„Adiutrici Christianorum“, eine Elegie des Papstes Leo XIII. auf den Sieg der Christenheit bei Lepanto (1895). Zuerst das lateinische Original, danach eine englische Übersetzungshilfe.
At nunc, Virgo potens, victrices te auspice palmas
Maiori plectro concinuisse iuvat.
Per te namque almae victoria nuncia pacis
Plus semel ad veteres risit amica patres.
Gallia, tu testis: metuendas arte maligna
Vis inferna tibi struxerat insidias.
Tuque, olim virtute, fide splendescere visa,
Heu priscum misere iam decus exueras !
Immunda late errorum vitiique scatebas
Illuvie, gentes depopulante tuas.
Adfuit at Virgo: meritis, pietate verendum
Finibus hispanis advocat ipsa Virum;
Cui roseas blando cum traderet ore coronas
Haec, ait, haec Gallis arma salutis erunt.
Hisce armis pugnae occurrit Gusmanius heros,
Hac arte enisus clara tropaea tulit.
Occubuere hostes; rursumque effulsit avita
Pulcrior in Gallis candidiorque fides.
Testor et Ioniis quas cernis Echinadas undis:
Vivida adhuc facti fama per ora volat.
Stant ex adverso instructae longo ordine puppes,
In saeva ardescunt praelia iam ruere.
Utraque fert acies signum; haec caeleste Mariae,
Lunae triste minax illa bicomis habet:
Ut raucae sonuere tubae, concurritur; ingens
Continuo ad caeli tollitur astra fragor.
Aera tonant, reboat litus, micat ignibus aequor;
Impavidi hac illae dant fera iussa duces.
Confracto latere et remis non una dehiscit
Navis, et immensi gurgitis ima petit.
lactata horrisono merguntur corpora ponto,
Humano spumans unda cruore rubet.
Anceps stat fortuna: pari virtute peracta,
Hinc inde eventu pugna iterata pari.
Iamque iterum tentanda acies, cum percita fato
Nescio quo classis Turcica, sollicito
Pulsa repente metu, refugit producere pugnam,
Et quamvis multo milite praevalida,
Cedere visa loco, et sese, mirabile dictu !
Ultro Christiadum dedere in arbitrium.
Ingeminat tunc victor io, nomenque Mariae
Conclamat resonis undique litoribus:
Conclamant populi portentum, Virginis almae
Patratum dia bellipotentis ope;
Romulidae imprimis, queis mirum ex hoste triumphum
Fatidico edixit praescius ore Pivs.
Inde quies et pax Europae adserta ruenti,
Inde stetit patriae Relligionis honos.
Seraque posteritas (quid adhuc ignava moratur?)
Eia eventu dignum aggrediatur opus.
Sublime attollat pario de marmore templum
Ad litus, memori gesta ubi pugna loco.
Hic Virgo templum teneat Regina, tumenti
Hic praecincta rosis imperet ipsa mari.
TO THE “HELPER OF CHRISTIANS”
But now the lyre, O mighty Virgin, sings
Thy victories, with deeper-sounding strings.
How oft thy power proclaimed a glad surcease
Of War, with white- winged messengers of Peace!
Be thou the witness, France! — When hellish snares
Beset thy path of glory unawares;
When thou, for faith and virtue once renowned,
Didst cast thy ancient splendors to the ground;
When vice and error ruled thy fairest sod,
And slew with filthy breath the sons of God :
Ah! then the Virgin brake thy hideous chain,
Calling her champion from chivalric Spain,
With but the Rosary for sword and shield:
“To this alone,’ ’ she cried, “the foe must yield ! ”
Such was his weapon — Gusman thus begins
Heroic battle, and the trophy wins;
Thus, David-like, his tens of thousands slew,
That France might once again her faith renew.
A witness, next, from the Ionian seas —
The far-famed battle of the Echinades .
The warring vessels, ranged in battle line,
Fling to the breezes, each a various sign:
Here is the banner of the Virgin fair,
And here the Crescent flaunts the fearful air:
The trump resounds — the breathless hush is riven,
And ceaseless clamor rends the vault of heaven;
Flash the red lightnings, and the thunders roar
In thousand echoings from the affrighted shore.
With shattered oars and timbers gaping wide,
Sinks many a vessel in the expectant tide;
While mangled corpses find a watery grave,
And streaming life-blood reddens every wave.
Doubtful the issue stands: with equal art
Foe strives with foe — uncertain still they part:
And yet again the crash and roar — when lo!
(Who shall divine the cause?) the Turkish foe
Whose mightier power but spoke of victory,
Struck with a sudden terror, turn and flee,
And to the Christians (wondrous to relate!)
Inglorious yield the strenuous combat’s fate.
“All hail!” the victors cry, “to Mary’s Name!”
And echoing shores prolong the grand acclaim.
While in the triumph Christian Europe secs
One of the mighty Virgin’s Prodigies,
More blest the Roman eyes that could behold
A miracle, as Pius had foretold.
Thenceforward peace to troubled Europe came,
And Christian worship gained a noble fame.
Let coining ages (why do they delay?)
With just memorial celebrate the day;
In snow marble raise a temple grand
To signalize the memorable strand,
And the rose-crowned Virgin Queen enshrine
To rule the seas that saw her wondrous Sign!