ALANUS INSULANUS

DE VITA NOSTRA

Vita nostra plena bellis:
Inter hostes, inter arma
More belli vivitur;

Nulla lux it absque pugna,
Nulla nox it absque luctu,
Et salutis alea.

Sed timoris omnis expers,
Stabo firmus inter arma,
Nec timebo vulnera;
Non morabor hostis iras,
Non timebo publicasve,
Callidasve machinas.

ALAN OF L'ISLE

OUR LIFE

This life of ours is full of strife,
We live 'mid foes and arms,
As they who spend their restless hours
In sound of war's alarms;

No day without a conflict goes,

No night without its woe,

Our safety like the gamester's chance,

The hazard of a throw.

But, free from every craven fear,
'Mid arms I'll stand my ground,
Nor shall my steadfast spirit know
The fear of mortal wound.
I'll not delay the foeman's rage,
Nor will I dread, the while,
His open, undisguised assault
Nor fear his hidden guile.

Ecce! coeli lapsus arcu
Atque spissa nube tectus
Rector ipse siderum:

Contra saevos mentis hostes

Proeliantem me tuetur,

Bella pro me suscipit.

Franget arcus et sagittas,
Ignibusque sempiternis
Arma tradet hostium:
Ergo stabo sine metu,
Generose superabo

Hostium saevitiam.

Behold! majestic on the arch
Of heaven His footsteps fly,
Who robed in densely rolling cloud
Doth rule the stars on high:
Me, fighting 'gainst my cruel foes
He seeth from afar,

And hasting, on my soul's behalf,
Himself takes up the war.

He breaks in sunder with His arm The arrows and the bows,

And casts into eternal fire

The weapons of my foes.

And therefore shall I fearless stand And valiant warfare wage,

And overcome by His great might My fiercest foemen's rage.