Ode I.
Eirmos. It
is the day of the Resurrection! Let us
be radiant, ye peoples! It is Pascha—the
Lord’s Pascha! For Christ our God has
led us from death to life and from Earth to Heaven, as we sing the song of
victory.
Let us purify our senses and by the
unapproachable light of the Resurrection we will see Christ flashing as with
lightning, and we will clearly hear him greet us as we sing the song of
victory.
Let Heaven deservedly be glad and let Earth
rejoice; let all the world, visible and invisible, keep festival; for Christ,
our eternal joy, has risen.
Ode III.
Eirmos. Come,
let us drink a new drink, not miraculously pouring from the barren rock but
from the fountain of incorruption, from the tomb of Christ, by whom we are strengthened.
Now all things are filled with light—Heaven and
Earth and under the Earth. Indeed, let
all creation keep the festival of the resurrection of Christ, by whom we are
strengthened.
Yesterday I was buried with you, O Christ; today I rise with your resurrection;
yesterday I was crucified with you; glorify me yourself, O Savior, in your
kingdom.
Hypakoe (Tone 4)
Before the break of day, those who were with Mary found the stone rolled away
from the tomb and heard from the angel, “Why do you seek among the dead as a
man him who is in everlasting light? See
the grave-clothes! Run and proclaim to
the world that the Lord has risen and has put death to death, for he is the
Son of God, who saves the race of men.
Ode IV.
Eirmos. Let
the divinely inspired Habbakuk stand with us on divine watch and make known a
light-bearing angel saying loudly, “Today has salvation come to the world, for
Christ has risen as almighty.”
Christ appeared as a first-born male offspring;
but as food, he is called a blameless lamb; as one who is without stain, he is
called our Pascha; and as true God, he is said to be perfect.
As a yearling lamb, the blessed one, our kind
crown, has voluntarily been sacrificed for all as a purifying Pascha, and again
he shone on us from the grave as the beautiful sun of righteousness.
David, the ancestor of God, danced animatedly before
the foreshadowing ark; let us, the holy people of God, seeing the fulfilment of
the symbols, rejoice divinely, for Christ has risen as almighty.
Ode V.
Eirmos. Let
us rise very early in the morning and instead of myrrh, let us bring to the
Master our hymn, and we will see Christ, the sun of righteousness, causing life
to appear to all.
Those who were held by the bonds of Hades have
clearly perceived your boundless compassion and hurried to the light, O Christ,
with a joyful step, celebrating the eternal Pascha.
Let us with our torches approach Christ as he
comes from the tomb like a bridegroom, and together let us celebrate in
feast-loving ranks the saving Pascha of God.
Ode VI.
Eirmos. You
descended into the lowest parts of the Earth and shattered the eternal bars
which held the prisoners, O Christ, and on the third day, like Jonah from the
whale, you rose from the tomb.
Having preserved the seals intact, O Christ, you
rose from the tomb and did not harm the bolts of the Virgin by your birth, and
you have opened to us the gates of Paradise.
My Savior, the living and unsacrificeable
victim, as God you voluntarily offered yourself to the Father and made Adam and
his whole race rise when you rose from the tomb.
Kontakion.
Tone 8.
Although you descended into the tomb, immortal
one, nevertheless you destroyed the power of Hades and rose as conqueror,
Christ our God, saying “Hail!” to the myrrh-bearing women, granting peace
to your apostles and granting resurrection to the fallen.
Ikos.
The myrrh-bearing maidens came before sunrise, seeking
you out as the day and as the sun which existed before the sun, yet lately sunk
in the tomb. They cried to each other,
“O friends, come! Let us anoint with
spices the life-bearing body and buried flesh, which has raised up fallen Adam,
who lay in the tomb! Let us go, let us
hasten as the magi to worship him, and offer sweet oils as gifts to him who is
not in swaddling clothes but wrapped in linen, and let us weep and cry
out: “O Master, who grants resurrection
to the fallen, awaken!”
Having beheld the
resurrection of Christ, let us worship the holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless
one. We worship your Cross, O Christ,
and we hymn and glorify your holy resurrection.
For you are our God—we know no other than you—and we call upon your
name. Come, all ye faithful, let us
worship the holy resurrection of Christ.
For behold! Through the Cross joy
has come into all the world. Ever
blessing the Lord, we hymn his resurrection; for having endured the Cross for
our sake, he has destroyed death by his death (3x).
