[Previous: lines 368-374]
Tandem hinc digrediens Solymorum tendit ad arces. [375]------------
Hanc fundasse Semes soboles tua dicitur urbem,
vitisator pater, exactis simul imbribus ingens
cessavit vastis stagnare paludibus orbis,
plurimaque immensi compressa licentia ponti.
Tum venere , suo bellis qui gente subacta [380]
urbem appellarunt de nomine Iebusaei:
Protinus hinc reges, a prisco sanguis Iuda
Finitimis late dominam coluere subactis.
Hic templum Salomon per terras omnibus aris
eversis ope barbarica rex condidit olim [385]
templum opulentum, ingens, eductam ad sidera molem.
Huc mensas, arasque sacras, et ahenea labra
transtulit, et veteres vestes ac munera templi,
ostro perfusas vestes, auroque rigentes;
tum lychnos, lancesque, cavasque invexit acerras [390]
cymbiaque et tripodas fulvoque ex aere lebetas,
inclusasque sacro leges ac foedera ligno,
quae gemina in silice omnipotens Pater ipse notarat.
Hic gentis rex atque omni cum gente sacerdos
sacra ferens pecudum fundebat rite cruorem: [395]
victima non alias maculabat sanguine sedes.
Undique mos erat huc populos ter adire quotannis,
et proprios genus Isacidum instaurabat honores.
Ipse etiam crebro huc Heros se ferre solebat.
Iamque viis plenis, multis cum millibus ibat: [400]
unde urbis poterant turres, atque alta videri
culmina. Laeti omnes ramos viridantis olivae,
quasque manu gestent, palmas a stirpe refringunt.
Praecedit peditum late manus omnis; it ingens
pone equitum globus, in medio pulcherrimus heros [405]
haud acri provectus equo, phalerisque superbo
eminet. At sibi pauperiem ut placuisse beatam
admoneat socios, rex quadrupedantis aselli
terga premit, vates quondam ut cecinere futurum.
Nudus erat vertex; humeris demissa fluebat, [410]
ad talos vestis, quam festinaverat olim
ipsa parens pueroque dedit gestare, nec illa est
ullo attrita usu, nulla consumpta senecta.
Taurea nudatis circumdant tegmina plantis,
Talis iter tendit, recipitque ad moenia gressum. [415]
Ante urbem pueri occurrunt, mixaeque puellae
floribus, ac variis ornatae tempora sertis.
Omnibus in manibus palmae, omnes carmina laeti
laeta canunt, tonsis et inumbrant ora coronis,
certatimque dei gaudent placida ora tueri. [420]
Tum demum portis urbem ingrediuntur apertis
et propius regem salvatoremque salutant
praetenduntque manu thyrsos oleasque coruscant
frondentis. Superas ingens it clamor ad auras.
Spargitur hic rumor subito, ac tota urbe vagatur. [425]
Consurgunt gentis primi, procul ecce per auras
pulveream cernunt tolli super aethera nubem:
ignari penitus rerum, causasque requirunt
tam subiti motus, quemnam tam multa sequantur
millia ductorem, quis tantus clamor ovantum. [430]
Ast illi, quibus haud Divi est incognita fama,
occurrunt alacres regi, plausumque sequentes
ingeminant, quaque ingreditur, passim ecce rubenti
insternunt ostro sola, barbaricisque tapetis
intenduntque vias sertis, et floribus augent. [435]
And now at last he came to Jerusalem. [375]------------
They say the city was founded by Shem your son,
O Father of the Vine! just as the great earth
ceased stagnating as one vast swamp, when the rains
stopped and the immense ocean was re-contained.
Soon after, his people were bested in war by [380]
the Jebusites, who named the city after themselves:
Then kings arose, ancient bloodline of Judah
conquering the surrounding lands and making a capital.
Here Solomon’s temple replaced the old altars
a structure of dominating, barbaric richness: [385]
an opulent temple, huge, tall as the sky.
Furnishings, sacred altars and bowls of brass
were brought to the temple, traditional vestments,
garments dyed purple and stiffened with gold;
and lamps, and platters and hollow censers [390]
goblets and tripods, great pots of shining bronze,
and finally a sacred ark of wood, to hold the laws,
the Great Father engraved on twinned stone tablets.
Here the king and his people brought the holy objects
sanctifying them by ritually sacrificing a cow: [395]
no other altar was stained with victims’ blood.
Tradition said that the people must come thrice a year,
to follow the rite established by the sons of Isaac.
The hero himself used often to attend.
The ways were thronged with thousands of followers [400]
as he entered the city, and its roofs and towers
came into view. The joyful citizens tore branches,
from budding olive trees, and seized palm fronds.
These they carried in their hands; some walking
others on horseback, our hero splendid in the middle [405]
though he was not riding upon a proud horse
splendidly decorated. To teach holy poverty
to the people, the king rode a four-legged ass
unsaddled, as the prophets of old had foretold.
Bare-headed, a robe hung down from his shoulders, [410]
to his heels, one that had been made for him
by his mother when he was only a boy, but held back
from use, and not at all frayed or worn by time.
On his feet were simple leather sandals.
Such was his appearance as he approached the city. [415]
Young boys rushed through the city, and girls too
carrying garlands of multicoloured flowers.
Everyone carried a palm, all joyfully singing
songs of gladness, garlands on their brows,
vying amongst themselves to see the god’s face. [420]
They all poured into the city through the main gate
crowding round and praising their saviour
holding up thyrsus-staffs, waving olive
branches. A mighty cheer rose to the skies.
Rumour scattered through the city he had come. [425]
Now the city elders rose to action: seeing from afar
clouds of dust rising and spreading through the air:
Not knowing what was going on they searched the cause
of this sudden hubbub, and enquired after this man
with so many thousands of noisy followers. [430]
But others, recognising his divinity,
hurried off to greet their king, following with
redoubled clamour wherever he went, everywhere red
with laid-out cloth and foreign-woven carpets
the streets embowered with richly displayed blooms. [435]
So now we’re back at the place the Christiad began: Jesus, followed by an adoring multitude, enters Jerusalem.
The figure Vida calls ‘Father of the Vine’ in line 377 is Noah. The Vulgate Bible says (Genesis 14:18-20) that Jerusalem was founded by Melchisedech. That’s him at the head of this post (‘Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek’, by Dieric Bouts the Elder, 1464–1467). The rabbinic tradition identified the name ‘Melchizedek’ (the Hebrew means ‘King of Righteousness’) as a title or nickname of Shem, the son of Noah; a tradition Vida knew through Christian commentary on the Bible.
Line 395 says that the high priest sanctified the temple by sacrificing a ‘pecus’, (‘ritually spilling its blood’). The actual Jewish ritual involved sacrificing a ram, and indeed Gardner translates this lines 394-95 as “Here the kingly priest and all his people carried the holy objects and ritually spilt the blood of sheep.” But pecus doesn’t really mean sheep. It means ‘cattle’ (‘a group of large domestic animals: a herd of cattle, horses, or donkeys; such animals in a collective sense’ and in Late Latin ‘any individual animal, conceived as a member of a herd’. Sheep isn’t absolutely ruled out by this, I suppose, but L&S do add that ‘pecora may be used for any domestic animal, but was especially used of larger herd animals.’ So maybe Vida simply got this wrong, or maybe he was making a more specific classicising reference, invoking Roman tradition of the taurobolium, in which a bull was sacrificed for the well-being of the people and the state. At any rate, I’ve translated cow.
[Next: lines 436-510]
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