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to the deep-gloomed darkness of Hades, having died at the hands of enemies, leaving a wretched mother. But the benevolence of the Father will kill you, which for others becomes salvation; and the good will of the Father has come to you as fate; a bitter lamentation; the earth receives you, my Child, you who have come to the gates of all-gloomy Hades, to cast the sharpest dart into Hades. For on this very account you alone descend, and you will take the dead, you will not be taken by the dead, and you will rescue all, being alone free. For as a man you alone come confidently to these things, you alone toil on behalf of the nature of mortals. And the contests that awaited you now have an end, and henceforth you have victory over your adversaries, powerfully turning Hades, the serpent, death. Wise, wise are you, and wisely you endured your fate, so that by your own doom you might cast down the common doom, and in the earth you will place an establishing glory, rising from the earth and bringing salvation, having changed your form into kinship with the Father. For you will come again renowned, having seized our race, O Lord, imperishable Lord, you remaining God, and to your own form you have joined the nature of man; and now you descend to the halls of Hades, hastening to bring light and to illuminate the gloom. And well, well done that you leave this land of enemies, to which you first came, the house of Israel, wishing to shepherd the lost sheep and to fulfill the covenants with the fathers, having joined to the form of God the nature of mortals. For the Father indeed begets you ever without flux; but I bore you, in turn, while still remaining pure, you having taken from God a mortal form. But the kinsmen of your mother, whom it least befitted, though you had worked many wonders for them, ineffable for uninitiated mortals to know, denied that you, a savior, were born of God, but babbled that I, having been wedded to some mortal, bore you, and having feigned my marriage, referred the sin of my bed to God; and now they have hastened to kill you lawlessly through envy, for which reason, having slain the enemy for his sophistries and for all other utterly evil sophistries, you will stop him from confusing the world with sophistries, and having fitted him in iron nets you will stop the evildoer from his evildoing, my Child. But you will cast them themselves out of this land, and you will give both their city and their power to others, as you have already said in symbols to your friends; among whom you will dance and establish your mysteries, so that you may be manifestly God to mortals, as you are to all in heaven; and to another land, having well-arranged things here, you will raise up power. For it is necessary for this city to learn, even if it does not wish, being now ignorant of your mysteries, and every other colony of earth-born men, which wars against God in the things concerning you, and thrusts you away from libations, and in prayers has no memory of you; for not yet have the wretched ones known the offspring coming from the Father from heaven down to earth. For which reason show them that you are God; and you will surely show them; and if you wish to drive the race of the Jews completely out of the land with armed wrath, you will drive them out by Ausonian generals, whom they foolishly chose to rule over them, having renounced your lordship, having proclaimed Caesar as their king. For I see the penalty for your life-giving fate, fire near their houses and the ruins of their homes already being turned to ash, the unquenchable flame of fire, for this outrage against the immortal city of God; and I praise the judgment, which makes this ground impassable to all your murderers, my Child, you who, having left the all-glorious cities of the Lydians and of the Phrygians, the sun-struck plains of the Persians, the Bactrian walls, and having passed by the harsh land of the Medes and of the blessed Arabs, the nations far off plunged in darkness, and all of Asia, which they say lies beside the salty sea for Greeks and barbarians alike, having cities full and beautifully towered, to this land of the Hebrews you first came, which places you, a corpse from slaughter, in the tomb. Alas, halls of God and beloved city, O beautifully towered city of the land of David, O chamber of the prophets of old, how you have now grown to be a cave of God-killers; how shall I groan for you? how shall I mourn you for the murder? But O you who have left the region of Galilee, my company, whom as fellow travelers with me from there he draws, initiates of the mysteries, he who is now a corpse, alas, laid in the pit, leave the local melodies for the dead, but now hymn him with delicate laments, then you will acclaim the living Lord, as is a most sure hope for me. Go, go, I am no longer able to look upon his tomb and the stone. Let us withdraw.

