t Calvary, ere misery take thee,
Death for thy sins, that I afterwards may
Purify it at the will of Christ,
For help to men, that holy God,
Almighty Lord, the thought of my heart 680
My wish may fulfil, men's Giver of glory,
Helper of souls." Her Judas answered,
Stubborn in mind: "I know not the place
Nor aught of the plain, nor the thing do I know."
Helena spake with angry mind: 685
"This do I swear through the Son of the Maker
The hanged God, that with hunger thou shalt
Before thy kinsmen be put to death,
Unless thou forsake these lying tales
And plainly to me the truth make known." 690
Then bade she with band him lead alive,
The guilty one cast (the servants delayed not)
Into a dry pit, where robbed of joy,
He lingered in sorrows seven nights' time
Within the prison oppressed with hunger, 695
Fastened with fetters, and then gan he call,
Weakened by pains, on the seventh day,
Tired and foodless (his strength was exhausted):
"I you beseech through heaven's God,
That me from these sufferings ye may release, 700
Humbled by hunger. Of that holy tree
Shall I willingly tell, now longer I may not
For hunger conceal it. This bond is too strong,
Distress too severe, and this misery too hard
In number of days. I may not endure it, 705
Nor longer conceal of the tree of life,
Though with folly before I was thoroughly filled,
And the truth too late I myself have perceived."

[1] Or, 'war,' Gn.; 'further oft,' Gm.

IX.

When she that heard, who men there ordered,
The man's behavior, she quickly commanded 710
That him from confinement and out of his dungeon,
From the narrow abode, they should release.
They hastily that did soon perform
And him with honor then led they up
From out of the prison as them the queen bade. 715
Stepped they then to the place, the firm-in-mind,
Upon the hill on which the Lord
Before was hanged, heaven-kingdom's Ward,
God's child, on the cross, and yet knew he not well,
Weakened by hunger, where the holy rood 720
Through cunning of foe[1] enclosed in earth, 721-2
Long firm in its bed concealed from men,
Remained in its grave. Now raised he his voice,
Unmindful[2] of might, and in Hebrew he spake: