{"prudentius-psychomachia/0.1":{"o":"Senex fidelis, prima credendi via,\nAbram, beati seminis serus pater,\nAdiecta cuius nomen auxit syllaba,\nAbram parenti dictus, Abraham Deo,\nSenile pignus qui dicavit victimae,\nDocens ad aram cum litare quis velit,\nQuod dulce cordi, quod pium, quod unicum,\nDeo libenter offerendum credito,\nPugnare nosmet cum profanis gentibus\nSuasit, suumque suasor exemplum dedit;\nNec ante prolem coniugalem gignere\nDeo placentem, matre virtute editam,\nQuam strage multa bellicosus spiritus\nPortenta cordis servientis vicerit.\nVictum feroces forte reges ceperant\nLoth, immorantem criminosis urbibus\nSodomae et Gomorrhae: quas fovebat advena\nPollens honore patruelis gloriae.\nAbram, sinistris excitatus nuntiis,\nAudit propinquum sorte captum bellica\nServire duris barbarorum vinculis:\nArmat trecentos terque senos vernulas,\nPergant ut hostis terga euntis caedere,\nQuem gaza dives, ac triumphus nobilis,\nCaptis tenebat impeditum copiis.\nQuin ipse ferrum stringit, et, plenus Deo,\nReges superbos mole praedarum graves\nPellit fugatos, sauciatos proterit,\nFrangit catenas, et rapinam liberat:\nAurum, puellas, parvulos, monilia,","t":"The faithful old man, the first way of believing,\nAbram, late-born father of a blessed seed,\nwhose name a syllable added enlarged,\ncalled Abram by his parent, Abraham by God,\nwho offered the pledge of his old age as a victim,\nteaching that when anyone wishes to sacrifice at the altar,\nwhat is sweet to his heart, what is dear, what is his only one,\nhe should believe must be offered gladly to God,\nurged us to fight against the profane nations,\nand gave his own example as he urged it;\nand showed that we do not beget a wedded offspring\npleasing to God, born of a mother, Virtue,\nuntil the warlike spirit, with great slaughter,\nhas conquered the monsters of the enslaved heart.\nFierce kings had happened to take Lot captive,\nwhen he lingered in the criminal cities\nof Sodom and Gomorrah, which he cherished as a sojourner,\nstrong in the honor of his uncle’s glory.\nAbram, roused by evil tidings,\nhears that his kinsman, taken by the fortune of war,\nis serving in the harsh chains of barbarians:\nhe arms three hundred and eighteen household servants\nto go and cut down the rear of the enemy as he went,\nwhom rich treasure and a noble triumph\nheld hampered by the captured spoil.\nNay, he himself draws the sword and, full of God,\ndrives the proud kings, heavy with the mass of their plunder,\nto flight, tramples the wounded,\nbreaks the chains, and frees the booty:\ngold, girls, little children, necklaces,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 0.1 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 1–30; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/0-1)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/0.31":{"o":"Greges equarum, vasa, vestem, buculas.\nLoth ipse ruptis expeditus nexibus\nAttrita bacis colla liber erigit.\nAbram triumphi dissipator hostici\nRedit, recepta prole fratris inclitus,\nNe quam fidelis sanguinis prosapiam\nVis pessimorum possideret principum.\nAdhuc recentem caede de tanta virum\nDonat Sacerdos ferculis caelestibus,\nDei Sacerdos, rex et idem praepotens,\nOrigo cuius fonte inenarrabili\nSecreta, nullum prodit auctorem sui,\nMelchisedech, qua stirpe, quis maioribus\nIgnotus, uni cognitus tantum Deo.\nMox et triformis Angelorum trinitas\nSenis revisit hospitis mapalia,\nEt iam vietam Sarra in alvum fertilis\nMunus iuventae mater exsanguis stupet,\nHaerede gaudens, et cachinni paenitens.\nHaec ad figuram praenotata est linea,\nQuam nostra recto vita resculpat pede:\nVigilandum in armis pectorum fidelium,\nOmnemque nostri portionem corporis,\nQuae capta foedae serviat libidini,\nDomi coactis liberandam viribus;\nNos esse large vernularum divites,\nSi quid trecenti, bis novenis additis,\nPossint, figura noverimus mystica.\nMox ipse Christus, qui Sacerdos verus est,\nParente natus alto et ineffabili,\nCibum beatis offerens victoribus,\nParvam pudici cordis intrabit casam,\nMonstrans honorem Trinitatis hospitae.\nAnimam deinde spiritus complexibus\nPie maritam, prolis expertem diu,\nFaciet perenni fertilem de semine.\nTunc sera dotem possidens puerpera,\nHaerede digno Patris implebit domum.","t":"herds of mares, vessels, clothing, heifers.\nLot himself, freed from his broken bonds,\nraises his neck, chafed by the links, as a free man.\nAbram, scatterer of the enemy’s triumph,\nreturns, renowned for recovering his brother’s son,\nso that the power of the wickedest princes\nshould possess no offspring of the faithful blood.\nThe Priest presents the man, still fresh from such great slaughter,\nwith heavenly dishes,\nthe Priest of God, and likewise a most powerful king,\nwhose origin, hidden in an unspeakable source,\nreveals no author of himself:\nMelchizedek, of what stock, of what ancestors\nunknown, known only to God alone.\nSoon the threefold trinity of angels\nvisits the hut of the aged host,\nand Sarah, now fertile in her withered womb,\na bloodless mother, is amazed at the gift of youth,\nrejoicing in an heir and repenting of her laughter.\nThis line was drawn beforehand as a figure,\nfor our life to carve again with straight foot:\nthat we must keep watch in the arms of faithful hearts,\nand that every part of our body\nwhich, captured, serves foul lust,\nmust be freed by forces gathered at home;\nthat we are richly supplied with household servants,\nwe shall know by a mystic figure,\nif we know what three hundred, with twice nine added, can do.\nSoon Christ himself, who is the true Priest,\nborn of a Father on high and beyond speech,\noffering food to the blessed victors,\nwill enter the small cottage of the chaste heart,\nshowing honor to the Trinity as its guest.\nThen the Spirit, with his embraces,\nwill make the soul, dutifully wedded but long without offspring,\nfertile with everlasting seed.\nThen, a late mother possessing her dowry,\nshe will fill the Father’s house with a worthy heir.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 0.31 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 31–71; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/0-31)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.1":{"o":"Christe, graves hominum semper miserate labores,\nQui patria virtute cluis propriaque, sed una\n(Unum namque Deum colimus de nomine utroque:\nNon tamen et solum, quia tu Deus ex Patre, Christe),\nDissere, Rex noster, quo milite pellere culpas\nMens armata queat nostri de pectoris antro:\nExoritur quotiens turbatis sensibus intus\nSeditio, atque animam morborum rixa fatigat,\nQuod tunc praesidium pro libertate tuenda,\nQuaeve acies furiis inter praecordia mixtis,\nMagnarum virtutum inopes, nervisque carentes\nChristicolas vitiis populantibus exposuisti.\nIpse salutiferas obsesso in corpore turmas\nDepugnare iubes: ipse excellentibus armas\nArtibus ingenium, quibus ad ludibria cordis\nOppugnanda potens tibi dimicet, et tibi vincat.\nVincendi praesens ratio est, si comminus ipsas\nVirtutum facies, et conluctantia contra\nViribus infestis liceat portenta notare.\nPrima petit campum dubia sub sorte duelli\nPugnatura Fides, agresti turbida cultu,\nNuda humeros, intonsa comas, exserta lacertos;\nNamque repentinus laudis calor ad nova fervens\nProelia, nec telis meminit, nec tegmine cingi;\nPectore sed fidens valido, membrisque retectis\nProvocat insani frangenda pericula belli.\nEcce lacessentem conlatis viribus audet\nPrima ferire Fidem veterum cultura deorum.\nIlla hostile caput, phalerataque tempora vittis\nAltior insurgens labefactat, et ora, cruore","t":"Christ, who have always pitied the heavy toils of men,\nwho are renowned in your Father’s power and your own, yet one power\n(for we worship one God under both names,\nyet not one alone, since you, Christ, are God from the Father),\ntell, our King, with what soldiery the armed mind\ncan drive out sins from the cavern of our breast;\nwhenever sedition rises within, our senses in turmoil,\nand the strife of diseases wears out the soul,\nwhat defense there is then to protect its freedom,\nor what battle line, when furies mingle in the heart,\n… you have not exposed Christians, lacking great virtues\nand without sinews, to the vices that lay them waste.\nYou yourself order saving squadrons to fight it out\nin the besieged body; you yourself arm the mind\nwith excellent skills, by which it may fight for you with power\nto assault the mockeries of the heart, and conquer for you.\nThe way to conquer is at hand, if we may mark at close range\nthe very faces of the virtues, and the monsters\nthat wrestle against them with hostile strength.\nFaith first takes the field, to fight under the doubtful\nfortune of the duel, wild in rustic dress,\nher shoulders bare, her hair unshorn, her arms uncovered;\nfor the sudden heat of glory, burning for new battles,\ndoes not remember to gird itself with weapons or armor;\nbut, trusting in a strong breast and with limbs exposed,\nshe challenges the perils of mad war, to break them.\nSee, Worship of the Old Gods dares first to strike Faith\nas she provokes her, matching strength with her.\nBut Faith, rising higher, smites the enemy’s head,\nits temples decked with fillets, and the mouth that was sated","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.1 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 1–30; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-1)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.121":{"o":"Defertur stomachum, rectoque inliditur ictu;\nSed resilit duro loricae excussa repulsu.\nProvida nam Virtus conserto adamante trilicem\nInduerat thoraca humeris, squamosaque ferri\nTexta per intortos commiserat undique nervos.\nInde quieta manet Patientia, fortis ad omnes\nTelorum nimbos, et non penetrabile durans.\nNec mota est iaculo monstri sine more furentis,\nOpperiens propriis perituram viribus Iram.\nScilicet indomitos postquam stomachando lacertos\nBarbara bellatrix impenderat, et iaculorum\nNube supervacuam lassaverat irrita dextram,\nCum ventosa levi cecidissent tela volatu,\nVertitur ad capulum manus improba, et ense corusco\nConisa in plagam, dextra sublimis ab aure\nErigitur, mediumque ferit librata cerebrum.\nAerea sed cassis, cocto formata metallo,\nTinnitum percussa refert, aciemque retundit\nDura resultantem: frangit quoque vena rebellis\nInlisum chalybem, dum cedere nescia cassos\nExcipit adsultus, ferienti et tuta resistit.\nIra, ubi truncati mucronis fragmina vidit,\nEt procul in partes ensem crepuisse minutas;\nMentis inops, ebur infelix, decorisque pudendi\nPerfida signa abicit, monumentaque tristia longe\nMissile de multis, quae frustra sparserat, unum\nPulvere de campi perversos sumit in usus;\nRasile figit humi lignum, ac se cuspide versa\nPerfodit, et calido pulmonem vulnere transit.\nQuam super adsistens Patientia: — « Vicimus, inquit,","t":"comes down on her stomach and strikes with a direct blow;\nbut it bounces off, thrown back by the hard rebound of the breastplate.\nFor the provident Virtue had put on her shoulders a corselet\nof three-ply woven adamant, and had joined fabric\nof scaly iron all around with twisted sinews.\nSo Patience stays calm, strong against all\nthe clouds of weapons, enduring unpierced.\nNor was she moved by the javelin of the monster raging beyond measure,\nbut waited for Anger to perish by her own strength.\nFor after the barbarian warrior had spent her untamed arms\nin her rage, and wearied her right hand,\nuseless and to no purpose, with a cloud of javelins,\nwhen the windy weapons had fallen in light flight,\nthe wicked hand turns to the hilt, and, straining\nfor a blow with the flashing sword, the right hand is raised high\nabove the ear and, poised, strikes the middle of the head.\nBut the bronze helmet, formed of smelted metal,\ngives back a ringing when struck, and blunts the edge\nas it rebounds, being hard; the stubborn metal also breaks\nthe steel dashed against it, while, not knowing how to yield,\nit receives the vain assaults and resists the striker safely.\nWhen Anger saw the fragments of the broken blade\nand the sword shattered far into tiny pieces,\nout of her mind, she throws away the unlucky ivory hilt,\nthe treacherous emblem of a shameful pride, and the sad memorials, far …\nOne missile, out of the many she had scattered in vain,\nshe takes up from the dust of the field for a perverse use:\nshe fixes the smooth shaft in the ground and, with the point turned,\npierces herself and passes through her lung with a hot wound.\nStanding over her, Patience says, “We have conquered,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.121 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 121–150; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-121)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.151":{"o":"Exsultans vitium, solita virtute, sine ullo\nSanguinis ac vitae discrimine: lex habet istud\nNostra genus belli, furias omnemque malorum\nMilitiam, et rabidas tolerando exstinguere vires.