Gregorius I Magnus, Dialogorum Libri IV De Vita Et Miraculis Patrum Italicorum

Eo autem tempore quo malefici in hoc sunt Ro- mana urbe deprehensi, r Bisilius, qni in magicis operibus prilnus fuit, in monachico habitu Valeriani fugiens petiit. Qui ad virum reveremissimum Castorium d Amiterninæ civitatis episcopum pergens, petiit ab eo ut eum Equitio abbaii committeret, ae sanandum monasterio illius commendaret. Tunc ad monasterium venit episcopus, secumque Basilium monachum deduxit, et Equitium Dei famulum rogavit, ut eumdem monacbum in congregationem susciperet. Quem statim vir sanctus intuens, ait: Hunc quem mihi coinmendas, Pater, ego non video monachum esse, sed diabolum. Cui ille 185 respondit: Occasionem quaeris ne debeas prestare quod peto. Ad quem mox Dei famulus dixit : Ego quidem boc eum esse denunlio, quod video; ne tamen nolle me obedire existimes, facio quod jubes. Susceptus itaque in monasterio est. Non post mulios dies idem Dei famulus pro exhortandis ad desideria superna fidelibus, paulo longius a cella digressus est. c Quo discedente contigit ut in monasterio virginum, in quo ejusdem Patris cura vigilabat, una earum quae juxta carnis hujus putredinem speciosa videbatur, febricitare inciperet, et vehementer anxiari, magnisque jam non vocibus, sed stridoribus clamare : Modo moritura sum, nisi Basilius monachus veniat, et ipse mihi ptr suae curationis studium salutem reddat. Sed in tanti Patris absentia accedere quisquam -monachorum in congregationem virginum non audebat; quanto minus ille qui novus advenerat, cujusque adhuc vitam congregatio fratrum ne. sciebat. Missum repente est, et Dei famulo Equitio nuntiatum, quod sanctimonialis illa inmensis febribus aestuaret, et Basilii monachi visitationem anxie quæreret. Quo audito vir fanctus, dedignantlo suhri. sit, atque ait: Nunquid non dixi quod diabolus essel iste, non monachus? Ite et eum de cella expellite. De ancilla autem Dei, quae anxietate febrium urge. tur, nolite esse solliciti, quia ex hac h >ra neque febribus laboratura est, neque Basilium q iaesitura. Regressus cst autem monachus, et ea hora saluti restitutam Dei virginem agnovit, qua d eamdem sa. lutem illius Dei famulus Equitius longe positus dixit ; in virtute scilicet miraculi exemptu n tenens Magistri, qui invitatus ad filium reguli (Joan. IV, 46), eum solo verbo restituit saluti, ut revertens pater ea hora filium restitutum vitae cognosceret, qua vitam illius ex ore Veritatis audisset. Omnes autem monachi jussionem Patris sui implentes, eum. dein Basilium ex monasterii habitatione repulerunt. Qui repulsus dixit, frequenter se cellulam Equitii magicis artibus in aera suspendisse, nec tamen ejus quempiam Ixdere potuisse. Qui non post lougum tempus, in bac Romana urbe, exardescente zelo Christiani populi, igne crematus est.

At the time when the sorcerers were caught in this city of Rome, Basilius, who was foremost in magical works, fled in a monk's habit and made for Valeria. He went to the most reverend man Castorius, bishop of the city of Amiternum, and asked him to entrust him to the abbot Equitius and commend him to his monastery to be healed. Then the bishop came to the monastery, bringing the monk Basilius with him, and asked Equitius, the servant of God, to receive this same monk into the community. The holy man, looking at him at once, said: “This man whom you commend to me, Father, I see to be not a monk but a devil.” He answered him: “You are looking for an excuse not to grant what I ask.” To him the servant of God at once said: “I indeed declare him to be what I see; yet so that you may not think I am unwilling to obey, I do what you order.” So he was received into the monastery. Not many days later the same servant of God went some way from his cell to exhort the faithful to heavenly desires. After he had gone, it happened that in the monastery of virgins over which the same Father's care kept watch, one of them, who seemed beautiful as far as the rottenness of this flesh goes, began to be feverish and to be violently distressed, and to cry out, now not with words but with shrieks: “I am going to die now, unless the monk Basilius comes and himself restores me to health by the effort of his treatment.” But in the absence of so great a Father none of the monks dared to approach the community of the virgins; how much less he who had newly arrived, and whose life the community of brothers did not yet know. A message was sent at once, and it was reported to Equitius, the servant of God, that that nun was burning with immense fevers and was anxiously asking for a visit from the monk Basilius. On hearing this, the holy man smiled disdainfully and said: “Did I not say that he was a devil, not a monk? Go and drive him out of the cell. But as for the handmaid of God who is pressed by the distress of fevers, do not be anxious, for from this hour she will neither suffer from fevers nor ask for Basilius.” The monk returned, and found that the virgin of God had been restored to health at the very hour at which Equitius, the servant of God, far away, had spoken of that same health of hers; in the power of the miracle, that is, he held to the example of the Master, who, when asked to come to the official's son (John 4:46), restored him to health by a word alone, so that the father on his return learned that his son had been restored to life at the hour at which he had heard of his life from the mouth of Truth. And all the monks, carrying out their Father's order, drove that same Basilius out of residence in the monastery. When driven out, he said that he had often hung Equitius's cell in the air by magic arts, and yet had been unable to harm any of his people. Not long afterwards, in this city of Rome, when the zeal of the Christian people blazed up, he was burned with fire.

