[Previous: lines 616-647]
The angels have mustered to save Christ from his crucifixion, but God intervenes.
Hic tum nimbipotens Genitor circumtulit ora,------------
ter torquens illustre caput; ter cardine moto
terribilem increpuit sonitum; dein farier infit: [650]
“Quae, superi, vetitum contra, haec insania ferri?
Quò ruitis? quiane auxilio subsistere nostro
non queat ille ; meae aut sint fractae denique vires?
Ne saevite animis, atque hanc deponite curam;
quandoquidem haud fert haec nostro sine numine Natus, [655]
scitis enim, ut moriens crimen commune refellat.
Sic generi humano clausum stat pandere Olympum.
Illum ideo duros volui exercere labores,
atque agere in terris extrema per omnia vitam,
finibus exactum cunctis, inopem, omnium egentem. [660]
Iamque ad supremum ventum: manet exitus illum
hic hodie gravis insontem, irrevocabile letum;
et morti caput ipse sua sponte obvius offert.
Nunc autem subito visu horruit, et timor illi
confusam eripuit, leti ipso in limine, mentem; [665]
quippe, Deum velut exutus, mortalis, inermis
restitit, et telis mansit violabile corpus.
Nil aliter vis divinos valuisset in artus
ulla hominum, et cunctis foret impenetrabilis armis.
Non adeô vires, non parva potentia nostra, [670]
ut nequeam, si versa retro sententia, natum
eripere in medio versantem turbine leti,
contra illum insurgant omnes ab origine rerum
quidquid ubique hominum natum, extinctumque per aevum.
Non ita me experta est Babylon, ubi ad astra gigantes [675]
tantavere vias educta turre sub auras;
et poterant magnos manibus divellere montes.
nunc etiam fumant praefractae fulmine turres.
Ut nimborum acies tempestatumque quiescant,
quae vastum rapiant convulsum à cardine mundum [680]
ipse manu terras quaterem, cœlum omne cierem,
diluvio cuncta involvens : me me ignibus atris
nunc nunc accinctum, teloque tricuspide dextram
armatum mortale genus saevire videret,
hunc difflare globum, haec passim metere agmina ferro. [685]
At sinite, adveniet (neque enim mora longior) urbi
tempus ei, frustra hunc cum magno optaverit emptum
haud tetigisse, genus cui ducitur aethere ab alto.”
Sic ait; et moto tremefecit vertice mundum,
terrifico quatiens tonitru cœlestia templa. [690]
Continuò superûm furor acer et ira quievit.
Prosequitur tantùm votis chorus omnis amicis;
atque Deum è summo taciti miserantur Olympo,
Sicut, ubi inclusi septis vacuo aequore campi,
pro laude ac decore accensi, certamina miscent [695]
inter se aequatis iuvenes duo comminus armis;
hinc spectat procul, atque hinc circumfusa iuventus:
Tum si fortè alter, minùs ac minùs utilis, ore
palluit, aut terra cecidit deceptus iniqua,
consurgant fidi aequales, studiisque sequantur. [700]
Quàm vellent, nisi pacta vetent, succurrere amico!
Stant aegri, et casum longè execrantur acerbum.
So the stormpotent Father shook his head------------
three times, noble, and three times the earth’s axis
ground out a terrible noise; then he spoke: [650]
“Why this mad thwarting of me, heavenly ones?
Going where? You think my help couldn’t stop
what’s happening to him? Am I so powerless?
Set aside this mad anger. Do not worry:
since my son suffers this with my consent [655]
—you know it!—to die for man’s common crime,
to open locked Olympus to humankind.
So he has undertaken this hard labour
to live a life of extremes and hardship on earth:
chased from every land, poor, always needy. [660]
Now it’s the end. He faces his exit
this very day, grievous and irreversible
death, by his own will, on his innocent head.
He has shuddered with fear at this prospect;
it seizes his mind on the threshold of death. [665]
And so his godhood cast-off, mortal, vulnerable
in his body to being stuck with spears.
There was no other way: no human force
could otherwise harm his impenetrable self.
My power’s not so small that, if I changed [670]
my mind, I could not rescue my son from death’s
whirlwind and deliver him to safety,
even if all mankind rose against him
everyone who’s lived and died since the world began.
Babylon did not find me weak—like giants [675]
they built to reach the stars, sky-towering.
They could even level mighty mountains.
But now their towers lie smoking, lightning-struck.
And should the ranks of clouds and storms subside,
grab the vast world and tear it from its hinges [680]
my hand could shake the quartered world, could brim
the sky with floodwater, wrap with dark fire—
even now, my right hand is prepared, triply
armed with savage power to overawe mortals,
and grind out the world and its ironclad armies. [685]
Patience! The time will come (not long to wait) when
this city will vainly offer any kind of price
not to have touched Him, who from high heavens.”
So he spoke; and shook the world top down with
one thunderous nod of his heavenly head. [690]
At once the angels’ angry rage subsided.
The whole company vowed gentle obedience,
pitying God’s son in silence from Olympus.
As when two youths are enclosed in a ring
in an empty field, vying for glory and honour, [695]
boxing one another close with equal skill;
friends crowd round, looking from one to the other:
And now, if one, perhaps, starts losing ground,
Pales with fear, or trips on the uneven ground
his faithful friends jump in, eager to help. [700]
The rules forbid them from helping this friend!
Helpless, they wait, and curse his bad fortune.
Line 661’s ‘exit’ is, as any fule no, the third-person present indicative of exeō ‘I exit, depart, move away from’ and also ‘I avoid, evade’, and, figuratively, ‘I escape’. As Gardner points out, line 690 (terrifico quatiens tonitru cœlestia templa) is ‘closely modelled on Lucretius De rerum natura 6:388’: terrifico quatiunt sonitu caelestia templa, when the poet talks about Jupiter ‘shaking the celestial temples with dreadful din’.
Otherwise, this passages, and the episode it concludes, is Vida showing the difference between good and rebel angels. The latter refused to heed the command of God; the latter docilely settle down when commanded. Nonetheless, these angels seem pretty …. testy, don’t you think? Pretty hair-trigger and ready to rumble. Is this really how Vida sees the angelic hosts—always on the edge of breaking out in full battle-gear?
[Next: lines 703-720]
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