[Previous: lines 724-758]
John continues his narration of the ministry of Jesus.
Ipse ideo haud impar Genitori cùm sit, et illa,------------
quae Pater, aequè eadem possit, tamen ora canentum [760]
saepe sibi laudes Genitorem vertit in ipsum;
nil se audere hominem supra confessus, ab alto
ni Pater omnipotens vires aspiret Olympo.
Iccirco gravibus morbis quemcumque levâsset,
plerumque edixit, ne factum proderet usquam. [765]
Quove suas tegeret vires, cùm tabida posset
ulcera corporibus solo depellere nutu,
aegros saepe tamen medicas legabat ad undas,
ut vitium exuerent omne auxiliaris aquae vi.
Quid referam, quot eum populi, quot mœnibus urbes [770]
optavere sibi, et voluere imponere regem,
mittentes trabeam, sceptrumque, sacramque tiaram?
Ipsi etiam comites hortatu instare frequentes,
armatus Syriae regnandam invaderet oram;
mox fore continuò, ut sua subiuga mitteret armis [775]
quodcunque oceanus terrarum anfractibus ambit,
immensumque novis frenaret legibus orbem.
Cùm verò hortantes urgerent, protinus ipse
occuluit sese, montesque aufugit in altos.
Immanes tamen invidiâ, et crudelibus isti [780]
insurgunt odiis, paenas que uno ore reposcunt,
uniusque petunt caput omnes: scis quibus illum
huc furiis traxere, quibus clamoribus omnem
implêrunt trepidi captam velut hostibus urbem.
Ipse Patris mandata obiens tulit omnia, certus [785]
digna, indigna pati; nam se quaerentibus ultrò
obtulit, et noctis cùm munere posset opacae
defendi, bis se manifestum prodidit ipse.
Vidi illos tamen ad capti procumbere vocem
attonitos, terramque gravi consternere casu. [790]
He’s in no way less than his Maker, and so------------
can do all his Father can, yet when he’s praised [760]
he turns that praise upon his Creator,
saying he can do nothing more than human
unless inspirited by heaven’s great Father.
For this reason, when he cures serious disease
he tells people not to say what he has done. [765]
To conceal his power—since he could easily
banish ulcers from the body at will—
he often sent patients off to healing springs
where cures could be effected by the water.
Should I say how many people, how many [770]
cities urged him to become their ruler,
sending him robe, sceptre and sacred crown?
His companions urged him to take up arms
to invade and rule the shores of Syria;
a little force would soon, they said, subdue [775]
whatever lands the world ocean surrounds
and bridle the whole earth under his law.
But whenever they pressed to do this
he would flee and hide among high mountains.
But everywhere envious, cruel haters [780]
rise against him, crying as one for his head.
You know too well the mad clamour against him,
the rage that made them drag this man before you,
alarms, stampedes, as if the city’s captured!
He who deserves all things suffers all, resolved, [785]
worthy, he has surrendered himself to those
who sought him, though he could have slipped away
under cover of darkness: twice surrendered himself!
Yet I saw these men fall at his feet, stunned
by his voice, hitting the ground with a great thud! [790]
The answer to the question in lines 770-7, ‘Should I tell you how many people, how many cities urged him to become their ruler, sending him robe, sceptre and sacred crown?’ is, obviously: no, you shouldn’t tell him that, since he, here, is Pontius Pilate, and telling him this is confirming that Jesus represented a palpable political threat to Rome’s rule. Uh-oh, too late! Except that, by this stage, 1700 lines into a dyad of enormous speeches notionally addressed to the Roman governor by Joseph and now John, Vida has effectively forgotten the context for all this. Pilate has become as shadowy as the wedding guest in The Ancient Mariner buttonholed by that glittering eye and condemned to listen without interruption to an interminable monologue.
The step-up in conquering ambition from ‘Syria’ in line 774 to ‘everywhere in the world’ in lines 775-776 is marked by a step-up in epic dignity of expression: quodcunque oceanus terrarum anfractibus ambit,/immensumque novis frenaret legibus orbem: ‘soon conquer all the lands that ocean holds within its circling waters, and bridle the measureless orb with new laws.’ Gardner thinks this draws on Boethius’s De consolatione philosophiae [3.m2.2-4]: immensum legibus orbem prouida seruet stringatque, which seems a bit of a stretch to me. More likely, perhaps, is Horace’s 16th epode, where the poet invites us to Etrusca praeter et volate litora/nos manet Oceanus circum vagus: arva beata/petamus, arva divites et insulas … which A S Kline rather nicely renders as:
Sail on swiftly beyond the Etruscan shores.Christ refusing to heal sick people because he’s worried it will detract glory from the Father onto him—and instead sending them off to curative springs—doesn’t seem to be from the Gospels. Unless I’m missing something obvious.
The encircling Ocean is awaiting us: let us seek out
The fields, the golden fields, the islands of the blest.
At the top: Jesus cleansing a leper, a mosaic from the Monreale Cathedral, late 12th to mid-13th centuries.
[Next: lines 791-843]
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