Magna sunt enim judicia tua, Domine, et inenarrabilia verba tua: propter hoc indisciplinatæ animæ erraverunt.

High above us, Lord, are thy judgements, mysterious thy dealings; no skill had those Egyptian hearts to understand them.

For thy judgments, O Lord, are great, and thy words cannot be expressed: therefore undisciplined souls have erred.

Dum enim persuasum habent iniqui posse dominari nationi sanctæ, vinculis tenebrarum et longæ noctis compediti, inclusi sub tectis, fugitivi perpetuæ providentiæ jacuerunt.

They had thought to exercise barbarous tyranny over a nation consecrated to thee. And now they lay, shut close under their own roofs, darkness their dungeon, their sentence a long-drawn night, exiled from the gifts of thy eternal Providence.

For while the wicked thought to be able to have dominion over the holy nation, they themselves being fettered with the bonds of darkness, and a long night, shut up in their houses, lay there exiled from the eternal providence.

Et dum putant se latere in obscuris peccatis, tenebroso oblivionis velamento dispersi sunt, paventes horrende, et cum admiratione nimia perturbati.

Did they hope, under that dark veil of oblivion, to find a cloak for secret sinning? Nay, they were scattered far apart, and in grievous dread of the terrors that came to daunt them.

And while they thought to lie hid in their obscure sins, they were scattered under a dark veil of forgetfulness, being horribly afraid and troubled with exceeding great astonishment.

Neque enim quæ continebat illos spelunca sine timore custodiebat, quoniam sonitus descendens perturbabat illos, et personæ tristes illis apparentes pavorem illis præstabant.

Lie snug in their hidden lairs they might not; noises swept down, echoing about their affrighted ears, and boding visions of sad faces cowed their spirits.

For neither did the den that held them, keep them from fear: for noises coming down troubled them, and sad visions appearing to them, affrighted them.

Et ignis quidem nulla vis poterat illis lumen præbere, nec siderum limpidæ flammæ illuminare poterant illam noctem horrendam.

Fire itself no light could give them, nor star’s clear beam illuminate that hideous night;

And no power of fire could give them light, neither could the bright flames of the stars enlighten that horrible night.

Apparebat autem illis subitaneus ignis, timore plenus; et timore perculsi illius quæ non videbatur faciei, æstimabant deteriora esse quæ videbantur.

only now and again a blaze shone out, not of their kindling, terrible to behold; and fear of this unseen radiance lent fresh horror to the sights it shewed.

But there appeared to them a sudden fire, very dreadful: and being struck with the fear of that face, which was not seen, they thought the things which they saw to be worse:

Et magicæ artis appositi erant derisus, et sapientiæ gloriæ correptio cum contumelia.

A mockery, now, seemed those magic arts of theirs; ignominious the rebuff to their boasted cunning.

And the delusions of their magic art were put down, and their boasting of wisdom was reproachfully rebuked.

Illi enim qui promittebant timores et perturbationes expellere se ab anima languente, hi cum derisu pleni timore languebant.

The very men who had professed to rid ailing minds of all discomposure and disquiet, were now themselves sick with apprehension, to their great discomfiture.

For they who promised to drive away fears and troubles from a sick soul, were sick themselves of a fear worthy to be laughed at.

Nam etsi nihil illos ex monstris perturbabat, transitu animalium et serpentium sibilatione commoti, tremebundi peribant, et aërem quem nulla ratione quis effugere posset, negantes se videre.

Even when no alarms were present to disturb them, the memory of prowling beast and hissing serpent filled them with mortal tremors, till they shut their eyes against the sight of empty air, we must all breathe.

For though no terrible thing disturbed them: yet being scared with the passing by of beasts, and hissing of serpents, they died for fear: and denying that they saw the air, which could by no means be avoided.

Cum sit enim timida nequitia, dat testimonium condemnationis: semper enim præsumit sæva, perturbata conscientia:

So cowardly a thing is wickedness, it pronounces its own condemnation; hard pressed by conscience, it forecasts ever the worst.

