Book 4, lines 656-689

[Previous: lines 598-655]

John continues his account of Jesus's ministry.

Si verò causas odiorum ac semina quaeris
tantorum, cur gens omnis opponitur uni;
haec nôrint ipsi: certè mon talia gessit,
quae capto affingunt odiis crudelibus acti.
Non homines inter magis est affabilis alter;              [660]
non pietate prior; veniâ complectitur omnes:
hostis, civis ei nullo discrimine habentur.
Multi impunè ideo digna atque indigna ferenti
obiecere, omnes nutu cùm perdere posset.
Sera olim cùm Sidoniam sub nocte per oram            [665]
ferret iter fessus, nos parva exclusit ab urbe
gens fera, nec tecto est dignata heroa precantem.
Nos igitur tristes supremum orare Parentem,
aspiceret cœlo, nec Natum ferret inultum;
sed populum immitem cœlesti protinus igni               [670]
corriperet, subitis et inhospita mœnia flammis.
Non tulit, ac verbis nos indignatus amaris
increpuit, potiusque urbem miseratus iniquam est.
Saepe etiam auctores scelerum haud ignarus adibat,
infamesque domos, scelerataque tecta subibat,         [675]
quò moniti exuerent fastus, moresque sinistros,
et secum inciperent paulatim assuescere recto.
Sic Matthaeus, agri dives sic noster et ipse est,
Zacchaeus, centumque alii ad meliora vocati.
Nec tamen, id faceret dum creber, defuit olim            [680]
qui falli ratus incautum, pro crimine magno
obiiceret, quôd non fugeret contagia dira.
Ipse sed, ut medicam veluti languentibus aegris
ferret opem, totam quaerebat sponte per urbem,
sicubi mortales mentem caligine pressi,                     [685]
quos nocte eriperet bonus, ad lucemque vocaret,
in tenebris caeco miseratus pectore volvi:
id superis, superûm id magno cordi esse parenti;
seque ideo claro missum memorabat Olympo.

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But if you ask me the causes of the hatred
that induced a whole race to oppose one man—
only they know. He’s certainly not guilty
of the crimes they so viciously impute.
No man is more affable than he is                               [660]
more pious or forgiving—he treats all the same:
foe and fellow countryman, no matter.
Many have accused him of base things, and he
bears it, though he could destroy them with a nod.
Once late at night on the way to Sidon                         [665]
weary on the road, a group locked him from the city
—those animals!—no shelter for the hero.
Outraged, we prayed for the Father send down
heaven’s punishment and avenge his son—
fire from heaven to blast these people, and                   [670]
burn their inhospitable walls to ash.
But he rebuked us with bitter words, and
instead took pity on that cruel town.

Often he associated with criminals,
aware of their bad acts, still entering their homes,        [675]
warning them to change their prideful, perverse ways,
so they might gradually come to repentance.
So it was with Matthew, and the rich landowner
Zacchaeus, and a hundred others he called.
Since he often did this, someone always                         [680]
accused him of having been duped, of sinning
by not avoiding the taint of wickedness.
But he was bringing medicine to the sick
and so went eagerly about the whole city
wherever men’s minds languished in blackness,              [685]
to deliver them to the light of justice
out of the blind misery of their dark.
This was pleasing to his Father above us.
This was why he’d been sent from Olympus.

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‘Affable’ in line 660 is affabilis, ‘that can be easily spoken to or accessed; affable, courteous, kind, friendly.’ I thought of using a less trivial-sounding word, but I figured this was what the text said actually. And it seems to me to have some interesting implications. We don’t, after all, tend to speak of an ‘affable Christ’. I suppose we don't because it makes him sound like Bertie Wooster. Yet the full sense of the word surely speaks to something important about his ministry.

Line 667 refers to the inhabitants of Sidon, who won’t let Jesus in, as a gens fera; a ‘feral race.’ I thought of translating this as ‘beastly people’, but figured that probably was too Bertie Wooster (and ‘bestial people’ is too severe). The Sidon anecdote seems to be based on Matthew 11:20-24 and Luke 10:14, although those passages see Jesus condemning this and other cities because they rejected his ministry (‘Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent’) rather than, as here, forgiving and pitying their rejection of him.

Matthew and Zacchaeus were both tax collectors, and so hated individuals, before they became disciples.

At the head of this post: ‘Zacchaeus receives Jesus’ a window in the Church of the Good Shepherd in Jericho.

[Next: lines 690-723]