The Origin of Sin 1.601–1.931
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).
Chapter 1
1.601Lanfranchi 2:lines 601–630
Ingressum vitae vix eluctatus, et ortum Per scelus exsculpens. Lambunt natale cadaver Reptantes catuli, proles dum nascitur, orba, Haud experta diem, miserae nisi postuma matris. Non dispar nostrae conceptus mentis: ab ore Vipereo infusum sic combibit illa venenum Coniuge Beliade: sic oscula devorat haustu, Interiusque rapit; sic felle libidinis ardens Impletur vitiis, perituro mixta marito. Tunc praegnans letale genus, concepta maligni Fert opera ingenii, de semine complicis hydri; Quem poenis pensare prius sua facta necesse est Corruptae pro stupro animae, proque orbe perempto. Ipsam porro animam crudelia vulnera carpunt Mille puerperiis, soboles dum parturit ex se Contra naturam genitas, peccamina crebra Scilicet, et pastos materno funere natos. Hinc illa est Domini iusta obiurgatio Christi: Nonne pater daemon, vos increpo, peccatores, Concubitu carnis, semen sitientis iniquum, Vos genuit? Sanctum, lector, percense Volumen: Quod loquor, invenies Dominum dixisse profanis Vera obiectantem mortalibus: ex Patre nam vos Esse meo genitos pietas, ait, ipsa probaret, Ac pietatis opus. Proh caeca libido! quid hoc est? Quod cum se thalamis desponsam mens bona iustis Noverit, inque torum Regis nuptura vocetur, Et Regis semper iuvenis, senioque repulso Divinum decus aeterno servantis in ore, Malit adulterium, fulvo et se munere vilem
having barely struggled its way into life, carving out its birth through a crime. The crawling young lick the corpse that gave them birth, an orphaned brood even as it is born, never having known the day except as posthumous children of their wretched mother. The conception of our mind is not unlike this: so it drinks in the poison poured from the viper’s mouth by its husband, the son of Belial; so it devours his kisses in a draught and seizes them deeper within; so, burning with the gall of lust, it is filled with vices, mingled with a husband doomed to die. Then, pregnant with a deadly brood, it bears the conceived works of a malignant mind, from the seed of its accomplice serpent; whose deeds must first be paid for with punishments, for the defilement of the corrupted soul and for the world destroyed. Then cruel wounds tear the soul itself in a thousand births, while it brings forth from itself offspring begotten against nature, that is, frequent sins, children fed on their mother’s death. Hence that just rebuke of Christ the Lord: “Did not the devil, your father, I rebuke you, sinners, thirsting for wicked seed through union with the flesh, beget you?” Read through the holy Book, reader: you will find that what I say the Lord said to profane mortals, casting true charges in their teeth: “For love itself,” he says, “and the work of love would prove that you were begotten of my Father.” O blind lust! What is this? That when the good mind knows that she is betrothed to a lawful marriage, and is called to wed the bed of the King, of the King who is ever young, who drives away old age and keeps divine beauty in his eternal face, she should prefer adultery, and sell herself cheaply for a tawny gift
John 8:44 (quotation, high confidence) · John 8:42 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 11:2 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The soul likewise conceives from the devil’s poisoned kiss and gives birth to sins that destroy her, as Christ said, “your father the devil”; though betrothed to Christ the King, she prefers adultery with the devil.
- John 8:42–44, paraphrased in the poet’s words. The soul as the bride of Christ (Song of Songs; Eph 5:25–27; 2 Cor 11:2). “Adultery” is the soul’s infidelity to Christ.
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)): Ingressum vitae vix eluctatus, et ortum Per scelus exsculpens. Lambuut natale cadaver Eeptantes catuli, proles dum nascitur, orba; Haud experta diem, miserae nisi postuma matris. Non dispar nostrae conceptus mentis : ab ore Vipereo infasum sic combibit illa venenum Coniuge Beliade : sic oscula devorat haustu, Interiusque rapit; sic felle libidinis ardens Irapletur vitiis, perituro mixta marito. Tunc praegnans letale genus, concepta maligni Fert opera ingenii, de semine complicis hydri ; Quem poenis pensare prius sua facta necesse est Corruptae pro stupro animae, proque orbe peremto. Ipsam porro animain crudelia vulnera carpunt Mille puerperiis, soboles dum parturit ex se Contra naturam genitas, peccamina crebra Scilicet, et pastos materno funere natos. Hinc illa est Domini iusta obiurgatio Christi: Nonne pater daemon, vos increpo peccatores, Concubitu carnis, semen sitientis iniquum Vos genuif? Sanctum, lector, percense Volumen: Quod loquor, invenies Dominum dixisse profanis Vera obiectantem mortalibus : ex Patre nam vos Esse mco genitos pietas, ait, ipsa probaret, Ac pietatis opus. Proh coeca libido ! quid hoc est? Quod quum se thalamis desponsam mens bona iustis Noverit, inque torum Regis nuptura vocetur, Et Regis serapsr iuvcnis, senioque repulso, Divinum decus aeterno servantis in ore ; Malit adulterium, fulvo et so munere vilem → Ingressum vitae vix eluctatus, et ortum Per scelus exsculpens. Lambunt natale cadaver Reptantes catuli, proles dum nascitur, orba, Haud experta diem, miserae nisi postuma matris. Non dispar nostrae conceptus mentis: ab ore Vipereo infusum sic combibit illa venenum Coniuge Beliade: sic oscula devorat haustu, Interiusque rapit; sic felle libidinis ardens Impletur vitiis, perituro mixta marito. Tunc praegnans letale genus, concepta maligni Fert opera ingenii, de semine complicis hydri; Quem poenis pensare prius sua facta necesse est Corruptae pro stupro animae, proque orbe perempto. Ipsam porro animam crudelia vulnera carpunt Mille puerperiis, soboles dum parturit ex se Contra naturam genitas, peccamina crebra Scilicet, et pastos materno funere natos. Hinc illa est Domini iusta obiurgatio Christi: Nonne pater daemon, vos increpo, peccatores, Concubitu carnis, semen sitientis iniquum, Vos genuit? Sanctum, lector, percense Volumen: Quod loquor, invenies Dominum dixisse profanis Vera obiectantem mortalibus: ex Patre nam vos Esse meo genitos pietas, ait, ipsa probaret, Ac pietatis opus. Proh caeca libido! quid hoc est? Quod cum se thalamis desponsam mens bona iustis Noverit, inque torum Regis nuptura vocetur, Et Regis semper iuvenis, senioque repulso Divinum decus aeterno servantis in ore, Malit adulterium, fulvo et se munere vilem.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Prudentius, Ham. 1.601 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 601–630; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-601). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-601
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-prudentius-hamartigenia-1-601) · 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.
1.631Lanfranchi 2:lines 631–660
Vendat nocticolae spurcis complexibus Indi, Aspernata Dei fusam per virginis artus Progeniem, dulcesque vocans in fornice natos? Sentio quam contra moveat pellacia litem, Quo dente obnitens spinosa calumnia pugnet. Si non vult Deus esse malum, cur non vetat? inquit. Nil refert, auctor fuerit, factorque malorum, An opera in vitium sceleris pulcherrima verti, Cum possit prohibere, sinat; quod si velit omnes Innocuos agere Omnipotens, nec sancta voluntas Degeneret, facto nec se manus inquinet ullo. Condidit ergo malum Dominus, quod spectat ab alto, Et patitur, fierique probat, tamquam ipse crearit. Ipse creavit enim, quod cum discludere possit, Non abolet, longoque sinit grassarier usu. Damna aures, Pater alme, meas, et claude meatus Obbrutescentis capitis, ne pervia tales Concipiat flexura sonos: est perdere tanti Exstinctum vitae officium de parte cerebri. Immunem modo sese anima, expertemque nefandi Auditus, felix stolida conservet ab aure. Quis ferat haec iniecta Deo convicia, qui se Divinis meminit praecellere nobilitatum Muneribus? multa ut taceam, vel sola benignum Excitat e tumulis homines, regnique per aevum Participes iubet esse sui: qui si foret auctor, Servatorque mali, numquam post damna salutis, Peccantumque obitus, redivivam ferre medelam Labi hominis, servare Dei est: meritis perit iste:
to the filthy embraces of a night-dwelling Indian, scorning the offspring of God poured through the limbs of a virgin, and calling the children of the brothel sweet? I perceive what suit seductive deceit raises against this, with what tooth thorny slander strains to fight. “If God does not want evil to be,” it says, “why does he not forbid it? It makes no difference whether he was the author and maker of evils, or whether he allows his most beautiful works to be turned into the vice of crime when he could prevent it. If the Almighty wished that all should live innocently, no holy will would degenerate, nor would any hand defile itself by any deed. So the Lord created evil, which he watches from on high, and permits, and approves its being done, as if he himself had created it. For he did create it, since, though he could shut it out, he does not abolish it, and lets it rampage in long practice.” Condemn my ears, kind Father, and close the passages of my head, gone dull, so that its open winding may not take in such sounds: it is worth losing so much, the office of life extinguished in a part of the brain. Only let the soul keep itself free and without share in impious hearing, happy with a dull ear. Who could bear these insults hurled at God, who remembers that he excels, ennobled by divine gifts? To say nothing of many things, this alone [shows him] kind: he raises men from their tombs and bids them share in his kingdom for ever. If he were the author and preserver of evil, never, after salvation was lost and sinners had died, [would he have willed] to bring a life-restoring remedy. The fall is man’s; to save is God’s: this one perishes by his deserts;
Notes and citation
Summary: The objector argues that if God permits evil when he could prevent it, he is its author; the poet refuses to hear such slander, for God raises the dead and saves sinners, which the author of evil would never do.
- The objection is reported as the poet states it. A footnote line (on “grassarier”) was removed. The sense seems to lack words after lines 654 and 658 (perhaps lost lines); the bracketed words are supplied by sense. The “night-dwelling Indian” (line 631) is the devil. Line 647 is read “flexura” (scan “liexura”).
