Dubia alia
by Anonymous
Source text: Public Domain. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://migne.app/pl/101/dubia-alia/
----------------------------------------

## I LETTER TO POPE LEO III.

[1161A]

To the excellent and orthodox great man, crowned by God, the gem of priests, to Leo the bishop, happily governing the highest and golden Roman see with glory and all honor: that most worthless servant of all the servants of God — we beg salvation and glory for the unfading crown of your glory and blessedness, and humbly, as though before your most holy feet in human fashion [ *Forte,* humi prostratus], we pray for your glory and favor, and with insistent entreaty we beg your most holy service; because, so far as the chosen Son of God has deigned to grant us strength, we desire to remain in your service, as is worthy and just toward so truly angelic a servant of God. For we, your most humble [1161B] little servants, have resolved, with the Lord's help, to journey to Rome for the sake of prayer, and to greet his victims with devout kisses [ *F.,* pio osculo . . . ostia]; and to set kisses with warm cheeks upon the pavement before most holy *Peter*, and to ask pardon and indulgence for our [past] offenses. But now your kindliness knows that, on account of the great distance of our land and the hindrance of the pagans, we have by no means been able to come here in this way, as we have it arranged [habemus], we had it on the day for the consul, as the great necessity of our frailty demanded [ *Cod. Sal.,* expetit] of us. Therefore we beseech your holy clemency to be willing to ask pardon for us at his most blessed confession [ *Cod. Sal.,* rogare delictis], so that through your [1162A] intercession the merciful Lord may deign to grant us some little release from the chains of our offenses. But we are not worthy to render you service in any matter. We know that from God and from Saint Peter you will obtain a recompense both in this world and, in the world to come, a wage and glory. May the kindly Trinity and inseparable Unity guard the lord Leo, the highest priest, now and always and unto eternity, happily and with the glory of God.

## II. *449* ANONYMOUS POEM FOR THE POET'S FRIENDS.

Little letter, go quickly, in your course across the level sea;
with the winds behind you, make for the strong mouths of the fish-rich Rhine,
entering there where it rolls into the deep with rushing waves;
[1162B]then let your prow be drawn by a very long towrope,
and let the ship not be swept swiftly backward by the river.
If my Albric should come and meet you upon the stream,
say to him in haste: hail, cattle-rich prelate.
For prior Hadda serves you, for no more than a single night
at Traject., honey, and [sic: *compultim*], and [sic: *butur*],
inasmuch as Frisia pours out neither oil nor wine.
From here lift your sails; in your flight leave Dorsdrada behind;
perhaps black Hrotberct prepares no hospitable roof for you;
see, the greedy merchant has no love for your song;
but turn aside, you, to the shores of my poet Jonah:
for there is sure rest for the weary who come thither.
Here herbs abound for guests, here fish, here bread.
The city of Cologne kindly opens her roofs to you:
[1163A]here greet Father Ricwulf with a humble voice;
say: Your praise, beloved, will remain with me always.
Hence you will make for the forts, your ship running through the waves,
until you reach the calm waters of the longed-for Moselle.
After you have furrowed the river's stretch with rowing,
then halt your craft here, and let the stern take the sand,
and seek on foot the holy places of Father Willibrord;
and search out the roof of Samuel the priest;
remember to knock at the doors with a Castalian quill,
and steadily say to the boy who serves, in a Pythian voice:
Publius Albinus sent me from the British world,
to bring a sweet greeting to a most sweet Father.
If the chance of a word in his presence be granted you,
poured out upon the ground as a suppliant, kiss his consecrated feet,
and say: Fare well, father Samuel; say: Live long, priest.
[1163B]Uncover your lap now, and bring forth the honorable fathers
Priscian and Phocas — and he delights in such a gift,
if only Neptune has not drowned them in the sea.
If perchance he should wish to lead you to the king's hall,
here run through and greet the nobles, the fathers, the brothers.
Before the king's feet spread out all your Muses;
say many times over: Hail, best of kings, hail:
be present to me as protector, guardian, defender,
that no envious tongue may have power to tear at me with its harm —
of Paulinus, of Peter, of Albric, of Samuel, of Jonah,
or of whoever may wish to gnaw my vitals with his bite:
let him flee far off at your terrifying, let him depart with nothing.
Say with a hushed murmur: Fare well, Peter my teacher —
that fierce one strikes with a Herculean club: beware.
Rejoicing, embrace the gifts of master Paulinus,
[1163C]and ten times take coaxing kisses from his honey-bearing lips.
Duly greet Ricwulf, Raefgot, and Rado,
and touch their ears little by little with your singing.
Say: Companions, brothers, joyful ones, hail and fare well.
Perhaps you will come to the distinguished city of Mainz,
and there say an everlasting farewell to Lull the teacher:
he is held the very model of the Church, the splendor of wisdom,
in character and in life fully worthy of so great an honor.
O Bassinus, glory of the good people of Speyer,
[1164A]commend me, I beg, kindly Father, to Paul my patron,
whose kindly house had made us both brothers.
Who, devout Fulcrad, will dare to touch you with the lyric quill?
By your merits you surpass the songs of the Muses.
*450* Yet now allow this ivy to creep about your brows, preserve [ *F.,* sacra],
most high Father, and out of your accustomed goodness [bonitate sueta]
permit me at least once to say hail to you.
Come, on with it, O chaste one [charta], board the ready ship at once;
let the curved keel swim beneath you the Ocean and the Rhine.
Let no tawny stuff of gold, I beg, hold you back,
which the weary settler brings forth from the bowels of the earth;
let no forts, houses, cities, nor flowering fields
[1164B]detain you, dazed, for the space of even a single hour;
but flee, break off all delay, hasten, run your course in flight.
Safe, sound, rejoicing and thriving,
may you find our friends, and gladly.
May almighty God grant them salvation through the ages,
and afterward lead them, glad, into the heavenly hall.
When all this is done, return sure of your way to your homeland,
and remember to tell what each one says to you;
and when in spring the red buds . . . . . out of the bark
burst forth, may they see you at play beneath our roof,
and bringing us new songs once again.
Then I will fashion for you golden garlands of fresh flowers,
and you, joined with me, will rest in pleasant meadows.


