{"prudentius-peristephanon/1.1":{"o":"Scripta sunt caelo duorum martyrum vocabula,\nAureis quae Christus illic adnotavit litteris :\nSanguinis notis eadem scripta terris tradidit.\nPollet hoc felix per orbem terra Hibera stemmate.\nHic locus dignus tenendis ossibus visus Deo,\nQui beatorum pudicus esset hospes corporum.\nHic calentes hausit undas caede tinctus duplici ;\nInlitas cruore sancto nunc arenas incolae\nConfrequentant obsecrantes voce, votis, munere.\nExteri nec non et orbis huc colonus advenit;\nFama nam terras in omnes percucurrit proditrix,\nHic patronos esse mundi, quos precantes ambiant.\nNemo puras hic rogando frustra congessit preces ;\nLaetus hinc tersis revertit supplicator fletibus,\nOmne, quod iustum poposcit, impetratum sentiens.\nTanta pro nostris periclis cura suffragantium est !\nNon sinunt, inane ut ullus voce murmur fuderit:\nAudiunt, statimque ad aurem Regis aeterni ferunt.\nInde larga fonte ab ipso dona terris influunt,\nSupplicum caussas petitis quae medelis inrigant.\nNil suis bonus negavit Christus unquam testibus :\nTestibus, quos nec catenae, dura nec mors terruit\nUnicum Deum fateri sanguinis dispendio :\nSanguinis; sed tale damnum lux rependit longior.\nHoc genus mortis decorum est, hoc probis dignum viris,\nMembra morbis exedenda, texta venis languidis,\nHostico donare ferro, morte et hostem vincere.\nPulchra res ictum sub ense persecutoris pati !\nNobilis per vulnus amplum porta iustis panditur ;\nLota mens in fonte rubro sede cordis exsilit.\nNec rudem crudi laboris ante vitam duxerant\nMilites, quos ad perenne cingulum Christus vocat;","t":"The names of two martyrs are written in heaven,\nwhich Christ has noted there in golden letters;\nthe same names he has handed down to earth, written in marks of blood.\nThe happy land of Spain is powerful throughout the world with this lineage.\nThis place seemed to God worthy to hold the bones,\nto be the chaste host of the blessed bodies.\nIt drank in warm streams, dyed with a double slaughter;\nnow the inhabitants throng the sands smeared with holy blood,\nbeseeching with voice, vows and gifts.\nEven the dweller of the outside world comes here;\nfor report, the betrayer, has run through all lands\nthat here are patrons of the world whom they may approach with prayers.\nNo one here has heaped up pure prayers in asking in vain;\nthe suppliant returns from here glad, his tears wiped away,\nfeeling that everything he justly asked has been obtained.\nSo great is the care of these intercessors for our dangers!\nThey do not let anyone pour out an empty murmur with his voice:\nthey hear, and at once carry it to the ear of the eternal King.\nFrom there generous gifts flow to earth from the very fountain,\nwatering the cases of suppliants with the remedies they seek.\nGood Christ has never denied anything to his witnesses:\nwitnesses whom neither chains nor hard death frightened\nfrom confessing the one God at the cost of their blood;\nof their blood, but a longer light repays such a loss.\nThis kind of death is fitting, this is worthy of upright men:\nto give the limbs, which disease would eat away, woven with languid veins,\nto the enemy’s sword, and to conquer the enemy by death.\nIt is a beautiful thing to suffer the blow beneath the persecutor’s sword!\nA noble door is opened to the righteous through a broad wound;\nthe mind, washed in a red font, leaps out of the seat of the heart.\nNor had these soldiers, whom Christ calls to the everlasting belt,\nformerly led a life untrained in hard toil;","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 1.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/1-1)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/1.33":{"o":"Sueta virtus bello et armis, militat sacrariis :\nCaesaris vexilla linquunt, eligunt signum Crucis,\nProque ventosis draconum, quos gerebant, palliis\nPraeferunt insigne lignum, quod draconem subdidit.\nVile censent expeditis ferre dextris spicula,\nMachinis murum ferire, castra fossis cingere,\nImpias manus cruentis inquinare stragibus.\nForte tunc atrox secundos Israelis posteros\nDuctor aulae mundialis ire ad aram iusserat,\nIdolis litare nigris, esse Christi defugas.\nLiberam succincta ferro pestis urgebat fidem:\nIlla virgas et secures, et bisulcas ungulas\nUltro fortis expetebat, Christi amore interrita.\nCarcer inligata duris colla baccis impedit.\nBarbaras forum per omne tortor exercet manus ;\nVeritas crimen putatur, vox fidelis plectitur.\nTunc et ense caesa virtus triste percussit solum .\nEt, rogis ingesta moestis, ore flammas sorbuit:\nDulce tunc iustis cremari, dulce ferrum perpeti.\nHic duorum cara fratrum concalescunt pectora,\nFida quos per omne tempus iunxerat sodalitas :\nStant parati ferre quidquid sors tulisset ultima ,\nSeu foret praebenda cervix ad bipennem publicam,\nVerberum post vim crepantum, post catastas igneas .\nSive pardis offerendum pectus, aut leonibus.\nNosne Christo procreati mammonae dicabimur?\nEt Dei formam gerentes serviemus saeculo?\nAbsit ut caelestis ignis se tenebris misceat.\nSit satis, quod capta primo vita sub chirographo\nDebitum persolvit omne, functa rebus Caesaris :\nTempus est Deo rependi quidquid est proprium Dei.\nIte, signorum magistri, et vos tribuni absistite ;\nAureos auferte torques, sauciorum praemia :","t":"their courage, used to war and arms, now serves the sanctuary:\nthey leave Caesar’s standards, they choose the sign of the Cross,\nand instead of the windy cloths of dragons that they carried\nthey bear before them the glorious wood that subdued the dragon.\nThey think it worthless to carry javelins in ready right hands,\nto strike a wall with engines, to surround a camp with ditches,\nto stain impious hands with bloody slaughter.\nAt that time, as it happened, the cruel leader of the worldly court\nhad ordered the later descendants of Israel to go to the altar,\nto sacrifice to black idols, to be deserters of Christ.\nThe plague, girt with the sword, pressed hard on free faith;\nfaith, brave, of its own accord sought rods and axes\nand the two-pronged claws, undaunted through love of Christ.\nPrison hampered necks bound with hard chains;\nthe torturer plies his barbarous hands through every forum;\ntruth is thought a crime, a faithful voice is punished.\nThen courage, cut down by the sword, struck the sad ground,\nand, thrown onto the grim pyres, swallowed flames with its mouth:\nthen it was sweet for the righteous to be burned, sweet to endure the sword.\nHere the dear hearts of two brothers grow warm,\nwhom faithful comradeship had joined through all time:\nthey stand ready to bear whatever the final lot brought,\nwhether the neck must be offered to the public axe,\nafter the force of cracking scourges, after fiery gridirons,\nor the breast offered to leopards or to lions.\n“Shall we, begotten for Christ, be dedicated to mammon?\nAnd, bearing God’s image, shall we serve the world?\nFar be it that heavenly fire should mix itself with darkness.\nLet it be enough that our life, taken at first under a written bond,\nhas paid every debt, having performed the things of Caesar:\nit is time to pay back to God whatever is God’s own.\nGo, masters of the standards; and you tribunes, stand aside;\ntake away the golden collars, rewards of the wounded:","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 1.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/1-33)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/1.65":{"o":"Clara nos hinc Angelorum iam vocant stipendia.\nChristus illic candidatis praesidet cohortibus,\nEt throno regnans ab alto, damnat infames deos,\nVosque, qui ridenda vobis monstra divos fingitis.\nHaec loquentes obruuntur mille poenis martyres :\nNexibus manus utrasque flexus involvit rigor,\nEt chalybs attrita colla gravibus ambit circulis\nO vetustatis silentis obsoleta oblivio !\nInvidentur ista nobis, fama et ipsa extinguitur ;\nChartulas blasphemus olim nam satelles abstulit,\nNe tenacibus libellis erudita saecula\nOrdinem, tempus, modumque passionis proditum\nDulcibus linguis per aures posterorum spargerent.\nHoc tamen solum vetusta subtrahunt silentia,\nIugibus longum catenis an capillum paverint :\nQuo viros dolore tortor, quave pompa ornaverit.\nIlla laus occulta non est, nec senescit tempore,\nMissa quod sursum per auras evolarunt munera,\nQuae viam patere caeli praemicando ostenderent.\nIllius fidem figurans nube fertur annulus,\nHic sui dat pignus oris, ut ferunt, orarium:\nQuae superno rapta flatu lucis intrant intimum.\nPer poli liquentis axem fulgor auri absconditur,\nAc diu visum sequacem textilis candor fugit :\nSubvehuntur usque in astra, nec videntur amplius.\nVidit hoc conventus adstans, ipse vidit carnifex,\nEt manum repressit haerens, ac stupore obpalluit;\nSed tamen peregit ictum, ne periret gloria.\nIamne credis, bruta quondam Vasconum gentilitas,\nQuam sacrum crudelis error immolarit sanguinem ?\nCredis in Deum relatos hostiarum spiritus?\nCerne, quam palam feroces hic domantur daemones,\nQui lupino capta ritu devorant praecordia,\nStrangulant mentes et ipsas, seque miscent sensibus.","t":"the glorious pay of the angels now calls us from here.\nChrist presides there over the white-robed cohorts,\nand, reigning from his high throne, condemns the infamous gods,\nand you who fashion for yourselves laughable monsters as gods.”\nAs they say this, the martyrs are overwhelmed with a thousand punishments:\na stiff bond binds both their hands in twisted knots,\nand steel circles their chafed necks with heavy rings.\nO worn-out forgetfulness of silent antiquity!\nThese things are begrudged us, and even the report itself is extinguished;\nfor long ago a blasphemous guard took away the records,\nlest the ages, instructed by tenacious little books,\nshould spread with sweet tongues through the ears of posterity\nthe order, time and manner of the passion they had handed down.\nThis alone, however, the silence of antiquity withholds:\nwhether in perpetual chains they let their hair grow long,\nwith what pain the torturer tormented the men, or with what pomp he adorned them.\nThat glory is not hidden, nor does it grow old with time,\nthat gifts sent up flew upward through the air,\nto show by flashing ahead that the way to heaven lay open.\nThe one’s ring, figuring his faith, is borne up in a cloud;\nthe other gives his handkerchief, as they say, as a pledge of his mouth:\nthese, snatched up by a breath from above, enter the inmost light.\nThe gleam of the gold is hidden in the axis of the clear sky,\nand the whiteness of the cloth long escapes the eye that follows it:\nthey are carried up to the stars and are seen no more.\nThe assembly standing by saw this, the executioner himself saw it,\nand held back his hand, hesitating, and grew pale with astonishment;\nbut yet he completed the blow, lest the glory perish.\nDo you now believe, once brutish heathenism of the Basques,\nwhat sacred blood cruel error sacrificed?\nDo you believe the spirits of the victims were carried back to God?\nSee how openly the fierce demons are tamed here,\nwho in wolfish fashion devour the hearts they have seized,\nstrangle the very minds, and mingle themselves with the senses.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 1.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/1-65)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/1.97":{"o":"Tunc, suo iam plenus hoste, sistitur forens homo,\nSpumeas efflans salivas, cruda torquens lumina,\nExpiandus quaestione non suorum criminum.\nAudias, nec tortor instat, eiulatus flebiles :\nScinditur per flagra corpus, nec flagellum cernitur ;\nCrescit et suspensus ipse vinculis latentibus.\nHis modis spurcum latronem martyrum virtus quatit :\nHaec coercet, torquet, urit, haec catenas incutit;\nPraedo vexatus relictis se medullis exuit :\nLinquit inlaesam rapinam, faucibus siccis fugit,\nUngue ab imo usque ad capillum salva reddit omnia ,\nConfitens ardere sese ; nam gehennae est incola.\nQuid loquar purgata longis alba morbis corpora?\nAlgidus quum decoloros horror artus concutit,\nHic tumor vultum relinquit, hic color verus redit.\nHoc bonum Salvator ipse , quo fruamur , praestitit ,\nMartyrum quum membra nostro consecravit oppido,\nSospitant quae nunc colonos, quos Hiberus adluit.\nState nunc, hymnite, matres, pro receptis parvulis ;\nConiugum salute laeta vox maritarum strepat:\nSit dies haec festa nobis, sit sacratum gaudium.","t":"Then the raving man, already full of his enemy, is set before them,\nblowing out foaming spittle, rolling bloodshot eyes,\nto be purged by a trial for crimes not his own.\nYou may hear tearful wailings, though no torturer presses;\nthe body is torn by lashes, though no whip is seen;\nand he is hoisted up himself, hung by hidden chains.\nIn these ways the power of the martyrs shakes the filthy robber:\nit restrains, it tortures, it burns, it puts on chains;\nthe plunderer, harassed, strips himself out of the marrow he leaves;\nhe leaves his prey unharmed, he flees with dry jaws,\nhe gives everything back safe, from the bottom of the nail to the hair,\nconfessing that he burns; for he is a dweller of Gehenna.\nWhy should I speak of bodies cleansed and made white after long illnesses?\nWhen cold shivering shakes the discolored limbs,\nhere the swelling leaves the face, here the true color returns.\nThis good the Savior himself provided for us to enjoy,\nwhen he consecrated the limbs of the martyrs in our town,\nwhich now keep safe the settlers whom the Ebro washes.\nStand now, mothers, and sing hymns for little ones restored;\nlet the glad voice of wives resound for the safety of husbands:\nlet this day be a feast for us, let it be a sacred joy.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 1.97 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 97–117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/1-97)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.1":{"o":"Romane, Christi fortis adsertor Dei,\nElinguis oris organum fautor move ;\nLargire comptum carmen infantissimo :\nFac ut tuarum mira laudum concinam :\nNam scis et ipse, posse mutos eloqui.\nPlectrum palati et faucium saevus tibi\nTortor revulsit : nec tamen silentium\nIndixit ori, quo fatebaris Deum.\nVox veritatis exstingui nequit,\nNec si recisis palpitet meatibus.\nHic noster haerens sermo lingua debili\nBalbutit, et modis laborat absonis;\nSed si superno rore respergas iecur,\nEt spiritali lacte pectus inriges,\nVox impeditos rauca laxabit sonos.\nEvangelista scripsit, ipsum talia\nPraecepta Messian dedisse Apostolis :\nNolite verba, quum Sacramentum meum\nErit canendum, providenter quaerere:\nEgo imparatis, quae loquantur, suggeram.\nSum mutus ipse ; sed potens facundiae\nMea lingua, Christus, luculente disseret :\nIpse explicabit quos supremo spiritu\nDaemon tumultus, dum domatur, moverit,\nFurore pestis peior in novissimo.\nSic vulneratus anguis ictu spiculi\nFerrum remordet, et dolore saevior,\nQuassando pressis immolatur dentibus:\nHastile fixum sed manet profundius;\nNec cassa sentit morsuum pericula.","t":"Romanus, brave champion of Christ God,\nfavoring one, move the organ of my tongueless mouth;\ngrant a polished song to one most inarticulate;\nmake me sing the wonders of your praises:\nfor you know yourself that the mute can speak.\nThe cruel torturer tore out from you the plectrum\nof palate and throat; yet he did not impose\nsilence on the mouth with which you confessed God.\nThe voice of truth cannot be extinguished,\nnot even if it throbs with its passages cut off.\nHere my speech, sticking with a weak tongue,\nstammers and labors in harsh measures;\nbut if you sprinkle my liver with dew from above,\nand water my breast with spiritual milk,\nmy hoarse voice will release its hampered sounds.\nThe evangelist wrote that the Messiah himself\ngave such precepts to the apostles:\n“Do not, when my Sacrament\nmust be sung, seek out words in advance:\nto the unprepared I will suggest what they should say.”\nI am mute myself; but my tongue, mighty in eloquence,\nChrist, will speak brilliantly:\nhe himself will unfold what tumults the demon\nstirred with his last breath, while he was being tamed,\nworse in the frenzy of his plague at the very end.\nSo a serpent wounded by the blow of a dart\nbites back the iron, and, more savage with pain,\nis destroyed by shaking it with its pressed teeth;\nbut the fixed shaft remains deeper,\nnor does it feel the vain dangers of the bites.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-1)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.1025":{"o":"Postquam cadaver sanguine egesto rigens\nCompage ab illa flamines retraxerint,\nProcedit inde pontifex, visu horridus,\nOstentat udum verticem, barbam gravem,\nVittas madentes, atque amictus ebrios.\nHunc inquinatum talibus contagiis,\nTabo recentis sordidum piaculi,\nOmnes salutant atque adorant eminus,\nVilis quod illum sanguis et bos mortuus\nFoedis latentem sub cavernis laverint.\nAddamus illam, vis, hecatomben tuam?\nCentena ferro quum cadunt animalia,\nVariaque abundans caede restagnat cruor,\nVix ut cruentis augures natatibus\nPossint meare per profundum sanguinis.\nSed quid macellum pingue pulvinarium,\nQuid maximorum lancinatores gregum,\nEviscerata carne crudos criminor?\nSunt sacra, quando vosmet ipsi exciditis,\nVotivus et quum membra detruncat dolor.\nCultrum in lacertos exserit fanaticus,\nSectisque Matrem brachiis placat deam,\nFurere ac rotari ius putatur mysticum :\nParca ad secandum dextra fertur impia,\nCaelum meretur vulnerum crudelitas.\nAst hic metenda dedicat genitalia,\nNumen reciso mitigans ab inguine;\nOffert pudendum semivir donum deae:\nIllam, revulsa masculini germinis\nVena, effluenti pascit auctam sanguine.\nUterque sexus sanctitati displicet,\nMedium retentat inter alternum genus:","t":"After the flamens have drawn back the corpse, stiff\nwith the blood drained out, from that framework,\nthe pontiff comes forth from there, horrid to see,\nand shows off his wet head, his heavy beard,\nhis dripping fillets and drunken garments.\nHim, defiled with such contagions,\nfilthy with the gore of the fresh expiation,\nall greet and adore from afar,\nbecause cheap blood and a dead ox\nhave washed him as he lay hidden under foul caverns.\nShall we add, if you like, that hecatomb of yours?\nWhen a hundred animals fall by the iron,\nand the blood, abounding from the varied slaughter, stagnates,\nso that the augurs can scarcely pass\nwith bloody swimming through the depth of blood.\nBut why do I accuse the fat butchery of the sacred couches,\nwhy the butchers of the greatest flocks,\nraw with disemboweled flesh?\nThere are rites when you cut yourselves,\nand when votive pain lops off limbs.\nThe fanatic draws his knife against his arms,\nand appeases the Mother goddess with cut arms;\nto rage and whirl is thought a mystic right;\na right hand sparing in cutting is held impious;\nthe cruelty of wounds earns heaven.\nBut this one dedicates his genitals to be reaped,\nappeasing the goddess with a cut groin;\nthe half-man offers a shameful gift to the goddess:\nhe feeds her, enlarged, with the flowing blood,\nthe vein of the male seed torn out.\nEach sex displeases this holiness;\nhe keeps a middle between the two kinds,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.1025 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1025–1056; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-1025)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.1057":{"o":"Idem ut nec vir sit ille, nec sit femina.\nFelix deorum Mater imberbes sibi\nParat ministros laevibus novaculis.\nQuid, quum sacrandus accipit sphragitidas?\nAcus minutas ingerunt fornacibus:\nHis membra pergunt urere, ut igniverint:\nQuamcumque partem corporis fervens nota\nStigmarit, hanc sic consecratam praedicant.\nFunctum deinde quum reliquit spiritus,\nEt ad sepulcrum pompa fertur funeris,\nPartes per ipsas imprimuntur bracteae;\nInsignis auri lamina obducit cutem,\nTegitur metallo, quod perustum est ignibus.\nHas ferre poenas cogitur gentilitas :\nHac dii coercent lege cultores suos:\nSic daemon ipse ludit hos, quos ceperit,\nDocet exsecrandas ferre contumelias,\nTormenta inuri mandat infelicibus.\nAt noster iste sanguis ex vestra fluit\nCrudelitate : vos tyrannide impia\nExulceratis innocentum corpora.\nSi vos sinatis, incruente vivimus;\nAt si cruente puniamur, vincimus.\nSed iam silebo : finis instat debitus,\nFinis malorum, passionis gloria :\nIam non licebit, improbe, ut licuit modo,\nTorquere nostra vel secare viscera ;\nCedas necesse est victus et iam desinas.\nCessabit equidem tortor et sector dehinc. » —\nIudex minatur : — « Sed peremptoris manus\nSuccedet illis strangulatrix faucium ;\nAliter silere nescit oris garruli","t":"so that the same is neither a man nor a woman.\nThe happy Mother of the gods prepares for herself\nbeardless ministers with smooth razors.\nWhat of when the one to be consecrated receives the seals?\nThey put little needles into furnaces:\nwith these they go on to burn his limbs, when they have grown fiery:\nwhatever part of the body the hot mark\nhas branded, this they proclaim thus consecrated.\nThen, when the spirit has left the dead man,\nand the funeral procession carries him to the tomb,\ngold leaf is pressed on those very parts;\na glorious plate of gold covers the skin,\nwhat was burned by fire is covered with metal.\nHeathenism is compelled to bear these punishments;\nby this law the gods constrain their worshipers:\nso the demon himself mocks those he has caught,\nteaches them to bear accursed outrages,\norders torments to be burned into the unhappy.\nBut this blood of ours flows from your\ncruelty: you, with impious tyranny,\nulcerate the bodies of the innocent.\nIf you let us, we live bloodlessly;\nbut if we are punished bloodily, we conquer.\nBut now I shall be silent: the due end is at hand,\nthe end of evils, the glory of the passion:\nnow it will not be allowed, wicked man, as it was just now,\nto torture or cut our inner parts;\nyou must yield, conquered, and now stop.\nThe torturer and cutter will indeed cease from now on.”\nThe judge threatens: “But the hand of the slayer\nwill succeed them, strangling the throat;\notherwise the restless voice of the garrulous mouth","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.1057 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1057–1088; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-1057)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.1089":{"o":"Vox inquieta, quam tubam si fregero. » —\nDixit, foroque protrahi iussit virum,\nTrudi in tenebras noxialis carceris :\nElidit illic fune collum martyris\nLictor nefandus. Sic peracta est passio;\nAnima absoluta vinculis caelum petit.\nGesta intimasse cuncta fertur Principi\nPraefectus, addens ordinem voluminum,\nSeriemque tantae digerens tragoediae.\nNotansque omne crimen in fasces refert\nSuum tyrannus chartulis vivacibus.\nHas sed vetustas conficit diutina;\nFuligo fuscat, pulvis obducit situ,\nCarpit senectus, aut ruinis obruit :\nInscripta Christo pagina immortalis est,\nNec obsolescit ullus in caelis apex.\nExcepit adstans Angelus coram Deo\nEt quae locutus martyr, et quae pertulit;\nNec verba solum disserentis condidit,\nSed ipsa pingens vulnera expressit stilo,\nLaterum, genarum, pectoris, et faucium :\nOmnis notata est sanguinis dimensio,\nUt quamque plagam sulcus exaraverit,\nAltam, patentem, proximam, longam, brevem:\nQuae vis doloris, quive segmenti modus,\nGuttam cruoris ille nullam perdidit.\nHic in regestis est liber caelestibus,\nMonumenta servans laudis indelebilis,\nRelegendus olim sempiterno iudici:\nLibramine aequo qui malorum pondera,\nEt praemiorum comparabit copias.\nVellem, sinister inter haedorum greges,\nUt sum futurus, eminus dinoscerer;\nAtque, hoc precante, diceret Rex optimus :\nRomanus orat; transfer huc haedum mihi:\nSit dexter agnus, induatur vellere.","t":"does not know how to be silent, unless I break its trumpet.”\nHe spoke, and ordered the man to be dragged from the forum\nand thrust into the darkness of the criminal prison:\nthere the wicked lictor crushes the martyr’s neck\nwith a rope. So the passion was completed;\nthe soul, released from its chains, seeks heaven.\nThe prefect is said to have reported all the deeds\nto the emperor, adding the order of the records\nand setting out the sequence of so great a tragedy.\nNoting every charge, the tyrant enters it into his bundles\nof records with durable papers.\nBut long age wears these away;\nsoot darkens them, dust covers them with mould,\nold age plucks them, or buries them in ruins:\nthe page written for Christ is immortal,\nnor does any letter grow obsolete in heaven.\nAn angel standing before God took down\nboth what the martyr said and what he suffered;\nnor did he record only the words of the speaker,\nbut, painting the very wounds, he expressed them with his pen,\nof the sides, cheeks, breast and throat:\nevery measure of the blood was noted,\nas each furrow had ploughed each blow,\ndeep, open, near, long, short:\nwhat force of pain, or what measure of cutting:\nhe lost not a single drop of blood.\nThis book is in the heavenly registers,\nkeeping the monuments of indelible praise,\nto be read again one day to the eternal Judge,\nwho with even balance will compare the weights of evils\nand the abundance of rewards.\nI would wish, when I am on the left among the flocks of goats,\nas I will be, to be distinguished from afar,\nand, at his prayer, that the best King might say:\n“Romanus prays; bring that goat over here to me:\nlet him be a lamb on the right, let him be clothed in fleece.”","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.1089 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1089–1125; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-1089)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.129":{"o":"Si confitendi nominis testem probant\nSignentque iniusta ferri et ignis vulnera,\nEt vim dolorum mors sequatur inclita.\nCave benignus esse perverse velis,\nNec, iam remissus, leniter peperceris:\nIncumbe membris, tortor, ut sim nobilis;\nHis ampliatus si fruar successibus,\nGenus patris matrisque flocci fecero.\nHaec ipsa vestra dignitatum culmina\nQuid esse censes? nonne cursim transeunt\nFasces, secures, sella, praetexta et toga,\nLictor, tribunal, et trecenta insignia,\nQuibus tumetis, moxque detumescitis ?\nQuum consulatum initis, ut vernae solent,\n(Pudet fateri!) farre pullos pascitis;\nAquila ex eburna sumit arrogantiam\nGestator eius, ac superbit belluae\nInflatus osse, cui figura est alitis.\nIam si sub aris ad sigillorum pedes\nIaceatis, infra sectilem quercum siti,\nQuid esse vobis aestimem proiectius?\nNudare plantas ante carpentum scio\nProceres togatos, matris Idaeae sacris.\nLapis nigellus evehendus essedo,\nMuliebris oris clausus argento sedet :\nQuem, dum ad lavacrum praeeundo ducitis,\nPedes remotis atterentes calceis,\nAlmonis usque pervenitis rivulum.\nQuid illa turpis pompa? nempe ignobiles\nVos esse monstrat, quum Luperci curritis.\nQuem servulorum non rear vilissimum,\nNudus plateas si per omnes cursitans","t":"if the wounds of iron and fire, though unjust,\nprove and mark me a witness confessing the name,\nand a glorious death follows the force of the pains.\nBeware of wishing to be perversely kind,\nnor, now relaxed, spare me gently:\npress on my limbs, torturer, that I may be noble;\nif, enlarged by these successes, I enjoy them,\nI shall think nothing of my father’s and mother’s family.\nThese very summits of your dignities,\nwhat do you think they are? Do they not pass by swiftly:\nfasces, axes, chair, bordered toga and robe,\nlictor, tribunal, and three hundred badges,\nwith which you swell, and soon go down again?\nWhen you enter on the consulship, as household slaves do,\n(I am ashamed to say it!) you feed chickens with meal;\nthe bearer of an ivory eagle takes on arrogance\nfrom it, and is proud, puffed up by the bone of a beast\nthat has the shape of a bird.\nNow if you lie under the altars at the feet of little images,\nplaced below a carved oak,\nwhat can I think more abject than you?\nI know that toga-clad nobles bare their feet\nbefore the carriage, for the rites of the Idaean mother.\nA little black stone, to be carried in a chariot,\nsits shut in silver with a woman’s face;\nleading it to its bath, going before it,\nwearing down your feet with shoes removed,\nyou come right to the stream of the Almo.\nWhat is that shameful procession? Surely\nit shows that you are base, when you run as Luperci.\nWhom would I not think the lowest of slaves,\nif, running naked through all the streets,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.129 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 129–160; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-129)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.161":{"o":"Pulset puellas verbere ictas ludicro?\nMiseret tuorum me sacrorum et principum,\nMorumque, Roma, saeculi summum caput.\nAge, explicemus, si placet, mysteria,\nPraefecte, vestra: iam necesse est audias,\nNolis velisve, quid colatis sordium.\nNec terret ista, qua tumes, vesania,\nQuod vultuosus, quod supinus, quod rigens,\nTormenta leti comminaris asperi ;\nSi me movere rebus ullis niteris,\nRatione mecum, non furore dimica.\nIubes, relictis Patris et Christi sacris,\nUt tecum adorem feminas mille ac mares,\nDeos deasque, deque sexu duplici\nNatos, nepotes, abnepotes editos,\nUt tot stuprorum sordidam prosapiam.\nNubunt puellae; saepe luduntur dolis,\nAmasionum comprimuntur fraudibus :\nIncesta fervent, furta moechorum calent.\nFallit maritus, odit uxor pellicem:\nDeos catenae conligant adulteros.\nOstende, quaeso, quas ad aras praecipis\nVervece caeso fumet ut caespes meus?\nDelphosne pergam? Sed vetat palaestrici\nCorrupta ephebi fama, quem vester deus\nEffeminavit gymnadis licentia.\nMox flevit impuratus occisum gravi\nDisco, et dicavit florulentum subcubam.\nConductus idem pavit alienum pecus;\nFurtum deinde perditi passus gregis,\nIgnavus bubulcus tela et ipsa perdidit.\nAn ad Cybeles ibo lucum pineum?","t":"should strike girls with a playful lash?\nI pity your rites and your leaders,\nand your morals, Rome, highest head of the world.\nCome, let us unfold, if you please, your mysteries,\nPrefect: now you must hear,\nwhether you will or not, what filth you worship.\nNor does that madness with which you swell frighten me,\nin that, grim-faced, haughty, rigid,\nyou threaten the tortures of a harsh death;\nif you are trying to move me by any means,\nfight me with reason, not fury.\nYou bid me, abandoning the rites of the Father and of Christ,\nto adore with you a thousand females and males,\ngods and goddesses, and, from the double sex,\nsons, grandsons, great-great-grandsons born,\nlike a filthy lineage of so many acts of sexual immorality.\nGirls marry; often they are deceived by tricks,\noverpowered by the frauds of lovers:\nincests seethe, the thefts of adulterers burn hot.\nThe husband deceives, the wife hates the concubine:\nchains bind together adulterous gods.\nShow me, I pray, at which altars you command\nthat my turf should smoke with a slain wether?\nAm I to go to Delphi? But the corrupt reputation\nof the athletic youth forbids it, whom your god\nmade effeminate by the licence of the gymnasium.\nSoon, defiled, he wept for him killed by a heavy\ndiscus, and consecrated his concubine as a flower.\nThe same god, hired, pastured another’s flock;\nthen, suffering the theft of the lost herd,\nthe lazy cowherd lost even his arrows.\nOr shall I go to the pine grove of Cybele?","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.161 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 161–192; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-161)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.193":{"o":"Puer sed obstat Gallus ob libidinem,\nPer triste vulnus, perque sectum dedecus\nAb impudicae tutus amplexu deae :\nPer multa Matri sacra plorandus spado.\nSed, credo, magni limen amplectar Iovis:\nQui si citetur legibus vestris reus,\nLaqueis minacis implicatus Iuliae,\nLuat severam vinctus et Scantiniam,\nTe cognitore, dignus ire in carcerem.\nQuid aureorum conditorem temporum\nCenses colendum? quem fugacem non negas\nLatuisse furtim, dum reformidat malum :\nQuem si beate vivere audit Iuppiter,\nPlectat necesse est occulendi conscios.\nQuid inter aras dissidentum numinum\nPutas agendum? Martis indignabitur\nOffensa virtus, si colatur Lemnius.\nIunonis iram sentiet, quisquis deum\nSigno aut sacello consecrarit Herculem.\nDicis, licenter haec poetas fingere.\nSed sunt et ipsi talibus mysteriis\nTecum dicati : quodque describunt, colunt.\nTu cur piaclum tam libenter lectitas?\nCur in theatris, te vidente, id plauditur?\nCycnus stuprator peccat inter pulpita,\nSaltat Tonantem tauricornem ludius;\nSpectator horum pontifex summus sedes,\nRidesque et ipse, nec negando diluis,\nQuum fama tanti polluatur numinis.\nCur tu, sacrate, per cachinnos solveris\nQuum se maritum fingit Alcmenae deus?\nMeretrix Adonin vulneratum scenica","t":"But the boy, the Gallus, stands in the way, for lust,\nthrough a sad wound and a cut-away disgrace\nsafe from the embrace of the unchaste goddess,\na eunuch to be lamented in many rites of the Mother.\nBut, I suppose, I shall embrace the threshold of great Jupiter:\nwho, if he were summoned as a defendant under your laws,\nentangled in the snares of the threatening Julian law,\nwould, in chains, pay the penalty of the severe Scantinian law too,\nand, with you as judge, deserve to go to prison.\nWhy do you think the founder of the golden ages\nshould be worshiped? You do not deny that he, a fugitive,\nhid secretly while he dreaded harm;\nif Jupiter hears that he is living happily,\nhe must punish those privy to his hiding.\nWhat do you think should be done among the altars\nof quarrelling gods? The offended might of Mars\nwill be indignant if the Lemnian is worshiped.\nWhoever consecrates Hercules as a god\nwith statue or shrine will feel Juno’s anger.\nYou say that the poets invent these things licentiously.\nBut they themselves too are dedicated with you\nto such mysteries, and what they describe they worship.\nWhy do you read a sacrilege so gladly?\nWhy is it applauded in the theaters while you watch?\nThe swan, the seducer, sins on the stage;\nthe actor dances the bull-horned Thunderer;\nyou, the supreme pontiff, sit as spectator of these things,\nand laugh yourself, nor do you wash it away by denying,\nthough the reputation of so great a deity is polluted.\nWhy, consecrated one, do you dissolve in guffaws\nwhen the god pretends to be Alcmena’s husband?\nThe stage harlot laments wounded Adonis","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.193 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 193–224; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-193)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.225":{"o":"Libidinoso plangit adfectu palam.\nNec te lupanar Cypridis sanctae movet?\nQuid? quod sub ipsis veritas signis patet,\nFormata in aere criminum vestigiis.\nQuid vult sigillum semper adfixum Iovi\nAvis ministra? nempe velox armiger\nLeno, exoletum qui tyranno pertulit.\nRem recincta veste praetendit Ceres.\nCur, si deorum nemo rapuit virginem,\nQuam nocte quaerens mater errat pervigil?\nFusos rotantem cernimus Tirynthium:\nCur, si Neaerae non fuit ludibrio?\nQuid rusticorum monstra detester deum,\nFaunos, Priapos, fistularum praesides,\nNymphas natantes, incolasque aquatiles,\nSitas sub alto, more ranarum, lacu :\nDivinitatis ius in algis vilibus?\nAd haec colenda me vocas, censor bone?\nPotesne quidquam tale, si sanum sapis,\nSanctum putare? nonne pulmonem movet\nDerisus, istas intuens ineptias,\nQuas vinolentae somniis fingunt anus?\nAt, si quid usquam vanitatis mysticae\nNobis colendum est, ipse primus incipe;\nPronusque adora quidquid in terris sacri est,\nDeos Latinos, et deos Aegyptios,\nQuis Roma libat, quis Canopus supplicat.\nVenerem precaris? comprecare et simiam.\nPlacet sacratus aspis Aesculapii?\nCrocodilus, ibis, et canis, cur displicent?\nAdpone porris religiosas arulas,\nVenerare acerbum caepe, mordax allium.","t":"openly, with lustful feeling.\nDoes not the brothel of holy Cypris move you?\nWhat of this: the truth lies open in the very statues,\nshaped in bronze with the traces of crimes?\nWhat does the image of the bird always fixed beside Jupiter mean,\nhis servant? Surely the swift armor-bearer\nis a pimp, who carried the catamite to the tyrant.\nCeres shows the thing with her ungirt robe.\nWhy, if none of the gods carried off the maiden,\ndoes her mother wander sleepless, seeking her by night?\nWe see the Tirynthian twirling spindles:\nwhy, if he was not the plaything of Neaera?\nWhy should I loathe the monsters of the rustic gods,\nFauns, Priapi, presidents of the pipes,\nnymphs swimming, and water-dwellers\nplaced under the deep lake, like frogs:\na right of divinity among cheap seaweeds?\nDo you call me to worship these, good censor?\nCan you think anything of the kind holy,\nif you have sound sense? Does not laughter shake your lungs\nas you look at those follies\nwhich drunken old women invent in their dreams?\nBut if any mystic vanity anywhere\nmust be worshiped by us, you begin first;\nand, bowed down, adore whatever is sacred on earth,\nthe Latin gods and the Egyptian gods,\nto whom Rome pours libations, to whom Canopus prays.\nDo you pray to Venus? Pray to the ape too.\nDoes the sacred asp of Aesculapius please you?\nWhy do the crocodile, the ibis and the dog displease you?\nSet little altars of religion by the leeks,\nvenerate the bitter onion, the biting garlic.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.225 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 225–256; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-225)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.257":{"o":"Fuliginosi ture placantur Lares,\nEt respuuntur consecrata oluscula?\nAut unde maior esse maiestas focis,\nQuam nata in hortis sarculatis creditur,\nSi numen ollis, numen et porris inest?\nSed pulchra res est forma in aere sculptilis.\nQuid imprecabor officinis Graeciae,\nQuae condiderunt gentibus stultis deos?\nForceps Myronis, malleus Polycliti,\nNatura vestrum est atque origo caelitum.\nArs seminandis efficax erroribus,\nBarbam rigentem dum Iovis circumplicat,\nDum defluentem leniter flectens comam,\nLimat capillos et corymbos Liberi,\nEt dum Minervae pectus hydris asperat,\nIniecit atram territis formidinem,\nUt fulmen aeris, ceu Tonantis, horreant,\nTremant venenum sibilantis Gorgonae,\nPutent Ephebum post triumphos Indicos\nFerire thyrso posse, quum sit ebrius.\nTum, quod Dianam molle succinctam vident,\nVenantis arcum pertimescunt virginis:\nSi forte vultum tristioris Herculis\nLiquore crispo massa tinxit fusilis,\nClavam minari, ni colatur, creditur.\nIam quis paventum corda terror occupat,\nIunonis iram si polite expresserit?\nVelut retortis intuens obtutibus,\nAvertat ora de litantis hostia,\nLapis severa fronte mentitur minas.