Recognitions of Clement - Book VII
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Text edited by Rev. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson and
first published by T&T Clark in Edinburgh in 1867. Additional
introductionary material and notes provided for the American
edition by A. Cleveland Coxe, 1886.
Chapter I.--Journey from Tripolis.
At length leaving Tripolis, [791] a city of Phoenicia, we made our
first halt at Ortosias, not far from Tripolis; and there we remained
the next day also, because almost all those that had believed in the
Lord, unable to part from Peter, followed him thus far. Thence we
came to Antharadus. But because there were many in our company, Peter
said to Niceta and Aquila: "As there are immense crowds of brethren
with as, and we bring upon ourselves no little envy as we enter into
every city, it seems to me that we must take means, without doing so
unpleasing a thing as to prevent their following us, to secure that
the wicked one shall not stir up envy against us on account of any
display! I wish, therefore, that you, Niceta and Aquila, would go
before us with them, so that you may lead the multitude divided into
two sections, that we may enter every city of the Gentiles travelling
apart, rather than in one assemblage.
Footnotes
[791] [The narrative of book vii. is given in Homilies XII., XIII.;
chap. 38 including some details of Homily XIV. 1. The variations in
the narrative portions are unimportant: but the Homilies contain
longer discourses of the Apostle. Chaps 1-24 here correspond quite
exactly with Homily XII. 1-24; the topics of the respective Chapters
being the same, and the variations mainly in forms of expression.--R.]
Chapter II.--Disciples Divided into Two Bands.
"But I know that you think it sad to be separated from me for the
space of at least two days. Believe me, that in whatever degree you
love me, my affection towards you is tenfold greater. But if, by
reason of our mutual affection, we will not do the things that are
right and honourable, such love will appear to be unreasonable. And
therefore, without bating a little of our love, let us attend to those
things which seem useful and necessary; especially since not a day can
pass in which you may not be present at my discussions. For I purpose
to pass through the most noted cities of the provinces one by one, as
you also know, and to reside three months in each for the sake of
teaching. Now, therefore, go before me to Laodicea, which is the
nearest city, and I shall follow you after two or three days, so far
as I purpose. But you shall wait for me at the inn nearest to the
gate of the city; and thence again, when we have spent a few days
there, you shall go before me to more distant cities. And this I wish
you to do at every city, for the sake of avoiding envy as much as in
us lies, and also that the brethren who are with us, finding lodgings
prepared in the several cities by your foresight, may not seem to be
vagabonds."
Chapter III.--Order of March.
When Peter thus spoke, they of course acquiesced, saying: "It does
not greatly sadden us to do this, because we are ordered by you, who
have been chosen by the foresight of Christ to do and to counsel well
in all things; but also because, while it is a heavy loss not to see
our lord Peter for one, or it may be two days, yet it is not
intolerable. And we think of our twelve brethren who go before us,
and who are deprived of the advantage of hearing and seeing you for a
whole month out of the three that you stay in every city. Therefore
we shall not delay doing as you order, because you order all things
aright." And thus saying, they went forward, having received
instructions that they should speak to the brethren who journeyed with
them outside the city, and request them not to enter the cities in a
crowd and with tumult, but apart, and divided.
Chapter IV.--Clement's Joy at Remaining with Peter.
But when they were gone, I Clement rejoiced greatly because he had
kept me with himself, and I said to him: "I give thanks to God that
you have not sent me forward with the others, for I should have died
through sadness." Then said Peter: "And what will happen if
necessity shall demand that you be sent anywhere for the purpose of
teaching? Would you die if you were separated from me for a good
purpose? Would you not put a restraint upon yourself, to bear
patiently what necessity has laid upon you? Or do you not know that
friends are always together, and are joined in memory, though they be
separated bodily; as, on the other hand, some persons are near to one
another in body, but are separate in mind?"
Chapter V.--Clement's Affection for Peter.
Then I answered: "Think not, my lord, that I suffer these things
unreasonably; but there is a certain cause and reason of this
affection of mine towards you. For I have you alone as the object of
all my affections, instead of father and mother, and brethren; but
above all this, is the fact that you alone are the cause of my
salvation and knowledge of the truth. And also this I do not count of
least moment, that my youthful age is subject to the snares of lusts;
and I am afraid to be without you, by whose sole presence all
effeminacy, however irrational it be, is put to shame; although I
trust, by the mercy of God, that even my mind, from what it has
conceived through your instruction, shall be unable to receive aught
else into its thoughts. Besides, I remember your saying at Cæsarea,
`If any one wishes to accompany me, without violating dutifulness, let
him accompany me.' And by this you meant that he should not make any
one sad, to whom he ought according to God's appointment to cleave;
for example, that he should not leave a faithful wife, or parents, or
the like. Now from these I am entirely free, and so I am fit for
following you; and I wish you would grant me that I might perform to
you the service of a servant."
