Book 2, lines 875-917

[Previous: lines 852-874]

Jesus has been arrested and dragged back to Jerusalem. Now read on!

Iamque sacerdotis summi tecta ampla subibant:              [875]
protinus huc tota passim concurritur urbe.
Primores adsunt procerum, pænasque reposcunt
uni infensi omnes; atque illum torva tuentes
perterrent, vinctumque minis crudelibus urgent.
Tum gentis primus Caïphas ita denique fatur.                  [880]
“Res hodie bene gesta, viri: non artibus ullis
infandum evasit caput: illi nulla supersunt
effugia: instaurandi animi, et, quod restat, agendum.
Nunc est illa dies, qua gloria maxima sese
ostendit nobis: sed opus properantibus astu.                    [885]
Accipite, et linguis omnes animisque favete.
Nulli fas nostrûm quenquam demittere morti:
Romani ducis arbitrio stat quisque caditve.
Quæramus leti causas, et crimina primùm,
inde ducem instructi verbis adeamus, ut ipse                    [890]
audiat, et morti indefensum destinet hostem.”
Sic ait: hinc captum alloquitur: “Tune ille, supremi
vera Dei soboles, verus Deus, æthere ab alto
quem vates oriturum orbi cecinere priores?
Per Patris obtestor numen, qui sidera fulcit,                     [895]
fare age, ne te dissimula quærentibus ultrà,
discussisque palam qui sis nunc nubibus ede,
ne te divino ignari fraudemus honore.”
Dixerat: ille autem in medio defessus, inermis,
conspectu paulum sustollens lumina fatur:                       [900]
“Sum quod ais: quid me studio tentatis inani
hæc eadem toties scitati? Parcite tectis
insidiis; victique dolis desistite tandem.
Ipse palam fateor; nec iam mora longior obstat.
Cùm mihi sublimis cedet plaga lucida Olympi                   [905]
regnanda, ætherea iam iam cernetis in aula
amplexum dextram Patris omnipotentis; et inde
mox iterum terras petere aspicietis eundem
fulgentem clara in nebula, quem mille sequuti
coelicolæ auratis impellent æthera pennis.”                     [910]
Vix ea dicta, humeris sibi cùm de more sacerdos
abscindens tunicam, inquit: “Eget quid lucis adhuc res
indiciis tot clara? palam scelus ipse fatetur.
Nonne, Deo quicunque audet se fingere natum,
fas et iura iubent mulctari funere acerbo?                          [915]
Tollite, ferte moras: Romani ad præsidis ædes
abripite hunc, iubeo, meritasque reposcite poenas.

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Now they arrived at the high priest’s lofty house—          [875]
from all across the city men hurried there.
Every city elder angrily demanded
this one bound man be punished; glaring at him
ferociously and uttering cruel threats.
At last their leader, Caiaphas, spoke out:                          [880]
“This has been a good day, men: none of his tricks
have helped this villain evade capture: and now
he won’t escape: take heart! He’ll pay for his crimes.
Today’s the day when the greatest glory
will be revealed to us: if we but stay alert!                      [885]
Listen to my plans, now, and hold your peace.
We lack the legal power to execute a man:
Only the Roman governor has that right.
Let us first find criminal cause, and then
I will make the governor hear our legal                           [890]
arguments, and so condemn our enemy.”

Then he turned to the captive: “So you’re the true
son of great God, true God yourself, come from
heaven to our earth, foretold by the prophets!
By the glory of the Father, who turns                              [895]
the stars, tell me! Dissemble no longer,
don’t hide, or veil yourself: say who you are,
lest we deprive you of fitting divine honours.”

He spoke: his unarmed captive, tired and pale
barely raising his eyes from the ground, replied:            [900]
“I am as you say: why this inane mock-trial
when you’ve long known the truth? You are beaten.
spare me your stratagems and deceitfulness.
I confess everything; nothing stands in your way.
Soon the lucid shores of Olympus will be                        [905]
mine to rule, very soon you will see me from earth
at my Father’s right hand in heaven; and
soon enough I'll come again to these lands
resplendent in a glittercloud, a thousand
angels of heaven beating gilded wings.”                        [910]
As soon as he spoke the priest, as was custom,
ripped open his garment: “what else is needful
when it is so clear? He confesses his crime!
Is it not right, O God, that one who pretends
to be your son should suffer bitter death?                      [915]
Take his straight to the Roman governor:
I order you: give him his just desserts.”

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Vida’s version of the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus follows his gospel sources. Here’s Matthew’s account:

Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; but found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses, and said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days. And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee?

But Jesus held his peace, And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.

Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death. [Matthew 26: 59-66]

And here’s Luke’s more laconic version of the same episode:

And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying,

Art thou the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe: and if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go.

Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God. Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am.

And they said, What need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth. [Luke 22:66-71]

In the Vulgate, that crucial exchange is: Dixerunt autem omnes: Tu ergo es Filius Dei? Qui ait: Vos dicitis, quia ego sum. Vida’s Sum quod ais [line 901] is a touch more assertive, and the poet can’t stop himself giving his Jesus a long, rather gloating speech of triumph which departs both from the specifics but more importantly from the tone of the gospel account. Ah well.

One note: the ‘glittercloud’ of line 909 is Vida’s Latin a nebula clara et fulgens, a cloud at once bright and glittering. I’m conscious that my translation has something of the odour of a 1970s episode of Top of the Pops, and probably I should simply call the cloud ‘shining’. Although I’m not sure that the ‘1970s episode of Top of the Pops’ aesthetic is altogether out of place, here. Vida generally does well with the humble Christ, managing some vivid, quasi-novelistic effects with specific detail. But when he reaches to describe Christ in splendour, kitsch tends to insinuate itself gaudily into his writing.

The image at the top of the post is Matthias Stom's depiction of Jesus before Caiaphas, painted in the early 1600s.

[Next: lines 918-963]