\nMiror, quod ipsum non sacrastis Mentorem,\nNec templum et aras ipse Phidias habet,\nFabri deorum, vel parentes numinum :","t":"Smoky Lares are appeased with incense,\nand are the consecrated vegetables rejected?\nOr whence is greater majesty believed to be in hearths\nthan in what is born in hoed gardens,\nif there is divinity in pots, divinity too in leeks?\nBut a form sculpted in bronze is a beautiful thing.\nWhat shall I wish upon the workshops of Greece,\nwhich founded gods for foolish nations?\nThe tongs of Myron, the hammer of Polyclitus,\nare the nature and origin of your heavenly ones.\nArt, effective in sowing errors,\nwhile it curls round Jupiter’s stiff beard,\nwhile, gently bending the flowing hair,\nit files the locks and ivy clusters of Liber,\nand while it roughens Minerva’s breast with serpents,\nhas struck black dread into the terrified,\nso that they shudder at the bronze thunderbolt as if it were the Thunderer’s,\ntremble at the venom of the hissing Gorgon,\nthink that the Youth after his Indian triumphs\ncan strike with the thyrsus when he is drunk.\nThen, because they see Diana softly girt,\nthey greatly fear the bow of the hunting virgin;\nif perhaps the molten mass has tinged with curling liquid\nthe face of a grimmer Hercules,\nthe club is believed to threaten unless he is worshiped.\nNow what terror seizes the hearts of the fearful,\nif Juno’s anger has been neatly expressed?\nAs if, looking with eyes turned back,\nshe turned her face from the victim of the sacrificer,\nthe stone feigns threats with its stern brow.\nI wonder that you have not consecrated Mentor himself,\nand that Phidias himself has no temple and altars,\nmakers of gods, or parents of deities:","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.257 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 257–288; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-257)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.289":{"o":"Qui, si caminis institissent segnius,\nNon esset ullus Iuppiter conflatilis.\nNon erubescis, stulte, pago dedite,\nTe tanta semper perdidisse obsonia;\nQuae dis ineptus obtulisti talibus,\nQuos trulla, pelvis, cantharus, sartagines,\nFracta et liquata contulerunt vascula?\nIgnosco fatuis haec tamen vulgaribus,\nQuos lana terret discolora in stipite,\nQuos saepe salsus circulator decipit:\nQuibus omne sanctum est, quod pavendum rancidae\nEdentularum cantilenae suaserint.\nNescire vel divina, vel mortalia\nQuo iure constent: quanta maiestas regat,\nQuidquid creatum est, quae creavit omnia.\nDeus perennis, res inaestimabilis,\nNon cogitando, non videndo clauditur:\nExcedit omnem mentis humanae modum ;\nNec comprehendi visibus nostris valet,\nExtraque et intus implet ac superfluit.\nIntemporalis ante, quam primus dies:\nEsse et fuisse semper unus obtinet:\nLux ipse vera, veri et auctor luminis:\nQuum lumen esset, lumen effudit suum:\nEx luce fulgor natus hic est Filius.\nVis una Patris, vis et una est Filii,\nUnusque ab uno lumine splendor satus,\nPleno refulsit claritatis lumine.\nNatura simplex pollet unius Dei;\nEt, quidquid usquam est, una virtus condidit.\nCaelum solumque, vim marini gurgitis,\nGlobos dierum noctiumque praesides,\nVentos, procellas, fulgura, imbres, nubila,\nSeptemtriones, Hesperos, aestus, nives,","t":"who, if they had stood at the furnaces more lazily,\nthere would be no cast Jupiter at all.\nDo you not blush, fool, devoted to your village rites,\nthat you have always wasted so many viands,\nwhich you foolishly offered to such gods,\nwhom a ladle, a basin, a tankard, frying pans,\nlittle vessels broken and melted, have put together?\nI forgive these things, however, in the foolish common people,\nwhom wool of mixed colors on a post frightens,\nwhom a salty mountebank often deceives,\nto whom everything is sacred that the songs\nof rancid toothless old women have persuaded them to fear.\n[But that learned men should] not know by what law\nthings divine or mortal stand; how great a majesty rules\nwhatever is created, which created all things!\nGod everlasting, a reality beyond estimation,\nis not enclosed by thinking, nor by seeing:\nhe exceeds every measure of the human mind,\nnor can he be grasped by our sight;\noutside and within he fills and overflows.\nTimeless before the first day,\nhe alone always holds being and having been;\nhe is himself the true light, and author of true light:\nsince he was light, he poured forth his light:\nfrom the light this radiance was born, the Son.\nOne is the power of the Father, and one the power of the Son;\nand the one splendor, begotten from the one light,\nshone out with the full light of brightness.\nThe single nature of the one God is mighty;\nand whatever exists anywhere, one power founded:\nsky and ground, the force of the sea’s flood,\nthe globes that preside over days and nights,\nwinds, storms, lightnings, rains, clouds,\nthe northern stars, evening stars, heats, snows,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.289 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 289–320; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-289)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.321":{"o":"Fontes, pruinas, et metalla, et flumina :\nPraerupta, plana, montium convallia,\nFeras, volucres, reptiles, natatiles,\nIumenta, pecua, subiugales belluas,\nFlores, fruteta, germina, herbas, arbores,\nQuae sunt odori, quaeque vernant esui.\nHaec non labore et arte molitus Deus,\nSed iussione, quam potestas protulit,\nMandavit esse: facta sunt quae non erant.\nVerbo creavit omniformem machinam :\nVirtus Paterna semper in Verbo fuit.\nCognostis ipsum. Nunc colendi agnoscite\nRitum modumque, quale sit templi genus,\nQuae dedicari sanxerit donaria,\nQuae vota poscat, quos sacerdotes velit,\nQuod mandet illic nectar immolarier.\nAedem sibi ipse mente in hominis condidit\nVivam, serenam, sensualem, flabilem,\nSolvi incapacem posse, nec destructilem,\nPulchram, venustam, praeminentem culmine,\nDiscriminatis inlitam coloribus.\nIllic sacerdos stat sacrato in limine,\nForesque primas virgo custodit Fides,\nInnexa crines vinculis regalibus,\nPoscit litari victimas Christo et Patri,\nQuas scit placere, candidatas, simplices.\nFrontis pudorem, cordis innocentiam,\nPacis quietem, castitatem corporis,\nDei timorem, regulam scientiae,\nIeiuniorum parcitatem sobriam,\nSpem non iacentem, semper et largam manum.\nEx his amoenus hostiis surgit vapor,","t":"springs, frosts, and metals, and rivers;\nsteep places, plains, valleys of mountains,\nbeasts, birds, creeping things, swimming things,\ndraught animals, cattle, beasts of burden,\nflowers, shrubs, shoots, herbs, trees,\nthose that are for fragrance, and those that bloom for food.\nThese things God did not build with toil and art,\nbut by a command, which his power brought forth,\nhe ordered to be: things were made which were not.\nBy the Word he created the fabric of all forms:\nthe Father’s power was always in the Word.\nYou have come to know him. Now learn\nthe rite and manner of worship, what kind of temple it is,\nwhat offerings he has ordained to be dedicated,\nwhat vows he demands, what priests he wants,\nwhat nectar he commands to be sacrificed there.\nHe himself founded a temple for himself in the mind of man,\nliving, serene, sentient, breathing,\nincapable of being dissolved, not destructible,\nbeautiful, lovely, preeminent in its summit,\npainted with varied colors.\nThere a priest stands on the consecrated threshold,\nand the virgin Faith guards the first doors,\nher hair bound with royal fillets;\nshe asks that victims be offered to Christ and the Father,\nwhich she knows to please, white and simple:\nmodesty of brow, innocence of heart,\nthe quiet of peace, chastity of body,\nthe fear of God, the rule of knowledge,\nthe sober sparingness of fasts,\na hope that does not lie low, and an ever generous hand.\nFrom these victims a pleasant vapor rises,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.321 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 321–352; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-321)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.33":{"o":"Qle scrpens ore dieta n\nQui mortuorum de sepulcris exiens\nClamat: quid ante tempus adventu cito\nMea regna solvis? parce, Fili Altissimi,\nVel possidere corda porcorum iube.\nPraefectus istis imminens negotiis\nre mandat milil\nEcclesiasten usque de sacrariis\nRaptare plebem, mancipandam vinculis\nNi disciplinam Nazarenam respuat.\nMox ipse templum cogitans inrumpere,\nEt dissipare sancta sanctorum studens,\nArmis profanus praeparabat impiis\nAltaris aram funditns pessum dare,\nsqne et ipsas in ruinam solvere.\nPraecurrit index his repente cognitis\nRomanus, acris heros excellentiae,\nVenire in armis perduelles nuntiat,\nAiiimos paventum praestruens hortatibus,\nStent ut parati, neve cedant turbini.\nConspirat uno foederatus spiritu\nGrex Christianus, agmen imperterritum\nMatrum, virorum, parvulorum, virginum ;\nFixa et statuta est omnibus sententia\nFidem tueri, vel libenter emori.\nRefert repulsus miles ad subsellia,\nPlebis rebellis esse Romanum ducem,\nFlagrare cunctos pervicaci audacia,\nIugulos retectos obstinate opponere,\nQuo gloriosa morte fortes oppetant.\nPraeceps iubetur inde Romanus rapi,\nSolusque ut incitator et fax omnium,\nPro contumaci plebe caussam dicere.","t":"[as] that serpent [spoke] with his mouth,\nwho, coming out of the tombs of the dead,\ncries: “Why before the time, with swift coming,\ndo you dissolve my kingdom? Spare me, Son of the Most High,\nor bid me possess the hearts of pigs.”\nThe prefect, pressing on with these affairs,\n[…] commands the soldiers\nto drag the people of the Church\nfrom the very sanctuaries, to be bound in chains,\nunless they reject the Nazarene discipline.\nSoon he himself, planning to burst into the temple,\nand eager to scatter the holy of holies,\nwas preparing, profane man, with impious arms\nto bring the altar down utterly,\nand to dissolve [the doors] themselves in ruin.\nWhen these things were known, Romanus suddenly runs ahead\nas informer, a hero of keen excellence,\nand announces that the enemies are coming in arms,\npreparing the minds of the frightened with exhortations\nto stand ready and not yield to the whirlwind.\nThe Christian flock conspires, bound together\nin one spirit, an undaunted band\nof mothers, men, little ones, virgins;\nthe resolve is fixed and settled for all\nto defend the faith, or gladly die.\nThe soldier, driven back, reports to the bench\nthat Romanus is the leader of the rebel people,\nthat all are burning with stubborn daring,\nobstinately setting their bared throats against them,\nso that they may meet death bravely in glory.\nThen Romanus is ordered to be seized headlong,\nand, as sole instigator and torch of all,\nto plead the case for the stubborn people.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-33)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.353":{"o":"Vincens odorem balsami, turis, croci,\nAuras madentes Persicorum aromatum;\nSublatus inde caelum adusque tollitur,\nEt prosperatum dulce delectat Deum.\nHanc disciplinam quisquis infensus vetat,\nO mersa limo caecitas gentilium!\nO lutulenta nationum pectora!\nO crassus error! o tenebrosum genus!\nTerris amicum, deditum cadaveri,\nSubiecta semper intuens, numquam supra!\nFurorne summus, ultima et dementia est,\nDeos putare, qui creantur nuptiis?\nRem spiritalem terrulente quaerere,\nElementa mundi consecrare altaribus;\nEt, quod creatum est, conditorem credere?\nDolato supplicare stipiti,\nVerris cruore scripta saxa spargere,\nAras ofellis obsecrare bubulis;\nHomines fuisse quum scias, quos consecras?\nDesiste, iudex saeculi, tantum nefas\nViris iubere fortibusque et liberis :\nNil est amore veritatis celsius.\nDei perennis numen adserentibus\nNihil est pavori, mors et ipsa subiacet. » —\nDudum coquebat, disserente martyre,\nAsclepiades intus iram subdolam,\nStomachatus alto felle, dum longum silet,\nBilemque tectis concipit praecordiis;\nTandem latentis vim furoris evomit :\n— « Pro Iuppiter ! quid est, quod ex hoc audio ?\nStat inter aras et deorum imagines","t":"surpassing the scent of balsam, incense, saffron,\nbreezes moist with Persian spices;\nlifted from there, it is raised right up to heaven,\nand sweetly delights God, made favorable.\nWhoever, hostile, forbids this discipline —\nO blindness of the pagans, sunk in mud!\nO muddy hearts of the nations!\nO gross error! O dark race,\nfriendly to the earth, given over to the corpse,\nalways looking at what lies below, never above!\nIs it not the height of madness and the last insanity\nto think those gods who are created by marriages,\nto seek a spiritual thing in an earthy way,\nto consecrate the elements of the world on altars,\nand to believe that what is created is the creator?\nto pray to a hewn stake,\nto sprinkle inscribed stones with the blood of boars,\nto entreat altars with morsels of beef,\nwhen you know that those you consecrate were men?\nStop, judge of the world, commanding so great a wickedness\nto brave and free men:\nnothing is loftier than the love of truth.\nTo those who assert the divine power of the everlasting God\nnothing is a cause of fear: death itself lies beneath them.”\nFor a long time, while the martyr was speaking,\nAsclepiades had been cooking a crafty anger within,\nirritated in his deep gall, while he was long silent,\nand conceiving bile in his hidden breast;\nat last he vomits out the force of his hidden fury:\n“By Jupiter! What is it that I hear from this man?\nHe stands among the altars and the images of the gods","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.353 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 353–384; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-353)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.385":{"o":"Et, quod fateri cogor, in medio foro,\nTacente memet, ac perorat perditus,\nQuidquid sacrorum est ore foedans impio.\nO fas priorum ! moris o prisci status !\nInventa regum pro salute publica\nPompiliorum nostra carpunt saecula.\nQuis hos sophistas error invexit novus,\nQui non colendos esse divos disputent ?\nNunc dogma nobis Christianum nascitur,\nPost evolutos mille demum consules\nAb urbe Roma, ne retexam Nestoras.\nQuidquid novellum surgit, olim non fuit.\nVis summa rerum nosse? Pyrrham consule.\nUbi iste vester tunc erat summus Deus,\nDivum favore quum puer Mavortius\nFundaret arcem septicollem Romulus?\nQuod Roma pollet auspicato condita,\nIovi Statori debet et dis ceteris.\nHoc sanctum ab aevo est, hoc ab atavis traditum:\nPlacanda nobis pro triumphis principis\nDelubra, faustus ut secundet gloria\nProcinctus, utque subiugatis hostibus\nDuctor quietum frenet orbem legibus.\nAccingere ergo, quisquis es, nequissime,\nPro principali rite nobiscum deos\nOrare vita : vel, quod hostem publicum\nPati necesse est, solve poenam sanguine:\nSprevisse templa, respuisse est principem. » —\nTunc ille : — « Numquam pro salute, et maximis\nFortissimisque principis cohortibus\nAliter precabor, quam fideles ut militent,\nChristique lymphis ut renascantur Patri,\nCapiant et ipsum caelitus Paraclitum.","t":"and — I am forced to confess it — in the middle of the forum,\nwhile I am silent, the lost wretch makes his speech,\nbefouling with impious mouth whatever is sacred.\nO law of our forefathers! O state of ancient custom!\nThe institutions of the Pompilian kings, devised\nfor the public safety, our ages pick to pieces.\nWhat new error has brought in these sophists,\nwho argue that the gods are not to be worshiped?\nNow a Christian doctrine is born for us,\nafter a thousand consuls have at last rolled by\nsince the founding of Rome, not to recount the Nestors.\nWhatever rises as a novelty did not exist of old.\nDo you wish to know the sum of things? Consult Pyrrha.\nWhere was that supreme God of yours then,\nwhen by the favor of the gods the boy son of Mars,\nRomulus, was founding the seven-hilled citadel?\nThat Rome is powerful, founded under good auspices,\nit owes to Jupiter Stator and the other gods.\nThis is sacred from the beginning of time, this handed down from our ancestors:\nthe shrines must be appeased by us for the emperor’s triumphs,\nso that his campaign may favor him with glory,\nand so that, with enemies subdued,\nthe leader may curb a quiet world with laws.\nMake ready, then, whoever you are, most wicked man,\nto pray duly to the gods with us for the emperor’s\nlife; or, since a public enemy\nmust suffer, pay the penalty with your blood:\nto have spurned the temples is to have rejected the emperor.”\nThen he: “Never for the safety of the emperor and his greatest\nand bravest cohorts\nwill I pray otherwise than that they may serve as faithful men,\nand be reborn to the Father in the waters of Christ,\nand receive from heaven the Paraclete himself.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.385 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 385–416; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-385)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.417":{"o":"Ut idolorum respuant caliginem,\nCernant ut illud lumen aeternae spei,\nNon succulentis influens obtutibus,\nNec corporales per fenestras emicans,\nPuris sed intus quod relucet mentibus.\nPupilla carnis crassa crassum perspicit,\nEt res caduca, quod resolvendum est, videt:\nLiquidis videndis aptus est animae liquor:\nNatura fervens sola, ferventissimae\nDivinitatis vim coruscantem capit.\nHoc opto, lumen Imperator noverit\nTuus meusque, si velit fieri meus;\nNam si resistit Christiano nomini,\nMeus ille talis imperator non erit:\nScelus iubenti, crede, numquam serviam. » —\n— « Statis, ministri, clamitans iudex ait,\nStatis? manusque continetis vindices?\nNon rupta sulcis dissecatis viscera?\nAnimam nec intus abditam rimamini,\nErumpit unde vox profana in principem ? » —\nScindunt utrumque milites teterrimi\nMucrone hiulco pensilis latus viri,\nSulcant per artus longa tractim vulnera,\nObliqua rectis, recta transversis secant,\nEt iam retectis pectus albet ossibus.\nNitendo anhelant, diffluunt sudoribus,\nQuum sit quietus heros, in quem saeviunt.","t":"that they may reject the darkness of idols,\nthat they may see that light of eternal hope,\nnot flowing into the juicy eyes,\nnor flashing through bodily windows,\nbut shining within in pure minds.\nThe thick pupil of the flesh sees the thick,\nand, a perishable thing, sees what is to be dissolved;\nthe clear substance of the soul is fit for seeing clear things:\nthe fervent nature alone grasps the flashing force\nof the most fervent Divinity.\nThis I wish: that your emperor and mine\nmay know the light, if he wishes to become mine;\nfor if he resists the Christian name,\nsuch an emperor will not be mine:\nbelieve me, I will never serve one who commands a crime.”\n“Do you stand still, attendants,” cries the judge,\n“do you stand still, and hold back avenging hands?\nDo you not cut up the entrails, broken with furrows?\nDo you not search out the soul hidden within,\nfrom which the profane voice bursts out against the emperor?”\nThe foulest soldiers tear both sides\nof the hanging man with gaping point,\nthey plough long wounds in a line through his limbs,\nthey cut slanting lines across straight ones, straight across transverse,\nand now his breast is white with the bones laid bare.\nThey pant with effort, they stream with sweat,\nwhile the hero on whom they rage is quiet.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.417 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 417–448; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-417)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.449":{"o":"Haec inter addit sponte Romanus loqui:\n— « Si quaeris, o Praefecte, verum noscere,\nDolet, quod error pectori insedit tuo,\nPopulos quod istos perditum tecum trahis :\nCurrunt frequentes undique ad spectaculum\nVersatile vulgus, heu! gemenda corpora;\nCrudumque nostrae sortis exemplum tremunt.\nAudite cuncti: clamo longe ac praedico:\nEmitto vocem de catasta celsior:\nChristus, paternae gloriae splendor, Deus\nRerum creator, noster idem particeps\nSpondet salutem perpetem credentibus.\nAnimae salutem, sola quae non occidit,\nSed iuge durans, dispares casus subit,\nAut luce fulget, aut tenebris mergitur.\nChristum secuta Patris intrat gloriam;\nDisiuncta Christo, mancipatur Tartaro.\nCuranda mercis qualitas, quaenam mihi\nContingat olim perpetis substantiae;\nNam membra parvi pendo quo pacto cadant,\nCasura certe lege naturae suae.\nInstat ruina : quod resolvendum est, ruat.\nNec distat, ignis et fidiculae saeviant,\nAn corpus aegrum languor asper torqueat,\nQuum saepe morbos maior armet saevitas.\nNon ungularum tanta vis latus fodit\nMucrone, quanto dira pulsat pleurisis.\nNec sic inusta laminis ardet cutis,\nUt febris atro felle venas exedit ;","t":"Amid these things Romanus of his own accord goes on to speak:\n“If you seek, Prefect, to know the truth,\nit grieves me that error has settled in your breast,\nthat you drag these peoples with you to perdition;\nthe fickle crowd runs in numbers from every side to the spectacle,\nalas, bodies to be groaned over,\nand they tremble at the raw example of our lot.\nHear, all: I cry far and wide and proclaim,\nI send forth my voice higher from the rack:\nChrist, the splendor of the Father’s glory, God,\ncreator of things, and likewise sharer of our nature,\npromises everlasting salvation to those who believe:\nsalvation of the soul, which alone does not die,\nbut, enduring forever, undergoes unequal fates:\neither it shines in light, or it is plunged in darkness.\nFollowing Christ, it enters the Father’s glory;\nseparated from Christ, it is handed over to Tartarus.\nI must care for the quality of the wares, which\nof everlasting substance may one day fall to me;\nfor I care little how my limbs fall,\nwhich will certainly fall by the law of their nature.\nRuin is at hand: let what is to be dissolved fall.\nNor does it make a difference whether fire and cords rage,\nor a harsh sickness tortures the ailing body,\nsince a greater savagery often arms diseases.\nThe force of the claws does not dig the side\nwith its point so much as dire pleurisy strikes it.\nNor does the skin burnt by the plates burn so much\nas fever eats away the veins with black bile;","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.449 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 449–480; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-449)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.481":{"o":"Vel summa pellis ignis obductus coquit,\nPapulasque fervor aestuosus excitat :\nCredas cremari stridulis cauteribus.\nMiserum putatis, quod retortis pendeo\nExtentus ulnis, quod revelluntur pedes,\nCompago nervis quod sonat crepantibus :\nSic eiulantes ossa clamant dividi,\nNodosa torquet quos podagra, et arthrisis.\nHorretis omnes hasce carnificum manus.\nNum mitiores sunt manus medentium,\nLaniena quando saevit Hippocratica?\nVivum secatur viscus, et recens cruor\nScalpella tinguit, dum putredo abraditur.\nPutate ferrum triste chirurgos meis\nInferre costis, quod secat salubriter.\nNon est amarum, quo reformatur salus:\nVidentur isti carpere artus tabidos,\nSed dant medelam rebus intus vividis.\nQuis nescit autem quanta sit corruptela\nContaminatae carnis ac solubilis?\nSordet, tumescit, liquitur, foetet, dolet,\nInflatur ira, solvitur libidine :\nPlerumque felle tincta livores trahit.\nAurum regestum nonne carni adquiritur?\nInlusa vestis, gemma, bombyx, purpura,\nIn carnis usum mille quaeruntur dolis,\nLuxus vorandi carnis arvinam fovet:\nCarnis voluptas omne per nefas ruit.\nMedere, quaeso, carnifex tantis malis,\nConcide, carpe fomitem peccaminum;\nFac, ut resecto debilis carnis situ,\nDolore ab omni mens supersit libera,\nNe gestet ultra quod tyrannus amputet.\nNec terrearis turba circumstantium :\nHoc perdo solum, quod peribit omnibus,","t":"or fire drawn over the top of the skin cooks it,\nand seething heat raises pustules:\nyou would think it burned by hissing cauteries.\nYou think it wretched that I hang stretched\nwith my arms twisted back, that my feet are wrenched,\nthat my frame sounds with cracking sinews:\nso those whom knotty gout and arthritis torture\ncry out, wailing, that their bones are being divided.\nYou all shudder at these hands of the executioners.\nAre the hands of physicians gentler,\nwhen Hippocratic butchery rages?\nLiving flesh is cut, and fresh blood\ndyes the scalpels while the rot is scraped away.\nThink that surgeons are bringing grim iron\nto my ribs, which cuts for health.\nThat by which health is restored is not bitter:\nthese men seem to pluck at wasted limbs,\nbut they give healing to the things that live within.\nWho does not know how great is the corruption\nof the defiled and dissoluble flesh?\nIt is filthy, it swells, it melts, it stinks, it aches,\nit is puffed up with anger, it is dissolved by lust;\noften, tinged with gall, it takes on livid marks.\nIs not heaped-up gold acquired for the flesh?\nEmbroidered clothing, gem, silk, purple\nare sought with a thousand tricks for the use of the flesh;\nthe luxury of gluttony feeds the fat of the flesh;\nthe pleasure of the flesh rushes through every wickedness.\nHeal, I pray, executioner, such great evils,\ncut down, pluck out the tinder of sins;\nmake it so that, the decay of the weak flesh cut away,\nthe mind may survive free from all pain,\nand no longer carry what a tyrant may cut off.\nNor be frightened by the crowd of those standing around:\nI lose only this, which will perish for all,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.481 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 481–512; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-481)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.513":{"o":"Regi, clienti, pauperique, et diviti;\nSic vernularum, sic senatorum caro\nTabescit, imo quum sepulcro condita est.\nIactura vilis mordet et damnum leve,\nSi, quo carendum est, perdere extimescimus :\nCur, quod necesse est, non voluntas occupat?\nNatura cur non vertit in rem gloriae?\nLegale damnum deputemus praemiis.\nSed, praemiorum forma quae sit fortibus,\nVideamus : illa nempe quae numquam perit.\nCaelo refusus subvolabit spiritus,\nDei parentis perfruetur lumine,\nRegnante Christo stans in arce regia.\nQuandoque caelum, ceu liber, plicabitur,\nCadet rotati solis in terram globus,\nSphaeram ruina menstrualem destruet :\nDeus superstes solus, et iusti simul\nCum sempiternis permanebunt angelis.\nContemne praesens utile, o prudens homo,\nQuod terminandum, quod relinquendum est tibi:\nOmitte corpus, rem sepulcri et funeris;\nTende ad futuram gloriam, perge ad Deum :\nAgnosce qui sis ; vince mundum et saeculum. » —\nVix dum elocutus martyr hanc peregerat\nOrationem, quum furens interserit\nAsclepiades : « — Vertat ictum carnifex\nIn os loquentis, inque maxillas manum,\nSulcosque acutos et fidiculas transferat.\nVerbositatis ipse rumpatur locus,\nLacerata nec iam ventilet loquacitas\nSermonis auras, perforatis follibus,\nQuibus sonandi nulla lex ponit modum ;\nIpsa et loquentis verba torqueri volo. »\nImplet iubentis dicta lictor impius,","t":"for king, client, poor and rich;\nso the flesh of little slaves, so that of senators,\nwastes away when it has been buried in the depth of a tomb.\nA cheap loss and a light damage bites us\nif we are afraid to lose what we must do without:\nwhy does the will not seize upon what is necessary?\nWhy does it not turn nature into a matter of glory?\nLet us count a loss imposed by law among rewards.\nBut let us see what the form of the rewards is\nfor the brave: that, surely, which never perishes.\nThe spirit, poured back to heaven, will fly up,\nwill enjoy the light of God the Father,\nstanding in the royal citadel where Christ reigns.\nOne day the sky will be rolled up like a book,\nthe globe of the revolving sun will fall to the earth,\nruin will destroy the monthly sphere:\nGod alone will survive, and the righteous with him\nwill remain with the everlasting angels.\nDespise present advantage, O prudent man,\nwhich must end, which you must leave behind:\nlet go the body, a matter of the tomb and funeral;\nstrive toward future glory, go on to God:\nknow who you are; conquer the world and the age.”\nHardly had the martyr finished speaking\nthis speech, when, raging, Asclepiades\ninterjects: “Let the executioner turn the blow\nto the speaker’s mouth, and his hand to the jaws,\nand transfer there the sharp furrows and the cords.\nLet the very seat of verbosity be burst,\nand let loquacity, torn, no longer fan\nthe breezes of speech, its bellows pierced,\nto whose sounding no law sets a limit;\nI want the very words of the speaker to be tortured.”\nThe impious lictor fulfils the orders of the one who commands,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.513 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 513–544; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-513)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.545":{"o":"Charaxat ambas ungulis scribentibus\nGenas, cruentis et secat faciem notis:\nHirsuta barbis solvitur carptim cutis,\nEt mentum adusque vultus omnis scinditur.\nMartyr fluentem fatur inter sanguinem:\n— « Grates tibi, o Praefecte, magnas debeo,\nQuod multa pandens ora iam Christum loquor.\nArtabat ampli nominis praeconium\nMeatus unus, impar ad laudes Dei.\nRimas patentes invenit vox edita,\nMultisque fusa rictibus reddit sonos\nHinc inde plures, et profatur undique\nChristi Patrisque sempiternam gloriam.\nTot ecce laudant ora, quot sunt vulnera. » —\nTali repressus cognitor constantia,\nCessare poenam praecipit; tunc sic ait:\n— « Per solis ignem iuro, qui nostros dies\nReciprocatis administrat circulis,\nCuius recursu lux et annus ducitur,\nIgnes parandos iam tibi tristis rogi,\nQui fine digno corpus istud devorent,\nQuod perseverans tam resistit nequiter\nSacris vetustis; nec dolorum spiculis\nVictum fatiscit, fitque poenis fortius.\nQuis hunc rigorem pectori iniecit stupor?\nMens obstinata est, corpus omne occalluit.\nTantus novelli dogmatis regnat furor:\nHic nempe vester Christus haud olim fuit;\nQuem tu fateris ipse, suffixum cruci. » —\n— « Haec illa Crux est omnium nostrum salus,\nRomanus inquit: hominis haec redemptio est :\nScio incapacem te sacramenti, impie,","t":"he carves both cheeks with writing claws,\nand cuts the face with bloody marks:\nthe skin, shaggy with beard, comes off piece by piece,\nand the whole face is cut right down to the chin.\nThe martyr speaks amid the flowing blood:\n“I owe you great thanks, Prefect,\nthat, opening many mouths, I now speak Christ.\nA single passage was cramping the proclamation\nof the great name, unequal to the praises of God.\nThe voice sent forth has found open cracks,\nand, poured out through many mouths, gives back more sounds\non this side and that, and proclaims everywhere\nthe everlasting glory of Christ and the Father.\nSee, as many mouths praise as there are wounds.”\nChecked by such constancy, the judge\norders the punishment to cease; then he says:\n“I swear by the fire of the sun, which governs our days\nwith its returning circles,\nby whose return light and year are drawn out,\nthat the fires of a grim pyre are now to be prepared for you,\nto devour that body with a fitting end,\nwhich persists in resisting so wickedly\nthe ancient rites; nor does it give way, conquered\nby the darts of pains, but becomes stronger with punishments.\nWhat stupor has put this hardness into his breast?\nThe mind is obstinate, the whole body has grown callous.\nSo great is the madness of the new doctrine that reigns:\nthis Christ of yours did not exist long ago,\nwhom you yourself confess was fixed to a cross.”\n“This is that Cross, the salvation of us all,”\nsays Romanus; “this is the redemption of man:\nI know you are incapable of the sacrament, impious man,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.545 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 545–576; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-545)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.577":{"o":"Non posse caecis sensibus mysterium\nHaurire nostrum : nil diurnum nox capit.\nTamen in tenebris proferam claram facem.\nSanus videbit: lippus oculos obteget.\nRemovete lumen, dicet insanabilis:\nIniuriosa est nil videnti claritas.\nAudi, profane, quod gravatus oderis.\nRegem perennem Rex perennis protulit,\nIn se manentem, nec minorem tempore,\nQuia tempus illum non tenet : nam fons retro\nExordiorum est, et dierum, et temporum,\nEx Patre Christus: hoc Pater, quod Filius.\nCongressa mors est membra gestanti hominis,\nDum nostra temptat, cessit immortalibus.\nStultum putatis hoc, sophistae saeculi;\nSed stulta mundi summus elegit Pater,\nUt stultus esset saeculi, prudens Dei.\nAntiquitatem Romuli, et Mavortiam\nLupam renarras, primum et omen vulturum.\nSi res novellas respuis, nil tam recens:\nVix mille fastis implet hanc aetatulam\nCursus dierum conditore ab augure.\nQuam multa possum regna pridem condita\nProferre toto in orbe, si sit otium,\nMulto ante clara, quam capellam Gnossiam\nSuxisse fertur Iuppiter, Martis pater;\nSed illa non sunt, haec et olim non erunt.\nCrux ista Christi, quam novellam dicitis,\nNascente mundo, factus ut primum est homo,","t":"that with blind senses you cannot drink in\nour mystery: night takes in nothing of the day.\nYet in the darkness I will bring forth a bright torch.\nThe healthy will see; the bleary-eyed will cover his eyes.\n“Take away the light,” the incurable will say;\n“brightness is an injury to one who sees nothing.”\nHear, profane man, what you will hate, weighed down by it.\nThe everlasting King brought forth an everlasting King,\nabiding in himself, and not less in time,\nfor time does not hold him: for he is the source, going back,\nof beginnings, of days and of times:\nChrist is from the Father: the Son is what the Father is.\nDeath met with the one who bore the limbs of a man;\nwhile it attacked what is ours, it yielded to what is immortal.\nYou think this foolish, sophists of the world;\nbut the supreme Father chose the foolish things of the world,\nso that one might be foolish to the world and wise to God.\nYou recount the antiquity of Romulus, and the wolf\nof Mars, and the first omen of the vultures.\nIf you reject new things, nothing is so recent:\nthe course of days since the founding augur\nscarcely fills this little age with a thousand years of records.\nHow many kingdoms founded long ago I could\nbring forward in the whole world, if there were leisure,\nfamous long before Jupiter, father of Mars,\nis said to have sucked the Cretan goat;\nbut they no longer exist, and these too will one day not be.\nThis Cross of Christ, which you call new,\nat the birth of the world, as soon as man was made,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.577 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 577–608; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-577)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.609":{"o":"Expressa signis, expedita est litteris:\nAdventus eius mille per miracula\nPraenuntiatus ore vatum consono.\nReges, prophetae, iudices, et principes\nVirtute, bellis, cultibus, sacris, stilo,\nNon destiterunt formam pingere crucis:\nCrux praenotata, crux adumbrata est prius,\nCrucem vetusta combiberunt saecula.\nTandem retectis vocibus propheticis,\nAetate nostra comprobata antiquitas,\nCoram refulsit ore conspicabili,\nNe fluctuaret veritas dubia fide,\nSi non pateret teste visu comminus.\nHinc nos et ipsum non perire credimus\nCorpus, sepulcro quod vorandum traditur :\nQuia Christus in se mortuum corpus Cruci\nSecum excitatum vexit ad solium Patris,\nViamque cunctis ad resurgendum dedit.\nCrux illa nostra est, nos patibulum adscendimus;\nNobis peremptus Christus, et nobis Deus,\nChristus reversus, ipse qui moriens homo est:\nNatura duplex, moritur et mortem domat,\nReditque in illud quod perire nesciat.\nDixisse pauca sit satis de mysticis\nNostrae salutis, quaeque processit spei.\nIam iam silebo: margarita spargere\nChristi vetamur inter immundos sues,\nLutulenta sanctum ne terant animalia.\nSed quia profunda non licet luctarier\nRatione tecum, consulamus proxima.\nInterrogetur ipsa naturalium\nSimplex sine arte sensuum sententia :\nPuer imperitus fac ut adsit arbiter,","t":"was expressed in signs and set out in writings:\nhis coming was foretold through a thousand miracles\nby the harmonious mouth of the prophets.\nKings, prophets, judges and princes,\nby valor, wars, worship, rites, pen,\ndid not cease to paint the form of the cross:\nthe cross was noted beforehand, the cross was foreshadowed,\nthe ancient ages drank in the cross.\nAt last, the prophetic voices unveiled,\nantiquity proved true in our age,\nit shone out before us with a face that could be seen,\nlest the truth waver with doubtful faith,\nif it did not lie open with the witness of sight close at hand.\nFrom this we believe that even the body,\nwhich is handed over to the tomb to be devoured, does not perish:\nbecause Christ, raising with himself the body dead on the Cross,\ncarried it in himself to the Father’s throne,\nand gave all a way to rise again.\nThat cross is ours; we have climbed the gibbet;\nfor us Christ was slain, and for us he is God,\nChrist returned, he who in dying is man:\na twofold nature, he dies and tames death,\nand returns into that which knows not how to perish.\nLet it be enough to have said a little of the mysteries\nof our salvation and of the hope that has come forth.\nNow, now I shall be silent: we are forbidden to scatter\nChrist’s pearls among unclean swine,\nlest muddy animals trample the holy thing.\nBut since it is not permitted to wrestle with you\nby reason on deep matters, let us consult what is near at hand.\nLet the simple, artless judgment of the natural\nsenses itself be questioned:\nlet an untaught boy be present as judge,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.609 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 609–640; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-609)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.641":{"o":"Septennem circiter puerum, aut minus,\nQui sit favoris liber, et non oderit\nQuemquam, nec ullum mentis in vitium cadat.\nPericlitemur, quid recens infantia\nDicat sequendum, quid novus sapiat vigor. » —\nHanc ille sancti martyris vocem libens\nAmplexus, unum de caterva infantium\nParvum, nec olim lacte depulsum, eligit,\nCaptumque adesse praecipit. — « Quidvis roga,\nInquit, sequamur quod probarit pusio. » —\nRomanus ardens experiri innoxiam\nTenerae aetatis indolem: — « Filiole, ait,\nDic quid videtur esse verum et congruens,\nUnumne Christum colere, et in Christo Patrem,\nAn comprecari mille formarum deos? » —\nAdrisit infans, nec moratus retulit: —\n« Est quidquid illud, quod ferunt homines Deum,\nUnum esse oportet, et quod uni, est unicum.\nQuum Christus hoc sit, Christus est verus Deus.