Jesus, having risen from the tomb as he
foretold, has given us eternal life and great mercy (3x).
Ode VII.
Eirmos. He
who delivered the youths from the furnace, having become man, suffers as one
mortal, and because of his human suffering puts on the comeliness of
incorruption; he alone is the blessed and glorious God of our Fathers.
The pious women with myrrh ran after you, but
though they sought you with tears as mortal, they worshipped you joyfully as
the living God and proclaimed the mystical Pascha, O Christ, to your disciples.
We celebrate the death of death, the destruction
of Hades, the first fruits of another life—one that is eternal—and jumping for
joy we hymn the cause of all these blessings—the only blessed and supremely
glorious God of our fathers.
How truly sacred and solemnly festive is this
saving night and precursor of the shining, white-clad day of the Resurrection,
on which the timeless light has shone forth bodily from the tomb on all men.
Ode VIII.
Eirmos. This
is the welcome and holy day, the first Sabbath, the queen and lady, the feast
of feasts, and the festival of festivals, on which we bless Christ forever.
Come, on this beneficial day of the resurrection,
let us participate in the fruit of the new vine, in his divine joy and in the
kingdom of Christ, hymning him as God forever.
Lift up your eyes, O Zion, look around you, for
behold! your children have come,
shedding divine light like stars, from the west and north and the sea and the
east, blessing Christ in you forever.
Father almighty and Word and Spirit, united
nature in three hypostases, above being and beyond divinity: In you were we baptized and we bless you
forever.
Ode IX.
Eirmos. Shine,
shine, O new Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord has risen on you. Dance now and exult, O Zion! And you, pure Mother of God, rejoice in the
resurrection of your son.
O! Your
divine, beloved, sweetest voice! For
truly you promised to be with us to the end of the age, O Christ; holding fast
to this as an anchor of hope, we the faithful exult.
O great Pascha and most holy Christ! O Wisdom and Word of God and his Power! Grant us to partake more manifestly in the
unending day of your kingdom.
Katabasia.
The angel cried to the highly favored lady, “Pure Virgin, hail! And again I will say, Hail! Your son has risen from the tomb on the third
day.”
Ode 9 (long).
Magnify, O my soul, him who voluntarily suffered
and was buried and rose from the tomb on the third day.
Shine, shine, O new Jerusalem, for the glory of
the Lord has risen on you. Dance now and
exult, O Zion! And you, pure Mother of
God, rejoice in the resurrection of your son.
Magnify, O my soul, Christ, the giver of life,
who rose from the tomb on the third day.
Shine, shine, O new Jerusalem, for the glory of
the Lord has risen on you. Dance, now,
and exult, O Sion! And you, pure Mother
of God, rejoice in the resurrection of your son.
An angel, flashing as with lightning, cried to
the women: Stop crying, for Christ has
risen!
O! Your
divine, beloved, sweetest voice! For
truly you promised to be with us to the end of the age, O Christ; holding fast
to this as an anchor of hope, we the faithful exult.
Because Christ has risen, plundered death and
raised the dead, rejoice, ye peoples!
O great Pascha and most holy Christ! O Wisdom and Word of God and his Power! Grant to us to partake more manifestly in the
unending day of your kingdom.
Glory.
Magnify, O my soul, the power of the tri-hypostatic
and indivisible Deity.
We, the faithful, harmoniously bless you, O
Virgin! Hail, gate of the Lord! Hail, animate city! Hail, through whom has shone forth upon us
today the light of the resurrection of him whom you bore.
Both.
Amen.
Hail, Virgin, hail! Hail, blessed one! Hail, glorified one, for your son has risen
from the tomb on the third day!
Rejoice, exult, O sacred gate of light! For he who set in the tomb, Jesus, has risen,
having shone brighter than the sun and illuminating all the faithful, O highly
favored Lady.
Katabasia.
The angel cried to the highly favored lady, “Pure Virgin, hail! And again I will say, Hail! Your son has risen from the tomb on the third
day.”
ENDNOTES FOR THE CIRCUMSPECT
The canon by St. John of Damascus. The short version of Ode IX is given first
and in accordance with the remarks of Fr. Ephrem (Lash). The long version of Ode IX follows. The PDF of Fr. Ephrem’s annotated translation
is available here. It is indispensable. After I finished
translating, I consulted two other translations—a German one (here)
and a Spanish one (here). For ease of
reference, I have throughout referred to the German translator as Karl and the
Spanish translator as Carlos.
