Carmen Apologeticum

COMMODIANUS'S APOLOGETIC POEM. Who will be able to know the one true God of the heavens properly, Unless the one whom He has taken * * from unspeakable error? I was wandering in ignorance, roaming, caught by empty hope, While the madness of my early age carried me into the breezes. I was lighter than chaff; as if a hundred heads were on my shoulders, So headlong was I carried wherever I went. Not enough; with these things, finally, a criminal Marsian, I nearly became a sorcerer, chanting over malignant herbs. But thanks be to the Lord — and my voice is not sufficient to render such thanks — Who at last shone light upon a wretched, wavering man! And I had approached, having been handed the book of the Law, To learn what was there; immediately a lamp shone for me. Then truly I recognized God, the one and highest in the heights, And therefore I urge such people to withdraw from error. Who is a better physician than one who has felt the heat of the wound? Many indeed are brutish and ignorant, their hearts asleep; They propose to know nothing for themselves; in a bestial manner They seek what they can snatch or by whose blood they can live. Provided they, like fattened pigs, can rejoice in living,

They bring in a bier as if it were a feast, while they applaud riches. The poor will be changed by a garment of disdain. It would be enough for them, indeed, that they eat more readily. If one is rich in wealth, let him be for himself; if he is worthy of Caesar, why does he, being fragile, put his own things first and regard no one? Let such a one rather share his goodness with all, to whom the Highest has given riches and added high honors. For I do not blame riches given by the Highest, but he will be blameworthy who is overly exalted by them. I now advise, therefore, all the proud and all the humble to read assiduously either these things or the rest of the law. Behold, since a short life is entrusted to us, learn why we are born to die, O wise ones! Why do we die dull-witted? What did it profit us to have seen the light? If you inquire into nothing, this is to be like beasts. Certainly the highest God set man over the fields, not over a wild beast or a flock. Why do we liken ourselves to them? The Almighty wished man to offer him praises; for this reason he himself taught us to foresee future things. So that we might believe them, he did not only sound them in word, but also showed mighty deeds when Pharaoh was deceived. He did not only do this: also in the time of Noah he showed what he could, since no one was seeking God. From then on, he began to be more gentle, after the flood was made, so that the earth could be filled. Already nearly half of six thousand years had passed, and no one knew the Lord, and they were living everywhere. But God, when he saw that the hearts of men were too closed,

Abraham addresses him, whom Moses himself proclaims. He himself gave the law to the people after Pharaoh was slain, and who he was, the Lord himself foretold from that one. Not content with one prophetic voice, he reveals himself, but he employed many witnesses who cry out about him. Therefore, when you read the proclamations of many prophets, you will find that he took on flesh for us. Hence the error now arises: that the Most High ordained such things, and they mock, not knowing that they are themselves mocked by him! Sometimes I set forth how I have read the prophets beforehand, and I teach the unlearned where the hope of life is to be placed. What God did in the beginning, or how he made each thing, Moses has already taught; but we teach about Christ. I am not a prophet nor a teacher appointed to be one, but I unfold the predictions of the prophets to those who wander on the winds. Therefore, those like me, whom a swift breeze carries off, seek now a harbor where there are no dangers. A skilled farmer discerns storms from afar and, before they come, takes shelter in caves. Be prudent: see what threatens beforehand, and before disasters come, provide for your safety. Idleness is for children, not for the strong: if this befits the untaught, it does not suit those of mature age. That part of mankind which is not moderate, though old, will be like a ham insufficiently salted: it will rot. No one puts a stone under fire except for food: thus stony men soften only late in Gehenna. We cry into the void, words to be carried off by deaf storms, and we offer light to the blind, presenting it in vain.

The soldier stands at the dismissal: one hears, and another shakes it off, and does not take the warnings to heart, but wanders lost. Who now is at fault (be judges of these things!)? The one who warns, or the one who refuses to obey the word? I think the one who is said to obey Caesar is not guilty, but the contrary one, proud, loses his own life. Sometimes I, who formerly erred, show you the right path, who still wander empty. Yet choose, pleasing yourselves by your own judgment, who wants poison or the sweet cups of life! Good and evil are created in this nature, so that after death man may be proven worthy of God. Approach now, whoever you are, to know eternal things: learn who God is, or by what name he is present! There is an omnipotent God, one, created from himself, whom you will find below both great and humble. He was placed in the word, known to himself alone, who is called Father and Son and Holy Spirit. But from the time he decided to compose the world with signs, he placed fire in between, to be feared even by the angels themselves. Yet he distributed them, made of lesser power, so that they might rule the heavens and the earth and the things subject to the earth. Therefore not even the messengers themselves can discern him, what he is like or how great, except that they follow his commands. There is a hidden honor for us and for the angels themselves, for what the majesty of God is, it alone is conscious of itself. It shines immense above the heavens and without end; it is all golden, which is like a flame-like power.

There the vessel of God exists, but without known form; Those are secrets known to God alone, of the heavens. This is the unique glory of God, above all angels; This is the God of eternal light, this is the spirit of the age. In his primal state, what he is like is seen by no one; He is transfigured, as he wishes to show himself. He renders himself visible to angels according to their form, And to man he becomes man; otherwise, God is proven by the Word. Therefore the form of so great a God cannot be discerned; Whatever he is, he is one, alone in immense light; Where face, eyes, or mouth, or limbs are noted, From there, with his fist, he encloses the circle of the world. Yet when he wished to be known concerning himself, who he was, From so great a divinity he made himself seen in a comprehensible way. There are those to whom he appeared in fire, speaking with a voice; He was taken into flesh, whom no region could contain. This is the omnipotent God, the Lord of his own creation; Though he is invisible, he makes himself seen to some. He who is formed at one moment, at another disperses himself into the air; Whose beginning or end it is not lawful to seek. He is always God without beginning and without end.