\nGenera deorum multa nec pueri putant. » —\nStupuit tyrannus, sub pudore fluctuans,\nNec vim decebat innocenti aetatulae\nInferre leges, nec loquenti talia\nFuror sinebat efferatus parcere.\n— « Quis auctor, inquit, vocis est huius tibi? » —\nRespondit ille : — « Mater, et matri Deus.\nIlla ex parente Spiritu docta imbibit,\nQuo me inter ipsa pasceret cunabula :\nEgo, ut gemellis uberum de fontibus\nLac parvus hausi, Christum et hausi credere. » —\n« Ergo ipsa mater adsit, exclamat, cedo,\nAsclepiades ; disciplinae et exitum\nTristem suae magistra spectet impia,","t":"a boy of about seven, or less,\nwho is free of partiality, and hates\nno one, and falls into no vice of mind.\nLet us test what fresh infancy\nsays should be followed, what new vigor thinks.”\nGladly embracing this word of the holy martyr,\nhe picks one little one from the crowd of children,\nnot long weaned from milk,\nand orders him seized and brought. “Ask what you like,”\nhe says; “let us follow what the boy approves.”\nRomanus, burning to test the innocent\ndisposition of tender age, says: “Little son,\ntell me what seems true and fitting:\nto worship one Christ, and in Christ the Father,\nor to pray to gods of a thousand shapes?”\nThe infant smiled, and without delay replied:\n“Whatever that is which men call God\nmust be one, and what belongs to one is unique.\nSince Christ is this, Christ is the true God.\nNot even boys think there are many kinds of gods.”\nThe tyrant was stunned, wavering in shame;\nit was not seemly to use force against innocent childhood,\nand yet his savage fury did not allow him\nto spare one who said such things.\n“Who taught you these words?” he says.\nHe answered: “My mother, and God taught my mother.\nShe drank them in, taught by the parent Spirit,\nto nourish me with them even in the cradle:\nI, as a little one, drank milk from the twin fountains\nof the breasts, and drank in belief in Christ.”\n“Then let the mother herself be present, I say,”\ncries Asclepiades, “and let the impious teacher\nsee the sad end of her teaching;","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.641 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 641–672; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-641)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.65":{"o":"It non resistens, seque vinciri petit,\nFlexas et ultro torquet in tergum manus.\nAmor coronae paene praevenit trucem\nLictoris artem, sponte nudas offerens\nCostas, bisulcis exsecandas ungulis.\nInrumpit altum limen, et praeconibus\nStupore mutis, ipse tortorem trahit.\nAdstanti ob ora sic tyrannus incipit :\n« Tu ventilator urbis, et vulgi levis\nProcella, mentes inquietas movens,\nNe se imperita turba dedat legibus.\nPopulare quiddam sub colore gloriae\nInlitterata credidit frequentia,\nUt se per aevum consecrandos autument,\nSi bella divis, ceu gigantes, inferant,\nVictique flammis obruantur montium.\nHoc tu parasti, perdite, spectaculum\nGladii cruenti de secandis civibus,\nQuos ut profanos, impios, sacrilegos\nReos, necesse est te magistro interfici:\nTu caussa mortis, tu malorum signifer.\nNi fallor, aequum est, ut quod auctor improbus\nTolerare multos compulisti, carnifex\nIn te recurrat; proque tantis caedibus,\nQuae mox futurae, primus exitium luas;\nFeras et ipse quod ferendum suaseras. » —\nHic ille contra reddit ore libero:\n— « Amplector, o Praefecte, nec me subtraho,\nUt pro fideli plebe solus immoler,\nDignus subire cuncta, si me consulis,\nQuaecumque vestra iusserit crudelitas.","t":"He goes, not resisting, and asks to be bound,\nand of his own accord twists his bent hands behind his back.\nLove of the crown almost outstrips the cruel\nart of the lictor, offering of its own will\nthe bare ribs, to be cut by two-pronged claws.\nHe bursts through the high threshold, and, while the heralds\nare dumb with astonishment, he himself drags the torturer.\nAs he stands before his face, the tyrant begins thus:\n“You who fan the city, storm of the fickle crowd,\nstirring restless minds,\nso that the ignorant mob will not give itself up to the laws!\nSomething popular, under the color of glory,\nthe unlettered multitude has believed,\nso that they think they will be consecrated forever\nif, like the giants, they make war on the gods\nand, conquered, are buried in the flames of mountains.\nThis spectacle you have prepared, lost man,\nof the bloody sword cutting down citizens,\nwho, as profane, impious, sacrilegious\noffenders, must be killed under your teaching:\nyou are the cause of their death, you the standard-bearer of evils.\nUnless I am mistaken, it is just that what you,\ntheir wicked author, compelled many to endure, executioner,\nshould return upon you; and that for such great slaughters\nas will soon come, you should be the first to pay with destruction,\nand bear yourself what you had persuaded them to bear.”\nTo this he answers with free mouth:\n“I embrace it, Prefect, nor do I withdraw myself,\nso that I alone may be sacrificed for the faithful people,\nworthy to undergo all things, if you consult me,\nwhatever your cruelty has ordered.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-65)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.673":{"o":"Male eruditi torqueatur funere\nInfantis orba ; quemque corrupit, fleat.\nAbsit ministros vilis ut muliercula\nNostros fatiget: quantulus autem dolor\nVexabit artus, mortis auxilio brevis?\nOculi parentis punientur acrius,\nQuam si cruentae membra carpant ungulae. » —\nVix haec profatus, pusionem praecipit\nSublime tollant, et manu pulsent nates :\nMox et remota veste virgis verberent,\nTenerumque duris ictibus tergum secent,\nPlus unde lactis quam cruoris defluat.\nQuae cautis illud perpeti spectaculum,\nQuis ferre possit aeris aut ferri rigor?\nImpacta quoties corpus attigerat salix,\nTenui rubebant sanguine uda vimina,\nQuem plaga fuderat roscidis livoribus.\nFerunt minaces verberantium genas\nInlacrimasse, sponte demanantibus\nGuttis per ora barbarum frementia ;\nScribas et ipsos, et coronam plebium,\nProceresque siccis non stetisse visibus.\nAt sola mater hisce lamentis caret,\nSoli sereno frons renidet gaudio,\nStat impiorum corde pietas fortior,\nAmore Christi contumax doloribus:\nFirmatque sensum mollis indulgentiae.\nSitire sese parvus exclamaverat :\nAnimae aestuantis ardor in cruciatibus\nHoc exigebat, lymphae ut haustum posceret:\nQuem torva mater eminus triste intuens,\nVultu et severis vocibus sic increpat :","t":"bereaved, let her be tortured by the death\nof the badly taught infant, and let her weep for the one she corrupted.\nFar be it that a cheap little woman\nshould weary our attendants: and how little pain\nwill vex her limbs, short with the help of death?\nThe mother’s eyes will be punished more sharply\nthan if bloody claws were plucking her limbs.”\nHardly had he said this when he orders the little boy\nto be lifted up and his buttocks beaten with the hand;\nsoon, his clothes removed, to be beaten with rods,\nand his tender back cut with hard blows,\nfrom which more milk than blood might flow.\nWhat rock could endure that spectacle,\nwhat hardness of bronze or iron could bear it?\nAs often as the willow struck the body,\nthe wet rods grew red with thin blood,\nwhich the blow had poured out with dewy bruises.\nThey say the threatening cheeks of the floggers\nshed tears, drops running down of their own accord\nover the roaring barbarian faces;\nand that the clerks themselves, and the ring of common people,\nand the nobles, did not stand with dry eyes.\nBut the mother alone is without these laments;\nher brow alone smiles with serene joy;\nin her heart piety stands stronger than the impious,\ndefiant of pains through the love of Christ,\nand strengthens her feeling of soft tenderness.\nThe little one had cried out that he was thirsty:\nthe fever of his soul, burning in the torments,\ndemanded this, that he should ask for a drink of water;\nthe grim mother, looking at him sadly from afar,\nrebukes him thus with stern face and words:","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.673 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 673–704; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-673)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.705":{"o":"— « Puto imbecillo, nate, turbaris metu,\nEt te doloris horror adflictum domat ;\nNon hanc meorum viscerum stirpem fore\nDeo spopondi : non in hanc spem gloriae\nTe procreavi, cedere ut leto scias.\nAquam bibendam postulas, quum sit tibi\nFons ille vivus praesto, qui semper fluit,\nEt cuncta solus inrigat viventia,\nIntus forisque spiritum et corpus simul,\nAeternitatem largiens potantibus.\nVenies ad illud mox fluentum, si modo\nAnimo ac medullis solus ardor aestuet\nVidere Christum : quod semel potum adfatim\nSic sedat omnem pectoris flagrantiam,\nVita ut beata iam sitire nesciat.\nHic, hic bibendus, nate, nunc tibi est calix,\nMille in Bethlehem quem biberunt parvuli :\nOblita lactis, et papillarum immemor\nAetas, amaris, mox deinde dulcibus\nRefecta poclis, mella sumsit sanguinis.\nExemplum ad istud nitere, o fortis puer,\nGenerosa proles, matris et potentia:\nOmnes capaces esse virtutum Pater\nMandavit annos: neminem excepit diem,\nIpsis triumphos adnuens vagitibus.\nFuisse parvulum patri unicum,\nQui, quum immolandus aram et ensem cerneret,\nUltro sacranti colla praebuerit seni?\nNarravi et illud nobile ac memorabile\nCertamen, una matre quod septem editi","t":"“I think, my son, you are troubled by a weak fear,\nand the horror of pain is overcoming you, afflicted;\nI did not promise God that this offspring of my womb\nwould be such; not for this hope of glory\ndid I beget you, that you should know how to yield to death.\nYou ask for water to drink, when you have at hand\nthat living fountain which always flows,\nand alone waters all living things,\nwithin and without, spirit and body together,\ngranting eternity to those who drink.\nYou will come to that stream soon, if only\nthis one desire burns in your mind and marrow,\nto see Christ: once drunk abundantly,\nit so calms all the burning of the heart\nthat the blessed life no longer knows thirst.\nHere, here is the cup you must now drink, my son,\nwhich a thousand little ones drank in Bethlehem:\nan age that had forgotten milk and was unmindful of the breast,\nrefreshed with bitter and then with sweet\ncups, took the honey of blood.\nStrive toward this example, brave boy,\nnoble offspring, and your mother’s power:\nthe Father has commanded that all ages\nare capable of virtues: he excepted no day,\ngranting triumphs even to wailing infants.\n[You know that Isaac,] a little boy, was his father’s only son,\nwho, when he saw the altar and the sword for his sacrifice,\nof his own accord offered his neck to the old man who was sacrificing.\nI have also told you of that noble and memorable\ncontest which seven sons born of one mother","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.705 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 705–736; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-705)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.737":{"o":"Gessere pueri, sed tamen factis viri:\nHortante eadem matre in ancipiti exitu\nPoenae et coronae sanguini ut ne parcerent.\nVidebat ipsos apparatus funerum\nPraesens suorum, nec movebatur parens,\nLaetata quoties aut olivo stridula\nSartago frixum torruisset puberem,\nDira aut crepasset laminarum impressio.\nComam cutemque verticis revulserat\nA fronte tortor, nuda testa ut tegmine\nCervicem adusque dehonestaret caput.\nClamabat illa: Patere! gemmis vestiet\nApicem hunc corona regio ex diademate.\nLinguam tyrannus amputari iusserat\nUni ex ephebis. Mater aiebat: Satis\nIam parta nobis gloria est: pars optima\nDeo immolatur ecce nostri corporis;\nDigna est fidelis lingua quae sit hostia.\nInterpres animi, enuntiatrix sensuum,\nCordis ministra, praeco operti pectoris,\nPrima offeratur in sacramentum necis,\nEt sit redemptrix prima membrorum omnium;\nDucem dicatam mox sequentur cetera. —\nHis Macchabaeos incitans stimulis parens,\nHostem subegit subiugatum septies,\nQuot feta natis, tot triumphis inclita :\nMe partus unus ut feracem gloriae,\nMea vita, praestet, in tua est situm manu.\nPer huius alvi fida conceptacula,\nPer hospitalem mense bisquino larem;\nSi dulce nostri pectoris nectar tibi,\nSi molle gremium, grata si crepundia,\nPersiste, et horum munerum auctorem adsere.","t":"boys, yet men in deeds, waged:\nthe same mother urging them, in the doubtful outcome\nof punishment and crown, not to spare their blood.\nThe parent, present, saw the very preparations\nfor the deaths of her own, and was not moved,\nrejoicing whenever the frying pan, sizzling with oil,\nhad roasted a fried youth,\nor the dire pressure of the plates had crackled.\nThe torturer had torn off the hair and the skin of the scalp\nfrom the forehead, so that the skull, bare of covering,\nmight disfigure the head right down to the neck.\nShe cried out: ‘Endure! A crown from a royal diadem\nwill clothe this summit with gems.’\nThe tyrant had ordered the tongue to be cut out\nof one of the youths. The mother said: ‘Enough\nglory has now been won by us: see, the best part\nof our body is sacrificed to God;\nthe faithful tongue is worthy to be the victim.\nInterpreter of the soul, announcer of the senses,\nservant of the heart, herald of the hidden breast,\nlet it be offered first in the sacrament of death,\nand let it be the first redeemer of all the limbs;\nthe rest will soon follow their dedicated leader.’\nWith these goads the parent spurring on the Maccabees\nsubdued the enemy, subjugated seven times,\nas glorious in triumphs as she was fruitful in sons:\nthat my one child may show me fruitful in glory,\nmy life, lies in your hand.\nBy the faithful receptacle of this womb,\nby the hospitable home of twice five months;\nif the nectar of my breast was sweet to you,\nif my lap was soft, if your rattles pleased you,\npersist, and claim the author of these gifts.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.737 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 737–768; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-737)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.769":{"o":"Quanam arte nobis vivere intus coeperis,\nNihilumque et illud, unde corpus, nescio :\nNovit animator solus et factor tui:\nImpendere ipsi, cuius ortus munere es :\nBene in datorem, quod dedit, refuderis. » —\nTalia canente matre, iam laetus puer\nVirgas strepentes et dolorem verberum\nRidebat. Hic tum cognitor pronuntiat:\n— « Claudatur infans carcere, et tanti mali\nRomanus auctor torqueatur acrius. » —\nIllum recentes per cicatricum vias\nDenuo exarabant, quaque acutum traxerant\nPaullo ante ferrum, mox recrudescentibus\nPlagis apertas persequebantur notas.\nQuos iam superbus victor ignavos vocat.\n— « O non virile robur, o molles manus!\nUnam labantis dissipare tamdiu\nVos non potesse fabricam corpusculi?\nVix iam cohaeret: nec tamen penitus cadit,\nVincens lacertos dexterarum inertium.\nCitius cadaver dentibus carpunt canes,\nLongeque morsus vulturum efficacior\nAd devorandas carnis offas mortuae.\nLanguetis imbelli fame, ac fatiscitis:\nGula est ferina, sed socors edacitas. » —\nExarsit istis turbida ira iudicis,\nSeque in supremam concitat sententiam:\n— « Si te morarum poenitet, finem citum\nSubeas licebit : ignibus vorabere\nDamnatus, et favilla iam tenuis fies. » —\nAbiens at ille, quum foro abriperent virum\nTruces ministri, pone respectans ait :","t":"By what art you began to live within me,\nand what that nothing is from which your body came, I do not know:\nonly he who gave you life and made you knows:\nspend yourself for him, by whose gift you were born:\nyou will do well to pour back to the giver what he gave.”\nAs the mother sang such things, the boy, now glad,\nat the whistling rods and the pain of the blows\nlaughed. Then the judge pronounces:\n“Let the infant be shut in prison, and Romanus,\nauthor of so great an evil, be tortured more sharply.”\nThey ploughed him again through the fresh paths\nof the scars, and where they had drawn the sharp iron\na little before, as the wounds broke open again,\nthey followed the open marks.\nNow, proud victor, he calls them cowards:\n“O strength unmanly, O soft hands!\nThat for so long you cannot scatter\nthe one frame of a tottering little body!\nIt scarcely holds together now, yet it does not fall entirely,\nconquering the arms of idle right hands.\nDogs would pluck a corpse with their teeth sooner,\nand the bite of vultures is far more effective\nat devouring morsels of dead flesh.\nYou languish with an unwarlike hunger, and you tire:\nyour gluttony is bestial, but your voracity sluggish.”\nThe judge’s turbulent anger flared at this,\nand he rouses himself to the final sentence:\n“If you are sorry for the delays, you may undergo\na swift end: you will be devoured by fire,\ncondemned, and you will soon become thin ash.”\nBut as he went off, when the cruel attendants were dragging the man\nfrom the forum, looking back he said:","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.769 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 769–800; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-769)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.801":{"o":"— « Appello ab ista, perfide, ad Christum meum\nCrudelitate, non metu mortis tremens,\nSed ut probetur esse nil, quod iudicas. » —\n— « Quid differo, inquit ille, utrosque perdere,\nPuerum ac magistrum, complices sectae impiae?\nGladius recidat vile vix hominis caput\nInfantis; istum flamma vindex concremet;\nSit his sub uno fine dispar exitus. » —\nPerventum ad ipsum caedis implendae locum.\nNatum gerebat mater amplexu et sinu,\nUt primitivum crederes fetum geri\nDeo offerendum, sancti Abelis ferculo,\nLectum ex ovili puriorem ceteris.\nPuerum poposcit carnifex; mater dedit,\nNec immorata est fletibus, tantum osculum\nImpressit unum. — « Vale! ait, dulcissime :\nEt quum beatus regna Christi intraveris,\nMemento matris, iam patrone ex filio. » —\nPercussor ense; docta mulier psallere,\nHymnum canebat carminis Davidici:\nPretiosa sancti mors sub adspectu Dei :\nTuus ille servus, proles ancillae tuae.\nTalia retexens explicabat pallium,\nManusque tendebat sub ictu et sanguine,\nVenarum ut undam profluam manantium,\nEt palpitantis oris exciperet globum :\nExcepit, et caro adplicavit pectori.\nAt parte campi ex altera, immanem pyram\nTexebat ustor fumidus pinu arida,\nSarmenta mixtim subdita et foeni struem","t":"“I appeal, treacherous man, from this cruelty of yours\nto my Christ, not trembling with fear of death,\nbut so that what you judge may be proved nothing.”\n“Why do I delay,” he says, “to destroy both,\nthe boy and the master, accomplices of the impious sect?\nLet the sword cut off the cheap head of the infant,\nscarcely yet a man; let the avenging flame burn that one;\nlet them have under one end a different exit.”\nThey came to the very place where the slaughter was to be done.\nThe mother carried her son in her embrace and on her bosom,\nso that you would think a firstborn offspring was being carried\nto be offered to God on the dish of holy Abel,\nchosen from the fold as purer than the rest.\nThe executioner demanded the boy; the mother gave him,\nnor did she linger in tears; she pressed on him\nonly one kiss. “Farewell,” she says, “sweetest one:\nand when, blessed, you have entered the kingdom of Christ,\nremember your mother, now a patron instead of a son.”\nAs the executioner struck with the sword, the woman, skilled in psalm-singing,\nsang a hymn from David’s song:\n“Precious is the death of a saint in the sight of God:\nthis is your servant, the offspring of your handmaid.”\nRepeating such words she spread out her cloak,\nand held out her hands under the blow and the blood,\nto catch the flowing wave of the streaming veins\nand the ball of the quivering face:\nshe caught it, and pressed it to her dear breast.\nBut on the other side of the field the smoky burner\nwas weaving an immense pyre of dry pine,\ntwigs set beneath mixed with a heap of hay,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.801 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 801–832; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-801)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.833":{"o":"Spargens liquato rore ferventis picis,\nQuo flamma pastu cresceret ferocius.\nEt iam retortis brachiis furca eminus\nRomanus actus inferebatur rogo:\n— « Scio, inquit ille, non futurum ut concremer,\nNec passionis hoc genus datum est mihi ;\nEt restat ingens, quod fiat, miraculum. » —\nHaec eius orsa sequitur immensus fragor\nNubis ruentis, nimbus undatim nigro\nPraeceps aquarum flumine ignes obruit.\nAlunt olivo semicombustas faces;\nSed vincit imber iam madentem fomitem.\nTrepidare teter carnifex rebus novis\nTurbatus, et qua posset arte insistere,\nVersare torres cum favillis humidis,\nPrunas maniplis confovere stuppeis,\nEt semen ignis inter undas quaerere.\nQuod quum, tumenti nuntiatum iudici,\nMovisset iram fellis implacabilis :\n— « Quousque tandem summus hic nobis magus\nInludet, inquit, Thessalorum carmine,\nPoenam peritus vertere in ludibrium?\nFortasse cervix, si secandam iussero\nFlecti sub ensem, non patebit vulneri :\nVel amputatum plaga collum dividens\nRursus coibit ac reglutinabitur,\nHumerisque vertex eminebit additus.\nTentemus igitur ante partem quampiam\nTruncare ferro corporis superstitis,\nNe morte simpla criminosus multiplex","t":"sprinkling them with the melted dew of boiling pitch,\nso that the flame might grow more fiercely with this food.\nAnd now, his arms twisted back, Romanus, driven\nfrom afar with a fork, was being brought to the pyre.\n“I know,” he says, “that I shall not be burned,\nnor has this kind of passion been given to me;\nand there remains a huge miracle that will happen.”\nThese words of his are followed by an immense crash\nof a falling cloud; a storm in waves,\nheadlong with a black flood of waters, overwhelms the fires.\nThey feed the half-burnt torches with oil,\nbut the rain conquers the now soaking kindling.\nThe foul executioner trembled, troubled\nby the strange events, and with whatever art he could pressed on,\nturning the brands among the wet ashes,\ncherishing the coals with handfuls of tow,\nand seeking a seed of fire among the waters.\nWhen this, reported to the swelling judge,\nhad moved the anger of his implacable gall:\n“How long,” he says, “will this supreme magician\nmock us with the spell of the Thessalians,\nskilled at turning punishment into a joke?\nPerhaps his neck, if I order it to be bent\nbeneath the sword to be cut, will not open to the wound;\nor the neck, cut off by the blow that divides it,\nwill come together again and be glued back,\nand the head will stand out, added again to the shoulders.\nLet us try, then, first to cut off with iron\nsome part of the surviving body,\nlest, guilty of many crimes, he should fall by a single death,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.833 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 833–864; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-833)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.865":{"o":"Cadat, vel una perfidus caede oppetat :\nQuot membra gestat, tot modis pereat volo.\nLibet experiri, Lerna sicut traditur,\nUtrum renatis pullulescat artubus,\nEt de minuti corporis damnis novum\nInstauret hostem; ipse praesto erit tunc Hercules,\nHydrina suetus ustulare vulnera.\nIam nunc secandi doctus adsit artifex,\nQui cuncta norit viscerum confinia,\nEt nexa nervis disparare vincula.\nDate hunc revulsis qui medetur ossibus,\nAut fracta nodis sarciens compaginat.\nLinguam priorem detrahat radicitus,\nQuae corpore omni sola vivit nequior:\nIlla et procaci pessima in nostros deos\nInvecta motu, fas profanavit vetus,\nAudax et ipsi non pepercit principi. » —\nAristo quidam medicus accitus venit,\nProferre linguam praecipit: profert statim\nMartyr retectam, pandit ima faucium.\nIlle et palatum tractat, et digito, exitum\nVocis pererrans, vulneri explorat locum.\nLinguam deinde longe ab ore protrahens,\nScalpellum in usque guttur insertans agit.\nIllo secante fila sensim singula,\nNumquam momordit martyr, aut os dentibus\nCompressit artis, nec cruorem sorbuit.\nImmotus et patente rictu constitit,\nDum sanguis extra defluit scaturiens:\nPerfusa pulcher menta russo stemmate\nFert, et cruenti pectoris spectat decus,\nFruiturque et ostro vestis ut iam regiae.\nErgo ratus praefectus elinguem virum\nCogi ad sacrandum posse, quum verbis carens","t":"or the faithless man meet his end by one slaughter:\nI want him to perish in as many ways as he carries limbs.\nI would like to try, as is told of Lerna,\nwhether he sprouts with reborn limbs\nand from the losses of his diminished body\nrestores a new enemy; then Hercules himself will be at hand,\naccustomed to cauterize the hydra’s wounds.\nNow let a craftsman skilled in cutting be present,\nwho knows all the boundaries of the inner parts\nand how to separate the bonds knit by sinews.\nGive me one who heals torn-out bones,\nor mends and joins what is broken at the joints.\nLet him first tear out the tongue by the roots,\nwhich alone in the whole body lives more wicked:\nit, worst of all, inveighing against our gods\nwith insolent motion, has profaned the ancient law,\nand in its daring has not spared even the emperor.”\nA certain physician, Aristo, comes when summoned;\nhe orders him to put out his tongue: at once the martyr\nputs it out uncovered, opens the depths of his throat.\nHe handles the palate, and with his finger, going over\nthe exit of the voice, explores the place for the wound.\nThen, drawing the tongue far out of the mouth,\nhe drives the scalpel in, inserting it right to the throat.\nAs he cut each fibre little by little,\nthe martyr never bit, nor pressed his mouth\ntightly with his teeth, nor sucked in the blood.\nHe stood unmoved with jaws open,\nwhile the blood flowed outside, gushing:\nhandsome, he bears his chin drenched with a red ornament,\nand beholds the beauty of his bloody breast,\nand enjoys a garment of purple, as if already royal.\nSo the prefect, thinking that the tongueless man\ncould be compelled to sacrifice, since, lacking words,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.865 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 865–896; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-865)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.897":{"o":"Nil in deorum blateraret dedecus,\nIubet reduci iam tacentem et debilem,\nMulto loquentis turbine olim territus.\nReponit aras ad tribunal denuo,\nEt tus, et ignem vividum in carbonibus,\nTaurina et exta, vel suilla abdomina.\nIngressus ille, ut haec paratus perspicit,\nInsufflat, ipsos ceu videret daemonas.\nInridet hoc Asclepiades laetior.\nAddit deinde : — « Numquid inclementius,\nSicut solebas, es paratus dicere?\nEffare quidvis, ac perora et dissere;\nPermitto, vocem libere ut exerceas. » —\nRomanus alto corde suspirans diu,\nGemitu querelam traxit, et sic orsus est :\n— « Christum loquenti lingua numquam defuit ;\nNec verba quaeras quo regantur organo,\nQuum praedicatur ipse verborum dator.\nQui fecit, ut vis vocis expressa intimo\nPulmone, et oris torta sub testudine,\nNunc ex palato det repercussos sonos ;\nNunc temperetur dentium de pectine,\nSitque his agendis lingua plectrum mobile,\nSi mandet idem, faucium sic fistula\nSpirare flatu concinentes consono,\nUt verba in ipsis explicent meatibus,\nVel exitu oris cymbalis profarier,\nNunc pressa parce labra, nunc hiantia.\nDubitasne verti posse naturae statum,\nCui facta forma est, qualis esset primitus?\nHanc nempe factor vertere, ut libet, potest,\nDatasque leges texere ac retexere,","t":"he could babble nothing to the disgrace of the gods,\norders him, now silent and weak, to be brought back,\nhe who was once terrified by the whirlwind of the speaker.\nHe sets up the altars again at the tribunal,\nand incense, and fire alive in the coals,\nand bull’s entrails, or pig’s paunches.\nHe, entering, as he sees these things prepared,\nbreathes on them, as if he saw the demons themselves.\nAsclepiades, more cheerful, laughs at this.\nThen he adds: “Are you ready to speak\nmore harshly, as you used to?\nSay anything, make your speech and argue;\nI permit you to exercise your voice freely.”\nRomanus, sighing long from the depth of his heart,\ndrew out a complaint with a groan, and began thus:\n“A tongue has never been lacking to one who speaks Christ;\nnor need you ask by what organ the words are governed,\nwhen the very giver of words is proclaimed.\nHe who made it so that the force of the voice, pressed out\nfrom the inmost lungs and twisted under the vault of the mouth,\nnow gives sounds echoed back from the palate,\nnow is tempered by the comb of the teeth,\nand that the tongue is the moving plectrum for this work,\nif he so commands, the pipes of the throat\nbreathe in harmony with consonant breath,\nso as to unfold words in the very passages,\nor to speak out at the exit of the mouth as with cymbals,\nthe lips now pressed together sparingly, now open.\nDo you doubt that the state of nature can be changed,\nto which its form was given, such as it was at first?\nSurely its maker can change it as he pleases,\nand weave and unweave the laws he has given,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.897 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 897–928; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-897)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.929":{"o":"Linguam loquela ne ministram postulet.\nVis scire nostri numinis potentiam?\nFluctus liquentis aequoris pressit pede:\nNatura fluxa ac tenuis in solidum coit,\nQuam dispar illis legibus, quis condita est,\nSolet natatus ferre, fert vestigia.\nHabet usitatum munus hoc divinitas,\nQuae vera nobis colitur in Christo et Patre,\nMutis loquelam, percitum claudis gradum,\nSurdis fruendam reddere audientiam,\nDonare caecis lucis insuetae diem.\nVel ipse tute, si parum fidelia\nRebare pridem, vera cognoscas licet;\nHabes loquentem, cuius amputaveras\nLinguam : probatis cede iam miraculis. » —\nHorror stupentem persecutorem subit,\nTimorque et ira pectus in caliginem\nVertere : nescit, vigilet anne somniet :\nMiratur haerens, quod sit ostenti genus.\nFormido frangit; armat indignatio.\nNec vim domare mentis effrenae potest,\nNec quo furoris tela vertat invenit.\nPostremo medicum saevus insontem iubet\nReum citari : nundinatum hunc arguit,\nMercede certa pactus ut conluderet:\nAut ferrum in ore nil agens et irritum\nVersasse frustra, seu retunsis actibus,\nAut arte quadam vulnus illatum breve,\nQuod sauciata parte linguam laederet,\nNervos nec omnes usquequaque abscideret;\nManere salvam vocis harmoniam probat,","t":"so that speech should not demand the tongue as its servant.\nDo you want to know the power of our Godhead?\nHe pressed the waves of the liquid sea with his foot:\nnature, flowing and thin, comes together into a solid,\nand, quite unlike the laws by which it was founded,\nit bears footsteps, though it is used to bearing swimming.\nDivinity has this as a customary gift,\nwhich is truly worshiped by us in Christ and the Father:\nto give speech back to the mute, a quick step to the lame,\nhearing to be enjoyed to the deaf,\nto grant the day of unaccustomed light to the blind.\nOr you yourself, if you thought these things\ntoo little to be believed, may now recognize them as true:\nyou have speaking before you the man whose tongue\nyou had cut off: yield now to proven miracles.”\nHorror comes upon the astonished persecutor,\nand fear and anger turned his breast\nto darkness: he does not know whether he is awake or dreaming;\nhe wonders, at a loss, what kind of portent it is.\nDread breaks him; indignation arms him.\nNor can he tame the force of his unbridled mind,\nnor find where to turn the weapons of his fury.\nAt last the cruel man orders the innocent physician\nto be summoned as defendant: he accuses him of having been bought,\nof having agreed for a fixed fee to collude:\neither he had turned the iron in the mouth in vain,\ndoing nothing and useless, with blunted strokes,\nor by some art had inflicted a brief wound,\nwhich would harm the tongue in a wounded part\nand not cut all the sinews entirely;\nhe argues that the harmony of voice remains safe,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.929 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 929–960; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-929)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.961":{"o":"Non posse inani concavo verba exprimi,\nQuae concrepare ligula moderatrix facit.\nEsto, ut resultet spiritus vacuo specu,\nEcho sed exstat inde, non oratio.\nVeris refutat medicus hanc calumniam:\n— « Scrutare vel tu nunc latebras faucium,\nIntraque dentes curiosum pollicem\nCircumfer, haustus vel patentes inspice,\nLateat ne quidquam, quod regat spiramina.\nQuamquam forassem forte si puncto levi,\nTenuive linguam contigissem vulnere,\nTitubante plectro fatus esset debilis.\nNam, quum magistra vocis in vitium cadit,\nOmnis necesse est vis loquendi intercidat.\nFiat periclum, si placet, cuiusmodi\nEdat querelam quadrupes, lingua eruta,\nElinguis et quem porca grunnitum strepat,\nCui vox fragosa, clamor est inconditus :\nProbabo mutam nil sonare stridulum.\nTestor salutem principis, me simplici\nFunctum secantis arte, iudex optime,\nServisse iussis absque fraude publicis.\nSciat hic quis illi verba suggerat Deus;\nEgo, unde mutus sit disertus, nescio. » —\nHis sese Aristo purgat; at contra impium\nNil haec latronem Christianorum movent.\nMagis magisque fertur in vesaniam:\nQuaerit alienus sanguis ille adsperserit\nVirum, suo ne fluxerit de vulnere.\nRespondit his Romanus: — « Eccum, praesto sum :\nMeus iste sanguis verus est, non bubulus ;\nAgnoscis illum, quem loquor, miserrime","t":"because words cannot be produced in an empty hollow,\nwhich the tongue, as governor, makes to sound.\nGranted that the breath may echo in an empty cave,\nan echo comes from there, not speech.\nThe physician refutes this slander with the truth:\n“Search even now yourself the hiding places of the throat,\nand carry your curious thumb around inside the teeth,\nor inspect the open gulps,\nlest anything lie hidden that governs the breathings.\nThough if perhaps I had pierced it with a light point,\nor touched the tongue with a slight wound,\nhe would have spoken weakly with a tottering plectrum.\nFor when the mistress of the voice falls into a fault,\nall the power of speaking must fall away.\nLet a test be made, if you please, what kind of\ncomplaint a four-footed beast utters when its tongue is torn out,\nand what grunt a tongueless sow makes,\nwhose voice is rough, whose cry is shapeless:\nI will prove that a mute thing sounds nothing but shrill.\nI call to witness the emperor’s safety that I,\nperforming the simple art of one who cuts, best judge,\nserved the public orders without fraud.\nLet him know here what God suggests words to him;\nI do not know how the mute man is eloquent.”\nWith these words Aristo clears himself; but these things\ndo not move the impious robber of Christians at all.\nMore and more he is carried into madness:\nhe asks whether some other blood had sprinkled\nthe man, lest it had flowed from his own wound.\nRomanus answered him: “Here I am, at hand:\nthis blood of mine is true, not a bull’s;\ndo you recognize, most wretched pagan, that of which I speak,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.961 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 961–992; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-961)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.97":{"o":"Intrare servis idolorum ac daemonum\nSanctam salutis non licet nostrae domum,\nNe polluatur purus orandi locus :\nConfido Sancto in Spiritu, numquam tibi\nDandum, ut beatum limen attingas pede.\nNi forte noster factus, in nostrum gregem\nMerere sumi : quod Pater faxit Deus. » —\nIncensus his Asclepiades, iusserat\nEviscerandum corpus eculeo eminus\nPendere, et uncis vinculisque crescere.\nApparitores sed furenti suggerunt,\nIllum vetusta nobilem prosapia,\nMeritisque multis esse primum civium.\nIubet amoveri noxialem stipitem,\nPlebeia clarum poena ne damnet virum.\n— « Tundatur, inquit, terga crebris ictibus,\nPlumboque cervix verberata extuberet :\nPersona quaeque competenter plectitur,\nMagnique refert, vilis an sit nobilis :\nGradu reorum forma tormentis datur. » —\nPulsatus ergo martyr illa grandine,\nPostquam inter ictus dixit hymnos plurimos,\nErectus infit : — « Absit, ut me nobilem\nSanguis parentum praestet, aut lex curiae:\nGenerosa Christi secta nobilitat viros.\nSi prima nostri quae sit in cunabulis\nOrigo texti stemmatis recenseas,\nDei parentis esse ab ore coepimus:\nCui quisque servit, ille vere est nobilis;\nPatri rebellis, invenitur degener.\nHonos deinde stemmati accedit novus,\nEt splendor ingens, ut magistratus venit ;","t":"It is not lawful for servants of idols and demons\nto enter the holy house of our salvation,\nlest the pure place of prayer be polluted:\nI trust in the Holy Spirit that it will never\nbe granted you to touch the blessed threshold with your foot —\nunless perhaps, made one of us, you deserve\nto be taken into our flock: may God the Father bring it about.”\nInflamed by this, Asclepiades had ordered\nthe body to be hung high on the rack\nto be disemboweled, and stretched by hooks and chains.\nBut the attendants suggest to the raging man\nthat he is noble by ancient lineage,\nand first among the citizens for his many merits.\nHe orders the guilty stake to be removed,\nlest a plebeian punishment condemn a famous man.\n“Let his back be beaten,” he says, “with frequent blows,\nand let his neck, flogged with lead, swell:\neach person is punished appropriately,\nand it matters much whether one is low or noble:\nthe form of the tortures is given by the rank of the accused.”\nSo the martyr, beaten by that hail,\nafter he had sung many hymns between the blows,\nstood up and began: “Far be it that the blood of my parents\nor the law of the senate-house should make me noble:\nthe noble sect of Christ ennobles men.\nIf you review what the first origin is\nof our woven lineage in its cradle,\nwe began from the mouth of God our parent:\nwhoever serves him, he is truly noble;\nrebellious to the Father, he is found degenerate.\nThen a new honor is added to the lineage,\nand immense splendor, when a magistracy comes:","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.97 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 97–128; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-97)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/10.993":{"o":"Pagane, vestri sanguinem sacrum bovis,\nCuius litata caede permadescitis ?\nSummus sacerdos nempe, sub terram scrobe\nActa, in profundum consecrandus mergitur,\nMire infulatus, festa vittis tempora\nNectens, corona tum repexus aurea,\nCinctu Gabino sericam fultus togam.