I. Ad Richizam Romanorum imperatricem.--Consolatoria de morte Lotharii imperatoris et Henrici ducis Bavariae ejus generi. (Anno 1139.)
Dominae RICHIZAE a Deo protectae Romanorum imperatrici, PETRUS DIACONUS, post praesentis vitae metas aeterni regni calculum.
Multoties, imperatrix invicta, impetum coepi consolandi vestram eminentiam, multoties continui. Ut id protinus facerem, plurima invitabant, praecipue autem domini nostri imperatoris Lotharii defuncti fidelitas, tum vestrae augustalis clementiae in nos indignos dilectio, ut lacrymas vestras etsi ex toto sopire non potuissem, interim certe vel abstersissem: ut retardarem autem, sciebam dolori tuo, dum recens saeviret, praepropere occurrendum non 1137Cesse, ne illum ipsa eadem solatia potius irritarent, exagerarent, accenderent: nam saepe videmus in ipsis quoque morbis immaturam medicinam esse perniciosissimam. Exspectabam itaque dum ipsemet dolor vires suas deponeret, ut mora mitigatus tangi se quodammodo, attrectarique ad remedia sustinenda permitteret. Ante tamen quam cum eo congrediar, adero illi, et aliquanta quibus excitetur in memoriam reducam, et quae jam quasi obducta videntur rescindam et proferam, optimo videlicet ac solemni genere consolandi. Hi itaque fleant gemantque diutius, quorum delicatissimas mentes enervavit longa felicitas, effeminavit luxuria, qui spem suam omnino fixerunt in saeculo; 1137Dqui, quae sint bona illa perennia, vel ignorant ex toto, vel si sciunt, oblectamentis sopiti mundialibus negligunt. At quorum fere omnes sani per diversas curas transierunt, quorum, juxta Apostolum, conversatio in coelis est, qui et vanitates saeculi, ut coeli gaudia, prudenti ac discreto corde perpendunt, gravissima quoque quaelibet immobili constantia perferunt. Quid pergam referre? numera quot calamitatibus, 1138Bquot infortuniis ab infantia ipsa jactata sis, cum in eisdem fere, ut sic dicam, innata fueris. Felicis memoriae dominus noster imperator Lotharius, qui te sibi in conjugem elegerat, ad imperiale fastigium promoverat, in quam solam cuncta negotia Romani imperii commiserat, post multas quas cum ipso pertulisti angustias, post orbem Romanum, ut ita dixerim, cum eo peragratum, cum in dies ad imperiale domicilium cum eo accelerares regressum; heu! proh dolor, multorum sociorum dolore gravissimo extulisti. Transeo tot pericula, tot metus, quos sine interstitio incursantes in te cum tanto caesare pertulisti: modo, modo, cum nondum priores luctus integre composueris, lugenti adhuc tibi luctus adjunctus est, et cum quasi solatium 1138Ctot aerumnarum, quod videlicet solum residuum erat in vivente genero vestro HEINRICO duce Bavariae te habere putares, subito nec opinanti vobis mors ejus immatura relata est: gravissimum plane est omnibus quae vobis post decessum domini nostri imperatoris Lotharii obtigerunt, recens vulnus; nec autem summam rupit, sed pectus, fateor, et viscera ipsa divisit: nec ex intacto corpore tuo hic sanguis effluxit per ipsas cicatrices percussus, sed quemadmodum tirones leviter sauciati, tamen vociferantur, ut veterani quamvis confossi patienter ac sine gemitu curari se patiuntur: non enim, clementissima domina, ita lugendi sunt quique fideles, ait Apostolus, sicut et caeteri qui spem non habent: Si enim 1138Dcredimus quod Jesus mortuus est et resurrexit, ita et Deus eos qui dormierunt per Jesum adducet cum eo. Ergo, clementissima domina, ut consolationem accipiatis, hortamur; ista enim mors, quid est aliud, nisi relictio corporis, depositio sarcinae gravis? Nata es, o imperatrix, moritura es; quo ibis ut non moriaris? Quid facis, ut non moriaris? Ut Dominus Deus tuus consolaretur te, propria voluntate mori 1139Adignatus est. Quando vides Christum pro te mortuum, tu mori dedignaris? Ergo moritura es, velis, nolis. Quo evades? quo effugies ut non moriaris? Hodie sit, cras sit, futurum est, dubium non est, credendum est. Quid ergo agis, times, fugis! futurum est. Ergo, mi piissima domina, lamentationes et ululatus ac si muliebres tumultus a te viriliter amove; quando enim dolor iste vester durior est, tanto major vobis virtus advocanda est, et veluti cum noto hoste et saepe jam victo acrius congrediendum; fortem ac sapientem nec secunda evehunt, nec adversa demittunt; facile illa fert qui semper expectat; illi sunt gravia quae sunt repentina; qui laetis rebus non se