Library › Prudentius › Crowns of Martyrdom
Crowns of Martyrdom
Prudentius, tr. Thackeray, 1890; selections
Chapter 7
WITHIN the walls of Sissek,1
As in a sire’s embrace,
God willed His faithful martyr
Should witness to His grace.
So when the stern Galerius
Oppressed th’ Illyrian sea,
Quirinus there, with sword of prayer,
Won truest victory.2
Not by the steel relentless;
Not by the fire’s fierce breath;
Not by the paw and tooth of beast,
Won he the meed of death.
No matter if by water;
No matter if by blood;
Death with an equal glory
Appears in either flood.
So in the river’s bosom,
Washed by the tender wave
That laid him down, he gained the crown
That marks the martyr’s grave.
They bear him where the Savus3
Beneath the bridge runs deep;
They tear him from his people—
The shepherd from his sheep.
About his neck they fasten,
That he may surely drown,
O, cruel fate, a millstone great,
To drag him swiftly down.
The whirlpool spreads its circles,
And bears him on its breast:
He and the mighty millstone
Lie there in quiet rest.
But now the martyr bishop,
Who waits the victor’s palm,
Feels even death denied him
In this most holy calm:
Death and the sure ascension,
That wellnigh seemed his own;
The opening skies to wistful eyes;
Th’ Eternal Father’s throne.
“O, Jesus, Lord, all-powerful,”
He cries, “not new to Thee
This triumph o’er the waters,
For Thou canst quell the sea:4
Thine own apostle Peter,
Whom Thy right hand did keep,
Unyielding found, as solid ground,
The pathway of the deep.
This stream Thy power proclaimeth,
In bearing up a stone;
Grant me this boon, O Christ my God,
To die for Thee alone!”
He praying thus is answered,
And voice and vital flame,
Leaving the mortal body,
Ascend to whence they came:
The stone again is heavy;
The water’s tender breast
Yields to his prayer and lays him there,
In sweet and perfect rest.
R. F. Towndrow.
Notes
- St. Quirinus, Bishop of Siscia (Sissek in Croatia), was martyred, June 4th, 309, in the persecution of Galerius. He is one of the eight tutelar saints of Austria. His relics are said to have been removed to Rome, and placed in the Catacombs of St. Sebastian, during the devastation of Pannonia by the Huns A.D. 376-380(?). It is not impossible that Prudentius, during his visit to Rome, may have seen them there; and this may account for his selecting St. Quirinus for a place in his “Martyrs’ Garland.” The poem is of the simplest character, consisting almost entirely of narrative.
- P. 140. Cātholicam. See Introduction, p. lxvii.
- P. 143. the Savus. Strictly speaking, the Colapis, a tributary which flows into the Savus at Siscia.
- calcarē fremitum. So—
“imbuere fragilique viros foedare triumpho.”
Psych., v. 252.
See note, p. 198, above, on “aqua tristifico.”