Letter Lxxvii
LETTER LXXVII
for the falling asleep of Blesilla . 1
Four summers have rolled by since I wrote to Bishop Heliodorus a funeral panegyric on Nepotian , 2 spending all the strength that I possessed in giving expression to my grief.
About two years have elapsed since I sent a brief letter to my dear Pammachius on the sudden passing of his Paulina , 3 for I blushed to say more to so learned a man or to repeat to him his own thoughts, lest I should seem, not so much to be comforting a friend, as in foolish ostentation to be instructing one already perfect.
To-day, my son Oceanus, the task of duty you impose upon me is one that I gladly accept and would even seek unasked ; for dealing with new virtues I shall make an old subject fresh.
In those other cases I had to assuage a mother's love, an uncle's grief, and a husband's yearning ; and as the persons differed I had to apply from the Scriptures a different remedy.
On this occasion you give me as my subject Fabiola, the glory of the Christians, the wonder of the Gentiles, the sorrow of the poor, and the consolation of the monks.
Whatever point I take first pales in comparison with what is to come.
Shall I tell of her fastings ?
Her alms are greater still.
Shall I praise her humility ?
It is outstripped by the ardour of her faith.
Shall I mention her studied squalor, her plebeian dress, and the slave's garb she choose in condemnation of silken robes ?
It is a greater thing to change one's disposition than to change one's dress.
We part with arrogance less easily than with gold and jewels.
Even when these are thrown away, we sometimes pride ourselves on our ostentatious shabbiness and make a bid for popular favour by offering poverty as its price.
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offerimus.
Celata virtus et in conscientiae fota secreto Deum solum iudicem respicit.
Unde novis mihi est efferenda praeconiis et ordine rhetorum praetermisso tota de conversionis ac paenitentiae incunabulis adsumenda.
Alius forsitan scholae memor Quintum Maximum, ' Unus qui nobis cunctando restituit rem,' et totam Fabiorum gentem proferret in medium, diceret pugnas, describeret proelia et per tantae nobilitatis gradus Fabiolam venisse iactaret, ut, quod in virga non poterat, in radicibus demonstrareret.
Ego, diversorii Bethlemitici et praesepis dominici amator, in quo virgo puerpera Deum fudit infantem, ancillam Christi non de nobilitate veteris historiae, sed de ecclesiae humilitate producam.
3. Et quia statim in principio quasi scopulus quidam et procella mihi obtrectatorum eius opponitur, quod secundum sortita matrimonium prius reliquerit, non laudabo conversam, nisi ream absolvero.
Tanta prior maritus vitia habuisse narratur, ut ne scortum quidem et vile mancipium ea sustinere posset.
Quae si voluero dicere, perdam virtutem feminae, quae maluit culpam subire discidii quam quandam corporis sui infamare partem et maculas eius detegere.
Hoc solum proferam, quod verecundae matronae et Christianae satis est.
Praecepit dominus uxorem non debere dimitti excepta causa 1 Ennius and Virgil, Aeneid, VI. 846.
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virtue that is concealed and cherished in the inner consciousness looks to God alone as judge.
So the eulogy I bestow upon her must be altogether new I must neglect all the rules of rhetoric and begin my story at the cradle ofher conversion and penitence.
Others perhaps might remember their school-days and bring forward Quintus Maximus ' The man who by delaying saved the state ,' 1 and with him the whole Fabian family.
They might tell of their conflicts and describe their battles, and boast that Fabiola had come of so noble a line, showing in the root a glory which they could not find in the branch.
I for my part, who am a lover of the inn at Bethlehem, and the Lord's stable where the Virgin in childbirth brought forth an infant God, I will bring forward a handmaid of Christ who shall rely not on the fame of ancient history but on the humility of the Church.
As at the very outset there is a rock in the path, and I am faced by the storm of censure that was directed against her for having taken a second husband and abandoned her first, I shall not praise her for her conversion until I have cleared her from this charge.
We are told that her first husband was a man of such heinous vices that even a prostitute or a common slave could not have put up with them.
If I describe them, I shall mar the heroism of the woman, who preferred to bear the blame of separation rather than to expose to shame the man who was one body with her, and thus reveal the stains upon his character.
This only I will say, and it is a plea sufficient to excuse a chaste matron and a Christian wife.
The Lord ordained that a wife
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fornicationis et, si dimissa fuerit, manere innuptam.
Quidquid viris iubetur, hoc consequenter redundat ad feminas.
Neque enim adultera uxor dimittenda est et vir moechus tenendus.
Si ' qui meretrici iungitur, unum corpus facit,' ergo et, quae scortatori inpuroque sociatur, unum cum eo corpus efficitur.
Aliae sunt leges Caesarum, aliae Christi ; aliud Papinianus, aliud Paulus noster praecipit.
Apud illos in viris pudicitiae frenalaxantur et solo stupro atque adulterio condemnato passim per lupanaria et ancillulas libido permittitur, quasi culpam dignitas faciat, non voluptas.
Apud nos, quod non licet feminis, aeque non licet viris et eadem servitus pari condicione censetur.
Dimisit ergo, ut aiunt, vitiosuin ; dimisit illius et illius criminis noxium ; dimisit—paene dixi, quod clamante vicinia uxor non sola prodidit.
