De consolatione Crucifixi

The Sweet Lyre of the Cross

The speaker describes the transformative power of the Crucified Christ, whose presence acts as a healing melody that draws the soul toward divine love.

When my gentle, faithful Comfort, out of pity for my weary life, with his sweet lyre ready, draws me from the waves to his blessed harbor, I feel in my heart a wise speaking from the resounding and flaming wood, which softens me so much that I would want to weep outwardly forever. But alas! My eyes aren't worthy of the gentle rain that drips from there, where Love makes its home.^✦ What swift, what thirsting deer was ever seen making such leaps at a spring as the heart makes toward those voices—the heart I had already seen so defiant it would cast off the last end?^✦¹ The white bowstring whirls sharp arrows fit to pierce solid diamond; living waters drip that would make scornful Nero pious.² Alas! What heart so wicked isn't taken prisoner by the strings and the arrows, the soft voices and the sweet little words?³

Harmony of the Heart

The soul reflects on the interior harmony created by Christ's presence, leading to a meditation on the mystery of the 'happy sin' that brought such a Redeemer.

Soul, what are you doing? Now this string, now that one rings gently inside my heart—it comforts me and spurs me on the way, even though the time that's gone still gnaws at me with remorse.⁴ Oh, how well that harmony agrees with my desire—and the sound of the words! It draws pale little violets up from the earth into its blessed garland.⁵ O happy sin!⁶ What is it—or what makes you worthy of honor? Who has given you so great a Redeemer?

An Invitation to the Weary

A universal call is issued to all weary souls to find true treasure and freedom at the foot of the Cross.

Come, peoples, from the Indian Sea to the Moorish shore, and whoever is weary deep in thought: here there is no force of arms, no empire.⁷ Take silver and gold without end; come, you poor and naked, to the great treasure, to the sweet waters of a heavenly spring. Lift up your heads at last, for I no longer fear a man in armor!⁸ And without a doubt it already seems so to me—the snares are loosed, and the heart is ablaze within—as I gaze on the sign and that pitiless imprint.^✦⁹

Lament and Longing

The speaker laments the blindness of the world and expresses a profound desire for union with Christ, acknowledging personal nothingness and the need for divine tuning.

Ah! Blind world, tell me: who extinguished him in this dark and shadowy valley?^✦¹⁰ The love of a most beautiful beloved, and the pity of her heavy lament.¹¹ Alas! If only she were mine—how content I am to make myself even the extreme tip of a foot, and on the last pages, though most unworthy, to set our name!¹²¹³ I know she would bear the harsh burdens and the chains in peace, strong of spirit and of lively heart. But what else am I to do now but keep weeping, sweet Jesus, since without you I'm nothing? From the milk and the cradle I began to fall away from your sweet tuning: and now what will become of me, if you don't tune the bad strings and this out-of-tune lyre?¹⁴ This unbridled, rushing torrent whirls through the universe. If only all its greedy cravings and sudden fury were extinguished now—and I with my sweetest Lord!¹⁵

A Prayer for the Journey

The chapter concludes with a humble request for the song to continue spurring the heart toward the Lord's presence.

Little song, I beg you to speak with me alone often, and to spur my heart. I speak to you, Lord, where the sweet face of your land appears.¹⁶

Read the original Latin

Quando el suave mio fido conforto Per la pietà de la mia stanca vita Con la soa dolce citara fornita Mi trae da l’onde al suo beato porto, Io sento al cor un ragionar acorto Dal resonante et infiamato legno, Che me fa sì benegno, Che di for sempre lacrimar vorrei: Ma, lasso! gli ochi mei Degni non son de la suave pioggia, Che di là stilla dove amor s’alloggia.

Qual veloce, qual sitibondo cervo Se vide al fonte mai tai salti fare, Qual a le voce il cor, che già spontare Il fin azial io vidi assai protervo? Sagitte acute gira il bianco nervo Da penetrar un solido diamante; Vivace aque stillante Ch’el sdegnoso Neron farebben pio. Lasso! qual cor sì rio Non fan pregion le corde e le saette, Le voce sorde, e dolce parolette?

Alma, che fai? Or questa or quella corda Suavemente dentro al cor resona, Che mi conforta et al camin mi sprona, Ben che l’andato tempo mi rimorda. O quanto ben al mio desir se acorda Quella armonia, e il son de le parole! Pallidette viole Da terra trae nel serto suo beato. O felice peccato! Che cosa, o qual ti fa degno d’onore? Chi t’ha donato un tanto Redentore?

