Grandmaster Lactantius
305-320 A.D.
A POEM ON THE PASSION OF OUR LORD
Whoever you are who approach, and are entering the precincts of the middle of the temple,
stop a little and look upon me, who, though innocent, suffered for your crime; lay me up in your
mind, keep me in your breast. I am He who, pitying the bitter misfortunes of men, came hither
as a messenger of offered peace, and as a full atonement for the fault of men. Here the brightest
light from above is restored to the earth; here is the merciful image of safety; here I am a rest to
you, the right way, the true redemption, the banner of God, and a memorable sign of fate. It was
on account of you and your life that I entered the Virgin's womb, was made man, and suffered a
dreadful death; nor did I find rest anywhere in the regions of the earth, but everywhere threats,
everywhere labours. First of all a wretched dwelling in the land of Judæa was a shelter for me at
my birth, and for my mother with me: here first, amidst the outstretched sluggish cattle, dry grass
gave me a bed in a narrow stall. I passed my earliest years in the Pharian regions, being an exile in
the reign of Herod; and after my return to Judæa I spent the rest of my years, always engaged in
fastings, and the extremity of poverty itself, and the lowest circumstances; always by healthful
admonitions applying the minds of men to the pursuit of genial uprightness, uniting with
wholesome teaching many evident miracles: on which account impious Jerusalem, harassed by
the raging cares of envy and cruel hatred, and blinded by madness, dared to seek for me, though
innocent, by deadly punishment, a cruel death on the dreadful cross. And if you yourself wish to
discriminate these things more fully, and if it delights you to go through all my groans, and to
experience griefs with me, put together the designs and plots, and the impious price of my
innocent blood, and the pretended kisses of a disciple, and the insults and strivings of the cruel
multitude; and, moreover, the blows, and tongues prepared for accusations. Picture to your mind
both the witnesses, and the accursed judgment of the blinded Pilate, and the immense cross
pressing my shoulders and wearied back, and my painful steps to a dreadful death. Now survey
me from head to foot, deserted as I am, and lifted up afar from my beloved mother. Behold and
see my locks clotted with blood, and my blood-stained neck under my very hair, and my head
drained with cruel thorns, and pouring down like rain from all sides a stream of blood over my
divine face. Survey my compressed and sightless eyes, and my afflicted cheeks; see my parched
tongue poisoned with gall, and my countenance pale with death. Behold my hands pierced with
nails, and my arms drawn out, and the great wound in my side; see the blood streaming from it,
and my perforated feet, and blood-stained limbs. Bend your knee, and with lamentation adore
the venerable wood of the cross, and with lowly countenance stooping to the earth, which is wet
with innocent blood, sprinkle it with rising tears, and at times bear me and my admonitions in
your devoted heart. Follow the footsteps of my life, and while you look upon my torments and
cruel death, remembering my innumerable pangs of body and soul, learn to endure hardships,
and to watch over your own safety. These memorials, if at any time you find pleasure in thinking
over them, if in your mind there is any confidence to bear anything like my sufferings), if the
piety due, and gratitude worthy of my labours shall arise, will be incitements to true virtue, and
they will be shields against the snares of an enemy, aroused by which you will be safe, and as a
conqueror bear off the palm in every contest. If these memorials shall turn away your senses,
which are devoted to a perishable world, from the fleeting shadow of earthly beauty, the result
will be, that you will not venture, enticed by empty hope, to trust the frail enjoyments of fickle
fortune, and to place your hope in the fleeting years of life. But, truly, if you thus regard this
perishable world, and through your love of a better country deprive yourself of earthly riches and
the enjoyment of present things, the prayers of the pious will bring you up in sacred habits, and
in the hope of a happy life, amidst severe punishments, will cherish you with heavenly dew, and
feed you with the sweetness of the promised good. Until the great favour of God shall recall your
happy soul to the heavenly regions, your body being left after the fates of death. Then freed from
all labour, then joyfully beholding the angelic choirs, and the blessed companies of saints in
perpetual bliss, it shall reign with me in the happy abode of perpetual peace.
