A poem from Hildebert

Translated letter:

Former times boasted of ten sibyls,
and it was a great glory to your sex.
present times rejoice in the wit of one,
and do not entirely lack a virgin poet.
Now also there are certain exchanges between gods and man,
which I think, and I am not wrong, speak from the mouth of a virgin.
They have set a shrine of God to be worshiped  in your mind,
and made the sacred poet its mouth.
Whatever flows from your mouth transcends 
the vigils of the ancients, inferior only to the gods.
Whatever you breath out is immortal, and
the world adores your work as divine.
You put down by your wit celebrated poets and bards
and both sexes are stunned by your eloquence.
Looking through the songs you sent me ten times over
I am amazed and I think they come from visits [divine inspiration].
It is not human to be capable of such sacred labors,
not you, but through you I believe the deities speak.
The weight of the words, the heavy sense, the beautiful order,
have the countenance of divine condition.
When I wonder at how much majesty supports them,
I am less mindful of the sad burden of exile.
Perhaps you do not know, but I, though an honorable guardian,
though part of a sacred order, I am [made] an exile.
You can, virgin,  alleviate the cares of the exile
and the weights of hard labors with your song.
I beg you, alleviate them, do not abandon the one
Fortune has abandoned, you the very companion of Fortune.
Do not deny me words; I can demand nothing more lightly.
I hope for nothing from you, if you deny me words.
Unless perhaps you refuse service from exiles,
I, an exile, would strive in your service wherever. 

Original letter:

Tempora prisca decem se iactavere sibillis,
et vestri sexus gloria multa fuit.
unius ingenio presentia secula gaudent,
et non ex toto virgine vate carent.
nunc quoque sunt homini quedam commercia divum,   5
quos puto, nec fallor, virginis ore loqui.
mente tua posuere dei penetrale verendum,
osque sacrum vatem constituere suum.
ore tuo quecumque fluunt vigilata priorum
transcendunt, solis inferiora deis.                         1o
quicquid enim spiras est immortale, tuumque
tanquam divinum mundus adorat opus.
deprimis ingenio vates celebresque poetas,
et stupet eloquio sexus uterque tuo.
carmina missa mihi decies spectata revolvens    15
miror, et ex aditis illa venire reor.
non est humanum tam sacros posse labores,
nec te, sed per te numina credo loqui.
pondera verborum, sensus gravis, ordo venustus
vultum divine condicionis habent.                      20
cum miror quanta se maiestate tuentur,
parcius exilii triste recordor onus.
forsitan ignoras, sed ego dum tutor honestum,
dum sacri partes ordinis, exul agor.
exilii curas et pondera dura laborum                25
alleviare tuo carmine, virgo, potes.
allevies oro, nec quem Fortuna reliquit
linquere, Fortune tu comes ipsa, velis.
ne mihi verba neges; levius nil poscere possum.
nil a te spero, si mihi verba neges.                         30
exulis obsequium nisi cuius forte recuses,
exul in obsequium nitar ubique tuum.

Historical context:

Hildebert wrote this poem to Muriel while he was in exile in England.  Like Baudri, he praises her poetic gifts lavishly and, playing on her sympathy for his exile, asks for poetry in return.

Printed source:

Hildeberti Cenomannensis Episcopi, Carmina Minora, ed. A. Brian Scott (Leipzig:  Teubner, 1969), 17-18, #26.

Date: