Poems 1

A roof august and vast, lofty with a hundred columns, a temple glad with the religion of the fathers and venerable—this the Ruler of high Olympus granted to be his own. For the almighty God, who governs the affairs of men and gods with eternal sway, said: "Whither do you press? Here is the house for you; this altar shall guard all." Here mothers and boys together, and maidens mingled among them, sing the sacred rites and alike lift their eyes to the stars; here voices are heard, here vows and prayers: night and day the golden stars are struck by their clamor. After the first quiet, and silence was made within the dwelling, the priest begins to speak from his divine mouth: "Receive these things in your hearts and turn glad minds toward them, mothers and men, boys and unwedded maidens.

Learn righteousness, being warned, and learn your hopes. No uncertain things do I sing: God, sent from the high ether, from the very throne of the King, the first way of salvation, whom for us a virgin brought forth by birth into the shores of light, bearing the face and form of God himself—wondrous to tell. By the mouth she was breathed upon with a nearer spirit, and she sings: thus a new progeny came down from heaven on high. But when at last his confirmed age revealed him as God, the wretched ones denied him God—those for whom that day was to be the last—when, raging and uttering dread things, with a great cry they dragged the innocent one to the great king. He said nothing, for of his own will he offered himself freely, that he might bring about this very thing: to make known the commands of God foretold by the prophets of old, and to go down beneath the hidden places of the earth.

There first of all, he who happened to bear the scepter raised his hands, washed with water, toward the stars, saying this: "Indeed in this just man no such thing has been found, nor is it right. O wretched ones, what so great madness is this, citizens? May no day add me as ally to such bold and violent deeds. Your gifts to us!" he said. "Rather take you this life by whatever death you will." Then more and more, driven by great furies, they raise together horrid cries to the stars, and more and more they demand punishment with blood. Amid these voices, in the midst of the blazing tumult, leaning against the trunk of a tree—a trophy for you, great almighty Father—he stretched out both palms, and calling upon you, poured out his life with much blood.

And yet meanwhile the great care of the Father for his Son did not bear this sight; gravely moved, he gave a clear sign from heaven on high. For at that time the fiery sun had climbed the middle of the sky. Suddenly the clouds snatch away both heaven and the day, and black night, borne aloft by its two-horse chariot, held the pole. The span held the daylight no more than three hours; then, returning again, the sun shone forth in its clear light, the ninth hour now better, the matters duly accomplished. Thence he sets in motion the appointed journey. And now he was holding the rugged fields, safe by their black lake and the shadows of the groves, when at once he came to the throat of foul-smelling Avernus; then at last, with the dreadful-sounding hinge of the screeching gate, the vast doors are flung open and the columns of solid adamant, and of their own accord the shadowy caverns lay open deep within.

He enters, leaving the cavern; then a very great throng, when they saw the God and his shining face amid the shadows, trembled with mighty fear. Delaying no longer, he says this, and with his words soothes their grieving breasts: "Tremble not, my spirits and shades of my fathers' kind: rest is won for you. For my Father gave me such commands: he urged me to make my way near these thresholds for you." Having spoken thus, he drives down the souls that were sitting along the long ridges, and pitying them sends them down into the opened cavern; and obedient to his word, he carried them back up to the vaults above. Meanwhile through the great city, suddenly spread abroad, rumor flies that the one who breathed his last is even now recalling his step from the lowest abodes and escaping to the upper airs. Some were astonished in their hearts;

But the author of the bloodshed proclaims himself the cause and the crime and the head of the evils, and ties the noose of a hideous death from a high beam, and for his deserts departed from the upper shores. Nonetheless meanwhile he was making his way at dawn to his companions, among whom, then speaking thus, he lifted up his sacred face and shone forth in clear light, in all things like one of great age; and suddenly to them all, unforeseen, he says: "...to go into tears again? Behold, the one you seek, I am present. See, fulfilled are the precepts of my dear Parent. Therefore come, O companions, go," he says, "to the rewards of such great praises; sprinkle the noble souls with river water, mindful of the words of the Son and of the Father.

I myself, when the time shall be, will wash all in the fountain." He spoke, and lifted himself into heaven on even wings, hidden in a cloud; thence he entered the royal dwellings, bearing gifts as victor, and the face of his dear Father: he kissed him and, embracing his right hand, clung to it. At his coming you shall see the highest citadels torn up from their lowest seats and the walls overthrown, and all their adornment consumed by crackling flame. Then indeed countless nations and thronging peoples are terrified by the sudden sight. The King, the same to all, will give laws alike to all peoples and will compel them to confess whatever each one, rejoicing in his empty theft, has done before the gods. But you, O chosen ones, by the sword for so great a name—what remains—let us die and rush into the midst of the weapons:

the way back is to be sought by blood, and life by sacrificing." When, according to their deserts, he made an end of praying with his mouth, others approach—ministers weighty in age: some cut the offerings into pieces and load the altars with gifts; then at last boys and trembling mothers stand round about in a long line. When he had gathered them all together with his hand, he first approaches the tables and himself begins. And after he, the first, has touched it with the very tip of his lips, the nobles receive it, and likewise all the priests and the untaught boys: then follows the rest of the company. Forthwith, whoever turns to return, we make for the dwellings of our homes and ever celebrate the joyful honor. And when by chance "Maro the younger!" was being cried aloud, I recited this on the spot:

Do not, I beg, do not drive me to such combats! For he shall always be a god to me, he my master. For I remember—nor indeed are we ignorant of evils before—how the shepherd, in his desire to surpass the beautiful Phoebus in singing, and calling the gods to contest in song, conquered by the god, hung as limbs from a leafy bough.