¹ needs linking to possible links to bible

Another Life #

¹ Various lands of the West flourish beneath the shining vine,
And she herself is likewise made illustrious by various champions.
The renowned poet seeks the famous city distinguished by Ambrose,
Columbanus, sprung from the nation and blood of the Scots.
Who, devout from childhood, lived a life marvellous for his age,
Establishing the camps of Christ, and filling them with many soldiers.
Following with eager desire the fragrance of the goal
Of this virtue, I may seem to have gone somewhat beyond its bounds.
But since the end granted him this struggle among the Italians,
At length it pleased him to be joined to Ausonian triumphs.

² While his mother carried him in her womb, gazing upon the rising sun,
She was granted, enlightened in her breast, to foresee the offspring,
Who would spread his light across the lands.

³ Instructed in the liberal arts, he undertakes the lessons
Of the heavenly contest, excellently supported by virtues.
He seeks the fields of Gaul, carrying divine seeds there,
Calling all by word and deed to the heights of heaven,
Seeking lofty things by ascending steps, he seeks the wilderness’s secrets,
And, climbing on dove-like wings, [Psalm 55:6] reaches the heights.
Nor is the servant deprived of the comfort of the holy Lady’s aid,
Despising future advantages, relying on her commands.
God relieves the anguish of the sick brother seeking aid,
Sending one who bears the desired provision,
Bringing sustenance to the weary man; nor does the messenger depart
Empty-handed or without reward for his journey.
The helper of the sick man prays for remedies for his wife,
And receives assistance, and brings back the gifts he sought,
And finds that, at the father’s prayer, his spouse has regained her strength.

⁴ Then the Abbot Carantoc, warned by secret visions
To bring assistance to the holy labourer,
Called for his servant and revealed the heavenly commands,
Ordering them to be fulfilled. Marculf hastens, laden
With pack-horses carrying ample supplies, but knowing not by what road
He should guide himself, nor where the man he sought might dwell.
And so, while he turns over in his uncertain heart what he should do,
A plan is suggested to his mind: he releases the beasts of burden
From their travelling duty, and follows wherever they go before him.
Divine power, guiding the animals along the straight path,
Leads them to the dwelling of the holy father, their master following behind.
And thus, finding God’s servant through those steeds as guides,
He delivers his burden; and thanks are given on both sides
To God. The blessing of the holy man enriches him,
And sends back the bearer, carrying praises worthy of proclamation.

⁵ Thereafter many visit the man who has fled the world,
And peoples honour him, seeking through reverence for his holiness
To be enriched, refreshed by his word, and relieved by his prayers.
He grants their requests and heals those afflicted by sickness,
Works wonders, drives away wild beasts, and puts enemies to flight afar.
Protected and unharmed, he remains steadfast amid wolfish savagery,
Daring to tame the fierce and calm their rage with gentle peace.
Having driven away a bear, he chooses the dark crags of a threatening cliff,
And dwells there alone, attended by a serving boy.
Wild herbs sustain him, and water provides his drink.
When the boy, fetching it from afar, complains
Of the long labour, he is ordered to search the slopes of the rock.
While, through the father’s prayers, the secrets of heaven are sought,
The deed is accomplished, and rich waters flow in answer to his prayers.
A spring rises from the mountain rock, [Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:11] from there flowing without cease,
Watering the lower ground and providing its useful gifts.

⁶ From every side the thronging companies hasten to fill God’s camps,
The marshal, gathering the ranks, provides fitting places,
He distributes the groups and points out the contest beforehand,
Assigning duties, giving laws, and handling regulations,
Which, written down, show how brightly their founder shone.
He himself, traversing the wilderness with two companions,
And lacking food, bids his companions go to seek it,
And, having marked the place, bring back the food they find.
They hasten off, enter the appointed place, and see
Gifts from the river laid upon the land,
Though not in their native element; they take three of five salmon,
And carry them off for a meal. They are rebuked as ungrateful,
For rejecting the father’s ready gifts; sent back, they return with what they had scorned.

