§1.1519ἥκοντ’ ἐς ἀΐδαο πανζόφου πύλας, §1.1520ᾄδῃ τὸ δριμύτατον ἐμβαλεῖν βέλος· §1.1521καὶ γὰρ αὐτῷ τῷδε κατέρχῃ μόνος, §1.1522λήψῃ δὲ νεκροὺς, οὐ σὺ ληφθήσῃ νεκροῖς, §1.1523ῥύσῃ τε πάντας, ὢν ἐλεύθερος μόνος·
having come to the gates of pitch-black Hades, to inflict the sharpest arrow upon Hades; for indeed you descend this very way alone, and you shall capture the dead, you shall not be captured by the dead, and you shall rescue all, being the only free one.
For as the only man you approach these things with courage, you alone strive beyond the nature of mortals.
§1.1526Ἔσχον δ’ ἀγῶνες, οἵ σ’ ἔμιμνον, νῦν τέλος, §1.1527νίκην τε λοιπὸν κατ᾿ ἐναντίων ἔχεις, §1.1528ᾄδην, ὄφιν, θάνατον ἰσχυρῶς τρέπων.
The struggles which awaited you have now reached an end, and henceforth you hold victory over your adversaries, powerfully turning back Hades, the serpent, and death.
§1.1529Σοφὸς σοφὸς. σὺ, καὶ σοφῶς ἔτλης πότμον, §1.1530ὡς κοινὸν οἶτον σῷ καταβάλῃς μόρῳ, §1.1531κἀν τῇ χθονὶ στηρίζον ἐνθήσεις κλέος, §1.1532γῆς ἐξανίσχων καὶ φέρων σωτηρίαν, §1.1533εἰς συγγένειαν Πατρός ἀμείψας δέμας.
Wise, wise indeed are you, and wisely you endured your fate, so that you might cast down the common doom by your death, and establishing a sustaining glory you shall place it in the earth, rising up from the ground and bringing salvation, having transformed your body into kinship with the Father.
§1.1534Αὖθις γὰρ ἔλθῃς κλεινὸς, ἁρπάσας γένος, §1.1535ὦναξ, Ἄναξ ἄφθιτε, σὺ Θεὸς μένων §1.1536μορφῇ τε σῇ συνῆψας ἀνέρος φύσιν· §1.1537καὶ νῦν ἐς ἀΐδαο κατέρχῃ δόμους, §1.1538σπεύδων φαειναί καὶ καταυγάσαι ζόφον.
For you shall come again in glory, having snatched away the race, O King, imperishable King, you remaining as God, and you joined the nature of man to your form; and now you descend to the halls of Hades, hastening to illuminate and shed light upon the darkness.
§1.1539Εὖ δ’, εὖγε λίπῃς τήνδε δυσμενῶν χθόνα, §1.1540εἰς ἥν γε πρῶτον ἧκες, Ἰσραὴλ δόμους, §1.1541ὀλωλότα πρόβατα ποιμᾶναι θέλων §1.1542καὶ συνθεσίας ἐκπερᾶναι πατράσι, §1.1543μορφῇ συνάψας τοῦ Θεοῦ βροτῶν φύσιν.
Well indeed, well do you leave this land of enemies, unto which you first came, the houses of Israel, wishing to shepherd the lost sheep and to fulfill the covenants with the fathers, having joined the nature of mortals to the form of God.
§1.1544Σὲ γὰρ Πατὴρ γεννᾷ μὲν ἀρρεύστως ἀεί· §1.1545ἐγὼ δ’ ἔτικτον σ᾿ αὖθις ἁγνεύουσ᾿ §1.1546μορφὴν λαβόντα πρὸς Θεοῦ βροτησίαν.
For while the Father always begets you without flow eternally, I gave birth to you in turn while remaining pure, as you assumed a mortal form from God.
