Against Symmachus 4.511–4.1111 (Against Symmachus)

Prudentius

Against Symmachus 4.511–4.1111

Prudentius · Against Symmachus · ca. 402-403 · place unknown · 21 passages

Latin text: Lanfranchi, Opera (Turin 1898) (Latin text: Lanfranchi, Turin 1898 (public domain), via the Internet Archive OCR).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).

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Chapter 4

4.511Lanfranchi 2:lines 511–540

Apenninicolam peditem Cybeleius hostis Congressu excipiens, Asiam defendere et Idam Qui potuit, cogente acies in proelia Gallo? Idalias nisi forte rosas, laurum citharoedi Vatis, silvicolae calamos arcumque puellae Dedere servitio, calcataque sacra domare Difficilis operis fuit, immensique laboris. Fluctibus Actiacis signum symphonia belli Aegypto dederat, clangebat bucina contra. Institerant tenues cumbae, fragilesque phaseli Inter turritas Memphitica rostra Liburnas: Nil potuit Serapis deus, et latrator Anubis. Stirpis Iuleae ductore, exercitus ardens Praevaluit, Boreae quem miserat algidus axis. Non armata Venus, non tunc clipeata Minerva Venere auxilio: non divum degener ordo, Et patria extorris, Romanis adfuit armis. Victus et ipse prius, inimica nec agmina iuvit: Si tamen antiquum norat retinere dolorem. Sed dicis, legisse deos, ubi sanctior usus Templorum cultu celebri sine fine maneret; Aeneadumque ultro victricia signa virorum Regis amore Numae, nullo cogente, secutos. Num Diomedis item tentoria, et acris Ulixi Castra volens Pallas, caesis custodibus arcis, Legit, ubi umenti sudaret maesta sigillo? Aut quotiens ductor Macetum fortissimus altos Templorum cineres victis cumulavit Amyclis: Optarunt praedis domini se numina capta Misceri, Assyriaeque vehi Babylonis ad arcem?

nor could the Cybelean enemy, meeting the infantry of the Apennines in battle, defend Asia and Ida, when a Gallus drove the battle lines into combat. Unless perhaps it was a difficult work and an immense labor to hand over to slavery the Idalian roses, the laurel of the lyre-playing prophet, and the reeds and bow of the forest-dwelling girl, and to tame their trampled rites. On the waves of Actium a band had given Egypt the signal of war; the trumpet sounded against it. Thin boats and fragile pinnaces had pressed on, Memphite beaks amid the towering Liburnian galleys: the god Serapis could do nothing, nor the barker Anubis. Under a leader of the stock of Iulus, the burning army prevailed, which the cold northern sky had sent. Neither armed Venus nor Minerva with her shield came to help then; no degenerate order of gods, exiled from its homeland, aided the Roman arms. Itself conquered before, it did not help the enemy ranks either, if indeed it knew how to keep its old resentment. “But,” you say, “the gods chose where a holier practice would remain without end in the crowded worship of temples, and followed of their own accord the victorious standards of the sons of Aeneas for love of King Numa, with no one forcing them.” Did Pallas likewise willingly choose the tents of Diomedes and the camp of keen Ulysses, when the guards of the citadel were slain, where she would sweat sadly in a wet image? Or, whenever the bravest leader of the Macedonians heaped up the ashes of high temples in conquered Amyclae, did the captured gods wish to be mixed with the plunder of their masters and carried to the citadel of Assyrian Babylon?

Notes and citation

Summary: The gods of Asia and Egypt could not defend their peoples, as at Actium, where Serapis and Anubis failed; Symmachus says the gods chose Rome freely, but the poet asks whether Pallas chose to be stolen by Diomedes and Ulysses, or the gods of Amyclae to be carried off by Alexander.

The battle of Actium (31 BC); the theft of the Palladium; Alexander. The Gallus (line 513) is a eunuch priest of Cybele. Polemic as written.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): Apenninicolam i)cditem Cybeloius hostis Congrossu excipiens, Asiam defendoro ot Idam Qni potuit, cogente acics in proelia Gallo? Idalias nisi forto rosas, laurnm citliaroodi Vatis, silvicolae calamos arcumque puellae Ded^^re servitio, calcataquo sacra domare Difficilis oporis fuit, immonsi<iue laboris. Fluctibus Actiacis signum sympbonia bolli A"gypto dederat, clangcbat buccina contra. Institt-rant tonuos cumbao, fragilesque faseli Inter turritas Mempliitica rostra Liburnas : Nil potuit Sorapis deus, et latrator Anubis. Stirpis luleae ductore, exercitus ardens Praevaluit, Boreae quem miserat algidus axis. Non arniata Venus, non tunc cl.ypeata Minerva Venere auxilio : non divum degener ordo, Et patria extorris, liomanis adfuit armis. Victus et ipse prius, iuimica nec agmina iuvit: Si tamen antiquum norat retinere dolorem. Sed dicis, legisse deos, ubi sanctior usus Templorum cultu celebri sine fine maneret; Aeneadumque ultro victricia signa virorum Eegis amore Numae, nullo cogente, secutos. Num Diomedis item tentoria, et acris Vl.yxi Castra volens Pallas, caesis custodibus arcis, Legit, ubi Immenti sudaret niaesta sigillo? Aut quoties ductor Macetum fortissimus altos Templorum cineres victis cumulavit Ainyclis: Optarunt praedis domini se numina capta Misceri, Assyriaeque vehi Babjlonis ad arcem ? → Apenninicolam peditem Cybeleius hostis Congressu excipiens, Asiam defendere et Idam Qui potuit, cogente acies in proelia Gallo? Idalias nisi forte rosas, laurum citharoedi Vatis, silvicolae calamos arcumque puellae Dedere servitio, calcataque sacra domare Difficilis operis fuit, immensique laboris. Fluctibus Actiacis signum symphonia belli Aegypto dederat, clangebat bucina contra. Institerant tenues cumbae, fragilesque phaseli Inter turritas Memphitica rostra Liburnas: Nil potuit Serapis deus, et latrator Anubis. Stirpis Iuleae ductore, exercitus ardens Praevaluit, Boreae quem miserat algidus axis. Non armata Venus, non tunc clipeata Minerva Venere auxilio: non divum degener ordo, Et patria extorris, Romanis adfuit armis. Victus et ipse prius, inimica nec agmina iuvit: Si tamen antiquum norat retinere dolorem. Sed dicis, legisse deos, ubi sanctior usus Templorum cultu celebri sine fine maneret; Aeneadumque ultro victricia signa virorum Regis amore Numae, nullo cogente, secutos. Num Diomedis item tentoria, et acris Ulixi Castra volens Pallas, caesis custodibus arcis, Legit, ubi umenti sudaret maesta sigillo? Aut quotiens ductor Macetum fortissimus altos Templorum cineres victis cumulavit Amyclis: Optarunt praedis domini se numina capta Misceri, Assyriaeque vehi Babylonis ad arcem?.

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.511 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 511–540; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-511). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-511

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.

4.541Lanfranchi 2:lines 541–570

Non fero Romanum nomen, sudataque bella, Et titulos tanto quaesitos sanguine carpi. Detrahit invictis legionibus, et sua Romae Praemia deminuit, qui, quidquid fortiter actum est, Adscribit Veneri, palmam victoribus aufert. Frustra igitur currus summo miramur in arcu Quadriiugos, stantesque duces in curribus altis Fabricios, Curios, hinc Drusos, inde Camillos: Sub pedibusque ducum captivos poplite flexo Ad iuga depressos, manibusque in terga retortis, Et suspensa gravi telorum fragmina trunco; Si Brennum, Antiochum, Persen, Pyrrhum, Mithridatem Flora, Matuta, Ceres, et Larentina subegit. His tamen auspicibus successus dextra dederunt Omina laetificos, et felix adfuit ales. Quid sibi vult virtus? quid gloria? si Corvinum Corvus Apollineus penna vel gutture iuvit? Sed tamen hic corvus cur defuit exitiali Forte die, infaustas tegerent cum funera Cannas, Oppeteretque super congesta cadavera consul? Cur Cremerae in campis cornice vel oscine parra Nemo deum monuit perituros Marte sinistro Tercentum Fabios, vix stirpe superstite in uno? Nullane tristificis Tritonia noctua Carris Advolitans, praesto esse deam praenuntia Crasso Prodidit? aut Paphiam niveae vexere columbae, Cuius inauratum tremeret gens Persica limbum? Sed video, quae te moveant exempla vetustae

I do not bear that the Roman name, its wars sweated out, and the titles sought with so much blood should be carped at. He takes away from the unconquered legions, and lessens Rome’s own rewards, who ascribes to Venus whatever was done bravely, and robs the victors of the palm. In vain then do we admire on top of the arch the four-horse chariots, and the leaders standing in their high chariots, the Fabricii and Curii, here the Drusi, there the Camilli, and beneath the leaders’ feet the captives with bent knees, pressed down to the yoke, their hands twisted behind their backs, and fragments of weapons hung on a heavy trunk, if Flora, Matuta, Ceres, and Larentina subdued Brennus, Antiochus, Perseus, Pyrrhus, Mithridates. “Yet under these auspices the favorable omens gave glad successes, and the lucky bird was present.” What does valor mean? what glory? if the crow of Apollo helped Corvinus with wing or throat? But why then was this crow absent on the fatal day, as it happened, when deaths covered ill-omened Cannae and the consul fell on the heaped-up corpses? Why on the fields of the Cremera did none of the gods, by crow or by the singing owl, warn the three hundred Fabii that they would perish by unlucky war, with the stock surviving in barely one? Did no Tritonian owl, flying to Crassus at gloomy Carrhae, reveal as a forerunner that the goddess was present? Or did snowy doves carry the Paphian goddess, whose gilded border the Persian nation would fear? But I see what examples of ancient valor

Notes and citation

Summary: To credit Venus and the other goddesses with Rome’s victories over Brennus, Antiochus, Pyrrhus and Mithridates robs the legions of their glory; and if the crow of Apollo helped Corvinus, why did no omen warn Rome at Cannae, the Cremera or Carrhae?

Valerius Corvinus and the crow; Cannae (216 BC); the Fabii at the Cremera; Crassus at Carrhae (53 BC). Two footnote lines (on Alexander) and stray line numbers were removed, and a name divided across lines in the scan (“Mithridatem”) was restored.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): jSTon fero, Romanum nomen, sudataque bella, Et titulos tanto quaesitos sanguine carpi. Detraliit invictis legionibus, et sua Eomae (o) Dnclor Macetum. Alexander rex Macedonum, qui Ma- Cellarii. Praemia deminuit ; qui, quidquid fortiter actum est, Adscribit Voneri, i^alinam victoribus aufort. Frustra igitur currus summo miramur in arcn (^uadriius-os, stantosque duces in curi-ibus altis Fabricios, Curios, hinc Drusos, inde Camillos: Sub podibusque ducum captivos poplite flexo Ad iuya depressos, manibusque in torga rotortis, Et suspensa gravi telorum fragmina trunco ; Si Bronnum, Antioclmm, Person, Pyrrhum, Mitri- i'']ora, i^Iatuta, Coros ot Larontina subegit. [datom, His tam<'n auspicibus succossus doxtra dedorunt Omina la<'tificos, et folix adfuit ales. [565 Quid sibi vult virtus? quid gloria? si Corvimim Curvus Apollinous ponna vel gutture iuvit? Sod tamon liic corvns cur defuit oxitiali Forte die, infaustas toyeront quuin fanera Cannas, Oppeterotque super congesta cadavera consulV Cur Cremorae in campis cornice vel oscine parra, Nemo deiim moiuiit perituros Marte sinistro [570 Tercentum Fabios, vix stirpe superstite in uno? Nullane tristificis Tritonia noctua Carris • Advolitans, praesto esse deam praenuntia Crasso Prodidit? aut Papliiam niveae vexere columbae, Cuius inauratum tremeret gens Persica limbum? Sed video, quae te moveant exempla vetustae → Non fero Romanum nomen, sudataque bella, Et titulos tanto quaesitos sanguine carpi. Detrahit invictis legionibus, et sua Romae Praemia deminuit, qui, quidquid fortiter actum est, Adscribit Veneri, palmam victoribus aufert. Frustra igitur currus summo miramur in arcu Quadriiugos, stantesque duces in curribus altis Fabricios, Curios, hinc Drusos, inde Camillos: Sub pedibusque ducum captivos poplite flexo Ad iuga depressos, manibusque in terga retortis, Et suspensa gravi telorum fragmina trunco; Si Brennum, Antiochum, Persen, Pyrrhum, Mithridatem Flora, Matuta, Ceres, et Larentina subegit. His tamen auspicibus successus dextra dederunt Omina laetificos, et felix adfuit ales. Quid sibi vult virtus? quid gloria? si Corvinum Corvus Apollineus penna vel gutture iuvit? Sed tamen hic corvus cur defuit exitiali Forte die, infaustas tegerent cum funera Cannas, Oppeteretque super congesta cadavera consul? Cur Cremerae in campis cornice vel oscine parra Nemo deum monuit perituros Marte sinistro Tercentum Fabios, vix stirpe superstite in uno? Nullane tristificis Tritonia noctua Carris Advolitans, praesto esse deam praenuntia Crasso Prodidit? aut Paphiam niveae vexere columbae, Cuius inauratum tremeret gens Persica limbum? Sed video, quae te moveant exempla vetustae.

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.541 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 541–570; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-541). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-541

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.

4.571Lanfranchi 2:lines 571–600

Virtutis: dicis domitum terraque marique Orbem: res laetas et prospera quaeque retexis: Mille triumphorum memoras ex ordine pompas, Ductaque per mediam spoliorum fercula Romam. Vis dicam, quae causa tuos, Romane, labores In tantum extulerit? quis gloria fotibus aucta Sic cluat, impositis ut mundum frenet habenis? Discordes linguis populos, et dissona cultu Regna volens sociare Deus, subiungier uni Imperio, quidquid tractabile moribus esset, Concordique iugo retinacula mollia ferre Constituit, quo corda hominum coniuncta teneret Relligionis amor: nec enim fit copula Christo Digna, nisi implicitas societ mens unica gentes. Sola Deum novit concordia, sola benignum Rite colit tranquilla Patrem: placidissimus illum Foederis humani consensus prosperat orbi, Seditione fugat, saevis exasperat armis: Munere pacis alit, retinet pietate quieta. Omnibus in terris, quas distinet occidualis Oceanus, roseoque aurora inluminat ortu, Miscebat Bellona furens mortalia cuncta, Armaratque feras in vulnera mutua dextras. Hanc frenaturus rabiem Deus, undique gentes Inclinare caput docuit, sub legibus isdem, Romanosque omnes fieri, quos Rhenus et Hister, Quos Tagus aurifluus, quos magnus inundat Hiberus, Corniger Hesperidum quos interlabitur, et quos Ganges alit, tepidique lavant septem ostia Nili.

move you: you say that the world was subdued by land and sea; you recount the happy events and every success; you recall in order the processions of a thousand triumphs and the litters of spoils carried through the middle of Rome. Do you want me to tell you, Roman, what cause raised your labors so high? by what nurture glory grew so as to be famed for curbing the world with reins laid upon it? God, wishing to unite peoples discordant in tongue and kingdoms dissonant in worship, determined that whatever was tractable in its ways should be subjected to one empire, and bear soft bonds under a concordant yoke, so that love of religion might hold the hearts of men joined together; for there is no union worthy of Christ unless a single mind unites the nations bound together. Concord alone knows God; she alone, peaceful, rightly worships the kind Father; the most peaceful consent of human covenant makes him propitious to the world; sedition drives him away, cruel arms provoke him; the gift of peace nourishes him, quiet piety retains him. In all the lands which the western Ocean bounds and the dawn lights with its rosy rising, raging Bellona was confounding all mortal things and had armed savage hands for mutual wounds. To curb this madness God taught the nations everywhere to bow their heads under the same laws, and all to become Romans, whom the Rhine and the Danube, whom the gold-flowing Tagus, whom the great Ebro floods, through whom the horned river of the Hesperides glides, and whom the Ganges feeds and the seven mouths of the warm Nile wash.

Notes and citation

Summary: The true cause of Rome’s triumphs was God’s plan to unite the warring peoples under one empire and one law, so that a single concord might prepare the nations for the worship of Christ.