Quadam vero die una Dei famula ex eodem monasterio virginum hortum iugressa est: quae lactucam conspiciens corctipivit, eamque signo crucis bonedicere oblita, avide momordit; sed arrepta a diabolo protinus cecidit. Cumque vexaretur, eidem Patri Equilio sub celeritate nuntiatum est, ut veniret concitus, et a orando succurreret. Moxque b hortum idem Pater ut ingressus est, caepit ex ejus ore quasi satisfaciens ipse qui bane arripuerat diabolus clamare, dicens : Ego quid feci? ego quid feci? « Sedebam mibi super lactucam; venit illa, et momordit me. Cui cum gravi indignatione vir Dei præcepit ut discederet, et locum in omnipotentis Dei famula non haherct. Qui protinus abscessit, nec eam ultra contingere prævaluit.

One day a handmaid of God from the same monastery of virgins went into the garden; seeing a lettuce, she craved it, and forgetting to bless it with the sign of the cross, she bit into it greedily; but she was seized by the devil and at once fell down. And as she was being tormented, word was quickly sent to the same Father Equitius that he should come in haste and help by praying. And as soon as the same Father entered the garden, the very devil who had seized her began to cry out from her mouth, as though excusing himself: “What did I do? What did I do? I was sitting on the lettuce; she came and bit me.” The man of God, in grave indignation, ordered him to depart and to have no place in the handmaid of almighty God. He departed at once and was not able to touch her again.

Matrona quandam nobilis in vicinis partibus Tusciæ nurum habebat, quae intra breve tempus quo filium ejns acceperat, cum eadem socru sua ad dedicationem oratorii beati Sebastiani martyris fucraL irniLata. Nocte vero eadem qua subsequente die ad dedicationem prædicti oratorii fuerat m processura, voluptate carnis devicta, a viro suo sese abstinere non potuit; cumque mane facto conscientiam deterreret perye- trata n carnis delectatio, processionem vero impera- ret verecundia, plus erubescens vultum hominum, quam Dei judicium metuens, cunt socru sua a ad dedicationem oratorii processit. Mox vero ut reliquiæ beati Sebastiani martyris oratorium ingressae sunt, eamdem praedictae matronae nurum malignus spiritus arripuit, et coram omni populo vexare coepit. Ejusdem vero oratorii presbyter dum eam vehementissi- me vexari conspiceret, ex altari protinus sindonem tulit, eamque operuit; sed hunc simul repente diabolus invasit. Et quia ultra vires voluit quidquam præsumerc, compulsus est coguoscere in sua vexatione quid esset. IIi vero qui aderant, puellam in manibus ex oratorio sublatam ad domum propriam deportaverunt. Cumque hanc antiquus hostis vexatione continua vehementer attercret, propinqui sui eam carnaliter amantes, et amando persequentes, ad obtinendum salutis remedium maleficis tradiderunt; ut ejus animam funditus exstinguerent, cujus carni magicis artibus ad tempus prodesse conarentur. Ducta est itaque ad fluvium, atque in aquam mersa; ibique diutius ineantationibus agere malefici Dlolie- bantur, ut is qui eam invaserat diabolus exiret. Sed miro omnipotentis Dei judicio, dum arte perversa unus ab ea repellilur, in eam subito legio intravit. Caepit et hoc illa tot motibus agitari, tot vocibus cla- moribusque perstrepere, quot spiritibus tenebatur. Tunc initu consilio parentes ejus suæ perfidiæ culpam fatentes, bane ad venerabilem virum Fortunatum episcopum duxerunt, eique reliquerunt. Qua ille suscepta, multis se diebus ac noctibus in orationem dedit; tantoque annisu precibus incubuit, quanto et in uno corpore contra se assistere legionis aciem invenit. b Cum non post multos dies ita sanam atque incolumem reddidit, ac si in ea jus proprium dia- holus nunqnam habuisset.