\nIpsa sibi est hostis vesania, seque furendo\nInterimit, moriturque suis Ira ignea telis. » —\nHaec effata secat medias impune cohortes,\nEgregio comitata viro: nam proximus Iob\nHaeserat invictae dura inter bella magistrae,\nFronte severus adhuc, et multo vulnere anhelus:\nSed iam clausa truci subridens ulcera vultu,\nPerque cicatricum numerum sudata recensens\nMilia pugnarum, sua praemia, dedecus hostis.\nIllum diva iubet tandem requiescere ab omni\nArmorum strepitu, captis et perdita quaeque\nMultiplicare opibus, nec iam peritura referre.\nIpsa globos legionum, et concurrentia rumpit\nAgmina, vulniferos gradiens intacta per imbres.\nOmnibus una comes virtutibus adsociatur,\nAuxiliumque suum fortis Patientia miscet.\nNulla anceps luctamen init virtute sine ista\nVirtus; et vidua est, quam non Patientia firmat.\nForte per effusas inflata Superbia turmas\nEffreni volitabat equo, quem pelle leonis\nTexerat, et validos villis oneraverat armos:\nQuo se fulta iubis iactantius illa ferinis\nInferret, tumido despectans agmina fastu.\nTurritum tortis caput accumularat in altum","t":"exulting over the vice, with our accustomed virtue, without any\nrisk of blood or life: our law has this\nkind of warfare, to extinguish furies and the whole army\nof evils and their raging strength by enduring.\nMadness is its own enemy, and kills itself by raging,\nand fiery Anger dies by her own weapons.”\nHaving said this, she cuts unharmed through the midst of the cohorts,\naccompanied by an excellent man: for Job, next to her,\nhad kept close to his unconquered teacher through the hard wars,\nhis brow still stern, panting from many wounds,\nbut now, smiling with a grim face at his closed sores,\nand recounting by the number of his scars\nthe thousands of battles sweated through, his rewards, the enemy’s disgrace.\nThe goddess bids him rest at last from all\nthe din of arms, and to multiply with captured wealth\neverything he had lost, and to bring back what will no longer perish.\nShe herself breaks through the masses of the legions and the clashing\nranks, walking untouched through the wounding showers.\nShe joins herself as the one companion of all the virtues,\nand strong Patience mingles her help with them.\nNo virtue enters a doubtful struggle without this virtue,\nand a virtue that Patience does not strengthen is widowed.\nIt happened that Pride, puffed up, was flying through the scattered squadrons\non an unbridled horse, which she had covered with a lion’s skin,\nloading its strong shoulders with its shaggy hair,\nso that, propped on the wild beast’s mane, she might carry herself\nmore boastfully, looking down on the ranks with swollen disdain.\nShe had piled her head high in a tower of twisted","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.151 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 151–180; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-151)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.181":{"o":"Crinibus, exstructos augeret ut addita cirros\nCongeries, celsumque apicem frons ardua ferret.\nCarbasea ex humeris summo collecta coibat\nPalla sinu, teretem nectens a pectore nodum;\nA cervice fluens tenui velamine limbus\nConcipit ingestas textis turgentibus auras.\nNec minus instabili sonipes feritate superbit,\nImpatiens madidis frenarier ora lupatis.\nHuc illuc frendens obvertit terga, negata\nLibertate fugae, pressisque tumescit habenis.\nHoc sese ostentans habitu ventosa virago,\nInter utramque aciem supereminet, et phaleratum\nCircumflectit equum, vultuque et voce minatur,\nAdversum spectans cuneum: quem milite raro,\nEt paupertinis ad bella coegerat armis\nMens Humilis: regina quidem, sed egens alieni\nAuxilii, proprio nec sat confisa paratu.\nSpem sibi collegam coniunxerat, edita cuius\nEt suspensa ab humo est opulentia divite regno.\nErgo Humilem postquam malesana Superbia Mentem\nVilibus instructam nullo ostentamine telis\nAdspicit, in vocem dictis se effundit amaris:\n— « Non pudet, o miseri, plebeio milite claros\nAttemptare duces, ferroque lacessere gentem\nInsignem titulis: veteres cui bellica virtus\nDivitias peperit, laetos et gramine colles\nImperio calcare dedit? nunc advena nudus\nNititur antiquos, si fas est, pellere reges.\nEn, qui nostra suis in praedam cedere dextris\nSceptra volunt! en, qui nostras sulcare novales,","t":"hair, so that the added mass might raise the piled-up curls\nand the lofty brow carry a high peak.\nA linen mantle, gathered from her shoulders into a fold\nat the top, came together, tying a round knot at her breast;\na border flowing from her neck in a thin veil\ncatches the breezes blown into its swelling fabric.\nNor is the steed less proud in its restless wildness,\nimpatient of having its mouth reined with the wet bits.\nChamping, it turns its back this way and that, denied\nthe freedom to bolt, and swells against the tightened reins.\nShowing herself off in this attire, the windy virago\ntowers between the two battle lines, wheels\nher caparisoned horse, and threatens with face and voice,\nlooking at the opposing wedge, which Lowly Mind\nhad gathered for the war with few soldiers\nand poor arms: a queen indeed, but in need of others’\nhelp, and not trusting enough in her own equipment.\nShe had joined Hope to herself as her colleague, whose wealth\nis set on high and hung above the earth in a rich kingdom.\nSo, when crazed Pride sees Lowly Mind\nequipped with cheap weapons and no display,\nshe pours herself out in bitter words:\n“Are you not ashamed, you wretches, to attack famous leaders\nwith a plebeian soldiery and to provoke with the sword\na nation distinguished by its titles, for which warlike valor\nwon ancient riches, and granted it to tread\nthe hills, glad with grass, under its rule? Now a naked newcomer\nstrives, if heaven permits, to drive out the ancient kings.\nSee, those who want our sceptres to yield as plunder\nto their right hands! See, those who strive to furrow our fallow lands","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.181 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 181–210; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-181)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.211":{"o":"Arvaque capta manu popularier hospite aratro\nContendunt, duros et pellere Marte colonos!\nNempe, o ridiculum vulgus, natalibus horis\nTotum hominem, et calidos a matre amplectimur artus,\nVimque potestatum per membra recentis alumni\nSpargimus, et rudibus dominamur in ossibus omnes.\nQuis locus in nostra tunc vobis sede dabatur,\nCongenitis cum regna simul ditionibus aequo\nRobore crescebant? nati nam luce sub una\nEt domus et domini paribus adolevimus annis,\nEx quo plasma novum de consaepto paradisi\nLimite progrediens amplum transfugit in orbem,\nPellitosque habitus sumpsit venerabilis Adam;\nNudus adhuc, ni nostra foret praecepta secutus.\nQuisnam iste ignotis hostis nunc surgit ab oris\nImportunus, iners, infelix, degener, amens,\nQui sibi tam serum ius vindicat, hactenus exsul?\nNimirum vacuae creduntur frivola famae,\nQuae miseros optare iubet quandoque futuri\nSpem fortasse boni, lenta ut solacia mollem\nDesidiam pigro rerum meditamine palpent.\nQuidni illos spes palpet iners, quos pulvere in isto\nTirones Bellona truci non excitat aere,\nImbellesque animos virtus tepefacta resolvit?\nAnne pudicitiae gelidum iecur utile bello est?\nAn tenerum pietatis opus sudatur in armis?\nQuam pudet, o Mavors, et virtus conscia, talem\nContra stare aciem, ferroque lacessere nugas,\nEt cum virgineis dextram conferre choreis!\nAvida Sobrietas, albo ieiunia vultu,","t":"and to plunder with a stranger’s plough the fields we took by force,\nand to drive out by war the hardy settlers!\nWhy, you ridiculous mob, from the hour of birth\nwe embrace the whole man and his limbs warm from his mother,\nwe spread the force of our powers through the members of the newborn nursling,\nand all of us rule in his unformed bones.\nWhat place was given you in our seat then,\nwhen our kingdoms grew with equal strength\ntogether with our inborn dominions? For, born under one light,\nhouse and masters grew up with equal years,\never since the new creature, going out from the fenced border\nof paradise, fled into the wide world,\nand venerable Adam put on clothing of skins,\nwho would still be naked had he not followed our precepts.\nWho is this enemy now rising from unknown shores,\nimportunate, idle, unlucky, degenerate, senseless,\nwho claims so late a right for himself, an exile until now?\nNo doubt the trifles of an empty rumor are believed,\nwhich bids the wretches long for the hope of a good\nthat may perhaps come some day, so that slow consolations\nmay flatter their soft idleness with sluggish musing on things.\nWhy should not idle hope flatter those, recruits whom Bellona\ndoes not rouse in this dust with her grim trumpet,\nwhose unwarlike spirits a tepid virtue relaxes?\nIs the cold liver of chastity useful in war?\nOr is the tender work of piety sweated out in arms?\nHow ashamed I am, Mars, and conscious valor, to stand\nagainst such a line, to provoke trifles with the sword,\nand to join battle with dances of girls!\n… thirsty Sobriety, Fasting with her pale face,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.211 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 211–240; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-211)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.241":{"o":"Sanguine vix tenui Pudor interfusus, aperta\nSimplicitas, et ad omne patens sine tegmine vulnus,\nEt prostrata in humum, nec libera iudice sese\nMens Humilis, quam degenerem trepidatio prodit.\nFaxo ego, sub pedibus stipularum more teratur\nInvalida ista manus; neque enim perfringere duris\nDignamur gladiis, algenti et sanguine ferrum\nImbuere, fragilique viros foedare triumpho. » —\nTalia vociferans rapidum calcaribus urget\nCornipedem, laxisque volat temeraria frenis,\nHostem humilem cupiens impulsu umbonis equini\nSternere, deiectamque supercalcare ruinam.\nSed cadit in foveam praeceps, quam callida forte\nFraus interciso suffoderat aequore furtim:\nFraus detestandis vitiorum e pestibus una,\nFallendi versuta opifex, quae praescia belli\nPlanitiem scrobibus vitiaverat insidiosis,\nHostili de parte latens, ut fossa ruentes\nExciperet cuneos, atque agmina mersa voraret.\nAc ne fallacem puteum deprendere posset\nCauta acies, virgis adopertas texerat oras,\nEt superimposito simularat caespite campum.\nAt regina humilis, quamvis ignara, manebat\nUlteriore loco, nec adhuc ad fraudis opertum\nVenerat, aut foveae calcarat furta malignae.\nHunc eques illa dolum, dum fertur praepete cursu,\nIncidit, et caecum subito patefecit hiatum:\nProna ruentis equi cervice involvitur, ac sub\nPectoris impressu fracta inter crura rotatur.\nAt Virtus placidi moderaminis, ut levitatem","t":"Modesty barely tinged with thin blood, open\nSimplicity, exposed to every wound without cover,\nand Lowly Mind, prostrate on the ground and not free\nin her own judgment, whom her trembling betrays as degenerate.\nI will see to it that this feeble band is trampled underfoot\nlike stubble; for we do not deign to break it\nwith hard swords, to steep our steel in cold blood,\nand to disgrace our men with a fragile triumph.”\nShouting such things, she urges her swift horse\nwith the spurs and flies recklessly with loosened reins,\ndesiring to lay low her lowly enemy with the thrust\nof the horse’s breast and to trample her as she falls.\nBut she falls headlong into a pit which cunning Fraud\nhad chanced to dig secretly, cutting through the level ground:\nFraud, one of the detestable plagues of the vices,\ncrafty artisan of deceit, who, foreseeing the battle,\nhad spoiled the plain with treacherous trenches,\nlurking on the enemy’s side, so that the ditch might catch\nthe charging wedges and swallow the ranks plunged into it.\nAnd so that the wary line might not detect the deceitful pit,\nshe had covered its mouths with a lattice of twigs\nand counterfeited the field with turf laid on top.\nBut the lowly queen, though unaware, was staying\nfarther off, and had not yet come to the covered snare\nnor trodden on the trickery of the malignant pit.\nThat horsewoman, as she is carried at headlong speed,\nfalls into this trap and suddenly lays open the hidden gulf:\nshe is rolled forward over the neck of the falling horse, and,\ncrushed under the pressure of its breast, is whirled among its legs.\nBut the Virtue of calm self-restraint, when she sees the levity","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.241 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 241–270; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-241)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.271":{"o":"Prospicit obtritam monstri sub morte iacentis,\nIntendit gressum mediocriter, os quoque parce\nErigit, et comi moderatur gaudia vultu.\nCunctanti Spes fida comes succurrit, et offert\nUltorem gladium, laudisque inspirat amorem.\nIlla cruentatam correptis crinibus hostem\nProtrahit, et faciem laeva revocante supinat.\nTunc caput orantis flexa cervice resectum\nEripit, ac madido suspendit colla capillo.\nExstinctum vitium sancto Spes increpat ore:\n— « Desine grande loqui: frangit Deus omne superbum.\nMagna cadunt, inflata crepant, tumefacta premuntur.\nDisce supercilium deponere, disce cavere\nAnte pedes foveam, quisquis sublime minaris.