A footnote line (a verse on Carrhae) was removed. Line 590 is read “distinet” (scan “destinet”). The providential role of the Roman Empire as the poet states it.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): Virtutis : dicis domitum terraque marique Orbem : res laetas et prospera quaeque retexis : Mille triumpliorum memoras ox ordine pompas, Ductaque per mediam spoliorum fercula Ivomam. Vis dicam, quae causa tuos, Eomane, labores In tantum extulorit? quis gloria fotibus aucta Sic cluat, impositis ut mundum frenet liabenis? Discordes linguis populos, et dissona cultu Regna volens sociare Deus, subiungier uni Impei-io, quidquid tractabile moribus esset, Cuncordique iugo rotinacula mollia ferre Constituit, quo corda hominum coniuncta tonerot Relligionis amor : nec enim fit copula Christo Digna, nisi implicitas societ mens unica gentos. Sola Deum novit concordia, sola benignum « Assyrios Litio luacuiavit sauguiuo Cliarras. » Eite colit tranqiiilla Patrem : placidissimus illnm Foederis hiimani consensus prosperat orbi, Seditione fugat, saevis exasperat armis : Munere pacis alit, retinet i)ietate quieta. Omnibus in terris, "quas destinet occidualis Oceanus, roseoque aurora inluminat ortu, Miscebat Bellona furens mortalia cuncta, Armaratque feras in vulnera mutua doxtras. Hanc frenaturus rabiem Deus, undique gentes Inclinare caput docuit, sub legibus isdem, Komanosque omnes fieri, quos Klienus et Istoi^ Quos Tagus aurifluus, quos magnusiimndatHiberus, Corniger Hesperidum quos interlabitur, et quos Gangis alit, tepidique lavant septem ostia Nili. → Virtutis: dicis domitum terraque marique Orbem: res laetas et prospera quaeque retexis: Mille triumphorum memoras ex ordine pompas, Ductaque per mediam spoliorum fercula Romam. Vis dicam, quae causa tuos, Romane, labores In tantum extulerit? quis gloria fotibus aucta Sic cluat, impositis ut mundum frenet habenis? Discordes linguis populos, et dissona cultu Regna volens sociare Deus, subiungier uni Imperio, quidquid tractabile moribus esset, Concordique iugo retinacula mollia ferre Constituit, quo corda hominum coniuncta teneret Relligionis amor: nec enim fit copula Christo Digna, nisi implicitas societ mens unica gentes. Sola Deum novit concordia, sola benignum Rite colit tranquilla Patrem: placidissimus illum Foederis humani consensus prosperat orbi, Seditione fugat, saevis exasperat armis: Munere pacis alit, retinet pietate quieta. Omnibus in terris, quas distinet occidualis Oceanus, roseoque aurora inluminat ortu, Miscebat Bellona furens mortalia cuncta, Armaratque feras in vulnera mutua dextras. Hanc frenaturus rabiem Deus, undique gentes Inclinare caput docuit, sub legibus isdem, Romanosque omnes fieri, quos Rhenus et Hister, Quos Tagus aurifluus, quos magnus inundat Hiberus, Corniger Hesperidum quos interlabitur, et quos Ganges alit, tepidique lavant septem ostia Nili..

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.571 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 571–600; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-571). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-571

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-prudentius-contra-symmachum-4-571) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.

4.601Lanfranchi 2:lines 601–630

Ius fecit commune pares, et nomine eodem Nexuit, et domitos fraterna in vincla redegit. Vivitur omnigenis in partibus, haud secus ac si Cives congenitos concludat moenibus unis Urbs patria, atque omnes lare conciliemur avito. Distantes regione plagae, divisaque ponto Litora, conveniunt nunc per vadimonia ad unum Et commune forum, nunc per commercia et artes Ad coetum celebrem, nunc per genialia fulcra Externi ad ius conubii: nam sanguine mixto Texitur alternis ex gentibus una propago. Hoc actum est tantis successibus atque triumphis Romani imperii: Christo iam tunc venienti, Crede, parata via est, quam dudum publica nostrae Nam locus esse Deo quis posset in orbe feroci, Pectoribusque hominum discordibus, et sua iura Dissimili ratione tuentibus, ut fuit olim? Sic incompositos humano in pectore sensus, Disiunctasque animi turbato foedere partes, Nec liquida invisit sapientia, nec Deus intrat. At si mentis apex, regnandi iure potitus, Pugnacis stomachi pulsus fibrasque rebelles Frenet, et omne iecur ratione coerceat una: Fit stabilis vitae status, et sententia certa Haurit corde Deum, domino et subiungitur uni. En ades, Omnipotens, concordibus influe terris: Iam mundus te, Christe, capit, quem congrege nexu Pax et Roma tenent: capita haec et culmina rerum

A common law made them equal, and bound them with the same name, and brought the conquered into brotherly bonds. In every part of the world men live just as if one native city enclosed fellow citizens within one wall, and we were all united at an ancestral hearth. Regions far apart and shores divided by the sea meet now through legal summonses at one common forum, now through commerce and the arts at a crowded gathering, now through the marriage couch in the right of marriage with a foreigner; for from mixed blood one offspring is woven from alternating nations. This was accomplished by the great successes and triumphs of the Roman empire: for Christ, already then coming, believe me, the way was prepared, which long since the public … of our … For what place could there be for God in a savage world, and among the discordant hearts of men, guarding their own rights by different reasoning, as it was once? So, where the feelings in the human breast are disordered, and the parts of the mind disjoined with their covenant troubled, neither does clear wisdom visit nor does God enter. But if the summit of the mind, holding the right to rule, curbs the impulses and rebellious fibers of the pugnacious temper, and restrains all the liver by one reason, the state of life becomes stable, and a sure judgment draws in God with the heart and is subjected to one master. See, come, Almighty, flow into lands at concord: now the world receives you, Christ, which Peace and Rome hold in a united bond: these are the heads and summits of things,

Isa 40:3 (echo, low confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Common law and citizenship, trade and intermarriage made the world one city; so the Roman empire prepared the way for Christ, since God cannot enter a discordant world or a divided soul; now the world, united in peace under Rome, receives Christ.

Two footnote lines (a verse of Dante on “that Rome of which Christ is a Roman”) and a stray line number were removed. A line seems lost after line 614 (the sentence about the way prepared is incomplete); marked “…”. Isa 40:3.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): lus fecit commune pares, et nomine eodem Nexuit, et domitos fraterna in vincla redegit. Vivitur omnigenis in partibus, haud secus ac si Cives congenitos concludat moenibus unis Vrbs patria, atque omnes lare conciliemur avito. Distantes regione plagae, divisaque ponto Litora, conveniunt mnic per vadimonia ad unum Kt commune foruin, nunc per commercia et artes Ad coetum celebrem, nunc per genialia fulcra « cive Di quella Koma, onde Cristo e liomano, » Externi ad ius conniibii: nam sanguine mixto Texitur alternis ex gentibiis una propago. Hoo actum est tantis successibus atque triumpliis Rouiani imperii: Cliristo iani tunc venienti, Orede, j^arata via est, quam dudura publica nostrae Nam locus esse Deo quis posset in orbe feroci. Pectoribusque hominum discordibus, et sua iura Dissimili ratione tuentibus, iit fuit olim? Sic incompositos humano in pectore seiisus, Disiunctasque animi turl^ato foedere partes, Nec liquida invisit sapientia, nec Deus intrat. At si mentis apex, regnandi iure potitus, Pugnacis stomaclii pulsus fibrasque rebelles Frenet, et omne iecur ratione coerceat una : 6-30 Fit stabilis vitae status, et sententia certa Haurit corde Deum, domino et subiungitur uni. En ades, Omnipotens, concordibus influe terris : lam mundus te, Christe, capit, quem congrege nexu Pax et lioma tenent : capita haec et culmina rerum → Ius fecit commune pares, et nomine eodem Nexuit, et domitos fraterna in vincla redegit. Vivitur omnigenis in partibus, haud secus ac si Cives congenitos concludat moenibus unis Urbs patria, atque omnes lare conciliemur avito. Distantes regione plagae, divisaque ponto Litora, conveniunt nunc per vadimonia ad unum Et commune forum, nunc per commercia et artes Ad coetum celebrem, nunc per genialia fulcra Externi ad ius conubii: nam sanguine mixto Texitur alternis ex gentibus una propago. Hoc actum est tantis successibus atque triumphis Romani imperii: Christo iam tunc venienti, Crede, parata via est, quam dudum publica nostrae Nam locus esse Deo quis posset in orbe feroci, Pectoribusque hominum discordibus, et sua iura Dissimili ratione tuentibus, ut fuit olim? Sic incompositos humano in pectore sensus, Disiunctasque animi turbato foedere partes, Nec liquida invisit sapientia, nec Deus intrat. At si mentis apex, regnandi iure potitus, Pugnacis stomachi pulsus fibrasque rebelles Frenet, et omne iecur ratione coerceat una: Fit stabilis vitae status, et sententia certa Haurit corde Deum, domino et subiungitur uni. En ades, Omnipotens, concordibus influe terris: Iam mundus te, Christe, capit, quem congrege nexu Pax et Roma tenent: capita haec et culmina rerum.

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.601 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 601–630; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-601). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-601

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.

4.631Lanfranchi 2:lines 631–660

Esse iubes, nec Roma tibi sine pace probatur. Et, pax ut placeat, facit excellentia Romae, Quae motus varios simul et dicione coercet, Et terrore premit: nec enim spoliata prioris Robore virtutis senuit, nec saecula sensit, Nec tremulis, cum bella vocant, capit arma lacertis: Nec tam degeneri venerandis supplicat ore Principibus, quam vult praenobilis ille senator, Orandi arte potens, et callida fingere doctus, Mentitumque gravis personae inducere pondus: Ut tragicus cantor ligno tegit ora cavato, Grande aliquod cuius per hiatum crimen anhelet. » — Si vocem simulare licet, nempe aptior ista Vox Romae est, quam nunc eius sub nomine promam. Quae, quia turpe putat templorum flore repulsam, Aegidaque in dubiis pro se pugnasse periclis Dicere, seque gravem senio inclinante fateri, Ductores complexa suos, sic laeta profatur: Principis invicti, sub quo senium omne renascens Caniciem, nam cum mortalia cuncta vetustas Imminuat, mihi longa dies aliud parit aevum, Quae, vivendo diu, didici contemnere finem. Nunc, nunc iusta meis reverentia competit annis: Nunc merito dicor venerabilis, et caput orbis, Cum galeam sub fronde oleae, cristasque rubentes Concutio, viridi velans fera cingula serto; Atque armata Deum sine crimine caedis adoro.

you bid to be [the heads of things], and Rome without peace does not please you. And the excellence of Rome makes peace pleasing, since she both curbs various upheavals by her rule and presses them with terror; for she has not grown old, stripped of the strength of her former valor, nor felt the centuries, nor does she take up arms with trembling arms when wars call; nor does she supplicate the venerable emperors with so degenerate a mouth as that most noble senator would have it, powerful in the art of pleading and skilled in feigning cunning things, and in bringing on the false weight of a grave character, as the tragic singer covers his face with a hollow wooden mask, through whose gaping mouth he may pant out some great crime. If one may imitate a voice, surely this voice, which I shall now bring out in her name, is more fitting for Rome. She, because she thinks it shameful to say that she was repulsed when the temples flourished, and that the aegis fought for her in doubtful dangers, and to confess herself heavy with stooping age, embracing her leaders, speaks joyfully thus: “… [Hail, sons] of an unconquered emperor, under whom, reborn, [I put off] all old age … my white hair; for though length of time diminishes all mortal things, the long day brings me another age, for by living long I have learned to despise an end. Now, now just reverence befits my years; now I am rightly called venerable and the head of the world, when I shake my helmet under a garland of olive and my red crests, veiling my fierce belt with a green wreath, and, armed, I adore God without the crime of slaughter.

Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ wills Rome and peace to be the heads of the world; Rome is not the senile suppliant that Symmachus impersonates like a tragic actor; Rome herself speaks, saying that under the Christian emperors she is renewed and worships God without the crime of bloodshed.

Symmachus’s personification of Rome (Relatio 3.9) answered with Rome’s own voice. Three lines of a footnote quotation (Horace, Ars 278–280) and a footnote mark were removed. Lines seem lost in the scan after line 649 (Rome’s greeting and her hair growing young); marked “…”, with the sense in brackets. The closing quotation mark at line 642 is printed in the edition.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): Esse iubes, nec Roma tibi sine pace probatur. [635 Et, pax ut placeat, facit excellentia Romae, Quae motus varios simul et ditione coercet, Et terrore premit: nec enim spoliata prioris Rol)ore virtutis senuit, nec saecula sensit, Nec tremulis, quum bella vocant, capit arma lacertis: Nec tam degeneri venerandis supplicat ore Principil»us, quam vult praenobilis ille senator, Orandi arte poteiis, et callida fingere doctus, Mentitumque gravis personae inducere pondus : Ut trai^icus cantor ligno tegit ora cavato, Grande aliquod cuius per liiatum crimen anhelet ». — Si vocem simulare licet, nempe aptior ista Vox Romae est, quam ininc eius sub nomine promam. Quae, quia turpe putat templorum florc ropulsam, Aegidaque in dubiis pro se pugnasso poriclis Dicere, seque gravem senio iuclinante fateri, Ductorcs complexa suos, sic laeta profatur: Principis invicti, sub quo senium omne renascens Caniciem, nam quum mortalia cuncta vetustas « porsonae pallaequo reperior honestae «■ Aeschylus et niodicis instravit pulp.ta ligiiis, « Et docuit magnumque loqui, nitique cothurno ». Imminuat, mihi longa dies aliud i^arit aevum, Quae, vivendo diu, didici contemnere finem. Nuncnunciustaineisreverentiacompetitaimis : Nunc merito dicor venerabilis, et caput orbis (Ij, Quum galeam sub fronde oleae, cristasque rubentes Concutio, viridi velans fera cingula serto ; Atque armata Deum sine crimine caedis adoro. → Esse iubes, nec Roma tibi sine pace probatur. Et, pax ut placeat, facit excellentia Romae, Quae motus varios simul et dicione coercet, Et terrore premit: nec enim spoliata prioris Robore virtutis senuit, nec saecula sensit, Nec tremulis, cum bella vocant, capit arma lacertis: Nec tam degeneri venerandis supplicat ore Principibus, quam vult praenobilis ille senator, Orandi arte potens, et callida fingere doctus, Mentitumque gravis personae inducere pondus: Ut tragicus cantor ligno tegit ora cavato, Grande aliquod cuius per hiatum crimen anhelet. » — Si vocem simulare licet, nempe aptior ista Vox Romae est, quam nunc eius sub nomine promam. Quae, quia turpe putat templorum flore repulsam, Aegidaque in dubiis pro se pugnasse periclis Dicere, seque gravem senio inclinante fateri, Ductores complexa suos, sic laeta profatur: Principis invicti, sub quo senium omne renascens Caniciem, nam cum mortalia cuncta vetustas Imminuat, mihi longa dies aliud parit aevum, Quae, vivendo diu, didici contemnere finem. Nunc, nunc iusta meis reverentia competit annis: Nunc merito dicor venerabilis, et caput orbis, Cum galeam sub fronde oleae, cristasque rubentes Concutio, viridi velans fera cingula serto; Atque armata Deum sine crimine caedis adoro..

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.631 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 631–660; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-631). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-631

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.

4.661Lanfranchi 2:lines 661–690

Crimen enim, piget heu, crimen persuaserat atrox Adsuetum bellis scelerare in funere ferrum. Illius instinctu primus Nero, matre perempta, Sanguinem apostolicum bibit, ac me strage piorum Polluit, et proprium facinus mihi saevus inussit. Post hunc et Decius, iugulis bacchatus apertis, Insanam pavit rabiem: mox et sitis arsit Multorum similis, per vulnera tristia flagrans, Extrahere insignes animas, ac ludere poenis, Undantesque meum in gremium defundere mortes. Hac me labe ream modo tempora vestra piarunt. Vivo pie vobis auctoribus, impia pridem Arte Iovis, fateor: quid enim non ille cruentum Tradidit? aut quid mite sibi, placidumve poposcit? Qui, dum praemetuit cultus inolescere Christi, Saeviit, ac miserum foedavit sanguine saeclum. Et sunt, qui nobis bella exprobrare sinistra Non dubitent, postquam templorum sprevimus aras; Adfirmentque Libyn Collinae a cardine portae Hannibalem Iovis imperio, Martisque repulsum: Victores Senonas Capitoli ex arce fugatos, Cum super e celso pugnarent numina saxo. Qui mihi praeteritam cladem, veteresque dolores Inculcant iterum; videant me tempore vestro Iam nil tale pati. Nullus mea barbarus hostis Cuspide claustra quatit: non armis, veste, comisque Ignotus, capta passim vagus errat in urbe, Transalpina meam rapiens in vincula pubem.