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)): Vendat nocticolae spurcis complexibus Indi, Aspernata Dei fusam per virginis artus Progeniem, dulcesque vocans in fornice natos? Sontio quam contra moveat pellacia litem : (^uo dente obnitens spinosa calumnia pugnet, Si non vult Deus esse malum, cur non vetat? inquit. Nil refert, auctor fuerit, factorquo malorum : Aune opera in vitium sceleris pulcherrima verti, Quura possit prohibere, sinat? quod si velit omnes Innocuos agere Omnipotens, nec sancta voluntas Degeneret, facto nec se manus inquinet ullo. Condidit ergo raahim Dominus, quod spectat ab alto, Et patitur, fierique probat, taraquam ipse crearit. Ipse creavit enim, quod quum disckidero possit, Non abolet, longoque sinit grassarier usu. Damna auros, Pater ahne, meas, et cLaude meatus Obbrutescentis capitis, ne pervia tales Concipiat liexura sonos : est perdere tanti Exstinctum vitae officium de partc cerebri. (G) ijrassaricr: Tzapar. Immunem modo sese anima, expertemque nefandi Auditus, felix stolida conservet ab aure. Quis ferat liaec iniocta Deo convicia? (jui se Divinis meminit praecollere nobilitatum Munoribus? multa ut taceam, vel sola benignum Excitat e tuumlis homines, regnicpie per aevum Participes iul^et esse sui: qui si foret auctor, Servatorque mali, numquam post damna salutis, Peccantumque obitus, redivivam ferrc medalam Labi liominis, servare Dei est: meritis perit iste : → Vendat nocticolae spurcis complexibus Indi, Aspernata Dei fusam per virginis artus Progeniem, dulcesque vocans in fornice natos? Sentio quam contra moveat pellacia litem, Quo dente obnitens spinosa calumnia pugnet. Si non vult Deus esse malum, cur non vetat? inquit. Nil refert, auctor fuerit, factorque malorum, An opera in vitium sceleris pulcherrima verti, Cum possit prohibere, sinat; quod si velit omnes Innocuos agere Omnipotens, nec sancta voluntas Degeneret, facto nec se manus inquinet ullo. Condidit ergo malum Dominus, quod spectat ab alto, Et patitur, fierique probat, tamquam ipse crearit. Ipse creavit enim, quod cum discludere possit, Non abolet, longoque sinit grassarier usu. Damna aures, Pater alme, meas, et claude meatus Obbrutescentis capitis, ne pervia tales Concipiat flexura sonos: est perdere tanti Exstinctum vitae officium de parte cerebri. Immunem modo sese anima, expertemque nefandi Auditus, felix stolida conservet ab aure. Quis ferat haec iniecta Deo convicia, qui se Divinis meminit praecellere nobilitatum Muneribus? multa ut taceam, vel sola benignum Excitat e tumulis homines, regnique per aevum Participes iubet esse sui: qui si foret auctor, Servatorque mali, numquam post damna salutis, Peccantumque obitus, redivivam ferre medelam Labi hominis, servare Dei est: meritis perit iste:.
Cite (SBL): Prudentius, Ham. 1.631 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 631–660; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-631). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-631
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-prudentius-hamartigenia-1-631) · 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.
1.661Lanfranchi 2:lines 661–690
Ille abolet pereuntis opus, meritumque resolvit. Argumentum ingens, Dominum, qui talia praestet, Nolle malum, nec, quod post abluit, ante probare. Invitone aliquis potis est peccare Tonante, Cui facile est in corde hominis componere sensus, Quos libeat, fibrasque omnes animare pudicis Pulsibus, et totum venis infundere honestum? Nescis, stulte, tuae vim libertatis ab ipso Formatore datam? nescis ab origine quanta Sit concessa tibi famulo super orbe potestas, Et super ingenio proprio, laxaeque soluto Iure voluntatis: liceat cui velle, sequique Quod placitum, nullique animum subiungere vinclo? An cum te dominum cunctis quaecumque crearat Praeficeret, mundumque tuis servire iuberet Imperiis; cumque arva, polum, mare, flumina, ventos Dederet, arbitrium de te tibi credere avarus Nollet, ut indigno, libertatemque negaret? Quale erat, electus magni rex orbis ut esset, Non rex ipse sui, curto foedatus honore? Nam quis honos domini est, cuius mens libera non est, Una sed impositae servit sententia legi? Quae laus porro hominis, vel quod meritum, sine certo Inter utramque viam discrimine vivere iuste? Non fit sponte bonus, cui non est promta potestas Velle aliud, flexosque animi convertere sensus. Atqui nec bonus est, nec conlaudabilis ille, Qui non sponte bonus: quoniam probitate coacta Gloria nulla venit, sordetque ingloria virtus. Nec tamen est virtus, ni deteriora refutans Emicet, et meliore viam petat indole rectam.
he abolishes the work of the one who perishes and cancels his deserts. It is a great proof that the Lord, who grants such things, does not want evil, nor approves beforehand what he afterward washes away. “Can anyone sin against the will of the Thunderer, for whom it is easy to arrange in the heart of man the feelings he pleases, to quicken all its fibers with chaste impulses, and to pour all that is honorable into its veins?” Do you not know, fool, that the force of your freedom was given by the Maker himself? Do you not know how great a power was granted you from the beginning over a world that serves you, and over your own mind, and by the unbound right of a free will: you, who may will, and follow what you please, and bind your mind to no chain? Or, when he set you as lord over all that he had created and ordered the world to serve your commands, and when he handed over the fields, the sky, the sea, the rivers, the winds, would he grudgingly refuse to entrust you with the decision about yourself, as one unworthy, and deny you freedom? What would it have been, to be chosen king of the great world and not king of oneself, disgraced by a curtailed honor? For what honor has a lord whose mind is not free, but serves one decision of an imposed law? And what praise is there for a man, or what merit, in living justly without a real choice between the two ways? No one becomes good of his own accord who has no ready power to will otherwise and to turn the bent feelings of his mind. Yet he is neither good nor praiseworthy who is not good of his own accord; for from forced uprightness no glory comes, and inglorious virtue is worthless. Nor is it virtue, unless it shines out by refusing the worse and seeks the right way with a better disposition.
Gen 1:28 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Against the objection that God could force everyone to be good, the poet answers that God gave man lordship over the world and over himself, with free will, since goodness without the freedom to choose otherwise would be neither virtue nor merit.
- Gen 1:26–28. Free will as Prudentius states it. Stray line numbers were removed and two lines run together in the scan (“soluto / Iure voluntatis”) were separated. Line 664 is read “Invitone” (scan “Invito ne”).
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)): IUe al>ulet pereuntis opus, meritumque resolvit. Aryumentuui ingens , Dominum, qui talia praestet, Xolle malum, nec , quod post abluit, ante probare. Invito ne ali^iuis potis est peccaro Tonante : G70 Cui facile est in corde hominis componere sensus, (^uos libeat, librasque omnes animare pudicis Pulsibus, et totum venis infundere honestum? Xescis, stulte, tuae vim libertatis ab ipso Formatore datam? nescis ab origine quanta G75 Sit concessa tibi faraulo super orbe iwtestas, Et super ingenio proprio, laxaeque soluto ure voluntatis: licoat cui velle, sequique (^uod placitum, nullique animum subiungere vinclo? An quumtedomiiuim cunctis quaecumquecrearat, G80 Praeficcret, munduuuiue tuis servire iuberet Imperiis ; quuraque arva, polum, maro, flumina, ventos Dederet, arbitrium de te tibi credere avarus Nollet, ut indiguo, libertatemque negaref? Quale erat, electus magni rex orbis ut esset, Non rex ipse sui, curto foedatus bonore? Nain quis honos domini est, cuius mens libera non est, Una sed impositae servit sententia legi? Quae laus porro bominis, vel quodmeritum, sine certo Inter utramque viam discrimine vivere iuste? Non fit sponte bonus, cui non est promta potestas Velle aliud, flexosque animi convertere sensus. Atqui nec bonus est, nec conlaudabilis ille, Qui non sponte bonus : quoniam probitate coacta Gloria nulla venit, sordetque ingloria virtus. Nec tamen est virtus, ni deteriora refutans Emicet, et meliore viam petat indole rectain. → Ille abolet pereuntis opus, meritumque resolvit. Argumentum ingens, Dominum, qui talia praestet, Nolle malum, nec, quod post abluit, ante probare. Invitone aliquis potis est peccare Tonante, Cui facile est in corde hominis componere sensus, Quos libeat, fibrasque omnes animare pudicis Pulsibus, et totum venis infundere honestum? Nescis, stulte, tuae vim libertatis ab ipso Formatore datam? nescis ab origine quanta Sit concessa tibi famulo super orbe potestas, Et super ingenio proprio, laxaeque soluto Iure voluntatis: liceat cui velle, sequique Quod placitum, nullique animum subiungere vinclo? An cum te dominum cunctis quaecumque crearat Praeficeret, mundumque tuis servire iuberet Imperiis; cumque arva, polum, mare, flumina, ventos Dederet, arbitrium de te tibi credere avarus Nollet, ut indigno, libertatemque negaret? Quale erat, electus magni rex orbis ut esset, Non rex ipse sui, curto foedatus honore? Nam quis honos domini est, cuius mens libera non est, Una sed impositae servit sententia legi? Quae laus porro hominis, vel quod meritum, sine certo Inter utramque viam discrimine vivere iuste? Non fit sponte bonus, cui non est promta potestas Velle aliud, flexosque animi convertere sensus. Atqui nec bonus est, nec conlaudabilis ille, Qui non sponte bonus: quoniam probitate coacta Gloria nulla venit, sordetque ingloria virtus. Nec tamen est virtus, ni deteriora refutans Emicet, et meliore viam petat indole rectam..
