the world, reborn,\ndrove off its filthy old age.\nI think that the earth scattered","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 11.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/11-33)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/11.65":{"o":"Rus omne densis floribus,\nIpsasque arenas syrtium\nFragrasse nardo et nectare.\nTe cuncta nascentem, Puer,\nSensere dura et barbara,\nVictusque saxorum rigor\nObduxit herbam cotibus.\nIam mella de scopulis fluunt,\nIam stillat ilex arido\nSudans amomum stipite ;\nIam sunt myricis balsama.\nO sancta praesepis tui,\nAeterne Rex, cunabula,\nPopulisque per saeclum sacra\nMutis et ipsis credita !\nAdorat haec brutum pecus;\nIndocta turba scilicet,\nAdorat excors natio,\nVis cuius in pastu sita est.\nSed quum fideli spiritu\nConcurrat ad praesepia\nPagana gens, et quadrupes,\nSapiatque quod brutum fuit ,\nNegat patrum prosapia,\nPerosa praesentem Deum :\nCredas venenis ebriam,\nFuriisve lymphatam rapi.\nQuid prona per scelus ruis?\nAgnosce, si quidquam tibi\nMentis resedit integrae,\nDucem tuorum principum.\nHunc, quem latebra et obstetrix,","t":"all the countryside with thick flowers,\nand that the very sands of the deserts\nwere fragrant with nard and nectar.\nAll hard and barbarous things\nfelt you being born, Child,\nand the rigidity of the rocks, conquered,\ncovered the stones with grass.\nNow honey flows from the cliffs,\nnow the oak, sweating balm,\ndrips from its dry trunk;\nnow tamarisks bear balsam.\nO holy cradle of your manger,\neternal King,\nsacred to peoples through the ages\nand entrusted even to dumb beasts!\nThe brute beast adores it,\nan untaught crowd, to be sure;\na senseless race adores it,\nwhose strength lies in grazing.\nBut while, with faithful spirit,\nthe pagan race runs together to the manger,\nand the four-footed beast too,\nand what was brute becomes wise,\nthe line of the fathers denies him,\nhating God when he is present:\nyou would think it was drunk with poisons\nor carried off, maddened by Furies.\nWhy do you rush headlong through crime?\nAcknowledge, if anything\nof a sound mind remains in you,\nthe leader of your own princes.\nHim, whom a hiding-place and a midwife,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 11.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/11-65)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/11.97":{"o":"Et Virgo feta, et cunulae,\nEt imbecilla infantia,\nRegem dederunt gentibus,\nPeccator, intueberis\nCelsum coruscis nubibus,\nDeiectus ipse, et inritis\nPlangens reatum fletibus ,\nQuum vasta signum buccina\nTerris cremandis miserit,\nEt scissus axis cardinem\nMnndi ruentis solverit.\nInsignis ipse et praeminens\nMeritis rependet congrua ;\nHis lucis usum perpetis,\nIllis gehennam et tartarum.\nIudaea, tunc fulmen Crucis\nExperta, qui sit, senties,\nQuem, te furoris praesule,\nMors hausit, et mox reddidit.","t":"and the fruitful Virgin and the cradle\nand feeble infancy\ngave as king to the nations,\nyou, sinner, will behold\non high amid flashing clouds,\nyourself cast down, and lamenting your guilt\nwith useless tears,\nwhen the vast trumpet has sent its signal\nto the lands that are to be burned,\nand the riven sky has loosened\nthe hinge of the collapsing world.\nHe himself, glorious and preeminent,\nwill repay what is fitting to merits:\nto these the enjoyment of everlasting light,\nto those Gehenna and Tartarus.\nJudea, then, having felt the thunderbolt of the Cross,\nyou will perceive who he is\nwhom, with you as leader of the fury,\ndeath swallowed and soon gave back.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 11.97 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 97–116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/11-97)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/12.1":{"o":"Quicumque Christum quaeritis,\nOculos in altum tollite :\nIllic licebit visere\nSignum perennis gloriae.\nHaec stella, quae solis rotam\nVincit decore ac lumine,\nVenisse terris nuntiat\nCum carne terrestri Deum.\nNon illa servit noctibus,\nSecuta lunam menstruam .\nSed sola caelum possidens,\nCursum dierum temperat.\nArctoa quamvis sidera,\nIn se retortis motibus,\nObire nolint, attamen\nPlerumque sub nimbis latent :\nHoc sidus aeternum manet,\nHaec stella numquam mergitur,\nNec nubis occursu abdita\nObumbrat obductam facem.\nTristis cometa intercidat,\nEt, si quod astrum Sirio\nFervet vapore, iam Dei\nSub luce destructum cadat.\nEn Persici ex orbis sinu,\nSol unde sumit ianuam,\nCernunt, periti interpretes,\nRegale vexillum Magi.\nQuod ut refulsit, ceteri\nCessere signorum globi;\nNec pulcher est ausus suam\nConferre formam Lucifer.","t":"Whoever you are who seek Christ,\nlift your eyes on high:\nthere you may see\nthe sign of everlasting glory.\nThis star, which surpasses the wheel of the sun\nin beauty and in light,\nannounces that God has come to earth\nwith earthly flesh.\nIt does not serve the nights,\nfollowing the monthly moon,\nbut, possessing the sky alone,\nit governs the course of the days.\nAlthough the northern stars,\nwith motions turned back on themselves,\nare unwilling to set, yet\nthey often lie hidden under clouds:\nthis star remains forever,\nthis star never sinks,\nnor, hidden by the meeting of a cloud,\ndoes it shade its covered torch.\nLet the grim comet perish,\nand if any star burns with the heat\nof Sirius, let it now fall,\ndestroyed under the light of God.\nSee, from the bosom of the Persian world,\nwhere the sun takes its door,\nthe Magi, skilled interpreters,\nsee the royal standard.\nAs soon as it shone out, the other\nglobes of the constellations gave way,\nnor did the beautiful Morning Star\ndare to compare its form.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 12.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/12-1)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/12.129":{"o":"Vos, prima Christi victima,\nGrex immolatorum tener,\nAram ante ipsam simplices\nPalma et coronis luditis.\nQuo proficit tantum nefas?\nQuid crimen Herodem iuvat?\nUnus tot inter funera\nImpune Christus tollitur.\nInter coevi sanguinis\nFluenta solus integer ,\nFerrum, quod orbabat nurus,\nPartus fefellit Virginis.\nSic stulta Pharaonis mali\nEdicta quondam fugerat,\nChristi figuram praeferens,\nMoses, receptor civium.\nCautum et statutum ius erat,\nQuo non liceret matribus,\nQuum pondus alvi absolverent,\nPuerile pignus tollere.\nMens obstetricis sedulae,\nPie in tyrannum contumax,\nAd spem potentis gloriae\nFurata servat parvulum ;\nQuem mox sacerdotem sibi\nAdsumpsit orbis conditor,\nPer quem notatam saxeis\nLegem tabellis traderet.\nLicetne Christum noscere\nTanti per exemplum viri?\nDux ille, caeso Aegyptio,\nAbsolvit Israel iugo.","t":"You, Christ’s first victims,\ntender flock of the sacrificed,\ninnocently, before the very altar,\nplay with palm and crowns.\nWhat does such a crime achieve?\nWhat does his guilt profit Herod?\nAlone among so many deaths\nChrist is carried off unharmed.\nAmong the streams of blood\nof those his own age, he alone untouched,\nthe sword that bereaved young wives\nthe Virgin’s offspring escaped.\nSo the foolish edicts of wicked Pharaoh\nMoses had once escaped,\nbearing a figure of Christ,\nMoses, deliverer of his countrymen.\nThere was a provision and statute of law\nby which mothers were not allowed,\nwhen they were delivered of the burden of the womb,\nto raise a male child.\nThe mind of the careful midwife,\ndutifully defiant toward the tyrant,\nstole and saved the little one\nfor the hope of mighty glory;\nwhom soon the Founder of the world\ntook to himself as priest,\nthrough whom he would hand down the Law\ninscribed on stone tablets.\nMay we know Christ\nthrough the example of so great a man?\nThat leader, having slain the Egyptian,\nreleased Israel from the yoke.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 12.129 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 129–160; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/12-129)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/12.161":{"o":"At nos, subactos iugiter\nErroris imperio gravi,\nDux noster, hoste saucio,\nMortis tenebris liberat.\nHic expiatam fluctibus\nPlebem marino in transitu\nRepurgat undis dulcibus,\nLucis columnam praeferens.\nHic praeliante exercita,\nPansis in altum brachiis,\nSublimis Amalech premit,\nCrucis quod instar tunc fuit.\nHic nempe Iesus verior,\nQui longa post dispendia\nVictor, suis tribulibus\nPromissa solvit iugera ;\nQui ter quaternas denique\nRefluentis amnis alveo\nFundavit et fixit petras,\nApostolorum stemmata.\nlure ergo se Iudae ducem\nVidisse testantur Magi,\nQuum facta priscorum ducum\nChristi figuram finxerint.\nHic rex priorum iudicum,\nRexere qui Iacob genus,\nDominaeque rex Ecclesiae,\nTempli et novelli et pristini.\nHunc posteri Ephrem colunt,\nHunc sancta Manassae domus ;\nOmnesque suspiciunt tribus\nBis sena fratrum semina.","t":"But us, long subdued\nunder the heavy rule of error,\nour leader, wounding the enemy,\nfrees from the darkness of death.\nHe, having cleansed the people in the waves\nin their crossing of the sea,\npurifies them again with sweet waters,\ncarrying before them the pillar of light.\nHe, while his army fights,\nhis arms spread out on high,\nfrom above overwhelms Amalek,\nwhich was then a likeness of the Cross.\nHe indeed is the truer Jesus,\nwho, after long journeys,\nas victor paid his fellow tribesmen\nthe promised acres;\nwho, finally, twelve stones\nin the bed of the river flowing back\nfounded and fixed,\nthe lineage of the apostles.\nRightly, then, the Magi testify\nthat they have seen the leader of Judah,\nsince the deeds of the ancient leaders\nshaped a figure of Christ.\nHe is king of the former judges\nwho ruled the race of Jacob,\nand king of the Church, our mistress,\nof the new temple and the old.\nHim the descendants of Ephraim worship,\nhim the holy house of Manasseh;\nand all the tribes look up to him,\nthe twice six seeds of the brothers.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 12.161 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 161–192; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/12-161)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/12.193":{"o":"Quin et propago degener\nRitum secuta inconditum,\nQuaecumque dirum fervidis\nBaal caminis coxerat,\nFumosa avorum numina,\nSaxum, metallum, stipitem,\nRasum, dolatum, sectile,\nIn Christi honorem deserit.\nGaudete, quidquid gentium est,\nIudaea, Roma, et Graecia,\nAegypte, Thrax, Persa, Scytha,\nRex unus omnes possidet.\nLaudate vestrum Principem,\nOmnes beati, ac perditi,\nVivi, imbecilli, ac mortui;\nIam nemo posthac mortuus.","t":"Moreover the degenerate offspring,\nwhich had followed a crude rite,\nwhatever dread Baal\nhad baked in his glowing furnaces,\nthe smoky gods of their ancestors,\nstone, metal, wood,\nscraped, hewn, cut,\nabandons in honor of Christ.\nRejoice, whatever nations there are,\nJudea, Rome and Greece,\nEgypt, Thracian, Persian, Scythian:\none king possesses all.\nPraise your Prince,\nall you blessed and lost,\nliving, weak and dead:\nfrom now on no one is dead.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 12.193 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 193–209; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/12-193)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/12.33":{"o":"Quis iste tantus, inquiunt,\nRegnator, astris imperans,\nQuom sic tremunt caelestia,\nCui lux et aethra inserviunt?\nInlustre quiddam cernimus,\nQuod nesciat finem pati ,\nSublime, celsum, interminum,\nAntiquius caelo et chao.\nHic ille rex est gentium,\nPopulique rex Iudaici,\nPromissus Abrahae patri,\nEiusque in aevum semini.\nAequanda nam stellis sua\nCognovit olim germina\nPrimus sator credentium,\nNati immolator unici.\nIam flos subit Davidicus,\nRadice Iessaea editus,\nSceptrique per virgam virens\nRerum cacumen occupat.\nExin sequuntur perciti,\nFixis in altum vultibus,\nQua stella sulcum traxerat,\nClaramque signabat viam.\nSed verticem Pueri supra\nSignum pependit imminens,\nPronaque submissum face\nCaput sacratum prodidit.\nVidere quod postquam Magi,\nEoa promunt munera,\nStratique votis offerunt\nTus, myrrham, et aurum regium.","t":"“Who is this so great ruler,” they say,\n“commanding the stars,\nsince the heavenly things tremble so,\nwhom light and sky serve?\nWe see something glorious\nthat does not know how to suffer an end,\nsublime, lofty, endless,\nolder than heaven and chaos.\nThis is that king of the nations,\nand king of the Jewish people,\npromised to father Abraham\nand to his seed forever.\nFor equal to the stars his own\noffspring he long ago knew,\nthe first father of believers,\nthe sacrificer of his only son.\nNow the flower of David comes up,\nsprung from the root of Jesse,\nand, flourishing through the rod of the sceptre,\noccupies the summit of the world.”\nThereupon they follow eagerly,\ntheir faces fixed on high,\nwhere the star had drawn its furrow\nand marked out a bright way.\nBut above the Child’s head\nthe sign hung, poised over him,\nand with lowered torch\nrevealed the sacred head.\nWhen the Magi had seen it,\nthey bring out eastern gifts,\nand, prostrate in worship, offer\nincense, myrrh and royal gold.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 12.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/12-33)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/12.65":{"o":"Agnosce clara insignia\nVirtutis ac regni tui,\nPuer o, cui trinam Pater\nPraedestinavit indolem.\nRegem Deumque adnuntiant\nThesaurus et fragrans odor\nTuris Sabaei , ac myrrheus\nPulvis sepulcrum praedocet.