\nTabulis superne strata texunt pulpita,\nRimosa rari pegmatis compagibus,\nScindunt subinde vel terebrant aream,\nCrebroque lignum perforant acumine,\nPateat minutis ut frequens hiatibus.\nHuc taurus ingens, fronte torva et hispida,\nSertis revinctus aut per armos floreis,\nAut impeditis cornibus, deducitur :\nNec non et auro frons coruscat hostiae,\nSaetasque fulgor bractealis inficit.\nHic, ut statuta est immolanda bellua,\nPectus sacrato dividunt venabulo:\nEructat amplum vulnus undam sanguinis\nFerventis, inque texta pontis subditi\nFundit vaporum flumen, et late aestuat.\nTum per frequentes mille rimarum vias\nInlapsus imber, tabidum rorem pluit,\nDefossus intus quem sacerdos excipit.\nGuttas ad omnes turpe subiectans caput,\nEt veste et omni putrefactus corpore.\nQuin os supinat, obvias offert genas,\nSupponit aures, labra, nares obiicit,\nOculos et ipsos perluit liquoribus;\nNec iam palato parcit, et linguam rigat,\nDonec cruorem totus atrum combibat.","t":"the sacred blood of your bull,\nwith whose sacrificial slaughter you are soaked?\nThe high priest, of course, to be consecrated, is sunk deep\nunder the earth in a pit dug out,\nwondrously adorned with fillets, binding his festive temples\nwith ribbons, then, his hair combed back, with a golden crown,\nwearing his silk toga in the Gabine girding.\nAbove, they weave a platform laid with planks,\nfull of cracks with the joints of the open framework;\nthen they cut or bore the flooring,\nand pierce the wood with frequent points,\nso that it may lie open with many small gaps.\nHere a huge bull, grim and shaggy of brow,\nbound with garlands of flowers about its shoulders\nor on its entangled horns, is led down;\nthe victim’s brow too flashes with gold,\nand the gleam of gold leaf tinges its bristles.\nHere, when the beast appointed for sacrifice is set,\nthey divide its breast with a consecrated hunting spear:\nthe gaping wound belches a wave of hot blood,\nand pours a steaming stream onto the woven bridge beneath,\nand seethes far and wide.\nThen through the many ways of the thousand cracks\nthe shower, falling through, rains a putrid dew,\nwhich the priest, buried within, receives,\nfoully putting his head under every drop,\nrotten in his clothing and his whole body.\nHe even turns up his face, offers his cheeks to meet it,\nputs under it his ears, lips, presents his nostrils,\nbathes his very eyes in the liquid;\nnor does he spare his palate, but wets his tongue,\nuntil he drinks in all the black blood.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 10.993 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 993–1024; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/10-993)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/11.1":{"o":"Innumeros cineres Sanctorum Romula in urbe\nVidimus, o Christi Valeriane sacer.\nIncisos tumulis titulos, et singula quaeris\nNomina? difficile est ut replicare queam.\nTantos iustorum populos furor impius hausit,\nQuum coleret patrios Troia Roma deos.\nPlurima litterulis signata sepulcra loquuntur\nMartyris aut nomen, aut epigramma aliquod.\nSunt et muta tamen tacitas claudentia tumbas\nMarmora, quae solum significant numerum.\nQuanta virum iaceant congestis corpora acervis\nNosse licet, quorum nomina nulla legas.\nSexaginta illic, defossas mole sub una,\nReliquias memini me didicisse hominum,\nQuorum solus habet comperta vocabula Christus,\nUtpote quos propriae iunxit amicitiae.\nHaec dum lustro oculis, et sicubi forte latentes\nRerum apices, veterum per monumenta sequor,\nInvenio Hippolytum, qui quondam schisma Novati\nUsque ad Martyrii provectum insigne, tulisse\nLucida sanguinei praemia supplicii.\nNec mirere senem, perversi dogmatis olim,\nMunere ditatum catholicae fidei.\nQuum iam vesano victor raperetur ab hoste,\nExsultante anima carnis ad exitium,\nConsultus quaenam secta foret melior,\nFugite, o miseri, exsecranda Novati\nSchismata, catholicis reddite vos populis.\nUna fides vigeat, prisco quae condita templo est :\nQuam Paulus retinet, quamque cathedra Petri.\nHis dictis torsit laevo de tramite plebem,\nMonstravitque sequi, qua via dextra vocat,\nSeque ducem recti, spretis anfractibus, idem","t":"Countless ashes of saints in the city of Romulus\nwe have seen, O Valerian, consecrated to Christ.\nDo you ask for the titles cut on the tombs, and the individual\nnames? It is hard for me to be able to unfold them.\nImpious fury drained such great peoples of the righteous,\nwhen Trojan Rome worshiped its ancestral gods.\nMany tombs, marked with little letters, tell\neither the name of a martyr or some epigram.\nBut there are also mute marbles shutting in silent tombs,\nwhich indicate only the number.\nYou may know how many bodies of men lie in heaped-up piles,\nof whom you can read no names.\nI remember learning that there the remains\nof sixty men lie buried under one mass,\nwhose names Christ alone knows,\nas those whom he has joined in his own friendship.\nWhile I survey these things with my eyes, and follow through\nthe monuments of the ancients any hidden traces of the facts,\nI find that Hippolytus, who had once [joined] the schism of Novatus,\nadvanced to the glorious mark of martyrdom, bore\nthe bright rewards of a bloody punishment.\nDo not wonder that the old man, once of a perverse doctrine,\nwas enriched with the gift of the catholic faith.\nWhen, already victor, he was being snatched away by the raging enemy,\nhis soul exulting at the death of the flesh,\nasked which sect was better, [he answered:]\n“Flee, wretched ones, the accursed schism\nof Novatus; return to the catholic peoples.\nLet the one faith flourish which was founded in the ancient temple,\nwhich Paul holds, and the chair of Peter.”\nWith these words he turned the people from the left-hand path,\nand showed them to follow where the right way calls,\nand, spurning winding ways, he himself, as leader of the right,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 11.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/11-1)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/11.129":{"o":"Canitiem molli confovet in gremio ;\nHic humeros truncasque manus, et brachia et ulnas,\nEt genua, et crurum fragmina nuda legit.\nPalliolis etiam bibulae siccantur arenae,\nNe quis in infecto pulvere ros maneat.\nSi quis et in sudibus recalenti adspergine sanguis\nInsidet, hunc omnem spongia pressa rapit.\nNec iam densa sacro quidquam de corpore silva\nObtinet, aut plenis fraudat ab exsequiis.\nQuumque recensitis constaret partibus ille,\nCorporis integri qui fuerat numerus:\nNec purgata aliquid deberent avia toto\nEx homine, extersis frondibus et scopulis.\nMetando eligitur tumulo locus : Ostia linquunt:\nRoma placet, sanctos quae teneat cineres.\nHaud procul extremo culta ad pomeria vallo\nMersa latebrosis crypta patet foveis :\nHuius in occultum gradibus via prona reflexis\nIre per anfractus luce latente docet.\nPrimas namque fores summo tenus intrat hiatu\nIllustratque dies limina vestibuli.\nInde, ubi progressu facili nigrescere visa est\nNox obscura, loci per specus ambiguum,\nOccurrunt caesis immissa foramina tectis,\nQuae iaciant claros antra super radios.\nQuamlibet ancipites texant hinc inde recessus,\nArta sub umbrosis atria porticibus ;\nAttamen excisi subter cava viscera montis\nCrebra terebrato fornice lux penetrat.\nSic datur absentis per subterranea solis\nCernere fulgorem, luminibusque frui.\nTalibus Hippolyti corpus mandatur opertis,","t":"white hair he cherishes in his soft lap;\nthis one gathers the shoulders and the cut-off hands, the arms and elbows,\nthe knees, and the bare fragments of the legs.\nWith little cloaks the thirsty sands are also dried,\nlest any dew remain in the stained dust.\nIf any blood also sits on the stakes with still-warm sprinkling,\na pressed sponge snatches it all.\nNow the dense wood no longer holds anything of the sacred body,\nnor cheats it of a complete funeral.\nAnd when, the parts having been reviewed, it was found\nto have the number that the whole body had had,\nand the cleansed pathless places owed nothing of the whole man,\nthe leaves and rocks having been wiped clean,\na place is chosen for the tomb by measuring: they leave Ostia:\nRome pleases, to hold the holy ashes.\nNot far from the outermost rampart, by the tilled ground beside the walls,\na crypt lies open, sunk in hidden pits:\na way sloping down by winding steps\nteaches one to go into its hidden depth through turnings without light.\nFor daylight enters the first doors as far as the top of the opening,\nand lights up the threshold of the entrance hall.\nThen, when, as one goes easily forward, the dark night is seen\nto grow black through the ambiguous caves of the place,\nopenings let into the cut roofs meet you,\nwhich cast bright rays into the caves.\nHowever much the uncertain recesses weave on this side and that\nnarrow halls under shady porticoes,\nyet beneath the hollow inside of the excavated hill\nthe light penetrates frequently through the bored vault.\nSo it is granted to see underground the brightness\nof the absent sun, and to enjoy its light.\nTo such hidden places the body of Hippolytus is entrusted,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 11.129 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 129–160; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/11-129)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/11.161":{"o":"Propter ubi adposita est ara dicata Deo.\nIlla Sacramenti donatrix mensa, eademque\nCustos fida sui Martyris adposita,\nServat ad aeterni spem iudicis ossa sepulcro,\nPascit item sanctis Tibricolas dapibus.\nMira loci pietas, et prompta precantibus ara\nSpes hominum placida prosperitate iuvat.\nHic corruptelis animique et corporis aeger\nOravi quoties stratus, opem merui.\nQuod laetor reditu, quod te, venerande sacerdos,\nComplecti licitum est, scribo quod haec eadem,\nHippolyto scio me debere, Deus cui Christus\nPosse dedit, quod quis postulet, adnuere.\nIpsa, illas animae exuvias quae continet intus,\nAedicula argento fulgurat ex solido.\nPraefixit tabulas dives manus aequore levi,\nCandentes, recavum quale nitet speculum.\nNec Pariis contenta aditus obducere saxis,\nAddidit ornando clara talenta operi.\nMane salutatum concurritur : omnis adorat\nPubes; eunt, redeunt, solis ad usque obitum.\nConglobat in cuneum Latios simul ac peregrinos\nPermixtim populos religionis amor.\nOscula perspicuo figunt impressa metallo,\nBalsama defundunt, fletibus ora rigant.\nIam quum se renovat decursis mensibus annus,\nNatalemque diem passio festa refert;\nQuanta putas studiis certantibus agmina cogi,\nQuaeve celebrando vota coire Deo?\nUrbs augusta suos vomit effunditque Quirites,\nUna et patricios ambitione pari.\nConfundit plebeia phalanx umbonibus aequis","t":"near where an altar dedicated to God is placed.\nThat table, giver of the Sacrament, and likewise\nplaced as the faithful guardian of its martyr,\nkeeps the bones in the tomb for the hope of the eternal Judge,\nand also feeds the dwellers by the Tiber with holy food.\nWonderful is the holiness of the place, and the altar, ready for those who pray,\nhelps the hopes of men with gentle favor.\nHere, as often as I prayed prostrate, sick with the corruptions\nof mind and body, I obtained help.\nThat I rejoice in my return, that I have been allowed to embrace you,\nvenerable bishop, that I write these very things,\nI know I owe to Hippolytus, to whom Christ, God,\nhas given the power to grant what anyone asks.\nThe little shrine itself, which contains those spoils of the soul within,\nflashes with solid silver.\nA rich hand has fixed plates with a smooth surface in front,\ngleaming like a hollow mirror shining.\nNot content to cover the entrance with Parian stones,\nit added splendid sums to adorn the work.\nIn the morning people run together to greet him: all the youth\nadore; they come, they go, right until sunset.\nLove of religion gathers into one wedge Latins and strangers alike,\npeoples mixed together.\nThey fix kisses pressed on the shining metal,\npour out balsams, water their faces with tears.\nNow, when the year renews itself as the months run out,\nand the festal passion brings back his birthday,\nhow great a crowd do you think gathers with eager zeal,\nor what prayers come together to celebrate God?\nThe august City pours out and spills forth its Quirites,\npatricians too with equal ambition.\nThe plebeian phalanx mingles, with equal shields,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 11.161 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 161–192; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/11-161)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/11.193":{"o":"Discrimen procerum, praecipitante fide.\nNec minus Albanis acies se candida portis\nExplicat, et longis ducitur ordinibus.\nExsultant fremitus variarum hinc inde viarum,\nIndigena, et Picens, plebs et Etrusca venit.\nConcurrit Samnitis atrox habitator, et altae\nCampanus Capuae, iamque Nolanus adest.\nQuisque sua laetus cum coniuge, dulcibus et cum\nPignoribus, rapidum carpere gestit iter.\nVix capiunt patuli populorum gaudia campi,\nHaeret et in magnis densa cohors spatiis.\nAngustum tantis illud specus esse catervis\nHaud dubium est, ampla fauce licet pateat.\nStat sed iuxta aliud, quod tanta frequentia templum\nTunc adeat, cultu nobile regifico,\nParietibus celsum sublimibus, atque superba\nMaiestate potens, muneribusque opulens.\nOrdo columnarum geminus laquearia tecti\nSustinet, auratis suppositus trabibus.\nAdduntur graciles tecto breviore recessus,\nQui laterum seriem iugiter exsinuent.\nAt medios aperit tractus via latior alti\nCulminis, exsurgens editiore apice.\nFronte sub adversa gradibus sublime tribunal\nTollitur, antistes praedicat unde Deum.\nPlena laborantes aegre domus accipit undas,\nArtaque confertis aestuat in foribus,\nMaternum pandens gremium, quo condat alumnos,\nAc foveat fetos accumulata sinus.\nSi bene commemini, colit hunc pulcherrima Roma\nIdibus Augusti mensis, ut ipsa vocat","t":"the distinctions of the nobles, as faith hurries them headlong.\nNo less does a white-robed line unfold itself from the Alban gates\nand is led in long ranks.\nThe roars of the various roads on this side and that exult:\nthe native comes, and the Picenian, and the Etruscan people.\nThe fierce dweller of the Samnite land runs together, and the Campanian\nof lofty Capua, and now the man of Nola is here.\nEach, glad, with his wife and his sweet children,\nis eager to make his swift journey.\nThe open plains scarcely hold the joys of the peoples,\nand the dense throng sticks even in the great spaces.\nThere is no doubt that that cave is narrow for such crowds,\nthough it opens with a wide mouth.\nBut beside it stands another temple, for so great a throng\nto come to then, noble with royal adornment,\nlofty with high walls, and powerful in proud majesty,\nand rich in gifts.\nA double row of columns supports the panels of the roof,\nset under gilded beams.\nSlender aisles are added with lower roof,\nwhich hollow out the series of the sides continuously.\nBut a wider way opens the middle tract of the high\nroof, rising with a loftier summit.\nOpposite the front, a lofty tribunal is raised by steps,\nfrom which the bishop preaches God.\nThe full house receives with difficulty the laboring waves,\nand seethes, narrow, at the crowded doors,\nopening its maternal bosom to shelter its nurslings,\nand, heaped up, to cherish the brood in its lap.\nIf I remember rightly, most beautiful Rome honors it\non the Ides of August, as she herself calls","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 11.193 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 193–224; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/11-193)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/11.225":{"o":"Prisco more diem, quem te quoque, sancte magister,\nAnnua festa inter dinumerare velim.\nCrede, salutigeros feret hic venerantibus ortus,\nLucis honoratae praemia restituens.\nInter solemnes Cypriani, vel Chelidoni,\nEulaliaeque dies currat et iste tibi.\nSic te pro populo, cuius tibi credita vita est,\nOrantem Christus audiat omnipotens.\nSic tibi de pleno lupus excludatur ovili,\nAgna nec ulla tuum capta gregem minuat.\nSic me, gramineo remanentem denique campo,\nSedulus aegrotam pastor ovem referas.\nSic, quum lacteolis caulas compleveris agnis,\nRaptus et ipse sacro sis comes Hippolyto.","t":"the day, by ancient custom; and I would wish you too, holy master,\nto count it among your annual feasts.\nBelieve me, it will bring saving risings to those who venerate it,\nrepaying the rewards of the honored light.\nAmong the solemn days of Cyprian, or of Chelidonius,\nand of Eulalia, let this one too run its course for you.\nSo may Christ almighty hear you\npraying for the people whose life has been entrusted to you.\nSo may the wolf be shut out from your full fold,\nand may no lamb, captured, diminish your flock.\nSo may you, careful shepherd, carry me back at last,\na sick sheep left behind in the grassy field.\nSo, when you have filled the folds with milk-white lambs,\nmay you yourself, caught up, be the companion of holy Hippolytus.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 11.225 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 225–245; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/11-225)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/11.33":{"o":"Praebuit, erroris qui prius auctor erat.\nSistitur insano rectori, Christicolas tunc\nIllo namque die Roma secesserat, ipsos\nPeste suburbanos ut quateret populos.\nNon contentus humum celsa intra moenia Romae\nTinguere iustorum caedibus assiduis :\nIaniculum quum iam madidum, fora, Rostra, Suburram\nCerneret eluvie sanguinis adfluere,\nProtulerat rabiem Tyrrheni ad litoris oram,\nQuaeque loca aequoreus proxima portus habet.\nInter carnifices, et constipata sedebat\nOfficia, exstructo celsior in solio.\nDiscipulos fidei, detestandique rebelles\nIdolii, ardebat dedere perfidiae.\nCarcereo crinita situ stare agmina contra\nIusserat, horrendis excrucianda modis.\nInde catenarum tractus, hinc lorea flagra\nStridere, virgarum concrepitare fragor.\nUngula fixa cavis costarum cratibus altos\nPandere secessus, et lacerare iecur.\nAc iam lassatis iudex tortoribus ibat\nIn furias, cassa cognitione fremens.\nNullus enim Christi ex famulis per tanta repertus\nSupplicia, auderet qui vitiare animam.\nInde furens quaesitor ait: — « Iam, tortor, ab unco\nDesine ; si vana est quaestio, morte agito.\nHuic abscide caput, crux istum tollat in auras,\nViventesque oculos offerat alitibus.\nHos rape praecipites, et vinctos coniice in ignem;\nSit pyra quae multos devoret una reos.\nEn tibi quos properes rimosae imponere cumbae","t":"offered himself, who had earlier been the author of error.\nHe is set before the mad governor, [who was then harassing] Christians.\nFor on that day he had withdrawn from Rome, to shake\nwith his plague the suburban peoples themselves.\nNot content to dye the ground within the high walls of Rome\nwith constant slaughters of the righteous,\nwhen he saw the Janiculum already wet, the forums, the Rostra, the Subura,\nflowing with a flood of blood,\nhe had carried his rage to the edge of the Tyrrhenian shore,\nand to the places nearest the sea harbor.\nHe sat among the executioners and the crowded\nattendants, higher on a raised throne.\nHe burned to hand over to perfidy the disciples of the faith,\nrebels against the detestable idol.\nHe had ordered long-haired columns, from the squalor of the prison,\nto stand before him, to be tortured in horrid ways.\nOn one side the dragging of chains, on the other leather scourges\nhissed, the crash of rods resounded.\nThe claw, fixed in the hollow lattice of the ribs,\nopened the deep recesses and tore the liver.\nAnd now, with the torturers tired, the judge was going\ninto fury, roaring at his vain inquiry.\nFor no one among Christ’s servants was found,\nthrough such great tortures, who would dare to corrupt his soul.\nThen the raging inquisitor said: “Now, torturer, stop\nwith the hook; if the inquiry is vain, proceed with death.\nCut off this one’s head; let the cross lift that one into the air\nand offer his living eyes to the birds.\nSeize these headlong, and throw them bound into the fire;\nlet one pyre devour many accused.\nSee, these you must hurry to put in a leaky boat","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 11.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/11-33)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/11.65":{"o":"Pellere et in medii stagna profunda freti:\nQuos ubi susceptos rapidum male suta per aequor\nVexerit, et tumidis caesa laborarit aquis ;\nDissociata putrem laxent tabulata carinam,\nConceptura bibant undique naufragium.\n… tabit ventre sepulcrum\n… cruda cadaveribus. » —\nHaec persultanti, celsum subito ante tribunal\nOffertur senior nexibus implicitus.\nStipati circum iuvenes clamore ferebant,\nIpsum Christicolis esse caput populis.\nSi foret exstinctum propere caput, omnia vulgi\nPectora Romanis sponte sacranda deis.\nInsolitum leti poscunt genus, et nova poenae\nInventa, exemplo quo trepident alii.\nIlle supinata residens cervice: — « Quis, inquit,\nDicitur? » — adfirmant, dicier Hippolytum.\n— « Ergo sit Hippolytus: quatiat, turbetque iugales,\nIntereatque feris dilaceratus equis. » —\nVix haec ille: duo cogunt animalia, freni\nIgnara, insueto subdere colla iugo:\nNon stabulis, blandive manu palpata magistri,\nImperiumque equitis ante subacta pati;\nQuod pavor indomito corde ferinus agit.\nIamque reluctantes sociarant vincula bigas,\nOraque discordi foedere nexuerant.\nTemonis vice funis inest, qui terga duorum\nDividit, et medius tangit utrumque latus.\nDeque iugo in longum se post vestigia retro\nProtendens trahitur, transit et ima pedum.\nHuius ad extremum, sequitur qua pulvere summo\nCornipedum refugas orbita trita vias,\nCrura viri innectit laqueus, nodoque tenaci\nAdstringit plantas, cumque rudente ligat.","t":"and drive them into the deep pools of the open sea:\nwhen the badly sewn boat has carried them, taken on board,\nover the rushing sea, and, broken, has labored in the swelling waters,\nlet the planks, separated, loosen the rotten keel\nand drink in shipwreck from every side.\n[…] a tomb in its belly,\n[…] raw with corpses.”\nAs he was raging thus, suddenly before the high tribunal\nan old man is brought, entangled in bonds.\nYoung men crowding around reported with a shout\nthat he was the head of the Christian peoples:\nif the head were quickly destroyed, all the hearts\nof the people would willingly be consecrated to the Roman gods.\nThey demand an unusual kind of death and new\ninventions of punishment, by whose example others would tremble.\nHe, sitting with head thrown back, says: “What is he called?”\nThey affirm that he is called Hippolytus.\n“Then let him be Hippolytus: let him shake and trouble the yoked team,\nand perish torn apart by wild horses.”\nHardly had he said this: they force two animals, ignorant\nof the bridle, to submit their necks to an unaccustomed yoke:\nnot stroked in the stalls or by the coaxing hand of a trainer,\nnor tamed before to bear the command of a rider;\n[…] which fear drives in their untamed, wild hearts.\nAnd now the chains had joined the resisting pair,\nand had bound their mouths in a discordant union.\nIn place of a pole there is a rope, which divides the backs\nof the two, and touches each side in the middle.\nAnd from the yoke, stretching out long behind\nthe footsteps, it is dragged and passes beyond the feet.\nAt its far end, where the track worn in the top of the dust\nfollows the fleeing ways of the horn-footed,\na noose binds the man’s legs, and with a tight knot\nfastens his feet and ties them to the rope.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 11.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/11-65)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/11.97":{"o":"Postquam composito satis instruxere paratu\nMartyris ad poenam verbera, vincla, feros,\nInstigant subitis clamoribus atque flagellis,\nIliaque infestis perfodiunt stimulis.\nUltima vox audita senis venerabilis haec est :\n— « Hi rapiant artus, tu rape, Christe, animam. » —\nProrumpunt alacres, caeco et terrore feruntur,\nQua sonus atque tremor, qua furor exagitant.\nIncendit feritas, rapit impetus, et fragor urguet,\nNec cursus volucer mobile sentit onus.\nPer silvas, per saxa ruunt, non ripa retardat\nFluminis, aut torrens oppositus cohibet.\nProsternunt saepes, et cuncta obstacula rumpunt,\nProna, fragosa petunt, ardua transiliunt.\nScissa minutatim labefacto corpore frusta\nCarpit spinigeris stirpibus hirtus ager.\nPars summis pendet scopulis, pars sentibus haeret,\nParte rubent frondes, parte madescit humus.\nExemplar sceleris paries habet inlitus, in quo\nMulticolor fucus digerit omne nefas.\nPicta super tumulum species liquidis viget umbris,\nEffigians tracti membra cruenta viri.\nRorantes saxorum apices vidi, optime papa,\nPurpureasque notas vepribus impositas.\nDocta manus virides imitando effingere dumos\nLuserat et minio russeolam saniem.\nCernere erat, ruptis compagibus ordine nullo\nMembra per incertos sparsa iacere situs.\nAddiderat caros, gressu lacrimisque sequentes,\nDevia qua fractum semita monstrat iter,\nMoerore attoniti, atque oculis rimantibus ibant;\nImplebantque sinus visceribus laceris.\nIlle caput niveum complectitur, ac reverendam","t":"After they had sufficiently furnished, with ordered preparation,\nthe scourges, chains, beasts for the martyr’s punishment,\nthey spur them on with sudden shouts and whips,\nand pierce their flanks with hostile goads.\nThe last voice heard from the venerable old man was this:\n“Let these snatch my limbs; you, Christ, snatch my soul.”\nThey burst forth eagerly and are carried away by blind terror,\nwherever noise and trembling, wherever frenzy drives them.\nWildness inflames them, impetus sweeps them along, the crash urges them,\nnor does their winged course feel the moving burden.\nThrough woods, through rocks they rush; no river bank\nslows them, nor does an opposing torrent check them.\nThey throw down hedges and burst all obstacles,\nmake for steep and rugged places, leap over heights.\nThe rough field with its thorny stumps plucks\nthe pieces torn bit by bit from the shattered body.\nPart hangs from the tops of cliffs, part clings to brambles;\nwith part the leaves grow red, with part the ground grows wet.\nA painted wall has a likeness of the crime, on which\nmany-colored paint sets out the whole wickedness.\nAbove the tomb a picture lives in clear shades,\nportraying the bloody limbs of the man who was dragged.\nI saw the dripping tops of rocks, best father,\nand purple marks set on the brambles.\nA hand skilled in imitating had played at shaping the green thickets,\nand the reddish gore with vermilion.\nOne could see the limbs, their joints broken, lying\nin no order, scattered through uncertain places.\nThe painter had added his dear ones, following with step and tears\nwhere the out-of-the-way path shows the broken route;\nthey went, stunned with grief, with searching eyes,\nand filled their bosoms with the torn flesh.\nOne embraces the snowy head, and the venerable","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 11.97 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 97–128; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/11-97)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/12.1":{"o":"Romam per omnem cursitant, ovantque. » —\n— « Festus Apostolici nobis redit hic dies triumphi,\nPauli, atque Petri nobilis cruore.\nUnus utrumque dies, pleno tamen innovatus anno,\nVidit superba morte laureatum.\nScit Tiberina palus, flumine quae lambitur propinquo,\nEt crucis, et gladii testis, quibus inrigans easdem\nBis fluxit imber sanguinis per herbas.\nPrima Petrum rapuit sententia legibus Neronis,\nPendere iussum praeminente ligno.\nIlle tamen veritus celsae decus aemulando mortis\nAmbire tanti gloriam Magistri,\nExigit, ut pedibus mersum caput imprimant supinis,\nQuo spectet imum stipitem cerebro.\nFigitur ergo manus subter, sola versus in cacumen :\nHoc mente maior, quo minor figura.\nNoverat ex humili caelum citius solere adiri ;\nDeiecit ora, spiritum daturus.\nOrbis iter flexi rota percucurrit anni,\nEvomit in iugulum Pauli Nero fervidum furorem,\nIubet feriri gentium magistrum.\nAd Christum eundum est, iam resolvor, inquit.\nNec hora vatem, nec dies fefellit.\nDividit ossa duum Tibris, sacer ex utraque ripa,\nInter sacrata dum fluit sepulcra.\nCanens oliva, murmurans fluento.\nNamque supercilio saxi liquor ortus excitavit\nFontem perennem chrismatis feracem.\nNunc pretiosa ruit per marmora, lubricatque clivum,\nInterior tumuli pars est; ubi lapsibus sonoris","t":"are running about through all Rome, rejoicing.”\n“This festal day of the apostolic triumph returns to us,\nglorious with the blood of Paul and Peter.\nOne and the same day, though renewed after a full year,\nsaw each crowned with laurel by a proud death.\nThe Tiber marsh, washed by the nearby river, knows it,\nwitness of the cross and of the sword, by which twice\na shower of blood flowed, watering the same grass.\nThe first sentence, by the laws of Nero, seized Peter,\nordered to hang on a lofty beam.\nBut he, afraid of seeking the glory of so great a Master\nby imitating the honor of a lofty death,\ndemands that they press down his head, sunk, with his feet upturned,\nso that he might look with his head at the bottom of the stake.\nSo his hands are fixed below, his soles turned to the top:\ngreater in mind by as much as he is lesser in posture.\nHe knew that heaven was usually reached more quickly from a low place;\nhe cast down his face as he was about to give up his spirit.\n[When] the wheel of the turning year had run its circuit,\nNero vomits his burning fury against the throat of Paul,\nand orders the teacher of the nations to be struck.\n“I must go to Christ; I am now being released,” he said.\nNeither the hour nor the day deceived the prophet.\nThe Tiber divides the bones of the two, sacred on both banks,\nas it flows between the consecrated tombs.\n[…] gray with olive, murmuring with its stream.\nFor water, rising at the brow of a rock, has roused\nan everlasting fountain, fruitful in chrism.\nNow it rushes over precious marbles, and makes the slope slippery;\nthe inner part of the tomb is where with sounding falls","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 12.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/12-1)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/12.33":{"o":"Omnicolor vitreas pictura superne tinguit undas,\nMusci relucent, et virescit aurum:\nCyaneusque latex umbram trahit imminentis ostri;\nCredas moveri fluctibus lacunar.\nPastor oves alit ipse illic gelidi rigore fontis,\nVidet sitire quas fluenta Christi.\nParte alia titulum Pauli via servat Ostiensis,\nQua stringit amnis caespitem sinistrum.\nRegia pompa loci est: princeps bonus has sacravit arces,\nLusitque magnis ambitum talentis.\nBracteolas trabibus sublevit, ut omnis aurulenta\nLux esset intus, ceu iubar sub ortu.\nSubdidit et Parias fulvis laquearibus columnas,\nDistinguit illic quas quaternus ordo.\nTum camuros hyalo insigni varie cucurrit arcus:\nSic prata vernis floribus renident.\nEcce duas fidei summo Patre conferente dotes,\nUrbi colendas quas dedit togatae.\nAdspice, per bifidas plebs romula funditur plateas,\nLux in duobus fervet una festis.\nNos ad utrumque tamen gressu properemus incitato,\nEt his et illis perfruamur hymnis,\nIbimus ulterius, qua fert via pontis Hadriani,\nLaevam deinde fluminis petemus.\nTranstiberina prius solvit sacra pervigil sacerdos,\nMox huc recurrit, duplicatque vota.\nHaec didicisse sat est Romae tibi : tu domum reversus,\nDiem bifestum sic colas, memento. » —","t":"Many-colored painting above tinges the glassy waters,\nthe mosses gleam, and the gold grows green;\nand the dark-blue water takes on the shade of the purple above:\nyou would think the panelled ceiling moved with the waves.\nThere the Shepherd himself feeds his sheep with the cold freshness of the fountain,\nwhom he sees thirsting for the streams of Christ.\nOn the other side the Ostian road keeps the memorial of Paul,\nwhere the river grazes the turf on its left.\nThe splendor of the place is royal: the good emperor consecrated these heights,\nand lavished great sums upon their circuit.\nHe gilded the beams with gold leaf, so that all the light\nwithin might be golden, like radiance at sunrise.\nHe set beneath the tawny ceilings columns of Parian marble,\nwhich a fourfold row arranges there.\nThen he ran the curved arches variously with splendid glass:\nso meadows shine with spring flowers.\nSee two gifts of faith, conferred by the supreme Father,\nwhich he gave to the toga-clad City to honor.\nLook, the people of Romulus pours out through the twin streets;\none daylight burns in two feasts.\nYet let us hurry with quick step to both,\nand enjoy both these hymns and those.\nWe shall go further, where the road of Hadrian’s bridge leads,\nthen we shall make for the left side of the river.\nThe wakeful bishop first performs the rites across the Tiber,\nthen hurries back here, and doubles the prayers.\nIt is enough for you to have learned this at Rome: when you return home,\nremember to keep the doubly festive day in this way.”","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 12.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–70; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/12-33)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/13.1":{"o":"Punica terra tulit, quo splendeat omne quidquid usquam est,\nInde domo Cyprianum, sed decus orbis et magistrum.\nEst proprius patriae martyr, sed amore et ore noster.\nIncubat in Libya sanguis; sed ubique lingua pollet:\nSola superstes agit de corpore, sola obire nescit.\nDum genus esse hominum Christus sinet, et vigere mundum,\nDum liber ullus erit, dum scrinia sacra litterarum,\nTe leget omnis amans Christum ; tua, Cypriane, discet.\nSpiritus ille Dei, qui fluxerat auctor in Prophetas,\nFontibus eloquii te caelitus actus inrigavit.\nO nive candidius linguae genus ! O novum saporem !\nUt liquor ambrosius cor mitigat, imbuit palatum,\nSedem animae penetrat, mentem fovet, pererrat artus,\nSic Deus interius sentitur, et inditur medullis.\nUnde bonum subitum terris dederis, Pater, revela.\nDeerat Apostolicis scriptis opulentus exsecutor:\nEligitur locuples facundia, quae doceret orbem,\nQuaeque voluminibus Pauli famulata disputaret,\nQuo mage cruda hominum praecordia perpolita nossent,\nSive timoris opus, seu mystica vel profunda Christi.\nUnus erat iuvenum doctissimus artibus sinistris,\nFraude pudicitiam perfringere, nil sacrum putare :\nSaepe etiam magicum cantamen inire per sepulcra,\nQuo geniale tori ius solveret, aestuante nupta.\nLuxuriae rabiem tantae cohibet repente Christus,\nDiscutit et tenebras de pectore, pellit et furorem,\nImplet amore sui, dat credere, dat pudere facti.\nIamque figura alia est, quam quae fuit, oris et nitoris :\nExuitur tenui vultus cute, transit in severam :\nDeflua caesaries compescitur ad breves capillos.\nIpse modesta loqui, spem quaerere, regulam tenere,\nVivere iustitiam Christi, penetrare dogma nostrum.\nHis igitur meritis dignissimus usque episcopale\nProvehitur solium doctor, capit et sedile summum.","t":"The Punic land brought forth, to make bright all that exists anywhere,\nCyprian from its own home, but the glory and teacher of the world.\nHe is the martyr proper to his homeland, but ours in love and speech.\nHis blood lies in Libya, but his tongue is powerful everywhere:\nit alone survives from the body, it alone knows not how to die.\nAs long as Christ allows the human race to exist and the world to thrive,\nas long as there is any book, as long as there are sacred cases of letters,\neveryone who loves Christ will read you, Cyprian, and will learn what is yours.\nThat Spirit of God, who had flowed as author into the Prophets,\nmoved from heaven, watered you with the fountains of eloquence.\nO kind of speech whiter than snow! O new savor!\nAs ambrosial liquid soothes the heart, steeps the palate,\npenetrates the seat of the soul, cherishes the mind, travels through the limbs,\nso God is felt within, and put into the marrow.\nReveal, Father, whence you gave this sudden good to the earth.\nThe apostolic writings lacked a rich expounder:\na wealthy eloquence is chosen, to teach the world,\nand, serving the volumes of Paul, to discuss them,\nso that the crude hearts of men, polished more, might know\neither the work of fear, or the mystical or deep things of Christ.\nThere was one young man most learned in sinister arts,\nin breaking chastity by fraud, in thinking nothing sacred,\noften too in performing magic spells among the tombs,\nto dissolve the marriage right of the bed by inflaming a bride.\nChrist suddenly checks the madness of such great wantonness,\nshakes the darkness from his breast, and drives out the frenzy,\nfills him with love of himself, gives him to believe, gives him to be ashamed of what he did.\nAnd now the form of his face and his appearance is other than it was:\nhis face puts off its delicate skin, passes into a severe one;\nhis flowing hair is checked into short locks.\nHe himself [learns] to speak modestly, to seek hope, to keep the rule,\nto live the righteousness of Christ, to penetrate our doctrine.\nFor these merits, most worthy, the teacher is promoted\nto the episcopal throne, and takes the highest seat.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 13.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/13-1)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/13.33":{"o":"Valerianus opum Princeps erat, atque Gallienus;\nConstituere simul poenam capitis Deum fatenti.\nMillia turrigerum spurcissima iusserant sacrari.\nContra animos populi doctor Cyprianus incitabat;\nNe quis ab egregiae virtutis honore discreparet,\nNeu fidei pretium quis sumere degener timeret,\nEsse levem cruciatum, si modo conferas futura,\nQuae Deus ipse viris intermina fortibus spopondit :\nMercede doloris emi spem luminis et diem perennem,\nOmne malum volucri cum tempore transvolare cursim :\nNil grave, quod peragi finis facit, et quiete donat.\nSe fore principium pulchrae necis, et ducem cruoris,\nSeque gladio caput submittere, sanguinem dicare :\nQui sociare animam Christo velit, ut comes sequatur.\nHis ubi corda virum Christo calefacta praeparavit,\nDucitur ante alios, Proconsule perfurente, vinctus.\nAntra latent Tyriae Carthaginis altius reposta,\nConscia Tartareae caliginis, abdicata soli :\nClausus in his specubus sanctus Cyprianus, et catena\nNexus utraque manu, nomen Patris invocat supremi :\n— « Omnipotens genitor Christi Deus, et creator orbis,\nChriste parens hominis, quem diligis et vetas perire,\nIlle ego, vipereis quem tu bonus oblitum venenis,\nCriminibus variis tinctum, miseratus abluisti,\nIamque tuus fieri mandas, fio Cyprianus alter;\nEt novus ex veteri, nec iam reus aut nocens, ut ante.