Ode I.
“Let us be radiant” (λαμπρυνθῶμεν). Elevated diction does not do justice to this
verb. In its vestimentary sense, it
could be rendered vulgarly as “dress fit to kill” or “put on the dog.” Carlos has resplandezcamos de alegría (let
us shine with joy/happiness), which deftly avoids the temptation to which
certain Anglophone translators have succumbed (“let us be illuminated”).
¡Nosotros que Le
cantamos el cántico de victoria y de triunfo (ἐπινίκιον ᾄδοντας). Carlos turned the pesky circumstantial
participle into a jussive clause (let us sing to him the song of victory and of
triumph).
“Greet [us]” (Χαίρετε). Montie reports hello,
good day, welcome, goodbye, farewell, even cheer
up. Definitely not rejoice as
a greeting, though every other Anglophone translator takes it that way. Of the definitions given here, Kyriakides
reports that only goodbye, farewell are current (in the later 19th
century). My translation is an attempt
to get around the awkwardness of saying hail in the 21st
century.
“Deservedly”
(ἐπαξίως). I followed Carlos (merecidamente). It could also be worthily (dignamente). Fr. Ephrem has “as is meet.” I am tempted to render as “let Heaven and
Earth rejoice worthily,” since the verbs in question are synonyms.
“Has risen” (ἐγήγερται). In the act. voice, raise; in the mid.
or pass., be raised or rise.
Churchified English preserves the Old English meaning of arise as
rise. As Fowler observes, nowadays
arise means “to come into existence or notice.”
Χριστὸς γὰρ ἐγήγερται, εὐφροσύνη αἰώνιος. Karl did not realize that εὐφροσύνη αἰώνιος is in
apposition to Χριστὸς, and so
he detached the apposite phrase and made it stand alone, presumably as an
exclamation: Ewige Freude!
Carlos inexplicably took εὐφροσύνη αἰώνιος as the direct object
of ἐγήγερται, and so got resucitó al gozo
eterno (he raised eternal joy).
Ode III.
“From barren
rock” (ἐκ πέτρας ἀγόνου) oddly becomes
muda roca (silent rock) in Carlos.
“Strengthened” (στερεούμεθα).
Cf. Divine Liturgy: Στερεώσαι (“make firm”) Κύριος ο Θεός την αγίαν και αμώμητον πίστιν των
ευσεβών και ορθοδόξων Χριστιανών, συν τη αγία Εκκλησία και κώμη ταύτη εις
αιώνας αιώνων. Αμήν.
“Established” and “confirmed” are also used. As the late Fr. Ephrem (Lash) observes, this
word is reminiscent of the Song of Anna (1 Samuel 2), where
στερεόω appears as a misreading or a variant reading for what in Hebrew is rejoice
(עָלַץ [exult]). Thus, where the LXX reads, “my heart is
established in the Lord,” the Masoretic reads, “my heart rejoices in the
Lord.” The
Qumran version agrees with the MT. I
suppose that one might say, “in whom we rejoice,” which, honestly, agrees
better with the sentiments expressed in the context. Carlos has nos hemos
fortalecido (strengthened) and Karl wir gegründet sind (established).
The Gk. reads ἐν ᾗ (by
which) not ἐν ᾧ (by whom), which runs contrary to the usual translation. Fr. Ephrem discusses St. Nikodemus’
preference for the latter. Carlos
has en
quien and Karl in dem.
The Greek συνεγείρομαι σήμερον ἀναστάντι σοι is a little
tricky. We have heute bin ich
auferweckt mit Dir, dem Auferstandenen, hoy resucito contigo, con Tu
Resurrección. Fr. Ephrem has “today I
rise with you as you arise.” Karl allows
the tense of the main verb to be drawn to the tense of the participle, as I
have done; Fr. Ephrem allows the tense of the participle to be drawn to that of
the main verb. Carlos dodges the
problem by making the participle a noun.
I have adopted Carlos’ dodge.
