Avitus Viennensis Episcopus, Poematum De Mosaicae Historiae Gestis Libri Quinque

Jam magicam digne valeat quis dicere frudem, Occultas tacito tentantem pectore vires, Divinis jungi virtutibus ct cupientem? Legifer ut quondam vales, sub rege superbo, Dum nova monstraret jussi miracula signi, Commovit livore magos ut talia tenUem, Accumulentque suas zelo fervente ruinas. Illis suppeteret recta si forte potestas, Demere, non etiam festinent addere monstra. Æmula sed signis tantum, non viribus æqua, Quod removere nequit, duplicavit justius ira. Hinc est laudato quod possunt carmine Mir i, Cum tacita sævos producunt arte dracones Absentes et sæpe jubent confligere secum. Tunc ut quisque gravem bello præsenscrit hydrum, Aspidis aut duræ clausas cognoverit aures, Concutit interius secreti carminis arma : Protinus et lassis verbo luctante veuenis, Mox impune manu coluber tractatur inermis Et morsus tantum, non virus, in angue timetur. Interdum perit incantans, si callida surdus Adjuratoris contempsit murmura serpens. Hoc quoniam de matre trahunt, ei origine prima, Anguineæ fraudis quod sic linguæque periti, Mutua per speciem reddunt commercia fandi. Nec minus his pulsat contraria cura salutis, Angit praescitus ducti quos terminus ævi; Cum tamen eductas infernis sedibus umbras Colloquium miscere putent, et noia referre. Spiritus erroris sed qui bacchatur in illis, Ad consulta parat vanis responsa figuris. Et ne porrecto dicantur singula verbo Præsenti illusus, damnabitur ille perenni Judicio, quisquis vetitum cognoscere tentat.

Now who could worthily describe the fraud of magic, which with silent heart tries out hidden powers and longs to be joined to divine powers? As once the law-giving prophet, under the proud king, while he was showing the new wonders of the sign he had been commanded to give, stirred the magicians with envy, so that they attempted such things and heaped up their own ruin with burning zeal. If right power had perhaps been at their disposal, they would hasten to take away the prodigies, not also to add to them. But their wrath, rivalling the signs only and not equal in power, doubled — the more justly — what it could not remove. Hence it is that the Marsi prevail by their vaunted chant, when with silent art they draw out savage serpents, though absent, and often bid them fight with them. Then, as each perceives a water-snake grievous in battle, or recognises the closed ears of the hard asp, he shakes within him the weapons of a secret spell; and at once, the venoms worn out by the struggling word, soon the disarmed snake is handled with impunity, and in the serpent only the bite, not the poison, is feared. Sometimes the enchanter perishes, if the deaf serpent has scorned the cunning murmurs of the adjurer. It is from the mother, and from the first origin, that they draw this: that, so skilled in the serpent's fraud and tongue, they return in semblance a mutual exchange of speech. No less does a care contrary to salvation assail those whom the foreknown end of their allotted span torments, when they think that shades brought up from the infernal seats join in conversation and report new things. But the spirit of error, which raves in them, prepares answers to their questions with empty figures. And, not to tell each thing in drawn-out speech: deluded in the present, he will be condemned by everlasting judgment, whoever tries to learn what is forbidden.

Virgam forte manu gestabat legifer heros, Quo baculo nitens gressum dum dextra regebat, Excutit hanc valido projeclam cominus ictu. Tum mirum dictu, commotum serpere lignum, Non insensibiles ceu promit palmite ramos ,. it, movens tantum quos præstat crescere fructus : Sed flexu reptans, mutati et corporis usu Sensum animamque gerens, coepit decurrere virga, Mox anguem formata refert. Conterritus hæsit, Æternumque niger tum palluit ore tyrannus. Sed ne confusum tali succumbere signo Cerneret assistens vultu nutante satelles, Dissimulat summo rem gestam credere jussu, Nec divina volens, luminum sed facta putari, Tum mandat quoscunque magos, vel carmina doctoa, Illicitam diris tentantes fraudibus artem Ægypti, longinqua darent hastilia, cogens Murmure funcreo faciat monstrata minister. Undique tunc jussi concurrunt, et medicatas Armant quique suas nolo medicarnine virgas, Dant jactae vanas species, anguesque putati lllusos terrent oculos fallente figura. Nec longum tumuere magi; consumitur omne Quod fecisse rati; fictos namque arte dracones Primus adhuc mordax absorbuit ore cerasta. Postquam virtutis clausit spectacula Moses, Victorisque tenens caudam tellure levavit, Decedit serpens ligno, vultusque recedit, Diriguere vagi durato corpore flexus. Quid multis? fit virga prior, qua deinde sacerdos Plurima succiduo monstravit tempore signa.

The law-giving hero happened to be carrying a rod in his hand; leaning on this staff while his right hand guided his step, he flung it down, cast out before him with a strong throw. Then — wonderful to tell — the wood stirred and began to creep: not as it puts forth from the shoot branches without sense, [...] moving only the fruits it makes grow, but creeping in a coil, and, by the use of a changed body, bearing sense and soul, the rod began to run along, and soon, reshaped, it presents a snake. Terrified, he stood fixed, and the tyrant, black for eternity, then turned pale in the face. But lest his attendant, standing by with wavering look, should see him confounded and yielding to such a sign, he conceals that he believes the thing was done by the highest command, wishing the deeds to be thought not divine but [mere illusions]. Then he orders whatever magicians, or men learned in spells, attempt with dire frauds the unlawful art of Egypt, to bring forth long staffs, compelling that his minister perform with funereal murmur the things that had been shown. Then, as ordered, they run together from all sides, and each arms his enchanted staff with the familiar charm; thrown down, they give empty appearances, and the supposed snakes frighten deluded eyes with a deceiving shape. Nor did the magicians swell [with pride] for long: all that they thought they had made is consumed; for the first horned snake, still biting, swallowed in its mouth the serpents feigned by art. After Moses closed the display of power, and, holding the victor by the tail, lifted it from the ground, the serpent gives way to wood, its face withdraws, and the wandering coils stiffened as the body hardened. Why say more? It becomes the former rod, with which the priest afterwards showed very many signs in the time that followed.