Sin autem arguitur, quare repudiate marito non innupta permanserit, facile culpam fatebor, dum tamen ' Melius est,' inquit apostolus, referam necessitatem.
' nubere quam uri."
Adulescentula erat, viduitatem suam servare non poterat.
Videbat aliam legem in membris suis repugnantem legi mentis suae et se vinctam atque captivam ad coitum trahi.
Melius arbitrata est aperte confiteri inbecillitatem suam et umbram quandam miserabilis subire coniugii quam
1 Corinthians, vi. 16.
2 The great Roman jurist, put to death by Caracalla.
1 Corinthians, vii. 9.
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must not be put away except for fornication, and that, if she was put away, she must remain unmarried.
A command that is given to men applies logically also to women.
It cannot be that an adulterous wife should be put away and an unfaithful husband retained.
If ' he which is joined to a harlot is one body ,' 1 she who is joined to a filthy whoremonger is one body with him also.
The laws of Caesar are different from the laws of Christ : Papinian 2 commands one thing, our Paul another.
Among the Romans men's unchastity goes unchecked seduction and adultery are condemned, but free permission is given to lust to range the brothels and to have slave girls, as though it were a person's rank and not the sensual pleasure that constituted the offence.
With us what is unlawful for women is equally unlawful for men, and as both sexes serve God they are bound by the same conditions.
Fabiola, as men say, put away a vicious husband ; she put away a man who was guilty of this and that crime she put him awa}^ because—I almost mentioned the scandal which the whole neighbourhood proclaimed but which his wife alone refused to reveal.
If she is blamed because after repudiating her husband she did not remain unmarried, I will readily admit her fault, provided that I may put in the plea of necessity.
' It is better,' says the apostle, ' to marry than to burn.' 3
She was a very young woman and she could not remain a widow.
She saw another law in her members warring against the law of her mind, and she felt herself dragged like a chained captive into carnal intercourse.
She thought it better to confess her weakness openly and to accept the dark stain that such a lamentable
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sub gloria univirae exercere meretricium.
Idem ' adulescentulas nubere, filios apostolus vult viduas procreare, nullam dare occasionem maledicti gratia.'
Et protinus, cur hoc velit, exponit :
' lam enim quaedam abierunt retro Satanan.'
Igitur et Fabia, quia persuaserat sibi et putabat virum iure a se dimissum nee evangelii rigorem 1 noverat, in quo nubendi universa causatio viventibus viris feminis Christianis amputatur, dum multa diaboli vitat vulnera, unum incauta vulnus accepit.
4. Sed quid ego in abolitis et antiquis moror quaerens excusare culpam, cuius paenitentiam ipsa confessa est ?
Quis hoc crederet, ut post mortem secundi viri in semet reversa, quo tempore solent viduae neglegentes iugo servitutis excusso agere se liberius, adire balneas, volitare per plateas, vultus circumferre meretricios, saccum indueret, errorem publice fateretur, et tota urbe spectante Romana ante diem paschae in basilica quondam Laterani, qui
Caesariano truncatus est gladio, staret in ordine paenitentum, episcopo et presbyteris et omni populo conlacrimanti sparsum crinem, ora lurida, squalidas manus, sordida colla submitteret ?
Quae peccata fletus iste non purget ?
Quas inveteratas maculas haec. lamenta non abluant ?
Petrus trinam nega1 Rigorem Engelbrecht : vigorem.
1 Timothy, v.
14, 15.
2 A Roman senator who conspired against Nero : the basilica was perhaps S. John Lateran.
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marriage would bring, rather than to claim to be the wife of one husband and under that disguise to ply the harlot's trade.
The same apostle expresses his wish that ' young widows should marry, bear children, and give no handle to calumny.'
And then at once he gives his reason :
' For some are already turned aside after Satan .' 1
Fabiola therefore had convinced herself, and thought that she was justified in putting away her husband.
She did not know the Gospel's strict ordinance, which precludes Christian women from marrying again in their first husband's lifetime, whatever their case may be.
Thus she evaded the other assaults of the devil, but this one wound from him she unwittingly received.
But why do I linger over the forgotten past, seeking to excuse a fault for which she herself confessed her penitence ?
Who would believe that after the death of her second husband, at a time when widows, having shaken off the yoke of slavery, are wont to grow careless and indulge in licence, frequenting the public baths, flitting to and fro in the squares, showing their harlot faces everywhere who, I say, would believe that it was then that she came to herself, put on sackcloth and made public confession of error.
On the eve of passover, in the presence of all Rome, she took her stand among the other penitents in the church of that Lateranus who perished formerly by Caesar's sword . 2
There before bishop, presbyters, and weeping populace she exposed to view her dishevelled hair, wan face, soiled hands, and dust-stained neck.
What sins would not such lamentation purge away ?
What stains so deep that these tears would not wash them out ?
By a threefold confession Peter annulled his three-
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tionem trina confessione delevit.
Aaron sacrilegium et conflatum ex auro vituli caput fraternae correxere preces.