## III. POEM ON CHARLEMAGNE, AND ON THE COMING OF POPE LEO TO HIM.

[1164C]

*You may see this poem among the Appendices to the Works of Charlemagne, in volume XCVIII of this Patrologia, col.* 1433.

## IV. *456* VERSES ON THE CELL OF CORMERY.

O my cell, dwelling sweet and beloved to me,
forever and unto eternity, O my cell, farewell!
[1165A]On every side the trees encircle you with resounding boughs,
a little wood ever laden with flower-bearing leaves.
All the meadows too will bloom with health-bringing herbs,
which the physician's right hand seeks for the aid [ *Ed.,* ore] of health.
Rivers encircle you with flowering banks on every side,
where the fisherman exulting spreads his nets.
Your cloisters are fragrant with fruit-laden boughs throughout the gardens,
white lilies mingled with little red roses.
Every kind of bird sounds out its morning songs,
and praises God the Creator with its voice.
In you there once resounded the kindly voice of the master,
which with holy mouth handed on the books of wisdom.
In you, at appointed seasons, the holy praise of the Thunderer
sounded with peaceful [ *Ed.* pacificos] voices and minds.
[1165B]You, my cell, I now bewail with tearful songs,
and groaning I lament your downfall from my heart.
For you have suddenly fled the songs of poets [ *Edit.,* fatum; *Mabill.,* fato],
and now a wholly unknown hand holds you.
Now neither Flaccus nor Homer the bard [ *Ed.,* fatis] will have you,
nor do boys sing the Muses beneath your roof.
For thus all the glory of the age is turned about of a sudden;
all things are changed in varied successions.
Nothing remains eternal, nothing is truly unchangeable;
shadowy night darkens the holy day.
Cold winter suddenly strikes down the beautiful flowers,
and a sadder wind troubles the peaceful sea.
[1165C]The holy youth that used to drive the stags across the fields
now leans upon a staff, an old man and weary.
Wretched are we! Why do we love you, O world, you fugitive?
You flee from us, ever rushing headlong everywhere.
Flee then, you that flee; let us love Christ always,
let the love of God hold our hearts always.
May he in his mercy defend his servant [ *F.,* pios famulos] from the dread foe,
snatching up to heaven our hearts, which are his own;
and let us with our whole heart alike praise him and love him:
he in his mercy is our glory, our life, our salvation.



## V. VERSES OF ALCUIN

*These verses are to be written at the front of the codex, where the image of Christ and the images of the four evangelists and of the four prophets are contained.* [1165D]In fourfold order, painted with varied figures,
[1166A]the hosts of the saints behold great joys.
Among them Isaiah, relying on his most lofty teaching,
and Jeremiah alike, chant the miracles of the Lord;
Ezekiel describes both the throne of God and these things,
and Daniel tells of the Christ cut from the mountain.
[ Matthew describes the human birth of Christ;
Mark roars in manner with the voice of a gnashing lion.
Luke lows with devout love in the song of Christ.
By writing, John, you pierce heaven with your mind].