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Prudentius, Ham. 1.661 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 661–690; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-661). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-661
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-prudentius-hamartigenia-1-661) · 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.
1.691Lanfranchi 2:lines 691–720
Vade, ait ipse Parens, opifexque et conditor Adae; Vade, homo, et adflatu nostri praenobilis oris, Insubiecte, potens, rerum arbiter, arbiter idem Et iudex mentis propriae: mihi subdere soli Sponte tua, quo sit subiectio et ipsa soluto Libera iudicio. Non cogo, nec exigo per vim, Sed moneo iniustum fugias, iustumque sequaris. Lux comes est iusti: comes est mors horrida iniqui. Elige rem vitae; tua virtus temet in aevum Provehat, aeternum damnet tua culpa vicissim. Praestet et alterutram permissa licentia sortem. Hac pietate vagus, et tanto munere abundans, Transit propositum fas, et letalia prudens Eligit, atque volens illud magis utile retur, Quod, prohibente Deo, persuasit callidus anguis. Persuasit certe hortatu, non impulit acri Imperio. Hoc mulier rea criminis exprobranti Respondit Domino: suadelis se malefabris Inlectam suasisse viro: vir et ipse libenter Consensit. Licuitne hortantem spernere recti Libertate animi? Licuit; namque et Deus ante Suaserat, ut meliora volens sequeretur; at ille Spernens consilium, saevo plus credidit hosti. Nunc inter vitae dominum, mortisque magistrum Consistit medius: vocat hinc Deus, inde tyrannus Ambiguum, atque suis se motibus alternantem. Accipe gestarum monumenta insignia rerum, Praelusit quibus historia spectabile signum. Loth fugiens Sodomis ardentibus omnia secum Pignora cara domus properabat, sede relicta,
“Go,” said the Parent himself, the maker and founder of Adam; “go, man, most noble by the breath of our mouth, subject to none, powerful, arbiter of things, and likewise arbiter and judge of your own mind: submit to me alone of your own will, so that your very submission may be free, with judgment unbound. I do not compel, nor demand by force, but I warn you to flee the unjust and follow the just. Light is the companion of the just; dreadful death is the companion of the unjust. Choose the way of life; let your virtue carry you on for ever, or in turn let your guilt condemn you eternally. Let the freedom granted you bring about one lot or the other.” Free by this kindness, and abounding in so great a gift, he passes beyond the right set before him and knowingly chooses deadly things, and willingly thinks more useful what the cunning serpent persuaded, though God forbade it. He persuaded, certainly, by urging, not drove by harsh command. This the woman, guilty of the crime, answered to the Lord when he reproached her: that, enticed by ill-working persuasion, she persuaded her husband; and the husband himself gladly consented. Was it allowed him to spurn the tempter by the freedom of an upright mind? It was; for God too had urged him before to will the better and follow it; but he, spurning the counsel, put more trust in the cruel enemy. Now he stands in the middle between the Lord of life and the master of death: God calls him from this side, the tyrant from that, as he wavers and swings to and fro with his own impulses. Hear the notable records of things done, by which history foreshadowed a visible sign. Lot, fleeing as Sodom burned, was hurrying, his home abandoned, to take with him all the dear pledges of his house,
Gen 2:7 (allusion, medium confidence) · Gen 2:17 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 3:13 (allusion, high confidence) · Deut 30:19 (allusion, medium confidence) · Gen 19:15 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God made Adam free and urged him to choose life; Adam chose death, persuaded but not compelled by the serpent, and man now stands between God and the devil; the story of Lot begins.
- Gen 2:7, 16–17; 3:1–13; Deut 30:15–19 (choose life); Gen 19:15–17. A stray line number and a footnote mark 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)): Vade, ait ipse Parens, opifexque et conditor Adae ; Vade, liomo, et adflatu nostri praenobilis oris, Insubiecte, potens, rerum arbiter, arbiter idem (700) Et iudex mentis propriae : milii subdere soli Sponte tua, quo sit subiectio et ipsa soluto Libera iudicio. Non cogo, nec exigo per vim, Sed monoo iniustum fugias, iustumque sequaris. Liix comes est iusti : comes est mors horrida iniqui. Elige rem vitae, tua virtus temet in aevum Provehat, aeternum damnet tua culpa vicissim. Praestet et alterutram permissa licentia sortem. Hac pietate vagus, et tanto munere abundans, Transit propositum fas, ot letalia prudens Eligit: atque volens illud niagis utile retur, Quod, prohibente Deo, persuasit callidus anguis. Persuasit certe liortatu, non impulit acri Iniperio. Hoc mulier rea criminis exprobranti Ilespondit Domiiio : suadelis se malefabris Inlectam, suasisse viro : vir et ipse libenter Consensit. Licuit ne liortantem spernere recti Libertate animi ? Licuit ; namquc et Deus ante Suaserat, ut meliora volens sequeretur; at ille Spernens consilium, saevo plus credidit hosti. Nunc iiiter vitae dominuin, mortisque magistrum Consistit medius: vocat hinc Deus, inde tjrannus Ambiguum, atque suis se motibus alternantem. Accipe gestarum monuinenta insignia rerum, Praelusit quibus hisloria (G) spectabile signum. Lotli fugieus Sodomis ardentibus, omnia secum Pignora cara domus properabat, sede relicta, → Vade, ait ipse Parens, opifexque et conditor Adae; Vade, homo, et adflatu nostri praenobilis oris, Insubiecte, potens, rerum arbiter, arbiter idem Et iudex mentis propriae: mihi subdere soli Sponte tua, quo sit subiectio et ipsa soluto Libera iudicio. Non cogo, nec exigo per vim, Sed moneo iniustum fugias, iustumque sequaris. Lux comes est iusti: comes est mors horrida iniqui. Elige rem vitae; tua virtus temet in aevum Provehat, aeternum damnet tua culpa vicissim. Praestet et alterutram permissa licentia sortem. Hac pietate vagus, et tanto munere abundans, Transit propositum fas, et letalia prudens Eligit, atque volens illud magis utile retur, Quod, prohibente Deo, persuasit callidus anguis. Persuasit certe hortatu, non impulit acri Imperio. Hoc mulier rea criminis exprobranti Respondit Domino: suadelis se malefabris Inlectam suasisse viro: vir et ipse libenter Consensit. Licuitne hortantem spernere recti Libertate animi? Licuit; namque et Deus ante Suaserat, ut meliora volens sequeretur; at ille Spernens consilium, saevo plus credidit hosti. Nunc inter vitae dominum, mortisque magistrum Consistit medius: vocat hinc Deus, inde tyrannus Ambiguum, atque suis se motibus alternantem. Accipe gestarum monumenta insignia rerum, Praelusit quibus historia spectabile signum. Loth fugiens Sodomis ardentibus omnia secum Pignora cara domus properabat, sede relicta,.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Prudentius, Ham. 1.691 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 691–720; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-691). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-691
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-prudentius-hamartigenia-1-691) · 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.
1.721Lanfranchi 2:lines 721–750
Nubibus urbicremis subducere, sulphure cum iam Nimboso ignitus caelum subtexeret aer. Angelus hanc hospes legem praescripserat illis, Emissus virtute Dei sub imagine dupla: Omnis ut e portis iret domus, atque in apertum Dirigeret constans oculos, nec pone reflexo Lumine regnantes per moenia cerneret ignes. Nemo memor Sodomae, quae mundi forma cremandi est, Ut semel e muris gressum promoverit, ore Post tergum verso, respectet funera rerum. Loth monitis sapiens obtemperat, at levis uxor Mobilitate animi torsit muliebre retrorsus Ingenium, Sodomisque suis revocabilis haesit. Traxerat Eva virum dirae ad consortia culpae: Haec peccans sibi sola perit, solidata metallo Diriguit fragili, saxumque liquabile facta. Stat mulier, sicut steterat prius, omnia servans Caute sigillati longum salis effigiata, Et decus, et cultum, frontemque, oculosque, comamque, Et flexam in tergum faciem, paullumque relata Menta retro, antiquae monumenta rigentia noxae. Liquitur illa quidem salsis sudoribus uda; Sed nulla ex fluido plenae dispendia formae Sentit deliquio: quantumque armenta saporum Attenuant saxum, tantum lambentibus humor Sufficit, attritamque cutem per damna reformat. Hoc meruit titulo peccatrix femina sisti, Infirmum fluidumque animum per lubrica solvens Consilia, et fragilis iussa ad caelestia voti.
out of the city-burning clouds, when the air, set on fire, was already weaving the sky beneath with stormy sulphur. The angel guest, sent by the power of God in double likeness, had prescribed this law for them: that the whole household should go out from the gates, keep its eyes fixed steadily on the open country, and not, turning its gaze behind, look at the fires reigning through the walls. Let no one, remembering Sodom, which is the figure of the world that is to be burned, once he has stepped out of its walls, turn his face behind him and look back at the funeral of things. Lot wisely obeys the warnings; but his fickle wife, with her shifting mind, twisted her womanish disposition backward and clung, recalled, to her Sodom. Eve had drawn her husband into partnership in dreadful guilt; this woman, sinning, perishes alone: hardened into a brittle mineral, she stiffened and became a stone that melts. The woman stands as she had stood before, keeping everything, shaped in a crag of moulded salt for long ages: her grace and her dress, her brow, her eyes, her hair, her face turned backward, and her chin drawn back a little, stiffened records of the ancient guilt. She does indeed melt, wet with salty sweat, but she feels no loss of her full form from the flowing moisture: as much as the herds, eager for the savor, wear down the stone, so much moisture is supplied to those who lick, and it restores her worn skin through its losses. By this title the sinful woman deserved to be set up, loosening her weak and fluid mind through slippery counsels, and through a vow fragile toward the heavenly commands.