\nHoc, hoc sepulcrum, quo Deus,\nDum corpus extingui sinit,\nAtque id sepultum suscitat,\nMortis refregit carcerem.\nO sola magnarum urbium\nMaior Bethlem, cui contigit\nDucem salutis caelitus\nIncorporatum gignere\nAltrice te, summo Patri\nHeres creatur unicus,\nHomo ex Tonantis Spiritu,\nIdemque sub membris Deus.\nHunc et Prophetis testibus,\nIsdemque signatoribus,\nTestator et sator iubet\nAdire regnum et cernere:\nRegnum, quod ambit omnia\nDia, et marina, et terrea,\nA solis ortu ad exitum,\nEt tartara, et caelum supra.\nAudit tyrannus anxius\nAdesse regum principem,\nQui nomen Israel regat,\nTeneatque David regiam.","t":"Recognize the clear tokens\nof your power and your kingdom,\nO Child, for whom the Father\npredestined a threefold nature.\nThe treasure and the fragrant smell\nof Sabaean incense announce\nking and God, and the dust of myrrh\nforetells the tomb.\nThis, this is the tomb in which God,\nwhile he allows his body to be put to death\nand raises it when buried,\nbroke the prison of death.\nO Bethlehem, alone greater\nthan great cities, to whom it fell\nto bring forth the leader of salvation\nembodied from heaven!\nWith you as nurse the only heir\nis begotten for the highest Father,\nman from the Spirit of the Thunderer,\nand the same God under the limbs.\nHim, with the prophets as witnesses\nand the same men as signatories,\nthe testator and father bids\nenter upon the kingdom and take possession:\nthe kingdom that embraces all things,\nheavenly, marine and earthly,\nfrom the rising of the sun to its setting,\nthe underworld, and the heaven above.\nThe tyrant, anxious, hears\nthat the prince of kings is present,\nwho would rule the name of Israel\nand hold the palace of David.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 12.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/12-65)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/12.97":{"o":"Exclamat amens nuntio :\n« Successor instat; pellimur!\nSatelles, i, ferrum rape,\nPerfunde cunas sanguine.\nMas omnis infans occidat,\nScrutare nutricum sinus ;\nInterque materna ubera\nEnsem cruentet pusio.\nSuspecta per Bethlem mihi\nPuerperarum est omnium\nFraus, nequa furtim subtrahat\nProlem virilis indolis ».\nTransfigit ergo carnifex,\nMucrone districto furens,\nEffusa nuper corpora,\nAnimasque rimatur novas.\nLocum minutis artubus\nVix interemptor invenit,\nQuo plaga descendat patens,\nIuguloque maior pugio est.\nO barbarum spectaculum !\nInlisa cervix cautibus\nSpargit cerebrum lacteum,\nOculosque per vulnus vomit;\nAut in profundum palpitans\nMersatur infans gurgitem ,\nCui subter arctis faucibus,\nSingultat unda et halitus.\nSalvete, flores Martyrum,\nQuos lucis ipso in limine\nChristi insecutor sustulit,\nCeu turbo nascentes rosas!","t":"Mad at the news, he cries out:\n“A successor threatens; we are being driven out!\nGuard, go, seize your sword,\ndrench the cradles with blood.\nLet every male infant die;\nsearch the bosoms of the nurses,\nand among the mothers’ breasts\nlet the little boy bloody the sword.\nI suspect throughout Bethlehem\nthe deceit of all women in childbed,\nlest any should secretly withdraw\na child of male sex.”\nSo the executioner, raging,\nwith drawn blade pierces through\nbodies lately born,\nand searches out new souls.\nThe slayer scarcely finds room\non the tiny limbs\nwhere the wound may go down gaping,\nand the dagger is larger than the throat.\nO barbarous spectacle!\nThe neck, dashed against the rocks,\nscatters the milky brain\nand pours out the eyes through the wound;\nor the infant, still throbbing,\nis plunged into a deep whirlpool,\nand beneath, in its narrow throat,\nwater and breath sob.\nHail, flowers of the martyrs,\nwhom on the very threshold of light\nthe persecutor of Christ took away,\nas a whirlwind does budding roses!","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 12.97 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 97–128; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/12-97)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/2.1":{"o":"Nox et tenebrae, et nubila\nConfusa mundi et turbida,\nLux intrat, albescit polns,\nChristus venit, discedite.\nCaligo terrae scinditur,\nPercussa solis spiculo ;\nRebusque iam color redit\nVultu nitentis sideris.\nSic nostra mox obscuritas,\nFraudisque pectus conscium,\nRuptis retectum nubibus,\nRegnante pallescet Deo.\nTunc non licebit claudere,\nQuod quisque fuscum cogitat ;\nSed mane clarescent novo\nSecreta mentis prodita.\nFur ante lucem squalido\nImpune peccat tempore ;\nSed lux dolis contraria\nLatere furtum non sinit.\nVersuta fraus et callida\nAmat tenebris obtegi,\nAptamque noctem turpibus\nAdulter occultus fovet.\nSol, ecce, surgit igneus:\nPiget, pudescit, poenitet;\nNec teste quisquam lumine\nPeccare constanter potest.\nQuis mane sumptis nequiter\nNon erubescit poculis,\nQuum fit libido temperans,\nCastumque nugator sapit?","t":"Night and darkness and clouds,\nconfused and troubled things of the world,\ndepart: the light enters, the sky grows white,\nChrist comes.\nThe gloom of the earth is torn apart,\nstruck by the sun’s dart,\nand color now returns to things\nat the face of the shining star.\nSo soon our own darkness\nand the heart aware of its deceit,\nlaid bare when the clouds are broken,\nwill turn pale when God reigns.\nThen no one will be allowed to hide\nthe dark thing he is thinking;\nbut in the new morning the secrets\nof the mind will be brought out and made clear.\nThe thief before daylight\nsins unpunished in the murky hour;\nbut light, the foe of tricks,\ndoes not let theft lie hidden.\nCunning, crafty fraud\nloves to be covered by darkness,\nand the secret adulterer cherishes\nthe night as fit for shameful things.\nSee, the fiery sun rises:\none regrets, one is ashamed, one repents;\nnor can anyone go on sinning steadily\nwith the light as witness.\nWho does not blush at cups\nwickedly taken in the morning,\nwhen lust grows temperate\nand the trifler is chaste and wise?","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 2.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/2-1)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/2.33":{"o":"Nunc, nunc severum vivitur;\nNunc nemo tentat ludicrum :\nInepta nunc omnes sua\nVultu colorant serio.\nHaec hora cunctis utilis,\nQua quisque, quod studet, gerat,\nMiles, togatus, navita,\nOpifex, arator, institor.\nIllum forensis gloria,\nHunc triste raptat classicum :\nMercator hinc ac rusticus\nAvara suspirant lucra.\nAt nos lucelli ac foenoris,\nFandique prorsus nescii,\nNec arte fortes bellica,\nTe, Christe, solum novimus :\nTe mente pura et simplici,\nTe voce, te cantu pio,\nRogare curvato genu,\nFlendo et canendo discimus.\nHis nos lucramur quaestibus,\nHac arte tantum vivimus ;\nHaec inchoamus munera,\nQuum sol resurgens emicat.\nIntende nostris sensibus,\nVitamque totam dispice:\nSunt multa fucis inlita,\nQuae luce purgentur tua.\nDurare nos tales iube,\nQuales, remotis sordibus,\nNitere pridem iusseras\nIordane tinctos flumine.\nQuodcumque nox mundi dehinc\nInfecit atris nubibus,","t":"Now, now life is lived in earnest;\nnow no one tries frivolity;\nnow all give their follies\nthe color of a serious face.\nThis hour is useful for all,\nin which each may do what he pursues:\nsoldier, civilian, sailor,\ncraftsman, ploughman, shopkeeper.\nOne is swept off by the glory of the courts,\nanother by the grim trumpet;\nthe merchant and the farmer, for their part,\nsigh after greedy gains.\nBut we, of petty gain and interest\nand of fine speaking wholly ignorant,\nand not strong in the art of war,\nknow you alone, Christ;\nwith a pure and simple mind,\nwith our voice, with devout song,\nwe learn to pray to you on bended knee,\nweeping and singing.\nThese are the gains we make,\nby this art alone we live;\nthese are the tasks we begin\nwhen the rising sun shines out.\nAttend to our senses,\nand look over our whole life:\nthere are many things smeared with false colors\nthat must be cleansed by your light.\nBid us remain such\nas you once bade us shine,\nour filth removed,\nwhen we were dipped in the river Jordan.\nWhatever the night of the world has since\nstained with its black clouds,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 2.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/2-33)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/2.65":{"o":"Tu, rex eoi sideris,\nVultu sereno inlumina.\nTu, Sancte, qui tetram picem\nCandore tinguis lacteo,\nEbenoque crystallum facis,\nDelicta terge livida.\nSub nocte Iacob caernla,\nLuctator audax angeli,\nEo usque dum lux surgeret,\nSudavit impar praelium.\nSed quum iubar claresceret,\nLapsante claudus poplite,\nFemurque victus debile,\nCulpae vigorem perdidit.\nNutabat inguen saucium,\nQuae corporis pars vilior,\nLongeque sub cordis loco\nDiram fovet libidinem.\nHae nos docent imagines,\nHominem tenebris obsitum,\nSi forte non cedat Deo,\nVires rebelles perdere.\nErit tamen beatior,\nIntemperans membrum cui\nLuctando claudum et tabidum\nDies oborta invenerit.\nTandem facessat caecitas,\nQuae nosmet in praeceps diu\nLapsos sinistris gressibus\nErrore traxit devio.\nHaec lux serenum conferat,\nPurosque nos praestet sibi :\nNihil loquamur subdolum,\nVolvamus obscurum nihil.\nSic tota decurrat dies,\nNe lingua mendax, ne manus,\nOculive peccent lubrici ;\nNe noxa corpus inquinet.\nSpeculator adstat desuper,\nQui nos diebus omnibus,\nActusque nostros prospicit\nA luce prima in vesperum.\nHic testis, hic est arbiter,\nHic intuetur quidquid est,\nHumana quod mens concipit;\nHunc nemo fallit iudicem.","t":"you, King of the eastern star,\nlight up with your calm face.\nYou, Holy One, who dye black pitch\nwith milky whiteness\nand make crystal out of ebony,\nwipe away our livid offenses.\nUnder the dark-blue night Jacob,\nthe bold wrestler with the angel,\nuntil the light rose\nsweated through an unequal fight.\nBut when the radiance grew bright,\nlame, his knee giving way,\nand beaten, his thigh weakened,\nhe lost the vigor of guilt.\nThe wounded groin was faltering,\nwhich is the baser part of the body\nand, lying far below the seat of the heart,\nnourishes dire lust.\nThese images teach us\nthat a man covered with darkness,\nif perhaps he does not yield to God,\nloses his rebellious strength.\nYet he will be the more blessed\nwhose unrestrained member\nthe rising day has found\nlamed and wasted by the wrestling.\nLet blindness at last depart,\nwhich has long dragged us headlong,\nfallen with crooked steps,\nby its wandering error.\nMay this light bring us serenity\nand make us pure for itself;\nlet us say nothing deceitful,\nlet us turn over nothing dark in mind.\nSo let the whole day run its course:\nlet neither the lying tongue, nor the hand,\nnor the roving eyes sin,\nnor any guilt stain the body.\nA watcher stands above,\nwho on all our days\nlooks upon us and our deeds\nfrom the first light to evening.\nHe is witness, he is judge,\nhe beholds whatever\nthe human mind conceives;\nno one deceives this Judge.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 2.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–110; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/2-65)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/3.1":{"o":"O crucifer bone, lucisator,\nOmniparens, pie, verbigena,\nEdite corpore virgineo,\nSed prius in Genitore potens,\nAstra, solum, mare quam fierent,\nHuc nitido, precor, intuitu\nFlecte salutiferam faciem,\nFronte serenus . et inradia,\nNominis ut sub honore tui\nHas epulas liceat capere.\nTe sine dulce nihil, Domine,\nNec iuvat ore quid appetere,\nPocula ni prius atque cibos,\nChriste, tuus favor imbuerit,\nOmnia sanctificante fide.\nFercula nostra Deum sapiant,\nChristus et influat in pateras :\nSeria, ludicra verba, iocos;\nDenique quod sumus, aut agimus\nTrina superne regat pietas.\nHic mihi nulla rosae spolia,\nNullus aromate fragrat odor;\nSed liquor influit ambrosius,\nNectareamque fidem redolet\nFusus ab usque Patris gremio.\nSperne, Camoena, leves hederas,\nCingere tempora quis solita es;\nSertaque mystica dactylico\nTexere docta liga strophio,\nLaude Dei redimita comas.\nQuod generosa potest anima,\nLucis et aetheris indigena,","t":"O good bearer of the cross, sower of light,\nmaker of all, loving one, begotten as the Word,\nbrought forth from a virgin’s body,\nbut before that mighty in the Father,\nbefore the stars, the land and the sea came to be:\nturn here, I pray, with a radiant look,\nyour face that brings salvation;\ncalm of brow, shine on us,\nso that under the honor of your name\nwe may partake of this meal.\nWithout you, Lord, nothing is sweet,\nnor is it pleasant to seek anything with the mouth,\nunless first your favor, Christ,\nhas steeped the cups and the food,\nwith faith that sanctifies all things.\nLet our dishes savor of God,\nand let Christ flow into our cups;\nserious things, playful words, jests,\nin short what we are and what we do,\nlet the threefold Love on high govern.\nHere I have no spoils of roses,\nno scent of spice is fragrant;\nbut an ambrosial liquid flows in\nand breathes of nectar-sweet faith,\npoured forth from the very bosom of the Father.\nSpurn, my Muse, the light ivy\nwith which you used to bind your temples;\nand, having learned to weave mystic garlands\nin dactylic measure, bind them with a fillet,\nyour hair wreathed with the praise of God.\nWhat can a noble soul do,\nnative of light and of the upper air,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 3.