1. CREDIBLE information has reached me that Paulinus, the lustre of
whose birth was inferior to none in the region of Aquitania, has sold
both his own possessions and those of his wife, and entered upon a
course of life which enables him to bestow upon the poor the property
which has been converted into money; while he himself having become
poor instead of rich, as one relieved of a heavy burden, has bid
farewell to his home his country and his kindred, in order to serve
God more diligently; and he is reported to have chosen a retreat in
the city of Nola, to pass the rest of his days in avoiding the turmoil
of life.
2. The lady Therasia too approaches closely to his zeal and virtue,
and objects not to the resolve he has taken. Having transferred her
own property to other owners, she follows her husband, and contented
with his little plat of ground will console herself with the riches of
religion and charity. Offspring they have none, and therefore desire to
leave behind them good deeds.
3. When the great of the world hear this, what will they say? That a
man of his family, his ancestry, his genius, gifted with such eloquence,
should have seceded from the senate, that the succession of a noble
family should become extinct, such things, they will say, are not to
be borne. And though they, when they perform the rites of Isis, shave
their heads and eyebrows, they nevertheless call it an unworthy deed
should a Christian man out of zeal for holy religion change his habit.
Sidenote: S. Matt. x. 33.
S. Mark viii. 38.
Sidenote: Heb. xi. 26.
Sidenote: 2 Sam. vi. 20.
Sidenote: Isa. xx. 4.
4. Truly I grieve that, while falsehood is so respected, there should
be such negligence as regards the Truth, that many are ashamed of
seeming too devoted to our holy religion, not considering His words
Who says, _Whosoever shall be ashamed of[242] Me before men, of him
will I also be ashamed[243] before My Father Which is in heaven_. But
Moses was not thus ashamed, for though invited into the royal palace he
_esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of
Egypt_. David was not thus ashamed when he danced before the Ark of the
testimony in the sight of all the people. Isaiah was not thus ashamed,
when he walked naked and bare-foot through the people, proclaiming the
heavenly oracles.
Sidenote: Ps. xlvii. 1.
Sidenote: Ezek. vi. 11.
5. Viewed by the outward eye what can be a more unseemly spectacle than
an imitation of the gestures of players, and a wreathing of the limbs
after the manner of women? Lascivious dances are the companions of
luxury and the pastime of wantonness. What did David himself mean by
singing, _O clap your hands together, all ye people_? If we regard the
bodily action we must suppose that he clapped his hands as if mingling
with female dancers, and shouted with unseemly noise. Of Ezekiel too it
is said, _Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot_.
Sidenote: 2 Sam. vi. 20.
Sidenote: Ib. 21, 22.
6. But the things which viewed corporeally are unseemly, when viewed in
regard to holy religion become venerable, so that they who blame such
things will involve their own souls in the net of blame. Thus Michal
reproves David for his dancing and says to him, _How glorious was the
king of Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of
his handmaids_! And David answered her, _It was before the Lord, which
chose me before thy father, and before all his house to appoint me
ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel: therefore will I play
before the Lord, and I will be yet more vile thus, and will be base in
mine own sight, and of the maid-servants which thou hast spoken of, of
them shall I be had in honour_.
7. David therefore did not shrink from female censure, nor was he
ashamed to hear their reproaches for his religious service. For he
played before the Lord as being his servant, and was the more pleasing
to Him in that he so humbled himself before God, as to lay aside his
royal dignity and to offer to God the very lowest ministry, as though
he were a servant. She also who censured such dancing was condemned to
barrenness and had no children by the king, that she might not bring
forth a proud offspring; and so, as it turned out, she obtained no
continuance of descendants or of good deeds.
Sidenote: S. Matt. xi. 17.
Sidenote: Eccles. iv. 5.
Sidenote: S. Matt. v. 16.
Sidenote: Ps. cx. 1.
8. If any one is still doubtful, let him hear the testimony of the
Gospel, for the Son of God said, _We have piped unto you, and ye have
not danced_. Therefore were the Jews abandoned, because they danced
not, nor clapped their hands, and the Gentiles were called in, who gave
to God spiritual applause. _The fool foldeth his hands together and
devoureth his own flesh_, that is, he entangles himself in corporeal
matters, and devours his own flesh, like prevailing death[244], and so
he shall not find eternal life. But the wise man, who so holds up his
works that they may shine before his Father Which is in heaven, has not
consumed his flesh but has raised it to the grace of the resurrection.
This is that glorious dance of the wise man which David danced, and
thus by the loftiness of his spiritual dancing he ascended even to the
throne of Christ, that he might see and hear _the Lord saying to his
Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand_!
Sidenote: Isa. xx. 4.