A certain noble matron in the neighbouring parts of Tuscia had a daughter-in-law who, within a short time of marrying her son, had been invited together with this mother-in-law of hers to the dedication of an oratory of the blessed martyr Sebastian. But on the night before the day on which she was to go in procession to the dedication of the aforesaid oratory, overcome by the pleasure of the flesh, she could not keep herself from her husband. And when morning came, the carnal delight she had committed terrified her conscience, but shame commanded her to join the procession; and blushing more at the faces of men than fearing the judgement of God, she went with her mother-in-law to the dedication of the oratory. But as soon as the relics of the blessed martyr Sebastian entered the oratory, an evil spirit seized this daughter-in-law of the aforesaid matron and began to torment her in front of all the people. When the priest of that oratory saw her being tormented most violently, he at once took a linen cloth from the altar and covered her with it; but the devil suddenly invaded him as well. And because he had wished to presume something beyond his strength, he was compelled to learn in his own torment what he was. Those who were present lifted the girl in their arms out of the oratory and carried her to her own home. And when the ancient enemy was wearing her down violently with continual torment, her relatives, loving her in a carnal way, and in their loving persecuting her, handed her over to sorcerers to obtain a remedy for her health, so that they would utterly extinguish the soul of the one whose flesh they were trying to benefit for a time by magic arts. So she was led to a river and plunged into the water; and there the sorcerers laboured for a long time to work with incantations, so that the devil who had invaded her would go out. But by a wonderful judgement of almighty God, while one was being driven out of her by a perverse art, suddenly a legion entered into her. And from this she began to be thrown about with as many movements, and to resound with as many voices and shouts, as the spirits by which she was held. Then, having taken counsel, her parents, confessing the guilt of their faithlessness, brought her to the venerable man Fortunatus the bishop and left her with him. Having received her, he gave himself to prayer for many days and nights; and he applied himself to his prayers with as much effort as the battle-line of a legion that he found standing against him in one body. And not many days later he restored her so healthy and unharmed, as if the devil had never had any right of his own in her.

Sed ecce dum tacta fortium virorum narro, repente ad memoriam venit quid erga Andream Fun- danae civitatis episcopum divina misericordia fecerit. Quod tamen ad hoc legentibus ut valeat exopto, quatenus qui corpus suum contiuentiæ dedicant, habitare cum feminis non praesumant; ne ruina menti tanto repentina subripiat, quanto ad hoc quod male concupiscitur etiam præsentia concupitae formae Ca- Inulalur. Hec res est dulia quam narro, quia pene b tanti in ea testes sum, quanti et ejusdem loci habi- tatores existunt. Hic namque venerabilis vir cum vitam multis plenam virtutibus duceret, seque sub sacerdotali custodia in contintiæ arce cu-todiret quamdam sanctimonialem feminam, quam secum prius babuerai, c noluit ab episcopii sui cura repet- tere, sed certus de sua ejusque continentia , secuM bane permisit habitare. Ex qua re actum est ut antiquus hostis apud ejus animum aditum d tentationis exquireret. Nam cœpit speciem iUlius oculis mentis ejus imprimere, ut illectus nefanda cosharei. Quadam vero die Judaeus quidam ex Campaniae partibus Romam veniens, e Appiae carpebat iter : qui ad Fun- danum clivum perveniens, cum jam diem vespera- acere cerneret, et quo declinare posset minime reo- periret, juita Apollinis temptum fuit , ihique se ad manendum contulit. Qui ipsam, loci illius sacrilegium pertimescens, quamvis fidem crucis minime haberet, signo tamen se crucis munire curavit. NocLc autem media, ipso solitudinis pavore turbatus, pervigil jaCebat, et repente conspicicns vidit malignorum spirituum turbam quasi in obsequium cujusdam pole- statis præire, eum vero qui cæteris præerat, in ejusdem gremio loci consedisse : qui capit singulorum 6pirituum obsequentium sibi causas actasque discu- terr, quatenus unusquisque quantum nequitiae egisset inveniret. Cumque singuli spiritus ad inquisitionem ejus exponerent quid operati contra bonos fuissent , unus in medium prosiliit, qui in Andreae episcopi animum per speciem sanctimonialis feminae, quæ in episcopio ejus habiLabaL, quantam tentationem carnis commovisset aperuit. Cum vero hoc malignus qui praeerat spiritus inhianter audiret, et tanto sibi faCium lucrum grande crederet, quanto sanctioris viri animum ad lapsum perditionis inclinaret, ille spiritus, 292 qui haec eadem fatebatur, adjunxit quia usque ad hoc quoque, die praeterito, vespertiua hora, ejus mentem traxerit, ut in terga ejusdem sauctimo- maiis feminæ blandiens alapam daret. Tunc malignus spiritus atque humani genens antiquus inimicus ex- hortatus hunc blande est, ut perficeret quod cœpisset ; quatenus ruinæ illius singularem inter caeteros pat- luam teneret. Cumque Judaeus qui advenerat hoc vigilans cerneret, et magnæ formidinis anxietate palpitaret, ab eodem spiritu qui cunctis illic obse- quenubus præerat jussum est ut requirerent quisnam esset ille qui jacere in templo eodem præsumpsisset. Quem maligni spiritus pergentes, et subtilius intuentes, crucis mysterio signatum viderunt, mirantesque dixerunt: Vae , vae, vas vacuum et signatum. Quibus boc renuntiantibus, cuncta illa malignorum spirituum turba disparuit. Judaeus vero qui haec viderat, ill co surrelil, atque all episcopum sub festinatione pervenit. Quem in Ecclesia sua reperiens, seorsum tulit, quatentatione urgeretur inquisivit. Cui confiteri epiCOpus tentationem suam verccundatus notuit. Cum vero ille diceret quod in illa tali Dei famula pravi amoris oculos injecisset, atque adbuc episeopus negaret, adjunliL, dicens : Quare negas quod in- quireris, qui ad buc usque vespere hesterno perductus es, ut posteriora illius alapa ferires 7 Ad quae mmirum verba deprehensum se episcopus intuens, humiliter confessus est quod prius pertinaciter negavit, Cujus ruinae et verecundiæ idem Judæus consulens, qualiter hoc cognovisset. vel quae in cou- ventu malignorum spirituum de eo audivisset, indicavit. Quod ille agnoscens, se ad terram protinus in orationem dedit. Moxque de suo habitaculo nun solum eamdem Dei fanlulam, sed omnem quoque feminam, quae in ejus illic obsequio babilabat, ex- pulit in eodem vero tempto Apollinis, beati Andreæ apostoli repente oratorium fecit, atque omni illa tentatione carnis funditus caruit. Judæum vero, co. jus visione atque increpatione salvatus est, ad æter. nam salutem traxit. Nam sacramentis fidei ilnbulufu, atque aqua baptismatis emundatum, ad sanctae Ecclesiæ gremium perduxit. Sicque tactum est ut Ile- bræus idem, dum saluti alienæ consuluit, perveniret ad suam, et omnipotens Deus inde alteruln ad lJo- nam vitam perduceret, unde in bona vita alterum custodisset.