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/3-1)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/3.129":{"o":"His ducibus vitiosa dehinc\nPosteritas ruit in facinus;\nDumque rudes imitatur avos,\nFasque nefasque simul glomerans,\nImpia crimina morte luit.\nEcce venit nova progenies,\nAethere proditus alter homo ;\nNon luteus velut ille prius ,\nSed Deus ipse gerens hominem,\nCorporeisque carens vitiis.\nFit caro vivida Sermo Patris,\nNumine quem rutilante gravis\nNon thalamo, neque iure thori,\nNec genialibus inlecebris\nIntemerata puella parit.\nHoc odium vetus illud erat,\nHoc erat aspidis atque hominis\nDigladiabile discidium,\nQuod modo cernua foemineis\nVipera proteritur pedibus.\nEdere namque Deum merita\nOmnia Virgo venena domat:\nTractibus anguis inexplicitis\nVirus inerme piger revomit,\nGramine concolor in viridi.\nQuae feritas modo non trepidat,\nTerrita de grege candidulo?\nImpavidas lupus inter oves\nTristis obambulat, et rabidum,\nSanguinis inmemor, os cohibet.\nAgnus enim vice mirifica\nEcce Leonibus imperitat ;\nExagitansque truces aquilas\nPer vaga nubila, perque notos","t":"With these as leaders, posterity\nthereafter rushed, corrupted, into crime;\nand while it imitates its crude forefathers,\nheaping together right and wrong alike,\nit paid for its impious crimes with death.\nSee, a new offspring comes,\na second man sent forth from heaven;\nnot of clay as that first one was,\nbut God himself bearing man,\nand free of the body’s vices.\nThe Word of the Father becomes living flesh,\nwhom, heavy with the glowing divine power,\nnot by the bridal chamber, nor by marriage right,\nnor by the enticements of wedlock,\nan undefiled girl brings forth.\nThis was that ancient enmity,\nthis was the deadly strife\nbetween the asp and man,\nthat now the viper, bowed to the ground,\nis trodden under a woman’s feet.\nFor the Virgin, found worthy to bear God,\nsubdues all poisons:\nthe serpent, in its uncoiled windings,\nsluggishly vomits back its harmless venom,\nthe same color as the green grass.\nWhat savagery does not now tremble,\nterrified by the little white flock?\nAmong the unafraid sheep the wolf\nwalks sullenly about, and, forgetful of blood,\nrestrains its raging mouth.\nFor the Lamb, by a wondrous reversal,\nsee, rules over lions;\nand, chasing the fierce eagles\nthrough the wandering clouds and through the south winds,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 3.129 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 129–160; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/3-129)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/3.161":{"o":"Sidere lapsa columba fugat.\nTu mihi, Christe, columba potens,\nSanguine pasta cui cedit avis;\nTu niveus per ovile tuum\nAgnus hiare lupum prohibes,\nSub iuga tigridis ora premens.\nDa, locuples Deus, hoc famulis\nRite precantibus, ut tenui\nMembra cibo recreata levent;\nNeu piger immodicis dapibus\nViscera tenta gravet stomachus.\nHaustus amarus abesto procul:\nNe libeat tetigisse manu\nExitiale quid, aut vetitum;\nGustus et ipse modum teneat,\nSospitet ut iecur incolume.\nSit satis anguibus horrificis,\nLiba quod impia corporibus\nAh ! miseram peperere necem.\nSufficiat semel ob facinus\nPlasma Dei potuisse mori.\nOris opus, vigor igneolus\nNon moritur, quia flante Deo\nCompositus, summoque fluens\nDe solio Patris artificis,\nVim liquidae rationis habet.\nViscera mortua quin etiam\nPost obitum reparare datur,\nEque suis iterum tumulis\nPrisca renascitur effigies,\nPulvereo coeunte situ.\nCredo equidem, neque vana fides,\nCorpora vivere more animae:\nNam modo corporeum memini\nDe Phlegethonte gradu facili\nAd superos remeasse Deum.\nSpes eadem mea membra manet,\nQuae redolentia funereo\nIussa quiescere sarcophago,\nDux parili rediviva gradu\nAurea Christus ad astra vocat.","t":"the dove, come down from the sky, puts to flight.\nYou are my mighty dove, Christ,\nto whom the bird that feeds on blood gives way;\nyou, the snow-white Lamb, throughout your fold\nforbid the wolf to gape,\npressing the tiger’s jaws beneath the yoke.\nGrant this, bountiful God, to your servants\nwho pray rightly: that their limbs,\nrefreshed with light food, may be lightened,\nand that the sluggish stomach may not weigh down\nthe bowels stretched with immoderate feasts.\nLet the bitter draught be far away;\nlet us take no pleasure in touching with the hand\nanything deadly or forbidden;\nlet taste itself keep measure,\nso that it may keep the liver unharmed.\nLet it be enough for the horrid serpents\nthat impious food brought forth for our bodies,\nah, a wretched death;\nlet it suffice that once, because of a crime,\nGod’s handiwork could die.\nThe work of his mouth, the fiery vigor,\ndoes not die, for, formed\nby the breath of God and flowing from the highest\nthrone of the Father the craftsman,\nit has the power of clear reason.\nMoreover, the dead flesh too\nis granted to be restored after death,\nand from its tomb once again\nthe former likeness is reborn,\nas the dusty decay comes together.\nI believe indeed, and it is no empty faith,\nthat bodies live as souls do;\nfor I remember that God, in bodily form,\nlately returned with easy step\nfrom Phlegethon to the world above.\nThe same hope awaits my limbs,\nwhich, fragrant in the funeral\ncoffin, are bidden to rest:\nChrist their leader, returning to life on a like path,\ncalls them to the golden stars.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 3.161 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 161–203; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/3-161)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/3.33":{"o":"Solvere dignius obsequium,\nQuam data munera si recinat,\nArtificem modulata suum?\nIpse homini quia cuncta dedit,\nQuae capimus, dominante manu,\nQuae polus, aut humus, aut pelagus\nAere, gurgite, rure creant ,\nHaec mihi subdidit, et sibi me.\nCallidus inlaqueat volucres\nAut pedicis dolus aut maculis:\nInlita glutine corticeo\nVimina plumigeram seriem\nImpediunt, et abire vetant.\nEcce per aequora fluctivagos\nTexta greges sinuosa trahunt :\nPiscis item sequitur calamum,\nRaptus acumine vulnifico,\nCredula saucius ora cibo.\nFundit opes ager ingenuas,\nDives aristiferae segetis,\nHic ubi vitea pampineo\nBrachia palmite luxuriant,\nPacis alumna ubi bacca viret.\nHaec opulentia Christicolis\nServit, et omnia subpeditat:\nAbsit enim procul illa fames,\nCaedibus ut pecudum libeat\nSanguineas lacerare dapes.\nSint fera gentibus indomitis\nPrandia de nece quadrupedum ;\nNos oleris coma, nos siliqua\nFoeta legumine multimodo\nPaverit innocuis epulis.\nSpumea mulctra gerunt niveos","t":"pay as worthier homage\nthan to sing back the gifts it was given,\nhymning its own Maker?\nSince he himself has given to man all things\nthat we take and hold under our dominion,\nall that sky, or earth, or sea\nbring forth in air, in deep water, in the country,\nhe has made these subject to me, and me to himself.\nCraft ensnares the birds\nwith the trickery of snares or nets;\ntwigs smeared with bark-glue\nentangle the feathered ranks\nand forbid them to fly off.\nSee, through the waters\nwinding nets drag the wave-roaming shoals;\nthe fish too follows the rod,\ncaught by the wounding hook,\nits trusting mouth pierced through the bait.\nThe field pours out its native wealth,\nrich in the bearded corn,\nhere where the vine’s arms\nrun riot with leafy shoots,\nwhere the berry, nurseling of peace, grows green.\nThis abundance serves\nthe worshipers of Christ and supplies all things;\nfar be from us that hunger\nwhich delights, by the slaughter of cattle,\nto tear bloody feasts.\nLet the untamed nations have their savage\nmeals from the death of four-footed beasts;\nus, leafy herbs and the pod\npregnant with many kinds of pulse\nwill feed with innocent meals.\nThe foaming milk-pails bear snowy","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 3.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/3-33)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/3.65":{"o":"Ubere de gemino latices,\nPerque coagula densa liquor\nIn solidum coit, et fragili\nLac tenerum premitur calatho.\nMella recens mihi Cecropia\nNectare sudat olente favus:\nHaec opifex apis aerio\nRore liquat, tenuique thymo,\nNexilis inscia connubii.\nHinc quoque pomiferi nemoris\nMunera mitia proveniunt:\nArbor onus tremefacta suum\nDeciduo gravis imbre pluit,\nPuniceosque iacit cumulos.\nQuae veterum tuba, quaeve lyra\nFlatibus inclita, vel fidibus,\nDivitis omnipotentis opus,\nQuaeque fruenda patent homini,\nLaudibus aequiparare queat?\nTe, Pater optime, mane novo,\nSolis et orbita quum media est;\nTe quoque luce sub occidua,\nSumere quum monet hora cibum,\nNostra, Deus, canet harmonia.\nQuod calet halitus interior,\nCorde quod abdita vena tremit,\nPulsat et incita quod resonam\nLingua sub ore latens caveam,\nLaus superi Patris esto mihi.\nNos igitur tua, Sancte, manus\nCaespite composuit madido,\nEffigiem meditata suam;","t":"streams from the twin udder,\nand through rennet the liquid thickens\nand sets solid, and in a fragile\nbasket the tender curd is pressed.\nFresh Cecropian honey is sweated for me\nby the comb with fragrant nectar;\nthis the craftsman bee distils\nfrom airy dew and slender thyme,\nknowing nothing of the bond of marriage.\nFrom here too come the mild gifts\nof the fruit-bearing grove:\nthe tree, shaken and heavy with its burden,\nrains it down in a falling shower\nand throws down crimson heaps.\nWhat trumpet of the ancients, or what lyre,\nfamed for its breath or its strings,\nthe work of the rich Almighty\nand the things open for man to enjoy\ncould equal with its praises?\nYou, best Father, in the new morning\nand when the sun’s course is at its midpoint,\nyou also at the setting of the light,\nwhen the hour bids us take food,\nour harmony shall sing, O God.\nSince the breath within is warm,\nsince the hidden vein throbs in the heart,\nand since the tongue, quick-moving, beats\nthe echoing hollow, hidden within the mouth,\nlet the praise of the Father on high be mine.\nUs, then, Holy One, your hand\nformed from moist turf,\ndesigning its own likeness;","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 3.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/3-65)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/3.97":{"o":"Utque foret rata materies\nFlavit, et indidit ore animam.\nTunc per amoena vireta iubet\nFrondicomis habitare locis ,\nVer ubi perpetuum redolet,\nPrataque multicolora latex\nQuadrifluo celer amne rigat.\nHaec tibi nunc famulentur, ait:\nUsibus omnia dedo tuis ;\nSed tamen aspera mortifero\nStipite carpere poma veto,\nQui medio viret in nemore.\nHic draco perfidus indocile\nVirginis inlicit ingenium,\nUt socium malesuada virum\nMandere cogeret ex vetitis,\nIpsa pari peritura modo.\nCorpora mutua (nosse nefas)\nPost epulas inoperta vident,\nLubricus error et erubuit:\nTegmina suta parant foliis,\nDedecus ut pudor occuleret.\nConscia culpa, Deum pavitans,\nSede pia procul exigitur :\nInnuba foemina quae fuerat,\nConiugis excipit imperium,\nFoedera tristia iussa pati.\nAuctor et ipse doli coluber\nPlectitur improbus, ut mulier\nColla trilinguia calce terat:\nSic coluber muliebre solum\nSuspicit, atque virum mulier.","t":"and that the material might be made firm\nhe breathed, and put a soul into its mouth.\nThen he bids him dwell amid pleasant thickets,\nin places of leafy foliage,\nwhere perpetual spring breathes fragrance,\nand the many-colored meadows a swift stream\nwaters with its four-branched river.\n“Let all these now serve you,” he says;\n“I give all things for your use;\nbut yet I forbid you to pluck the harsh fruit\nfrom the death-bearing trunk\nwhich grows green in the middle of the grove.”\nHere the treacherous serpent entices\nthe unteachable mind of the maiden,\nso that, giving evil counsel, she might force her companion,\nthe man, to eat of the forbidden things,\nshe herself to perish in like manner.\nEach other’s bodies (a sin to know)\nthey see uncovered after the meal,\nand slippery error blushed:\nthey make coverings sewn of leaves,\nso that shame might hide the disgrace.\nConscious guilt, trembling before God,\nis driven far from the holy dwelling;\nthe woman who had been unmarried\nreceives the rule of a husband,\ncommanded to bear a sad covenant.\nAnd the serpent himself, the author of the deceit,\nis punished, the wicked one, so that the woman\nshould tread his three-tongued neck with her heel:\nthus the serpent looks up to the woman’s\nsole, and the woman to the man.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 3.97 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 97–128; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/3-97)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/4.1":{"o":"Pastis visceribus, ciboque sumpto,\nQuem lex corporis imbecilla poscit,\nLaudem lingua Deo Patri rependat:\nPatri, qui Cherubin sedile sacrum,\nNec non et Seraphim suum supremo\nSubnixus solio tenet regitque.\nHic est, quem Sabaoth Deum vocamus,\nExpers principii, carensque fine ,\nRerum conditor, et repertor orbis.\nFons vitae liquida fluens ab arce,\nInfusor fidei, sator pudoris,\nMortis perdomitor, salutis auctor.\nOmnes quod sumus, aut vigemus, inde est.\nRegnat Spiritus ille sempiternus,\nA Christo simul et Parente missus.\nIntrat pectora candidus pudica,\nQuae templi vice consecrata rident,\nPostquam combiberint Deum medullis.\nSed, si quid vitii dolive nasci\nInter viscera iam dicata sensit,\nCeu spurcum refugit celer sacellum.\nTetrum flagrat enim vapore crasso\nHorror conscius aestuante culpa,\nOffensumque bonum niger repellit.