Epigrams 3

In praise of David. 'Now lend kindly ears to the admonitions of Damasus; / let them, having laid aside their defilements, cleanse the inmost chambers of the heart, / when the court renews itself, ready to serve Christ. / You ought to know the holy prophet of Christ: / a shepherd boy, one out of many brothers, / whom an angel snatched from the sheep and consecrated king— / he who alone knew how to fashion instruments with his hands / and to sing of the heavenly kingdoms to the people upon the harp. / The huge man, with heavy shield, threatening in vain, / impious, blasphemous, bearing trappings and weapons, / who madly worshipped the temples of deaf gods, / he slew with a smooth stone and left him headless; / and soon, by the great judgement of God, the slaughter accomplished, / he showed to the peoples the trophies he had carried off from the enemy:'

'For Damasus knows your triumphs, O holy one—God himself knows them. On Christ. O Christ, mighty over all things, founder of the returning age, / Voice and Mind of the most high God, whom the Father pours forth from his lofty / Mind, and to whom he gave fellowship in so great a kingdom: / you have subdued the impious sins of our life, / having suffered to clothe the world in bodily form, / to address the peoples openly, and to confess yourself man. / When you, enclosed in the Word, by the divine power soon beheld, / the Virgin's womb swelled, and the unwedded Mother / was amazed that her inward parts were filled with a secret birth, / about to bring forth her own Author. Mortal hearts / covered over the Maker of heaven and of the world, beneath the deep / breast by which he widely embraces the whole globe— / he who is contained neither by the spaces of the earth, nor by the waves of the sea, / nor by heaven, has flowed together into tiny limbs.'

'Nay more, you underwent the name and bonds of punishment, / that you might snatch us from death and put death to flight / by your own death; soon, borne up into the heavenly airs, / restoring us, joyful, by your purified light, may you cherish / the August Father, so that on festal days he may often / celebrate the yearly fasts of the pure and holy rite. On the Ascension of Christ. To his own throne God rises again, death banished, / that he may teach that there is a life to come for believers. / An angel sang these words: that, returning in the same way, / so he will come, and so it is right to believe of Christ. On the Name of Jesus. In things so great, the threefold conjunction of the world / lifts up the human mind to praise gracefully: / our only salvation, and the supreme power of the world, / he came to loose the knot of sin by his fruit; / the supreme salvation shone forth through the ages to all lands. On the same.'

'With equal right reigns the common founder of the age, / and with the Father, holy and sublime, he reigns on high; / by his starry divine power he sits enthroned over the holy realms. / Thence he beholds sea and lands, all things by his nod alone; / he supplies the affairs of men and bestows his gifts. On the surnames of the Saviour. Hope, Life, Salvation, Reason, Wisdom, Light, / Judge, Gate, Giant, King, Gem, Prophet, Priest, / Messiah, Sabaoth, Rabbi, Bridegroom, Mediator, / Rod, Column, Hand, Rock, Son, and Emmanuel, / Vineyard, Shepherd, Sheep, Peace, Root, Vine, Olive, / Fountain, Wall, Lamb, Calf, Lion, Propitiator, / Word, Man, Net, Stone, House, All things, Christ, Jesus. On St Paul the apostle.'

'Long ago Saul, following the precepts of the nobles, / when he wished to set his ancestral laws above the Lord, / refused that the holy prophets should praise Christ, / and longed to tear the people apart with ceaseless slaughters; / while, blind, he rends the holy Mother's pious covenants, / after darkness he earned to know the true Light. / Tested, he felt what the glory of Christ could do, / when with his ears he received the Lord's voice and his light; / he ordered his ways, following the precepts of Christ. / After, his name changed, it pleased him to be Paul— / a wondrous faith in these things—suddenly, beyond the upper air of heaven, / he earned to know what the rewards of life might avail. / Caught up, the martyr ascended into the inmost places of Christ; / the third light of heaven, paradise, held him as he went. / He enjoys the converse of the Lord, and keeps its secrets.'

'Bidden to foretell the truth to nations and peoples, / to penetrate the depth of the sea, to visit both night and day— / for whom it is great enough to have lived in hiding— / scourges, chains, hunger, stones, and the rage of beasts, / the filth of prison, rods, torments, fetters, / shipwreck, tears, the dread venom of the serpent: / he did not fear to bear in his body the marks of Christ. / He taught believers how they might overcome death. / Worthy of the love of God, the master lives through the ages. / In these verses, most holy doctor Paul, I confess / that I, Damasus, have wished briefly to show forth your triumphs. On St Andrew the Apostle. Glory of a consecrated name, expressing your Life by your name, / the glory of the blessed Cross proclaims you adorned with this.'