inflavit, nec mutatis contraxit, adversus utrumque statum invictam animam tenet 1139Bjam exploratae firmitatis. In ipsa namque felicitate quid contra infelicitatem posset, expertus est: infinito quidem dolore, cum aliquem ex carissimis amiseris affici, inepta indulgentia est; nullo autem inhumana duritia; nam et non sentire dolorem, non est hominis, et non ferre, non est virtutis. Optimum inter utrumque temperamentum est, et sentire desiderium, et reprimere; praesertim cum nec excellentiae vestrae conveniat immensum tristari: maximum solatium est cogitare, id vobis accidisse quod omnes ante passi sunt, omnesque passuri. Gaude itaque habuisse te virum Romanum imperatorem: cogita jucundissimum esse quod habuisti, humanum quod amisisti: quod talem habuisti, in summis bonis pone; non est cogitandum vobis quam diutius 1139Chabere illum potueris, sed quandiu habueris: non in eo mors vestram satietatem, sed suam sequi voluit legem. Stet tantum animus in procinctu; mors alium alio tempore comprehendet, neminem interibit, nullum certe excipiet. Quisquis ad vitam editur, ad mortem destinatur; sed animus sapientis quod necesse est nunquam timeat, quod incertum semper exspectet.
I. To Richenza, empress of the Romans.--A letter of consolation on the death of the emperor Lothar and of Henry, duke of Bavaria, her son-in-law. (Anno 1139.)
To the lady RICHENZA, empress of the Romans, protected by God, PETER THE DEACON wishes, beyond the bounds of the present life, the reckoning-stone of the eternal kingdom.
Many times, unconquered empress, have I taken up the impulse to console your eminence; many times have I checked it. Very many things invited me to do it at once — chiefly the fidelity owed to our lord the emperor Lothar, now dead, and then the love your imperial clemency has shown toward us who are unworthy of it — so that, even if I could not altogether lull your tears to sleep, I might at least in the meantime have wiped them away. But as for holding back, I knew that your grief, while it raged fresh, was not 1137Cto be met too hastily, lest those very consolations should rather chafe, aggravate, and inflame it: for often we see that in bodily sicknesses too an untimely medicine is most destructive. And so I was waiting until the grief should itself lay down its strength, so that, softened by delay, it might permit itself in some measure to be touched and handled and to bear remedies. Yet before I close with it, I will stand by it, and will bring back into memory a number of things by which it may be stirred, and will cut open and bring forward what already seem as it were skinned over — that is, by the best and most solemn manner of consoling. Let those, then, weep and groan the longer whose most delicate minds long good fortune has unnerved and luxury unmanned, who have fixed their hope wholly in this world; 1137Dwho either are altogether ignorant of what those everlasting goods may be, or, if they know, lulled by worldly delights, neglect them. But as for those who have passed almost all of them sound through various trials, whose conversation, according to the Apostle, is in the heavens, who weigh both the vanities of the world and the joys of heaven with a prudent and discerning heart, they also endure any burden whatever, however heavy, with unmoved constancy. Why should I go on recounting? Number how many calamities, 1138Bhow many misfortunes you have been tossed by from infancy itself, seeing that you were, so to speak, all but born into them. Our lord the emperor Lothar of happy memory, who had chosen you for his wife, had advanced you to the imperial summit, and had committed to you alone all the affairs of the Roman empire — after the many straits you endured together with him, after the Roman world, if I may so speak, had been traversed with him, when day by day you were hastening your return with him to the imperial dwelling — alas, ah the grief! you bore him out to burial amid the most grievous sorrow of many companions. I pass over so many perils, so many terrors, which without interval assailed you and which you bore along with so great a Caesar. And now, just now, when you have not yet fully composed your earlier mournings, while you still mourn, a mourning has been added to you; and when you thought you had, as a consolation 1138Cfor so many hardships, the