Who, before he made the sky, was borne through eternity; Whatever the sky holds, he surveys everywhere from the sky And penetrates all with his eyes and hears with his ears. Therefore it pleased him to establish the carnal order of the world, So that the sole eternal majesty might be exalted. For what existed before is now a difficult thing to recount; Even if it were described, we should have no concern for those matters. Since we cannot fully grasp even these things we see, Who will be able to know what lies beyond the Ocean's boundary? And we see the sky, but what goes on inside it Is granted to no one to know until the end of the age arrives. Let it suffice only to know the promises about the future; Let us strive for those, eager and wholly devoted in mind. Just as the Phoenix bird meditates on being reborn from death, It gives us an example that we can rise after burial; This almighty God especially urges us to believe, That a time will come when the dead will live again; Even if now it is dust, even if bare bones lie scattered, Man is restored, as he once was who had died, And there will be a greater grace then than in this age.

No pain nor tears will then be in our body, No flesh will receive iron, no blister will arise. God will establish this, so that his glory may be greater. He had first made man to be eternal, But that man fell into death, having neglected the precepts. On account of which, God prepared such great histories, That he might wipe away all the inventions of the devil. God had given that angel as a ruler on earth: Who, while he envies man, perishes himself first. Meanwhile, he discerns the just by their very deeds, And reserves the criminal Cain in Gehenna. The whole human race began to be engaged in crime, Not regarding who was their creator. That God, the Most High, bore indignantly, He proposes to destroy nearly all created things. Noah is said and read to have been freed from the water, The rest perished in the flood from the sky. Hence, as in the beginning, the earth is gradually filled. The former crime ceased, but another disaster followed. Fools attempted to build a tower under the stars, So that through it they might ascend to the heavens. When God saw this happening under one speech, He descended and made them speak a diverse tongue. He scattered them, separated, to islands of the earth, So that nations might arise speaking various languages. Then the untamed race lived a life of savagery; No one knew God, no one disputed about life. For that reckless one had crept in among the rude Through the waters of the soul, corrupted their bitter minds, And by deceit persuaded them to love unspeakable unions, To live by plunder in the joy of spilled blood.

This glory fools pursue for a short time; No pardon frees them, saying they were seduced. If an adulterer persuades, the fault is yours for following such a one; He does not condemn you, but you condemn yourself of your own accord. The unlearned were wandering in the ancient deceit of the enemy, Forgetful of the Lord, following evil works. That the great ravaging of the robber might not continue long, He took pity at last, after a time, on the one who had been taken away. It pleased him to converse with one among many, So that he might make a people dear to him by crossing over. From that time, the profane began to know one God And to become a people according to God’s decrees. For Rebecca had distinguished two peoples from herself: The first was made, the other was to succeed him. In Egypt, the nursling Israel first grew strong; Then God cast them out under the leader Moses, Through whom he gave them the law on Mount Sinai, So that our posterity might know the one Lord. Then he ordered prophets from among them to speak, That God is depreciated by them in a man. The Lord had led them into the promised land, So that they might live there under the law until he himself should come. An ungrateful people, unwilling to bear the yoke of good precepts, But rather, turned back to their former crime, flourished;

Nor has it ever ceased: today also such a one is held; Having set aside God, he prefers the luxuries of the age. That which the Lord especially compels his beloved to avoid; He warns them to be wholly cut off from the age. If he said "sons," let us dwell in his holy place; Why do we go outside, following the adulterous procession? The ancient seducer deceives all through such things: He sends in luxuries, through which he destroys the sons of the Most High; He sends in agony, to go to bloody spectacles Or to excessively obscene ones, to know the shameless among the chaste. If one had been chaste, unchastity profits from that, And those evil joys that tempt please and smile. In these luxuries the primitive people lived And always departed monstrously from the law of God. To cleanse them, God often sent disciples, That they might correct them, depraved, back to the Most High. They never wished to receive the divine words, But by their own will they always raged, inept. They slew the righteous who reproved them unjustly, While they refused to accept the bridle of heavenly discipline. They saw Isaiah, they stone the raised-up Jeremiah, They behead John, they cut Zachariah's throat at the altars. And he himself came, who had been foretold by them, And he suffers, as he wished, in our likeness. In whose death every prophecy was fulfilled; Daniel had said this one was the last of the prophets. He was the one whom the prophets (sang of from the trumpet, That he would come into his own, whom his own would deny. Always improvident and stiff-necked, kicking back— While they reject the form, they lose the sacraments of the law.

Lowly flesh born did not break them from justice, nor such great goodness or care for the sick from the Word. O pious religion, O so venerable majesty, whose medicine has so profited on earth! He cut no one with iron, he healed not with a plaster, but without torment he immediately healed with his word. Seeing such things, the Jews were disturbed in mind, who were led more by envy into zeal of spite, not heeding the buried words of the prophets, that such a man would come who would scatter them. Until the Lord would come, the prophets sang: from the time he came, prophecy fell silent for the Jews. After him they came into exile with hardened heart, nor do they now discern why they have suffered such things. It had been foretold to them by the prophet Isaiah and likewise by Daniel that they would lose the land; which, however, would not happen until the leader of the city in that land hung on a cross, and then it would become deserted. Suddenly, what glory shone upon the nation, that a people should come to be, a people who did not exist before!