\nPervulgata viget nostri sententia Christi:\nScandere celsa humiles, et ad ima redire feroces.\nVidimus horrendum membris animisque Golian\nInvalida cecidisse manu: puerilis in illum\nDextera fundali torsit stridore lapillum,\nTraiectamque cavo penetravit vulnere frontem.\nIlle minax, rigidus, iactans, truculentus, amarus,\nDum tumet indomitum, dum formidabile fervet,\nDum sese ostentat clipeo, dum territat auras,\nExpertus, pueri quid possint ludicra parvi,\nSuccubuit teneris bellator turbidus annis.\nMe tunc ille puer virtutis pube secutus,\nFlorentes animos sursum in mea regna tetendit,\nServatur quia certa mihi domus omnipotentis\nSub pedibus Domini, meque ad sublime vocantem\nVictores caesa culparum labe capessunt. » —","t":"crushed in the death of the monster lying there,\nshe steps forward moderately, raises her face\nsparingly, and tempers her joy with a gracious look.\nAs she hesitates, Hope, her faithful companion, comes to help, offers\nan avenging sword, and inspires love of glory.\nLowly Mind seizes the bloodied enemy by the hair,\ndrags her forward and, pulling her back with her left hand, turns her face up.\nThen, as she pleads, she cuts off her head with bent neck\nand takes it away, and hangs it up by its dripping hair.\nHope rebukes the slain vice with holy mouth:\n“Stop talking big: God breaks every proud thing.\nGreat things fall, swollen things burst, puffed-up things are pressed down.\nLearn to lay aside your haughty brow, learn to beware\nof the pit before your feet, whoever threatens from on high.\nThe well-known saying of our Christ holds good:\nthat the lowly climb the heights and the fierce return to the depths.\nWe have seen Goliath, dreadful in limbs and spirit,\nfall by a feeble hand: a boy’s right hand\nwhirled a pebble at him with the sling’s whistle\nand pierced his forehead through with a hollow wound.\nHe, threatening, stiff, boastful, savage, bitter,\nwhile he swells untamed, while he seethes formidably,\nwhile he shows himself off with his shield, while he terrifies the air,\nlearned what the playthings of a little boy can do,\nand the turbulent warrior succumbed to tender years.\nThat boy, following me then in the youth of his virtue,\nstretched his flourishing spirit upward to my kingdom,\nbecause a sure home is kept for me beneath the feet\nof the almighty Lord, and the victors, when the stain of sins is cut down,\nreach me as I call them on high.”","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.271 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 271–300; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-271)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.301":{"o":"Dixit, et auratis praestringens aera pennis\nIn caelum se virgo rapit: mirantur euntem\nVirtutes, tolluntque animos in vota, volentes\nIre simul, ni bella duces terrena retardent.\nConfligunt vitiis, seque ad sua praemia servant.\nVenerat occiduis mundi de finibus hostis\nLuxuria, exstinctae iamdudum prodiga famae,\nDelibuta comas, oculos vaga, languida vocem,\nPerdita deliciis, vitae cui causa voluptas,\nElumbem mollire animum, petulanter amoenas\nHaurire inlecebras, et fractos solvere sensus.\nAc tunc pervigilem ructabat marcida cenam,\nSub lucem quia forte iacens ad fercula raucos\nAudierat lituos, atque inde tepentia linquens\nPocula, lapsanti per vina et balsama gressu\nEbria calcatis ad bellum floribus ibat.\nNon tamen illa pedes, sed curru invecta venusto\nSaucia mirantum capiebat corda virorum.\nNervo pulsa fugit, nec stridula lancea torto\nEmicat amento, frameam nec dextra minatur;\nSed violas lasciva iacit, foliisque rosarum\nDimicat, et calathos inimica per agmina fundit.\nInde, eblanditis virtutibus, halitus inlex\nInspirat tenerum labefacta per ossa venenum,\nEt male dulcis odor domat ora, et pectora, et arma,\nFerratosque toros obliso robore mulcet.\nDeiciunt animos, ceu victi, et spicula ponunt\nTurpiter: heu! dextris languentibus obstupefacti,\nDum currum varia gemmarum luce micantem\nMirantur, dum bracteolis crepitantia lora,","t":"She spoke, and, dazzling the air with golden wings,\nthe virgin snatches herself up to heaven; the Virtues\nmarvel at her going, and lift their spirits in longing, wishing\nto go with her, did not earthly wars hold back the leaders.\nThey clash with the vices and keep themselves for their rewards.\nFrom the western ends of the world an enemy had come,\nLuxury, long since prodigal of her ruined reputation,\nher hair perfumed, her eyes roving, her voice languid,\nlost in pleasures, for whom the purpose of life is delight:\nto soften the nerveless mind, to drink in wantonly\npleasant allurements, and to loosen the broken senses.\nAnd just then, drooping, she was belching out an all-night dinner,\nbecause, as she chanced to be lying at the dishes toward dawn, she had heard\nthe hoarse trumpets, and, leaving her warm cups,\nwith steps slipping on wine and balsam,\nshe was going drunk to war, treading on flowers.\nYet she came not on foot, but riding in a lovely chariot,\nshe captured the wounded hearts of the men who admired her.\n… [no arrow] flies, driven by the string, nor does a whistling lance\ndart from the twisted thong, nor does her right hand threaten with a spear;\nbut she wantonly throws violets, fights with rose petals,\nand scatters baskets of flowers through the enemy ranks.\nThen, when the Virtues have been coaxed, her enticing breath\nbreathes a tender poison through their weakened bones,\nand the evil-sweet scent subdues faces and breasts and arms,\nand softens their iron-clad muscles, their strength crushed.\nThey lose heart, as if conquered, and lay down their spears\nshamefully, alas, dazed, their right hands languid,\nwhile they admire the chariot flashing with the varied light\nof jewels, while they admire the reins rattling with gold leaf,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.301 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 301–330; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-301)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.31":{"o":"De pecudum satiata, solo adplicat, et pede calcat\nElisos in mortem oculos, animamque malignam\nFracta intercepti commercia gutturis artant,\nDifficilemque obitum suspiria longa fatigant.\nExsultat victrix legio, quam mille coactam\nMartyribus regina Fides animarat in hostem:\nTunc fortes socios parta pro laude coronat\nFloribus, ardentique iubet vestirier ostro.\nExin gramineo in campo concurrere prompta\nVirgo Pudicitia speciosis fulget in armis:\nQuam patrias succincta faces Sodomita Libido\nAdgreditur, piceamque ardenti sulphure pinum\nIngerit in faciem, pudibundaque lumina flammis\nAdpetit, et taetro temptat suffundere fumo;\nSed dextram furiae flagrantis, et ignea dirae\nTela lupae saxo ferit imperterrita virgo,\nExcussasque sacro taedas depellit ab ore.\nTunc exarmatae iugulum meretricis adacto\nTransfigit gladio: calidos vomit illa vapores,\nSanguine concretos caenoso; spiritus inde\nSordidus exhalans vicinas polluit auras.\n— « Hoc habet, exclamat victrix regina: supremus\nHic tibi finis erit, semper prostrata iacebis;\nNec iam mortiferas audebis spargere flammas\nIn famulos famulasve Dei: quibus intima casti\nVena animi sola fervet de lampade Christi.\nTene, o venatrix hominum, potuisse resumptis\nViribus exstincti capitis recalescere flatu,\nAssyrium postquam thalamum cervix Holophernis\nCaesa, cupidineo madefactum sanguine lavit,\nGemmantemque torum moechi ducis aspera Iudith","t":"with the blood of cattle, she lays it on the ground and tramples with her foot\nthe eyes crushed out in death; the broken passage\nof the throat, cut off, chokes the malignant soul,\nand long gasps wear out a hard death.\nThe victorious legion exults, a thousand martyrs\nwhom Queen Faith had gathered and fired against the foe;\nthen she crowns her brave comrades with flowers\nfor the glory won, and bids them be clothed in glowing purple.\nNext, ready to meet the foe on the grassy field,\nthe virgin Chastity shines in beautiful arms.\nSodomite Lust, girt with the torches of her country,\nattacks her, thrusts a pitch-pine torch burning with sulphur\ninto her face, aims the flames at her modest eyes,\nand tries to choke them with foul smoke;\nbut the dauntless virgin strikes the right hand of the blazing fury\nand the fiery weapons of the dreadful she-wolf with a stone,\nand drives the torches, struck from her hand, away from her holy face.\nThen she drives her sword home and pierces the throat\nof the disarmed harlot: she spews out hot vapors\nclotted with filthy blood; and her foul breath,\nbreathed out from there, pollutes the air nearby.\n“She has it,” cries the victorious queen; “this will be\nyour final end; you will lie prostrate for ever;\nnor will you dare any longer to scatter deadly flames\nagainst the menservants and maidservants of God, in whom the innermost\nvein of the chaste mind burns only from the lamp of Christ.\nCould you, huntress of men, regain your strength\nand grow warm again with the breath of a head that was destroyed,\nafter the severed neck of Holofernes washed\nthe Assyrian chamber, soaked with lustful blood,\nand stern Judith spurned the jeweled bed of the adulterous captain","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.31 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 31–60; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-31)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.331":{"o":"Et solido ex auro pretiosi ponderis axem\nDefixis inhiant obtutibus, et radiorum\nArgento albentem seriem, quam summa rotarum\nFlexura electri pallentis continet orbe.\nEt iam cuncta acies in deditionis amorem\nSponte sua versis transibat perfida signis,\nLuxuriae servire volens, dominaeque fluentis\nIngemuit tam triste nefas fortissima virtus\nSobrietas, dextro socios decedere cornu,\nInvictamque manum quondam sine caede perire.\nVexillum sublime Crucis, quod in agmine primo\nDux bona praetulerat, defixa cuspide sistit,\nInstauratque levem dictis mordacibus alam,\nExstimulans animos nunc probris, nunc prece mixta:\n— « Quis furor insanas agitat caligine mentes?\nQuo ruitis? cui colla datis? quae vincula tandem,\nPro pudor, armigeris amor est perferre lacertis,\nLilia luteolis interlucentia sertis,\nEt ferrugineo vernantes flore coronas?\nHis placet adsuetas bello iam tradere palmas\nNexibus? his rigidas nodis innectier ulnas,\nUt mitra caesariem cohibens aurata virilem\nCombibat infusum croceo religamine nardum,\nPost inscripta oleo frontis signacula, per quae\nUnguentum regale datum est et chrisma perenne?\nUt tener incessus vestigia syrmate verrat,\nSericaque infractis fluitent ut pallia membris,\nPost immortalem tunicam, quam pollice docto\nTexuit alma Fides, dans impenetrabile tegmen\nPectoribus lotis, dederat quibus ipsa renasci,","t":"and they gape with fixed gaze at the axle of solid gold,\nof precious weight, and at the row of spokes,\nwhite with silver, which the outer curve of the wheels\nholds in a rim of pale electrum.\nAnd now the whole battle line, faithless, was going over\nof its own accord, its standards reversed, in love of surrender,\nwishing to serve Luxury, and of the dissolute mistress …\nSobriety, a most valiant virtue, groaned at so grim a crime,\nthat her comrades were deserting from the right wing,\nand that a band once unconquered was perishing without slaughter.\nShe plants the lofty standard of the Cross, which she,\nthe good leader, had carried in the front rank, fixing its point in the ground,\nand rallies the fickle wing with biting words,\nspurring their spirits now with reproaches, now mingled with entreaty:\n“What frenzy drives your maddened minds with darkness?\nWhere are you rushing? To whom do you give your necks? What bonds, at last,\nO shame, do you love to bear on arms made for weapons:\nlilies gleaming among yellow garlands,\nand crowns blooming with purple flowers?\nDo you like to give over to these bonds hands used to war?\nto tie your stiff arms with these knots,\nso that a gilded turban, binding a man’s hair,\nmay soak up nard poured on it with a saffron band,\nafter the seals inscribed on your foreheads with oil,\nby which the royal ointment and the everlasting chrism were given?\nso that a mincing gait may sweep its steps with a trailing robe,\nand silk mantles may float on enervated limbs,\nafter the immortal tunic which kind Faith wove\nwith skilled thumb, giving an impenetrable covering\nto washed breasts, to which she herself had given rebirth?","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.331 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 331–360; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-331)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.361":{"o":"Inde ad nocturnas epulas, ubi cantharus ingens\nDespuit effusi spumantia damna Falerni\nIn mensam cyathis stillantibus, uda ubi multo\nFulcra mero, veterique toreumata rore rigantur?\nExcidit ergo animis eremi sitis, excidit ille\nFons patribus de rupe datus, quem mystica virga\nElicuit, scissi salientem vertice saxi?\nAngelicusve cibus prima in tentoria vestris\nFluxit avis, quem nunc sero felicior aevo\nVespertinus edit populus de corpore Christi?