Impiis autem usque in novissimum sine misericordia ira supervenit. Præsciebat enim et futura illorum:

It was not so with their impious enemies; with them, God decreed that pitiless justice should run its course, knowing well what ill-doing of theirs lay yet in store;

But as to the wicked, even to the end there came upon them wrath without mercy. For he knew before also what they would do:

quoniam cum ipsi permisissent ut se educerent, et cum magna sollicitudine præmisissent illos, consequebantur illos, pœnitentia acti.

how the very men who had allowed the Israelites to depart, nay, set them eagerly on their way, would soon repent of it and march out in pursuit.

For when they had given them leave to depart, and had sent them away with great care, they repented, and pursued after them.

Adhuc enim inter manus habentes luctum, et deplorantes ad monumenta mortuorum, aliam sibi assumpserunt cogitationem inscientiæ, et quos rogantes projecerant, hos tamquam fugitivos persequebantur.

The business of mourning still in hand, the grave-sides of the dead still calling for their tears, they must needs betake themselves to a fresh desperate shift; they would hunt down as fugitives the unwelcome guests of yesterday.

For whilst they were yet mourning, and lamenting at the graves of the dead, they took up another foolish device: and pursued them as fugitives whom they had pressed to be gone:

Ducebat enim illos ad hunc finem digna necessitas; et horum quæ acciderant commemorationem amittebant, ut quæ deerant tormentis repleret punitio:

Fitting destiny, that lured them to a fitting doom, made them forget the past, and led them on to complete their tale of suffering and of punishment!

For a necessity, of which they were worthy, brought them to this end: and they lost the remembrance of those things which had happened, that their punishment might fill up what was wanting to their torments:

et populus quidem tuus mirabiliter transiret, illi autem novam mortem invenirent.

For thy people, a strange sea-faring; for those others, an unexampled manner of death!

And that thy people might wonderfully pass through, but they might find a new death.

Omnis enim creatura ad suum genus ab initio refigurabatur, deserviens tuis præceptis, ut pueri tui custodirentur illæsi.

Each form of nature, in its own proper sphere, was formed anew as from the beginning, obedient to the new laws thou hadst given it, for the greater safety of thy children.

For every creature according to its kind was fashioned again as from the beginning, obeying thy commandments, that thy children might be kept without hurt.

Nam nubes castra eorum obumbrabat, et ex aqua quæ ante erat, terra arida apparuit, et in mari Rubro via sine impedimento, et campus germinans de profundo nimio:

Such was the cloud that over-shadowed their camp; such the dry land that appeared where water stood before; the Red Sea unlaboriously crossed, a grassy floor spread out amid the surging billows!

For a cloud overshadowed their camp, and where water was before, dry land appeared, and in the Red Sea a way without hinderance, and out of the great deep a springing field:

per quem omnis natio transivit quæ tegebatur tua manu, videntes tua mirabilia et monstra.

So, sheltered by thy hand, they passed on their way, a whole nation of them, strange marvels seen in their passage;

Through which all the nation passed which was protected with thy hand, seeing thy miracles and wonders.

Tamquam enim equi depaverunt escam, et tamquam agni exsultaverunt, magnificantes te, Domine, qui liberasti illos.

lighthearted as horse at pasture or frisking lamb, they chanted praises to thee, Lord, their rescuer.

For they fed on their food like horses, and they skipped like lambs, praising thee, O Lord, who hadst delivered them.

Memores enim erant adhuc eorum quæ in incolatu illorum facta fuerant: quemadmodum pro natione animalium eduxit terra muscas, et pro piscibus eructavit fluvius multitudinem ranarum.

Such, too, were their memories of Egypt itself; memories of the land that bred lice and could breed no beasts else, the river that could spawn frogs, yet never a fish lived there.

For they were yet mindful of those things which had been done in the time of their sojourning, how the ground brought forth flies instead of cattle, and how the river cast up a multitude of frogs instead of fishes.

Novissime autem viderunt novam creaturam avium, cum, adducti concupiscentia, postulaverunt escas epulationis.