But see, while I am telling of the deeds of brave men, there suddenly comes to my memory what divine mercy did concerning Andrew, bishop of the city of Fondi. I wish it to be of use to readers for this purpose: that those who dedicate their body to continence should not presume to live with women, lest ruin steal upon the mind all the more suddenly, the more even the presence of the desired form serves what is wickedly desired. This thing that I tell is [not] doubtful, since there are almost as many witnesses to it as there are inhabitants of that place. For this venerable man, while he led a life full of many virtues, and guarded himself under his priestly watch in the citadel of continence, would not drive away from the care of his bishop's house a certain nun whom he had had with him before, but, sure of his own continence and hers, allowed her to live with him. From this it came about that the ancient enemy sought an entrance for temptation into his mind. For he began to imprint her appearance on the eyes of his mind, so that, enticed, he would think unspeakable things. Now one day a certain Jew, coming from the parts of Campania to Rome, was taking the Appian Way. Arriving at the slope of Fondi, when he saw that the day was already turning to evening and could find nowhere at all to turn aside to, he was near a temple of Apollo, and there he betook himself to stay. Dreading the sacrilege of that place, although he had no faith at all in the cross, he nevertheless took care to protect himself with the sign of the cross. But in the middle of the night, troubled by the very dread of the solitude, he lay wide awake; and suddenly, looking, he saw a crowd of evil spirits going ahead as if in attendance on some power, and the one who was over the rest sat down in the heart of that same place. He began to examine the cases and acts of each of the spirits who served him, so as to find how much wickedness each one had done. And when the spirits one by one set out at his inquiry what they had worked against the good, one leapt forward into the middle and revealed how great a temptation of the flesh he had stirred up in the mind of Bishop Andrew through the appearance of the nun who lived in his bishop's house. And while the evil spirit who presided was listening to this eagerly, and believing that the gain made for him was the greater, the holier the man whose mind he was inclining towards the fall of perdition, that spirit who was confessing these things added that he had drawn his mind even this far: the day before, at the evening hour, he had, caressing her, given that same nun a slap on the back. Then the evil spirit, the ancient enemy of the human race, coaxingly urged him to complete what he had begun, so that he would hold a singular palm among the others for that man's ruin. And when the Jew who had come there saw this, awake, and was trembling in the anxiety of great dread, the spirit who presided over all who attended him there gave orders that they should find out who it was that had presumed to lie in that same temple. The evil spirits went and looked at him more closely, and saw him signed with the mystery of the cross; and wondering they said: 'Woe, woe, an empty vessel, and sealed.' When they reported this, that whole crowd of evil spirits vanished. The Jew who had seen these things got up at once and came in haste to the bishop. Finding him in his church, he took him aside and asked by what temptation he was being pressed. The bishop, ashamed, was unwilling to confess his temptation to him. But when he said that he had cast the eyes of depraved love on such and such a handmaid of God, and the bishop still denied it, he added, saying: 'Why do you deny what you are asked about, you who were led so far, as late as yesterday evening, as to strike her behind with a slap?' At these words the bishop, seeing himself caught, humbly confessed what he had before stubbornly denied. The same Jew, having regard for his fall and his shame, told him how he had learned this, and what he had heard about him in the gathering of evil spirits. Recognising this, he at once threw himself on the ground in prayer. And soon he expelled from his dwelling not only that same handmaid of God but also every woman who lived there in his service. In that same temple of Apollo he promptly made an oratory of the blessed apostle Andrew, and was wholly free of all that temptation of the flesh. And the Jew, by whose vision and rebuke he had been saved, he drew to eternal salvation. For he instructed him in the sacraments of the faith, cleansed him with the water of baptism, and brought him into the bosom of holy Church. And so it came about that this same Hebrew, while he took thought for another's salvation, came to his own, and that almighty God led the one to the good life by the same means by which he had kept the other in the good life.