David, sancti et mansuetissimi viri, homicidium pariter et adulterium septem dierum emendavit fames. lacebat in terra, volutabatur in cinere et oblitus regiae potestatis lumen quaerebat in tenebris illumque tantum respiciens, quem offenderat, lacrimabili voce dicebat :
' Tibi soli peccavi et malum coram te feci,' et :
' Redde mihi laetitiam salutaris tui et spiritu principali confirma me.'
Atque ita factum est, ut, qui me prius docuerat virtutibus suis, quomodo stans non caderem, doceret per paenitentiam, quomodo cadens resurgerem.
Quid tarn inpium legimus inter reges quam Achab, de quo scriptura dicit : 'Non fuit alius tabs ut Achab, qui venumdatus est, ut faceret malum in conspectu domini.'
Hie, cum pro sanguine Nabuthae correptus fuisset ab Helia et audisset iram domini per prophetam :
' Occidisti, insuper et possedisti,' et ' Ecce ego inducam super te mala et demetam posteriora tua,' et reliqua, ' Scidit vestimenta sua et operuit cilicio carnem suam ieiunavitque in sacco et ambulabat demisso capite.
Tunc factus est sermo domini ad Heliam Thesbiten dicens :
" Nonne vidisti humilitatem Achab coram me ?
Quia ergo humilitatus est in timore mei, non inducam malum in diebus eius."
O felix paenitentia, quae ad se Dei traxit oculos, quae furentem sententiam domini confesso errore mutavit !
Hoc idem et Manassen in Paralipomenon et Nineven fedsse legimus in proPsalm li.
2 Psalm li.
14.
1 Kings, xxi. 25 seq.
4 2 Chron., xxxiii. 12.
6 Jonah, iii. 5-10.
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fold denial.
Aaron did a sacrilegious act by fashioning a calf's head in gold ; but his brother's prayers made amends.
David, that saintly and most merciful man, committed both murder and adultery ; but he atoned for it by fasting for seven days.
He lay on the ground, he grovelled in the ashes, he forgot his royal power, he sought for light in the darkness.
He turned his eyes only to Him whom he had offended and cried with a lamentable voice :
* Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy ' Restore unto me the joy of thy salvasight ,' 1 and, tion and uphold me with thy free spirit.' 2
So it came about that he who by his virtues taught me first how I might stand and not fall, by his penitence taught me how if I fell I might rise again.
Do we read of any among the kings so wicked as Ahab, of whom the Scripture says :
' There was none like unto Ahab which did sell himself to work wickedness ' ? 3
But when he was rebuked by Elijah for shedding Naboth's blood and heard the prophet threaten him with God's wrath in the sight of the Lord ' Thou hast killed and taken possession : behold I will bring evil upon thee and will take away thy ' he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh and fasted in sackposterity,' and so on, then : cloth and went softly.
Then came the word of the Lord to Elijah the Tishbite, saying :
" Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me ?
Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days."
O happy penitence, which drew God's eyes to itself, and by a confession of error changed the sentence of the Lord's wrath The same conduct is attributed to Manasseh in the Chronicles , 4 to Nineveh 6 in the book of the prophet
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pheta, publicanum quoque in evangelio, e quibus primus non solum indulgentiam, sed et regnum recipere meruit, alius inpendentem Dei fregit iram, tertius pectus verberans pugnis oculos non levabat ad caelum et multo iustificatior recessit humili confessione vitiorum quam superba pharisaeus iactatione virtuturn.
Non est loci huius, ut paenitentiam praedicem et quasi contra Montanum Novatumque scribens dicam illam hostiam domini esse placabilem
' Malo paenitentiam peccatoris quam mortem,' et : et sacrificium Deo spiritum contribulatum et
' Exsurge, exsurge, Hierusalem,' et multa alia, quae prophetarum clangunt tubae.
5. Hoc unum loquar, quod et iegentibus utile sit et praesenti causae conveniat.
Non est confusa dominum in terris et ille earn non confundetur in caelo.
Aperuit cunctis vulnus suum et decolore in corpore cicatricem flens Roma conspexit.
Dissuta habuit latera, nudum caput, clausum os.
Non est ingressa ecclesiam domini, sed extra castra cum Maria, sorore Moysi, separata consedit, ut, quam sacerdos eiecerat, ipse revocaret.
Descendit de solio deliciarum suarum, accepit molam, fecit farinam et discalciatis pedibus transivit fluenta lacrimarum.
Sedit super carbonis ignis ; hi ei fuere in adiutorium.
Faciem, per quam secundo viro placuerat, verberabat, oderat gemmas, linteamina videre non poterat, orna-
S. Luke, xviii, 13.
2 Founders of heretical sects in the second and third centuries.
3 Ezekiel, xviii. 23.
4 Baruch, v. 5.
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Jonah, and to the publican in the Gospel . 1
The first not only earned God's pardon but regained his kingdom ; the second broke the force of God's impending anger; the third smiting his breast with his fists would not lift his eyes to heaven, and yet by the humble confession of his faults he went away more justified than the Pharisee with his arrogant boasting of his virtues.
This, however, is not the place to preach penitence, or to say of it, as though 2 that I were writing against Montanus and Novatus , it is a victim well pleasing to the Lord and that a broken spirit is God's sacrifice.
Nor will I quote the words :
' I prefer the repentance of a sinner rather than his death ,' 3 or ' Arise, arise, O Jerusalem ,' 4 or any other of the many sayings which are noised abroad by the trumpets of the prophets.