Gen 19:17 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 19:26 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 17:32 (echo, medium confidence) · 2 Pet 3:10 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Lot and his family are told not to look back at burning Sodom, a figure of the world doomed to fire; Lot’s wife looks back and becomes a pillar of salt, which herds lick but never wear away, a lasting monument of her sin.
- Gen 19:1, 15–26; Luke 17:28–32; 2 Pet 3:10 (the world to be burned). A footnote line on the metre of “exprobranti” and a footnote mark were removed. The poet’s comments on the woman are translated 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)): Nubibus url)icrerais subducere , sulphure quum iam, Ximboso ignitus caelum subte.veret aer, (:3) exjjrobraiiti vcrs. spond. Angelus liaiic liospes legein praescripserat ollis, Eraissus virtute Dei sub imagiiie dupla; Omnis ut e portis iret domus, atque in apertum Dirigeret constans oculos, nec pone reflexo Lumine regnantes per moenia cerneret ignes. Nemo memor Sodomae, quae mundi forma cremandi est, Ut semel e muris gressum promoverit, ore Post tergum verso, respectet funera rerum. Lotli monitis sapiens obtemperat, at levis uxor Mobilitate animi torsit muliebre retrorsus Ingenium, Sodomisque suis revocabilis liaesit. Traxerat £va virum dirae ad consortia culpae : Haec peccans sibi sola j^erit, solidata metallo Diriguit fragili, saxumque liquabile facta. Stat mulier {6), sicut steterat prius, omnia servaiis Caute sigillati longum salis effigiata, Et decus, et cultum, frontemque, oculosque, comamque, Et flexam in tergum faciem, paullumque relata Menta retro, antiquae monumenta rigentia noxae, Liquitur illa quidem salsis sudoribus uda ; Socl nulla ox fluido plpnae dispendia formao Sentit deliquio: quantuinque armenta saporum Attenuant saxum, tantum lamhontibus humor Snfficit, attritamque cutem per damna reformat. Hoc meruit titulo peccatrix femina sisti, Infirmum, fiuidumque animum per lubrica solvens Consilia, et fragilis iussa ad caelestia voti. → Nubibus urbicremis subducere, sulphure cum iam Nimboso ignitus caelum subtexeret aer. Angelus hanc hospes legem praescripserat illis, Emissus virtute Dei sub imagine dupla: Omnis ut e portis iret domus, atque in apertum Dirigeret constans oculos, nec pone reflexo Lumine regnantes per moenia cerneret ignes. Nemo memor Sodomae, quae mundi forma cremandi est, Ut semel e muris gressum promoverit, ore Post tergum verso, respectet funera rerum. Loth monitis sapiens obtemperat, at levis uxor Mobilitate animi torsit muliebre retrorsus Ingenium, Sodomisque suis revocabilis haesit. Traxerat Eva virum dirae ad consortia culpae: Haec peccans sibi sola perit, solidata metallo Diriguit fragili, saxumque liquabile facta. Stat mulier, sicut steterat prius, omnia servans Caute sigillati longum salis effigiata, Et decus, et cultum, frontemque, oculosque, comamque, Et flexam in tergum faciem, paullumque relata Menta retro, antiquae monumenta rigentia noxae. Liquitur illa quidem salsis sudoribus uda; Sed nulla ex fluido plenae dispendia formae Sentit deliquio: quantumque armenta saporum Attenuant saxum, tantum lambentibus humor Sufficit, attritamque cutem per damna reformat. Hoc meruit titulo peccatrix femina sisti, Infirmum fluidumque animum per lubrica solvens Consilia, et fragilis iussa ad caelestia voti..
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Prudentius, Ham. 1.721 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 721–750; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-721). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-721
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-prudentius-hamartigenia-1-721) · 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.
1.751Lanfranchi 2:lines 751–780
Propositum contra non commutabile servat Loth ingressus iter, nec moenia respicit, alto In cinerem conlapsa rogo, populumque perustum, Et mores populi, tabularia, iura, forumque, Balnea, propolas, meritoria, templa, theatra, Et circum cum plebe sua, madidasque popinas. Quidquid agunt homines, Sodomorum incendia iustis Ignibus involvunt, et, Christo iudice, damnant. Haec fugisse semel satis est; non respicit ultra Loth noster; fragilis sed coniux respicit, et, quae Fugerat, inverso mutabilis ore revisit, Atque inter patrias perstat durata favillas. En tibi signatum libertatis documentum: Quo voluit nos scire Deus, quodcumque sequendum est, Sub nostra ditione situm, passimque remissum Alterutram calcare viam. Duo cedere iussi De Sodomis, alter se proripit, altera mussat. Ille gradum celerat fugiens, contra illa renutat. Liber utrique animus, sed dispar utrique voluntas. Dividit huc illuc rapiens sua quemque libido. Talem multa Sacris speciem notat orbita Libris. Adspice Ruth gentis Moabitidis, et simul Orphan. Illa socrum Noemin fido comitatur amore, Deserit haec: atquin thalamis et lege iugali Exutae, Hebraeisque toris, sacrisque vacantes, Iure fruebantur proprio. Sed pristinus Orphae Fanorum ritus praeputia barbara suasit Malle, et semiferi stirpem nutrire Goliae. Ruth, dum per stipulas agresti amburitur aestu, Fulcra Booz meruit, castoque adscita cubili
Lot, on the other hand, keeps his purpose unchanged once he has set out, and does not look back at the walls collapsed into ash on the high pyre, nor at the burnt-up people, the people’s ways, their record-offices, laws, and forum, baths, hucksters, brothels, temples, theatres, the circus with its crowd, and the reeking taverns. Whatever men do, the burning of Sodom wraps in just fires and condemns, with Christ as judge. It is enough to have fled these things once; our Lot looks back no more; but his fragile wife looks back, and, changeable, revisits with turned face what she had fled, and stands hardened among her native ashes. Here is a sealed proof of freedom for you, by which God willed us to know that whatever is to be followed lies within our own control, and that leave is given to everyone to tread one way or the other. Two were ordered to depart from Sodom; one hurries away, the other mutters. He quickens his step in flight; she, on the contrary, refuses. Both had a free mind, but each a different will. Each one’s own desire divides them, seizing them this way and that. Many a track in the Sacred Books marks such a pattern. Look at Ruth, of the Moabite nation, and Orpah with her. The one accompanies her mother-in-law Naomi with faithful love; the other deserts her. Yet both, released from their marriages and the law of wedlock, free of their Hebrew beds and their rites, enjoyed their own right. But Orpah’s old rite of the shrines persuaded her to prefer barbarian foreskins and to nurse the stock of the half-savage Goliath. Ruth, while she is scorched by the field’s heat among the stubble, won the couch of Boaz and, taken into a chaste bed,
Gen 19:26 (allusion, high confidence) · Ruth 1:14 (allusion, high confidence) · Ruth 2:3 (allusion, high confidence) · Ruth 4:13 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Lot keeps on his way without looking back at the burning city, a figure of the world under judgment, while his wife turns back; Ruth and Orpah likewise, equally free, choose differently, one following Naomi, the other returning to her gods.
- Gen 19:17, 26; Ruth 1:4–18; 2:2–3; 3:7–13; 4:13. The tradition that Orpah became an ancestress of Goliath is Jewish legend (cf. 2 Sam 21:16–22, “Harapha”), as an earlier editor’s footnote observed. 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)): Propositum contra non commutabilo servat Loth ingressus iter, nec moenia respicit, alto In cinerem conlapsa rogo, populumque perustum, Et moros populi, tabularia, iura, forumque, Balnoa, propolas moritoria. templa, theatra, Et circum cum ]ilebe sua, madidasque popinas. Quidquid agunt homines, Sodomorum incendia iustis Ignibus involvunt, ot, Christo iudice, damnant. Ilaec fugisse semel satis est; non respicit ultra Loth nostor ; fragilis sod coniux rospicit, et, quae Fugerat, inverso mutabilis ore revisit, Atque inter patrias perstat durata favillas. En tibi signatum libertatis documentum : Quo volait nos scire Deus, quodcumque sequendum est, Sub nostra ditione situm ; passimque remissum, Alt^rutram calcare viam. Duo cedere iussi De Sodomis, alter so proripit, alt«ra mussat. Tlle graduui celerat fugions, contra illa ronutat. Liber ulrique animus, sed dispar utrique voluntas. Dividit huc illuc rapiens sua quemque libido. Talem multa Sacris speciem notat orl)ita Libris. Adspice Ruth(l)gentis Moabitidis, et simulUrphan. Illa socrum Noemin fido comitatur amore, Deserit haec : atquin thalamis et lege iugali Exutae, Hebraeisque toris, sacrisque vacantes, lure fruebantur proprio. Sed pristinus Orphae Fanorum ritus praeputia barbara suasit Malle, et semiferi stirpem nutrire Goliae. Ruth, dum per stipulas agresti aml)uritur aestu, Fulcra Booz meruit, castoque adscita cubili → Propositum contra non commutabile servat Loth ingressus iter, nec moenia respicit, alto In cinerem conlapsa rogo, populumque perustum, Et mores populi, tabularia, iura, forumque, Balnea, propolas, meritoria, templa, theatra, Et circum cum plebe sua, madidasque popinas. Quidquid agunt homines, Sodomorum incendia iustis Ignibus involvunt, et, Christo iudice, damnant. Haec fugisse semel satis est; non respicit ultra Loth noster; fragilis sed coniux respicit, et, quae Fugerat, inverso mutabilis ore revisit, Atque inter patrias perstat durata favillas. En tibi signatum libertatis documentum: Quo voluit nos scire Deus, quodcumque sequendum est, Sub nostra ditione situm, passimque remissum Alterutram calcare viam. Duo cedere iussi De Sodomis, alter se proripit, altera mussat. Ille gradum celerat fugiens, contra illa renutat. Liber utrique animus, sed dispar utrique voluntas. Dividit huc illuc rapiens sua quemque libido. Talem multa Sacris speciem notat orbita Libris. Adspice Ruth gentis Moabitidis, et simul Orphan. Illa socrum Noemin fido comitatur amore, Deserit haec: atquin thalamis et lege iugali Exutae, Hebraeisque toris, sacrisque vacantes, Iure fruebantur proprio. Sed pristinus Orphae Fanorum ritus praeputia barbara suasit Malle, et semiferi stirpem nutrire Goliae. Ruth, dum per stipulas agresti amburitur aestu, Fulcra Booz meruit, castoque adscita cubili.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Prudentius, Ham. 1.751 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 751–780; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-751). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-751
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-prudentius-hamartigenia-1-751) · 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.
