Alonso Gregorio de Escobedo, O.F.M. La Florida [ca. 1590-1610].
Please do not reproduce without permission. The following is a draft translation, prepared by Thomas Hallock, in support of The Epic of Florida: Selected Poems by Juan de Castellanos, Bartolomé de Flores, and Alonso Gregorio de Escobedo (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2026).
Canto 33. This Canto tells the story of the battle that Lucifer and St. Michael had in the sky, and the great envy that man had because of what he had lost with the incarnation of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.
Because God is fair, he loves justice,
and because of this punishes the sinner,
while the faithful and holy member of his militia,
if he is diligent, will receive his glory.
And it this law of sacrosanct Jesus Christ,
whose soul was planted in God’s orchard,
which is the reason why no one, out of malice,
ever stopped preaching in the West.
For preaching the gospel, Simon Peter is brought
to death, and St. Paul dies for the same reason ,
and St. Bartholomew was flayed,
and St. Andrew also aspired to die.
So many lives have been costly,
which is why it follows so clearly here,
that St. Luke, the minister of God, says
that we are obliged next to follow.
Oh, how much ripe grain there is everywhere,
and so few reapers in Spain!
Pray to God, he who gives and takes,
that they take on this rare and heroic feat,
and in doing so, that they carry the standard
of his divine cross in the campaign,
going to combat the vice of vices
the idolatry out there in the weeds. [??]
Mark how one see those cruel Indians,
who through lack of faith, their soul walled off,
cannot share the belief like the faithful
and will not enjoy a future with God.
As infidels, they will be turned over over to Hell,
which is the safe safe for idolaters
if they do not admit to the law of the Christian faith,
and believe what my pen and hand will say.[1]
Our writings will recount of the battle
that was held in the crystal sky:
on one side Lucifer and his mongrel pack,
and on the other, the strong and good St. Michael
there were no swords nor coats of mail,
with the Devil opening the road
because he wanted to settle a score
with the eternal Lord of all Creation.
Such was the guilt that had been given
to him and the consorts in his band,
having been alienated from the infinite goodness
that he would enjoy, if not for his guilt;
he looked for the chain from the galley
of damnation, into which he had been guiltily thrown.
He suffered punishment without end,
suiting him, given this blind obstinacy.
And just like some dog that intends
to let itself be cast aside, the rational soul resolves
to sell itself out, following
the directive of this mortal flesh,
lashing out in a horrible rage,
for not being in God’s good graces,
left alone with his own little lies, because
he had been lost the seat he had been given.
Full of envy and empty of virtue,
Adam invited Eve to take a bite,
and she ate it, and Adam, losing his resolve
on account of the forbidden fruit,
convinced them to defy the clothes
of Grace, and leaving them instead
in a state of shameful and clumsy sin,
at the table and office of the sinner.
Thus, as it is that God endowed the human flesh
with the sense of living charity, through love,
in seeing how the villager could never
bring himself back to a cause that was lost,
brought the eternal goodness of his sovereign Word
so that the poor man’s being would be united
again, and in this way, God does remit
payment unto man, and for God that is enough.
First, dressed in my clothing,
he spent a dark and terrifying night
that was Adam’s sin, in order to see
how he was bogged down in his own guilt.
In this way God wanted to be given
the clear and beautiful light from Abel,
that bright star that is sanctity, which gives off
more light than the shining sun.
Another was the first life of a new world,
clear and beautiful, that shined before Noah
and that appeared like son of Jesus the divine,
who was to follow after this same star,
because man was not yet worthy to see him,
because God would not yet come there,
it still being a long journey for those
who must wait, carrying a very burden.
Another third shining pilgrim star,
one with indescribable brightness that is given
to us by God, its rays with such divine light,
is that of the holy and admirable Job,
whom God refines by joining together the several tasks,
and whom in patience, remaining ever constant,
found himself to be a friend of good God,
being fine gold transformed from dung.
And even as these three stars passed by,
the night sky was still dark with sin;
the reason was because they were not enough
to show us the same beauty as the sun.
Prophetic men showed us, how our singular
good fortune would someday come,
because the only begotten Word of the father
was to be born of a virgin mother.
Appearing to be long delayed,
the prophet Isaiah asked:
“Oh, if only the one we week would come —
will I see my own hopes realized?