\nSi luteum facili charismate pectus expiasti,\nEt tenebrosa animae ergastula caeca dissipasti,\nEripe corporeo de carcere, vinculisque mundi\nHanc animam: liceat fuso tibi sanguine immolari,\nNec ferum reprimat clementia iudicem, tyranni\nNec sciat invidia mitescere, gloriam negare.","t":"Valerian was emperor of the realm’s wealth, and Gallienus;\ntogether they established the penalty of death for one who confessed God.\nThey had ordered thousands of most filthy [gods] crowned with towers to be worshiped.\nAgainst this, Cyprian the teacher roused the minds of the people,\nlest anyone should depart from the honor of outstanding virtue,\nor anyone, degenerate, fear to take the reward of faith,\nsaying that torture is light, if only you compare the future things\nwhich God himself has promised as endless to the brave:\nthat the hope of light and everlasting day are bought with the payment of pain,\nthat every evil flies swiftly past with winged time:\nnothing is grievous which an end brings to completion and endows with rest.\nHe himself would be the beginning of a beautiful death and the leader in blood,\nsubmitting his head to the sword, dedicating his blood:\nlet whoever wishes to join his soul to Christ follow as companion.\nWhen by these words he had prepared men’s hearts, warmed for Christ,\nhe is led before the others, bound, as the proconsul raged.\nThere are caves of Tyrian Carthage hidden deeper,\nacquainted with the gloom of Tartarus, cut off from the sun:\nshut in these caves holy Cyprian, bound with a chain\non both hands, calls on the name of the supreme Father:\n“Almighty God, begetter of Christ, and creator of the world,\nChrist, parent of man, whom you love and forbid to perish,\nI am he whom, smeared with viper’s poisons,\nstained with various crimes, you in your goodness pitied and washed,\nand now you command me to become yours: I become another Cyprian,\nand new from the old, no longer guilty or harmful, as before.\nIf you have expiated my muddy breast with easy grace,\nand scattered the dark, blind prisons of my soul,\nsnatch this soul from the bodily prison and the chains\nof the world: let me be sacrificed to you with my blood poured out,\nand let no clemency restrain the fierce judge,\nnor let the tyrant’s spite know how to grow mild and deny me the glory.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 13.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/13-33)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/13.65":{"o":"Da quoque, ne quis iners sit de grege, quem tuum regebam,\nNe cadat impatiens poenae, titubetve quis tuorum;\nIncolumem ut numerum reddam tibi, debitumque solvam. » —\nTalibus his Dominum permoverat; influebat inde\nSpiritus in populum Carthaginis, auctor acrioris\nIngenii, stimulis ut pectora subditis calerent\nAd decus egregium discrimine sanguinis petendum;\nNon trepidare docens, nec cedere, nec dolore vinci,\nLaudis amore rapi, Christum sapere, et fidem tueri.\nFama refert, foveam campi in medio patere iussam,\nCalce vaporifera summos prope margines refertam :\nSaxa recocta vomunt ignem, niveusque pulvis ardet,\nUrere tacta potens, et mortifer ex odore flatus.\nAdpositam memorant aram fovea stetisse summa,\nLege sub hac, salis aut micam, iecur aut suis litarent\nChristicolae, aut mediae sponte inruerent in ima fossae.\nProsiluere alacres cursu rapido simul trecenti,\nGurgite pulvereo mersos liquor aridus voravit,\nPraecipitemque globum fundo tenus implicavit imo.\nCorpora candor habet, candor vehit ad superna mentes,\nCandida massa dehinc dici meruit per omne saeclum.\nLaetior interea iam Thascius ob diem suorum\nSistitur indomiti proconsulis eminus furori.\nEdere iussus erat, quid viveret : — « Unicultor, inquit,\nSalutiferi mysteria consecrata Christi. » —\nIlle sub haec : — « Satis est iam criminis; ipse confitetur\nThascius: ipse Iovis numen negat. Expedite ferrum,\nCarnifices: gladio poenam luat hostis idolorum. » —\nIlle Deo meritas grates agit, et canit triumphans.\nFlevit abire ad Christum moesta Africa, quo docente facta est\nCultior, eloquio cuius sibi docta gloriatur:\nMox tumulum Carthago struxit, cineresque consecravit.\nDesine flere bonum tantum : petit ille regna Caeli;\nNec minus involitat terris, nec ab hoc recedit orbe:\nDisserit, eloquitur, tractat, docet, instruit, prophetat.\nNec Libyae populos tantum regit : exit usque in ortum\nSolis, et usque obitum; Gallos fovet, imbuit Britannos,\nPraesidet Hesperiae, Christum serit ultimis Hiberis.\nDoctor humi idem est, idem quoque martyr in supernis:\nInstruit hic homines, illinc pia dona dat patronus.","t":"Grant too that no one of the flock which I ruled as yours be idle,\nlest any of yours fall, impatient of punishment, or waver;\nthat I may give back the number to you unharmed, and pay my debt.”\nWith such prayers he had moved the Lord; from there the Spirit\nflowed into the people of Carthage, author of a keener\nspirit, so that their hearts, with goads applied, grew hot\nto seek outstanding glory at the risk of blood;\nteaching them not to tremble, not to yield, not to be conquered by pain,\nto be carried away by love of praise, to savor Christ, and to guard the faith.\nReport says that a pit was ordered to lie open in the middle of a field,\nfilled almost to the top of its edges with steaming lime:\nthe burnt stones vomit fire, and the snowy powder burns,\nable to burn what it touches, with a breath deadly in its smell.\nThey record that an altar stood placed at the top of the pit,\nunder this law: either Christians should offer a grain of salt or a pig’s liver,\nor of their own accord rush into the depths in the middle of the pit.\nThree hundred leapt forward eagerly at a rapid run together;\nthe dry liquid devoured them, plunged in the powdery whirlpool,\nand wrapped the headlong mass right down to the bottom.\nWhiteness holds their bodies, whiteness carries their minds to the heights;\nfrom then on it deserved to be called the White Mass through every age.\nMeanwhile Thascius, gladder now because of his people’s day,\nis set before the untamed proconsul’s fury, at a distance.\nHe had been ordered to declare by what he lived: “Worshiper of one God,” he says,\n“[I keep] the consecrated mysteries of saving Christ.”\nAt this the other: “There is enough guilt now; Thascius himself\nconfesses it: he himself denies the godhead of Jupiter. Get the iron ready,\nexecutioners: let the enemy of idols pay the penalty by the sword.”\nHe gives God due thanks and sings, triumphant.\nSorrowful Africa wept that he had gone to Christ, by whose teaching she was made\nmore cultivated, she who, learned, glories in his eloquence;\nsoon Carthage built a tomb and consecrated his ashes.\nStop weeping for so great a good: he seeks the kingdoms of heaven;\nyet he hovers over the earth no less, nor departs from this world:\nhe discusses, speaks, treats, teaches, instructs, prophesies.\nNor does he rule only the peoples of Libya: he goes out to the rising\nof the sun, and to its setting; he cherishes the Gauls, steeps the Britons,\npresides over Italy, sows Christ among the farthest Spaniards.\nHe is a teacher on earth, and likewise a martyr in heaven:\nhere he instructs men, there as patron he gives holy gifts.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 13.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/13-65)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/14.1":{"o":"Agnes sepulcrum est Romulea in domo,\nFortis puellae, martyris inclitae.\nConspectu in ipso condita turrium\nServat salutem Virgo Quiritium:\nNec non et ipsos protegit advenas,\nPuro ac fideli pectore supplices.\nDuplex corona est praestita martyri:\nIntactum ab omni crimine virginal,\nMortis deinde gloria liberae.\nAiunt iugali vix habilem toro,\nPrimis in annis forte puellulam\nChristo calentem, fortiter impiis\nIussis renisam, quo minus idolis\nAddicta, sacram desereret fidem.\nNunc ore blandi iudicis inlice,\nNunc saevientis carnificis minis\nCorpusque duris excruciatibus\nUltro offerebat, non renuens mori.\nTum trux tyrannus : — « Si facile est, ait,\nPoenam subactis ferre doloribus,\nEt vita vilis spernitur, at pudor\nCarus dicatae virginitatis est.\nHanc in lupanar trudere publicum\nCertum est, ad aram ni caput adplicat;\nAc de Minerva iam veniam rogat,\nQuam virgo pergit temnere virginem.\nOmnis iuventus inruet, et novum\nLudibriorum mancipium petet. »\n— « Haud, inquit Agnes, immemor est ita\nChristus suorum, perdat ut aureum\nNobis pudorem, nos quoque deserat.\nPraesto est pudicis; nec patitur sacrae","t":"The tomb of Agnes is in the house of Romulus,\nthe brave girl, the glorious martyr.\nLaid to rest in full sight of the towers,\nthe Virgin keeps the Quirites safe;\nand she protects strangers too\nwho pray with a pure and faithful heart.\nA double crown was granted to the martyr:\nvirginity untouched by any sin,\nthen the glory of a free death.\nThey say that, scarcely fit for the marriage bed,\nin her first years, a little girl,\nglowing with love for Christ, she bravely\nresisted impious commands, lest, given over\nto idols, she should desert the sacred faith.\nNow by the mouth of the enticing, coaxing judge,\nnow by the threats of the raging executioner, [tried,]\nshe offered her body of her own accord\nto harsh tortures, not refusing to die.\nThen the savage tyrant says: “If it is easy\nto bear punishment by subduing pains,\nand life is spurned as cheap, yet the modesty\nof her dedicated virginity is dear.\nIt is settled to thrust her into the public brothel,\nunless she bows her head at the altar\nand now asks pardon of Minerva,\nthe virgin whom, a virgin, she persists in scorning.\nAll the young men will rush in and seek\nthe new slave of their sport.”\n“Christ,” says Agnes, “is not so forgetful\nof his own as to let our golden modesty perish,\nor to desert us.\nHe is at hand for the chaste, and does not allow the gifts","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 14.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/14-1)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/14.33":{"o":"Integritatis munera pollui.\nFerrum impiabis sanguine, si voles;\nNon inquinabis membra libidine. » —\nFlexu in plateae sistere virginem.\nStantem refugit moesta frequentia,\nAversa vultus, ne petulantius\nQuisquam verendum conspiceret locum.\nIntendit unus forte procaciter\nOs in puellam, nec trepidat sacram\nSpectare formam lumine lubrico.\nEn ales ignis, fulminis in modum,\nVibratur ardens, atque oculos ferit :\nCaecus corusco lumine corruit,\nAtque in plateae pulvere palpitat.\nTollunt sodales seminecem solo,\nVerbisque deflent exsequialibus.\nIbat triumphans virgo, Deum Patrem,\nChristumque sacro carmine concinens.\nQuod sub profani labe periculi\nCastum lupanar nec violabile\nExperta victrix virginitas foret.\nSunt qui rogatam retulerint preces\nFudisse Christo, redderet ut reo\nLucem iacenti : tum iuveni halitum\nVitae innovatum visibus integris.\nPrimum sed Agnes hunc habuit gradum\nCaelestis aulae, mox alius datur.\nAccensus iram, nam furor incitat\nHostis cruenti : — « Vincor, ait gemens:\nI, stringe ferrum, miles, et exsere","t":"of sacred integrity to be polluted.\nYou will stain your sword with blood, if you will;\nyou will not defile my limbs with lust.”\n[He orders] the virgin to be set at the corner of the square.\nThe sorrowful crowd shrinks from her as she stands,\ntheir faces turned away, lest anyone\nshould look too boldly on the place to be revered.\nOne, as it happened, insolently turned\nhis face toward the girl, and did not tremble\nto look upon the sacred form with lustful eye.\nSee, a winged fire, like a thunderbolt,\nis hurled burning, and strikes his eyes:\nblinded by the flashing light he falls,\nand writhes in the dust of the square.\nHis companions lift him half-dead from the ground,\nand lament him with funeral words.\nThe virgin went on in triumph, singing of God the Father\nand of Christ in a sacred song,\nbecause, under the threat of a profane danger,\nher victorious virginity had found the brothel\nchaste and inviolable.\nThere are those who have reported that, when asked, she poured out\nprayers to Christ to give back light to the guilty man\nas he lay; then breath of life was renewed\nin the young man, with his sight whole.\nBut this was the first step Agnes had\nto the heavenly court; soon another is given.\nThe bloody enemy is kindled to anger, for fury drives him:\n“I am beaten,” he says, groaning;\n“go, soldier, draw your sword, and carry out","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 14.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/14-33)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/14.65":{"o":"Mucrone nudo, laetior haec ait :\n— « Exsulto, talis quod potius venit\nVesanus, atrox, turbidus, armiger,\nQuam si veniret languidus ac tener,\nMollisque ephebus, tinctus aromate,\nQui me pudoris funere perderet.\nFerrum in papillas omne recepero,\nSic, nupta Christo, transiliam poli\nOmnes tenebras, aethere celsior.\nAeterne Rector, divide ianuas\nCaeli, obseratas terrigenis prius,\nAc te sequentem, Christe, animam voca,\nCum virginalem, tum Patris hostiam. » —\nSic fata, Christum vertice cernuo\nSupplex adorat, vulnus ut imminens\nCervix subiret prona paratius.\nAst ille tantam spem peragit manu;\nSensum doloris mors cita praevenit.\nExutus inde spiritus emicat,\nLiberque in auras exsilit. Angeli\nMiratur orbem sub pedibus situm :\nSpectat tenebras ardua subditas,\nRidetque, solis quod rota circuit,\nQuod mundus omnis volvit et implicat,\nRerum quod atro turbine vivitur,\nQuod vana saecli mobilitas rapit ;\nReges, tyrannos, imperia et gradus,\nPompasque honorum stulta tumentium :\nArgenti et auri vim rabida siti\nCunctis petitam per varium nefas,\nSplendore multo structa habitacula:\nInlusa pictae vestis inania.","t":"[When Agnes saw the soldier standing] with naked blade, she says, more joyful:\n“I exult that rather such a man comes,\nmad, savage, turbulent, armed,\nthan if there came a languid and tender one,\na soft youth, steeped in perfume,\nto destroy me by the death of my modesty.\nI will receive all the iron in my breasts,\nand so, bride of Christ, I will leap over\nall the darkness of the sky, higher than the upper air.\nEternal Ruler, part the doors\nof heaven, barred before to the earthborn,\nand call, Christ, the soul that follows you,\na virgin’s, and also a victim for the Father.”\nSo she spoke, and with bowed head\nadores Christ as a suppliant, so that her neck, bent forward,\nmight more readily undergo the impending wound.\nAnd he with his hand accomplishes so great a hope;\nswift death forestalls the sense of pain.\nThe spirit, put off from there, flashes out,\nand leaps free into the air. Angels […]\nShe marvels at the world placed beneath her feet;\nfrom on high she looks at the darkness below,\nand laughs at what the wheel of the sun goes round,\nwhat the whole world turns and entangles,\nthe life lived in the black whirlwind of things,\nwhat the vain fickleness of the age sweeps away:\nkings, tyrants, empires and ranks,\nand the pomps of honors of the foolishly swollen;\nthe force of silver and gold sought with rabid thirst\nby all through various wickedness;\ndwellings built with much splendor;\nthe empty mockeries of embroidered clothing;","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 14.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/14-65)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/14.97":{"o":"Iram, timorem, vota, pericula :\nNunc triste longum, nunc breve gaudium,\nLivoris atri fumificas faces,\nNigrescit unde spes hominum, et decus:\nEt, quod malorum tetrius omnium est,\nGentilitatis sordida nubila.\nHaec calcat Agnes, ac pede proterit ;\nStans et draconis calce premens caput,\nTerrena mundi qui ferus omnia\nSpargit venenis, mergit et inferis.\nNunc virginali perdomitus solo,\nCristas cerebri deprimit ignei,\nCingit coronis interea Deus\nFrontem duabus martyris innubae:\nMerces perenni lumine conficit,\nCentenus exstat fructus in altera.\nO virgo felix, o nova gloria,\nCaelestis arcis nobilis incola,\nIntende nostris conluvionibus\nVultum gemello cum diademate:\nCui posse soli cunctiparens dedit\nCastum vel ipsum reddere fornicem.\nFulgore, nostrum si iecur impleas.\nNil non pudicum est, quod pia visere","t":"anger, fear, vows, dangers;\nnow long sadness, now brief joy;\nthe smoky torches of black envy,\nby which the hope and honor of men grows black;\nand, what is fouler than all evils,\nthe filthy clouds of heathenism.\nAgnes tramples these and crushes them with her foot,\nstanding and pressing with her heel the head of the dragon,\nwho, savage, sprinkles all the earthly things of the world\nwith poisons, and plunges them into the underworld.\nNow, utterly subdued by the virgin’s sole,\nhe lowers the crests of his fiery head.\nMeanwhile God binds the brow of the unwed martyr\nwith two crowns:\n[one] reward is made up of everlasting light;\nin the other stands the hundredfold fruit.\nO happy virgin, O new glory,\nnoble dweller of the heavenly citadel,\nturn toward our filth\nyour face with its twin diadem;\nto you alone the Father of all has given the power\nto make even the brothel chaste.\n[…] by the brightness [of your face], if you fill my heart.\nNothing is not chaste that you, loving one, deign to visit","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 14.97 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 97–125; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/14-97)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/2.1":{"o":"Antiqua fanorum parens,\nIam Roma Christo dedita,\nLaurentio victrix duce\nRitum triumphas barbarum.\nReges superbos viceras,\nPopulosque frenis presseras;\nNunc monstruosis idolis\nImponis imperi iugum.\nHaec sola deerat gloria\nUrbis togatae insignibus,\nFeritate capta gentium\nDomaret ut spurcum Iovem,\nNon turbulentis viribus,\nCossi, Camilli, aut Caesaris,\nSed martyris Laurentii\nNon incruento proelio.\nArmata pugnavit fides,\nProprii cruoris prodiga ;\nNam morte mortem diruit,\nAc semet impendit sibi.\nFore hoc sacerdos dixerat\nIam Xystus, adfixus cruci,\nLaurentium flentem videns\nCrucis sub ipso stipite :\nDesiste discessu meo\nFletum dolenter fundere :\nPraecedo, frater; tu quoque\nPost hoc sequeris triduum.\nExtrema vox episcopi\nPraenuntiatrix gloriae\nNihil fefellit; nam dies\nPraedicta palmam praestitit.","t":"Ancient mother of temples,\nRome, now given over to Christ,\nvictorious under Lawrence’s leadership,\nyou triumph over barbarous rites.\nYou had conquered proud kings\nand pressed peoples under your reins;\nnow you put the yoke of your rule\nupon monstrous idols.\nThis glory alone was lacking\nto the honors of the toga-clad city,\nthat, having captured the savagery of the nations,\nit should tame filthy Jupiter,\nnot by the turbulent forces\nof Cossus, Camillus or Caesar,\nbut by the not-bloodless battle\nof the martyr Lawrence.\nFaith fought armed,\nlavish of its own blood;\nfor by death it destroyed death\nand spent itself for itself.\nThis the bishop Sixtus had foretold,\nalready fixed to the cross,\nseeing Lawrence weeping\nbeneath the very trunk of the cross:\n“Stop pouring out tears in grief\nat my departure:\nI go before, brother; you too\nwill follow after these three days.”\nThe bishop’s last words,\nforetelling glory,\nwere not at all false; for the day\nforetold gave him the palm.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 2.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/2-1)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/2.129":{"o":"Nam calculanda primitus,\nTum subnotanda est summula. »\nLaetus tumescit gaudio\nPraefectus, ac spe devorat\nAurum, velut iam conditum\nDomi maneret, gestiens.\nPepigere tempus tridui ;\nLaudatus inde absolvitur\nLaurentius, sponsor sui,\nEt sponsor ingentis Iucri.\nTribus per urbem cursitat\nDiebus, infirma agmina,\nOmnesque, qui poscunt stipem,\nCogens in unum et congregans.\nIllic utrisque obtutibus\nOrbes cavatos praeferens,\nBaculo regebat praevio\nErrore mutantem gradum ;\nEt claudus infracto genu,\nVel crure trunco semipes,\nBreviorve planta ex altera,\nGressum trahebat imparem.\nEst ulcerosis artubus\nQui tabe corrupta fluat ;\nEst, cuius arens dextera\nNervos in ulnam contrahat.\nTales plateis omnibus\nExquirit, adsuetos ali\nEcclesiae matris penu,\nQuos ipse promus noverat.\nRecenset exin singulos,\nScribens viritim nomina ;","t":"for it must first be reckoned up,\nthen the sum must be noted down.”\nThe prefect swells with joyful gladness,\nand in hope devours\nthe gold, exulting, as if it were already\nstored up at his home.\nThey agreed on a period of three days;\nthen Lawrence is praised and released,\nhis own surety,\nand surety for an immense profit.\nFor three days he runs about\nthrough the city, gathering and collecting together\nthe feeble bands\nand all who ask for alms.\nThere one, holding out hollow orbs\nin place of both his eyes,\nguided with a staff going before him\nhis step that strayed in error;\nand one lame with broken knee,\nor half-footed with a cut-off leg,\nor with one sole shorter than the other,\ndragged an unequal step.\nThere is one with ulcerous limbs,\nwho flows with corrupt decay;\nthere is one whose withered right hand\ndraws its sinews into the elbow.\nSuch people he seeks out in all the streets,\nused to being fed from the store\nof mother Church,\nwhom he as steward himself had known.\nThen he reviews them one by one,\nwriting down their names man by man,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 2.129 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 129–160; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/2-129)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/2.161":{"o":"Longo et locatos ordine\nAdstare pro templo iubet.\nPraescriptus et iam fluxerat\nDies: furebat fervido\nIudex avarus spiritu,\nPromissa solvi efflagitans.\nTum martyr: « Adsistas velim,\nCoramque dispostas opes\nMirere, quas noster Deus\nPraedives in sanctis habet.\nVidebis ingens atrium\nFulgere vasis aureis,\nEt per patentes porticus\nStructos talentis ordines. »\nIt ille, nec pudet sequi.\nVentum ad sacratam ianuam:\nStabant catervae pauperum,\nInculta visu examina.\nFragor rogantum tollitur:\nPraefectus horrescit stupens,\nConversus in Laurentium,\nOculisque turbatis minax.\nContra ille : « Quid frendens, ait,\nMinitaris? aut quid displicet?\nNum sordida haec, aut vilia?\nNum despuenda existimas?\nAurum, quod ardenter sitis,\nEffossa gignunt rudera,\nEt de metallis squalidis\nPoenalis excudit labor;","t":"and he bids them stand before the church,\narranged in a long line.\nAnd now the prescribed day had passed;\nthe greedy judge was raging\nwith fervid spirit,\ndemanding that the promises be paid.\nThen the martyr: “I would like you to be present\nand, in their presence, to marvel at the wealth set out,\nwhich our very rich God\nhas in his saints.\nYou will see a huge hall\ngleaming with golden vessels,\nand through the open porticoes\nrows built of talents.”\nHe goes, nor is he ashamed to follow.\nThey came to the sacred door:\nthere stood crowds of poor people,\nswarms unkempt to look at.\nA din of beggars rises;\nthe prefect shudders, astonished,\nturning on Lawrence,\nthreatening with troubled eyes.\nBut he: “Why do you threaten,” he says,\n“gnashing your teeth? Or what displeases you?\nAre these things squalid or cheap?\nDo you think them fit to be spat on?\nThe gold for which you burningly thirst\nis produced by dug-up rubble,\nand penal labor\nbeats it out of squalid mines;","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 2.161 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 161–192; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/2-161)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/2.193":{"o":"Torrens vel amnis turbidis\nVolvens arenis implicat ,\nQuod terrulentum ac sordidum,\nFlammis necesse est decoqui.\nPudor per aurum solvitur,\nViolatur auro integritas,\nPax occidit, fides perit,\nLeges et ipsae intercidunt.\nQuid tu venenum gloriae\nExtollis, et magni putas?\nSi quaeris aurum verius ,\nLux est, et humanum genus.\nHi sunt alumni luminis,\nQuos corpus arctat debile,\nNe per salutem viscerum\nMens insolescat turgida.\nQuum membra morbua disiicit,\nAnimus viget robustior:\nMembris vicissim fortibus\nVis sauciatur sensuum.\nNam sanguis in culpam calens\nMinus ministrat virium,\nSi fervor effetus malis\nElumbe virus contrahat.\nSi forte detur optio,\nMalim dolore asperrimo\nFragmenta membrorum pati,\nEt pulcher intus vivere.\nCommitte formas pestium,\nEt confer alternas lues :\nCarnisne morbus foedior,\nAn mentis, et morum ulcera?","t":"or a torrent river, rolling it\nwith muddy sands, entangles it,\nand, earthy and squalid as it is,\nit must be refined in flames.\nChastity is undone through gold,\nintegrity is violated by gold,\npeace perishes, faith dies,\nand the laws themselves fall away.\nWhy do you exalt the poison of glory\nand think it great?\nIf you seek truer gold,\nit is light, and the human race.\nThese are the nurslings of light,\nwhom a weak body confines,\nlest through the health of the flesh\nthe mind grow insolent and swollen.\nWhen disease breaks up the limbs,\nthe soul thrives the more robust;\nin turn, when the limbs are strong,\nthe power of the senses is wounded.\nFor blood that grows hot toward guilt\nsupplies less strength\nif its fervor, exhausted by ills,\ndraws in an enfeebling poison.\nIf perhaps a choice were given,\nI would rather suffer with sharpest pain\nthe breaking of my limbs,\nand live beautiful within.\nCompare the forms of plagues,\nand set the two diseases side by side:\nis the disease of the flesh fouler,\nor the ulcers of the mind and morals?","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 2.193 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 193–224; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/2-193)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/2.225":{"o":"Nostri per artus debiles,\nIntus decoris integri,\nSensum venusti innoxium\nLanguoris expertes gerunt ;\nVestros valentes corpore\nInterna corrumpit lepra,\nErrorque mancum claudicat,\nEt coeca fraus nihil videt.\nQuemvis tuorum divitum,\nQui veste et ore praenitent,\nMagis probabo debilem,\nQuam quis meorum est pauperum.\nHunc, qui superbit serico,\nQuem currus inflatum vehit ,\nHydrops aquosus lucido\nTendit veneno intrinsecus ;\nAst hic avarus contrahit\nManus recurvas, et volam\nPlicans aduncis unguibus,\nLaxare nervos non valet.\nIstum libido foetida\nPer scorta tractum publica\nLuto et cloacis inquinat,\nDum spurca mendicat stupra.\nQuid ille fervens ambitum,\nSitimque honoris aestuans.\nMersisne anhelat febribus,\nAtque igne venarum furit?\nQuisquis tacendi intemperans\nSilenda prurit prodere ,\nVexatur, et scalpit iecur,\nScabiemque cordis sustinet.","t":"Our poor, through their weak limbs,\nwhole in their inward beauty,\ncarry a lovely, harmless sense,\nfree of languor;\nyour people, strong in body,\nare corrupted by an inner leprosy,\nand error limps maimed,\nand blind fraud sees nothing.\nAny one of your rich men,\nwho shine in dress and face,\nI will prove more feeble\nthan any one of my poor.\nThis man, who is proud in silk,\nwhom a chariot carries puffed up,\nwatery dropsy stretches within\nwith a glistening poison;\nbut this miser draws in\nhis hands curved back, and, folding\nhis palm with hooked nails,\ncannot loosen his sinews.\nThat one foul lust,\ndragged through public harlots,\npollutes with mud and sewers,\nwhile he begs for filthy acts of sexual immorality.\nWhat of that one, burning with ambition\nand seething with thirst for honor?\nDoes he not pant with hidden fevers\nand rage with the fire of his veins?\nWhoever, intemperate in keeping silent,\nitches to betray what should be kept silent\nis harassed and scratches his liver,\nand suffers an itch of the heart.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 2.225 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 225–256; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/2-225)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/2.257":{"o":"Quid invidorum pectorum\nStrumas retexam turgidas?\nQuid purulenta et livida\nMalignitatum vulnera?\nTute ipse, qui Romam regis,\nContemptor aeterni Dei,\nDum daemonum sordes colis,\nMorbo laboras regio.\nHi, quos superbus despicis,\nQuos exsecrandos iudicas,\nBrevi ulcerosos exuent\nArtus, et incolumes erunt ,\nQuum, carne corruptissima\nTandem soluti ac liberi,\nPulcherrimo vitae statu\nIn arce lucebunt Patris:\nNon sordidati aut debiles,\nSicut videntur interim,\nSed purpurantibus stolis\nClari, et coronis aureis.\nTum, si facultas suppetat,\nCoram tuis obtutibus\nIstos potentes saeculi\nVelim recensendos dari.\nPannis videres obsitos,\nEt muculentis naribus,\nMento salivis uvidum,\nLipposque palpebra putri.\nPeccante nil est taetrius,\nNil tam leprosum aut putidum:\nCruda est cicatrix criminum,\nOletque, ut antrum Tartari.\nAnimabus inversa vice","t":"Why should I unravel the swollen tumors\nof envious hearts?\nWhy the festering and livid\nwounds of malice?\nYou yourself, who rule Rome,\ndespiser of the eternal God,\nwhile you worship the filth of demons,\nsuffer from the ‘royal disease’.\nThese, whom you proudly despise,\nwhom you judge accursed,\nwill shortly put off their ulcerous\nlimbs, and will be whole,\nwhen, released at last and free\nfrom most corrupt flesh,\nin the most beautiful state of life\nthey will shine in the Father’s citadel:\nnot filthy or feeble,\nas they now seem,\nbut bright in purple robes\nand golden crowns.\nThen, if the opportunity were at hand,\nI would like those powerful men of the world\nto be brought for review\nbefore your eyes.\nYou would see them covered in rags,\nwith snotty noses,\nchin wet with spittle,\nand bleary with rotting eyelids.\nNothing is more hideous than a sinner,\nnothing so leprous or putrid:\nthe scar of crimes is raw,\nand it stinks like the cave of Tartarus.\nBy a reversed exchange, on souls","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 2.257 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 257–288; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/2-257)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/2.289":{"o":"Corrupta forma infligitur,\nQuas puleher adspectus prius\nIn corpore oblectaverat.\nEn ergo nummos aureos,\nQuos proxime spoponderam,\nQuos nec favillis obruat\nRuina, nec fur subtrahat.\nNunc addo gemmas nobiles,\nNe pauperem Christum putes :\nGemmas corusci luminis,\nOrnatur hoc templum quibus.\nCernis sacratas virgines,\nMireris intactas anus,\nPrimique post damnum tori\nIgnis secundi nescias.\nHoc est monile Ecclesiae,\nHis illa gemmis comitur ;\nDotata sic Christo placet,\nSic ornat altum verticem.\nEccum talenta ; suscipe .\nOrnabis urbem Romulam,\nDitabis et rem principis,\nFies et ipse ditior. »\nRidemur, exclamat fremens\nPraefectus, ac miris modis\nPer tot figuras ludimur :\nEt vivit insanum caput?\nImpune tantas, furcifer,\nStrophas cavillo mimico\nTe nexuisse existimas,\nDum, scurra, saltas fabulam?\nConcinna risu urbanitas","t":"a corrupted form is inflicted,\nwhich a beautiful appearance in the body\nhad formerly delighted.\nSee then the golden coins\nwhich I promised lately,\nwhich neither ruin may bury in ashes\nnor a thief steal away.\nNow I add noble gems,\nlest you think Christ poor:\ngems of flashing light,\nwith which this temple is adorned.\nYou see consecrated virgins;\nyou may marvel at untouched old women,\nand those who, after the loss of their first marriage,\nknow nothing of a second flame.\nThis is the necklace of the Church,\nwith these gems she is adorned;\nso dowered she pleases Christ,\nso she adorns her lofty head.\nHere are the talents: take them.\nYou will adorn the city of Romulus,\nyou will enrich the emperor’s estate,\nand you yourself will become richer.”\n“We are being laughed at,” cries the prefect,\nroaring, “and in wondrous ways\nwe are mocked through so many figures!\nAnd is the mad fellow still alive?\nDo you think, you rogue, that you have woven\nsuch tricks with a mime’s jesting\nwith impunity, while, buffoon,\nyou dance your play?\nThat elegant wit with laughter","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 2.289 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 289–320; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/2-289)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/2.321":{"o":"Tractare nosmet ludicro?\nErgon' cachinnis venditus\nAcroma festivum fui?\nAdeone nulla austeritas,\nCensura nulla est fascibus?\nAdeon' securem publicam\nMollis retundit lenitas?\nDicis : libenter oppetam ;\nVotiva mora est martyri.\nEst ista vobis, novimus,\nPersuasionis vanitas.\nSed non volenti impertiam,\nPraestetur ut mortis citae\nCompendiosus exitus :\nPerire raptim non dabo.\nVitam tenebo, et differam\nPoenis morarum iugibus,\nEt mors inextricabilis\nLongos dolores protrahet.\nPrunas tepentes sternite,\nNe fervor ignitus nimis\nOs contumacis occupet,\nEt cordis intret abdita.\nVapor senescens langueat,\nQui fusus adflatu levi\nTormenta sensim temperet,\nSemiustulati corporis.\nBene est, quod ipse ex omnibus\nMysteriarches incidit :\nHic solus exemplum dabit,\nQuid mox timere debeant.\nConscende constratum rogum ;","t":"to treat us as a plaything?\nHave I then been sold to guffaws\nas a festive entertainment?\nIs there then no sternness,\nno severity left in the fasces?\nDoes soft mildness so blunt\nthe public axe?\nYou say: ‘I will gladly meet death;\nto a martyr, delay is what he prays to be spared.’\nThis is your empty persuasion,\nwe know it.\nBut I will not grant you your wish\nthat the short way out of a swift death\nshould be provided:\nI will not let you perish quickly.\nI will keep you alive, and put it off\nwith continual punishments of delay,\nand an inextricable death\nwill draw out long pains.\nSpread out warm coals,\nlest the fiery heat too quickly\nseize the stubborn man’s mouth\nand enter the hidden parts of his heart.\nLet the vapor grow old and languish,\nso that, spread with a light breath,\nit may temper little by little the torments\nof the half-burned body.\nIt is good that of them all\nthe master of the mysteries himself has fallen in:\nhe alone will give an example\nof what they ought soon to fear.\nClimb onto the spread pyre;","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 2.321 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 321–352; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/2-321)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/2.33":{"o":"Qua voce, quantis laudibus\nCelebrabo mortis ordinem?\nQuo passionem carmine\nDigne retexens concinam?\nHic primus e septem viris,\nQui stant ad aram proximi,\nLevita sublimis gradu,\nEt ceteris praestantior,\nClaustris sacrorum praeerat,\nCaelestis arcanum domus\nFidis gubernans clavibus,\nVotasque dispensans opes.\nVersat famem pecuniae,\nQua vi latentes eruat\nNummos, operta existimans\nTalenta sub sacrariis,\nCumulosque congestos tegi.\nLaurentium sisti iubet,\nExquirit arcam ditibus\nMassis refertam, et fulgidae\nMontes monetae conditos .\n« Soletis, inquit, conqueri,\nSaevire nos iusto amplius,\nQuum christiana corpora\nPlusquam cruente scindimus.\nAbest atrocioribus\nCensura fervens motibus :\nBlande et quiete efflagito\nQuod sponte obire debeas.\nHunc esse vestris orgiis\nMoremque et artem proditum est,\nHanc disciplinam foederis,","t":"With what voice, with what praises\nshall I celebrate the order of his death?\nWith what song shall I worthily unfold\nand sing his passion?\nHe was first of the seven men\nwho stand nearest the altar,\na Levite lofty in rank\nand more excellent than the rest;\nhe was in charge of the doors of the sacred things,\ngoverning with faithful keys\nthe secret of the heavenly house\nand dispensing the offered wealth.\n[The prefect] turns over a hunger for money,\nby what force he may dig out the hidden\ncoins, thinking that talents lay\ncovered beneath the sanctuaries,\nand that heaped-up piles were concealed.\nHe orders Lawrence to be brought before him;\nhe demands the chest stuffed with rich\nlumps, and the hidden mountains\nof gleaming coin.\n“You are accustomed,” he says, “to complain\nthat we rage more than is just,\nwhen we tear Christian bodies\nmore than cruelly.\nSeverity, fervent with harsher emotions,\nis absent here:\nI demand mildly and quietly\nwhat you ought to carry out of your own accord.\nThat this is the custom and the art\nin your rites has been reported,\nthis the discipline of your covenant,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 2.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/2-33)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/2.353":{"o":"Decumbe digno lectulo :\nTunc, si libebit, disputa\nNil esse Vulcanum meum. » —\nHaec fante Praefecto, truces\nHinc inde tortores parant\nNudare amictu martyrem,\nVincire membra, et tendere.\nIlli os decore splenduit,\nFulgorque circumfusus est.\nTalem revertens Legifer\nDe monte vultum detulit;\nIudaea quem plebs aureo\nBove inquinata et decolor\nExpavit, et faciem retro\nDetorsit impatiens Dei.\nTalemque et ille praetulit\nOris corusci gloriam\nStephanus, per imbrem saxeum\nCaelos apertos intuens.\nInluminatum hoc eminus\nRecens piatis fratribus,\nBaptisma quos nuper datum\nChristi capaces fecerat.\nAst impiorum caecitas,\nOs oblitum noctis situ,\nNigrante sub velamine\nObducta, clarum non videt.\nAegyptiae plagae in modum,\nQuae quum tenebris barbaros\nDamnaret, Hebraeis diem\nSudo exhibebat lumine.\nQuin ipsa odoris qualitas,","t":"lie down on the bed you deserve:\nthen, if you please, argue\nthat my Vulcan is nothing.”\nAs the prefect spoke so, the cruel\ntorturers on this side and that prepare\nto strip the martyr of his clothing,\nto bind his limbs and stretch them.\nHis face shone with beauty,\nand a brightness was poured around him.\nSuch a face the Lawgiver, returning,\nbrought down from the mountain,\nwhich the Jewish people, defiled\nand discolored by the golden calf,\ndreaded, and turned their faces back,\nunable to bear God.\nAnd such glory of a shining face\nthat Stephen too displayed,\nlooking upon the opened heavens\nthrough the rain of stones.\nThis light was seen from afar\nby the brothers lately cleansed,\nwhom the baptism recently given\nhad made able to receive Christ.\nBut the blindness of the impious,\ntheir face smeared with the mould of night,\ncovered under a dark veil,\ndoes not see the brightness:\nlike the Egyptian plague,\nwhich, when it condemned the barbarians to darkness,\nshowed day to the Hebrews\nwith a clear light.\nMoreover, the very quality of the smell,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 2.353 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 353–384; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/2-353)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/2.385":{"o":"Adusta quam reddit cutis,\nDiversa utrosque permovet :\nHis nidor, illis nectar est.