\nHis vos imbutos dapibus iam crapula turpis\nLuxuriae ad madidum rapit importuna lupanar?\nQuosque viros non Ira fremens, idolaque bello\nCedere compulerant, saltatrix ebria flexit?\nState, precor, vestri memores, memores quoque Christi.\nQuae sit vestra tribus, quae gloria, quis Deus et rex,\nQuis dominus, meminisse decet. Vos nobile Iudae\nGermen ad usque Dei genetricem, qua Deus ipse\nEsset homo, procerum venistis sanguine longo.\nExcitet egregias mentes celeberrima David\nGloria, continuis bellorum exercita curis;\nExcitet et Samuel, spolium qui divite ab hoste\nAttrectare vetat, nec victum vivere regem\nIncircumcisum patitur, ne praeda superstes\nVictorem placidum recidiva in proelia poscat.\nParcere iam capto crimen putat ille tyranno:\nAt vobis contra vinci et succumbere votum est.\nPaeniteat, per, si qua movet reverentia, summi\nNuminis, hoc tam dulce malum voluisse nefanda","t":"[Do you go] from there to night banquets, where a huge tankard\nspits out the foaming waste of poured Falernian\nonto the table from dripping ladles, where couches,\nwet with much wine, and embossed cups are drenched with old dew?\nHas the thirst of the desert then fallen from your minds? Has that\nfountain fallen from them, given to your fathers from the rock, which the mystic rod\ndrew forth, leaping from the top of the split stone?\nOr the angels’ food that flowed into the tents of your\nforefathers at first, which now, in a late and happier age,\nthe evening people eat from the body of Christ?\nDoes the foul surfeit of Luxury now snatch you, steeped in these feasts,\ninto a reeking brothel, importunate as she is?\nHas a drunken dancing girl turned men whom neither roaring Anger\nnor the idols compelled to give way in war?\nStand, I pray, mindful of yourselves, mindful also of Christ.\nYou should remember what your tribe is, what your glory, who your God and king,\nwho your lord. You, the noble offspring\nof Judah, have come by a long line of princes down to the\nMother of God, through whom God himself became man.\nLet the most famous glory of David, trained in continual\ncares of war, rouse your excellent minds;\nlet Samuel rouse them too, who forbids the touching of spoil\nfrom a rich enemy, and does not allow the conquered\nuncircumcised king to live, lest the plunder, surviving,\nshould call the peaceful victor back to renewed battles.\nHe thinks it a crime to spare a tyrant once captured;\nbut you, on the contrary, wish to be conquered and to yield.\nRepent, by the reverence for the supreme Godhead, if any moves you,\nof having chosen to follow this so sweet evil","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.361 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 361–390; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-361)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.391":{"o":"Proditione sequi: si paenitet, haud nocet error.\nPaenituit Ionatham ieiunia sobria dulci\nConviolasse favo sceptri, mellisque sapore\nHeu male gustato, regni dum blanda voluptas\nOblectat iuvenem, iurataque sacra resolvit.\nSed quia paenituit, nec sors lacrimabilis illa est,\nNec tinguit patrias sententia saeva secures.\nEn ego Sobrietas, si conspirare paratis,\nPando viam cunctis virtutibus, ut malesuada\nLuxuries, multo stipata satellite, poenas\nCum legione sua Christo sub iudice pendat. » —\nSic effata, Crucem Domini ferventibus offert\nObvia quadriiugis, lignum venerabile in ipsos\nIntentans frenos: quod ut expavere feroces\nCornibus oppansis et summa fronte coruscum,\nVertunt praecipitem caeca formidine fusi\nPer praerupta fugam: fertur resupina reductis\nNequiquam loris auriga, comamque madentem\nPulvere foedat humi. Tunc et vertigo rotarum\nImplicat excussam dominam; nam prona sub axem\nLabitur, et lacero tardat sufflamine currum.\nAddit Sobrietas vulnus letale iacenti,\nConiciens silicem rupis de parte molarem.\nHunc vexilliferae, quoniam sors obtulit, ictum\nSpicula nulla manu, sed belli insigne gerenti,\nCasus agit saxum, medii spiramen ut oris\nFrangeret, et recavo misceret labra palato,\nDentibus introrsum resolutis, lingua resectam\nDilaniata gulam frustis cum sanguinis implet.\nInsolitis dapibus crudescit guttur, et ossa","t":"with wicked treachery; if you repent, the error does no harm.\nJonathan repented of having broken his sober fast\nwith the sweet honeycomb on his sceptre, and of the taste\nof honey, alas, wrongly tasted, while the alluring pleasure of royalty\ndelights the youth and breaks the sworn sacred oath.\nBut because he repented, his lot is not to be wept over,\nnor does a cruel sentence stain his father’s axes.\nSee, I, Sobriety, if you are ready to stand together,\nopen the way for all the virtues, so that evil-counseling\nLuxury, surrounded by a large guard, may pay the penalty\nwith her legion, with Christ as judge.”\nHaving spoken thus, she holds out the Cross of the Lord\nin front of the eager four-horse team, aiming the venerable wood\nat their very reins; and when the fierce horses took fright at it,\nflashing with its outstretched arms and its top,\nthey turn, routed by blind terror, in headlong flight\nover steep ground: the driver is carried backward,\npulling the reins in vain, and fouls her dripping hair\nwith the dust of the ground. Then the whirling wheels\nentangle their mistress, thrown out; for she slips forward\nunder the axle and slows the chariot as a mangled brake.\nSobriety adds a deadly wound as she lies there,\nhurling a millstone of flint from part of a rock.\nChance drives this stone, as fortune offered the blow\nto the standard-bearer, who carried no spears in her hand\nbut only the emblem of war, so that it broke the breathing passage\nin the middle of her mouth and mashed her lips into the hollow palate;\nher teeth loosened inward, her mangled tongue\nfills her cut throat with gobbets of blood.\nHer gullet grows raw with unaccustomed fare, and, devouring","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.391 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 391–420; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-391)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.421":{"o":"Conliquefacta vorans revomit, quas hauserat, offas.\nEbibe iam proprium post pocula multa cruorem,\nVirgo ait increpitans: sint haec tibi fercula tandem\nTristia praeteriti nimiis pro dulcibus aevi.\nLascivas vitae inlecebras gustatus amarae\nMortis, et horrifico sapor ultimus asperat haustu.\nCaede ducis dispersa fugit trepidante pavore\nNugatrix acies. Iocus et Petulantia primi\nCymbala proiciunt: bellum nam talibus armis\nLudebant, resono meditantes vulnera sistro.\nDat tergum fugitivus Amor: lita tela veneno,\nEt lapsum ex umeris arcum, pharetramque cadentem\nPallidus ipse metu sua post vestigia linquit.\nPompa, ostentatrix vani splendoris, inani\nExuitur nudata peplo: discissa trahuntur\nSerta Venustatis, collique ac verticis aurum\nSolvitur, et gemmas Discordia dissona turbat.\nNon piget attritis pedibus per acuta fruteta\nIre Voluptatem, quoniam vis maior acerbam\nCompellit tolerare fugam: formido pericli\nPraedurat teneras iter ad cruciabile plantas.\nQua se cumque fugax trepidis fert cursibus agmen,\nDamna iacent, crinalis acus, redimicula, vittae,\nFibula, flammeolum, strophium, diadema, monile.\nHic se Sobrietas, et totus Sobrietatis\nAbstinet exuviis miles, damnataque castis\nScandala proculcat pedibus, nec fronte severos\nConivente oculos praedarum ad gaudia flectit.\nFertur Avaritia gremio praecincta capaci,","t":"the melted bones, she vomits up the morsels she had swallowed.\n“Drink up your own blood now, after many cups,”\nsays the virgin, rebuking her; “let these at last be your\ngrim dishes, instead of the excessive sweets of your past life.\nThe taste of bitter death, and its last savor, make harsh\nthe wanton allurements of life with a horrifying draught.”\nAt the slaughter of their leader, the trifling army flees,\nscattered in trembling fear. Jest and Petulance first\nthrow away their cymbals: for they played at war\nwith such arms, practicing wounds with the rattling sistrum.\nLove turns his back in flight: his poisoned weapons,\nthe bow slipped from his shoulders, and the falling quiver\nhe leaves behind his steps, pale with fear himself.\nPomp, show-off of empty splendor, is stripped\nand bared of her empty robe; the garlands of Charm\nare torn and dragged away, the gold of her neck and head\nis loosened, and discordant Discord scatters the jewels.\nPleasure does not mind going with bruised feet through\nsharp thickets, since a greater force compels her to endure\na bitter flight: fear of danger hardens her tender soles\nfor the painful journey.\nWherever the fleeing band carries itself in trembling course,\nthe losses lie: hairpin, ribbons, fillets,\nbrooch, bridal veil, breast-band, diadem, necklace.\nHere Sobriety and all Sobriety’s soldiers\nkeep away from the spoils, trample with chaste feet\nthe condemned stumbling blocks, and do not turn their stern eyes\nto the joys of plunder with a conniving brow.\nThey say that Avarice, girt with a capacious fold,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.421 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 421–450; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-421)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.451":{"o":"Quidquid luxus edax pretiosum liquerat, unca\nCorripuisse manu, pulchra in ludibria vasto\nOre inhians, aurique legens fragmenta caduci\nInter harenarum cumulos; nec sufficit amplos\nImplevisse sinus, iuvat infarcire crumenis\nTurpe lucrum, et gravidos furtis distendere fiscos,\nQuos laeva celante tegit, laterisque sinistri\nVelat operimento; velox nam dextra rapinas\nAbradit, spoliisque ungues exercet aenos.\nCura, Famis, Metus, Anxietas, Periuria, Pallor,\nCorruptela, Dolus, Commenta, Insomnia, Sordes,\nEumenides variae, monstri comitatus aguntur.\nNec minus interea rabidorum more luporum\nCrimina persultant toto grassantia campo,\nMatris Avaritiae nigro de lacte creata.\nSi fratris galeam fulvis radiare ceraunis\nGermanus vidit commilito: non timet ensem\nExserere, atque caput socio mucrone ferire,\nDe consanguineo rapturus vertice gemmas.\nFilius exstinctum belli sub sorte cadaver\nAdspexit si forte patris, fulgentia bullis\nCingula et exuvias gaudet rapuisse cruentas:\nCognatam civilis agit discordia praedam,\nNec parcit propriis amor insatiatus habendi\nPignoribus, spoliatque suos famis impia natos.\nTalia per populos edebat funera victrix\nOrbis Avaritia, sternens centena virorum\nMilia vulneribus variis: hunc lumine adempto,\nEffossisque oculis, velut in caligine noctis\nCaecum errare sinit, perque offensacula multa","t":"snatched up with hooked hand whatever precious thing devouring Luxury\nhad left behind, gaping with huge mouth at the pretty trinkets,\nand gathering fragments of fallen gold\namong the heaps of sand; nor is it enough to have filled\nher ample folds; she likes to stuff her purses\nwith foul gain and to swell her money bags, heavy with theft,\nwhich she covers with her concealing left hand and veils\nwith the covering of her left side; for her swift right hand\nscrapes up plunder and exercises its brazen nails on the spoils.\nCare, Hunger, Fear, Anxiety, Perjury, Pallor,\nCorruption, Deceit, Lies, Sleeplessness, Meanness,\nvarious Furies, go along as the monster’s retinue.\nMeanwhile, no less, like rabid wolves,\nCrimes leap about, prowling over the whole field,\nborn of the black milk of their mother Avarice.\nIf a brother, fellow soldier, has seen his brother’s helmet\ngleaming with tawny jewels, he does not fear\nto draw his sword and strike the head of his comrade with the blade,\nto snatch the gems from the head of his own blood.\nIf a son has chanced to see his father’s corpse,\nkilled by the fortune of war, he rejoices to have snatched\nthe belt gleaming with studs and the bloody spoils.\nCivil discord drives off kindred plunder,\nand the insatiable love of having does not spare\nits own children, and impious hunger robs its own sons.\nSuch deaths was Avarice, conqueror of the world,\nproducing among the peoples, laying low hundreds of thousands\nof men with various wounds: this one, his sight taken away\nand his eyes dug out, she lets wander blind as in the darkness\nof night, and go through many stumbling blocks,","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.451 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 451–480; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-451)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.481":{"o":"Ire, nec oppositum baculo temptare periclum.\nPorro alium capit intuitu, fallitque videntem,\nInsigne ostentans aliquid, quod dum petit ille,\nExcipitur telo incautus, cordisque sub ipso\nSaucius occultum ferrum suspirat adactum.\nMultos praecipitans in aperta incendia cogit,\nNec patitur vitare focos, quibus aestuat aurum,\nQuod petit arsurus pariter speculator avarus.\nOmne hominum rapit illa genus, mortalia cuncta\nOccupat interitu, nec est violentius ullum\nTerrarum vitium, quod tantis cladibus aevum\nMundani involvat populi, damnetque gehennae.\nQuin ipsos temptare manu, si credere dignum est,\nAusa sacerdotes Domini, qui proelia forte\nDuctores primam ante aciem pro laude gerebant\nVirtutum, magnoque implebant classica flatu.