For a crime, alas, I am sorry for it, a dreadful crime had persuaded me to defile with death the sword accustomed to wars. At its instigation Nero first, after killing his mother, drank apostolic blood, and polluted me with the slaughter of the holy, and cruelly branded his own crime on me. After him Decius too, raging with cut throats, fed his mad fury; and soon the thirst of many, like him, burned, ardent to draw out, through grim wounds, illustrious souls, to make sport with punishments, and to pour out flowing deaths into my lap. … Your times have now cleansed me, guilty of this stain. I live holily under your guidance, I who was impious long ago by the art of Jupiter, I confess: for what bloody thing did he not hand down? Or what gentle or peaceful thing did he ask for himself? He, while he feared that the worship of Christ would take root, raged and fouled the wretched age with blood. And there are those who do not hesitate to reproach us with unlucky wars, since we spurned the altars of the temples, and who affirm that the Libyan Hannibal was driven back from the hinge of the Colline gate by the command of Jupiter and Mars, and that the victorious Senones were driven from the citadel of the Capitol, when the divine powers fought from the high rock. Let those who press upon me again the past disaster and the old sorrows see that in your time I suffer nothing of the kind now. No barbarian enemy shakes my gates with his spear; no stranger in arms, dress, and hair wanders everywhere through a captured city, dragging my young men into chains beyond the Alps.

Notes and citation

Summary: Rome confesses that the worship of Jupiter drove her to the persecutions of Nero, Decius and others, from which the Christian emperors have cleansed her; to those who blame her misfortunes on the neglect of the gods, she answers that under Christian rule no barbarian has taken the city.

Nero and the deaths of Peter and Paul; Decius. Two lines of a footnote quotation (Prosper, De ingratis 41–42) and a stray line number and footnote mark were removed. Line 662 is read “scelerare in funere” (scan “scelerarem funere”). A line seems lost after line 670; marked “…”.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): Orimen enim, piget heu, crimen persuaserat atrox Adsuetum bellis scelerarem funere ferrum. Illius instinctu primus Nero, matre peremta, Sanguinem Apostolicnm l)ibit, ac me strage pioruin Polluit, et proprium facinus mihi saevus inussit (o). Post huuc et Decius, iugulis bacchatus apertis, Insanam pavit rabiem : mox et sitis arsit Multorum similis, per vulnera tristia fligrans, Extrahere iiisignes animas, ac ludere poenis, Undantesque ineum in gremium defundere inortes , Hac me labe reain modo tempora vestra piarunt. Yivo pie vobis auctoribus, impia pridem « Facta capiit »iuiido: quidquid uon continet arniis « Eeligione tenet. » De Ingratis. 42. Ai-te lovis, fateor : quid enim noii ille cruentum Tradidit? aut quid mite sibi, placidumve i)oposcit? Qui, diim praemotuit cultus inolescere Christi, [680 Saeviit, ac miserum foedavit sanguine saeclum. Et sunt, qui nobis bella exprobrare sinistra Xon dubitent, postqnam teiiiplorum sprevimus aras; Adfirmentque Libyn Collinae a cardine portae Hannibalein lovis imporio, Martisque repulsum : Yictores Senonas Capitoli ex arce fugatos, Quum super e celso pugnarent numina saxo. Qui inihi praeteritam cladem, veteresque dolores Inculcant iterum ; videant me tempore vestro lam nil tale pati. Xullus mea barbarus hostis Cuspide claustra quatit : non armis, veste, comisque Ignotus, capta passini vagus errat in Vrbe, Transalpina meam rapiens in vincula pubem. → Crimen enim, piget heu, crimen persuaserat atrox Adsuetum bellis scelerare in funere ferrum. Illius instinctu primus Nero, matre perempta, Sanguinem apostolicum bibit, ac me strage piorum Polluit, et proprium facinus mihi saevus inussit. Post hunc et Decius, iugulis bacchatus apertis, Insanam pavit rabiem: mox et sitis arsit Multorum similis, per vulnera tristia flagrans, Extrahere insignes animas, ac ludere poenis, Undantesque meum in gremium defundere mortes. Hac me labe ream modo tempora vestra piarunt. Vivo pie vobis auctoribus, impia pridem Arte Iovis, fateor: quid enim non ille cruentum Tradidit? aut quid mite sibi, placidumve poposcit? Qui, dum praemetuit cultus inolescere Christi, Saeviit, ac miserum foedavit sanguine saeclum. Et sunt, qui nobis bella exprobrare sinistra Non dubitent, postquam templorum sprevimus aras; Adfirmentque Libyn Collinae a cardine portae Hannibalem Iovis imperio, Martisque repulsum: Victores Senonas Capitoli ex arce fugatos, Cum super e celso pugnarent numina saxo. Qui mihi praeteritam cladem, veteresque dolores Inculcant iterum; videant me tempore vestro Iam nil tale pati. Nullus mea barbarus hostis Cuspide claustra quatit: non armis, veste, comisque Ignotus, capta passim vagus errat in urbe, Transalpina meam rapiens in vincula pubem..

Topics: Persecution, Martyrdom

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.661 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 661–690; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-661). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-661

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.

4.691Lanfranchi 2:lines 691–720

Temptavit Geticus nuper delere tyrannus Italiam, patrio veniens iuratus ab Histro, Has arces aequare solo, tecta aurea flammis Solvere, mastrucis proceres vestire togatos. Et Ligurum vastarat opes, et amoena profundi Rura Padi, Tuscumque solum victo amne premebat. Repulit hos nimbos equitum non pervigil anser, Proditor occulti tenebrosa nocte pericli: Sed vis cruda virum, perfractaque congredientum Pectora, nec trepidans animus succumbere leto Pro patria, et pulchram per vulnera quaerere laudem. Numquid et ille dies Iove contulit auspice tantum Virtutis pretium? dux agminis imperiique Christipotens nobis iuvenis fuit, et comes eius Atque parens Stilicho: Deus unus Christus utrique. Huius adoratis altaribus, et cruce fronti Inscripta, cecinere tubae: prima hasta dracones Praecurrit, quae Christi apicem sublimior effert. Illic, ter denis gens exitiabilis annis Pannoniae, poenas tandem deleta rependit. Corpora famosis olim ditata rapinis In cumulos congesta iacent: mirabere seris, Posteritas, saeclis inhumata cadavera late, Quae Pollentinos texerunt ossibus agros. Si potui manibus Gallorum excisa levare De cinerum squalore caput, redeunte Camillo Signa renidenti fumans si fronte recepi; Si potui miseras sertis redimire ruinas,

Recently the Getic tyrant tried to destroy Italy, coming sworn from his native Danube, to level these citadels with the ground, to dissolve the golden roofs in flames, and to dress the toga-wearing nobles in sheepskins. … He had laid waste the wealth of the Ligurians and the pleasant countryside of the deep Po, and was pressing the Tuscan soil, the river crossed. It was no sleepless goose, betrayer of hidden danger in the dark night, that drove back these clouds of horsemen, but the raw strength of men, the breasts of those who met them broken through, and a spirit not trembling to fall in death for the fatherland and to seek fair glory through wounds. Did that day, too, give so great a reward for valor with Jupiter as patron? The leader of our army and empire was a young man mighty in Christ, and his companion and father Stilicho: one God, Christ, for both. When his altars had been adored and the cross inscribed on their foreheads, the trumpets sounded; in front of the dragons went the first lance, which carried higher the monogram of Christ. There the nation that had been the ruin of Pannonia for thirty years at last paid the penalty and was destroyed. Bodies once enriched with notorious plunder lie heaped in piles: you will marvel, posterity, in later ages, at the unburied corpses far and wide that covered the fields of Pollentia with bones. If I could lift my head, cut off by the hands of the Gauls, from the squalor of the ashes, when Camillus returned, if, smoking, I received back the standards with a smiling brow; if I could crown my wretched ruins with garlands,

Notes and citation

Summary: Rome recalls the recent invasion of Italy by Alaric the Goth, defeated at Pollentia not by sacred geese but by the courage of the army under the Christian emperor Honorius and Stilicho, who prayed at Christ’s altars and marched under the cross.

The battle of Pollentia (402) against Alaric; the emperor Honorius and Stilicho. Two lines of a footnote and stray line numbers and a footnote mark were removed. A line seems lost after line 694 (the Venetian fields); marked “…”. Line 712 is read “sublimior effert” (scan “sublimio reffert”). The sign of the cross on the forehead.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): Toiitavit Geticus nuper delere tyrannus Italiam, patrio veniens iuratus ab Istro, Has arces aequare solo, tecta aurea flammis Solvere, mastrucis proceres vestire togatos. Anterior enim vcrsus ad Hannibaluiii, ipse vero ad Brennum et ' Senonas refertur. De Gothis niox». Et Ligurum vastarat opes, et auioena profundi Rura Padi, Tuscumque solum victo amno premebat Uepulit lios nimbos equitum non pervigil anser, Proditor occulti tenebrosa nocte pericli : Sed vis cruda viniui, perfractaque congredientum Pectora, nec trepidans animus succumbere leto Pro patria, et pulcliram per vulnera quaerere laudem. Numquid et ille dies love contulit auspice tantum Virtutis pretium? dux agminis imi^eriique Christipotens nobis iuvenis fuit, et cooies eius Atque parens Stilicho : Deus uaus Christus utrique. Huius adoratis altaribus, et cruce fronti [710 Inscripta, cecinere tubae : prima hasta dracones Praecurrit(l), quae Cliristi apicem sublimio reffert. Illic, ter denis gens exitiabilis annis l^uinoniae, poeiias tandem deleta popendit. Corpora famosis olim ditata rapinis In cumnlos congosta iacent : mirabere seris, Postoritas, saeclis inhumata cadavera late, Quae Pollentinos toxorunt ossibus agros. Si potui manibus Gallorum excisa levare De cinerum siiualore caput, redounte Camillo Signa renidonti fumans si fronte rocopi ; Si potui misoras sertis rodimire ruinas, → Temptavit Geticus nuper delere tyrannus Italiam, patrio veniens iuratus ab Histro, Has arces aequare solo, tecta aurea flammis Solvere, mastrucis proceres vestire togatos. Et Ligurum vastarat opes, et amoena profundi Rura Padi, Tuscumque solum victo amne premebat. Repulit hos nimbos equitum non pervigil anser, Proditor occulti tenebrosa nocte pericli: Sed vis cruda virum, perfractaque congredientum Pectora, nec trepidans animus succumbere leto Pro patria, et pulchram per vulnera quaerere laudem. Numquid et ille dies Iove contulit auspice tantum Virtutis pretium? dux agminis imperiique Christipotens nobis iuvenis fuit, et comes eius Atque parens Stilicho: Deus unus Christus utrique. Huius adoratis altaribus, et cruce fronti Inscripta, cecinere tubae: prima hasta dracones Praecurrit, quae Christi apicem sublimior effert. Illic, ter denis gens exitiabilis annis Pannoniae, poenas tandem deleta rependit. Corpora famosis olim ditata rapinis In cumulos congesta iacent: mirabere seris, Posteritas, saeclis inhumata cadavera late, Quae Pollentinos texerunt ossibus agros. Si potui manibus Gallorum excisa levare De cinerum squalore caput, redeunte Camillo Signa renidenti fumans si fronte recepi; Si potui miseras sertis redimire ruinas,.

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.691 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 691–720; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-691). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-691

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.

4.721Lanfranchi 2:lines 721–750

Et nuper pendentes lauro praecingere turres: Quo te suscipiam gremio, fortissime princeps? Quos spargam flores? quibus insertabo coronis Atria? quae festis suspendam pallia portis, Immunis tanti belli, ac te stante sub armis Libera, et aure tenus Goticos experta tumultus? Scande triumphalem currum, spoliisque receptis Huc, Christo comitante, veni: dato, vincula demam Captivis gregibus, manicas deponito, longo Tritas servitio, matrum iuvenumque catervae; Dediscat servire senex laris exsul aviti, Discat et ad patrium limen genetrice reversa Ingenuum se nosse puer: timor omnis abesto. Vicimus, exsultare libet: quid tale, repulso Poenorum quondam duce, contigit? ille petitae Postquam perculerat tremefacta repagula portae, Baianis resolutus aquis durissima luxu Robora destituit, ferrumque libidine fregit. At noster Stilicho congressus comminus ipsa Ex acie ferrata virum dare terga coegit. Hic Christus nobis Deus adfuit, et mera virtus: Illic lascivum, Campania fertilis, hostem Deliciae vicere tuae: non Iuppiter acrem Protexit Fabium, sed iuvit amoena Tarentus, Quae dedit inlecebris domitum calcare tyrannum. His ego pro meritis quae praemia digna rependam, Non habeo. Membra statuis effingere vile est. Virtutem nil vile decet: nam vile, quod aetas Eripit, aera cadunt, aut fulvum defluit aurum; Aut candor perit argenti, si defuit usus,

and to gird the towers lately left hanging with laurel: with what embrace shall I receive you, bravest emperor? What flowers shall I scatter? With what crowns shall I adorn the halls? What hangings shall I hang on the festive gates, I who was spared so great a war, and, while you stood under arms, was free, and knew the Gothic tumults only by hearsay? Mount the triumphal chariot, and with the spoils recovered come here, with Christ as your companion: allow me to remove the chains from the captive flocks; take off the manacles worn by long servitude, you bands of mothers and youths; let the old man, exiled from his ancestral hearth, unlearn slavery, and let the boy, his mother returned to the paternal threshold, learn to know himself freeborn: let all fear be gone. We have conquered; it is a joy to exult: what such thing happened when the leader of the Carthaginians was once repulsed? He, after he had struck the trembling bars of the gate he attacked, relaxed by the waters of Baiae, abandoned his hardest strength in luxury, and broke his steel with lust. But our Stilicho, meeting him at close quarters, forced him to turn his back on the very battle line of armored men. Here Christ, God, was with us, and pure valor; there, fertile Campania, your delights conquered the wanton enemy; it was not Jupiter who protected keen Fabius, but pleasant Tarentum helped, which allowed him to trample the tyrant tamed by its allurements. What fitting rewards I shall pay for these merits I do not have. To shape limbs in statues is cheap. Nothing cheap befits virtue: for what age snatches away is cheap: bronzes fall, or tawny gold flows away, or the whiteness of silver perishes if use has failed,

Notes and citation

Summary: Rome welcomes Honorius in triumph, frees the captives, and contrasts this victory, won with Christ and true courage, with Hannibal’s, undone by the luxuries of Campania; no statue could worthily reward such virtue.

Hannibal at Capua and Baiae; Fabius at Tarentum. Line 721 (“nuper”, scan “nuile”) is doubtful. Footnote marks and a stray line number were removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): Et nuile pendontes lauro praecingere turres : Quo te suscipiam gromio, fortissimo Princops? Quos spargam floros? quibus insertabo coronis Atria? (|uao fostis suspendam pallia portis, Immunis tanti belli, ac te stanto sul) armis Libera, ot aure tenus Goticos oxporta tumultus ? Scande triumplu\lem currum, spoliisque rccoptis IIuc, Christo comitante, voni (:j) : dato, vincula demain Captivis gregibus, manicas doponito, longo Tritas servitio, matruin iuvouumque catervae I)i3discat servire senox laris cxsul aviti, Discat et ad patrium limen gonitrice reversa 7'35 Ingeimum se nosse puer : timor omnis abesto. Vicimus, exsultare libet: quid tale, repulso Poenorum quondam duce, contigit? ille petitae Postquam perculerat tremefacta repagula portae, Baianis resolutus aquis durissima luxu Robora destituit, ferrumque libidine fregit. At noster Stilicho congressus comminus ipsa FiX acie ferrata viriim dare terga coegit. Hic Christus nobis Deus adfuit, et mera virtus : Illic lascivum, Campania fertilis, hostem Deliciae vicore tuae : non luppiter acrem Protexit Fabium, sed iuvit amoena Tarentus, Quae dedit illecebris domitum calcare tjTannum. His ego pro meritis quae praemia digna rependam, Non habeo. membra statuis effingere vile est. Virtutem nil vile decet : nam vile, quod aetas Eripit, aera cadunt, aut fulvum defluit aurum ; Aut candor perit argenti, si defait usus, → Et nuper pendentes lauro praecingere turres: Quo te suscipiam gremio, fortissime princeps? Quos spargam flores? quibus insertabo coronis Atria? quae festis suspendam pallia portis, Immunis tanti belli, ac te stante sub armis Libera, et aure tenus Goticos experta tumultus? Scande triumphalem currum, spoliisque receptis Huc, Christo comitante, veni: dato, vincula demam Captivis gregibus, manicas deponito, longo Tritas servitio, matrum iuvenumque catervae; Dediscat servire senex laris exsul aviti, Discat et ad patrium limen genetrice reversa Ingenuum se nosse puer: timor omnis abesto. Vicimus, exsultare libet: quid tale, repulso Poenorum quondam duce, contigit? ille petitae Postquam perculerat tremefacta repagula portae, Baianis resolutus aquis durissima luxu Robora destituit, ferrumque libidine fregit. At noster Stilicho congressus comminus ipsa Ex acie ferrata virum dare terga coegit. Hic Christus nobis Deus adfuit, et mera virtus: Illic lascivum, Campania fertilis, hostem Deliciae vicere tuae: non Iuppiter acrem Protexit Fabium, sed iuvit amoena Tarentus, Quae dedit inlecebris domitum calcare tyrannum. His ego pro meritis quae praemia digna rependam, Non habeo. Membra statuis effingere vile est. Virtutem nil vile decet: nam vile, quod aetas Eripit, aera cadunt, aut fulvum defluit aurum; Aut candor perit argenti, si defuit usus,.