⁷ Likewise, once he orders a companion to attend to fishing,
And marks the place where he should spread the loosened nets.
The man thinks otherwise, and does not approach the waters commanded,
But seeks a catch elsewhere, and marvels that the fish,
Driven together and pressing close, cannot be taken in the net.
He sees them massed in shoals, yet draws none from the waters,
And when the day is spent, the sweat of labour wasted,
The disciple returns empty of gain, having disregarded the command.
He is reproved for vainly setting aside the instructions,
And at last is ordered to enter the appointed waters.
Then the servant obeys, and casting out the broad nets,
Can scarcely draw them back, laden with the weight of the catch. [Luke 5:4–7] Thus rejoicing, he finds the father and repays the gifts bestowed.

⁸ Once, while he himself was dwelling apart in a bear’s cave,
He learns that the brethren are being worn down by hidden sicknesses and want,
And that only attendants remain
Appointed to serve the sick. Moved with pity for them,
He seeks the settlement of Luxeuil to drive away the plague.
He orders the exhausted to rise and attend to their duties,
And apply themselves with eager labour to the harvest awaiting threshing. [Matthew 9:37–38] They rise at the command of the father in whose word they rejoiced,
They heed his instructions and strive to set themselves to the threshing.
The force of disease flees and yields to this twofold virtue,
And strength fills their limbs when weakness has been driven out.
The father, rejoicing in their obedience, determines to refresh
The labour which they now marvel that they can perform; exultantly
He restores the tables and adorns them with rich food.
They celebrate their joy, with no pain remaining,
Except only that the commands had been followed too slowly.
Their negligence is reproved, their sloth marked out,
And the sickness of the soul is atoned for by sickness of the flesh.
And the lingering of the plague is foretold, and long
Anxiety rolls on until the year closes its bounds.

⁹ Once, when the stubble had dried at harvest time,
The rains arose and hindered the gathering of the year’s gifts.
The rains persisted; all hope of reaping was taken away
From their dismayed minds, lest shoots should again arise
Upon the stalks and the grain fall into famine’s peril.
Then he chose to entrust his prayers to the gracious Lord,
And placing his hope in Christ, bids his companions take up their tools,
Enter the harvest, and attack the fields with curved sickles.
His companions marvel; none dares speak against him,
But support his commands, and bearing rustic tools
Make for the cornfield; he appoints guards around
The field, men adorned by a higher manner of life,
Choosing four: Coniminus, Eunocus, Econamus,
Scots by blood, and Gurganus, a Briton by race.
These being assigned, the abbot sets himself with the brethren to the work.
Wonderful faith! Throughout the whole sky rain
Pours down around them; the crop falls on dry ground,
And thus, parched by wondrous heat, is wholly stored away.

¹⁰ The barren nobles perceive the power of this poor man,
They come, and receive the offspring they had sought,
And rejoice in the renowned honour of parenthood.
Wandalenus rejoices; through Donatus in name and deed
He flourishes in his pledge; the holy father cleanses him in the waters,
And nourishes the child entrusted to him with heavenly milk.
Later he raises him to the bishop’s throne of Besançon,
And he, establishing a monastery by the rule and honour of his patron,
Fits Christ’s contending camps into due order.
The father receives interest on the pledge entrusted,
Through the guardian’s merits; and the parents themselves
Bind themselves to the Lord; the mother joins the blessed company,
Rejoicing to be a companion among those chaste followers.
Cramelenus succeeds the father, himself also devoted
To the love granted by the glory of the blessed abbot,
And establishes the community governed by this father’s rule.

¹¹ That renowned father, mighty in the gift of holiness,
How rich he lived in works, how abundant in light,
The frequent comforts bestowed upon the afflicted show.
Theudegisolus learned this when his finger was cut off by a sickle,
Receiving sudden healing from the father’s healing mouth,
Saliva having been poured into the open wound.
Made stronger, he resumed his labour unharmed,
Believing he had recovered the limb he thought lost.
Nor less endowed with the honour of a noble cure,
Winocus, an old man devoted to rustic leisure,
Seeks swift help and relief from disaster.
While he marvels at the work of fathers engaged in earthly tasks,
And is astonished that soldiers of the heavenly warfare
Should toil in agricultural labour, struck by a flying wedge,
He groans from an open wound in his forehead, drenched with flowing blood.
But the father, pitying his distress and hastening aid,
And bending over him in prayer, hastens to cleanse him with saliva,
And after spittle restores what had been sprinkled by his mouth. [Mark 8:23] And while soothing the savage wound with gentle ointment,
He heals it, scarcely leaving traces of scars,
Thereafter following the life-giving father in worthy fashion.

