Letter 22

From: Paulinus, bishop of Nola To: Sulpicius Severus, monk and writer Date: ~408 AD Context: Paulinus describes how the monk Sorianus intercepted letters meant for another carrier, and delivers a vivid satire contrasting true monks with worldly pretenders. To my kindred brother Severus, The letters you sent by that un-spiritual monk of ours were intercepted and delivered by a truly spiritual courier instead — our son Sorianus. In him we see a double grace from the Lord: he did not come to us empty of your affection, and your letters did not end up being carried by Marracinus after all. That fellow, inspired by what I can only assume was a divinely granted sense of shame at seeing us — or sheer laziness about extending his journey beyond Rome — handed your letters to our brother Sorianus there, delighted at the convenient shortcut, thinking he had found a loophole in your instructions that spared him from having to either pretend to be a monk, as you had ordered, or actually see one in the flesh, as meeting me would have required. So let him keep his military cloak, his riding boots, and his puffed-out cheeks — none of which he dared to change or deflate. Let the men who visit and revisit us be our fellow servants, our pale-faced companions — not proud in painted garments but humble in rough hairshirts; not wrapped in short fashionable cloaks but draped in plain mantles; not cinched with military belts but tied with rope; not sporting trendy half-shaved heads with carefully arranged forelocks, but men whose hair is cropped close to the scalp, unevenly shorn, their foreheads bare. Let them be unadorned with the ornament of modesty, becomingly unkempt, honorably despicable — men who reject even their natural good looks for the sake of inner cultivation, deliberately making themselves unattractive so they may become honestly homely in face while honestly holy in mind. The very sight and smell and dress of such men nauseates those for whom the fragrance of death is the scent of life [2 Corinthians 2:16] — those who call sweet what is bitter, ugly what is pure, and hostile what is holy. And so it is only fair that we return the favor: let their scent be to us an odor of death, lest we cease to be the fragrance of Christ. Why should they resent us if their way of life stinks to us, when our way of life stinks to them? He recoils from my fasting; I cannot stomach his gluttony. He avoids the breath of a monk mid-conversation; I flee the belch of a braggart mid-banquet. If they dislike the dryness of our throats, we dislike the rawness of their gullets. If they are offended by the austerity of our frugality, we are offended by the excess of their bellies. Let them see us not drunk in the morning but fasting in the evening; not bloated from last night's wine but abstaining today; not lurching with the insane instability of lust but steadily unsteady from the vigils of virtue — soberly intoxicated, staggering from self-discipline rather than from the abyss of appetite. We are delighted that the carrier of your letter was just such a man. I ask you to receive him as though he had been sent by you to me. Among those who have come to me on your behalf, he too should be counted — for the Lord, without your even knowing it, handed your letters to him. I think you too will count this arrangement as a gift of divine grace, through which it was ensured that your letter would not be delivered by someone unworthy of carrying it. But — and please do not accuse me again of attacking him — I want to praise Sorianus. I believe I have praised him rather than blamed him by recalling the very things that must embarrass anyone who is ashamed to be, or to seem, a monk. After all, you will remember that in Virgil, even the Fury is praised by the very qualities that are usually considered faults [Aeneid 7.323ff.]. But do not scold me for quoting a poet who no longer belongs to my course of study, as though I were violating my vocation. I plead the authority of your own example — I have your letter right here, the one that closes with: "Live happily, you whose fortune is already accomplished" [Aeneid 3.493]. And that other letter too, where you called your household shrine a "familiar Lar," borrowing the term from Plautus's prologue [Aulularia].