Chapter VI.--Peter's Simplicity of Life.
Then Peter, laughing, said: "And do you not think, Clement, that very
necessity must make you my servant? For who else can spread my
sheets, and arrange my beautiful coverlets? Who will be at hand to
keep my rings, and prepare my robes, which I must be constantly
changing? Who shall superintend my cooks, and provide various and
choice meats to be prepared by most recondite and various art; and all
those things which are procured at enormous expense, and are brought
together for men of delicate up-bringing, yea rather, for their
appetite, as for some enormous beast? But perhaps, although you live
with me, you do not know my manner of life. I live on bread alone,
with olives, and seldom even with pot-herbs; and my dress is what you
see, a tunic with a pallium: and having these, I require nothing
more. This is sufficient for me, because my mind does not regard
things present, but things eternal, and therefore no present and
visible thing delights me. Whence I embrace and admire indeed your
good mind towards me; and I commend you the more, because, though you
have been accustomed to so great abundance, you have been able so soon
to abandon it, and to accommodate yourself to this life of ours, which
makes use of necessary things alone. For we--that is, I and my
brother Andrew--have grown up from our childhood not only orphans, but
also extremely poor, and through necessity have become used to labour,
whence now also we easily bear the fatigues of our journeyings. But
rather, if you would consent and allow it, I, who am a working man,
could more easily discharge the duty of a servant to you."
Chapter VII.--Peter's Humility.
But I trembled when I heard this, and my tears immediately gushed
forth, because so great a man, who is worth more than the whole world,
had addressed such a proposal to me. Then he, when he saw me weeping,
inquired the reason; and I answered him: "How have I so sinned
against you, that you should distress me with such a proposal?" Then
Peter: "If it is evil that I said I should serve you, you were first
in fault in saying the same thing to me." Then said I: "The cases
are not alike: for it becomes me to do this to you; but it is
grievous that you, who are sent as the herald of the Most High God to
save the souls of men, should say it to me." Then said Peter: "I
should agree with you, were it not that our Lord, who came for the
salvation of the whole world, and who was nobler than any creature,
submitted to be a servant, that He might persuade us not to be ashamed
to perform the ministry of servants to our brethren." Then said I:
"It were foolishness in me to suppose that I can prevail with you;
nevertheless I give thanks to the providence of God, because I have
merited to have you instead of parents."
Chapter VIII.--Clement's Family History.
Then said Peter: "Is there then no one of your family surviving?" I
answered: "There are indeed many powerful men, coming of the stock of
Cæsar; for Cæsar himself gave a wife to my father, as being his
relative, and educated along with him, and of a suitably noble
family. By her my father had twin sons, born before me, not very like
one another, as my father told me; for I never knew them. But indeed
I have not a distinct recollection even of my mother; but I cherish
the remembrance of her face, as if I had seen it in a dream. My
mother's name was Matthidia, my father's Faustinianus: my brothers',
Faustinus and Faustus. [792]Now, when I was barely five years old,
my mother saw a vision--so I learned from my father--by which she was
warned that, unless she speedily left the city with her twin sons, and
was absent for ten years, she and her children should perish by a
miserable fate.
Footnotes
[792] [Comp. Homily XII. 8, where the names given are: Mattidia,
Faustus (father); Faustinus and Faustinianus, the twin sons. With
these names some connect the German legend of Faust; see Schaff,
History, ii. 442.--R.]
Chapter IX.--Disappearance of His Mother and Brothers.
"Then my father, who tenderly loved his sons, put them on board a ship
with their mother, and sent them to Athens to be educated, with slaves
and maid-servants, and a sufficient supply of money; retaining me only
to be a comfort to him, and thankful for this, that the vision had not
commanded me also to go with my mother. And at the end of a year my
father sent men to Athens with money for them, desiring also to know
how they did; but those who were sent never returned. Again, in the
third year, my sorrowful father sent other men with money, who
returned in the fourth year, and related that they had seen neither my
mother nor my brothers, that they had never reached Athens, and that
no trace had been found of any one of those who had been with them.
Chapter X.--Disappearance of His Father.
