{"slug":"stoa0119.stoa002.opp-lat1","id":"latin:ogl-csel:stoa0119.stoa002.opp-lat1","title":"Epistula ad Probam Virginem","title_source":"Epistula ad Probam Virginem","author":"Eugippius","genre":"letter","date":"","tradition":"latin","coverage":"not-located","coverage_claim":{"status":"not-located","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},"publication":{"status":"machine-draft","reviewed_by":null,"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor","provider":"Relace","generated":"2026-11-15T05:29:35Z","cost_usd":0.002394},"source":{"registry_id":"latin:ogl-csel:stoa0119.stoa002.opp-lat1","work_id":"stoa0119.stoa002.opp-lat1","edition":"ogl-csel","language":"","license":"Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License","url":"https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/csel-dev/blob/master/data/data/stoa0119/stoa002/stoa0119.stoa002.opp-lat1.xml"},"stats":{"passages":4,"english_words":990,"coptic_letters":0,"source_letters":4022,"commentary_units":22,"commentary_kinds":6,"derived_notes":0,"ambiguities":6,"work_notes":5,"external_links":0,"timeline":3},"summary":{"work":"stoa0119.stoa002.opp-lat1","abstract":"Eugippius's Epistula ad Probam Virginem is a Latin letter offering spiritual counsel on virginity and ascetic life, addressed to a virgin named Proba. Written in the early 6th century, it reflects late antique monastic ideals and is preserved in the CSEL corpus. The letter survives in a single manuscript tradition with limited circulation, likely due to Eugippius's association with Severinus of Noricum. Its influence appears confined to his immediate circle, with no known vernacular translation or liturgical use.","historical_context":"Eugippius, a disciple of Severinus of Noricum, likely wrote this letter in the early 6th century, ca. 500–530 CE, in the post-Roman context of Noricum (modern Austria). The letter addresses Proba, a virgin, and aligns with contemporary ascetic literature emphasizing virginity and monastic discipline. It survives in a single manuscript tradition within the CSEL edition, with no early medieval copies attested, suggesting limited circulation. The letter's preservation may stem from Eugippius's association with Severinus, whose hagiography he also wrote. The text is rarely cited in later monastic rules or florilegia, indicating a confined influence. The addressee Proba may be the same virgin to whom Jerome wrote Epistula 130, but this is uncertain. The letter's genre as a spiritual epistle fits the late antique tradition of ascetic correspondence.","significance":"The letter provides insight into early 6th-century monastic ideals in Noricum and the transmission of ascetic literature in a post-Roman setting. It is significant for understanding Eugippius's role as a disciple of Severinus and the limited circulation of such works. Its preservation in CSEL highlights the scholarly interest in late antique Christian texts, though its influence remained local.","timeline":[{"date":"ca. 500–530 CE","event":"Eugippius active as a disciple of Severinus of Noricum; likely writes Epistula ad Probam Virginem."},{"date":"6th c.","event":"Letter preserved in a single manuscript tradition, possibly within Eugippius's circle."},{"date":"19th–20th c.","event":"Text edited in CSEL (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum), ensuring modern access."}],"relations":[{"work":"Vita Sancti Severini","relation":"Eugippius also authored this hagiography of Severinus, linking the letter to his broader literary output.","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"Epistula 130 (Ad Demetriadem)","relation":"Jerome's letter to a virgin named Demetrias; Proba may be the same addressee, but evidence is thin.","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"Augustine's works","relation":"Eugippius compiled excerpts from Augustine, and this letter may serve as a prefatory epistle to that collection.","key":"","label":null,"url":null}],"external_links":[],"cautions":["The date is uncertain; the letter is placed in the early 6th century based on Eugippius's known activity ca. 500–530 CE.","The addressee Proba may not be the same as Jerome's correspondent; identification is speculative.","The letter survives in a single manuscript tradition with no early medieval copies, limiting textual verification.","No critical apparatus exists; the text follows a single source without collation against other manuscripts."],"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor","provider":"Relace","cost_usd":0.00039,"generated":"2026-11-15T05:29:34Z"},"links":[{"kind":"source","label":"Open Greek and Latin CSEL","url":"https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/csel-dev/blob/master/data/data/stoa0119/stoa002/stoa0119.stoa002.opp-lat1.xml"}],"checks":{"work":"stoa0119.stoa002.opp-lat1","status":"pass","blocking":[],"warnings":[],"stats":{"passages":4,"translated":4,"commentary_passages":4,"commentary_units":22,"english_words":990,"source_letters":4022,"commentary_kinds":6},"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor"},"work_notes":[{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"Eugippius addresses the virgin Proba, offering spiritual counsel on virginity and ascetic life. The letter reflects late antique monastic ideals and is preserved in the CSEL corpus.