Epistola ad Macedonium

Letter to Macedonius. To the holy and most blessed father Macedonius the presbyter, Sedulius sends greetings in Christ. Before you, venerable father, judge the completed volume of our work and perhaps rightly rebuke it with severity, as one who, supported by no prerogative of ancient learning, has run in a small skiff over such an immense Paschal sea of majesty, which even the most skilled men would dread, I shall first set forth before you the reasons for this undertaking, so that when you have proven me not to have been bold but devoted, you may receive me into the harbor of your heart with gentle calm, and, with God as pilot, you will rejoice that I have suffered no shipwrecks. Therefore, while I was occupied with secular studies, I was spending the force of my impatient intellect, which the providence of divinity generated in me, not for the benefit of my soul but for the empty life, and the skill of literary discipline was serving the amusements of fruitless work, not the author. Finally, merciful God, the creator of things, looked more kindly upon the work of his own right, grieved that the foolish senses of worldly wisdom were held in me for so long, and seasoned the foolish intellect of mortal prudence with celestial salt.

and as soon as the inner darkness left the eyes of my heart, I turned back the wandering steps through the brambles of the rustic field onto the grass of the flowery turf, and with all the effort of a better judgment I dedicated the cultivation of my enlightened breast to God, not seizing the heavy burden of such a great mass out of presumption, but embracing the light yoke of Christ with humble and prostrate devotion, thinking myself certainly not free from the fault of silence if I were to deny to truth the service of a zealous mind which I had offered to vanity—since divine matters can be reverently affirmed and human affairs can be honorably treated. I was tormented again by another storm of a troubled mind, and that reason often stirred my sickly sighs, by which I knew that I had made some progress through your teaching, most blessed father, or through that of others whom similar heavenly grace enlightens. Although you yourselves, showing everything, believe that some little spark can shine in me, yet the sluggishness of my dull heart, like the vein of a flint, barely emits a faint spark, and that very nourishment of a small tinder, which was able to remain in me by the oil of a heavenly gift, I thought it a sin not to share with anyone through the tenacity of mute silence, lest while I tried to guard the entrusted amount of a single talent too cautiously, I should not escape the fault of buried money. For one does not wash away the stain of envy from himself who refuses to bestow on another what, when given, he does not lose.

Amid the various, yet anxious, wanderings of trepidation, I was prompted to approach the laying of this work’s foundation chiefly for this reason: while inviting others by exhortations of truth to the fruit of a good harvest, if ever perhaps provoked by the vices of human weakness, I might be admonished by the words of my own discourse and fear; and I, who have forbidden theft, might fear being seen as a thief; and I, who have shown the path of upright solidity, might be seen to pursue the dangerous slipperiness of a more downward slope; and, armed with the shield of the Lord’s protection, I might scorn the darts of hostile attack with easy repulsion. But why I wished to compose these things in metrical form, I shall not delay to explain briefly. Rarely, best of fathers, as your own experience also knows from the assiduity of reading, has anyone adapted the gifts of divine power to the style of this modulation; and there are many whom the discipline of secular studies delights more through poetic pleasures and the delights of songs. These people, whatever they read of rhetorical eloquence, they grasp more negligently, because they do not love it; but what they see sweetened by the blandishment of verses, they receive with such eagerness of heart that, by often repeating it, they establish and store it deep in memory. I therefore consider the habits of these people not to be rejected, but to be handled according to their ingrained custom or nature, so that each person, by his own inclination, may be more willingly acquired for God.

