Delphi Complete Works of Sidonius Apollinaris, page 105
Sidonius Domino Papae Censorio salutem
X.
To the Lord Bishop Censorius* A.D. 473
[1] Gerulum litterarum levitici ordinis honestat officium, hic cum familia sua depraedationis Gothicae turbinem vitans in territorium vestrum delatus est ipso, ut sic dixerim, pondere fugae; ubi in re ecclesiae, cui sanctitas tua praesidet, parvam sementem semiconfecto caespiti advena ieiunus iniecit, cuius ex solido colligendae fieri sibi copiam exorat.
THE bearer is one privileged to hold the rank of deacon. Flying with his family from the whirlwind of the Gothic devastations, he was carried, as it were by the sheer momentum of his flight, into your territory. Immigrant and destitute as he was, he hurriedly sowed a half-tilled plot on Church lands in your holiness’s diocese, and now begs permission to take the whole harvest for himself. The poor fellow is a stranger whose means are as narrow as his outlook; but if you treat him with the indulgence often granted to the humbler among the faithful, that is, if you remit him the glebe dues, he will think he has done as well as if he were yet at work upon his native soil.
[2] quem si domesticis fidei deputata humanitate foveatis, id est, ut debitum glaebae cano-nem non petatur, tantum lucelli praestitum sibi computat (peregrini hominis ut census, sic animus angustus), ac si in patrio solo rusticaretur. huic si legitimam, ut mos est, solutionem perexiguae segetis indulgeas, tamquam opipare viaticatus cum gratiarum actione remeabit. per quem si me stilo solitae dignationis impertias, mihi fraternitatique istic sitae pagina tua veluti polo lapsa reputabitur, memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.
[2] If only you show him the liberality usually accorded to the faithful, and abandon your strictly lawful claim on his most exiguous crop, he will be full of gratitude, and set off home royally furnished for the road. Should you take the opportunity of his return to send me one of your usual gracious letters, all the brethren, and I myself, will regard it almost as a letter fallen from heaven. Deign to hold me in remembrance, my Lord Bishop.
* Translated by Hodgkin, ii. 371.
Sidonius Domino Papae Eleutherio salutem
XI.
To the Lord Bishop Eleutherius c. A.D. 472
[1] Iudaeum praesens charta commendat, non quod mihi placeat error, per quem pereunt involuti, sed quia neminem ipsorum nos decet ex asse damnabilem pronuntiare, dum vivit; in spe enim adhuc absolutionis est cui suppetit posse converti.
[1] I HEREWITH commend a Jew to you, not because I approve a sect pernicious to those involved in its toils, but because we ought to regard none of that creed as wholly lost so long as life remains to them. For while there is any possibility of converting them, there is always a hope of their redemption.
[2] quae sit vero negotii sui series, ipse rectius praesentanea coram narratione patefaciet. nam prudentiae satis obviat epistulari formulae debitam concinnitatem plurifario sermone porrigere. sane quia secundum vel negotia vel iudicia terrena solent huiuscemodi homines honestas habere causas, tu quoque potes huius laboriosi, etsi impugnas perfidiam, propugnare personam, memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.
[2] The nature of his business will be best explained by himself when admitted to your presence; for it would be imprudent to allow discursive talk to exceed the brevity proper to a letter. In the transactions and the disputes of this present world, a Jew has often as good a cause as any one; however much you may attack his heresy, you can fairly defend him as a man. Deign to hold us in remembrance, my Lord Bishop.
Sidonius Domino Papae Patienti salutem
XII.
To the Lord Bishop Patiens* A.D. 474
[1] Aliquis aliquem, ego illum praecipue puto suo vivere bono, qui vivit alieno quique fidelium calamitates indigentiamque miseratus facit in terris opera caelorum. ‘quorsum istaec?’ 1 inquis, te ista 2 sententia quam maxume, papa beatissime, petit, cui non sufficit illis tantum necessitatibus opem ferre, quas noveris, quique usque in extimos terminos Galliarum caritatis indage porrecta prius soles indigentum respicere causas quam inspicere personas.
[1] ONE man deems happiness to consist in one thing, a second in another; my own belief is that he lives most to his own advantage who lives for others, and does heaven’s work on earth by pitying the poverty and misfortune of the faithful. You may wonder at what I aim in these remarks. At yourself, most blessed father, for my sentiments refer especially to you, who are not content to succour only the distress which lies within your cognizance, but push your inquiries to the very frontiers of Gaul, and without respect of persons, consider each case of want upon its merits.