¹² The brethren grieve that want of grain is weakening them,
The father raises his anxious companion with faithful words:
The righteous is not forsaken, nor his offspring seeking bread. [Psalm 37:25] Deeds give faith to his words: the empty granaries are filled
By God alone, the generous giver, through ready power.
The whole night passed; no carrier was found,
Except the boundless maker, who alone gives largely to all.
Thus once, standing by men hoeing the clods with a rake,
He orders sixty pairs of loaves
To be brought, with what little comfort of drink was there.
The countrymen marvel that the food increased as they ate, [Matthew 14:19–20] And the servant is amazed to have gathered double
For the satisfied guests, the interest of food and drink.

¹³ Nor does he thus kindly preserve only his own disciples:
Rather, he also aids strangers, and loosens chains.
Heavenly bonds, broken by the servant’s touch, fall apart;
At the father’s command, the guilty confess their crimes,
Promising to cleanse themselves with tears freely offered.
Freed from their bonds, he washes them and wipes the marks away,
And leads the washed men to church; but with the threshold shut,
No entrance opens to the fearful, and already near
Is the band of guards seeking those dragged back to torments.
He who opens chains by commands opens thresholds too by prayers,
And at his prayers throws back the bars for the trembling sick, [Acts 12:7–10] And, once they enter, sets the doors in their usual fastenings.
The keeper and the enemies, seeing these things secured by his power,
Fear to attack men protected by divine force,
Or to subject those so dealt with to human laws.

¹⁴ Good also to adversaries, and kind to the savage,
He receives the torments of his striker, bound again
By inward chains, the numbed iron having fallen
From his right hand; pitying him before his feet,
He restores the mind taken by demonic power and frenzy.
Twice men filled with a savage black spirit
Brought hostile faces before him; soon he redeemed them by prayer.
Thus five come, afflicted by raging madness,
To whom at once, the plague driven out, he gives health.
Thus to the father he restores by prayers a young man
Driven to run twenty miles by the swift force of a serpent,
Fixed and recovered through vows and prayers.
Likewise a mother rushes in with her child filled with this disease,
And without delay this father sends both away cleansed.
Thus, raging at the threshold of the Paris gate,
And complaining with mournful cries that the enemy had come there,
And revealing God’s servant by his widely known name:
Acts of the Saints of the Order of Saint Benedict, second century.
While with strong commands he withstands the dread powers,
He seizes Oremanus unharmed, and with tongue restrained
By the kindly father’s fingers, at command, with the stench
Of Aetnaean sulphur following, leaves him afflicted and torn.
Long deprived of the Phoebean gift,
Through the glorious guest he receives the shining gifts again,
And, long frustrated, rejoices in recalled light,
Himself a stranger seeking the stranger by sight.

¹⁵ This man, excelling greatly and shining as Christ’s dove,
How bright in light and radiant with heavenly splendour
He shone, the radiant heights of countless gifts
Of virtues reveal; and birds and beasts declare it,
Summoned from the woods, or received when they came fawning.
Does not the raven proclaim this, recalling theft,
Seen in trembling to fear the power of his command,
Going on when ordered after restoring the loss, nor daring otherwise?
Does not the bear tell of this in unwonted fear,
Driven from food already tasted at a word,
Leaving unharmed the hides of the deer’s prey,
And serving the needs of the saints at the saints’ command?
Nor does one witness alone record these things; different creatures
Were drawn here by the scent of carcasses, with keen nose,
And driven back by the father’s signals; while, the hide removed,
The stripped corpse ceased to provide them food.
Nor is he governed by unlike restraint, who, his apples yielded
Through the disciple, learns to refrain from pressing on,
To spare what is forbidden, ceasing to gape after plunder,
To live by decrees, and abstain from food apportioned elsewhere.

