Sylla Forum statuit Cornelius; hoc Itali urbem 1
uocant ab ipso conditoris nomine.
Hic mihi, cum peterem te, rerum maxima Roma,
spes est oborta prosperum Christum fore.
Stratus humi tumulo aduoluebar, quem sacer ornat 5
martyr dicato Cassianus corpore.
Cornelius Sulla established a Forum; the Italians call
The city this by the very name of the founder.
Here, while I was seeking you, Rome, greatest of states,
A hope sprang up that Christ would be favourable to me.
lying on the ground I turned myself before the grave, which the
holy martyr Cassian honours with his consecrated body.
Dum lacrimans mecum reputo mea uulnera et omnes
uitae labores ac dolorum acumina,
erexi ad caelum faciem, stetit obuia contra
fucis colorum picta imago martyris 10
plagas mille gerens, totos lacerata per artus,
ruptam minutis praeferens punctis cutem.
While crying I thought of my sins and all the toils
And stinging pains of life,
I lifted up my face to heaven and there stood opposite
Meeting me a picture of the martyr painted in a dye of colours
Bearing a thousand wounds, his whole/all limbs torn,
Exposing his skin broken with tiny pricks.
Innumeri circum pueri – miserabile uisu –
confossa paruis membra ligebant (figebant ?) stilis,
unde pugillares soliti percurrere ceras 15
scholare murmur adnotantes scripserant.
Around him countless boys, miserable to behold,
Were stabbing and piercing his limbs with little stylises,
With which they were accustomed to running over their wax writing tablets
Writing down the murmuring notetaking of the school.
Aedituus consultus ait: « quod prospicis, hospes,
non est inanis aut anilis fabula;
historiam pictura refert, quae tradita libris
ueram uetusti temporis monstrat fidem.
The consulted custodian (of the temple) said : what you are looking at, stranger,
Is not vain or an old wives’ tale ;
The picture reports the history, which is transmitted in books
And displays the true assurance of the ancient time.
Praefuerat studiis puerilibus et grege multo
saeptus magister litterarum sederat,
uerba notis breuibus conprendere cuncta peritus
raptimque punctis dicta praepetibus sequi.
He had been in charge of a school for boys and sat as a teacher
Of literature with a great throng surrounding him,
He was skilled at capturing every word in short signs
And following speech quickly with swift stylus points.
Aspera nonnumquam praecepta et tristia uisa 25
inpube uulgus mouerant ira et metu;
doctor amarus enim discenti semper efebo
nec dulcis ulli disciplina infantiae est.
Sometimes his seemingly harsh and stern instructions
Strirred the youthful crowd to anger and fear ;
For the teacher is always bitter to the youthful pupil
And the discipline of childhood is sweet to no one.
Ecce fidem quatiens tempestas saeua premebat
plebem dicatam christianae gloriae. 30
Extrahitur coetu e medio moderator alumni
gregis, quod aris supplicare spreuerat.
Poenarum artifici quaerenti, quod genus artis
uir nosset alto tam rebellis spiritu,
respondent: ‘agmen tenerum ac puerile gubernat 35
fictis notare uerba signis inbuens.’
Look there was a savage storm battering the faith and pressing on
People devoted to the christian glory.
The governor of the flock of pupils was dragged
From the midst of the class because he had scorned worshipping at the altars.
When the contriver of punishments asked of what race of art (profession) this man of Such high and unruly spirit was,
They answered : he guides/teaches a company of young children
Training them to write down words with invented signs.’
‘Ducite’, conclamat, ‘captiuum ducite, et ultro
donetur ipsis uerberator paruulis.
Vt libet, inludant, lacerent inpune manusque
tinguant magistri feriatas sanguine; 40
ludum discipulis uolupe est ut praebeat ipse
doctor seuerus, quos nimis coercuit.’
‘take him away’ he cried, ‘take him away as prisoner, and give him,
The flogger, to these very children.
Let them make a sport/game of him as they wish, let them mangle
him without punishment and let them give their hands a holiday and moisten them with the blood of their teacher ;
it is a pleasant thing that a strict teacher might himself
supply a game to the pupils whom he has excessively held down.’
Vincitur post terga manus spoliatus amictu,
adest acutis agmen armatum stilis.
Quantum quisque odii tacita conceperat ira, 45
effundit ardens felle tandem libero.
after he is stripped of his clothes and his hands are tied behind his back,
and all the band are present armed with their sharp styli.
All the hatred long conceived in silent anger
Burning with bitterness/bile that has at last found freedom.
Coniciunt alii fragiles inque ora tabellas
frangunt, relisa fronte lignum dissilit,
buxa crepant cerata genis inpacta cruentis
rubetquc ab ictu curta et umens pagina. 50
Inde alii stimulos et acumina ferrea uibrant,
qua parte aratis cera sulcis scribitur,
et qua secti apices abolentur et aequoris hyrti
rursus nitescens innouatur area.
Some throw their brittle tablets and break them against his face, the wood flying in fragments when it strikes his brow, the wax-covered box-wood splitting with a large crack as it is dashed on his blood stained cheeks, the broken slab wet and red from the blow. Others again launch at him the sharp iron pricks, the end with which by scratching strokes the wax is written upon, and the end with which the letters that have been cut are rubbed out and the roughened surface once more made into a smooth glossy space.
Hinc foditur Christi confessor et inde secatur, 55
pars uiscus intrat molle, pars scindit cutem.