'Andrew, apostle of Christ, / by this very word / you are signed with that name, / likewise mystically adorned. / Whom the Cross carries up on high, / whom the blessed Cross loves, / for whom the bitter Cross prepares / the joys of the light to come. / In you the mystery grew; / you are renowned with a twin token, / while you overcome reproaches by the Cross / and spread abroad the Cross's blood. / Now cherish us in our weakness, / and take up the care of us, / who through the victory of the Cross / would seek the homeland of heaven. On the Catacombs of the holy Apostles. Here you ought to know that the saints once dwelt— / whoever you are that seek the names of Peter and likewise of Paul. / The East sent the disciples, which we freely confess; / for the merit of their blood, and having followed Christ through the stars, / they sought the heavenly bosoms and the realms of the godly.'

'Rome rather deserved to defend her own citizens. / May Damasus render these praises of you, you new stars. On St Stephen, Pope and Martyr. At the time when the sword cut the holy Mother's tender vitals, / placed here as Ruler, I was teaching the heavenly commands; / but suddenly they come who, as it chanced, seize the teacher: / soldiers being sent, the people then offered their necks. / Soon, when the Elder learned who it was that wished to win / the palm, he first offered himself and his own head, / lest the impatient savagery should be able to harm anyone: / Christ, who renders the rewards of life, showed the shepherd's / merit; he himself guards the number of the flock. On St Marcellus the Martyr. The truthful ruler, because he foretold to the wretched fallen / that they should weep over their crimes, was to all a bitter enemy.'

'Hence fury, hence hatred follows, discord, quarrels, / sedition, slaughter; the covenants of peace are dissolved. / Because of another's crime, he who in time of peace had denied Christ / was driven from the borders of his homeland by the savagery of the tyrant. / These things Damasus wished briefly to report as ascertained, / that the people might come to know the merit of Marcellus. On St Eusebius the Pope. Heraclius forbade the fallen to grieve for their sins; / Eusebius taught the wretched to weep over their crimes. / The common people are split into factions as the fury swells— / sedition, slaughter, war, discord, quarrels. / By like example both were driven out by the savagery of the tyrant; / and while the Ruler kept the covenants of peace entire, / he bore exile, wholly joyful under the judge, / and on the Trinacrian (Sicilian) shore left the world and life. On St Mark the Pope.'

'Such was the life of Mark, as we all know. / He who by the mouth of God could despise the world / prayed that all the people might learn it; / great was his regard for life, his contempt for possessing; / virtue held the inmost chambers of his heart— / you, a guardian, the perfect friend of Christ. / And when Damasus renders honour to the tomb: / here is Mark—sharer in Mark's life, faith, name, / and merits. On St Lawrence. Scourges, executioners, flames, torments, chains— / faith alone could enable Lawrence to overcome them. / These altars Damasus, a suppliant, heaps with gifts, / looking up to the outstanding merit of the martyr. On St Felix.'

'In body, in mind, in soul, and likewise in name, Felix (Happy), / consecrated by the triumphs of Christ among the number of the saints, / who grant all things to those who come anxiously to you, / and suffer no traveller to return in sorrow: / under your leadership preserved, in that I burst the bonds of death, / with these verses I, Damasus, a suppliant, repay you my vows. The Vow of St Damasus. Whoever you are that read this, venerate the sepulchre of the saints; / antiquity could not retain their names nor their number. / Know that Damasus adorned the tomb, as Ruler, / triumphing—by Christ's bestowal—for the return of the clergy; / the priest renders his vows to the holy martyrs. On St Eutychius.'

'That the martyr Eutychius could overcome the cruel commands of the tyrant / and likewise the executioners' thousand ways of doing harm— / this the glory of Christ made manifest. / Upon the filth of the prison there follows a new torment: / they make ready fragments of potsherds for his limbs, that no sleep might come; / twice six days passed by, nourishment is denied, / he is cast into a pit. The holy blood washes all / the wounds which the dread power of death had inflicted; / in the slumberous night sleeplessness troubles his mind. / The hiding-place revealed what limbs of the innocent it held; / he is sought out, his youth is honoured, it cherishes him, it grants all things. / Damasus has set forth his merit: venerate the sepulchre. On St Tarsicius. Whoever you are that read, recognize the equal merit of the two; / Damasus the Ruler renders these titles after their rewards.'