Esau, beloved by his father, was he not astounded that his younger brother took the firstborn's portion? Thus too the synagogue could not recognize the time, when and under what leader it would fall from its private status; as it was written, that birds know their seasons, but this people did not understand that I was present. The time came for the ruler of heaven himself to come: according to the scriptures, he was not reckoned by them. The Lord, who knows all things, had foreseen this; therefore he proclaimed it beforehand through the mouths of the prophets. A people too stiff-necked and always rebellious, while claiming primacy for themselves, had their cause cut off. In their place he set gentiles; he had said this before: "Gentiles will hope in him." For the stone cast is himself into the foundations of Zion; whoever would believe in him would have eternal life. Daniel designates him as anointed with the holy of holies and the royal chrism to be wiped out after him. David said that he was pierced with nails while silent: "They have dug," he says, "my hands and my feet themselves." Solomon also prophesies so openly about him, that the Jews would say, "Let us kill the just one!" Jeremiah likewise figuratively shows the cross: "Come, let us put wood into the bread!" they say. Their leader Moses proclaims to them:

Before your eyes a life will hang, slain. Here the Father came in the Son, God one and everywhere: Nor is He called Father unless the Son had been made. For He does not leave heaven to be born on earth, But, as He arranged, majesty was seen on earth; From His own power He made Himself born in the flesh. * * * * * * * * it is permitted to make one fringe. Now the flesh was God, in which the power of God was acting. What of the fact that the prophets sing that the invisible is to be seen, That such great brightness might become a man also for us? Nor would our people have leaped forward into the new law, If the Almighty had not ordained beforehand concerning us. This was the Almighty, in whose name the nations Would believe entirely, as the prophet Isaiah said: A man will arise in Israel from the root of Jesse; The nations will hope in him, by whose sign they are protected. And another said that he would be a witness throughout the world, That he would be manifested as prince to the nations himself. In the Psalms it is sung: The Lord has reigned from a tree; Let the earth rejoice, let many islands be glad. So also the true blessing of the patriarch Jacob Appeared among the nations: He will be the hope of the nations, he says.

Under heaven there is no other name except that of Christ set above, In whose name peoples everywhere have believed. We are not persuaded to believe for a limited time, But for the sake of future time, living in eternity. This hope is to be hoped for by us: to enjoy everlasting things, Not those things which, being fragile, quickly change our joys. Though riches be before the eyes to be enjoyed sumptuously, You will be shut out from them by death, a substitute that falls; Or if you persist, you yourself grow horrid in living, Or if health is bad, what life is there for you? Everything is torment that we live under this age; Hence for us hope is to be sought in the future: This God urges, this the law, this the passion of Christ, That we believe we shall rise again in a new age. Thus the law of God proclaims: when the Lowly One became High, Hell would yield, so that Adam might be raised from death. The Lord descended into the tomb, pitying his own creation, And thus through hidden means he emptied the powers of death. The Lord crept up on the old thief, concealed, And willed himself to suffer, so that he might more thoroughly cast him down.

He indeed is bold and always savage as an enemy, While he hopes to rage against man, he is conquered by the Highest. Through that by which he had formerly laid man low to death, the evil one, From that same thing he is overcome; whence life comes to us. Adam, having tasted the apple, ordered to die, passed away; From whose sin we die, and likewise every one. But again the Lord said: From the tree of life If he should take of it, let him live forever, honored. Death was in a tree, and life lay hidden in a tree, On which the Lord God hung, the discoverer of our life. This tree of life the Lord had foretold to be, So that he who believes in him is as if he takes from it. And he takes and gently tastes the precepts of the highest God And departs, since he rises again more powerful, from death. He who believes in Christ tastes of the tree of life, On which the Lord was suspended, foretold by Moses. This same one Isaiah declares to be humble And very lowly, as if he were the form of a servant: And we saw him, nor was he of splendid appearance, A man laid low in the plague, knowing how to bear all things.

He grieves for us and bears back our sins, And because of our crime God handed him over. He, when he was harassed, was silent like a lamb at the altars. This man was no longer man, but was God made flesh for us; Whereby it openly appears that this name of God was arising, Which now is a celebrated name among the nations. This Malachiel, who is himself also an angel, sings as a prophet, While he also rejects the sacrifices of the Jews, saying: “Your sacrifice will not be acceptable to me, But in every place the nations offer in my name, Among whom my excellent name is magnified, Who offer without bloodshed, purely, in my name.” For he himself was humble, hidden under a great name, Who through prophetic mouths cries out concerning himself: “I am not stubborn,” he says, “nor do I contradict the guilty one; I have also placed my back to be beaten with whips, And I have offered my cheeks to be struck by unjust palms, Nor have I turned my face away from their spittle.” It seemed folly to many that God suffered such things, That the crucified creator of the world should be proclaimed.

Thus it pleased him, using no one's counsel— Nor could another have come for us in such a way. The enemy, being envious, devised a death, Which the Lord, having suffered, drank down, rising from the underworld. For that reason he did not wish to reveal what he was, But said he was a son sent by the father. Thus he himself had handed himself over to be called by the prophets, So that on earth he might be God, the son of the Most High. This very thing he groans at, being humble in the flesh, And he calls upon the father to confirm the prophetic words. From Israel we read that such a man rises; "And he is a man," it says, "and who among them knew him?" Jeremiah says. This is our equal God, After this he was seen on earth, living among men. Isaiah, however: "You are God, and we did not know; And God is in you, and besides you no other is held." And who would come at the setting of the prophets according to the law? "Sing to the Lord; his name is God, who has come!" And the forty-fourth psalm says of him: "I shall be exalted among the nations by a great name.

And elsewhere we read: "Today I have begotten you, son; ask, and I will give to you, and you will have nations as heirs." Certainly it now appears who is God and who is in him, and in whose name we would believe among the nations everywhere. It was said to my Christ, whose right hand I hold: "Let the nations hear, and let him himself rule over the nations." What need is there of many words, when the matter is so openly proven, when the one who is accused, the people already rejoice in him? But those wretches, who adorn empty fables and defame him as a magician, would have mocked the rostra with their songs. What should I call them, before they were scattered? Those whom neither exile broke nor slavery itself. If he had been a magician, why then did the prophets sing that he would come from heaven, to be the hope of the nations himself? If they falsely pronounce concerning themselves that they will destroy the earth, what comes from them, so will their statements about him be false. But because they have always been despised, because they were bloodthirsty, they rebel against their own Lord, calling him a magician. Nor do they wish to hear what the prophets said against them, that they would not understand at all at the very end. God himself described them: with closed breast, they neither see with their eyes nor understand with their hardened heart.

