# Virgilian Cento - Author: [Proba](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/proba/) - Latin title: *Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi* - Date: ca. 360 (approximate) - Source: Carolus Schenkl, ed., Poetae Christiani minores, Pars I, CSEL 16 (Vienna: Tempsky, 1888), pp. 568-609 (Latin text: K. Schenkl (CSEL 16, 1888), digitized by Open Greek and Latin, University of Leipzig (csel-dev), CC BY-SA 4.0) - Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/ - Passages: 29 ## Dedication, lines 1–15 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-0-1 - Source: CSEL 16.1:lines 1–15 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: A dedication presenting the Christianized Virgil to an emperor of the East and his son Arcadius, with a list of the poem's contents. ### Latin text Romulidum ductor, clari lux altera solis, eoa qui regna regis moderamine iusto, spes orbis fratrisque decus: dignare Maronem mutatum in melius diuino agnoscere sensu, scribendum famulo quem iusseras. hic tibi mundi principium formamque poli hominemque creatum expediet limo, hic Christi proferet ortum, insidias regis, magorum praemia, doctos discipulos pelagique minas gressumque per aequor, hic fractum famulare iugum uitamque reductam unius crucis auxilio reditumque sepultae mortis et ascensum pariter sua regna petentis. haec relegas seruesque diu tradasque minori Arcadio, haec ille suo semini, haec tua semper accipiat doceatque suos augusta propago. ### English translation (Claude) Leader of the sons of Romulus, a second light of the bright sun, you who rule the kingdoms of the East with just governance, hope of the world and glory of your brother: deign to recognize Maro changed for the better into a divine sense, which you had ordered your servant to write. Here the beginning of the world, the form of the sky, and man created from clay will be set out for you; here the birth of Christ will be brought forth, the plots of the king, the gifts of the Magi, the learned disciples, the threats of the sea and the walking on the water; here the yoke of slavery broken, and life restored by the help of the one cross, and the return from a buried death, and the ascent of him who likewise seeks his kingdom. These things may you read again and keep long, and hand them on to the younger Arcadius; these may he hand on to his offspring; these may your august line always receive and teach to its own. ### Translation notes - This dedication is not part of Proba's poem and is generally thought to be a later addition by another hand (it speaks of the work as written by the emperor's command). The emperor addressed, a ruler of the East with a brother and a son Arcadius, is uncertain: Theodosius I, or Arcadius himself with his son Theodosius II, have both been proposed. "Maro" is Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro). ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 0.1 (CSEL 16.1:lines 1–15; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/0-1). ## Cento, lines 1–23 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-1 - Source: CSEL 16.1:569lines 1–23–570 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Proba turns from her earlier poem on civil war to a sacred song, asks God's Spirit for inspiration, renounces pagan poetic sources, and announces that Virgil will be made to sing of Christ. ### Latin text Iam dudum temerasse duces pia foedera pacis, regnandi miseros tenuit quos dira cupido, diuersasque neces, regum crudelia bella cognatasque acies, pollutos caede parentum insignis clipeos nulloque ex hoste tropaea, sanguine conspersos tulerat quos fama triumphos, innumeris totiens uiduatas ciuibus urbes, confiteor, scripsi: satis est meminisse malorum: nunc, deus omnipotens, sacrum, precor, accipe carmen aeternique tui septemplicis ora resolue spiritus atque mei resera penetralia cordis, arcana ut possim uatis Proba cuncta referre. non nunc ambrosium cura est mihi quaerere nectar, nec libet Aonio de uertice ducere Musas, non mihi saxa loqui uanus persuadeat error laurigerosque sequi tripodas et inania uota iurgantesque deos procerum uictosque penates: nullus enim labor est uerbis extendere famam atque hominum studiis paruam disquirere laudem: Castalio sed fonte madens imitata beatos quae sitiens hausi sanctae libamina lucis hinc canere incipiam. praesens, deus, erige mentem; Uergilium cecinisse loquar pia munera Christi: ### English translation (Claude) Long ago, I confess, I wrote how leaders had violated the holy treaties of peace, wretched men whom a dread desire to reign had seized; the various slaughters, the cruel wars of kings, the kindred battle lines, the famous shields defiled with the blood of parents, and trophies taken from no foreign enemy, the triumphs spattered with blood that rumor had reported, the cities so often bereaved of countless citizens. It is enough to remember evils. Now, almighty God, receive, I pray, a sacred song; unseal the mouths of your eternal sevenfold Spirit, and unlock the inner chambers of my heart, so that I, Proba the poet, may tell all the hidden things. It is not now my care to seek ambrosial nectar, nor do I wish to bring the Muses down from the Aonian peak; let no empty error persuade me that rocks speak, or to follow the laurel-bearing tripods and vain vows, the quarreling gods of the great and conquered household gods. For it is no labor to extend one's fame with words and to seek a little praise in the pursuits of men. But soaked from the Castalian spring, imitating the blessed, I will begin to sing from here the libations of holy light that I drank in my thirst. Be present, God, lift up my mind; I will tell how Virgil sang the holy gifts of Christ. ### Scripture references - Isa 11:2: allusion, low confidence - Rev 1:4: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Lines 1–8 refer to Proba's earlier poem on a civil war between Romans (probably that of Constantius II against Magnentius, 350–353), now lost. The opening proem (about lines 1–28) is Proba's own composition, not a Virgilian cento. "Septemplicis ... spiritus" (sevenfold Spirit) echoes the seven gifts of Isa 11:2–3 and the seven spirits of Rev 1:4. "Aonian peak" is Helicon, home of the Muses; the Castalian spring is at Delphi; the laurel-bearing tripods are Apollo's oracle. The final line plays on the title: she will "tell" that Virgil sang Christ's gifts. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.1 (CSEL 16.1:569lines 1–23–570; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-1). ## Cento, lines 24–49 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-24 - Source: CSEL 16.1:570lines 24–49–572 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Proba prays to the Father and the Son, recalls the ancient poets who sang of the origins of the world, and renounces her former poetry of war for a greater theme. ### Latin text rem nulli obscuram repetens ab origine pergam, si qua fides animo, si uera infusa per artus mens agitat molem et toto se corpore miscet spiritus et quantum non noxia corpora tardant terrenique hebetant artus moribundaque membra. O pater, o hominum rerumque aeterna potestas, da facilem cursum atque I animis inlabere nostris, tuque ades inceptumque una decurre laborem, nate, patris summi | uigor et caelestis origo, quem primi colimus I meritosque nouamus honores, iam noua progenies, I omnis quem credidit aetas. nam memini I ueterum uoluens monumenta uirorum Musaeum ante omnes I uestrum cecinisse per orbem quae sint, quae fuerint, quae mox uentura trahantur. t omnia et ipse tener mundi concreuerit orbis. felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas, unde hominum pecudumque genus uitaeque uolantum et quae marmoreo fert monstra sub aequore pontus, t et liquidi simul ignis I et caeli mobilis umor. haut aliter I prima crescentis origine mundi inluxisse dies aliumue habuisse tenorem crediderim. I maior rerum mihi nascitur ordo,I si qua fidem tanto est operi latura uetustas. namque — fatebor enim — I leuium spectacula rerum semper equos atque arma uirum pugnasque canebam et studio incassum I uolui exercere laborem. ### English translation (Claude) I will proceed, retelling from its origin a matter obscure to no one, if my mind has any faith, if a true mind, poured through the limbs, moves the mass and mingles itself with the whole body as spirit, insofar as harmful bodies do not slow it, and earthly limbs and dying members do not dull it. O Father, O eternal power over men and things, give an easy course and glide into our minds; and you, be present and run through with me the labor begun, Son, the strength of the highest Father and heavenly origin, whom we worship first and to whom we renew deserved honors, now the new offspring, in whom every age has believed. For I remember, turning over the records of the men of old, that Musaeus before all sang through your world what things are, what have been, what will soon be drawn on; and how the tender sphere of the world itself grew together in all its parts. Happy the one who has been able to know the causes of things, whence comes the race of men and beasts and the life of flying things, and the monsters the sea bears beneath its marble surface, and the liquid fire together and the moving moisture of the sky. Not otherwise, I would believe, did the days shine at the first beginning of the growing world, nor did they have another course. A greater order of things is born for me, if antiquity will bring any belief to so great a work. For, I will confess, I used to sing of the spectacles of trivial things, always of horses and the arms of men and battles, and I was willing to exercise a labor in vain. ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 10.18 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 2.39 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Ecl. 4.7 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Ecl. 6.34 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 2.490 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.728–729 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 7.44 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - From here the poem is a cento: each line or half-line is taken from Virgil, and Schenkl's edition marks the joins between fragments with vertical strokes, which the digital text renders as I or | (left in the Latin; not translated). "Musaeus" stands where Moses is meant: Proba makes the legendary singer the author of the account of creation. The stray letter t before two lines of the Latin is probably an editorial sign in the digital text; the lines are translated. "New offspring" (iam nova progenies, Ecl. 4.7) is applied to the Son. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.24 (CSEL 16.1:570lines 24–49–572; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-24). ## Cento, lines 50–73 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-50 - Source: CSEL 16.1:572lines 50–73–573 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: After calling for silence, the poem tells the first works of creation: heaven and earth, the separation of light from darkness, and the setting of sun, moon and stars. ### Latin text omnia temptanti I potior sententia uisa est pandere res altas terra et caligine mersas. inque dies I aliquid iam dudum inuadere magnum mens agitat mihi nec placida contenta quiete est. ore fauete omnes | laetasque aduertite mentes, matres atque uiri I pueri innuptaeque puellae. Principio caelum ac terras camposque liquentes lucentemque globum lunae I solisque labores ipse pater statuit, I uos, o clarissima mundi I lumina, labentem caelo quae ducitis annum. nam neque erant astrorum ignes nec lucidus aether, set nox atra polum bigis subuecta tenebat,I et chaos I in praeceps tantum tendebat ad umbras, quantus ad aetherium caeli suspectus Olympum. tum pater omnipotens, rerum cui summa potestas, aera dimouit tenebrosum et dispulit umbras et medium luci atque umbris iam diuidit orbem. sidera cuncta notat tacito labentia caelo intentos uoluens oculos, I qua parte calores austrinos tulerit, quae terga obuerterit axi. postquam cuncta uidet caelo constare sereno omnipotens, I stellis numeros et nomina fecit temporibusque parem diuersis quattuor annum aestusque pluuiasque et agentes frigora uentos. ### English translation (Claude) As I tried all things, the better resolve seemed to be to reveal deep things sunk in earth and darkness. Day by day my mind has long been stirring to undertake something great, and it is not content with peaceful quiet. Keep holy silence, all of you, and turn glad minds to me, mothers and men, boys and unwedded girls. In the beginning the Father himself established the sky and the lands and the liquid plains, and the shining globe of the moon and the labors of the sun, you, O brightest lights of the world, who lead the year as it glides through the sky. For there were neither fires of stars nor bright upper air, but black night, borne up in her two-horse chariot, held the sky, and chaos stretched headlong toward the shadows, as far as the view up to the heavenly Olympus of the sky. Then the almighty Father, who holds the supreme power of things, moved apart the darkened air and scattered the shadows, and now divided the world in the middle between light and shadow. He marks all the stars gliding in the silent sky, turning his intent eyes, in what part he would bring the southern heats, what parts would turn their backs to the pole. After he saw that everything stood fixed in the clear sky, the Almighty made numbers and names for the stars, and a year equal in its four different seasons, heats and rains and winds that bring cold. ### Scripture references - Gen 1:1–5: allusion, high confidence - Gen 1:14–18: allusion, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 5.71 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.724–725 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 1.5–6 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 10.100 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 3.515 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 3.518 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 1.258 (Virgil): quotation, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The account follows Gen 1:1–5 and 1:14–19 in Virgilian lines. The sun and moon appear before the separation of light and darkness, in Proba's order, not Genesis's. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.50 (CSEL 16.1:572lines 50–73–573; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-50). ## Cento, lines 74–98 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-74 - Source: CSEL 16.1:573lines 74–98–574 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The cycle of seasons is set, then dry land, the creatures of the sea, the plants, and the birds are created. ### Latin text atque haec ut certis possimus discere signis, uere tument terrae et genitalia semina poscunt ac medio tostas aestu terit area fruges et uarios ponit fetus autumnus et atra uenit hiemps: teritur Sicyonia baca trapetis: atque in se sua per uestigia uoluitur annus. tempore iam ex illo I fecundis imbribus aether magnus alit magno conmixtus corpore fetus. et iam prima nouo spargebat lumine terras ducebatque diem I stellis Aurora fugatis. tum durare solum et discludere Nerea ponto incipit I et rerum paulatim sumere formas, et uariae pelagi | facies inmania cete aequora uerrebant caudis aestumque secabant. nec non et I uasti circum gens umida ponti . iam sole infuso, iam rebus luce retectis exultans rorem late dispergit amarum. postera iamque dies primo surgebat eoo. fundit humus flores I et frondes explicat omnes sanguineisque inculta rubent auiaria bacis, non rastris, hominum non ulli obnoxia curae. tertia lux gelidam caelo dimouerat umbram. auia tum resonant auibus uirgulta canoris et liquidas corui presso dant gutture uoces nec gemere aeria cessauit turtur ab ulmo. ### English translation (Claude) And so that we might learn these things by sure signs, in spring the lands swell and ask for life-giving seeds, and in the middle of the scorching heat the threshing floor threshes the parched grain, and autumn lays down its varied fruits, and black winter comes: the Sicyonian olive is crushed in the presses, and the year rolls back on itself along its own tracks. From that time on the mighty upper air, mingled with her mighty body, nourishes all offspring with fruitful showers. And now Dawn was first sprinkling the lands with new light and leading in the day, the stars put to flight. Then the ground begins to harden and to shut Nereus away in the sea, and little by little to take on the forms of things; and the huge whales of the varied faces of the sea swept the waters with their tails and cut the swell. And the moist race of the vast sea round about, with the sun now poured in, now with things uncovered by light, leaping, scatters the bitter spray far and wide. And now the next day was rising with the first dawn. The ground pours out flowers and unfolds all leaves, and the untilled bird-haunts are red with blood-red berries, not under rakes, not subject to any care of men. The third light had moved the chill shadow from the sky; then the pathless thickets resound with tuneful birds, and the ravens give clear calls from a pressed throat, nor did the turtledove cease to moan from the lofty elm. ### Scripture references - Gen 1:9–13: allusion, high confidence - Gen 1:20–22: allusion, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Georg. 1.351 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 2.324 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 2.402 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 2.325–327 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 4.584 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Ecl. 6.35–36 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 3.589 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Ecl. 1.58 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Gen 1:9–13 and 1:20–23 in Virgilian lines; Proba's order of the days differs from Genesis (sea creatures and birds before the land animals of the fourth day in the next section). "Nereus" (a sea god) stands for the sea; the "Sicyonian olive" is a poetic name for the olive. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.74 (CSEL 16.1:573lines 74–98–574; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-74). ## Cento, lines 99–123 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-99 - Source: CSEL 16.1:575lines 99–123–576 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God creates the land animals, then, wishing for a ruler over creation, forms man from the clay in his own likeness, and finds no fit companion for him. ### Latin text quarto terra die I uariarum monstra ferarum omnigenumque I pecus nullo custode per herbam educit siluis subito I mirabile uisu. tum demum mouet arma leo, I tum pessima tigris squamosusque draco et fulua ceruice leaena saeuire ac formae magnorum ululare luporum. cetera pascuntur uirides armenta per herbas, nec gregibus liquidi fontes nec gramina desunt. iamque dies alterque dies processit, et omne hoc uirtutis opus I diuinae mentis et haustus prospiciens genitor I perfectis ordine rebus expleri mentem nequit ardescitque tuendo terrasque tractusque maris caelumque profundum, alituum pecudumque genus, I secumque uolutat, qui mare, qui terras omni dicione tenerent, neu segnes iaceant terrae. I iuuat usque morari. talia uersanti subito sententia sedit, felicemque trahit limum I fingitque premendo pingue solum primis extemplo a mensibus anni. iamque inprouiso I tantae pietatis imago procedit noua forma uiri I pulcherrima primum, os umerosque deo similis, I cui mentem animumque I maior agit deus atque opera ad maiora remittit. quaeritur huic alius; nec quisquam ex agmine tanto audet adire uirum I sociusque in regna uocari. ### English translation (Claude) On the fourth day the earth suddenly brings forth from the woods the monsters of various wild beasts, and cattle of every kind with no keeper through the grass, a marvel to see. Then at last the lion takes up his arms, then the most dangerous tiger, the scaly serpent and the tawny-necked lioness began to rage, and the shapes of great wolves to howl. The other herds graze through the green grasses, and the flocks lack neither clear springs nor grass. And now one day and another day had passed, and the Father, looking forth on all this work of power, the draughts of a divine mind, with things completed in order, cannot satisfy his mind and burns as he gazes on the lands and the stretches of sea and the deep sky, the race of birds and beasts, and turns over within himself who should hold the sea, who the lands, under full dominion, and lest the lands lie idle. It is pleasant to linger always. As he pondered such things, a resolve suddenly settled: he takes up fertile clay and shapes it by pressing, the rich soil, at once in the first months of the year. And now, unexpectedly, an image of such great piety goes forth, a new form of man, most beautiful, first, like God in face and shoulders, whose mind and spirit a greater god drives and sends on to greater works. Another is sought for him; nor does anyone out of so great a throng dare to approach the man and be called his companion in the kingdom. ### Scripture references - Gen 1:24–25: allusion, high confidence - Gen 1:26–28: allusion, high confidence - Gen 2:7: allusion, high confidence - Gen 2:18–20: allusion, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 1.589 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Gen 1:24–27, 2:7, and 2:18–20 in Virgilian lines. "Like God in face and shoulders" (os umerosque deo similis, Aen. 1.589) renders the image of God of Gen 1:26–27. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.99 (CSEL 16.1:575lines 99–123–576; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-99). ## Cento, lines 124–147 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-124 - Source: CSEL 16.1:576lines 124–147–577 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God makes the woman from the man's rib while he sleeps, joins them in marriage, and gives them paradise as a home without toil or death. ### Latin text haut mora continuo I placidam per membra quietem dat iuueni et | dulci declinat lumina somno. atque illi medio in spatio I iam noctis opacae omnipotens genitor I costas et uiscera nudat. harum unam iuueni I laterum conpagibus artis eripuit subitoque I oritur mirabile donum — argumentum ingens — I claraque in luce refulsit insignis facie | et pulchro pectore uirgo, iam matura uiro, iam plenis nubilis annis. olli somnum ingens rumpit pauor: ossaque et artus coniugium uocat I ac stupefactus numine pressit excepitque manu dextramque amplexus inhaesit. His demum exactis I torquet qui sidera mundi. infit: eo dicente I premit placida aequora pontus et tremefacta solo tellus, silet arduus aether: 'uiuite felices I interque nitentia culta fortunatorum nemorum sedesque beatas. haec domus, haec patria est, I requies ea certa laborum. his ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono: imperium sine fine dedi, I multosque per annos non rastros patietur humus, non uinea falcem. at genus inmortale manet, I nec tarda senectus debilitat uires animi mutatque uigorem. uos contra I quae dicam animis aduertite uestris. ### English translation (Claude) Without delay he at once gives peaceful rest through the young man's limbs and closes his eyes in sweet sleep. And to him, in the middle course of the dark night, the almighty Father lays bare his ribs and inmost parts. One of these he snatched from the young man, from the tight joints of his sides, and suddenly a marvelous gift arises (a mighty proof) and shone out in clear light, a maiden notable in face and with lovely breast, now ripe for a husband, now of full years for marriage. A great dread breaks the man's sleep: his bones and limbs call it marriage, and astonished, pressed by the divine power, he received her with his hand and, embracing her right hand, clung to her. These things at last completed, he who turns the stars of the world speaks; as he speaks the sea calms its peaceful waters, and the earth trembles from its foundation, the lofty heaven is silent: "Live happily among the shining tilled fields and the blessed seats of the fortunate groves. This is your home, this your country, this the sure rest from labors. To these I set neither bounds of things nor times: I have given an empire without end, and for many years the ground will not suffer rakes, nor the vine the pruning hook. But the race remains immortal, nor does slow old age weaken the strength of the mind and change its vigor. You, on the other hand, turn your minds to what I shall say. ### Scripture references - Gen 2:21–24: allusion, high confidence - Gen 2:15: allusion, medium confidence - Gen 1:28: allusion, low confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 6.639 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 7.122 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 1.278–279 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Ecl. 4.40 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 7.53 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Gen 2:21–25 and 2:15 in Virgilian lines; "I have given an empire without end" (Aen. 1.279, Jupiter's promise to Rome) becomes God's gift to the first pair. Proba presents the meeting of Adam and Eve as a marriage. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.124 (CSEL 16.1:576lines 124–147–577; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-124). ## Cento, lines 148–171 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-148 - Source: CSEL 16.1:578lines 148–171–579 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God forbids the fruit of the one tree on pain of death, warning the woman in particular, and the couple enter the delights of paradise. ### Latin text est in conspectu I ramis felicibus arbos, quam neque fas igni cuiquam nec sternere ferro, religione sacra I numquam concessa moueri. hac quicumque sacros I decerpserit arbore fetus, morte luet merita: I nec me sententia uertit. nec tibi tam prudens quisquam persuadeat auctor conmaculare manus I — liceat te uoce moneri —, femina, I nec te ullius uiolentia uincat, si te digna manet diuini gloria ruris.' postquam cuncta pater, I caeli cui sidera parent, conposuit, legesque dedit I camposque nitentis desuper ostentat, I tantarum gloria rerum. ecce autem primi sub limina solis et ortus deuenere locos, I ubi mollis amaracus illos floribus et dulci adspirans conplectitur umbra. hic uer purpureum atque alienis mensibus aestas, hic liquidi fontes, | hic caeli tempore certo dulcia mella premunt, I hic candida populus antro inminet et lentae texunt umbracula uites. inuitant croceis halantes floribus horti inter odoratum lauri nemus I ipsaque tellus omnia liberius nullo poscente ferebat. fortunati ambo, I si mens non laeua fuisset coniugis infandae: I docuit post exitus ingens. ### English translation (Claude) There is in sight a tree with fruitful branches, which it is lawful for no one to fell with fire or iron, by sacred religion never allowed to be moved. Whoever plucks the sacred fruits from this tree will pay with a deserved death: nor does my resolve turn. Let no adviser, however shrewd, persuade you to stain your hands (let it be permitted to warn you by voice), woman; and let the violence of no one overcome you, if the glory of the divine countryside awaits you as worthy." After the Father, whom the stars of the sky obey, had set all things in order, and given laws, he shows them from above the shining fields, the glory of things so great. And behold, beneath the threshold and rising of the first sun, they came to the places where soft marjoram embraces them with flowers and breathing sweet shade. Here is purple spring, and summer in months not its own; here clear springs; here at a fixed time they press sweet honey; here a white poplar overhangs the cave, and the pliant vines weave shady bowers. Gardens breathing with saffron flowers invite them, among a fragrant grove of laurel, and the earth itself bore all things more freely, with no one asking. Fortunate both, if the mind of the unspeakable wife had not been perverse: the great outcome afterward taught it. ### Scripture references - Gen 2:16–17: allusion, high confidence - Gen 2:8–10: allusion, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Georg. 