Ante triennium quoque in hac pestilentia quae hanc urbem clade vehementissima depopulavit, in qua euam corporali visu sagituc coelitus venire, et singulos quosque ferire videbantur, sicut nosti, Stephanus idem defunctus est. Quidam vero miles in hac eadern urbe nosira percussus, ad extrema pervenit. Qui eductus in corpore k exanimis jacuit, sed citius rediit, ei quæ cum eo fuerant gesta narravit. Aiebat enim, sicut tunc res eadem etiam multis innotuit, quia pons erat, sub quo niger atque caliginosus fœtoris intolerahilis nebulam exhalans fluvius decurrebat, Transacto autem ponte, amoena erant prata atque virentia, odorifcris433 herbarum floribus exornata, in quibusalbatorum hominum conventicula esse videbantur. Tantusque in eodem loco odor suavitatis inerat, ut ipsa suavitatis fragrantia illic deambulantes habitantesque satiaret. Ibi mansinnes diversorum singulae, magnitudine lucis plenae. ibi quædam miræ potentie ædificabatur domus, quae aureis videbatur laterculis construi, sed cujusesset, non ponit agnosci. Erant v< ro super ripam praedicti flumiais nonnulla habita- cula, sed alia exurgentis foetoris nebula tangebantur, alia a'aem exurgens foetor e flumine minime tangebal. Haec vero erat in praedicto ponte probatio ut quisquis per eum vellet injustorum transire, in tenebrosum fœtentemque fluvium laberetur : justi vero quibus culpa non obsisteret, securo per eum gressu ac libero ad loca amoena pervenirent. Ibi se etiam Petrum ecclesiasticæ familiæ majorem qui ante quadriennium est defunctus, deorsum positum, in locis teterrimis magno ferri pondere religatum ac depressum vidisse confessus est. Qui dum requireret cur ita esset, ea se dixit audisse, quae nos qni eum in hac ecclesiastica domo novimus, scientes ejus acta recol mus. Dictum namque est: Hæc idcirco patitur, quia si quid ei pro facienda ultione jubebatur, ad inferendas plagas plus ex crudelitatis desiderio, quam ex obedientia serviebat. Quod sic fuisse, nullus qui illum novit, ignorat. Ibi se etiam quemdam peregrinum presbyterum vidisse fatebatur, qui ad prædictum pontem veniens, tanta per eum auctoritate transiit, quanta et hic sinceritate vixit. Iti eodem quoque ponte hunc quem prædiximus S:ephanum se recognovisse testatus est. Qui dum transire voluissei, ejus pes lapsus est, et ex medio corpore jam extra pontem dejectus, a quibusdam teterrimis viris ex flumine surgentibus, per coxas deorsum, atque a quibusdam albatis et speciosissimis viris coepit per brachia sursum trahi. Cumque hoc luctamen esset, ut hunc boni spiritus sursum, mali deorsum trahe. rent, ipse qui haec videbat, ad corp'os reversus est, et quid de eo plenius gestum sit, minime cognovit. Qua in re de ejusdem Stephani vita datur intelligi. quia in eo mala carnis cum eleemosynarum operatione certabant. Qui enim per coxas deorsum, per brachia trahebatur sursum, patet nimirum , qnia et eleemosvnas amaverat, et carnis vitiis perfecte non restiterat, quae eum deorsum trahebant. Sed in illo occulti arbitri examine quid in eo vicerit, et nos, et euM qui vidit et revocatus est, latet. Constat tamen, quia idem Stephanus postquam, sicut superius narravi, et inferni loca vidit, et ad corpus rediit, perfecte vitam minime correxit, qui post multos annos de corpore adhuc ad certamen vitæ et mortis exiit. Qua de re colligitur, quia ipsa quoque inferni supp1icia cum demonstrantur, aliis hoc ad adjutorium , afi s vero ad testimonium fiat : ut isti videant inala quæ caveant, illi vero eo amplius puniantur, quod inferni " supplicia nec visa , et cognita viiare noluerunt.

