42. To The Monk Maurice.
The Letters of St. Anselm 145
42. TO THE MONK MAURICE.
Assuring Maurice of his paternal and fraternal love Anselm thanks him for his first letter from Canterbury. He is glad that his friend is well and asks him to beg Gundulfand Henry to search for copies of the works of Saint Dunstan and the Venerable Bede so that he may have the copies of them at Bee corrected.
TO HIS MOST BELOVED BROTHER AND SON1 MAURICE: BROTHER
ANSELM PRAYS FOR THE INTEGRITY OF HIS AFFECTION AND, WITH
GOD'S HELP, THE CONTINUANCE OF INTEGRITY.
IT IS NOT BECAUSE I THINK MYSELF WORTHY of be
ing owed paternal reverence by anyone or because I regard my love as of any particular consequence that I started a letter intended for your love with a salutation of this sort; but from the time I met you I have always tried—even if I was not able to accomplish it—to show you a brother's love and a father's care. Since I know that my will is known and pleasing to you, I do not for this reason doubt that it will also make you pleased if I feel confident that I and my love for you take on some importance. Therefore the ex cuse for a somewhat arrogant salutation comes first and the expression of fraternal greeting follows. For just as I do not doubt that you have a warmth of feeling for me and that you rejoice in my affection for you, so I am certain that you are daily looking forward to what you long for, and long ing for what you look forward to, namely consolation for that separation you endure—of a beloved from a friend— by hearing or reading some message from me.
On receiving the letter from your love, I admit, the joy that enlarged your friend's spirit was greater than the sor row that constricted it when you left us. At your departure, indeed, I suffered less because I was looking forward to hav ing you tell me that what I longed for had indeed taken place. Yet now I rejoice more because I was longing for you to tell me that what I was looking forward to had taken place. And since it seemed to me that the news was taking an extremely long time to reach me I had decided to write
The Letters of St. Anselm a letter to your love to investigate this matter even before I received yours.2 To God, from whom all good comes, then,
I give thanks first of all for what you wrote to me—that everything is well with you—then for all those who show you the goodness of charity for our affection. I advise you however, my dearly beloved, that just as you were able to gain the grace and favor of those with whom you live be fore they could judge your conduct, you should from now on deserve to retain them by the evidence of your way of life.
With regard to your return which you indicate you desire:
I decided to keep silent about it till now, for we ought to wait for a more opportune moment to mention our desire reasonably to our reverend lord and father Archbishop Lanfranc, whose will it behooves us to obey. I have written to our lord archbishop about the Rule of Saint Dunstan.3 You, however, should urgently request Dom Henry and Dom
Gundulf on our behalf to search in their provinces as soon as possible for any copies of this Rule and for Bede's De temporibus,4 and send me the best [copy] they can find for those you know need correcting in ours, and I shall return them.
May the Almighty Lord guard you always and every where, brother and, since you prefer to hear this, dearest son. Farewell. My letters will be less frequent because of the irksome business I have to do, but I pray that yours may often rejoice me. Again I say what I always wish. Farewell. c. 1073/74.
NOTES 1. Anselm had known Maurice from boyhood; see Ep 43. This is prob ably the reason for the unique "brother and son".
2. Even though Anselm's letter of enquiry and Maurice's answer have not survived, the contents of the latter can be gathered from this one.
3. See Ep 39.
4. Anselm is referring to Bede's Opera de temporibus, PL 90: 277ff. and ed. C.W. Jones in Speculum 41 (Cambridge, Mass. 1943) 295-303.