\nNec solus pudor innocensve votum\nTemplum constituunt perenne Christo\nIn cordis medii sinu ac recessu;\nSed, ne crapula ferveat cavendum est,\nQuae sedem fidei cibis refertam\nUsque ad congeriem coartet intus.\nParcis victibus expedita corda\nInfusum melius Deum receptant:","t":"Our bodies fed, and the food taken\nthat the law of our weak body demands,\nlet the tongue pay back praise to God the Father:\nto the Father, who the Cherubim, his sacred seat,\nand his Seraphim too, resting on his supreme\nthrone, holds and rules.\nThis is he whom we call God of Sabaoth,\nwithout beginning and without end,\nfounder of things and discoverer of the world,\nfountain of life flowing clear from the height,\npourer-in of faith, sower of modesty,\nconqueror of death, author of salvation.\nThat we all exist or have strength comes from him.\nThat eternal Spirit reigns,\nsent at once by Christ and by the Father.\nBright, he enters chaste hearts,\nwhich, consecrated in place of a temple, smile,\nonce they have drunk in God to their marrow.\nBut if he perceives any vice or guile\narise within the inward parts already dedicated,\nhe flees swiftly as from a defiled shrine.\nFor a foul horror, conscious of seething guilt,\nreeks with thick vapor,\nand in its blackness drives away the offended Good.\nNor do modesty and innocent vows alone\nmake up a lasting temple for Christ\nin the bosom and recess of the inmost heart;\nbut care must be taken that gluttony does not seethe,\nwhich crams the seat of faith full of food\nand compresses it within into a heap.\nHearts unburdened by sparing meals\nbetter receive the God who is poured into them:","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 4.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/4-1)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/4.33":{"o":"Hic pastus animae est, saporque verus.\nSed nos tu gemino fovens paratu ,\nArtus atque animas utroque pastu\nConfirmas, Pater, ac vigore comples.\nSic olim tua praecluens potestas,\nInter raucisonos situm leones,\nInlapsis dapibus virum refovit.\nIllum fusile numen exsecrantem,\nEt curvare caput sub expolita\nAeris materia nefas putantem\nPlebs dirae Babylonis, ac tyrannus\nMorti subdiderant, feris dicarant,\nSaevis protinus haustibus vorandum.\nO semper pietas fidesque tuta !\nLambunt indomiti virum leones,\nIntactumque Dei tremunt alumnum.\nAdstant comminus et iubas reponunt:\nMansuescit rabies, fameque blanda\nPraedam rictibus ambit incruentis.\nSed quum tenderet ad snperna palmas,\nExpertumque sibi Deum rogaret,\nClausus iugiter, indigensque victus ,\nlussus nuntius advolare terris,\nQni pastum famulo daret probato ,\nRaptim desilit obsequente mundo.\nCernit forte procul dapes inemptas,\nQuas messoribus Abacuc propheta\nAgresti bonus exhibebat arte.\nHuius caesarie manu prehensa,\nPlenis, sicut erat, gravem canistris\nSuspensum rapit, et vehit per auras.\nTum raptus simul ipse, prandiumque\nSensim labitur in lacum leonum.","t":"This is the soul’s food, and the true savor.\nBut you, Father, cherishing us with a twofold provision,\nstrengthen both limbs and souls with both kinds of food\nand fill them with vigor.\nSo once your shining power\nrefreshed a man placed among hoarse-roaring lions\nwith food that slipped down from above.\nHim, who cursed the molten deity\nand thought it a sin to bow his head\nbeneath the polished bronze,\nthe people of dread Babylon and the tyrant\nhad handed over to death, had devoted to wild beasts,\nto be devoured at once by their savage gulps.\nO piety and faith, ever safe!\nThe untamed lions lick the man\nand tremble at God’s nurseling, untouched.\nThey stand close by and lay down their manes;\ntheir rage grows gentle, and, fawning in their hunger,\nthey court their prey with bloodless jaws.\nBut when he stretched his palms to heaven\nand called upon the God he had proved,\nshut in continually and in want of food,\na messenger bidden to fly to earth,\nto give food to the servant who had stood the test,\nleaps swiftly down as the world yields to him.\nHe sees by chance, far off, food not bought,\nwhich the prophet Habakkuk\nwas kindly offering to reapers with rustic skill.\nSeizing him by the hair with his hand,\nheavy as he was with full baskets,\nhe snatches him up, suspended, and carries him through the air.\nThen, snatched away, he and the meal together\nglide gently down into the lions’ den.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 4.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/4-33)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/4.65":{"o":"Et quas tunc epulas gerebat, offert.\n« Sumas laetus, ait, libensque carpas,\nQuae summus Pater, angelusque Christi\nMittunt liba tibi sub hoc periclo ».\nHis sumptis, Daniolus excitavit\nIn caelum faciem ; ciboque fortis\nAmen reddidit, alleluia dixit.\nSic nos, muneribus tuis refecti,\nLargitor Deus omnium bonorum,\nGrates reddimus, et sacramus hymnos.\nTu nos tristifico velut tyranno,\nMundi scilicet impotentis actu\nConclusos regis, et feram repellis ,\nQuae circumfremit, ac vorare tentat,\nInsanos acuens furore dentes ;\nCum te, summe Deus, precemur unum.\nVexamur, premimur, malis rotamur :\nOderunt, lacerant, trahunt, lacessunt;\nIuncta est suppliciis fides iniquis.\nNec defit tamen anxiis medela;\nNam, languente truci leonis ira,\nInlapsae superingeruntur escae.\nQuas si quis sitienter hauriendo,\nNon gustu tenui sed ore pleno,\nInternis velit implicare venis,\nHic sancto satiatus ex propheta,\nIustorum capiet cibos virorum ,\nQui fructum domino metunt perenni.\nNil est dulcius ac magis saporum,\nNil quod plus hominem iuvare possit,\nQuam vatis pia praecinentis orsa.\nHis sumptis licet insolens potestas\nPravum iudicet, inrogetque mortem;\nImpasti licet irruant leones ,","t":"and he offers the food that he was then carrying.\n“Take it gladly,” he says, “and eat it willingly:\nthese cakes the most high Father and the angel of Christ\nsend you in this danger.”\nWhen he had taken them, Daniel lifted\nhis face to heaven, and, strong with the food,\nhe answered “Amen” and said “Alleluia.”\nSo we, refreshed by your gifts,\nGod, bountiful giver of all good things,\ngive thanks and consecrate hymns.\nYou rule us, shut in as by a grim tyrant,\nthat is, by the doings of a world without self-control,\nand you drive back the beast\nthat roars around us and tries to devour us,\nsharpening its maddened teeth in fury,\nwhen we pray to you, highest God, alone.\nWe are harassed, crushed, rolled about by evils;\nthey hate, mangle, drag, provoke us;\nfaith is joined to unjust tortures.\nYet healing is not lacking to the anxious;\nfor, while the lion’s savage anger languishes,\nfood that slips down from above is heaped upon us.\nIf anyone, drinking this thirstily,\nnot with a slight taste but with a full mouth,\nwould take it into his inner veins,\nhe, filled from the holy prophet,\nwill take the food of righteous men\nwho reap fruit for the everlasting Lord.\nNothing is sweeter or more savory,\nnothing that can help a man more,\nthan the holy words of the prophet singing beforehand.\nWhen these are taken, though arrogant power\nmay judge a man wicked and impose death,\nthough unfed lions may rush upon him,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 4.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–98; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/4-65)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/5.1":{"o":"Inventor rutili, Dux bone, luminis,\nQui certis vicibus tempora dividis,\nMerso sole, chaos ingruit horridum:\nLucem redde tuis, Christe, fidelibus.\nQuamvis innumero sidere regiam,\nLunarique polum lampade pinxeris ,\nIncussu silicis lumina nos tamen\nMonstras saxigeno semine quaerere ,\nNe nesciret homo spem sibi luminis\nQui dici stabilem se voluit petram,\nNostris igniculis unde genus venit ;\nPinguis quos olei rore madentibus\nLychnis, aut facibus pascimus aridis:\nQuin et fila favis scirpea floreis\nPresso melle prius conlita ungimus.\nVivax flamma viget, seu cava testula\nSuccum linteolo suggerit ebrio,\nSeu pinus piceam fert alimoniam,\nSeu ceram teretem stuppa calens bibit.\nNectar de liquido vertice fervidum\nGuttatim lacrimis stillat olentibus ;\nAmbustum quoniam vis facit ignea\nImbrem de madido flere cacumine.\nSplendent ergo tuis muneribus, Pater,\nFlammis mobilibus scilicet atria,\nAbsentemque diem lux agit aemula,\nQuam nox cum lacero victa fugit peplo.\nSed quis non rapidi luminis arduam\nManantemque Deo cernat originem?\nMoses nempe Deum spinifera in rubo\nVidit conspicuo lumine flammeum.\nFelix, qui meruit sentibus in sacris","t":"Creator of the glowing light, good Leader,\nwho divide the seasons by fixed turns,\nthe sun has sunk, and horrid chaos falls upon us:\ngive back the light to your faithful, Christ.\nAlthough you have painted the royal sky\nwith countless stars and with the lamp of the moon,\nyet you show us how to seek light\nby striking flint, from the seed in the rock,\nso that man might not be ignorant that his hope of light\n[is founded in the solid body of Christ,]\nwho willed to be called the steadfast rock,\nfrom which the race of our little fires comes;\nthese we feed with lamps soaked in the dew\nof rich oil, or with dry torches;\nand we also smear wicks of rush\nfirst coated with honey pressed from the flowery combs.\nThe lively flame thrives, whether a hollow little pot\nsupplies juice to the drunken wick,\nor the pine bears pitchy nourishment,\nor the hot tow drinks in the smooth wax.\nHot nectar from the melting top\ndrips drop by drop in fragrant tears,\nsince the fiery force makes the burnt part\nweep a shower from its moist top.\nSo by your gifts, Father,\nthe halls shine with moving flames,\nand a rival light drives off the absent day,\nbefore which night, defeated, flees with torn robe.\nBut who would not see that the swift light\nhas a lofty origin, flowing from God?\nMoses indeed saw God, flaming with conspicuous light,\nin the thorny bush.\nHappy he who was found worthy, in the sacred brambles,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 5.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/5-1)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/5.129":{"o":"Nec fervent solito flumina sulphure.\nNos festis trahimus per pia gaudia\nNoctem conciliis , votaque prospera\nCertatim vigili congerimus prece ;\nExstructoque agimus liba sacrario.\nPendent mobilibus lumina funibus,\nQuae suffixa micant per laquearia,\nEt de languidulis fota natatibus\nLucem perspicuo flamma iacit vitro.\nCredas stelligeram desuper aream\nOrnatam geminis stare Trionibus,\nEt qua Bosphoreum temo regit iugum\nPassim purpureos spargier Hesperos.\nNoctis principio grex tuus offerat,\nLucem, qua tribuis nil praetiosius:\nLucem, qua reliqua praemia cernimus !\nTu lux vera oculis, lux quoque sensibus,\nIntus tu speculum, tu speculum foris ,\nPer Christum genitum, summe Pater, tuum,\nQui noster Dominus, qui tuus unicus,\nPer quem splendor, honos, laus, sapientia,\nMaiestas, bonitas, et pietas tua\nRegnum continuat numine triplici,\nTexens perpetuis saecula saeculis.","t":"nor do the rivers boil with their usual sulphur.\nWe spend the night in festal gatherings\namid holy joys, and, vying with one another,\nheap up prayers for blessing in wakeful supplication,\nand present our offerings at the shrine that has been built.\nLights hang from swaying ropes,\nwhich, fastened below, sparkle along the paneled ceilings,\nand the flame, fed by its languid floating,\ncasts its light through the clear glass.\nYou would think that the starry floor above\nstood adorned with the twin Bears,\nand that, where the pole guides the Bosporan yoke,\npurple evening stars were scattered everywhere.\nAt the beginning of the night let your flock offer\nthe light, than which you grant nothing more precious,\nthe light by which we see your other gifts!\nYou are the true light to the eyes, light too to the senses,\na mirror within, a mirror without;\nthrough Christ, your Son, highest Father,\nwho is our Lord, who is your only one,\nthrough whom your splendor, honor, praise, wisdom,\nmajesty, goodness and love\ncontinues its reign in threefold divine power,\nweaving ages into everlasting ages.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 5.129 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 129–152; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/5-129)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/5.33":{"o":"Caelestis solii visere principem,\nNe sanctum involucris pollueret locum!\nHunc ignem populus sanguinis incliti\nMaiorum meritis tutus et impotens,\nSuetus sub dominis vivere barbaris,\nIam liber sequitur longa per avia.\nQua gressum tulerant, castraque cerulae\nNoctis per medium concita moverant,\nPlebem pervigilem, fulgure praevio,\nDucebat radius sole micantior.\nRex Niliaci litoris, invido\nFervens felle, iubet praevalidam manum\nIn bellum rapidis ire cohortibus,\nFerratasque acies clangere classicum.\nSumunt arma viri, seque minacibus\nPraefigit calamis spicula Gnosiis.\nDensetur cuneis turba pedestribus;\nCurrus pars, et equos, et volucres rotas\nConscendunt celeres, signaque bellica\nPraetendunt tumidis clara draconibus.\nHic iam servitii nescia pristini\nGens Pelusiacis usta vaporibus,\nTandem purpurei gurgitis hospita\nRubris litoribus fessa resederat.\nHostis dirus adest cum duce perfido,\nInfert et validis proelia viribus.\nMoses porro suos in mare praecipit\nConstans intrepidis tendere gressibus.\nPraebent rupta locum stagna viantibus,\nRiparum in faciem pervia : sistitur\nCircumstans vitreis unda liquoribus,\nDum plebs sub bifido permeat aequore.","t":"to look on the Prince of the heavenly throne,\nlest he defile the holy place with his shoes!