1.781Lanfranchi 2:lines 781–810
Christigenam fecunda domum, Davidica regna Edidit, atque Deo mortales miscuit ortus. Saepe egomet memini fratres geminos ad hiulcum Pervenisse simul bivium, nutante iuventa, Et dubitasse diu bifido sub tramite, quodnam Esset iter melius: cum dextrum spinea silva Sentibus artaret, scrupulosaque semita longe Duceret aerium clivoso margine callem; At laevum nemus umbriferum per amoena vireta Ditibus ornaret pomis, et lene iacentem Planicies daret ampla viam: squalentibus unum Contentum spinis reptasse per ardua saxa; Porro alium campo sese indulsisse sinistro; Illum sidereis caput immiscere propinquis, Hunc in caenosas subito cessisse paludes. Omnibus una subest natura, sed exitus omnes Non unus peragit, placitorum segrege forma. Haud secus ac si olim per sudum lactea forte Lapsa columbarum nubes descendat in arvum Ruris frugiferi, laqueos ubi callidus auceps Praetendit, lentoque inlevit vimina visco, Sparsit et insidias siliquis vel farre doloso: Inliciunt alias fallentia grana, gulamque Innectunt avidam tortae retinacula saetae, Molle vel implicitas gluten circumligat alas: Ast aliae, quas nullus amor prolectat edendi, Gressibus innocuis sterili spatiantur in herba, Suspectamque cavent oculos convertere ad escam. Mox ubi iam caelo revolandum, pars petit aethram
fruitful, she brought forth the house from which Christ was born, the kingdom of David, and joined mortal birth with God. I myself remember how often twin brothers, in wavering youth, came together to a gaping fork in the road and long hesitated at the forked path which was the better way: since on the right a thorny wood narrowed the way with brambles, and a rough path led far up a lofty track along a steep edge; but on the left a shady grove, through pleasant greenery, was adorned with rich fruit, and a broad plain offered a gently lying road: the one, content with the rough thorns, crept up through steep rocks; the other indulged himself in the field on the left; the one mingled his head with the stars nearby, the other suddenly sank into muddy marshes. All have one nature beneath, but not all come to one end, since the forms of their choices are apart. Just as when a milk-white cloud of doves, gliding through the clear sky, comes down perhaps onto the field of a fruitful farm, where a cunning fowler has stretched snares and smeared the twigs with sticky lime, and laid his ambush with pods or deceitful grain: the deceiving grains lure some, and the bonds of twisted horsehair entangle their greedy throats, or the soft glue binds their entangled wings; but others, whom no love of eating entices, walk about with harmless steps in the barren grass and take care not to turn their eyes to the suspect bait. Soon, when it is time to fly back to the sky, some make for the starry
Matt 1:5 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 7:13 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 7:14 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Ruth became an ancestress of Christ; the poet then illustrates free choice by twin brothers at a fork in the road, one taking the steep thorny path to heaven, the other the pleasant path to the swamp, and by doves, some caught by the fowler’s bait, others avoiding it.
- Matt 1:5–16; Matt 7:13–14 (the two ways). A footnote line (Cellarius on Jewish legends about Orpah) 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)): Christigenam fecunda domum, Davidica regna Edidit, atque Deo mortales miscuit ortus. Saepe egomet memini fratres geminos ad hiulcum Pervenisse simul bivium, nntante iuventa ; Et dubitasse diu bifido sub tramite, quodnam Esset iter melius: quum dextrum spinea silva Cellarivs existimat eriii posso ex ludaeoruni fabulis, ad quas Sentibus artaret, scrupolosaque semita longe Duceret aerium clivoso margine callem. ' At laevum, nemus umbriferum per amoena vireta Ditibus ornaret pomis, et lene iacentem Planicies daret ampla viam ; squalentibus unum Contentum spinis reptasse per ardua saxa : Porro alium campo sese indulsisse sinistro, IUum sidereis caput immiscere propinquis, Hunc in coenosas subito cedisse ])aludes. Oranibus una subest natura, sed oxitus onnies Non unus peragit, placitorum segrege forma. Haud secus, ac si olim per sudutn lactea forte Lapsa columbarum nubes descendat in arvuui Ruris frugiferi, laqueos ubi callidus auceps Praelendit, lentoque inlevit vimina visco, Sparsit et insidias siliquis, vel farro doloso: Inliciunt alias fallentia grana, gulamque Innectunt avidam tortae retinacula setae, Mollc vel implicitas gluten circumligat alas : Ast aliae, quas nullus amor prolectat cdendi, Gressibus imiocuis sterili spatiantur in borba, Suspcctamque cavent oculos converteread escam. Mox ubi iam caelo revolandum , pars petit aethram → Christigenam fecunda domum, Davidica regna Edidit, atque Deo mortales miscuit ortus. Saepe egomet memini fratres geminos ad hiulcum Pervenisse simul bivium, nutante iuventa, Et dubitasse diu bifido sub tramite, quodnam Esset iter melius: cum dextrum spinea silva Sentibus artaret, scrupulosaque semita longe Duceret aerium clivoso margine callem; At laevum nemus umbriferum per amoena vireta Ditibus ornaret pomis, et lene iacentem Planicies daret ampla viam: squalentibus unum Contentum spinis reptasse per ardua saxa; Porro alium campo sese indulsisse sinistro; Illum sidereis caput immiscere propinquis, Hunc in caenosas subito cessisse paludes. Omnibus una subest natura, sed exitus omnes Non unus peragit, placitorum segrege forma. Haud secus ac si olim per sudum lactea forte Lapsa columbarum nubes descendat in arvum Ruris frugiferi, laqueos ubi callidus auceps Praetendit, lentoque inlevit vimina visco, Sparsit et insidias siliquis vel farre doloso: Inliciunt alias fallentia grana, gulamque Innectunt avidam tortae retinacula saetae, Molle vel implicitas gluten circumligat alas: Ast aliae, quas nullus amor prolectat edendi, Gressibus innocuis sterili spatiantur in herba, Suspectamque cavent oculos convertere ad escam. Mox ubi iam caelo revolandum, pars petit aethram.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Prudentius, Ham. 1.781 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 781–810; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-781). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-781
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-prudentius-hamartigenia-1-781) · 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.
1.811Lanfranchi 2:lines 811–840
Libera sideream, plaudens super aera pennis; Pars captiva iacet, laceris et saucia plumis Pugnat humi, et volucres nequidquam suspicit auras. Sic animas caeli de fontibus unicolores Infundit natura solo; sed suavibus istic Devinctae inlecebris retinentur, et aethera paucae Conscendunt reduces: multas viscosus inescat Pastus, et ad superas percurrere non sinit auras. Praescius inde Pater liventia tartara plumbo Incendit liquido, piceasque bitumine fossas Infernalis aquae furvo suffodit Averno, Et Phlegethontaeo sub gurgite sanxit edaces Perpetuis scelerum poenis inolescere vermes. Norat enim flatu ex proprio vegetamen inesse Corporibus nostris, animamque ex ore perenni Formatam non posse mori, non posse vicissim Pollutam vitiis sursum ad convexa reverti, Mersandam penitus puteo ferventis abyssi. Vermibus et flammis et discruciatibus aevum Immortale dedit, senio ne poena periret Non pereunte anima. Carpunt tormenta, foventque Materiam sine fine datam: mors deserit ipsa Aeternos gemitus, et flentes vivere cogit. At diversa procul regionibus in Paradisi Praemia constituit maiestas gnara futuri Spiritibus puris, et ab omni labe remotis: Quique Gomorraeas non respexere ruinas, Aversis sed rite oculis post terga tenebras Liquerunt miseri properanda pericula mundi. Ac primum facili referuntur ad astra volatu,
heaven, free, clapping their wings above the air; some lie captive and, wounded, their feathers torn, struggle on the ground and look up in vain at the flying breezes. So nature pours souls of one color, from the fountains of heaven, onto the earth; but there, bound by sweet allurements, they are held fast, and few climb back to the upper air; a sticky bait ensnares many and does not let them run through to the higher breezes. So the foreknowing Father set gloomy Tartarus on fire with molten lead, and dug pitch-black trenches of infernal water, thick with bitumen, beneath dark Avernus, and decreed that in the gulf of Phlegethon devouring worms should breed for the everlasting punishment of crimes. For he knew that a quickening force from his own breath was in our bodies, and that the soul, formed from his everlasting mouth, cannot die, nor, on the other hand, defiled by vices, return upward to the vault of heaven, but must be plunged deep into the pit of the boiling abyss. To the worms and flames and torments he gave an immortal age, so that the punishment should not perish with age while the soul does not perish. The torments consume and keep alive the matter given them without end: death itself forsakes the eternal groans and forces the weeping to live. But in far different regions of Paradise the Majesty that knows the future has set rewards for pure spirits, removed from every stain: those who did not look back at the ruins of Gomorrah, but, their eyes rightly turned away, left behind them the darkness, the wretched dangers of a world to be fled. And first they are borne back with easy flight to the stars,
Mark 9:48 (allusion, high confidence) · Isa 66:24 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rev 9:6 (echo, low confidence) · Gen 2:7 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Souls come pure from heaven, but most are snared by earthly pleasures; for them God has prepared an everlasting hell of fire and worms, since the soul made from his breath cannot die, while for pure souls who did not look back he has prepared the rewards of Paradise.
- Isa 66:24; Mark 9:48 (the worm that does not die); Rev 9:6 (death flees). Gen 2:7. The soul’s origin as Prudentius states it. Classical names (Tartarus, Avernus, Phlegethon) for hell, 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)): Libora sideroam, plaudens super aiU'a pennis; Pars captiva iacet, laceris et saucia plumis Pngnat humi, et volucres nequidquam suspicit auras. Sic animas caeli de fontibus unicoloras Infandit natura solo; sed suavibus istic Devinctae inlecebris (l)retinentur, et aethera paucae Conscendunt reduces : multas viscosus inescat Pastus, et ad superas porcurrere non sinit auras. Praescius inde Pator liventia tartara plumho Incendit liquido, piceasque bitumine fossas Infernalis aquae fiirvo suffodit Averno, Et Plilegethontoo sub gurgite sanxit edacos Perpetuis scelerum poenis inolescere vermes. Nurat enim flatu ex proprio vegetamen inesse Corporibus nostris, animamque ex ore perenni Formatam non posse mori, non posse vicissim Pollutara vitiis sursum ad convexa reverti ]\rersandam penitus puteo ferventis abj^ssi. "N^ermibus et flauimis ot discruciatibus aevum Iramortale dodit, senio ne poona periret Non pereunto anima. Carpuut tormenta, foventquo Materiam sine fino datam : mors doserit ipsa Aeternos gemitus, ot flentes vivere cogit. At diversa procul regionilras in Paradisi Praomia constituit maiestas gnara futuri Spiritibus puris, et ab omni labe remotis: Quique Gomorraeas non respexere ruinas ; -Aversis sed rite oculis post torga, tenebras Liquerunt miseri properanda pericula mundi. Ac primum facili referuntur ad astra volatu : → Libera sideream, plaudens super aera pennis; Pars captiva iacet, laceris et saucia plumis Pugnat humi, et volucres nequidquam suspicit auras. Sic animas caeli de fontibus unicolores Infundit natura solo; sed suavibus istic Devinctae inlecebris retinentur, et aethera paucae Conscendunt reduces: multas viscosus inescat Pastus, et ad superas percurrere non sinit auras. Praescius inde Pater liventia tartara plumbo Incendit liquido, piceasque bitumine fossas Infernalis aquae furvo suffodit Averno, Et Phlegethontaeo sub gurgite sanxit edaces Perpetuis scelerum poenis inolescere vermes. Norat enim flatu ex proprio vegetamen inesse Corporibus nostris, animamque ex ore perenni Formatam non posse mori, non posse vicissim Pollutam vitiis sursum ad convexa reverti, Mersandam penitus puteo ferventis abyssi. Vermibus et flammis et discruciatibus aevum Immortale dedit, senio ne poena periret Non pereunte anima. Carpunt tormenta, foventque Materiam sine fine datam: mors deserit ipsa Aeternos gemitus, et flentes vivere cogit. At diversa procul regionibus in Paradisi Praemia constituit maiestas gnara futuri Spiritibus puris, et ab omni labe remotis: Quique Gomorraeas non respexere ruinas, Aversis sed rite oculis post terga tenebras Liquerunt miseri properanda pericula mundi. Ac primum facili referuntur ad astra volatu,.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Prudentius, Ham. 1.811 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 811–840; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-811). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-811
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-prudentius-hamartigenia-1-811) · 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.
1.841Lanfranchi 2:lines 841–870
Unde fluens anima structum vegetaverat Adam. Nam, quia naturam tenuem declivia vitae Pondera non reprimunt, nec tardat ferrea compes, Concretum celeri relegens secat aera lapsu, Exsuperatque polum fervens scintilla remensum, Carcereos exosa situs, quibus haeserat exsul. Tunc postliminio redeuntem suscipit alto Cana Fides gremio, tenerisque oblectat alumnam Deliciis, multos post diversoria carnis Ore renarrantem querulo, quos passa, labores. Illic purpureo latus exporrecta cubili Floribus aeternis spirantes libat odores, Ambrosiumque bibit roseo de stramine rorem. Ditibus, et longo fumantibus intervallo, Fluminaque, et totos caeli sitientibus imbres, Implorata negat digitum insertare palato, Flammarumque apices umenti exstinguere tactu. Nec mirere locis longe distantibus inter Damnatas iustasque animas concurrere visus Conspicuos, meritasque vices per magna notari Intervalla, polus medio quae dividit orbe. Errat, quisque animas nostrorum fine oculorum Aestimat; involvit vitreo quos lucida palla Obice: quis speculum concreta coagula texunt, Impediuntque vagas obducto humore fenestras. Numne animarum oculis denso vegetamine guttae Volvuntur teretes? aut palpebralibus extra Horrescunt saetis, ciliove umbrante teguntur? Illis viva acies, nec pupula parva, sed ignis Traiector nebulae, vasti et penetrator operti est.
from where the soul, flowing out, had quickened Adam when he was fashioned. For since the downward weights of life do not hold back its fine nature, nor an iron fetter slow it, it cleaves the dense air, retracing its way in swift flight, and the burning spark rises above the sky, measuring its way back, hating the prison where it had clung as an exile. Then, as it returns home by right of recovery, hoary Faith takes it into her high bosom and delights her nursling with tender pleasures, as, after its lodging in the flesh, it recounts with plaintive voice the many labors it has suffered. There, stretched at its ease on a purple couch, it sips the breathing scents of everlasting flowers and drinks ambrosial dew from a bed of roses. To the rich, smoking at a long distance and thirsting for rivers and all the rains of heaven, it refuses, when implored, to put a finger to their palate and to quench the tips of the flames with a moist touch. Do not wonder that, in places far apart, the sight of condemned and of righteous souls meets in clear view, and that their deserved lots are observed across the great distances which the vault divides in the middle of the world. He errs who judges souls by the limits of our eyes, which a bright mantle wraps with a glassy barrier, whose mirror is woven of congealed humors, and which hinder the roving windows with a film of moisture. Do round drops of thick quickening fluid roll in the eyes of souls? or do they bristle outside with eyelid hairs, or are they covered by a shading lash? Theirs is a living sight, not a small pupil, but a fire that passes through the mist and pierces the vast unseen.
Luke 16:24 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 16:26 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 2:7 (allusion, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The pure soul rises to heaven, where Faith welcomes it to the delights of Paradise; like Lazarus, it may see the rich man in the flames across the great gulf, for the sight of souls is not limited like bodily eyes.
- Luke 16:19–26 (the rich man and Lazarus). Line 856 is read “insertare” (scan “insertaro”).
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)): Unde fluens anima structum vegetaverat Adam. Nam, quia naturam tenuem declivia vitae Pondera non reprimunt, nec tardat ferrea compes ; Concretum celeri relegens secat aera lapsu, Exsuperatque polum fervens scintilla remensum, Carcereos exosa situs, quibus haeserat exsul. Tunc postliminio redeuntem suscipit alto Cana Fides gremio, tenerisque oblectat alumnam Deliciis, multos post diversoria carnis, Ore renarrantem querulo, quos passa, labores. 111 ic purpureo latus exporrecta cubili Floribus aeternis spirantes libat odores; Ambrosiumque bibit roseo de stramine rorem. Ditibus, et longo fumantibus intervallo, Fluminaquo, et totos caeli sitientibus imbres, Implorata negat digitum insertaro palato, Flammarumque apices humenti extinguere tactu. Nec mirero locis longe distantibus inter Damnatas iustasque animas concurrero visus Conspicuos, meritasque vices per magna notari Intervalla, polns medio quae dividit orbe. Errat, quisque animas nostrorum fine oculorum Aestimat; involvit vitreo quos lucida palla Obiice: quis speculum concretacoagulatexunt, Impediuntque vagas obducto humore fenestras. Numne animarum oculis denso vegetamine guttae Volvuntur teretes? aut palpebralibus extra Horrescunt setis, ciliove umbrante teguntur? Illis viva acies, nec pupula parva, sed ignis Traiector nebulae, vasti et penetrator operti est. → Unde fluens anima structum vegetaverat Adam. Nam, quia naturam tenuem declivia vitae Pondera non reprimunt, nec tardat ferrea compes, Concretum celeri relegens secat aera lapsu, Exsuperatque polum fervens scintilla remensum, Carcereos exosa situs, quibus haeserat exsul. Tunc postliminio redeuntem suscipit alto Cana Fides gremio, tenerisque oblectat alumnam Deliciis, multos post diversoria carnis Ore renarrantem querulo, quos passa, labores. Illic purpureo latus exporrecta cubili Floribus aeternis spirantes libat odores, Ambrosiumque bibit roseo de stramine rorem. Ditibus, et longo fumantibus intervallo, Fluminaque, et totos caeli sitientibus imbres, Implorata negat digitum insertare palato, Flammarumque apices umenti exstinguere tactu. Nec mirere locis longe distantibus inter Damnatas iustasque animas concurrere visus Conspicuos, meritasque vices per magna notari Intervalla, polus medio quae dividit orbe. Errat, quisque animas nostrorum fine oculorum Aestimat; involvit vitreo quos lucida palla Obice: quis speculum concreta coagula texunt, Impediuntque vagas obducto humore fenestras. Numne animarum oculis denso vegetamine guttae Volvuntur teretes? aut palpebralibus extra Horrescunt saetis, ciliove umbrante teguntur? Illis viva acies, nec pupula parva, sed ignis Traiector nebulae, vasti et penetrator operti est..
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Prudentius, Ham. 1.841 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 841–870; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-841). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-841
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-prudentius-hamartigenia-1-841) · 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.