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":["ogl-csel"]},{"unit":"dating","kind":"chronology","basis":"background","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"Eugippius, a disciple of Severinus of Noricum, likely wrote this letter in the early 6th century. The dating rests on his known activity ca. 500–530 CE and the letter’s thematic alignment with post-Roman ascetic literature.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"transmission","kind":"transmission","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The letter survives in a single manuscript tradition within the CSEL edition. No early medieval copies are attested, suggesting limited circulation; its preservation may be due to Eugippius’s association with Severinus.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":["ogl-csel"]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"background","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The letter is rarely cited in later monastic rules or florilegia. Its influence appears confined to the immediate circle of Eugippius, with no known vernacular translation or liturgical use.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"caution","text":"This edition does not provide a critical apparatus for variant readings. The text follows a single source (ogl-csel) without collation against other manuscripts, as none are known.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":["ogl-csel"]}],"derived_work_notes":[{"kind":"coverage","severity":"info","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},{"kind":"limit","severity":"caution","text":"The English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Coptic; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve."},{"kind":"register","severity":"info","text":"Register: letter in Latin; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them."},{"kind":"structure","severity":"info","text":"Passages: 4 narrative."},{"kind":"source","severity":"info","text":"Source edition: ogl-csel — Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License"}],"derived_structure":{"narrative":4},"term_index":[],"citations":{},"segments":[{"i":1,"ref":"p1","source":"EVGIPPII EPISTVLA AD PROBAM VIRGINEM.\n\nDOMINAE MERITO VENERABILI ET FRVCTV SACRAE VIRGINITATIS IN CHRISTI GRATIA SEMPER INLVSTRI AC PER OMNIA PROBAE EVGIPPIVS OMNIVM SERVORVM DEI FAMVLVS IN DOMINO SALVTEM DICIT.\n\nExcerptorum codicem, quem de nonnullis operibus sancti Augustini cohortante domno meo Marino abbate uel ceteris sanctis fratribus quomodocumque compegeram, continuo transferri uobis sancto quo polletis studio uoluistis, et cum bibliothecae uestrae copia multiplex integra de quibus pauca decerpsi contineat opera, placuit tamen habere decerpta. at ego prospiciens ne forsitan a legentibus temeritatis arguerer, necesse habui causas facti praefatione fateri: quae ita se habent: inter magnos et egregios catholicae doctores ecclesiae praeclarum fuisse et esse beatum Augustinum quis ignoret episcopum? quem cum diuina et humana eruditione mirabilem omnes orthodoxi toto terrarum orbe uenerentur, praecipue tamen apostolicae sedis antistites scripta. eius sua probabiliter auctoritate firmantes tanto maiori studio semper amplexi sunt, quanto ampliori solacio his usos se fuisse testantur.","english":"Eugippius’s Letter to the Virgin Proba.\n\nTo the Lady, deservedly venerable and by the fruit of sacred virginity always illustrious in the grace of Christ and in all things upright, Eugippius, the servant of all the servants of God, sends greetings in the Lord.\n\nThe codex of excerpts, which I had somehow compiled from several works of Saint Augustine at the urging of my lord Abbot Marinus and the other holy brothers, you wished to be immediately transferred to you, with the holy zeal in which you excel; and although the abundant and complete collection of your library contains the works from which I culled a few passages, it nevertheless pleased you to have the excerpts. But I, foreseeing that I might perhaps be accused of rashness by readers, considered it necessary to state the reasons for the deed in a preface: they are as follows. Who does not know that among the great and distinguished Catholic doctors of the Church, the blessed bishop Augustine was and is preeminent? And while all orthodox Christians throughout the whole world venerate him as wonderful in both divine and human learning, the pontiffs of the apostolic see especially, by confirming his writings with their own authoritative approval, have always embraced them with all the greater zeal, inasmuch as they testify that they have used them with all the greater comfort.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"EVGIPPII EPISTVLA AD PROBAM VIRGINEM","severity":"info","text":"The title establishes the letter as a prefatory epistle to a collection of excerpts from Augustine, addressed to the virgin Proba.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"domno meo Marino abbate","severity":"info","text":"Abbot Marinus, otherwise unknown, is the monastic superior who prompted Eugippius to compile the excerpts; this situates the work in a cenobitic context.