XXII. SEVERO FRATRI VNANIMO PAVLINVS. Epistolas, quas per nostrum illum inspiritalem monachum miseras, uere spiritalis tabellarius intercepit et pertulit, id est filius noster Sorianus, in quo duplicem gratiam dominum contulisse perspeximus, ne uel ille ad nos sermonis tui uacuus 2] Ps. 91, 11. 1 diligemus 0 3 in ona. FPU quae] qui v 6 exhorciste P, eihoraste U cotidianis P1 esset PU 7 refugerit M 8 tingeret FPU 10 tam bellus] tabellus FPU 12 et nos ipsos om. FPU 18 commedamus 0 impressis FU 16 consequamur F; ualere te oro add. FP\' U . — finit . V. 0 FLMOPU . — incipit sexta eiusdem F, item epistola eiusdem ad eundem - V • L, ad sulpitium seuerum • XIII ■ M, incipit ad eundem septima 0, epistola sancti paulini episcopi ad seuerum monacum ubi receptis epistolis ei plurimum gratulatur commendans sorianum uenerabilem monacum portitorem earum: ubi etiam sub compendio mouasticam uitam describit U 19 spiritalem FP\'U 20 est] es U 21 sorianus (ri in ras.) M dum graui M adueniret, qui nos de tuis uisceribus inbuto affectu desiderauerat, ne uel iterum tuas nobis litteras Marracinus adferret, qui diuinitus, ut credo, inspirata sibi aut uerecundia nos uidendi aut pigritia ultra urbem itineris porrigendi Romae litteras tuas supradicto fratri dedit, gaudens optati occasione conpendii, qua sibi aduersum tua praecepta consultum putabat, ne cogeretur monachum aut in se, ut iusseras, fingere aut in me, ut necesse erat, cernere. sibi ergo ille habeat armilausam suam et suas caligas et suas buccas, quarum alia mutare, alia deducere timuit. Nos adeant et reuisant conseruuli et conpallidi nostri, non uestibus pictis superbi sed horrentibus ciliciis humiles nec chlamyde curtalini sed sagulis palliati nec balteo sed reste succincti nec inproba adtonsi capitis fronte criniti sed casta informitate capillum ad cutem caesi et inaequaliter semitonsi et destituta fronte praerasi. et ornatu pudicitiae inornati et decenter inculti sint et honorabiliter despicabiles, cum ingenitam quoque speciem corporis pro interiore cultu aspernantes etiam studio deformantur, ut fiant pudenter inhonesti uultibus, dum perficiantur salutariter honesti mentibus. huiusmodi hominum et uultus et habitus et odor nauseam illis facit, quibus odor mortis est in odorem uitae, quibus dulce quod amarum et turpe quod castum et hostile quod sanctum est. propterea iustum est, ut reddamus illis uicem, ut sit nobis odor eorum . tamquam odor mortis, ne desinamus esse odor Christi. quid enim nobis iure suscenseant, si uicissim nobis foeteat odor uitae eorum, quibus odor noster in mortem est? ille ieiunium 21] (II Cor. 2, 16). 22] (Es. 5,20). 1 ueniret M 3 ut om. FLPU inspirata sibi v, inspiratam sibi 0, inspiratus ibi cet . 6 quia M cogeremur F 7 iusserat FP, iuxerat U 9 alias-alias LM 11 reuiseant FU, reuisent LO pallidi 0 13 chlammide 0, clamide cet . 14 crinit F caste U 15 symetonsi FP, si me tonsi U 16 distituta 0 pudititiae 0 17 despicibiles M 19 prudentes L 20 salubriter F 21 nausiam FLM, nausem U faciat LM 23 est om. F 24 illi FPU 25 desideramus F 26 in nobis L suscenseant 0, succenseant cet . feteat LO, fetat FP, petat U 27 eorum om. U nostrae v meum horret, ego illius crapulam ferre non possum. ille halitum monachi loquentis euitat, ego flatum Thrasonis ructantis effugio. si illis displicet gutturis nostri siccitas, et nobis gulae cruditas. si illos offendit frugalitatis ariditas, et nos uentrium offendit ingluuies. uideant ergo nos non mane ebrii sed uespere ieiuni nec hesterno inflati uino sed hodierno abstemii nec de crapula libidinis dementer instabiles sed uigiliis honestatis integre saucii et sobrie temulenti, quos parsimonia faciat, non uorago titubare. Talem nos epistolae tuae portitorem excepisse laetamur, quem rogo sic accipias, quasi a te missus mihi uenerit. namque inter eos, qui uice fraternitatis tuae ad me uenerunt, debet et iste numerari, cui dominus, ut ita a te numeraretur, litteras tuas et ignorante te tradidit. puto autem quod et tu diuinae huius gratiae beneficium huic deputes, per quem et tibi praestitum est, ne litteras nobis tuas non tui corporis perlator adferret. sed tamen ipsius pace laudatum Sorianum uolo, ne me illi rursus accuses. praedicasse enim me illum magis quam uituperasse existimo eorum commemoratione, in quibus necesse est glorietur qui esse aut uideri monachus erubescit. denique meministi in Vergilio Furiam his laudari quae solent obici. uide autem ne mihi calumnieris, quod aliquid de poeta non nostri iam studii tamquam propositi uiolator adsumpserim; exempli tui auctoritate hoc me fecisse contestor; teneo enim epistolam tuam, cui clausula est: Viuite felices, quibus est fortuna peracta, sed et illam, in qua pro domestica sede larem familiarem Plautini memor prologi nominasti. 20] (Verg. Aen. VII, 823 sqq.) 25] Verg. Aeu. III, 493. 27] (Plaut. Aul. prol. 2). 1 possem FPU hanelitum M, alitum FOPU 2 loquentis monachi F trasonis LM, tyhasonis 0 3 gulae] eorum add. v 4 et Ov, om. cet . uentrum F 5 erga L ueniant ergo ad nos M 6 externo U abstenui U 7 integri 0, integrae F 10 excipias LM missum FU1 12 et om. LM ita otn. LM 13 tuas et] tuas etiam v put U tu] te F 15 tui] tuus Fp\'JU, tua P1 16 sorianum (i cras. uel in lit.) M, Marracinum coni. Sacch . 17 post . me om. LM quam istum M 20 iuj et in LM uertigio 0, uirgilio cet . iis v 27 nominasti] ualeas oro add. Įi\'p\'JU . — explicit L, explicit epistola sexta F, finit ad seuerum VII. 0