This one thing I will say, for it is both useful to my readers and pertinent to the present case.
Fabiola was not ashamed of the Lord on earth, and He will not be ashamed of her in heaven.
She laid bare her wound to all, and Rome beheld with tears the scar upon her livid body.
She uncovered her limbs, bared her head, and closed her mouth.
She did not enter God's church but like Miriam, the sister of Moses, sat apart outside the camp, until the priest who had cast her out should call her back again.
She came down from her throne of luxury, she took up the millstone and ground meal, with unshod feet she passed through rivers of tears.
She sat upon coals of fire, and these became her aid.
She beat the face by which she had won her second husband's love, she abhorred all jewelry, she could not bear even to look upon fine linen, she shrank
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menta fugiebat.
Sic dolebat, quasi adulterium commisisset et multis inpendiis medicaminum unum vulnus sanare cupiebat.
6. Diu morati sumus in paenitentia, in qua velut in vadosis locis resedimus, ut maior nobis et absque ullo inpedimento se laudum eius campus aperiret.
Recepta sub oculis omnis ecclesiae communione quid fecit ?
Scilicet in die bona malorum oblita est et post naufragium rursum temptare voluit pericula navigandi ?
Quin potius omnem censum, quem habere poterat—erat autem amplissimus et respondens generi eius—dilapidavit ac vendidit et inpecunia congregatum usibus pauperum praeparavit.
Et primo omnium voaoKOfjLe'iov instituit, in quo aegrotantes colligeret de plateis et consumpta languoribus atque inedia miserorum membra refoveret.
Describam nunc ego diversas hominum calamitates, truncas nares, effossos oculos, semiustos pedes, luridas manus, tumentes alvos, exile femur, crura turgentia et de exesis ac putridis carnibus vermiculos bullientes ?
Quotiens morbo regio et paedore confectos humeris suis portavit ?
Quotiens lavit purulentam vulnerum saniem, quam alius aspicere non audebat ?
Praebebat cibos propria manu et spirans cadaver sorbitiunculis inrigabat.
Scio multos divites et religiosos ob stomachi angustiam exercere huiusce modi misericordiam per aliena ministeria et clementes
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from all adornment.
If she had committed adultery her grief could not have been greater, and she went to the expense of many remedies in her eagerness to cure one wound.
I have lingered long in describing Fabiola's penitence, and my barque has grounded in shallow waters ; but I wished to open up a wider and unimpeded field for her praises.
When she was restored to communion before the eyes of the whole church, what did she do ?
Did she forget her sorrows in the midst of happiness, and determine after being shipwrecked to face once more the dangers of the main ?
Nay, she preferred to break up and sell all that she could lay hands on of her property—it was a large one and suitable to her rank—and when she had turned it into money she disposed of everything for the benefit of the poor.
First of all she founded an infirmary and gathered into it sufferers from the streets, giving their poor bodies worn with sickness and hunger all a nurse's care.
Need I describe here the diverse troubles from which human beings suffer, the maimed noses, the lost eyes, the scorched feet, the leprous arms, the swollen bellies, the shrunken thighs, the dropsical legs, and the diseased flesh alive with hungry worms ?
How often did she carry on her own shoulders poor filthy wretches tortured by epilepsy !
How often did she wash away the purulent matter from wounds which others could not even endure to look upon !
She gave food with her own hand, and even when a man was but a breathing corpse, she would moisten his lips with drops of water.
I know that many wealthy and devout persons by reason of their weak stomachs carry on this work of mercy by the agency of others,
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esse pecunia, non manu.
Quos equidem non reprobo et teneritudinem animi nequaquam interpreter infidelitatem ; sed, sicut inbecillitati stomachi veniam tribuo, sic perfectae mentis ardorem in caelum laudibus fero.
Magna fides ista contemnit scit, quid in Lazaro dives purpuratus aliquando non fecerit, quali superba mens retributione damnata sit.
Ille, quern despicimus, quern videre non possumus, ad cuius intuitum vomitus nobis erumpit, nostri similis est, de eodem nobiscum formatus luto, isdem conpactus elementis.
Quidquid patitur, et nos pati possumus.
Vulnera eius aestimemus propria et omnis animi in alterum duritia dementi in nosmet ipsos cogitatione frangetur.
' Non, mihi si linguae centum sint oraque centum, Ferrea vox, Omnia morborum percurrere nomina possim,' quae Fabiola in tanta miserorum refrigeria commutavit, ut multi pauperum sani languentibus inviderent.
Quamquam ilia simili liberalitate erga clericos et monachos ac virgines fuerit—quod monasterium non illius opibus sustentatum est ?
Quern nudum et clinicum non Fabiolae vestimenta texerunt ?
In quos se indigentium eius non effudit praeceps et festina largitio ?
Angusta misericordiae Roma fuit peragrabat ergo insulas.
Etruscum mare Vulscorumque provinciam et reconditos curvorum litorum sinus, in quibus monachorum consistunt chori, vel proprio corpore vel transmissa per fideles ac sanctos viros munificentia circuibat.
7. Unde repente et contra opinionem omnium
Virgil, Aeneid, VI. 625.
