Jerome: Vita Malchi

Qui navali praelio dimicaturi sunt, ante in portu et in tranquillo mari flectunt gubernacula, remos trahunt, ferreas manus, et uncos praeparant, dispositumque per tabulata militem, pendente gradu, et labente vestigio stare firmiter assuescunt, ut quod in simulacro pugnae didicerint, in vero certamine non pertimiscant. Ita et ego qui diu tacui (silere quippe me fecit, cui meus sermo supplicium est), prius exerceri cupio in parvo opere, et veluti quamdam rubiginem linguae abstergere, ut venire possim ad latiorem historiam. Scribere enim disposui (si tamen vitam Dominus dederit; et si vituperatores mei saltem fugientem me, et inclusum persequi desierint) ab adventu salvatoris usque ad nostram aetatem, id est, ab apostolis, usque ad nostri temporis faecem, quomodo et per quos Christi ecclesia nata sit, et adulta, persecutionibus creverit, et martyriis coronata sit; et postquam ad Christianos principes venerit, potentia quidem et divitiis maior, sed virtutibus minor facta sit.

They who are about to contend in a naval battle, first in harbor and on a tranquil sea bend the rudders, pull the oars, prepare iron “hands” and hooks, and they accustom the soldier, disposed through the decks, to stand firmly though the gangway hangs and the footing slips, so that what they have learned in a simulacrum of battle, they may not fear in the true contest. So I too, who have long been silent (for indeed he has made me be silent, for whom my discourse is a punishment), first desire to be exercised in a small work, and, as it were, to wipe off a certain rust of the tongue, that I may be able to come to a broader history. For I have determined to write (if, however, the Lord will have given life; and if my censurers will at least have ceased to pursue even me fleeing and shut in) from the Advent of the Savior down to our age, that is, from the apostles to the dregs of our time, how and through whom the Church of Christ was born, and, grown up, increased by persecutions, and was crowned by martyrdoms; and after it came to Christian princes, it became indeed greater in power and in riches, but less in virtues.

Verum haec alias. Nunc quod imminet explicemus.

But these things another time. Now let us explicate what is imminent.

II. Adolescentulus morabatur in Syria Hieronymus.

2. As an adolescent, Jerome was staying in Syria.

Maronias triginta fere milibus ab Antiochia, urbe Syriae, haud grandis ad orientem distat viculus. Hic post multos vel dominos vel patronos, dum ego adulescentulus morarer in Syria, ad papae Euagrii necessarii mei possessionem devolutus est. Quem idcirco nunc nominavi, ut ostenderem, unde nossem, quod scripturus sum.

Maronias, a not-large hamlet, is distant to the east about thirty miles from Antioch, a city of Syria. Here, after many either owners or patrons, while I as a youth was staying in Syria, it was devolved into the possession of papa Evagrius, my intimate associate. Whom therefore I have now named, in order to show whence I knew what I am going to write.

Erat illic quidam senex nomine Malchus, quem nos Latine « regem » possumus dicere, Syrus natione et lingua, ut revera eiusdem loci indigena. Anus quoque in eius contubernio, valde decrepita et iam morti proxima, videbatur. Tam studiose ambo religiosi et sic ecclesiae limen terentes, ut Zachariam et Elisabeth de evangelio crederes - nisi quod Ioannes in medio non erat.

There was there a certain old man named Malchus, whom we can in Latin call 'king', a Syrian by nation and by language, indeed a native of that very place. An old woman also in his companionship, very decrepit and already near to death, was seen. Both were so zealously religious and thus wearing down the threshold of the church, that you would have believed them to be Zechariah and Elizabeth from the Gospel - except that John was not in the midst.

De his cum curiose ab accolis quaererem, quaenam esset eorum copula, matrimonii, sanguinis an spiritus, omnes voce consona sanctos et deo placitos et mira nescioquae respondebant. Qua cupiditate illectus adorsus sum hominem et curiosius sciscitans rerum fidem haec ab eo accepi.

Concerning these, when I inquisitively asked the neighbors what their bond was—of marriage, of blood, or of spirit—all with one voice replied that they were holy and pleasing to God and told certain I-know-not-what marvels. Enticed by this desire, I approached the man and, more curiously inquiring into the truth of the matter, I received these things from him.