\nEt fors innocuo tinxisset sanguine ferrum,\nNi Ratio armipotens, gentis Levitidis una\nSemper fida comes, clipeum obiectasset, et atrae\nHostis ab incursu claros texisset alumnos.\nStant tuti Rationis ope, stant turbine ab omni\nImmunes, fortesque animi: vix in cute summa\nPraestringens paucos tenui de vulnere laedit\nCuspis Avaritiae. Stupuit lues improba castis\nHeroum iugulis longe sua tela repelli,\nIngemit, et dictis ardens furialibus infit:\n— « Vincimur, heu, segnes, nec nostra potentia perfert\nVim solitam, languet violentia saeva nocendi,\nSueverat invictis quae viribus omnia ubique\nRumpere corda hominum; nec enim tam ferrea quemquam","t":"and not test the danger in front of him with a staff.\nAnother she catches by his gaze and deceives as he looks,\nshowing off some prize; and while he goes for it,\nhe is caught off guard by a weapon, and, wounded in the very depth\nof his heart, he groans at the hidden steel driven in.\nMany she drives headlong into open fires,\nand does not let them avoid the hearths in which the gold is seething,\nwhich the greedy watcher seeks, to burn with it.\nShe seizes every race of men, overwhelms everything mortal\nwith destruction, and there is no more violent vice\non earth, to wrap the age of the world’s people\nin such disasters and condemn it to hell.\nNay, she even dared, if it is fit to believe, to attack with her hand\nthe priests of the Lord, who happened to be leading\nthe battle as captains before the front line, for the glory\nof the virtues, and were filling the trumpets with mighty breath.\nAnd perhaps she would have stained her steel with innocent blood,\nhad not armed Reason, the one ever-faithful companion\nof the Levite race, thrown her shield in front of them and covered\nher famous foster-children from the dark enemy’s attack.\nThey stand safe by Reason’s help, they stand immune from every\nwhirlwind, and strong of spirit: the point of Avarice\ngrazes a few, barely on the top of the skin, and hurts them\nwith a slight wound. The wicked plague was stunned that her weapons\nwere driven far back from the chaste throats of the heroes;\nshe groans, and, burning, begins with furious words:\n“We are conquered, alas, slack as we are; our power does not keep up\nits accustomed force; the cruel violence of harming languishes,\nwhich used to burst all men’s hearts everywhere\nwith invincible strength; for nature never formed any man","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.481 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 481–510; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-481)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.511":{"o":"Formavit natura virum, cuius rigor aera\nSperneret, aut nostro foret impenetrabilis auro.\nIngenium omne neci dedimus: tenera, aspera, dura,\nDocta, indocta simul, bruta et sapientia, nec non\nCasta, incesta meae patuerunt pectora dextrae.\nSola igitur rapui quidquid Styx abdit avaris\nGurgitibus: nobis ditissima Tartara debent,\nQuos retinent, populos; quod volvunt saecula, nostrum est:\nQuod miscet mundus vesana negotia, nostrum.\nQui fit, praevalidas quod pollens gloria vires\nDeserit, et cassos ludit fortuna lacertos?\nSordet Christicolis rutilantis fulva monetae\nEffigies, sordent argenti emblemata: et omnis\nThesaurus nigrante oculis vilescit honore.\nQuid sibi docta volunt fastidia? nonne triumphum\nEgimus e Scarioth? magnus qui discipulorum\nEt conviva Dei, dum fallit foedere mensae\nHaudquaquam ignarum, dextramque parapside iungit,\nIncidit in nostrum flammante cupidine telum,\nInfamem mercatus agrum de sanguine amici\nNuminis, obliso luiturus iugera collo.\nViderat et Iericho propria inter funera, quantum\nPosset nostra manus, cum victor concidit Achar,\nCaedibus insignis, murali et strage superbus,\nSuccubuit capto victis ex hostibus auro:","t":"so iron that his hardness would scorn bronze\nor that he would be impenetrable to our gold.\nEvery kind of mind we have given to death: tender, harsh, hard,\nlearned and unlearned alike, brutish and wise, and also\nchaste and unchaste breasts have lain open to my right hand.\nI alone, then, have seized whatever the Styx hides in its greedy\nwhirlpools: wealthiest Tartarus owes to us\nthe peoples it holds; what the ages roll along is ours;\nthe mad business the world stirs up is ours.\nHow does it happen that our mighty glory deserts\nour strong powers, and fortune mocks our empty arms?\nThe tawny image of glittering coin is worthless to Christians;\nthe embossed work of silver is worthless; and all treasure\nloses value as its honor grows dark in their eyes.\nWhat does this learned disdain mean? Did we not triumph\nover Iscariot? He, great among the disciples\nand a guest at God’s table, while he deceives in the pact of the table\none by no means unaware, and joins his right hand in the dish,\nfell upon our weapon through flaming desire,\nhaving bought an infamous field with the blood of his divine\nfriend, to pay for the acres with a broken neck.\nJericho too, amid its own deaths, had seen how much\nour hand could do, when Achan fell as a conqueror,\ndistinguished in slaughter and proud of the destruction of the walls;\nhe succumbed to gold taken from the conquered enemy:","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.511 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 511–540; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-511)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.541":{"o":"Dum vetitis insigne legens anathema favillis,\nMaesta ruinarum spolia insatiabilis haurit.\nNon illum generosa tribus, non plebis avitae\nNobilis, et tali felix patriarcha nepote.\nQuis placet exemplum generis, placeat quoque forma\nExitii: sit poena eadem, quibus et genus unum est.\nQuid moror aut Iudae populares, aut populares\nSacricolae summi (summus nam fertur Aaron)\nFallere fraude aliqua, Martis congressibus impar?\nNil refert, armis contingat palma dolisve. » —\nDixerat, et torvam faciem, furialiaque arma\nExuit, inque habitum sese transformat honestum;\nFit virtus specie, vultuque et veste severa,\nQuam memorant Frugi, parce cui vivere cordi est,\nEt servare suum; tamquam nil raptet avare,\nArtis adumbratae meruit, ceu sedula, laudem.\nHuius se specie mendax Bellona coaptat,\nNon ut avara lues, sed virtus parca putetur;\nNec non et tenero pietatis tegmine crines\nObtegit anguinos, ut candida palla latentem\nDissimulet rabiem, diroque obtenta furori,\nQuod rapere et clepere est, avideque abscondere parta,\nNatorum curam dulci sub nomine iactet.\nTalibus inludens male credula corda virorum\nFallit imaginibus, monstrumque ferale sequuntur:\nDum credunt virtutis opus, capit impia Erinys\nConsensu faciles, manicisque tenacibus artat.\nAttonitis ducibus, perturbatisque maniplis,\nNutabat virtutum acies errore biformis\nPortenti, ignorans, quid amicum credat in illo,","t":"while, picking out a notable dedicated object from the forbidden ashes,\nthe insatiable man drinks in the sad spoils of the ruins.\nNeither his noble tribe helped him, nor [the founder] of his ancestral people …,\nthe noble patriarch, happy in such a descendant.\nThose who like the example of his stock, let them like also the manner\nof his ruin: let there be the same punishment for those who have one stock.\nWhy do I hesitate to deceive by some fraud either the people of Judah\nor the people of the high priest (for Aaron is called high priest),\nthough I am no match for them in the encounters of war?\nIt makes no difference whether the palm comes by arms or by tricks.”\nShe spoke, and took off her grim face and her furious arms,\nand transforms herself into a respectable dress:\nshe becomes in appearance the virtue, stern in face and dress,\nwhom they call Thrift, whose heart is set on living sparingly\nand keeping what is her own; as if she snatched nothing greedily,\nshe has won praise, as one careful, for her counterfeit art.\nThe lying war-goddess fits herself to this one’s appearance,\nso that she may be thought not a greedy plague but a sparing virtue;\nand with the tender covering of piety too she hides\nher snaky hair, so that the white mantle may disguise\nthe hidden madness, and, drawn over her dreadful fury,\nmay boast of what is robbing and stealing and greedily hiding what is gained\nunder the sweet name of care for one’s children.\nMocking with such images, she deceives the credulous hearts\nof men, and they follow the deadly monster:\nwhile they believe it the work of virtue, the impious Fury\nseizes them, ready in their consent, and binds them with tight manacles.\nThe leaders were stunned, the companies thrown into confusion,\nand the army of the virtues was wavering through the deceit of the two-formed\nmonster, not knowing what in it to believe friendly","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.541 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 541–570; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-541)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.571":{"o":"Quidve hostile notet: letum versatile et anceps\nLubricat incertos dubia sub imagine visus.\nCum subito in medium frendens Operatio campum\nProsilit, auxilio sociis, pugnamque capessit,\nMilitiae postrema gradu, sed sola duello\nImpositura manum, ne quid iam triste supersit.\nOmne onus ex humeris reiecerat, omnibus ibat\nNudata induviis, multo et se fasce levarat,\nOlim divitiis gravibusque oppressa talentis,\nLibera nunc miserando inopum, quos larga benigne\nFoverat, effundens patrium bene prodiga censum.\nAeternam numerans redituro faenore summam.\nHorruit invictae virtutis fulmen, et impos\nMentis Avaritia stupefactis sensibus haesit,\nCerta mori. Nam quae fraudis via restet, ut ipsa\nCalcatrix mundi mundanis victa fatiscat\nInlecebris, spretoque iterum sese implicet auro?\nInvadit trepidam virtus fortissima duris\nUlnarum nodis: obliso et gutture frangit\nExsanguem siccamque gulam: compressa ligantur\nVincla lacertorum sub mentum, et faucibus artis\nExtorquent animam, nullo quae vulnere rapta\nPalpitat, atque, aditu spiraminis intercepto,\nInclusam patitur venarum carcere mortem.\nIlla reluctanti genibusque et calcibus instans\nPerfodit et costas, atque ilia rumpit anhela;\nMox spolia exuto de corpore diripit: auri","t":"or what to mark as hostile: the shifting and ambiguous death\nmakes their uncertain gazes slip under a doubtful image.\nSuddenly Good Works, gnashing her teeth, leaps into the middle\nof the field to help her comrades, and takes up the fight,\nlast of the army in rank, but the only one to lay\nthe final hand on the duel, so that nothing grim may remain.\nShe had thrown every burden from her shoulders; she went\nstripped of all her clothing, and had relieved herself of a heavy load,\nonce weighed down with riches and heavy talents,\nnow free through pity for the poor, whom she had generously\ncherished with large gifts, well-prodigal in pouring out her ancestral wealth.\n… counting an eternal sum, with interest to return.\nAvarice shuddered at the thunderbolt of the unconquered virtue\nand, out of her mind, stuck fast with stunned senses,\nsure to die. For what way of fraud remains, so that she\nwho tramples the world should be overcome and give way to worldly\nallurements, and entangle herself again in gold she has scorned?\nThe most valiant virtue attacks the trembling foe with the hard\ngrip of her arms, and, crushing her throat, breaks\nher bloodless, dry gullet: the clasped bonds of her arms\nare tied under her chin, and with her jaws squeezed tight\nthey wring out her life, which, taken with no wound,\nflutters, and, the passage of breath cut off,\nsuffers death shut in the prison of the veins.\nAs Avarice struggles, Good Works, pressing with knees and heels,\npierces her ribs and bursts her panting flanks;\nthen she tears the spoils from the stripped body: dirty","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.571 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 571–600; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-571)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.601":{"o":"Sordida frusta rudis, nec adhuc fornace recoctam\nMateriem. Tineis etiam marsupia crebris\nExesa, et virides obducta aerugine nummos\nDispergit servata diu, victrix et egenis\nDissipat, ac tenues captivo munere donat.\nTunc circumfusam vultu exsultante coronam\nRespiciens, alacris media inter milia clamat:\n— « Solvite procinctum, iusti, et discedite ab armis:\nCausa mali tanti iacet interfecta: lucrandi\nIngluvie pereunte, licet requiescere sanctis.\nSumma quies, nil velle super, quam postulet usus\nDebitus, ut simplex alimonia, vestis et una\nInfirmos tegat ac recreet mediocriter artus,\nExpletumque modum naturae non trahat extra.\nIngressurus iter peram ne tollito, neve\nDe tunicae alterius gestamine providus ito;\nNec te sollicitet res crastina, ne cibus alvo\nDefuerit: redeunt escae cum sole diurnae.\nNonne vides ut nulla avium cras cogitet? ac se\nPascendam, praestante Deo, non anxia credat?\nConfidunt volucres victum non defore, viles\nPasseribusque subest modico venalibus asse\nIndubitata fides, Dominum curare potentem,\nNe pereant. Tu, cura Dei, facies quoque Christi,\nAddubitas, ne te tuus umquam deserat auctor?