Letter 7014: ---

From: Ennodius, deacon of Pavia To: Archotamia, a noblewoman of Gaul Date: ~503 AD Context: A letter to a widow whose son has entered the monastery of Lérins — praising her for the rarer and harder virtue of conquering the world from within it, rather than retreating to the cloister. --- So far have you advanced beyond the brilliance of your lineage in the radiance of your character, that even those whom kinship does not bind to you are won over by the goodness of your deeds. For who would not be prepared to render full reverence to a soul engaged in the exalted worship of God? Whoever fails to cherish those devoted to the Redeemer makes himself a stranger to the Redeemer's grace. It is a mark of exemplary conduct to love the devotees of our Christ; he who cherishes those already proven in virtue draws himself close to the most upright. One bears undoubted witness to one's own good merits by striving to honor the perfect with fitting and sustained praise. He draws near to the saints who proclaims their holiness in them without artifice. Whomever you single out as superior — moved by earnest discernment — it is a loss of honor if you fail to follow that example. Who, keeping honor intact while picking his way through thorns, would take the cleared road, and with the way of salvation in plain sight choose instead the tracks of the harmful? It is a declaration of blindness to reject the good that is placed before one's eyes as a model, and to refuse to grasp that from which one might profit by imitation. These things, my lady, fame has reported of you with unmistakable signs — not spread by the gossiping crowd through lips ignorant of judgment, whose custom it is, in all matters of human conduct, to fan sparks into pyres while extinguishing the full-grown flames of the faithful. Rather, this report has spread through the accounts of our mutual kinsmen, but above all through the telling of the lady and sister Euprepia: that you are worthy not only of praise, but that you have arranged to set a celebrated example, and to carry the torch of an upright life to your venerable son together with the radiance of his lineage. The inhabitant of Lérins [the celebrated monastery on a small island off the southern coast of Gaul, spiritual home to the most distinguished minds of the Gaulish church], as best I have been able to learn, has something he can be taught by a holy mother — even one who has not left the city behind. If Your Devotion will take my word for it, it is a greater thing to have conquered the world on the field of battle than to have fled from it. Flight from the contest betrays fear. There is no hope of virtue when the adversary is sidestepped before the engagement has even begun. The consciousness of genuine strength rarely finds its rest in hiding; to choose seclusion is, in itself, to have displayed timidity. I write this not to reproach my lord — the luminary of our household circle, the presbyter — whom I believe to be not without his own trials to overcome even in the retreat to which he has withdrawn from the fray. For he trampled every allurement of the world when the chains of his age, his wealth, and his birth could not hold him back from his departure. But to you — precisely because your sex is counted the weaker — the highest praise for winning virtue's palm is owed all the more. It is almost as though you have become the guardian of his vow as well: you who endure the hardships of widowhood and bereavement, and yet allow nothing of your venerable son's merits to be lost, making his example the very occasion of your own consolation. Behold what a woman can accomplish when she forgets fragility — standing in place of a fortress, she draws both a man and a young one safely back from hostile assault. May you endure as the glorious captain of this enterprise, and persevere in the world until that time when, if circumstances require it, the arena of this life may receive him — your son, ripened at last to full maturity. I confess I would wish, if the proper form of a letter permitted, to extend my words at length and to recount, with full abundance of speech, at least something of the ornaments of your deeds. But let those things be reserved for letters to others. It suffices for you to know this: that though you have never been seen by me, you are already known, and held fast — planted at the very root of my soul — among those worthy of veneration. It is written, and you will remember: *"Let your neighbors praise you."* [Proverbs 27:2] Truly, I would wish this alone to be sufficient cause for me to seek out Gaul: so that together with my lord the presbyter, both of us kissing your hands and your eyes, we might declare you blessed in whatever affliction time may bring. My lady — for the purpose to which letters are sent — I write to inform you that I am well in body, and to inquire after the state of your wellbeing, begging and adjuring you by God: never deny me the support of your prayers.