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ἐς ᾅδου τὸν βαθύγνοφον σκότον, θανὼν πρὸς ἐχθρῶν, μητέρ' ἀθλίαν λιπών. Ἡ δ' εὐμένεια τοῦ Πατρός σ' ἀποκτενεῖ, ἣ τοῖσιν ἄλλοις γίνεται σωτηρία· τό τ' ἐσθλὸν ὡς εἰς πότμον ἦλθε σοὶ Πατρός· ὄδυρμα πικρόν· γῆ σε, Τέκνον, λαμβάνει, ἥκοντ' ἐς ἀΐδαο πανζόφου πύλας, ᾅδῃ τὸ δριμύτατον ἐμβαλεῖν βέλος. Καὶ γὰρ ἐπ' αὐτῷ τῷδε κατέρχῃ μόνος, λήψῃ δὲ νεκρούς, οὐ σὺ ληφθήσῃ νεκροῖς, ῥύσῃ τε πάντας, ὢν ἐλεύθερος μόνος. Μόνος γὰρ ἀνὴρ ταῦτα θαρρῶν ἱκάνεις, μόνος σὺ φύσεως ὑπερκάμνεις βροτῶν. Ἔσχον δ' ἀγῶνες, οἵ σ' ἔμιμνον, νῦν τέλος, νίκην τε λοιπὸν κατ' ἐναντίων ἔχεις, ᾅδην, ὄφιν, θάνατον ἰσχυρῶς τρέπων. Σοφὸς σοφὸς σύ, καὶ σοφῶς ἔτλης πότμον, ὡς κοινὸν οἶτον σῷ καταβάλῃς μόρῳ, κἀν τῇ χθονὶ στηρίζον ἐνθήσεις κλέος, γῆς ἐξανίσχων καὶ φέρων σωτηρίαν, εἰς συγγένειαν Πατρὸς ἀμείψας δέμας. Αὖθις γὰρ ἔλθῃς κλεινός, ἁρπάσας γένος, ὦναξ, Ἄναξ ἄφθιτε, σὺ Θεὸς μένων, μορφῇ τε σῇ συνῆψας ἀνέρος φύσιν· καὶ νῦν ἐς ἀΐδαο κατέρχῃ δόμους, σπεύδων φαεῖναι καὶ καταυγάσαι ζόφον. Εὖ δ' εὖγε λίπῃς τήνδε δυσμενῶν χθόνα, εἰς ἥν γε πρῶτον ἧκες, Ἰσραὴλ δόμους, ὀλωλότα πρόβατα ποιμᾶναι θέλων καὶ συνθεσίας ἐκπερᾶναι πατράσι, μορφῇ συνάψας τοῦ Θεοῦ βροτῶν φύσιν. Σὲ γὰρ Πατὴρ γεννᾷ μὲν ἀρρεύστως ἀεί· ἐγὼ δ' ἔτικτόν σ' αὖθις ἁγνεύουσ' ἔτι, μορφὴν λαβόντα πρὸς Θεοῦ βροτησίαν. Ἀλλ' ἐγγενεῖς σῆς μητρός, οὓς ἥκιστ' ἐχρῆν, θαυμαστὰ πολλὰ σφίσιν ἐξειργασμένον ἄρρητ' ἀμυήτοισιν εἰδέναι βροτοῖς, σωτῆρά σ' οὐκ ἔφασκον ἐκφῦναι Θεοῦ, ἀλλά με νυμφευθεῖσαν ἐκ θνητοῦ τινὸς τεκεῖν σ' ἐλήρουν καὶ γάμους ψευσαμένην λέχους ἁμάρτημ' ἐς Θεόν μ' ἀναφέρειν· καὶ νῦν κτανεῖν σ' ἔσπευσαν ἀνόμως φθόνῳ, ἐχθροῦ σοφίσμαθ' ὧν νιν οὕνεκα κτανών, ἄλλων τε πάντων παγκάκων σοφισμάτων, παύσεις στροβοῦντα κόσμον ἐν σοφίσμασι, καί μιν σιδηραῖς ἁρμόσας ἐν ἄρκυσι στήσεις κακοῦργον τῆς κακουργίας, Τέκνον. Σφᾶς δ' αὖθις αὐτοὺς ἐκ χθονὸς τῆσδ' ἐκβαλεῖς, ἄλλοις δὲ δώσεις καὶ πόλιν