Hypokoe
“Before the break of day, those who were with
Mary” (προλαβοῦσαι τὸν ὄρθρον etc.). Carlos, like Fr. Ephrem, omits materials
between odes. I do not remember if I
came to the same conclusion as Karl or simply copied him (die Frauen um
Maria kamen dem Tagesanbruch zuvor). The
usual translation (“forestalling the dawn”) may be discarded as archaizing or
hyperliteral.
“Grave clothes” (σπάργανα). Zoilus comments that while “‘grave-clothes’
makes sense, . . . the word literally refers to swaddling-clothes for infants.
The word was commonly employed in Classical drama to mean ‘objects left with an
exposed child, the marks by which a personʼs
true birth and family are identified.’ I
wonder if the hymnographer knew that and, therefore, whether it would be too
much of a stretch that this word was employed in that sense.” In fact, in the ikos below, ἐν σπαργάνοις is translated
as “in swaddling clothes” (where Karl has in Grablinnen,
which is none of my dictionaries, but is all over the Internet used in the
stock expression Das Grablinnen von Turin). Also, the burial of Christ is foreshadowed in
the icon of his nativity by the swaddling-clothes themselves—the Christkind is
wrapped like a corpse. Zoilus’ hunch is therefore
confirmed.
Ode IV.
“Make known” (δεικνύτω). Could also be point out, reveal,
show forth etc.
“Without” (ἄγευστος). Stephanos alone
reports this definition of a word which Classically means untasted or tasteless.
“Sin” (κηλῖδος). This word shows up in
the LXX but not in the NT. Lampe reports
moral stain. Thayer reports taint
of guilt. Montie reports stain,
guilt. Even if he has in mind the
ὡς ἀμνοῦ ἀμώμου καὶ ἀσπίλου Χριστοῦ of, say, I Peter 1:19, the
cultic reference still makes the point that Christ is sinless.
“First-born, male offspring” (Ἄρσεν μέν, ὡς διανοῖξαν . . . νηδύν). In order to understand this troparion, we
must first compare it with its source (Ex. 13:12): καὶ ἀφελεῖς πᾶν διανοῖγον μήτραν, τὰ ἀρσενικά, τῷ Κυρίῳ· πᾶν διανοῖγον μήτραν ἐκ βουκολίων ἢ ἐν τοῖς κτήνεσί σου, ὅσα ἐὰν γένηταί σοι, τὰ ἀρσενικὰ ἁγιάσεις τῷ Κυρίῳ (that thou shalt set apart
every [offspring] opening the womb, the males to the Lord, every one that opens
the womb out of the herds or among thy cattle, as many as thou shalt have: thou shalt sanctify the males to the Lord
[Brenton]). Crucial
to understanding this verse is that the LXX translator rendered פֶטֶר literally as “that which
opens” and not by its extended meaning and evidently intended meaning,
“first-born” (Brown-Driver-Briggs). When we
turn back to St. John’s Greek, we can see that ἄρσεν and διανοῖξαν are
clearly borrowed from this verse, but what about νηδύν? This word is not a popular word among the
lexicographers; nor does it show up in Pindar, the NT or in the LXX. However, Homer and the dramatists use
it. This may be important, as the
hymnographers tend to use vocabulary from the LXX, Pindar and the Greek NT, not
Homer, Herodotus (the most poetic of the historians) or the dramatists. Nηδύς mostly means belly or (lower) abdomen, less often womb. (For the record, Homer uses it to mean belly
twice and womb once.) My guess is
that St. John was trying to avoid using the more common words for womb
to soften the explicitness of the expression.
English does not allow us to be so delicate. We cannot, e.g., say “which opened the
virginal belly.” What we can do is take פֶטֶר in its extended sense as first-born,
and so I have done.
“As food” (ὡς βρωτὸς). Fr. Ephraim Lash of blessed memory says that βρωτὸς (food) is a
corruption of βροτός (mortal),
which, as he remarks, is normally what we say in English. “The point of the Passover Lamb was that it
was eaten.” I am not savvy enough to
contradict him.
This troparion is so rough that it is worth
citing the translations of Carlos, Karl and the Jordanville prayerbook in full.
Cristo nuestra Pascua, dejando intacto el seno
Virginal, se reveló hombre, y como sustento se llamó Cordero; y siendo exento
de pecado se llamó Inmaculado, y siendo Dios ha sido declarado perfecto. I read this as “Christ, our Pascha, leaving
intact the womb of the Virgin, revealed himself as a man, and as food he is
called the Lamb; and being free of sin is called immaculate, and being God has
been declared to be perfect.”
