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Jesus has been seized in the Garden of Gethsemane, to Peter's infuriation. Now read on!
Perfurit ante alios, et sese turbidus infert------------
Malchus, Idumæis missus captivus ab oris,
nulli ferre manum, nulli contendere suetus:
non erat vis illi, non tanta in pectore virtus. [815]
Verùm, ut se Caïphæ præstantem ostendat in armis,
cui datus hærebat famulus (nam tuta videbat
omnia, et audenti nullum hic obstare periclum),
audet, cedentemque ultrò petit improbus hostem,
ventosam nequicquam acuens in iurgia linguam, [820]
et vix ille suas tumefactus corde capit spes.
Non tulit hoc præceps animi Petrus, arripit ensem,
et super incumbens inhonesto vulnere tempus
occupat, ac patulam dicto ociùs amputat aurem.
Quod Deus aspiciens, subitò dextramque tetendit, [825]
decisamque ab humo, madido cum pulvere, partem
sustulit; applicuitque manu medica, unde resecta est,
affixitque loco: nullo hæsit fixa dolore,
ulla nec apparent vestigia vulneris usquam.
Mox socium increpitans vim dextra arcere volentem [830]
condere tela iubet, vetito neque fidere ferro.
Ni faciat, senior nequicquam magna locuto
strictum ardens illi per costas exigat ensem.
“Non istis opibus, non istis nitimur,” inquit,
“viribus: est Genitor, qui, me si funere acerbo [835]
eripere, et fuso nati sine sanguine vellet
placari generi humano, centum agmina posset
coelicolûm, mihi centum acies summittere ab arce
siderea, infensum qui cætum hunc ense trucident.
Militiamne adeò superům, pugnataque bella, [840]
atque potestates varias, et nomina nescis?
Nunc sine me imperiis magni parere Parentis,
quae me sola premunt: hominum nil demoror arma.”
Talibus auditis senior vix desinit iræ
invitus: veluti aspexit si forte magistri [845]
assuetum imperiis cervum media urbe Molossus,
sylvestrem ratus, insequitur; vix voce coercet
venator rabido instantem cervicibus ore.
Ergo sponte sua victum, nec viribus usum
corripiunt cuncti (heu species indigna!) trahuntque [850]
invalidum, et dictis lapsantem immitibus urgent.
Raging like the rest, if more ferociously,------------
was Malchus, a captive sent out of Edom,
and not used to raising his hand to fight—
he had neither the strength nor the courage. [815]
But now, to show his master Caiaphas
his skill in battle (and seeing that he was
risking no real danger, that everything was safe),
he grew daring, dishonestly assailed his enemy
mocked him with sharp words, puffed-up with vanity, [820]
so swollen with pride his heart was near bursting!
This was more than the headstrong Peter could bear.
With his sword he struck the fellow’s temples, deep—
cutting off his ear faster than speaking.
As soon as God saw this he reached down and picked, [825]
the severed ear out of the damp earth and dirt,
lifting it with a healer’s hands, refitting it to
its proper place, leaving neither pain nor scar.
You would not have known it had ever been cut!
He rebuked his comrade for retaliating [830]
against such violence, told him to sheathe his sword.
(if he hadn’t spoken, the old man, burning
with rage, would have run his sword through his ribs).
“We don’t need the force of weapons,” he said,
“or violence: if the Father wished to spare me [835]
to save mankind without spilling my blood,
He could dispatch a hundred battalions
A hundred angelic armies swooping down
from the stars to slaughter this crew of killers.
They’ve served that way before, fighting heaven’s wars— [840]
haven’t you heard of their powers and ranks?
But now you must obey my great father’s will:
I have no use for the armies of mankind.”
Even so the old man could barely restrain
his anger: like a Molossian hound that [845]
scents a tame deer in a city, instantly lunging
as if still in the woods; his master’s voice can
scarcely hold him, slavering at the deer’s throat.
They all fell on their victim, though didn’t fight back,
and dragged him (disgraceful sight!) roughly off [850]
weakened as he was, heaping scorn upon him.
Though Peter's cutting off the ear, and Jesus's reattachment therefore, is mentioned in all four gospels, the name Malchus appears only in John 18:10 (‘then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus’). The sword with which Peter supposedly cut off this ear is, it seems, on display in Poland to this day.
By the middle ages there was something approaching a consensus that it was Malchus who went on to become the Wandering Jew. Here is P. B. Bagatti:
The legend's first appearance was in the Byzantine period (4th-7th century) and was in this general form: A stranger, usually an Ethiopian, addresses himself to a worthy villager and says: “I am the man who struck the Creator of the world in the time of His suffering. And, therefore, I must never cease to weep.” This account was popular among the monks and in the seventh century; Moschus related it in his Lemonarium. Eventually he was identified as Malchus.I'm not sure where Vida gets the idea that Malchus was an Edomite. Perhaps he invents it. The Molossian Hound is a standard classicism for a particularly ferocious dog: it even has its own Wikipedia page.
The image at the head of this post is James Tissot's ‘L'oreille de Malchus’ (1896).
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