1.871Lanfranchi 2:lines 871–900
Nil ferrugineum solidumve mentibus obstat; Nocturnae cedunt nebulae, nigrantia cedunt Nubila, praetenti cedit teres area mundi. Nec tantum aerios visu transmittit hiatus Spiritus, oppositos sed transit lumine montes, Oceani fines atque ultima litora Thulae Transadigit, volucresque oculos in Tartara mittit. Nostris nempe omnes pereunt sub nocte colores Visibus, et caeco delentur tempore formae. Numquid et exuti membris ac viscere perdunt Agnitione notas rerum, vel gressibus errant? Una animas semper facies habet, et color unus Aeris, ut cuique est meritorum summa, sinistri Seu dextri; alternas nec commutabile tempus Convertit, variatque vices: longum atque perenne est Quidquid id est: unus volvit sua saecula cursus. Expertus dubitas animas percurrere visa Abdita corporeis oculis, cum saepe quietis Rore soporatis cernat mens viva remotos Distantesque locos, aciem per rura, per astra, Per maria intendens? nec enim se segregat ipsa Ante obitum vivis ex artubus, aut fugit exsul Sanguinis et carnis penetralia, seque medullis Exuit, abductamve abigit de pectore vitam, Viscerea sed sede manens, speculatur acutis Omnia luminibus: et qua circumtulit acrem Naturae levis intuitum, nullo obice rerum Disclusa, ante oculos subiectum prospicit orbem, Atque orbis sub mole situm sordens elementum. Obiacet interea tellus, nec visibus obstat.
Nothing rusty or solid stands in the way of minds; the mists of night give way, the blackening clouds give way, the round expanse of the world stretched before them gives way. Nor does the spirit send its sight only through the gaps of the air; it passes with its light through mountains set against it, pierces the bounds of Ocean and the farthest shores of Thule, and sends its flying eyes into Tartarus. For our sight, all colors perish at night, and forms are blotted out in the blind time. Do they too, stripped of limbs and flesh, lose the marks of things from recognition, or wander in their steps? Souls always have one face, and one color of the air, according to each one’s sum of deserts, on the left or on the right; nor does changeable time turn and vary their alternate lots: long and everlasting is whatever it is; one course rolls on its ages. Do you, who have experienced it, doubt that souls survey things hidden from bodily eyes, when often, drowsed by the dew of rest, the living mind sees remote and distant places, directing its gaze through fields, through stars, through seas? For it does not separate itself from the living limbs before death, nor flee as an exile from the inner chambers of blood and flesh, strip itself of the marrow, or drive away the life withdrawn from the breast; but, staying in its seat in the flesh, it surveys all things with sharp eyes; and wherever it has turned the keen gaze of its light nature, shut in by no barrier of things, it looks out before its eyes on the world beneath, and on the foul element that lies under the world’s mass. Meanwhile the earth lies in the way, yet does not block its sight.
Notes and citation
Summary: Souls see through every obstacle and their state is fixed for ever according to their deserts; even in this life the mind in sleep sees distant places without leaving the body.
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)): Nil ferrugineum solidumve mentibus obstat, Nocturnae cedunt nebulae : nigrantia cedunt Nubila : praetenti cedit teres area mundi. Nec tantum aerios visu transmittit biatus Spiritus , oppositos sed transit lumine montes, Oceani fines, atque ultima litora Tlmlae Transadigit, volucresque oculos in Tartara mittit. Nostris nempe omnes pereunt sub nocte colores Visibus, et coeco delentur tempore formae. Numquid et exuti membris, ac viscere perdunt Agnitiono notas reruni, vel gressibus errant? Una animas semper facies habet, et color unus Aeris, ut cuique est raeritorum surama, sinistri, Seu dextri ; alternas nec corarautabile tempus Convertit, variatque vices: longum atque perenne est Quidquid id est : unus volvit sua saecula cursus. Expertus dubitas animas porcurrere visa Abditii corporeis oculis; (juura saepe quietis Rore soporatis cernat niens viva reraotos, Distantesque locos, aciem per rura, per astra, Per raaria intendens ; nec enim se segregat ipsa Ant« obitum vivis ex artubus, aut fugit exsul Sanguinis, et carnis penetralia, seque medullis Exuit, abductamve abigit de pectore vitam, Viscerea sed sede manens, speculatur acutis Omnia luminibus : et qua circumtulit acrem Natnrae levis intuitura, nullo obiice rerum Disclusa, ante oculos subiectum prospicit orbera, Atque orbis sub mole situm sordens elementum. Obiacet interea tellus, nec visibus obstat. → Nil ferrugineum solidumve mentibus obstat; Nocturnae cedunt nebulae, nigrantia cedunt Nubila, praetenti cedit teres area mundi. Nec tantum aerios visu transmittit hiatus Spiritus, oppositos sed transit lumine montes, Oceani fines atque ultima litora Thulae Transadigit, volucresque oculos in Tartara mittit. Nostris nempe omnes pereunt sub nocte colores Visibus, et caeco delentur tempore formae. Numquid et exuti membris ac viscere perdunt Agnitione notas rerum, vel gressibus errant? Una animas semper facies habet, et color unus Aeris, ut cuique est meritorum summa, sinistri Seu dextri; alternas nec commutabile tempus Convertit, variatque vices: longum atque perenne est Quidquid id est: unus volvit sua saecula cursus. Expertus dubitas animas percurrere visa Abdita corporeis oculis, cum saepe quietis Rore soporatis cernat mens viva remotos Distantesque locos, aciem per rura, per astra, Per maria intendens? nec enim se segregat ipsa Ante obitum vivis ex artubus, aut fugit exsul Sanguinis et carnis penetralia, seque medullis Exuit, abductamve abigit de pectore vitam, Viscerea sed sede manens, speculatur acutis Omnia luminibus: et qua circumtulit acrem Naturae levis intuitum, nullo obice rerum Disclusa, ante oculos subiectum prospicit orbem, Atque orbis sub mole situm sordens elementum. Obiacet interea tellus, nec visibus obstat..
Cite (SBL): Prudentius, Ham. 1.871 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 871–900; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-871). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-871
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-prudentius-hamartigenia-1-871) · 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.
1.901Lanfranchi 2:lines 901–930
Quin si stelligerum vultus convertat ad axem, Nil intercurrens obtutibus impedit ignem Pervigilis animae, quamvis denseta graventur Nubila, et opposito nigrescat vellere caelum. Sic arcana videt tacitis cooperta futuris, Corporeus Iohannes adhuc, nec carne solutus, Munere sed somni, paulisper carne sequestra, Liber ad intuitum, sensuque oculisque peragrans Ordine dispositos venturis solibus annos, Procinctum videt angelicum, iam iamque cremandi Orbis in excidium, raucos et percipit aure Mugitus gravium mundi sub fine tubarum. Haec ille ante obitum, membrorum carcere soptus, Secedente anima, non discedente videbat. Nonne magis flatus sine corpore cuncta notabit, Corporis involucris tumulo frigente repostis? Certa fides, rapidos sub terna nocte caminos, Qui pollutam animam per saecula longa perenni Igne coquunt, oculis longum per inane remoti Pauperis expositos; nec secius aurea dona Iustorum, dirimente chao, rutilasque coronas Eminus ostendi poenarum carcere mersis. Hinc Paradisicolae post ulcera dira beato Proditur infelix, ululans in peste reatus, Spiritus; inque vicem meritorum mutua cernunt. O Dee cunctiparens, animae dator, o Dee Christe, Cuius ab ore Deus subsistit Spiritus unus: Te moderante regor, te vitam principe duco, Iudice te pallens trepido, te iudice eodem Spem capio, fore, quidquid ago, veniabile apud te,
Indeed, if it turns its face toward the star-bearing heavens, nothing coming between its gazes hinders the fire of the ever-watchful soul, though the clouds are heavy and thick and the sky blackens with a fleece set against it. So John, still in the body and not released from the flesh, sees secrets covered by the silent future; but, by the gift of sleep, with the flesh set aside for a while, free to behold, and ranging with sense and eyes over the years arranged in order for the suns to come, he sees the angelic host girded for the destruction of a world that is about to burn, and hears with his ear the hoarse bellowing of the heavy trumpets at the end of the world. These things he saw before death, lulled in the prison of his limbs, while his soul withdrew but did not depart. Will not the breath, then, much more mark all things without the body, when the wrappings of the body are laid away in the cold tomb? It is a sure faith that the raging furnaces beneath the [nether] night, which cook the defiled soul through long ages with everlasting fire, are exposed to the eyes of the poor man far off across the long void; and no less, that the golden gifts of the righteous, with the chaos dividing them, and their glowing crowns are shown from afar to those plunged in the prison of punishments. Hence the unhappy spirit, howling in the plague of its guilt, is revealed to the blessed dweller in Paradise after his dreadful sores; and in turn they see each other’s deserts. O God, Parent of all, giver of the soul, O God Christ, from whose mouth the Spirit, one God, subsists: under your rule I am governed, under you as my prince I lead my life; with you as judge I tremble, pale; with you, the same judge, I take hope that whatever I do will be pardonable before you,
Rev 1:10 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rev 8:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 16:23 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 16:26 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: John in his vision saw the end of the world while still in the body; much more will the soul, freed from the body, see; the damned and the righteous see each other across the gulf, as did Lazarus and the rich man; the poet’s closing prayer to God begins.