In me his divine light is unending,
for I have endless faith in God.”
You will see how it was promised
to the man who was afflicted by misery.
At the point that the ground was flooded
with the furious waves of sin,
our Lord and God mitigated them
with an appointed young man’s poise;
this young man was navigating the ark,[2]
which was calked with tar, through the turbulent sea,
and seen by the queen of the gypsy,
who pulled him from the water with her own hand.
That the infant who was named Moses
was placed into the stream, and after,
he became a wise and prudent gentleman
a persevering man in his service to God,
and he was chosen to be father and leader
of the people who endured an unfair period;
he whispered to the eternal and and living Lord,
and God gave freedom to his captive.
Moses opened a wide path in the sea
with his famously remembered staff,
as ordered by God, in whom we hope,
as is made manifest in our history.
The fierce floods washed out the gypsy people,
who in losing this transitory life
also lost their false-promising souls,
losing God, truth, the way, the light and life.
After the great Moses, there were great men
who always set an example with their lives,
following the high holy pardons
in obedience of of the mighty God.
They served him with pure hearts,
holding onto their living faith as a teacher does,
like Abraham, who maintained his respect,
and King David, who kept the faith always in mind.
To whom God, who never fails us, promised:
that he would take his human flesh
and provide the transcript through a living man,
who is to be born of the sovereign virgin.
The promise and payment did not come together,
that the torch shined more brightly in the morning light
and that the sun, Christ, was born after that,
John as a woman, and the Word, his lady.
To whom God, never to fail us, promised:
that he would take his human flesh
and make a transcript through the living man
who is to be born of the sovereign virgin.
This promise and payment did not come as one;
the torch shined more brightly in the morning light
and the sun, Christ, was born afterwards,
John as a woman, and the Word, his lady. [?]
Gabriel appeared to Zachary,[3]
saying your wife will become pregnant;
it will be some days from now, but do not doubt,
for God is full of these unusual wonders
that he shares with you in various ways,
and at their journey’s end,
a son that dwells amongst us on earth,
though also honored by God in heaven.
And because he did not believe the news from one so high,
He was left mute by this divine intervention;
his wife conceived by John without fail
as a pledge of the pilgrim to heaven, [??]
to whom Christ Jesus my flowered God
and he said it’s funny, but on further consideration,
he is keeping it close to the designated time,
when John shall meet the bridegroom.
My God formed a tower for the Word,
his eternal and unbreakable son,
who was eternally victorious
against the obnoxious artillery,
that which is daughter, mother and beloved wife
of the inestimable royal trinity.
And so is that not dress my own faith
for the Goddess, whom I worship and adore.
I will now spell out the letters of her name:
M to signify our mother,
A for advocate, from God to Man,
R for reina, rich and primary Queen,
I as the inventor of great renown,
A is the last, as Bernard applies;
she being the good that eternally
is administered in the skies.
God couldn’t have made a more beautiful mother,
is so holy that heaven obeys her;
were it not for the eternal father
Jesus would not have received what he merits;
He agreed to be so because it squared with him
that God, from such a mother, would sacrifice
himself in order to secure the dignity of all,
making herself but the slave to His will.
Here I shall recount the root cause:
how Adam’s sin was perpetuated,
where he had not shame of God’s clothing,
ab inicio, from the beginning, reared
as the friend of God in Heaven,
as was beloved gift, a gift
like the star through stormy seas,
chosen for like a beautiful ray of sunshine.
Everything is without the present-day sin,
twelve stars crowning his head,
a shining dawn to whom, in sanctity,
God has granted the heights of beauty,
an immaculate crystal mirror,
gate of heaven, to your highest life,
what nourishes the tree and gives this soil,
comforting mother to sinners.
The Devil broke his head and his eyes,
and humiliated his proud, hard neck,
and stripped of all his offals,
and placed him in an eternal grave;
and it was an occasion for a thousand insults,
that you will not lack, because of your own madness,
and so from his displeasure, your doom is said
to hang and flow as across the plains. [?]
O virgin, yours is the city founded in God,
whose tower of David is your neck!
And planted like the rose in Jericho,
and with hair like the finest gold,
a walled garden, consecrated olive,
Mount Zion, as holy as it is beautiful,
yours is the well of water that washed the guilt
and your son now forgives us.
