Translation
"I know in Christ my body shall arise;Why bid me, then, despair? for I shall goBy that same path whereby my Lord returned,Death trodden 'neath His feet: this is my creed.Banish, my limbs, all terror; and believeThat ye with Christ our God shall yet return;He beareth you and with Himself recalls.Laugh at the threats of sickness; scorn the blowsOf fate; despise the horrors of the tomb;And fare ye where the risen Christ doth call."
"Nos pio fletu, date, perluamusMarmorum sulcos."
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- despise v. t.
- To look down upon with disfavor or contempt; to contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of. [OF. despis-, in some forms of despire to despise, fr. L. despicere, despectum, to look down upon, despise; de- + spicere, specere, to look. See Spy, and cf. Des]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Translation is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Hymns of Prudentius, Project Gutenberg ebook #14959; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Prudentius, Translation, in The Hymns of Prudentius (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14959, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/prudentius-hymns/translation.html, id L23696.
Form and metre
Translation is 12 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| "I know in Christ my body shall arise; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Why bid me, then, despair? for I shall go | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| By that same path whereby my Lord returned, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Death trodden 'neath His feet: this is my creed. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Banish, my limbs, all terror; and believe | 10 | /˘···/˘·˘/ |
| That ye with Christ our God shall yet return; | 10 | ····/···˘/ |
| He beareth you and with Himself recalls. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘/ |
| Laugh at the threats of sickness; scorn the blows | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of fate; despise the horrors of the tomb; | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| And fare ye where the risen Christ doth call." | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| "Nos pio fletu, date, perluamus | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Marmorum sulcos." | 5 | ····· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.