ABSTRACT
Marbod of Rennes was born in Angers, France, where he became the master of the cathedral school around 1067. In 1096 he became the Bishop of Rennes, though he died in his native Angers. He was the teacher of Baudri, whose work follows. Translations are by Stehling, Nos. 45 and 48. [1] To an Absent Friend If you cherish anything in the city you love and don’t want to lose, And if you cherish it chastely, you shouldn’t care about the court. Cut short all delay; hour by hour your loss is increasing, A loss all the greater since it can never be made up. Put off everything that makes you stay in Chalonnes; You’re losing more here than you’re gaining there. For what is as valuable as a boy who plays fairly with his lover? He’s playing fairly now, but with delay, he’ll turn bad Because, in fact, he’s being tempted with many enticements. And if a boy’s tempted, you have to be afraid that he’ll be netted. And so, come back fast if you want to hold on to what you love. Give up the castle [castellum] if you want to retain your pup [catellum]. [2] Against Homosexual Coupling There are a hundred thousand sins invented by the Devil, And with them he drags this world to punishment’s abyss, Where those who are imprisoned die by being unable to die— Indeed, they would rather die because no death equals their pain. There that wretch rages, roasted by a perennial flame: Brow, eyes, nostrils, neck, ears, Mouth, throat, and breasts become fodder for flames. Back, sides, and belly blaze without any relief; Guilty hips and an accomplice cock never grow cool. O how sad is that man who is handed over to those flames! How gloomy he looks, now that he has become food for snakes; He can scarcely stand the terrible stench hour after hour. He is beaten on all sides with the lashes of his savage torturer. And although the vengeance of Hell is hard on everyone, There are, nonetheless, degrees of punishment. As sins are weighed, so are they punished: Greater pain for greater sins, and lesser for lesser. Therefore copulation performed by members of the same sex, A crime less serious than none, is punished above all others. So, anyone fearing punishment who has not yielded reins to sin Should not yield them now, and he who’s committed it should draw back. O wicked sin! Just as if a billy goat was lusting after a kid When female goats were around; the world’s grief clings to him! Less serious than none, it is punished more severely than all.