Of the infinite wounds the world carries,
You, Virgin, can provide the medicine,
with only, a yes, that the time has come,
say that God can restore our ruin.
And so, as a woman’s mouth brought on death,
so yours, the benign virgin, will bring goodness;
if Eve opened her mouth to bring us home,
yours will give us aid us in our estrangement.
And if it was the colloquy between Eve and the snake
that led to the angel-serpent initiating the move
that brought the harm of death to us all
from East to the West.
The Angel Gabriel will deliver the message
to you, the wife of Joseph —
you, who will be the instrument of glory
which, in the beginning, had been lost.
And so, the one who with his own hands
created from dust the very first man
was also very light on His judgment
toward the inventor of evil, her name being Eve;
He fills with His sovereign virtue
those who show obedience to his renown,
this being the sacred key to heaven,
because, between God and the soul, there is peace.
Just as Vashti was failed by Ahasuerus,[4]
Eve has suffered from eternal shame,
causing God to order his sentence,
“you are banished — leave Paradise.”
But Mary, who is crowned as the divine Esther,
achieves forgiveness for this great sorrow,
as did the divine Ahasuerus, whose rod
of divine power honors and protects.
Showing great respect, Gabriel took human form
and showed himself to Mary, the divine
incarnation was made into an object,
so that God’s glory would increase on earth;
this happened on March twenty-five,[5]
causing the Devil’s envy only to increase,
for he paid for eternity with his sin,
as a being who opposed God’s infinite good.
The Almighty God did not choose he whom he named[6]
Nazareth to live fields among brute animals;
Jesus surrendered himself to his own death
for men who were rational.
This is a notable and miraculous event,
to be called a “flower” by us mortals,
for it is Christ as conceived it, when he said
“I am a flower to the beautiful soul.”[7]
We are not sought from the garden, but from the fields,
because those who are enclosed are plain things,
the industrious laborer who seeks and asks
does not come from the field; but the sovereign soul,
the who clearly follows what is asked of him,
comes from sainted garden of Santa Anna;
it is this man whom God has agreed to meet
through the workings of His Holy Divine Spirit.
The flower of the field, [feared by all],
Christ came down to this world the world
to give glory to our people–
for those who follow the law of the true path.
Man should never deny the power of this radiant sun,
even if rendered unworthy by his own wickedness;
Christ brings his dew to those who offend him,
who have no hope that their lives will be redeemed.
The brutish man lays himself down
on this flower, with his feet reclined;
while the rational many plucks and holds the flower
close to his his nose, to smell perfection:
the soul of Christ, holy and divine flower,
object of all virtues, trampled over
by the unjust but more than respected,
by the righteous gentleman.
Not the city of the the Roman King,
not the city with the most distinguished origins,
not the most important man Castilian
sought out Jesus’ incarnation and birth.
Suddenly Bethlehem and Nazareth are the elect,
chosen like girls for his hand,
so the faithful may know what it means to be humble,
Christ is to be born from their wombs.
So that the smallest and most humble
will always gaze upon the highest peak,
and in this way, by way of custom or habit,
know the swelling of those who burn in anger,
and from this summit, he gave us the flames
to punish the sinner, and always to reach higher,
so the good are rewarded–those faithful witnesses
who have chosen the holy Abel as their friend.[8]
He loved Isaac and Jacob, the younger sons,
and all his brothers were condemned.
He bid goodbye to Esau’s seven older sons,
our eternal Lord of Lords choosing
only the young and tender David
to be King, which we know leads to Saul,
for those being less in the lineage
orders who are to offered as vassals.[9]
Finally, Christ, all-powerful lover
of humility, came to our earth,
promising the clearest of skies, but not
to the arrogant and ambitious wealthy man;
after he wore this veil of human flesh,
so he could be the bridegroom to the sweetest souls,
it would be the choice of God to select,
in time, those who would and would not be chosen.
Think about the tiny little ant,
the generating force in the seed,
that it may be gnawed at keeps him awake,
that he doesn’t want germinate in the box.
He takes it out in the sun to protect it,
it being a wonder that it does not rot,
who is diligent in covering his granary
keeping the wheat away from water.