III. Malchi historia.

3. The story of Malchus.

« Ego », inquit, « mi nate, Nisibeni agelli colonus, solus parentibus fui. Qui cum me quasi stirpem generis sui et heredem familiae ad nuptias cogerent, monachum potius me velle esse respondi. Quantis pater minis, quantis mater blanditiis persecuti sint, ut pudicitiam proderem, haec res sola indicio est, quod et domum et parentes fugi.

« I », he said, « my son, a tenant-farmer of a little Nisibene plot, was the only child to my parents. And when they, as the shoot of their stock and the heir of the family, were forcing me to nuptials, I replied that I would rather be a monk. With how great threats my father, with how great blandishments my mother pursued me, to make me betray pudicity, this one fact is proof: that I fled both home and parents. »

Et quia ad orientem ire non poteram propter vicinam Persidem et Romanorum militum custodiam, ad occidentem verti pedes pauxillum nescioquid portans viatici, quod me ab inopia tantum defenderet. Quid multa? Perveni tandem ad eremum Calchidos, quae inter Immas et Beroeam magis ad austrum sita est.

And because I could not go to the east on account of neighboring Persia and the guard of the Roman soldiers, I turned my steps to the west, carrying a tiny little bit of travel-provision, which would defend me only from want. In short, I at last came to the desert of Chalcis, which lies more to the south, between Immas and Beroea.

Ibi repertis monachis eorum me magisterio tradidi manuum labore victum quaeritans lasciviamque carnis refrenans ieiuniis.

There, having found monks, I handed myself over to their magistery, seeking sustenance by the labor of my hands and reining in the lasciviousness of the flesh by fasts.

Post multos annos incidit mihi cogitatio, ut ad patriam pergerem et, dum adhuc viveret mater (iam enim patrem mortuum audieram), solarer viduitatem eius et exinde venumdata possessiuncula partem erogarem pauperibus, partem monasterio constituerem - (quid erubesco confiteri infidelitatem meam?) partem in sumptuum meorum solacia reservarem. Ob hoc clamare coepit abbas meus diaboli esse temptationem et sub honestae rei occasione latere antiqui hostis astutias. Hoc esse canem reverti ad vomitum suum; sic multos monachorum deceptos; numquam diabolum aperta fronte se prodere.

After many years the thought befell me to go to my homeland and, while my mother was still living (for I had already heard that my father was dead), to console her widowhood, and thereafter, the little holding having been sold, to disburse part to the poor, to establish part for the monastery - (why do I blush to confess my infidelity?) to reserve part as a solace for my expenses. On account of this my abbot began to cry out that it was a temptation of the Devil and that under the pretext of an honorable thing the stratagems of the ancient enemy lurked. That this was the dog returning to its vomit; thus many of the monks had been deceived; never does the Devil betray himself with an open face.

Proponebat mihi exempla de scripturis plurima, inter quae illud, quod initio Adam quoque et Evam spe divinitatis supplantaverit. Et cum persuadere non posset, provolutus genibus obsecrabat, ne se desererem, ne me perderem, ne aratrum tenens post tergum respicerem. Vae mihi misero: vici monitorem pessima victoria reputans illum non meam salutem, sed suum solacium quaerere.

He was setting before me very many examples from the Scriptures, among which that one: that in the beginning he had also supplantated Adam and Eve by the hope of divinity. And when he could not persuade, prostrate at my knees he kept beseeching that I not desert him, that I not destroy myself, that, holding the plough, I not look back behind me. Woe to me, wretched: I conquered the monitor by the worst victory, reckoning that he was seeking not my salvation, but his own solace.

Prosecutus ergo me de monasterio, quasi funus efferret, et ad extremum valedicens « Video », ait, « te, fili, Satanae notatum cauterio. Non quaero causas; excusationes non recipio. Ovis, quae de ovili egreditur, lupi statim morsibus patet.

Having escorted me out of the monastery, as though he were carrying out a funeral, and at the last bidding farewell, « I see », he said, « you, my son, branded with the cautery of Satan. I do not seek causes; I do not receive excuses. The sheep which goes out of the sheepfold is immediately open to the wolf’s bites. »

IV. Captivus abducitur.

4. The captive is led away.

De Beroea Edessam pergentibus vicina est publico itineri solitudo, per quam Saraceni incertis semper sedibus huc atque illuc vagantur. Quae suspicio frequentiam in illis locis viatorum congregat, ut imminens periculum auxilio mutuo declinetur. Erant in comitatu meo viri, feminae, senes, iuvenes, parvuli, numero circiter septuaginta.