9. Now if you are of opinion that this interpretation of the dancing
has not been made unreasonably, do not spare yourself the trouble of
reading a little further, in order that we may consider together the
case of Isaiah, how, as is well known to you, he was uncovered, not in
mockery but gloriously, in the sight of the assembled people, as one
who reported with his own mouth the oracles of God.
10. But perhaps it may be said, Was it not then disgraceful for a man
to walk wholly uncovered through the people, seeing that he must be met
both by men and women? Must not the sight itself have shocked the eyes
of all, especially of women? Do not we ourselves generally shrink from
looking upon naked men? And are not men’s persons concealed by garments
that they may not offend the eyes of beholders by an unseemly spectacle?
Sidenote: Isa. xx. 3.
11. In this I also acquiesce; but consider what it was this act
represented, and what was set forth under this outward show; it was,
that the young men and maidens of the Jews should be led away prisoners,
and walk naked, _like as My servant Isaiah_, it is said, _hath walked
naked and barefoot_. This might also have been impressed in words,
but God chose to render it more expressive by example, that the sight
itself might thus strike greater terror, and what they shrunk from in
the person of the prophet, that they might dread for themselves. In
which of the two then does the baseness most shock us; in the person of
the prophet, or in the sins of those unbelievers which deserved to fall
into this great misery of captivity?
Sidenote: Ps. lxxxv. 8.
Sidenote: Gen. ii. 25.
Sidenote: Ib. iii. 7.
Sidenote: Ib. xxxix. 12.
12. But what if there was nothing worthy of reproach in the prophet’s
body? He indeed alluded not to corporeal but to spiritual things; for
in his ecstasy of mind he says, not _I will hearken what_ I shall say,
but, _what the Lord God shall say in me_. Nor does he consider whether
he is naked or clothed. Again, Adam before his sin was naked, but
knew not he was naked, because he was endued with virtue; after he
had committed sin he saw that he was naked, and covered himself. Noah
was uncovered, but he blushed not, because he was full of gladness
and spiritual joy, while he who derided him for being naked, himself
remained subject to the disgrace of perpetual baseness. Joseph too,
that he might not be basely uncovered, left his garment, and fled away
naked; now which of the two was base in this instance, she who kept
another’s garment, or he who put off his own?
Sidenote: Acts vii. 56.
Sidenote: Isa. xx. 2.
13. But that it may be more fully evident that the prophets regard
not themselves nor what lies at their feet, but heavenly things, when
Stephen was stoned he saw _the heavens opened, and Jesus standing on
the right hand of God_; and therefore he felt not the blows of the
stones, he regarded not his bodily wounds, but his eyes were fastened
on Christ, he clung closely to him. So also Isaiah looked not on his
own nakedness, but offered himself to be the organ of the Divine voice,
that he might utter what God spake within him.
Sidenote: Gen. xviii. 12.
Sidenote: Ib. xv. 6.
Sidenote: Ib. xx. 3.
14. But be it supposed that he saw himself, could he not do that which
he was commanded? Could he believe that to be base which God enjoined?
Sarah, because she laughed, was convicted of unbelief; Abraham was
praised, because he doubted not the word of God; yea, he received a
very great reward, because he believed that at God’s command, even
parricide might be piously committed.
15. What cause for shame then had the prophet here, when one thing
was enacted, but that of which it was a figure was quite different?
The Jews, being deserted by God for their wickedness, began to be
vanquished by their enemies, and were fain to betake themselves to the
Egyptians, to be a protection to them against the Assyrians, whereas
had they consulted for good, they ought rather to have returned to
the faith. The Lord, being angry, shews that their hope was vain in
thinking that the offence against Him could be removed by a greater sin,
for that very people in whom the Jews were trusting, were themselves to
be vanquished. This was the meaning as regards the actual history.
Sidenote: Exod. xxxii. 6.
16. But this history itself is a figure, signifying that he trusts in
the Egyptians who is given up to impurity, and enslaved to wantonness.
For no man abandons himself to excess but he who departs from the
precepts of the true God. But as soon as a man waxes wanton, he begins
to fall off from the true faith. And then he commits two grievous
crimes, lassitude as regards the flesh, and sacrilege as regards the
mind. He then who follows not the Lord his God ingulfs himself in
impurity and lust, those pestilential passions of the body. But he who
has engulfed and plunged himself in such wallowing places, falls also
into the snare of unbelief; for _the people sat down to eat and to
drink_, and required that gods should be made for them. Hereby the Lord
teaches us that he who gives up his soul to these two kinds of vices,
is stript of the garment, not of a woollen vest, but of living virtue;
that clothing which is not temporal but eternal.
Farewell, love me, for I also love you.
LETTER LIX.
A.D. 393.
S. AMBROSE here writes to Severus, Bishop of Naples, to tell him
of one James, a presbyter of Persia, who was seeking a retreat
from the world in Campania. This leads him to dwell on the
contrast of the many troubles with which he is surrounded at
Milan.