[2] nullius obest tenuitati debilitatique, si te expetere non possit, nam praevenis manibus illum, qui non valuerit ad te pedibus pervenire, transit in alienas provincias vigilantia tua et in hoc curae tuae latitudo diffunditur, ut longe positorum consoletur angustias; et hinc fit, 3 ut, quia crebro te non minus absentum verecundia quam praesentum querimonia movet, saepe terseris eorum lacrimas, quorum oculos non vidisti.
[2] Does poverty or infirmity prevent a man from making his way to you in person? He loses nothing; your free hand anticipates the needs of those whose feet are unable to bring them to you. Your watchful eye ranges over other provinces than your own; the spreading tide of your benevolence bears consolation to the straitened, however far away. And so it happens that you often wipe tears from eyes which you have never seen, because the reserve of the absent touches you no less than the plaints of those near at hand.
[3] omitto illa, quae cotidie propter defectionem 4 civium pauperatorum inrequietis toleras excubiis precibus expensis. omitto te tali semper agere temperamento, sic semper humanum, sic abstemium iudicari, ut constet indesinenter regem praesentem prandia tua, reginam laudare ieiunia, omitto tanto te cultu ecclesiam tibi creditam convenustare, ut dubitet inspector, meliusne nova opera consurgant an vetusta reparentur,
[3] I say nothing of your daily labour to relieve the need of your impoverished fellow countrymen, of your unceasing vigils, your prayers, your charity. I pass over the tact with which you combine the hospitable and the ascetic virtues, so that the king is never tired of praising your breakfasts and the queen your fasts. I omit your embellishment of the church committed to your care until the spectator hardly knows which to admire most, the new fabric which you erect, or the old which you restore.
[4] omitto per te plurimis locis basilicarum fundamenta consurgere, ornamenta duplicari; cumque multa in statu fidei tuis dispositionibus augeantur, solum haereticorum numerum minui, teque quodam venatu apostolico feras Fotinianorum mentes spiritualium praedicationum cassibus implicare, atque a tuo barbaros iam sequaces, quotiens convincuntur verbo, non exire vestigio, donec eos a profundo gurgite erroris felicis-simus animarum piscator extraxeris.
[4] I do not mention the churches that rise in so many districts under your auspices, or the rich additions to their ornaments. I dismiss the fact that under your administration the faithful are increased and multiplied, while heretics alone diminish. I shall not tell how your apostolic chase for souls involves the wild Photinians in the spiritual mesh of homily; or how barbarians once converted by your eloquence pursue your track until, like a thrice-fortunate fisher of men, you draw them up at last out of the profound gulfs of error.
[5] et horum aliqua tamen cum reliquis forsitan communicanda collegis; illud autem deberi tibi quodam, ut iuris-consulti dicunt, praecipui titulo nec tuus poterit ire pudor infitias, quod post Gothicam depopulationem, post segetes incendio absumptas peculiari sumptu inopiae communi per desolatas Gallias gratuita frumenta misisti, cum tabescentibus fame populis nimium contulisses, si commercio fuisset species ista, non muneri. 1 vidimus angustas tuis frugibus vias; vidimus per Araris et Rhodani ripas non unum, quod unus impleveras, horreum.
[5] It may be true that some of these good deeds are not peculiar to you, and are shared by colleagues; but there is one which is yours, as lawyers say, as a first charge, and which even your modesty cannot deny; it is this, that when the Gothic ravages were over, and the crops were all destroyed by fire, you distributed corn to the destitute throughout all the ruined land of Gaul at your own expense, though it would have been relief enough to our starving peoples if the grain had come to them, not as a free gift, but by the usual paths of commerce. We saw the roads encumbered with your grain-carts. Along the Saône and Rhone we saw more than one granary which you had entirely filled.
[6] fabularum cedant figmenta gentilium et ille quasi in caelum relatus pro reperta spicarum novitate Triptolemus, quem Graecia sua, caementariis pictoribus significibusque 2 illustris, sacravit templis formavit statuis effigiavit imaginibus, illum dubia fama concinnat 3 per rudes adhuc et Dodonigenas populos duabus vagum navibus, quibus poetae deinceps formam draconum deputaverunt, ignotam circumtulisse sementem, tu, ut de mediterranea taceam largitate, victum civitatibus Tyrrheni maris erogaturus granariis tuis duo potius flumina quam duo navigia complesti.