305-320 A.D.
A POEM ON THE PASSION OF OUR LORD
Whoever you are who approach, and are entering the precincts of the middle of the temple,
stop a little and look upon me, who, though innocent, suffered for your crime; lay me up in your
mind, keep me in your breast. I am He who, pitying the bitter misfortunes of men, came hither
as a messenger of offered peace, and as a full atonement for the fault of men. Here the brightest
light from above is restored to the earth; here is the merciful image of safety; here I am a rest to
you, the right way, the true redemption, the banner of God, and a memorable sign of fate. It was
on account of you and your life that I entered the Virgin's womb, was made man, and suffered a
dreadful death; nor did I find rest anywhere in the regions of the earth, but everywhere threats,
everywhere labours. First of all a wretched dwelling in the land of Judæa was a shelter for me at
my birth, and for my mother with me: here first, amidst the outstretched sluggish cattle, dry grass
gave me a bed in a narrow stall. I passed my earliest years in the Pharian regions, being an exile in
the reign of Herod; and after my return to Judæa I spent the rest of my years, always engaged in
fastings, and the extremity of poverty itself, and the lowest circumstances; always by healthful
admonitions applying the minds of men to the pursuit of genial uprightness, uniting with
wholesome teaching many evident miracles: on which account impious Jerusalem, harassed by
the raging cares of envy and cruel hatred, and blinded by madness, dared to seek for me, though
innocent, by deadly punishment, a cruel death on the dreadful cross. And if you yourself wish to
discriminate these things more fully, and if it delights you to go through all my groans, and to
experience griefs with me, put together the designs and plots, and the impious price of my
innocent blood, and the pretended kisses of a disciple, and the insults and strivings of the cruel
multitude; and, moreover, the blows, and tongues prepared for accusations. Picture to your mind
both the witnesses, and the accursed judgment of the blinded Pilate, and the immense cross
pressing my shoulders and wearied back, and my painful steps to a dreadful death. Now survey
me from head to foot, deserted as I am, and lifted up afar from my beloved mother. Behold and
see my locks clotted with blood, and my blood-stained neck under my very hair, and my head
drained with cruel thorns, and pouring down like rain from all sides a stream of blood over my
divine face. Survey my compressed and sightless eyes, and my afflicted cheeks; see my parched
tongue poisoned with gall, and my countenance pale with death. Behold my hands pierced with
nails, and my arms drawn out, and the great wound in my side; see the blood streaming from it,
and my perforated feet, and blood-stained limbs. Bend your knee, and with lamentation adore
the venerable wood of the cross, and with lowly countenance stooping to the earth, which is wet
with innocent blood, sprinkle it with rising tears, and at times bear me and my admonitions in
your devoted heart. Follow the footsteps of my life, and while you look upon my torments and
cruel death, remembering my innumerable pangs of body and soul, learn to endure hardships,
and to watch over your own safety. These memorials, if at any time you find pleasure in thinking
over them, if in your mind there is any confidence to bear anything like my sufferings), if the
piety due, and gratitude worthy of my labours shall arise, will be incitements to true virtue, and
they will be shields against the snares of an enemy, aroused by which you will be safe, and as a
conqueror bear off the palm in every contest. If these memorials shall turn away your senses,
which are devoted to a perishable world, from the fleeting shadow of earthly beauty, the result
will be, that you will not venture, enticed by empty hope, to trust the frail enjoyments of fickle
fortune, and to place your hope in the fleeting years of life. But, truly, if you thus regard this
perishable world, and through your love of a better country deprive yourself of earthly riches and
the enjoyment of present things, the prayers of the pious will bring you up in sacred habits, and
in the hope of a happy life, amidst severe punishments, will cherish you with heavenly dew, and
feed you with the sweetness of the promised good. Until the great favour of God shall recall your
happy soul to the heavenly regions, your body being left after the fates of death. Then freed from
all labour, then joyfully beholding the angelic choirs, and the blessed companies of saints in
perpetual bliss, it shall reign with me in the happy abode of perpetual peace.