That house a stable? nay, bright Infant, nay:
Where Thou art born—a stable do we say?
Of mansions in this world fairest of all,
That house but little less than heaven we call.
Seest thou that house with golden splendour flush?
Seest thou that house with scatter'd roses blush?
There is no gold, no rose there laughing lies:
It is the light that falls from His fair eyes. A.
CL.
S. Stephanus amicis suis, funus sibi curantibus. Act. vii. 57-60.
Nulla, precor, busto surgant mihi marmora: bustum
Haec mihi sint mortis conscia saxa meae.
Sic nec opus fuerit, notet ut quis carmine bustum,
Pro Domino, dicens, occidit ille suo.
Hic mihi sit tumulus, quem mors dedit ipsa; meique
Ipse hic martyrii sit mihi martyrium.
St. Stephen to his friends, to raise no monument.
I pray you, raise, my friends, no tomb for me,
But let these conscious stones my record be;
Nor will there then be need of verse to tell
That here for his dear Lord a martyr fell.
That which brought death, a tomb shall also bring,
And be the witness of my witnessing. Cl.
CLI.
In D. Joannem, quem Domitianus ferventi oleo illaesum indidit.
Illum qui, toto currens vaga flammula mundo,
Non quidem Joannes, ipse sed audit amor—
Illum ignem extingui, bone Domitiane, laboras?
Hoc non est oleum, Domitiane, dare.[80]