one thing that was left, namely your living son-in-law HENRY, duke of Bavaria, suddenly, when you were not expecting it, his untimely death was reported to you. Plainly it is the gravest of all the things that have befallen you since the passing of our lord the emperor Lothar, this fresh wound; and it did not break the sum, but has divided, I confess, the breast and the very inward parts. Nor did this blood flow from a body untouched, but was struck through the scars themselves; but just as raw recruits, though lightly wounded, still cry out, as veterans, however run through, suffer themselves to be treated patiently and without a groan. For the faithful, most merciful lady, are not to be mourned, says the Apostle, as are the rest who have no hope: For if 1138Dwe believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also will God bring with him those who have slept through Jesus. Therefore, most merciful lady, we exhort you to receive consolation; for what else is this death but the leaving behind of the body, the laying down of a heavy burden? You were born, O empress; you are going to die. Where will you go that you may not die? What can you do that you may not die? That the Lord your God might console you, he deigned of his own will to die. 1139AWhen you see Christ dead for you, do you scorn to die? Therefore you are going to die, willing or unwilling. Whither will you get away? Whither will you flee that you may not die? Be it today, be it tomorrow, it is to come; it is not doubtful; it is to be believed. What then are you doing? You fear, you flee — it is to come. Therefore, my most devoted lady, put manfully away from you lamentations and wailings and womanish uproars; for the harder this grief of yours is, the greater the courage you must summon, and the more fiercely you must engage, as with an enemy known and already often beaten. Neither do prosperous things lift up the brave and wise man, nor do adverse ones cast him down; he bears those things easily who always expects them; things are heavy to him which are sudden. He who has not puffed himself up in glad circumstances, nor shrunk when they changed, keeps against either state an unconquered soul 1139Bof a firmness already tested. For in good fortune itself he has learned by trial what he could do against ill fortune. To be affected with unbounded grief when you have lost one of your dearest is indeed a foolish indulgence; but to be affected with none is an inhuman hardness. For not to feel grief is not a man's part, and not to bear it is not the part of virtue. The best tempering lies between the two: both to feel the longing and to restrain it — especially since it does not befit your excellence to grieve beyond measure. It is the greatest consolation to consider that this has happened to you which all before you have suffered and all will suffer. Rejoice, then, that you had a Roman emperor for a husband; consider that it is most delightful that you had him, and human that you lost him; that you had such a man, set down among your highest goods. You must not consider how much longer 1139Cyou might have had him, but how long you did have him. In him death did not choose to follow your satisfaction, but its own law. Only let the soul stand ready for battle; death will seize one man at one time and another at another; it will pass no one by, it will certainly except no one. Whoever is brought forth to life is destined for death; but let the soul of the wise man never fear what is necessary, and always expect what is uncertain.
II. Ad eamdem.--Ejusdem argumenti. (Anno eod.)
Dominae suae excellentissimae atque piissimae Richizae a Deo protectae, magnae ac pacificae Romanorum imperatrici Augustae PETRUS, vestri imperii servus, post praesentis regni potentiam aeternam felicitatem.
Licet nervus incisus doleat, et spiritus tristis ossa 1139Dconterat, non tamen adeo lugendus est dominus noster imperator Lotharius sicut et hi, sicut dicit Apostolus, qui spem non habent. Ad suum perrexit, in quo summum bonum est, in quo omnis bonitas, omnis justitia, omnis pietas, omnisque sanctitas est. Ad illum perrexit qui sua praecepta servantibus clamare non cessat, Venite ad me omnes qui laboratis et onerati estis; et ego vos requiescere faciam. Elias festinans rogabat ut acciperetur a se anima sua.