The heart of this wicked people was hardened, so that they recognize nothing until they are healed by my word. God was foretold to be born in the flesh for us, so that a greater torment might justly befall them: Behold, God himself will give you a sign from on high: A virgin will conceive, and the earth will give birth to a heavenly one; and he was to be called Emmanuel, as they had been commanded; which the Latin tongue unfolds as 'God with us.' Hear that he himself would be nourished on honey and butter, and would capture Samaria before he could speak a word. But this is a hidden story, which the learned unfold, that a suckling infant, without a fight, would enter upon spoils; whose passion was foretold in such a way before, that God would become capable of suffering with poured-out blood. Isaiah says: Like a sheep led to the altar, he did not cry out with his voice; he bore everything patiently. He is fastened with nails, which David once foretold; and they also gave him vinegar to drink, according to the scriptures. And in my garments, he said, they cast lots, which was done, and we read that all things were accomplished in him. There was also darkness for three hours from the sixth hour, and the day hastened to bring in the stars of night. This had been foretold to happen through the prophet Amos.

that he might suddenly conceal himself through the holy solemnities. O evil offspring, * * with a deceitful brow! “I have begotten children,” said God, “who would deny me.” And he said: “Hear the voice of the trumpet.” — “We will not,” they say. This is what Ezekiel says: “Therefore the nations will hear from afar.” With one heading I wish to touch the book of Deuteronomy: “You will be at the head, nations; for the unbelieving are behind.” If they certainly reject all the things said above, the rebels, do you know what they oppose, when the matter is so openly declared? See now, therefore, you who are doubtful and have wavered until now, that the nations were in the Lord’s scripture before. Now, therefore, it is right to believe in him whom the books designate, not in vain idols, which are worshipped fruitlessly for the sake of life, nor to be joined to those who are voluptuous and without restraint, who love luxuries more than the commands of the Most High. It is not a single fault enough for those who are unwilling to believe, but they defame him all the more: “We have thrown him into the well.” For this reason the Lord, indignant, irrigates them: “Because of you my name is blasphemed among the nations,” he says. If he was thrown into the well, why is it proclaimed that he rises again?

From the depths, O Lord, you placed my soul: I slept, he says, and took my rest secure; By the help of the Lord I arose, having suffered no harm. And again he says: You will not abandon me in the underworld, Nor will you allow your holy one to see destruction. Here, speaking aloud, he says: I, a son of prophets, ascend, To declare that the Lord suffered the greatest misery. And in the book of Psalms the death of the Lord is proclaimed, Not as they think, that David speaks of himself. Or if they think that, do all things agree? What did he say? David was not scourged nor raised on a cross. What? Do the Jews prophesy in the manner of Saturn? They fall into fables, when the matter is already turning against them? Is he not, like a sorcerer, struck on the cheek and raised on a cross? The ignorant, the untaught, the unknowing invent such things. “What god is that,” they say, “whom we fixed to a cross?” Unwilling to look at the scriptures, blind in heart. Behold, another prophet sings, repeating again, By whose voice, however, such a decree is titled: “Now I shall arise,” says the Lord, “now I shall be glorified.

Now I shall be exalted, whom you previously saw as lowly; Now you understand, now will be your confusion: You think vain things, therefore fire will have you. Thus says Isaiah. Then also the Majesty itself, When it was in the flesh, declares who it was: No one will be able to take away my soul by force, But I myself voluntarily lay it down by my own decree. I myself have power to lay it down, And I have power to take it up again. But more openly concerning the death of the just man it is proclaimed, So that the Jews may appear more hardened: Behold, the just man perishes, and not one understands; But the burial of this beloved one will be in peace. Why do they slander that he was let down into a well, When we read that he was given over to burial? Ignominious, cruel, blind, proud, Who, instead of grieving over the deed, actually applaud! For inspired Solomon prophesies concerning him And pursues it further, to show the just man more fully: Let us surround the just man, if he seems burdensome to us,

He who strongly opposes our works, being contrary; He reproaches us entirely that nothing of our law is held; He still further affirms that he is the son of the Most High. He utterly rejects and considers them worthless; He also abstains from us and goes to another place; He calls us unclean and renews another as just, And rejoices that the Lord, the father of the heavens, is his. Therefore, if his words are true, let us test them; Let us put this God to the test, seeing what happens to him; Let us interrogate him with every torment, while he remains quiet, Let us condemn him to the most shameful death, saying: When they had done these things, they moved their hanging heads: Let his father save him, or let him come down from there! As Solomon openly shows them to be blind, So, as if now reporting, he blames them for having done such things: While they think these things, they are led into abominable error; Their own malice blinded them to rage. Behold, they themselves are blind and call others so; Solomon said to them: They did not know the secrets of God. Whatever all the earlier witnesses said,

These things were done in Christ. Or do they say in another? If they themselves desire to do this, thwarting it in word, let them mock themselves; let them see that it was fulfilled in him. Who was this righteous man of whom the prophets sang, since no one is righteous on earth unless he had come from heaven? For David, a prince, sinned by loving a girl; Solomon also sinned; and yet they repented. Since these, their so famous and distinguished kings, were not righteous, but they themselves sang of the righteous one; nor did Isaiah the prophet say such things of himself. He who was sawn in two by King Manasseh with a saw. Another was stoned; another was slaughtered at the altars; another was ordered beheaded by Herod, imprisoned. All these prophets were killed by another kind of death, because the Lord hung on the wood, by the voice of Moses: 'God is not suspended like a man,' he foretells; 'Or he does not suffer threats like a son of man,' he says. Thus the Lord himself, when he had come, followed this: 'It is necessary,' he says, 'that I be reprobated by the voice of Moses.' But I do not take the whole, only the highest points.