"My father hearing this, and confounded with excessive sorrow, not
knowing whither to go or where to seek, went down with me to the
harbour, and began to ask of the sailors whether any of them had seen
or heard of the bodies of a mother and two little children being cast
ashore anywhere, four years ago; when one told one story and another
another, but nothing definite was disclosed to us searching in this
boundless sea. Yet my father, by reason of the great affection which
he bore to his wife and children, was fed with vain hopes, until he
thought of placing me under guardians and leaving me at Rome, as I was
now twelve years old, and himself going in quest of them. Therefore
he went down to the harbour weeping, and going on board a ship, took
his departure; and from that time till now I have never received any
letters from him, nor do I know whether he is alive or dead. But I
rather suspect that he also has perished, either through a broken
heart or by shipwreck; for twenty years have now elapsed since then,
and no tidings of him have ever reached me."
Chapter XI.--Different Effects of Suffering on Heathens and
Christians.
Peter, hearing this, shed tears of sympathy, and said to his friends
who were present: "If any man who is a worshipper of God had endured
what this man's father has endured, immediately men would assign his
religion as the cause of his calamities; but when these things happen
to miserable Gentiles, they charge their misfortunes upon fate. I
call them miserable, because they are both vexed with errors here, and
are deprived of future hope; whereas, when the worshippers of God
suffer these things, their patient endurance of them contributes to
their cleansing from sin."
Chapter XII.--Excursion to Aradus.
After this, one of those present began to ask Peter, that early next
day we should go to a neighbouring island called Aradus, which was not
more than six furlongs off, to see a certain wonderful work that was
in it, viz. vine-wood [793] columns of immense size. To this Peter
assented, as he was very complaisant; but he charged us that, when we
left the ship, we should not rush all together to see it: "for," said
he, "I do not wish you to be noticed by the crowd." When therefore,
next day, we reached the island by ship in the course of an hour,
forthwith we hastened to the place where the wonderful columns were.
They were placed in a certain temple, in which there were very
magnificent works of Phidias, on which every one of us gazed
earnestly.
Footnotes
[793] Various reading, "glass."
Chapter XIII.--The Beggar Woman.
But when Peter had admired only the columns, being no wise ravished
with the grace of the painting, he went out, and saw before the gates
a poor woman asking alms of those who went in; and looking earnestly
at her, he said: "Tell me, O woman, what member of your body is
wanting, that you subject yourself to the indignity of asking alms,
and do not rather gain your bread by labouring with your hands which
God has given you." But she, sighing, said: "Would that I had hands
which could be moved; but now only the appearance of hands has been
preserved, for they are lifeless, and have been rendered feeble and
without feeling by my knawing of them." Then Peter said: "What has
been the cause of your inflicting so great an injury upon yourself?"
"Want of courage," said she, "and nought else; for if I had had any
bravery in me, I could either have thrown myself from a precipice, or
cast myself into the depths of the sea, and so ended my griefs."
Chapter XIV.--The Woman's Grief.
Then Peter said: "Do you think, O woman, that those who destroy
themselves are set free from torments, and not rather that the souls
of those who lay violent hands upon themselves are subjected to
greater punishments?" Then said she: "I wish I were sure that souls
live in the infernal regions, for I would gladly embrace the suffering
of the penalty of suicide, only that I might see my darling children,
if it were but for an hour." Then Peter: "What thing is it so great,
that effects you with so heavy sadness? I should like to know. For
if you informed me of the cause, I might be able both to show you
clearly, O woman, that souls do live in the infernal regions; and
instead of the precipice or the deep sea, I might give you some
remedy, that you may be able to end your life without torment."
Chapter XV.--The Woman's Story.
Then the woman, hearing this welcome promise, began to say: "It is
neither easy of belief, nor do I think it necessary to tell, what is
my extraction, or what is my country. It is enough only to explain
the cause of my grief, why I have rendered my hands powerless by
gnawing them. Being born of noble parents, and having become the wife
of a suitably powerful man, I had two twin sons, and after them one
other. But my husband's brother was vehemently enflamed with unlawful
love towards me; and as I valued chastity above all things, and would
neither consent to so great wickedness, nor wished to disclose to my
husband the baseness of his brother, I considered whether in any way I
could escape unpolluted, and yet not set brother against brother, and
so bring the whole race of a noble family into disgrace. I made up my
mind, therefore, to leave my country with my two twins, until the
incestuous love should subside, which the sight of me was fostering
and inflaming; and I thought that our other son should remain to
comfort his father to some extent.
Chapter XVI.--The Woman's Story Continued.
"Now in order to carry out this plan, I pretended that I had had a
dream, in which some deity stood by me in a vision, and told me that I
should immediately depart from the city with my twins, and should be
absent until he should command me to return; and that, if I did not do
so, I should perish with all my children. And so it was done. For as
soon as I told the dream to my husband, he was terrified; and sending
with me my twin sons, and also slaves and maid-servants, and giving me
plenty of money, he ordered me to sail to Athens, where I might
educate my sons, and that I should stay there until he who commanded
me to depart should give me leave to return. While I was sailing
along with my sons, I was shipwrecked in the night by the violence of
the winds, and, wretch that I am, was driven to this place; and when
all had perished, a powerful wave caught me, and cast me upon a rock.