Et post multa:
Dolendumne est igitur in decessu? Minime, quid enim absurdius, quam ut id quod scias omnibus esse praescriptum, quasi speciale deplores? Hoc est animum supra conditionem extollere, legem non recipere communem, consortium recusare, mente carnis 1140Ainflari, et carnis ipsius nescire mensuram. Quid absurdius quam nescire qui sis, affectare quod non sis? aut quid imprudentius, quod futurum scias, id cum acciderit ferre non posse? Natura ipsa nos revocat, et hujuscemodi moeroribus quadam sui collatione subducit. Quis enim tam gravis luctus, aut tam acer inest dolor, in quo non interdum relaxetur animus? Habet hoc natura, ut quamvis homines in tristibus rebus sint, tamen si modo homines sunt, a moerore mentem paulisper abducant. Fuisse etiam feruntur quidam populi, qui ortus hominum lugerent, obitusque celebrarent, nec imprudenter: eos enim qui in hoc vitae saeculum venissent, moerendos putabant; eos vero qui ex istius mundi procellis et fluctibus emersissent, non injusto gaudio prosequendos 1140Barbitrabantur. Mors aequalis est omnibus hominibus, indiscreta divitibus. Hanc quotidie prae oculis tantus Caesar habebat, qui, sicut vidimus et experti sumus, dum in ejus versaremur obsequiis, sub imperiali chlamyde alterius militiae tirocinium ostendebat. Prius enim in lucis crepusculo missam pro defunctis audiebat, dehinc pro exercitu, postremo missam diei, demum cibum potumque viduis, pupillis ac caeteris pauperibus large distribuens, quaestiones et oppressiones ecclesiarum relevabat, et in ultimo in cura imperii insudabat. Quandiu enim Casini remoratus est, omnibus noctibus ita claustrum et omnes officinas monasterii, ac si abbas vel quilibet decanus circuibat, scire cupiens, qualiter unusquisque sub B. Benedicti magisterio viverent. Factoque 1140Cmane, per omnes monasterii ecclesias causa orationis discalceatis pedibus incedebat. Licet autem hoc ageret, nunquam a consortio archiepiscoporum, episcoporum, abbatum, clericorum, vel monachorum sequestrabatur, ut impleretur in eo quod legitur: Et cum sapientibus ac religiosis sermocinatio ejus. Quis autem ejus gravitatem non miretur, cum ad sedandas dissensiones fratrum, quae pro electione abbatis ortae fuerant, ad capitulum veniens, ab hora prima diei usque in vesperum, non cibo, non potui indulgens, exinde non egrediebatur? Quo autem affectu, quove amore Casinensem dilexit ecclesiam, ostendit, cum dixit prius se sinere omnia privilegia et concessiones ecclesiarum convelli, 1140Dquam aliquid de dignitatibus et privilegiis Casinensis Ecclesiae minui: et prius sineret electionem omnium episcoporum, archiepiscoporum et abbatum qui sunt in toto orbe Romano tollere, quam solummodo Casinensis abbatis. Dicebat enim, Abbas si ex consensu monachorum electus non fuerit, abbas non est, et quicunque electionem monachis tollit, omnia monasterii jura convellit. Et cum haec omnia ageret erat tamen caecorum baculus, esurientium cibus, spes miserorum, solamen lugentium; et ita singulis virtutibus eminebat, quasi caeteras non haberet. Sacerdotes honorabat ut dominos, clericos ut patres, pauperes ut filios, viduas ut matres, creber monitionibus, pervigil in vigiliis, lacrymas Deo non hominibus offerebat. Volvuntur per ora lacrymae et obfirmato 1141Aanimo non queo dolorem dissimulare quem patior. Posquam enim nostram parvitatem discipulum Bertulfi cancellarii effecerat, postquam logothetae, exceptoris et auditoris officio renumeraverat, postquam sessionem ad pedes suos indulserat, postquam a secretis effecerat, postquam de his quae ad vitam aeternam attinent, satis instruxerat, te praesente et cunctis imperii aulicis adstantibus, manum meam apprehendens et Guibaldo commendans abbati, dixit ad eum: Si qua meae dilectionis, si qua mei amoris in vestro corde vestigia sunt, in isto ostende, eumque pro nostro amore loco charissimi et unici filii habe. Haec cum dixisset imperator augustus Caesarque Romanus, et pater patriae nominatus, ut clericos discordantes in pace reconciliaret, 1141Buna cum vestra excellentia dum studeret, corpus et animam coelo reddidit. Confortare igitur, strenuissima, et juxta illud Salomonis praeceptum, Accipe consolationem propter tristitiam. Sed fortasse dicis: Quomodo possum accipere consolationem, cum eum quem diligebam amisi? Nonne haec nobis cum ipso mundo elementisque communia sunt, quia ad tempus creata in perpetuum tenere non possumus? Non amisit virum quae exhibet castitatem: non est viduata conjugio, quae non mutavit nomen mariti. Recole quid David feceret: is enim cum amisisset filium, surrexit, comedit, bibit, et dixit: Ego vado ad eum, ille vero amplius non revertetur ad me. Haec igitur, excellentissima domina, advertens, ita vos ab imminente tristitia temperate, ita studete, 1141Cquatenus Deum ut decet felici cernere possitis intuitu. Salvationis etiam et consolationis et orationis obsequium vobis congregatio Casinensis dirigit, puerumque Minonem filium domini Ptolomei, qui penes vos est, vobis commendantes, rogant ut illum loco filii habeatis.
II. To the same.--On the same subject. (Anno eod.)
To his most excellent and most devoted lady Richenza, protected by God, the great and peace-making Augusta and empress of the Romans, PETER, the servant of your empire, wishes, beyond the power of the present kingdom, eternal happiness.
Although a severed sinew gives pain, and a sorrowful spirit 1139Dgrinds the bones, yet our lord the emperor Lothar is not to be mourned as are those also who, as the Apostle says, have no hope. He has gone forth to his own, in whom is the highest good, in whom is all goodness, all justice, all mercy, and all holiness. He has gone forth to him who does not cease to cry out to those who keep his commandments: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will make you to rest. Elijah in his haste asked that his soul might be taken from him.
And after much more:
Is there, then, cause to grieve at a departure? By no means. For what is more absurd than that you should bewail as something particular to yourself what you know has been laid down for all? This is to exalt the mind above its condition, not to accept the common law, to refuse fellowship, to be puffed up with the mind of the flesh, 1140Aand to be ignorant of the measure of that same flesh. What is more absurd than not to know who you are, and to aim at what you are not? Or what is more imprudent than to be unable to bear, when it has happened, the thing you knew was going to happen? Nature herself calls us back, and by a certain comparison with herself draws us out from mournings of this sort. For what mourning is so heavy, or what grief so sharp, that in it the mind is not now and then relaxed? Nature has this property, that although men are set among sad circumstances, yet, if only they are men, they draw the mind away from mourning for a little while. There are even said to have been certain peoples who mourned the births of men and celebrated their deaths — and not imprudently; for they thought that those who had come into this age of life were to be mourned over, while those who had emerged from the storms and waves of this world they judged were to be attended with a joy that was not 1140Bunjust. Death is equal for all men, making no distinction for the rich. This so great a Caesar had daily before his eyes — a man who, as we saw and learned by experience while we were engaged in his service, displayed beneath the imperial cloak the raw service of another warfare. For first, in the twilight, he would hear the Mass for the dead; then the Mass for the army; last the Mass of the day; and at length, distributing food and drink lavishly to widows, orphans, and the other poor, he would relieve the suits and oppressions brought against churches, and at the last would sweat over the care of the empire. For as long as he stayed at Cassino, every night he went about the cloister and all the workshops of the monastery just as an abbot or any dean would, wishing to know how each man was living under the mastership of blessed Benedict. And when 1140Cmorning came, he would walk with unshod feet through all the churches of the monastery for the sake of prayer. And although he did this, he was never cut off from the company of archbishops, bishops, abbots, clerics, or monks, so that there was fulfilled in him what we read: And his conversation is with the wise and the religious. And who would not marvel at his gravity, when, in order to settle the dissensions of the brothers which had arisen over the election of an abbot, he came to the chapter and, from the first hour of the day until evening, indulging in neither food nor drink, would not go out from there? And with what affection, with what love he loved the church of Cassino, he showed when he said that he would sooner allow all the privileges and grants of the churches to be torn up 1140Dthan allow anything of the dignities and privileges of the Church of Cassino to be diminished; and that he would sooner allow the election of all the bishops, archbishops, and abbots in the whole Roman world to be taken away than that of the abbot of Cassino