Then wás to the people in the depth of their souls 895
Impressed on their minds, as ever shall be,
The wonder that wrought the Lord of hosts
For saving of souls of the race of men,
The Teacher of life. There the sinner-through-lies
Then stied in the air, the flying fiend. 900
Gan then exclaim the devil of hell,
The terrible monster, mindful of evils:
"Lo! whát man is this, who now again
With ancient strife my service will ruin,
Increase the old hate, [and] plunder my goods? 905
This contest's increasing. The souls cannot,
Workers of sin, longer within
My power remain, now a stranger is come,
Whom I ere reckoned fast in his sins,
Me has he robbed of every right, 910
Of precious possessions. That's nót a fair course.
To me many harms the Saviour has done,
Contests oppressive, he who in Nazareth
Was reared as a child. As soon as he grew
From childhood's years, he to hím ever turned 915
Mine own possessions. I may not now
In any right thrive. His kingdom is broad
Over the mid-earth. My might is lessened
Under the heavens. The rood I need not
Joyfully praise. Lo! me the Saviour 920
In that narrow home again has confined
Sadly for sorrow. Through Judas before
Joyful I was, and now am I humbled,
Deprived of goods, through Judas again,
Despised and friendless. Still can I find 925
Through evil deeds return hereafter[1]
From the homes of the damned. 'Gainst thee will I rouse
Another king[2] who will persecute thee,
And he will reject thine own instruction,
And sinful manners of mine will he follow, 930
And thee will he send then into the blackest
And into the worst terrors of torments,
That with sorrow beset thou'lt firmly renounce
The hangèd King whom ere thou obeyed'st."
To him then the cunning Judas replied, 935
The battle-brave man (in him Holy Spirit
Was firmly implanted, fire-hot his love,
His wit was welling with warrior's craft),
And this word he spake with wisdom filled:
"Thou need not so strongly, mindful of sins, 940
Sorrow renew, and strife uprear,
Sin-maker of murder, for thee mighty King
In the depths beneath will thrust thee down,
Worker of sin, to miseries' bottom
Deprived of glory, who many of the dead 945
With his word awaked. Know thou the readier,
That thou with folly didst once renounce
Brightest of lights and love of the Lord,
The fairest joy, and in bath of fire,
Surrounded with torments, didst afterwards dwell, 950
Consumed with flame, and there ever shalt,
Hostile in mind, punishment suffer,
Misery endless." Helena heard
How the fiend and the friend contests aroused,
The blest and the base, on both their sides, 955
The sinner and the saint. Her mind was the gladder
For that she heard the hellish foe
[The fiend] overcome, the worker of sins,
And then she wondered at the wit of the man,
How hé so truthful in so little time 960
And so untaught ever became
With wisdom inspired. [Then] thanked she God,
The King of glory, that her wish was fulfilled
Through the Son of God of each of the two,
Bóth for the sight of the victor-tree, 965
Ánd of the faith that[3] so bright she perceived,
The glorious gift in the breast of the man.
[1] So Z.; 'rebellion for this,' W. See W.'s note.
[2] Julian the Apostate, suggests Gn.
[3] 'That,' relative, though it may be taken as conjunction,
as Z.