\nIdemque sensus, dispari\nVariatus aura, aut adficit\nHorrore nares vindice,\nAut mulcet oblectamine.\nSic, ignis aeternus, Deus :\nNam Christus ignis verus est;\nIs ipse complet lumine\nIustos, et urit noxios.\nPostquam vapor diutinus\nDecoxit exustum latus,\nUltro e catasta iudicem\nCompellat adfatu brevi :\n— « Converte partem corporis\nSatis crematam iugiter,\nEt fac periclum, quid tuus\nVulcanus ardens egerit. » —\nPraefectus inverti iubet.\nTunc ille : — « Coctum est, devora;\nEt experimentum cape,\nSit crudum, an assum suavius. » —\nHaec ludibundus dixerat;\nCaelum deinde suspicit,\nEt congemiscens obsecrat,\nMiseratus urbem Romulam:\n— « O Christe, numen unicum,\nO splendor, o virtus Patris,\nO factor orbis et poli,\nAtque auctor horum moenium,\nQui sceptra Romae in vertice","t":"which the burnt skin gives off,\naffects the two groups differently:\nto these it is a stench, to those nectar.\nAnd the same sense, varied\nby a different air, either affects\nthe nostrils with avenging horror\nor soothes them with delight.\nSo God is an eternal fire:\nfor Christ is the true fire;\nhe himself fills the righteous\nwith light, and burns the guilty.\nAfter the long-lasting heat\nhad cooked his burnt side,\nof his own accord, from the gridiron,\nhe addresses the judge with a brief speech:\n“Turn over the part of my body\nthat has been burned long enough,\nand make trial of what your\nburning Vulcan has done.”\nThe prefect orders him turned.\nThen he: “It is cooked; devour it,\nand make the experiment\nwhether it is sweeter raw or roasted.”\nThese things he had said in jest;\nthen he looks up to heaven,\nand, groaning, prays,\npitying the city of Romulus:\n“O Christ, one Godhead,\nO splendor, O power of the Father,\nO maker of earth and sky,\nand author of these walls,\nwho placed the sceptres of Rome on the summit","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 2.385 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 385–416; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/2-385)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/2.417":{"o":"Rerum locasti, sanciens\nMundum Quirinali togae\nServire, et armis cedere,\nUt discrepantum gentium\nMores et observantiam,\nLinguasque, et ingenia, et sacra\nUnis domares legibus,\nEn omne sub regnum Remi\nMortale concessit genus:\nIdem loquuntur dissoni\nRitus, id ipsum sentiunt.\nHoc destinatum, quo magis\nIus Christiani nominis,\nQuodcumque terrarum iacet,\nUno inligaret vinculo.\nDa, Christe, Romanis tuis,\nSit Christiana ut civitas ,\nPer quam dedisti, ut ceteris\nMens una sacrorum foret.\nConfoederantur omnia\nHinc inde membra in symbolum ;\nMansuescit orbis subditus:\nMansuescat et summum caput.\nAdvertat, abiunctas plagas\nCoire in unam gratiam ;\nFiat fidelis Romulus,\nEt ipse iam credat Numa.\nConfundit error Troicus\nAdhuc Catonum curiam,\nVeneratus occultis focis\nPhrygum penates exules.\nIanum bifrontem, et Sterculum","t":"of things, ordaining\nthat the world should serve the Quirinal toga\nand yield to its arms,\nso that the customs and observances,\ntongues, characters and rites\nof discordant nations\nyou might tame under one law:\nsee, the whole mortal race\nhas passed under the rule of Remus;\nthose dissonant in rites speak the same,\nthey think the same thing.\nThis was destined so that the more\nthe law of the Christian name\nmight bind with one bond\nwhatever lands lie anywhere.\nGrant, Christ, to your Romans\nthat the city may be Christian,\nthrough which you granted that the rest\nmight have one mind in sacred things.\nAll the members on every side\nare bound together into the creed;\nthe subject world grows gentle:\nlet the supreme head grow gentle too.\nLet it note that the separated regions\ncome together into one grace;\nlet Romulus become faithful,\nand Numa himself now believe.\nThe error of Troy still confounds\nthe senate-house of the Catos,\nwhich worships at hidden hearths\nthe exiled household gods of the Phrygians.\nTwo-faced Janus and Sterculus","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 2.417 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 417–448; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/2-417)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/2.449":{"o":"Colit Senatus (horreo\nTot monstra patrum dicere),\nEt festa Saturni senis.\nAbsterge, Christe, hoc dedecus,\nEmitte Gabriel tuum,\nAgnoscat ut verum Deum\nErrans Iuli caecitas.\nEt iam tenemus obsides\nFidissimos huius spei ;\nHic nempe iam regnant duo\nApostolorum principes.\nAlter vocator gentium,\nAlter, Cathedram possidens\nPrimam, recludit creditas\nAeternitatis ianuas.\nDiscede, adulter Iuppiter,\nStupro sororis oblite;\nRelinque Romam liberam,\nPlebemque iam Christi fuge.\nTe Paulus hinc exterminat,\nTe sanguis exturbat Petri ;\nTibi id, quod ipse armaveras,\nFactum Neronis officit.\nVideo futurum Principem\nQuandoque, qui, servus Dei,\nTetris sacrorum sordibus\nServire Romam non sinat ;\nQui templa claudat vectibus,\nValvas eburneas obstruat,\nNefasta damnet limina,\nObdens ahenos pessuios.\nTunc pura ab omni sanguine","t":"the Senate worships (I shudder\nto tell of so many monsters of the fathers),\nand the festivals of old Saturn.\nWipe away, Christ, this disgrace;\nsend forth your Gabriel,\nthat the wandering blindness of Iulus\nmay acknowledge the true God.\nAnd already we hold most faithful\nhostages of this hope;\nfor here already two princes\nof the apostles reign.\nThe one is the caller of the nations;\nthe other, holding the first chair,\nopens the entrusted gates\nof eternity.\nDepart, adulterous Jupiter,\ndefiled by sexual immorality with your sister;\nleave Rome free,\nand flee the people now Christ’s.\nPaul drives you out from here,\nthe blood of Peter expels you;\nthe deed of Nero, which you yourself\nhad armed, works against you.\nI see that there will be a Prince\nsome day who, a servant of God,\nwill not allow Rome to serve\nthe foul filth of rites;\nwho will close the temples with bars,\nblock the ivory doors,\ncondemn the unholy thresholds,\nputting brazen bolts against them.\nThen, pure from all blood,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 2.449 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 449–480; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/2-449)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/2.481":{"o":"Tandem nitebunt marmora;\nStabunt et aera innoxia,\nQuae nunc habentur idola. » —\nHic finis orandi fuit,\nEt finis idem vinculi\nCarnalis : erupit volens\nVocem secutus spiritus.\nVexere corpus, subditis\nCervicibus, quidam patres,\nQuos mira libertas viri\nAmbire Christum suaserat.\nRepens medullas indoles\nAdflarat, et coegerat\nAmore sublimis Dei\nOdisse nugas pristinas.\nRefrixit ex illo die\nCultus deorum turpium;\nPlebs in sacellis rarior:\nChristi ad tribunal curritur.\nSic dimicans Laurentius\nNon ense praecinxit latus ;\nHostile sed ferrum retro\nTorquens in auctorem tulit.\nDum daemon invictum Dei\nTestem lacessit praelio,\nPerfossus ipse concidit,\nEt stratus aeternum iacet.\nMors illa sancti martyris\nMors vera templorum fuit;\nTunc Vesta Palladios Lares\nImpune sensit deseri.\nQuidquid Quiritum sueverat\nOrare simpuvium Numae,","t":"the marbles will shine at last;\nand the bronzes will stand harmless\nwhich are now held as idols.”\nThis was the end of his prayer,\nand the same was the end of his fleshly\nbond: the spirit burst forth willingly,\nfollowing his voice.\nCertain fathers carried the body\non their shoulders placed beneath it,\nwhom the wondrous freedom of the man\nhad persuaded to seek Christ.\nA sudden disposition had breathed\ninto their marrow and had compelled them,\nthrough love of the high God,\nto hate their former trifles.\nFrom that day the worship\nof the foul gods grew cold;\nthe people were fewer in the shrines;\nthey ran to the tribunal of Christ.\nSo Lawrence, fighting,\ndid not gird his side with a sword,\nbut, turning the enemy’s iron back,\nbore it against its author.\nWhile the demon challenges God’s\nunconquered witness to battle,\nhe himself falls, pierced through,\nand lies laid low forever.\nThat death of the holy martyr\nwas the true death of the temples;\nthen Vesta felt that her Palladian Lares\nwere deserted with impunity.\nWhoever of the Quirites had been used\nto pray at the ladle of Numa,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 2.481 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 481–512; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/2-481)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/2.513":{"o":"Christi frequentans atria,\nHymnis resultat martyrem.\nIpsa et Senatus lumina,\nQuondam Luperci aut Flamines,\nApostolornm et martyrum\nExosculantur limina.\nVidemus inlustres domos,\nSexu ex utroque nobiles,\nOfferre votis pignora\nClarissimorum liberum.\nVittatus olim pontifex\nAdscitur in signum Crucis;\nAedemque, Laurenti, tuam\nVestalis intrat Claudia.\nO ter quaterque et septies\nBeatus Urbis incola,\nQui te, ac tuorum cominus\nSedem celebrat ossuum ;\nCui propter advolvi licet:\nQui fletibus spargit locum,\nQui pectus in terram premit,\nQui vota fundit murmura!\nNos Vasco Hiberus dividit,\nNos binis remotos Alpibus,\nTrans Cottianorum iuga,\nTrans et Pyrenas ninguidos.\nVix fama nota est, abditis\nQuam plena Sanctis Roma sit,\nQuam dives urbanum solum\nSacris sepulcris floreat.\nSed qui caremus his bonis,","t":"now thronging the halls of Christ,\nresounds the martyr in hymns.\nThe very lights of the Senate,\nonce Luperci or Flamens,\nkiss the thresholds\nof the apostles and martyrs.\nWe see illustrious houses,\nnobles of both sexes,\noffering in vows the pledges\nof their most distinguished children.\nThe pontiff once wearing the fillet\nis admitted to the sign of the Cross;\nand a Vestal, Claudia,\nenters your shrine, Lawrence.\nO thrice and four times and seven times\nblessed the dweller in the City,\nwho honors at close hand you\nand the seat of your bones;\nwho may kneel down nearby,\nwho sprinkles the place with tears,\nwho presses his breast to the ground,\nwho pours out murmured vows!\nUs the Basque Ebro divides from you,\nus, removed beyond two Alps,\nbeyond the ridges of the Cottians,\nand beyond the snowy Pyrenees.\nScarcely is it known by report\nhow full Rome is of hidden saints,\nhow richly the City’s soil\nflowers with sacred tombs.\nBut we who lack these goods,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 2.513 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 513–544; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/2-513)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/2.545":{"o":"Nec sanguinis vestigia\nVidere coram possumus,\nCaelum intuemur eminus.\nSic, sancte Laurenti, tuam\nNos passionem quaerimus;\nEst aula nam duplex tibi,\nHic corporis, mentis polo.\nIllic inenarrabili\nAdlectus urbi municeps,\nAeternae in arce curiae\nGestas coronam civicam.\nVideor videre inlustribus\nGemmis coruscantem virum,\nQuem Roma caelestis sibi\nLegit perennem consulem.\nQuae sit potestas credita,\nEt muneris quantum datum,\nProbant Quiritum gaudia,\nQuibus rogatus adnuis.\nQuod quisque supplex postulat,\nFert impetratum prospere :\nPoscunt, licenter indicant,\nEt tristis haud ullus redit.\nCeu praesto semper adsies,\nTuosque alumnos urbicos\nLactante complexus sinu\nPaterno amore nutrias.\nHos inter, o Christi decus,\nAudi et poetam rusticum,\nCordis fatentem crimina,\nEt facta prodentem sua.\nIndignus, agnosco et scio,\nQuem Christus ipse exaudiat;\nSed per patronos martyres\nPotest medelam consequi.\nAudi benignus supplicem\nChristi reum Prudentium,\nEt servientem corpori\nAbsolve vinclis saeculi.","t":"nor can see the traces of the blood\nbefore our eyes,\nlook upon heaven from afar.\nSo, holy Lawrence, we seek\nyour passion there;\nfor you have a double hall,\nhere of the body, of the mind in heaven.\nThere, enrolled as a citizen\nin the unspeakable city,\nin the citadel of the eternal senate\nyou wear the civic crown.\nI seem to see the man\nflashing with illustrious gems,\nwhom heavenly Rome has chosen\nfor herself as perpetual consul.\nWhat power has been entrusted to you,\nand how great an office given,\nthe joys of the Quirites prove,\nto whom, when asked, you nod assent.\nWhat each suppliant asks for\nhe carries away, successfully obtained:\nthey ask, they freely declare their needs,\nand no one returns sad.\nAs if you were always present at hand,\nembracing your city nurslings\nin your nursing bosom,\nyou nourish them with a father’s love.\nAmong these, O glory of Christ,\nhear also a country poet,\nconfessing the sins of his heart\nand revealing his deeds.\nI am unworthy, I acknowledge and know it,\nfor Christ himself to hear;\nbut through the martyrs as patrons\nI can obtain healing.\nHear kindly the suppliant,\nPrudentius, guilty before Christ,\nand, enslaved as he is to the body,\nrelease him from the chains of the world.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 2.545 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 545–583; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/2-545)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/2.65":{"o":"Libent ut auro antistites.\nArgenteis scyphis ferunt\nFumare sacrum sanguinem,\nAuroque nocturnis sacris\nAdstare fixos cereos.\nTum summa cura est fratribus,\nUt sermo testatur loquax,\nOfferre, fundis venditis,\nSestertiorum millia.\nAddicta avorum praedia\nFoedis sub auctionibus\nSuccessor exheres gemit,\nSanctis egens parentibus.\nHaec occuluntur abditis\nEcclesiarum in angulis,\nEt summa pietas creditur\nNudare dulces liberos.\nDeprome thesauros, malis\nSuadendo quos praestigiis\nExaggeratos obtines,\nNigrante quos claudis specu.\nHoc poscit usus publicus,\nHoc fiscus, hoc aerarium,\nUt dedita stipendiis\nDucem iuvet pecunia.\nSic dogma vestrum est, audio:\nSuum quibusque reddito ;\nEn, Caesar agnoscit suum\nNumisma nummis inditum.\nQuod Caesaris scis, Caesari\nDa : nempe iustum postulo:\nNi fallor, haud ullam tuus","t":"that the bishops pour libations from gold.\nThey say that the sacred blood smokes\nin silver cups,\nand that at the nocturnal rites wax tapers\nstand fixed in gold.\nThen the brothers’ greatest care is,\nas talkative report bears witness,\nto offer, when their estates are sold,\nthousands of sesterces.\nThe heir, disinherited, groans that\nhis ancestors’ estates have been knocked down\nin shameful auctions,\nmade needy by saintly parents.\nThese things are hidden in the secret\ncorners of the churches,\nand it is believed the height of piety\nto strip one’s sweet children bare.\nBring out the treasures, which,\nby persuading with wicked tricks,\nyou hold heaped up,\nwhich you shut in a dark cave.\nPublic need demands this,\nthe imperial purse, the treasury demands this,\nso that the money, given over to pay,\nmay help the commander.\nThis is your doctrine, I hear:\nRender to each his own;\nsee, Caesar recognizes his own\nimage stamped on the coins.\nWhat you know is Caesar’s, give to Caesar:\nI ask only what is just, surely;\nunless I am mistaken, your God","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 2.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/2-65)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/2.97":{"o":"Signat Deus pecuniam ;\nNec, quum veniret, aureos\nSecum Philippos detulit,\nPraecepta sed verbis dedit,\nInanis a marsupio.\nImplete dictorum fidem,\nQuam vos per orbem venditis ;\nNummos libenter reddite :\nEstote verbis divites ».\nNil asperum Laurentius\nRefert ad ista, aut turbidum ;\nSed, ut paratus obsequi,\nObtemperanter adnuit.\n« Est dives, inquit, non nego,\nHabetque nostra Ecclesia\nOpumque et auri plurimum ;\nNec quisquam in orbe est ditior.\nIs ipse tantum non habet\nArgenteorum aenigmatum\nAugustus, arcem possidens,\nCui nummus omnis scribitur.\nSed nec recuso prodere\nLocupletis arcam numinis ;\nVulgabo cuncta, et proferam\nPretiosa, quae Christus tenet.\nUnum sed orans flagito,\nInduciarum paullulum,\nQuo fungar efficacius\nPromissionis munere,\nDum tota digestim mihi\nChristi supellex scribitur;","t":"stamps no money;\nnor, when he came, did he bring\ngolden Philips with him,\nbut gave commands in words,\nempty of purse.\nFulfil the faith of his sayings,\nwhich you sell throughout the world;\ngive back the coins willingly:\nbe rich in words.”\nLawrence replies nothing harsh\nor turbulent to this,\nbut, as one ready to comply,\nhe nods obediently.\n“She is rich,” he says, “I do not deny it;\nour Church has\nvery much wealth and gold;\nnor is anyone in the world richer.\nHe himself has not so much\nof silver tokens,\nAugustus, who holds the citadel,\nfor whom every coin is inscribed.\nBut I do not refuse to bring out\nthe chest of the wealthy Godhead;\nI will make all public and bring forth\nthe precious things that Christ holds.\nOne thing only I beg and ask:\na little respite,\nso that I may discharge more effectively\nthe duty of my promise,\nwhile the whole furniture of Christ\nis written down for me item by item;","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 2.97 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 97–128; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/2-97)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/3.1":{"o":"Germine nobilis Eulalia,\nMortis et indole nobilior,\nEmeritam sacra virgo suam,\nCuius ab ubere progenita est,\nOssibus ornat, amore colit.\nQui tulit hoc decus egregium,\nUrbe potens, populis locuples,\nSed mage sanguine martyrii,\nVirgineoque potens titulo.\nCurriculis tribus atque novem\nTres hiemes quater attigerat,\nQuum crepitante pyra trepidos\nTerruit aspera carnifices,\nSupplicium sibi dulce rata.\nIam dederat prius indicium,\nTendere se Patris ad solium,\nLudere nescia pusiola.\nSpernere succina, flere rosas,\nFulva monilia respuere ;\nOre severa, modesta gradu,\nMoribus et nimium teneris\nAst ubi se furiata lues\nExcitat in famulos Domini,\nChristicolasque cruenta iubet\nTura cremare, iecur pecudis\nMortiferis adolere deis,\nInfremuit sacer Eulaliae\nSpiritus, ingeniique ferox\nTurbida frangere bella parat;\nEt, rude pectus anhela Deo,\nFemina provocat arma virum.","t":"Noble by birth, Eulalia,\nnobler still in the character of her death,\nthe holy virgin adorns with her bones\nher own Merida, from whose breast she was born,\nand cherishes it with love.\n[The place] that bore this outstanding glory,\npowerful in its city, rich in peoples,\nbut more powerful through the blood of martyrdom\nand the title of the virgin.\nShe had reached three winters four times,\nafter three and nine courses of the year,\nwhen, with the crackling pyre, she in her harshness\nterrified the trembling executioners,\nthinking the punishment sweet for herself.\nShe had already given an earlier sign\nthat she was making for the Father’s throne,\na little girl who knew not how to play,\nspurning amber, weeping over roses,\nrejecting golden necklaces;\nsevere in face, modest in step,\nand in years very tender [grave as the aged].\nBut when the maddened plague\nrose against the servants of the Lord,\nand bloodily ordered the worshipers of Christ\nto burn incense, to offer the liver of a beast\nto the death-bringing gods,\nthe holy spirit of Eulalia roared,\nand, fierce of character,\nshe prepares to break up the turbulent wars;\nand, an untaught heart panting for God,\na woman challenges the arms of men.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 3.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/3-1)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/3.129":{"o":"Eulalia numerante notas.\nScriberis ecce mihi, Domine :\nQuam iuvat hos apices legere,\nQui tua, Christe, tropaea notant!\nNomen et ipsa sacrum loquitur\nPurpura sanguinis eliciti.\nHaec sine fletibus et gemitu\nLaeta canebat et intrepida :\nDirus abest dolor ex animo,\nMembraque picta cruore novo\nFonte cutem recalente lavant.\nUltima carnificina dehinc,\nNon laceratio vulnifica,\nCrate tenus nec arata cutis,\nFlamma sed undique lampadibus\nIn latera stomachumque furit.\nCrinis odorus ut in iugulos\nFluxerat, involitans humeris,\nQuo pudibunda pudicitia\nVirgineusque lateret honos ,\nTegmine verticis opposito :\nFlamma crepans volat in faciem,\nPerque comas vegetata caput\nOccupat, exsuperatque apicem :\nVirgo, citum cupiens obitum,\nAppetit et bibit ore rogum.\nEmicat inde columba repens,\nMartyris os nive candidior\nVisa relinquere, et astra sequi.\nSpiritus hic erat Eulaliae\nLacteolus, celer, innocuus.\nColla fluunt, abeunte anima,","t":"while Eulalia counts the marks.\n“See, you are being written on me, Lord:\nhow pleasant it is to read these letters,\nwhich record your trophies, Christ!\nThe very purple of the blood drawn out\nspeaks your sacred name.”\nThese things she sang, glad and fearless,\nwithout tears or groaning:\ndire pain is absent from her mind,\nand her limbs, painted with new blood,\nwash the skin with a warm spring.\nThen the last butchery:\nnot wounding laceration,\nnor skin ploughed to the hurdle,\nbut flame from torches on every side\nrages against her sides and breast.\nHer fragrant hair had flowed down\nto her neck, flying about her shoulders,\nso that her bashful modesty\nand virgin honor might be hidden,\nwith the covering of her head set against them:\nthe crackling flame flies into her face,\nand, quickened through her hair, seizes\nher head and rises above its top;\nthe virgin, desiring a swift death,\nseeks the pyre and drinks it with her mouth.\nThen suddenly a dove flashes out,\nseen to leave the martyr’s mouth,\nwhiter than snow, and to follow the stars.\nThis was the spirit of Eulalia,\nmilk-white, swift, innocent.\nHer neck droops as the soul departs,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 3.129 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 129–160; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/3-129)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/3.161":{"o":"Et rogus igneus emoritur :\nPax datur artubus exanimis,\nFlatus in aethere plaudit ovans,\nTemplaque celsa petit volucer.\nVidit ut ipse satelles avem\nFoeminae ab ore meare palam,\nObstupefactus et attonitus\nProsilit, et sua gesta fugit :\nLictor et ipse fugit pavidus.\nEcce, nivem glacialis hiems\nIngerit, et tegit omne forum :\nMembra tegit simul Eulaliae,\nAxe iacentia sub gelido,\nPallioli vice linteoli.\nCedat amor lacrimantum hominum,\nQui celebrare suprema solent,\nFlebile cedat et officium :\nIpsa elementa, iubente Deo,\nExsequias tibi, Virgo, ferunt.\nNunc locus Emerita est tumulo\nClara colonia Vettoniae,\nQuam memorabilis amnis Anas\nPraeterit, et viridante rapax\nGurgite moenia pulchra lavit.\nHic, ubi marmore perspicuo\nAtria luminat alma nitor\nEt peregrinus, et indigena,\nRelliquias cineresque sacros\nServat humus veneranda sinu.\nTecta corusca super rutilant","t":"and the fiery pyre dies down:\npeace is given to the lifeless limbs;\nthe breath, triumphant, claps in the upper air,\nand flies swiftly to the lofty temples.\nWhen the guard himself saw the bird\ngo openly from the woman’s mouth,\namazed and thunderstruck\nhe leaps up and flees from his own deeds:\nthe lictor himself flees in fear.\nSee, icy winter heaps up snow\nand covers the whole forum;\nit covers likewise the limbs of Eulalia,\nlying under the cold sky,\nin place of a little linen shroud.\nLet the love of weeping men give way,\nwho are accustomed to celebrate the last rites;\nlet the tearful office give way:\nthe very elements, at God’s command,\ncarry out your funeral, Virgin.\nNow Merida is the place of her tomb,\nthe famous colony of Vettonia,\nwhich the memorable river Anas\npasses by, and, rushing in its green\nflood, washes the beautiful walls.\nHere, where with transparent marble\na kindly brightness lights the halls\nfor both stranger and native,\nthe venerable earth keeps in its bosom\nthe relics and sacred ashes.\nGlittering roofs gleam above","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 3.161 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 161–192; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/3-161)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/3.193":{"o":"De laquearibus aureolis,\nSaxaque caesa solum variant,\nFloribus ut rosulenta putes\nPrata rubescere multimodis.\nCarpite purpureas violas,\nSanguineosque crocos metite :\nNon caret his genialis hiems,\nLaxat et arva tepens glacies,\nFloribus ut cumulet calathos.\nIsta comantibus e foliis\nMunera, virgo, puerque, date :\nAst ego serta choro in medio\nTexta feram pede dactylico,\nVilia, marcida, festa tamen.\nSic venerarier ossa libet,\nOssibus altar et impositum :\nIlla Dei sita sub pedibus\nProspicit haec, populosque suos\nCarmine propitiata fovet.","t":"from gilded panelled ceilings,\nand cut stones vary the floor,\nso that you would think rosy meadows\nwere reddening with many kinds of flowers.\nPluck purple violets,\ngather blood-red crocuses:\ngenial winter does not lack these,\nand the warming ice loosens the fields\nso as to heap baskets with flowers.\nGive these gifts from leafy foliage,\ngirl and boy;\nbut I in the middle of the choir\nwill bring garlands woven in dactylic measure,\ncheap and withered, but festive.\nSo it is pleasing to venerate the bones,\nand the altar placed over the bones:\nshe, set beneath the feet of God,\nlooks upon these things and, made favorable by the song,\ncherishes her peoples.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 3.193 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 193–215; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/3-193)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/3.33":{"o":"Sed pia cura parentis agit,\nVirgo animosa domi ut lateat,\nAbdita rure et ab urbe procul,\nNe fera sanguinis in pretium\nMortis amore puella ruat.\nIlla perosa quietis opem\nNocte fores sine teste movet,\nInde per invia carpit iter.\nIngreditur pedibus laceris\nPer loca senta situ et vepribus,\nAngelico comitata choro :\nEt licet horrida nox sileat,\nLucis habet tamen illa ducem.\nSic habuit generosa patrum\nTurba columniferum radium,\nScindere qui tenebrosa potens,\nNocte viam face perspicua\nPraestitit, intereunte chao.\nNon aliter pia Virgo, viam\nNocte secuta, diem meruit;\nNec tenebris adoperta fuit,\nRegna Canopica quum fugeret,\nIlla gradu cita pervigili,\nMillia multa prius peragit,\nQuam plaga pandat Eoa polum :\nMane superba tribunal adit,\nFascibus adstat et in mediis,\nVociferans : — « Rogo, quis furor est\nPerdere praecipites animas,\nEt male prodiga corda sui\nSternere rasilibus scopulis,\nOmnipatremque negare Deum ?","t":"But a parent’s loving care contrives\nthat the spirited virgin should lie hidden at home,\nconcealed in the country and far from the city,\nlest the fierce girl, for love of death,\nrush to the price of her blood.\nShe, hating the help of quiet,\nmoves the doors at night without a witness,\nand from there takes her way through trackless places.\nShe goes on with torn feet\nthrough places rough with neglect and brambles,\naccompanied by an angelic choir;\nand though the bristling night is silent,\nyet she has a guide of light.\nSo the noble crowd of the fathers\nhad the column-bearing ray,\nwhich, able to cleave the darkness,\nprovided at night a way with a clear torch,\nas the chaos perished.\nNot otherwise the holy virgin, following\nthe way by night, deserved the day,\nnor was she covered by darkness,\n[as they were not] when fleeing the realm of Canopus.\nShe, with quick and wakeful step,\ncovers many miles\nbefore the eastern region opens the sky;\nin the morning, proud, she goes to the tribunal,\nand stands in the midst of the fasces,\ncrying out: “I ask, what madness is it\nto destroy souls headlong,\nand to throw down hearts wickedly lavish of themselves\nbefore polished rocks,\nand to deny God the Father of all?","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 3.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/3-33)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/3.65":{"o":"Quaeritis, o miseranda manus,\nChristicolarum genus? en ego sum\nDaemonicis inimica sacris :\nIdola protero sub pedibus,\nPectore et ore Deum fateor.\nIsis, Apollo, Venus nihil est,\nMaximianus et ipse nihil :\nIlla nihil , quia facta manu ;\nHic manuum quia facta colit :\nFrivola utraque, et utraque nihil.\nMaximianus opum dominus,\nProstituat, voveatque suis\nNuminibus capnt ipse suum.\nPectora cur generosa quatit?\nDux bonus, arbiter egregius\nSanguine pascitur innocuo ;\nCorporibusque piis inhians,\nGaudet et excruciare fidem,\nErgo age, tortor, adure, seca,\nDivide membra coacta luto.\nSolvere rem fragilem facile est;\nNon penetrabitur interior\nExagitante dolore animus. » —\nTalibus excitus in furias\nPraetor, ait: — « Rape praecipitem\nLictor, et obrue suppliciis:\nSentiat esse deos patrios,\nNec leve principis imperium.","t":"Do you seek, O pitiable band,\nthe race of Christ’s worshipers? See, I am one,\nan enemy of demonic rites:\nI trample idols under my feet,\nI confess God with heart and mouth.\nIsis, Apollo, Venus are nothing,\nand Maximian himself is nothing:\nthey are nothing because they are made by hand;\nhe, because he worships what hands have made:\nboth are frivolous, and both are nothing.\nLet Maximian, lord of wealth,\nprostitute and vow his own head\nto his deities.\nWhy does he shake noble hearts?\nThe good leader, the excellent judge,\nfeeds on innocent blood;\nand, gaping for pious bodies,\nhe rejoices to torture faith.\nCome then, torturer, burn, cut,\ndivide limbs compacted of clay.\nIt is easy to dissolve a fragile thing;\nthe inner soul will not be pierced\nby the pain that harasses it.”\nRoused to fury by such words,\nthe praetor says: “Seize her headlong,\nlictor, and overwhelm her with punishments:\nlet her feel that there are ancestral gods,\nand that the emperor’s command is not light.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 3.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/3-65)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/3.97":{"o":"Quam cuperem tamen, ante necem,\nSi potis es, revocare tuam,\nTorva puellula, nequitiam :\nRespice gaudia quanta metas,\nQuae tibi fert genialis honor.\nTe lacrimis labefacta domus\nProsequitur, generisque tui\nIngemit anxia nobilitas,\nFlore quod occidis in tenero,\nProxima dotibus et thalamo.\nNon movet aurea pompa tori?\nNon pietas veneranda senum,\nQuos, temeraria, debilitas?\nEcce parata ministeria\nExcruciabilis exitii.\nAut gladio feriere caput,\nAut laniabere membra feris :\nAut facibus data fumificis,\nFlebiliterque ululanda tuis\nIn cineres resoluta flues.\nHaec, rogo, quis labor est fugere?\nSi modicum salis eminulis\nTuris et exiguum digitis\nTangere, virgo, benigna velis,\nPoena gravis procul afuerit. » —\nMartyr ad ista nihil ; sed enim\nInfremit, inque tyranni oculos\nSputa iacit : simulacra dehinc\nDissipat, impositamque molam\nTuribulis pede prosubigit.\nNec mora : carnifices gemini\nIuncea pectora dilacerant,\nEt latus ungula virgineum\nPulsat utrimque, et ad ossa secat,","t":"Yet how I would wish, before your death,\nif you are able, to call back\nyour wickedness, grim little girl:\nconsider what great joys you are cutting off,\nwhich the honor of marriage brings you.\nYour house, shaken with tears,\nfollows you, and the anxious nobility\nof your family groans\nthat you perish in the tender flower of youth,\nclose to a dowry and a bridal chamber.\nDoes the golden pomp of the marriage bed not move you?\nNot the venerable devotion of the old,\nwhom, reckless one, you are weakening?\nSee, the instruments are ready\nof an agonizing end.\nEither you will be struck on the head with the sword,\nor your limbs will be torn by wild beasts,\nor, given to smoking torches\nand lamented with wailing and weeping by your people,\nyou will flow away, dissolved into ashes.\nWhat toil is it, I ask, to escape these things?\nIf a little salt with your fingertips,\nand a tiny bit of incense,\nyou would kindly be willing, virgin, to touch,\nthe heavy punishment will be far away.”\nThe martyr says nothing to this; but she\nroars, and spits into the tyrant’s eyes;\nthen she scatters the images,\nand with her foot tramples down\nthe meal placed on the censers.\nWithout delay two executioners\ntear her slender breast,\nand the claw strikes the virgin’s side\non both sides and cuts to the bone,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 3.97 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 97–128; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/3-97)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/4.1":{"o":"Bis novem noster populus sub uno\nMartyrum servat cineres sepulcro:\nCaesaraugustam vocitamus urbem,\nRes cui tanta est.\nPlena magnorum domus Angelorum\nNon timet mundi fragilis ruinam,\nTot sinu gestans simul offerenda\nMunera Christo.\nQuum Deus dextram quatiens coruscam\nNube subnixus veniet rubente,\nGentibus iustam positurus aequo\nPondere libram;\nOrbe de magno caput excitata\nObviam Christo properanter ibit\nCivitas quaeque, pretiosa portans\nDona canistris.\nAfra Carthago tua promet ossa,\nOre facundo, Cypriane doctor:\nCorduba Acisclum dabit, et Zoellum;\nTresque coronas.\nTu tribus gemmis diadema pulchrum\nOfferes Christo genitrix piorum,\nTarraco, intexit cui Fructuosus\nSutile vinclum.\nNomen hoc gemmae strophio illigatae est :\nEmicant iuxta lapides gemelli,\nArdet splendor parilis duorum\nIgne corusco.\nParva Felicis decus exhibebit\nArtubus sanctis locuples Gerunda:\nNostra gestabit Calagurris ambos,\nQuos veneramur.","t":"Our people keep in a single tomb\nthe ashes of twice nine martyrs:\nwe call the city Caesaraugusta,\nwhose treasure is so great.\nThe house full of great angels\ndoes not fear the ruin of the fragile world,\ncarrying in its bosom so many gifts\nto be offered together to Christ.\nWhen God, shaking his flashing right hand,\ncomes seated on a red cloud,\nto set up for the nations a just balance\nwith equal weight,\nthen each city, raising its head\nfrom the great world, will go in haste\nto meet Christ, carrying precious\ngifts in baskets.\nAfrican Carthage will bring forth your bones,\nCyprian, teacher of eloquent mouth;\nCordoba will give Acisclus and Zoellus,\nand three crowns.\nYou, Tarragona, mother of the pious,\nwill offer Christ a beautiful diadem of three gems,\nfor which Fructuosus wove\nthe sewn band.\nThis is the name of the gem bound into the fillet;\ntwin stones flash beside it;\nthe equal splendor of the two\nburns with flashing fire.\nLittle Gerona, rich in holy limbs,\nwill display the glory of Felix;\nour Calahorra will carry both\nwhom we venerate.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 4.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/4-1)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/4.129":{"o":"Cruda te longum tenuit cicatrix,\nEt diu venis dolor haesit ardens\nDum putrescentes tenuat medullas\nTabidus humor.\nInvidus quamvis obitum supremum\nPersecutoris gladius negarit,\nPlena te, martyr, tamen, ut peremtam,\nPoena coronat.\nVidimus partem iecoris revulsam\nUngulis longe iacuisse pressis :\nMors habet pallens aliquid tuorum,\nTe quoque viva.\nHunc novum nostrae titulum fruendum\nCaesaraugustae dedit ipse Christus,\nIuge viventis domus ut dicata\nMartyris esset.\nErgo ter senis sacra candidatis,\nDives Optato, simul et Luperco\nPerge conscriptum tibimet senatum\nPangere psalmis.\nEde Successum ; cane Martialem,\nMors et Urbani tibi concinatur:\nIuliam cantus resonet, simulque\nPublium pandat chorus, et revolvat\nQuale Frontonis fuerit tropaeum ;\nQuid bonus Felix tulerit, quid acer\nCaecilianvs.\nQuantus, Evoti, tua bella sanguis\nTinxerit, quantus tuus, Primitive:\nTum tuos vivax recolat triumphos\nLaus, Apodemi.\nQuattuor posl hinc superest virorum","t":"A raw scar held you long,\nand burning pain clung long in your veins,\nwhile wasting moisture thinned\nthe rotting marrow.\nAlthough the persecutor’s envious sword\ndenied you the final death,\nyet, martyr, a full punishment crowns you\nas though slain.\nWe have seen part of the liver torn out\nand lying far off, squeezed by the claws:\npale death has something of yours,\neven while you live.\nThis new title Christ himself gave\nto our Caesaraugusta to enjoy,\nthat it should be the dedicated house\nof an ever-living martyr.\nSo, holy city, rich with the thrice six\nwhite-robed ones, with Optatus and Lupercus as well,\ngo on celebrating in psalms\nthe senate enrolled for you.\nProclaim Successus; sing Martial;\nlet the death of Urbanus be sung for you;\nlet song resound with Julia, and together\nlet the choir set forth Publius, and recount\nwhat the trophy of Fronto was;\nwhat good Felix bore, what keen\nCaecilianus.\nHow much blood stained your battles, Evotius,\nhow much yours, Primitivus;\nthen let lively praise recall your triumphs,\nApodemius.\nAfter these there remains of four men","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 4.129 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 129–160; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/4-129)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/4.161":{"o":"Nomen extolli, renuente metro,\nQuos Saturninos memorat vocatos\nPrisca vetustas.\nCarminis Ieges amor aureorum\nNominum parvi facit, et loquendi\nCura de sanctis vitiosa non est,\nNec rudis unquam.\nPlenus est artis modus, adnotatas\nNominum formas recitare Christo,\nQuas tenet Caeli liber, explicandus\nTempore iusto.\nOcto tunc Sanctos recolet decemque\nAngelus, coram Patre Filioque,\nUrbis unius regimen tenentes\nIure sepulcri.\nQuin ad antiquum numerum trahentur\nViva post poenae specimen puella,\nMorsque Vincenti, cui sanguis hinc est,\nFons et honoris.\nAdditis Caio (nec enim silendi),\nTeque, Crementi ; quibus incruentum\nFerre provenit decus ex secundo\nLaudis agone.\nAmbo confessi Dominum, steterunt\nAcriter contra fremitum latronum :\nAmbo gustarunt leviter saporem\nMartyriorum .\nHaec, sub altari sita sempiterno,\nLapsibus nostris veniam precatur\nTurba, quam servat procerum creatrix\nPurpureorum.\nNos pio fletu, date, perluamus\nMarmorum sulcos, quibus est operta\nSpes, ut absolvam retinaculorum\nVincla meorum.\nSterne te totam, generosa, sanctis\nCivitas mecum tumulis ; deinde\nMox resurgentes animas et artus\nTota sequeris.","t":"the name to be extolled, though the metre refuses,\nwhom ancient antiquity records\nas called Saturninus.\nLove of the golden names thinks little\nof the laws of song, and care in speaking\nof the saints is not faulty,\nnor ever rude.\nThe measure is full of art, to recite to Christ\nthe noted forms of the names,\nwhich the book of heaven holds,\nto be unrolled in due time.\nThen the angel will recall the eight and ten saints\nbefore the Father and the Son,\nwho hold the government of one city\nby right of their tomb.\nMoreover, to the ancient number will be added\nthe girl who lived after the sample of punishment,\nand the death of Vincent, whose blood is from here,\nthe source of his honor.\nAdd Caius (for they must not be passed over in silence),\nand you, Crementius, to whom it befell\nto bear a bloodless glory from a second\ncontest of praise.