Omnia membra manus pariter fixere ducentae
totidemque guttae uulnerum stillant simul.
With the one the confessor of Christ is stabbed, with the other he is cut, the one end enters the soft flesh, the other splits the skin. Two hundred hands together have pierced him all over his body, and from all these wounds at once the blood is dripping.
Maior tortor erat, qui summa pupugerat infans,
quam qui profuuda perforarat uiscera, 60
ille leuis, quoniam percussor morte negata
saeuire solis scit dolorum spiculis,
hic, quanto interius uitalia condita pulsat.
plus dat medellae, dum necem prope applicat.
A greater torture was the child who only pricked the surface than he who bored deep into the flesh; for the light hitter who will not wound to the death has the skill to be cruel with only the piercing pains, but the other, the farther he strikes into the hidden vitals gives more relief by bringing death near.
‘Este, precor, fortes et uincite uiribus annos, 65
quod defit aeuo, suppleat crudelitas!’
Sed male conatus tener infirmusque laborat,
tormenta crescunt, dum fatiscit carnifex.
‘be strong, i beg, and conquer the years with your strength, what is lacking in age let a savage spirit make up for!’
But the young/tender and weak boys struggle, trying badly, the torments worsen while the tormentors grow faint.
‘Quid gemis?’ exclamat quidam, ‘tute ipse magister
istud dedisti ferrum et armasti manus.
Reddimus ecce tibi tam milia multa notarum,
quam stando, flendo te docente excepimus.
‘why do you complain?’ calls one, ‘you yourself as our teacher gave us this iron and put the weapon in our hands. Look we are giving you back all the thousands of characters which as we stood in tears we took down from your teaching.
Non potes irasci, quod scribimus; ipse iubebas,
numquam quietum dextera ut ferret stilum.
Non petimus totiens te praeceptore negatas, 75
auare doctor, iam scholarum ferias.
You cannot be angry with us for writing; it was you who was ordering us never to let our right hand carry an idle stylus. We are no longer asking for what was so often refused when we were under your instruction, you stingy teacher, a holiday from school.
Pangere puncta libet sulcisque intexere sulcos,
flexas catenis inpedire uirgulas.
Emendes licet inspectos longo ordine uersus,
mendosa forte si quid errauit manus, 80
exerce imperium, ius est tibi plectere culpam,
si quis tuorum te notauit segnius.’
We like making pricks, intertwining scratch with scratch and linking curved strokes together. You may examine and correct our lines in a long array, in case an erring hand has made any mistake, use your authority, you have power to punish a fault, if any of your pupils have written carelessly on you.’
Talia ludebant pueri per membra magistri
nec longa fessum poena soluebat uirum.
Tandem luctantis miseratus ab aethere Christus 85
iubet resolui pectoris ligamina
difficilesque moras animae ac retinacula uitae
relaxat artas et latebras expedit.
Such sport the boys were playing on their master’s body and yet the long-drawn suffering was not releasing him from his weariness. At length, Christ taking pity from heaven on his struggles, commands that the bands be loosened from his soul, undoes the irksome hindrances that detain his spirit and hold his life, and opens out its confined seat.
Sanguis ab interno uenarum fonte patentes
uias secutus deserit praecordia 90
totque foraminibus penetrati corporis exit
fibrarum anhelans ille uitalis calor.
The blood follows the open ways from its source in teh weins within and leaves the heart, and through the many holes pierced in the body the pulsing warmth of life in the flesh departs.
‘Haec sunt, quae liquidis expressa coloribus, hospes,
miraris, ista est Cassiani gloria.
Suggere, si quod habes iustum uel amabile uotum, 95
spes si qua tibi est, si quid intus aestuas!
Audit, crede, preces martyr prosperrimus omnes
ratasque reddit, quas uidet probabiles.’
‘this, stranger, is the story you wonder to see presented in liquid colours, this is the glory of Cassian. Declare now if you have any just or lovely wish, if you have any hope, if anything burns within you! The martyr, believe, hears with all favour every prayer, and fulfils those which he sees as worthy.’
Pareo: conplector tumulum, lacrimas quoque fundo,
altar tepescit ore, saxum pectore. 100
Tunc arcana mei percenseo cuncta laboris,
tunc, quod petebam, quod timebam, murmuro:
et post terga domum dubia sub sorte relictam
et spem futuri forte nutantem boni.
Audior, ‘urbem adeo, dextris successibus utor, 105
domum reuertor, Cassianum praedico.’
I obey: I embrace the tomb and also pour out tears,
warming the altar with my mouth, the stone with my breast. Then i recount all the secrets of my labour,
then i murmur what i seek, what i fear:
and behind me I leave the house under uncertain fortune, and my hope now faltering of happiness to come. I was heard, ‘I visited the city and enjoy it with my right hand successes, I return home, I proclaim Cassius.’
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Georgics10
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Agricola11
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Augustine5
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Horace 1.96
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Prudentius20
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Cicero7
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Ovid12
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Ennius7
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Horace 1.111
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horace 1.382
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Horace 2.106
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Horace 3.303
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Valerius Maximus8
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Lucan 1.183 -2022
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Phaedrus5
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Seneca11
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Lucan 9.379-4066
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Martial13
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Erasmus3
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Apuleius 1.244
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Lucretius9
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Apuleius 1.254
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Apuleius 11.132
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Apuleius 11.143
