who have traversed many seas, and endured many winters, and rocks, and crags, and shoals, and the onsets of wild beasts, and the machinations of pirates and sea-rovers, and have sustained continuous storms, sit more courageously upon the ship than those walking on land, not just within beside the keel, but even sitting upon the very ribs of the ship, and standing fearlessly upon the prow and the stern. And they who before this lay down to be seen with trembling and fear, after much experience of the winter, both pull ropes, and hoist sails, and take up oars, and run about everywhere on the ship with ease. Therefore, let none of the things happening to you cause you distress. For the enemies have brought us to this point against their will, to the end that it is impossible for us to suffer harm, having emptied all their arrows, and having achieved nothing more from this than to be put to shame, and laughed at, and to appear everywhere as common enemies of the whole world. B These are the rewards of the plotters; this is the end of their wars. Marvelous! How great is virtue, and the disdain of present things! It gains through plots, it is crowned through those who plot against it, it shines more brightly through those who do it wrong, it makes those who pursue it stronger, higher, invincible, and unassailable through those who attempt to drag it down, not having need of weapons, nor of spears, nor of walls, nor of trenches, nor of towers, nor of money, nor of armies, but only of a firm purpose, and an unswerving soul, and it confutes every human plot.
2. Therefore, my most God-loving mistress, by chanting these things both to yourself and to those who are struggling with you in this beautiful contest, raise up the spirits of all, consolidating your battle line, so that the crown of virtue may become for you twofold, and threefold, and many times greater, by what you yourself suffer, and by what you urge others to undergo; and persuading them to bear all things gently, and to look down upon shadows, C and to disdain the deception of dreams, and to trample upon mud, and to make no account of smoke, and to consider the spiderwebs not to trouble you, and to run past the rotting grass. For all these things are the vanity of human prosperity, and even more worthless than these. And one would not easily find an image accurately representing its vanity. For with this nothingness, it brings no small harm to those who gape at them, not only in the age to come, but even in the present life, and during these very days in which they seem to luxuriate in them. For just as virtue, even at the very moment when it is being warred against, leaps and flourishes, and shows itself more cheerful; so also vice, even at the very moment when it is being served and flattered, shows its own weakness, and the great laughter, and the unspeakable comedy. For tell me, what became more piteous than Cain, even at the very moment when he seemed to be prevailing over his brother, and to have gotten the better of him, and to have been filled with that unjust and abominable anger? And what was more unclean than that right hand which seemed to have conquered, the right hand which inflicted the blow and wrought the murder, and than that most shameful tongue which stitched together the deceit and spread the nets? And why do I speak of the limbs that wrought the murder? D For even the whole body was being punished, having been delivered over to the groan, and to trembling continuously. Oh, what strange things! Oh, what a paradoxical victory! Oh, what a foreign trophy! The one who was slaughtered and lay dead was being crowned and proclaimed; but the one who had conquered and had gotten the better remained not only uncrowned, but for this very reason was punished, and delivered over to unbearable torments and continuous torture; and he who was struck and dead accused the one who was moving and living and speaking, and the voiceless one accused the speaker; or rather, not even the dead one, but the blood alone, and parted from the body, sufficed for this alone. So great is the abundance of the virtuous, even when they have departed; so great is the misery of the wicked, even while they are living. But if in the arena the rewards are such, think of what the rewards will be after the contests, in the time of the recompense, through the bestowal of those good things which exceed all reason. For the grievous things, whatever they may be, are brought on by men, and imitate the worthlessness of those who bring them; but the gifts and the recompense are given by God; wherefore they are also such as is fitting to be given by that unspeakable gift. Rejoice therefore and be glad, wearing the crown, celebrating, trampling the stings of the enemies more than others trample mud. And continually let us know about your health, so that from this also we may reap much joy. For you know how it will be no small consolation to us, even sitting in solitude, whenever we learn continuously about your health. Fare well.
To the same, Epistola VI
1. Having returned from the very gates of death, I write these things to your decorum; wherefore I was greatly rejoiced, that the children have now arrived at the harbor, when I was yet expecting the harsh waves of the illness. For if, while I was being tossed on the sea, they had met me, it would not have been easy for me to deceive your devoutness by reporting good things instead of difficult ones. For the winter, having become more severe than usual, brought upon us also a more harsh winter of the stomach; and I spent these two months no better than the dead, but even more harshly. For I lived only so much as to be sensible of the evils circling me on all sides, and everything was night to me, and day, and dawn, and high midday, and I spent the day nailed to my bed; and in contriving myriad things, I was not strong enough to ward off the harm from the cold,