"Easter-Wings" -- George Herbert (1593-1633)

Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store, Though foolishly he lost the same, Decaying more and more, Till he became Most poore: With thee O let me rise As larks, harmoniously, And sing this day thy victories: Then shall the fall further the flight in me. My tender age in sorrow did beginne And still with sicknesses and shame. Thou didst so punish sinne, That I became Most thinne. With thee Let me combine, And feel thy victorie: For, if I imp my wing on thine, Affliction shall advance the flight in me.

The Resurrection of Christ, Juan Correa de Vivar (1510-1566)

Passio Discerpta XXI. "In Mundi sympathiam cum Christo" -- George Herbert (1593-1633)

You do not perish alone; in you And with you all the World ends, And all the celestial Machinery Acknowledges your Cross. Plato, account this man As the “world-soul” – or, lest Your inquiry trouble the world Too much, set down mine in its place. Non moreris solus; Mundus simul interit in te, Agnoscitque tuam Machina tota Crucem. Hunc ponas animam mundi, Plato; vel tua mundum Ne nimium vexet quaestio, pone meam.

Christ as Redeemer of the World, Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)

Passio Discerpta XVIII. "Terrae-motus" -- George Herbert (1593-1633)

With you fixed in place, even Earth moves; For, along with the Cross, You can bear the whole Earth around, As Samson once did the gates. Ah, you fools, first pin down The fleeing Earth – Then the Lord will be vulnerable To assault with nails. Te fixo vel Terra movet; nam, cum Cruce, totam Circumferre potes; Sampson ut ante fores. Heu stolidi, primum fugientem figite Terram, Tunc Dominus clavis aggrediendus erit.

Samson's Revenge, Johann Georg Platzer, 1730s

Passio Discerpta XVII. "Monumenta aperta" -- George Herbert (1593-1633)

While, My Life, you were dying, The buried dead themselves arose, And in exchange for one man bound The throng was set free. But you do not so much die for yourself As live in them, and Death, Now given breath, lays claim to your life. By all means, go and seek The Crucified among the tombs – he lives! Many sepulchers overmaster A single Cross. Thus, it is fitting That God, in accord with His Majesty, Should not lose the life He bestowed, but multiply it. Dum moreris, Mea Vita, ipsi vixere sepulti, Proque uno vincto turba soluta fuit. Tu tamen, haud tibi tam moreris, quam vivis in illis, Asserit et vitam Mors animata tuam. Scilicet in tumulis Crucifixum quaerite, vivit: Convincunt unam multa sepulcra Crucem. Sic, pro Maiestate, Deum, non perdere vitam Quam tribuit, verum multiplicare decet.

The Dead Appear in the Temple, James Tissot, between 1886 and 1894

Passio Discerpta XV. "Inclinato capite. Joh. 19" -- George Herbert (1593-1633)

Caves are at hand for wild foxes, Nests at hand for birds; Each creature knows its own bed, Each its own bedchamber. But Christ lacks a host to take him in: It's only while he hangs Upon the cross that there’s a place For him to rest his head. Vulpibus antra feris, nidique volucribus adsunt, Quodque suum novit stroma, cubile suum. Qui tamen excipiat, Christus caret hospite: tantum In cruce suspendens, unde reclinet, habet.

Christ on the Cross, Eugène Delacroix, 1853

Passio Discerpta XIV. "In Clavos" -- George Herbert (1593-1633)

How special you were – You who, lest your better nature Rob us of our lesser nature, Were nailed to the Cross. Now you are mine; now I have you; The Shepherd’s held fast by This wood, these nails, As if by his own sickle. Qualis eras, qui, ne melior natura minorem Eriperet nobis, in Cruce fixus eras; Iam meus es; nunc Te teneo; Pastorque prehensus Hoc ligno, his clavis est, quasi Falce sua.

Christ Nailed to the Cross, Juan de Flandes, between 1496 and 1504

A Poet Grieves for His Mother

Memoriae Matris Sacrum 16 – George Herbert (1593-1633) It seems a hard thing to weep, And hard, too, not to weep. But harder than anything else Is to stop once we are weeping. No man can fittingly Lament for such a mother With just two eyes. Ah woe, Would that I were Argus – The many-eyed, much-enduring – So that I might distinguish The many virtues my mother Showed while flourishing And bewail each with one eye. Χαλεπὸν δοκεῖ δακρῦσαι, Χαλεπὸν μὲν οὐ δακρῦσαι. Χαλεπώτερον δὲ πάντων Δακρύοντας ἀμπαυέσθαι. Γενέτειραν οὔ τις ἀνδρῶν Διδύμαις κόραις τοιαύτην Ἐποδύρεται πρεπόντως. Τάλας, εἴθε Ἄργος εἴην Πολυόμματος, πολύτλας, Ἵνα μητρὸς εὐθενούσης Ἀρετὰς διακριθείσας Ἰδίαις κόραισι κλαύσω.