2.149 (Virgil): quotation, medium confidence - Virgil, Aen. 9.446 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 2.54 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Gen 2:8–17 in Virgilian lines. In Proba the prohibition is addressed particularly to the woman, and she is blamed in advance ("unspeakable wife"). ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.148 (CSEL 16.1:578lines 148–171–579; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-148). ## Cento, lines 172–194 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-172 - Source: CSEL 16.1:579lines 172–194–580 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The serpent, hateful even to its own father, approaches the woman and argues that the prohibition is vain superstition and that she should persuade her husband to break it. ### Latin text Iamque dies infanda aderat: I per florea rura ecce inimicus atrox I inmensis orbibus anguis septem ingens gyros, septena uolumina uersans nec uisu facilis nec dictu affabilis ulli obliqua inuidia I ramo frondente pependit, uipeream spirans animam, I cui tristia bella iraeque insidiaeque et crimina noxia cordi. odit et ipse pater: I tot sese uertit in ora arrectisque horret squamis, et, I ne quid inausum aut intemptatum scelerisue doliue I relinquat, sic prior adgreditur dictis I seque obtulit ultro: 'dic' ait, 'o uirgo I -lucis habitamus opacis riparumque toros et prata recentia riuis incolimus —, I quae tanta animis ignauia uenit? strata iacent passim sua quaeque sub arbore poma, pocula sunt fontes liquidi: I caelestia dona adtractare nefas: I id rebus defuit unum. quid prohibet I causas penitus temptare latentes? uana superstitio I. rerum pars altera adempta est. quo uitam dedit aeternam? cur mortis adempta est condicio? I mea si non inrita dicta putaris, auctor ego audendi I sacrata resoluere iura. tu coniunx, tibi fas animum temptare precando. ### English translation (Claude) And now the unspeakable day was at hand: through the flowery countryside, behold, a fierce enemy, a serpent with immense coils, twisting seven huge circles, sevenfold folds, neither easy to look on nor approachable to speak to for anyone, hung on a leafy bough in slanting envy, breathing out a viper's breath, whose heart delights in sad wars, angers, plots and harmful crimes. Even its own father hates it: it turns itself into so many shapes and bristles with raised scales; and, so as to leave nothing undared or unattempted of crime or guile, it approaches first with words and offers itself unasked: "Tell me," it says, "O maiden (we dwell in shady groves and live on couches of riverbanks and meadows fresh with streams), what such sloth has come into your minds? The fruits lie strewn everywhere, each beneath its own tree; the clear springs are your cups: but to touch the heavenly gifts is forbidden: this one thing was lacking to your affairs. What prevents you from probing deeply the hidden causes? It is vain superstition; the other part of things has been taken away. For what did he give eternal life? Why was the condition of death taken away? If you do not think my words vain, I am the author of daring to loosen the sacred laws. You are the wife: it is lawful for you to test his mind by entreaty. ### Scripture references - Gen 3:1–5: allusion, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 5.85 (Virgil): quotation, medium confidence - Virgil, Aen. 3.621 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 7.325–326 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.673–675 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Ecl. 7.54 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 12.879–880 (Virgil): quotation, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Gen 3:1–5 in Virgilian lines. "Its own father" (pater, Aen. 7.327, of the Fury Allecto) is apparently the devil as the serpent's father. The lines "for what did he give eternal life? Why was the condition of death taken away?" (Aen. 12.879–880, Juturna's complaint) are made into the serpent's insinuation. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.172 (CSEL 16.1:579lines 172–194–580; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-172). ## Cento, lines 195–219 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-195 - Source: CSEL 16.1:580lines 195–219–582 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The woman eats the forbidden fruit and gives it to her husband; their eyes are opened, they cover themselves with leaves, and they hide from God. ### Latin text dux ego uester ero: I tua si mihi certa uoluntas, extruimusque toros dapibusque epulamur opimis.' sic ait, et dicto citius I, quod lege tenetur, subiciunt epulis I olim uenerabile lignum instituuntque dapes I contactuque omnia foedant. praecipue infelix pesti deuota futurae mirataque nouas frondes et non sua poma, causa mali tanti, I summo tenus attigit ore. maius adorta nefas maioremque orsa furorem heu misero coniunx I aliena ex arbore germen obicit atque | animum subita dulcedine mouit. continuo noua lux oculis effulsit; I at illi terrentur uisu subito: nec plura morati corpora sub ramis I obtentu frondis inumbrant: consertum tegumen: I nec spes opis ulla dabatur. at non haec nullis hominum I rerumque repertor obseruans oculis I caedes et facta tyranni praesensit: I notumque furens quid femina posset. continuo inuadit: I 'procul, o procul este profani' conclamat, I caelum ac terras qui numine firmat. atque illi longe gradientem ac dira frementem ut uidere, metu uersi retroque ruentes diffugiunt siluasque et sicubi concaua furtim saxa petunt. piget incepti lucisque, I neque auras dispiciunt: I taedet caeli conuexa tueri. ### English translation (Claude) I will be your leader, if your will is sure for me, and we will build couches and feast on rich banquets." So he spoke, and quicker than the word, they put under their feast the once venerable wood that is held by law, and set out the meal and defile everything by touch. Above all the unhappy woman, doomed to the coming plague, marveling at the new leaves and fruits not her own, the cause of so great an evil, touched it with the edge of her lips. Undertaking a greater crime and beginning a greater madness, alas, she offers her wretched husband the fruit from the forbidden tree and moved his mind with sudden sweetness. At once a new light flashed in their eyes; but they are terrified by the sudden sight, and without delaying further they shade their bodies under the branches with a covering of leaves: a joined covering; nor was any hope of help given. But the maker of men and things, watching with eyes not blind the slaughter and the deeds of the tyrant, perceived it beforehand, and knowing what a woman in a rage could do, at once rushes in: "Away, O away, you profane ones!" cries he who establishes heaven and earth by his power. And they, when they saw him striding from afar and roaring dreadfully, turned in fear and rushing back, scatter to the woods and wherever there are hollow rocks, and secretly seek them. They regret what they began and the light, nor do they look at the air: it wearies them to gaze on the vault of heaven. ### Scripture references - Gen 3:6–8: allusion, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 1.712 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 2.82 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.258 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 4.451 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Gen 3:6–10 in Virgilian lines. "The tyrant" is the serpent. The Latin "[" in one line is a stray mark of the digital text. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.195 (CSEL 16.1:580lines 195–219–582; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-195). ## Cento, lines 220–244 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-220 - Source: CSEL 16.1:582lines 220–244–583 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God comes walking in the garden, rebukes the man, and the man confesses his fault and blames the woman. ### Latin text Nec longum in medio tempus, I cum creber ad aures uisus adesse pedum sonitus genitorque per auras hunc, ubi uix multa maestum cognouit in umbra, talibus adloquitur dictis I atque increpat ultro: 'infelix, quae tanta animum dementia cepit? quis furor iste nouus? quo nunc, quo tenditis' inquit 'regnorum inmemores, I quae mentem insania mutat? dicite, I quae lucis miseris tam dira cupido? maturate fugam I totoque absistite luco: nec reuocare gradum I, si quando aduersa uocarint, est licitum; I flammis ambit torrentibus amnis | per medium stridens I torquetque sonantia saxa attollitque globos flammarum et sidera lambit. ille sub haec: I 'tua me, genitor, tua tristis imago ................. his posuere locis: I merui nec deprecor', inquit 'omnipotens, I sonitumque pedum uocemque tremesco conscius audacis facti: I monitisque sinistris femina I fert tristis sucos tardumque saporem. illa dolos dirumque nefas sub pectore uersans insontem infando indicio, I moritura puella dum furit, incautum crudeli morte I peremit; suasit enim, I scis ipse, neque est te fallere cuiquam. ut uidi, ut perii, ut me malus abstulit error, contigimusque manu I quod non sua seminat arbor.' tum pater omnipotens I solio sic infit ab alto: ### English translation (Claude) Nor was there a long time between, when the frequent sound of feet seemed to be at their ears, and the Father through the air, when he recognized him, grieving, in the deep shadow, addresses him with such words and rebukes him unasked: "Unhappy one, what such madness has seized your mind? What is this new frenzy? Where now, where are you heading," he says, "forgetful of your kingdom? What insanity changes your mind? Tell me, what so dreadful a desire for the light do the wretched have? Hasten flight, and keep away from the whole grove: nor is it permitted to recall your step, if ever adverse things call you back. A river with torrents of flame surrounds it, hissing through the middle, whirling sounding rocks, and it raises globes of flame and licks the stars." He in reply: "Your image, Father, your sad image ... [they] placed in these places: I have deserved it and do not beg off," he says, "Almighty, and I tremble at the sound of feet and your voice, conscious of a daring deed; and with ill-omened counsel the woman brings sad juices and a lingering taste. She, turning over guile and dire crime in her breast, with an unspeakable charge, the girl about to die, while she rages, destroyed the innocent and unwary by a cruel death; for she persuaded me, you yourself know, nor can anyone deceive you. As I saw, how I perished, how evil error carried me away! And we touched with our hand what its own tree does not sow." Then the almighty Father begins thus from his high throne: ### Scripture references - Gen 3:8–13: allusion, high confidence - Gen 3:24: allusion, low confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 5.670 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.695 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Ecl. 8.41 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Gen 3:8–13 in Virgilian lines; the river of fire anticipates the cherubim and flaming sword of Gen 3:24. The row of dots in the Latin after "tua tristis imago" marks a gap in the digital text (one or more lines missing), shown as "...". ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.220 (CSEL 16.1:582lines 220–244–583; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-220). ## Cento, lines 245–269 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-245 - Source: CSEL 16.1:583lines 245–269–585 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God curses the serpent, sentences the man to toil, thorns, disease and death, and condemns the woman as the cause of the evils. ### Latin text 'accipite ergo animis atque haec mea figite dicta: tuque prior, I scelere ante alios inmanior omnis, quem nec longa dies pietas nec mitigat ulla, hortator scelerum, I coluber, mala gramina pastus desidia latamque trahens inglorius aluum cede locis, I nullis hominum cogentibus, ipse, tenuis ubi argilla et dumosis calculus aruis.' 