alone. For he used to say: If an abbot has not been elected by the consent of the monks, he is not an abbot; and whoever takes away the election from the monks tears up all the rights of the monastery. And while he did all these things, he was nevertheless a staff to the blind, food to the hungry, the hope of the wretched, the solace of mourners; and he so stood out in each single virtue as though he did not possess the rest. He honored priests as lords, clerics as fathers, the poor as sons, widows as mothers; frequent in admonitions, sleepless in vigils, he offered his tears to God, not to men. Tears roll over my face, and though my mind is set hard 1141AI cannot conceal the grief I suffer. For Posquam he had made our littleness a disciple of Bertulf the chancellor; after he had rewarded me with the office of logothete, of recorder and of auditor; after he had granted me a seat at his feet; after he had made me his private secretary; after he had instructed me sufficiently in the things that pertain to eternal life — in your presence and with all the courtiers of the empire standing by, taking my hand and commending me to abbot Wibald, he said to him: If there are any traces of my esteem, any of my love, in your heart, show them upon this man; and for love of me hold him in the place of a most dear and only son. When the august emperor and Roman Caesar, named also father of his country, had said these things, while he was striving, 1141Btogether with your excellency, to reconcile discordant clerics in peace, he rendered body and soul to heaven. Take comfort, therefore, most valiant lady, and according to that precept of Solomon: Receive consolation in place of sadness. But perhaps you say: How can I receive consolation, when I have lost him whom I loved? Are not these things common to us with the world itself and its elements, that we cannot hold in perpetuity what was created for a time? She has not lost her husband who displays chastity; she is not widowed of her marriage who has not changed her husband's name. Recall what David did: for when he had lost his son, he rose up, ate, drank, and said: I am going to him, but he will not return again to me. Considering these things, therefore, most excellent lady, so temper yourselves against the sadness that presses upon you, and so strive, 1141Cthat you may be able to behold God, as is fitting, with a happy gaze. The congregation of Cassino also sends you the service of its greeting and consolation and prayer; and commending to you the boy Mino, son of the lord Ptolemy, who is with you, they ask that you hold him in the place of a son.
III. Ad Conradum imperatorem II.--Congratulatur ei de sua in imperatorem electione, hortaturque ut strenue et christiane Romanum regat imperium, atque Casinense monasterium protegat. (Anno eod.)
CONRADO excellentissimo imperatori et Romani imperii strenuissimo propagatori PETRUS DIACONUS clypeo Domini jugiter protegi, atque ejus victrici dextera de spiritualibus ac corporalibus hostibus perpetuo triumphare.
Benedictio et claritas et sapientia et gratiarum 1141Dactio sit in saecula omnipotenti Deo nostro, qui per vos et in vobis antiqua nobis suscitavit miracula, et de recenti vestra electione vetera Romano imperio renovat gaudia: non enim Annibalis interitus, aut Gothorum internecio, vel Lucii Catilinae caedes, vel Attilae ac Totilae interitus sic nos delectat, quomodo magnificam vestram audisse electionem, et in vestris successibus divinam jugiter praedicare potentiam. Per vos quippe aeternae urbis decus honorque ad solis ortum usque protenditur, dilatatur, ac in rebelles sibi nationes infidelitate depulsa accipit principatum. Per vos Romani imperii dignitas reparatur, sublimatur, et in antiquum consulum Pompeii, Scipionis, Julii, Octaviani atque 1142ATrajani dominationis vix attollitur statum. Laetetur itaque in vestra electione omnis penitus christianitas, oriens et occidens gaudeat, meridies cum septentrione resultet, aeterna urbs cunctorum post Deum terrestrium domina fastos ac solemnes dies concelebret et in Domini nostri Jesu Christi laudibus det