\nNe trepidate, homines: vitae dator et dator escae est.\nQuaerite luciferum caelesti dogmate pastum,\nQui spem multiplicans alat inviolabilis aevi,\nCorporis immemores: memor est, qui condidit illud,\nSuppeditare cibos, atque indiga membra fovere. » —","t":"lumps of crude gold, metal not yet refined\nin the furnace; purses eaten by many moths,\nand coins covered with green verdigris,\nlong hoarded, she scatters, and, victorious, distributes them\nto the needy, and presents the poor with the captured gift.\nThen, looking round with exultant face at the ring\ngathered around her, she cries joyfully amid the thousands:\n“Ungird yourselves, you righteous, and leave your arms.\nThe cause of so great an evil lies slain: now that the gluttony\nof gain is perishing, the saints may rest.\nThe highest rest is to want nothing beyond what due need\nrequires: that simple food and one garment\nshould cover the weak limbs and moderately refresh them,\nand should not draw beyond the measure that satisfies nature.\nWhen you set out on a journey, do not take a bag, and do not go\nprovidently carrying a second tunic;\nnor let tomorrow trouble you, that food may be lacking\nfor your belly: the daily food returns with the sun.\nDo you not see how no bird thinks of tomorrow, and believes\nwithout anxiety that it will be fed, God providing?\nThe birds trust that their living will not fail; and the cheap\nsparrows, sold for a small penny, have an undoubting faith\nthat the mighty Lord cares that they do not perish.\nDo you, God’s care, and Christ’s handiwork too,\ndoubt whether your Maker will ever desert you?\nDo not tremble, men: the giver of life is also the giver of food.\nSeek the light-bringing nourishment of heavenly teaching,\nwhich, multiplying hope, may feed you for an inviolable age,\nunmindful of the body: he who made it is mindful\nto supply food and cherish its needy members.”","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.601 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 601–630; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-601)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.61":{"o":"Sprevit, et incestos compescuit ense furores,\nFamosum mulier referens ex hoste tropaeum,\nNon trepidante manu, vindex mea caelitus audax?\nAt fortasse parum fortis matrona sub umbra\nLegis adhuc pugnans, dum tempora nostra figurat,\nVera quibus virtus terrena in corpora fluxit,\nGrande per infirmos caput excisura ministros.\nNumquid et intactae post partum Virginis ullum\nFas tibi iam superest? post partum Virginis, ex quo\nCorporis humani naturam pristina origo\nDeseruit, carnemque novam vis ardua sevit,\nAtque innupta Deum concepit femina Christum,\nMortali de matre hominem, sed cum Patre numen.\nInde omnis iam diva caro est quae concipit illum\nNaturamque Dei consorti foedere sumit:\nVerbum quippe caro factum, non destitit esse,\nQuod fuerat, Verbum, carnis dum glutinat usum,\nMaiestate quidem non degenerante per usum\nCarnis, sed miseros ad nobiliora trahente.\nIlle manet quod semper erat, quod non erat, esse\nIncipiens; nos, quod fuimus, iam non sumus, aucti\nNascendo in melius: mihi contulit, et sibi mansit.\nNec Deus ex nostris minuit sua, sed sua nostris\nDum tribuit, nosmet dona ad caelestia vexit.\nDona haec sunt, quod victa iaces, lutulenta Libido,\nNec mea post Mariam potis es perfringere iura.\nTu princeps ad mortis iter, tu ianua leti\nCorpora commaculans, animas in Tartara mergis.\nAbde caput tristi iam frigida pestis abysso:\nOccide, prostibulum: manes pete, claudere Averno;","t":"and checked his unchaste fury with the sword,\na woman bringing back a famous trophy from the enemy\nwith unshaking hand, my avenger, bold by heaven’s aid?\nBut perhaps that woman, fighting still under the shadow\nof the Law, was not strong enough, while she prefigured our times,\nin which true power has flowed into earthly bodies,\nto cut off the great head through weak ministers.\nAfter the childbearing of the inviolate Virgin, is any\nright still left to you? After the Virgin’s childbearing, since when\nthe old origin has left the nature of the human body,\na power on high has sown new flesh,\nand an unwedded woman has conceived Christ, God,\nman from a mortal mother, but divine together with the Father.\nFrom then on all flesh is divine that conceives him\nand takes on the nature of God by a partnering covenant.\nFor the Word made flesh did not cease to be\nwhat it had been, the Word, while it joins to itself the use of flesh,\nits majesty not degenerating through the use\nof flesh, but drawing the wretched to nobler things.\nHe remains what he always was, beginning to be\nwhat he was not; we are no longer what we were, enlarged\nby being born into something better: he gave to me, and remained himself.\nNor did God lessen what is his from what is ours, but while he gives\nwhat is his to what is ours, he carried us up to heavenly gifts.\nThese are the gifts: that you lie conquered, muddy Lust,\nand cannot break my rights after Mary.\nYou, the leader on the road to death, you, the gate of destruction,\nstaining bodies, plunge souls into Tartarus.\nHide your head now in the gloomy abyss, cold plague;\ndie, harlot; seek the shades; be shut in Avernus;","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.61 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 61–90; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-61)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.631":{"o":"His dictis curae emotae, Metus, et Labor, et Vis,\nEt Scelus, et placitae Fidei Fraus infitiatrix\nDepulsae vertere solum. Pax inde fugatis\nHostibus alma abigit bellum, discingitur omnis\nTerror, et avulsis exfibulat ilia zonis.\nVestis ad usque pedes descendens defluit imos,\nTemperat et rapidum privata modestia gressum.\nCornicinum curva aera silent, placabilis implet\nVaginam gladius, sedato et pulvere campi\nSuda redit facies, liquidae sine nube diei\nPurpuream videas caeli clarescere lucem.\nAgmina casta super vultum sensere Tonantis\nAdridere hilares, pulso certamine, turmas,\nEt Christum gaudere suis victoribus, arcem\nAetheris, ac patrium famulis aperire profundum.\nDat signum felix Concordia, reddere castris\nVictrices aquilas, atque in tentoria cogi.\nNumquam tanta fuit species, nec par decus ulli\nMilitiae, cum dispositis bifida agmina longe\nDuceret ordinibus, peditum psallente caterva;\nAst alia de parte equitum resonantibus hymnis.\nNon aliter cecinit respectans victor hiantem\nIsrael rabiem ponti post terga minacis,\nCum iam progrediens calcaret litora sicco\nUlteriora pede, stridensque per extima calcis\nMons rueret pendentis aquae, nigrosque relapso\nGurgite Nilicolas fundo deprenderet imo,\nAc refluente sinu iam redderet unda natatum\nPiscibus, et nudas praeceps operiret harenas.\nPulsavit resono modulantia tympana plectro","t":"At these words cares were removed; Fear and Toil and Violence\nand Crime and Fraud, the denier of the Faith we love,\nwere driven off and quit the ground. Then kindly Peace, the enemies routed,\ndrives away war; all Terror is ungirt,\nand loosens the clasps at her waist, her belts torn off.\nHer garment flows down, descending to the bottom of her feet,\nand the modesty of peacetime tempers her rapid step.\nThe curved bronze of the horn-blowers is silent; the sword, appeased,\nfills its sheath; and, the dust of the field settled,\nthe clear face of the sky returns: you could see the bright\nlight of heaven grow clear in a cloudless, limpid day.\nThe chaste ranks felt that the face of the Thunderer above\nwas smiling on the joyful squadrons, the battle driven off,\nand that Christ was rejoicing in his victors and opening\nthe citadel of heaven and the Father’s depths to his servants.\nHappy Concord gives the signal to bring back the victorious eagles\nto the camp and to gather in the tents.\nNever was there such a sight, nor glory equal to it\nin any army, when she led the two columns far\nin ordered ranks, the company of foot singing psalms,\nand on the other side the cavalry with resounding hymns.\nNot otherwise did victorious Israel sing, looking back\nat the gaping fury of the threatening sea behind them,\nwhen, advancing, they were already treading the farther shores\nwith dry foot, and the mountain of hanging water,\nroaring at the farthest heels, was collapsing, and catching\nthe black dwellers by the Nile at the bottom as the flood fell back,\nand the wave, its gulf flowing back, was now restoring to the fish\nthe space to swim, and rushing down to cover the bared sands.\nThe people of God beat the timbrels that kept time","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.631 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 631–660; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-631)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.661":{"o":"Turba Dei, celebrans mirum ac memorabile saeclis\nOmnipotentis opus, liquidas inter freta ripas\nFluctibus incisis et subsistente procella\nCrescere, suspensosque globos potuisse teneri.\nSic expugnata vitiorum gente resultant\nMystica dulcimodis virtutum carmina psalmis.\nVentum erat ad fauces portae castrensis, ubi\nLiminis introitum bifori dant cardine claustra.\nNascitur hic inopina mali lacrimabilis astu\nTempestas, placidae turbatrix invida Pacis,\nQuae tantum subita vexaret clade triumphum.\nInter confertos cuneos Concordia forte\nDum stipata pedem iam tutis moenibus infert,\nExcipit occultum vitii latitantis ab ictu\nMucronem laevo in latere, squalentia quamvis\nTexta catenato ferri subtemine corpus\nAmbirent, sutis et acumen vulneris hamis\nRespuerent, rigidis nec fila tenacia nodis\nImpactum sinerent penetrare in viscera telum.\nRara tamen chalybem tenui transmittere puncto\nCommissura dedit, qua sese extrema politae\nSquama ligat tunicae, sinus et sibi conserit oras.\nIntulit hoc vulnus pugnatrix subdola victae\nPartis, et incautis victoribus insidiata est.\nNam, pulsa culparum acie, Discordia nostros\nIntrarat cuneos, sociam mentita figuram.\nScissa procul palla, structum et serpente flagellum\nMultiplici, media camporum in strage iacebant;\nIpsa redimitos olea frondente capillos\nOstentans, festis respondet laeta choreis.","t":"with resounding plectrum, celebrating the wonderful work\nof the Almighty, memorable for ages: that between the waters\nclear banks rose up, the waves cut through and the storm standing still,\nand that the suspended masses could be held.\nSo, the nation of the vices overthrown, the mystic songs\nof the virtues resound in sweet-measured psalms.\nThey had come to the entrance of the camp gate, where\nthe barriers give entry to the threshold on double hinges.\nHere, by the cunning of evil, there arises an unexpected, lamentable\nstorm, the envious disturber of calm Peace,\nto trouble so great a triumph with a sudden disaster.\nWhile Concord, as it happened, closely surrounded, was setting foot\namid the crowded columns within the now safe walls,\nshe received in her left side a dagger, hidden, from the stroke\nof a lurking vice, although the rough fabric\nof chain-linked iron surrounded her body\nand the sewn hooks rejected the point of a wound,\nand the threads, tenacious with stiff knots, would not let\na driven weapon penetrate to her vitals.\nYet a gap in the joining gave a narrow passage\nfor the steel to pass through with a fine point, where the last scale\nof the polished tunic binds itself and the fold joins its edges.\nThis wound was dealt by a sly fighter of the conquered\nparty, who lay in wait for the unwary victors.\nFor, the army of the sins driven off, Discord had entered\nour columns, feigning the appearance of an ally.\nHer torn mantle and her whip, made of many snakes,\nlay far off amid the slaughter of the fields;\nshe herself, showing off her hair wreathed with leafy olive,\njoyfully joins in the festive dances.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.661 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 661–690; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-661)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.691":{"o":"Sed sicam sub veste tegit, te, maxima virtus,\nTe solam tanto e numero, Concordia, tristi\nFraude petens. Sed non vitalia rumpere sacri\nCorporis est licitum, summo tenus extima tactu\nLaesa cutis tenuem signavit sanguine rivum.\nExclamat virtus subito turbata: — « Quid hoc est?\nQuae manus hic inimica latet? quae prospera nostra\nVulnerat, et ferrum tanta inter gaudia vibrat?\nQuid iuvat indomitos bello sedasse furores,\nEt sanctum vitiis pereuntibus omne receptum,\nSi virtus sub pace cadit? » — Trepida agmina maestos\nConvertere oculos: stillabat vulneris index\nFerrata de veste cruor; mox et pavor hostem\nComminus adstantem prodit: nam pallor in ore,\nConscius audacis facti, dat signa reatus,\nEt deprensa tremunt languens manus et color albens.\nCircumstat propere strictis mucronibus omnis\nVirtutum legio, exquirens fervente tumultu\nEt genus, et nomen, patriam, sectamque, deumque\nQuem colat, et missu cuiatis venerit. Illa\nExsanguis, turbante metu: — « Discordia dicor,\nCognomento Heresis; Deus est mihi discolor, inquit,\nNunc minor, aut maior, modo duplex, et modo simplex;\nCum placet, aerius, et de phantasmate visus,\nAut innata anima est, quotiens volo ludere numen.