[Previous: lines 592-628]
After the miraculous draught of fishes, the disciples sit down to supper with Jesus one last time. He passes on responsibility for his flock to Peter.
Ut compressa fames, surgit rex optimus ipse,-------
confessusque Deum, sociis ita denique fatur: [630]
“Pacem optate, viri, pacem laudate quieti;
salvete aeternùm, socii, aeternumque valete;
este meî memores: ego claro poscor Olympo.
Iamque adeô duris animos aptate, ferendo
omnia; nec propiùs saevos adiisse tyrannos [635]
sittimor, atque duces affari, et vera monere.
Non vos maiestas soliorum, aut sceptra superba
terrificent regum, lucis nil hujus egentes.
Haud longè tum quœrendum, quœ tempora fandi,
Quis modus aptus: ego praesens adero omnibus, ora [640]
vestra regens: dabitur verborum copia cuique.
Nec cœlo vires vos, et solamen ab alto
deficient: cùm sol decimo iubar aureus ortu
extulerit, Pater afflabit cœlestibus auris,
diffusumque animis numen divinitus addet: [645]
praeside quo freti, reges rerumque potentes
nil veriti, nostrum vulgabitis undique nomen.
Tum sanctum sese genus aurea tollet ad astra;
densus agens veluti laxis se palmes habenis
luxuriat, foliisque simul fœtuque gravescit. [650]
Denique, cùm suprema dies illuxerit orbi,
omniaque eliciam patefactis ossa sepulcris,
atque iterum in lucem emergent, quos terra tegebat;
hanc vallem, densa hos implebunt agmina colles,
matres, atque viri, vixque hausta luce perempti. [655]
Ipse ego iura dabo, mediaque in valle sedebo
quaesitor, vitas populorum et crimina pendens.
Vos etiam mecum bis senis sedibus ipsi
sublimes mortale genus censebitis unà;
bis senaeque tribus gentis tum vestra subibunt [660]
arbitria, et vestros mirabitur orbis honores.
Interea, Petre, te (nulli pietate secundum
novi etenim) his, rerum summam clavumque tenentem,
praeficimus cunctis, ultro qui nostra sequuti
imperia: hoc te praecipuo insignimus honore: [665]
tu regere, et populis parcens dare jura memento.
Summa tibi in gentes iam nunc concessa potestas:
iamque pios tege pace: voca sub signa rebelles.
Quemcunque in terris scelus exitiale perosus
admonitum frustra iusta devoveris ira, [670]
colloquio absterrens hominum, cœtuque piorum,
idem erit invisus cœlo; non ille beatis
sedibus aspiret, nisi tu placabilis idem,
dignatus veniâ, meliorem in pristina reddas.
Iamque adeô tibi concessum mortalibus aegris [675]
claudere siderei portas ac pandere cœli.”
Talia mandabat, terras hominesque relinquens.
Sic natis moriturus oves et ovilia pastor
commendans caris, furta insidiasque luporum
edocet, et pecori contraria pascua monstrat. [680]
Sic sociis aevo jam fessus nauta biremem
credit, inexpertosque docet varias maris oras,
et brevia, et syrtes, et navifragas Sirenas.
His animadversis, totius lucida circùm
palmiferi nubes collis capita ardua texit; [685]
et curva aethereis fulserunt littora flammis.
Interea totum exercent nova gaudia cœlum:
alituum cœlestûm acies sanctique volucres
dant manibus plausus, et multicoloribus alis,
instaurantque choros: fremitu aetheris atria fervent. [690]
Once they'd eaten, the great king stood up,-------
manifestly God, speaking to his comrades: [630]
“Choose peace, men, praise peace's serenity;
hail forever, friends, and forever farewell;
remember me: I return to bright Olympus.
Ready your souls for hardship, by enduring
everything; don't fear going up to tyrants [635]
or leaders of men and explaining the truth.
Don't be afraid of thrones or the sceptres of
proud kings: for you are not of this world.
Don't waste time working out the right manner
of apt speaking: I will be with you, guiding [640]
your words: everyone will be gifted eloquence.