For those going from Beroea to Edessa, near the public road there is a solitude, through which the Saracens, with ever-uncertain dwellings, wander hither and thither. This suspicion gathers a throng of travelers in those places, so that the impending danger may be declined by mutual aid. In my retinue there were men, women, old men, young men, little children, in number about 70.

Et ecce: subito equorum camelorumque sessores Ismaelitae irruerunt crinitis vittatisque capitibus ac seminudo corpore, pallia et latas caligas trahentes. Pendebant ex umero pharetrae, et laxos arcus vibrantes hastilia longa portabant. Non enim ad pugnandum, sed ad praedandum venerant.

And behold: suddenly the Ishmaelites, riders of horses and camels, burst in, with long hair and heads bound with fillets, and their bodies half-naked, trailing cloaks and broad boots. Quivers were hanging from the shoulder, and they carried slack bows, brandishing long spear-shafts. For they had come not to fight, but to plunder.

Rapimur, dissipamur, in diversa distrahimur. Ego interim longo postliminio hereditarius possessor et sero mei consilii paenitens cum altera muliercula in unius heri servitutem sortitus venio. Ducimur, immo portamur sublimes in camelis et per vastam eremum semper ruinam timentes haeremus potius quam sedemus.

We are snatched away, we are scattered, we are dragged asunder in different directions. I, meanwhile—after a long postliminy as an hereditary possessor and, too late, repenting of my plan—together with another little woman, come, by lot, into the servitude of a single master. We are led—nay, rather, we are carried aloft on camels—and through the vast desert, always fearing a downfall, we cling rather than sit.

Cibus semicrudae carnes, et lac camelorum potus erat.

The food was semi-raw meats, and the drink was the milk of camels.

V. Pascere oves iubetur.

5. He is ordered to pasture the sheep.

Tandem grandi amne transmisso pervenimus ad interiorem solitudinem, ubi dominam liberosque ex more gentis adorare iussi cervices flectimus. Hic quasi clausus carcere mutato habitu, id est nudus ambulare disco; nam aeris intemperies praeter pudenda nihil aliud velari patiebatur. Traduntur mihi pascendae oves, et in malorum comparatione hoc fruor solacio, quod dominos meos et conservos rarius video.

At length, the great river having been crossed, we came to the inner solitude, where, bidden to adore the mistress and the children according to the custom of the tribe, we bend our necks. Here, as if enclosed in a prison, with habit changed, that is, I learn to walk naked; for the intemperance of the air allowed nothing else to be veiled except the pudenda. Sheep to be pastured are handed over to me, and in the comparison of evils I enjoy this solace: that I see my masters and fellow-slaves more rarely.

Videbar mihi aliquid habere sancti Iacob, recordabar Moysi, qui et ipsi in eremo pecorum quondam fuere pastores. Vescebar recenti caseo et lacte. Orabam iugiter canebamque psalmos, quos in monasterio didiceram.

I seemed to myself to have something of holy Jacob; I remembered Moses, who also once in the wilderness were shepherds of flocks. I fed on fresh cheese and milk. I prayed continually and sang psalms, which I had learned in the monastery.

Delectabat me captivitas mea agebamque dei iudicio grates, quod monachum, quem in patria fueram perditurus, in eremo inveneram.

My captivity delighted me, and I rendered thanks for God’s judgment, because the monk whom I had been about to lose in my fatherland I had found in the desert.

VI. Conservam in uxorem cogitur accipere.Virtus feminae captivae.

6. He is compelled to take a fellow-slave as a wife.The virtue of the captive woman.

O nihil umquam tutum apud diabolum! O multiplices et ineffabiles eius insidiae! Sic quoque me latentem invenit invidia.

O nothing ever is safe with the devil! O his manifold and ineffable snares! Thus also envy found me, as I lay concealed.

Dominus videns gregem suum crescere nihilque in me deprehendens fraudulentiae (sciebam enim apostolum praecepisse dominis sic quasi deo fideliter serviendum) et volens me remunerare, quo fidum sibi magis faceret, tradidit mihi illam conservam mecum aliquando captivam. Et cum ego refutarem diceremque me Christianum, nec mihi licere uxorem viventis accipere (siquidem captus nobiscum vir eius ab alio domino fuerat abductus), herus ille implacabilis in furorem versus evaginato me coepit appetere gladio. Et nisi festinus brachio tenere mulierem praeoccupassem, ilico fudisset sanguinem meum.