¹⁶ How great in the power of his word, how eminent in rank,
This father shone forth, his commands and deeds attest.
The service too of his chaste disciples reveals it,
And once a liquid poured out by a serving attendant,
Yet not spilled, nor passing over the bounds of its vessel,
Did not scatter upon the ground, but in strange fashion sought heaven,
Was lifted into the air, and doubled the cup at its summit,
Adorning the father’s command ennobling the servant’s deed.
Thus a single measure of grain remained for use,
When at his patron’s command it was carried to the needy,
While Acra, rich in goods, obeyed her father’s heavenly instructions.
When the third dawn returned to those awaiting it in hunger,
It repaid four hundred portions of food and drink,
Beyond hope and expectation, to those wholly destitute.
And the grace increased still further when Doda supplied three hundred more.

¹⁷ Once, when food was lacking, nourishment was sent from heaven:
The skies appoint food for those at prayer through many a bird.
A feathered host, the birds not taking flight,
Without labour brings it; they make the tables teem with rich feasts,
And seem in sweetness to surpass royal banquets.
For three days this bounty remains upon the earth,
Like manna, until abundance of grain arrives [Exodus 16:14–15] On the fourth day, by heavenly prompting, at the bishop’s command,
A holy man dwelling in the neighbouring region sending provisions.
Thus also, deprived of the comfort of his companions,
Trusting in spirit, he seeks out a faithful friend,
And, seeking the church, asks that the Lord’s gift be opened to him.
Nor does his friend delay the request,
But sends a bishop filled with zeal to bring
Whatever might please the holy man, urging him to accept the gifts freely given.
He gives thanks to the good Lord with humble heart,
And, having called his own together, devoutly accepts what is offered.

¹⁸ Then, following the Rhine’s waters, he visited barbarian lands.
Approaching the Suevi settled in the Sarmatian region.
Advancing further, he also encountered priests, vainly
Offering cakes that lacked the eternal light.
There stood a great vessel, fit for rites and ample company,
Holding the murky offerings of foul beer:
The soldier of the Lord, loosening it with a gentle breath,
Scatters it; forth burst alike both crash and liquid:
So you may see the Holy One put dreadful foul vapours to flight.
The startled barbarians marvel, and turning from falsehood,
No small part receive the sweet yoke of the true God,
And, weak in faith, are strengthened and made firm.

¹⁹ Meanwhile he thought to visit the Slavs’ borders,
To enlighten with holy light souls blind from birth. [John 9:1] But an angel, standing by in a vision, depicts on a map
The deserted world beneath a slight image of the earth,
Whether he should seek the right or the left, and undertake
The fruits won by labour. Filled with this inspiration,
The green-minded man, seeing the time not yet present for the bonds of that people
To be loosed for the Lord, ensnared as they were, rested.

²⁰ How and how greatly he was esteemed by heaven’s dwellers,
His guardian reveals by a thwarted attempt.
As he desired the end of service and labour’s palm,
And prayed for the reward he sought, one appeared in golden light:
“I cannot yet lead you forth in body,” he said,
“For Father Columbanus asks it, and by weeping wins refusal.”
Then, grieving, he bids the servant hasten all the more,
And urges the summoned Father quickly to run
To visit the one wasting away. Found weeping in the holy church,
He is called, comes near, and asks the cause and request.
The other complains that he is unwillingly held by prayers,
That tears hinder his leader; let him loose the bonds,
And now open heaven’s kingdom to one who thirsts for it.
But he, struck with fear, summons the brethren called for,
And gives the departing man the viaticum he sought,
Offers kisses, and performs the funeral of his beloved friend.

²¹ By now the kings themselves do not refuse
To bow their necks to his counsel; hence the jealous foe, driven
By the goads of envy, renews his familiar schemes,
Filling the heart of the queen, mother of the sceptre-bearing king.
And because the man of God refuses to bless the king’s offspring,
Tainted by sin, declaring that it would not receive the royal sceptre,
The queen drives him on with dreadful rage,
Forbidding holy gifts to be brought,
Or his companions to be received in hospitality, or aided with support.
The counsellor goes to rebuke the hostile ones and break
The movements of the angry king; yet he abandons not his master’s sternness,
Nor approves hospitality, nor receives the gifts of kings;
He casts aside wicked presents, breaks vessels given at a nod
By the power of his gaze, and pours out food and cups.
At the news, the tyrant, stunned with trembling dread,
Hastens as a suppliant, begging pardon for his offence,
Vows to amend what he has done, and promises
With concern to restrain the wrongdoing, and by this pledge appeases the Father.