So that the ignorant may more easily learn the truth. But these wicked men, who seek to live deceitfully, having once been bloodstained, persist in fabricating falsehoods. They stupefy fools, making them more and more vanish in their words, saying that he was crucified, when it was necessary for that same one to be so. For thus he arranged it on account of the ruin of the first-formed man; not only for him, but also for us he came from heaven. He established a new people, firm in his own name. Christ fulfilled everything according to the prophecies. "Behold, I make new things," Isaiah cries out in him, And let no one consider the former things nor follow the old. These things are new today, advanced under our law, that we, the Gentiles, believe in Christ by the word of Moses. He had foretold that two peoples would exist, and indeed he said that the lesser people would excel. But these men, full of wickedness, now in desperate fury: "The law was given to us," they say, "whence have you come?" If they oppose us, they think they also resist the Most High, Who wished to be good to us * * ?,, Nor do those stiff-necked ones, with bristles erect, consider that.

Those who were always innocent they tortured, having avoided the law. Thus they did to God what they were accustomed to do, cruel men, and they still dare to call themselves sons of the Highest. Now how he rose again, I have noted above, not from my own voice, but I have spoken from prophetic scripture. But he had foretold to his disciples all things concerning himself: how he would suffer at the hands of the people, with Peter denying him; and that he would rise from the tomb on the third day. He had said this as well, and he fulfilled all his words. But when he had risen, he himself came to the apostles and stood in their midst: "Peace to you," he said. Among the disciples who were praying, one was not present. When they reported this to him, he began to disbelieve and added: "If I do not first put my finger where the nails were, or where he was struck by the lance, I do not believe." Then on the Lord's day he returned again to them and stood in their midst: "Peace to you," he said. And immediately he approaches that unbelieving Thomas: "Come closer and touch the body as before. I am not a shadow, such as is thought of the dead.

A shadow does not make a footprint; consider the wound. He stretched out his palms; and that one began to touch him, and put his hand on the side, where the lance had been fixed. He sent it in from there and threw himself down, praying: "You are truly my God and Lord!" Against whom that one said: "Because you have seen these things, you have believed, but those later ones are blessed, who believe by hearing the name alone." He spent forty days with them in order, and taught them many things that were to come in the age. After his ascension, they performed many miracles; they healed the sick by the word in the name of Christ. If he were such as those faithless ones say, then strong deeds would not be done by the word through him. He ascended into the heavens, just as the scripture sang: "Receive the king, O princes of the high heavens!" What more is needed to recite everything from the law? These things suffice for the untaught, to be kept with a good heart. But if they themselves do not wish to know God by reading these things, let them reckon to themselves where they have come, to that place where they do not wish to go. Virgil is read, or Cicero, or Terence likewise; they do nothing but form the heart, but about life nothing is said. What does it profit to pursue worldly things in vain on earth,

And to know about the vices of kings, about their wars? And the forum, insane, to know it as skilled in law—where laws totter unless they are governed by a bribe? Let him be a defender, let him be a divine orator, he will profit nothing from death if, while alive, he denied Christ. Rather, let him first ask where his own life has been reduced! He would be wise if he is otherwise reproached. They read laws and learn wondrous maxims, but they oppress the wretched for whom they speak, by their actions. Unhappy is the one who comes into their mouths; they bear praises, and he bears the losses of victory. The wretch stands mute in the middle, whose pain is greater within; they thunder with their mouth, and he with the silence of his coins. Meanwhile, a voice adorned with daily business clamors, and often a better case becomes worse by giving a little more. Hence the wise man seeks a price, hence he rejoices to conquer; even if he acts wrongly, as long as he is victor, he is sick. He treats nothing of his own case when he strives for gains; he enters into the hope of another and puts his own behind him. Many are snatched away by the forest of the world from success.

While they rejoice in brief things, they remain apart from the grace of Christ; while they desire many things with their eye, while they seek to increase, God is nothing to them except the life of the world. They struggle for the belly, the daily contest is for it, and they spurn the true contest for eternal salvation. Each one who is, as it were, watchful for his purse is praised as shrewd; but he who follows God is judged a fool by them. How very happy, if anyone avoids worldly things! Let him be a fool to others, as long as he is wise before the highest God. The whole hope is to believe in God, who hung on the wood; Though it is a shameful thing, it is useful for the future life. For that primitive people was deceived by him, because they said he was the Son, when he himself is the original God. He went before them in a column of cloud and fire, when he freed them from Egypt, every one. He commands a cruel crime concerning his only son, to test Abraham, to whom he said from heaven: "Spare him!" An angel. And he is God, and he made himself a man at the same time, and whatever he will wish, he will do: so that dumb things may speak.

Balaam made his donkey speak while he was sitting on it. And he made a dog say to Simon, "You are being shouted at by Peter!" He made many speak about Paul while he was preaching, saying that he made a lion speak to the people with a divine voice. Then, what our own nature does not allow, he made an infant speak publicly in the fifth month. This one was to come, mingled with our blood, so that he might seem a man, but God was hidden in the flesh. Not an elder will come, nor an angel, said Isaiah, but the Lord himself will come to show himself to us. The sea feared him, the winds feared him, even Tartarus itself feared him; Every hidden creature recognized the Lord. Only the wicked people raised a centurion against him: "Far be it that the Lord came in such a form." Here, as on land, he walked upon the waves of the sea and commands the winds, so that he might render the sea calm. This one broke the Tartarean law with a present word and raised Lazarus from the tombs, stinking on the fourth day. For a young man who was being carried, when he met him: "Rise, young man!" And he rose from the bier. He begged the daughter of the arch-synagogue from her father.

He raised her already lifeless while they were mourning. He made the mute speak and the deaf hear, especially. And the blind from birth, to see in the air. After thirty-eight years, he ordered the paralytic to rise, whom they would admire carrying his bed on his neck. By the touch of his garment, a woman with a hemorrhage was healed. He broke five loaves for five thousand men, and again refreshed four thousand from seven. More fully, that the Lord might show himself present, he changed waters so that they became excellent wine. He had been invited to a wedding with the mother herself; when he was asked to help with the wine running out, he then ordered the jars to be filled quickly with water, which he first tasted and then ordered to be served. Even so, they could not recognize the Lord by his deeds, but raged, as if to destroy a worthless man by death. This he himself grants, since he decreed to suffer thus; if, however, they believe, then at last they will have pardon. This is the firstborn, previously foretold through the prophets, that he would be called on earth the offspring of the Most High.