*These on the other page, where the lamb is painted, and the* XXIIII *elders, and the earth and the sea.* All that the present earth brings forth to give nourishment,
and this face of the sea surrounds it with an ample border.
O Lamb, they venerate God forever on his lofty throne —
you who by the shedding of your blood wiped away the crimes of the age
[1166B] *457* upon the cross: may you wipe away the wounds of King Charles.
[ The hoary company of the prophets, renowned, and the venerable order,
the apostolic assembly, pressing on with heavenly garlands,
praises, adores, loves, and fears him with a devoted heart.
And prince Charles gazes upon him with uncovered face,
praying that he may live with you, long-lived, unto eternity].


*In another place, where the lamb alone is painted.* This Lamb Moses showed in the law as one to come,
to bear the wounds of death on behalf of all peoples.


*Where the right hand of Christ is painted.* The right hand of the Father, which governs the world by its rule,
and has carried its own Son across into the high heavens.


*At the end of John the evangelist.* And prince Charles, who in holy manner is kindly —
[1166C]by his help this book here shines forth in its doings.


*At the end of the book the scribes speak.* Thus far, furrowing, we have moved over the holy sea;
our keel has come to the end of the shore.


## VI. TO CANDIDUS SETTING OUT FOR ROME.

My mind follows you, dearest Candidus, in sorrow;
may your mind, I pray, carry me with it everywhere.
Through all the places of God, may the grace of Christ
accompany you as you go, sweet son, from the citadel of heaven.
And may it grant you, over lands and woods and rivers and mountains,
a straight journey on a fortunate path,
so that the longed-for day may see you at last in the towers of that
excellent City, in which are the holy thresholds of Peter,
who may bear your prayers to Christ above the steep
[1166D]summits of heaven — he, the first Father in the world, in his mercy —
[1167A]prayers which may flow from the mouth of your heart, with tears,
your body prostrate on the ground before the altar of God.
Thence, through those airy towers of walls that must one day fall,
coming to the consecrated roof of devout Paul,
stretched out in the sign of the cross, with groaning breast,
there lament the offenses of father and of son together.
And straightway, a devout traveler, hasten through the churches
of the saints, praising God always with your mouth,
who has granted the world to have such patrons,
standing before the throne of the Father in the citadel of heaven —
who by their rosy blood conquered kingdoms throughout the earth,
bearing the cross of Christ upon their devout necks.
Beg them again and again with a devoted heart
mercifully to be present always to your prayers.
Before their devout ashes let the tokens of your tears
[1167B]stand always and everywhere upon the sacred stones.
You too, throughout the city, with an eager mind, I pray
to be present among the sacred orders and the feasts.
Observe what befits each person and each season,
so that, remembering, you may report it all to the Father,
and may profit your own people by your counsels and kindly ways,
so that through you the holy Church of God may flourish.
If the grace of merciful Christ should go before you
into the sacred sight of the apostolic Father,
ask for the ashes of the Fathers, their garments, or perhaps the hair
of the saints, or the great joys of the holy cross,
that it may be a support to our life through the ages,
and to our own likewise, always and everywhere devout.
When all this has been duly accomplished, Christ having mercy,
return prosperously to the Father; go quickly.
[1167C]Let Phoebus no longer see you lingering in the Hall,
but rise with the Morning Star, exulting traveler.
Let no flame-flying sun, no wind, no frosts or storm-clouds
now delay the journey of one hastening to the Father.
Love conquers all things: swifter of foot than the East Wind,
go in haste, run, fly, hurry on,
so that Jacob may joyfully see his Joseph with his own eyes
before the day of dread death, in his own city.
Why should I sing you more? Happy, and happily, go now
along all your ways, my son, God having mercy.
May the Creator of the world grant you all prosperity.
Sweet and beloved son, fare well to your Father.


## VII. PRAYERS OF ALBINUS TO GOD AND TO THE APOSTLES.

[1167D] We entreat the mightiest supports of the world's Author,
who, though he was in glory, took flesh from Mary;
who, coming down from heaven, the living giver of life,
having suffered the cross for all, gave gifts to men,
the most bountiful lawgiver, God and the Son of God;
who, after his holy triumphs were accomplished, ascending as victor,
sent twice two and twice five shining Apostles into the world,
whose measureless glory will shine again through the ages.
Blessed first of all, the heir, the vicar of Christ,
Saint Peter the apostle, foremost of the holy flock.
[1168A]Bar-Jona, lofty column, climbing the heights of heaven,
Peter from the solid rock, following the footsteps of Christ.
With pure and perfected labor, without deadly grief.
He rests at Rome in honor, having suffered the cross under Nero.
The shining miracles of his powers blazed forth.
To all the nations he shone out, an excellent preacher;
he shone upon those who did not see, bright as the flash of the sun,
Saint Paul the apostle, chosen not by men,
filled with the honorable fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Caught up to the third heaven, held worthy as teacher of the nations,
strengthener of the feeble, consoler of those who mourn.
Proved by manifold fire . . . . . in triumph.
Whose unutterable wisdom the ages sound aloud.
Worthy and exceedingly resplendent, a teacher, he taught the nations,
Saint Andrew, most excellent, apostle of Christ the King.
[1168B]Instrument of the Holy Spirit, adorned with the gifts of grace.
Brother of Peter the apostle, proclaimer of the law of the Lord.
Lordly in mind and in countenance, a glory in his manly stature:
preaching in Achaia, having suffered the cross under Aegeas.
Now he reigns in glory, an Elijah fit for the kingdom.
Whom God, out of his labors, has restored to the flowers of life.
*458* Chosen upon the summit of apostolic honor,
he shone with the clear light of evangelical teaching:
James, the mounter of Christ's most exalted glory,
the consummator of the highest King's excellent victory,
brother of John the Holy, and of most illustrious memory.
Beheaded by the sword, crowned with martyrdom