vota, promat cantica, et consonis laetitiae vocibus antiquam renovet harmoniam, dicens: Cantemus Domino, gloriose enim glorificatus est. Vere namque in vobis honorificatur Deus, qui talem elegit, qui unus persequatur mille et transmoveat dena millia. Ecce per quadruos orbis Romani fines vestra opera, vestri labores, vestra certamina insignia referentur, omnis pene lingua de vestri imperii gloria loquitur. Facti siquidem estis, ut ait 1142BApostolus, spectaculum mundo et angelis et hominibus, facti estis propugnatores Domini, Romani imperii gloria, augmentum, decus, et mirabile diadema, defensio sedis apostolicae, solamen tristium, refocillatio pauperum. Recepit tandem proprium filium Dei miseratione Romana civitas, et ex antiqua caesarum prosapia gaudet se retinere imperatorem. Vos tamen quos ad tantum imperium divina elegit majestas, oportet et decet, ut quanto magis ab illo super coeteros mortales elevati estis, tanto magis illi in omni humilitate subditi sitis. Quos enim temporaliter dedit imperare, si ejus misericordiae, ejus potentiae omnes actus vestros ascripseritis, dabit perpetuo triumphare: pacis itaque bonum, imperator invicte, ante omnia et super omnia 1142Ccustodite, nullus in vestro pectore livor, nulla subrepat invidia. Subjectum vero vobis Romanum imperium juste misericorditerque tractate, ut Romana ecclesia maxime, per quam accepistis Romani imperii sedem, sentiant se et sentientes gaudeant talem ac tantum augustum meruisse, atque in Deum timentis ditionem venisse. Nunquam tantum vobis opos alicujus placeant, ut non semper in vestro pectore justitia praeponderet, ut justitia locum aequitatis perdat: quid namque prodest Romani imperii gubernacula suscepisse, si non cunctos mortales studetis in misericordia, in justitia, in omni denique bonitate praecellere; animi enim probitas, non solum vobis, sed etiam subsequentibus debet esse forma, exemplum virtutis. Ita autem facientes 1142Domnipontentis Dei gratiam semper cooperatricem habebitis, cujus adminiculis et inimicos omnes subjugabitis, et tam de praesenti, quam et de futura pace gaudebitis. Casinensem vero Ecclesiam sciatis quotidie pro vestri imperii statu omnipotenti Domino supplicare, ut coepta per vos misericordiae suae opera ad condignum finem perducat, et ut vos ab omnibus malis protegat, et defendat, atque pro tanto labore aeternae municipatum vitae vobis in futuro concedat. Rogamus autem generositatis vestrae celsitudinem, triumphator praecelse, ut Casinensem Ecclesiam, omnium coenobiorum matrem protegatis; ea enim praedecessorum vestrorum quondam defensa praesidiis, ditata opibus exstitisse cognoscitur. Vos 1143Aergo quemadmodum pro sapientiae vestrae nobilitate, potentia, prudentia, in omnibus quae saeculi sunt, et probis, quod magis egregium est, moribus aequiparare probamini, ita etiam in Casinensis coenobii exaltatione aequiparare conamini. Facite vobis in terris beatum Benedictum debitorem, ut ei quaeque contuleritis, centuplicata in coelis recipere mereamini. Ad hoc enim coelestis Providentia quae omnia moderatur et a saeculo universa disponit, hoc praesertim tempore quando peccatis nostris exigentibus 1144Adefecit sanitas, et diminutae sunt veritates a filiis hominum, tantae strenuitatis ac prudentiae virum in Romana republica elegit, ut Ecclesias exaltare debeatis. Deus autem et Dominus noster, qui dona suae pietatis gratis largitur petentibus, dextera fortitudinis suae vos protegat et benedicat, et utriusque substantiae hostibus separatis, cum palma certaminis ad se revertentibus, coelestis vitae vobis januas aperiat, secumque perpetuo jucundare de coelestibus bonis concedat.
III. To the emperor Conrad II.--He congratulates him on his election as emperor, and exhorts him to rule the Roman empire vigorously and in a Christian manner, and to protect the monastery of Cassino. (Anno eod.)
To CONRAD, most excellent emperor and most vigorous enlarger of the Roman empire, PETER THE DEACON wishes that he may be unceasingly protected by the shield of the Lord, and may triumph perpetually by his conquering right hand over enemies both spiritual and bodily.
