Prudentius, Hamartigenia

par furor illorum, quos tradit fama dicatis

Equal is the madness of those who, report tells, in dedicated

consecrasse deas Febrem Scabiemque sacellis.

shrines consecrated Fever and Scabies as goddesses.

inventor vitii non est Deus: angelus illud

God is not the inventor of vice: an angel,

degener infami conceptum mente creavit,

fallen from his kind, created it, conceived in his infamous mind,

qui prius augustum radiabat sidus et ingens

he who once shone as an august star and, a vast

ex nihilo splendor nutrito ardebat honore.

splendour made from nothing, blazed with the honour bestowed on him.

ex nihilo nam cuncta retro, factumque quod usquam est,

For all things of old are from nothing, and whatever anywhere has been made;

at non ex nihilo Deus et Sapientia vera

but not from nothing are God and the true Wisdom

Spiritus et Sanctus, res semper viva nec umquam

and the Holy Spirit, a being ever living and never

coepta, sed aerios etiam molita ministros,

begun, which also fashioned the airy ministers.

horum de numero quidam pulcherrimus ore,

Of their number one, most beautiful of face,

maiestate ferox, nimiis dum viribus auctus

proud in his majesty, while, increased with excessive strength,

inflatur, dum grande tumens sese altius effert

he is puffed up, while, swelling hugely, he lifts himself higher

ostentatque suos licito iactantius ignes,

and displays his fires more boastfully than is allowed,

persuasit propriis genitum se viribus ex se

persuaded [himself] that, begotten by his own powers, he had from himself

materiam sumpsisse sibi, qua primitus esse

taken for himself the matter by which he might first begin

inciperet, nascique suum sine principe coeptum,

to be, and that his birth had begun without an originator.

hinc schola subtacitam meditatur gignere sectam,

From this a school plans to beget a secretive sect,

quae docet e tenebris subitum micuisse tyrannum,

which teaches that out of darkness a tyrant suddenly flashed forth,

qui velut aeterna latitans sub nocte retrorsum

who, as if lurking beneath eternal night, in times gone by

vixerit et tecto semper regnaverit aevo.

had lived, and had always reigned in a hidden age.

aemulus, ut memorant, opera ad divina repente

A rival, so they tell, to spoil the divine works, suddenly

corrumpenda caput caligine protulit atra.

he thrust his head out of the black murk.

hoc ratio sed nostra negat, cui non licet unam

But our reason denies this, which may not weaken the one

infirmare fidem, sacro quae tradita libro est.

faith that was handed down in the sacred book.

nil, ait, ‘absque Deo factum, sed cuncta per ipsum,

‘Nothing,’ it says, ‘was made without God, but all things through him,

cuncta, nec est alius quisquam nisi factus ab ipso.’

all things; nor is there anyone else except one made by him.’

sed factus de stirpe bonus, bonitatis in usum

But he, made good from the root, for the practice of goodness

proditus et primo generis de fonte serenus,

brought forth, and serene from the first source of his kind,

deterior mox sponte sua, dum decolor illum

soon grew worse of his own accord, when dark

inficit invidia stimulisque instigat amaris.

envy stained him and goaded him with bitter spurs.

arsit enim scintilla odii de fomite zeli

For a spark of hatred blazed up from the tinder of jealousy,

et dolor ingenium subitus conflavit iniquum,

and sudden resentment fanned a wicked temper.

viderat argillam simulacrum et structile flatu

He had seen that the clay, an image and a built thing, by the breath

concaluisse Dei, dominum quoque conditioni 1

of God had grown warm, and that as lord over creation it was also

inpositum, natura soli pelagique polique

set, so that the nature of land and sea and sky,

ut famulans homini locupletem fundere partum

serving man, should know how to pour forth a rich yield

nosset et effusum terreno addicere regi.

and to make over what it poured forth to the earthly king.

inflavit fermento animi stomachante tumorem

With the fretting leaven of his mind he puffed up his swelling,

bestia deque acidis vim traxit acerba medullis;

the beast, and, harsh, drew strength from his sour marrow;

bestia sorde carens, cui tunc sapientia longi

the beast without filth, in whom upright wisdom then kept the youth

corporis enodem servabat recta iuventam,

of his long body free of knots.

conplicat ecce novos sinuoso pectore nexus,

Behold, he folds new coils in his winding breast,

involvens nitidam spiris torquentibus alvum.

wrapping his gleaming belly in twisting spirals.

simplex lingua prius varia micat arte loquendi,

The tongue, once single, flickers with a varied art of speaking,

et discissa dolis resonat sermone trisulco.

and, split by deceits, resounds with three-forked speech.

hinc natale caput vitiorum, principe ab illo

Hence the native source of the vices; from that prince

fluxit origo mali, qui se corrumpere primum,

flowed the origin of evil, who first [learned] to corrupt himself,