The master, seeing his flock grow and detecting in me nothing of fraud (for I knew that the apostle had instructed that masters be served faithfully, as unto God), and wishing to remunerate me, that he might make me more faithful to himself, handed over to me that fellow-slave who had once been captive with me. And when I refused and said that I was a Christian, and that it was not permitted me to take as wife the wife of one still living (since her husband, captured along with us, had been carried off by another master), that implacable master, turned to fury, with his sword unsheathed, began to assail me. And had I not quickly forestalled him by holding the woman by the arm, straightway he would have shed my blood.

Iam venerat tenebrosior solito et mihi nimium matura nox. Duco in speluncam semirutam novam coniugem, et pronubante nobis tristitia uterque detestamur alterum, nec fatemur. Tunc vere sensi captivitatem meam prostratusque humi monachum coepi plangere, quem perdebam, dicens: « Huccine miser servatus sum?

By now there had come a night more tenebrous than usual and, for me, all too premature. I lead the new spouse into a half-ruined cavern, and, with sadness acting as our bridesmaid, each of us detests the other, nor do we confess it. Then I truly felt my captivity, and, prostrate on the ground, I began to lament the monk whom I was losing, saying: « To this end have I, wretched, been preserved?

Ad hoc me mea scelera perduxerunt, ut incanescente iam capite virgo maritus fierem? Quid prodest parentes, patriam, rem familiarem contempsisse pro domino, si hoc facio, quod ne facerem, illa contempsi? - nisi quod forte propterea haec sustineo, quia patriam desideravi.

Have my crimes brought me to this, that, with my head already whitening, I, a virgin, should become a husband? What does it profit to have contemned parents, fatherland, and the family estate for the Lord, if I do this which, in order that I might not do it, I contemned those things? - unless perhaps for this very reason I am enduring these things, because I longed for my fatherland.

Quid agimus, anima? Perimus an vincimus? Exspectamus manum domini an proprio mucrone confodimur?

What do we do, soul? Do we perish or do we conquer? Do we expect the hand of the Lord, or are we run through by our own blade?

Verte in te gladium! Tua magis mors timenda quam corporis est. Habet et pudicitia servata martyrium suum.

Turn the sword upon yourself! Your death is more to be feared than that of the body. Pudicity preserved has its own martyrdom.

Iaceat insepultus Christi testis in eremo. Ipse mihi ero et persecutor et martyr! »

Let the witness of Christ lie unburied in the desert. I myself will be to myself both persecutor and martyr! »

Sic fatus eduxi in tenebris micantem gladium et acumine contra me verso « Vale », inquam, « infelix mulier; habeto me martyrem potius quam maritum. » Tunc illa provoluta pedibus meis « Precor », inquit, « te per Iesum, per huius horae necessitatem rogo, ne effundas sanguinem tuum in crimen meum. Vel si mori placet, in me prius verte mucronem.

Thus having spoken I drew in the darkness a gleaming sword, and, with the point turned against myself, « Farewell », I say, « unhappy woman; reckon me a martyr rather than a husband. » Then she, prostrate at my feet, « I beseech », she says, « you by Jesus, by the necessity of this hour I beg, do not shed your blood into my guilt. Or if it pleases you to die, turn the blade upon me first.

Sic nobis potius coniungamur. Etiam si vir meus ad me rediret, servarem castitatem, quam me captivitas docuit, vel interirem, antequam perderem. Cur moreris, ne mihi iungaris?

Thus let us rather be joined to one another. Even if my husband were to return to me, I would preserve the chastity which captivity taught me, or I would perish before I lost it. Why do you delay, that you may not be joined to me?

Ego morerer, si iungi velles. Habeto ergo me coniugem pudicitiae et magis animae copulam amato quam corporis. Sperent domini maritum; Christus noverit fratrem.

I would die, if you wished to be joined. Therefore have me as a spouse of chastity, and love the coupling of the soul rather than of the body. Let the masters hope for a husband; let Christ acknowledge a brother.