XIIII. ENNODIVS ARCHOTAMIAE. Ita supra claritatem generis morum luce profecistis, ut quos etiam uobis non nectit propinquitas acteum uestrorum bona subiciant. quia enim non perfectam reuerentiam sit paratus inpendere animae in dei cultura sublimi? quia peregrinum se facit a redemptoris gratia qui deo non non obsequentes. indicium enim est conuersationis praecipuae Christi nostri amare cultores: proximus est emendatissimis qui diligit iam probatos: testimonium dat bonorum sine dubitatione meritorum, si studeas laudibus prosequi sub debita continuatione perfectos: fit sanctis proximus qui in illis sine fuco praedicat sanctitatem: quemcumque diligentia hortante praetuleris, dispendium. pudoris est, ni sequaris. quis salua uerecundia per spinosa gradiens purgatum iter adtollat et uiam salutis aspiciens calles eligat noxiorum? professio caecitatis est bona ante oculos in exemplum locata respuere et unde imitatione proficias non tenere. haec, mi domina, de te non incertis fama nuntiauit indiciis, non loquax uulgus per ignara iudicii ora iactauit, cui mos est de humanis actibus, dum scintillas in rogos animat, amplificatas fidelium flammas extinguere. hoc nostrorum relatione propinquorum, praecipue tamen domina et sorore Euprepia 1 adaiduetatem B 2 exhibet et] ezhibitet Bb XIV. 4 arcotamiae BLVb, archotamie T 5 profecistis (tII. rec.) b, proflcistis B, proficitis LTV 6 nectet Bb acUum L 8 in p 8. I . 9 a* (d eras.) B redemptori B suspicet B, suscipit LT 10 connersionis T praecipue TV 11 proximns Bb, proximis LV diligat Tl, diliget B 12 das T 15 quaecumque Bb ortante BlLTV 16 ni] ne Bb, in L nerecondia T* pinosa B 17 callis B 18 cecitatis B 19 respnere] respicere Sirm . 20 mi] mea b 21 nlgns B ignorantia L 22 de om. L scentellas B rogoe b, rogns B, rogum LTV anplicatas B 24 praecipnae B domna Sirm . enpraepia B b, enflpia LT referente, percrebuit, non solum uos dignas esse praeconiis, sed instituisse celebrandum et uenerabili filio cum prosapiae radiis facem conuersationis ingerere. habet, quantum conperi, Lirinensis habitator quod de sancta matre discat, etiam quae urbana domicilia non reliquit. si mihi credit pietas tua, plus est in acie uicisse saeculum quam uitasse: resignat timorem fuga certaminis, nec spes est ulla uirtutis, quando ante congressionem declinatur aduersarius: conscientia roboris paucis adquiescit ad latebram: hoc est secretum eligere quod ostendisse formidinem. haec ego non dominum meum et familiae nostrae iubar presbyterum arguens scribo, cui nec ibi credo inpugnationes deesse, quas superet, in quo loci uisus est declinasse conflictum. tunc enim uniuersa saeculi blandimenta calcauit, quando aetatis opum natalium profectionem eius retinere catena non ualuit. sed uobis quantum sexus infirmior, tantum debetur potissima de palmae adeptione laudatio. prope est ut etiam illius tu sis tutela propositi, quae mala uiduitatis et orbitatis patiens de uenerabilis filii meritis solacii tui occasione pateris nil perire. ecce ubi femina fragilitatis oblita castelli uice et uirum et iuuenem ab hostili inpugnatione subducit. huius facti dux gloriosa perdures et usque ad illud in saeculo perseueres, quo illum, si ita res poposcerit, iam maturum mundi istius campus accipiat. uellem, confiteor, si epistolaris pateretur concinnatio, in longum uerba producere et de actuum uestrorum ornamentis pauca sub loquendi ubertate narrare. sed haec ad alios scribenda reseruentur. sufficit uos 2 uenerabilia LTV proiapie T 3 lyrinensia BLTb 4 scę mai L sed § in a corr . 5 orbana B reliquid B 6 aciae B seculum B 7 uirtuti fort. ah. T 8. I. m. 2 8 on pacis? 9 adquiescit Bl ut uidetur, adquiescet B (corr.) LTVb 10 e.go (r eras.) L domino meo b 11 presbiterum L Vt prnesbiterum B cui L s. l . ibe L1 12 inpugnationis B 16 debet L depotissima V 17 «illius (m ercu.) B uidnetatis B 18 fili B solatii LTV 22 perseueris B, peraeuee T1 matura VI, maturi Tl ut uidetwr 23 uellim B confior L i in ras. 24 pateritur B, paterentur T1 continuatio L de B s . I. 25 act.um L 26 seribenda B seruentur F\' scire, quia, quamuis a me numquam sis uisa, cognosceris et adorandis inserta monumentis radice animi iam teneris. scriptum est, meministi: laudent te proximi tui. uere sola mihi uellem causa existeret Gallias expetendi, ut cum domno meo presbytero, utrique osculantes manus et oculos tuos, beatam te in quauis adflictione temporis redderemus. domina mi, propter quod mittuntur epistolae, corpore me ualere significans prosperitatis uestrae statum requiro, deprecans et per deum coniurans, ne umquam mihi orationum uestrarum adiumenta denegetis.