nihil sordidum repperitur; sed fluvius vitae de Domini sede progrediens, per medium ipsius perspicuo candore ditabitur: cujus utrasque ripas nemorosae arbores referuntur ornare, quae fructus suos per menses singulos largiuntur: ubi non erit nox, neque ulia indigentia, quoniam Dominus illuminat cunctos et satiat. Postremum beatos esse dicit, qui hujus libri dicta fideli mente servaverint.
33.—XXII, 8. Ego Joannes, qui haec audivi et vidi, et cum audissem et vidissem haec prostravi me, et reliqua usque ad finem. Cum se verba libri hujus Joannes audisse diceret et vidisse, gratias agens, angelum voluit adorare; cui ab ipso responsum est sanctorum se conservum esse, non Dominum; sed illum potius adorandum qui caelum fecit et terram. Post haec loquitur Dominum cito esse venturum, qui operas uniuscujusque discretione facta dijudicet: beatos dicens qui conscientias suas bonis actibus mundaverunt; ut in ligno vitae, id est in crucis fide possint babere fiduciam: nam foris a regno Domini excludendi sunt quicunque se foedis actibus polluerunt: per mullas diversasque sententias Dominum se Christum esse confirmans: contestans, ne quis in hoc libro quidquam aut addat, aut minuat, qui ad intelligentiam aeternae vitae concessus esse dinoscitur; omnes faciens esse praeparatos, cum se cito venturum frequenti repetitione testetur. Amen.
nothing sordid is found there; but the river of life, proceeding from the Lord's throne, will enrich the midst of it with clear brightness: on both its banks are said to be wooded trees to adorn it, which yield their fruits through each month: where there will be no night, nor any want, since the Lord enlightens and satisfies all. Finally he says that those are blessed who have kept the words of this book with faithful mind.
33.—XXII, 8. I, John, who heard and saw these things, and when I had heard and seen them I fell down, and the rest up to the end. When John said that he had heard and seen the words of this book, giving thanks, he wished to adore the angel; to whom it was answered by him that he was a fellow servant of the saints, not the Lord; but that he rather should be adored who made heaven and earth. After these things he says that the Lord is soon to come, who will judge the works of each one after a distinction has been made: calling those blessed who have cleansed their consciences by good deeds; so that in the tree of life, that is, in the faith of the cross, they may be able to have confidence: for outside the kingdom of the Lord are to be excluded all who have defiled themselves with foul deeds: through many and various statements confirming that he himself is the Lord Christ: testifying that no one should either add or diminish anything in this book, which is recognized to have been granted for the understanding of eternal life; making all to be prepared, since he testifies by frequent repetition that he is soon to come. Amen.
SCIPIO MAFFEIUS NICOLAO COLETIO. S. D. a
Intellexi ex tuis litteris te momentis rationum mearum, quibus ab Ughelliana episcoporum Veronensium historia universe expendenda, documentisque exagitandis abstinere decrevi, tandem acquiescere ac postulationes tuas eo redigere, ut si quid habeam de vetustioribus saltem episcopis, quod neque ab Ughellio, neque ab historicis nostris allatum fuerit; itemque si quem forte praesulem detexerim, qui nondum innotescat, et a diptychis nostris adhuc exsulet, tecum slatim communicem: quae quidem paucis praestabo.
Nullum exstat ea de re monumentum antiquius rhythmica quadam Veronae descriptione, regnante Pipino Caroli M. filio, ab anonymo auctore elucubrata. Priorem illius partem edidit Hieronymus a Curte in Hist. Veron. lib. I, ex ms. chronico apud Jesuatos; reliquae, in qua ocio primi episcopi recensentur, ex antiquissimo libro apud Coelestinos coenobii Ariminensis aliquot verba allegat Perettus: frusta quaedam occurrerunt mihi mullis abhinc annis in Zenoniano codice. Verum perierat prorsus insignis documenti pars praestantissima, nisi P. Mabillonius ex Lobiensi bibliotheca integrum demum absolutumque emisisset.
SCIPIO MAFFEIUS TO NICOLAO COLETIO, GREETING.
I have understood from your letter that you at last acquiesce in the arguments by which I decided to refrain from wholly assessing the Ughellian history of the bishops of Verona and from stirring up its documents, and that you reduce your demands to this: that if I have anything concerning at least the more ancient bishops which has been brought forward neither by Ughellius nor by our historians, and likewise if perchance I have discovered any prelate who is not yet known and is still absent from our diptychs, I should communicate it to you at once. These things indeed I shall accomplish in few words.
There exists no monument older on this matter than a certain rhythmic description of Verona, composed by an anonymous author in the reign of Pippin, son of Charles the Great. Jerome a Curte published the former part of it in Hist. Veron. book I, from an manuscript chronicle at the Jesuates; of the remainder, in which the first bishops are reviewed in order, Perettus cites a few words from a very ancient book at the Celestines of the monastery of Rimini; some fragments came to my attention many years ago in the Zenonian codex. But the most distinguished part of that notable document had altogether perished, had not Father Mabillon at last published it complete and entire from the library of Lobbes.
