[Previous: lines 397-425]
Joseph narrates. He has seen Mary resplendent with light, yet he still has doubts, worried that her pregnancy means she has been unfaithful to him. An angel suddenly appears. Now read on!
“Mirabar tacitus, cùm sic pulcherrimus ore------------
affatur trepidum iuvenis: ‘Sate sanguine regum,
quod tantum irrepsit menti scelus? omnia non te
signa movent, haud haec fieri sine numine certo?
Ne dubita, nam vera canit sanctissima virgo. [430]
Iam nunc congressus nunquam perpessa viriles
concepit, gravis aethereâ divinitus aurâ:
nam Pater omnipotens cœlesti afflavit ab arce;
atque uterum implevit dilapsum numen ab astris.
Casta fides nobis colitur: desiste vereri. [435]
Haec vates olim vestri cecinere futura;
cuncta sed obscurâ implicuere ambage tegentes.
Namque haec illa quidem cœli in penetralibus altis
porta ingens clausa aeternùm, nec pervia gressu
ulli hominum: tantùm omnipotens Deus ipse per illam [440]
itque reditque viam ; nec claustra immota resignat.
Hanc tibi commendat summi regnator Olympi,
conjugio adiungens stabili; sed coniugis usum
effuge: securum tecum sponsa exigat aevum,
quamvis tuta Deo, iam nunc sit praeside virgo.’ [445]
Sic fatus subitò in tenues evanuit auras,
pernici liquida arva fugâ per nubila carpens;
et simul incussit mihi blandum in pectus amorem.
Utque rigor ferri rutilo lentescit in igne;
sic mihi cor rapido sensi mollescere motu. [450]
Consurgo, et veniam conversus ad aethera posco;
meque ipsum incuso amens; et lux reddita menti;
inque dies magis atque magis cœli alta patescunt
consilia, antiquis quae vatibus omnia quondam
obscuris vera involvens Deus ostendebat. [455]
Haec virgo est rubus ille, procul quem in monte videbat
ardentem vates igni crepitante cremari
corniger; attactu cùm nullo innoxia flamma
lamberet, et frondes illaesae in stirpe virerent.
Haec eadem niveae quondam impenetrabile lanae [460]
nimbis vellus erat; cùm latè cuncta maderent
imbribus effusis circùm, tellusque nataret
humida, ni veterum vana est prudentia vatum.
Haec mecum; et toto penitùs nox pectore abacta est.”
“I marvelled in silence, trembling, as the------------
lovely youth addressed me: ‘scion of royal blood,
what sin has taken hold of your mind? Don’t
these portents persuade you this is God’s will?
Do. Not. Doubt. The sacred virgin spoke the truth. [430]
Now, and without congress with any man,
she has conceived and the child she carries
is of the omnipotent Father's spirit—
filling her womb, descending from the stars.
We reverence her faith and chastity: do not fear. [435]
Your prophets once told of this future, although
they veiled their words in obscure implication.
She is the great gate into the innermost
sanctum of heaven’s palace, eternally shut
to men: only omnipotent God can [440]
pass through without breaching the portal.
The ruler of Olympus commends this woman
as your settled wife; but do not consummate
the union: let your spouse live in peace, watched
as she is by God, to remain a virgin.’ [445]
Having spoken, he vanished into the sky,
flying up through the fields of liquid clouds,
and filling my soul with the sweetness of love.
Just as a rigid iron rod bends in the fire
so did my fast-pounding heart grow supple. [450]
I rose and turned my thoughts towards heaven,
praying for forgiveness; and light filled my mind;
seeing more and more the high designs of heaven.
All the truths of which the prophets had spoken
obscurely were made manifest by God. [455]
This virgin was the bush seen on the mountain,
crackling with flames, watched of old by that prophet
with horns; yet the fire caused it no harm, and
the foliage remained green upon its branches.
She was the holy fleece of snow-white wool [460]
that was not made wet by the torrents of rain
even as the ground around was soaked, the earth
swimming—unless the ancient prophets were wrong.
I pondered; and the darkness left my heart.”
The vates corniger, or ‘horned prophet’ of lines 457-8 is Moses, often represented in Christian art as possessing horns—for example, Michelangelo's famous 1515 statue of Moses in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome, gives him little forehead prongs.
In Exodus, Moses is described coming back to the Jews (having met God) with light shining around his head. But the Hebrew word used was ambiguous between ‘irradiation’ and ‘horn’; and when Saint Jerome translated the Old Testament into Latin he decided it was improper for anyone except Christ to be described as glowing with rays of light, so he translated as ‘horns’. Wikipedia has more:
Horns were almost universally viewed by ancient civilizations as symbols of power, not as the negative or demonic symbols they became for Christians thousands of years later. For example, both Alexander the Great and Attila the Hun were described as wearing horns. Mellinkoff reminds us that horned helmets were often worn by priests and kings, with the horns connoting that divine power and authority had been bestowed upon them. The correct interpretation of these two words is that Moses was enlightened, that "the skin of his face shone" (as with a gloriole), as the KJV has it. The Septuagint correctly translates the Hebrew phrase as δεδόξασται ἡ ὄψις, "his face was glorified"; but Jerome translated the phrase into Latin as cornuta esset facies sua ‘his face was horned’The other reference, at the end there, is to the Fleece of Gideon:
And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.Both the burning bush and Gideon's fleece were interpreted, typologically, by medieval theologians as foreshadowing Mary's miraculously productive virginity.
And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.
And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.
And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground. [Judges 6:36-40]
[Next: lines 465-504]
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