§7Praennntiata sunt ista nobis et ante praedicta.
These things were preannounced to us and predicted beforehand.
sed nos datae legis et obseruationis inmemores id egimus per nostra peccata, ut dum Domini mandata contemnimus ad correptionem delicti et probationem fidei remediis seuerioribus ueniremus, nec saltim uel sero conuersi ad Domini timorem sumus, ut hanc correptionem nostram probationemque diuinam patienter et fortiter subiremus.
But we, unmindful of the given law and observation, did this through our sins, so that while we despised the Lord's commandments, we might come to more severe remedies for the correction of our offense and the testing of our faith, nor were we turned, even late, to the fear of the Lord, so that we might patiently and bravely undergo this correction of ours and divine testing.
ad prima statim uerba minantis inimici maximus fratrum numerus fidem suam prodidit nec prostratus est persecutionis inpetu, sed uoluntario lapsu se ipse prostrauit.
At the very first words of the threatening enemy, a very great number of brothers betrayed their faith, nor was anyone prostrated by the onset of persecution, but by a voluntary fall he prostrated himself.
quid oro inauditum, quid nouum uenerat, ut uelut incognitis adque inopinatis rebus exortis Christi sacramentum temeritate praecipiti solueretur? nonne haec et prophetae ante et apostoli postmodum nuntiauerunt? nonne iustorum pressuras et gentilium semper iniurias pleni sancto Spiritu praedicauerunt? nonne fidem nostram semper armans et Dei seruos caelesti uoce corroborans dicit scriptura diuina: Dominum Deum tuum adorabis et illi soli seruies? nonne iram diuinae indignationis ostendens et poenae metum praemonens denuo dicit: adorauerunt eos quos fecerunt digiti eorum, et curuatus est homo et humiliatus est uir, et non laxabo illis? et iterum Deus loquitur dicens: sacrificans diis eradicabitur nisi Domino soli. in euangelio quoque postmodum Dominus in uerbis doctor et consummator in factis docens quid fieret et faciens quodcumque docuisset, quicquid nunc geritur et geretur non ante praemonuit? nonne et negantibus aeterna supplicia et salutaria confitentibus praemia ante constituit?
What, I pray, unheard of, what new thing had come, that as if unknown and unexpected things had arisen, the sacrament of Christ should be dissolved with headlong rashness? Did not both the prophets before and the apostles afterward announce these things? Did they not, full of the Holy Spirit, preach the pressures of the just and the always injuries of the gentiles? Does not the divine scripture, always arming our faith and corroborating the servants of God with a heavenly voice, say: 'You shall adore the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve'? Does it not, showing the anger of divine indignation and forewarning the fear of punishment, say again: 'They adored those things which their fingers made, and man was bowed down, and a man was humiliated, and I will not forgive them'? And again God speaks, saying: 'He who sacrifices to gods shall be eradicated, except to the Lord alone.' In the gospel also, afterward, the Lord, a teacher in words and a fulfiller in deeds, teaching what would happen and doing whatever He had taught, did He not forewarn of whatever is now done and will be done? Did He not beforehand establish both eternal punishments for those who deny and saving rewards for those who confess?
§8Exciderunt quibusdam pro nefas omnia et de memoria recesserunt.
All things escaped some, oh the wickedness, and departed from memory.
non expectauerunt saltim ut ascenderent adprehensi, ut interrogati negarent.
They did not wait at least to ascend when apprehended, so that being interrogated they might deny.
ante aciem multi uicti, sine congressione prostrati nec hoc sibi reliquerunt ut sacrificare idolis uiderentur inuiti.
Many were conquered before the battle line, prostrated without an engagement, nor did they leave this for themselves, that they might seem to sacrifice to idols unwillingly.
ultro ad forum currere, ad mortem sponte properare, quasi hoc olim cuperent, quasi amplecterentur occasionem datam quam libenter optassent.
Of their own accord they ran to the forum, spontaneously they hastened to death, as if they had long desired this, as if they embraced the given occasion which they would have gladly wished for.
quot illic a magistratibus uespera urgente dilati sunt, quot ne eorum differretur interitus et rogauerunt! quam uim potest talis obtendere, qua crimen suum purget, cum uim magis ipse fecerit ut periret? nonne quando ad Capitolium sponte uentum est, quando ultro ad obsequium diri facinoris accessum est, labauit gressus, caligauit aspectus, tremuerunt uiscera, membra conciderunt? non sensus obstipuit, lingua haesit, sermo defecit? stare illic potuit Dei seruus et loqui et renuntiare Christo qui iam diabolo renuntiauerat et saeculo P non ara illa, quo moriturus accesserat, rogus illi fuit? non diaboli altare quod faetore taetro fumare ac redolere conspexerat uelut funus et bustum uitae suae horrere ac fugere debebat? quid hostiam tecum, miser, quid uictimam supplicaturus inportas? ipse ad aras hostia, uictima ipse uenisti, inmolasti illic salutem tuam, spem tuam, fidem tuam funestis illic ignibus concremasti.
How many there were delayed by the magistrates when evening was pressing, and how many even begged that their destruction might not be deferred! What force can such a one pretend, by which he may clear his crime, since he himself rather used force that he might perish? When they came to the Capitol spontaneously, when of their own accord they approached the compliance of the dire crime, did not the step falter, did not the sight grow dark, did not the vitals tremble, did not the limbs collapse? Was not the sense astonished, did not the tongue cleave, did speech not fail? Could a servant of God stand there and speak and renounce Christ, who had already renounced the devil and the world? Was not that altar, where he had approached to die, a funeral pyre to him? Ought he not to have shuddered at and fled from the devil's altar, which he had seen smoking and smelling with a foul stench, as if it were the death and tomb of his life? Why, miserable one, do you bring a host, why a victim with you to supplicate? You yourself came to the altars as a host, you yourself as a victim; you immolated there your salvation, your hope, your faith you burned up there with disastrous fires.
§9Ac multis proprius interitus satis non fuit: hortamentis mutuis in exitium populus inpulsus est, mors inuicem letali poculo propinata est.
And for many, their own destruction was not enough: by mutual encouragements the people were impelled to ruin, death was drunk to one another in a deadly cup.
ac ne quid deesset ad criminis cumulum, infantes quoque parentum manibus inpositi uel adtracti amiserunt paruuli quod in primo statim natiuitatis exordio fuerant consecuti.
And lest anything should be lacking to the heap of crime, infants also, placed upon or drawn by the hands of their parents, lost what they had obtained at the very first beginning of their birth.
nonne illi, cum iudicii dies uenerit, dicent: nos nihil fecimus nec derelicto cibo et poculo Domini ad profana contagia sponte properauimus: perdidit nos aliena perfidia, parentes sensimus parricidas: illi nobis ecclesiam matrem, illi patrem Deum negauerunt, ut dum parui et inprouidi et tanti facinoris ignari per alios ad consortium criminum iungimur, aliena fraude caperemur?
When the day of judgment comes, will they not say: 'We did nothing, nor, abandoning the food and cup of the Lord, did we spontaneously hasten to profane contagions. The perfidy of others destroyed us, we felt our parents as parricides. They denied to us the church as mother, they denied God as father, so that while we, small and improvident and ignorant of so great a crime, were joined through others to the fellowship of crimes, we were captured by the fraud of others'?