Later on, they were to see how birds could be the subject of a new creation, when their appetites craved for richer fare,

And at length they saw a new generation of birds, when being led by their appetite they asked for delicate meats.

In allocutione enim desiderii ascendit illis de mari ortygometra: et vexationes peccatoribus supervenerunt, non sine illis quæ ante facta erant argumentis per vim fulminum: juste enim patiebantur secundum suas nequitias.

and quails came up from the sea to content them.Nor were the Egyptians punished without warning; the thunders that terrified them were but echoes of the past. Did not their own wickedness deserve the pains they suffered,

For to satisfy their desire, the quail came up to them from the sea: and punishments came upon the sinners, not without foregoing signs by the force of thunders: for they suffered justly according to their own wickedness.

Etenim detestabiliorem inhospitalitatem instituerunt: alii quidem ignotos non recipiebant advenas; alii autem bonos hospites in servitutem redigebant.

a race even more inhospitable than the men of Sodom before them? These did but refuse a welcome when strangers came to their doors; the Egyptians condemned their own guests, their own benefactors, to slavery.

For they exercised a more detestable inhospitality than any: others indeed received not strangers unknown to them, but these brought their guests into bondage that had deserved well of them.

Et non solum hæc, sed et alius quidam respectus illorum erat, quoniam inviti recipiebant extraneos.

It is one thing to be called to account for unfriendly treatment of alien folk;

And not only so, but in another respect also they were worse: for the others against their will received the strangers.

Qui autem cum lætitia receperunt hos qui eisdem usi erant justitiis, sævissimis afflixerunt doloribus.

but these Egyptians had received the Israelites into their midst with rejoicing, had admitted them to rights of citizenship, and then turned on them with savage ill-treatment.

But these grievously afflicted them whom they had received with joy, and who lived under the same laws.

Percussi sunt autem cæcitate: sicut illi in foribus justi, cum subitaneis cooperti essent tenebris, unusquisque transitum ostii sui quærebat.

No wonder blindness fell on them, as upon the men of Sodom at Lot’s door! But in Egypt the darkness was so bewildering that a man could not find his way through the doors of his own house.

But they were struck with blindness: as those others were at the doors of the just man, when they were covered with sudden darkness, and every one sought the passage of his own door.

In se enim elementa dum convertuntur, sicut in organo qualitatis sonus immutatur, et omnia suum sonum custodiunt: unde æstimari ex ipso visu certo potest.

All the elements may be transposed among themselves, keeping up the same answering rhythm, like the notes of a harp altering their mood; so much we may infer with certainty from the sights that have been witnessed in the past.

For while the elements are changed in themselves, as in an instrument the sound of the quality is changed, yet all keep their sound: which may clearly be perceived by the very sight.

Agrestia enim in aquatica convertebantur, et quæcumque erant natantia, in terram transibant.

Land-beasts turned to water-beasts, and the firm ground was trodden by creatures born to swim.

For the things of the land were turned into things of the water: and the things before swam in the water passed upon the land.

Ignis in aqua valebat supra suam virtutem, et aqua extinguentis naturæ obliviscebatur.

Fire surpassed its own nature, when water forgot to quench it;

The fire had power in water above its own virtue, and the water forgot its quenching nature.

Flammæ e contrario corruptibilium animalium non vexaverunt carnes coambulantium, nec dissolvebant illam, quæ facile dissolvebatur sicut glacies, bonam escam. In omnibus enim magnificasti populum tuum, Domine, et honorasti, et non despexisti, in omni tempore et in omni loco assistens eis.

then fire, in its turn, could not waste the frail flesh of living creatures that traversed it, nor melt that heavenly food that melted easily as ice. No means wouldst thou neglect, Lord, to magnify thy people and win them renown; never wouldst thou leave them unregarded, but always and everywhere camest to their side.

On the other side, the flames wasted not the flesh of corruptible animals walking therein, neither did they melt that good food, which was apt to melt as ice. For in all things thou didst magnify thy people, O Lord, and didst honour them, and didst not despise them, but didst assist them at all times, and in every place.