Born at Ravenna, of noble parentage; he embraced, towards the middle of
the tenth century, the state of a hermit, under the direction of a
solitary, whose severity at least equalled his piety. Romuald bore for a
long time, without a murmur, the repeated thumps which he received from
his holy teacher; but observing that they were continually directed to
his _left_ side, “Honour my _right_ ear, my dear master,” said he,
meekly, “with some of your attention, for I have nearly lost the use of
my _left_ ear, through your partiality to that side.” Romuald, when he
became master of his own conduct, showed that he could on occasion copy
the rigour of his preceptor; for, hearing that his own father, who had
embraced a monastic life, entertained thoughts of re-entering the world
again, he hurried to the monastery, and, by the rhetoric of a very
hearty drubbing, brought his unsteady parent over to a more settled way
of thinking.