§1.1547Ἀλλ’ ἐγγενεῖς σῆς μητρὸς, οὓς ἥκιστ᾿ ἐχρῆν, §1.1548θαυμαστὰ πολλὰ σφίσιν ἐξειργασμένον, §1.1549ἄρρητ’ ἀμυήτοισιν εἰδέναι βροτοῖς, §1.1550σωτῆρά σ’ οὐκ ἔφασκον ἐκφῦναι Θεοῦ, §1.1551ἀλλά με νυμφευθεῖσαν ἐκ θνητοῦ τινὸς §1.1552τεκεῖν σ’ ἐλήρουν καὶ γάμους ψευσαμένην §1.1553λέχους ἁμάρτημ’ ἐς Θεὸν μ᾿ ἀναφέρειν·
But the kinsmen of your mother, who least of all ought to have done so, though you had wrought many wondrous deeds for them, unutterable for uninitiated mortals to know, denied that you were born as a savior from God, but they prattled that I, having been wedded to some mortal, gave birth to you, and that having lied about marriage I referred the sin of my bed to God; and now they hastened to kill you unlawfully through envy by the devices of the enemy.
§1.1554καὶ νῦν κτανεῖν σ’ ἔσπευσαν ἀνόμως φθόνῳ §1.1555ἐχθροῦ σοφίσμαθ’, ὧν νιν οὕνεκα κτανὼν §1.1556ἄλλων τε πάντων παγκάκων σοφισμάτων §1.1557παύσεις στροβοῦντα κόσμον ἐν σοφίσμασι, §1.1558καί μιν σιδηραῖς ἁρμόσας ἐν ἄρκυσι §1.1559στήσεις κακοῦργον τῆς κακουργίας, Τέκνον.
Having slain him because of these things, and having stopped all other utterly evil devices, you will cause him to cease throwing the world into confusion with his devices, and having bound him in iron nets, you will make that evildoer cease from his evil, O Child.
§1.1560Σφᾶς δ’ αὖθις αὐτοὺς ἐκ χθονὸς τῆσδ’ ἐκβαλεῖς, §1.1561ἄλλοις δὲ δώσεις καὶ πόλιν τε καὶ κράτος, §1.1562ὡς συμβόλοις εἴρηκας ἤδη σοῖς φίλοις, §1.1563ἐν οἷς χορεύσεις καὶ καταστήσεις τὰ σὰ §1.1564μυστήρι’, ἵν᾿ ᾖς ἐμφανῶς Θεὸς βροτοῖς, §1.1565ὡς ἐν πόλῳ ξύμπασιν· ἐς δ’ ἄλλην χθόνα, §1.1566εὖ διαθεὶς τἀνθένδ’, ἀναστήσεις κράτος.
And they themselves in turn you will cast out from this land, and you will give both the city and the power to others, as you have already spoken in parables to your friends, among whom you will rejoice and establish your own mysteries, so that you may be manifestly God to mortals, as in heaven to all; and to another land, having set things here in good order, you will raise up power.
§1.1567Δεῖ γὰρ πόλιν τήνδ’ ἐκμαθεῖν, κεἰ μὴ θέλει, §1.1568νῦν οὖσ’ ἀμαθὴς τῶν γε σῶν μυστηρίων, §1.1569ἄλλην τε πᾶσαν γηγενῶν παροικίαν, §1.1570ἣ θεομαχεῖ τὰ κατὰ σὲ σπονδῶν τ’ ἄπο §1.1571ὠθεῖ σ’, ἐν εὐχαῖς δ’ οὐδαμοῦ μνείαν ἔχει· §1.1572οὔπω γὰρ οἱ τάλανες ἔγνωσαν γόνον §1.1573ἥκοντα Πατρός ἐκ πόλου πρὸς γῆν κάτω.
For it is necessary for this city to learn thoroughly, even if it does not wish to, being now ignorant of your mysteries, and all the other habitation of the earth-born, which fights against God regarding your affairs and from covenants thrusts you away, and makes no mention of you in prayers; for not yet did the wretched ones know the offspring who came down from the heaven of the Father to the earth below.