\nBoth, confessing the Lord, stood\nfiercely against the roaring of the robbers;\nboth tasted lightly the savor\nof martyrdom.\nThis band, placed beneath the eternal altar,\nprays for pardon for our falls,\nthe band that the mother of purple nobles\nkeeps.\nGrant that we may wash with loving tears\nthe grooves of the marble under which our hope\nis covered, that I may loosen the chains\nof my bonds.\nProstrate yourself wholly, noble city,\nwith me at the holy tombs; then\nsoon you will follow, whole,\nthe rising souls and limbs.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 4.161 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 161–203; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/4-161)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/4.33":{"o":"Barcinon claro Cucuphate freta\nSurget, et Paulo speciosa Narbo :\nTeque praepollens Arelas habebit,\nSancte Genesi.\nLusitanorum caput oppidorum\nUrbs, adoratae cineres puellae\nObviam Christo rapiens, ad aram\nPorriget ipsam.\nSanguinem Iusti, cui Pastor haeret,\nFerculum duplex, geminumque donum\nFerre Complutum gremio iuvabit,\nMembra duorum.\nIngeret Tingis sua Cassianum,\nFesta Massylum monumenta regum ;\nQui cinis gentes domitas coegit\nAd iuga Christi.\nSingulis paucae, tribus aut duobus\nForsan, et quinis aliquae placebunt\nTestibus Christi, prius hostiarum\nPignore functae.\nTu decem Sanctos revehes et octo,\nCesaraugusta studiosa Christi,\nVerticem flavis oleis revincta\nPacis honorae.\nSola in occursum numerosiores\nMartyrum turbas Domino parasti,\nSola, praedives pietate, multa\nLuce frueris.\nVix parens orbis populosa Poeni,\nIpsa vix Roma in solio locata,\nTe, decus nostrum, superare in isto\nMunere digna","t":"Barcelona will rise, relying on famous Cucufas,\nand Narbonne, beautiful with Paul;\nand you, mighty Arles, will have you,\nholy Genesius.\nThe city that is the head of the towns of Lusitania,\nsnatching up the ashes of the adored girl\nto meet Christ, will hold her out\nherself to the altar.\nAlcalá will be glad to bring in its bosom\nthe blood of Justus, to whom Pastor clings,\na double burden and a twin gift,\nthe limbs of two.\nTangier will bring its Cassian,\nfestive monument of the Massylian kings,\nwhose ashes have forced conquered nations\nto the yoke of Christ.\nA few cities will be content with single witnesses,\nsome perhaps with three or two, and some with five\nwitnesses of Christ, having first discharged\nthe pledge of victims.\nYou, Caesaraugusta, devoted to Christ,\nwill bring back ten saints and eight,\nyour head bound with the yellow olive\nof honored peace.\nYou alone have prepared more numerous\ncrowds of martyrs to meet the Lord;\nyou alone, very rich in devotion,\nenjoy much light.\nScarcely the populous mother of the Punic world,\nscarcely Rome herself, set upon her throne,\nis worthy to surpass you, our glory,\nin this gift.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 4.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/4-33)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/4.65":{"o":"Omnibus portis sacer immolatus\nSanguis exclusit genus invidorum\nDaemonum, et nigras pepulit tenebras\nUrbe piata.\nNullus umbrarum latet intus horror ;\nPulsa nam pestis populum refugit ;\nChristus in totis habitat plateis,\nChristus ubique est.\nMartyrum credas patriam coronis\nDebitam sacris: chorus unde surgens\nTendit in caelum niveus togatae\nNobilitatis.\nInde, Vincenti, tua palma nata est ;\nClerus hic tantum peperit triumphum :\nHic sacerdotum domus infulata\nValeriorum.\nSaevus antiquis quoties procellis\nTurbo vexatum tremefecit orbem,\nTristior templum rabies in istud\nIntulit iras.\nNec furor quisquam sine laude nostrum\nPraeterit, aut clari vacuus cruoris:\nMartyrum semper numerus sub omni\nGrandine crevit.\nNonne, Vincenti, peregre necandus\nMartyr, his terris tenui notasti\nSanguinis rore speciem futuri\nMorte propinqua?\nHoc colunt cives, velut ipsa membra\nCaespos includat suus, et paterno\nServet amplectens tumulo beati\nMartyris ossa.","t":"At all the gates the sacred blood that was sacrificed\nhas shut out the race of envious\ndemons, and driven away black darkness,\nthe city being purified.\nNo horror of shadows lurks within;\nfor the plague, driven out, flees from the people;\nChrist dwells in all the streets,\nChrist is everywhere.\nYou would think it the homeland owed to the martyrs\nfor their sacred crowns: from here rises\nand goes to heaven a snow-white choir\nof toga-clad nobility.\nFrom here, Vincent, your palm was born;\nthis clergy brought forth so great a triumph;\nhere is the bishops’ house, wearing the fillet,\nof the Valerii.\nAs often as the savage whirlwind with ancient storms\nhas made the harassed world tremble,\na grimmer rage has brought its wrath\nagainst this temple.\nNo fury has passed by us\nwithout praise, or empty of glorious blood:\nthe number of martyrs has always grown\nunder every hailstorm.\nDid you not, Vincent, martyr who was to be slain\naway from home, mark these lands with a slight\ndew of blood, a likeness of what was to come,\nas your death drew near?\nThe citizens honor this place as if their own turf\nenclosed his very limbs, and, embracing them\nin a father’s tomb, kept\nthe bones of the blessed martyr.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 4.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/4-65)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/4.97":{"o":"Noster est, quamvis procul hinc in urbe\nPassus ignota dederit sepulcri\nGloriam victor, prope litus altae\nForte Sagunti.\nNoster et nostra puer in palaestra,\nArte virtutis fideique olivo\nUnctus, horrendum didicit domare\nViribus hostem.\nNoverat templo celebres in isto\nOcties partas deciesque palmas,\nLaureis doctus patriis eadem\nLaude cucurrit.\nHic et, Encrati, recubant tuarum\nOssa virtutum : quibus efferati\nSpiritum mundi violenta Virgo\nDedecorasti.\nMartyrum nulli remanente vita\nContigit terris habitare nostris :\nSola tu morti propriae superstes\nVivis in orbe.\nVivis, ac poenae seriem retexis,\nCarnis et spolium retentans,\nQuam sulcos habeant amaros\nVulnera, narras.\nBarbarus tortor latus omne carpsit,\nSanguis impensus, lacerata membra,\nPectus abscissa patuit papilla\nCorde sub ipso.\nIam minus mortis pretium peractae est,\nQuae, venenatos abolens dolores,\nConcitam membris tribuit quietem\nFine soporo.","t":"He is ours, although far from here, in an unknown city,\nhe suffered and gave the glory of his tomb\nas victor, near the shore, it may be,\nof lofty Saguntum.\nHe is ours, and as a boy in our wrestling school,\nanointed with the art of virtue and the oil of faith,\nhe learned to tame with his strength\nthe dreadful enemy.\nHe knew the palms won eight and ten times\nfamous in this temple,\nand, trained by his fathers’ laurels,\nhe ran the race with the same praise.\nHere too, Engratia, lie the bones\nof your virtues: by them, violent virgin,\nyou put to shame the spirit\nof the maddened world.\nTo none of the martyrs has it befallen\nto dwell in our lands with life remaining:\nyou alone, surviving your own death,\nlive on the earth.\nYou live, and unfold the series of your punishment,\nkeeping the spoil of your flesh,\n[and tell] how bitter the furrows\nyour wounds have.\nThe barbarous torturer tore every side;\nblood was spent, limbs torn;\nthe breast lay open, the nipple cut off,\nright under the heart.\nLess is the price of a death that is completed,\nwhich, abolishing poisonous pains,\ngives swift rest to the limbs\nwith a sleepy end.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 4.97 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 97–128; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/4-97)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/5.1":{"o":"Beate martyr, prospera\nDiem triumphalem tuum,\nQuo sanguinis merces tibi\nCorona, Vincenti, datur.\nHic te ex tenebris saeculi,\nTortore victo et iudice,\nEvexit ad caelum dies,\nChristoque ovantem reddidit.\nNunc angelorum particeps,\nConlucia insigni stola,\nQuam testis indomabilis\nRivis cruoris laveras.\nQuum te satelles idoli,\nPraecinctus atris legibus,\nLitare divis gentium\nFerro et catenis cogeret,\nAc verba primum mollia\nSuadendo blande effuderat ;\nCaptator ut vitulum lupus\nRapturus adludit prius.\n— « Rex, inquit, orbis maximus,\nQui sceptra gestat Romula,\nServire sanxit omnia\nPriscis deorum cultibus.\nVos, Nazareni, adsistite,\nRudemque ritum spernite :\nHaec saxa, quae princeps colit,\nPlacate fumo et victima. » —\nExclamat hic Vincentius,\nLevita de tribu sacra,","t":"Blessed martyr, prosper\nyour day of triumph,\non which the crown, the reward of your blood,\nis given to you, Vincent.\nThis day, the torturer and judge conquered,\nraised you from the darkness of the world\nto heaven, and gave you back\ntriumphant to Christ.\nNow, sharer with the angels,\nyou shine in the glorious robe\nwhich, an unconquerable witness,\nyou had washed in streams of blood,\nwhen the attendant of the idol,\ngirt with black laws,\ntried to force you with iron and chains\nto sacrifice to the gods of the nations.\nAnd at first he had poured out soft words,\npersuading you gently,\nas the wolf, a decoy, first plays\nwith the calf it means to seize.\n“The king,” he said, “the greatest of the world,\nwho bears the sceptre of Romulus,\nhas decreed that all should serve\nthe ancient worship of the gods.\nYou Nazarenes, stand by,\nand spurn your crude rite:\nappease these stones, which the emperor worships,\nwith smoke and victim.”\nHere Vincent cries out,\na Levite of the sacred tribe,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 5.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/5-1)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/5.129":{"o":"Te, Christe, praesentem videns.\n« — Quis vultus iste, pro pudor!\nDatianus aiebat furens:\nGaudet, renidet, provocat,\nTortore tortus acrior.\nNil illa vis exercita\nTot noxiorum mortibus\nAgone in isto proficit,\nArs et dolorum vincitur.\nSed vos, alumni carceris,\nPar semper invictum mihi,\nCohibete paullum dexteras,\nRespiret ut lassus vigor.\nPraesicca rursus ulcera,\nDum se cicatrix colligit\nRefrigerati sanguinis,\nManus resulcans diruet. » —\nHis contra Levites refert : —\n« Si iam tuorum perspicis\nLanguere virtutem canum,\nAge ipse, maior carnifex.\nOstende, quo pacto queant\nImos recessus scindere,\nManus et ipse intersere,\nRivosque ferventes bibe.\nErras, cruente, si meam\nTe rere poenam sumere,\nQuum membra morti obnoxia\nDilancinata interficis.\nEst alter, est intrinsecus,\nViolare quem nullus potest :\nLiber, quietus, integer,","t":"seeing you, Christ, present.\n“What is that face, for shame!”\nDatian said, raging:\n“he rejoices, he smiles, he challenges,\nfiercer when tortured than the torturer.\nThat force, practised\nin the deaths of so many guilty men,\nachieves nothing in this contest,\nand the art of pains is defeated.\nBut you, nurslings of the prison,\npair ever unconquered for me,\nhold back your right hands a little,\nso that tired strength may breathe again.\nThen, when the ulcers are quite dry,\nwhile the scar of the cooled blood\ndraws itself together,\nyour hand, furrowing again, will tear them apart.”\nTo this the Levite replies:\n“If you now perceive\nthat the strength of your dogs is flagging,\ncome yourself, greater executioner.\nShow how they can\ntear the deepest recesses;\nput in your own hands too,\nand drink the boiling streams.\nYou are wrong, bloody man, if you\nthink you are taking your penalty from me\nwhen you kill limbs liable to death\nby tearing them to pieces.\nThere is another, there is one within,\nwhom no one can violate,\nfree, quiet, whole,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 5.129 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 129–160; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/5-129)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/5.161":{"o":"Exsors dolorum tristium.\nHoc, quod laboras perdere\nTantis furoris viribus,\nVas est solutum ac fictile,\nQuocumque frangendum modo.\nQuin immo nunc enitere\nIllum secare ac plectere,\nQui perstat intus, qui tuam\nCalcat, tyranne, insaniam.\nHunc, hunc lacesse; hunc discute\nInvictum, inexsuperabilem,\nNullis procellis subditum,\nSolique subiectum Deo. » —\nHaec fatur, et stridentibus\nLaniatur uncis denuo.\nCui praetor ore subdolo\nAnguina verba exsibilat: —\n« Si tanta callum pectoris\nPraedurat obstinatio,\nPulvinar ut nostrum manu\nAbomineris tangere,\nSaltem latentes paginas,\nLibrosque opertos detege,\nQuo secta pravum seminans\nIustis cremetur ignibus. » —\nHis martyr auditis, ait : —\n« Quem tu, maligne, mysticis\nMinitaris ignem litteris ,\nFlagrabis ipse hoc iustius.\nRomphaea nam caelestium\nVindex erit voluminum,\nTanti veneni interpretem","t":"exempt from sad pains.\nThis which you labor to destroy\nwith such great forces of fury\nis a vessel, loosened and of clay,\nto be broken in any way whatever.\nRather strive now\nto cut and punish that one,\nwho stands firm within, who tramples,\ntyrant, on your madness.\nHim, him provoke, him shatter,\nunconquered, insuperable,\nsubject to no storms,\nsubject to God alone.”\nSo he speaks, and with hissing hooks\nhe is torn again.\nTo him the praetor with crafty mouth\nhisses out snakelike words:\n“If such obstinacy so hardens\nthe callus of your heart\nthat you abhor touching\nour sacred couch with your hand,\nat least uncover the hidden pages\nand the concealed books,\nso that the sect that sows depravity\nmay be burned in just fires.”\nHaving heard this, the martyr says:\n“The fire with which you, malicious one,\nthreaten the mystic writings,\nyou yourself will burn in more justly.\nFor the sword will be the avenger\nof the heavenly volumes,\nburning with its lightning the tongue","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 5.161 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 161–192; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/5-161)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/5.193":{"o":"Linguam perurens fulmine.\nVides favillas indices\nGomorrheorum criminum :\nSodomita nec latet cinis,\nTestis perennis funeris.\nExemplar hoc, serpens, tuum est :\nFuligo quem mox sulphuris,\nBitumen et mixtum pice,\nImo implicabunt tartaro. » —\nHis persecutor saucius\nPallet, rubescit, aestuat,\nInsana torquens lumina,\nSpumasque frendens egerit.\nTum deinde cunctatus diu,\nDecernit extrema omnium :\nIgni, grabato, et laminis\nExerceatur quaestio.\nHaec ille se se ad munera\nGradu citato proripit,\nIpsosque pernox gaudio,\nPoenae ministros praevenit.\nVentum ad palaestram gloriae :\nSpes certat et crudelitas;\nLuctamen anceps conserunt\nHinc martyr, illinc carnifex.\nSerrata lectum regula\nDente frequenti exasperat,\nCui multa carbonum strues\nVivum vaporat halitum.\nHunc sponte conscendit rogum\nVir sanctus ore interrito,\nCeu iam coronae conscius","t":"of the interpreter of such poison.\nYou see the ashes that are evidence\nof the crimes of Gomorrah;\nnor is the ash of Sodom hidden,\nwitness of an everlasting funeral.\nThis is your pattern, serpent:\nsoon the soot of sulphur,\nand bitumen mixed with pitch,\nwill entangle you in deepest Tartarus.”\nWounded by this, the persecutor\nturns pale, reddens, seethes,\nrolling his maddened eyes,\nand, gnashing his teeth, pours out foam.\nThen, after long hesitation,\nhe decrees the last of all:\nlet the inquiry be carried out\nwith fire, the bed and the plates.\nHe hurries himself to these offices\nwith quick step,\nand, sleepless all night with joy,\noutruns the very ministers of punishment.\nThey came to the wrestling-ground of glory:\nhope and cruelty contend;\nthey join a doubtful struggle,\nthe martyr on this side, the executioner on that.\nA serrated bar roughens the bed\nwith close-set teeth,\nwhich a great heap of coals\nheats with living breath.\nThis pyre the holy man mounts of his own accord,\nwith fearless face,\nas though, already aware of his crown,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 5.193 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 193–224; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/5-193)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/5.225":{"o":"Celsum tribunal scanderet.\nSubter crepante adspergine\nScintillat excussus salis,\nPunctisque fervens stridulis\nSparsim per artus figitur.\nArvina posthinc igneum\nImpressa cauterem lavit :\nVis unde roris fumidi\nIn membra sensim liquitur.\nHaec inter immotus manet,\nTamquam dolorum nescius,\nTenditque in altum lumina;\nNam vincla palmas presserant.\nSublatus inde fortior\nLugubre in antrum truditur,\nNe liber usus luminis\nAnimaret altum spiritum.\nEst intus imo ergastulo\nLocus tenebris nigrior,\nQuem saxa mersi fornicis\nAngusta clausum strangulant.\nAeterna nox illic latet\nExpers diurni sideris :\nHic carcer horrendus suos\nHabere fertur inferos.\nIn hoc barathrum coniicit\nTruculentus hostis martyrem :\nLignoque plantas inserit\nDivaricatis cruribus.\nQuin addit et poenam novam\nCrucis peritus artifex,\nNulli tyranno cognitam,","t":"he were climbing to a high tribunal.\nBeneath, with crackling spray,\nthe salt shaken out sparkles,\nand, boiling in hissing points,\nis fixed here and there through his limbs.\nAfter that, fat pressed on\nbathes the fiery brand,\nwhence the force of the smoking dew\nmelts little by little into his limbs.\nAmid these things he remains unmoved,\nas if knowing nothing of pain,\nand stretches his eyes on high;\nfor chains had pressed his palms.\nLifted from there, stronger,\nhe is thrust into a mournful cave,\nlest the free use of light\nshould animate his lofty spirit.\nThere is within, at the bottom of the prison,\na place blacker than darkness,\nwhich the stones of a sunken vault\nstrangle, narrow and closed.\nEternal night lurks there,\nwithout the star of day:\nthis horrid prison is said\nto have its own underworld.\nInto this pit the savage enemy\nthrows the martyr,\nand puts his feet into the stocks\nwith legs spread wide apart.\nMoreover he adds a new punishment,\na craftsman skilled in torture,\nknown to no tyrant,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 5.225 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 225–256; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/5-225)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/5.257":{"o":"Nec fando compertam retro.\nFragmenta testarum iubet\nHirta, impolitis angulis,\nAcuminata, informia,\nTergo iacentis sternerent.\nTotum cubile spiculis\nArmant dolores anxii,\nInsomne qui subter latus\nMucrone pulsent obvio.\nHaec ille versutus vafra\nMeditatus arte struxerat:\nSed Belzebulis callida\nCommenta Christus destruit.\nNam carceralis caecitas\nSplendore lucis fulgurat,\nDuplexque morsus stipitis\nRuptis cavernis dissilit.\nAgnoscit hic Vincentius\nAdesse, quod speraverat,\nTanti laboris praemium,\nChristum datorem luminis.\nCernit deinde fragmina\nIam testularum mollibus\nVestire semet floribus,\nRedolente nectar carcere.\nQuin et frequentes angeli\nStant, ac loquuntur comminus,\nQuorum unus ore augustior\nCompellat his dictis virum : —\n« Exsurge, martyr inclite,\nExsurge securus tui :\nExsurge, et almis caetibus","t":"nor learned before by report.\nHe orders fragments of potsherds,\nrough, with unpolished corners,\nsharpened, shapeless,\nto be strewn under the back of the man lying there.\nAnxious pains arm the whole bed\nwith spikes,\nto strike his sleepless side from beneath\nwith point set against it.\nThese things the crafty man had built,\nhaving planned them with cunning art;\nbut Christ destroys\nthe clever devices of Beelzebul.\nFor the blindness of the prison\nflashes with the splendor of light,\nand the double bite of the stocks\nleaps apart, its holes broken.\nHere Vincent recognizes\nthat what he had hoped for is present,\nthe reward of so great a labor,\nChrist, the giver of light.\nThen he sees the fragments\nof the potsherds now\nclothing themselves with soft flowers,\nas the prison breathes nectar.\nMoreover, many angels\nstand and speak face to face,\nof whom one, more majestic of countenance,\naddresses the man with these words:\n“Arise, famous martyr,\narise, secure for yourself;\narise, and as a companion join","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 5.257 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 257–288; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/5-257)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/5.289":{"o":"Noster sodalis addere.\nDecursa iam satis tibi\nPoenae minacis munia,\nPulchroque mortis exitu\nOmnis peracta est passio.\nO miles invictissime,\nFortissimorum fortior,\nIam te ipsa saeva et aspera\nTormenta victorem tremunt.\nSpectator haec Christus Deus\nCompensat aevo intermino,\nPropriaeque collegam Crucis\nLarga coronat dextera.\nPone hoc caducum vasculum\nCompage textum terrea,\nQuod dissipatum solvitur;\nEt liber in caelum veni. » —\nHaec ille. Sed clausas fores\nInterna rumpunt lumina,\nTenuisque per rimas nitor\nLucis latentis proditur.\nHoc quum stuperet territus\nObsessor atri liminis,\nQuem cura pernox manserat\nServare feralem domum ,\nPsallentis audit insuper\nPraedulce carmen martyris,\nCui vocis instar aemulae\nConclave reddit concavum.\nPavens deinde introspicit,\nAdmota quantum postibus\nAcies per artas cardinum","t":"our fellowship.\nThe duties of the threatening punishment\nhave now been run through enough by you,\nand by a beautiful end of death\nyour whole passion is complete.\nO most unconquered soldier,\nbraver than the bravest,\nnow the very tortures, savage and harsh,\ntremble at you, their victor.\nChrist God, a spectator of these things,\nrepays them with endless age,\nand crowns with his generous right hand\nthe companion of his own Cross.\nLay down this perishable little vessel,\nwoven with an earthy framework,\nwhich is loosened and dissolved,\nand come free to heaven.”\nSo he spoke. And the light within\nbursts the closed doors,\nand through the cracks a thin gleam\nof the hidden light is betrayed.\nWhen the guard of the black threshold,\nwhom an all-night duty had kept\nto watch the deadly house,\nwas astonished and terrified at this,\nhe hears besides the very sweet song\nof the martyr singing psalms,\nto which the hollow chamber gives back\nthe likeness of an answering voice.\nThen, trembling, he looks in,\nas far as his eye, moved up to the doorposts,\ncan enter through the narrow","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 5.289 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 289–320; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/5-289)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/5.321":{"o":"Intrare iuncturas potest.\nVernare multis floribus\nStramenta testarum videt,\nIpsumque vulsis nexibus\nObambulantem pangere.\nImplentur aures turbidi\nPraetoris hoc miraculo :\nFlet victus, et volvit gemens\nIram, dolorem, dedecus.\n— « Exemptus, inquit, carceri,\nPaullum benignis fotibus\nRecreetur, ut pastum novum\nPoenis refectus praebeat. » —\nCo'ire toto ex oppido\nTurbam fidelem cerneres,\nMollire praefultum torum,\nSiccare cruda vulnera.\nIllo ungularum duplices\nSulcos pererrat osculis ;\nHic purpurantem corporis\nGaudet cruorem lambere.\nPlerique vestem linteam\nStillante tinguunt sanguine,\nTutamen ut sacrum suis\nDomi reservent posteris.\nTunc ipse manceps carceris,\nEt vinculorum ianitor,\nUt fert vetustas conscia,\nRepente Christum credidit.\nHic obseratis vectibus\nDensae specum caliginis\nSplendore lucis advenae","t":"joints of the hinges.\nHe sees the strewing of potsherds\nblooming with many flowers,\nand the man himself, his bonds torn off,\nwalking about and singing.\nThe ears of the troubled praetor\nare filled with this miracle:\nbeaten, he weeps, and groaning turns over\nanger, pain and disgrace.\n“Let him be taken out of the prison,”\nhe says, “and refreshed a little\nwith kindly comforts, so that, restored,\nhe may provide new food for punishments.”\nYou might see the faithful crowd\ncome together from the whole town,\nsoftening the propped couch,\ndrying the raw wounds.\nThis one goes over the double furrows\nof the claws with kisses;\nthat one is glad to lick\nthe crimsoning blood of the body.\nMany dip linen garments\nin the dripping blood,\nso as to keep at home a sacred protection\nfor their descendants.\nThen the keeper of the prison himself,\nand doorkeeper of the chains,\nas conscious antiquity reports,\nsuddenly believed in Christ.\nHe had seen the cave of thick darkness,\nits bars barred,\nshining, closed as it was,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 5.321 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 321–352; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/5-321)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/5.33":{"o":"Minister altaris Dei,\nSeptem ex columnis lacteis :\n— « Tibi ista praesint numina,\nTu saxa, tu lignum colas;\nTu mortuorum mortuus\nFias deorum pontifex.\nNos lucis auctorem Patrem,\nEiusque Christum Filium,\nQui solus ac verus Deus,\nDatiane, confitebimur. » —\nHic ille iam commotior,\n— « Audesne, non felix, ait,\nIus hoc deorum et principum\nViolare verbis asperis?\nIus et sacratum et publicum,\nCui cedit humanum genus?\nNec te iuventae fervidae\nInstans periclum permovet ?\nHoc namque decretum cape :\nAut ara ture et caespite\nPraecanda iam nunc est tibi,\nAut mors luenda est sanguine. » —\nRespondit ille altrinsecus :\n— « Age ergo, quidquid virium,\nQuidquid potestatis tibi est,\nPalam reluctor, exsere.\nVox nostra quae sit, accipe :\nEst Christus et Pater Deus ;\nServi huius et testes sumus :\nExtorque, si potes, fidem.\nTormenta, carcer, ungulae,\nStridensque flammis lamina,","t":"minister of God’s altar,\none of the seven milk-white columns:\n“Let these deities preside over you;\nyou worship stones, you worship wood;\nyou, dead, be the priest\nof dead gods.\nWe, Datian, will confess\nthe Father, author of light,\nand Christ his Son,\nwho are the one true God.”\nAt this he, now more stirred,\n“Do you dare, unhappy man,” he says,\n“to violate with harsh words\nthis law of the gods and of the emperors,\na law both sacred and public,\nto which the human race yields?\nDoes not the danger that threatens\nyour fervent youth move you?\nFor take this decree:\neither the altar must now be entreated\nby you with incense and turf,\nor death must be paid with blood.”\nHe answered in turn:\n“Come then, whatever strength,\nwhatever power you have,\nput it forth: I resist you openly.\nHear what our voice is:\nChrist and the Father are God;\nwe are his servants and witnesses:\nwrench away our faith, if you can.\nTortures, prison, claws,\nand the iron plate hissing with flames,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 5.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/5-33)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/5.353":{"o":"Micuisse clausum viderat.\nAt vero postquam lectuli\nMartyr quietem contigit ;\nAeger morarum taedio,\nEt mortis incensus siti:\nSi mors habenda eiusmodi est,\nQuae corporali ergastulo\nMentem resolvit liberam,\nEt reddit auctori Deo :\nMentem piatam sanguine,\nMortis lavacris ablutam,\nQuae semel ac vitam suam\nChristo immolandam praebuit.\nErgo, ut recline mollibus\nReiecit aulaeis caput,\nVictor, relictis artubus,\nCaelum capessit spiritus :\nCui recta celso tramite,\nReseratur ad Patrem via,\nQuam fratre caesus impio\nAbel beatus scanderat.\nStipant euntem candidi\nHinc inde sanctorum chori ,\nParique missum carcere\nBaptista Ioannes vocat.\nAt Christiani nominis\nHostem coquebant irrita\nFellis venena, et lividum\nCor efferata exusserant.\nSaevire inermem crederes\nFractis draconem dentibus :\n— « Evasit, exsultans, ait,","t":"with the splendor of a strange light.\nBut after the martyr reached\nthe rest of the little bed,\nsick with the weariness of delay\nand burning with thirst for death —\nif death of such a kind is to be held death,\nwhich releases the mind free\nfrom the prison of the body\nand gives it back to God its author:\nthe mind atoned for with blood,\nwashed in the bath of death,\nwhich once and for all offered its life\nto be sacrificed to Christ —\nso, as he laid back his head\non the soft coverings,\nthe spirit, victorious, leaving the limbs,\ntakes possession of heaven;\nfor it, by a lofty path,\nthe straight way to the Father is opened,\nwhich blessed Abel, slain by his impious brother,\nhad climbed.\nWhite choirs of saints\nthrong him on this side and that as he goes,\nand John the Baptist, sent forth from a like prison,\ncalls to him.\nBut the useless poisons of gall\nwere cooking the enemy of the Christian name,\nand had burned up\nhis livid, savage heart.\nYou would think a disarmed dragon raged\nwith broken teeth:\n“He has escaped,” he says, exulting,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 5.353 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 353–384; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/5-353)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/5.385":{"o":"Rebellis, et palmam tulit?\nSed restat illud ultimum\nInferre poenam mortuo,\nFeris cadaver tradere;\nCanibusve carpendum dare.\nIam nunc et ossa exstinxero,\nNe sit sepulcrum funeris,\nQuod plebs gregalis excolat,\nTitulumque fingat martyris. » —\nSic frendit, et corpus sacrum\nProfanus ( ah dirum nefas ! )\nNudum, negato tegmine,\nExponit inter carices.\nSed nulla dirarum fames\nAut bestiarum aut alitum\nAudet tropaeum gloriae\nFoedare tactu squalido.\nQuin, si qua clangens improbe\nCircumvolarat eminus,\nTrucis volucris impetu\nDepulsa vertebat fugam.\nNam corvus, Heliae datus\nOlim ciborum portitor,\nHoc munus implet sedulo,\nEt inremotus excubat.\nHic ex frutetis proximis\nInfestus alarum sono,\nOculosque pennis verberans\nExegit immanem lupum.\nQuis perfidorum credere\nAusit, rapacem belluam,","t":"“the rebel, and carried off the palm?\nBut there remains this last thing:\nto inflict punishment on the dead man,\nto hand over the corpse to wild beasts,\nor give it to dogs to tear.\nI will now destroy even the bones,\nso that there may be no tomb of his corpse\nfor the common herd to honor\nand to fashion a martyr’s title.”\nSo he gnashes, and, profane man\n(ah, dread wickedness!),\nexposes the sacred body naked,\ncovering denied, among the sedges.\nBut no dire hunger\nof beasts or birds\ndares to defile the trophy of glory\nwith a filthy touch.\nRather, if any bird, screeching wickedly,\nhad flown around from afar,\ndriven off by the attack of a fierce bird\nit turned in flight.\nFor the raven, once given to Elijah\nas carrier of food,\nfulfils this duty diligently,\nand keeps watch close by.\nThis raven, from the nearest thickets,\nhostile with the sound of its wings,\nbeating his eyes with its feathers,\ndrove off a monstrous wolf.\nWho of the faithless would dare\nto believe that a ravenous beast,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 5.385 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 385–416; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/5-385)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/5.417":{"o":"Tauris paratam congredi,\nCessisse plumis mollibus?\nAbit malignum murmurans,\nLevi volatu exterritus ;\nPraedamque visam fugerat\nCustodis imbellis minis.\nQuis, audienti talia,\nDatiane, tunc sensus tibi?\nQuantis gementem spiculis\nPulsabat occultus dolor?\nQuum te perempti corporis\nVirtute victum cerneres,\nIpsis et impar ossibus,\nVacuisque iam membris minor?\nSed quis, tyranne pertinax,\nHunc impotentem spiritum\nDeterminabit exitus ?\nNullusne te franget modus? » —\n« — Nullus; nec umquam desinam;\nNam, si ferina immanitas\nMansuescit, et clementia\nCorvos voraces mitigat,\nMergam cadaver fluctibus :\nInsana numquam naufragis\nIgnoscit unda, et spumeum\nNescit profundum parcere.\nAut semper illic mobilis\nIncerta per ludibria\nVagis feretur flatibus,\nSquamosa pascens agmina ;","t":"ready to fight with bulls,\nhad yielded to soft feathers?\nIt goes off, growling malignantly,\nterrified by a light flight;\nand it had fled from the prey it had seen\nat the threats of an unwarlike guardian.\nWhat feeling, then, hearing such things,\nDatian, did you have?\nWith how many darts did hidden pain\nstrike you as you groaned,\nwhen you saw yourself conquered\nby the power of the slain body,\nunequal even to the bones,\nand smaller than limbs now empty?\nBut what end, stubborn tyrant,\nwill set a limit\nto this uncontrolled spirit?\nWill no measure break you?\n“None; nor will I ever stop:\nfor if beastly savagery\ngrows gentle, and mercy\nsoftens voracious ravens,\nI will sink the corpse in the waves:\nthe mad wave never pardons\nthe shipwrecked, and the foaming\ndeep knows not how to spare.\nOr else it will be carried there forever,\nmoving through uncertain mockeries,\nby wandering winds,\nfeeding the scaly shoals;","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 5.417 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 417–448; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/5-417)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/5.449":{"o":"Aut sub fragosis rupibus\nScabri petrarum muriccs\nInter recessus scrupeos\nDiscissa rumpent viscera.\nEcquis virorum, strenue\nCumbam peritus pellere,\nRemo, rudente, et carbaso,\nSecare qui pontum queas,\nRapias palustri e cespite\nCorpus, quod intactum iacet;\nLevique vectum lembulo\nAmplum per aequor auferas.\nSed complicatum sparteus\nClaudat cadaver culleus,\nQuem fune connexus lapis\nPraeceps in altum deprimat.\nAt tu per undas emices,\nRorante praepes palmula,\nDonec relictum longior\nAbscondat adspectus solum. » —\nHaec iussa quidam militum,\n(Eumorphio nomen fuit)\nViolentus, audax, barbarus,\nFurore fervens arripit.\nPanale textum conserit,\nSuto quod implet corpore,\nEmensus et multum freti,\nInter procellas excutit.\nO praepotens virtns Dei !\nVirtus creatrix omnium !\nQuae turgidum quondam mare\nGradiente Christo straverat,","t":"or beneath crashing cliffs\nthe rough spikes of the rocks,\namong the rugged recesses,\nwill burst the torn entrails.\nIs there any man, skilled to drive\na boat vigorously,\nwho can cut the sea\nwith oar, rope and sail,\nto snatch from the marshy turf\nthe body that lies untouched,\nand, carrying it in a light skiff,\ntake it out across the wide sea?\nBut let a sack of broom\nenclose the folded corpse,\nand a stone, tied with a rope,\ndrag it headlong into the deep.\nAnd you, flash through the waves,\nswift with your dripping oar-blade,\nuntil a longer view\nhides the land left behind.”\nOne of the soldiers seizes on these orders\n(Eumorphius was his name),\nviolent, bold, barbarous,\nboiling with fury.\nHe weaves together a rush basket,\nwhich he fills with the body sewn in,\nand, having traversed much of the strait,\nthrows it out amid the storms.\nO mighty power of God!\nPower, creator of all things!\nwhich once had laid flat the swollen sea\nwhen Christ walked on it,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 5.449 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 449–480; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/5-449)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/5.481":{"o":"Ut terga calcans aequoris\nSiccis mearet passibus,\nPlantas nec undis tingueret\nVasti viator gurgitis.\nHaec ipsa virtus iusserat\nRubrum salum dehiscere,\nPatente dum fundo aridum\nSecura plebs iter legit.\nNec non et ipsa nunc iubet\nServire sancto corpori\nPontum, quietis lapsibus\nAd curva pronum litora.\nSaxum molaris ponderis,\nUt spuma candens, innatat;\nTantique custos pignoris\nPiscella fertur fluctibus.\nCernunt stupentes navitae\nVectam remenso marmore,\nLabi retrorsum leniter,\nAestu secundo et flamine.\nCertant et ipsi concito\nPontum phaselo scindere :\nLonge sed artus praevolant\nTelluris ad mollem sinum.\nPrius relatos denique\nHumus quieta suscipit,\nQuam pulsa summis nisibus\nCarina portum tangeret.\nFelix amoeni litoris\nSecessus ille, qui sacra\nFovens arenis viscera\nVicem sepulcri praebuit?","t":"so that, treading the backs of the sea,\nhe passed with dry steps,\nand did not wet his feet in the waves,\na traveller over the vast deep.\nThis same power had ordered\nthe Red Sea to gape,\nwhile the people, safe, chose a dry way\nover the open bottom.\nAnd this same power now bids\nthe sea serve the holy body,\nsloping with quiet glidings\nto the curved shores.\nThe stone of millstone weight\nfloats like gleaming foam;\nand the little basket, guardian of so great a pledge,\nis carried by the waves.\nThe astonished sailors see it\nborne back over the marble sea they had measured,\ngliding gently backward\nwith tide and wind in its favor.\nThey themselves strive with their hurried skiff\nto cut the sea;\nbut far ahead the limbs fly\nto the soft bosom of the land.\nIn short, the quiet earth receives them, brought back,\nbefore the keel, driven\nwith the utmost efforts,\ncould touch the harbor.\nHappy that retreat of the pleasant shore,\nwhich, cherishing the sacred flesh\nin its sands,\nprovided the place of a tomb!","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 5.481 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 481–512; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/5-481)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/5.513":{"o":"Dum cura sanctorum pia\nDeflens adornat aggerem ;\nTumuloque corpus creditum\nVitae reservat posterae.\nSed mox, subactis hostibus,\nIam pace iustis reddita,\nAltar quietem debitam\nPraestat beatis ossibus.\nSubiecta nam sacrario,\nImamque ad aram condita,\nCaelestis auram muneris\nPerfusa subtus hauriunt.\nSic corpus ; ast ipsum Dei\nSedes receptum continet,\nCum Macchabaeis fratribus,\nSectoque Esaiae proximum.\nSimplex sed illis contigit\nCorona poenarum, quibus\nFinem malorum praestitit\nMortis supremus exitus.\nQuid tale sector ausus est?\nTruncata numquid corporis\nSegmenta post serram feris\nObiecit, aut undis dedit?\nNunc Macchabaei martyris\nLinguam tyrannus erutam,\nRaptamve pellem verticis\nAvibus cruentis obtulit?\nTu solus, o bis inclite,\nSolus brabei duplicis\nPalmam tulisti : tu duas\nSimul parasti laureas.","t":"while the loving care of the saints,\nweeping, adorns the mound,\nand keeps the body entrusted to the tomb\nfor the life to come.\nBut soon, the enemies subdued,\nand peace now restored to the righteous,\nan altar gives the due rest\nto the blessed bones.\nFor, placed beneath the sanctuary\nand laid at the foot of the altar,\nthey drink in from below, bathed,\nthe breath of the heavenly gift.\nSo the body; but he himself\nis received and held in the seat of God,\nwith the Maccabean brothers,\nand next to Isaiah who was sawn.\nBut to them fell a single crown\nof punishments, for whom\nthe final exit of death\nbrought an end of evils.\nWhat such thing did the sawyer dare?\nDid he throw the cut-off pieces\nof the body after the saw to beasts,\nor give them to the waves?\nDid the tyrant offer\nthe torn-out tongue of the Maccabean martyr,\nor the skin snatched from his scalp,\nto bloody birds?