\nPraeceptor Belia mihi; domus et plaga mundus. » —\nNon tulit ulterius capti blasphemia monstri\nVirtutum regina Fides: sed verba loquentis\nImpedit, et vocis claudit spiramina pilo,\nPollutam rigida transfigens cuspide linguam.","t":"But she hides a dagger under her robe, seeking you, greatest virtue,\nyou alone, Concord, out of so great a number,\nwith grim fraud. But it was not permitted to break the vitals\nof the sacred body; the outer skin, hurt only by a touch\nat the surface, marked a thin stream with blood.\nThe virtue, suddenly disturbed, cries out: “What is this?\nWhat hostile hand lurks here? What wounds\nour success, and brandishes steel amid such great joy?\nWhat good is it to have calmed untamed furies in war,\nand to have regained all that is holy as the vices perish,\nif a virtue falls in peacetime?” The anxious ranks\nturned their sad eyes: the blood, the sign of the wound,\nwas dripping from the iron-clad robe; and soon fear betrays\nthe enemy standing close by: for the pallor on her face,\nconscious of the bold deed, gives signs of guilt,\nand her languid hand, caught, trembles, and her white color.\nThe whole legion of the Virtues quickly surrounds her\nwith drawn swords, inquiring in a seething uproar\nher race and name, her country and sect, what god\nshe worships, and by whose sending she has come. She,\nbloodless, with fear disturbing her: “I am called Discord,”\nshe says, “surnamed Heresy. My God is of varied color,\nnow lesser, now greater, now double, now single;\nwhen I please, he is of air and seen as a phantom,\nor he is the soul inborn, whenever I choose to make sport of the Godhead.\nBelial is my teacher; my home and region is the world.”\nFaith, queen of the Virtues, would bear no further\nthe blasphemies of the captured monster, but stops the words\nof the speaker and closes the passages of her voice with a javelin,\npiercing her polluted tongue with the rigid point.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.691 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 691–720; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-691)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.721":{"o":"Carpitur innumeris feralis bestia dextris.\nFrustatim sibi quisque rapit, quod spargat in auras,\nQuod canibus donet, corvis quod edacibus ultro\nOfferat, immundis caeno exhalante cloacis\nQuod tradat, monstris quod mandet habere marinis.\nDiscissum foedis animalibus omne cadaver\nDividitur, ruptis Heresis perit horrida membris.\nCompositis igitur rerum morumque secundis\nIn commune bonis, postquam intra tuta morari\nContigit, ac statione frui, valloque foveri\nPacificos sensus, et in otia solvere curas,\nExstruitur media castrorum sede tribunal\nEditiore loco, tumulus quem vertice acuto\nExcitat in speculam: subiecta unde omnia late\nLiber inoffenso circumspicit aere visus.\nHunc sincera Fides, simul et Concordia, sacro\nFoedere iuratae Christi sub amore sorores,\nConscendunt apicem: mox et sublime tribunal\nPar sanctum carumque sibi supereminet aequo\nConspicuae, populosque iubent adstare frequentes.\nConcurrunt alacres castris ex omnibus omnes:\nNulla latet pars mentis iners, quae corporis ullo\nIntercepta sinu per conceptacula sese\nDegeneri languore tegat; tentoria apertis\nCuncta patent velis, reserantur carbasa, ne quis\nMarceat obscuro stertens habitator operto.\nAuribus intentis exspectat contio, quidnam\nVictores post bella vocet Concordia princeps,\nQuam velit atque Fides virtutibus addere legem.\nErumpit prima in vocem Concordia tali","t":"The deadly beast is torn apart by countless hands.\nEach one snatches a piece for himself, to scatter to the winds,\nto give to the dogs, to offer to the greedy crows,\nto throw into the filthy sewers with their reeking mud,\nto hand over to the sea monsters to eat.\nThe whole corpse, torn apart, is divided among foul\nanimals: horrid Heresy perishes, her limbs torn asunder.\nSo, when the good things of the state and of morals had been settled\nfor the common good, and it fell to them to stay within safe walls,\nto enjoy their station, to cherish peaceful feelings within the rampart,\nand to relax their cares in leisure,\na tribunal is built in the middle of the camp\non a higher place, which a mound with sharp summit\nraises up as a lookout, from which a free sight looks round\non all things lying far below, through unobstructed air.\nSincere Faith and Concord together, sisters sworn\nby a sacred covenant in the love of Christ,\nclimb its peak; and soon the holy and dear pair\nstand above the lofty tribunal, conspicuous on an equal footing,\nand bid the peoples stand by in crowds.\nAll run eagerly together from all the camps:\nno idle part of the mind lies hidden, to conceal itself in degenerate\nsloth in any recess of the body, shut off\nin its chambers; all the tents stand open with their flaps\ndrawn back, the canvas is unfastened, so that no dweller\nmay grow languid, snoring under dark cover.\nThe assembly waits with attentive ears to hear what Concord,\nthe leader, calls the victors to after the wars,\nand what law she and Faith wish to give the virtues.\nConcord first breaks into speech in this way:","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.721 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 721–750; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-721)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.751":{"o":"Adloquio: — « Cumulata quidem iam gloria vobis\nContigit: exstincta est multo certamine saeva\nBarbaries, sanctae quae circumsaepserat urbis\nIndigenas, ferroque viros, flammaque premebat.\nPublica sed requies privatis rure foroque\nConstat amicitiis: scissura domestica turbat\nRem populi, titubatque foris, quod dissidet intus.\nErgo cavete, viri, ne sit sententia discors\nSensibus in nostris, ne secta exotica tectis\nNascatur conflata odiis, quia fissa voluntas\nConfundit variis arcana biformia fibris.\nQuod sapimus, coniungat amor: quod vivimus, uno\nConspiret studio: nil dissociabile firmum est;\nUtque homini atque Deo medius intervenit Iesus,\nQui sociat mortale Patri, ne carnea distent\nSpiritui aeterno, sitque ut Deus unus utrumque;\nSic, quidquid gerimus mentisque et corporis actu,\nSpiritus unimodis texat compagibus unus.\nPax, plenum virtutis opus: pax summa laborum:\nPax belli exacti pretium est, pretiumque periculi.\nSidera pace vigent; consistunt terrea pace.\nNil placitum sine pace Deo: non munus ad aram\nCum cupias offerre, probet, si turbida fratrem\nMens impacati sub pectoris oderit antro;\nNec, si flammicomis Christi pro nomine martyr\nIgnibus insilias, servans inamabile votum\nBile sub obliqua, pretiosam proderit Iesu\nImpendisse animam; meriti quia clausula pax est.\nNon inflata tumet, non invidet aemula fratri:\nNumquam laesa dolet, cuncta offensacula donat.","t":"with this address: “Full glory has now indeed …\nfallen to you: the savage barbarism has been destroyed\nby much fighting, which had besieged the natives\nof the holy city and pressed its men with sword and flame.\nBut public peace, in country and forum, rests on\nprivate friendships: domestic division troubles\nthe commonwealth, and what is at odds within totters without.\nSo beware, men, that there be no discordant opinion\nin our feelings, that no foreign sect be born\nwithin our walls, kindled by hatred, because a divided will\nconfuses the secrets of the double-natured man with varied fibers.\nLet love join what we think; let what we live breathe together\nin one zeal: nothing that can be divided is firm.\nAnd as Jesus has come between as mediator of man and God,\nwho joins the mortal to the Father, so that the things of flesh\nshould not stand apart from the eternal Spirit, and that one God should be both;\nso let one Spirit weave whatever we do by action\nof mind and body in single-shaped joinings.\nPeace is the full work of virtue; peace is the crown of labors;\npeace is the reward of war ended, and the reward of danger.\nThe stars flourish by peace; earthly things stand firm by peace.\nNothing pleases God without peace: he does not approve\na gift you wish to offer at the altar, if your mind,\ntroubled, hates your brother in the cave of an unpeaceful breast;\nnor, if as a martyr you leap into the flaming fires\nfor the name of Christ, keeping a hateful wish\nunder oblique bile, will it profit you to have spent\nyour precious life for Jesus; for peace is the seal of merit.\nIt does not swell puffed up, it does not envy a brother as a rival; …\nit never grieves when hurt; it forgives every offense;","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.751 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 751–780; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-751)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.781":{"o":"Occasum lucis venia praecurrere gestit,\nAnxia, ne stabilem linquat sol conscius iram.\nQuisque litare Deo mactatis vult holocaustis,\nOfferat in primis pacem: nulla hostia Christo\nDulcior: hoc solo sancta ad donaria vultum\nMunere convertens, liquido oblectatur odore.\nSed tamen et niveis tradit Deus ipse columbis\nPinnatum tenera plumarum veste colubrum\nRimante ingenio docte internoscere, mixtum\nInnocuis avibus: latet et lupus ore cruento\nLacteolam mentitus ovem sub vellere molli,\nCruda per agninos exercens funera rictus.\nHac sese occultant Photinus et Arrius arte,\nImmanes feritate lupi: discrimina produnt\nNostra, recensque cruor, quamvis de corpore summo,\nQuid possit furtiva manus. » — Gemitum dedit omnis\nVirtutum populus, casu concussus acerbo.\nTum generosa Fides haec subdidit: — « Immo secundis\nIn rebus cesset gemitus. Concordia laesa est,\nSed defensa Fide; quin et Concordia sospes\nGermanam comitata Fidem sua vulnera ridet.\nHaec mea sola salus, nihil hac mihi triste recepta.\nUnum opus egregio restat post bella labori,\nBelligeri, armatae successor inermus et aulae\nInstituit Solomon; quoniam genitoris anheli\nFumarat calido regum de sanguine dextra.\nSanguine nam terso, templum fundatur, et ara\nPonitur auratis Christi domus ardua tectis.","t":"it is eager to forestall the setting of the light with pardon,\nanxious that the sun should not go down witness to a lasting anger.\nWhoever wishes to make offering to God with slain burnt offerings,\nlet him offer peace first of all: no victim is sweeter\nto Christ; by this gift alone, turning his face to the holy offerings,\nhe is delighted with a clear fragrance.\nBut God himself also teaches the snowy doves to distinguish\nskillfully, with searching wit, the winged serpent,\nclothed in a tender garment of feathers, mingled\namong the harmless birds; and the wolf with bloody mouth lurks,\nfeigning a milk-white sheep under soft fleece,\npracticing cruel slaughter with lamb-like jaws.\nBy this art Photinus and Arius hide themselves,\nwolves monstrous in savagery: our dangers\nand the fresh blood, though from the surface of the body, show\nwhat a stealthy hand can do.” The whole people of the Virtues\ngroaned, shaken by the bitter event.\nThen noble Faith added this: “No, in prosperity\nlet groaning cease. Concord has been hurt,\nbut defended by Faith; nay, Concord, safe,\naccompanying her sister Faith, laughs at her wounds.\nThis is my one salvation: with her restored, nothing is sad to me.\nOne work remains, after the wars, for distinguished labor,\n… [which the peaceful heir] of the warlike [king], the unarmed successor of an armed court,\nSolomon, founded; since his panting father’s right hand\nhad smoked with the hot blood of kings.\nFor when the blood was wiped away the temple is founded, and the altar\nis set up, the lofty house of Christ with gilded roofs.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.781 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 781–810; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-781)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.811":{"o":"Tunc Hierusalem templo inlustrata, quietum\nSuscepit iam diva Deum; circumvaga postquam\nSedit marmoreis fundata altaribus arca.\nSurgat et in nostris templum venerabile castris:\nOmnipotens cuius sanctorum sancta revisat.\nNam quid terrigenas ferro pepulisse phalangas\nCulparum prodest, hominis si Filius arce\nAetheris inlapsus, purgati corporis urbem\nIntret inornatam, templi splendentis egenus?\nHactenus alternis sudatum est comminus armis:\nMunia nunc agitet tacitae toga candida pacis,\nAtque sacris sedem properet discincta iuventus. » —\nHaec ubi dicta dedit, gradibus regina superbis\nDesiluit, tantique operis Concordia consors\nMetatura novum, iacto fundamine, templum:\nAurea planitiem spatiis percurrit harundo\nDimensis, quadrent ut quattuor undique frontes,\nNe commissuris distantibus angulus impar\nArgutam mutilet per dissona semetra normam.\nAurorae de parte, tribus plaga lucida portis\nInlustrata patet; triplex aperitur ad Austrum\nPortarum numerus: tres occidualibus offert\nPanditur alta domus. Nullum illic structile saxum,\nSed cava per solidum multoque forata dolatu\nGemma relucenti limen complectitur arcu,\nVestibulumque lapis penetrabile concipit unus.