It does not matter by what occasion someone is imbued with faith, provided that, having entered the path of liberty, he does not again seek the snares of unjust servitude by which he was previously entangled. These, distinguished father, are the reasons for our work—not superfluous, as you have learned, but advantageous. If they do not displease you by reasonable judgment, may they be granted the favor of your kindness, so that, taking a little time from loftier scriptures, you may willingly also bestow yourself upon humbler matters. The eagle does not always fly aloft, borne above the clouds, but sometimes descends to earth with more relaxed wings. The warlike soldier often delights in playing with the arms he is accustomed to use in battle. But perhaps, to draw you away from the trouble of reading the poem in secret, you will address me with such words of flattering speech: "Why," you say, "affable friend, whom I embrace with the grace of pure affection, while you strive to honor me more profusely than others and follow me with the diligence of faithful purpose, do you offend others as if neglected—those who, though unequal in learning and accustomed to being joined with me in the fellowship of religious faith, you choose or set apart me especially and alone, to whom you entrust the words of your devotion? You have the bishop Ursinus, full of priestly reverence, who from the early training of his youth, never deserting the camp of the eternal king, lived pious among barbarians, peaceful amid wars. He received the testimony of blessed merit through the sacrament of evangelical teaching.

For we read: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” You have Laurentius, a presbyter of difficult comparison, who so loved the substance of his patrimony that, distributing everything to churches and the needy, he lost nothing by the outpouring of such great wealth: vigilant in wisdom, placable in gentleness, so that while he guards the serpent’s cunning with the law, he does not lose the mind of the simple dove. You also have my Gallianus, likewise a presbyter, not learned in secular books but most gentle in calm kindness, teaching the rule of Catholic discipline more by deeds than by showing it in speech. What shall I say of Ursinus, also a presbyter, his long-standing patience and, in the service of Christ, a youthful old age that does not fail? And what of Felix, truly happy, an enemy of this world, to whom the world is crucified? There are also many other memorable men, who are clearly suitable for undertaking this office. Nor should it shame you to imitate the example of Hieronymus, interpreter of divine law and cultivator of the heavenly library, and to transmit the teachings of one’s own discourse even to noble women and those supported by the fame of a distinguished character, in whose minds the persistence of sacred reading has established a sober dwelling-place of wisdom. Who would not wish for and eagerly seek to please the judgment of the excellent Syncletice, a sacred virgin and minister, who advanced the nobility of proud blood through humility to glory, so that she might be deemed worthy of being enrolled in the senate of the heavenly fatherland?

a temple truly worthy for the Lord to inhabit, chastened by fasts, refreshed by prayers, most clean in purity. Moreover, she so thirstily drank in the scriptures of ecclesiastical doctrine that, had the license of her sex not been lacking, she could even teach, although in the limbs of a female body there is a virile spirit. I pass over in silence the dispensing of daily mercy, which she exercises in such a way that she is silent, and bestows in such a way that it remains hidden. Yet her poor attire indicates where her wealthy estate profits. And so that the magnitude of such great prudence might shine more brightly with a twin lamp, she has a sister, by name and merit Perpetua, unequal in years, equal in deeds, tender in age, venerable in probity, who, while she feeds on the dignity of her name, lives in such a way that she cannot lose what she is called. Illustrious by marital power, more illustrious by divine religion, she holds the palm nearest to virginity, remaining chaste within the bond of marriage. For the rest, apart from the conspicuous ornaments suitable for a married woman, we find in her character what we have said of her sister. To these matters I will again discharge a fitting response: I do not, I pray, my lord father, cast away the one whom you profess to love, nor deter with envy the one whom you are accustomed to cherish. For I condemn none of all these, I distrust no one’s merits or instruction; but in you I behold all.

you have roused some to better things by the constant conferences of your unceasing discourse; you have filled some with the desire for holy conversation by the calm maturity of your teaching; you have become an example for some unto salvation; you have made others sheep, looking upon them within the folds of your flock; you have nourished others; you have become all things to all, so that you might save all. Let there cease, I beg you, the loss of so many words; let there cease henceforth the long-winded evasions of excuse, and let it not be irksome, after the dangers of so great a whirlpool have been measured out, to lend the anchor of your authority to a page still tossing. Therefore, I entrust to your defense, against all rivals, the four little books of the divine miracles, which, gathering together the sayings of the four Gospels, I have arranged, having comprised few things from many, up to the passion and resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. To this work, with the Lord’s favor, I have given the name PASCHAL CARMEN, because Christ, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, honor and glory belong through all the ages of ages, was sacrificed as our PASCH. Amen.