Happy are those who place their hope in him, For the foolish avoid him as if accursed. Eternity is prepared for him who believes in Christ, That man, living after death, may be a companion of God. The Law and the prophets teach who are worthy of the heavens of God And to whom the hidden golden ages are revealed. Through so many prophets the Son of God is proclaimed by number, And they closed the eyes of the first-called sons of God; Who, having committed a crime, did not remember while reading, But persistently said: We are the chosen! Still they lead the profane astray to go to the baths, Whom they make clean to please the highest God himself. Water washes away filth, not the wickedness of the inner heart, Nor could sacred rites, once performed, wash away the sacrilegious. The Lord did not command that sacred things be brought to the wicked; And he spoke again, that men be kept clean from idols: Let no one make for himself an image of a demon, he says; For he also said to them: Do not serve idols. If God commanded that idols be greatly shunned, Why do they deceive the nations that they are pure through baths?

Indeed, when they receive such people, they ought to teach them to serve no others, but only to please the Most High. While they seek to overshadow the crime of Christ’s death, they throw open the doors everywhere, so that entry is granted to them. Hence those who think they can become pure before God by water, though they were previously aware of the robber, perish. Now he vainly worships some trifle, now he seeks holy things; that ignorant man does not know where to turn first, and he serves idols, again seeking the thirtieth; now he follows the unleavened bread, though he had previously sat chaste. This did not please God—that they should be partakers with demons— He who established the law, so that a transition might be made from it. Two ways are set before you: choose the one you wish, for you will not split yourself so as to go along both; yet from among them you must seek the opportune one, lest you fall into the jaws of robbers; be more cautious. Seek the one God, who seeks no sacrifices, so that you may be able, blotted out, to rise again in a renewed age. Why do you heed the wicked and judge the righteous as unjust?

Who shows you no word from the law? The power of God is reported, which he wrought against them; For they are unwilling to speak of their own wicked deeds, Always murderers, always with bloodstained hands, Whom the Lord could never tame by admonishing. It would have been enough for them to have done such great things through cowardice And to say: It was written thus, now it is right to believe. But the Lord himself darkened their minds, He hardened them like Pharaoh in their own persons; He said he would not deign to hear their prayers And cast them out of their land in anger. Although he had previously called them his sons, He had willed that they, born, should live with a good heart; When a father rejoices, if his son is good to him; But if he is bad, he curses the son with hatred. No one endures a son who is contrary to him; All love for a cruel offspring is excluded, Nor does he make him heir of his property. If he can consume it beforehand, he rejoices against him. An impious and savage child, a tyrant over his possessions, Nor does the father, provoked by him, suffer him to come near.

What do these men presume, being adopted, saying: "From among all peoples we are the dearest to the Highest"? A parricide of his father always, and proud in that. Can he be dear or be called heir by right? If carnal fathers detest such pupils, how much more the Lord, for whom chosen sons are superior! He divides goods among the meek, the humble, the pupils full of obedience, not among the impious nor tyrants. The Jews were manifestly adopted as sons, but in the testament they obtained the name of impious. Let them consider for themselves: stained with blood by a crime committed, how could they be sharers of goods? Why do they hiss at us, why do they rival us as heirs? They would have done good, and they were in the portion of the legacy. Even today they are not silent and refuse to believe in Christ, who had been salutary for them, foretold by the law; of whom you have already heard how the prophets sang: that the Lord would come into the lands, whom the nations would adore. This one, indeed, they themselves urge us to recognize as the Highest, who renews a man, who forgives former sins.

For he himself threatens the worshippers of the gods: He who sacrifices to idols will perish in the second death. Therefore, whoever follows gods fashioned in gold, silver, or stone, wood, or cast bronze, that same unhappy man will be cast into the fire, remade, and does not die there, but the wicked one suffers torments. There are men like beasts in this nature, who refuse to accept the bridle of the highest God, wandering; they themselves do not endure such things from their slaves, into whose blood they often descend, savage. Speaking, they add: 'Nothing is after our funeral; while we live, this is it,' and they wallow like swine; let there be any luxury that passes us by in life; while there is time for life, let us enjoy all the things of the age.' The undisciplined reject the mercy of God, pursuing pleasure, as if this life itself were the only one. Thus they turn away from God, who promises to live forever: they fight against the good, when one ought to fight against the wicked. We have all erred, manifestly, persuaded by the age, but we are summoned by the grace of the Lord to believe the law.

Therefore he came and set up trophies in secret, and he was a man and God, so that he might have us in the future. But very many perish, who think they can please both—idols and God—when no one can please two. There is one God in heaven, of heaven, earth, and sea, whom Moses taught hung on wood for our sake. Hence some err, cowardly, that he suffered such a thing, not sufficiently attentive to the secret mystery of God. The envy of the devil brought death into the world, which God secretly destroyed, born of a virgin. By that birth the blind Jews are thrown into confusion; fools, they are made foolish by the bloody crime they committed. No one can offer any excuse afterward, since the ability to believe is now given to us. The Lord did not come in vain from heaven to earth, but he came to make a people called by his name. If anyone does not confess him in that nature, he loses even what he lived, and cries out too late in punishment; or else, while hoping and waiting to believe in old age, he is shut out, having died, from eternal life for a longer time.