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.721 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 721–750; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-721). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-721

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.

4.751Lanfranchi 2:lines 751–780

Et fuscata situ corrumpit vena colorem. Viva tibi, princeps, debetur gloria, vivum Virtutis pretium, decus immortale secuto. Regnator mundi Christo sociabere in aevum, Quo ductore meum trahis ad caelestia regnum. Nil te permoveat magni vox rhetoris, oro, Qui sub legati specie sacra mortua plorans, Ingenii telis et fandi viribus audet, Heu! nostram temptare fidem: nec te videt ac me Devotos, Auguste, Deo: cui sordida templa Clausimus, et madidas sanie deiecimus aras. Unus nostra regat servetque palatia Christus, Ne quis Romuleas daemon iam noverit arces, Sed soli pacis domino mea serviat aula. » — Sic adfata pios Roma exoravit alumnos, Spernere legatum non admittenda petentem, Legatum Iovis ex adytis ab haruspice missum: At non a patria: patriae nam gloria Christus. Persistit tamen adfirmans, iter esse viandi Multifidum variumque, Deus cum quaeritur unus. Hinc alios, ast inde alios properare seorsum Quemque per anfractus proprios; sed compita eodem Fine coartari, simul et concurrere in unum. Quin etiam caelum atque solum, ventos, mare, nubes Omnibus in commune dari, vel qui colimus te, Christe, vel exta litant sculptis qui tabida saxis. Non nego communem cunctis viventibus usum Aeris, astrorum, pelagi, telluris et imbris. Immo etiam iniustus pariter, iustusque sub uno Axe habitant, unas capit impius et pius auras:

and the vein of metal, darkened by neglect, spoils its color. A living glory is owed to you, emperor, a living reward of virtue, for you have followed immortal glory. As ruler of the world you will be joined with Christ for ever, under whose leadership you draw my kingdom to heaven. Let nothing move you, I pray, in the voice of the great orator, who, under the guise of an envoy, lamenting dead rites, dares, alas, with the weapons of his talent and the powers of speech, to attack our faith, and does not see that you and I, Augustus, are devoted to God, for whom we have closed the sordid temples and thrown down the altars wet with gore. Let Christ alone rule and preserve our palace, so that no demon may any longer know the citadels of Romulus, but my court may serve the Lord of peace alone.” Having spoken thus, Rome prevailed on her dutiful sons to spurn the envoy who asked what should not be granted, an envoy sent from Jupiter’s shrine by a soothsayer, but not by the fatherland: for Christ is the glory of the fatherland. Yet he persists, affirming that the way of going is many-branched and varied when the one God is sought; some hasten from here, others from there, separately, each by his own windings, but the crossroads are drawn together to the same end and run together into one; moreover, that heaven and earth, winds, sea, clouds are given to all in common, whether to us who worship you, Christ, or to those who offer rotting entrails to carved stones. I do not deny that the use of air, stars, sea, earth, and rain is common to all living things. Indeed, the unjust and the just alike live under one sky; the impious and the pious breathe the same air:

Matt 5:45 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Rome promises Honorius eternal glory with Christ and asks him to reject Symmachus, the envoy of the gods, not of Rome; Symmachus insists that there are many paths to the one God and that nature’s gifts are common to all; the poet grants that sun and rain are shared by the just and the unjust.

Symmachus, Relatio 3.10 (“uno itinere non potest perveniri ad tam grande secretum”). Matt 5:45. A stray line number was removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): Et fuscata situ corrumpit vena colorem. Viva tibi, Princeps, debetur gloria, vivum Virtutis i)retium, decus immortale secuto. Regnator mundi Christo sociabere in aevum, Quo ductore meum traliis ad caelestia regnum. Nil te permoveat magni vox rhetoris, oro, <iui sub legati specie saera mortua plorans, Ingenii telis et fandi viribus audet, Heu ! nostram tentaro fidem : nec te videt ac mc Devotos, Auguste, Deo : cui sordida templa Clausimus, et madidas sanie deiecimus aras. Unus nostra regat scrvotque palatia Cliristus, Ne quis Romuleas daemon iam noverit arces, Sed soli pacis Domino raea serviat aula. Sic adfota pios Roma exoravit alumnos, Sperncre legatum non admittenda petentem, Legatum lovis cx adytis ab aruspice missum : At non a patria : patriae nam gloria Christus, Persistit tamen adfirmans, iter esso viandi ^lultifidum variumque Dens quum quaeritur unus. Ilinc alios, ast inde alios properare seorsim [775 (Juemque per anfractus proprios ; sed compita eodom Fine coiirtari, simul et concurrere in unum. Quin etiam caelnm atquo solum, ventos, mare,nubes Omnibus in commune dari, vel qui colimus te, Christe, vel cxta litant sculptis qui tabida saxis. Xon nego communem cunctis vivontibus usum Aiiris, astrorura, pelagi, telhn'is et imbris. Immo etiam iniustus paritor, iustusquc sub uno Axe habitant, unas capit impius et pius auras : → Et fuscata situ corrumpit vena colorem. Viva tibi, princeps, debetur gloria, vivum Virtutis pretium, decus immortale secuto. Regnator mundi Christo sociabere in aevum, Quo ductore meum trahis ad caelestia regnum. Nil te permoveat magni vox rhetoris, oro, Qui sub legati specie sacra mortua plorans, Ingenii telis et fandi viribus audet, Heu! nostram temptare fidem: nec te videt ac me Devotos, Auguste, Deo: cui sordida templa Clausimus, et madidas sanie deiecimus aras. Unus nostra regat servetque palatia Christus, Ne quis Romuleas daemon iam noverit arces, Sed soli pacis domino mea serviat aula. » — Sic adfata pios Roma exoravit alumnos, Spernere legatum non admittenda petentem, Legatum Iovis ex adytis ab haruspice missum: At non a patria: patriae nam gloria Christus. Persistit tamen adfirmans, iter esse viandi Multifidum variumque, Deus cum quaeritur unus. Hinc alios, ast inde alios properare seorsum Quemque per anfractus proprios; sed compita eodem Fine coartari, simul et concurrere in unum. Quin etiam caelum atque solum, ventos, mare, nubes Omnibus in commune dari, vel qui colimus te, Christe, vel exta litant sculptis qui tabida saxis. Non nego communem cunctis viventibus usum Aeris, astrorum, pelagi, telluris et imbris. Immo etiam iniustus pariter, iustusque sub uno Axe habitant, unas capit impius et pius auras:.

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.751 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 751–780; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-751). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-751

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.

4.781Lanfranchi 2:lines 781–810

Castus et incestus, meretrix et nupta: nec alter Ore sacerdotis, quam mirmillonis anhelat Spiritus, aerio vitam qui temperat haustu. Nubes verna pluit zephyro impellente, sed aeque Furis et innocui fecundat rura coloni. Gurgitis aestivi sic pura fluenta viator, Ut latro fessus, adit: sic piratis mare servit, Ut mercatori: nec fluctus secius hosti Obsequitur, quam cum licitae fert transtra carinae. Ergo capax utriusque rei natura creandis Se praebet populis, nec habet discernere dispar Viventum meritum, quos tantum pascere iussa est: Servit enim mundus, non iudicat: hoc sibi summus Naturae Dominus praescripta in tempora servat. Nunc adsunt homini data munera legibus isdem, Quis concessa semel. Fons liquitur, amnis inundat, Velivolum ratibus mare finditur, influit imber, Aura volat tenuis, vegetatur mobilis aer, Et res naturae fit publica, promptaque cunctis, Dum servant elementa suum famulantia cursum: Sic probus, atque reus capitalis criminis isdem Sideribus, facilisque poli bonitate fruuntur. Vivere commune est, sed non commune mereri. Denique Romanus, Daha, Sarmata, Vandalus, Hunnus, Gaetulus, Garamas, Alamannus, Saxo, Galaula, Una omnes gradiuntur humo, caelum omnibus unum est, Unus et oceanus, nostrum qui continet orbem. Addo aliud: nostros potant animalia fontes: Ipso rore mihi seges est, quo gramen onagris, Spurca sues nostro amne natat, nostra intrat et ipsos

the chaste and the unchaste, the harlot and the wife; nor is the breath that tempers life with a draught of air different in the mouth of a priest from that of a gladiator. The spring cloud rains, driven by the west wind, but it fertilizes equally the fields of the thief and of the innocent farmer. So the traveler comes to the pure stream of a summer pool, as the weary robber does; so the sea serves pirates as it serves the merchant; nor does the wave obey an enemy less than when it carries the benches of a lawful ship. So nature, capable of both kinds of thing, offers itself to the peoples to be created, and does not have to distinguish the unequal merit of the living, whom it is ordered only to feed. For the world serves; it does not judge: this the supreme Lord of nature keeps for himself for the times he has prescribed. Now the gifts given are present for man by the same laws by which they were once granted. The spring flows, the river floods, the sea is cleft by sail-winged ships, the rain pours in, the thin breeze flies, the moving air is quickened, and the realm of nature becomes public and ready for all, while the elements, serving, keep their course: so the upright man and the one guilty of a capital crime enjoy the same stars and the easy kindness of the sky. To live is common, but to deserve is not common. In short, the Roman, the Dahan, the Sarmatian, the Vandal, the Hun, the Gaetulian, the Garamantian, the Alaman, the Saxon, the Galaulian, all walk on one earth, one heaven is for all, one ocean that encloses our world. I add something else: animals drink from our springs; my crop grows from the same dew as the grass for wild asses; the filthy sow swims in our river; the same breath that comes into us

Matt 5:45 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Air, rain, water and sea serve good and bad alike, since nature serves and does not judge; God keeps judgment for himself at the appointed time; living is common to all, but merit is not, and even animals share the gifts of nature with men.

Matt 5:45. A footnote mark was removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): Castus ot incestus, merotrix et nupta: noc alter Ore sacerdotis, quam mirmillonis anholat Spiritus, aorio vitam qui tomperat liaustu. Nubes verna pluit zephyro impellente, sed aeque Furis et iiinocui fecundat rura coloni. Gurgitis aestivi sic pura fluenta viator, Ut latro fessus, adit: sic piratis raare servit, Ut mercatori : nec fluctus secius hosti Obsequitur, quam quum licitae fert transtra carinae. Ei'go capax utriusque rei natura creandis Se praebet populis, nec habet discernere dispar Viventiim meritnm, quos tantum pascere iussa est: Servit enim raundus, non iudicat: hoc sibi sunimus Naturae Dominus praescripta in tempora servat. Nunc adsunt homini data raunera legibus isdem, Quis concessa semel. Fons liquitur, amnis inundat, Velivolum ratibus mare finditur, influit imber, Aura volat tenuis, vegetatur mobilis aer, Et res naturae fit publica, promtaque cunctis, Dum servant elementa suum faraulantia cui\sum : Sic probus, atque rens capitalis criminis isdem Sideribus, facilisque poli bonitate fruuntur. Vivere coraraune est, sed non coraraune mereri. Denique Eomanus, Daha,Sarmata, Vandalus, Hunnus, Gaetulas, Garamas, Alamaiius, Saxo, Galaulas(l), Uiia omiies gradiuntur humo, caelum omnibus unum est, Unus ct oceanus, nostrum qni continet orbem. Addo aliud : nostros potant animalia fontes : Ipso rore mihi seges est, quo gramen onagris, Spurca sues nostro amne natat, nostra intrat et ipsos → Castus et incestus, meretrix et nupta: nec alter Ore sacerdotis, quam mirmillonis anhelat Spiritus, aerio vitam qui temperat haustu. Nubes verna pluit zephyro impellente, sed aeque Furis et innocui fecundat rura coloni. Gurgitis aestivi sic pura fluenta viator, Ut latro fessus, adit: sic piratis mare servit, Ut mercatori: nec fluctus secius hosti Obsequitur, quam cum licitae fert transtra carinae. Ergo capax utriusque rei natura creandis Se praebet populis, nec habet discernere dispar Viventum meritum, quos tantum pascere iussa est: Servit enim mundus, non iudicat: hoc sibi summus Naturae Dominus praescripta in tempora servat. Nunc adsunt homini data munera legibus isdem, Quis concessa semel. Fons liquitur, amnis inundat, Velivolum ratibus mare finditur, influit imber, Aura volat tenuis, vegetatur mobilis aer, Et res naturae fit publica, promptaque cunctis, Dum servant elementa suum famulantia cursum: Sic probus, atque reus capitalis criminis isdem Sideribus, facilisque poli bonitate fruuntur. Vivere commune est, sed non commune mereri. Denique Romanus, Daha, Sarmata, Vandalus, Hunnus, Gaetulus, Garamas, Alamannus, Saxo, Galaula, Una omnes gradiuntur humo, caelum omnibus unum est, Unus et oceanus, nostrum qui continet orbem. Addo aliud: nostros potant animalia fontes: Ipso rore mihi seges est, quo gramen onagris, Spurca sues nostro amne natat, nostra intrat et ipsos.

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.781 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 781–810; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-781). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-781

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.

4.811Lanfranchi 2:lines 811–840

Aura canes, animatque levi fera corpora flatu. Sed tantum distant Romana et barbara, quantum Quadrupes abiuncta est bipedi, vel muta loquenti: Quantum etiam qui rite Dei praecepta sequuntur, Cultibus a stolidis, et eorum erroribus absunt. Non facit ergo pares in relligione tuenda Aeris et caeli communio: corpora tantum Gignit, alit, reparat, recidivaque semina servat. Nec refert, cuius generis, cuiusve figurae, Aut cuius meriti: modo sint, ut corpora terra Edita, terrenis quibus est vigor ex elementis: Artificis quia Patris opus discrimine nullo Influit in medium, nec avaro munere currit: Ante datum, quam primus homo sordesceret Adam. Nec vitio utentum restrictum deficit, aut se Subtrahit indignis, nec foeda et turpia vitat. Haud aliter solis radius conluminat omnes Diffuso splendore locos: ferit aurea tecta, Sed ferit et nigro sordentia culmina fumo; Intrat marmoribus Capitolia clara: sed intrat Carceris et rimas, et taetra foramina clausi Stercoris, et spurcam redolenti in fornice cellam. Sed non illud erunt obscura ergastula, quod sunt Regia gemmato laquearia fulva metallo: Nempe magis non illud erunt, qui numen in urnis Quaerunt ac tumulis, et larvas sanguine placant, Quod sunt qui summum caeli Dominum venerantur, Iustitiamque litant, et templum pectoris ornant. Secretum sed grande nequit rationis opertae Quaeri aliter, quam si sparsis via multiplicetur

enters dogs too, and quickens wild bodies with light breath. But Roman and barbarian are as far apart as the four-footed is separated from the two-footed, or the dumb from the speaking; and as far as those who duly follow God’s precepts stand apart from stupid cults and their errors. So the common sharing of air and sky does not make men equal in keeping religion: it only begets, feeds, and restores bodies, and preserves the seeds that return. Nor does it matter of what kind, or of what shape, or of what merit they are, provided they are bodies brought forth from the earth, which have their vigor from earthly elements; for the work of the craftsman Father flows out into the common stock without distinction, and does not run with a grudging gift: it was given before the first man, Adam, became foul. Nor does it fail, restricted by the vice of those who use it, nor withdraw itself from the unworthy, nor avoid foul and shameful things. Just so the sun’s ray lights up all places with its diffused splendor: it strikes golden roofs, but it strikes too roofs foul with black smoke; it enters the Capitol, bright with marbles; but it enters also the cracks of the prison, and the foul holes of the enclosed sewer, and the filthy cell in the reeking brothel. But dark workhouses will not be what royal ceilings, tawny with jeweled metal, are; far more those who seek divinity in urns and tombs and appease specters with blood will not be what those are who venerate the supreme Lord of heaven, offer justice in sacrifice, and adorn the temple of the heart. “But the great secret of hidden reason cannot be sought otherwise than if the way is multiplied into scattered

Matt 5:45 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Sharing air and sky does not make all religions equal, any more than it makes man and beast or Roman and barbarian equal; nature’s gifts, like sunlight, fall on all alike, but the worshippers of the dead are not what the worshippers of the true God are.

