Prudentius' Crown of Martyrs

Liber Peristephanon

Len Krisak

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780815353270
• eBook ISBN: 9781351136921
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

Prudentius' Crown of Martyrs offers an English translation, with introduction and commentary, of the Liber Peristephanon, Prudentius' vivid collection of lyric hymns in honor of Christian martyrs.

To render Prudentius' metrically varied lines for twenty-first-century readers, Len Krisak relies on the inherent iambic nature of English. The introduction offers insight into social, political, and literary features of the fourth century, the life of Prudentius, the poet's other works, his Latinity and mastery of ancient meters, and the manuscript tradition and the reception of Prudentius in the Middle Ages and beyond.

Given Prudentius' central place in the history of Latin poetry, this translation is a welcome resource for general readers interested in Western literary history. It will also find a home with scholarly audiences working on Late Antique and Early Christian literature and culture, in a wide variety of college classrooms and in academic libraries.

THE PERISTEPHANON

Translated by Len Krisak

I

A HYMN IN HONOR OF THE HOLY MARTYRS EMETERIUS AND CHELIDONIUS OF CALAHORRA¹

Heaven has written down two martyrs’ names—a pair

That Christ, inscribing them in golden letters there,

Has noted in bright characters of blood on earth.

That’s why the whole world honors Spain for its great worth,

With crowns of glory, as a place² that God thought best

5

(And pure enough) to give these bones and bodies rest.

Spain drank the warm blood-stream of these two forced to die;

Its people flock to martyrs’ sands made sacred by

That holy blood. They pray, they offer, and they vow.

And even folk from far-off countries come here now,

10

Since word of this has spread throughout the world, revealing

Here are patrons of that world whom all, by kneeling

And praying honest prayers to, cannot fail but reach.

From here, tears dried, the one who would beseech

Them turns in joy: all proper prayers are heard, he knows.

15

Such care for others’ cares this pair of martyrs shows,

That simple prayers are not in vain. At once, they hear,

And at eternal God’s throne, whisper in His ear.

From there, great gifts flow down. The very Fountainhead

Chrisms and heals the troubled souls of those who’ve pled.

20

For Christ always says yes to those who witness Him—

Those witnesses whom neither chains nor fear of grim

Death keeps from attesting God, even if it cost

Their very blood. Eternal life repays what’s lost.

This is a good death, honoring good men: their doomed-

25

To-be-corrupted flesh that weak-strung sinews loomed,

Goes to the sword; their death defeats their enemy.³

To take that sword-stroke is to suffer beautifully.

The wide wound opens up a gateway for the just:

The soul baptized in blood springs from its home—the breast.

30

These,⁴ who knew well the hard life they had led before,

Soon battled for the holy sites. Well-skilled in war

And arms, they strapped on swords for Christ in His eternal

Cause. They choose the holy Cross, not the infernal

Dragon-flag of Caesar, followed once.⁵ No, now

35

They fly the Cross’s sign to make the dragon bow.

To wield a skillful lance they now thought basely mean;

To moat a camp, or smash a wall by siege machine,

The same—or letting blood befoul a godless hand.

About that time, great Rome sent out a cruel command:

40

Return to pagan gods, with true faith sacrificed.

Rome—second heir to Israel— must forswear Christ.

Death’s iron sword sought out our faith, to no avail,

For still its strength—from love of Christ—refused to fail,

Welcoming rod and double-claw⁶ and axe. In jail,

45

These two were bound with fettering links and iron bands.

The torturer, each trial, racked them with savage hands,

As faithful speech was punished. Truth was thought a crime.

And then the sword struck hard, beating to earth sublime

Virtue, inhaling the flames the awful pyre made.

50

As goodness burned, it then was sweet; sweet was the blade.

There, two loving brothers’ hearts grew warm together

That always had been yoked in faith, brother to brother.⁷

They stood prepared for all their final fate might bring:

If the headsman chopped their necks as offering

55

(After they’d felt the cracking scourge or scorching grate),

Or if the leopard or the lion were their fate.⁸

“Shall we bow down to Mammon⁹—we whom Christ has saved?

Made in God’s form, shall we by mankind be enslaved?

Keep separate Heaven’s fires and the dark, and may

60

Our lives, once taken when we signed our bond, repay

That debt in full. Now we renounce the things we owed

To Caesar, rendering unto God the things of God.¹⁰

You tribunes: go! Leave, you who are their ensigns’ lords. ¹¹

And take the golden cuffs¹² that were our wounds’ rewards.

65

The angels call us hence as soldiers who will fight

For our Comm...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• The Peristephanon
• Bibliography
• Index