²² But when the Father returns to the camp, the agreements are soon broken,
And crimes are increased; he resumes his accustomed offences.
The nurturer of souls sends in return blows of words,
Letters full of threats and sharp rebuke,
By which the woman, filled with the fury of the ancient serpent,
Incites the courtiers and the young king himself
To frenzy, that he might drive out the dweller of the camp,
Compelling him, aflame, to attend to public affairs.

²³ Driven by these goads, the ruler attempts
To violate the laws; but the holy inhabitant stands firm, unconquered,
Foretelling that the noble and all his line are doomed to destruction.
Terrified by this, the king swiftly departs from the sacred dwelling
Which he had violated, declaring that not he, but the crown
Of martyrdom, pursued by the saint’s desires, was at stake.
Indeed, he orders him to go, to leave behind the companies gathered by his rite,
To return to his native land by the road by which he came.
But he refuses of his own will to abandon Christ’s camp.

²⁴ As he departed, the king appointed a harsh servant, known for such deeds,
And ordered the Father, once expelled, to be seized at Besançon.
There too, working wonders, he loosed bonds with a word,
Restored the church doors, secured though open at his prayer,
Freed those taken away, and turned and guided those redeemed.
The citizens themselves, seeing heavenly power resist,
Judged it best to restrain themselves from opposing him.
Seeing that no guard hindered him, he sought to return
To the camp assigned him, and in the full light of day
Went back, before the eyes of the people, through the city’s midst.

²⁵ Without delay the nobles are shaken by this grim news,
And urge on every side the fury already begun.
A maddened band is sent, with a tribune accompanying,
To drag away the leader and exact the penalty of exile.
As it approaches, the savage troop is blinded all at once, [2 Kings 6:18] Though seeing everything else, it seeks and surrounds the man before it.
They strike against him with their feet, touch his garment with their clothing,
Perceiving him and yet unable to see him.
He sits rejoicing amid the anxious tumult of the troubled crowd,
But this sight is granted to the commander, who by chance, reluctant,
Had come and unwillingly sees him sitting alone, reading
In the midst of those wandering about, yet glad beneath a covering.
Calling them back, he orders them to withdraw and report to the king
That they vainly assail a man protected by divine guardianship.
At hearing this, the tyrant rages, and with fury increased
Adds crime to crime, sending forth for the worst deeds
Cruel servants charged to carry out his commands.

²⁶ They find him singing psalms amid a company of chanting brethren,
And urge him to leave and go by the road he came.
But he refuses to abandon the flock and his beloved children.
Fear and dread disturb the officers on either side:
On one side the king’s fury, on the other reverence for so great a father.
Then the kindly and merciful one, pitying those caught in this dilemma,
Goes forth; his disciples accompany him in lamentation,
Though some, torn away, are held back by deeper grief.
Yet entrusting them to the Lord their comforter and protector,
He bids them never cease praising the Thunderer,
That they may have him as nourisher and fatherly guardian.
He is led into exile, and when attacked with a futile sword,
Is protected by heavenly power, which snatches the captive from his torturers,
Restoring him to his former state and many others to safety.
He also addressed the commander, that he might soon disdain
The ruler he served; and he foretells the time
When Lothair would lack the princes dear to him,

²⁷ At last, compelled now to embark upon the Loire’s stream in a boat,
And intending to cross the plains of Ocean,
While the brethren board the skiff with slow effort,
A most reckless man strikes LUA, the Saint’s noble companion,
The guardian at the oar, with a stroke.
The leader rebukes the savage deed as worthy of punishment,
And foretells that Christ the avenger will exact the penalty;
The vengeance that followed proved the sure prophet’s words:
Soon the wave swallowed the insolent man as he revisited the harbour.
And the holy man, skimming the river’s back in his vessel,
Wherever he journeyed, brought light to the blind,
And drove away the dreadful monsters of black spirits.

