§6Atque ut inlustrius ueritate patefacta diuini muneris indicia clarescant, lucem tibi ad cognitionem dabo, malorum caligine abstersa operti saeculi tenebras reuelabo.
And so that, when the truth is laid open, the signs of the divine gift may shine more illustriously, I will give you light for understanding, and, the mist of evils having been wiped away, I will reveal the darkness of the hidden world.
paulisper te crede subduci in montis ardui uerticem celsiorem, speculare indererum infra te iacentium facies et oculis in diuersa porrectis ipse a terrenis contactibus liber fluctuantis mundi turbines intuere: iam saeculi et ipse misereberis tuique admonitus et plus in Deum gratus maiore laetitia quod euaseris gratuleris.
Believe yourself for a little while to be carried up to the loftier summit of a steep mountain; look down from there upon the aspects of the things lying beneath you, and, with your eyes directed to different quarters, look upon the whirlwinds of the fluctuating world, you yourself being free from earthly contacts: now you too will pity the world, and, mindful of yourself and more grateful to God, you will rejoice with greater joy that you have escaped.
cerne tu itinera latronibus clausa, maria obsessa praedonibus, cruento horrore castrorum bella ubique diuisa.
Behold the roads closed by robbers, the seas beset by pirates, wars dispersed everywhere with the bloody horror of camps.
madet orbis mutuo sanguine: et homicidium cum admittunt singuli, crimen est: uirtus uocatur, cum publice geritur.
The world is wet with mutual blood; and when individuals commit homicide, it is a crime; it is called virtue when it is done publicly.
inpunitatem sceleribus adquirit non innocentiae ratio, sed saeuitiae magnitudo.
It is not the consideration of innocence that acquires impunity for crimes, but the magnitude of cruelty.
§7Iam si ad urbes ipsas ocujos tuos atque ora conuertas, celebritatem offendes omni solitudine tristiorem.
Now if you turn your eyes and your face to the cities themselves, you will find a concourse sadder than any solitude.
paratur gladiatorius ludus, ut libidinem crudelium luminum sanguis oblectet.
A gladiatorial game is prepared, that blood may delight the lust of cruel eyes.
inpletur in sucum cibis fortioribus corpus, et aruinae toris membrorum moles robusta pinguescit, ut saginatus in poenam carius pereat.
The body is filled with stronger foods to gain juice, and the robust mass of limbs grows fat with rolls of flesh, so that, fattened for punishment, he may perish at a higher cost.
homo occiditur in hominis uoluptatem, et ut quis possit occidere, peritia est, usus est, ars est: scelus non tantum geritur sed docetur.
Man is slain for the pleasure of man, and that one may be able to slay, is a skill, a practice, an art; crime is not only committed, but is taught.
quid potest inhumanius, quid acerbius dici? disciplina est, ut perimere quis possit, et gloria est, quod perimit quid illud, oro te, quale est, ubi se feris obiciunt, quos nemo damnauit, aetate integra, honesta satis forma, ueste pretiosa? uiuentes in ultroneum funus ornantur, malis suis miseri et gloriantur.
What can be said more inhuman, what more bitter? It is a discipline that one can destroy, and it is a glory that he destroys. What of that, I pray you, of what sort is it, where they object themselves to wild beasts, whom no one has condemned, of prime age, of fair enough form, in precious clothing? Living, they are adorned for a voluntary funeral, and, wretched in their own evils, they even boast of them.
pugnant ad bestias non crimine sed furore.
They fight against beasts not because of crime, but because of madness.
spectant filios suos patres, frater in cauea et soror praesto est, et spectaculi licet pretium largior muneris adparatus amplificet, ut maeroribus suis mater intersit, hoc pro dolor mater et redimit.
Fathers look upon their own sons, a brother is in the cavea and a sister is at hand, and though the more bountiful preparation of the gift increases the price of the spectacle, that a mother may be present at her own griefs, alas, the mother even purchases this!
et in tam impiis spectaculis tamque diris esse se non putant oculis parricidas.
And in spectacles so impious and so dreadful, they do not think themselves to be parricides with their eyes.
