The Heroic Triumph of Christ

When the fashioner of the stars was suffering the bitter

punishment of death on the cross, the world cried out

that it could not bear the sorrows of the Creator, and the stars too:

black night took away the light of the fire-vomiting sun:

the earth trembled, crags and rocks split open.

And what need of many words? All created things mourned.

As Christ, King of heaven, went down into the realms of Phlegethon,

Pluto the prince looked forth from his royal hall,

when he perceived that Christ was hastening to his threshold:

"O comrades," he cries, "now is the time to take up weapons,

since he, his limbs drenched in blood, draws near,

to plunder our wealth, our shades and souls.

Climb swiftly to the roofs, and with weapons ward off

the enemy from the threshold, with hurled missiles and many a bolted bar.

Meanwhile we here shall defend the royal hall with arms,

with frequent bars and stout bolts."

In a body they run to the highest heights,

and fill both roofs and walls with horrid-sounding cries.

But behold, Christ burst through the foul silences

with starry light, and shone forth in bright radiance.

"Come now, princes of the shades, lift up the gates,

and the bars of the gates, and take away the great bolts.

Why, wretches, do you dare to take up arms against the Thunderer?

I am your king here; it is vain to resist a king."

When he had said this, sudden terror seized them all,

they flee in troops, and fill the air with wailings.

Without delay, the doorposts fell with a crash, their hinges

loosed, and the collapsing gate gave a great ruin,

and the shaken palace let Christ in.

Charon himself, astounded, hid himself in the sedge,

and the dog Cerberus, closing his three mouths, was astounded,

the Gorgons and Harpies tremble, Megaera herself is afraid,

Tisiphone, Alecto, struck by the troublesome light,

the avenging Dread Ones, the Furies, and the sister Fates.

And what more? Groans, torments, sorrows fall silent.

As soon as Christ enters, all things around tremble.

But the holy souls rejoice, and the shades of the righteous.

Adam first, before the others, joyfully lifted

his palms to the stars, and prayed to the Lord with devout voice:

"You come, awaited, to us wretches, O holy Redeemer,

grant us rest, and an end to our woes, bring the redeemed to the stars."

So father Abraham, the boy Isaac, and Jacob

come forward joyfully, and beside them handsome Joseph,

and holy Moses, and Aaron notable for his life,

and unconquered Joshua, the rest, both kings and leaders,

and Judas Maccabeus, avenger of his fatherland by descent,

then other fathers, known by fame beyond the heavens.

That shining company reverently adores Christ.

Before the others the royal prophet, the most renowned offspring

of the stock of Jesse, was touching the lyre with an ivory

plectrum, and, praying all together to the same measures with one voice,

the prophets weave a sweet song in harmonious strain.

Before the others went the young man who had lately

dipped Christ in the waters, here bearing the lamb amid glad harmonies:

"Hail, victor over Erebus, hail, glorious tamer of death,

destroyer of sins, hail, O most valiant avenger

of lost life, hail, O sole hope of salvation,

behold your creature, O holy and venerable Creator,

and after so many groans lead us to the kingdoms of the heavens."

Then Christ addresses the souls with friendly words:

"Lay aside fear from your hearts, put away sad cares:

I myself, when the time comes, will lead you back to my kingdom."

So saying, with the gates' masses broken, he enters

the kingdom of dreadful Dis: whom straightway from there

he draws out, and binds with chains, and curbs in dark prison.

He, that dread thunderer, struggles his limbs in vain,

and gnaws at the bolts, and resents being held.

But God, that tamer of the Styx, leaving Phlegethon,

brought the fathers, snatched from prison, into Elysium.

From here he returns from the tomb, alive again, while the ever-watchful

soldier was guarding him shut in, with vain diligence.

Whom trembling had so astonished, that neither with words

did they dare to speak against it, nor rise up with weapons taken up.

But entering Jerusalem the city with great terrors,

they say that Christ had risen with great strength.

Meanwhile the restorer of life showed himself alive again

to his friends and his disciples, and after

forty days revisited the heavenly kingdoms.

Whom soon we expect to come again from on high,

as judge, to give to all their just rewards in the balance.

Our king Christ therefore reigns over all things.

And just as once the great-hearted leaders of the Greeks

and the kings of the Latins set up trophies of war:

so Christ has set up the victorious standards

of his famous battle, standards destined to remain through eternal years.

He himself set up the cross of the tree, the venerable wood,

from whose branches, their necks broken, hang

these enemies, bound, their eyes swollen.

Before the others, Stygian Pluto hangs from the trunk,

his bows worn away, his weapons, snares, and fetters.

Hence another image of Death hangs from the trunk,

pale, blind, fierce, tongueless, stiff with cold,

its teeth knocked out, and its mouth with maimed nostrils

showing horrid, and its gaping throat wide.

From another branch hangs the gate of shattered hell,

its posts worn away, with hinges and bolts.

From another branch hang the wrath of God, and the mind ill-conscious of itself,

all of which have been wiped away by Christ's rosy blood.

From another branch hangs the bond of the first father,

torn to pieces in wretched fashion, and utterly destroyed.

At last, from the strong trunk hangs the filth-flowing world,

full of discords, and heavy with much guilt,

and the various pomps and cruel deeds of tyrants.

These savage enemies of men Christ has swallowed up,

so that they can no longer condemn the faithful.

To these indeed it is given to tempt, but ours it is to conquer.

This too through Christ, whose victory is ours.

With the Father, who reigns forever with the Holy Spirit.