Facile persuadebimus nuptias, cum nos viderint sic amare. »

We shall easily win assent to the wedding, when they see us loving thus. »

Fateor: obstipui, et admiratus virtutem feminae coniuge plus amavi. Numquam tamen illius nudum corpus intuitus sum, numquam eius carnem attigi timens in pace perdere, quod in proelio servaveram. Transeunt in tali matrimonio dies plurimi.

I confess: I was astonished, and admiring the virtue of the woman, I loved her more as a spouse. Never, however, did I look upon her naked body, never did I touch her flesh, fearing to lose in peace what I had preserved in battle. In such a matrimony very many days pass.

Amabiliores nos dominis fecerant nuptiae. Nulla fugae suspicio; interdum et mense toto abibam fidus gregis pastor per solitudinem.

The nuptials had made us more amiable to our masters. No suspicion of escape; at times even for a whole month I would be gone, a faithful shepherd of the flock, through the solitude.

VII. Formicarum exemplo excitatur.

7. Roused by the example of ants.

Post grande intervallum, dum solus in eremo sedeo et praeter caelum terramque nihil video, coepi mecum tacitus volvere et inter multa monachorum quoque contubernii recordari maximeque vultus patris mei, qui me erudierat, tenuerat, perdiderat. Sicque cogitans aspicio formicarum gregem angusto calle fervere. Video onera maiora quam corpora.

After a long interval, while I sit alone in the desert and see nothing except the sky and the earth, I began silently to revolve things with myself and, among many, to recall also the contubernium of the monks, and most of all the face of my father, who had educated me, had kept me, had lost me. And so thinking, I behold a swarm of ants seething along a narrow path. I see burdens greater than their bodies.

Aliae herbarum quaedam semina forcipe oris trahebant; aliae egerebant humum de foveis et aquarum meatus aggeribus excludebant. Illae venturae hiemis memores, ne madefacta humus in herbam horrea verteret, illata semina praecidebant; hae luctu celebri corpora defuncta portabant. Quodque magis mirum est in tanto agmine: egredientes non obstabant intrantibus; quin potius, si quam sub fasce vidissent et onere concidisse, suppositis umeris adiuvabant.

Others were dragging certain seeds of herbs with the forceps of the mouth; others were carrying out earth from pits and were shutting out the courses of waters with embankments. Those, mindful of the coming winter, lest moistened earth turn the granaries into green, were cutting off the seeds that had been brought in; these were carrying the defunct bodies with celebrated mourning. And what is more wonderful in so great a host: those going out were not obstructing those going in; nay rather, if they had seen any one beneath a bundle and collapsing under the burden, with shoulders put under they were helping.

Quid multa? Pulchrum mihi spectaculum dies illa praebuit. Unde recordatus Salomonis ad formicarum sollertiam nos mittentis et pigras mentes sub tali exemplo suscitantis coepi taedere captivitatis et monasterii cellulas quaerere ac formicarum illarum similitudinem desiderare, ubi laboratur in medium et, cum nihil cuiusquam proprium sit, omnibus omnia sunt.

Why say more? That day offered me a beautiful spectacle. Whence, remembering Solomon sending us to the ants’ sagacity and rousing sluggish minds by such an example, I began to grow weary of captivity and to seek the cells of a monastery and to desire the similitude of those ants, where labor is for the common stock and, since nothing is anyone’s proper own, all things are everyone’s.

VIII. Fugit.

8. He flees.

Regresso ad cubile occurrit mulier. Tristitiam animi vultu dissimulare non potui. Rogat, cur exanimatus sim.

Returning to the bed, the woman meets me. I could not dissimulate the sadness of my spirit with my countenance. She asks why I am breathless.

Audit causas. Hortor ad fugam; non aspernatur. Peto silentium; fidem tribuit, et iugi susurro inter spem et metum medii fluctuamus.

She hears the causes. I urge to flight; she does not spurn it. I ask for silence; she grants faith, and with a continual whisper, we, in the middle, fluctuate between hope and fear.

Erant mihi in grege duo hirci mirae magnitudinis. Quibus occisis utres facio eorumque carnes viatico praeparo. Et primo vespere putantibus dominis nos secreto cubitare invadimus iter, utres et partem carnium portantes.

There were in my herd two he-goats of wondrous magnitude. Having slain them, I make skins from them and prepare their flesh for provisions for the journey. And at the first evening, while the masters supposed that we were lying down in secret to sleep, we set upon the road, carrying the skins and part of the meat.