\nThis fire the people of famous blood,\nsafe through the merits of their forefathers, though powerless,\naccustomed to live under barbarian masters,\nnow free, follow through long trackless ways.\nWherever they went, and when they had moved camp\nhastily through the middle of the dark-blue night,\na ray brighter than the sun, with its lightning going before,\nled the wakeful people.\nBut the king of the Nile shore, burning\nwith envious gall, bids his mighty force\ngo to war in swift cohorts,\nand the trumpet to sound to the iron-clad lines.\nThe men take up arms, and fix\nCretan points on their threatening shafts.\nThe crowd of foot soldiers is massed in wedges;\nsome swiftly mount the chariots, the horses and the flying wheels,\nand hold out war-standards\nbright with swelling dragons.\nHere already the nation, ignorant now of its former slavery,\nscorched by the heat of Pelusium,\nhad at last, as guest of the purple sea,\nsettled down, weary, on the Red shores.\nThe dread enemy is at hand with his treacherous leader,\nand brings battle with strong forces.\nMoses then, steadfast, commands his people\nto march into the sea with fearless steps.\nThe waters, broken, make room for the travelers,\npassable like the face of a shore; the wave stands still\naround them in glassy liquid,\nwhile the people pass through beneath the cleft sea.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 5.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/5-33)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/5.65":{"o":"Pubis quin etiam decolor asperis\nInritata odiis, rege sub impio,\nHebraeum sitiens fundere sanguinem,\nAudet se pelago credere concavo.\nIbant praecipiti turbine percita\nFluctus per medios agmina regia ;\nIn semet revolans gurgite confluo.\nCurrus tunc, et equos, telaque naufraga,\nIpsos et proceres, et vaga corpora\nNigrorum videas nare satellitum,\nArcis iustitium triste tyrannicae.\nQuao tandem poterit lingua retexere\nLaudes, Christe, tuas? qui domitam Pharon\nPlagis multimodis cedere praesuli\nCogis iustitiae vindice dextera ;\nQui pontum rapidis aestibus invium\nPersultare vetas, ut refluo in salo\nSecurus pateat, te duce, transitus,\nEt mox unda rapax ut voret impios ;\nCui ieiuna eremi saxa loquacibus\nExundant scatebris, et latices novos\nFundit scissa silex , quae sitientibus\nDat potum populis axe sub igneo.\nInstar fellis aqua tristifico in lacu\nFit ligni venia mel velut Atticum:\nLignum est, quo sapiunt aspera dulcius;\nNam praefixa Cruci spes hominum viget.\nImplet castra cibus tunc quoque ninguidus,\nInlabens gelida grandine densius :\nHis mensas epulis, hac dape construunt,\nQuam dat sidereo Christus ab aethere.\n\\ '■•• liuii imbrifero ventus anhelitu","t":"Moreover the swarthy youth, provoked\nby bitter hatred, under an impious king,\nthirsting to shed Hebrew blood,\ndares to trust itself to the hollowed sea.\nThe royal columns went, driven in headlong rush,\nthrough the midst of the waves;\nthe sea rolls back upon itself in a flood that flows together.\nThen you might see chariots and horses and shipwrecked weapons,\nthe nobles themselves and the drifting bodies\nof the dark attendants swimming,\nthe grim day of mourning of the tyrant’s citadel.\nWhat tongue at last will be able to unfold\nyour praises, Christ? You compel Pharos, tamed\nby plagues of many kinds, to yield to the leader,\nwith your right hand, the avenger of justice;\nyou forbid the sea, impassable with its rushing tides,\nto leap about, so that in the ebbing salt water\na safe passage lies open, with you as guide,\nand soon the greedy wave devours the impious;\nfor you the hungry rocks of the desert\noverflow with babbling springs, and the split flint\npours out new waters, which give drink\nto thirsty peoples under a fiery sky.\nWater like gall in a grim pool\nbecomes, by the grace of wood, like Attic honey:\nit is wood by which bitter things taste sweeter;\nfor the hope of men flourishes fixed to the Cross.\nThen too snow-like food fills the camp,\nfalling down thicker than icy hail;\nwith this feast, this fare, they furnish their tables,\nwhich Christ gives from the starry heaven.\n[Then] the wind, with rainy breath,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 5.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/5-65)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/5.97":{"o":"Quae difflata in humum quum semel agmina\nFluxerunt, reduci non revolant fuga.\nHaec olim patribus praemia contulit\nInsignis pietas Numinis unici,\nCuius subsidio nos quoque vescimur,\nPascentes dapibus pectora mysticis.\nFessos ille vocat per freta saeculi,\nDiscissis populum turbinibus regens;\nIactatasque animas mille laboribus\nIustorum in patriam scandere praecipit.\nIllic purpureis tecta rosariis\nOmnis flagrat humus, calthaque pinguia,\nEt molles violas, et tenues crocos\nFundit fonticulis unda fugacibus.\nIllic et gracili balsama surculo\nDesudata fluunt, raraque cinnama\nSpirant, et folium, fonte quod abdito\nPraelambens fluvius portat in exitum.\nFelices animae prata per herbida\nConcentu parili suave sonantibus\nHymnorum modulis dulce canunt melos,\nCalcant et pedibus lilia candidis.\nSunt et spiritibus saepe nocentibus\nPoenarum celebres sub styge feriae\nIlla nocte, sacer qua rediit Deus\nStagnis ad superos ex Acheronticis :\nNon sicut tenebras de face fulgida\nSurgens oceano Lucifer imbuit,\nSed terris Domini de Cruce tristibus\nMaior sole novum restituens diem.\nMarcent suppliciis Tartara mitibus;\nExsultatque sui carceris otio\nUmbrarum populus liber ab ignibus,","t":"flocks which, once blown down to the ground,\nhave streamed in, do not fly back in returning flight.\nThese rewards the noble kindness of the one Godhead\nonce bestowed on our fathers;\nby its help we too are fed,\nfeeding our hearts with mystic food.\nHe calls the weary through the straits of the world,\nguiding his people as the whirlwinds are parted,\nand bids souls tossed by a thousand labors\nto climb into the homeland of the righteous.\nThere, covered with purple rose-beds,\nall the ground is fragrant, and rich marigolds\nand soft violets and slender crocuses\nthe water pours forth from fleeting little springs.\nThere too balsam, sweated out from its slender shoot,\nflows, and rare cinnamon\nbreathes, and the leaf which the river, licking past\nfrom a hidden spring, carries to its outlet.\nHappy souls, through grassy meadows,\nin harmony with sweetly sounding\nmeasures of hymns, sing a sweet melody\nand tread the lilies with white feet.\nAnd the harmful spirits too often have\na famous holiday from their punishments beneath the Styx\non that night on which the holy God returned\nfrom the pools of Acheron to the world above:\nnot as the Morning Star, rising from the ocean,\ntinges the darkness with its bright torch,\nbut, greater than the sun, restoring a new day\nto the lands saddened by the Lord’s Cross.\nTartarus slackens with gentler punishments,\nand the people of shades, free from fires, exults\nin the respite of its prison,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 5.97 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 97–128; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/5-97)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/6.1":{"o":"Ades, Pater supreme,\nQuem nemo vidit unquam,\nPatrisque Sermo, Christe,\nEt Spiritus benigne.\nO Trinitatis huius\nVis una, lumen unum,\nDeus ex Deo perennis,\nDeus ex utroque missus,\nFluxit labor diei,\nRedit et quietis hora,\nBlandus sopor vicissim\nFessos relaxat artus.\nMens aestuans procellis,\nCurisque sauciata,\nTotis bibit medullis\nObliviale poclum.\nSerpit per omne corpus\nLethaea vis, nec ullum\nMiseris doloris aegri\nPatitur manere sensum.\nLex haec data est caducis\nDeo iubente, membris,\nUt temperet laborem\nMedicabilis voluptas.\nSed, dum pererrat omnes\nQuies amica venas,\nPectusque feriatum\nPlacat, rigante somno,\nLiber vagat per auras\nRapido vigore sensus,\nVariasque per figuras,\nQuae sunt operta cernit.","t":"Be present, supreme Father,\nwhom no one has ever seen,\nand you, Christ, Word of the Father,\nand kindly Spirit.\nO single power of this Trinity,\none light,\nGod everlasting from God,\nGod sent from both.\nThe labor of the day has flowed away,\nand the hour of rest returns;\nin turn gentle sleep\nrelaxes weary limbs.\nThe mind, tossed by storms\nand wounded by cares,\ndrinks with all its marrow\nthe cup of forgetfulness.\nA Lethean force creeps\nthrough the whole body, and does not\nallow any sense of sick pain\nto remain in the wretched.\nThis law was given to frail limbs\nby God’s command,\nthat a healing pleasure\nshould temper labor.\nBut while friendly rest\nwanders through all the veins\nand, as sleep waters it,\ncalms the heart on holiday,\nthe mind wanders free through the air\nwith swift vigor,\nand in various figures\nsees things that are hidden.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 6.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/6-1)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/6.129":{"o":"Frontem, locumque cordis\nCrucis figura signet.\nCrux pellit omne crimen:\nFugiunt Crucem tenebrae ;\nTali dicata signo\nMens fluctuare nescit.\nProcul, o procul vagantum\nPortenta somniorum :\nProcul esto pervicaci\nPraestigiator astu,\nO tortuose serpens,\nQui mille per meandros,\nFraudesque flexuosas\nAgitas quieta corda.\nDiscede : Christus hic est;\nHic Christus est, liquesce:\nSignum, quod ipse nosti,\nDamnat tuam catervam.\nCorpus licet fatiscens\nIaceat recline paullum,\nChristum tamen sub ipso\nMeditabimur sopore.","t":"let the sign of the Cross mark\nyour forehead and the place of your heart.\nThe Cross drives away every sin;\ndarkness flees from the Cross;\na mind dedicated by such a sign\ndoes not know how to waver.\nAway, away, you monstrous shapes\nof wandering dreams!\nAway with you, deceiver,\nwith your persistent cunning!\nO twisting serpent,\nwho through a thousand windings\nand tortuous frauds\ndisturb quiet hearts,\ndepart: Christ is here;\nhere is Christ: melt away!\nThe sign, which you yourself know,\ncondemns your band.\nThough the body, worn out,\nlies reclining for a little while,\nyet even in sleep\nwe shall meditate on Christ.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 6.129 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 129–151; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/6-129)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/6.33":{"o":"Quia mens soluta curis,\nCui est origo caelum,\nPurusque fons ab aethra,\nIners iacere nescit.\nImitata multiformes\nFacies sibi ipsa fingit,\nPer quas repente currens\nTenui fruatur actu.\nSed sensa somniantum\nDispar fatigat horror:\nNunc splendor intererrat,\nQui dat futura nosse;\nPlerumque dissipatis\nMendax imago veris,\nAnimos pavore moestos\nAmbage fallit atra,\nQuem rara culpa morum\nNon polluit frequenter,\nHunc lux serena vibrans\nRes edocet latentes ;\nAt, qui coinquinatum\nVitiis cor implicavit,\nLusus pavore multo,\nSpecies videt tremendas.\nHoc Patriarcha noster\nSub carceris catena\nGeminis simul ministris\nInterpres adprobavit.\nQuorum regressus unus\nDat poculum tyranno ;\nAst alterum rapaces\nFixum vorant volucres.","t":"For the mind, released from cares,\nwhose origin is heaven\nand whose pure source is from the upper air,\ndoes not know how to lie idle.\nImitating many-shaped\nappearances, it fashions them for itself,\nrunning through them suddenly,\nso that it enjoys a slight activity.\nBut a varying dread disturbs\nthe perceptions of dreamers:\nnow a splendor wanders in among them\nwhich gives knowledge of the future;\noften, the truth being scattered,\na lying image\ndeceives minds sad with fear\nby dark ambiguity.\nThe man whom faults of conduct, being rare,\ndo not often pollute,\nhim a calm, flashing light\nteaches hidden things;\nbut he who has entangled his heart,\ndefiled with vices,\nmocked by much fear,\nsees dreadful apparitions.\nThis our patriarch\nunder the chain of prison\nproved as interpreter\nfor two servants together;\nof whom one, restored,\ngives the cup to the tyrant;\nbut the other, fixed on a stake,\nthe greedy birds devour.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 6.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/6-33)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/6.65":{"o":"Ipsum deinde regem,\nPerplexa somniantem,\nMonuit, famem futuram\nClausis cavere acervis.\nMox praesul ac tetrarches\nRegnum per omne iussus\nSociam tenere virgam,\nDominae resedit aulae.\nO quam profunda iustis\nArcana per soporem\nAperit tuenda Christus!\nQuam clara, quam tacenda!\nEvangelista summi\nFidissimus Magistri,\nSignata quae latebant\nNebulis videt remotis;\nIpsum Tonantis agnum\nDe caede purpurantem,\nQui conscium futuri\nLibrum resignat unus.\nHuius manum potentem\nGladius perarmat anceps,\nEt fulgurans utrinque\nDuplicem minatur ictum.\nQuaesitor ille solus\nAnimaeque, corporisque,\nEnsisque bis timendus\nPrima ac secunda mors est.\nIdem tamen benignus\nUltor retundit iram,\nPaucosque non piorum\nPatitur perire in aevum.","t":"Then the king himself,\ndreaming perplexing dreams,\nhe warned to guard against the famine to come\nby shutting up stores of grain.\nSoon, made governor and tetrarch,\nbidden to hold throughout the whole kingdom\na shared sceptre,\nhe sat as lord in the palace.\nOh, what profound mysteries\nChrist opens to the righteous through sleep\nfor them to see!\nHow clear, how fit for silence!\nThe evangelist, most faithful disciple\nof the supreme Master,\nsees what lay hidden and sealed,\nthe clouds removed:\nthe very Lamb of the Thunderer,\npurple from his slaughter,\nwho alone unseals the book\nthat knows the future.