\nPortarum summis inscripta in frontibus auro\nNomina apostolici fulgent bis sena senatus.\nSpiritus his titulis arcana recondita mentis\nAmbit, et electos vocat in praecordia sensus;","t":"Then Jerusalem, made glorious by the temple, now divine,\nreceived God at rest, after the wandering ark\nwas settled, founded on marble altars.\nLet a venerable temple rise in our camp too,\nwhose holy of holies the Almighty may visit.\nFor what does it profit to have driven off with the sword the earthborn\nphalanxes of sins, if the Son of Man, gliding down\nfrom the citadel of heaven, should enter the city of a cleansed body\nunadorned, lacking a shining temple?\nUp to now we have sweated in close combat with alternating arms;\nnow let the white toga of quiet peace do its duties,\nand let the youth, ungirt, hasten to make a seat for sacred things.”\nWhen she had said this, the queen leapt down from the proud steps,\nand Concord, partner in so great a work, to measure out\nthe new temple, the foundation laid:\na golden reed runs over the plain in measured\nspaces, so that four fronts may square on every side,\nlest an unequal corner, with joinings out of line,\nspoil the precise rule through discordant half-measures.\nOn the side of the dawn the bright quarter lies open,\nlit by three gates; to the south a triple number\nof gates opens; three it offers on the western side …\nthe lofty house opens. There is no built stone there,\nbut a gem, hollowed through its solid mass and pierced with much hewing,\nembraces the threshold with a gleaming arch,\nand one stone contains the vestibule to be passed through.\nOn the tops of the fronts of the gates, written in gold,\nshine the names of the twelve of the apostolic senate.\nBy these titles the Spirit embraces the hidden secrets\nof the mind and calls the chosen feelings into the heart;","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.811 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 811–840; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-811)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.841":{"o":"Quaque hominis natura viget, quam corpore toto\nQuadrua vis animat, trinis ingressibus aram\nCordis adit, castisque colit sacraria votis.\nSeu pueros sol primus agat, seu fervor ephebos\nIncendat nimius, seu consummabilis aevi\nPerficiat lux plena viros, seu algida Borrae\nAetas decrepitam vocet ad pia sacra senectam,\nOccurrit trinum quadrina ad compita nomen,\nQuod bene discipulis disponit rex duodenis.\nQuin etiam totidem gemmarum insignia textis\nParietibus distincta micant, animasque colorum\nViventes liquido lux evomit alta profundo.\nIngens chrysolithus, nativo interlitus auro,\nHinc sibi sapphirum sociaverat, inde beryllum;\nDistantesque nitor medius variarat honores.\nHic chalcedon hebes perfunditur ex hyacinthi\nLumine vicino; nam forte cyanea propter\nStagna lapis cohibens ostro fulgebat aquoso.\nSardonychen pingunt amethystina, pingit iaspis\nSardium iuxta appositum, pulcherque topazon:\nHas inter species smaragdina gramine verno\nPrata virent, volvitque vagos lux herbida fluctus.\nTe quoque conspicuum structura interserit ardens,\nChrysoprase, et sidus saxis stellantibus addit.\nStridebat gravidis funalis machina vinclis,\nImmensas rapiens alta ad fastigia gemmas.\nAt domus interior septem subnixa columnis\nCrystalli algentis vitrea de rupe recisis\nConstruitur: quarum tegit edita calculus albens\nIn conum caesus capita, et sinuamine subter","t":"and wherever the nature of man flourishes, which a fourfold force\nanimates throughout the body, it approaches the altar of the heart\nby three entrances and worships at its shrines with chaste vows.\nWhether the first sun drives boys, or excessive heat\ninflames youths, or the full light of the age\nof completion perfects men, or the chill age of the north wind\ncalls decrepit old age to holy rites,\nthe threefold name meets them at the four crossroads,\nwhich the King duly assigns to his twelve disciples.\nMoreover, as many emblems of gems shine, set\nin the woven walls, and a deep light pours out\nthe living souls of their colors from its liquid depth.\nA huge chrysolite, streaked with native gold,\nhad joined a sapphire to itself on this side, a beryl on that,\nand the brightness in the middle varied their different glories.\nHere the dull chalcedony is suffused with the light\nof the neighboring jacinth; for the stone, near\nthe azure pools, chanced to gleam, holding in watery purple.\nAmethysts color the sardonyx, jasper colors\nthe sardius set beside it, and the beautiful topaz.\nAmong these kinds the emerald meadows grow green\nwith spring grass, and the grassy light rolls its wandering waves.\nYou too, chrysoprase, conspicuous, the glowing structure sets in,\nand adds a star to the starry stones.\nThe rope-driven machine was creaking with heavy chains,\nhauling the immense gems up to the lofty summit.\nBut the inner house is built resting on seven columns\ncut from the glassy rock of cold crystal;\na white stone, cut into a cone, covers their raised\ncapitals, and is drawn in below with a curve","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.841 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 841–870; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-841)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.871":{"o":"Subductus conchae in speciem, quod mille talentis\nMargaritum ingens, opibusque et censibus hastae\nAddictis animosa Fides mercata pararat.\nHoc residet solio pollens Sapientia, et omne\nConsilium regni celsa disponit ab aula,\nTutandique hominis leges sub corde retractat.\nIn manibus dominae sceptrum, non arte politum,\nSed ligno vivum viridi est, quod stirpe recisum,\nQuamvis nullus alat terreni caespitis umor,\nFronde tamen viret incolumi; tum sanguine tinctis\nIntertexta rosis candentia lilia miscet,\nNescia marcenti florem submittere collo.\nHuius forma fuit sceptri gestamen Aaron\nFloriferum, sicco quod germina cortice trudens,\nExplicuit tenerum spe pubescente decorem,\nInque novos subito tumuit virga arida fetus.\nReddimus aeternas, indulgentissime Doctor,\nGrates, Christe, tibi, meritosque sacramus honores\nOre pio: nam cor vitiorum stercore sordet.\nTu nos corporei latebrosa pericula operti,\nLuctantisque animae voluisti agnoscere casus.\nNovimus ancipites nebuloso in pectore sensus\nSudare alternis conflictibus, et variato\nPugnarum eventu, nunc indole crescere dextra,\nNunc inclinatis cervicibus ad iuga vitae\nDeteriora trahi, seseque addicere noxis\nTurpibus, et propriae iacturam ferre salutis.\nO quotiens animam, vitiorum peste repulsa,\nSensimus incaluisse Deo! quotiens tepefactum\nCaeleste ingenium post gaudia candida taetro\nCessisse stomacho! Fervent bella horrida, fervent\nOssibus inclusa: fremit et discordibus armis\nNon simplex natura hominis: nam viscera limo\nEffigiata premunt animam; contra ille sereno\nEditus adflatu, nigrantis carcere cordis\nAestuat, et sordes arta inter vincla recusat.\nSpiritibus pugnant variis lux atque tenebrae,\nDistantesque animat duplex substantia vires,\nDonec praesidio Christus Deus adsit, et omnes\nVirtutum gemmas componat sede piata;\nAtque, ubi peccatum regnaverat, aurea templi\nAtria constituens, texat spectamine morum\nOrnamenta animae: quibus oblectata decoro\nAeternum solio dives Sapientia regnet.","t":"in the likeness of a shell: a huge pearl which bold Faith\nhad bought for a thousand talents and had acquired\nwith her riches and her wealth put up at auction.\nOn this throne sits mighty Wisdom, and from her high hall\nshe orders every counsel of her kingdom\nand ponders in her heart the laws for protecting man.\nIn the hands of the mistress is a sceptre, not polished by art,\nbut alive with green wood; though cut from its stock,\nand though no moisture of earthly turf feeds it,\nit is green with unharmed foliage, and it mingles white lilies\ninterwoven with roses dyed with blood,\nwhich do not know how to let their flower droop on a withering neck.\nThe flowering rod borne by Aaron was the figure\nof this sceptre, which, thrusting out buds from its dry bark,\nunfolded a tender beauty with ripening hope,\nand the dry rod suddenly swelled into new fruit.\nWe render eternal thanks to you, most kind Teacher,\nChrist, and we consecrate due honors to you\nwith pious mouth; for the heart is foul with the dung of vices.\nYou willed that we should recognize the hidden dangers\nof the body’s covering and the fortunes of the struggling soul.\nWe know that the doubtful feelings in our clouded breast\nsweat in alternate conflicts, and, as the fortune\nof the battles varies, now grow with a better disposition,\nnow, with bent necks, are dragged to the yokes\nof a worse life, give themselves over to shameful\noffenses, and suffer the loss of their own salvation.\nO how often have we felt the soul grow warm with God,\nthe plague of vices driven back! How often has the heavenly mind,\ngrown lukewarm after bright joys, given way\nto foul temper! Horrid wars seethe, they seethe\nshut up in our bones, and the nature of man, not single,\nroars with discordant arms; for the flesh, shaped from mud,\npresses down the soul; on the other hand, the spirit, born\nof a clear breath, chafes in the prison of the darkening heart,\nand rejects the filth amid its narrow chains.\nLight and darkness fight with different spirits,\nand a double substance animates opposing powers,\nuntil Christ, God, comes to our help and sets all\nthe gems of the virtues in a purified seat,\nand, establishing the golden halls of the temple\nwhere sin had reigned, weaves from the beauty of good conduct\nornaments for the soul, in which rich Wisdom may delight\nand reign for ever on a beautiful throne.","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.871 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 871–915; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-871)."},"prudentius-psychomachia/1.91":{"o":"Inque tenebrosum noctis detrudere fundum.\nTe volvant subter vada flammea, te vada nigra,\nSulphureusque rotet per stagna sonantia vortex.\nNec iam Christicolas, furiarum maxima, temptes,\nUt purgata suo serventur corpora Regi. » —\nDixerat haec, et laeta Libidinis interfectae\nMorte Pudicitia gladium Iordanis in undis\nAbluit infectum: sanies cui rore rubenti\nHaeserat, et nitidum macularat vulnere ferrum.\nExpiat ergo aciem fluviali docta lavacro\nVictricem victrix, abolens baptismate labem\nHostilis iuguli: nec iam contenta piatum\nCondere vaginae gladium, ne tecta rubigo\nOccupet ablutum scabrosa sorde nitorem,\nCatholico in templo divini fontis ad aram\nConsecrat, aeterna splendens ubi luce coruscet.\nEcce modesta gravi stabat Patientia vultu\nPer medias immota acies, variosque tumultus,\nVulneraque et rigidis vitalia pervia pilis\nSpectabat defixa oculos, et lenta manebat.\nHanc procul Ira, tumens spumanti fervida rictu,\nSanguinea intorquens suffuso lumina felle,\nUt belli exsortem, teloque et voce lacessit,\nImpatiensque morae conto petit, increpat ore,\nHirsutas quatiens galeato in vertice cristas.\n— « En tibi Martis, ait, spectatrix libera nostri,\nExcipe mortiferum securo pectore ferrum:\nNec doleas, quia turpe tibi gemuisse dolorem. » —\nSic ait, et stridens sequitur convicia pinus\nPer teneros crispata Notos, et certa sub ipsum","t":"be thrust down into the dark depths of night.\nLet the flaming waters roll you below, the black waters,\nand the sulphurous whirlpool spin you through the roaring pools.\nAnd tempt Christians no longer, greatest of the furies,\nso that bodies made clean may be kept for their King.”\nSo she spoke, and Chastity, glad at the death of Lust,\nwhom she had slain, washes her stained sword in the waters of Jordan,\non which the gore had clung with its red dew\nand spotted the bright iron with the wound.\nSo, knowing how, she cleanses the blade with the river’s bath,\nthe victor her victorious sword, removing by baptism the stain\nof the enemy’s throat; and, not content now to put\nthe purified sword in its sheath, lest hidden rust\nseize its washed brightness with scabby dirt,\nshe consecrates it in the Catholic church at the altar\nof the divine font, where it may flash, shining with eternal light.\nSee, modest Patience was standing with grave face,\nunmoved, amid the battle lines and the varied tumults,\nand was watching, her eyes fixed, the wounds and the vitals\npierced by stiff javelins, and stayed calm.\nFrom afar Anger, swelling, burning, with foaming mouth,\nrolling her bloodshot eyes suffused with gall,\nprovokes her with weapon and voice, as one who has no part in the war,\nand, impatient of delay, attacks her with a pike and abuses her,\nshaking the shaggy crest on her helmeted head.\n“Here,” she says, “you who watch our war as one free of it,\ntake the deadly steel in your carefree breast,\nand do not grieve, since it is shameful for you to groan in pain.”\nSo she spoke, and the hissing pine shaft follows her abuse,\nwhirling through the gentle south winds, and with sure aim","f":"Prudentius, <i>Psych.</i> 1.91 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 91–120; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-psychomachia/1-91)."}}