Mercury and Argus, Jean Lemaire, between 1625 and 1640

Passio Discerpta X. "In vestes divisas" -- George Herbert (1593-1633)

If, Christ, while you were nailed on the cross, Your garments were bestowed on your foes – Not on your friends, as custom requests – What will you give to your own folk? …Yourself. Si, Christe, dum suffigeris, tuae vestes Sunt hostium legata, non amicorum, Ut postulat mos; quid tuis dabis? Teipsum.

The Garments Divided by Cast Lots, James Tissot, between 1886 and 1894

Passio Discerpta VI. "In Coronam spineam" -- George Herbert (1593-1633)

O Christ, your pain is torture for you; For me it is sweet pleasure – You are wretchedly punctured by A thorn, but I by a Rose. Let us switch the points that prick us; Come, You take up the garland Of Roses – you who are our Head -- We your Limbs will take your thorns. Christe, dolor tibi supplicio, mihi blanda voluptas; Tu spina misere pungeris, ipse Rosa. Spicula mutemus; capias Tu serta Rosarum, Qui Caput es, spinas et tua Membra tuas.

Christ with the Crown of Thorns, follower of Aelbrecht Bouts, 1st half of 16th century

"Bitter-sweet" -- George Herbert (1593-1633)

Ah my dear angry Lord, Since thou dost love, yet strike; Cast down, yet help afford; Sure I will do the like.

I will complain, yet praise; I will bewail, approve; And all my sour-sweet days I will lament, and love.

The Holy Trinity, Frans Francken the Elder (1542-1616)

Passio Discerpta IV. "In latus perfossum" -- George Herbert (1593-1633)

Christ, when a path into you lies open Made by such hard steel, I hope the way can lie open for my heart. Christe, ubi tam duro patet in te semita ferro, Spero meo cordi posse patere viam.

Longinus Piercing Christ's Side with a Spear, Gerard de la Vallée, 17th century

Passio Discerpta I. "Ad Dominum morientem" -- George Herbert (1593-1633)

Since so many wounds overwhelm My tears and my two eyes, I shall be ill-matched, and even Dissolve myself into weeping. Let ink hurry to give me aid, A fluid more fitted to sins, And let my fault now shed its tears In the color that befits it. Cum lacrimas oculosque duos tot vulnera vincant, Impar, et in fletum vel resolutus, ero. Sepia concurrat, peccatis aptior humor, Et mea iam lacrimet culpa colore suo.

The Crucifixion, Hugo van der Goes (ca. 1440-1482)

With Lent beginning soon, I've decided to mark the occasion by posting translations from the Passio Discerpta (Passion in Pieces), a series of Latin devotional poems on the Crucifixion by the great Anglican clergyman-poet George Herbert (1593-1633). I'll aim to post a new translation each Sunday, as well on significant dates such as Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, etc. I hope you find them worthwhile.

“Redemption” - George Herbert (1593-1633)

Having been tenant long to a rich lord,    Not thriving, I resolvèd to be bold,    And make a suit unto him, to afford A new small-rented lease, and cancel th’ old. In heaven at his manor I him sought;    They told me there that he was lately gone    About some land, which he had dearly bought Long since on earth, to take possessiòn. I straight returned, and knowing his great birth,    Sought him accordingly in great resorts;    In cities, theaters, gardens, parks, and courts; At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth            Of thieves and murderers; there I him espied,    Who straight, Your suit is granted, said, and died.

Christ as Savior, Geronimo de Bobadilla, 2nd half of 16th century

“Prayer (I)” - George Herbert (1593-1633)

Prayer the church's banquet, angel's age, God's breath in man returning to his birth, The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage, The Christian plummet sounding heav'n and earth; Engine against th' Almighty, sinner's tow'r, Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear, The six-days world transposing in an hour, A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear; Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss, Exalted manna, gladness of the best, Heaven in ordinary, man well drest, The milky way, the bird of Paradise, Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood, The land of spices; something understood.

The Evening Prayer, Pierre Édouard Frère, 1857  

A Problem of Vision

George Herbert (1593-1633), Musae Responsoriae 8  Whenever one looks through Flemish telescopes In the way they are meant to be handled, Objects are magnified; but if you look Through them the opposite way, Then all things are made smaller. You, who count all others as haughty (Though nothing is haughtier than you!), Should turn the instrument around; For, as the matter stands, you’re using The glass less than properly. Quisquis tuetur perspicillis Belgicis,     Qua parte tractari solent, Res ampliantur, sin per adversam videt,     Minora fiunt omnia: Tu qui superbos caeteros existimas     (Superbius cum te nihil) Vertas specillum: nam, prout se res habent,     Vitro minus recte uteris.

Galileo Galilei Showing the Doge of Venice How to Use the Telescope, Giuseppe Bertini, 1858