[6] The legends of the heathen are eclipsed; Triptolemus must yield his pride of place, whom his fatherland of Greece deified for his discovery of corn; Greece, famed for her architects, her sculptors and her artists, who consecrated temples, and fashioned statues, and painted effigies in his honour. A doubtful story fables that this son of Ceres came wandering among peoples savage and acorn-fed, and that from two ships, to which poetry later assigned the form of dragons, he distributed the unknown seed. But you brought supplies from either Mediterranean shore, and, if need were, you would have sought them among the cities of the Tyrrhenian sea; your granaries filled not two paltry ships, but the basins of two great rivers.
[7] sed si forte Achaicis Eleusinae superstitionis exemplis tamquam non idoneis religiosus laudatus offenditur, seposita mystici intellectus reverentia venerabilis patriarchae Ioseph historialem diligentiam comparemus, qui contra sterilitatem septem uberes annos insecuturam facile providit remedium, quod praevidit. secundum tamen moralem sententiam nihil iudicio meo minor est qui in superveniente simili necessitate non divinat et subvenit.
[7] If you disapprove, as unsuited to your profession, a comparison drawn from the Achaean superstition of Eleusis, I will recall instead the historic prescience of the patriarch Joseph, who by his foresight provided a remedy for the famine which had to follow the seven lean years; I omit for the moment his mystic and typical significance. But I hold that man morally as great, who copes with a similar disaster without any warning in advance.
[8] quapropter, etsi ad integrum conicere non possum, quantas tibi gratias Arelatenses 1 Reienses, 2 Avenniocus Arausionensis quoque et Albensis, Valentinaeque nec non et Tricastinae urbis possessor exsolvat, quia difficile est eorum ex asse vota metiri, quibus noveris alimoniam sine asse col- latam, Arverni tamen oppidi ego nomine uberes perquam gratias ago, cui ut succurrere meditarere, non te communio provinciae, non proximitas civitatis, non opportunitas fluvii, non oblatio pretii adduxit.
[8] I cannot exactly tell the sum of gratitude which all the people owe you, inhabitants of Arles and Riez, Avignon, Orange, Viviers, Valence, and Trois Châteaux; it is beyond my power to count the total thanks of men who were fed without having to count out a penny. But for the city of Clermont I can speak, and in its name I give you endless thanks; all the more, that your help had no obvious inducement; we did not belong to your province; no convenient waterway led to us, we had no money to offer.
[9] itaque ingentes per me referunt grates quibus obtigit per panis tui abundantiam ad sui sufficientiam pervenire, igitur si mandati officii munia satis videor implesse, ex legato nuntius ero. ilicet scias volo: per omnem fertur Aquitaniam gloria tua; amaris laudans, desideraris excoleris, omnium pectoribus, omnium votis, inter haec temporum mala bonus sacerdos, bonus pater, bonus annus es quibus operae pretium fuit fieri famem suam periculo, si aliter esse non poterat tua largitas experimento, memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.
[9] Measureless gratitude I give you on their behalf; they owe it to the abundant largess of your grain that they have now their own sufficiency once more. If now I have properly fulfilled the duty entrusted to me, I will cease to be the mouthpiece of others, and speak out of my own knowledge. I would have you know that your glory travels over all Aquitaine; all pray for your welfare, their hearts go out to you in love and praise, in longing and loyal devotion. In these evil times you have proved yourself a good priest, a good father, and as good as a good year to men who would have deemed it worth while to risk starvation if there had been no other means of discovering the measure of your generosity. Deign to hold me in remembrance, my Lord Bishop.
* Partly translated by Fertig, Part ii, p. 24.
BOOK VII
Sidonius Domino Papae Mamerto salutem
I.
To the Lord Bishop Mamertus A.D. 474
[1] Rumor est Gothos in Romanum solum castra movisse: huic semper irruptioni nos miseri Arverni ianua sumus, namque odiis inimicorum hinc peculiaria fomenta subministramus, quia, quod necdum terminos suos ab Oceano in Rhodanum Ligeris alveo limitaverunt, solam sub ope Christi moram de nostra tantum obice patiuntur, circumiectarum vero spatia tractumque regionum iam pridem regni minacis importuna devoravit impressio.
[1] RUMOUR has it that the Goths have occupied Roman soil; our unhappy Auvergne is always their gateway on every such incursion. It is our fate to furnish fuel to the fire of a peculiar hatred, for, by Christ’s aid, we are the sole obstacle to the fulfilment of their ambition to extend their frontiers to the Rhone, and so hold all the country between that river, the Atlantic, and the Loire. Their menacing power has long pressed us hard; it has already swallowed up whole tracts of territory round us, and threatens to swallow more.