Matt 5:45. A footnote mark was removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): Aura canes, animatque levi fera corpora fiatu. SedtantumdistantRomana et barbara, quantum Quadrupes abiuncta est bipedi, vel muta loquonti : Quantum etiam qui rite Dei praecepta sequuntur, Cultibus a stolidis, et eorum erroribus absunt. Xon facit ergo pares in relligione tuenda Aeris et caeli communio : corpora tantum Gignit, alit, reparat, recidivaque semina servat. Nec refert, cuius generis, cuiusve figurae, Aut cuius meriti : modo sint, ut corpora terra Edita, terrenis quibus est vigor ex elementis: Artificis quia Patris opus discrimine nullo Influit in medium f3), nec avaro munere currit: Ante datum, quam primus homo sordesceret Adam. Nec vitio utentum restrictum deficit, aut se Sutrahit indignis, nec foeda et turpia vitat. Haud aliter solis radius, conluniinat omnes Diffuso splendore locos: ferit aurea tecta, Sed ferit et nigro sordentia culmina fumo ; Intrat marmoribus Capitolia clara : sed intrat Carceris et rimas, et taetra foramina clausi Stercoris, et spurcam redolenti in fornicc cellam. Secl non illucl erunt obscura ergastula, qmd sunt Kegia gemmato laquearia fulva metallo : iSrempe magis non illucl erunt, qui numen in urnis Quaerunt ac tumulis, et larvas sanguino placant: Quod sunt qui summum caeli Dominum venerantur, lustitiamque litant, ot templum pectoris ornant. Secretum sed grande nequit rationis opertae Quaeri alitor, quam si sparsis via multiplicetur → Aura canes, animatque levi fera corpora flatu. Sed tantum distant Romana et barbara, quantum Quadrupes abiuncta est bipedi, vel muta loquenti: Quantum etiam qui rite Dei praecepta sequuntur, Cultibus a stolidis, et eorum erroribus absunt. Non facit ergo pares in relligione tuenda Aeris et caeli communio: corpora tantum Gignit, alit, reparat, recidivaque semina servat. Nec refert, cuius generis, cuiusve figurae, Aut cuius meriti: modo sint, ut corpora terra Edita, terrenis quibus est vigor ex elementis: Artificis quia Patris opus discrimine nullo Influit in medium, nec avaro munere currit: Ante datum, quam primus homo sordesceret Adam. Nec vitio utentum restrictum deficit, aut se Subtrahit indignis, nec foeda et turpia vitat. Haud aliter solis radius conluminat omnes Diffuso splendore locos: ferit aurea tecta, Sed ferit et nigro sordentia culmina fumo; Intrat marmoribus Capitolia clara: sed intrat Carceris et rimas, et taetra foramina clausi Stercoris, et spurcam redolenti in fornice cellam. Sed non illud erunt obscura ergastula, quod sunt Regia gemmato laquearia fulva metallo: Nempe magis non illud erunt, qui numen in urnis Quaerunt ac tumulis, et larvas sanguine placant, Quod sunt qui summum caeli Dominum venerantur, Iustitiamque litant, et templum pectoris ornant. Secretum sed grande nequit rationis opertae Quaeri aliter, quam si sparsis via multiplicetur.

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.811 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 811–840; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-811). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-811

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.

4.841Lanfranchi 2:lines 841–870

Tramitibus, et centenos terat orbita calles, Quaesitura Deum variata indage latentem. Longe aliud verum est: nam multa ambage viarum Anfractus dubios habet, et perplexius errat: Sola errore caret simplex via, nescia flecti In deverticulum, biviis nec pluribus anceps. Non tamen infitior, duplex occurrere nobis Semper iter, geminis mortalia partibus ire, Cum dubitant, quonam ferat ignorantia gressum. Altera multifida est: at simplex altera, et unum Una Deum sequitur: divos colit altera plures, Et tot sunt eius divortia, quot templorum Signa, quot aereis volitant phantasmata monstris. Aut hos thyrsigeri rapit ad Dionysia Bacchi; Inlicit aut alios ad Saturnalia festa: Aut docet, occultus quae sacra Diespiter infans Tutor tinnitus solvi sibi poscat aenos. Iamque Lupercales ferulae, nudique petuntur Discursus iuvenum: Megalesius hinc spado, diris Incensus furiis, caeca ad responsa vocatur. Sunt, qui quadriviis brevioribus ire parati Vilia Niliacis venerantur holuscula in hortis: Porrum et cepe deos imponere nubibus ausi, Alliaque, et Serapin caeli super astra locare. Isis enim, et Serapis, et grandi simia cauda, Et crocodilus idem, quod Iuno, Laverna, Priapus. Hos tu, Nile, colis, illos tu, Tibris, adoras: Una superstitio est, quamvis non concolor error. Hinc alia exoritur tenebrosis tecta frutectis Semita, quam pecudes et muta animalia carpunt,

paths, and the track wears down a hundred trails, to seek the hidden God by a varied search.” The truth is far otherwise: for a great windingness of ways has doubtful turns and wanders more confusedly; only the single way is free of error, not knowing how to turn into a byway, nor wavering at many forks. Yet I do not deny that a double road always meets us, and that mortal things go in two directions when they doubt where ignorance should carry their step. One is many-branched; but the other is single, and the one follows the one God, the other worships many gods, and it has as many divergences as there are statues of temples, as many as the phantoms that fly as monsters of the air. It either snatches these off to the Dionysia of thyrsus-bearing Bacchus, or entices others to the festivals of the Saturnalia, or teaches what rites the infant Diespiter in hiding asks to be paid him, with the clashing of bronze as his protector. And now the thongs of the Lupercalia and the naked running of young men are sought; from here the Megalesian eunuch, inflamed by dreadful furies, is called to blind oracles. There are those who, ready to go by shorter crossroads, venerate cheap little vegetables in the gardens of the Nile, daring to set the leek and the onion as gods above the clouds, and garlic, and to place Serapis above the stars of heaven. For Isis and Serapis, and the ape with its great tail, and the crocodile are the same as Juno, Laverna, Priapus. These you worship, Nile; those you adore, Tiber: the superstition is one, though the error is not of one color. From here another path arises, covered with dark thickets, which cattle and dumb animals crop,

Matt 7:13 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 7:14 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Symmachus says the hidden God must be sought by many roads; the poet answers that only the single way is free of error: there are two roads, the one to the one God and the many-branched road of idolatry, with its Bacchic, Saturnalian, Lupercalian, Cybelean and Egyptian cults.

Matt 7:13–14 (the two ways). Polemic as written.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): Tramitibus, et centenos terat orbita calles, Quaesitura Deum variata indage latentem. Longe aliud verum est : nam multa ambago viarum , Anfractus dubios habet, et perplexius errat: Sola errore caret simplex via, nescia flecti In deverticulum, biviis nec pluribus anceps. Non tamen infitior, duplex occurrere nobis Semper iter, geminis mortalia partibus ire, Quum dubitant, quonam ferat ignorantia gressum. Altera multifida est : at simplex altera, et unum Una Deum sequitur : divos colit altera plures, Et tot sunt eius divortia, ciuot templorum Signa, quot ai^reis volitant phantasmata monstris. Aut hos tliyrsigeri rapit ad Dionysia Bacchi; Inlicit aut alios ad Saturnalia festa : Aiit docet, occultus quae sacra Diespiter infaiis Tntor tinnitus solvi sibi poscat aenos. laniquo Lupercales forulao, nudiqne petuntur Discursus iuvenum : Megalesius hinc spado, diris Tnconsus ftiriis, caeca ad responsa vocatur. Sunt, qui quadriviis brevioribus ire parati Vilia Niliacis venorantur oluscula in liortis : Porrum et cepe deos imponere nubibus ausi, Alliaque, et Serapin caeli super astra locare. Isis enim, et Serapis, ot L;Tandi simia cauda, Et crocodilus idem, quod luno, Laverna, Priapus. Hos tu, Nile, colis, illos tu Tibris adoras : Vna superstitio est, quamvis non concolor error. Ilinc alia exoritur tenebrosis tecta frutetis Somita, quani pecudes et muta animalia carpunt, → Tramitibus, et centenos terat orbita calles, Quaesitura Deum variata indage latentem. Longe aliud verum est: nam multa ambage viarum Anfractus dubios habet, et perplexius errat: Sola errore caret simplex via, nescia flecti In deverticulum, biviis nec pluribus anceps. Non tamen infitior, duplex occurrere nobis Semper iter, geminis mortalia partibus ire, Cum dubitant, quonam ferat ignorantia gressum. Altera multifida est: at simplex altera, et unum Una Deum sequitur: divos colit altera plures, Et tot sunt eius divortia, quot templorum Signa, quot aereis volitant phantasmata monstris. Aut hos thyrsigeri rapit ad Dionysia Bacchi; Inlicit aut alios ad Saturnalia festa: Aut docet, occultus quae sacra Diespiter infans Tutor tinnitus solvi sibi poscat aenos. Iamque Lupercales ferulae, nudique petuntur Discursus iuvenum: Megalesius hinc spado, diris Incensus furiis, caeca ad responsa vocatur. Sunt, qui quadriviis brevioribus ire parati Vilia Niliacis venerantur holuscula in hortis: Porrum et cepe deos imponere nubibus ausi, Alliaque, et Serapin caeli super astra locare. Isis enim, et Serapis, et grandi simia cauda, Et crocodilus idem, quod Iuno, Laverna, Priapus. Hos tu, Nile, colis, illos tu, Tibris, adoras: Una superstitio est, quamvis non concolor error. Hinc alia exoritur tenebrosis tecta frutectis Semita, quam pecudes et muta animalia carpunt,.

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.841 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 841–870; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-841). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-841

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.

4.871Lanfranchi 2:lines 871–900

Quaeque latens silvis operitur. Nescia caeli Mens hominum, saevo vivens captiva tyranno, Haec putat esse Deum nullum: namque omnia verti Casibus, et nullo sub praeside saecla rotari. Hoc iter haudquaquam magno discrimine distat Hisce viis, quas vos teritis, qui numina multa, Et portenta, Deum summum, numerosa putatis. Simplicis ergo viae dux est Deus: ille per unam Ire iubet mortale genus, quam dirigit ipse Sublime dextro celsam ad fastigia clivo. Prima viae facies inculta, subhorrida, tristis, Difficilis, sed fine sui pulcherrima, et amplis Praedita divitiis, et abundans luce perenni, Et quae praeteritos possit pensare labores. Multiplici dux daemon adest, qui parte sinistra Centifidum confundit iter: trahit inde sophistas Barbatos, trahit hinc opibus vel honore potentes; Inlicit et volucrum linguis, et haruspice fallit, Instigat bacchantis anus ambage Sibyllae, Involvit mathesi, magicas impellit in artes, Omine sollicitat, capit augure, territat extis. Cernis, ut una via est multis anfractibus errans, Talem passa ducem, qui non sinat ire salutis Ad Dominum, sed mortis iter per devia monstret? Devia, picta bonis brevibus, sed fine sub ipso Tristia, et in subitam praeceps immersa charybdim. Ite procul, gentes: consortia nulla viarum Sunt vobis cum plebe Dei: discedite longe, Et vestrum penetrate chaos, quo vos vocat ille Praevius infernae perplexa per avia noctis.

and which, hidden, is covered in the woods. Not knowing heaven, the mind of men, living captive to a cruel tyrant, thinks this: that there is no God; for all things are turned by chance, and the ages roll on under no governor. This road differs by no great distance from these ways which you tread, who think that many divinities and portents, numerous, are the supreme God. So God is the guide of the single way: he bids the mortal race go by one way, which he himself directs, lofty, up the right-hand slope to the high summits. The first face of the way is uncultivated, rather rough, grim, difficult, but most beautiful at its end, endowed with ample riches and abounding in everlasting light, and such as can repay the labors that are past. A demon is present as guide of the manifold way, who on the left confuses the hundred-branched path: from there he draws bearded sophists, from here those powerful in wealth or honor; he entices by the tongues of birds, and deceives by the soothsayer, spurs on by the riddling of the raving old Sibyl, entangles in astrology, drives into magic arts, troubles by omens, captures by the augur, terrifies with entrails. Do you see how one way wanders with many turns, having suffered such a guide, who does not let one go to the Lord of salvation, but shows the road of death through byways? byways painted with brief goods, but grim at their very end, and plunged headlong into a sudden Charybdis. Go far away, you nations: you have no fellowship of roads with the people of God; depart far away, and enter your own chaos, to which he who goes before you calls you through the tangled pathless places of infernal night.

Ps 14:1 (13:1 LXX) (echo, low confidence) · Matt 7:14 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: A third path is atheism, which holds that chance rules everything and differs little from polytheism; God leads by one way, hard at first but glorious at its end, while a demon leads the many-branched way of philosophy, divination and magic to death.

Ps 14:1 (“there is no God”); Matt 7:13–14. Polemic as written.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): Quaeque latens silvis operitur. Nescia caeli ^fcns hominum, saovo vivenscai)tiva tyranno! Ilaoc putat esse Deum nullum : namque omnia verti Casibus, ot nullo sub praosido saecla rotari. Hoc iter haudquaquam magno discrimino distat Hisco viis, quas vos teritis, qui numina multa, Et portfnta, Deum summum, numorosa putatis. Simplicis ergo viao dux est Dous: ille per unani Tre iubot mortale gonus, qnam dirigit ipse Sublime dextro colsam ad fastigia clivo. Prima viae facies inculta, subliorrida, tristis, Difficilis, sed fine sui pulchorrima, ot amplis Praodita divitiis, et abundans hico perenni, Et quae praeteritos possit peiisare labores. Multiplici dux daemon adest, qui parte sinistra Centifldum confundit iter, trahit inde sopliistas Barbatos, traliitliinc opibusvel honore potentes ; Inlicit et volucrum linguis, et aruspice fallit, Instigat bacchantis anus ambage Sibyllae, Involvit mathesi, magicas impellit in artes, Omine sollicitat, capit auguro , territat extis. Cernis, ut una via est multis anfractibus errans, Talem passa ducem, qui non sinat ire salutis Ad Dominum, sed mortis iter per devia monstret? Devia, picta bonis brevibus, sed fine sub ipso Tristia, et in stibitam praeceps immersa charybdim. Ite procul, gentes : consortia nulla viai-um Sunt vobis cum plebe Dei : discedite longe, Et vestrum ponetrate chaos, quo vos vocat ille Praevius infernae perploxa per avia noctis. → Quaeque latens silvis operitur. Nescia caeli Mens hominum, saevo vivens captiva tyranno, Haec putat esse Deum nullum: namque omnia verti Casibus, et nullo sub praeside saecla rotari. Hoc iter haudquaquam magno discrimine distat Hisce viis, quas vos teritis, qui numina multa, Et portenta, Deum summum, numerosa putatis. Simplicis ergo viae dux est Deus: ille per unam Ire iubet mortale genus, quam dirigit ipse Sublime dextro celsam ad fastigia clivo. Prima viae facies inculta, subhorrida, tristis, Difficilis, sed fine sui pulcherrima, et amplis Praedita divitiis, et abundans luce perenni, Et quae praeteritos possit pensare labores. Multiplici dux daemon adest, qui parte sinistra Centifidum confundit iter: trahit inde sophistas Barbatos, trahit hinc opibus vel honore potentes; Inlicit et volucrum linguis, et haruspice fallit, Instigat bacchantis anus ambage Sibyllae, Involvit mathesi, magicas impellit in artes, Omine sollicitat, capit augure, territat extis. Cernis, ut una via est multis anfractibus errans, Talem passa ducem, qui non sinat ire salutis Ad Dominum, sed mortis iter per devia monstret? Devia, picta bonis brevibus, sed fine sub ipso Tristia, et in subitam praeceps immersa charybdim. Ite procul, gentes: consortia nulla viarum Sunt vobis cum plebe Dei: discedite longe, Et vestrum penetrate chaos, quo vos vocat ille Praevius infernae perplexa per avia noctis..