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and show mercy with the purse, not with the hand.
I do not blame nor do I by any means construe their lack of fortitude as lack of faith.
But while I excuse their weakness, I extol to the sides the ardent zeal that perfect courage possesses.
A great faith makes light of discomfort : it knows the retribution that fell upon the rich man clothed in purple, who in his pride refused Lazarus aid.
The suiferer whom we despise and cannot bear to behold, whose very aspect turns our stomachs, is a man like ourselves, formed of the same clay, made out of the same elements.
-Whatever he suffers we may possibly suffer also.
Let us regard his wounds as our own, and then all our lack of sympathy for others will be overcome by our pity for ourselves.
' Had I a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths ' 1
With voice of brass, I could not tell the names of all the maladies which Fabiola treated.
She was, indeed, such a comforter that many poor people who were well fell to envying the sick.
Not but what she showed the same generosity to the clergy, monks, and virgins.
What monastery was there which her purse did not aid ?
What naked or bedridden sufferer did she not supply with clothes ?
On what indigent person did she not pour out her swift and lavish donations ?
Rome was not large enough for her compassionate kindness.
She went from island to island, and travelled round the Etruscan Sea, and through the Volscian province, with its lonely curving bays, where bands of monks have taken up their home, bestowing her bounty either in person or by the agency of holy men of the faith.
Then suddenly, and to every one's surprise, she 3 2 5
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Hierosolymam navigavit, ubi multorum excepta concursu nostro parumper usa est hospitio ; cuius societatis recordans videor mihi adhuc videre, quam vidi.
Iesu bone, quo ilia fervore, quo studio intenta erat divinis voluminibus et veluti quandam famem satiare desiderans per prophetas, evangelia psalmosque currebat quaestiones proponens et solutas recondeils in scriniolo pectoris sui !
Nec vero satiabatur audiendi cupidine, sed addens scientiam addebat dolorem, et, quasi oleum flammae adiceres, maioris ardoris fomenta capiebat.
Quodam die, cum in manibus Moysi Numeros teneremus, et me verecunde rogaret, quid sibi vellet nominum tanta congeries, cur singulae tribus in aliis atque in aliis locis varie iungerentur, quomodo Balaam ariolus sic futura Christi mysteria prophetarit, ut nullus propemodum prophetarum tarn aperte de eo vaticinatus sit, responds, ut potui, et visus sum interrogationi eius satisfacere.
Revolvens ergo librum pervenit ad eum locum, ubi catalogus describitur omnium mansionum, per quas de Aegypto egrediens populus pervenit usque ad fluenta Iordanis.
Cumque causas et rationes quaereret singularum, in quibusdam haesitavi, in aliis inoffenso cucurri pede, in plerisque simpliciter ignorantiam confessus sum.
Tunc vero magis coepit urguere et, quasi mihi non liceret nescire, quod nescio, expostulare ac se indignam tantis mysteriis dicere.
Quid plura ?
Extorsit mihi 1 Numbers, xxiv. 17 ff.
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sailed to Jerusalem, where she was welcomed by a great concourse of people, and for a short time was my guest.
When I remember that meeting, I seem to see her still as I saw her then.
Blessed Jesus, with what fervour and zeal did she study the sacred volumes !
In her eagerness to satisfy her hunger, she ran through the prophets, the gospels and the psalms ; she suggested questions and stored up my answers in her heart's repository.
Nor did her eagerness to hear ever bring with it satiety increasing her knowledge she also increased her sorrow, and as though oil were cast upon fire she supplied fuel ever for a more burning zeal.
One day we were occupied with Moses' Numbers, and she modestly questioned me as to the meaning of its mass of names.
Why was it, she asked, that individual tribes were grouped in so many different ways in different places, and how did it happen that the soothsayer Balaam in prophesying the future mysteries of Christ foretold His coming more plainly than almost any of the prophets . 1
I replied as best I could, and I think I satisfied her inquiries.
So she unrolled the book further, and came to the passage where the list is given of all the halting places by which the people on leaving Egypt made their way to the river Jordan.
She asked me the meaning and the origin of each name, and in some cases I hesitated, in others I hurried through without stumbling, in very many I had frankly to confess ignorance.
Thereupon she began to press me harder, expostulating with me as though it were not allowed me to be in ignorance of what I do not know, and declaring that she herself was unworthy of understanding such mysteries.
Why say more ?
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negandi verecundia, lit proprium ei opus huiusce modi disputatiunculae pollicerer, quod usque in presens tempus, ut nunc intellego, domini voluntate dilatum redditur memoriae illius, ut sacerdotalibus prioris ad se voluminis induta vestibus per mundi huius solitudinem gaudeat se ad terram repromissionis aliquando venisse.
8. Verum, quod coepimus, persequamur.
Quaerentibus nobis dignum tantae feminae habitaculum, cum ita solitudinem cuperet, ut diversorio Mariae carere nollet, ecce subito discurrentibus nuntiis oriens totus intremuit, ab ultima Maeotide inter glacialem Tanain et Massagetarum immanes populos, ubi Caucasi rupibus feras gentes Alexandri claustra cohibent, erupisse Hunorum examina, quae pernicibus equis hue illucque volitantia caedis pariter ac terroris cuncta conplerent.