For which reasons show them that you are God; and you shall show it by all means.
ἢν δ’ Ἰουδαίων γένος §1.1576ὀργῇ σὺν ὅπλοις ἐξάγειν χθονὸς θέλῃς §1.1577ἄρδην, ἐλάσεις Αὐσόνων στρατηλατῶν, §1.1578οὓς σφῶν ἀνάσσειν ᾑρετίσαντ᾿ ἀφρόνως, §1.1579σὴν δεσποτείαν ὡς ἀπηγορευκότες, §1.1580ἄνακτα τὸν Καίσαρ’ ἀνηγορευκότες.
And if you wish the race of the Jews with wrath and weapons to lead out of the land utterly, you will drive on the Ausonian generals, whom they foolishly chose to rule over them, as if having rejected your sovereignty, and having proclaimed Caesar as their king.
§1.1581Ποινὴν γὰρ ἀθρῶ σοῦ πότμου ζωηφόρου, §1.1582πῦρ ἐγγὺς οἴκων καὶ δόμων ἐρείπια §1.1583τεφρούμεν’ ἤδη, πυρὸς ἄσβεστον φλόγα, §1.1584ἀθάνατον Θεοῦ πόλιν πρὸς τήνδ’ ὕβριν.
For I behold the punishment for your life-giving death, fire near the houses and the ruins of the dwellings already turned to ashes, the unquenchable flame of fire, against this insult to the immortal city of God.
§1.1585Αἰνῶ κρίσιν, ἄβατον ἣ πέδον τόδε §1.1586τίθησι πᾶσι τοῖς φονευταῖς σου, Τέκνον, §1.1587ὃς τὰς Λυδῶν πανευκλεεῖς λιπὼν πόλεις §1.1588Φρυγῶν τε, Περσῶν ἡλιοβλήτους πλάκα; §1.1589Βάκτρια τείχη τήν τε δύσχειμον χθόνα §1.1590Μήδων παρελθὼν Ἀρράβων τ᾿ εὐδαίμονα, §1.1591ἔθνη τὰ μακρὰν ἐν σκότῳ βεβυσμένα, §1.1592πᾶσάν Ἀσίαν, ἣν παρ’ ἁλμυρὰν ἅλα §1.1593Ἕλλησι κεῖσθαι φασὶ βαρβάροις θ’ ὁμοῦ, §1.1594πλήρεις ἔχουσαν καλλιπυργώτους πόλεις, §1.1595ἐς τήνδε πρῶτον ἦλθες Ἑβραίων χθόνα, §1.1596ἥ σ’ ἐς τάφον τίθησιν ἐκ σφαγῆς νέκυν.
I praise the judgment which makes this ground untrodden for all your murderers, O Child, you who, having left the glorious cities of the Lydians and the sun-drenched plains of the Phrygians and Persians, having bypassed the Bactrian walls and the wintry land of the Medes and the prosperous land of the Arabs, nations plunged deep in darkness far away, and all Asia, which by the salty sea they say lies for Greeks and barbarians alike, having cities full of beautiful towers, came first to this land of the Hebrews, which puts you, a corpse from slaughter, into a tomb.
§1.1597Ἰὼ, Θεοῦ μέλαθρα καὶ πόλις φίλα, §1.1598ὦ καλλίπυργον ἄστυ Δαυΐδου χθονὸς, §1.1599ὦ θαλάμευμα τῶν πάλαι θεοπρόπων, §1.1600θεοκτόνων σπήλαιον ὡς νῦν ἀνέφυς·
Alas, palaces of God and beloved city, O city of beautiful towers in the land of David, O chamber of the ancient prophets, how you have now turned out to be a cave of god-killers!
§1.1601Πῶς σε στενάξω;
How shall I groan for you?
πῶς σε θρηνήσω φόνου;
How shall I lament for your murder?
§1.1602Ἀλλ’, ὦ λιποῦσαι Γαλιλαίας χωρίον,
But, O women who have left the region of Galilee,