And while I sat there with this only hope, that haply I might be able
to find my sons, I did not throw myself into the deep, although then
my soul, disturbed and drunk with grief, had both the courage and the
power to do it.
Chapter XVII.--The Woman's Story Continued.
"But when the day dawned, and I with shouting and howling was looking
around, if I could even see the corpses of my unhappy sons anywhere
washed ashore, some of those who saw me were moved with compassion,
and searched, first over the sea, and then also along the shores, if
they could find either of my children. But when neither of them was
anywhere found, the women of the place, taking pity on me, began to
comfort me, every one telling her own griefs, that I might take
consolation from the likeness of their calamities to my own. But this
saddened me all the more; for my disposition was not such that I could
regard the misfortunes of others as comforts to me. And when many
desired to receive me hospitably, a certain poor woman who dwells here
constrained me to enter into her hut, saying that she had had a
husband who was a sailor, and that he had died at sea while a young
man, and that, although many afterwards asked her in marriage, she
preferred widowhood through love of her husband. `Therefore,' said
she, `we shall share whatever we can gain by the labour of our hands.'
Chapter XVIII.--The Woman's Story Continued.
"And, not to detain you with a long and profitless story, I willingly
dwelt with her on account of the faithful affection which she retained
for her husband. But not long after, my hands (unhappy woman that I
was!), long torn with gnawing, became powerless, and she who had taken
me in fell into palsy, and now lies at home in her bed; also the
affection of those women who had formerly pitied me grew cold. We are
both helpless. I, as you see, sit begging; and when I get anything,
one meal serves two wretches. Behold, now you have heard enough of my
affairs; why do you delay the fulfilment of your promise, to give me a
remedy, by which both of us may end our miserable life without
torment?"
Chapter XIX.--Peter's Reflections on the Story.
While she was speaking, Peter, being distracted with much thought,
stood like one thunder-struck; and I Clement coming up, said: "I have
been seeking you everywhere, and now what are we to do?" But he
commanded me to go before him to the ship, and there to wait for him;
and because he must not be gainsayed, I did as he commanded me. But
he, as he afterwards told me the whole, being struck with a sort of
suspicion, asked of the woman her family, and her country, and the
names of her sons; "and straightway," he said, "if you tell me these
things, I shall give you the remedy." But she, like one suffering
violence, because she would not confess these things, and yet was
desirous of the remedy, feigned one thing after another, saying that
she was an Ephesian, and her husband a Sicilian, and giving false
names to her sons. Then Peter, supposing that she had answered truly,
said: "Alas! O woman, I thought that some great joy should spring up
to us to-day; for I suspected that you were a certain woman,
concerning whom I lately learned certain like things." But she
adjured him, saying: "I entreat you to tell me what they are, that I
may know if amongst women there be one more unfortunate than myself."
Chapter XX.--Peter's Statement to the Woman.
Then Peter, incapable of deception, and moved with compassion, began
to say: "There is a certain young man among those who follow me for
the sake of religion and sect, a Roman citizen, who told me that he
had a father and two twin brothers, of whom not one is left to him.
`My mother,' he said, `as I learned from my father, saw a vision, that
she should depart from the Roman city for a time with her twin sons,
else they should perish by a dreadful death; and when she had
departed, she was nevermore seen.' And afterwards his father set out
to search for his wife and sons, and was also lost."
Chapter XXI.--A Discovery.
When Peter had thus spoken, the woman, struck with astonishment,
fainted. Then Peter began to hold her up, and to comfort her, and to
ask what was the matter, or what she suffered. But she at length,
with difficulty recovering her breath, and nerving herself up to the
greatness of the joy which she hoped for, and at the same time wiping
her face, said: "Is he here, the youth of whom you speak?" But
Peter, when he understood the matter, said: "Tell me first, or else
you shall not see him." Then she said: "I am the mother of the
youth." Then says Peter: "What is his name?" And she answered:
"Clement." Then said Peter: "It is himself; and he it was that spoke
with me a little while ago, and whom I ordered to go before me to the
ship." Then she fell down at Peter's feet and began to entreat him
that he would hasten to the ship. Then Peter said: "Yes, if you will
promise me that you will do as I say." Then she said: "I will do
anything; only show me my only son, for I think that in him I shall
see my twins also." Then Peter said: "When you have seen him,
dissemble for a little time, until we leave the island." "I will do
so," she said.
Chapter XXII.--A Happy Meeting.