²⁸ Cutting the waves with his stern, he glides to the shores of Tours,
Turning aside, desirous to visit Martin’s holy shrine;
Groaning with sorrow, he gains the haven sought by his prayers.
Though driven by eager oars, the skiff restrains itself,
Triumphing over its rowers, its helmsman disregarded,
Of its own accord seeking the shore and carrying its master unwillingly to land.
Giving thanks to his heavenly guide, the holy traveller
Enters the desired temple, keeps vigil through the night at the saints’ altars,
And commends himself and his companions to God through Martin’s favour.
Asked by Bishop Leuparius to share a meal,
He complies, seeking to relieve his companions’ distress,
And while dining confirms once more the prophecy
Already hurled against his persecuting foe:
Declaring that before three yearly circuits of the sun
Theuderic would fall together with his children.
Then, returning to the ship, he finds the brethren
Troubled with grief, having suffered theft under cover of darkness.
Without delay, lamenting the loss before Martin’s tomb,
He returns, declaring that he had not kept watch here
Only that he might allow his companions to suffer loss.
At once the thief is shaken by a heavy scourge,
And openly cries out where he has hidden the stolen coins.
Seeing this, the brethren run and recover what was taken,
Begging that the culprit be spared, trembling with fear,
And dreading to handle what truly belonged to the Father.
After all is distributed to the poor and made ready
For the needy and for food, heavenly gifts are bestowed;
He receives them thankfully, and drives away plagues and deadly afflictions.

²⁹ At last, brought to the ocean-bound shores of the Loire,
He is ordered to be conveyed to his homeland sent across the sea.
A Scottish ship is present, which undertakes the task
Of carrying the exiled Father and his companions back to their native fields.
Driven by oars and favouring west winds,
It cleaves the sea’s back and strives for the deep;
When suddenly it perceives that the sea refuses the man, and, from the depths,
Leaping up from the deep, opposes him with fierce efforts,
Driving the vessel with its waves and thrusting it back onto the sands.
Drawing back the waters, it lays bare and dries the keel,
And rests, confined within its own bounds.
Thus for three days it compels the ship to stand without water,
Until the helmsman perceives by what divine power
The Father’s cause has been decided, and sends him and his companions from the ship.
At once the waters return, and they hasten to launch the vessel again,
And with desired winds bear it across the flowing plain,
All praising the will of the Thunderer as supreme,
And marvelling at the deed, that He wished His prophet to depart freely,
And to aid him with service and support.

³⁰ Sent on his way, he comes to the devoted court of Lothair,
Whom the king, rejoicing, receives as though a heavenly gift.
He asks him to remain and offers him a place to dwell.
But he, wary of increasing strife among kings, refuses,
Rebukes error, and rightly guides the king with his rule.

³¹ Meanwhile, as a twofold tyrant prepares for war,
He is consulted by both; he orders the king to obey neither.
At the Father’s command it is foretold that the sceptres of both
Will be subjected to his rule within three years.
The prince obeys the counsel, and faithfully trusting,
Awaits the promises with steadfast heart; his hope is fixed on heaven,
And patiently endures until he receives the promised height.

³² With the prophet’s companions gathered, he brings encouragement
To those wishing to continue the journey across the cold Alps.
Wherever the noble Father comes, he shines in power,
Driving out what is dreadful and strengthening what is holy and gentle.
From the city of Meaux, Chagneric freely offers himself as companion,
And says that his daughter Burgundofara, blessed in his house,
Has been joined to Christ in her disposition.
When her father sought with faithless effort to turn her away,
And she, struck with illness and dragged to the point of death by fevers,
Lamented and sought from Eustasius, disciple of this Father,
Received as a guest, to be healed with the plague removed.
He prayed and renewed the vow, and so brought healing.
As he journeyed on, she chose death rather than break her pledge;
To fulfil what she had promised, to receive the sacred veil,
She founded the White Monastery, where she might serve the Bridegroom Lamb,
And where the flourishing companies of the heavenly kingdom might gather.

³³ As he travelled, Columbanus himself received the lady with honour,
Honoured by the favour of his devoted friend Autharius.
And he too consecrated that man’s offspring, shining with double splendour,
As their mother presented them, blessing them with the grace of faith.
Accepted by kings and distinguished by royal favour,
Henceforth aspiring to heaven and burning for Christ,
Avoiding the snares of worldly pleasures, they seek heaven in mind
And gather heavenly companies to themselves.
They establish blessed monasteries and labour in the Jura forests;
One at Rebais, another by the bank of the river at Briey.