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.871 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 871–900; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-871). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-871

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.

4.901Lanfranchi 2:lines 901–930

At nobis vitae Dominum quaerentibus unum Lux iter est, et clara dies, et gratia simplex. Spe sequimur, gradimurque fide, fruimurque futuris: Ad quae non veniunt praesentis gaudia vitae, Nec currunt pariter capta et capienda voluptas. Ultima legati defleta dolore querella est: Palladiis quod farra focis, vel quod stipis ipsis Virginibus, castisque choris alimenta negentur: Vestales solitis fraudentur sumptibus ignes. Hinc ait et steriles frugescere rarius agros, Et tristem saevire famem, totumque per orbem Mortales pallere inopes, ac panis egenos. Quae tanta exstiterit praesenti tempore, tamque Invidiosa fames, quam Triptolemi Cererisque Moverit ira, penu pro virginis ulciscendo, Non memini: nec tale aliquid vel fama susurrat. Audio per Pharios Nilum discurrere campos More suo, viridisque sata stagnare Canopi. Haud venit a sicco qui flumine nuntius adfert Ieiunam squalere siti sub pulvere Memphim, Nec Pelusiacae linum sudare paludis. Num fons arcano naturae tectus operto Aruit, et tenuem vix stillat vena liquorem? Num refugus nostras odit praestringere ripas Amnis, et exustos cursum deflectit ad Indos? Num tractu in medio bibulus vorat alveus undam Fluminis, et subito stagna absorbentur hiatu? Ne sulcos operire vadis, neve arida possint Aegypti per plana trahi, glebasque rigentes Infusis ad pingue lutum mollire fluentis:

But for us who seek the one Lord of life the way is light and clear day and simple grace. We follow by hope, we walk by faith, and enjoy things to come, to which the joys of the present life do not come, nor do pleasure grasped and pleasure to be grasped run side by side. The envoy’s last complaint, lamented with grief, is that grain for the hearths of Pallas, or maintenance from the treasury for the virgins themselves and the chaste choirs, is denied, and that the Vestal fires are cheated of their accustomed allowances. From this, he says, the barren fields bear fruit more rarely, grim famine rages, and throughout the whole world mortals grow pale, needy and in want of bread. I do not remember that so great and so hateful a famine has arisen in the present time, such as the anger of Triptolemus and Ceres might have stirred to avenge the storehouse of the virgin; nor does rumor even whisper of anything of the kind. I hear that the Nile runs over the Egyptian fields as usual, and floods the crops of green Canopus. No messenger comes from a dry river to report that Memphis lies parched with thirst under the dust, nor that the flax of the Pelusian marsh fails to sweat. Has the spring, hidden in the secret covering of nature, dried up, and does its vein barely drip a thin stream? Does the river, fleeing, hate to touch our banks, and turn its course aside to the scorched Indians? Does a thirsty channel in the middle of its course swallow the river’s water, and are its pools absorbed in a sudden gap, so that its shallows cannot cover the furrows, nor be drawn over the dry plains of Egypt and soften the stiff clods into rich mud with the flowing waters,

2 Cor 5:7 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 8:24 (echo, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christians walk by faith and hope toward the joys to come; Symmachus’s last complaint is that the withdrawal of the Vestals’ allowances has brought famine, but the poet answers that there is no such famine, for the Nile floods as usual.

2 Cor 5:7 (“we walk by faith”); Rom 8:24–25. Symmachus, Relatio 3.11–16 (the Vestals and the famine). A footnote mark was removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): At iiobis vitae Dominum quaerentibus unum Lux iter est, et clara dies, et gratia simplex. Spe sequimur, gradimurque flde, fruimurque futuris: Ad quae non veniunt praesentis gaudia vitae, Nec currunt pariter capta et capienda voluptas. Vltima legati defleta dolore querela est: Palladiis quod farra focis, vel quod stipis ipsis Virginibus, castisque choris alimenta negentur: Vestales solitis fraudentur sumtibus ignes. Hinc ait et sterilos frugescere rarius agros, Et tristem sacviro fiimcm, totumque per orbem Mortales pallere inopes, ac panis egenos. Quae tanta exstiterit praesenti tompore, tamque Invidiosa fames, quam Triptolemi Cererisque (S) Moverit ira, penu pro virginis ulciscendo, Non memini: nec tale aliquid vel fama susurrat. Audio per Pharios Nilum discurrere campos More suo, viridisque sata stagnare Canopi. Haud venit a sicco qui flumino nuntius adfert leiunam squalere siti sub pulvero Mempliim, Nec Pelusiacae linuim sudare pahidis. Xum fons arcano naturae tectus opcrto Aruit, et tenuem vix stillat vena liquorem? Num refug-us nostras odit praestringere ripas Amnis, et exustos cursum deflectit ad Indos? Num tractu in medio bibulus vorat alveus undam Fluminis, et subito stagna absorbentur biatu ? Ne sulcos operire vadis, neve arida possint Aeg7pti per plana trahi, glebasque rigentes Infusis ad pingue lutum inollire fluentis : → At nobis vitae Dominum quaerentibus unum Lux iter est, et clara dies, et gratia simplex. Spe sequimur, gradimurque fide, fruimurque futuris: Ad quae non veniunt praesentis gaudia vitae, Nec currunt pariter capta et capienda voluptas. Ultima legati defleta dolore querella est: Palladiis quod farra focis, vel quod stipis ipsis Virginibus, castisque choris alimenta negentur: Vestales solitis fraudentur sumptibus ignes. Hinc ait et steriles frugescere rarius agros, Et tristem saevire famem, totumque per orbem Mortales pallere inopes, ac panis egenos. Quae tanta exstiterit praesenti tempore, tamque Invidiosa fames, quam Triptolemi Cererisque Moverit ira, penu pro virginis ulciscendo, Non memini: nec tale aliquid vel fama susurrat. Audio per Pharios Nilum discurrere campos More suo, viridisque sata stagnare Canopi. Haud venit a sicco qui flumine nuntius adfert Ieiunam squalere siti sub pulvere Memphim, Nec Pelusiacae linum sudare paludis. Num fons arcano naturae tectus operto Aruit, et tenuem vix stillat vena liquorem? Num refugus nostras odit praestringere ripas Amnis, et exustos cursum deflectit ad Indos? Num tractu in medio bibulus vorat alveus undam Fluminis, et subito stagna absorbentur hiatu? Ne sulcos operire vadis, neve arida possint Aegypti per plana trahi, glebasque rigentes Infusis ad pingue lutum mollire fluentis:.

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.901 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 901–930; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-901). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-901

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.

4.931Lanfranchi 2:lines 931–960

Unde seges late crinitis fluctuet agris, Densius et gravidis se vestiat aequor aristis? Respice, num Libyci desistat ruris arator Frumentis onerare rates, et ad ostia Tibris Mittere triticeos in pastum plebis acervos? Numne Leontini sulcator solvere campi Cesset frugiferas Lilybaeo ex litore cumbas? Nec det vela fretis, Romana nec horrea rumpat Sardorum congesta vehens granaria classis? Ergo piris mensas silvestribus implet arator Poenus, et avulsas Siculus depascitur herbas? Iamque Remi populo quernas Sardinia glandes Suppeditat, iam corna cibos lapidosa Quiritum? Quis venit esuriens magni ad spectacula circi? Quae regio gradibus vacuis ieiunia dira Sustinet? aut quae Ianiculi mola muta quiescit? Quantos quaeque ferat fructus provincia, quamque Ubere fecundo large fluat orbis opimus, Indicio est annona, tua quae publica plebi, Roma, datur, tantaeque urbis longa otia pascit. Sit fortasse aliquis paulo infecundior annus: Nil mirum, nec in orbe novum: didicere priores, Perpessi plerumque famem: si tabidus aer Siccavit tenues ardenti sidere nubes, Nec vernas infudit aquas creberrimus imber Fruge nova et viridi: si messis adulta, priusquam Conceptas tenero solidaret lacte medullas, Adflatum calido sucum contraxit ab Euro, Agricolae sterilis stipularum silva fefellit. His, ni fallor, ager vitiis corruptus, et ante

from which the crop may wave far and wide in the long-haired fields, and the plain clothe itself more thickly with heavy ears? Look whether the farmer of the Libyan country stops loading ships with grain and sending heaps of wheat to the mouth of the Tiber to feed the people. Does the ploughman of the Leontine plain cease to launch grain-bearing boats from the shore of Lilybaeum? Does the fleet not give its sails to the straits, nor burst the Roman granaries, carrying the heaped-up stores of the Sardinians? Does the Carthaginian farmer, then, fill his tables with wild pears, and the Sicilian graze on plucked herbs? Does Sardinia now supply oak acorns to the people of Remus, and stony cornels now furnish the food of the Quirites? Who comes hungry to the spectacles of the great Circus? What district endures dreadful fasting with empty steps? Or what mill of the Janiculum stands silent? How much fruit each province bears, and how the rich world flows abundantly with fertile plenty, is shown by the grain supply, which is given publicly to your people, Rome, and feeds the long leisure of so great a city. Perhaps some year may be a little less fruitful: no wonder, nor anything new in the world: our forefathers learned it, often suffering famine, if a wasting air dried up the thin clouds under a burning star, and very frequent rain did not pour spring waters on the new and green crop; if the grown harvest, before it made solid its marrow conceived with tender milk, drew in its juice blasted by the hot east wind, and a barren forest of stalks deceived the farmer. By these faults, if I am not mistaken, the field was corrupted, even before

Notes and citation

Summary: Africa, Sicily and Sardinia still send their grain to Rome, the circus is full and the public bread is given out; an occasional poor harvest is nothing new, caused by drought, rain or hot winds, as in the past.

The grain supply of Rome (annona) from Africa, Sicily and Sardinia. A footnote mark was removed; line 950 is read “urbis” (scan “uuinus”).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): Vnde seges late crinitis fluctuet agris, Densius et gravidis sevestiat aequor aristis? Eespice, num Libyci desistat ruris arator Frumentis onerare rates, et ad ostia Tibris Mittere triticeos in pastum plebis acervos? Numne Leontini sulcator solvere campi Cesset frugiferas Lilybaeo ox litore cumbas? Nec det vela fretis, Eomana nec borrea rumpat Sardorum congesta vehens granaria classis? Ergo pja-is mensas silvestribus implet arator Poeiius, et avulsas Siculus clepascitur herbas? lamque Eemi populo quernas Sardiuia glandes Suppeditat, iam corna cibos lapidosa Quiritum? Quis venit esuriens mag-ni ad spectacula circi? Quao regio gradibus vacuis ieiunia dira Sustinet? aut quae laniculi mola muta quiescit? [2) Quaiitos quaeque ferat fructus provincia, quamque Vbere focundo largo fluat orbis opimus, Indicio est annona, tua quae publica plebi, Eoma, datur, tantaeque uuinus longa otia pascit. Sit fortasse aliquis paullo infecundior annus : Nil inirum, nec in orbe novum didicere priores, Perpessi pleruinque famem : si tabidus aer Siccavit tennes ardenti sidere nubes. Nec veruas infudit aquas creberrimus imber Fruge nova et viridi : si messis adulta, priusquam Conceptas tenero solidaret lacte medullas, Adflatum calido succum contraxit ab Euro, Agricolae, sterilis stipularum silva fefellit. His, ni fallor, ager vitiis corruptus, ot ante → Unde seges late crinitis fluctuet agris, Densius et gravidis se vestiat aequor aristis? Respice, num Libyci desistat ruris arator Frumentis onerare rates, et ad ostia Tibris Mittere triticeos in pastum plebis acervos? Numne Leontini sulcator solvere campi Cesset frugiferas Lilybaeo ex litore cumbas? Nec det vela fretis, Romana nec horrea rumpat Sardorum congesta vehens granaria classis? Ergo piris mensas silvestribus implet arator Poenus, et avulsas Siculus depascitur herbas? Iamque Remi populo quernas Sardinia glandes Suppeditat, iam corna cibos lapidosa Quiritum? Quis venit esuriens magni ad spectacula circi? Quae regio gradibus vacuis ieiunia dira Sustinet? aut quae Ianiculi mola muta quiescit? Quantos quaeque ferat fructus provincia, quamque Ubere fecundo large fluat orbis opimus, Indicio est annona, tua quae publica plebi, Roma, datur, tantaeque urbis longa otia pascit. Sit fortasse aliquis paulo infecundior annus: Nil mirum, nec in orbe novum: didicere priores, Perpessi plerumque famem: si tabidus aer Siccavit tenues ardenti sidere nubes, Nec vernas infudit aquas creberrimus imber Fruge nova et viridi: si messis adulta, priusquam Conceptas tenero solidaret lacte medullas, Adflatum calido sucum contraxit ab Euro, Agricolae sterilis stipularum silva fefellit. His, ni fallor, ager vitiis corruptus, et ante.

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.931 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 931–960; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-931). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-931

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.

4.961Lanfranchi 2:lines 961–990

Subiacuit, quam Palladium, quam Vesta, Penates Sub lare Pergameo servarent igne reposto, Quam Priami genitor conductis moenia fabris Exstrueret, quam virgo suas fundaret Athenas Pallas: in his quoniam Vestalis origo favillae Urbibus, ut memorant, primo de fomite sumpta est, Sacraruntque focos, aut Phryx, aut Graius alumnos. Antiquis elementa labant erroribus, ac de Legitimo discussa modo plerumque feruntur In casus alios, quam lex habet, aut iter anni. Nunc consumit edax segetem robigo maligni Aeris ex vitio, nunc culmum vere tepenti Post zephyros gelidi glacies aquilonis inurit, Ambustumque caput culmi fuligine tinguunt. Seminis aut teneri turgens dum germinat herba, Continuis nimiisque perit constricta pruinis, Nec potis est tenuem telluri adfigere fibram: Mox eiecta solo glacie sidente superfit, Nudaque subducto radix avellitur arvo. Ancipites tribuli subeunt, et carduus horrens: Hos fert sicca sitis, hunc ebrius educat umor. Temperies effusa minus, vel plus, agit istos Terrarum morbos, et mundum vulnerat aegrum. Non aliter nostri corruptus corporis usus In vitium plerumque cadit, nec in ordine recto Perstat, et excessu moderaminis adficit artus: Unus enim status est mundique et corporis huius Quod gerimus: natura eadem sustentat utrumque. Edita de nihilo crescunt, nihilumque futura.

lay subject to them, before the Palladium, before Vesta, kept the Penates under the hearth of Pergamum with the fire laid up, before Priam’s father built walls with hired builders, before the virgin Pallas founded her Athens: since in these cities, as they say, the origin of the Vestal ember was taken from the first tinder, and either a Phrygian or a Greek consecrated hearths for his foster-sons. The elements have tottered with ancient errors, and, shaken from their lawful measure, they are often carried into other events than the law or the course of the year provides. Now devouring rust consumes the crop through the fault of malignant air; now, in the warm spring, after the west winds, the ice of the cold north wind burns the stalk, and they stain the scorched head of the stalk with soot. Or while the swelling blade of the tender seed sprouts, it perishes, bound by continuous and excessive frosts, and cannot fix its thin fiber in the earth; soon, thrown out of the soil, it is left over as the ice sinks, and the naked root is torn out as the field sinks away. Double-pointed caltrops and bristling thistle creep in: dry thirst brings the former, drunken moisture raises the latter. A temperate climate poured out too little or too much brings about these diseases of the lands and wounds the sick world. Not otherwise does the corrupted use of our body often fall into fault, and not keep to right order, and afflict the limbs by excess of measure: for the state of the world and of this body that we bear is one: the same nature sustains both. Things brought forth from nothing grow, and are destined for nothing.

Gen 3:18 (echo, low confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Crop failures existed before Troy’s Vesta or Athens were founded; the elements, disordered since antiquity, bring rust, frost, weeds and drought, just as the body falls into sickness, for world and body share one nature and are made from nothing.

