Letter 17

From: Ruricius, bishop of Limoges To: Abbot Pomerius Date: ~491 AD Context: A vivid and humorous account of a terrible journey through wilderness, with Ruricius blaming his own sins for the hardships and finding dark comedy in the ordeal. Bishop Ruricius to Abbot Pomerius, lord of his soul, to be honored with all the depths of love in Christ the Lord. As you yourselves know better than I, it is written: "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord" [Romans 12:19]. So if you hold anything against me, forgive me now — because you may be sure that the Lord has already exacted his vengeance. You should know that we were led by such remote paths into such hidden wildernesses that the mind recoils from retracing them, the memory flees from them, and words cannot describe them. We stumbled onto a trail blocked by branches, squeezed by its narrowness, bristling with thorns, barred by stumps, overgrown with brambles, rough with neglect, obstructed by heaps of stones, and tangled with the stumps of roots. If the journey was God's punishment for my sins, I can assure you the sentence was severe.

XVII. DOMNO ANIMAE SUAE ET TOTIS IN CHRISTO DOMINO DILECTIONIS UISCERIBUS EXCOLENDO POMERIO ABBATI RURICIUS BPISCOPUB. Scriptum est, sicut ipsi melius nostis: mihi uindicta, ego retribuam, dicit dominus. iam uos mihi, si quid inputatis, ignoscite, quia sciatis dominum uindicasse. tam auiis esse nos itineribus noueritis in tam abditas solitudines inductos, ut eas retexere animus horreat, mens refugiat,. sermo non queat. incurrimus namque semitam obstructam ramis, spatio constrictam, spinis hirtam, stirpibus clausam, obsitam sentibus, situ asperam, saxorum aggeribus inpeditam, radicum conexione constratam, caeno uoraginosam, ut in tam uariis tamque multiplicibus malis non esset simplex forma periculi, dum caballorum pedes radicum uirtus detinet et soli putredo non sustinet, montibus uero ita in sublime porrectam et uallibus in profunda demersam, ut nos per undosum mare excitantibus eum uentorum saeuientium flabris erepto ab oculis nostris nebulis ac nubibus die iter agere crederemus, quia, etiamsi mundo radius solis inluxit, ad nos prae densitate nemoris splendor ipsius et calor peruenire non ualuit, dum nos ita per iter infelicium filicum 14] Rom. 12,19. 5 queso S 8 carpere v presentia S 14 uindictam S 17 noa I esse v 20 sensibus S 22 uorallgnosam S (1 man. alt.) 25 profundo Kr . 26 dimersam S eum om. v 30 filicum Kr., felicu S, felicium 11 XXI. Fmnst. 24 proceritas premit et sic inundatio roris aspergit, ut contracti frigore uel coacti apricitatem ignis plurimi diebus cynocaumatis quaereremus.. Sed cum ad locum, ad quem tendebat intentio, peruenissemus, uallati aquis atque made facti siti occepimus deperire, quia, cum esset, ut diximus, rigor in aere, erat tamen tepor in fonte, odor in flumine, ardor in campo, aestus in castro. et, ut breui sermone uniuersa concludam, per talem uiam nos iter egisse cognoscite, per quam nec ad paradisum, non dicam ad exilium quisquam ire desideret. quapropter quia haec omnia dominus noster et me incurrere et uos iussit euadere, peccata mea a uestris meritis etiam uisibili itinere discernens, ut uos, qui arta et laboriosa spiritaliter pergitis uia, istius non incederetis angustias, et nos, qui lata et spatiosa retrorsum semper respicientes incedimus, huius incurreremus iniurias, orate dominum, cui omnia possibilia confitemur, ut, etsi per diuersum iter, ad unam nos tamen urbem faciat conuenire, in quam nos misericordia potest inferre, uos merita.