Ratherius, multis scriptis clarus, ex eo monasterio ad sedem Veronensem, anno 928, ut Sigebertus docet, translatus fuerat: qui cum deinde Veronae valedicere et monastica aliquando claustra repetere cogeretur, descriptionem illam, simul cum ichnographia civitatis nostrae minio depicta, Lobiam pertulit. Ea quidem membrana, nec non ichnographia, quae historiae Veronensi maximo adjumento esset, anno per fratrem meum, Namurcensi tunc provinciae praefectum, operam dedi, ut summa diligentia perquirerentur; abbatia siquidem Lobiensis vix decem aul duodecim horarum iter a Namurco abest: verum irrito conatu, multumque conquerentibus patribus, plures codices vel subreptos fuisse, vel ab iis qui utendos acceperunt minime redditos. Cum Mabillonii analecta vetera, quorum tomo primo rhythmicum id monumentum insertum est, in Italia perquam raro occurrant, ejus exemplar, quod fideliter olim exscripsi, ad te mitto: mirum est quam juvet historiam nostram.
Ratherius, renowned for many writings, had been transferred from that monastery to the see of Verona in the year 928, as Sigebert teaches; when he was afterward compelled to bid farewell to Verona and at some point to return to the monastic cloisters, he carried that description, together with a ground-plan of our city painted in vermilion, to Lobbes. That parchment indeed, and also the ground-plan, which would be of the greatest assistance to the history of Verona, I took pains, in the year, through my brother, then prefect of the province of Namur, that they be sought out with the utmost diligence; for the abbey of Lobbes is scarcely a journey of ten or twelve hours from Namur: but with the effort frustrated, and with the fathers complaining greatly, that several codices had either been stolen or not at all returned by those who received them for use. Since the old analects of Mabillon, in the first volume of which that rhythmic monument is inserted, occur very rarely in Italy, I send to you its copy, which I once transcribed faithfully: it is wonderful how much it helps our history.
Magna et praclara pollet urbs haec in Italia, in partibus Venetiorum, ut docet Isidorus, quae Verona vocitatur olim antiquitus.
Per quadrum est compaginato, muri ficata firmiter, quadraginta et octo turres prae fulgent per circuitum: ex Quibus octo sunt excelsae, quas eminent omnibus.
Habet altum laberinthum, magnum per circuitum, in qua nescius egressus non valet egredi, nisi igne lucernae, vel a filo glomere.
Foro lato spatioso sternuto lapidibus, ubi in quatuor cantus magnus instat forniceps platea mira sternutae desectis lapidibus.
Fana tempora constructa ad deorum nomina Lunis, Martis, et Minervis, Jovis, atque Veneris, Saturni, sive Solis, qui praefulget omnibus.
Et dicere lingua non valet hujus urbis schemata: intus nitet, foris candet circumsepta laminis, in aere pondos deauratos metalla communia.
Castro magno et excelso, et firma pugnacula, pontes lapideos fundatos super flumen Adesis, quorum capita pertingunt in orbem ad oppidum.
This city flourishes great and renowned in Italy, in the regions of the Veneti, as Isidore teaches, which is called Verona, in ancient times of old.
It is compacted in a square, its walls firmly built, and forty-eight towers shine forth around its circuit; of these eight are lofty, which tower over all.
It has a deep labyrinth, great all around, in which one who does not know the way out cannot escape, except by the light of a lamp or by a thread from a ball of yarn.
With a broad, spacious forum paved with stones, where at the four corners a great fountain-head stands in the wondrous paved square of cut stones.
Temples built in times past to the names of the gods of the Moon, of Mars, and of Minerva, of Jove, and of Venus, of Saturn, or of the Sun, who shines forth above all.
And the tongue cannot tell the forms of this city: within it gleams, without it shines white, surrounded by plates, in bronze the common metals in gilded weights.
With a great and lofty fortress, and strong bulwarks, stone bridges founded upon the river Adige, whose heads reach in a circuit to the town.
Ecce quam bene est fundata a malis hominibus, qui nesciebunt legem Dei, nova atque vetera simulacra venerabant, lignea, lapidea.
Sed postquam venit plenitudo temporum, incantavit deitatem nascendo ex Virgine, exinanivit semetipsum, ascendit patibulum.
Inde depositus ad plebem Judaeorum pessimam, in monumento conlocatus, ibi mansit triduo, inde resurgens cum triumpho, sedit Patris dextera.
Gentilitas, hoc dum cognovit, festinavit credere quare ipse Deus coeli, terroe conditor, qui apparuit in mundo per Maria uterum.
Ex qua stirpe processerunt martires, apostoli, confessores, et doctores, et vates sanctissimi, qui concordaverunt mundum ad fidem catholicam.
Sic factus adimpletus est sermo Daviticus, quod coeli clariter enarrant gloriam Altissimi a summo coelorum usque terra terminum.
Primum Verona praedicavit Euprepus episcopus, secundus Dimidrianus, tertius Simplicius, quartus Proculus confessor, pastor egregius.
Behold how well it was founded by evil men, who did not know the law of God, who venerated new and old images together, wooden and stone.
