Passio Discerpta XVII. “Monumenta aperta” – George Herbert (1593-1633)

While, My Life, you were dying,
The buried dead themselves arose,
And in exchange for one man bound
The throng was set free.
But you do not so much die for yourself
As live in them, and Death,
Now given breath, lays claim to your life.
By all means, go and seek
The Crucified among the tombs – he lives!
Many sepulchers overmaster
A single Cross. Thus, it is fitting
That God, in accord with His Majesty,
Should not lose the life
He bestowed, but multiply it.

Dum moreris, Mea Vita, ipsi vixere sepulti,
Proque uno vincto turba soluta fuit.
Tu tamen, haud tibi tam moreris, quam vivis in illis,
Asserit et vitam Mors animata tuam.
Scilicet in tumulis Crucifixum quaerite, vivit:
Convincunt unam multa sepulcra Crucem.
Sic, pro Maiestate, Deum, non perdere vitam
Quam tribuit, verum multiplicare decet.

The Dead Appear in the Temple, James Tissot, between 1886 and 1894