\nHis mighty hand\na two-edged sword arms,\nand, flashing on both sides,\nit threatens a double blow.\nHe alone is the judge\nof soul and of body,\nand the sword, twice to be feared,\nis the first and the second death.\nYet the same, a kindly avenger,\nblunts his wrath,\nand of the ungodly allows only a few\nto perish forever.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 6.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/6-65)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/6.97":{"o":"Huic inclytus perenne\nTribuit Pater tribunal ;\nHunc obtinere iussit\nNomen supra omne nomen.\nHic praepotens cruenti\nExstinctor Antichristi,\nQui de furente monstro\nPulchrum refert tropaeum.\nQuam bestiam rapacem,\nPopulosque devorantem,\nQuam sanguinis Charybdin\nIoannes exsecratur.\nHaec nempe, quae sacratum\nPraeferre nomen ausa,\nImam petit gehennam ,\nChristo perempta vero.\nTali sopore iustus\nMentem relaxat heros,\nUt spiritu sagaci\nCaelum peragret omne.\nNos nil meremur horum,\nQuos creber implet error,\nConcreta quos malarum\nVitiat cupido rerum.\nSat est quiete dulci\nFessum fovere corpus :\nSat, si nihil sinistrum\nVanae minentur umbrae.\nCultor Dei, memento\nTe fontis et lavacri\nRorem subisse sanctum,\nTe chrismate innovatum.\nFac, quum, vocante somno,\nCastum petis cubile,","t":"To him the glorious Father\nhas given the everlasting judgment seat;\nhim he has bidden to hold\nthe name above every name.\nHe is the all-powerful\ndestroyer of the bloody Antichrist,\nwho brings back a fair trophy\nfrom the raging monster.\nThat rapacious beast,\ndevouring peoples,\nthat Charybdis of blood,\nJohn curses.\nThis beast, which dared\nto display the sacred name,\nseeks the lowest hell,\nslain by the true Christ.\nIn such sleep the righteous hero\nrelaxes his mind,\nso that with discerning spirit\nhe roams through all heaven.\nWe deserve none of these things,\nwe whom frequent error fills,\nwhom a hardened desire\nfor evil things corrupts.\nIt is enough to refresh the weary body\nwith sweet rest;\nenough, if empty shadows\nthreaten nothing harmful.\nWorshiper of God, remember\nthat you have received the holy dew\nof the font and of the washing,\nthat you were renewed with chrism.\nSee that, when sleep calls\nand you seek your chaste bed,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 6.97 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 97–128; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/6-97)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/7.1":{"o":"0 Nazarene, lux Bethlem, Verbum Patris,\nQuem partus alvi virginalis protulit,\nAdesto castis, Christe, parsimoniis,\nFestumque nostrum, rex, serenus adspice,\nIeiuniorum dum litamus victimam.\nNil hoc profecto purius mysterio,\nQuo fibra cordis expiatur lividi ,\nIntemperata quo domantur viscera,\nArvina putrem ne resudans crapulam\nObstrangulatae mentis ingenium premat.\nHinc subiugatur luxus et turpis gula ,\nVini atque somni degener socordia,\nLibido sordens, inverecundus lepos ;\nVariaeque pestes languidorum sensuum\nnn subactae disciplinam sentiunt.\nNam si licenter diffluens potu et cibo\nIeiuna rite membra non coerceas,\nSequitur, frequenti marcida oblectamine\nScintilla mentis ut tepescat nobilis,\nAnimusque in pigris stertat praecordiis.\nFrenentur ergo corporum cupidines,\nDetersa ut intus emicet prudentia :\nSic excitato perspicax acumine,\nLiberque flatu laxiore spiritus\nRerum Parentem rectius precabitur.\nHelia tali crevit observantia,\nVetus sacerdos, ruris hospes aridi:\nFragore ab omni quem remotum et segregem\nSprevisse tradunt criminum frequentiam,\nCasto fruentem syrtium silentio.\nSed mox in auras igneis iugalibus,\nCurruque raptus evolavit praepete,","t":"O Nazarene, light of Bethlehem, Word of the Father,\nwhom the birth from a virgin womb brought forth,\nbe present, Christ, at our chaste abstinence,\nand look kindly, King, on our festival,\nwhile we offer the sacrifice of fasting.\nNothing indeed is purer than this mystery,\nby which the fiber of a livid heart is cleansed,\nby which the unrestrained bowels are tamed,\nlest the fat, sweating out putrid surfeit,\nshould crush the native power of the strangled mind.\nBy this luxury and foul gluttony are brought under the yoke,\nthe degenerate sloth of wine and sleep,\nfilthy lust, shameless jesting,\nand the various plagues of the languid senses,\nsubdued, feel discipline.\nFor if, flowing licentiously with drink and food,\nyou do not duly restrain the limbs by fasting,\nit follows that, withered by frequent pleasure,\nthe noble spark of the mind grows lukewarm\nand the soul snores in a sluggish breast.\nLet the cravings of bodies therefore be reined in,\nso that wisdom, cleansed, may shine out within:\nso, discerning with sharpened insight,\nand free with a looser breath, the spirit\nwill pray more rightly to the Parent of all things.\nBy such observance Elijah grew,\nthe ancient priest, guest of the parched countryside;\nremoved and apart from all din,\nthey say, he spurned the press of crimes,\nenjoying the chaste silence of the sands.\nBut soon, caught up by fiery yoke-mates\nand a swift chariot, he flew up into the air,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 7.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/7-1)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/7.129":{"o":"Salsosque candens spuma tundit pumices :\nEructatus exit, seque servatum stupet.\nIn Ninivitas se coactus percito\nGressu reflectit ; quos ut increpaverat,\nPudenda censor imputans opprobria,\nImpendet, inquit, ira summi Vindicis\nUrbemque flamma mox cremabit, credite.\nApicem deinde ardui montis petit,\nVisurus inde conglobatum turbidae\nFumum ruinae, cladis et dirae struem,\nTectus flagellis multinodi germinis,\nNato et repente perfruens umbraculo.\nMoesta postquam civitas vulnus novi\nHausit doloris, heu! supremum palpitat:\nCursant per ampla congregatim moenia\nPlebs et Senatus, omnis aetas civium,\nPallens iuventus, eiulantes foeminae.\nPlacet frementem publicis ieiuniis\nPlacare Christum; mos edendi spernitur.\nGlaucos amictus induit monilibus\nMatrona demptis; proque gemma et serico\nCrinem fluentem sordidus spargit cinis.\nSqualent recincta veste pullati patres,\nSetasque plangens turba sumit textiles:\nImposta villis virgo bestialibus,\nNigrante vultum contegit velamine ;\nIacens arenis et puer provolvitur.\nRex ipse, Coos aestuantem murices\nLaenam revulsa dissipabat fibula ;\nGemmas virentes et lapillos sutiles,\nInsigne frontis exuebat vinculum,\nTurpi capillos impeditus pulvere.\nNullus bibendi, nemo vescendi memor,\nIeiuna mensas pubes omnis liquerat ;\nQuin et, negato lacte, vagientium","t":"and the white foam pounds the salty pumice stones:\nbelched out, he comes forth and is amazed that he is saved.\nUnder compulsion he turns back to the Ninevites with hurried\nstep; and when he had rebuked them,\nas censor charging them with shameful disgraces,\n“The wrath of the supreme Avenger,” he said, “hangs over you,\nand flame will soon burn up the city: believe it.”\nThen he goes to the summit of a steep mountain,\nto see from there the massed smoke\nof turbulent ruin and the heap of dire destruction,\ncovered by the lashes of a many-knotted growth\nand enjoying a shade that had suddenly sprung up.\nAfter the sorrowing city had drunk in the wound\nof the new grief, alas, it throbs its last:\nthrough the wide walls run in crowds\nthe people and the senate, citizens of every age,\nthe pale young men, the wailing women.\nThey resolve to appease the angry Christ\nwith public fasts; the habit of eating is spurned.\nThe matron puts on gray garments,\nher necklaces removed; and in place of gems and silk\ndirty ash sprinkles her flowing hair.\nThe fathers, in dark clothes, are squalid in ungirt robes,\nand the lamenting crowd takes woven haircloth;\nthe maiden, dressed in the shaggy hair of beasts,\ncovers her face with a black veil;\nthe boy too lies rolling in the sand.\nThe king himself, his brooch torn off,\nscattered the cloak that glowed with Coan purple;\nthe green gems and the threaded stones,\nthe badge of his brow, he put off,\nhis hair matted with foul dust.\nNo one mindful of drinking, no one of eating,\nall the young, fasting, had left the tables;\neven the infants, denied milk, wailing,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 7.129 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 129–160; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/7-129)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/7.161":{"o":"Fletu madescunt parvulorum cunulae,\nSuccum papillae parca nutrix derogat.\nGreges et ipsos claudit armentalium\nSollers virorum cura, ne vagum pecus\nContingat ore rorulenta gramina,\nPotum strepentis neve fontis hauriat :\nVacuis querelae personant praesepibus.\nMollitus his et talibus brevem Deus\nIram refrenat, temperans oraculum\nProsper sinistrum ; prona nam clementia\nHaud difficulter supplicem mortalium\nSolvit reatum, fitque fautrix flentium.\nSed cur vetustae gentis exemplum loquor?\nPridem caducis quum gravatus artubus\nIesus, dicato corde, ieiunaverit,\nPraenuncupatus ore qui prophetico\nEmmanuel est, sive nobiscum Deus.\nQui corpus istud molle naturaliter,\nCaptumque laxo sub voluptatum iugo,\nVirtutis arcta lege fecit liberum,\nEmancipator servientis plasmatis,\nRegnantis ante victor et cupidinis.\nInhospitali namque secretus loco\nQuinis diebus octies labentibus,\nNullam ciborum vindicavit gratiam,\nFirmans salubri scilicet ieiunio\nVas adpetendis imbecillum gaudiis.\nMiratus hostis posse limum tabidum\nTantum laboris sustinere ac perpeti\nExplorat arte sciscitator callida,\nDeusne membris sit receptus terreis\nSed, increpata fraude, post tergum ruit.","t":"the cradles of the little ones grow wet with weeping,\nand the sparing nurse withholds the juice of the breast.\nThe careful concern of the men shuts up\neven the herds of cattle, lest the wandering flock\ntouch the dewy grass with their mouths\nor drink from the babbling spring:\ncomplaints resound in the empty stalls.\nSoftened by these and such things, God\nreins in his brief anger, tempering the oracle,\nfavorable instead of ill-omened; for his ready mercy\nwithout difficulty releases the guilt\nof suppliant mortals and becomes the patron of those who weep.\nBut why do I speak of the example of an ancient nation?\nLong ago, when burdened with perishable limbs,\nJesus fasted with dedicated heart,\nhe who was named beforehand by the prophet’s mouth\nEmmanuel, that is, God with us;\nwho made this body, soft by nature\nand captured under the loose yoke of pleasures,\nfree by the strict law of virtue,\nemancipator of the enslaved creature\nand victor over the desire that reigned before.\nFor withdrawn in an inhospitable place,\nwhile five days slipped by eight times,\nhe claimed no comfort of food,\nstrengthening, that is, by wholesome fasting\nthe vessel that is weak toward desirable pleasures.\nThe enemy, amazed that wasting clay could\nbear and endure so much labor,\nwith cunning art, as questioner, tries to find out\nwhether God had been received in earthly limbs;\nbut, his fraud rebuked, he rushes backward.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 7.161 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 161–192; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/7-161)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/7.193":{"o":"Hoc nos sequamur quisque nunc pro viribus,\nQuod consecrati tu, magister dogmatis,\nTuis dedisti, Christe, sectatoribus,\nUt, quum vorandi vicerit libidinem,\nLate triumphet imperator spiritus.\nHoc est, quod atri livor hostis invidet,\nMundi polique quod gubernator probat,\nAltaris aram quod facit placabilem,\nQuod dormientis excitat cordis fidem,\nQuod limat aegram pectoris rubiginem.\nPerfusa non sic amne flamma extinguitur,\nNec sic, calente sole, tabescunt nives,\nUt turbidarum scabra culparum seges\nVanescit almo trita sub ieiunio,\nSi blanda semper misceatur largitas.\nEst quippe et illud grande virtutis genus\nOperire nudos, indigentes pascere,\nOpem benignam ferre supplicantibus ,\nUnam, paremque sortis humanae vicem\nInter potentes atque egenos ducere.\nSatis beatus quisque dextram porrigit\nLaudis rapacem, prodigam pecuniae,\nCuius sinistra dulce factum nesciat:\nIllum perennes protinus complent opes,\nDitatque fructus foenerantem centuplex.","t":"Let each of us now follow this, as far as he can,\nwhich you, Christ, teacher of the consecrated doctrine,\ngave to your followers,\nso that, when it has overcome the lust for devouring,\nthe spirit may triumph far and wide as commander.\nThis it is that the spite of the black enemy envies,\nthat the governor of earth and sky approves,\nthat makes the altar favorable,\nthat rouses the faith of the sleeping heart,\nthat files away the sick rust of the breast.\nFlame drenched by a river is not so put out,\nnor do snows so melt in the warm sun,\nas the rough crop of turbid sins\nvanishes, worn down under kindly fasting,\nif gentle generosity is always mixed with it.\nFor that too is a great kind of virtue:\nto clothe the naked, to feed the needy,\nto bring kindly help to those who beg,\nto draw one and the same lot of human life\nbetween the powerful and the poor.\nBlessed enough is he who stretches out a right hand\neager for praise, lavish with money,\nwhose left hand does not know the sweet deed:\neverlasting riches at once fill him,\nand a hundredfold fruit enriches the lender.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 7.193 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 193–218; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/7-193)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/7.33":{"o":"Ne de propinquo sordium contagio\nDirus quietum mundus adflaret virum,\nOlim probatis inclitum ieiuniis.\nNon ante caeli principem septemplicis\nMoses, tremendi fidus interpres throni,\nPotuit videre, quam decem recursibus\nQuater volutis sol peragrans sidera\nOmni carentem cerneret substantia.\nVictus precantis solus in lacrimis fuit:\nNam flendo pernox, inrigatam pulverem\nHumi madentis ore pressit cernuo ,\nDonec loquentis voce praestrictus Dei\nExpavit ignem non ferendum visibus.\nIoannes huius artis haud minus potens,\nDei perennis praecucurrit Filium,\nCurvos viarum qui retorsit tramites,\nEt, flexuosa corrigens dispendia,\nDedit sequendam calle recto lineam.\nHanc obsequelam praeparabat nuntius,\nMox adfuturo construens iter Deo ;\nClivosa planis, confragosa ut lenibus\nConverterentur, neve quidquam devium\nInlapsa terris inveniret Veritas.\nNon usitatis ortus hic natalibus,\nOblita lactis iam vieto in pectore\nMatris tetendit serus infans ubera;\nNec ante partu de senili effusus est,\nQuam praedicaret Virginem plenam Deo.\nPost in patentes ille solitudines,\nAmictus hirtis bestiarum pellibus,\nSetisve tectus, hispida et lanugine,\nSecessit, horrens inquinari et pollui","t":"lest the dreadful world, from near contagion of filth,\nshould breathe upon the quiet man,\nfamed long since for his proven fasts.\nThe prince of the sevenfold heaven\nMoses, faithful interpreter of the dread throne,\ncould not see until, with ten circuits\nrolled four times, the sun, travelling through the stars,\nhad seen him go without all sustenance.\nHis only food, as he prayed, was in tears;\nfor, weeping all night, he pressed the watered dust\nof the moist ground with his face bowed down,\nuntil, dazzled by the voice of God speaking,\nhe dreaded the fire unbearable to sight.\nJohn, no less mighty in this art,\nran before the Son of the everlasting God,\nhe who straightened the crooked paths of the ways\nand, correcting the winding detours,\ngave a line to be followed on a straight track.\nThis service the messenger was preparing,\nbuilding a road for God who would soon be present,\nso that steep places might be changed to level, rough to smooth,\nand that Truth, coming down to the earth,\nmight find nothing out of the way.\nBorn by no usual birth,\nin a withered bosom that had forgotten milk\nthe late-born infant reached for his mother’s breasts;\nnor was he poured forth from an aged womb\nbefore he proclaimed the Virgin full of God.\nAfterwards he withdrew into the open wilderness,\nclothed in the shaggy skins of beasts,\nor covered with bristles and rough hair,\nshrinking from being defiled and polluted","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 7.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/7-33)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/7.65":{"o":"Contaminatis oppidorum moribus.\nIllic dicata parcus abstinentia\nPotum cibumque vir severae industriae\nIn usque serum respuebat vesperum,\nRarum locustis et favorum agrestium\nLiquore pastum corpori suetus dare.\nHortator ille primus, et doctor novae\nFuit salutis : nam sacrato in flumine\nVeterum pietas lavit errorum notas ;\nSed tincta postquam membra defaecaverat,\nCaelo refulgens influebat Spiritus.\nHoc ex lavacro, labe dempta criminum,\nIbant renati non secus, quam si rudis\nAuri recocta vena pulchrum splendeat ,\nMicet metalli sive lux argentei,\nSudum polito praenitens purgamine.\nReferre prisci stemma nunc ieiunii\nLibet, fideli proditum volumine,\nUt diruendae civitatis incolis\nFulmen benigni mansuefactum Patris\nPie repressis ignibus pepercerit.\nGens insolenti praepotens iactantia\nPollebat olim, quam fluentem nequiter\nCorrupta vulgo solverat lascivia,\nEt inde bruto contumax fastidio,\nCultum superni negligebat Numinis.\nOffensa tandem iugis indulgentiae\nCensura, iustis excitatur motibus ;\nDextram perarmat rhompheali incendio,\nNimbos crepantes et fragosos turbines\nVibrans, tonantem nube flammarum quatit.\nSed poenitendi dum dator diecula,","t":"by the contaminated ways of the towns.\nThere, sparing in his dedicated abstinence,\na man of stern diligence,\nhe refused drink and food until late evening,\naccustomed to give his body scant food\nof locusts and the liquid of wild honeycombs.\nHe was the first exhorter and teacher\nof the new salvation; for in the consecrated river\nholiness washed away the marks of old errors;\nbut after it had cleansed the dipped limbs,\nthe Spirit, shining from heaven, flowed down.\nFrom this washing, the stain of crimes removed,\nthey went forth reborn, just as if a rough\nvein of gold, smelted again, shines beautifully,\nor the light of silver metal gleams,\nbright as a clear sky, its dross polished away.\nNow I would recount the lineage of an ancient fast,\nhanded down in the faithful volume:\nhow, to the inhabitants of a city to be destroyed,\nthe thunderbolt of the kindly Father, softened,\nin goodness spared them, its fires checked.\nA nation, overpowerful in insolent boasting,\nwas once strong; as it flowed wickedly,\ncorrupt wantonness had loosened it among the people,\nand thereupon, stubborn in brutish disdain,\nit neglected the worship of the supreme Godhead.\nAt last the strictness of a constant indulgence, offended,\nis roused to just emotions;\nit arms its right hand with the fire of the sword,\nand, brandishing crashing storm-clouds and roaring whirlwinds,\nshakes them in a thundering cloud of flames.\nBut while he gives a short space for repentance,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 7.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/7-65)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/7.97":{"o":"Si forte vellent improbam libidinem,\nVeteresque nugas condomare ac frangere,\nSuspendit ictum terror exorabilis,\nPaullumque dicta substitit sententia.\nIonam prophetam mitis ultor excitat,\nPoenae imminentis iret ut praenuntius;\nSed nosset ille quum minacem iudicem\nServare malle, quam ferire ac plectere,\nTectam latenter vertit in Tharsos fugam.\nCelsam paratis pontibus scandit ratem:\nUdo revincta fune puppis solvitur;\nItur per altum : fit procellosum mare.\nTum caussa tanti quaeritur periculi:\nSors in fugacem missa vatem decidit.\nIussus perire solus e cunctis reus,\nCuius voluta crimen urna expresserat,\nPraeceps rotatur, et profundo immergitur;\nExceptus inde belluinis faucibus,\nAlvi capacis vivus hauritur specu.\nTransmissa raptim praeda cassos dentium\nEludit ictus, incruentam transvolans\nImpune linguam, ne retentam mordicus\nOffam molares dissecarent uvidi:\nOs omne transit, et palatum praeterit.\nTernis dierum ac noctium processibus\nMansit ferino devoratus gutture :\nErrabat illic per latebras viscerum ;\nVentris meandros circuibat tortiles\nAnhelus, extis intus aestuantibus.\nIntactus exin tertiae noctis vice\nMonstri vomentis pellitur singultibus,\nQua murmuranti fine fluctus frangitur,","t":"in case they might be willing to tame and break\ntheir wicked lust and old trifling,\nthe terror that can be entreated holds back the blow,\nand the sentence pronounced stood still for a little.\nThe gentle avenger rouses the prophet Jonah\nto go as forerunner of the imminent punishment;\nbut since he knew that the threatening judge\nwould rather save than strike and punish,\nhe secretly turned his flight toward Tarshish.\nHe boards a lofty ship by the gangways made ready;\nthe stern, tied with a wet rope, is cast off;\nthey sail out over the deep; the sea becomes stormy.\nThen the cause of such great danger is sought:\nthe lot, cast, falls upon the fleeing prophet.\nThe one guilty man among them all, ordered to perish,\nwhose guilt the shaken urn had declared,\nis flung headlong and plunged into the deep;\ntaken from there by a monster’s jaws,\nhe is swallowed alive into the cave of its capacious belly.\nThe prey, swiftly passed through, eludes the empty bites\nof the teeth, flying unharmed over\nthe bloodless tongue, so that the wet molars\nmight not cut up the morsel held in their grip:\nhe passes the whole mouth and goes by the palate.\nFor three courses of days and nights\nhe remained, devoured, in the beast’s gullet;\nthere he wandered through the hiding-places of the entrails,\nhe went round the twisting windings of the belly,\npanting, as the bowels seethed within.\nThen, untouched, at the turn of the third night,\nhe is driven out by the retching of the vomiting monster,\nwhere at the murmuring shore the wave is broken","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 7.97 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 97–128; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/7-97)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/8.1":{"o":"Christe, servorum regimen tuorum,\nMollibus qui nos moderans habenis,\nLeniter frenas, facilique septos\nLege coerces,\nIpse quum, portans onus impeditum\nCorporis, duros tuleris labores,\nMaior exemplis, famulos remisso\nDogmate palpas.\nNona submissum rotat hora solem,\nPartibus vixdum tribus evolutis;\nQuarta devexo superest in axe\nPortio lucis.\nNos brevis voti, dape vindicata\nSolvimus festum, fruimurque mensis\nAdfatim plenis, quibus imbuatur\nProna voluptas.\nTantus aeterni favor est magistri ,\nDoctor indulgens ita nos amico\nLactat hortatu, levis obsequela ut\nMulceat artus.\nAddit et, ne quis velit invenusto\nSordibus cultu lacerare frontem ;\nSed decns vultus, capitisque pexum\nComat honorem.\nTerge ieiunans, ait, omne corpus;\nNeve subducto faciem rubore\nLuteus tinguat color, aut notetur\nPallor in ore.\nRectius laeto tegimus pudore\nQuidquid ad cultum Patris exhibemus:\nCernit occultum Deus, et latentem\nMunere donat.","t":"Christ, guide of your servants,\nwho, governing us with gentle reins,\ncurb us lightly, and restrain us\nhedged by an easy law:\nsince you yourself, carrying the hampering burden\nof the body, bore hard labors,\ngreater than any example, you soothe your servants\nwith a relaxed teaching.\nThe ninth hour rolls the sinking sun,\nthree parts having barely passed;\na fourth portion of light\nremains in the declining sky.\nWe, whose vow is short, claiming our food,\nend the fast and enjoy the tables\nabundantly filled, so that our inclined pleasure\nmay be satisfied.\nSo great is the favor of the eternal master,\nso does the indulgent teacher nurse us\nwith friendly exhortation, that a light obedience\nmay soothe the limbs.\nHe adds too that no one should wish\nto disfigure his face with unsightly,\nsqualid dress; but let comeliness of countenance\nand the combed honor of the head adorn him.\n“When you fast,” he says, “wipe your whole body,\nand do not let a sallow color, the red drawn off,\ntinge your face, nor let pallor\nbe noticed on your mouth.”\nMore rightly do we cover with glad modesty\nwhatever we present to the worship of the Father:\nGod sees what is hidden, and rewards\nthe hidden thing with a gift.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 8.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/8-1)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/8.33":{"o":"Ille ovem morbo residem, gregique\nPerditam sano, male dissipantem\nVellus adfixis vepribus per hirta\nDevia silvae,\nImpiger pastor revocat, lupisque\nGestat exclusis, humeros gravatus:\nReddit ovili.\nReddit et pratis, viridique campo,\nVibrat impexis ubi nulla lappis\nSpina, nec germen sudibus perarmat\nCarduus horrens ;\nSed frequens palmis nemus, et reflexa\nVernat herbarum coma, tum perennis\nGurgitem vivis vitreum fluentis\nLaurus obumbrat.\nHisce pro donis tibi, fide Pastor,\nServitus quaenam poterit rependi?\nNulla compensant pretium salutis\nVota precantum.\nQuamlibet, spreto sine more pastu,\nSponte confectos tenuemus artus,\nTeque, contemptis epulis, rogemus\nNocte dieque :\nVincitur semper minor obsequentum\nCura, nec munus Genitoris aequat ;\nFrangit et cratem luteam laboris\nGrandior usus.\nErgo, ne limum fragilem solutae\nDeserant vires, et aquosus albis\nHumor in venis dominetur, aegrum\nCorpus enervans ,\nLaxus ac liber modus abstinendi\nPonitur cunctis ; neque nos severus\nTerror impellit: sua quemque cogit\nVelle potestas.\nSufficit, quidquid facias, vocato\nNuminis nutu prius, inchoare,\nSive tu mensam removes, cibumve\nSumere tentas.\nAdnuit dexter Deus, et secundo\nProsperat vultu; velut hoc salubre\nFidimus nobis fore, quod dicatae\nCarpimus escas.\nSit bonum, supplex precor, et medelam\nConferat membris, animumque pascat\nSparsus in venas cibus obsecrantum\nChristicolarum.","t":"That sheep, sluggish with sickness, lost\nto the healthy flock, wretchedly scattering\nits fleece on the clinging brambles through the rough\nbyways of the forest,\nthe tireless shepherd calls back, and, the wolves\nshut out, carries it, his shoulders burdened,\n[and] gives it back to the fold.\nHe gives it back to the meadows and the green plain too,\nwhere with unkempt burrs no thorn\nquivers, nor does the bristling thistle arm\nits shoots with stakes;\nbut a grove thick with palms, and the curling\nfoliage of the grasses blooms in spring, and the evergreen\nlaurel overshadows the glassy pool\nwith its living streams.\nFor these gifts, faithful Shepherd,\nwhat service can be paid back to you?\nNo vows of those who pray\ncompensate for the price of salvation.\nHowever much, spurning food beyond measure,\nwe willingly thin our wasted limbs,\nand, despising feasts, beseech you\nnight and day,\nthe lesser care of those who obey is always outdone,\nnor does it equal the Father’s gift;\nand too great a practice of labor\nbreaks the frame of clay.