## VIII. EPITAPH OF SAINT RICHARIUS THE ABBOT, OR METRICAL VERSES CARVED IN GOLDEN LETTERS, BY ORDER OF CHARLEMAGNE, ON THAT SAME GOLDEN CASKET IN WHICH THE BODY OF SAINT RICHARIUS WAS LAID.

[1168C]

*At the front of the tomb.* A golden urn covers a heavenly treasure,
a worshiper of the Lord, Richarius by name,
whom this Centula brought forth of most lofty lineage,
and who flourished as the excellent pastor of the place.


*On the right side.* Having set aside the world, in which he shone with great honor,
he spurned ample riches for the love of God.
Here, breaking his own body by hard contest,
a man devout and great, he is famed forever in the world.


*On the top of the chest, above.* Here he restored life to the dead, sight to the blind,
[1168D]and by his fostering care health returns to lepers.
Full of apostolic powers and apostolic words,
he held the heavenly banquets always in his mouth.


*On the left side.* For him prince Charles, with kindly mind,
completing a worthy temple, founded it, and a tomb,
after about a hundred and sixty years,
while the Lord's servant stands whole even yet.


*At the front of the feet.* That by his merits he may take the heavenly kingdoms,
and may rule the kingdoms of the Franks quiet in peace.



## IX. ALBINUS ON THE SEVEN SEALS.

[1169A]

The first seal is the nativity. The second, the baptism. The third, the cross. The fourth, the sepulchre. The fifth, the resurrection. The sixth, the ascension. The seventh, the judgment. These are the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. The first was wisdom, that Christ should be born of the Virgin without the seed of a man. The second was the spirit of understanding, that in baptism, through those three immersions, sins should be forgiven, as it is said: *Stripping off the old man, putting on the new [n: (Col. III, 9)]*. The third was the spirit of counsel, as Caiaphas says: *It is better that one man should die than that the whole nation perish [n: (Joan. XI, 50)]*. The fourth was the spirit of fortitude, because the body was in the sepulchre, and [1169B] Christ bound the devil in hell, and those souls which were unjustly held there he brought back to the kingdom, and the Lord bit into hell. The fifth was the spirit of knowledge, because when he had risen from the dead, he made us believe and rise again — for we shall all rise again, as it is said: *Arise, O Lord, thou and the ark of thy sanctification [n: (Psal. CXXXI, 8)]*. The sixth was the spirit of piety, because when Christ ascended to heaven, the souls of the just also ascend to him, as Paul says: *I desired [1170A] to be dissolved and to be with Christ [n: (Phil. I, 23)]*. The seventh was the spirit of fear, because when Christ shall come to the judgment, to reward the just, there will be great fear for sinners, as it is said: *Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire [n: (Matth. XXV, 41)]*. And the rest.

These seven gifts of the Holy Spirit were in the seven patriarchs. Wisdom in Adam, because he gave names to all the wild animals, or beasts, and the birds of heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and he was the first prophet, when he said: *This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh [n: (Gen. II, 23)]*. Understanding in Noah, who built the ark in the flood and steered it. Counsel in Abraham, as it is said: *Go forth out of thy land, and from thy kindred, and out of the house of thy Father [n: (Gen. XII, 1)]*. Fortitude in Isaac, [1170B] because he loved his enemies. Knowledge in Jacob, because the angel of the Lord blessed him and said to him: *Thou shalt no more be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name [n: (Gen. XXXII, 28)]*. Piety in Moses, because he said: *Blot me out of the book of the living [n: (Exod. XXXII, 32)]*, wherein thou hast written me. Fear in David, because he feared God, when Saul went into the cave to relieve himself, and he said: *Far be it from me, that I should put my hand upon the anointed of the Lord [n: (I Reg. XXVI, 11)]*.