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"apostolicae sedis antistites","severity":"info","text":"Eugippius claims that popes (apostolicae sedis antistites) have authoritatively confirmed Augustine’s writings, reflecting the later reception of Augustine as a doctrinal authority in Rome.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"PROBAE","severity":"info","text":"The addressee Proba is likely the same virgin to whom Jerome wrote Epistula 130 (Ad Demetriadem), but here she is a patron of Eugippius’s excerpt collection.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"quomodocumque compegeram","severity":"caution","text":"Eugippius’s phrase 'somehow compiled' may signal modesty or a genuine lack of systematic method; the reader should not assume a critical edition.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The identity of Proba is not fully certain; she may be the same as Jerome’s correspondent or a different noble virgin.","The phrase 'quomodocumque compegeram' leaves open whether the compilation was methodical or haphazard."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":2,"ref":"p2","source":"nam contra multos hostes ecclesiae dimicantes et maxime contra uersipelles inimicos gratiae dei doctrina eius instructi uel potius eadem inlustrati gratia semper exstitere uictores: cuius uictoriae praemia in tantum donante deo posteris prosunt, ut et ieiunos copiosius pascant et fortes armis spiritalibus muniant. catholica si quidem diuinae legis explanatio non solum esurientibus alimonia sed et dimicantibus efficitur armatura. nec immerito uicarii illius, cui pascendas oues dominus ore proprio commendauit, compastoralis officii socium copiosa gregi dominico de pratis scripturarum pabula procurantem peramplius dilexerunt, suum uerissime putantes bonum quod per fraternam scientiam gratulabantur inuentum, scientes hunc intellegibilem ad condiendos animos salem etiam pecoribus abiectissimis profuturum. quorum omnium ego prorsus abiectior ex aliquantis eiusdem beati uiri praeclaris operibus perpauca ruminando quodam modo lambendoque decerpsi, quae praestantibus amicis integra legeram: nam omnia illius habere uel inuenire quis possit? nonnulla ergo legenti mihi atque habere cupienti quia facultas minime suppetebat, idcirco quaedam uelut ex ingenti prato floribus asperso caelestibus ex librorum eius quae data est copia inops aegerque conlegi: inops scilicet peritia., aeger offensa, uel informari tanta doctrina cupiens uel sanari.","english":"For against the many enemies of the church who fight, and especially against the shape-shifting foes of the grace of God, his disciples, instructed by his teaching—or rather, illuminated by that same grace—have always emerged victorious. The rewards of that victory, by the gift of God, benefit posterity so greatly that they both feed the hungry more abundantly and arm the strong with spiritual weapons. Indeed, the Catholic exposition of divine law becomes not only nourishment for the hungry but also armor for those who fight. Nor is it undeserved that the vicar to whom the Lord entrusted his sheep to be fed with his own mouth loved all the more his fellow in the co-pastoral office, who procures abundant fodder for the Lord’s flock from the meadows of the Scriptures, truly considering as their own good what they rejoiced to have found through a brother’s knowledge, knowing that this intelligible salt for seasoning souls would also benefit the most abject of beasts. Of all these, I—utterly more abject—by ruminating and, as it were, licking at a very few of the outstanding works of that blessed man, have culled some things that I had read in their entirety among excellent friends. For who could possess or discover all his works? Therefore, while reading and desiring to have them, since the means were scarcely at hand, I gathered certain things, as if from a vast meadow sprinkled with celestial flowers, from the abundance of his books that was granted to me, needy and sick: needy, that is, in skill; sick in offense, either desiring to be informed by such great teaching or to be healed.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"uersipelles","severity":"info","text":"The rare adjective 'uersipelles' (literally 'skin-changing') denotes shape-shifting or deceitful enemies, here specifically opponents of grace. It evokes the image of heretics who disguise their errors, a common patristic trope.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"pascendas oues","severity":"info","text":"The phrase 'pascendas oues' (sheep to be fed) alludes to John 21:15–17, where Christ entrusts Peter with the care of his flock. Eugippius applies this to Augustine as a vicar of Peter, reinforcing his authority.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"compastoralis officii socium","severity":"info","text":"Eugippius describes Augustine as a 'co-pastoral' colleague of Peter, reflecting the late antique view of bishops as successors to the apostles. This imagery underscores Augustine's role as a teacher and defender of the church.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"excerpts","severity":"info","text":"Eugippius characterizes his compilation as 'ruminating' and 'licking' from Augustine's works, a humble metaphor for excerpting. This self-deprecation aligns with the genre of monastic florilegia, where the compiler presents himself as unworthy.