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Excerpt 26
Edes denique
memorata uelut Dei castra fouet in Cestria,
1
uidimus momentis nostris quod utinam maneat
sempiternis.
Quod siquis sciolus rerum et locorum
permiserit euidenter et breuiter inferre uerum,
cognationem exigit porta cum patria,
quod cuidam innotuit experientia
propria,
qui plusculum in pane contractior et
constrictus a panis fuit erogatione semotus.
2
¶Recordetur qui intelligit quod hic legit, quod
scriptor honeste tangit.
Illud etiam intuendum, qualiter ipsum uirginis monasterium
ambiatur
quatuor mansionibus
alborum monacorum
,
3
. qui Reginam celi
profitentur dominam,
4
ad consolationem presentis exilii et
requiem futuram.
Nam a fronte Cumbermare
et a tergo Basinwerc
et a lateribus, ad euidentissimum modum
crucis, competenter et pulcre distinctis spaciis a quattuor
monasteriis, uelut preconum laudibus comendatur,
ut almum et album sit quicquid medium
inuenitur.
5
Quippe instar uitalis ligni et dominici
patibuli, que ab oriente in occidentem protensa sunt,
paululum longiora sunt,
et que ab aquilone in austrum, iuxta
transuersum crucis lignum, breuia sunt.
Excerpt 26
The monastery,
like a divine fortress, keeps those in Chester warm;
1
would that it might always do so!
But if someone who claims to know about
facts and places allows us, on the basis of evidence and with
brevity, to infer what is true
- St Werburgh's
gate has a natural connection with the nearby
suburb.
This is a fact known from personal
experience by anyone
who has found himself more than usually
deprived of bread, who has been constrained and removed from the
distribution of bread.
2
¶He who understands what he reads here should
mull over what the author has frankly said.
It should also be understood how the monastery of St Werburgh is
surrounded by
four houses of
Cistercian monks
,
3
which are dedicated to our lady, the queen of heaven,
4
for the consolation and future peace of
those adrift in this world.
For to the front Combermere
,
to the back Basingwork
,
and to the sides, these monasteries are
arranged in the shape of a cross, like the praises of
heralds,
suggesting that whatever is found in the
middle will be bright and nourishing.
5
Certainly the east-west axis, representing
the living tree and gallows on which the Lord died, is somewhat
longer
and the north-south axis, like the
cross-bar of the cross, is shorter.
Que percipit
lector, nonne perspicit
habitator?
Quociens recordamur, animo
reparamur.
Rebus ostenditur quod stilus loquitur.
Surely the
inhabitant should perceive these things if
the reader can?
Our spirit is revived whenever we recall
them.
What I describe is physically evident in
the city.
Excerpt 27
Iste est igitur Michael prepositus Paradisi,
quem honorificant
i
angelorum ciues,
per quem Deus
uoluit glorificare Cestrenses.
Et quo ante diuinitatis aspectum dignior
assistit,
eo dulcius in suo ministerio Cestriam complectitur et
custodit.
Et qui de arce
celesti auctore Deo conatus impios
eliminauit,
ipse Cestrie inimicos propellit et
extinguit.
Qui etiam, prudentiores ammonens
consequenter, ad austrum posuit tentorium suum
ut quos ab aquilonis latere gloriosa uirgo Wereburga uictores
probat,
ad uerum requiem et meridianam lucem ipse perducat.
ii
Michael et Wereburga.
Isti enim simul unius platee duo inicia
sortiti, conuenientissime susceperunt asseruandas
portas geminas
quia semper est angelis cognata
uirginitas.
Hec prope portam Angeli dixisse
sufficiat,
ut ad ea, que secuntur, series destinata
pertendat.
Excerpt 27
Such therefore is Michael, the guardian of paradise,
whom the fellow citizens of the angels
honour
and through whom God wanted to honour the
Cestrians.
There he stands deservedly in the divine
gaze,
and may thereby more sweetly hold and guard
Chester according to his
office.
He who on God's behalf exiled from
the arc of heaven those who
rebelled,
drives out and destroys the enemies of
Chester.
Following wise advice, he placed his camp in the south
so that to whoever the
glorious virgin Werburgh judges victorious in the
north
he can provide true peace in the midday
sun.
Michael and Werburgh.
For, assigned the two entrances to street,
they together undertook the preservation of
the two gates
,
which was very fitting because virginity is
akin to being an angel.
Enough has been said about St Michael's
Gate
and the text carries on as planned.
Quod si recapitulari breuissime quatuor
ingressus portarum placet:Recapitulacio.
Iohannes
uigilat ab oriente ut felicitas
oriatur,
Petrus
ab occidente ut iniquitas
moriatur,
Wereburga
ab aquilione ut hostilitas
confundatur,
Michael
a meridie ut eternitas
conferatur.
Qui et alios secum habent
excellentissimos et idoneos urbis uigiles et ciuium
protectores
qui sufficiant et suaue ducant habitatores amplecti et
fouere
et ante Dei
presentiam precibus comendare.Limphas Dei quo plus biberis, dulciores inuenies; hoc habet
usus, crede ueteribus.
Nam cum pleni sint dulcedine et
sanctitate,
in eternitatis fonte bibunt,
quam misericorditer et benigne pupillis
oporteat prouidere.
Haec de quatuor portis tuis pingenda credidi,
ciuitas Cestria,
ut quod habet lector in litera,
teneat habitator in oculis et memoria.
Memor tui sit superna pietas et eterna
clementia,
quae me
olim in primis annis aluisti
et cum nequirem discernere inter
opposita,
6
literis instituisti.
Aucta sis Dei beneficiis et celesti
misericordia, dulcis et
alumpna prouincia,
merearis auxilium et protectionem apud
uniuersitatis
Auctorem.
Aperiat tibi sua uiscera,
qui nostras lauit maculas in columpna
sancte crucis arborea
et in eius gratuleris nomine qui plenus
est nectarea pietate.
But it is pleasing to recapitulate very
briefly the four entry gates: Recapitulation.
John
watches from the east so that
goodness might spring forth,
Peter from
the west so that wickedness
might die,
Werburgh
from the north so that enmity
might be confounded,
Michael
from the south so that eternal
life might be earnt.
Cestrians also have other suitably excellent
guardians of the city and protectors of its citizens,
who are fitted, and count it their delight,
to cherish the inhabitants
and to encourage them and promote their
causes before God's
presence.The more you
drink the waters of God, the sweeter you will find them.
This is what regular practice shows, trust the men of
old!
For since they are full of sweetness and
sanctity,
they drink from the stream of
eternity,
which eternity it behooves them, with
tenderness of heart and benevolence of spirit, make available to
their wards.
I have judged these four gates worth
depicting, O city of
Chester,
so that what the reader has in books,
the
inhabitant may hold in his gaze and memory.
I remember your heavenly piety and
continual mercy,
with which you once nourished me during my first
years,
and when I was unable to distinguish
between opposite propositions,
6
you taught me with letters.
May you be honoured with divine privileges
and heavenly mercy, sweet, local
province,
may you earn help and protection from the author of the
universe.
May He open to you his heart
who washed away our sins on the wooden beam
of the holy cross,
and may you rejoice in his name, which is
filled with the nectar of faith.
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