Aberat tunc Romanus exercitus et bellis civilibus in Italia tenebatur.
Hanc gentem Herodotus refert sub Dario, rege Medorum, viginti annis Orientem tenuisse captivum et ab Aegyptiis atque Aethiopibus annuum exegisse vectigal.
Avertat Iesus ab orbe Romano tales ultra bestias !
Insperati ubique aderant et famam celeritate vincentes non religioni, non dignitatibus, non aetati, non vagienti miserebantur infantiae.
Cogebantur mori, qui dudum vivere coeperant et nesci1 The first treatise dedicated to Fabiola was on the vestments worn by the Jewish priests, the second on the places passed by the chosen people on their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land.
2 The Caspian Gates.
3 Herodotus, I. 104.
He calls them 2Kvdai.
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I was ashamed to refuse her, and she compelled me to promise a special work on this subject for her use.
Up till this moment I have deferred writing it ; but my delay, I now see, was God's will, and it is now consecrated to her memory.
As a previous treatise addressed to her clothed her in priestly vestments, so now she may rejoice that she has passed through the wilderness of this world and come at last to the land of promise . 1
But let me continue the task I have begun.
While I was seeking a dwelling suitable for so great a lady, whose desire for solitude included an unwillingness not to visit the place where Mary once lodged, suddenly messengers flew this way and that and the whole Eastern world trembled.
We were told that swarms of Huns had poured forth from the distant Sea of Azov, midway between the icy river Tanais and the savage tribes of the Massagetae, where the gates of Alexander 2 keep back the barbarians behind the rocky Caucasus.
Flying hither and thither on their swift steeds, said our informants, these invaders were filling the whole world with bloodshed and panic.
At that time the Roman army was absent, being kept in Italy by reason of civil war.
Of this race Herodotus 3 tells us that under Darius, king of the Medes, they held the East captive for twenty years, and exacted a yearly tribute from the Egyptians and the Ethiopians.
May Jesus save the Roman world from such wild beasts in the future !
Everywhere their approach was unexpected, they outstripped rumour by their speed, and they spared neither religion nor rank nor age ; nay, even for wailing infants they had no pity.
Children were forced to die, who had only just begun to live, and 3 2 9
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entes malum suum inter hostium manus ac tela ridebant.
Consonus inter omnes rumor petere eos Hierosolymam et ob nimiam auri cupiditatem ad hanc urbem concurrere.
Muri neglecti pacis incuria sarciebantur Antiochiae ; Tyrus volens a terra abrumpere insulam quaerebat antiquam.
Tunc et nos conpulsi sumus parare naves, esse in litore, adventum hostium praecavere et saevientibus ventis magis barbaros metuere quam naufragium, non tam propriae saluti quam virginum castimoniae providentes.
Erat in illo tempore quaedam apud nos dissensio et barbarorum pugnam domestica bella superabant.
Nos in Oriente tenuerunt iam fixae sedes et inveteratum locorum sanctorum desiderium
; ilia, quia tota in sarcinis erat et in omni orbe peregrina, reversa est ad patriam, ut ibi pauper viveret, ubi dives fuerat, manens in alieno, quae multos prius hospites habuit, et—ne sermonem longius traham—in conspectu Romanae urbis pauperibus erogaret, quod ilia teste vendiderat.
9. Nos hoc tantum dolemus, quod pretiosissimum de sanctis locis monile perdidimus.
Recepit Roma, quod amiserat, ac procax et maledica lingua gentilium oculorum testimonio confutata est.
Laudent ceteri misericordiam eius, humilitatem, fidem : ego ardorem animi plus laudabo.
Librum, quo Heliodorum quondam iuvenis ad heremum cohortatus sum,
Cf. Appendix II, p. 498 ff.
2 At Bethlehem.
Cf. Introd., p. ix, 3 Letter XIV.
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in ignorance of their fate smiled amid the brandished weapons of the foe.
The general report was that they were making for Jerusalem, and that it was their excessive greed for gold that urged them to flock to that city.
The walls of Antioch, neglected in the careless days of peace, were hastily repaired.
Tyre, desirous of cutting herself off from the land, sought again her ancient island.
We too were compelled to prepare ships, and to wait on the seashore as a precaution against the enemy's arrival; to fear the barbarians more than shipw rreck, however fierce the winds might be ; for we had to think not so much of our own lives as of the chastity of our virgins.
At that time also there was a certain dissension amongst us , 1 and our domestic quarrels seemed more important than any fighting with barbarians.
I myself clung to my fixed abode in the East , 2 and could not give up my inveterate longing for the Holy Land.
Fabiola, however, who only had her travelling baggage and was a stranger in every land, returned to her native city to live in poverty where she had been rich, to lodge in the house of another, she who had once entertained many guests, and—not to prolong my story unduly to pay over to the poor before the eyes of Rome all that she had sold with Rome for witness.
This only do I grieve for, that we in the Holy Land lost in her a most precious jewel.
Rome recovered what she had lost, and the shameless tongue of slander was confuted by the testimony of the heathens' own eyes.
Let others praise her pity, her humility, her faith :
I will rather extol the ardour of her soul.