Blessing and brightness and wisdom and thanksgiving 1141Dbe to our almighty God for ever, who through you and in you has raised up for us the miracles of old, and by your recent election renews for the Roman empire its ancient joys. For neither the death of Hannibal, nor the extermination of the Goths, nor the slaughter of Lucius Catiline, nor the death of Attila and Totila so delights us as to have heard of your magnificent election, and to proclaim unceasingly the divine power in your successes. For through you the glory and honor of the eternal city is stretched out even to the sun's rising, and is enlarged, and, unfaithfulness being driven off, receives its sovereignty over the nations that rebel against it. Through you the dignity of the Roman empire is repaired, is lifted up, and is barely raised again to the ancient state of the dominion of the consuls — of Pompey, Scipio, Julius, Octavian, and 1142ATrajan. Let all Christendom, then, utterly rejoice in your election; let east and west be glad; let the south echo back with the north; let the eternal city, mistress after God of all earthly things, celebrate festal calendars and solemn days, and pay her vows in the praises of our Lord Jesus Christ, bring forth songs, and with harmonious voices of gladness renew the ancient harmony, saying: Let us sing to the Lord, for he is gloriously glorified. For truly God is honored in you, who has chosen such a man as may, being one, pursue a thousand and put to flight ten thousand. Behold, through the four bounds of the Roman world your deeds, your labors, your notable struggles are reported; almost every tongue speaks of the glory of your empire. Indeed you have been made, as the 1142BApostle says, a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men; you have been made a champion of the Lord, the glory of the Roman empire, its increase, its ornament, and its marvelous diadem, the defense of the apostolic see, the solace of the sorrowful, the refreshment of the poor. At last the city of Rome has, by God's mercy, received back her own son, and rejoices that she keeps an emperor from the ancient stock of the Caesars. Yet for you, whom the divine majesty has chosen for so great an empire, it is fitting and becoming that, the more you have been raised by him above other mortals, so much the more you should be subject to him in all humility. For those whom he has given to rule in time, if you ascribe all your acts to his mercy and his power, he will grant to triumph perpetually. Guard therefore, unconquered emperor, before all things and above all things 1142Cthe good of peace; let no spite, no envy creep into your breast. And treat justly and mercifully the Roman empire subjected to you, that above all the Roman church, through which you have received the seat of the Roman empire, may perceive — and perceiving may rejoice — that they have deserved so great and so good an Augustus, and have come under the rule of one who fears God. Let no man's opos ever so please you that justice does not always outweigh it in your breast, so that justice should lose the place of equity. For what does it profit to have taken up the helm of the Roman empire, if you do not strive to excel all mortals in mercy, in justice, and in short in every goodness? For uprightness of mind ought to be a pattern and an example of virtue not only to you, but also to those who come after. And by doing so 1142Dyou will always have the grace of omnipontentis God as your fellow-worker; by whose supports you will both subdue all enemies, and will rejoice in peace both present and to come. Know, moreover, that the Church of Cassino daily entreats the almighty Lord for the standing of your empire, that he may bring the works of his mercy begun through you to a worthy end, and that he may protect and defend you from all evils, and for so great a labor may grant you hereafter the citizenship of eternal life. And we ask the loftiness of your nobility, most exalted conqueror, that you protect the Church of Cassino, the mother of all monasteries; for it is known to have been once defended by the protections of your predecessors and enriched by their wealth. You 1143Atherefore, as you are shown to be their equal in the nobility of your wisdom, in power, in prudence, in all the things that are of this world, and — what is more distinguished — in upright character, so also strive to be their equal in the exaltation of the monastery of Cassino. Make blessed Benedict your debtor on earth, that whatever you bestow on him you may deserve to receive a hundredfold in heaven. For to this end has heavenly Providence, which governs all things and orders all things from the beginning of the world, chosen a man of such vigor and prudence in the Roman commonwealth — especially at this time, when, our sins requiring it, 1144Asoundness has failed, and truths have been diminished among the sons of men — that you should exalt the Churches. And may God our Lord, who freely lavishes the gifts of his goodness on those who ask, protect and bless you with the right hand of his strength; and, when the enemies of both substances have been separated off, may he open to you the doors of the heavenly life as you return to him with the palm of the contest, and may he grant you to rejoice perpetually with himself in heavenly goods.