\nYou alone, O twice-glorious,\nalone carried off the palm\nof a double prize: you prepared\ntwo laurels at once.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 5.513 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 513–544; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/5-513)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/5.545":{"o":"In morte victor aspera,\nTum deinde post mortem pari\nVictor triumpho proteris\nSolo latronem corpore.\nAdesto nunc, et percipe,\nVoces precantum supplices,\nNostri reatus efficax\nOrator ad thronum Patris.\nPer te, per illum carcerem,\nHonoris augmentum tui ;\nPer vincla, flammas, ungulas,\nPer carceralem stipitem;\nPer fragmen illud testeum,\nQuo parta crevit gloria,\nPer, quem trementes posteri\nExosculamur, lectulum,\nMiserere nostrarum precum,\nPlacatus ut Christus suis\nInclinet aurem prosperam,\nNoxas nec omnes imputet.\nSi rite solemnem diem\nVeneramur ore et pectore ;\nSi sub tuorum gaudio\nVestigiorum sternimur,\nPaullisper huc illabere,\nChristi favorem deferens ;\nCarnem resumat spiritus,\nVirtute perfunctam pari,\nUt, quae laborum particeps\nCommune discrimen tulit,\nSit et cohaeres gloriae\nCunctis in aevum saeculis.","t":"In death a victor over harsh things,\nthen after death, with equal triumph,\na victor, you trample down\nthe robber with your body alone.\nBe present now, and receive\nthe suppliant voices of those who pray,\neffective pleader for our guilt\nbefore the Father’s throne.\nBy yourself, by that prison,\nthe increase of your honor;\nby the chains, the flames, the claws,\nby the prison stocks;\nby that fragment of earthenware\nby which your won glory grew;\nby the little bed which we,\nyour trembling posterity, kiss:\nhave pity on our prayers,\nso that Christ, appeased,\nmay incline a favorable ear to his own,\nand not reckon all our sins.\nIf we rightly venerate this solemn day\nwith mouth and heart;\nif we lie prostrate in joy\nbeneath your footprints,\nglide down here for a little while,\nbringing the favor of Christ;\nlet the spirit take back the flesh,\nwhich has performed with equal virtue,\nso that the flesh, which, sharing in the labors,\nbore the common danger,\nmay also be co-heir of the glory\nthrough all ages forever.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 5.545 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 545–578; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/5-545)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/5.65":{"o":"Atque ipsa poenarum ultima\nMors Christianis ludus est.\nO vestra inanis vanitas,\nScitumque brutum Caesaris !\nCondigna vestris sensibus\nColi iubetis numina.\nExcisa fabrili manu,\nCavis recocta et follibus,\nQuae voce, quae gressu carent,\nImmota, caeca, elinguia.\nHis sumptuosa splendido\nDulubra crescunt marmore :\nHis colla mugientium\nPercussa taurorum cadunt.\nAt sunt et illic spiritus.\nSunt; sed magistri criminum,\nVestrae et salutis aucupes,\nVagi, impotentes, sordidi ;\nQui vos latenter incitos\nIn omne compellunt nefas,\nVastare iustos caedibus,\nPlebem piorum carpere.\nNorunt et ipsi ac sentiunt\nPollere Christum et vivere,\nEiusque iamiamque adfore\nRegnum tremendum perfidis.\nClamant fatentes denique\nPulsi e latebris viscerum,\nVirtute Christi et nomine :\nDivique et idem daemones. » —\nHis intonantem martyrem\nIudex profanus non tulit.\nConclamat: — « Os obtundite,","t":"and death itself, the last of punishments,\nare a game to Christians.\nO your empty vanity,\nand the brutish decree of Caesar!\nYou order deities to be worshiped\nthat are worthy of your senses:\ncut out by the craftsman’s hand,\nrecast with hollow bellows,\nwhich lack voice and step,\nunmoving, blind, tongueless.\nFor these sumptuous shrines\nrise in splendid marble;\nfor these the necks of lowing bulls\nfall struck.\nBut there are spirits there too.\nThere are; but they are masters of crimes,\nfowlers lying in wait for your salvation,\nroaming, powerless, filthy;\nwho secretly drive you, roused,\nto every wickedness,\nto lay waste the righteous with slaughter,\nto pluck at the people of the pious.\nThey themselves know and feel\nthat Christ is strong and living,\nand that his kingdom will be at hand any moment,\ndreadful to the faithless.\nIn the end they cry out, confessing,\ndriven from the hiding places of the inner parts\nby the power and name of Christ,\nthat they are both gods and demons.”\nThe profane judge could not bear\nthe martyr thundering these things.\nHe shouts: “Beat his mouth,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 5.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/5-65)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/5.97":{"o":"Ne plura iactet improbus.\nVocem loquentis claudite,\nRaptimque lictores date.\nIllos reornm carnibus\nPastos, manuque exercitos.\nIam faxo, ius praetorium\nConviciator sentiat,\nNe impune, ne nostris sibi\nDis destruendis luserit.\nTibi ergo soli, contumax,\nTarpeia calcentur sacra?\nTu porro solus obteras\nRomam, Senatum, Caesarem?\nVinctum, retortis brachiis,\nSursum ac deorsum extendite,\nCompago donec ossuum\nDivulsa membratim crepet.\nPosthinc hiulcis ictibus\nNudate costarum abdita,\nUt per lacunas vulnerum\nIecur retectum palpitet. » —\nRidebat haec miles Dei,\nManus cruentas increpans,\nQuod fixa non profundius\nIntraret artus ungula.\nAc iam omne robur fortium\nEviscerando cesserat,\nNisusque anhelus solverat\nFessos lacertorum toros.\nAst ille tanto laetior,\nOmni vacantem nubilo\nFrontem serenam luminat,","t":"lest the wicked man boast any more.\nShut the voice of the speaker,\nand bring the lictors at once,\nthose who are fed on the flesh of the accused\nand trained in handiwork.\nI will soon see to it that the reviler\nfeels the praetor’s law,\nlest he mock us with impunity,\nor the destruction of our gods.\nAre the Tarpeian rites, then,\nto be trampled by you alone, stubborn man?\nAre you alone, besides, to crush\nRome, the Senate, Caesar?\nStretch him out, bound, with his arms twisted back,\nup and down,\nuntil the framework of his bones\ncracks, torn apart limb by limb.\nAfter that, with gaping blows,\nlay bare the hidden parts of his ribs,\nso that through the hollows of the wounds\nhis liver may throb, uncovered.”\nGod’s soldier laughed at this,\nrebuking the bloody hands\nbecause the claw, fixed in,\ndid not enter his limbs more deeply.\nAnd now all the strength of the strong men\nhad given out in disemboweling him,\nand the panting effort had loosened\nthe weary muscles of their arms.\nBut he, all the more glad,\nlights up his calm brow,\nfree from every cloud,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 5.97 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 97–128; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/5-97)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/6.1":{"o":"Felix Tarraco, Fructuose, vestris\nAttollit caput ignibus coruscum,\nLevitis geminis procul relucens.\nHispanos Deus adspicit benignus,\nArcem quandoquidem potens Hiberam\nTrino martyre Trinitas coronat.\nArdens Augurius capessit aethram,\nNec non Eulogius simul superbum\nChristi lucidus ad sedile tendit.\nDux et praevius et magister illis\nAd tantum decus, ex episcopali\nClarus nomine Fructuosus ibat.\nAccitus quia praesidis repente\nIussu venerat ad forum sacerdos\nLevitis comitantibus duobus.\nInde ad carceream viros catenam\nFastus sanguine carnifex trahebat:\nGaudet currere Fructuosus ultro,\nAc, ne quis socios timor feriret,\nPraeceptor vehemens eundo firmat,\nIncenditque fidem calore Christi.\n— « Mecum state, viri : vocat cruentus\nAd poenam coluber Dei ministros ;\nNe mors terreat, est parata palma.\nCarcer Christicolis gradus coronae est :\nCarcer provehit ad superna caeli:\nCarcer conciliat Deum beatis. » —\nHis dictis, adeunt specum reorum,\nExercent ibi mysticum lavacrum,\nEt purgamen aquae stupent tenebrae.\nSex hic continuis latent diebus,\nTandem stant trucis ad tribunal hostis :","t":"Happy Tarragona, Fructuosus, lifts up\nits head, flashing with your fires,\nshining far with its twin Levites.\nGod looks kindly on the Spaniards,\nsince the mighty Trinity crowns\nthe Spanish citadel with a threefold martyr.\nBurning Augurius takes possession of the sky,\nand Eulogius too, shining,\nmakes for the proud seat of Christ.\nAs leader, forerunner and master to them\nto so great a glory, Fructuosus went,\nfamous by his episcopal name.\nFor, summoned suddenly at the order\nof the governor, the bishop had come to the forum\nwith two Levites accompanying him.\nFrom there the executioner, fed on blood,\nwas dragging the men to the prison’s chain:\nFructuosus is glad to run of his own accord,\nand, lest any fear should strike his companions,\nthe vehement teacher strengthens them as he goes,\nand kindles their faith with the warmth of Christ.\n“Stand with me, men: the bloody serpent\ncalls God’s ministers to punishment;\nlet not death frighten you: the palm is ready.\nPrison is for Christians a step to the crown;\nprison carries them up to the heights of heaven;\nprison wins God for the blessed.”\nWith these words they enter the cave of the accused,\nand there they perform the mystic washing,\nand the darkness is astonished at the cleansing of water.\nHere they lie hidden for six continuous days;\nat last they stand at the tribunal of the cruel enemy:","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 6.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/6-1)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/6.129":{"o":"Tum de corporibus sacris favillae,\nEt perfusa mero leguntur ossa,\nQuae raptim sibi quisque vindicabat.\nFratrum tantus amor, domum referre\nSanctorum cinerum dicata dona,\nAut gestare sinu fidele pignus.\nSed ne relliquias resuscitandas,\nEt post cum Domino simul futuras,\nDiscretis loca dividant sepulcris,\nCernuntur niveis stolis amicti,\nMandant restitui, cavoque claudi\nMixtim marmore pulverem sacrandum.\nO triplex honor, o triforme culmen,\nQuo nostrae caput excitatur urbis,\nCunctis urbibus eminens Hiberis,\nExsultare tribus libet patronis,\nQuorum praesidio fovemur omnes\nTerrarum populi Pyrenearum.\nCircumstet chorus ex utroque sexu,\nHeros, virgo, puer, senex, anulla:\nVestrum psallite rite Fructuosum.\nMixtis Eulogium modis coaequans,\nReddamus paribus pares camoenas.\nHinc aurata sonent in arce tecta,\nBlandum litoris extet inde murmur,\nEt carmen freta feriata pangant.\nOlim tempus erit, ruente mundo,\nQuum te, Tarraco, Fructuosus acri\nSolvet supplicio, tegens ab igni.\nFors dignabitur et meis medelam\nTormentis dare, prosperante Christo,\nDulces hendecasyllabos revolvens.","t":"Then the ashes from the sacred bodies,\nand the bones sprinkled with wine, are gathered,\nwhich each one hastily claimed for himself.\nSo great was the brothers’ love, to carry home\nthe dedicated gifts of the holy ashes,\nor to bear in their bosom a faithful pledge.\nBut lest they should divide into separate tombs\nthe relics that are to be raised again,\nand afterwards to be with the Lord together,\nthey are seen clothed in snow-white robes,\nand command that the sacred dust be restored\nand shut, mixed together, in a hollow marble.\nO threefold honor, O three-formed summit,\nby which the head of our city is raised,\neminent among all the cities of Spain,\nit is pleasing to exult in three patrons,\nby whose protection we are all cherished,\npeoples of the lands of the Pyrenees.\nLet a choir of both sexes stand around,\nhero, virgin, boy, old man, old woman:\nsing duly the psalm of your Fructuosus.\n[…] matching Eulogius with mingled measures,\nlet us render equal songs to equals.\nOn this side let the gilded roofs on the citadel resound,\non that let the gentle murmur of the shore stand out,\nand let the waves on holiday make song.\nA time will come, when the world is falling,\nwhen Fructuosus will release you, Tarragona,\nfrom sharp punishment, protecting you from the fire.\nPerhaps he will deign to give healing to my torments too,\nby the favor of Christ,\nas he turns over these sweet hendecasyllables.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 6.129 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 129–162; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/6-129)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/6.33":{"o":"Fratres tergeminos tremunt catastae.\nIudex Aemilianus imminebat\nTurbidus, insolens, profanus :\nAras daemonicas coli iubebat.\n— « Tu, qui doctor, ait, seris novellum\nCommenti genns, ut leves puellae\nLucos destituant, Iovem relinquant,\nDamnes, si sapias, anile dogma.\nIussum est Caesaris ore Gallieni,\nQuod princeps colit, ut colamus omnes. »\nHaec fanti placidus refert sacerdos : —\n« Aeternum colo principem, dierum\nFactorem, dominumque Gallieni,\nEt Christum Patre prosatum perenni,\nCuius sum famulus, gregisque pastor. » —\nSubridens ait ille : « — iam fuisti. » —\nNec differt furor aut refrenat iram ;\nSaevis destinat ignibus cremandos.\nExsultant, prohibentque flere vulgum.\nQuosdam de populo videt sacerdos\nLibandum sibi poculum offerentes : —\n« Ieiunamus, ait; recuso potum.\nNondum nona diem resignat hora :\nNumquam conviolabo ius dicatum,\nNec mors ipsa meum sacrum resolvet.\nSic Christus sitiens crucis sub hora\nOblatum sibi poculum recusans,\nNec libare volens, sitim peregit. » —\nIntrant interea locum rotunda\nConclusum cavea, madens ferarum\nMulto sanguine, quem furor frequentat,\nQuum spectacula perstrepunt cruenta,\nAc vilis gladiator ense duro","t":"the racks tremble at the three brothers.\nThe judge Aemilian loomed over them,\nturbulent, insolent, profane;\nhe ordered the demonic altars to be worshiped.\n“You who are a teacher,” he says, “and sow a new\nkind of invention, so that fickle girls\nabandon the groves and leave Jupiter,\ncondemn, if you are wise, the old wives’ doctrine.\nIt has been commanded by the mouth of Caesar Gallienus\nthat we all worship what the emperor worships.”\nTo him as he spoke the bishop calmly replies:\n“I worship the eternal Prince, the maker\nof days, and the master of Gallienus,\nand Christ begotten of the everlasting Father,\nwhose servant I am, and shepherd of his flock.”\nSmiling, the other says: “You have been.”\nHis fury neither delays nor reins in its anger;\nhe destines them to be burned by savage fires.\nThey exult, and forbid the crowd to weep.\nThe bishop sees some of the people\noffering him a cup to drink:\n“We are fasting,” he says; “I refuse the drink.\nThe ninth hour has not yet unsealed the day;\nnever will I violate a dedicated law,\nnor will death itself undo my sacred observance.\nSo Christ, thirsting at the hour of the cross,\nrefusing the cup offered to him,\nand not willing to taste it, endured his thirst.”\nMeanwhile they enter a place enclosed\nby a round arena, wet with much blood\nof beasts, which fury throngs\nwhen bloody spectacles resound,\nand the cheap gladiator, struck by the hard sword,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 6.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/6-33)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/6.65":{"o":"Percussus cadit, et fremit voluptas.\nHic flammante pyra, niger minister,\nArdens supplicium parare iussus,\nConstruxit facibus rogum supremis.\nQui, dum corpora concremata solvit,\nFerventes animas amore lucis\nFracto carceris expediret antro.\nCertant officiis pii sodales :\nPlantis calceamenta dissolutis\nPronus detrahere studebat unus.\nSed sanctus vetat ora Fructuosus\nInclinata premi : — « Facessite, inquit,\nNe nostram gravet obsequela mortem.\nQuin ipse meos pedes resolvam,\nNe vestigia praepedita vinclis\nTardis gressibus irruant in ignem.\nCur lamenta rigant genas madentes?\nCur vestri memor ut fiam rogatis?\nCunctis pro populis rogabo Christum. » —\nVix haec ediderat, relaxat ipse\nIndumenta pedum: velut Moyses\nQuondam fecerat ad rubum propinquans.\nNon calcare sacram cremationem,\nAut adstare Deo prius licebat,\nQuam vestigia pura figerentur.\nStabat calce mera : resultat ecce\nCaelo spiritus, et serit loquelam,\nQuae cnnctos tremefecit andientes.\n— « Non est, credite, poena, quam videtis,\nQuae puncto tenui citata transit ;\nNec vitam rapit illa, sed reformat.\nFelices animae, quibus per ignem","t":"falls, and pleasure roars.\nHere, with a flaming pyre, the black minister,\nordered to prepare the burning punishment,\nbuilt the pyre with final torches,\nwhich, while it dissolved the burned bodies,\nmight set free the souls, burning with love of light,\nfrom the broken cave of their prison.\nThe loving companions vie in services:\none, bending down, was eager to take off\nthe shoes, their laces loosed, from his feet.\nBut holy Fructuosus forbids them\nto bow down and press their faces: “Stop,” he says,\n“lest your homage weigh on our death.\nRather I will loose my feet myself,\nlest my footsteps, hampered by bonds,\nrush into the fire with slow steps.\nWhy do laments water your wet cheeks?\nWhy do you ask me to remember you?\nI will pray to Christ for all the peoples.”\nScarcely had he spoken this, when he himself loosens\nthe coverings of his feet, as Moses\nhad once done when approaching the bush.\nIt was not allowed to tread on the sacred burning,\nor to stand before God,\nbefore pure footsteps were set down.\nHe stood barefoot: see, a spirit resounds\nfrom heaven, and sows a speech\nthat made all who heard it tremble:\n“It is not punishment, believe me, that you see,\nwhich passes, hurried in a slight moment;\nnor does it snatch away life, but reshapes it.\nHappy the souls to whom through fire","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 6.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/6-65)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/6.97":{"o":"Celsa scandere contigit Tonantis;\nQuas olim fugiet perennis ignis. » —\nHaec inter, rapidis focos crepantes\nIntrant passibus, et minantur ipsis\nFlammarum trepidantibus caminis.\nNexus denique, qui manus retrorsnm\nIn tergum revocaverant revinctas,\nIntacta cute decidunt adusti.\nNon ausa est cohibere poena palmas,\nIn morem Crucis ad Patrem levandas:\nSolvit brachia, quae Deum precentur.\nPriscorum specimen trium putares,\nQuos olim Babylonicum per ignem\nCantantes stupuit tremens tyrannus.\nIllis sed pia flamma tum pepercit,\nNondum tempore passionis apto,\nNec mortis decus inchoante Christo.\nHos quum defugeret vaporus ardor,\nOrant, ut celer ignis advolaret,\nEt finem daret anxiis periclis.\nExorata suos obire tandem\nMaiestas famulos iubet, caducis\nMissos corporibus, sibique reddi.\nVidit praesidis ex domo satelles\nCaelum martyribus patere apertum,\nInsignesque viros per astra ferri.\nQuin et filiolae monens herili\nOstendit sceleris notam paterni,\nCaelo vivere, quos forum peremit.\nIllum virginitas palam videre\nPer sudum meruit, parente caeco,\nUt crimen domini domus timeret.","t":"it has befallen to climb the heights of the Thunderer;\nthe everlasting fire will one day flee from them.”\nAmid this they enter the crackling hearths\nwith rapid steps, and threaten\nthe very furnaces trembling with flames.\nAt last the bonds which had drawn back\ntheir hands, tied behind their backs,\nfall off, burnt, with their skin untouched.\nThe punishment did not dare to hold back the palms,\nwhich were to be raised to the Father in the form of the Cross:\nit loosens the arms, so that they may pray to God.\nYou would think it a likeness of the three of old,\nwhom once, singing through the Babylonian fire,\nthe trembling tyrant wondered at.\nBut then the loving flame spared them,\nthe time of the passion not yet being fit,\nnor Christ yet beginning the glory of death.\nWhen the burning heat shunned these,\nthey pray that the fire may fly swiftly to them\nand put an end to their anxious dangers.\nPrevailed upon, the Majesty at last bids\nhis servants die, sent forth\nfrom their perishable bodies, and be restored to himself.\nA guard from the governor’s house saw\nheaven lying open to the martyrs,\nand the illustrious men carried through the stars.\nMoreover he showed it to his master’s little daughter,\nwarning her, as the mark of her father’s crime:\nthose whom the forum slew live in heaven.\nThe maidenhood deserved to see it openly\nthrough the clear sky, while her parent was blind,\nso that the house might fear its master’s crime.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 6.97 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 97–128; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/6-97)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/7.1":{"o":"Insignem meriti virum\nQuirinum, placitum Deo,\nUrbis moenia Sisciae\nConcessum sibi martyrem\nComplexu patrio fovent.\nHic sub Galerio duce,\nQui tunc Illyricos sinus\nUrgebat ditionibus,\nFertur catholicam fidem\nInlustrasse per exitum.\nNon illum gladii rigor,\nNon incendia, non ferae\nCrudeli interitu necant,\nSed lymphis fluvialibus\nGurges, dum rapit, abluit.\nNil refert, vitreo aequore,\nAn de flumine sanguinis\nTinguat passio martyrem :\nAeque gloria provenit\nFluctu quolibet uvida.\nSummo pontis ab ardui\nSanctae plebis episcopus\nIn praeceps fluvio datur,\nSuspensum laqueo gerens\nIngentis lapidem molae.\nDeiectum placidissimo\nAmnis vertice suscipit,\nNec mergi patitur sibi,\nMiris vasta natatibus\nSaxi pondera sustinens.\nSuspectant eminus e solo\nDoctorem pavidi greges ;\nNam Christi populus frequens","t":"Quirinus, a man of outstanding merit,\npleasing to God,\nthe walls of the city of Siscia\ncherish in a fatherly embrace,\nthe martyr granted to them.\nUnder Galerius’ rule,\nwho then pressed the Illyrian\nregions with his sway,\nhe is said to have made the catholic faith\nillustrious by his death.\nNot the hardness of the sword,\nnot fire, not wild beasts\nkill him with a cruel death,\nbut a whirlpool washes him\nin river waters while it carries him off.\nIt makes no difference whether with glassy water\nor with a river of blood\nthe passion dyes the martyr:\nglory comes equally,\nwet with any wave.\nFrom the top of a high bridge\nthe bishop of the holy people\nis thrown headlong into the river,\ncarrying, hung from a noose,\nthe stone of a huge millstone.\nThe river receives him, cast down,\non its most gentle eddy,\nand does not let him sink,\nholding up the vast weight of the stone\nwith wondrous swimming.\nFrom afar, from the ground, the frightened flocks\nlook up at their teacher;\nfor the numerous people of Christ","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 7.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/7-1)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/7.33":{"o":"Riparum sinuamina\nStipato agmine saepserat.\nSed Quirinus, ut eminens\nOs circumtulit, heu ! suo\nExemplo trepidos videt,\nNil ipse proprii memor\nInter stagna periculi.\nConfirmat pia pectora,\nVerbis mitificis rogans,\nNe quem talia terreant,\nNeu constans titubet fides,\nAut poenam putet emori.\nDicentem fluitantibus\nAmnis terga vehunt vadis,\nNec substrata profunditas\nSaxoque et laqueo et viro\nAudet sponte dehiscere.\nSensit martyr episcopus,\nIam partam sibi praeripi\nPalmam mortis et exitus,\nAdscensumque negarier\nAeterni ad solium Patris.\n— « Iesu cunctipotens, ait,\nHaudquaquam tibi gloria\nHaec est insolita, aut nova,\nCalcare fremitum maris,\nProna et flumina sistere.\nScimus discipulum Petrum,\nQuum vestigia tingueret\nIam mergenti trepidus pede,\nDextrae subsidio tuae\nSubiecisse salum solo.","t":"had surrounded the windings of the banks\nwith a packed throng.\nBut Quirinus, as he looked around,\nraising his face, sees them, alas,\nfrightened by his example,\nhimself not at all mindful of his own\ndanger amid the waters.\nHe strengthens their loving hearts,\nasking with gentle words\nthat such things should frighten no one,\nnor constant faith waver,\nnor anyone think it a punishment to die.\nAs he speaks, the back of the river carries him\non its floating shallows,\nnor does the depth beneath\ndare of its own accord to open\nfor the stone and the noose and the man.\nThe martyr bishop felt\nthat the palm of death and departure,\nalready won, was being snatched from him,\nand the ascent to the throne\nof the eternal Father denied.\n“Jesus, almighty,” he says,\n“this glory is by no means\nunusual or new for you,\nto tread on the roaring of the sea,\nand to stop the down-flowing rivers.\nWe know that the disciple Peter,\nwhen he was wetting his footsteps,\nalready sinking with trembling foot,\nwith the help of your right hand\nfound the sea set beneath him as ground.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 7.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/7-33)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/7.65":{"o":"Iordanem quoque novimus\nTortis vorticibus vagum,\nDum fertur rapido impetu,\nAd fontem refluis retro\nConfugisse meatibus.\nHaec miracula sunt tuae\nVirtutis, Domine; ut modo\nSuspendor, leve praenatans\nSummo gurgite fluminis,\nQuum collo scopulum traham.\nIam plenus titulus tui est,\nEt vis prodita nominis,\nQuam gentilis habet stupor:\nAbsolvas, precor, optime,\nHuius nunc animae moras.\nQuid possis, probat amnicus,\nQui vectat silicem, liquor;\nHoc iam quod superest, cedo,\nQuo nil est pretiosius\nPro te, Christe Deus, mori. » —\nOrantem simul halitus\nEt vox deserit et calor;\nScandit spiritus ardua :\nIt pondus grave saxeum,\nCorpus suscipiunt aquae.","t":"We know too that the Jordan,\nwandering with twisted eddies,\nwhile it was carried on in rapid rush,\nfled back to its source\nwith backward-flowing courses.\nThese are miracles of your power,\nLord; as now\nI am held up, floating lightly\non the top of the river’s flood,\nthough I drag a rock on my neck.\nNow the title of your name is full,\nand its power revealed,\nwhich the pagans gaze at in astonishment:\nrelease now, I pray, best Lord,\nthe delays of this soul.\nWhat you can do the river water proves,\nwhich carries the flint;\ngrant now what remains,\nthan which nothing is more precious:\nto die for you, Christ God.”\nAs he prays, breath\nand voice and warmth leave him at once;\nthe spirit climbs the heights;\nthe heavy stone goes down,\nthe waters receive the body.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 7.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–89; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/7-65)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/8.1":{"o":"Electus Christo locus est, ubi corda probata\nProvehat ad caelum sanguine, purget aqua.\nHic duo purpureum, Domini pro nomine caesi,\nMartyrium pulchra morte tulere viri.\nHic etiam Iiquido fluit indulgentia fonte,\nAc reteres maculas diluit amne novo.\nQui cupit aeternum Caeli conscendere regnum,\nHuc veniat sitiens: ecce parata via est.\nAnte coronati scandebant ardua testes\nAtria, nunc lotae celsa petunt animae.\nSpiritus aetherio solitus descendere lapsu,\nUt dederat palmam, sic tribuit veniam.\nHaurit terra sacros aut fonte aut sanguine rores,\nExundatque suo iugiter uda Deo.\nIpse loci est dominus, laterum cui vulnere utroque\nHinc cruor effusus fluxit, et inde latex.\nIbitis hinc, ut quisque potest, per vulnera Christi,\nEvectus gladiis alter, et alter aquis.","t":"This place is chosen for Christ, where he carries approved hearts\nto heaven by blood, and cleanses them by water.\nHere two men, slain for the Lord’s name,\nbore a purple martyrdom by a beautiful death.\nHere too pardon flows from a clear fountain\nand washes away old stains in a new stream.\nWhoever desires to climb to the eternal kingdom of heaven,\nlet him come here thirsting: see, the way is ready.\nBefore, crowned witnesses climbed to the lofty halls;\nnow washed souls seek the heights.\nThe Spirit, accustomed to descend in heavenly glide,\nas he had given the palm, so grants pardon.\nThe earth drinks sacred dews either from the font or from blood,\nand, ever wet, overflows for its God.\nHe himself is lord of the place, from both sides of whose wound\nblood poured out flowed on this side, and water on that.\nYou will go from here, as each can, through the wounds of Christ,\none carried up by swords, the other by waters.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 8.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–18; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/8-1)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/9.1":{"o":"Sulla Forum statuit Cornelius: hoc Itali urbem\nVocitant ab ipso conditoris nomine.\nHic mihi quum peterem te, rerum maxima Roma,\nSpes est oborta prosperum Christum fore.\nStratus humi tumulo advolvebar, quem sacer ornat\nMartyr, dicato Cassianus corpore.\nDum lacrimans mecum reputo mea vulnera, et omnes\nVitae labores, ac dolorum acumina,\nErexi ad caelum faciem, stetit obvia contra\nFucis colorum picta imago martyris,\nPlagas mille gerens, totos lacerata per artus,\nRuptam minutis praeferens punctis cutem.\nInnumeri circum pueri, miserabile visu!\nConfossa parvis membra figebant stilis ;\nUnde, pugillares soliti percurrere ceras,\nScholare murmur adnotantes scripserant.\nAedituus consultus ait: — « quod prospicis, hospes,\nNon est inanis aut anilis fabula.\nHistoriam pictura refert, quae tradita libris,\nVeram vetusti temporis monstrat fidem.\nPraefuerat stadiis puerilibus, et grege multo\nSaeptus, magister litterarum sederat :\nVerba notis brevibus comprendere cuncta peritus,\nRaptimque punctis dicta praepetibus sequi.\nAspera nonnumquam praecepta et tristia visa\nImpube vulgus moverant ira et metu.\nPlebem dicatam Christianae gloriae.\nExtrahitur coetu e medio moderator alumni\nGregis, quod aris supplicare spreverat.\nPoenarum artifici quaerenti, quod genus artis\nVir nosset alto tam rebellis spiritu,\nRespondent : agmen tenerum ac puerile gubernat,","t":"Cornelius Sulla founded a Forum: the Italians call\nthe town by this, from the very name of its founder.\nHere, when I was making for you, Rome, greatest of things,\nhope arose in me that Christ would be favorable.\nProstrate on the ground I lay at the tomb which the sacred\nmartyr Cassian adorns with his dedicated body.\nWhile, weeping, I reflect on my wounds and all\nthe labors of my life and the stings of my pains,\nI lifted my face to heaven; there stood facing me\nthe image of the martyr, painted in colors,\nbearing a thousand wounds, torn through all his limbs,\nshowing his skin broken with tiny pricks.\nCountless boys around him (pitiful to see!)\nwere piercing his limbs with little styluses,\nwith which, used to running over the wax tablets,\nthey had written down the murmur of the school, taking notes.\nThe sacristan, when consulted, said: “What you see, stranger,\nis not an empty or old wives’ tale.\nThe picture tells a history which, handed down in books,\nshows the true faith of an ancient time.\nHe had been in charge of boys’ studies, and, surrounded\nby a large flock, had sat as a teacher of letters,\nskilled at capturing all words with brief signs,\nand following swiftly with quick dots what was said.\nHis harsh and seemingly grim precepts sometimes\nhad moved the young crowd to anger and fear.\n[…]\nthe people dedicated to the Christian glory.\nThe guide of the young flock is dragged out from the midst\nof the gathering, because he had scorned to pray at the altars.\nWhen the craftsman of punishments asked what kind of art\nthe man knew who was so rebellious in his lofty spirit,\nthey answer: he governs a tender band of boys,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 9.1 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 1–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/9-1)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/9.33":{"o":"Fictis notare verba signis imbuens.\nDucite, conclamat, captivum ; ducite, et ultro\nDonetur ipsis verberator parvulis.\nUt libet, inludant, lacerent impune, manusque\nTinguant magistri feriatas sanguine.\nLudum discipulis, volupe est, ut praebeat ipse\nDoctor severus quos nimis coercuit. »\nVincitur post terga manus, spoliatus amictu,\nAdest acutis agmen armatum stilis.\nQuantum quisque odii tacita conceperat ira,\nEffundit ardens felle tandem libero.\nConiiciunt alii fragiles inque ora tabellas\nFrangunt: relisa fronte lignum dissilit.\nBuxa crepant cerata, genis impacta cruentis,\nRubetque ab ictu curta et umens pagina.\nInde alii stimulos et acumina ferrea vibrant,\nQua parte aratis cera sulcis scribitur ;\nEt qua secti apices abolentur, et aequoris hirti\nRursus nitescens innovatur area.\nHinc foditur Christi confessor, et inde secatur;\nPars viscus intrat molle, pars scindit cutem.\nOmnia membra manus pariter fixere ducentae,\nTotidemque guttae vulnerum stillant simul.\nMaior tortor erat, qui summa pupugerat, infans,\nQuam qui profunda perforarat viscera.\nIlle levis, quoniam percussor, morte negata,\nProducere scit dolorem spiculis :\nHic quanto interius vitalia condita pulsat,\nPlus dat medelae, dum necem prope adplicat.\nEste, precor, fortes, et vincite viribus annos :\nQuod defit aevo, suppleat crudelitas.\nSed male conatus tener, infirmusque laborat:\nTormenta crescunt dum fatiscit carnifex.","t":"teaching them to note words by invented signs.\n“Lead the prisoner,” he shouts, “lead him, and let the flogger\nbe handed over freely to the little ones themselves.\nLet them mock him as they please, tear him with impunity,\nand dye in his blood their hands, given holiday from their master.\nIt is a pleasure that the stern teacher himself\nshould provide sport for the pupils whom he restrained too much.”\nHis hands are bound behind his back, he is stripped of his clothing;\nthe band, armed with sharp styluses, is there.\nAs much hatred as each had conceived in silent anger,\nhe pours out, burning, his gall at last set free.\nSome throw their fragile tablets and break them\non his face: the wood leaps apart against his battered brow.\nThe waxed boxwood crackles, struck against his bloody cheeks,\nand the broken, wet page reddens from the blow.\nThen others brandish the points and iron tips,\nwith the part by which the wax is written in ploughed furrows,\nand with the part by which the cut letters are erased,\nand the surface of the rough plain, shining again, is renewed.\nFrom here the confessor of Christ is dug, from there he is cut;\npart enters the soft flesh, part splits the skin.\nTwo hundred hands at once pierced all his limbs,\nand as many drops of wounds drip at once.\nThe child who had pricked the surface was a greater torturer\nthan he who had pierced the deep inner parts.\nThat one, since his blow is light and death is denied,\nknows how to prolong the pain with his points;\nthis one, the deeper he strikes the hidden vital parts,\nthe more relief he gives, as he brings death near.\n“Be strong, I pray, and conquer your years with strength:\nwhat is lacking in age, let cruelty supply.”\nBut the tender band strives poorly and labors weakly:\nthe torments grow while the executioner tires.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 9.33 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 33–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/9-33)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/9.65":{"o":"— « Quid gemis? exclamat quidam : tute ipse magister\nIstud dedisti ferrum, et armasti manus.\nReddimus ecce tibi tam millia multa notarum,\nQuam stando, fiendo, te docente, excepimus.\nNon potes irasci quod scribimus: ipse iubebas\nNumquam quietum dextera ut ferret stilum.\nNon petimus toties, te praeceptore, negatas,\nAvare doctor, iam scholarum ferias.\nPangere puncta libet, sulcisque intexere sulcos,\nFlexas catenis impedire virgulas.\nEmendes licet inspectos longo ordine versus,\nMendosa forte si quid erravit manus.\nExerce imperium: ius est tibi plectere culpam,\nsi quis tuorum te notavit segnius. » —\nTalia ludebant pueri per membra magistri,\nNec longa fessum poena solvebat virum.\nTandem luctantis miseratus ab aethere Christus,\nIubet resolvi pectoris ligamina ;\nDifficilesque moras animae, ac retinacula vitae\nRelaxat, artas et latebras expedit.\nSanguis ab interno venarum fonte patentes\nVias secutus, deserit praecordia ;\nTotque foraminibus penetrati corporis exit\nFibrarum anhelans ille vitalis calor.\nHaec sunt, quae liquidis expressa coloribus, hospes,\nMiraris : ista est Cassiani gloria.\nSuggere, si quod habes iustum vel amabile votum,\nSpes si qua tibi est, si quid intus aestuas.\nAudit, crede, preces Martyr prosperrimus omnes,\nRatasque reddit, quas videt probabiles. » —\nPareo, complector tumulum, lacrimas quoque fundo,\nAltar tepescit ore, saxum pectore.","t":"“Why do you groan?” cries one; “you yourself, master,\ngave us this iron and armed our hands.\nSee, we give back to you as many thousands of marks\nas we took down, standing and weeping, while you taught.\nYou cannot be angry that we write: you yourself\nbade us never to carry a stylus quiet in our right hand.\nWe are not asking, stingy teacher, for the school holidays\nso often denied while you were our teacher.\nWe like to make dots, and to weave furrows into furrows,\nto entangle curved little strokes in chains.\nYou may correct the lines, inspected in long order,\nif perhaps our faulty hand has made a mistake.\nUse your authority: you have the right to punish a fault,\nif any of your pupils has marked you too slowly.”\nSuch games the boys played on the limbs of their master,\nnor did the long punishment release the weary man.\nAt last Christ, pitying him from heaven as he struggled,\norders the bonds of his breast to be loosened;\nand he relaxes the difficult delays of the soul and the moorings of life,\nand frees its narrow hiding places.\nThe blood, following the open ways from the inner\nfountain of the veins, deserts the heart;\nand through so many holes of the pierced body\nthat vital warmth of the fibers goes out, panting.\nThese are the things, stranger, expressed in clear colors,\nat which you marvel: this is the glory of Cassian.\nPut forward, if you have any just or lovable prayer,\nif you have any hope, if anything seethes within you.\nThe most favorable martyr, believe me, hears all prayers,\nand ratifies those he sees to be worthy.”\nI obey; I embrace the tomb, I pour out tears too;\nthe altar grows warm with my mouth, the stone with my breast.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 9.65 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 65–96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/9-65)."},"prudentius-peristephanon/9.97":{"o":"Tunc arcana mei percenseo cuncta laboris :\nTunc quod petebam, quod timebam murmuro ;\nEt post terga domum dubia sub sorte relictam,\nEt spem futuri sorte nutantem boni.\nAudior, urbem adeo; dextris successibus utor :\nDomum revertor, Cassianum praedico.","t":"Then I review all the secrets of my labor;\nthen I murmur what I was seeking, what I feared,\nand the home left behind me under a doubtful lot,\nand the hope of future good wavering with its lot.\nI am heard; I go to the City; I enjoy favorable success;\nI return home; I proclaim Cassian.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Perist.</i> 9.97 (Lanfranchi 1:lines 97–122; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-peristephanon/9-97)."}}