De laudibus sancte crucis

THE PROLOGUE BEGINS.

A small, red decorative initial letter H marks the beginning of the prologue text. Divine law encourages us to bring gifts to the Lord. It does not exclude anyone, but seeks a voluntary offering from all. As the Lord commanded Moses, saying: "Speak to the children of Israel, that they may bring first fruits to me; from every man who offers it willingly, you shall receive them." original: "Loquere filiis Israhel ut tollant mihi primitias, ab omni homine qui offert ultroneus accipietis eas." A reference to Exodus 25:2. In this, no room is given for excuse, since a willing heart is sought and necessity is not imposed, but it is left to each person’s own judgment. Therefore, I myself, applying a devoted mind to these laws, offered these first fruits, composed in praise of the holy Cross. This Cross is the pillar of the heavenly building, in which the house of Christ is constructed. I offer this to the internal Judge who beholds me, not with a proud intention, but with humble devotion, wishing to contribute whatever I can by His grace to His praise. He judges not according to the appearance but according to the heart, and He does not estimate the quantity of the gift, but the quantity of the devotion.

Indeed, I do not think I can confer any beauty upon the holy Cross, which illuminates all things with its own brilliance. Instead, I preach its brilliance and perpetual majesty to my fellow servants with whatever praise I can. I do this so that by reading it often and looking upon it diligently, we may constantly think of our redemption within it, and give thanks unceasingly to our Redeemer. Though He lacked nothing and possessed the everlasting kingdom together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant. He became obedient to the Father even unto death, even death on a Cross. Once also the Just died for the unjust for our sins, so that He might offer us to God, and make us a kingdom and priests to God the Father.

For this reason, I ask that whoever looks upon the text of this work should not immediately reject it in contempt because of the lowliness of the creator. Instead, if they are willing and able, let them read it. By looking with the eye of holy faith and judging by the authority of the divine scriptures, let them attribute whatever they find discussed in a catholic and right manner to Him from whom all good comes. If, however, anything is found stated less correctly or thoughtlessly, let it be blamed on my ignorance rather than malice. I always desire the rectitude of the catholic faith as much as I can, and I learn it eagerly, striving to keep its laws as much as heavenly grace allows. And so, to anyone whom I seem to have erred, I humbly suggest that they do not delay in informing me of my error, either by voice if I am present, or through writing if I am absent.

But if, because of the distance of lands or some other impossibility, they can do neither of these, or if it is established that I have departed from this present life, I pray that they may entreat the most merciful Judge for my guilt. May He, from whom nothing of human weakness is hidden, loosen the bonds of my error and grant me the pardon of my sins by the grace of His forgiveness. I hope to do the same as long as I live in this body, that is, to pour out prayers daily for my errors and for the errors of others, so that the Pious One may, by His grace, both correct those who wander and grant indulgence to those who err. For the rest, I advise the reader to keep the order of this writing and not neglect to preserve the figures made in it, lest the value of the work be lost and the utility of the reading be diminished. To make this easier, I took care to explain the logic of each figure on the following page in a prose style, attaching its explanation together with the verses that are written within the figure. If it moves anyone that I have decided to write the verses of each page with the same number of letters,

or why I have inserted certain marks or points among them, let them know that I did this not so much by necessity as by choice, so that the sense and speech in them might be clearer. I did not do this commonly or frequently, nor without the authority of the elders. For I do not remember making points in the verses themselves anywhere except where quae which/who was a pronoun or a conjunction, or where the final syllable of a word was "us." This is the same thing that Porphirius Publilius Optatianus Porfyrius, a 4th-century poet known for pattern poems did, according to whose example I learned to scatter letters. Also, for the letter "m," I have sometimes marked a small line over the vowel preceding it. I also used synalœpham synaloepha, the merging of two vowels at the end of one word and start of the next, sometimes in writing final synaloephas in appropriate places, which Titus Lucretius is found to have done not rarely. I also sometimes intercepted the "u" placed between "q" and another vowel. Similarly, I treated the "h" aspiration this way, especially since such a "u" is judged by grammarians to be nothing, and "h" is proven not to be a letter but a mark of aspiration.

If a great power is given to all practitioners of meter, who observe only the type of meter and the rule of feet, through metaplasmos metaplasm, the changing of a word's form for the sake of the meter and schemata schemes, or rhetorical arrangements and tropus tropes, or figurative uses of language, and other things which are most abundantly granted to poets by grammarians, why should it not be granted to me? I have taken care to preserve not only certain types of meters and legitimate feet, but also the sequence and number of letters and the method of the figures most diligently. Above all, I beseech everyone who reads this work not to be stirred against me by the stings of envy, nor to strive to tear down my labor. Let them not study to delete what I have labored to prepare for the praise of God, and thus study to harm themselves more than me. While they cannot bear to hear the glory of the holy Cross through my humility, they may incur the offense of the crucified King and fail to obtain the grace of redemption which is in the Cross.