Three years ago also, in this plague which laid waste this city with most violent slaughter, in which arrows were seen even with bodily sight coming from heaven and striking one person after another, as you know, this same Stephen died. And a certain soldier, struck down in this same city of ours, came to the last extremity. Led out of the body, he lay lifeless, but soon returned, and told what had happened to him. For he said, as at the time the matter also became known to many, that there was a bridge, under which ran down a black and murky river, breathing out a mist of unbearable stench. But once the bridge was crossed, there were pleasant green meadows, adorned with sweet-smelling flowers of plants, in which there seemed to be gatherings of men in white. And so great a sweetness of odour was in that place that the very fragrance of its sweetness satisfied those walking and dwelling there. There were dwellings of various people, each one full of a great abundance of light. There a certain house of wonderful power was being built, which seemed to be constructed of golden bricks, but whose it was could not be learned. And on the bank of the aforesaid river there were some dwellings, but some were touched by the mist of the rising stench, while others the stench rising from the river did not touch at all. And this was the test on the aforesaid bridge: whoever of the unjust wished to cross by it slipped into the dark and stinking river, but the just, whom no guilt obstructed, came over it with a secure and free step to the pleasant places. There, he also confessed, he had seen Peter, the senior of the church's household, who died four years ago, placed down below in most foul places, bound and weighed down with a great weight of iron. When he asked why it was so, he said he had heard what we who knew him in this church house recall, knowing his deeds. For it was said: 'He suffers these things for this reason: if he was ordered to do anything in carrying out punishment, he served in inflicting blows more from a desire for cruelty than from obedience.' That it was so, no one who knew him is unaware. There he also declared that he had seen a certain foreign priest, who, coming to the aforesaid bridge, crossed over it with as much authority as he had lived here with sincerity. On that same bridge, he testified, he had recognised this Stephen of whom we spoke before. When he wished to cross, his foot slipped, and, already thrown off the bridge from the middle of his body, he began to be dragged downward by the thighs by certain most foul men rising out of the river, and upward by the arms by certain men in white, most beautiful. And while this struggle went on, the good spirits drawing him upward and the evil ones downward, the man who was seeing these things returned to his body, and did not learn at all what more was done about him. In this matter we are given to understand about the life of this same Stephen that in him the evils of the flesh contended with the work of almsgiving. For in that he was dragged downward by the thighs and upward by the arms, it is plainly evident that he had both loved almsgiving and not perfectly resisted the vices of the flesh, which drew him downward. But what won in him in that examination by the hidden judge is hidden both from us and from the man who saw it and was called back. It is established, however, that this same Stephen, after he had both seen the places of hell, as I related above, and returned to the body, did not perfectly amend his life, he who after many years went out of the body still to the contest of life and death. From this it is gathered that even the punishments of hell themselves, when they are shown, serve for some as a help, but for others as a testimony: so that the former may see the evils they should beware of, and the latter may be punished all the more, because they would not avoid the punishments of hell even when seen and known.

GREGORIUS. Sciendum quoque est quia nonnunquam animae adhuc in suis corporibus positæ pœnale aliquid de spiritalibus vident, quod tamen qui. busdam ad ædificationcm suam, quibusdam vero contingere ad aedificationem audientium solet. Nam is de quo d in Homiliis (Homit. 10 et 38) coram populo me narrasse jam memini, inquietus valde. Theodorus nomine, puer fuit, qui in monasterium meum, fratrem suum necessitate magis quam voluntatc secutus est. * Cui nimirum grave erat si quis ei pro salute sua aliquid loqueretur. Bona enim non solum facere, sed etiam audire non poterat. Nunquam se ad sanctae conversationis habilum venire, jurando, irascendo, deridendo testabatur. In hac autem pestilentia quae nuper hujus urbis populum magna ex parte consumpsit, percussus in inguine, perductus est ad mortem. Cumque extremum spiritum agerct, convenerunt fratres, ut egressum illius orando pro- tegerent. Jam corpus ejus ab extrema parte fuerat praemortuum, in solo tantummodo pectore vitalis adhuc calor anhelabat. Cuncti autem fratres tanto pro eo cœperunt enixius orare, quanto eum jam videbant sub celeritate discedere. Cum repente coepit eisdem fratribus assistentibus clamare, atque cum magnis vocibus orationes eorum interrumpere, dicens : 440 Recedite. recedite, h ecce draconi ad devorandum datus sum , qui propter vestram præsentiam devorare me non p itest. (aput meum jam in suo ore absorbuit, date locum ut me amplius non cruciet, sed faciat quod facturus est. Si ei ad devorandutn datus sum, quare propter vos moras patior ? Tunc fratres coeperunt ei dicere : Quid est quod loqueris, frater? Signum tibi sanctæ crucis imprime. Respondebat ille cum magnis clamoribus, dicens : Volo me signare, sed non possum, quia squamis hujus draconis premor. Cumque hoc fratres andi- rent, prostraii in terra cum lacrymis coeperunt pro ereptione illius vehementius orare. Et ecce subito I melioratus æger cæpit cnm magnis vocibus clamare, dicens : Gratias Deo, ecce draco qui me ad devorandum acceperat fugit, orationibus vestris expulsus stare non potuit. Pro piccaiis meis modo intercedite, quia converti paratus sum, et sæcularem vitam funditus relinquere. Homo ergo qui, scui jam dictum est, ab extrema corporis parte fuerat praemortuus reservatus ad vitam, toto corde ad Deum conversus est. Et postquam, mutatus mente, diu est flagellis allritus, tunc ejus anima carne soluta est.