The treatise 3 in which as a young man I urged Heliodorus to be a hermit she 33i
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tenebat memoriter, et Romana cernens moenia inclusam se esse plangebat.
Oblita sexus, fragilitatis inmemor ac solitudinis tantum cupida ibi erat, ubi animo morabatur.
Non poterat teneri consiliis amicorum : ita ex urbe quasi de vinculis gestiebat erumpere.
Dispensationem pecuniae et cautam distributionem genus infidelitatis vocabat.
Non aliis elemosynam tribuere, sed suis pariter effusis ipsa pro Christo stipes optabat accipere.
Sic festinabat, sic inpatiens erat morarum, ut illam crederes profecturam.
Itaque, dum semper paratur, mors earn invenire non potuit inparatam.
10. Inter laudes feminae subito mihi Pammachius meus exoritur.
Paulina dormit, ut ipse vigilet praecedit maritum, ut Christo famulum derelinquat.
Hie heres uxoris et hereditatis alii possessores.
Certabant vir et femina, quis in portu Abrahae tabernaculum figeret, et haec erat inter utrumque contentio, quis humanitate superaret.
Vicit uterque et uterque superatus est.
Ambo se victos et victores fatentur, dum, quod alter cupiebat, uterque perfecit.
Iungunt opes, sociant voluntates, ut, quod aemulatio dissipatura erat, concordia cresceret.
Necdum dictum, iam factum : emitur hospitium et ad hospitium turba concurrit.
' Non est ' labor in ' enim Iacob nec dolor in Israhel.'
Adducunt maria, quos in gremio suo terra suscipiat.
Mittit Roma properantes, quos navigaturos litus molle confoveat.
1 Numbers, xxiii. 21.
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knew by heart, and when she looked upon the walls of Rome she complained that she was their prisoner.
Forgetful of her sex, unmindful of her frailty, she craved only for solitude and was in truth where her soul lingered.
Her friends' advice could not restrain her, so anxious was she to escape from the fetters of Rome.
She said that to weigh out money and distribute it carefully showed a lack of faith.
She desired not to hand over the task of almsgiving to others, but to spend all that she possessed, and then herself to receive a dole in Christ's name.
In such haste was she, and so impatient of delay, that you might have thought her always on the brink of departure.
So, as she was ever making ready, death could not find her unprepared.
As I sing her praises, my dear Pammachius suddenly rises before me.
Paulina sleeps that he may keep vigil ; she has gone before her husband, that she may leave him behind to serve Christ.
He was his wife's heir, but others now possess that inheritance.
A man and a woman contended for the privilege of setting up Abraham's tent in the harbour of Rome and this was the struggle between the two, who should be first in that contest of kindness.
Each won and each lost.
Both confess themselves victors and vanquished, for what each desired they carried out together.
They join purses and combine their plans, that harmony might increase what rivalry would have wasted.
Hardly said, the thing was done ; a hostel was purchased and a crowd flocked to it for hospitality
; for ' There is no more travail in Jacob nor distress in Israel .' 1
The seas brought in travellers for the land to welcome.
Rome sent others, who hastened to enjoy the comforts of the mild shore before they
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Quod Publius semel fecit in insula Melita erga unum apostolum et—ne contradictioni locum tribuam—in una nave, hoc isti et frequenter faciunt et in plures.
Nec solum inopum necessitas sustentatur, sed prona in omnes munificentia aliquid et habentibus providet.
Xenodochium in portu Romano situm totus pariter mundus audivit.
Sub una aestate didicit Britania, quod Aegyptus et Parthus agnoverant vere.
' Timentibus dominum omnia cooperantur in bonum,' in obitu tantae feminae vidimus conprobatum.
Quodam praesagio futurorum ad multos scripserat monachos, ut venirent et gravi onore laborantem absolverent faceretque sibi de iniquo mammona amicos, qui earn reciperent in aeterna tabernacula.
Venerunt, amici facti sunt: dormivit ilia—quod voluit—et deposita tandem sarcina levior volavit ad caelos.
Quantum haberet 11. Quod scriptum est :
viventis Fabiolae Roma miraculum, in mortua demonstravit.
Necdum spiritum exalaverat necdum debitam Christo reddiderat animam, ' Et iam fama volans, tanti praenuntia luctus,' totius urbis populos exequias congregabat.
Sonabant psalmi et aurata tecta templorum reboans in sublime alleluia quatiebat.
' Hie iuvenum chorus, ille senum, qui carmine laudes Femineas et facta ferant.'
1 Acts, xxviii.
' who received us, and lodged us three days courteously.'
2 Apparently this means 'that no one may criticize me as exaggerating.'
The regular name for an inn, ^evohox^ov.
4 Romans, viii. 28.
Jerome substitutes ' fear ' for 'love.'
St. Luke, xvi. 9.
Virgil, Aeneid, XI. 139.
Virgil, Aeneid, VIII. 287.
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set sail.
What Publius 1 did once in the island of Malta for a single apostle and—not to leave room for contradiction 2—for a single ship, they did many times for many men.
Not only did they relieve the wants of the destitute ; their generosity was at every one's service and provided even for those who possessed something themselves.
The whole world heard that a Home for Strangers 3 had been founded in the port of Rome, and Britain knew in the summer what Egypt and the Parthians had learned in the spring.