[2] sed animositati nostrae tam temerariae tamque periculosae non nos aut ambustam murorum faciem 1 aut putrem sudium cratem aut propugnacula vigilum trita pectoribus confidimus opitulatura; solo tantum 2 invectarum te auctore rogationum palpamur auxilio, quibus inchoandis instituendisque populus Arvernus, etsi non effectu pari, affectu certe non impari coepit initiari, et ob hoc circumfusis necdum dat terga terroribus.
[2] We mean to resist with spirit, though we know our peril and the risks which we incur. But our trust is not in our poor walls impaired by fire, or in our rotting palisades, or in our ramparts worn by the breasts of the sentries, as they lean on them in continual watch. Our only present help we find in those Rogations which you introduced; and this is the reason why the people of Clermont refuse to recede, though terrors surge about them on every side. By inauguration and institution of these prayers we are already new initiates; and if so far we have effected less than you have, our hearts are affected equally with yours.
[3] non enim latet nostram sciscitationem, quod 1 primis temporibus harumce supplicationum institutarum civitas caelitus tibi. credita per cuiusque modi 2 prodigiorum terriculamenta vacuabatur. name modo scaenae 3 moenium publicorum crebris terrae motibus concutiebantur; nunc ignes saepe 4 flammati caducas culminum cristas superiecto favillarum monte tumulabant; nunc stupenda foro cubilia collocabat audacium pavenda mansuetudo cervorum: cum tu inter ista discessu primorum populariumque statu urbis exinanito ad nova celer veterum Ninivitarum exempla decurristi, ne divinae admonitioni tua quoque desperatio conviciaretur.
[3] For it is not unknown to us by what portents and alarms the city entrusted to you by God was laid desolate at the time when first you ordained this form of prayer. Now it was earthquake, shattering the outer palace walls with frequent shocks; now fire, piling mounds of glowing ash upon proud houses fallen in ruin; now, amazing spectacle! wild deer grown ominously tame, making their lairs in the very forum. You saw the city being emptied of its inhabitants, rich and poor taking to flight. But you resorted in our latter day to the example shown of old in Nineveh, that you at least might not discredit the divine warning by the spectacle of your despair.
[4] et vere iam de deo tu minime poteras absque peccato post virtutum experimenta diffidere, nam cum vice quadam civitas conflagrare coepisset, fides tua in illo ardore plus caluit; et cum in conspectu pavidae plebis obiectu solo corporis tui ignis recussus in tergum fugitivos flexibus sinuaretur, miraculo terribili novo invisitato 5 affuit flammae cedere per reverentiam, cui sentire defuit per naturam.
[4] And, indeed, you of all men had been least justified in distrusting the providence of God, after the proof of it vouchsafed to your own virtues. Once, in a sudden conflagration, your faith burned stronger than the flames. In full sight of the trembling crowd, you stood forth all alone to stay them, and lo! the fire leapt back before you, a sinuous beaten fugitive. It was miracle, a formidable thing, unseen before and unexampled; the element which naturally shrinks from nothing, retired in awe at your approach.
[5] igitur primum nostri ordinis viris et his paucis iudicis ieiunia interdicis flagitia, supplicia praedicis remedia promittis; exponis omnibus nec poenam longinquam esse nec veniam; doces denuntiatae solitudinis minas orationum frequentia esse amoliendas; mones assiduitatem furentis incendii aqua potius oculorum quam fluminum posse restingui; mones minacem terrae motuum conflictationem fidei stabilitate firmandam.
[5] You therefore first enjoined a fast upon a few members of our sacred order, denouncing gross offences, announcing punishment, promising relief. You made it clear that if the penalty of sin was nigh, so also was the pardon; you proclaimed that by frequent prayer the menace of coming desolation might be removed. You taught that it was by water of tears rather than water of rivers that the obstinate and raging fire could best be extinguished, and by firm faith the threatening shock of earthquake stayed.
[6] cuius confestim sequax humilis turba consilii maioribus quoque suis fuit incitamento, quos cum non piguisset fugere, redire non puduit, qua devotione placatus inspector pectorum deus fecit esse obsecrationem vestram vobis saluti, ceteris imitationi, utrisque praesidio, denique illic deinceps non fuere vel damna calamitati vel ostenta formidini. quae omnia sciens populus iste Viennensibus tuis et accidisse prius et non accessisse posterius vestigia tam sacro-sanctae informationis amplectitur, sedulo petens, ut conscientiae tuae beatitudo mittat orationum suarum suffragia quibus exempla transmisit.