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"nam contra multos hostes","severity":"info","text":"This passage continues the narrative of Augustine's legacy, shifting from praise of his disciples to Eugippius's own role as compiler. The contrast between 'victores' and 'abiectior' structures the argument for the value of the excerpts.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"inops peritia, aeger offensa","severity":"caution","text":"The phrase 'inops peritia, aeger offensa' is ambiguous: 'peritia' may mean 'skill' (ablative of respect) or be a scribal error for 'peritia' (experience). The translation 'needy in skill, sick in offense' follows the draft, but 'offensa' could also mean 'offense taken' or 'sin'.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'inops peritia, aeger offensa' is syntactically ambiguous; 'peritia' may be a noun or a verb form, and 'offensa' could mean 'offense' (sin) or 'offense taken' (resentment). The reading taken follows the draft as 'needy in skill, sick in offense'."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":3,"ref":"p3","source":"ueritatem namque sententiae Salomonis, qua ait: fauus mellis uerba prudentiae, dulcedo animae, sanitas ossuum, in supra dicti uiri dulcissima et sanissima eruditione persensi. pauca proinde quae congessi non solum mihi qui sensu censuque sum pauper sed etiam his qui utroque praediti sunt munere profutura confido. nam cum in manus eorum haec eadem excerpta peruenerint, aut ardore mendicantis accensi aut inordinata, ut assolet, congestione permoti dabunt operam uel plura studiosius habere uel ex his aptiora decerpere atque in unum corpus redacta saepius lectitare. ita forsitan imperiti desiderium compendiis poterit militare doctorum plerumque enim quod ineptius a paruis arripitur a magnis aptius adimpletur. certe si nullus magnorum id uel facere uel habere dignetur, saltem illi quibus plenaria tanti desunt operis his fortasse delectabuntur excerptis, quia facilius unum codicem quis poterit sibi parare quam multos. a singulis sane capitulis diuersae res uel etiam quaestiones atque sententiae de quo opere uel libro sint indicantur, ut, si quis ignorat ubi eas plene possit inuenire, cognoscat.","english":"I have truly perceived the truth of Solomon’s saying, “The words of wisdom are a honeycomb, sweetness for the soul, health for the bones,” in the most sweet and healthful teaching of the aforementioned man. Therefore, I trust that the few things I have gathered will be useful not only to me, who am poor in both sense and wealth, but also to those who are endowed with both gifts. For when these same excerpts come into their hands, whether kindled by the ardor of a beggar or moved by the disorderly accumulation, as is usual, they will take pains either to have more diligently more material or to cull more suitable passages from these and, once brought together into one body, to read them frequently. Thus, perhaps, the desire of the unskilled will be able to serve the convenience of the learned; for often what is more ineptly seized by the small is more aptly fulfilled by the great. Certainly, if none of the great deigns to do or have this, at least those to whom the full works of such a man are lacking will perhaps delight in these excerpts, because it will be easier for someone to procure one codex than many. From each individual chapter, the different subjects or even questions and opinions are indicated, along with from which work or book they come, so that if anyone does not know where to find them in full, he may learn.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"fauus mellis uerba prudentiae, dulcedo animae, sanitas ossuum","severity":"info","text":"Eugippius adapts Proverbs 16:24 (Vulgate: 'fauus mellis verba prudentiae, dulcedo animae, sanitas ossuum'), though the Vulgate reads 'mel' not 'fauus mellis'. The citation is loose, possibly from memory or a variant tradition.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"sensu censuque sum pauper","severity":"info","text":"The phrase 'sensu censuque sum pauper' is a rhetorical doublet: 'sensu' (intellect) and 'censu' (wealth) are paired to emphasize the author's humility. 'Censu' here means 'property' or 'means', not 'census' in the modern sense.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"pauca proinde quae congessi","severity":"info","text":"This passage functions as a programmatic statement: Eugippius justifies his excerpting method, anticipates both criticism and use by scholars, and explains the chapter markers ('a singulis sane capitulis') that identify sources—a key structural feature of the work.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"ita forsitan imperiti desiderium compendiis poterit militare doctorum","severity":"info","text":"Eugippius expresses hope that his compilation will serve both the unlearned and the learned, a topos in late antique and medieval florilegia. This reflects the practical purpose of the Excerpta ex operibus sancti Augustini, which became a widely used reference work.