Commodianus, Carmen Apologeticum

COMMODIANI CARMEN APOLOGETICVM.

THE APOLOGETIC POEM OF COMMODIAN.

Quis poterit unum proprie Deum nosse caelorum,

Who will be able properly to know the one God of the heavens,

Nisi quem is tulerit * * ab errore nefando?

except one whom he has carried [...] away from abominable error?

Errabam ignarus spatians, spe captus inani,

I wandered, roaming in ignorance, captive to an empty hope,

Dum furor aetatis primae me portabat in auras.

while the frenzy of my early years bore me into the air.

Plus eram quam palea levior; quasi centum inessent

I was lighter than chaff; as if there were a hundred

In umeris capita, sic praeceps quocumque ferebar.

heads on my shoulders, so headlong was I carried wherever [it took me].

Non satis; his rebus criminosus denique Marsus

That was not enough: by these doings, in the end, a criminal Marsian

Paene fni factus herbas incantando malignas.

I was almost made, chanting spells over malignant herbs.

Sed gratias Domino — nec sufficit uox mea tantum

But thanks to the Lord (and my voice is not enough to give back

Reddere — qui misero uacillanti tandem adluxit!

so much), who at last shone on me, wretched and tottering!

Adgressusque fui tradito in codice legis,

And I set to work on the handed-down book of the Law,

Quid ibi rescirem; statim mihi lampada fulsit.

[to learn] what I might find out there; at once a lamp shone for me.

Tunc uero agnoui Deum (unum) summum in altis,

Then indeed I recognised God, (one,) highest in the heights,

Et ideo tales hortor ab errore recedant.

and therefore I urge such people to withdraw from error.

Cum is, qui taxatur, populus iam in illo laetatur?

when that people which is referred to already rejoices in him?

Illi autem miseri, qui fabulas uanas adornant •

But those wretches, who dress up empty tales

Et magum infamant, canentibus rostra elusissent.

and defame [him] as a magician, had mocked the mouths of those who sang.

Quales eos dicam? antequam dispersi fuissent,

What shall I call them? Before they had been scattered,

Quos nec exulatus fregit nec seruus ipsa.

they whom neither exile broke nor slavery itself.

Si magus adfuerat, cur ergo prophetae canebant

If he had been a magician, why then did the prophets sing

Venturum e caelo, ut esset spes gentium ipse?

that he would come from heaven, so that he himself would be the hope of the nations?

Si false de ipsis pronuntiant perdere terram,

If they declared falsely of them that they would lose their land,

Quod prouenit de eis, sic erint et falsa de illo.

which has come to pass for them, so too the things about him will be false.

Sed quia sunt semper spreti, quod cruenti fuerunt,

But because they have always been spurned, since they were bloodthirsty,

Contra suum Dominum rebellant dicere magum.

they rebel against their own Lord, calling him a magician.

Nec uolunt audire, quae dixerunt uates in illos,

Nor do they want to hear what the prophets said against them,