The Poem on the Incarnation

The almighty Father, at last taking pity from on high,

After He had made all things stand firm in the calm heaven,

Breathes divine love into all the lands,

Ever with pious honor to adorn and sing

The name of Son and Father, and to call them to His kingdom with

Equal auspices, and hence a future offspring

Excellent in virtue, one which should occupy the whole world with its laws.

Yet lest the unknown divinity trouble mortal hearts on earth,

God, sent from the high heaven,

Was able to be seen, mortal in appearance, and as great as could be seen.

There was a virgin, mature, now marriageable in full years,

Whose lineage from ancestors was great, and her name and honor:

Undefiled in her marriage-bed, she bore herself thus joyfully,

Chaste, she kept her modesty with wondrous love.

To her the form of God, a Spirit sent down from high heaven,

Nourishes her within, and mingles Himself with her chaste body.

Yet first He consoles her doubting mind with friendly words:

Kind mother, about to bear the mighty Lord of the world,

For a holy cradle of sacred lineage awaits you,

Go, He says, O blessed one in the devotion of your son, wherever you are called,

Made manifest by new auspices; here the order is turned,

In this One's coming lies faith and everlasting fame.

He had spoken: she, fearful, her shining eyes suffused,

Sighing, and drawing her voice from the depths of her heart,

The virgin replies: Indeed I do not deem myself worthy of such honor:

It is not within my power, nor is it right, nor have I ever

Held forth the marriage-torch, nor come into such a bond:

But after the commands of God there is nothing that I should refuse to say.

I accept, and gladly acknowledge it: I follow such great omens,

And by the Father's promises I shall obtain the heavenly gifts,

The admirable gifts of God's such great praises.

Meanwhile the house of almighty Olympus opens

Into its starry seat, whence, lofty, He looks upon all

The lands, and addresses His son with friendly words:

Son, my strength, my great power, alone,

Son, whom no day since the origin of things

Has ever shown unlike to me, whom I embrace as companion in

All things. Without you my mind begins nothing lofty: all things with me

You rule by eternal commands, and whatever is anywhere.

No glory shall be sought in my works without you:

All things beneath our feet, as far as the sun in its double course

Beholds either ocean, shall be seen to be turned and ruled by us.

What I promise you, nor is there anything by which to deceive you,

These things shall ever be as foretold by the prophets of old:

Nor does my sentence, once settled, now yield or change its place.

Be born, and coming before the day, bring on, kindly morning star, the nourishing dawn;

Be born, that the golden race may arise throughout the whole world.

Whence also the great order of the heavens is born;

Be born, that the great months may begin to proceed,

Lest the traces of the ancient fraud remain to us;

That all things prosperous may rejoice for the age to come.

Take up, O great one, now the time will be at hand, these honors:

Then the harsh ages shall grow mild, wars laid aside,

And He shall rule the pacified world with His father's virtues.

Without delay, He straightway carries out the Father's commands:

He sends Himself from the sky, and fixes His gaze upon the Virgin,

Beholding no mortal thing, when she was breathed upon by the divine power

Now nearer of God. For at the same time

Ten long months brought their weariness to the mother;

And soon the new offspring shone forth in the clear light.

Soon also the star of the great divinity went forth,

A star ran, bearing a torch with much light.

That day was the first of death, and the first of salvation,

Showing the way to Him, whom always bitter,

Always honored, all of you celebrate with favor.

Yet keep your yearly vows, watching not more than one night,

Not sluggish, O men, and with feasts to come

Heap up the altars openly in the light with pious gifts.

Let this remain in the religion of your descendants;

And now I myself come, I revisit my seat and stronghold.

Receive therefore these my words into your minds, and fix them there,

All of you keep reverent silence, and turn your minds hither.

As often as you shall come together into one place from different parts,

Gathered from every side, praise peace in great numbers.

Take counsel together, let right hands join in covenants,

Whereby alone the inviolable pledge of peace is given.

Learn justice, you who shall be souls in concord

In everlasting peace, if you do not think these words vain.

No day shall ever remove you from mindful ages:

I shall snatch away your mortal form, and give the rewards

Of the fortunate groves, and the blessed abodes.

You shall not be unworthy of the kingdom, nor shall your fame

Be light or fleeting; sit down together with me in equal realms.

The city which I establish is yours; you shall be permitted to enter.

Nowhere shall I be absent; and I shall set you safe within my father's threshold:

The same descendants to come we shall lift up to the stars.

But what worthy rewards shall I now also bring you,

While life remains? By our divine power you shall not lack

The richness of a fertile field, nor abundance of goods.

The most just earth pours forth easy sustenance from the ground,

And loads the furrows with produce, and outdoes the granaries:

The field flourishes, the vintage foams in full vats.

The fruit overflows on the branches of the leafing olive:

And as many fruits as the fertile tree clothes itself with

In new blossom, so many ripe ones it shall hold in autumn.

Neither clear springs nor grasses shall be lacking to the flocks:

And as much as the herds shall crop in the long days,

So much shall the chill dew restore in the brief night.

These are the things which it is fitting you be warned of by our voice.

Live happily, and keep them stored in your minds.

When He had spoken these words, He soon lifts Himself into the air,

Looking up to heaven, He hides His head amid the clouds.

And thus departing from the earth, from the minds of His own

He took away the concreted stain, and left pure

The heavenly sense, and the fire of the simple air.

From that time honor was celebrated, and joyful descendants

Kept the day, and these pious rites each year

Mothers, and men, boys, and unwed girls

Celebrate with songs, and pour libations at the altars from bowls.

But I, who have sung of this great and wondrous divinity,

These same things shall remain for my people and my kin.

Take up, O sacred one, the words of the truthful poet, worthy of your merits,

Which have been composed without the fault of fiction.

That which lacks kindly faith, that which lacks the grace of holy Christ,

Through which the just Sedulius speaks such things.

Bid yourself always to remember your Asterius, By whose help and care these things have been given forth to the peoples;

Whom, although the highest honors celebrate through the ages, It is yet more to his merit if he flourishes upon your lips.

V What the hall of the nobles brings forth in threefold measure, V

L What it sets, joyful, beneath golden roofs at the tribunal, L

I In which the gem-bearing ones, and so many golden vessels, canisters I

V Bear for themselves lavish feasts for modest sustenance, V

S But that which the vile cabbage of the poor man's garden produces, S

A Yet after delicacies, those who hasten to partake of great things, A

N Strive to spurn the small seed of the wretched, N

T So much that is nothing, while by feasting they swell up, T

I Setting snares for the limbs, and for the soul they atone I

S If yet the needy deign to feed on these dainties, S

T Let the mind despise riches, and rest content with little, T

E Taken up as an example from the Lord, who filled five thousand E

S With all else set apart, satisfied them from modest food. S.