Now we must recall him more quickly, who promises to give us life after death. In addition to this, he adds that we will be immortal and will enjoy, by seeing, what the eye had not seen before. These things will come to pass when six thousand years are completed, at which time I hope we ourselves will already be in the harbor of the shore. Then man will rise again, restored in the contest of the sun, and will rejoice in God, remembering what he was before; he who, as he heard while fragile in his former flesh, though now incorrupt, recognizes the promises made before. Marveling that such glory has come to man, he says: "Just as I heard before, so now I see each thing." All those raised from the underworld cry out together: "Just as we heard before, behold, we see!" Every pain will depart from the body, every sore will depart, and there will be no anxiety at all, but only joy forever. Whoever believes in three and perceives that one is present, this one will be perpetual, reborn into eternal ages. But some say this: "When do we think these things will come?" Hear in few words: after which deeds those things will follow.

Many signs indeed will occur at the end of such a great plague, but the beginning will be our seventh persecution. Behold, he already knocks at the gate and is girded with a sword, he who will quickly cross the river as the Goths burst in. Apollyon will be with them, a dread name, he who will scatter the persecution of the saints by arms. He proceeds to Rome with many thousands of his people, and by the decree of God he takes captive part of the city, subduing them. Many senators will then weep as captives, and, conquered by a barbarian, they will blaspheme the God of the heavens. Yet these pagans feed Christians everywhere, whom they seek out all the more as brothers, filled with joy. For they persecute the luxurious and those who worship empty idols, and they put the senate under the yoke. These evils befall those who have persecuted the beloved: in five months they are slaughtered under this enemy. Meanwhile, at that same time, Cyrus arises, who will terrify the enemies and free the senate from there. He returns from the underworld, he who had been commanded from the kingdom and long preserved, known in his former body.

We say that this one is the ancient Nero, who previously punished Peter and Paul in the city. He himself returns again at the end of this age from hidden places, he who was kept in reserve for this. The Senate itself marvels that he is hated; when he appears, they will think he is a god. But before he comes, Elijah will prophesy in a divided time, in the middle of the week's axis. When the space is completed, that abominable one succeeds, whom both the Jews and the Romans then worship together. Although there will be another, whom they expect from the East, yet in our slaughter they will rage together with King Nero. Therefore, when Elijah prophesies in the land of Judea and marks the people with the sign of Christ—of whom many, since they are unwilling to believe him—the angry Most High is entreated, that he may not rain from there: the sky will be closed from that time and will not grow wet with dew, and he also turns the rivers into blood in his anger. The land becomes barren and does not sweat with springs of water, so that famine invades; there will then also be plague in the world.

Because she does this, the Jews, indeed tortured, Heap many false charges against him, And first they incite the senate to rise in anger, Saying that Elijah is hostile and harmful to the Romans. Then, crowded together, the senate, moved by them, Beseech Nero with prayers and wicked gifts: "Remove the enemies of the people from human affairs, Through whom our gods are trampled and not worshipped." And he, filled with fury and the senate's prayers, Seizes the prophets from the East by public transport. To satisfy them, or certainly the Jews, as much as he can, He first sacrifices these, and then goes out against the churches. Under their martyrdom, a tenth part of the city collapses, And seven thousand men perish there in full. But the Lord, on the fourth day, lifts them into the air, Those whom they had forbidden to be buried, lying unburied; And they are raised from the ground, made immortal from death, Whom their enemies see going through the air. Yet they are not terrified, but grow more cruel within, Cursing the people of Christ with total hatred.

The Most High hardened the hearts of the wicked, As he had earlier hardened the ears of Pharaoh. Therefore this harsh and unjust king, the fugitive Nero, Orders the Christian people to be driven from the city itself, And he adds two Caesars as partners to himself, With whom he persecutes this people in savage fury. They also send edicts through all judges everywhere, That this race of men be made without the name of Christ. They also order that incense be placed before the idols, And, lest anyone hide, that all proceed crowned. In this history, if a faithful one has refused to go, He will be fortunate: but if not, he becomes one of the crowd. There will then be no day of peace nor offering to Christ, But blood flows everywhere, which I am overcome to describe; For tears prevail, the hand fails, hearts tremble, Although it is fitting for the martyrs to bear so many deaths; Through sea, through lands, through islands and hiding places They search long, and lead away the accursed victims. This Nero will then do, for a whole period of three years And half a year he completes the appointed times.

For whose crime a deadly vengeance will come, So that the city and that people together with him are handed over, The empire, which was wickedly filled, be removed, Which through evil tributes had long oppressed everyone. Again, in the destruction of this Nero, a king will arise From the East with four nations from there, And he invites to himself as many nations to the city, Who bring aid, although he himself is very strong, And he will fill the sea with many thousands of ships, And if anyone meets him, he will be slain by the sword; And he first captures Tyre and Sidon, subdued, For then the neighboring nations collapse in terror. Hence plague, hence wars, hence famine, hence harsh tidings Are mingled together, so that confusion of mind occurs. Meanwhile, a trumpet suddenly gives a roar from heaven, (895) Whose sound in every place disturbs the heart. Then a fiery chariot will be seen through the stars And a running torch, to announce fire to the nations. Finally, the river Euphrates dries up entirely, So that a path is prepared for the king with those nations.

The Persians, Medes, likewise Chaldeans, Babylonians will come, Harsh and swift, who know not how to grieve for any. So then, when this one arises and begins to come from there, Nero is troubled, and the senate soon sees it. And those three Caesars will go to resist against him: Whom he, having slain, gives to the birds for food. Whose armies must adore the victor, With whom, returning into the city with changed mind, They plunder the temples and whatever is within the city, They seize and slay men in a great slaughter; Finally, they drive her, stripped, by a fire made, So that not even a trace of her appears any longer. At whose destruction the hearts of the powerful waste away, Nor do they find themselves, brutish, in what time they are. This city indeed rejoiced, but the whole earth groaned; Yet scarcely did a worthy retribution come to her. She mourns forever, who boasted herself eternal, Whose tyrants are even then judged by the Highest. The time stands ripe for smoking Rome at the end, And the reward will come, apportioned according to the merits of the places.