' All things work together for good to them that fear God ,' 4 and in the death of the noble lady the words have been proved true.
She had a presentiment of what was to happen, and had written to several monks, that they might come and relieve her from the heavy burden under which she groaned, and that she might make to herself friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, to receive her It is written : into everlasting habitations . 5
They came, and were welcomed as friends ; she fell asleep, as she had wished, and having at length rid herself of her burden, soared more lightly to heaven.
How great had been the wonder of Fabiola's life Rome showed when she was dead.
She had scarcely drawn her last breath and paid the debt of her soul to Christ, when ' Flying rumour heralding such woe ' 6 brought the peoples of the whole city to attend her funeral.
Psalms re-echoed loudly and cries of ' shook the gilded roofs of the temples.
' Alleluia * Young men and old unite in song to praise A woman and her fame to heaven raise.' 7
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Non sic Furius de Gallis, non Papirius de Samnitibus, non Scipio de Numantia, non Pompeius de Ponti gentibus triumphavit.
Illi corpora vicere, haec spiritales nequitias subiugavit.
Audio : praecedentium turmas et catervatim exequias eius multitudinem fluctuantem non plateae, non porticus, non inminentia desuper tecta capere poterant prospectantes.
Tunc suos in unum populos Roma conspexit : favebant sibi omnes in gloria paenitentis.
Nec mirum, si de eius salute homines exultarent, de
cuius conversione angeli laetabantur in caelo.
12. Hoc tibi, Fabiola, ingenii mei senile munus, has officiorum inferias dedi.
Laudavimus virgines, viduas ac maritatas, quarum semper fuere Candida ' sequuntur agnum, quocumque vestimenta, quae vadit.'
Felix praeconium, quod nulla totius vitae sorde maculatur !
Procul livor, facessat invidia.
Si pater familias bonus est, quare oculus noster malus ?
Quae inciderat in latrones, Christi humeris reportata ' Multae mansiones sunt apud patrem.
Ubi abundavit peccatum, superabundavit gratia/ Cui est. plus dimittitur, plus amat.
1 Letters LXXVII and LXXVIII.
2 Revelation, xiv. 4.
St. Luke x. 30, xv. 5.
St. John, xiv. 2.
6 Romans, v. 20.
St. Matthew, xx. 15.
St. Luke, vii. 47.
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Not so gloriously did Furius triumph over the Gauls, Papirius over the Samnites, Scipio over Numantia, or Pompey over the peoples of the Black
Sea.
They conquered physical strength, she overcame spiritual iniquities.
I hear it still : the crowds that went before the bier, the swaying multitude that attended her obsequies in throngs, no streets, no colonnades could contain, no overhanging roofs could hold the eager onlookers.
On that day Rome saw all her peoples gathered together.
Every one flattered himself that he had a share in the glory of her penitence.
No wonder that men exulted in her salvation, seeing that the angels in heaven rejoiced over her conversion.
1 the best gift of my aged powers, I present This , to you, Fabiola, as a funeral offering of respect.
I have praised virgins, widows and married women who have kept their vestments always white,
' who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.' 2
Blessed indeed is the praise of her whose life has been stained by no foulness.
Let envy hold aloof, let jealousy be silent.
If the father of the house be good, why should our eye be evil ? 3
She who fell among thieves has been carried home upon Christ's shoulders . 4
In our father's house there are many mansions .' 5
* Where sin hath abounded, grace hath much more abounded.'
To whom more is forgiven, the same loveth more . 7
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CVII Ad Laetam de Institutione Filiae 1. Beatus apostolus Paulus scribens ad Corinthios et rudem Christi ecclesiam sacris instruens disciplinis inter cetera mandata hoc quoque posuit dicens ' Si qua mulier habet virum infidelem et hie consentit habitare cum ea, ne dimittat virum.
Sanctificatus est enim vir infidelis in uxore fideli ert sanctificata est mulier infidelis in fratre.
Alioquin filii vestri inmundi essent, nunc autem sancti sunt.'
Si cui forte hactenus videbantur nimium disciplinae vincula laxata et praeceps indulgentia praeceptoris, consideret domum patris tui, clarissimi quidem et eruditissimi viri, sed adhuc ambulantis in tenebris, et intelleget consilium apostoli illuc profecisse, ut radicis amaritudinem dulcedo fructuum conpensaret et vites virgulae balsama pretiosa sudarent.
Tu es nata de inpari matrimonio, de te et Toxotio meo Paula generata est.
Quis hoc crederet, ut Albini pontificis neptis de repromissione matris nasceretur, ut praesente et gaudente avo parvulae adhuc lingua balbutiens alleluia resonaret et virginem Christi in 1 Laeta, to whom this letter was sent in a.d. 403, married
Toxotius, son of Paula and Toxotius, ' in whose veins ran the noble blood of Aeneas ' (Letter CVIII, 4).
She herself was the daughter of a pagan, the pontiff Albinus, and had written to Jerome concerning the education of her child Paula.
The advice given in this letter, that the little girl should be sent to Bethlehem to be educated by her grandmother Paula and her aunt Eustochium, was accepted, and she eventually succeeded Eustochium as head of the nunnery there.
1 Corinthians, vii. 13.