But after the fullness of time came, he drew forth divinity by being born of the Virgin, he emptied himself, he ascended the cross.
Then, taken down and given over to the most wicked people of the Jews, placed in a tomb, he remained there three days; rising from there with triumph, he sat at the right hand of the Father.
When the Gentiles learned this, they hastened to believe, because he himself is the God of heaven, the founder of the earth, who appeared in the world through the womb of Mary.
From this stock proceeded martyrs, apostles, confessors, and teachers, and most holy prophets, who reconciled the world to the catholic faith.
Thus was fulfilled the word of David, that the heavens clearly declare the glory of the Most High from the highest heavens even to the end of the earth.
First, Euprepus, bishop, preached at Verona; second, Dimidrianus; third, Simplicius; fourth, Proculus the confessor, an excellent shepherd.
Quintus fuit Saturninus, et Sextus Lucilius, Septi· mus fuit Gricinus doctor et episcopus, octavus pastor et confessor Zeno mar tir inclitus.
Qui Veronam praedicando reduxit ad baptismum, a malo spiritu sanavit Galli filiam, boves cum... vergentem reduxit a pelago.
Et quidem multos liberavit ab hoste pestifero... Non queo multa narrare hujus sancti opera, quae a Syria veniendo usque in Italia, per ipsum omnipotens Deus ostendit mirabilia.
O felicem te Verona dilata et inclita, qualis es circumvallata custodibus sanctissimis, qui te defendant et expugnent ab hoste nequissimo!
Ab Oriente habet primum martirem Stephanum, Florentium, Vindemialem, et Maurum ep scopum. Mammam, Andronicum, et Probum cum quadraginta martiribus.
Deinde Petrum et Paulum, Jacobum apostolum, praecursorem et Baptistam Joannem, et martyrem Nazarium, una cum Celso, Victore, Ambrosio.
The fifth was Saturninus, and the sixth Lucilius, the seventh was Gricinus, doctor and bishop, the eighth the pastor and confessor Zeno, renowned martyr.
He, by preaching, brought Verona back to baptism; he healed the daughter of Gallus of an evil spirit; he brought the oxen back from the sea as they were... turning.
And indeed he freed many from the pestilent enemy... I cannot recount the many works of this saint, which, as he came from Syria even into Italy, almighty God showed as wonders through him.
O happy and renowned Verona, how you are walled about by most holy guardians, who defend you and drive off the most wicked enemy!
From the East you have first the martyr Stephen, Florentius, Vindemialis, and Maurus the bishop. Mamma, Andronicus, and Probus with forty martyrs.
Then Peter and Paul, James the apostle, the forerunner and Baptist John, and the martyr Nazarius, together with Celsus, Victor, and Ambrose.
Inclitos martires Christi Gervasium et Protasium, Faustinum atque Jovitam, Eupolum Calocerum, Domini matrem Mariam, Vitalem, Agricolam.
In partibus meridianis Firmum et Rusticum, qui olim in te susceperunt coronas martirii, quorum corpora ablata sunt in maris insulis.
Quando complacuit Deo regi invisibili, in te sunt facta renovata per Hannonem praesulem, temporibus principum regum Desiderii et Adelchis.
Qui diu moraverunt sancti non reversi sunt, quorum corpora insimul condidit episcopus aromata, et galbanen, stacten, et argoido, myrrha, gutta, et cassia, et thus lucidissimus.
Tumulum aureum coopertum circumdat praeconibus, color stritus mulget sensus hominum: modo albus, modo niger inter duos purpureos.
Haec, ut valuit, paravit Hanno praesul inclitus, per cujus flamma claret de bonis operibus ab austra finibus terrae usque nostri terminus.
The renowned martyrs of Christ, Gervasius and Protasius, Faustinus and Jovita, Eupolus Calocerus, Mary the mother of the Lord, Vitalis, Agricola.
In the southern regions, Firmus and Rusticus, who once received in you the crowns of martyrdom, whose bodies were carried away to the islands of the sea.
When it pleased God the invisible king, in you were made new things through the bishop Hanno, in the times of the chief kings Desiderius and Adelchis.
Those saints who lingered long have not returned, whose bodies the bishop together laid to rest with spices, and galbanum, stacte, and argoido, myrrh, drop, and cassia, and brightest frankincense.
A golden tomb covered all around with heralds encircles it; its color, rubbed, draws the senses of men: now white, now black between two purple ones.
These things, as he was able, the renowned bishop Hanno prepared, through whose flame he shines forth for good works from the southern ends of the earth even to our boundary.
Ab occidente custodit Sixtus et Laurentius. Hippolitus, Apollinaris, duodecim apostoli Domini, magnus confessor Martinus sanctissimus.
Jam laudanda, urbis in Auxonia, splendens, pollens et redolens a sanctorum corpora, opulenta inter centum sola in Italia.
From the west, Sixtus and Lawrence keep watch. Hippolytus, Apollinaris, the twelve apostles of the Lord, the great confessor Martin, most holy.
Already praiseworthy, in the city of Auxonia, shining, flourishing and fragrant with the bodies of the saints, alone rich among a hundred in Italy.