Grant to God this small treasure,
that science is never given to the elephant,
nor to the spirited horse or the brave bull,
there is arrogance in thinking so.
The industry of the bee is precious gold:
there is no wise man of such penetrating judgment
who can comprehend this greatness,
who know what has been so subtly hidden.
God endowed the little bee with as much science
as the tiniest birds in flight,
The eagle in flight is denied, stopping,
because it has broken its talons on a rock.
The bee was made to be a small creature,
and this way of life also teaches him;
because of the bee’s humility, he likes
to pile up his thousands of riches.
The gentleman says to his virgin bride,
it is said that the message is carried.
He is called a gentleman because in him
rests the advantages of virtue and fortitude,
“If you, Maria, who are so renowned,
esteemed as holy by the common people,
to such a wife, such a husband is convenient,
holier than the ground the sky has.” [???]
God so willed that the virgin be married
to shut the mouths of those who spoke badly;
if she was not married, than her cousins and relatives would see her pregnant and say:
Oh, such a precious pearl of honor,
may all those who live be here warned!
Be mindful of of your good reputation,
for it, without a doubt, she’s just any other woman.
Even if you are, in blood, more perfect
than our own courageous Carlos V,
if you are not chaste, clean and upright,
if you do not gird your loins with innocence,
you will be cast into imperfect darkness
more black in color than the finest red,
the red which was, by accident, black–
while God waits for the virtuous in white.
Our Lord endowed this maiden
with such grace, gratitude and gallantry,
that she became the most beautiful of all beauties,
she being as the mother a chosen one,
who was given the eternal Word,
it being said to her: “This garment is mine,
that of the eternal father begotten and made,
locked up in my virginal womb.”
So: as far as I’m concerned,
none of you poor children of Eve
can equal her, thus proving my question,
nor can any of you equal her husband.
O virgin, if you remained a virgin to Joseph,
my lady, he was so elevated that
there is no other human after you
who can equal your exalted husband.
You are a virgin, holy and pure in flesh,
and you are — in your soul — the queen of heaven,
where in have so much beauty
God dwells and man finds comfort.
Even as the Virgin, your face was created
from the mud of the soil on this earth;
the sense of your word is virginal and those
receive it become bridegrooms to the virgin.
God wished that the virgin remain married,
and Joseph should serve as her guard ,
and as her husband, he should protect her,
in whatever occasion might pass.
Like the leaf that turns it face to the cold,
so the fruit is not damaged in a blizzard,
in this matter, Mary was given the protection
of the divine Joseph, who is singular and rare.
This sacred pilgrim arbor,
from the good and most holy and virgin
gave us an unbroken path to Christ
who illuminates the heavens.
He is the one who continually inspires us
and his glory provides the for all souls.
I do not lie: if you forever close the door to him,
you will be met by eternal harm.
And to convince you from the suspicion
that Jesus was not begotten in human flesh,
I here refer to a text of fame and renown,
a text that comes from the miraculous Isaiah.[10]
From Jesse’s stock, also a renowned gentleman,
a branch of great renown also grows,
that of the the most Holy Virgin Mary,
who gave us flower that is Christ, our light and guide.
To the careful reader, I beg, take heed:
stop wearing the finery of this life,
and unite yourself instead to the house
of the King, with its protected gates,
where there is a garden or fresh orchard
where one dine on royal food on rich silver,
where are the horses for your taking,
in silks, already harnessed for you.
Where is the powerful treasure?
Where are the gallant courtesans?
Where is the strong arm of courageous warrior,
who killed Goliath with his own hands?
Where is the true seat, the point of rest,
from where he ruled over all humans?
Where is his greatness and power
our our lord’s royal empire?[11]
And in the manner of a poor carpenter
David fell from the heights of royalty
becoming the poorest man in the world,
having only what nature provides.
But this misery was transformed to a treasure,
and from his abject poverty, he found wealth,
digging out from the fields and chiseling out
his own treasure and crown of gold.
Time brings an end to all things past,
and you must give everything to the present;
to the most powerful and exalted King,
who takes away life without any notice.
David, in the end, took care to give
to both rich and poor people alike;
don’t be fooled, for everyone, time is short–
and every long, if you risk the odds.
