7. To Gundulf, The Monk.
The Letters of St. Anselm
of God and your sins you live humbly without sin with few er blessings than strive to greater ones by mortal sin. For no one ought willingly to risk death unless he cannot other wise evade a worse death.
May Almighty God and our Lord Jesus Christ, 'wonder ful counselor'4 and angel of great counsel,5 so teach you to do his will6 that he may grant you to see his glory, holy lord and most beloved brother.
NOTES 1. Ps 38:3.
2. Rm 12:18.
3. Rule of St Benedict 43:8; CSEL 75/2:118.
4. Cf. Is 9:6.
5. Ibid. (LXX).
6. Ps 142:10.
7. TO GUNDULF, THE MONK.
Anselm expresses his intimate friendship with Gundulf thanks him for his favors for Bee and begs him to greet Archbishop Lanfranc and the other brothers and friends who are with him.
TO GUNDULF FROM ANSELM
I WANTED TO START my greeting briefly, as from friend to friend, because I could not reveal my affection as lover to beloved more fully than this. For anyone who knows
Gundulf and Anselm well will not miss what is implied or how much affection is conveyed when he reads 'to Gun dulf from Anselm'. I think I should leave it to you, who are my other self, to understand it as you will and turn my pen to finishing this letter.
Dom Robert implores and urges Dom Abbot and me and our whole community to send thanks for the many kind nesses of your charity; but we do this reluctantly, because in our own minds we are continually and quite sponta neously whispering our thanks to you for everything in
The Letters of St. Anselm your life. Indeed it would seem as if an insult were being done to you, if among so many of your good deeds some particular one were to be singled out by the repayment of gratitude while the majority were passed over in silence, or if what was intended by your charity were judged to have lacked the favor of praise and acknowledgement until now.
Furthermore, we wish with love, pray with desire, hope in prayer that you may so live through divine grace that, should anything in the deeds of your charity be found wor thy of thanks, nothing in the actions of your will may be found unworthy of praise. Therefore may your life not so much loosen the tongues of those who love you to express certain things worthy of praise, as it may weary the voices of those who admire you by presenting [your life] as com pletely commendable. And while the voices of those who praise you choose to make certain things public by proclaim ing them, may they discover the whole by whose abundance they are overwhelmed. And so may the habitual practice of virtue and habitual love so affect, as if by intoxication, your mind, that your spirit may not only savor the inward affection in any deed you occasion, but also be amazed at anyone who cannot experience this same intoxication in himself. For it is clear to anyone intending to live this way that the further he advances in fulfilling his intention, the less likely he will be to curry the favor of his admirers and the more he will be astounded at the error of his followers.
Therefore let us make known our, and I believe your, feel ing about the reception of your deeds. We are profoundly grateful for whatever you do for us or for anybody else in a praiseworthy fashion. But we consider that praise for this should be reserved until that day when all honest men will be praised', and when each will receive his reward from God.2
Greet on our behalf our venerable and lovable lord and father Archbishop Lanfranc, his nephew and our beloved brothers who are with him, as it seems best to you.
Moreover, since all who are close to me are close to you, to whom I am close, place close to me those I entrusted to