[61] ... _Tum Præpositus multum scandalizans, & iracundiæ furore
succensus, eisdem Carpentariis disciplinam corporis imponi jussit._
Aulus Gellius, in his _Noctes Atticæ_, relates a fact which bears
much resemblance to the above; though, indeed, much greater Men were
concerned in it, than the Prior of a Convent, and Carpenters: the one
was a Roman Consul, and the other, the Engineer of a Town, allied to
the Republick.
The name of the Consul in question was P. Crassus, who must not,
however, be mistaken for the celebrated M. Crassus, the partner in
power with Pompey and Cæsar; though both lived in the same times.
This Consul P. Crassus, having been intrusted with the conduct of
the war that was then carrying on in Asia, laid siege to the Town of
Leucas; and wanting a strong beam of oak to make a battering-ram, he
recollected he had lately seen at Elæa, a Town allied to the Romans,
just such a piece of timber as he wished to have: he therefore wrote
to the Magistrates of that place, to request them to send it to him.
The Magistrates accordingly directed their Engineer to convey the
beam to Crassus; but as there was another in the yards belonging
to the Town, which, the Engineer thought, would be fitter for the
use Crassus wanted to put it to, he made choice of the latter,
and conveyed it to the Roman camp. However, the Engineer had been
mistaken in his calculations, and the beam unfortunately proved too
small; which the Consul did no sooner perceive, and that his orders
had been neglected, than, like the above-mentioned Prior, he fell
into a passion, and ordered the Engineer to be stript, and soundly
lashed.
Some apology, however, may be made in favour of the action of the
Roman Consul. As himself observed upon the spot, the whole business
of war would be at an end, if those whose duty it is to obey, were
permitted to canvass the orders which they receive, and to set aside
what part they please: besides that an allowance should be made for
Men of a military life, and who are invested with military command;
and some little indulgence, I think, ought to be shewn them, when
they happen to inflict flagellations somewhat cavalierly. But as
to the above holy Prior, who had made so many vows of obedience,
humility, forbearance, and the like, it is not, indeed, quite so easy
a talk to excuse him: I shall not, therefore, undertake it; and I
will content myself with observing, how advantageous it would have
been both for the above Engineer and Carpenters, in the perplexing
situations in which they were respectively placed, to have possessed
a power of the same kind as that which the Golden Legend (or perhaps
some other Book of equal merit) supposes Jesus Christ to have exerted
on a similar occasion. Joseph, as it is related, who had the care of
the infant Jesus trusted to him, tried to bring him up to his own
trade of a Carpenter; and one day, finding that the Boy had sawed
a piece of wood shorter than the measure he had prescribed, he ran
up to him, full of anger, with a stick raised in his hand, in order
to chastise him; but the arch apprentice, who was beginning to be
conscious of his power of working miracles, on a sudden exerted it,
and lengthened the piece of wood to its proper size.
[62] ... _Nec mora, vestes exuit Electus, & Decani validissimam
disciplinam accepit: quâ acceptâ, vestibus reindutus, Decano cum
maximâ oris gratiâ coram omnibus dixit; gratias ago Deo, & Patronæ
Remensis Ecclesiæ ejus piissimæ genitrici, quod te talem in regimine
relinquo._ Lib. II. Cap. XXXIX. Num. 20.
[63] The arbitrary power of inflicting flagellations, possessed by
Abbots, ought, one should think, to insure them in a high degree the
veneration of their Monks; yet, from the manner in which St. Romuald
is above said to have been used by those under his government, we may
conclude the case is otherwise.
A farther proof of the great freedom with which Monks use their
Abbots, is to be derived from what Mons. Richelet says, in his
well-known Dictionary of the French language, that Monks never
trouble their heads about waiting for their Abbot, when he comes too
late to dinner. Mons. Richelet informs us of this fact under the word
_Abbé_, when he explains the origin of the French common saying, _on
l’attend comme les Moines font l’Abbé_ (they wait for him, as Monks
do for their Abbot), which is said jocularly of a person who is
not at all waited for: this saying is derived, the above Gentleman
observes, from the remarkable expedition with which Monks sit down
to their dinner, as soon as the bell strikes, without caring whether
the Abbot is come or not.
This singular piece of neglect on the part of Monks, towards a person
invested with such formidable prerogatives as those abovementioned,
may be accounted for, different ways. In the first place, since Monks
are so celebrated for their love of good dinners, and even entertain
such high notions of the value of a plentiful table, as to have rated
the hardship of living upon bread and water, at that of receiving a
hundred lashes a day, we may naturally suppose, that, when their mess
is served upon the table, their attention is so agreeably engaged by
the presence of that object, that they presently run to it, wholly
regardless of any trifling flagellation that may afterward be the
consequence of such expedition.
The same neglectful conduct of Monks towards their Abbot, though
he is possessed of such a despotic power over them, may also be
explained in another manner: for, the subject is deep, and being
considered in a political light, may admit a number of different
interpretations. In general, it may be observed, that Monks may
easily form close combinations among themselves against their Abbots;
that as the latter live together with them, within the walls of
the same Monasteries, they have it in their power to play them a
thousand tricks; and that these considerations are very apt to induce
Abbots to make a mild use of their authority, at least with respect
to the greater part of their Monks.
Indeed this latter explanation agrees pretty well with several facts.
It has frequently happened, for instance, that Abbots who have used
their Monks with cruelty, have been made away with, in some way
or other, within the walls of their Monasteries. The Abbé Boileau
informs us in his Book, that St. Romuald was much maltreated, and
at last expelled by his Monks; which, no doubt, was owing to the
flagellations he inflicted upon them; flagellations which the Abbé
also mentions, though he does not assign the causes of them, whether
it was because they did not wait for him at dinner, or for some other
reason, but the truth and severity of which we shall the more readily
believe, if we consider that the Saint, upon a certain occasion, as
will be related hereafter, flagellated even his own Father. Nay, it
is not quite unlikely that those flagellations which the Saint used
to imagine he received from the hands of the Devil, were the effects
of the revenge of his Monks; till at last they openly revolted
against him, and turned him out of the Monastery.
Since we are upon the subject of St. Romuald, it will not be amiss to
add, that the flagellations which he received both from the Devil,
and from his Monks, were however nothing in comparison with the
danger to which he was once exposed, on account of his very sanctity.
The Saint, as is related in the History of his Life, was once settled
in a certain Convent in Catalonia, and was in great reputation for
his virtue in the neighbourhood. The report having been spread that
the holy Man was going to leave the Country, the People began to be
afraid that they should thereby be deprived of the possession of his
relicks, to which they thought they had a fair title, on account of
the length of time he had resided among them; and they formed the
ingenious scheme of murdering him, in order to secure to themselves
the possession of his body; but the Saint, having received timely
information of the plot, thought proper to decline the honour that
was intended for him, and made his escape.