Venite, gente, dal mar Indo al Mauro, E chionque è stanco dentro nel pensiero: Non forza d’arme quivi, non impero. Prendete sanza fine argento et auro; Venite, povri e nudi, al gran tesauro, A le dolce aque d’un celeste fonte: Levate or mai la fronte, Che più non temo un om coperto d’arme! E sanza dubio parme Già, sciolti i lazi e dentro il cor avvampa, Mirando el segno e la spiatata stampa.

Ai! orbo mondo, dimme chi l’ha spento In questa valle obscura e tenebrosa? L’amor d’una bellissima amorosa, E la pietà del grave suo lamento. Lasso! fosse lei, qual io son contento Farmi d’un pede pur l’estrema parte, E ne l’ultime carte, Ben ch’indegno assai, por il nostro nome! So che l’aspere some, E le catene portarebbe in pace, Forte di spirto e d’animo vivace.

Ma che debbo altro ormai che pianger sempre, Dolce Iesù, che sanza te son nulla? Io comenziai al latte et a la culla A declinar da le toe dolce tempre: Et or che fia di me, se tu non tempre Le male corde e la scordata lira? Per l’universo gira Questo sfrenato e rapido torrente. Che or fossen tutte spente Soe voglie ingorde e il subito furore, Et io col mio dolcissimo Segnore!

Canzionetta, io te prego Che ispesso meco sola tu ragioni, E ch’el mio cor tu sproni. Io dico a voi, Segnor, dove si mostra Il dolce aspetto de la terra vostra.

Scripture echoes

↩John.19.34 — But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
↩Ps.42.2;Ps.43.1 — As a deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, God. Ps.43.1 — Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; rescue me from the deceitful and unjust man.
↩Zech.12.10;John.19.37;John.3.14-John.3.15 — And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication; and they will look to me, the one they pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves bitterly for a firstborn. John.19.37 — And again another Scripture says, 'They will look on the one they pierced.' John.3.14 — And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, John.3.15 — that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life
↩Ps.23.4 — Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff — they comfort me.

Notes

1 ↩Rare forms spontare and fin azial. Rendered as the hard heart formerly casting off / spurning its last (eternal) end; azial is read as a Latinate for the final/eternal end (fine ultimo). Spontare may instead mean 'to put forth / break out,' which would shift the clause.
2 ↩bianco nervo is the white sinew/bowstring (love or the Cross as bow). Vivace aque stillante continues the prior stanza’s dripping rain from the Cross (blood and water).
3 ↩voce sorde rendered as soft/muted voices (musical sordo), parallel to dolce parolette; not 'deaf voices'.
4 ↩corda continues the prior section's image of heart-capturing cords/strings (corde e saette); rendered as musical/bow string that resonates within the heart.
5 ↩Subject of trae is implicit; most naturally the harmony of s3 (or the consoling power of the Crucified more broadly). serto = garland/wreath.
6 ↩Classic felix culpa cadence; keep 'happy' as fortunate/blessed in effect, not as moral approval of sin.
7 ↩"dal mar Indo al Mauro" is a geographic merism (east to west / the whole known world): Indian Sea to Mauritania/Moorish lands.
8 ↩"Prendete sanza fine argento et auro" invites free, endless riches at the Cross's treasure—not purchase by arms or empire (cf. s1).
9 ↩"spiatata stampa" read as "spietata stampa": the pitiless imprint/mark of the Passion (wounds of the Crucified); "segno" is the Cross.
10 ↩Italian l’ in l’ha spento has no explicit local antecedent; in this Crucified-consolation lauda it is read as the Crucified (his life/light put out), answered by s3.
11 ↩bellissima amorosa is feminine: likely the beloved soul/Church (or personified Love) for whom Christ is spent; kept as beloved rather than flattened to abstract love.
12 ↩fosse lei is an elliptical optative; mine supplies the natural longing toward the amorosa of s3 without inventing a different subject.
13 ↩ultime carte = last pages/leaves (of a book); may also allude to final enrollment of a name, but left as pages in the modern line.
14 ↩tempre plays on both moral temperament and musical temperament/tuning; the following corde and scordata lira make the musical sense primary, so 'tuning'/'tune' is preferred over bare 'temper'.
15 ↩Che or fossen is optative ('would that they were'); Soe = sue, possessive of the torrent (s3).
16 ↩terra vostra: most plausibly the Lord’s heavenly homeland (patria/celestial country), not earthly territory; kept as “your land” to stay close to the Italian.

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