GREGORY. It must also be known that sometimes souls still placed in their bodies see something of punishment among spiritual things, which however usually happens to some for their own edification, and to others for the edification of those who hear. For the one of whom I remember having already told the people in my Homilies (Hom. 10 and 38) was a very restless boy named Theodore, who followed his brother into my monastery more from necessity than from will. To him, indeed, it was burdensome if anyone said anything to him for his salvation. For he could not only not do good things, but could not even hear them. He used to declare, swearing, getting angry, mocking, that he would never come to the habit of holy conversion. But in this plague which recently consumed the people of this city in great part, he was struck in the groin and brought to death. And when he was drawing his last breath, the brothers gathered to protect his departure by praying. His body had already died beforehand from the extremities; only in his chest did the vital warmth still pant. And all the brothers began to pray for him the more earnestly, the more they saw him now departing quickly. Then suddenly he began to cry out to these brothers standing by, and to interrupt their prayers with loud cries, saying: 'Go away, go away! See, I have been given to a dragon to be devoured, who because of your presence cannot devour me. He has already swallowed my head in his mouth; give way, so that he may not torment me further, but may do what he is going to do. If I have been given to him to be devoured, why do I suffer delays because of you?' Then the brothers began to say to him: 'What is this you are saying, brother? Make the sign of the holy cross on yourself.' He answered with loud shouts, saying: 'I want to sign myself, but I cannot, because I am pressed down by the scales of this dragon.' When the brothers heard this, they prostrated themselves on the ground and with tears began to pray more vehemently for his deliverance. And see, suddenly improved, the sick man began to cry out with loud voices, saying: 'Thanks be to God! See, the dragon who had received me to devour has fled; driven out by your prayers, he could not stand. Intercede now for my sins, because I am ready to be converted and to leave the secular life completely.' So the man who, as has already been said, had died beforehand in the extremities of his body, was preserved for life and turned to God with his whole heart. And after he had been changed in mind and long worn down by scourges, then his soul was released from the flesh.

At contra Chrysaorius, sicut Probus propinquus illius, cujus jam superius (Cap- 12 I memoriam feci, narrare consuevit, vir in hoc mundo valde J idoneus fuit, sed tantum plenus vitiis, quantum rebus, superbia tumidus, carnis suae voluptatibus subditus. in acquirendis rebus avaritiae facibus accensus. Sed cum tot malis Dominus tinem ponere decrevisset, corporali hunc molestia percussit. Qui ad extremum veniens, eadem hora qua jarn de corpore erat exi. turus, apertis oculis vidit tetros et nigerrimos spiritus coram se assistere, et vehementer k imminere, ut ad inferni claustra 1 eum raperent. Cœpit tremere, pallescere, sudare, et magnis vocibus iududas petere, (iliumque suum nomine Maximum, quem ipse iam monachus monachum vidi. nimiis et turbatis clamoribus, vocare, dicens: Maiine, curre, nunquam tibi mali aliquid feci, in fide tua me suscipe, Turbatus mox Maximus adfuit, lugens ac perstrepens familia convenit. Eos auicm quos ille insistentes sibi graviter tolerabat, ipsi malignos spirilus videre non poterant, sed eorum præsentiam, in confusione, et pallore, ac tremore illius qui trahebatur videbant. Pavore autem tetræ eorum imaginis huc illucque vet tebatur in fectulo; jacebat in sinistro latere, aspectum eorum ferre non poterat ; vertebatur ad parietem, ibi aderant. Cumque constrictus nimii relaxari se jam posse desperaret, coepit magnis .vocibus clamare : Inducias vel usque mane, inducias vel usque mane. Sed cum bxc clamaret, in ipsis vocibus de habitaculo suae carnis evulsus est. De quo nimirum constat quia pro nobis ista, non pro se, viderit, ut ejus visio nobis proficiat, 441 quos adhuc divina patientia longanimiter exspectat. Nam illi tetros spiritus ante mortem vidisse et inducias pctiisse quid profuit, qui easdem inducias quas petiit non accepit?