\nTherefore, lest its loosened strength\nshould desert the fragile mud, and watery\nhumor rule in the white veins,\nenfeebling the sick body,\na lax and free measure of abstinence\nis set for all; nor does stern terror\ndrive us: his own power moves each\nto will.\nIt is enough, whatever you do, to begin it\nafter first invoking the assent of the Godhead,\nwhether you put the table away\nor try to take food.\nGod nods his favor and prospers it\nwith kindly countenance; and so we trust\nthat this will be wholesome for us,\nthat we take the food we have dedicated.\nMay it be good, I humbly pray, and bring healing\nto the limbs, and may the food, spread through the veins\nof the worshipers of Christ who pray,\nnourish the soul.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 8.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–78; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/8-33)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/9.1":{"o":"Da, puer, plectrum, choreis ut canam fidelibus\nDulce carmen et melodum, gesta Christi insignia :\nHunc Camoena nostra solum pangat, hunc laudet lyra.\nChristus est, quem rex sacerdos adfuturum protinus\nInfulatus concinebat voce, chorda, et tympano,\nSpiritum caelo influentem per medullas hauriens.\nFacta nos, et iam probata pangimus miracula :\nTestis orbis est; nec ipsa terra quod vidit, negat,\nComminus Deum docendis proditum mortalibus.\nCorde fusus ex Parentis ante mundi exordium,\nOmnium, qnae sunt, fuerunt, quaeque post futura sunt.\nIpse iussit, et creata; dixit ipse, et facta sunt\nTerra, caelum, fossa ponti, trina rerum machina,\nQuaeque in his vigent sub alto solis et lunae globo.\nCorporis formam caduci, membra morti obnoxia\nInduit, ne gens periret primoplasti ex germine ,\nMerserat quam lex profundo noxialis tartaro.\nO beatus ortus ille, Virgo quum puerpera\nEdidit nostram salutem, foeta Sancto Spiritu,\nEt Puer redemptor orbis os sacratum protulit !\nPsallat altitudo caeli, psallite omnes Angeli,\nQuidquid est virtutis usquam psallat in laudem Dei:\nNulla linguarum silescat, vox et omnis consonet.\nEcce, quem vates vetustis concinebant saeculis,\nQuem prophetarum fideles paginae spoponderant,\nEmicat, promissus olim: cuncta conlaudent eum.\nCantharis infusa lympha fit falernum nobile:\nNuntiat vinum minister esse promtum ex hydria;\nIpse rex sapore tinctis obstupescit poculis.\nMembra morbis ulcerosa, viscerum putredines\nMando ut abluantur, inquit; fit ratum quod iusserat :","t":"Give me the plectrum, boy, that I may sing to the faithful dances\na sweet and tuneful song, the glorious deeds of Christ:\nhim alone let my Muse celebrate, him let my lyre praise.\nIt is Christ, whose coming the king and priest\nsang of long ago, wearing the fillet, with voice, string and drum,\ndrinking in through his marrow the Spirit flowing from heaven.\nWe sing of miracles done and already proved;\nthe world is witness, nor does the earth itself deny what it saw,\nGod revealed face to face to teach mortals.\nBegotten from the Father’s heart before the world began,\n[he is the source and end] of all things that are, that have been, and that shall be hereafter.\nHe himself commanded, and they were created; he spoke, and they were made:\nearth, heaven, the deep of the sea, the threefold fabric of things,\nand all that thrives in them beneath the high orb of sun and moon.\nHe put on the form of a perishable body, limbs liable to death,\nso that the race sprung from the first-formed man might not perish,\nwhich the law of guilt had plunged into deep Tartarus.\nO that blessed birth, when the Virgin in childbed,\nmade fruitful by the Holy Spirit, brought forth our salvation,\nand the Child, Redeemer of the world, showed his sacred face!\nLet the height of heaven sing psalms, sing psalms, all you angels,\nlet whatever power there is anywhere sing psalms in praise of God:\nlet no tongue be silent, and let every voice sound together.\nSee, he whom the prophets sang of in ancient ages,\nwhom the faithful pages of the prophets had pledged,\nshines forth, promised long ago: let all things praise him together.\nWater poured into jars becomes noble Falernian;\nthe servant announces that wine is drawn from the water-pot;\nthe master of the feast himself is amazed at the tinctured cups.\n“Limbs ulcerous with disease, rotting flesh,\nI command to be washed clean,” he says; what he commanded is done:","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 9.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/9-1)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/9.33":{"o":"Turgidam cutem repurgant vulnerum piamina.\nTu perennibus tenebris iam sepulta lumina\nIllinis limo salubri, sacri et oris nectare;\nMox apertis hac medela lux reducta est orbibus.\nIncrepas ventum furentem, quod procellis tristibus\nVertat aequor fundo ab imo, vexet et vagam ratem :\nIlle iussis obsecundat, mitis unda sternitur.\nExtimum vestis sacratae furtim mulier attigit :\nProtinus salus secuta est; ora pallor deserit,\nSistitur rivus, cruore qui fluebat perpeti.\nExitu dulcis iuventae raptum ephebum viderat,\nOrba quem mater supremis funerabat fletibus:\nSurge, dixit ; ille surgit, matri et adstans redditur.\nSole iam quarto carentem, iam sepulcro absconditum\nLazarum iubet vigere, reddito spiramine :\nFoetidum iecur reductus rursus intrat halitus.\nAmbulat per stagna ponti, summa calcat fluctuum ;\nMobilis liquor profundi pendulam praestat viam ,\nNec fatiscit unda sanctis pressa sub vestigiis.\nSuetus antro bnstuali sub catenis frendere,\nMentis impos, efferatis percitus furoribus\nProsilit, ruitque supplex, Christum adesse ut senserat.\nCorripit gregis suilli sordida spurcamina ,\nSeque nigris mergit undis, ut pecus lymphaticum.\nQuinque panibus peresis, et gemellis piscibus,\nAdfatim refecta iam sunt accubantum millia ;\nFertque qualus ter quaternus ferculorum fragmina.\nTu cibus, panisque noster, tu perennis suavitas :\nNescit esurire in aevum, qui tuam sumit dapem ;\nNec lacunam ventris implet, sed fovet vitalia.\nClausus aurium meatus, et sonorum nescius,\nPurgat ad praecepta Christi crassa quaeque obstacula,\nVocibus capax fruendis, ac susurris pervius.","t":"the cleansing of the wounds clears the swollen skin.\nEyes already buried in everlasting darkness\nyou smear with healing clay and with the nectar of your sacred mouth;\nat once, by this cure, light is restored to the opened orbs.\nYou rebuke the raging wind for turning up the sea\nfrom its lowest bed with grim storms and harrying the drifting boat:\nit obeys your commands, the wave is laid down gentle.\nA woman secretly touched the edge of the sacred garment:\nat once healing followed; pallor leaves her face,\nthe stream that flowed with constant blood is stanched.\nHe had seen a youth snatched away at the outset of sweet youth,\nwhom his bereaved mother was burying with her last tears:\n“Arise,” he said; he arises and, standing, is restored to his mother.\nLazarus, already four days without the sun, already hidden in the tomb,\nhe bids live, his breath restored:\nthe breath, brought back, enters the stinking innards again.\nHe walks over the waters of the sea, treads the tops of the waves;\nthe moving liquid of the deep offers a hanging road,\nnor does the wave give way when pressed beneath the holy footsteps.\nOne used to gnash his teeth in chains in a tomb-cave,\nout of his mind, driven by savage frenzies,\nleaps forth and falls as a suppliant as soon as he sensed that Christ was present.\n[The spirit] seizes the filthy herd of swine\nand plunges itself into the black waters, like a frenzied flock.\nFive loaves and two fishes eaten,\nthe thousands reclining are now abundantly refreshed,\nand twelve baskets carry the fragments of the meal.\nYou are our food and our bread, you everlasting sweetness:\nhe who takes your fare never knows hunger,\nnor does it fill the hollow of the belly, but nourishes the vital parts.\nThe closed passage of the ears, unaware of sounds,\nat Christ’s command clears every thick obstacle,\nable to enjoy voices and open to whispers.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 9.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/9-33)."},"prudentius-cathemerinon/9.65":{"o":"Omnis aegritudo cedit, languor omnis pellitur,\nLingua fatur, quam veterna vinxerant silentia ;\nGestat et suum per urbem laetus aeger lectulum.\nQuin et ipsum, ne salutis inferi expertes forent,\nTartarum benignus intrat: fracta cedit ianua,\nVectibus cadit revulsis cardo dissolubilis.\nIlla prompta ad inruentes, ad revertentes tenax,\nObice extrorsum repulso, porta reddit mortuos,\nLege versa, et limen atrum iam recalcandum patet.\nSed Deus dum luce fulva mortis antra inluminat,\nDum stupentibus tenebris candidum praestat diem,\nTristia squalentis aethrae palluerunt sidera.\nSol refugit, et lugubri sordidus ferrugine\nIgneum reliquit axem, seque moerens abdidit :\nFertur horruisse mundus noctis aeternae chaos.\nSolve vocem mens sonoram, solve linguam mobilem ;\nDic tropaeum passionis, dic triumphalem Crucem:\nPange vexillum, notatis quod refulget frontibus.\nO novum, caedes stupenda , vulneris miraculum !\nHinc cruoris fluxit unda, lympha parte ex altera ;\nLympha nempe dat lavacrum, tum corona ex sanguine est.\nVidit anguis immolatam corporis sacri hostiam;\nVidit, et fellis perusti mox venenum perdidit,\nSaucius dolore inulto colla fractus sibila.\nQuid tibi, profane serpens, profuit rebus novis\nPlasma primum perculisse versipelli hortamine?\nDiluit culpam recepto forma mortalis Deo.\nAd brevem se mortis usum dux salutis dedidit,\nMortuos olim sepultos ut redire insuesceret,\nDissolutis pristinorum vinculis peccaminum.\nTunc patres, sanctique multi conditorem praevium\nIam revertentem secuti, tertio demum die\nCarnis indumenta sumunt, eque bustis prodeunt.\nCerneres coire membra de favillis aridis ,\nFrigidum, venis resumptis, pulverem tepescere:\nOssa. nervos, ac medullas glutino cutis tegi.\nPost, ut occasum resolvit, vitae et hominem reddidit,\nArduum tribunal alti victor adscendit Patris,\nInclitam caelo reportans passionis gloriam.\nMacte iudex mortuorum, macte rex viventium,\nDexter in Parentis arce qui cluis virtutibus,\nOmnium venturus inde iustus ultor criminum.\nTe senes, et te iuventus, parvulorum te chorus,\nTurba matrum virginumque, simplices puellulae,\nVoce concordes pudicis perstrepant concentibus.\nFluminum lapsus et undae, litorum crepidines,\nImber, aestus, nix, pruina, silva, et aura, nox, dies,\nOmnibus te concelebrent saeculorum saeculis.","t":"Every sickness yields, all weakness is driven out,\nthe tongue speaks which long silence had bound,\nand the sick man, glad, carries his own bed through the city.\nMoreover, lest those below be without salvation,\nin his kindness he enters Tartarus itself: the broken door gives way,\nthe hinge, unfastened, falls as the bolts are torn away.\nThat gate, ready for those who rush in, tenacious toward those who return,\nits bar thrust outward, gives back the dead,\nits law reversed, and the black threshold lies open to be trodden again.\nBut while God lights up the caves of death with golden light,\nwhile he presents bright day to the astonished darkness,\nthe sad stars of the gloomy sky turned pale.\nThe sun fled back and, soiled with mournful rust,\nleft its fiery course and hid itself in grief:\nthe world is said to have shuddered at the chaos of everlasting night.\nRelease your sounding voice, my mind; release your nimble tongue;\ntell of the trophy of the passion, tell of the triumphant Cross;\nsing of the standard that shines on marked foreheads.\nO new thing, astonishing slaughter, miracle of a wound!\nFrom here flowed a stream of blood, from the other side water;\nthe water gives the washing, and the crown comes from the blood.\nThe serpent saw the sacrificial victim of the sacred body;\nit saw, and soon lost the venom of its burnt-up gall,\nwounded with great pain, its hissing neck broken.\nWhat did it profit you, profane serpent, to have struck\nthe first-formed man with novelties by your crafty urging?\nThe mortal form, once God was received into it, washes away the guilt.\nThe leader of salvation gave himself up to a brief experience of death,\nso that the dead, long buried, might learn to return,\nthe chains of their former sins dissolved.\nThen the fathers and many saints, following the Creator who went before\nand was now returning, on the third day at last\ntake on the garments of flesh and come forth from their tombs.\nYou might see limbs coming together from dry ashes,\nthe cold dust growing warm as it took back its veins,\nbones, sinews and marrows covered with the glue of skin.\nAfterwards, when he had undone his setting and restored man to life,\nthe victor ascended to the lofty judgment seat of the Father on high,\nbringing back to heaven the glorious renown of his passion.\nHail, judge of the dead, hail, king of the living,\nrenowned for your powers at the right hand in the Father’s citadel,\nfrom where you will come as the just avenger of all crimes.\nLet old men, let young men, let the choir of little ones,\nthe throng of mothers and virgins, simple little girls,\nresound to you in harmony with chaste songs.\nLet the gliding of rivers and the waves, the edges of shores,\nrain, heat, snow, frost, forest and breeze, night and day,\ncelebrate you through all ages of ages.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Cath.</i> 9.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–111; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-cathemerinon/9-65)."}}