The Jewish people had struck down with stones Stephen, who counselled better things, and who had borne off a trophy from the enemy. As a faithful Levite he was the first to seize the crown of martyrdom. When a band, sick of mind, sought to expose to the profane the holy Tarsicius, who was bearing the sacraments of Christ, he himself chose rather to give up his life, struck down, than to betray the heavenly members to rabid dogs. On Saint Gorgonius. This tomb beneath the mighty summit of the mountain holds the martyr Gorgonius, who guards the altars of Christ. Whoever comes here, let him seek the thresholds of the saints: he will find the blessed dwelling in a neighbouring seat, whom piety bore up to heaven as they went together. On Saint Saturninus the martyr.

At the time when the sword cut through the holy bowels of the Mother, he changed his homeland by his blood, and the origin of the Saints made a Roman citizen as to his life and his lineage. The wondrous faith of these matters was taught afterward by his mighty end. When Gratian rends the holy members and rages like an enemy, after he had vomited forth the venom of his conceived gall, he could not compel you, O holy one, to deny Christ; having confessed, by your own prayers he himself merited to depart. This is the voice of Damasus the suppliant: venerate this tomb, you may pay your vows and pour out chaste prayers, for here is the tomb of the holy martyr Saturninus. On Saint Maurus.

Here the tomb of the martyr Maurus holds his holy members, whom Damasus, ruler of the people after a long span of time, as a suppliant adorned, honouring him with a fairer cult—an innocent boy on whom no punishment of the condemned had fallen. On an unknown Greek martyr. Long ago, as report relates, Greece sent you forth. By your blood you changed your homeland, and love made you citizen and brother, you who suffered for the holy name of the Law. Now as an inhabitant of the Lord you guard the altars of Christ. That you may favour Damatius by your prayers I beseech you, illustrious martyr. On Saints Marcellinus and Peter. Marcellinus, and you likewise Peter, acknowledge your triumphs.

The executioner, when I was a boy, told me, Damasus, that these orders had been given to him, the rabid headsman: that he should then cut your necks amid the brambles, and that no one might be able to know your tomb; that you yourselves, eager, with your own hands cleansed your sepulchres after you had lain hidden in a gleaming-white cave; that afterward Lucilla, admonished by your devotion, was pleased rather to bury your most holy members here. On Saints Felix and Adauctus. O Felix, once and again, and by your name truly happy, who with undefiled faith, scorning the Prince of this world, having confessed Christ, sought the heavenly realms. O truly precious faith!

Know, brethren, that Adauctus too, as victor, hastened together to heaven. A true presbyter through these, at the bidding of Damasus the ruler, he made ready their tomb, adoring the thresholds of the Saints. On Saints Nereus and Achilleus. They had given their names to military service and were performing their kindly duty together, watching for the commands of the tyrant, ready, while fear pressed them, to serve his orders. Wondrous the faith of the matter! Suddenly they laid aside their fury; converted, they flee, they abandon the impious camp of their commander; they cast away their shields, their trappings, and their bloody weapons; having confessed, they rejoice to bear the triumphs of Christ. Believe, through Damasus, what the glory of Christ can do. On Saints Protus and Hyacinthus. The tomb lay hidden at the far end beneath the mound of the mountain; this Damasus reveals, because it guards the members of the holy ones.

You, Protus, the better Palace of heaven keeps for itself. By your purple blood you follow, Hyacinthus, proven. Brothers by birth, both of mighty spirit: the one as victor won the palm, the other first the crown. On the same. Behold the descent, you shall see a wondrous deed: you see the monuments of the Saints laid open in their sepulchres. Here lies the tomb of the martyr Protus and of Hyacinthus, which, though long the mountain, the earth, and the darkness had covered it, this work the presbyter Theodorus constructed, pressing on, that the people of the Lord might possess greater works. On Saints Chrysanthus and Daria. Here with equal vows two names guard the tomb of Chrysanthus and of Daria, now a venerable honour—whom savage frenzy, with no regard for the right of burial, made the prey of its raging, plundering the tombs of the Saints.

From the means of the poor these things now rise again the better, but by a rich vow more pleasing to God. Bewail your crime, cruel people; your furies have perished; through your losses honour has grown in these temples. On Saint Agnes the Martyr. Report relates that the holy parents told long ago that Agnes, when the mournful trumpet had sounded its dirge, suddenly left the bosom of her nurse, the maiden; of her own accord she trampled on the threats of the savage and the frenzy of the tyrant: when he had wished to burn her noble body with flames, with her small strength she overcame an immense fear; and bare she gave her loosened hair and her members, lest a perishing face should look upon the temple of the Lord. O you who are to be venerated by me, holy glory, nurturing grace of modesty, that you may favour the prayers of Damasus I beseech you, renowned Virgin. On Saint Agatha the martyr.