Cumque pervenissemus ad fluvium (nam decem milibus aberat), inflatis ascensisque utribus aquis nos credimus paulatim pedibus subremigantes, ut deorsum nos flumine deferente et multo longius, quam conscenderamus, in alteram nos exponente ripam vestigium sequentes perderent. Sed inter haec madefactae carnes et ex parte lapsae vix tridui cibum pollicebantur. Bibimus usque ad satietatem futurae nos siti praeparantes.

And when we had reached the river (for it was ten miles away), with the skins inflated and mounted we entrust ourselves to the waters, little by little rowing with our feet, so that, the stream carrying us downstream and setting us on the opposite bank much farther than where we had embarked, those following our footprints would lose the trail. But meanwhile the meats, soaked and partly slipped away, promised scarcely food for three days. We drink to satiety, preparing ourselves for the thirst to come.

Currimus, post tergum semper aspicimus et magis noctibus promovemus quam diebus: vel propter insidias late vagantium Saracenorum vel propter ardorem solis nimium. Pavesco miser etiam referens, et si tota mente securus, toto tamen corpore perhorresco.

We run, we always look back over our shoulders, and we advance more by nights than by days: either because of the ambushes of Saracens roaming far and wide, or because of the excessive heat of the sun. I, wretched, grow faint even as I relate it, and though with my whole mind I am secure, yet with my whole body I shudder.

IX. Herus fugientem occupat.

9. The master seizes the fugitive.

Post diem tertium dubio aspectu procul respicimus duos camelis insidentes venire concite. Statimque mens mali praesaga putare dominum, meditari mortem, solem cernere nigrescentem. Dumque timemus et vestigiis per arenas nos proditos intellegimus, offertur ad dexteram specus longe sub terram penetrans.

After the third day, with doubtful aspect we look back from afar and see two men, seated on camels, coming swiftly. And at once the mind, presaging evil, supposed the master, meditated death, beheld the sun growing black. And while we fear and understand that by our footprints through the sands we are betrayed, there is offered to the right a cave penetrating far beneath the earth.

Igitur timentes venenata animalia (solent quippe viperae, reguli et scorpiones ceteraque huiuscemodi fervorem solis declinantia umbras petere) intramus quidem speluncam. Sed statim in ipso introitu sinistrae nos foveae credimus nequaquam ultra progredientes, ne, dum mortem fugimus, incurramus in mortem, illudque nobiscum reputantes: si iuvat dominus miseros, habemus salutem; si despicit peccatores, habemus sepulcrum.

Therefore, fearing venomous animals (for vipers, basilisks, and scorpions, and other things of this sort, are accustomed, shunning the fervor of the sun, to seek the shades), we do indeed enter the cave. But immediately at the very entrance we entrust ourselves to a left-hand pit, by no means advancing further, lest, while we flee death, we run into death—reckoning this with ourselves: if the Lord helps the wretched, we have salvation; if he looks down on sinners, we have a sepulcher.

Quid putas nobis fuisse animi, quid terroris, cum ante specum haud procul starent dominus et conservus et vestigio indice iam ad latebras pervenissent? O multo gravior exspectata quam illata mors! Rursus cum labore et timore lingua balbutit, et quasi clamante domino non audeo loqui.

What do you suppose we had of spirit, what of terror, when before the cave, not far off, the master and the fellow-slave were standing, and, the footprint as index, had already reached the hiding-places? O death much graver when expected than when inflicted! Again, with labor and fear the tongue stammers, and, as if with the master shouting, I do not dare to speak.

Mittit servum, ut nos de spelunca protrahat. Ipse camelos tenet et evaginato gladio nostrum exspectat adventum. Interea tribus ferme vel quattuor cubitis introgresso famulo, nobis ex occulto tergum eius videntibus (nam oculorum istiusmodi natura est, ut post solem umbras intrantibus caeca sint omnia) vox per antrum sonat: « Exite, furciferi, exite morituri!

He sends a slave to drag us out of the cave. He himself holds the camels and, with sword unsheathed, awaits our coming. Meanwhile, the servant having gone in about three or four cubits, we from concealment seeing his back (for such is the nature of eyes of this sort, that, after the sun, to those entering the shadows all things are blind) a voice resounds through the cavern: « Come out, gallows-birds, come out, you who are about to die!

Quid statis, quid moramini? Exite! Dominus vos vocat.

Why do you stand, why do you delay? Come out! The master calls you.