τε καὶ κράτος, ὡς συμβόλοις εἴρηκας ἤδη σοῖς φίλοις· ἐν οἷς χορεύσεις καὶ καταστήσεις τὰ σὰ μυστήρι' ἵν' ᾖς ἐμφανῶς Θεὸς βροτοῖς, ὡς ἐν πόλῳ ξύμπασιν· ἐς δ' ἄλλην χθόνα, εὖ διαθεὶς τἀνθένδ', ἀναστήσεις κράτος. ∆εῖ γὰρ πόλιν τήνδ' ἐκμαθεῖν, κεἰ μὴ θέλει, νῦν οὖσ' ἀμαθὴς τῶν γε σῶν μυστηρίων, ἄλλην τε πᾶσαν γηγενῶν παροικίαν, ἣ θεομαχεῖ τὰ κατὰ σέ, σπονδῶν τ' ἄπο ὠθεῖ σ', ἐν εὐχαῖς δ' οὐδαμοῦ μνείαν ἔχει· οὔπω γὰρ οἱ τάλανες ἔγνωσαν γόνον ἥκοντα Πατρὸς ἐκ πόλου πρὸς γῆν κάτω. Ὧν οὕνεκ' αὐτοῖς δεῖξον, ὡς εἶ σὺ Θεός· δείξεις δὲ πάντως· ἢν δ' Ἰουδαίων γένος ὀργῇ σὺν ὅπλοις ἐξάγειν χθονὸς θέλῃς ἄρδην, ἐλάσεις Αὐσόνων στρατηλατῶν, οὓς σφῶν ἀνάσσειν ᾑρετίσαντ' ἀφρόνως, σὴν δεσποτείαν ὡς ἀπηγορευκότες, ἄνακτα τὸν Καίσαρ' ἀνηγορευκότες. Ποινὴν γὰρ ἀθρῶ σοῦ πότμου ζωηφόρου, πῦρ ἐγγὺς οἴκων καὶ δόμων ἐρείπια τεφρούμεν' ἤδη, πυρὸς ἄσβεστον φλόγα, ἀθάνατον Θεοῦ πόλιν πρὸς τήνδ' ὕβριν· αἰνῶ δὲ κρίσιν, ἄβατον ἣ πέδον τόδε τίθησι πᾶσι τοῖς φονευταῖς σου, Τέκνον, ὃς τὰς Λυδῶν πανευκλεεῖς λιπὼν πόλεις Φρυγῶν τε, Περσῶν ἡλιοβλήτους πλάκας, Βάκτρια τείχη, τήν τε δύσχειμον χθόνα Μήδων παρελθὼν Ἀρράβων τ' εὐδαίμονα, ἔθνη τὰ μακρὰν ἐν σκότῳ βεβυσμένα, πᾶσάν τ' Ἀσίαν, ἣν παρ' ἁλμυρὰν ἅλα Ἕλλησι κεῖσθαι φασὶ βαρβάροις θ' ὁμοῦ, πλήρεις ἔχουσαν καλλιπυργώτους πόλεις, ἐς τήνδε πρῶτον ἦλθες Ἑβραίων χθόνα, ἥ σ' ἐς τάφον τίθησιν ἐκ σφαγῆς νέκυν. Ἰώ, Θεοῦ μέλαθρα καὶ πόλις φίλα, ὦ καλλίπυργον ἄστυ ∆αυΐδου χθονός, ὦ θαλάμευμα τῶν πάλαι θεοπρόπων, θεοκτόνων σπήλαιον ὡς νῦν ἀνέφυς· πῶς σε στενάξω; πῶς σε θρηνήσω φόνου; Ἀλλ' ὦ λιποῦσαι Γαλιλαίας χωρίον, ἐμὸς θίασος, ἃς συνεμπόρους ἐμοὶ ἐκεῖθεν ἕλκει μυστίδας μυστηρίων ὁ νῦν νέκυς, φεῦ, τῷ λάκῳ τεθειμένος, ἐᾶτε τἀπιχώρι' ἐν νεκρῷ μέλη, λεπτοῖς δὲ θρήνοις νῦν μιν ἀνυμνήσατε, ἔπειτ' Ἄνακτα ζῶντ' ἀνευφημήσετε, ὡς ἔστιν ἐλπὶς ἀσφαλεστάτη δ' ἐμοί. Χωρεῖτε, χωρεῖτ', οὐκέτ' εἰμὶ προσβλέπειν οἵα πρὸς αὐτοῦ τὸν τάφον καὶ τὸν λίθον. Εἴκωμεν