For whereas wickedness is fearful, it beareth witness of its condemnation: for a troubled conscience always forecasteth grievous things.

nihil enim est timor nisi proditio cogitationis auxiliorum.

What else is timorousness, but a betrayal of the vantage-ground reason gives us?

For fear is nothing else but a yielding up of the succours from thought.

Et dum ab intus minor est exspectatio, majorem computat inscientiam ejus causæ, de qua tormentum præstat.

Imagination, already defeated within its own stronghold, fears the unknown more than it fears the true source of its misery.

And while there is less expectation from within, the greater doth it count the ignorance of that cause which bringeth the torment.

Illi autem qui impotentem vere noctem, et ab infimis et ab altissimis inferis supervenientem, eumdem somnum dormientes,

Whether the darkness that held them bound were true night, or that darkness which comes up from the lowest depths of the grave, their bemused senses could not well distinguish;

But they that during that night, in which nothing could be done, and which came upon them from the lowest and deepest hell, slept the same sleep,

aliquando monstrorum exagitabantur timore, aliquando animæ deficiebant traductione: subitaneus enim illis et insperatus timor supervenerat.

now monstrous apparitions came indeed to scare them, now it was but their own faint hearts made cowards of them; in a moment dismay was all about them, and took them unawares.

Were sometimes molested with the fear of monsters, sometimes fainted away, their soul failing them: for a sudden and unlooked for fear was come upon them.

Deinde si quisquam ex illis decidisset, custodiebatur in carcere sine ferro reclusus.

Into this prison, then, that needed no bars to secure it, all fell alike, whatever their condition;

Moreover if any of them had fallen down, he was kept shut up in prison without irons.

Si enim rusticus quis erat, aut pastor, aut agri laborum operarius præoccupatus esset, ineffugibilem sustinebat necessitatem;

tiller of the fields, or shepherd, or workman that plied his task out in the desert, each was caught at his post, each must abide the inevitable lot,

For if any one were a husbandman, or a shepherd, or a labourer in the field, and was suddenly overtaken, he endured a necessity from which he could not fly.

una enim catena tenebrarum omnes erant colligati. Sive spiritus sibilans, aut inter spissos arborum ramos avium sonus suavis, aut vis aquæ decurrentis nimium,

by darkness, like all his fellows, held in thrall. Did the wind whistle, or bird utter tuneful notes deep amid the boughs; were it the dull roar of some waterfall,

For they were all bound together with one chain of darkness. Whether it were a whistling wind, or the melodious voice of birds, among the spreading branches of trees, or a fall of water running down with violence,

aut sonus validus præcipitatarum petrarum, aut ludentium animalium cursus invisus, aut mugientium valida bestiarum vox, aut resonans de altissimis montibus echo: deficientes faciebant illos præ timore.

or the sudden crash of tumbling rocks, or the padding feet of beasts that gambolled past them unseen, or the howl of wild things ravening, or a booming echo from the mountain hollows, it was all one; it would startle them into a great quaking of fear.

Or the mighty noise of stones tumbling down, or the running that could not be seen of beasts playing together, or the roaring voice of wild beasts, or a rebounding echo from the highest mountains: these things made them to swoon for fear.

Omnis enim orbis terrarum limpido illuminabatur lumine, et non impeditis operibus continebatur.

All around them the world was bathed in the clear sunlight, and men went about their tasks unhindered;

For the whole world was enlightened with a clear light, and none were hindered in their labours.

Solis autem illis superposita erat gravis nox, imago tenebrarum quæ superventura illis erat: ipsi ergo sibi erant graviores tenebris.

over them alone this heavy curtain of night was spread, image of the darkness that should be their next abode. Yet each man had a burden heavier to bear than darkness itself, the burden of his own companionship.

But over them only was spread a heavy night, an image of that darkness which was to come upon them. But they were to themselves more grievous than the darkness.