» Adhuc loquebatur - et ecce: per tenebras aspicimus leaenam invasisse hominem et gutture suffocato cruentum intro trahere. Iesu bone, quid tunc nobis terroris, quid gaudii fuit! Spectabamus hostem nostrum perire domino nesciente.

» He was still speaking - and behold: through the darkness we see that a lioness has attacked a man and, his throat choked, is dragging the bloodied one inside. Good Jesus, what terror for us then, what joy! We were watching our enemy perish, the master unaware.

Qui cum videret illum moras facere, suspicatus duos uni resistere, sed et iram differre non valens, sicut tenebat gladium, ad speluncam venit et clamore rabido servi increpans socordiam prius a fera tentus est, quam ad nostras latebras perveniret. Quis hoc umquam crederet, ut ante os nostrum pro nobis bestia dimicaret? Sublato autem illo metu similis ante oculos nostros versabatur interitus, nisi quod tutius erat leonis rabiem quam iram hominum sustinere.

When he saw that that man was making delays, suspecting that two were resisting one, but also not being able to defer his anger, just as he had his sword in hand he came to the cave and, with a rabid clamor rebuking the slave’s sloth, he was seized by the wild beast before he could reach our hiding-places. Who would ever have believed this, that before our face a beast would fight on our behalf? With that fear removed, however, a like destruction hovered before our eyes, except that it was safer to endure a lion’s rage than the anger of men.

Pavemus intrinsecus et ne movere quidem nos ausi praestolamur eventum rei inter tanta pericula, pudicitiae tantum conscientia pro muro saepti. Leaena insidias cavens et visam se esse sentiens apprehensum mordicus catulum matutina effert nobisque cedit hospitium. Neque tamen satis creduli statim erupimus, sed exspectamus diu et egredi cogitantes illius nobis semper figuramus occursum.

We tremble within, and not daring even to move we await the event of the affair amid such great dangers, hedged in with only the conscience of pudicity as a wall. The lioness, shunning ambushes and sensing that she had been seen, carries out at morning, gripping in her teeth, her seized whelp, and yields the lodging to us. Yet not sufficiently trusting, we did not at once break out, but we wait a long time; and, thinking of going forth, we keep always figuring to ourselves that man’s meeting us.

X. Periculo liberatus ad monachos redit.

10. Liberated from peril he returns to the monks.

Sublato ergo terrore et illa transacta die eximus ad vesperam. Invenimusque camelos, quos ob nimiam velocitatem dromedarios vocant, praeteritos cibos in ore volvere et in alvum missos iterum retrahere. Quibus ascensis et nova sitarchia refocilati decima tandem die ad Romana per desertum castra pervenimus, oblatique tribuno rei ordinem pandimus.

Therefore, with the terror removed and that day having been spent, we went out toward evening. And we found camels, which, on account of excessive speed, they call dromedaries, to roll previously taken foods in the mouth and to draw back again those things sent down into the belly. Having ascended these, and refreshed by a new sitarchy (provision), at last on the tenth day we arrived at the Roman camp through the desert, and, being presented to the tribune, we laid open the order of the matter.

Inde transmissi ad Sabinianum, Mesopotamiae ducem, camelorum accepimus pretium. Et quia iam abbas ille meus dormierat in domino, ad haec delatus loca me monachis reddo. Hanc trado virginibus, diligens eam ut sororem, non tamen me ei credens ut sorori.

Thence, sent over to Sabinianus, duke of Mesopotamia, we received the price of the camels. And because that abbot of mine had already slept in the Lord, having been borne to these places I render myself back to the monks. This woman I hand over to the virgins, cherishing her as a sister, yet not entrusting myself to her as to a sister.

Haec mihi senex Malchus adulescentulo rettulit. Haec ego vobis narravi senex. Castis historiam castitatis expono.

These things the old man Malchus related to me, an adolescent. These things I have narrated to you, an old man. To the chaste I set forth the history of chastity.

Virgines virginitatem custodire exhortor. Vos narrate posteris, ut sciant inter gladios, inter deserta et bestias pudicitiam numquam esse captivam et hominem Christo deditum posse mori, non posse superari.

I exhort virgins to guard virginity. You, tell it to posterity, so that they may know that among swords, among deserts and beasts, chastity is never a captive, and that a person devoted to Christ can die, cannot be overcome.

FINIS

THE END