³⁴ Thus all whom the rich blessing of the Father protects,
It raises at last to the heights of heaven.
Whoever willingly obeyed his counsels
And did not refuse to submit to his guidance, rejoiced to receive prosperity.
But those who set aside the Father’s counsel,
Bereft of their hope, lamented in empty grief:
As did that king, brother of the ruler expelled by the holy Father,
Who, while refusing through obedience to the Father
To submit himself to Christ’s saving service, was laid low by the enemy.

³⁵ Nor was the matter long delayed: war arose on both sides,
And rival peoples met one another in battle.
The man of God alone, attended by a single servant,
Had by chance entered a vast wilderness, and, sitting and reading,
Was suddenly overtaken, by the Lord’s ordering, with sleep,
And saw amid what wars the kings were raging.
Awaking, he reveals the blazing armies to the servant beside him,
And sighs that too much blood is being shed on either side.
The servant urges him rather to pray against the aggressor;
The Father marks the foolish counsel as wickedly spoken,
Since he should rather desire the enemy’s safety,
And pray to God, by whom these wars are weighed,
Who by His power directs the struggle in a just balance.

³⁶ Now the one who refused to follow his kindly counsels
Turns his back on his brother; captured and overcome,
He lays down his jewelled hair beneath a woman’s shears.
And the crown he would not take up for Christ’s love,
Humbled, he displays in mockery the signs of another crown.
Without delay, he is slain, torn by the rage of the hyena;
His brother, touched by heavenly fire, is consumed.
And so Lothair, seeing the sceptre prepared for him,
Recalls the words of Saint Columbanus, takes up arms,
And hastens with his forces to seize the kingdom due to him.
The offspring born from the king’s adultery, with easy victory,
He captures and kills; he seizes the fosterer of the court’s crimes,
Cast out from the palace, and set upon a camel,
Then binds her to untamed horses and drags her in their rush.
Thus, thus are fulfilled the words of the truthful prophet.

³⁷ Therefore Columbanus, with the wings and spirit of a dove, [Psalm 55:6] Seeking the heavenly kingdom, crosses the Alps of Gaul,
And entering Italy, is fittingly received
By King Agilulf; entering the holy walls, he dwells
At Milan, purges heresies, and supplying arms
To the Church, reflects upon the doctrines of the right path.
And receiving from him the yoke of the shattered mountain of Acero,
Wonderful in the splendour of Peter and his worship,
He swiftly passes beyond these things and seeks the heights with eager flight;
And finding a half-ruined hall, neglected by the mountain-dwellers,
He hastens to restore it to its former beauty,
And carried felled beams through the rocky trackless places of the hill,
Loads fit for forty men, across the level ground,
With three, or sometimes two, companions and no support.
Nor did they carry the weight as though bearing it, but were borne by the weight.

³⁸ Thus strengthening the minds of the brethren with holy encouragement,
To persevere gladly in the work they had begun,
As men who strive to attain God’s will with open support.
He quickly restores the buildings and repairs the ruins,
And establishes the various dwellings of the monastery.

³⁹ Lothair, seeing the prophet’s words fulfilled,
Sends Eustasius, ruler of the monastery of Luxeuil,
That, at the king’s earnest request, he might follow
The holy footsteps of his life-giving master with prayer,
That he should return, dwell where desired, and receive what was sought.
He rejoices at the coming of his son, and urges
The disciple of renowned holiness to remain with him awhile,
For the rest of his companions and the guidance of the brethren:
Declaring that he himself will not go back, and refusing to return.
Afterwards he sends a message to the gracious king,
That he should amend his own life by moral discipline,
Support the companions dwelling at Luxeuil,
Protect them with his aid, and honour them with royal favour.

⁴⁰ The king gladly embraces these welcome pledges and adorns them with honour,
Supports the heavenly monastery and strengthens the community entrusted to him,
Supplies its needs and enlarges the bounds of its authority.

⁴¹ But Father Columbanus himself, as the year draws to its close,
Tends the new buildings of the monastery of Bobbio.
Then, his soul loosed from the bonds of flesh and darkness,
He bears it heavenward, adorned with life-giving splendour.
The relics of the temple restored through him are placed in the church.
How lofty was the merit of his life, the signs granted declare:
His teaching proclaims the strength of his spirit.