Then Peter, holding her hand, led her to the ship. And when I saw him
giving his hand to the woman, I began to laugh; yet, approaching to do
him honour, I tried to substitute my hand for his, and to support the
woman. But as soon as I touched her hand, she uttered a loud scream,
and rushed into my embrace, and began to devour me with a mother's
kisses. But I, being ignorant of the whole matter, pushed her off as
a mad woman; and at the same time, though with reverence, I was
somewhat angry with Peter.
Chapter XXIII.--A Miracle.
But he said: "Cease: what mean you, O Clement, my son? Do not push
away your mother." But I, as soon as I heard these words, immediately
bathed in tears, fell upon my mother, who had fallen down, and began
to kiss her. For as soon as I heard, by degrees I recalled her
countenance to my memory; and the longer I gazed, the more familiar it
grew to me. Mean time a great multitude assembled, hearing that the
woman who used to sit and beg was recognised by her son, who was a
good man. [794]And when we wished to sail hastily away from the
island, my mother said to me: "My darling son, it is right that I
should bid farewell to the woman who took me in; for she is poor, and
paralytic, and bedridden." When Peter and all who were present heard
this, they admired the goodness and prudence of the woman; and
immediately Peter ordered some to go and to bring the woman in her bed
as she lay. And when she had been brought, and placed in the midst of
the crowd, Peter said, in the presence of all: "If I am a preacher of
truth, for confirming the faith of all those who stand by, that they
may know and believe that there is one God, who made heaven and earth,
in the name of Jesus Christ, His Son, let this woman rise." And as
soon as he had said this, she arose whole, and fell down at Peter's
feet; and greeting her friend and acquaintance with kisses asked of
her was the meaning of it all. But she shortly related to her the
whole proceeding of the Recognition, [795] so that the crowds standing
around wondered.
Footnotes
[794] Perhaps, "a man in good position."
[795] [This is the title-word of the book, as is evident. Hence the
italics here, and not in Homily XII. 23.--R.]
Chapter XXIV--Departure from Aradus.
Then Peter, so far as he could, and as time permitted, addressed the
crowds on the faith of God, and the ordinances of religion; and then
added, that if any one wished to know more accurately about these
things, he should come to Antioch, "where," said he, "we have resolved
to stay three months, and to teach fully the things which pertain to
salvation. For if," said he, "men leave their country and their
parents for commercial or military purposes, and do not fear to
undertake long voyages, why should it be thought burdensome or
difficult to leave home for three months for the sake of eternal
life?" When he had said these things, and more to the same purpose, I
presented a thousand drachmas to the woman who had entertained my
mother, and who had recovered her health by means of Peter, and in the
presence of all committed her to the charge of a certain good man, the
chief person in that town, who promised that he would gladly do what
we demanded of him. I also distributed a little money among some
others, and among those women who were said formerly to have comforted
my mother in her miseries, to whom I also expressed my thanks. And
after this we sailed, along with my mother, to Antaradus.
Chapter XXV.--Journeyings.
And when we had come to our lodging, [796] my mother began to ask of
me what had become of my father; and I told her that he had gone to
seek her, and never returned. But she, hearing this, only sighed; for
her great joy on my account lightened her other sorrows. And the next
day she journeyed with us, sitting with Peter's wife; and we came to
Balaneæ, where we stayed three days, and then went on to Pathos, and
afterwards to Gabala; and so we arrived at Laodicea, where Niceta and
Aquila met us before the gates, and kissing us, conducted us to a
lodging. But Peter, seeing that it was a large and splendid city,
said that it was worthy that we should stay in it ten days, or even
longer. Then Niceta and Aquila asked of me who was this unknown
woman; and I answered: "It is my mother, whom God has given back to
me by means of my lord Peter."
Footnotes
[796] [At this point a discourse of the Apostle on "philanthropy" is
inserted in the Homilies (xii. 25-33). Homily XIII. 1 corresponds
with this Chapter.--R.]
Chapter XXVI.--Recapitulation.
And when I had said this, Peter began to relate the whole matter to
them in order, [797] and said, "When we had come to Aradus, [798] and
I had ordered you to go on before us, the same day after you had gone,
Clement was led in the course of conversation to tell me of his
extraction and his family, and how he had been deprived of his
parents, and had had twin brothers older than himself, and that, as
his father told him, his mother once saw a vision, by which she was
ordered to depart from the city of Rome with her twin sons, else she
and they should suddenly perish. And when she had told his father the
dream, he, loving his sons with tender affection, and afraid of any
evil befalling them, put his wife and sons on board a ship with all
necessaries, and sent them to Athens to be educated. Afterwards he
sent once and again persons to inquire after them, but nowhere found
even a trace of them. At last the father himself went on the search,
and until now he is nowhere to be found. When Clement had given me
this narrative, there came one to us, asking us to go to the
neighbouring island of Aradus, to see vine-wood columns of wonderful
size. I consented; and when we came to the place, all the rest went
into the interior of the temple; but I--for what reason I know
not--had no mind to go farther.