'at tibi pro scelere' exclamat, 'pro talibus ausis omne aeuum ferro teritur, I primusque per artem, heu miserande puer, I terram insectabere rastris et sonitu terrebis aues: I horrebit in aruis carduus et spinis surget paliurus acutis lappaeque tribolique I et fallax herba ueneni. at si triticeam in messem robustaque farra exercebis humum, I frustra spectabis aceruum concussaque famem in siluis solabere quercu. insuper his I subeunt morbi tristisque senectus et labor et durae rapit inclementia mortis. haec tibi semper erunt, I tuque, o saeuissima coniunx, non ignara mali, I caput horum et causa malorum, magna lues commissa tibi: I heu perdita nescis nec quae te circum stent deinde pericula cernis. nunc morere, ut merita es, I tota quod mente petisti: nec mea iam mutata loco sententia cedit.' At iuuenem I primum saeuus circumstetit horror: ### English translation (Claude) "Receive these things, then, into your minds and fix these words of mine: and you first, more monstrous than all others in crime, whom neither length of days nor any piety softens, inciter of crimes, serpent, fed on evil grasses, dragging your broad belly ingloriously in sloth, depart from these places, with no man compelling you, yourself, to where the clay is thin and the pebbles in thorny fields." "But for you, for your crime," he cries, "for such daring, every age is worn away with iron; and first by skill, alas, pitiable boy, you will harass the earth with rakes and scare the birds with noise; the thistle will bristle in the fields and the paliurus rise with sharp thorns, burrs and caltrops and the deceitful weed of poison. But if you work the ground for a harvest of wheat and hardy spelt, you will look in vain on another's heap and relieve your hunger in the woods with shaken acorns. Besides these come diseases, and sad old age, and labor, and the harshness of hard death snatches you away. These things will always be yours. And you, O most savage wife, not ignorant of evil, head and cause of these evils, a great plague committed to you: alas, lost one, you do not know, nor do you see the dangers that stand around you then. Now die, as you have deserved, since you sought it with your whole mind: nor does my sentence, once changed, now yield its place." But first a savage horror stood round the young man; ### Scripture references - Gen 3:14–19: allusion, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 2.535 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 1.153 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 1.219–220 (Virgil): quotation, medium confidence - Virgil, Georg. 1.158–159 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 3.67–68 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Gen 3:14–19 in Virgilian lines. The woman's sentence in Proba is death and blame, not the pains of childbirth of Gen 3:16. "Nec mea iam mutata loco sententia cedit" is translated literally; the sense is that God's sentence stands. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.245 (CSEL 16.1:583lines 245–269–585; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-245). ## Cento, lines 270–293 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-270 - Source: CSEL 16.1:585lines 270–293–586 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Adam and Eve leave paradise; Eve gives birth; agriculture begins; Cain murders Abel at the altar; and God makes nature harsher. ### Latin text deriguere oculi, I nec se celare tenebris amplius aut I notas audire et reddere uoces. haut mora, festinant iussi rapidisque feruntur passibus, I et pariter gressi per opaca uiarum corripiunt spatium medium | limenque relinquunt flentes I et paribus curis uestigia figunt. tum uictum in siluis I bacas lapidosaque corna dant rami et uulsis pascunt radicibus herbae. Interea magnum sol circumuertitur annum: matri longa decem tulerunt fastidia menses, unde homines nati, durum genus. I inde per artem aut herbae campo apparent aut arbore frondes, inque nouos soles audent se gramina tuto credere: I et lentis uuam demittere ramis instituunt I udoque docent inolescere libro. tum, gemini fratres | adolent dum altaria taedis, alter in alterius I praelato inuidit honore — horresco referens —: I consanguinitate propinquum excipit incautum patriasque obtruncat ad aras sanguine foedantem quos ipse sacrauerat ignis. tum genitor I uirus serpentibus addidit atris mellaque decussit foliis ignemque remouit - praedarique lupos iussit pontumque moueri et passim riuis currentia uina repressit. ### English translation (Claude) his eyes stiffened, nor could he hide any longer in the darkness, or hear and return familiar words. Without delay, as ordered, they hurry and are carried with swift steps, and walking side by side through the dark ways they cover the space between and leave the threshold, weeping, and plant their steps with equal cares. Then in the woods the branches give them food, berries and stony cornels, and the plants feed them with roots plucked up. Meanwhile the sun circles round the great year: ten months brought long weariness to the mother, whence men were born, a hard race. Thereafter by skill either grasses appear in the field or leaves on the tree, and the grasses dare to trust themselves safely to new suns; and they begin to let the grape down from pliant branches and teach it to grow into the moist bark. Then, while the twin brothers burn the altars with torches, one envied the other the honor preferred to him (I shudder to tell it): he catches his kinsman off guard and cuts him down at his father's altars, defiling with blood the fires he himself had consecrated. Then the Father added venom to black serpents, and shook the honey from the leaves, and removed fire, and ordered wolves to prey and the sea to be stirred, and checked the wine that ran everywhere in streams. ### Scripture references - Gen 3:23–24: allusion, high confidence - Gen 4:1–2: allusion, medium confidence - Gen 4:3–8: allusion, high confidence - Gen 3:17–18: echo, low confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Ecl. 4.61 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 1.63 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 2.204 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 3.332 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 1.129–132 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Gen 3:23–24, 4:1–2, and 4:3–8 in Virgilian lines. The hardening of nature (venom, wolves, the end of honey from leaves and wine in streams) comes from Virgil's account of Jupiter ending the golden age (Georg. 1.129–132). ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.270 (CSEL 16.1:585lines 270–293–586; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-270). ## Cento, lines 294–318 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-294 - Source: CSEL 16.1:587lines 294–318–588 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Mankind sinks through hardship to an iron age of war, greed and bloodshed, until God sends the flood and saves one righteous man to begin a new race. ### Latin text mox et frumentis labor additus, ut mala culmos esset robigo I et uictum seges aegra negaret. tum laqueis captare feras et fallere uisco 'inuentum, et I duris urgens in rebus egestas mouit agros, curis acuens mortalia corda, deterior donec paulatim ac decolor aetas, ferrea progenies, duris caput extulit aruis et belli rabies et amor successit habendi. Iustitia excedens terris uestigia fecit. nec longum in medio tempus: I furor iraque mentem praecipitant: I gaudent perfusi sanguine fratrum. condit opes alius defossoque incubat auro nec doluit miserans inopem I dextramque tetendit. Tum pater omnipotens | grauiter commotus ab alto aethere se mittit: | tellurem effundit in undas diluuio miscens caelumque in Tartara soluit. sternit agros, sternit sata laeta bouumque labores diluit: inplentur fossae et caua flumina crescunt: I et genus omne neci pecudum dedit, omne ferarum. tum pietate grauem ac meritis I — mirabile dictu —, qui fuit in terris et seruantissimus aequi, I eripuit leto, | tantis surgentibus undis, I ut genus unde nouae stirpis reuocetur haberet. I Diluuio ex illo I patribus dat iura uocatis omnipotens: I magnis agitant sub legibus aeuum. I ### English translation (Claude) Soon labor was added to the grain too, so that evil blight ate the stalks and the sick crop denied food. Then catching wild beasts with snares and deceiving them with birdlime was invented, and want, pressing in hard circumstances, moved the fields, sharpening mortal hearts with cares, until little by little a worse and discolored age, an iron offspring, raised its head from the hard fields, and the madness of war and the love of having came after. Justice, departing from the earth, left her last footprints. Nor was there a long time between: fury and anger drive the mind headlong; they rejoice, drenched in the blood of brothers. One hoards wealth and broods over buried gold, nor did he grieve in pity for the poor or stretch out his right hand. Then the almighty Father, deeply moved, sends himself from the high heaven: he pours out the earth into waves, mixing it with the flood, and dissolves the sky into Tartarus. He lays low the fields, lays low the glad crops and the labors of the oxen, washes them away: the ditches fill and the hollow rivers rise; and he gave to death the whole race of cattle, the whole race of wild beasts. Then he snatched from death one heavy with piety and merits (wondrous to tell), who was on earth and most observant of the right, while such great waves rose, so that he might have a source from which the race of a new stock could be recalled. From that flood the Almighty gives laws to the assembled fathers: they spend their age under great laws. ### Scripture references - Gen 6:5–8: allusion, high confidence - Gen 7:17–23: allusion, high confidence - Gen 9:1–17: allusion, low confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Georg. 1.150–151 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 1.139–140 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 8.326–327 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 2.473–474 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 2.510 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 2.507 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 2.499 (Virgil): quotation, medium confidence - Virgil, Aen. 2.306 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 3.480 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Gen 6:5–7, 7:17–23, and 8–9 (Noah) in Virgilian lines; the decline of the ages follows Virgil. The righteous man is Noah, unnamed, as all persons in the poem are. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.294 (CSEL 16.1:587lines 294–318–588; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-294). ## Cento, lines 319–345 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-319 - Source: CSEL 16.1:588lines 319–345–590 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Proba passes over the Exodus and the rest of Old Testament history and turns to the greater theme foretold by the prophets: the Son's coming down from heaven and his birth from a virgin. ### Latin text quid memorem infandas caedes, quid facta tyranni nesciaque humanis precibus mansuescere corda. I Aegyptum uiresque orientis et ultima I bella magnanimosque duces totiusque ordine gentis, quo cursu deserta petiuerit I et tribus et gens magna uirum, I menti tanti non inmemor umquam, quique sacerdotes casti I altaria iuxta, quique pii uates I pro libertate ruebant, qui bello exciti reges, quae litore rubro conplerint campos acies, I quibus arserit armis rex, genus egregium, I magno inflammante furore, agmen agens equitum et florentis aere cateruas? cetera facta patrum I pugnataque in ordine bella praetereo atque aliis post me memoranda relinquo. Nunc ad te et tua magna, pater, consulta reuertor. maius opus moueo: I uatum praedicta priorum adgredior, I quamuis angusti terminus aeui accipiat, I temptanda uia est, qua me quoque possim tollere humo I et nomen fama tot ferre per annos, quod tua progenies I caelo descendit ab alto, attulit et nobis aliquando optantibus aetas auxilium aduentumque dei, I quom femina primum uirginis os habitumque gerens I — mirabile dictu — nec generis nostri puerum nec sanguinis edit, seraque terrifici cecinerunt omina uates aduentare uirum I populis terrisque superbum semine ab aetherio, I qui uiribus occupet orbem. ### English translation (Claude) Why should I recall the unspeakable slaughters, the deeds of the tyrant, and hearts that know not how to grow gentle at human prayers? Egypt and the forces of the East and the last wars, and great-hearted leaders and the whole race in order; by what course the tribes and the people, a great nation of men, sought the desert, never unmindful of so great a mind; and the priests who were chaste beside the altars, and the pious prophets who rushed forward for liberty; what kings were roused to war, what battle lines filled the plains by the Red shore, with what arms the king, of noble race, blazed, driven by great fury, leading a column of horsemen and companies bright with bronze? The other deeds of the fathers and the wars fought in order I pass by and leave for others after me to record. Now I return to you and to your great counsels, Father. I set in motion a greater work: I approach the predictions of the earlier prophets, how, though the bound of a narrow age may receive me, a way must be tried by which I too may raise myself from the ground and carry my name in fame through so many years: that your offspring came down from high heaven, and that time brought to us, longing for it at last, the help and the coming of God, when first a woman, bearing the face and dress of a virgin (wondrous to tell), brought forth a child neither of our race nor of our blood; and the prophets of terror had long sung the omens that a man was coming, proud over peoples and lands, from heavenly seed, to take possession of the world by his strength. ### Scripture references - Exod 12:31–42: allusion, medium confidence - Exod 14:5–28: allusion, high confidence - Isa 7:14: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 1:26–35: allusion, medium confidence - Gal 4:4: echo, low confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 8.483 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.661–662 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 4.147–148 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 7.45 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 3.8–9 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The Exodus, the crossing of the Red Sea, the priests and prophets are summarized in one passage, and the poem then moves to the New Testament. "Neither of our race nor of our blood" expresses the virgin birth; the Virgilian source of this line is not identified here. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.319 (CSEL 16.1:588lines 319–345–590; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-319). ## Cento, lines 346–371 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-346 - Source: CSEL 16.1:590lines 346–371–591 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ is born, the star appears and the Magi worship him; the king, enraged, orders the slaughter of the infants while the mother keeps her child safe. ### Latin text Iamque aderat promissa dies, I quo tempore primum extulit os sacrum I diuinae stirpis origo missus in imperium, I uenitque in corpore uirtus mixta deo: I subiit cari genitoris imago. haut mora, continuo I caeli regione serena, stella facem ducens multa cum luce cucurrit. agnouere deum proceres I cunctisque repente muneribus cumulant I et sanctum sidus adorant. tum uero manifesta fides I clarumque paternae nomen erat uirtutis: et ipsi I agnoscere uultus flagrantisque dei | diuini signa decoris. protinus ad regem I magno feruore ruentum fama uolat I magnisque acuit rumoribus iras incenditque animum I matrisque adlabitur auris. illa dolos dirumque nefas I haut nescia rerum praesensit motusque excepit prima futuros. praescia uenturi I furtim mandarat alendum, dum curae ambiguae, dum I mens exaestuat ira. at rex sollicitus I stirpem et genus omne futurum praecipitare iubet subiectisque urere flammis, multa mouens, I mittique uiros, qui certa reportent. haut secus ac iussi faciunt | rapidisque feruntur passibus et I magnis urbem terroribus inplent. continuo auditae uoces uagitus et ingens infantumque animae flentes: I ante ora parentum corpora natorum I sternuntur limine primo. ### English translation (Claude) And now the promised day was at hand, at which time the origin of a divine stock first lifted up his sacred face, sent into his rule, and power came in a body mingled with God: the image of his dear Father came forth. Without delay, at once in a clear region of the sky, a star drawing a torch ran with much light. The chiefs recognized God and at once heap him with all gifts and adore the holy star. Then indeed faith was plain, and the name of his Father's power was clear; and they themselves recognize the face and the signs of divine beauty of the blazing God. At once rumor flies to the king, raging with great heat, and sharpens his anger with great reports and kindles his mind, and glides to the mother's ears. She, not ignorant of things, foresaw the guile and dire crime and was first to catch the coming upheavals. Foreseeing what was coming, she had secretly entrusted him to be nursed, while cares wavered, while the mind seethed with anger. But the king, anxious, orders the stock and all the future race to be hurled down and burned with flames placed beneath, and, plotting much, orders men to be sent to bring back sure news. Just as ordered they do, and are carried with swift steps, and fill the city with great terrors. At once voices were heard, wailing and a huge cry, and the weeping souls of infants: before the faces of their parents the bodies of the children are laid low on the very threshold. ### Scripture references - Matt 2:1–12: allusion, high confidence - Matt 2:13–18: allusion, high confidence - Gal 4:4: echo, low confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 2.694 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.426–427 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Luke 2:1–7 and Matt 2:1–16 in Virgilian lines. "The chiefs" (proceres) are the Magi. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.346 (CSEL 16.1:590lines 346–371–591; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-346). ## Cento, lines 372–396 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-372 - Source: CSEL 16.1:591lines 372–396–593 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The mother hides the child in a manger; when the danger is past the child grows up admired by all, and the prophet John recognizes him at the river and baptizes him. ### Latin text at mater I gemitu non frustra exterrita tanto, ipsa sinu prae se portans, I turbante tumultu, infantem fugiens I plena ad praesaepia reddit. hic natum I angusti subter fastigia tecti nutribat teneris inmulgens ubera labris. hic tibi prima, puer, I fundent cunabula flores, mixtaque ridenti I passim cum baccare tellus molli paulatim I colocasia fundet acantho. Et iam finis erat I perfecto temporis orbe. ut primum cessit furor et rabida ora quierunt, ante annos animumque gerens I caelestis origo per medias urbes graditur I populosque propinquos. illum omnis tectis agrisque effusa iuuentus attonitis inhians animis I prospectat euntem, turbaque miratur matrum: I 'qui spiritus illi, qui uultus uocisque sonus uel gressus eunti est!' Continuo uates I — namque is certissimus auctor — ut procul egelido secretum flumine uidit, 'tempus' ait: 'deus, ecce, deus, cui I maxima rerum uerborumque fides. I tu nunc eris alter ab illo, fortunate puer, I caeli cui sidera parent. sic equidem ducebam animo rebarque futurum: expectate uenis, I spes et solacia nostri. haec ubi dicta dedit, I fluuio mersare salubri accepit uenientem ac mollibus extulit undis: ### English translation (Claude) But the mother, not in vain terrified by such groaning, carrying him herself in her bosom before her amid the confusion, flees with the infant and brings him back to the full manger. Here she nursed her son beneath the gables of a narrow roof, milking her breasts into his tender lips. Here for you first, child, the cradle will pour out flowers, and the earth, mixing the colocasia with the smiling acanthus everywhere, will pour it out with soft bear's-foot little by little. And now the end had come, the circle of time completed. As soon as the fury ceased and the raging mouths fell quiet, bearing a mind beyond his years, the heavenly origin walks through the middle of cities and the neighboring peoples. All the young men, pouring out of houses and fields, gape with astonished minds and gaze at him as he goes, and the crowd of mothers marvels: "What spirit he has, what a face, what sound of voice, and what a step as he goes!" At once the prophet (for he is the surest witness), when he saw him far off, apart by the chill river, said: "It is the time: God, behold, God, in whom is the greatest faith of things and words. You now will be second to him, fortunate boy, whom the stars of the sky obey. So indeed I was supposing in my mind and believed it would be: long awaited you come, the hope and comfort of us." When he had said these things, he received the one coming to be plunged in the healing river and lifted him out of the soft waves. ### Scripture references - Luke 2:7: allusion, high confidence - Luke 2:40: allusion, low confidence - John 1:29–34: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 3:13–16: allusion, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Ecl. 4.23 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Ecl. 4.19–20 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.46 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Ecl. 5.49 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 2.282–283 (Virgil): quotation, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Luke 2:7, 2:40–52, John 1:29–34, and Matt 3:13–16 in Virgilian lines; the cradle of flowers comes from Virgil's Fourth Eclogue. The prophet is John the Baptist. "You now will be second to him" (Ecl. 5.49) is translated as Proba applies it; its reference (Christ as second to the Father, or John as second to Christ) is not certain. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.372 (CSEL 16.1:591lines 372–396–593; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-372). ## Cento, lines 397–421 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-397 - Source: CSEL 16.1:593lines 397–421–594 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: At the baptism the dove descends and the Father proclaims the Son and commissions him to rule and save the peoples; Proba gives thanks for her own cleansing in baptism. ### Latin text exultantque uada ac I subito commota columba deuolat et supra caput astitit. I inde repente radit iter liquidum celeris neque commouet alas. huc omnis turba ad ripas effusa ruebat certatim largos umeris infundere rores. tum genitor natum dictis I conpellat amicis: nate, meae uires, mea magna potentia solus et praedulce decus I magnum rediture parenti, a te principium, tibi desinet. I accipe, testor, o mea progenies: I qua sol utrumque recurrens aspicit Oceanum, I perfecto laetus honore omnia sub pedibus I uertique regique uidebis. tu regere imperio populos, I matresque uirosque, iam pridem resides animos desuetaque corda ignarosque uiae mecum miseratus I inertes adgredere et uotis iam nunc adsuesce uocari'. dixerat: ille patris magni parere parabat imperio, I instans operi regnisque futuris. Heu pietas, heu prisca fides! I quas dicere grates incipiam, I si parua licet conponere magnis? nec mihi iam patriam antiquam spes ulla uidendi nec spes libertatis erat nec cura I salutis. hic mihi responsum primus dedit ille petenti, concretam exemit labem purumque reliquit aetherium sensum I meque in mea regna remisit. ### English translation (Claude) And the shallows leap, and suddenly a dove, stirred, flies down and stood above his head; then at once it skims its liquid way and does not move its swift wings. Here the whole crowd, poured out onto the banks, rushed, vying to pour abundant dew on their shoulders. Then the Father addresses his Son with friendly words: "Son, my strength, alone my great power, sweetest glory, who will return great to your parent: from you is the beginning, in you it will end. Receive, I bear witness, O my offspring: where the sun returning sees both Oceans, you will see, glad in completed honor, all things beneath your feet turned and ruled. You, rule the peoples with your command, mothers and men; long sluggish minds and hearts unaccustomed, and those ignorant of the way, pitying them with me, approach them as they are inert, and now grow accustomed to be called upon in prayers." He had spoken: the Son was preparing to obey the command of his great Father, pressing on to the work and to the kingdom to come. Alas, piety, alas, ancient faith! What thanks shall I begin to say, if it is permitted to compare small things with great? I had now no hope of seeing my ancient homeland, no hope of freedom, nor any care for salvation. Here he first gave an answer to me as I asked: he removed the stain that had grown hard and left the heavenly sense pure, and sent me back into my kingdom. ### Scripture references - Matt 3:16–17: allusion, high confidence - Ps 8:6 (8:7 LXX): echo, low confidence - 1 Cor 15:27: echo, low confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 1.664 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Ecl. 8.11 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.851 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.878 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 4.176 (Virgil): quotation, medium confidence - Virgil, Ecl. 1.32 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Ecl. 1.44 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.746–747 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Matt 3:16–17 in Virgilian lines; the Father's words are expanded into a commission. In the closing lines Proba speaks of her own baptism (the stain removed, the soul made pure, Aen. 6.746–747). "Pour abundant dew on their shoulders" is probably the crowd's own baptism. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.397 (CSEL 16.1:593lines 397–421–594; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-397). ## Cento, lines 422–445 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-422 - Source: CSEL 16.1:594lines 422–445–595 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Proba declares her devotion to Christ; then the serpent confronts him in the wilderness, questions who he is, and tempts him to throw himself from the height of the temple. ### Latin text illum ego per flammas, I agerem si Syrtibus exul, per uarios casus, per I mille sequentia tela, quo res cumque cadent, unum I pro nomine tanto exequerer strueremque suis altaria donis. huius in aduentum I tantarum in munera laudum ipsi laetitia uoces ad sidera iactant intonsi montes: I respondent omnia ualles. Tempore non alio I — magnum et memorabile nomen — serpentis furiale malum I meminisse necesse est. ausus quin etiam I — fama est obscurior annis — conpellare uirum et I ueniendi poscere causas. hunc ubi tendentem aduersum per gramina uidit, substitit infremuitque ferox | dominumque potentem saucius ac serpens I adfatur uoce superba: 'uerane te facies, uerus mihi nuntius adfers? qui genus? unde domo, I qui nostra ad limina tendis? fare age, quid uenias; I nam te dare iura loquuntur. aut quis te, iuuenum confidentissime, nostras iussit adire domus pacique inponere morem? non equidem inuideo, miror magis: I accipe porro, quid dubitem et quae nunc animo sententia surgat. est domus alta: I uoca zephyros et labere pinnis ardua tecta petens, I ausus te credere caelo, si modo quem memoras pater est, I cui sidera parent'. ### English translation (Claude) Him I would follow through flames, if I were driven an exile in the Syrtes, through various chances, through a thousand pursuing weapons, wherever things will fall out, for so great a name alone, and I would heap altars with their gifts. At his coming, for the reward of praises so great, the unshorn mountains themselves cast their voices to the stars in joy: all the valleys answer. At no other time (a great and memorable name) must the raging evil of the serpent be remembered. Indeed it even dared (the story is obscured by years) to accost the man and demand the reasons for his coming. When it saw him advancing toward it through the grass, it stopped and roared fiercely, and, wounded, the serpent addresses the powerful lord with a proud voice: "Is your face true? Are you a true messenger to me? What race are you? From what home, you who are making for our thresholds? Tell me, come, why you come; for they say you give laws. Or who ordered you, most confident of young men, to approach our homes and impose a custom on peace? I do not envy you; I wonder rather. Hear further what I doubt and what resolve now rises in my mind. There is a lofty house: call the west winds and glide on wings, seeking the high roofs, daring to trust yourself to the sky, if indeed he whom you mention is your Father, whom the stars obey." ### Scripture references - Matt 4:1–7: allusion, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 6.110 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 5.51 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Ecl. 5.62–63 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 8.114 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Ecl. 1.11 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Matt 4:1–7 in Virgilian lines; the temptation from the pinnacle of the temple (Matt 4:5–6) is the serpent's challenge to fly from "a lofty house". ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.422 (CSEL 16.1:594lines 422–445–595; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-422). ## Cento, lines 446–468 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-446 - Source: CSEL 16.1:595lines 446–468–597 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ rebukes and defeats the serpent; crowds gather to follow him, and on a mountain he begins to teach them. ### Latin text olli subridens sedato pectore I fatur haut uatum ignarus uenturique inscius aeui: 'dissimulare etiam sperasti, perfide I serpens? ne dubita; nam uera uides. I opta ardua pinnis astra sequi clausumque caua te condere terra. quo periture ruis maioraque uiribus audes? cede deo, I toto proiectus corpore terrae'. nec plura his: ille admirans uenerabile donum fronte premit terram I et spumas agit ore cruentas contentusque fuga I caecis se inmiscuit umbris. Interea I uolitans magnas it fama per urbes. conuenere uiri: mens omnibus una sequendi in quascumque uelit pelago deducere terras. multi praeterea, quos fama obscura recondit, concurrunt I fremitu denso stipantque frequentes exultantque animis; I medium nam plurima turba hunc habet atque umeris extantem suspicit altis. postquam altos uentum in montes; I aeterna potestas iura dabat legesque uiris, secreta parentis, spemque dedit dubiae menti I curasque resoluit. conspicit ecce alios dextra laeuaque I frequentis. quos ubi confertos audere in proelia uidit, incipit et dictis diuinum aspirat amorem: ### English translation (Claude) Smiling at him, he speaks with calm heart, not ignorant of the prophets and not unaware of the age to come: "Did you even hope to hide it, treacherous serpent? Do not doubt; for you see true things. Choose to follow the high stars on wings, or to hide yourself shut in the hollow earth. Where are you rushing, doomed one, and daring things greater than your strength? Yield to God, thrown down with your whole body on the earth." No more than this: he, marveling at the venerable gift, presses the earth with his forehead and foams bloody froth at his mouth, and content with flight mingled himself with the dark shadows. Meanwhile rumor goes flying through great cities. Men came together: all had one mind, to follow him into whatever lands he wished to lead them across the sea. Many besides, whom obscure fame hides, run together and crowd round in a dense roaring throng, and exult in spirit; for the great crowd holds him in their midst and looks up at him standing out with lofty shoulders. After they came to the high mountains, the eternal power was giving rights and laws to men, the secrets of the Father, and gave hope to the doubtful mind and dissolved its cares. Behold, he sees others thronging on right and left. When he saw them, crowded together, daring for the battles, he begins and breathes divine love into them with his words: ### Scripture references - Matt 4:8–11: allusion, high confidence - Matt 4:18–25: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 5:1–2: allusion, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 1.254 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 10.811 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 5.302 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Matt 4:8–11, 4:18–25, and 5:1–2 in Virgilian lines. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.446 (CSEL 16.1:595lines 446–468–597; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-446). ## Cento, lines 469–492 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-469 - Source: CSEL 16.1:597lines 469–492–598 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ teaches justice, mercy and faith, warns of the punishments awaiting the greedy and wicked after death, and forbids idol worship. ### Latin text 'discite iustitiam moniti, I succurrite fessis pro se quisque, uiri, I quae cuique est copia, laeti communemque uocate deum. I meliora sequamur quoque uocat uertamus iter. I uia prima salutis intemerata fides I et mens sibi conscia recti. uobis parta quies I perfecto temporis orbe. nam qui diuitiis soli incubuere repertis nec partem posuere suis, I dum uita maneret, pulsatusue parens et fraus innexa clienti, tum, cum frigida mors anima seduxerit artus, inclusi poenam expectant, I quae maxima turba est, infernisque cient tenebris I ueterumque malorum supplicia expendunt. I aliis sub gurgite uasto infectum eluitur scelus aut exuritur igni. turbidus hic caeno uastaque uoragine gurges aestuat atque imo barathri eructat harenam. hinc exaudiri gemitus et saeua sonare uerbera, tum stridor ferri tractaeque catenae, semper et obducta densantur nocte tenebrae. praeterea I quae dicam animis aduertite uestris. non ego uos posthac I caesis de more iuuencis religione patrum I truncis et robore nata mortaliue manu I effigies et templa tueri audiam: et haec I repetens iterumque iterumque monebo: ### English translation (Claude) "Be warned and learn justice; help the weary, each for himself, men, gladly, with whatever resources each has, and call on the God of all. Let us follow better things and turn our way where it calls. The first way of salvation is unstained faith and a mind conscious of the right. For you rest is won, the circle of time completed. For those who alone brooded over the riches they found and set aside no share for their own while life remained, and the parent struck and the fraud woven against a client, then, when cold death has separated the limbs from the soul, shut in, await punishment, they who are the greatest throng, and they cry out in the infernal darkness and pay the penalties of old evils. For others, under a vast whirlpool, the stain of crime is washed away or burned out by fire. Here a whirlpool, thick with mud and with a vast abyss, seethes, and from the bottom of the pit belches up sand. From here groans are heard and savage lashes sounding, then the grating of iron and the dragging of chains, and always the darkness thickens with overspreading night. Besides, turn your minds to what I shall say. I will not hereafter hear of you worshiping, after the custom of your fathers' religion, with slaughtered bullocks, images born from trunks and oak, or made by mortal hand, and temples: and these things I will repeat and warn again and again: ### Scripture references - Matt 5:1–7:29: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 6:19–21: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 12:16–21: allusion, low confidence - Matt 25:41: echo, low confidence - Exod 20:4–5: allusion, low confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 6.620 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 1.604 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.609–611 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.741–742 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.296–297 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.557–558 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5–7) in Virgilian lines, joined with Virgil's description of the punishments of the underworld (Aen. 6). The lines on purging by water or fire (Aen. 6.741–742) are applied without comment; Proba does not explain them further. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.469 (CSEL 16.1:597lines 469–492–598; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-469). ## Cento, lines 493–516 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-493 - Source: CSEL 16.1:598lines 493–516–600 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ warns of the coming judgment and the destruction of the world by fire; a rich young man kneels before him and asks what more he must do. ### Latin text sed periisse semel satis est, I natumque patremque profuerit meminisse magis, I si credere dignum est. sed fugit interea, fugit inreparabile tempus, flammarumque I dies et uis inimica propinquat'. adtonitis haesere animis : nec plura moratus hic aliud maius miseris I mortalibus aegris iudicium I canit — et tristis denuntiat iras — uenturum excidio | et uasta conuulsa ruina omnia tum pariter I rutilo inmiscerier igni palantesque polo stellas I caelique ruinam. tum uero tremefacta nouos per pectora cunctis insinuat pauor, I et taciti uentura uidebant. Haec super aduentu I cum multa horrenda moneret, ora puer prima signans intonsa iuuenta, diues opum, I studiis florens ignobilis oti — quinque greges illi balantum, quina redibant armenta, et dapibus mensas onerabat inemptis — continuo I alacris palmas utrasque tetendit et genua amplectens I sic ore effatus amico est: 'o decus, o famae merito pars maxima nostrae, ad te confugio et supplex tua numina posco. omnia praecepi atque animo mecum ante peregi. eripe me his, inuicte, malis. I quid denique restat, quidue sequens tantos possim superare labores? ### English translation (Claude) but to have perished once is enough; it will profit more to remember the Son and the Father, if it is worthy to believe. But meanwhile time flies, flies beyond recovery, and the day of flames and its hostile force draws near." They clung with astonished minds; nor delaying more, he sings to wretched, sick mortals of another, greater judgment (and he announces sad wraths), to come for destruction, and that all things then, torn with vast ruin, will be mingled together in ruddy fire, and the stars wandering in the sky and the ruin of heaven. Then indeed new dread steals into all through their trembling breasts, and in silence they saw what was to come. While he was warning of many dreadful things about his coming, a youth marking his unshorn face with first youth, rich in wealth, flourishing in the pursuits of inglorious ease (five flocks of bleating sheep he had, five herds came home, and he loaded his tables with unbought feasts), at once eagerly stretched out both palms and, embracing his knees, spoke thus with friendly mouth: "O glory, O deservedly greatest part of our fame, I flee to you and as a suppliant beg your divine power. I have foreseen everything and gone through it in my mind beforehand. Snatch me from these evils, unconquered one. What, finally, remains, or what may I follow to overcome such great labors? ### Scripture references - Matt 24:29–31: allusion, medium confidence - 2 Pet 3:10–12: allusion, low confidence - Matt 19:16–20: allusion, high confidence - Mark 10:17–20: allusion, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Georg. 3.284 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 7.538–539 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 4.133 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.365 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The warning of judgment draws on Matt 24–25 (and 2 Pet 3:10–12); the rich young man is Matt 19:16–20 and Mark 10:17–20. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.493 (CSEL 16.1:598lines 493–516–600; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-493). ## Cento, lines 517–538 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/0-1/#p-1-517 - Source: CSEL 16.1:600lines 517–538–601 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ tells the rich young man to despise wealth and give to the poor, and he goes away sad; the disciples put out to sea and a storm rises. ### Latin text accipe daque fidem: I mihi iussa capessere fas est.' atque huic responsum paucis ita reddidit heros: 'o praestans animi iuuenis, I absiste precando, nec te paeniteat: | nihil o tibi amice relictum. hoc etiam his addam, tua si mihi certa uoluntas: disce, puer, | contemnere opes et te quoque dignum finge deo, | et quae sit poteris cognoscere uirtus. da dextram misero et I fratrem ne desere frater. si iungi hospitio properat, | coniunge uolentem. casta pudicitiam seruet domus. I en age segnes rumpe moras I rebusque ueni non asper egenis.' dixerat haec. ille I in uerbo uestigia torsit tristior, I ora modis adtollens pallida miris, multa gemens, seque ex oculis auertit et aufert. Inde ubi prima fides pelago, tranquilla per alta deducunt socii nauis I atque arte magistra hic alius latum funda transuerberat amnem alta petens, pelagoque alius trahit umida lina. postquam altum tenuere rates nec iam amplius ullae occurrunt terrae, I crebris micat ignibus aether, eripiunt subito nubes caelumque diemque, consurgunt uenti et I fluctus ad sidera tollunt. ### English translation (Claude) Receive me and give me your pledge: it is right for me to carry out your commands." And to him the hero gave answer thus in a few words: "O young man outstanding in spirit, cease entreating, and do not regret it: nothing, O friend, is left for you. This too I will add, if your will is sure for me: learn, boy, to despise wealth, and shape yourself too worthy of God, and you will be able to know what virtue is. Give your right hand to the wretched, and do not, a brother, desert your brother. If he hastens to be joined in hospitality, join him willingly. Let the chaste house keep its modesty. Come now, break off sluggish delays, and come, not harsh to the needy." He had said these things. The other at the word turned his steps away, sadder, raising a face wondrously pale, groaning much, and removes himself from his sight and goes away. Then, when first the sea could be trusted, the companions launch the ships on the calm deep, and with masterly skill one lashes the broad stream with a casting net, seeking the deep, and another drags his wet lines on the sea. After the boats held the deep and no lands any longer meet them, the sky flashes with frequent fires; clouds suddenly snatch away sky and day; winds rise up and lift the waves to the stars. ### Scripture references - Matt 19:21–22: allusion, high confidence - Matt 14:22–24: allusion, high confidence - Matt 8:23–24: allusion, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 8.364–365 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.370 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 2.524 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 3.42–43 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Matt 19:21–22 in Virgilian lines; "let the chaste house keep its modesty" (Georg. 2.524) is added to Christ's demands. The storm draws on Matt 14:22–24 and 8:23–24. The numbers 549 and 555 in the Latin are the edition's line numbers that leaked into the digital text. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.517 (CSEL 16.1:600lines 517–538–601; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-517). ## Cento, lines 539–561 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/1-539/#p-1-539 - Source: CSEL 16.1:601lines 539–561–602 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: As the disciples despair in the storm, Christ comes to them walking on the water, calms the sea, and brings the boat safely to land. ### Latin text at sociis subita gelidus formidine sanguis diriguit: cecidere animi I cunctique repente pontum adspectabant flentes I — uox omnibus nulla — spemque metumque inter dubii, seu uiuere credant siue extrema pati, | leti discrimine paruo, qualia multa mari nautae patiuntur in alto. ecce deus I magno misceri murmure pontum emissamque hiemem sensit, I cui summa potestas. par leuibus uentis I et fulminis ocior alis prona petit maria et pelago decurrit aperto: nec longo distat cursu I praeeunte carina. agnoscunt longe regem I dextramque potentem nudati socii I et magno clamore salutant. postquam altos tetigit fluctus et ad aequora uenit, id uero horrendum ac uisu mirabile ferri: subsidunt undae, I remo ut luctamen abesset, collectasque fugat nubes I graditurque per aequor. iam medium necdum fluctu latera ardua tinxit. * at media socios incedens naue per ipsos ipse gubernaclo rector subit, ipse magister. intremuit malus, I gemuit sub pondere cumba, uela cadunt, I puppique deus consedit in alta: et tandem laeti notae aduertuntur harenae. ### English translation (Claude) But the companions' blood froze with sudden fear: their spirits fell, and all at once, weeping, they looked out at the sea (no voice for anyone), between hope and fear, doubtful whether to believe they lived or suffered the end, by a small margin from death, such things as sailors suffer on the deep sea. Behold, God sensed that the sea was being stirred with a great roar and the storm let loose, he who holds the supreme power. Equal to the light winds and swifter than the wings of lightning, he heads for the seas and runs down on the open water: nor is he far distant in course from the ship ahead. The stripped companions recognize their king from afar and his powerful right hand, and greet him with a great shout. After he touched the deep waves and came to the waters, this indeed was dreadful and marvelous to see: the waves subside, so that the oar had no struggle, and he puts the gathered clouds to flight and walks over the sea. And now, at the middle, he had not yet wet his lofty sides with the wave. And walking through the middle of the ship among the companions themselves, he himself goes to the helm as steersman, he himself the master. The mast trembled, the boat groaned under the weight, the sails fall, and God sat down on the high stern: and at last the glad men turn to the familiar sands. ### Scripture references - Matt 14:24–33: allusion, high confidence - Mark 6:47–51: allusion, medium confidence - John 6:19–21: allusion, low confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 1.218–219 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 5.319 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 7.78 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 1.143 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 5.176 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.413 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Matt 14:24–33 (with Mark 6:47–51 and John 6:19–21) in Virgilian lines. "Ulla" in the Latin is read as nulla ("no voice for anyone"). The numbers 560 and 565 are leaked line numbers. The asterisk after one line marks a gap or doubtful place in the digital text; the line is translated as it stands. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.539 (CSEL 16.1:601lines 539–561–602; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-539). ## Cento, lines 562–585 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/1-539/#p-1-562 - Source: CSEL 16.1:602lines 562–585–603 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ rides into the city on an ass, drives the money changers out of the temple with a whip, and at evening, at supper with his disciples, gives thanks to the Father. ### Latin text Tunc etiam I tardi costas agitator aselli insedit nimbo effulgens: | cui plurima circum matres atque uiri, pueri I uelamina nota subiciunt I funemque manu contingere gaudent. iamque propinquabant portis I templumque uetustum antiqua e cedro I centum sublime columnis ingreditur I magna medius comitante caterua. horrendum siluis I hoc illis curia templum, hae sacrae sedes, I miro quod honore colebant. namque sub ingenti lustrat dum singula templo, horrescit uisu subito I insonuitque flagello significatque manu et magno simul I intonat ore: 'quae scelerum facies, I quaeue aera micantia cerno Caesaris et nomen? I quae mentem insania mutat? hae nobis propriae sedes, I hic tempore certo perpetuis soliti patrum considere mensis.' obstipuere animis I gelidusque per ima cucurrit ossa tremor, I mensasque metu liquere priores. Deuexo interea propior fit Uesper Olympo. tum uictu reuocant uires fusique per herbam et dapibus mensas onerant et pocula ponunt. postquam prima quies epulis mensaeque remotae, ipse inter primos I genitori instaurat honores, suspiciens caelum. I tum facta silentia linguis. ### English translation (Claude) Then also he sat on the back of a slow ass, shining in a cloud: around him many mothers and men, and boys, spread familiar garments beneath him and rejoice to touch the rope with their hand. And now they were drawing near the gates, and he enters the ancient temple, lofty on a hundred columns of ancient cedar, in the middle with a great throng accompanying. Awe-inspiring with its woods, this was their senate house and temple, these the sacred seats which they honored with wondrous honor. For while he surveys each thing beneath the huge temple, he shudders at the sudden sight, and sounded with a whip, and signals with his hand and at the same time thunders with great voice: "What face of crimes, what glittering bronze do I see, and Caesar's name? What madness changes your minds? These are our own seats; here at a fixed time the fathers were accustomed to sit at unbroken tables." They were stunned in spirit, and trembling ran through their bones to the marrow, and in fear they left their former tables. Meanwhile Vesper draws nearer as Olympus sinks. Then they restore their strength with food, and stretched out on the grass they load the tables with feasts and set out cups. After the first rest from feasting, and the tables removed, he himself among the first renews honors to the Father, looking up at heaven. Then silence fell on tongues. ### Scripture references - Matt 21:1–11: allusion, high confidence - Matt 21:12–13: allusion, high confidence - John 2:15: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 22:20–21: echo, low confidence - Matt 26:20: allusion, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 7.170 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 7.174–176 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 1.453 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.560 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 2.120–121 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 1.723 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Matt 21:1–13 (with John 2:13–16 for the whip) and Matt 26:20–26 in Virgilian lines. "Caesar's name" on the coins (cf. Matt 22:20–21) marks the money changers' trade. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.562 (CSEL 16.1:602lines 562–585–603; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-562). ## Cento, lines 586–612 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/1-539/#p-1-586 - Source: CSEL 16.1:604lines 586–612–605 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: At the supper Christ gives bread and wine and teaches the sacred rite, foretells his betrayal and his death for many; at dawn the priests and people demand his death, question him, and mock him. ### Latin text dat manibus fruges I dulcesque a fontibus undas impleuitque mero pateram I ritusque sacrorum edocet inmiscetque preces I ac talia fatur: 'audite, o proceres,' ait 'et spes discite uestras. nemo ex hoc numero mihi non donatus abibit, promissisque patris I uestra' inquit 'munera uobis certa manent, pueri, et palmam mouet ordine nemo. et lux cum primum terris se crastina reddet, unus erit tantum I in me exitiumque meorum, dum paci medium se offert I de corpore nostro. iamque dies, nisi fallor, adest. I secludite curas. mecum erit iste labor, | nec me sententia fallit: unum pro multis dabitur caput.' I haec ita fatus conticuit seramque dedit per membra quietem. Oceanum interea surgens Aurora reliquit. iamque sacerdotes | late loca questibus implent cum populo patribus ferturque per agmina murmur. quod genus hoc hominum, quaeue hunc tam barbara morem permittit patria? I poenas cum sanguine poscunt undique collecti I et magno clamore secuntur insontem, | saeuitque animis ignobile uulgus. Sol medium caeli conscenderat igneus orbem, cum subito I acciri omnes, populusque patresque, exposcunt farique iubent, I quo sanguine cretus quidue petat quidue ipse ferat. I praeclara tuentis facta uiri mixtus dolor et I stupor urguet inertis — nescia mens hominum —, I certantque inludere capto. ### English translation (Claude) He gives grain into their hands and sweet water from the springs, and filled the bowl with wine, and teaches the rites of the sacred things, and mingles prayers, and speaks thus: "Hear, O chiefs," he says, "and learn your hopes. None of this number will go away from me ungifted, and by the promises of the Father," he says, "your gifts remain sure for you, boys, and no one moves the palm from its order. And as soon as tomorrow's light returns to the earth, there will be one only against me and the destruction of my own, while he offers himself as the go-between for peace, from our own body. And now the day, unless I am mistaken, is here. Put away your cares. This labor will be mine, nor does my resolve deceive me: one head will be given for many." Having spoken thus, he fell silent and gave late rest through his limbs. Meanwhile Dawn, rising, left the Ocean. And now the priests far and wide fill the places with laments, with the people and the fathers, and a murmur runs through the ranks: "What race of men is this, or what country so barbarous permits this custom?" Gathered from everywhere, they demand punishment with blood and follow with great shouting the innocent one, and the base crowd rages in spirit. The fiery sun had climbed the middle circle of the sky when suddenly all, people and fathers, are summoned: they demand and order him to speak, of what blood he is born, or what he seeks, or what he himself brings. Grief and astonishment mixed press on the inert men as they look on the glorious deeds of the man (the mind of men knows not), and they vie in mocking the captive. ### Scripture references - Matt 26:26–29: allusion, high confidence - Matt 26:21–25: allusion, medium confidence - John 11:50: allusion, medium confidence - Mark 10:45: echo, low confidence - Matt 27:1–2: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 27:20–31: allusion, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 3.103 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 5.305 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 5.49 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 5.815 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 4.129 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 1.539–540 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 4.426 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 2.64 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Matt 26:26–29 and 26:21–25 in Virgilian lines; "he gives grain into their hands" and "the rites of the sacred things" render the institution of the Eucharist. "One head will be given for many" (Aen. 5.815) recalls John 11:50 and Mark 10:45. "One ... while he offers himself as the go-between for peace" is Judas; the Latin of this line is compressed and the sense uncertain. The trial and mocking follow Matt 26:57–68 and 27:1–31. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.586 (CSEL 16.1:604lines 586–612–605; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-586). ## Cento, lines 613–637 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/1-539/#p-1-613 - Source: CSEL 16.1:605lines 613–637–606 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ is seized and fastened to a tree; he warns his executioners of judgment, and at his death darkness falls, the earth quakes, the dead come forth and the sun is darkened. ### Latin text tum uero I raptis concurrunt undique telis. tollitur in caelum clamor I cunctique repente corripuere sacram effigiem manibusque cruentis ingentem quercum decisis undique ramis constituunt I spirisque ligant ingentibus ipsum, tendebantque manus I pedibus per mutua nexis — triste ministerium —, I sequitur quos cetera pubes, ausi omnes inmane nefas ausoque potiti. ille autem inpauidus I 'quo uincula nectitis?' inquit. 'tantane uos generis tenuit fiducia uestri? post mihi non simili poena commissa luetis.' talia perstabat memorans fixusque manebat. Interea magno misceri murmure caelum incipit I et rebus nox abstulit atra colorem impiaque aeternam timuerunt saecula noctem. terra tremit, fugere ferae et mortalia corda per gentes humilis strauit pauor: I inde repente dat tellus gemitum et I caelum tonat omne fragore. extemplo | commotae Erebi de sedibus imis umbrae ibant tenues. I tellus quoque et aequora ponti signa dabant: I sistunt amnes terraeque dehiscunt. quin ipsae stupuere domus atque intima Leti Tartara I et umbrosae penitus patuere cauernae. sol quoque et exoriens I — cuncti se scire fatentur — tum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine texit. ### English translation (Claude) Then indeed they run together from everywhere with seized weapons. A shout rises to the sky, and all at once they seized the sacred image with bloody hands, and set up a huge oak with its branches cut off all round, and bind him with huge coils, and were stretching out his hands, the feet bound to each other (a sad ministry), and the rest of the youth follows them, all having dared a monstrous crime and achieved what they dared. But he, undaunted, says: "Why do you tie bonds? Has such confidence in your race held you? Later you will pay me with no like punishment for what you have committed." Saying such things he persisted and remained fixed. Meanwhile the sky begins to be stirred with a great roar, and black night took color from things, and the impious ages feared eternal night. The earth trembles, the wild beasts fled, and lowly dread laid mortal hearts low throughout the nations: then at once the earth gives a groan and the whole sky thunders with crashing. At once the thin shades, roused from the lowest seats of Erebus, went forth. The earth too and the waters of the sea gave signs: rivers stand still and the earth gapes open. Even the very houses and the inmost Tartarus of Death were stunned, and the shadowy caverns opened deep within. The sun too, both rising (all confess they know it), then covered his shining head with dark rust. ### Scripture references - Matt 27:32–38: allusion, high confidence - Matt 27:45: allusion, high confidence - Matt 27:51–53: allusion, high confidence - Luke 23:44–45: allusion, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 11.745 (Virgil): quotation, medium confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.223 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.624 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 1.132 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 1.136 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 2.650 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 1.468 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 1.479 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Georg. 1.466–467 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Matt 27:32–54 (with Luke 23:44–45) in Virgilian lines. The cross is described as a stripped oak. The going out of "the thin shades" renders the rising of the dead in Matt 27:52–53. "Later you will pay me with no like punishment" (Aen. 1.136) is the threat of Neptune applied to Christ. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.613 (CSEL 16.1:605lines 613–637–606; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-613). ## Cento, lines 638–663 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/1-539/#p-1-638 - Source: CSEL 16.1:606lines 638–663–607 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The disciples scatter in grief and Peter laments; on the third day the tomb is broken open and Christ rises and comes, bearing his wounds, to his followers. ### Latin text Diffugiunt comites et nocte teguntur opaca multaque dura suo tristi cum corde I uolutant. quid faciant? I haerent infixi pectore uultus uerbaque, nec placidam membris dat cura quietem. tum senior tales referebat pectore uoces multa putans: I ubi nunc nobis deus ille magister? quem sequimur? quoue ire iubes, ubi ponere sedes? o dolor atque decus, I tantarum gloria rerum! iam iam nulla mora est: et nos rape in omnia tecum — oramus — I teque aspectu ne subtrahe nostro. Hos inter motus I media inter talia uerba tertia lux gelidam caelo dimouerat umbram: iamque pedem referens I superas ueniebat ad auras, cum subito ante oculos I ingenti mole sepulchrum, corpus ubi exanime positum, I — nec claustra nec ipsi custodes sufferre ualent — I auulsaque saxis saxa uident, | laxis laterum conpagibus artis. fit sonus: ingenti concussa est pondere tellus. horror ubique animo, simul ipsa silentia terrent. Ecce autem primi I uolucrum sub culmine cantus: ingreditur linquens antrum, I spoliisque superbus ibat ouans, | pulsuque pedum tremit excita tellus, uulneraque illa gerens I foribus sese intulit altis. atque hic ingentem comitum adfluxisse nouorum inuenit admirans numerum I cunctisque repente inprouisus ait: 'coram, quem quaeritis, adsum. ### English translation (Claude) The companions scatter and are covered in dark night, and turn over many hard things in their sad hearts. What are they to do? His face and words cling fixed in their breast, nor does care give peaceful rest to their limbs. Then the elder brought forth such words from his breast, pondering much: "Where now is that God, our master? Whom do we follow? Where do you bid us go, where set our home? O grief and glory, glory of such great things! Now, now there is no delay: take us too with you into all things (we pray), and do not withdraw yourself from our sight." Amid these upheavals, in the middle of such words, the third light had moved the chill shadow from the sky: and now, retracing his step, he was coming to the upper air, when suddenly before their eyes the tomb of huge mass, where the lifeless body was laid (neither the bolts nor the guards themselves can withstand it), and they see rocks torn from rocks, with the tight joints of the sides loosened. A sound is made: the earth was shaken by a huge weight. Horror everywhere in the mind, and the very silences terrify. Behold, the first songs of the birds beneath the roof: he comes forth leaving the cave, and proud with spoils went exulting, and the earth trembles, roused by the beat of feet, and, bearing those wounds, he went in at the high doors. And here he finds with wonder that a great number of new companions has flowed together, and unexpected says to all at once: "Here I am before you, the one you seek. ### Scripture references - Matt 26:56: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 28:1–4: allusion, high confidence - John 20:19–20: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 24:36: allusion, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 3.88 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 10.507 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 2.701 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 3.589 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 2.755 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 1.595 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Matt 26:56, 28:1–10, Luke 24:36, and John 20:19 in Virgilian lines. "The elder" is presumably Peter. "Cubi" in the Latin is read as "ubi" (where). ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.638 (CSEL 16.1:606lines 638–663–607; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-638). ## Cento, lines 664–694 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/proba-cento/1-539/#p-1-664 - Source: CSEL 16.1:607lines 664–694–609 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The risen Christ comforts his followers, promises peace and resurrection, shows his wounds, and ascends to heaven; Proba ends with a prayer that her husband and descendants keep the faith. ### Latin text uicit iter durum pietas I et uiuida uirtus. praecipites uigilate, uiri; I timor omnis abesto. hi nostri reditus expectatique triumphi, haec mea magna fides. I o terque quaterque beati, quae uobis, quae digna, uiri, pro laudibus istis praemia posse rear solui, I quae dona parari? accipite ergo animis: I quae uos a stirpe parentum prima tulit tellus, eadem uos ubere laeto accipiet. I reuocate animum maestumque timorem mittite I et uosmet rebus seruate secundis. quod super est, laeti bene gestis ordine rebus pacem orate manu, I pacem laudate sedentes magnanimi; I pacis solum inuiolabile pignus.' et simul his dictis faciem ostendebat et I ora, ora manusque ambas populataque I pectora ferro: immiscentque manus manibus I gaudentque tuentes. nec uidisse semel satis est: iuuat usque morari et conferre gradum I et dextrae coniungere dextram. His demum exactis I spirantes dimouet auras: aera per tenerum I caeloque inuectus aperto mortales uisus medio in sermone reliquit: atque illum I solio stellantis regia caeli accipit I aeternumque tenet per saecula nomen. ex illo celebratus honos, laetique minores seruauere diem I tot iam labentibus annis. I decus, i, nostrum, I tantarum gloria rerum, et nos et tua dexter adi pede sacra secundo annua, quae differre nefas. celebrate fauentes hunc, socii, morem sacrorum: hunc ipse teneto, o dulcis coniunx, I et si pietate meremur, hac casti maneant in religione nepotes. ### English translation (Claude) Devotion has conquered the hard road, and living courage. Be wakeful at once, men; let all fear be gone. This is my return and long-awaited triumph, this my great faithfulness. O three and four times blessed, what rewards, what worthy ones, men, may I think can be paid for these praises, what gifts prepared? Receive this, then, in your minds: the same earth that first bore you from the stock of your parents will receive you in her glad bosom. Recall your courage and put away sad fear, and keep yourselves for prosperous things. For the rest, glad at things well done in order, pray for peace with your hand, praise peace as you sit, great-hearted ones: of peace the only inviolable pledge." And at the same time with these words he showed his face and mouth, his mouth and both hands, and his breast wasted by the iron: and they mingle hands with hands and rejoice as they gaze. Nor is it enough to have seen him once; it pleases them to linger always and walk beside him and join right hand to right hand. These things at last completed, he parts the breathing air: borne through the tender air into the open sky, he left mortal sight in the middle of his speech, and the royal palace of the starry heaven receives him on its throne, and holds his name for ever through the ages. From then his honor has been celebrated, and the glad descendants have kept the day through so many gliding years. Go, our glory, go, glory of things so great, and come propitious with favoring foot to us and your yearly rites, which it is wrong to put off. Celebrate this custom of rites favorably, companions; keep it yourself, O sweet husband, and if we deserve it by piety, may our grandchildren remain chaste in this religion. ### Scripture references - Luke 24:36–40: allusion, high confidence - John 20:19–27: allusion, high confidence - Acts 1:9–11: allusion, high confidence - John 14:27: echo, low confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Virgil, Aen. 6.688 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 1.94 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.487–488 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 9.657 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 8.268–269 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.546 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 8.302 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence - Virgil, Aen. 3.409 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Luke 24:36–40, John 20:19–27, and Acts 1:9 in Virgilian lines. "The same earth ... will receive you" speaks of burial and the promise of the resurrection. The last lines address Proba's husband (traditionally Clodius Celsinus Adelphius) and her family. ### Citation (SBL) Proba, Cento 1.664 (CSEL 16.1:607lines 664–694–609; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/proba-cento/1-664).