§8Conuerte hinc uultus ad diuersi spectaculi non minus paenitenda contagia: in theatris quoque conspicies, quod tibi et dolori sit et pudori.
Turn your face from here to the no less deplorable contagions of a different spectacle: in the theaters also you will behold what may be to you both a grief and a shame.
cothurnus est tragicus, prisca carmine facinora recensere: de parricidiis et incestis horror antiquus expressa ad imaginem ueritatis actione replicatur, ne saeculis transeuntibus exolescat quod aliquando commissum est.
The buskin is tragic, to recount ancient crimes in song: the ancient horror of parricides and incests is repeated in action expressed to the image of truth, lest what was once committed should grow obsolete as the ages pass.
admonetur aetas omnis auditu fieri posse quod factum est.
Every age is reminded by hearing that what has been done can be done.
numquam aeui senio delicta moriuntur, numquam temporibus crimen obruitur, numquam scelus obliuione sepelitur.
Never do transgressions die by the decay of age, never is a crime buried by time, never is a wickedness interred in oblivion.
exempla fiunt quae esse iam facinora destiterunt.
Those things which have already ceased to be crimes become examples.
tum delectat in mimis turpitudinum magisterio uel quid domi gesserit recognoscere uel quid gerere possit audire.
Then in mimes, by the instruction of turpitudes, it pleases either to recognize what one has done at home or to hear what one can do.
adulterium discitur dum uidetur, et lenocinante ad uitia publicae auctoritatis malo quae pudica fortasse ad spectaculum matrona processerat, de spectaculo reuertitur inpudica.
Adultery is learned while it is seen, and by the evil of public authority pandering to vices, the matrona who had perhaps gone forth to the spectacle chaste, returns from the spectacle unchaste.
adhuc deinde morum quanta labes, quae probrorum fomenta, quae alimenta uitiorum, histrionicis gestibus inquinari, uidere contra foedus iusque nascendi patientiam incestae turpitudinis elaboratam: euirantur mares, honor omnis et uigor sexus eneruati corporis dedecore mollitur plusque illic placet, quisque uirum in feminam magis fregerit.
Then, how great a ruin of morals, what encouragements of disgraceful acts, what nourishments of vices, to be polluted by histrionic gestures, to see, against the covenant and law of birth, the elaborate endurance of unnatural uncleanness! Males are unmanned; all the honor and vigor of their sex is softened by the disgrace of an enervated body; and he pleases more there, whoever has more thoroughly broken down the man into a woman.
in laudem crescit ex crimine et peritior quo turpior iudicatur.
He grows into praise from crime, and he is judged more skillful the more shameful he is.
spectatur hic pro nefas et libenter.
He is gazed upon—oh, the wickedness!—and with pleasure.
quid non possit suadere qui talis est? mouet sensus, mulcet adfectus, expugnat boni pectoris conscientiam fortiorem: nec deest probri blandientis auctoritas, ut auditu molliore pernicies hominibus obrepat.
What can he not persuade, who is such a one? He moves the senses, he soothes the affections, he subdues the stronger conscience of a good breast. Nor is there lacking the authority of flattering disgrace, so that, by an easier hearing, ruin may creep upon men.
exprimunt inpudicam Venerem, adulterum Martem, louem illum suum non magis regno quam uitiis principem, in terrenos amores cum ipsis suis fulminibus ardentem, nunc in plumam oloris albescere, nunc aureo imbre defluere, nunc in puerorum pubescentium raptus ministri(auibus prosilire.
They portray unchaste Venus, adulterous Mars, and that Jupiter of theirs, a prince no more in kingdom than in vices, burning for earthly loves with his very lightnings, now whitening into the feathers of a swan, now flowing down in a golden shower, now springing forward in the abductions of pubescent boys with his ministering birds.
quaere iam nunc, an possit esse qui spectat integer uel pudicus.
Ask now, whether he who watches can be whole or chaste.
deos suos, quos ueneratur, imitatur: fiunt miseris et religiosa delicta.
He imitates his own gods, whom he worships; transgressions become even religious to the wretched.