Da Er, ein Knabe, den jungfräulichen Mutterschoß
geöffnet, erschien Christus als Sterblicher. Als ein untadeliges Lamm erscheint
Er, frei von jeder Befleckung, unser Pascha, wahrer Gott ist Er, der
Vollkommene. I translate this as “When
he, a boy, opened the virginal womb, Christ appeared as a mortal. As an immaculate lamb he appears, free of
every taint, our Pascha, he is true God, the perfect.” Notice that the translator gave up on trying
to make the translation grammatical.
The Jordanville translation is “Christ was seen to
be of the male sex when He opened the Virgin's womb, and as man He is called
the Lamb. Without blemish, also, is our Passover, for He tasted no defilement;
and as true God He is called perfect.”
Notice that the translator was trying to turn ἄγευστος to good account in
English, while preserving the core concept.
“Danced animatedly” (ἥλατο σκιρτῶν). Neither verb seems to mean dance in
the lexica. St. John seems to preserve
the facts recorded in the Hebrew of 2 Samuel 6:14, though the Greek is different
(καὶ ἐγένετο τῆς κιβωτοῦ παραγινομένης ἕως πόλεως Δαυὶδ καὶ Μελχὸλ ἡ θυγάτηρ Σαοὺλ διέκυπτε διὰ τῆς θυρίδος καὶ εἶδε τὸν βασιλέα Δαυὶδ ὀρχούμενον καὶ ἀνακρουόμενον ἐνώπιον Κυρίου καὶ ἐξουδένωσεν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτῆς.) “Leaping leaped” makes me think of the
infinitive absolute construction of Hebrew, where the participle strengthens
the action of the verb. Zoilus remarks,
“that’s
what I was thinking too, although it’s odd that two different verbs are used
rather than just repeating the same one in the participle. But it does seem to
be an imitation of the infinitive absolute, so I think ‘danced energetically’
would work (I certainly don’t think it would go against the spirit of the
passage).” I wonder if St. John is trying
to steer the Forefather clear of violating an ancient Roman taboo—dancing by
oneself. In fact, Cicero had to defend a
client against that charge in an ancient Roman episode of lawfare. Fr. Ephrem renders as “dancing, leaped etc.” Carlos has saltó de gozo
(leaped joyfully). Karl sticks to the
Hebrew with tanzte, though he does not capture St. John’s apparent imitation of
the infinitive absolute.
Ode V.
“With a joyous step” (ἀγαλλομένῳ ποδί)—so Lambertsen
felicitously translates it. Fr. Ephrem
renders “with joyful steps.” Carlos says
se
apresuraron alborozados (they hurried jubilantly). Karl says sie eilten
. . . freudigen Fußes. Presumably
freudigen Fußes is equivalent to mit freudigen Schritten (from an
aria by Bach). The expression does not
merely occur in Ode 7 of a canon sung on November 1 in the Menaion, as Roelli
notes; it is one of the twelve eirmoi which can be used when Ode 7 of any canon
is sung in Tone 8.
“Celebrated the eternal Pascha” (Πάσχα κροτοῦντες αἰώνιον). Carlos:
celebrando. The verb κροτοῦντες gives
translators no end of trouble. In the
Classical language, χεῖρας κροτοῦντες πιστῶς means “faithfully striking the hands,”
i.e., applauding. In our literature, it
is used in a fossilized phrase like θείαν αἴνεσιν ὕμνοις ἐνθέοις κροτοῦντες (“striking up a song of praise with inspired
hymns”). The third usage is found in
Anacreon (the only Classical author whom I found outside the dictionary who did
not appear to use the verb to mean “clap”):
μέγα τὸν θεὸν κροτοῦντες ἐπιληνίοισιν ὕμνοις (y a la deidad la celebran con canciones
vendimiales). The structure of this
line agrees with our fossilized phrase, so it is possible that this line is the
template for the hymnographical collocations.
Celebrar
can mean applause, celebrate, praise. It appears that κροτέω followed the same
semantic development as celebrar. Bishop Kallistos of blessed memory
rendered κροτοῦντες ἐν ᾄσμασι θείοις πιστοί ἀλαλάξωμεν Θεῷ τὸν Σταυρὸν τοῦ Κυρίου as “O ye faithful, let us cry aloud with joy and sing
triumphantly to God.” The Spanish
translator of the same line is more precise:
“Let us, the faithful, cry out to God, celebrating the Cross of the Lord
with divine songs.” “Praising,” however,
would do just as well as “celebrating.”