Our sacred chronicles make mention
that the righteous Joseph was related
to King David, who was the first to be enlisted
because he was truly penitent in his own life.
Let us keep our God in our sights,
seated upon the highest and exalted chair,
so that the sinner who waits for him,
if penance is done, may find himself worthy.
Nabuth[12] gave a harsh sentence
against three entirely innocent children
who would not worship his evil statue,
an for that, the King was a resisting tyrant,
that he had seen the miraculous feat
of one walking through fire in his presence,
and that man was brought to him,
ordering this penitent to be burned alive.
When the Lord commanded that the penitent not burn,
and King Nabuth saw that, he was contrite
and understood that he should embrace all his servants,
because everyone in this was glorified —
it was a remarkable miracle that the penitent
came before the King, and from these flames,
like a simple child, the penitent comes out intact.
Oh, faithful penance! How much it is worth!
He who gives himself to God the creator
will, like David, reach such a high seat,
for God’s glory is beyond compare,
and he shall enjoy God’s endless glory
The unrepentant man grieves and dies,
because he lives like a brute, devoid of talents,
and shows himself to be a saint who is as ambitious
as the lying king Saul showed himself to be.
The one chosen by God
as mother was our most holy Mary,
who in her piety and discretion
saw a prophet about whom she had read,
about the prophecy from Isaiah,
in which God says to us that perfection
shall be born be born from a maiden
to give relief to the beautiful soul.[13]
For as he beheld such a marvel
speaking with the consecrated virgin,
who would serve spotlessly as queen,
for being the one who will shelter our God,
for being one who merits a royal seat on earth,
she said: “Blessed am I, if I were your maid
I would want no more glory on this earth
than to enjoy your sacrosanct sky.”
It seems to be me the most basic error,
the most crude and raw blunder,
to think that any human man deserves
to enter the royal hall of Mary:
only St. Gabriel entered, he being the one who
is offered to the mother of the Word, light of day,
and the entire life of angels guarded her
as a holy angel came entered her.
If the chosen town could not look upon
the face of Moses because of its beauty,[14]
how does a human, being imperfect,
be able to see the figure of the virgin,
because her face is so much more perfect
that the human and angelic creature —
she from whose repentance and beautiful eyes
are born the plunder of a thousand souls?
With our virgin being already occupied,
as she always was, by custom,
Gabriel entered to deliver the message,
as resplendent as the shining sun.
He entered. Then the walled up virgin,
who had been in grief a a servant of God,
became like the women in the window
or those who are the gatekeepers.
The virgin serves as testament to all
that one should be at home, at all times,
praying or cultivating in one’s place,
searching for God, truth, life, and the way,
saying: “Lord of the Heavens,
free us from the Devil, who is evil,
because the day and the night do not rest,
bringing death to the idle soul.”
Idleness is the mother of clumsy vice,
the stepmother of virtue’s enemy,
and they bring on eternal punishments,
where you will find pain, anxiety and fatigue.
Work, for men, is the marker of those
who have a friend within their soul,
for they sweat as they search for what
they need, as saints would ordinarily do.
We know for certain about St. Paul,
how his work was supported by his own body,
and and how he purchased the roughest clothes
that were available at that time; and we know
about Francis, a lover of poverty,
who counseled to his holy family:
“Work, so that you know what eat that comes
from your hands, and share food with your brothers.”
If the work of Martha was excellent
because she was the hostess to Jesus Christ,
it is better to contemplate differently
of Mary, who waits upon the eternal God,
imitating the Almighty, or He who
gave men clothing, and remains in wholeness,
and how those who are in the sight of God never anger
is what I plan to sing about on some other day.
***
[1] Escobedo preaching to his Native parishioners?
[2] Exodus 1:15-22, 2:1-5.
[3]Luke 1: 11-20, 26-38.
[4] Ester 1:12-16.
[5] March 25, day of the Annunciation, nine months before Jesus’ birth.
[6] Written in margin: “Cui nomen Nazareth”.
[7] Song of Solomon 2:1.
[8] Genesis 4:3.
[9] 1 Kings 9:5.
[10] Isaiah 11: 1, 10.
[11] This ubi sunt appears late in the poem (Sununu).
[12] Check Reference — 384[r] in mss.
[13] Isaiah 7:14.
[14] In margin: “Exodus IV.”