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| Albrecht Dürer Portrait of architect Hieronymus von Augsburg 1506 drawing Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin |
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| Albrecht Dürer Portrait of Johannes Kleberger 1526 oil on panel Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
Saturn said –
Tell me, King Solomon, Son of David
what are the four ropes that condemn a man?
Solomon said –
That which has happened:
those are the four ropes that condemn a man.
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| Albrecht Dürer Head of an Old Man 1521 drawing Albertina, Vienna |
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| Albrecht Dürer Dead Blue Roller ca. 1500-1512 watercolor and bodycolor on vellum Albertina, Vienna |
Saturn said –
Then who judges Christ the Lord
on Doomsday, when he judges all creation?
Solomon said –
Who dares judge God the Savior, who made us from dust,
out of night's wound? Tell me, what was but was not?
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| Albrecht Dürer Nemesis ca. 1501 engraving National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne |
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| Albrecht Dürer Pilate washing his hands 1512 engraving Museum of Fine Arts, Houston |
Saturn said –
Why can't the sun shine through all creation
and light it: why does it darken
mountains, moors and much waste ground?
How does this happen?
Solomon said –
Why isn't earthly reward shared-out
equally? One has too little
and longs for good things; through his merit,
God places him at rest among the Blessed Ones.
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| Albrecht Dürer Bearded Saint in a Forest ca. 1516 drawing Albertina, Vienna |
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| Albrecht Dürer Madonna and Child among a multitude of animals ca. 1503 drawing, watercolor Albertina, Vienna |
Saturn said –
Why do crying and laughter come together
like companions? They often destroy high-minded contentment –
how does this happen?
Solomon said –
He who likes to worry and grumble
is miserable and cowardly: he disgusts God most.
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| Albrecht Dürer The Small Horse 1505 engraving Museum of Fine Arts, Houston |
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| Albrecht Dürer Cowslips 1526 gouache on vellum National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
Saturn said –
Why can't we all go
proudly into God's kingdom?
Solomon said –
Neither fire's embrace and frost's chill
nor snow and sun can live together,
nor can age be stirred up. Whatever has less power
must bend and yield.
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| Albrecht Dürer The Men’s Bath 1496-97 woodcut Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Albrecht Dürer Lancer on Horseback 1502 drawing Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest |
Saturn said –
Why do the worst live long?
They haven't found greater friendship or family favor
in this world.
Solomon said –
Man cannot avoid the hard journey
through aging, but must endure it.
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| Albrecht Dürer Large piece of turf 1503 watercolor and bodycolor Albertina, Vienna |
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| Albrecht Dürer Two lions 1521 drawing Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin |
Saturn said –
But how do good and evil happen?
When twins are born from the same woman
their success is unequal.
One is unlucky on earth; the other lucky,
popular with leaders.
The one lives for a short while,
wanders about this wide creation, then leaves it sadly.
I ask you, Lord Solomon, which has the better lot?
Solomon said –
When she conceives, a mother doesn't decide
what shape the baby's journey will take through the wide world.
She often raises a child to harm,
bringing grief to herself: she suffers
at the harshness of his fate.
Often she keens unstoppably
over that son, when he sets out on some journey
with a restless mind, a weary heart,
a sad soul, slipping easily
into weariness and loss of will. Deprived of honors,
sometimes this grief-struck ghost avoids the Hall,
living far from people, miserable and anxious.
His only lord glances quickly away from him.
So a mother has no power over the child's destiny
when she conceives, but from birth
one thing follows another, as is the way of the world.
– from an anonymous Old English text called Solomon and Saturn, translated by Fiona Sampson, printed in The Word Exchange: Anglo-Saxon Poems in Translation, edited by Greg Delanty and Michael Matto (New York : Norton, 2011)