Footnotes
[797] [This account is fuller than that in Homily XIII. 2.--R.]
[798] There is a confusion in the text between Aradus and Antaradus.
[Aradus is the name of the Island, Antaradus that of the neighbouring
city.--R.]
Chapter XXVII.--Recapitulation Continued.
"But while I was waiting outside for them, I began to notice this
woman, and to wonder in what part of her body she was disabled, that
she did not seek her living by the labour of her hands, but submitted
to the shame of beggary. I therefore asked of her the reason of it.
She confessed that she was sprung of a noble race, and was married to
a no less noble husband, `whose brother,' said she, `being inflamed by
unlawful love towards me, desired to defile his brother's bed. This I
abhorring, and yet not daring to tell my husband of so great
wickedness, lest I should stir up war between the brothers, and bring
disgrace upon the family, judged it better to depart from my country
with my two twin sons, leaving the younger boy to be a comfort to his
father. And that this might be done with an honourable appearance, I
thought good to feign a dream, and to tell my husband that there stood
by me in a vision a certain deity, who told me to set out from the
city immediately with my two twins, and remain until he should
instruct me to return.' She told me that her husband, when he heard
this, believed her, and sent her to Athens, with the twin children to
be educated there; but that they were driven by a terrible tempest
upon that island, where, when the ship had gone to pieces, she was
lifted by a wave upon a rock, and delayed killing herself only for
this, `until,' said she, `I could embrace at least the dead limbs of
my unfortunate sons, and commit them to burial. But when the day
dawned, and crowds had assembled, they took pity upon me, and threw a
garment over me. But I, miserable, entreated them with many tears, to
search if they could find anywhere the bodies of my unfortunate sons.
And I, tearing all my body with my teeth, with wailing and howlings
cried out constantly, Unhappy woman that I am, where is my Faustus?
where my Faustinus?'"
Chapter XXVIII.--More Recognitions.
And when Peter said this, [799] Niceta and Aquila suddenly started up,
and being astonished, began to be greatly agitated, saying: "O Lord,
Thou Ruler and God of all, are these things true, or are we in a
dream?" Then Peter said: "Unless we be mad, these things are true."
But they, after a short pause, and wiping their faces, said: "We are
Faustinus and Faustus: and even at the first, when you began this
narrative, we immediately fell into a suspicion that the matters that
you spoke of might perhaps relate to us; yet again considering that
many like things happen in men's lives, we kept silence, although our
hearts were struck by some hope. Therefore we waited for the end of
your story, that, if it were entirely manifest that it related to us,
we might then confess it." And when they had thus spoken, they went
in weeping to our mother. And when they found her asleep, and wished
to embrace her, Peter prevented them, saying: "Permit me first to
prepare your mother's mind, lest haply by the great and sudden joy she
lose her reason, and her understanding be disturbed, especially as she
is now stupefied with sleep."
Footnotes
[799] [With chaps. 28-36 the narrative in Homily XIII. 3-11
corresponds quite closely.--R.]
Chapter XXIX.--"Nothing Common or Unclean."
Therefore, when our mother had risen from her sleep, Peter began to
address her, saying: "I wish you to know, O woman, an observance of
our religion. We worship one God, who made the world, and we keep His
law, in which He commands us first of all to worship Him, and to
reverence His name, to honour our parents, and to preserve chastity
and uprightness. But this also we observe, not to have a common table
with Gentiles, unless when they believe, and on the reception of the
truth are baptized, and consecrated by a certain threefold invocation
of the blessed name; and then we eat with them. [800]Otherwise,
even if it were a father or a mother, or wife, or sons, or brothers,
we cannot have a common table with them. Since, therefore, we do this
for the special cause of religion, let it not seem hard to you that
your son cannot eat with you, until you have the same judgment of the
faith that he has."
Footnotes
[800] [Comp. Homily XIII. 4.--R.]
Chapter XXX.--"Who Can Forbid Water?"
Then she, when she heard this, said: "And what hinders me to be
baptized to-day? For even before I saw you I was wholly alienated
from those whom they call gods because they were not able to do
anything for me, although I frequently, and almost daily, sacrificed
to them. And as to chastity, what shall I say, when neither in former
times did pleasures deceive me, nor afterwards did poverty compel me
to sin? But I think you know well enough how great was my love of
chastity, when I pretended that dream that I might escape the snares
of unhallowed love, and that I might go abroad with my two twins, and
when I left this my son Clement alone to be a comfort to his father.
