3. Pompa Perditorum – Pecussoris poena (Pars III)

Percussōris poena

Ecce ingēns turba peditum pertrānsībat, et pecudēs ac vestēs, multimodamque supellectilem, et dīversa ūtēnsilia, quae praedōnēs asportāre solent, super colla scapulāsque suās ferēbat. Omnēs nīmīrum lāmentābantur, sēsēque ut festīnārent cohortābantur.

Multōs etiam vīcīnōrum suōrum, quī nūper obierant, presbyter ibīdem recognōvit, et maerentēs prō magnīs suppliciīs, quibus ob facinora sua torquēbantur, audīvit. Deinde turma vespiliōnum secūta est, cui praefātus gigās repente associātus est.

Feretra ferē quīnquāgintā ferēbantur et ūnumquodque ā duōbus bajulīs ferēbātur. Porrō super feretra hominēs parvī velut nānī sedēbant, et magna capita ceu dōlia habēbant. Ingēns etiam truncus ā duōbus Aethiopibus portābātur, et super truncum quīdam misellus, dīrē ligātus, cruciābātur, et inter angōrēs dīrōs ululātūs ēmittēns, vōciferābātur. Taeterrimus enim daemōn, quī super eumdem truncum sedēbat, igneīs calcāribus in lumbīs et tergō sanguinolentum importūnē stimulābat.

A murderer’s punishment

Behold a great crowd of people came by on foot, carrying on their heads and shoulders; sheep, clothes, furniture, and moveable’s of all descriptions, such as robbers are in the habit of pillaging. All were making great lamentations and urging one another to hasten their steps.

Among them the priest recognised a number of his neighbours who had lately died, and he heard them bewailing the excruciating sufferings with which they were tormented for their evil deeds. They were followed by a troop of corpse-bearers, who were joined by the giant already mentioned.

They carried as many as fifty biers, each of which was borne by two bearers. On these were seated a number of men of the size of dwarfs, but whose heads were as large as barrels. Two Ethiopians also carried an immense trunk of a tree, to which a poor wretch was rudely bound, who, in his tortures filled the air with fearful cries of anguish; for a horrible demon sat on the same trunk and goaded his loins and back with red-hot spurs until the blood streamed from them.

A Daniele Petterson Scripta

Written by Daniel Petterson