- Rev 1:10; 8:6–9:21 (the trumpets); Luke 16:20–26. Line 917 (“sub terna nocte”) is doubtful in the scan; translated by sense. The prayer’s Trinitarian address 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)): Quin si stelligerum vultus convertat ad axera, Nil intercurrens obtutibus, impedit ignem Pervigilis aniraae : quamvis denseta graventur Nubila, et opposito nigrescat vellere caelum, Sic arcana videt tacitis cooperta futuris, Corporeus loannis adliuc : nec carne solutus, Munere sed somni, paulisper carne sequestra Liber ad intuitum, sensuque, oculisque peragrans, Ordine dispositos venturis solibus annos Procinctum videt angelicum, iam iamque cremandi Orbis in excidium, raucos et percipit aure Mugitus gravium mundi sub fine tubarum. Haec ille ante obitum, membrorum carcere soptus Secedente anima, non discedente videbat. Nonne magis flatus sine corpore cuncta notabit, Corporis involucris tumulo frigente repOstis '? Certa fides, rapidos sub terna nocte caminos, Qiii pollutam animam per saecula longa perenni Igne coquunt, oculis longum per inane remoti Piiuj)eris expositos : nec secius aurea dona lustorum dirimente chao, rutilasque coronas Eminns ostendi poenarum carcere mersis. Hinc Paradisicolae post ulcera dira beato Proditur infelix, ululans in pesto reatus, Spiritus ; inque vicem mr^ritorum mutua cernunt. — «0 Dee cimctiparens, animae dator, o Dee Christe, Cuius ab ore Deus subsistit Spiritus unus : Te moderante regor, te vitam principo duco, ludice te pallens trepido, te iudice eodem Spem capio, fore, quidquid ago, veniabile apud te, → Quin si stelligerum vultus convertat ad axem, Nil intercurrens obtutibus impedit ignem Pervigilis animae, quamvis denseta graventur Nubila, et opposito nigrescat vellere caelum. Sic arcana videt tacitis cooperta futuris, Corporeus Iohannes adhuc, nec carne solutus, Munere sed somni, paulisper carne sequestra, Liber ad intuitum, sensuque oculisque peragrans Ordine dispositos venturis solibus annos, Procinctum videt angelicum, iam iamque cremandi Orbis in excidium, raucos et percipit aure Mugitus gravium mundi sub fine tubarum. Haec ille ante obitum, membrorum carcere soptus, Secedente anima, non discedente videbat. Nonne magis flatus sine corpore cuncta notabit, Corporis involucris tumulo frigente repostis? Certa fides, rapidos sub terna nocte caminos, Qui pollutam animam per saecula longa perenni Igne coquunt, oculis longum per inane remoti Pauperis expositos; nec secius aurea dona Iustorum, dirimente chao, rutilasque coronas Eminus ostendi poenarum carcere mersis. Hinc Paradisicolae post ulcera dira beato Proditur infelix, ululans in peste reatus, Spiritus; inque vicem meritorum mutua cernunt. O Dee cunctiparens, animae dator, o Dee Christe, Cuius ab ore Deus subsistit Spiritus unus: Te moderante regor, te vitam principe duco, Iudice te pallens trepido, te iudice eodem Spem capio, fore, quidquid ago, veniabile apud te,.
Topics: Eschatology, Prayer, Trinity
Cite (SBL): Prudentius, Ham. 1.901 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 901–930; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-901). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-901
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-prudentius-hamartigenia-1-901) · 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.
1.931Lanfranchi 2:lines 931–965
Quamlibet indignum venia faciamque loquarque. Confiteor: dimitte libens, et parce fatenti: Omne malum merui; sed tu, bonus arbiter, aufer Quod merui: meliora favens largire precanti. Dona animae quandoque meae, cum corporis huius Liquerit hospitium, nervis, cute, sanguine, felle, Ossibus exstructum, corrupta quod incola luxu Heu nimium complexa fovet; cum flebilis hora Clauserit hos orbes, et conclamata iacebit Materies, oculisque suis mens nuda fruetur, Ne cernat truculentum aliquem de gente latronum, Immitem, rabidum, vultuque et voce minaci Terribilem, qui me maculosum adspergine morum In praeceps, ut praedo, trahat, nigrisque ruentem Immergat specubus, cuncta exacturus ad usque Quadrantem minimum damnosae debita vitae. Multa in thesauris Patris est habitatio, Christe, Disparibus discreta locis: non posco beata In regione domum; sint illic casta virorum Agmina, pulvereum quae dedignantia censum Divitias petiere tuas; sit flore perenni Candida virginitas, animum castrata recisum. At mihi Tartarei satis est si nulla ministri Occurrat facies, avida nec flamma gehennae Devoret hanc animam, mersam fornacibus imis. Esto: cavernoso, quia sic pro labe necesse est Corporea, tristis me sorbeat ignis Averno: Saltem mitificos incendia lenta vapores Exhalent, aestuque calor languente tepescat: Lux immensa alios, et tempora vincta coronis Glorificent; me poena levis clementer adurat.
however unworthy of pardon what I do and say. I confess: forgive gladly, and spare one who confesses. I have deserved every evil; but you, good judge, take away what I have deserved; in your favor grant better things to one who prays. Grant to my soul, when at some time it has left the lodging of this body, built of sinews, skin, blood, gall, and bones, which its tenant, corrupted by luxury, alas, embraces and cherishes too much; when the mournful hour has closed these eyes, and the matter lies mourned with the last cry, and the mind, stripped bare, enjoys its own eyes: that it may not see some savage one of the race of robbers, merciless, rabid, terrible in face and in menacing voice, who, like a bandit, drags me headlong, stained with the spatterings of my ways, and plunges me, falling, into black caverns, to exact all the debts of a ruinous life down to the last farthing. There are many dwellings in the Father’s treasuries, Christ, set apart in different places: I do not ask for a home in the blessed region; let the chaste ranks of men be there, who, scorning dusty wealth, sought your riches; let white virginity be there in everlasting flower, which has cut off and gelded its passion. But for me it is enough if no face of a minister of Tartarus meets me, and if the greedy flame of hell does not devour this soul, plunged into the lowest furnaces. So be it: since this is necessary for the stain of the body, let the grim fire swallow me in cavernous Avernus; at least let the slow flames breathe out gentler vapors, and the heat grow lukewarm, its burning slackened. Let boundless light and temples bound with crowns glorify others; let a light punishment burn me mercifully.
Matt 5:26 (allusion, high confidence) · John 14:2 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 19:12 (echo, low confidence) · Rev 14:4 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The poet confesses his sins and asks Christ that at death no demon may drag his soul into hell; he does not ask for the heavenly mansions of the chaste and the virgins, but only that, if he must suffer fire, his punishment may be light.
- Matt 5:26 (“the last farthing”); John 14:2 (“many dwellings”); Matt 19:12; Rev 14:4. The closing hope of a mild punishment is translated as written. The scan adds, after the poem’s last line, two lines from Marco Girolamo Vida’s Hymn to God and footnotes on readings; these were removed, with a footnote mark.
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)): Quamlibet indignum venia faciamque loquarque. Confiteor: dimitte libens, et parce fatenti : Orane malum merui ; sed tu bonus arbiter, aufer Quod merui : meliora favens largire precanti. Dona animao quandoque meae, quum corporis buius Liquerit hospitium, nervis, cute, sanguinc, felle, Ossibus exstructum, corrupta quod incola luxu Heu nimium complexa fovet : quum tlebilis liora Clausorit hos orbes, et conclamata iacebit Matories, oculisquo sui.s mens nuda fruetur. Ne cernat(4)truculentum aliquem de gente latronura Immitem, rabidum, vultuque, et voce minaci Terribilem, qui me maculosum aclspergine morum In praeceps, ut praedo, trahat, nigrisque ruentem ImmergMt specubus, cuncta exacturus ad usque Quadrantem minimum damnosae debita vitae. Multa in tliesauris Patris est habitatio, Christe, Disparibus discreta locis : non posco beata In regione domum ; sint illic casta virorum Agmina, pulvereum quae dedignantia censum Divitias petiere tuas : sit flore perenni Candida virginitas, animum castrata recisum! At mihi Tartarei satis est si nulla ministri Occurrat facies, avida nec flamma gehennae Devoret hanc animam, mersam fornacibus imis. Esto : cavernoso, quia sic pro labe necesse est Corporea, tristis me sorbeat ignisAverno: Saltem mitificos incendia lenta vapores Exhalent, aestuque calor languente tepescat : Lux immensa alios, et tempora vincta coronis Glorificent ; me poena levis clementer adurat. » — Inqiio tuos aniniam anip'exus effundeic ovantem : Hoc tanfcuni niilii, pliira aliis optantiljus, aildc. V. HiERoN. ViDAE Hymn. I Deo Opt. Max. v. 76 et seqq. Theoi.ivs, retVag-antepiosodia: dehitae. — Giselix. (lelnla. → Quamlibet indignum venia faciamque loquarque. Confiteor: dimitte libens, et parce fatenti: Omne malum merui; sed tu, bonus arbiter, aufer Quod merui: meliora favens largire precanti. Dona animae quandoque meae, cum corporis huius Liquerit hospitium, nervis, cute, sanguine, felle, Ossibus exstructum, corrupta quod incola luxu Heu nimium complexa fovet; cum flebilis hora Clauserit hos orbes, et conclamata iacebit Materies, oculisque suis mens nuda fruetur, Ne cernat truculentum aliquem de gente latronum, Immitem, rabidum, vultuque et voce minaci Terribilem, qui me maculosum adspergine morum In praeceps, ut praedo, trahat, nigrisque ruentem Immergat specubus, cuncta exacturus ad usque Quadrantem minimum damnosae debita vitae. Multa in thesauris Patris est habitatio, Christe, Disparibus discreta locis: non posco beata In regione domum; sint illic casta virorum Agmina, pulvereum quae dedignantia censum Divitias petiere tuas; sit flore perenni Candida virginitas, animum castrata recisum. At mihi Tartarei satis est si nulla ministri Occurrat facies, avida nec flamma gehennae Devoret hanc animam, mersam fornacibus imis. Esto: cavernoso, quia sic pro labe necesse est Corporea, tristis me sorbeat ignis Averno: Saltem mitificos incendia lenta vapores Exhalent, aestuque calor languente tepescat: Lux immensa alios, et tempora vincta coronis Glorificent; me poena levis clementer adurat..
Topics: Eschatology, Prayer
Cite (SBL): Prudentius, Ham. 1.931 (Lanfranchi 2:lines 931–965; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-931). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prudentius-hamartigenia/1-931
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-prudentius-hamartigenia-1-931) · 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.