For if two were scarcely enough for me, how much more it would have
saddened their father, if he had had none at all? For he was wretched
through his great affection towards our sons, so that even the
authority of the dream could scarce prevail upon him to give up to me
Faustinus and Faustus, the brothers of this Clement, and that himself
should be content with Clement alone."
Chapter XXXI.--Too Much Joy.
While she was yet speaking, my brothers could contain themselves no
longer, but rushed into their mother's embrace with many tears, and
kissed her. But she said: "What is the meaning of this?" "Then said
Peter: "Be not disturbed, O woman; be firm. These are your sons
Faustinus and Faustus, whom you supposed to have perished in the deep;
but how they are alive, and how they escaped in that horrible night,
and how the one of them is called Niceta and the other Aquila, they
will be able to explain to you themselves, and we also shall hear it
along with you." When Peter had said this, our mother fainted, being
overcome with excess of joy; and after some time, being restored and
come to herself, she said: "I beseech you, darling sons, tell me what
has befallen you since that dismal and cruel night."
Chapter XXXII.--"He Bringeth Them Unto Their Desired Haven."
Then Niceta began to say: "On that night, O mother, when the ship was
broken up, and we were being tossed upon the sea, supported on a
fragment of the wreck, certain men, whose business it was to rob by
sea, found us, and placed us in their boat, and overcoming the power
of the waves by rowing, by various stretches brought us to Cæsarea
Stratonis. There they starved us, and beat us, and terrified us, that
we might not disclose the truth; and having changed our names, they
sold us to a certain widow, a very honourable women, named Justa.
She, having bought us, treated us as sons, so that she carefully
educated us in Greek literature and liberal arts. And when we grew
up, we also attended to philosophic studies, that we might be able to
confute the Gentiles, by supporting the doctrines of the divine
religion by philosophic disputations.
Chapter XXXIII.--Another Wreck Prevented.
"But we adhered, for friendship's sake and boyish companionship, to
one Simon, a magician, who was educated along with us, so that we were
almost deceived by him. For there is mention made in our religion of
a certain Prophet, whose coming was hoped for by all who observe that
religion, through whom immortal and happy life is promised to be given
to those who believe in Him. Now we thought that this Simon was he.
But these things shall be explained to you, O mother, at a more
convenient season. Meanwhile, when we were almost deceived by Simon,
a certain colleague of my lord Peter, Zacchæus by name, warned us that
we should not be duped by the magician, but presented us to Peter on
his arrival, that by him we might be taught the things which were
sound and perfect. And this we hope will happen to you also, even as
God has vouchsafed it to us, that we may be able to eat and have a
common table with you. Thus therefore it was, O mother, that you
believed that we were drowned in the sea, while we were stolen by
pirates."
Chapter XXXIV.--Baptism Must Be Preceded by Fasting.
When Niceta had spoken thus, our mother fell down at Peter's feet,
entreating and beseeching him that both herself and her hostess might
be baptized without delay; "that," said she, "I may not even for a
single day suffer the loss of the company and society of my sons." In
like manner, we her sons also entreated Peter. But he said: "What!
Do you think that I alone am unpitiful, and that I do not wish you to
enjoy your mother's society at meals? But she must fast at least one
day first, and so be baptized; and this because I have heard from her
a certain declaration, by which her faith has been made manifest to
me, and which has given evidence of her belief; otherwise she must
have been instructed and taught many days before she could have been
baptized."
Chapter XXXV.--Desiring the Salvation of Others.
Then said I: "I pray you, my lord Peter, tell us what is that
declaration which you say afforded you evidence of her faith?" Then
Peter: "It is her asking that her hostess, whose kindnesses she
wishes to requite, may be baptized along with her. Now she would not
ask that this grace be bestowed upon her whom she loves, unless she
believed that there is some great boon in baptism. Whence, also, I
find fault with very many, who, when they are themselves baptized and
believe, yet do nothing worthy of faith with those whom they love,
such as wives, or children, or friends, whom they do not exhort to
that which they themselves have attained, as they would do if indeed
they believed that eternal life is thereby bestowed. In short, if
they see them to be sick, or to be subject to any danger bodily, they
grieve and mourn, because they are sure that in this destruction
threatens them. So, then, if they were sure of this, that the
punishment of eternal fire awaits those who do not worship God, when
would they cease warning and exhorting? Or, if they refused, how
would they not mourn and bewail them, being sure that eternal torments
awaited them? Now, therefore, we shall send for that woman at once,
and see if she loves the faith of our religion; and as we find, so
shall we act. But since your mother has judged so faithfully
concerning baptism, let her fast only one day before baptism."
Chapter XXXVI.--The Sons' Pleading.
But she declared with an oath, in presence of my lord Peter's wife,
that from the time she recognised her son, she had been unable to take
any food from excess of joy, excepting only that yesterday she drank a
cup of water. Peter's wife also bore witness, saying that it was even
so. Then Aquila said: "What, then, hinders her being baptized?"
Then Peter, smiling, said: "But this is not the fast of baptism, for
it was not done in order to baptism." Then Niceta said: "But perhaps
God, wishing that our mother, on our recognition, should not be
separated even for one day from participation of our table,
pre-ordained this fasting. For as in her ignorance she preserved her
chastity, that it might profit her in order to the grace of baptism;
so she fasted before she knew the reason of fasting, that it might
profit her in order to baptism, and that immediately, from the
beginning of our acquaintance, she might enjoy communion of the table
with us."
Chapter XXXVII.--Peter Inexorable.
Then said Peter: [801]"Let not the wicked one prevail against us,
taking occasion from a mother's love; but let you, and me with you,
fast this day along with her, and to-morrow she shall be baptized:
for it is not right that the precepts of truth be relaxed and weakened
in favour of any person or friendship. Let us not shrink, then, from
suffering along with her, for it is a sin to transgress any
commandment. But let us teach our bodily senses, which are without
us, to be in subjection to our inner senses; and not compel our inner
senses, which savour the things that be of God, to follow the outer
senses, which savour the things that be of the flesh. For to this end
also the Lord commanded, saying: `Whosoever shall look upon a woman
to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his
heart.' And to this He added: `If thy right eye offend thee, pluck
it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one
of thy members perish, rather than thy whole body be cast into
hell-fire.' [802]He does not say, has offended thee, that you
should then cast away the cause of sin after you have sinned; but if
it offend you, that is, that before you sin you should cut off the
cause of the sin that provokes and irritates you. But let none of you
think, brethren, that the Lord commended the cutting off of the
members. His meaning is, that the purpose should be cut off, not the
members, and the causes which allure to sin, in order that our
thought, borne up on the chariot of sight, may push towards the love
of God, supported by the bodily senses; [803] and not give loose reins
to the eyes of the flesh as to wanton horses, eager to turn their
running outside the way of the commandments, but may subject the
bodily sight to the judgment of the mind, and not suffer those eyes of
ours, which God intended to be viewers and witnesses of His work, to
become panders of evil desire. And therefore let the bodily senses as
well as the internal thought be subject to the law of God, and let
them serve His will, whose work they acknowledge themselves to be."
Footnotes
[801] [In Homily XIII. 12 the Apostle is represented as thus deferring
the baptism; but a longer discourse on chastity (chaps. 13-21) is
given, assigned to the evening of that day.--R.]
[802] Matt. v. 28, 29.
[803] Here a marginal reading is followed. The reading of the text
is: "In order that our thought, borne on the chariot of
contemplation, may hasten on, invisible to the bodily senses, towards
the love of God." But the translation of aspectus by "contemplation"
is doubtful.
Chapter XXXVIII.--Reward of Chastity.
Therefore, as the order and reason of the mystery demanded, on the
following day she was baptized in the sea, [804] and returning to the
lodging, was initiated in all the mysteries of religion in their
order. And we her sons, Niceta and Aquila, and I Clement, were
present. And after this we dined with her, and glorified God with
her, thankfully acknowledging the zeal and teaching of Peter, who
showed us, by the example of our mother, that the good of chastity is
not lost with God; [805] "as, on the other hand," said he, "unchastity
does not escape punishment, though it may not be punished immediately,
but slowly. But so well pleasing," said he, "is chastity to God, that
it confers some grace in the present life even upon those who are in
error; for future blessedness is laid up for those only who preserve
chastity and righteousness by the grace of baptism. In short, that
which has befallen your mother is an example of this, for all this
welfare has been restored to her in reward of her chastity, for the
guarding and preserving of which continence alone is not sufficient;
but when any one perceives that snares and deceptions are being
prepared, he must straightway flee as from the violence of fire or the
attack of a mad dog, and not trust that he can easily frustrate snares
of this kind by philosophizing or by humouring them; but, as I have
said, he must flee and withdraw to a distance, as your mother also did
through her true and entire love of chastity. And on this account she
has been preserved to you, and you to her; and in addition, she has
been endowed with the knowledge of eternal life." When he had said
this, and much more to the same effect, the evening having come, we
went to sleep.
Footnotes
[804] [The baptism is narrated in Homily XIV. 1.--R.]
[805] [In Homily XIII. 20, 21, a longer discourse, to the same effect,
is recorded; but it is addressed to the mother the evening before her
baptism.--R.]
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