Ode VI.
“The bolts” (ὁ τὰς κλεῖς). Apparently working out
an analogy with Jonah, though Fr. Ephrem refers us to Ez. 44:2: καὶ εἶπε Κύριος πρός με· ἡ πύλη αὕτη κεκλεισμένη ἔσται, οὐκ ἀνοιχθήσεται, καὶ οὐδεὶς μὴ διέλθῃ δι’ αὐτῆς, ὅτι Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ᾿Ισραὴλ εἰσελεύσεται δι’ αὐτῆς, καὶ ἔσται κεκλεισμένη. I suppose that κεκλεισμένη provides a
premise for κλεῖς. The Spanish version reads las
puertas, which undoes the analogy with Christ not breaking the seal of the
tomb. The German translation
reflects a German delicacy on these matters:
das Schloss der Jungfrauschaft (“the lock of virginity”) renders τὰς κλεῖς τῆς Παρθένου. One nice English rendition is (with some context) “as at thy birth the Virgin's womb remained unharmed.” I still recall vividly—40+ years later—my
German tutor’s horror when I did not find the proper euphemism for what I now
know should have been phrased along the lines of lady of the night. Frau Nitsch must have known immediately in a trice what a troublesome student I would be.
“Unsacrificeable” (ἄθυτον). According to Fr. Ephrem, St. Gregory the
Theologian says that Christ is in his first nature an unsacrificeable Victim.
Oikos.
“Having come before” (Τὸν πρὸ ἡλίου Ἥλιον, δύναντα ποτὲ ἐν τάφῳ, προέφθασαν πρὸς ὄρθρον, ἐκζητοῦσαι ὡς ἡμέραν, Μυροφόροι κόραι, καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλας ἐβόων). When ποτὲ refers to the past, it means once, one time, already. Karl: einst (once, at
one time, formerly). Carlos: temporalmente (temporarily). The Old Orthodox Prayer
Book translates the Old Church Slavonic as if there were no such adverb of
time in the text. Ditto for the St. Tikhon's Monastery prayer book. Sophocles starts with quondam and goes on to
suggest late (as in, “my late brother”). This prompted me to
settle on “lately.”
Ode VII.
“White-clad” (λαμπροφόρου). Montie
reports splendidly robed; Lampe reports brilliantly arrayed;
Kyriakides reports “splendidly costumed.”
Pape reports glänzende, weiße Kleider tragend—potentially relevant since at Pascha
newly baptized Christians wear white. Stephanos
reports splendidam sive candidam gerens vestem and lucernam gerens. In short, the lexicographers cannot agree on
their story. I went with “white-clad” as
I cannot imagine that St. John could overlook the vestimentary demands of the
neophytes, although he could equally have been referring to the fact that this
feast involves carrying candles and lamps.
The Spanish translation settles for brillante
(bright, shining).
Ode VIII.
“Welcome” (κλητὴ). Lampe reports called,
invited, welcome, famous.
In the LXX, Muraoka summoned, appointee, invited (guest). Shrevelius reports desired. Karl says hehre (noble, sublime, exalted). These entries suggest a
correction of hard-line, predestinarian assumptions. The reader may choose any definition he
wishes, including the standard “chosen.” I wonder if “special” might not do.
“Honorable” (εὐσήμῳ) (Lampe). Montie adds famous. Muraoka reports that Ps. 80:4 uses this word
of a festival, too, where it is supposed to mean auspicious. Karl says segenbringenden (beneficial) and Carlos
says insigne (distinguished).
Ode IX.
“O! Your
divine, beloved, sweetest voice!” (῍Ω θείας! ὢ φίλης! ὢ γλυκυτάτης σου φωνῆς). A remarkable string of genitives of
exclamation.
“Having plundered death” (τὸν θάνατον πατήσας) might
with an equal claim be rendered “having mauled and robbed death” (Pape mißhandeln und berauben; also
plündern [loot, sack, pillage]), except that the following
clause makes it awkward. Contemporary
translations say “despoil” and even “spoil” (both meaning plunder
[COED]) without anyone in the building knowing why one would want to pamper
death or let it sit out too long.