The strength and solace of high heaven won't
desert you: when the sun's gleaming lamp rises
on the tenth day, my Father will breath down
heavenly breezes into all your souls: [645]
so you need not fear kings or worldly powers
but can proclaim our name among all peoples.
Then a saintly race will rise to the golden stars;
like a luxuriant vine stalk growing
untrammelled, laden with leaves and fruit. [650]
And when the final day shines upon Earth's disc
I will summon all the bones from their graves,
they'll emerge into the light whom earth concealed;
a multitude to fill the valleys and hills,
women and men, babes who lived but briefly. [655]
Then in that valley I will law down the law,
judge the lievs and crimes of all the people.
And you, seated on twelves thrones, will join me
looking down on mortal lives and judging them;
mankind's twelve tribes will submit to your [660]
arbitration, and the world will marvel at you.
So, Peter, to you (second to none in
piety) here, I give the keys to the kingdom,
I set you above all who follow our teaching
in power: granting you this special honour: [665]
rule the people and bring them to the law.
To you is give this supreme position:
give the pious peace: recall rebels to our banner.
Whoever you have admonished on earth
for their crimes, who in your just anger you [670]
cut-off from the communities of men,
these same will be despised in heaven; no
blessings for him except that you forgive,
and restore him, improved, to his former lot.
For you have the power, for toiling mankind [675]
to open or shut the starry doors of heaven.”
With this, he relinquished the world and men.
Thus does a shepherd on his deathbed pass his
sheep and fold to his loved sons, warning of theft
and wolves, the pastures harmful to his flock. [680]
Thus does an ancient mariner give his craft
to his novice friends, telling them which shores,
are safe, of sandbanks and ship-wrecking Sirens.
With all these instructions had been given, a bright
cloud overlaid the palm-rich heights of the hill [685]
and the curving shore gleamed with fire from above.
As this happened, joy passed through all heaven.
The angelic host rose through holy skies
on muticoloured wings, applauding with their hands,
singing choruses that echoed through heaven’s halls. [690]
Here Jesus passes on the papal keys: as a good Catholic, of course Vida makes a big deal of this moment (not forgetting that he was commissioned to write this entire epic by two Medici popes, inheritors of Saint Peter: Leo X and Clement VII). Although the actual bit of John's gospel that sanctions all this is brief:
So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”Jesus insisting Peter announce three times that he loved him, after he had previously denied him thrice, is a nice piece of amicable trolling, I think. The other things interesting here is that Vida, for the second time in this epic (here's the first, at the end of Book 1) makes glancing reference to the existence of the ongoing Protestant Reformation: here described in terms of a rebellion (line 668: rebellis [rebellō (“I wage war again, fight back”), from re- (“again, back”) + bellō (“I wage war”]. Jesus urges Peter to bring these people back to the signum, (the sign, mark, emblem, banner, flag).
He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”
He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”
He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”
He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”
And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep. Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” [John 21:15-18]
Then there's a short linking passage moves us from Jesus meeting his disciples on earth to the final ‘episode’ on Vida’s epic—the ascension. First two short epic similes: he is like a dying shepherd (moriturus in line 678 means ‘about to die’, as in the famous Gladiatorial slogan) passing his flocks on to his sons, or like an aged mariner—you'll have to excuse the Coleridgeanism in my translation here—giving his ship to ‘inexperienced’ sailors (inexpertus, line 682) and warning them of dodgy coastlines and dangerous sirens. But then we're into several hundred lines of Jesus floating up into heaven with much gold and spangling. Since this is the climax of the entire epic, we'd expect Vida to make much of it, although, again, he's working with quite slender Gospel accounts:
So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen. [Mark 16:19-10:]That's the end of Mark's gospel. Here's Luke:
And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen. [Luke 24:50-53]Luke specifies this as happening at Bethany, where Vida's account implies it is happening in Galilee somewhere; but that's a small difference I'm sure.
At the head of this post, Giotto's ‘Ascension’ (c.1305).
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