A stray line number was removed. Gen 3:17–18 (thistles).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): Subiacuit, quam Palladium, quam Vesta, Penates 965 Sub lare Pergameo servarent igne reposto, Quain Priami genitor conductis moenia fabris Exstrueret, quam virgo suas fundaret Athenas Pallas: in his quoniam Vestalis origo favillae Vrbibus, ut memorant, primo de fomite sumta est, Sacraruntque focos, aut Phryx, aut Graius alumnos. Antiquis elementa labant erroribus, ac de Legitimo discussa modo plerumque feruntur In casus alios, quam lex habet, aut iter anni. Nunc consumit edax segetem rubigo maligni Aeris ex vitio, nunc culpara vere tepenti Post zephj-ros gelidi glacies aquilonis inurit, Ambustumque caput cuhni faligine tinguunt. Seminis aut teneri turgens dum germinat lierba, Continuis nimiisque perit constricta pruinis, Nec potis est tenuem telluri adfigere fibram : Mox eiecta solo glacie sidente superfit, Nudaque subducto radix avellitur arvo. Ancipites tribuli subeunt, et carduus liorrens. Hos fert sicca sitis, liunc ebrius educat humor. Temperies effusa minus, vel plus, agit istos Terrarum morbos, et raundum vulnerat aegrum. Non aliter nostri corruptus corporis usus In vitium plerumque cadit, nec in ordine recto Perstat, et excessu moderaminis adficit artus : Vnus enim status est mundique et corporis huius Quod gerimus : natura eadem sustentat utrumque. Eidita de nihilo crescunt, nihilumque futura. → Subiacuit, quam Palladium, quam Vesta, Penates Sub lare Pergameo servarent igne reposto, Quam Priami genitor conductis moenia fabris Exstrueret, quam virgo suas fundaret Athenas Pallas: in his quoniam Vestalis origo favillae Urbibus, ut memorant, primo de fomite sumpta est, Sacraruntque focos, aut Phryx, aut Graius alumnos. Antiquis elementa labant erroribus, ac de Legitimo discussa modo plerumque feruntur In casus alios, quam lex habet, aut iter anni. Nunc consumit edax segetem robigo maligni Aeris ex vitio, nunc culmum vere tepenti Post zephyros gelidi glacies aquilonis inurit, Ambustumque caput culmi fuligine tinguunt. Seminis aut teneri turgens dum germinat herba, Continuis nimiisque perit constricta pruinis, Nec potis est tenuem telluri adfigere fibram: Mox eiecta solo glacie sidente superfit, Nudaque subducto radix avellitur arvo. Ancipites tribuli subeunt, et carduus horrens: Hos fert sicca sitis, hunc ebrius educat umor. Temperies effusa minus, vel plus, agit istos Terrarum morbos, et mundum vulnerat aegrum. Non aliter nostri corruptus corporis usus In vitium plerumque cadit, nec in ordine recto Perstat, et excessu moderaminis adficit artus: Unus enim status est mundique et corporis huius Quod gerimus: natura eadem sustentat utrumque. Edita de nihilo crescunt, nihilumque futura..

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.961 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 961–990; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-961). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-961

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.

4.991Lanfranchi 2:lines 991–1020

Aut titubant morbis, aut tempore victa senescunt. Nec natura caret vitio, cui terminus instat. Semper, crede, polus variis proventibus annos Texuit; hos multa ditavit fruge fluentes: Quosdam infelices astris damnavit iniquis, Spe cassa et sterili curam frustratus agrestem. Sed, si Vestales ulciscitur ista puellas Pestis, ab infido quae gignitur improba mundo, Cur non Christicolum tantum populatur agellos Per quos virginibus vestris stata dona negantur? Utimur et ruris reditu, et ratione colendi: Exercere manus non paenitet: et lapis illic Si stetit, antiquus quem cingere sueverat error Fasciolis, vel gallinae pulmone rogare, Frangitur, et nullis violatur Terminus extis: Et quae fumificas arbor vittata lucernas Servabat, cadit ultrici succisa bipenni. Nec tamen iccirco minor est aut fructus agelli, Aut tempestatis clementia laeta serenae, Temperet aut pluvius qui culta novalia ventus. Sed nec magno opus est frugi viventibus, et cum Maxima proveniunt, non amplo in gaudia censu Solvimur, inque lucrum studio exsultamus avaro. Nam quibus aeternum spes informatur in aevum, Omne bonum tenue est, quod praesens ingerit aetas. O felix nimium sapiens, et rusticus idem, Qui terras animumque colens, impendit utrisque Curam pervigilem, quales quos imbuit auctor Christus, et adsumptis dedit haec praecepta colonis: « Semina cum sulcis committitis, arva cavete

either totter with diseases or, overcome by time, grow old. Nor is nature, on which an end presses, free of fault. Believe me, the sky has always woven the years with varied yields; these it has enriched, flowing with much fruit; some unlucky ones it has condemned through hostile stars, frustrating the farmer’s care with vain and barren hope. But if this plague, which is wickedly produced by a faithless world, avenges the Vestal girls, why does it not ravage only the little fields of the Christians, by whom the appointed gifts are denied to your virgins? We too enjoy the produce of the country and the method of farming; we are not sorry to exercise our hands; and if a stone stood there, which old error used to bind with ribbons or petition with a hen’s lung, it is broken, and Terminus is not defiled with any entrails; and the tree hung with fillets that kept smoking lamps falls, cut down by the avenging axe. Yet the fruit of the little field is not less for that, nor the glad mildness of serene weather, nor the rainy wind that tempers the cultivated fallow. But those who live frugally have no need of much, and when the greatest crops come, we do not relax into joy at an ample estate or exult in gain with greedy zeal. For to those whose hope is formed for an eternal age, every good that the present time offers is slight. O too happy the man who is wise and a countryman too, who, tilling his lands and his mind, spends wakeful care on both, such as Christ, the author, trained when he took laborers and gave them these precepts: “When you commit seeds to the furrows, beware of fields

Matt 13:3 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: If the famine avenged the Vestals, it would strike only Christian fields; yet Christians, who have broken the boundary stones and cut down the sacred trees, reap no less; content with little and hoping for eternity, the Christian farmer tends both his land and his soul, as Christ taught.

Terminus, the boundary god; Virgil, Georg. 2.458 (“O fortunatos nimium …”) echoed in line 1016. Matt 13:3–8 begins.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): Aut titubant morbis, aut tempore victa senescunt. Nec natura caret vitio, cui terminus instat. Semper, crede, pohis variis proventibus annos Texuit ; hos multa ditavit fruge fluentes : Quosdam infelices astris damnavit iniquis, Spe cassa et sterili curam frustratus agrestem. Sed, si Vestales ulciscitur ista pueHas Pestis, ab infido quae gignitur improba mundo, Cur non Christicolum tantum populatur agellos Per quos virginibus vestris stata dona negantur? Vtimur ot ruris reditu, et ratione colendi : Exercorc manus non poenitet : et lapis illic Si stetit, antiquus quem cingere sueverat error Fasciolis, vel gallinae pulmone rogare, Frangitur, et nuUis violatur Terminus extis: Et quae fumificas arbor vittata lucernas Servabat, cadit ultrici succisa bipenni. Nec tamen iccirco minor est aut fructus agelli, Aut tempestatis clementia laeta serenae, Temperet aut pluvius qui culta novalia ventus. Sed nec magno opus est frugi viventibus, et quuni Maxima proveniunt, non amplo in gaudio censu Solvimur, inque lucrum studio exsultamus avaro. Nam quibus aeternum spes informatur in aevum, Omne bonum tenue est, quod praesens ingerit aetas. 0 felix nimium sapiens, et rusticus idem, Quiterras animumque colens, impenditutrisque Curam pervigilem, quales quos imbuit auctor Christus, et adsamtis dedit haec praecepta colonis : Semina quum sulcis committitis, aiva cavete → Aut titubant morbis, aut tempore victa senescunt. Nec natura caret vitio, cui terminus instat. Semper, crede, polus variis proventibus annos Texuit; hos multa ditavit fruge fluentes: Quosdam infelices astris damnavit iniquis, Spe cassa et sterili curam frustratus agrestem. Sed, si Vestales ulciscitur ista puellas Pestis, ab infido quae gignitur improba mundo, Cur non Christicolum tantum populatur agellos Per quos virginibus vestris stata dona negantur? Utimur et ruris reditu, et ratione colendi: Exercere manus non paenitet: et lapis illic Si stetit, antiquus quem cingere sueverat error Fasciolis, vel gallinae pulmone rogare, Frangitur, et nullis violatur Terminus extis: Et quae fumificas arbor vittata lucernas Servabat, cadit ultrici succisa bipenni. Nec tamen iccirco minor est aut fructus agelli, Aut tempestatis clementia laeta serenae, Temperet aut pluvius qui culta novalia ventus. Sed nec magno opus est frugi viventibus, et cum Maxima proveniunt, non amplo in gaudia censu Solvimur, inque lucrum studio exsultamus avaro. Nam quibus aeternum spes informatur in aevum, Omne bonum tenue est, quod praesens ingerit aetas. O felix nimium sapiens, et rusticus idem, Qui terras animumque colens, impendit utrisque Curam pervigilem, quales quos imbuit auctor Christus, et adsumptis dedit haec praecepta colonis: « Semina cum sulcis committitis, arva cavete.

Extrabiblical texts: Virgil, Georg. 2.458 (Virgil; echo)

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.991 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 991–1020; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-991). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-991

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-prudentius-contra-symmachum-4-991) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.

4.1021Lanfranchi 2:lines 1021–1050

Dura lapillorum macie, ne decidat illic, Quod seritur; primo quoniam praefertile germen Luxuriat; suco mox deficiente, sub aestu Sideris igniferi sitiens torretur, et aret. Neve in spinosos incurrant semina vepres; Aspera nam segetem surgentem vincula texunt, Ac fragiles calamos nodis rubus artat acutis. Et ne iacta viae spargantur in aggere grana, Haec avibus quia nuda patent, passimque vorantur, Immundisque iacent foeda ad ludibria corvis. » His Deus agricolam confirmat legibus; ille Ius caeleste Patris non summa intellegit aure; Sed simul et cordis segetem disponit, et agri, Ne minus interno niteant praecordia cultu, Quam cum laeta suas ostentant iugera messes. Exstirpamus enim sentos de pectore vepres, Ne vitiosa necent germen vitale flagella, Ne frugem segetemque animae spinosa malorum Impediat sentis scelerum peccamine crebro, Glarea ne tenuis ieiunis siccet harenis Marcentem sub corde fidem: ne pectoris aestus Flagret, et effetis urat charismata venis. Denique ne iecoris detrita in parte relinquat Vilis cura Deum: ne spem, qua vescimur intus, Deserat, obscenisque avibus permittat edendam, Et proiecta fides hosti sit praeda volucri. Talis nostrorum sollertia centuplicatos Agrorum redigit fructus: quibus acrius instat, Nec metuit, ne congestum populetur acervum Curculio, vel nigra cavis formica recondat.

hard with the thinness of little stones, lest what is sown fall there; for, very fertile at first, the shoot grows rank; soon, its juice failing, under the heat of the fiery star it is scorched with thirst and dries up. And let not the seeds run into thorny brambles; for they weave harsh bonds around the rising crop, and the bramble chokes the fragile stalks with sharp knots. And let not the grains thrown be scattered on the embankment of the road; for these lie open, bare, to the birds, are devoured everywhere, and lie as foul playthings for unclean crows.” By these laws God strengthens the farmer; he does not understand the heavenly law of the Father with the surface of his ear, but arranges at once the crop of his heart and of his field, so that his heart may shine with inner cultivation no less than when the glad acres display their harvests. For we root out thorny brambles from the breast, so that vicious shoots may not kill the vital germ, so that the thorny bush of evils may not hinder the fruit and crop of the soul with frequent sinning of crimes, so that thin gravel may not dry up with fasting sands the faith withering in the heart; so that the heat of the breast may not blaze and burn up the spiritual gifts in exhausted veins; finally, so that worthless care may not leave God in a trodden-down part of the heart; that it may not desert the hope on which we feed within, and let it be eaten by unclean birds, and faith, cast away, become the prey of the winged enemy. Such skill in our people brings in a hundredfold fruits of the fields, on which it presses more keenly, and does not fear that the weevil will ravage the heaped-up pile, or the black ant hide it in its holes.

Matt 13:5 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 13:7 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 13:4 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 13:19 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 13:8 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 6:20 (echo, low confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ’s parable of the sower warns against rocky, thorny and roadside ground; the Christian farmer cultivates his heart as well as his field, rooting out vices so that faith may yield a hundredfold harvest that no pest can destroy.

Matt 13:3–8, 18–23 (the parable of the sower), paraphrased in the poet’s words; Matt 6:19–20.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): Dura lapillorum macie, ne decidat illic, Quod seritur ; primoquouiampraefertilegermen Luxuriat; sacco mox deficiente, sub aestu Sideris ignifori sitiens torretur, et aret. Neve in spinosos incurrant semina vepres; Aspera nam segetem surg-entem vincula texunt, Ac firagiles calaraos nodis rubus artat acutis. Et ne iacta viae spargantur in aggere grana, Haec avibus quia nuda patont, passimque vorantur, Immundisque iacent foeda ad ludibria corvis. His Deus agricolam confirmat legibus; ille luscaeleste Patris non summa intelligit aure; Sed simul et cordis segetem disponit, et agri, Ne minus interno niteant praecordia cultu, Quam quum laeta suas ostentant iugora messes. Exstirpamus onim sentos de pectore vepres, Ne vitiosa necent germen vitale flagella, Ne frugem segetemque animae spinosa malorum Impediat sentis scelerum peccamine crebro, Glarea ne tenuis ieiunis siccet arenis Marcentem sub corde fidem : ne pectoris aestus Flagret, et efi^etis urat charismata venis. Denique ne iecoris detrita in parte rolinquat Vilis cura Deum : ne spem, qua voscimur intus, Deserat, obsccnisque avibus pormittat edendam, Et proiecta fides liosti sit praeda volucri. Talis nostrorum sollertia centuplicatos Agrorum redigit fructus : quibus acrius instat, Nec metuit, ne congestum populetur acervum Curculio, vel nigra cavis formica recondat. → Dura lapillorum macie, ne decidat illic, Quod seritur; primo quoniam praefertile germen Luxuriat; suco mox deficiente, sub aestu Sideris igniferi sitiens torretur, et aret. Neve in spinosos incurrant semina vepres; Aspera nam segetem surgentem vincula texunt, Ac fragiles calamos nodis rubus artat acutis. Et ne iacta viae spargantur in aggere grana, Haec avibus quia nuda patent, passimque vorantur, Immundisque iacent foeda ad ludibria corvis. » His Deus agricolam confirmat legibus; ille Ius caeleste Patris non summa intellegit aure; Sed simul et cordis segetem disponit, et agri, Ne minus interno niteant praecordia cultu, Quam cum laeta suas ostentant iugera messes. Exstirpamus enim sentos de pectore vepres, Ne vitiosa necent germen vitale flagella, Ne frugem segetemque animae spinosa malorum Impediat sentis scelerum peccamine crebro, Glarea ne tenuis ieiunis siccet harenis Marcentem sub corde fidem: ne pectoris aestus Flagret, et effetis urat charismata venis. Denique ne iecoris detrita in parte relinquat Vilis cura Deum: ne spem, qua vescimur intus, Deserat, obscenisque avibus permittat edendam, Et proiecta fides hosti sit praeda volucri. Talis nostrorum sollertia centuplicatos Agrorum redigit fructus: quibus acrius instat, Nec metuit, ne congestum populetur acervum Curculio, vel nigra cavis formica recondat..

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.1021 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 1021–1050; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-1021). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-1021

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.