Then, however, the victor proceeds into the land of Judea, Whom the Jews themselves watch as he conquers Rome. He performs many signs, so that they might be able to believe him, For he was sent to deceive them, the wicked one; Yet a voice from heaven, sent by the Highest, rebukes him. From Persia, a man declares himself immortal. For us, Nero is made the Antichrist; for the Jews, that other one; These two are always prophets at the very end. The destruction of the city is Nero; of the whole earth, this other; Concerning whom I suggest a few things, which I have read in secret writings. Meanwhile, it displeases the Jews, even too late, themselves? And they whisper together, because they have been deceived by fraud. They cry out together to heaven with lamenting voices, That the true God from on high might come to their aid. Then Almighty God, to bring all things to an end, as I have said, Will bring forth a people hidden for a long time. They are Jews, enclosed beyond the river of Persia, Whom God wished to remain there until the end. Captivity reduced them to be there; From the twelve tribes, nine and a half remain there.

There is no falsehood there, nor any hatred; Therefore no child dies before its parents; They do not lament the dead nor mourn in our manner, Since they await the future resurrection. They consume no living creature in their added foods, But only vegetables, which are without shed blood. Full of righteousness, they live with unstained body; Among them neither fate exercises its impious powers. Fevers do not afflict them, nor savage chills, Because they obey all things purely according to the law; Which we ourselves will also follow, living purely; Only death and toil were present, for the rest is silent. This people, then, who are now set apart, When the river is dried up, will return to the land of Judea; With them God himself will come to fulfill the promises, And throughout the entire journey they rejoice with God present. All things grow green before them, all things rejoice; Creation itself delights to receive the saints: In every place springs arise, ready to be, Where the people of the Highest walk with celestial awe.

They make a canopy of clouds, lest they be troubled by the sun, And lest they grow weary, even the mountains themselves recline beneath them; For the Angel of the Most High is sent before them, Who grants them a peaceful guidance as they go. They walk lightly without toil, proceeding, And like lions, they lay waste to all they pass. Nor can any people indeed resist against them, If war is brought, since God Himself is with them. They storm nations, they also overthrow cities, By God’s permission they widow all colonies, They enrich themselves with gold or silver by plundering, And thus, honored, they likewise sing hymns. Soon, however, they hasten to the holy city of their fathers; For that terrible tyrant will be terrified, And he flees to the kings of the North with great commotion, Whence he seizes a people, to stand as if fighting in opposition. But when the rebels of God’s army hasten, They are laid low on the ground by the angels in pitched battle, (And the adulterer, caught, and the false prophet himself Are cast into the lake, living, under fiery punishment.)

Those among them who are the foremost, whether overseers or legates, Are reduced to the place of servants, the holy and the wicked alike. Meanwhile, the holy enter the holy colony, Rejoicing without end, to receive the promises of God. They entreat God for the dead, that they may rise again, As He Himself once promised concerning the first resurrection. Then God begins to grow angry with His enemies, Since the day of judgment has arrived for the wicked. When He begins to judge the world by fire, He spares the pious, and the fire falls upon the impious. Scarcely a few remain, who may report such deeds, And those who are preserved, to serve the just, escape. After the persecution of the saints and such great slaughter, The detestable, burning day is imminent. Behold, a hoarse trumpet sounds from heaven, but resounding everywhere, Which terrifies the whole world as it falls in ruin. The sun flees incautiously, suddenly the image of night appears, And God cries out: "How long did you think you could bear me?" At whose given sign, a pestilence rushes down from the whole sky, With the crash of thunder, the onslaught of fire descends.

Then one thunderbolt after another is hurled from the stars, A fiery storm rages, held in reserve for so many years. The pestilential plague roars, the shaken earth trembles, And the whole human race does not foresee where to turn. Stars fall from the sky; the constellations are judged along with us. The inhabitants of heaven are thrown into confusion while the ruin of the age is driven on. There will then be no help and vain shouting; No ship will receive a man, no hiding place; Nor will those whom they formerly worshipped as great come to their aid. Each one busies himself for himself, but it will profit him nothing. It will profit only those who have been marked by Christ. Dew will be for them, but for the rest, lethal punishment. The portion of the unbelievers is kept to be gently burned, So that their kind may again lament itself in the end. Wherever men turn, a fiery force blazes; The very air of the world, which formerly pleased, is burned. How many crashes of the sky with the thunderbolt descending shall I tell, When all the wrath gathered for so many years is poured forth? Here fire, here thunder, here whirlwinds, so many evils, seethe, And the pole will be drenched into shadow by the sudden force of death.

Part of the earth trembles, loosening all its foundations; part of the thunderbolts shatter firm walls; and walls are scattered like dust into the breezes; rocks fly, the roofs of houses are stripped bare by the winds. Homelands are laid waste, every city is overthrown. Who could bear so many crashes, such great roars, such great ruins, or avoid such great shipwrecks? What will a wretched mother do then for her sweet little child? Or if a father pities his son, what good will it do him? Woe to the fugitives from the Lord, woe also to the unspeakable ones without Christ, whose very infants are judged and whose pious weepers are judged as well! Moreover, all nature will lament with bellowings, until the celestial fury, at last completed, ceases. Then for seven months the earth will be purified by fire, and he who was humble, coming from heaven, is seen. With him will descend angels of eternal brightness; the tombs will be broken open, and the just bodies will rise up; clouds snatch them and carry them to meet Christ in the air; the living saints receive the Lord.

He raises them up, that they may see his glory, Whom they fixed to the cross; but he will again cast them into the depths. Woe to those wretches! A witness is killed by them. That by the punishments of those same men, I foresee by deceit * * * * * * * * * We sing these things not from envy, but we see them fixed. When the just rejoice, they are burned in hell; David said to them: Lord, render to them their iniquities! And if they have not believed, they will depart in the shadow of death. — Here indeed he could have prayed for happy things for his people; Why did he rather choose: Let them descend alive into the underworld? The rest who will be among the saints at the coming of Christ,