1. THE law suit which you did not indeed institute of your own accord,
but took up when begun by others, the obligations of piety and a
desire of approving your bounty towards the poor leading you thereto,
has in the course of its adjudication devolved into my hands. I took
cognisance of it by the tenor of the Imperial enactment, and both
the authority committed to me by the blessed Apostle and the form and
character of your own life and conduct have laid this upon me. Having
myself censured the keeping alive amongst you your ancient animosity,
I found myself obliged by the parties to hear their cause.
2. I blushed to refuse, I must confess, particularly since the
advocates of either party recriminated on each other, asserting that my
investigation would make manifest to whose side the suffrages of right
and justice would incline. Why need I say more? When the days were
almost concluded, and only a few hours remained, in which the Prefect
was hearing other business; the advocates in the suit requested that
it should be adjourned for a few days, that I might preside as judge.
So much zeal was shewn by Christians to prevent the Prefect from
interfering with the jurisdiction of the Bishop. They stated moreover
that certain matters had been conducted in an unseemly manner, and
each party, according to his own inclination, brought forward points
as proper to be heard by the Bishop rather than the Prefect.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. v. 12.
Sidenote: Ib. vi. 4–6.
3. Overcome by these reasons, reminded also of the Apostolical precept,
which reproves Christians, saying, _Do not ye judge them that are
within?_ and again, _If then ye have judgments of things pertaining
to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the Church.
I speak to your shame. Is it so that there is not a wise man among
you, no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? But
brother goeth to law with his brother, and that before unbelievers_, I
accepted the hearing of the cause, on condition however that I should
settle the terms of the compromise. For I saw that, if I decreed
in your favour, the other party might not acquiesce; while, if the
sentence were given for him, you and your holy sister would abandon
your defence. And thus there would have been an unequal rule of
decision. Suspicion might also have attached in their eyes to the
influence which the sacerdotal relation would exercise over my mind.
For when does the defeated party consider the others to have greater
equity than himself? And truly, the expenses of this old-standing
contest would have been intolerable to both parties, had its
termination been without fruit, or without, at least, the solace of
munificence.
4. Since, therefore, I perceived that the issue was doubtful, the
law disputed, the pleas on both sides numerous, and that petitions to
the emperor of an invidious character were being prepared[296] which
contained charges of tampering with his decrees, perceiving also that
in case of his being victorious he would rigorously sue for double the
mesne profits, and for the costs of this protracted suit; while it was
unbecoming your office to demand the expenses of the cause, and not
competent for you to claim any of those profits which as possessor you
had received, I preferred settling the dispute by a compromise to any
aggravation of it by a decree. For there were other disputes liable to
be raised, and what was still more grievous, although these disputes
might be removed, hatreds would remain which are detrimental to
feelings of good will.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. vi. 7.
5. Involved in these difficulties, and feeling that the office of the
priest, the sex of the woman and the gravity of her widowed state, and
regard for my friend appealed to me with a threefold and weighty claim,
I thought that my course of conduct should be to desire no one’s defeat,
but the success of all. Nor was my intention baffled; you have all
overcome, as regards kindred, as regards nature, as regards Scripture
which says, _Why do ye not rather take wrong, why do ye not rather
suffer yourselves to be defrauded?_
Sidenote: Acts xx. 35.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. vi. 7.
6. But perhaps you deem yourself aggrieved by the unfavourable issue of
the suit, and by your pecuniary losses. Better surely for priests are
the losses than the gains of the world; For _it is more blessed to give
than to receive_. But perhaps you will say, I ought not to have been
exposed to fraud, to have suffered injury, to undergo loss. What then?
Would you have inflicted these things? But although you did not do so,
he would have complained of suffering them. Consider therefore what the
Apostle says, _Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?_
So one may almost say that he who suffers not a wrong, inflicts it, for
he who is the stronger ought to be the one to bear it.
7. But why do I treat with you as if this was my concern rather than
your own? For in order to compound the quarrel you offered that for
the time of her life your sister should possess part of the farm, but
that after her death all the property should be ceded to your brother,
and that no one should sue him either in your name or in that of the
Church; but that, if he chose, he should hold it without being called
on to dispense any portion to the Church. When I had declared this, and
extolled the great grace of munificence which had thus been implanted
in your mind, your brother replied that such an arrangement would be
pleasing to him if all fear of injury to the property were removed.
For how, he asked, could a woman, who was a widow besides, manage a
property liable to tribute? How could it profit him, your yielding up
to him your right of possession, if he supposed that greater losses
would accrue to him from the bad cultivation of the land?
8. The advocates on either side were influenced by these considerations.
Wherefore, with the consent of all, it was determined that the
honourable[297] Lætus should undertake the farm, and should pay yearly
to your sister a certain quantity of corn wine and oil. By this means
your holy sister was relieved from anxiety, not deprived of her rights;
she relinquished, not the fruits but the labour, not the revenues,
but the hazard as it is often called of an uncertain return of them.
If violent storms of wind should destroy the harvest, your sister
will still retain undiminished the fruits of the seed-time. Lætus will
ascribe to himself the unfavourable conditions of the arrangment, and
should the pressure of necessity from time to time and of extraordinary
imposts become severe, your sister will stand clear both of Lætus’ loss
and of receiving benefits from you; while Lætus will console himself
with the proprietorship of the estate.
9. Thus all have gained their point: Lætus, because he obtained the
right over the property, which he had not before; your sister, because
she will now enjoy the annual profits without dispute or strife; no
one, however, will have gained so complete and glorious a victory
as yourself, for together with the fulfilment of your bountiful
dispositions towards your sister, you have rendered her partner of your
fraternal union. For you have conceded, to your brother the property,
to your sister the usufruct. But as regards the Church, nothing is
lost to her which is gained to piety; for charity is no loss but a gain
to Christ, charity also is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And thus the
cause has been concluded according to the Apostolic model. We used to
grieve that you were at strife, but your strife has been profitable,
because it has led you to put on the form of the Apostolical life and
discipline. Your strife was unbecoming the priesthood, but this
transaction befits even the Apostolic rule.
Sidenote: S. Luke xvi. 9.
10. And fear not that the Church should be placed out of the range
of your bounty. She also partakes of your fruits, fruits even more
plentiful, for she enjoys the fruit of your teaching, the service
of your life, she has that fertility which you have watered by your
discipline. Rich in these profits she seeks not temporal things, for
she is in possession of what is eternal. But you have added not only
Apostolical but also Evangelical fruits, for the Lord has said, _Make
to yourselves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness_. You also have
made to yourself friends, and, what is remarkable, from those who were
at variance with you. You have made brethren return under the laws of
kindred, you have assured then by this charity and this grace that they
shall be received into eternal habitations.
11. Thus, under the guidance of Christ, and the directions of two
priests, yourself, that is, who gave the first outline, and myself
who gave the sentence, the peace which we have made will not fail; for
there have been so many concurrent voices in favour of fidelity, that
perfidy cannot be without punishment.
12. Lætus will now plough for his sister, whereas before he grudged
her the services of others; Lætus will now gather the harvest for his
sister, though he could not before endure the gifts of others; he will
bear the fruits to the granaries of his sister, and this he shall do
gladly[298], in renewed accordance with the proper signification of his
name.
Sidenote: Ps. cxxxix. 13.
13. You meanwhile, being conformed to the image of the Apostle of
Christ, and assuming the prophetic authority, shall say unto the Lord,
_Thou hast possessed my reins_. This possession better becomes Christ,
that He may possess the virtues of His priest, that He may receive
those fruits which belong to integrity and continence, and what is more,
to charity and tranquillity.
Farewell; love me, for I also love you.