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"supra dicti uiri","severity":"info","text":"The 'aforementioned man' is Augustine of Hippo, whose works Eugippius excerpts. The letter to Proba (a Roman noblewoman and correspondent of Augustine) introduces the Excerpta, a collection of Augustinian passages organized by topic.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The exact biblical text used by Eugippius is uncertain: the Vulgate Proverbs 16:24 reads 'mel' not 'fauus mellis', but the latter may reflect a variant or a conflation with other honey imagery in Scripture.","The identity of 'Proba' is not specified in this passage; she is likely the same Proba to whom Augustine addressed letters (e.g., Epistulae 130, 150), but the text does not confirm this."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":4,"ref":"p4","source":"integrum uero librum uisum est excerptorum debere esse principium et ille potissimum mihi praeponendus occurrit, quem idem beatus Augustinus antistes ad sanctum Hieronymum post primum de animae quaestione noscitur scripsisse presbyterum, soluens illam ex epistula Iacobi apostoli quam in primo praenotaui capitulo quaestionem: in quo libro quattuor illas uirtutes, id est prudentiam, temperantiam, fortitudinem atque iustitiam, ad illud geminae dilectionis dei et proximi latum mandatum nimis, in quo tota lex pendet et prophetae, mirifice rettulit. ob hoc itaque congruum putaui atque conueniens ut his excerptis caritas, qua dispersa solent adunari integritate, libri daret exordium, quae et uirtutum omnium perfectio et supernae legis est plenitudo; ipsa quoque finem dedit operi, quae non habet finem. nam paene ultimus numeri titulus ordinem nutriendae, ultimus enutritae laudem continet caritatis; per quam adiuro lecturos ut mihi indigno ueniam dignanter tribuant et orationum praesidia clementer impendant. si quis sane transferens hoc opus his quae congesta sunt alia addere forte uoluerit, congruis adiciat locis, ut praedicti duo de caritate tituli finem semper teneant excerptorum.","english":"But the complete book seemed to me ought to be the beginning of the excerpts, and that one especially presented itself to be placed first, which the same blessed Augustine, the bishop, is known to have written to the holy priest Jerome after the first question concerning the soul, solving that question from the epistle of the apostle James which I noted in the first chapter: in which book he wonderfully referred those four virtues, namely prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice, to that broad commandment of the twofold love of God and neighbor, on which the whole law and the prophets depend. For this reason, therefore, I thought it fitting and suitable that charity, by which scattered things are usually united into integrity, should give the beginning of the book to these excerpts, which is both the perfection of all virtues and the fullness of the supreme law; it also gave the end to the work, which has no end. For the nearly last title of the number contains the order of nurturing charity, the last the praise of nurtured charity; by which I adjure those who will read to grant pardon kindly to unworthy me and to bestow the aids of prayers mercifully. If anyone, indeed, transferring this work, should perhaps wish to add other things to those which have been gathered, let him add them in suitable places, so that the two aforementioned titles concerning charity always hold the end of the excerpts.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"background","lemma":"integrum uero librum","severity":"info","text":"Eugippius refers to Augustine's letter to Jerome (Ep. 167) on the origin of the soul, which he excerpts as the first item in his florilegium.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"ex epistula Iacobi apostoli","severity":"info","text":"The question from James (likely Jas 2:14-16) concerns the relationship between faith and works, which Augustine resolves in his letter to Jerome.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"caritas","severity":"info","text":"Caritas (charity/love) is the organizing principle of the collection, framing the excerpts as a movement from nurturing to nurtured charity.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"paene ultimus numeri titulus","severity":"info","text":"Eugippius notes that the penultimate and final titles of his collection treat the order of nurturing charity and the praise of nurtured charity, forming an inclusio.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"adiuro lecturos","severity":"info","text":"Eugippius adjures readers to grant him pardon and prayers, a conventional humility topos that also signals the work's intended monastic audience.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"si quis sane transferens","severity":"caution","text":"Eugippius permits future copyists to add material but insists that the two titles on charity always remain at the end, indicating concern for the collection's integrity.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'primo capitulo' may refer to a chapter in Eugippius's own work or to a section of the source letter; the reading taken is that it refers to the first chapter of the present collection."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]}]}