Behold, the day of the martyr Agatha, the surpassing Virgin, shines forth, the day on which Christ joins her to himself and adorns her with a twofold diadem. Comely in lineage, elegant in form, but more so in deeds and in faith. Reckoning earthly prosperity as nothing, binding God's commands to herself in her heart. Stronger she than savage men, she exposed her members to scourges; how stout of heart she was, the breast twisted off in the open shows. To whom the prison was a delight; Peter the Shepherd brings back this sheep. Thence more joyful and more aflame she ran through all the scourgings, exulting. The heathen throng, fleeing the pyre, itself too earns her aid; on those whom the title of Faith adorns may she yet press her favour more. Now shining like a bride to the sky, plead for wretched Damasus. Thus may she cause her feast to be honoured.

That she may favour those who celebrate her. Epitaph of his sister Irene. In this tomb now rest the members consecrated to God. Here lies the sister of Damasus, if you ask the name, Irene; she had vowed herself to Christ while life remained, that holy modesty itself might prove the merit of a virgin. Her age had not yet completed twice ten winters; her manner of life had outrun her years in distinguished conduct. The maiden's venerable piety, the purpose of her mind, had yielded magnificent fruits in years more excellent. You, sister born of one womb, now witness of my love, when she was fleeing the world had given me an honourable pledge; whom, when the better palace of heaven then carried her off to itself, I did not fear death, because she was going free to the heavens, but I grieved, I confess, to lose the fellowship of her life.

Now, when God comes, remember me, O virgin, that through the Lord your little torch may furnish me light. Epitaph of Projecta. What shall I say, or what shall I keep silent? Grief itself forbids me to speak. This tomb holds tears: recognize the parent of Projecta, who had first been joined to a husband, beautiful in her own grace, content with her chastity alone; alas, beloved enough by the love of her wretched mother. Hear what, after many a year, after the first covenants of the bridal chamber, snatched from the eyes of her father Florus, she departed, desiring to ascend to the heavenly light of heaven. These consolations of weeping Damasus furnishes to all. On his own sepulchre. She lived 16 years, 10 months, 25 days. Buried on the 3rd day before the Kalends of January, in the consulship of Flavius Merobaudes and Flavius Saturninus.

If you ask whose throng of the Pious lies here heaped together: the venerable sepulchres hold the bodies of the saints, while the palace of heaven has snatched their sublime souls to itself. Here are the companions of Xystus, who bear off trophies from the enemy; here it guards the ranks of the leaders who keep the altars of Christ; here is laid the Priest who lived long in peace; here the holy confessors whom Greece sent; here youths and boys, old men and chaste descendants, to whom it pleased rather to keep their virgin modesty. Here I, Damasus, confess I wished to lay my own members, but I feared to disturb the holy ashes of the pious. Epitaph of Pope Damasus which he composed for himself. He who, walking, pressed down the bitter waves of the sea, who grants life to the dying seeds of the earth,

who was able to loose for Lazarus his bonds of death after the darkness, and to give back the brother again to those above, to his sister Mary, after the third light of the sun—he, I believe, will after my ashes make Damasus rise again. On the church of Saint Lawrence restored by Saint Damasus. Here my father, as recorder, lector, levite, priest, had grown from this place by his merits, since by better deeds; from here, when I had been advanced, Christ, to whom belongs the highest power, willed to grant me the honour of the apostolic see. I confess I wished to build new dwellings for the archives, and besides to add columns on the right and the left, which through the ages might keep the proper name of Damasus. On the Vatican springs. Waters girded the mountain, and with their soft flow they soaked the bodies of many, their ashes and their bones.

Damasus did not bear that those buried by the common law should again pay sad penalties after their rest. Straightway, setting about to overcome a mighty labour, he cast down the summit of an immense mound, the mountain's top. Anxiously searching the inmost bowels of the earth, he dried up whatever the moisture had soaked through; he found a spring, which offers the gifts of salvation. These things Mercurius, the faithful levite, saw to. At the springs. Not by human resources, not by a teacher's art, but by Peter's furnishing, to whom the gate of heaven was handed over, did Damasus, the bishop of Christ, set this in order. One seat of Peter, one and true font of baptism; no bonds hold; Acbathius pays his vow.