4.1051Lanfranchi 2:lines 1051–1080

Sunt et virginibus pulcherrima praemia nostris, Et pudor, et sancto tectus velamine vultus, Et privatus honos, nec nota et publica forma, Et rarae tenuesque epulae, et mens sobria semper, Lexque pudicitiae, vitae cum fine, peracta. Hinc decies deni rediguntur in horrea fructus, Horrea nocturno non umquam obnoxia furi. Nam caelum fur nullus adit, caelestia numquam Fraude resignantur: fraus terris volvitur imis. Quae nunc Vestalis sit virginitatis honestas, Discutiam, qua lege regat decus omne pudoris. Ac primum parvae teneris capiuntur in annis, Ante voluntatis propriae quam libera secta, Laude pudicitiae fervens et amore deorum, Iusta maritandi condemnet vincula sexus. Captivus pudor ingratis addicitur aris: Nec contempta perit miseris, sed adempta voluptas Corporis intacti: non mens intacta tenetur. Nec requies datur ulla toris, quibus innuba caecum Vulnus, et amissas suspirat femina taedas. Tum, quia non totum spes salva interficit ignem; Nam resides quandoque faces adolere licebit, Festaque decrepitis obtendere flammea canis. Tempore praescripto membra intemerata requirens, Tandem virgineam fastidit Vesta senectam. Dum thalamis habilis tumuit vigor, inrita nullus Fecundavit amor materno viscera partu. Nubit anus veterana, sacro perfuncta labore, Desertisque focis, quibus est famulata iuventas, Transfert emeritas ad fulcra iugalia rugas,

Our virgins too have most beautiful rewards: modesty, a face covered with a holy veil, a private honor, not a known and public appearance, rare and slender meals, a mind always sober, and the law of chastity carried through to the end of life. From this the hundredfold fruits are brought into the barns, barns never exposed to the thief by night. For no thief approaches heaven; heavenly things are never unsealed by fraud: fraud rolls about in the lowest earth. Now I will examine what is the honor of Vestal virginity, by what law it governs all the glory of modesty. First, they are taken as little girls in their tender years, before a free choice of their own will, burning with praise of chastity and love of the gods, condemns the lawful bonds of the marrying sex. Captive modesty is handed over to thankless altars, and the pleasure of the untouched body is not despised by the wretched girls but taken away: the mind is not kept untouched. Nor is any rest given to their couches, on which the unmarried woman sighs for a blind wound and for lost wedding torches. Then, because a hope kept safe does not kill the whole fire; for it will be allowed at some time to light the dormant torches, and to draw a festive bridal veil over decrepit gray hairs. When the prescribed time is up, Vesta, seeking undefiled limbs, at last disdains virginal old age. While vigor swelled fit for the marriage bed, no love made the useless womb fruitful with a mother’s childbearing. The veteran old woman marries, her sacred labor done, and, leaving the hearths that her youth served, transfers her retired wrinkles to the marriage couch,

Matt 13:8 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 6:20 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christian virgins have the rewards of modesty, veiling, frugality and lifelong chastity, a hundredfold harvest in heaven; the Vestals, by contrast, are taken as children before they can choose, keep their bodies but not their minds untouched, and marry when old after their term of service.

Matt 13:8, 23 (hundredfold); Matt 6:20 (no thief in heaven). Vestals served thirty years and might then marry. The poet’s comparison is translated as written. A footnote mark was removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): Sunt et Virginibus pulcherrima praemia nostris, Et puclor, et sancto tectus velamine vultus, Et privatus honos, nec nota et publica forma, Et rarae tenuesque epulae, et mens sobria semper, Lexque pudicitiae, vitae cum line, peracta. Hinc decies deni rediguntm- in horrea fructus, Horrea nocturno non umquam obnoxia fiiri. Nam caehim fur nullus adit, caelestia numquam Fraude resignantur : fraus terris volvitur imis. Quae nunc Vestalis sit virginitatis lionestas, Discutiam, qua lege regat decus omne pudoris. Ac primum parvae teneris capiuntur in annis, Ante vohintatis propriae quam libera secta,, Laudc pudicitiae fervens et amore deorum, lusta maritandi condemnet vincula sexus. Captivus pudor ingratis addicitur aris: Nec contemta perit miseris, sed ademta voluptas Corporis intacti: non mens intacta tenetur. Nec requies datur ulla toris, quibus innuba caocum Vulnus, et amissas suspirat femina taedas. Tum,quianontotum spes salva interficitig-nem(l) ; Nam resides quandoque faces adolere licebit, Festaque decrepitis obtendere flammea canis, Tempore praescripto membra intemerata requirens, Tandem virgineam fastidit Vesta senectam. Dum thalamis habihs tumuit vigor, inrita nulhis Fecundavit amor materno viscera partu. Nubit anus veterana, sacro perfuncta iabore, Desertisque focis, quijjus est famulata iuventas, Transfert emeritas ad fulcra iugalia rugas, → Sunt et virginibus pulcherrima praemia nostris, Et pudor, et sancto tectus velamine vultus, Et privatus honos, nec nota et publica forma, Et rarae tenuesque epulae, et mens sobria semper, Lexque pudicitiae, vitae cum fine, peracta. Hinc decies deni rediguntur in horrea fructus, Horrea nocturno non umquam obnoxia furi. Nam caelum fur nullus adit, caelestia numquam Fraude resignantur: fraus terris volvitur imis. Quae nunc Vestalis sit virginitatis honestas, Discutiam, qua lege regat decus omne pudoris. Ac primum parvae teneris capiuntur in annis, Ante voluntatis propriae quam libera secta, Laude pudicitiae fervens et amore deorum, Iusta maritandi condemnet vincula sexus. Captivus pudor ingratis addicitur aris: Nec contempta perit miseris, sed adempta voluptas Corporis intacti: non mens intacta tenetur. Nec requies datur ulla toris, quibus innuba caecum Vulnus, et amissas suspirat femina taedas. Tum, quia non totum spes salva interficit ignem; Nam resides quandoque faces adolere licebit, Festaque decrepitis obtendere flammea canis. Tempore praescripto membra intemerata requirens, Tandem virgineam fastidit Vesta senectam. Dum thalamis habilis tumuit vigor, inrita nullus Fecundavit amor materno viscera partu. Nubit anus veterana, sacro perfuncta labore, Desertisque focis, quibus est famulata iuventas, Transfert emeritas ad fulcra iugalia rugas,.

Topics: Marriage, Ethics

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.1051 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 1051–1080; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-1051). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-1051

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.

4.1081Lanfranchi 2:lines 1081–1110

Discit et in gelido nova nupta tepescere lecto. Interea dum torta vagos ligat infula crines, Fatalesque adolet prunas innupta sacerdos, Fertur per medias, ut publica pompa, plateas, Pilento residens molli, seque ore retecto Imputat attonitae virgo spectabilis urbi. Inde ad consessum caveae, pudor almus, et expers Sanguinis it pietas, hominum visura cruentos Congressus, mortesque, et vulnera vendita pastu Spectatura sacris oculis. Sedet illa verendis Vittarum insignis phaleris, fruiturque lanistis. O tenerum mitemque animum! consurgit ad ictus; Et, quotiens victor ferrum iugulo inserit, illa Delicias ait esse suas, pectusque iacentis Virgo modesta iubet converso pollice rumpi: Ne lateat pars ulla animae vitalibus imis, Altius impresso dum palpitat ense secutor. Hoc illud meritum est, quod continuare feruntur Excubias, Latii pro maiestate Palati; Quod redimunt vitam populi, procerumque salutem; Perfundunt quia colla comis bene, vel bene cingunt Tempora taeniolis, et licia crinibus addunt. Et quia subter humum lustrales testibus umbris In flammam iugulant pecudes, et murmura miscent: An quoniam podii meliore in parte sedentes Spectant, aeratam faciem quam crebra tridenti Impacto quatiant hastilia, saucius et quam Vulneribus patulis partem perfundat harenae,

and, a new bride, learns to grow warm in a cold bed. Meanwhile, while the twisted fillet binds her straying hair and the unmarried priestess tends the fated coals, she is carried through the middle of the streets like a public procession, sitting in a soft carriage, and with uncovered face the conspicuous virgin presents herself to the astonished city. Then to the seating of the amphitheatre goes kindly modesty and piety that has no share in blood, to see the bloody encounters of men, and to watch with sacred eyes the deaths and wounds sold for spectacle. She sits, distinguished by the venerable trappings of her fillets, and enjoys the trainers’ shows. O tender and gentle soul! She rises at the blows, and whenever the victor plunges the steel into a throat, she calls it her delight, and the modest virgin, with turned thumb, orders the breast of the fallen man to be broken, so that no part of his life may lie hidden in his inmost vitals, while the pursuer, his sword driven deeper, quivers. Is this the merit for which they are said to keep their watch for the majesty of the Latin Palatine, to redeem the life of the people and the safety of the nobles: because they dress the hair well on their necks, or bind their temples well with ribbons and add threads to their hair, and because under the earth, with the shades as witnesses, they slaughter purifying victims into the flame and mingle murmurs? Or because, sitting in the better part of the podium, they watch how often the spears strike the bronze face with the trident driven home, and how much of the sand the wounded man soaks with his gaping wounds

Notes and citation

Summary: The Vestal is paraded through the city with uncovered face and sits in the amphitheatre, delighting in the gladiators’ deaths and turning her thumb to order the fallen to be killed; is this the merit for which she is said to guard Rome?

Two footnote lines (on Vestals and marriage, citing Dionysius) were removed. The “turned thumb” signal in the arena. Polemic as written.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): Discit et in gelido nova nupta tepescere lecto. (Ij non totuni spes salva interficit ir/neni. Vestales non per- Vcstae erant sacratac, nubere ipsis enat permissuni, Y. Dionys. Interea dum torta vagos ligatinMa crines. Fatalesqne adolet prunas innupta sacerdos, Fertur per medias, ut publica pompa, plateas, Pilento residens molli, seque ore retecto Imputat attonitae virgo spectabilis Vrbi. Inde ad consessum caveae, pudor almus, et expers Sanguinis it pietas, hominum visura cruentos Congressus, mortesque, et vulnera vendita pastu Spectatura sacris oculis. Sedet illa verendis Vittarum insignis plialeris, fruiturque lanistis. 0 tenerum mitemque animum ! consurgit ad ictus ; Et, quoties victor ferrum iugulo inserit, illa Delicias ait esse suas, pectusque iacentis Virgo modesta iubet converso pollice rumpi: Ne lateat pars nlla animae vitalibus iiiiis, Altius impresso dum palpitat ense secutor. Hoc illud meritum est, quod continuare foruntur Excubias, Latii pro maiostatu Palati; Quod redimunt vitam populi, procerumque salutem; Perfundunt quia colla comis bene, vel bene cingunt Tempora taeniolis, et licia crinibus addunt. Et quia subter bumum lustrales testibus Vmbris In flammam iugulaiit pecudos, et murmura miscent: An quoniam podii meliore in parto sedontes Spectant, aeratam faciem quam crobra tridenti Impacto qnatiant liastilia, saucius et quam Vulueribus patulis partem perfundat arenae, → Discit et in gelido nova nupta tepescere lecto. Interea dum torta vagos ligat infula crines, Fatalesque adolet prunas innupta sacerdos, Fertur per medias, ut publica pompa, plateas, Pilento residens molli, seque ore retecto Imputat attonitae virgo spectabilis urbi. Inde ad consessum caveae, pudor almus, et expers Sanguinis it pietas, hominum visura cruentos Congressus, mortesque, et vulnera vendita pastu Spectatura sacris oculis. Sedet illa verendis Vittarum insignis phaleris, fruiturque lanistis. O tenerum mitemque animum! consurgit ad ictus; Et, quotiens victor ferrum iugulo inserit, illa Delicias ait esse suas, pectusque iacentis Virgo modesta iubet converso pollice rumpi: Ne lateat pars ulla animae vitalibus imis, Altius impresso dum palpitat ense secutor. Hoc illud meritum est, quod continuare feruntur Excubias, Latii pro maiestate Palati; Quod redimunt vitam populi, procerumque salutem; Perfundunt quia colla comis bene, vel bene cingunt Tempora taeniolis, et licia crinibus addunt. Et quia subter humum lustrales testibus umbris In flammam iugulant pecudes, et murmura miscent: An quoniam podii meliore in parte sedentes Spectant, aeratam faciem quam crebra tridenti Impacto quatiant hastilia, saucius et quam Vulneribus patulis partem perfundat harenae,.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.1081 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 1081–1110; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-1081). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-1081

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.

4.1111Lanfranchi 2:lines 1111–1130

Cum fugit, et quanto vestigia sanguine signet. Quod genus ut sceleris iam nesciat aurea Roma, Te precor, Ausonii dux augustissime regni, Et tam triste sacrum iubeas, ut cetera, tolli. Perspice: nonne vacat meriti locus iste paterni, Quem tibi supplendum Deus, et genitoris amica Servavit pietas? solus ne praemia tantae Virtutis caperet, partem tibi, nate, reservo, Dixit; et integrum decus intactumque reliquit. Arripe dilatam tua, dux, in tempora famam, Quodque patri superest, successor laudis habeto. Ille urbem vetuit taurorum sanguine tingui: Tu mortes miserorum hominum prohibeto litari. Nullus in urbe cadat, cuius sit poena voluptas; Nec sua virginitas oblectet caedibus ora. Iam solis contenta feris infamis harena, Nulla cruentatis homicidia ludat in armis. Sit devota Deo, sit tanto principe digna, Et virtute potens, et criminis inscia Roma; Quemque ducem bellis sequitur, pietate sequatur.

when he flees, and with how much blood he marks his footsteps? That golden Rome may no longer know this kind of crime, I pray you, most august leader of the Ausonian realm, command that so grim a rite be abolished, like the rest. Look closely: is not this place of your father’s merit left empty, which God and your father’s friendly piety have kept for you to fill? “That he might not alone take the rewards of such great virtue, I reserve a part for you, my son,” he said, and left the glory whole and untouched. Seize, leader, the fame deferred to your times, and, as successor, have what remains of glory for your father. He forbade the city to be stained with the blood of bulls: you forbid the deaths of wretched men to be offered in sacrifice. Let no one fall in the city whose punishment is a pleasure, nor let virginity delight its eyes with slaughter. Let the infamous arena, now content with wild beasts alone, make sport of no homicides with bloody arms. Let Rome be devoted to God, worthy of so great an emperor, powerful in virtue and ignorant of crime; and as she follows her leader in wars, let her follow him in piety.

Notes and citation

Summary: The poet ends by asking Honorius to complete his father Theodosius’s work, who forbade the sacrifice of bulls, by abolishing the gladiatorial games, so that Rome may be devoted to God and follow her emperor in piety as in war.

The emperor is Honorius; Theodosius had forbidden pagan sacrifice. Gladiatorial combat in Rome is said to have ended under Honorius soon after (cf. Theodoret, Hist. eccl. 5.26, on Telemachus). End of Against Symmachus.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR text badly garbled: clear slips corrected throughout; stray line numbers, note marks, footnote and apparatus lines removed (readings restored by sense are named in the notes)): Quum fugit, et quanto vestigia sanguine signet Quod g-enus ut sceleris iam nesciat aurea Eoma, Te precor, Ausonii Dux augustissime regni, Et tam triste sacrum, iubeas, ut cetera, tolli. Perspice: nonne vacat meriti locus iste paterni, Qiiem tibi supplendum Deus, et genitoris amica Servavit pietas? solus ne praemia tantae Virtutis caperet, i)artem tibi, nate, reservo, Dixit; et integruin decus intactumque reliquit. Arripo dilatam tua, Dux, in tempora famam, Quodque i)atri superest: successur laudis liabeto. Ille Vrbem vetuit taurorum sanguine tingui : Ta mortos miserorum hominuin prohibeto litari. Nulhis in Vrbe cadat, cuius sit poena vohiptas; Nec sua virginitas oblectet caedibus ora. lam solis contenta feris infamis arena, NuUa cruentatis homicidia ludat in armis. Sit devota Doo, sit tanto Principe digna, Et virtute potens, et criminis inscia Koma; Quemque ducem bellis sequitur, pietate sequatur, → Cum fugit, et quanto vestigia sanguine signet. Quod genus ut sceleris iam nesciat aurea Roma, Te precor, Ausonii dux augustissime regni, Et tam triste sacrum iubeas, ut cetera, tolli. Perspice: nonne vacat meriti locus iste paterni, Quem tibi supplendum Deus, et genitoris amica Servavit pietas? solus ne praemia tantae Virtutis caperet, partem tibi, nate, reservo, Dixit; et integrum decus intactumque reliquit. Arripe dilatam tua, dux, in tempora famam, Quodque patri superest, successor laudis habeto. Ille urbem vetuit taurorum sanguine tingui: Tu mortes miserorum hominum prohibeto litari. Nullus in urbe cadat, cuius sit poena voluptas; Nec sua virginitas oblectet caedibus ora. Iam solis contenta feris infamis harena, Nulla cruentatis homicidia ludat in armis. Sit devota Deo, sit tanto principe digna, Et virtute potens, et criminis inscia Roma; Quemque ducem bellis sequitur, pietate sequatur..

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Prudentius, C. Symm. 4.1111 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 1111–1130; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-1111). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-contra-symmachum/4-1111

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-prudentius-contra-symmachum-4-1111) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Lanfranchi's edition (Turin, 1898; OCR, corrections logged); checked afterwards privately against FOTC 52.