But Chrysaorius, on the contrary, as his relative Probus, of whom I have already made mention above (ch. 12), used to relate, was a very substantial man in this world, but as full of vices as of property: swollen with pride, subject to the pleasures of his flesh, inflamed with the torches of avarice in acquiring property. But when the Lord had decided to put an end to so many evils, he struck him with a bodily illness. Coming to the end, at the very hour at which he was about to go out of the body, he saw with open eyes foul and very black spirits standing before him and pressing hard upon him, to snatch him away to the prison of hell. He began to tremble, to grow pale, to sweat, and with loud cries to beg for a truce, and with excessive and distraught shouting to call his son, named Maximus, whom I myself, already a monk, saw as a monk, saying: 'Maximus, run! I never did you any harm; take me into your protection.' Distraught, Maximus was soon there; the household gathered, mourning and clamouring. But those evil spirits, whom he was enduring so heavily as they pressed upon him, they themselves could not see; but they saw their presence in the confusion and pallor and trembling of the man who was being dragged away. In dread of their foul image he was turned this way and that in his bed: he lay on his left side, he could not bear the sight of them; he turned to the wall, they were there. And when, utterly constricted, he despaired of now being able to be released, he began to cry out with loud voices: 'A truce, at least until morning! A truce, at least until morning!' But while he was crying this, in those very cries he was torn out of the dwelling of his flesh. About him it is certainly clear that he saw these things for us, not for himself, so that his vision might profit us, whom divine patience still waits for with long-suffering. For what did it profit him to have seen the foul spirits before death and to have begged for a truce, when he did not receive the very truce he begged for?

Est etiam nunc apud nos Athanasius a Isaurise presbyter, qui in diebus suls b Iconii rem terribilem narrat evenisse. Ibi namque, ut ait, quoddam c monasterium τω̄ν Γαλατω̄ν dicitur, in quo quidam monachus magnæ æstimationis habebatur. Bonis quit pe cernebatur moribus, atque in omni sua actione compositus; sed sicut ex fine res patuit, longe aliter quam apparebat fuit. Nam cum jejunare se cum fratribus demonstraret, occulte manducare consueverat, quod ejas vitium fratres omnino nescicbant. Sed corporis superveniente molestia, ad vitæ extrema perductus est. Qui cum jam esset in fine, fratres ad se omnes qui monasterio aderant congregari fecit. At illi tali, ut putabant , viro moriente, magnum quid ac delectabile se ab eo audire crediderant. Quibus ipse afflictus et tremens compulsos est prodere cui hosti traditus cogebatur exire. Nam dixit : Quando me vobiscum credebatis jejunare, occulte comedebam, et ecce nanc ad devorandum draconi traditus sum, qui cauda sua mea genua pedesque colligavit, caput vero suum intra meum os mittens, spiritum meum ebibens exirabit. Quibus diclis statim defunctus est, atque ut pcenitendo d liberari potuisset, a dracone quem viderat exspectatus non est. Quod nimirum constat quia ad solam utilitatem audientium viderit, qui eum hostem cui traditus fuerat et innotuit et non evasit.

There is also with us now Athanasius, a priest of Isauria, who relates that in his days a terrible thing happened at Iconium. For there, as he says, is a certain monastery called tōn Galatōn [of the Galatians], in which a certain monk was held in great esteem. He was seen to be of good morals, and composed in his every action; but, as the matter became clear from his end, he was far otherwise than he appeared. For while he made a show of fasting with the brothers, he was in the habit of eating secretly, and the brothers knew nothing at all of this vice of his. But when a bodily illness came on, he was brought to the last of life. When he was now at the end, he had all the brothers who were in the monastery gathered to him. And they, since such a man, as they thought, was dying, believed they would hear something great and delightful from him. To them he, afflicted and trembling, was compelled to disclose to what enemy he had been handed over as he was forced to depart. For he said: 'When you believed I was fasting with you, I used to eat secretly; and see, now I have been handed over to a dragon to be devoured, who has bound my knees and feet with his tail, and, putting his head inside my mouth, is drinking up my spirit and drawing it out.' Having said this he died at once, and the dragon he had seen did not wait for him, so that he might have been freed by repenting. It is certainly clear that he saw this only for the benefit of those who heard, he who both made known the enemy to whom he had been handed over and did not escape [him].