Different Effects of Suffering on Heathens and Christians.
2194.
Peter, hearing this, shed tears of sympathy, and said to his friends who were present:
If any man who is a worshipper of God had endured what this man's father has endured,
immediately men would assign his religion as the cause of his calamities;
yet when these things happen to miserable Gentiles, they charge their misfortunes upon fate.
2195.
I call them miserable, because they are both vexed with errors here, and are deprived of future hope;
whereas, when the worshippers of God suffer these things,
their patient endurance of them contributes to their cleansing from sin.
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER SEVENTY SIX
Divisions 2196-2230
Book 7
RECOGNITIONS 7
Excursion to Aradus.
2196.
After this, one of those present began to ask Peter, that early the next day
we should go to a neighbouring island called Aradus, which was not more than six furlongs off,
to see a certain wonderful work that was in it, that of painted vine-wood columns of immense size.
2197.
To this Peter assented, as he was very complaisant;
yet he charged us that, when we left the ship, we should not rush all together to see it:
for, said he, I do not wish you to be noticed by the crowd.
2198.
When therefore, next day, we reached the island by ship in the course of an hour,
immediately we hastened to the place where the wonderful columns were.
2199.
They were placed in a certain temple, in which there were very magnificent works of Phidias,
on which every one of us gazed earnestly.
The Beggar Woman.
2200.
Yet when Peter had admired only the columns, being no wise ravished with the grace of the painting,
he went out, and saw before the gates a poor woman asking alms of those who went in;
and looking earnestly at her, he said:
2201.
Tell me, O woman, what member of your body is wanting,
that you subject yourself to the indignity of asking alms,
and do not rather gain your bread by labouring with your hands which God has given you.
2202.
Yet she, sighing, said:
Would that I had hands which could be moved;
yet now only the appearance of hands has been preserved,
for they are lifeless, and have been rendered feeble and without feeling by my knawing of them.
2203.
Then Peter said:
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What has been the cause of your inflicting so great an injury upon yourself?
2204.
Want of courage, said she, and nought else;
for if I had had any bravery in me, I could either have thrown myself from a precipice,
or cast myself into the depths of the sea, and so ended my griefs.
The Woman's Grief.
2205.
Then Peter said:
Do you think, O woman, that those who destroy themselves are set free from torments,
and not rather that the souls of those who lay violent hands upon themselves are subjected to greater punishments?
2206.
Then said she:
I wish I were sure that souls live in the infernal regions, for I would gladly embrace the suffering of the penalty of suicide, only that I might see my darling children, if it were merely for an hour.
2207.
Then Peter:
What thing is it so great, that effects you with so heavy sadness?
I should like to know.
2208.
For if you informed me of the cause, I might be able both to show you clearly, O woman,
that souls do live in the infernal regions;
2209.
and instead of the precipice or the deep sea,
I might give you some remedy, that you may be able to end your life without torment.
The Woman's Story.
2210.
Then the woman, hearing this welcome promise, began to say:
2211.
It is neither easy of belief, nor do I think it necessary to tell,
what is my extraction, or what is my country.
2212.
It is enough only to explain the cause of my grief,
why I have rendered my hands powerless by gnawing them.
2213.
Being born of noble parents, and having become the wife of a suitably powerful man,
I had two twin sons, and after them one other son.
2214.
Yet my husband's brother was vehemently enflamed with unlawful love towards me;
2215.
and because I valued chastity above all things, and would neither consent to so great wickedness,
nor wished to disclose to my husband the baseness of his brother,
I considered whether in any way I could escape unpolluted,
and yet not set brother against brother, and so bring the whole race of a noble family into disgrace.
2216.
I made up my mind, therefore, to leave my country with my two twins,
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until the incestuous love should subside, which the sight of me was fostering and inflaming;
and I thought that our other son should remain to comfort his father to some extent.
2217.
Now in order to carry out this plan, I pretended that I had had a dream,
in which some deity stood by me in a vision, and told me that I should immediately depart from the city with my twins, and should be absent until he should command me to return;
and that, if I did not do so, I should perish with all my children.
2218.
And so it was done,
for as soon as I told the dream to my husband, he was terrified;
2219.
and sending with me my twin sons, and also slaves and maid-servants, and giving me plenty of money,
he ordered me to sail to Athens, where I might educate my sons,
and that I should stay there until he who commanded me to depart should give me leave to return.
2220.
While I was sailing along with my sons, I was shipwrecked in the night by the violence of the winds,
and, wretch that I am, was driven to this place;
and when all had perished, a powerful wave caught me, and cast me upon a rock.
2221.
And while I sat there with this only hope, that haply I might be able to find my sons,
I did not throw myself into the deep,
although then my soul, disturbed and drunk with grief, had both the courage and the power to do it.
2222.
Yet when the day dawned, and I with shouting and howling was looking around,
if I could even see the corpses of my unhappy sons anywhere washed ashore,
some of those who saw me were moved with compassion,
and searched, first over the sea, and then also along the shores, if they could find either of my children.
2223.
Yet when neither of them was anywhere found, the women of the place, taking pity on me,
began to comfort me, every one telling her own griefs, Hesiod's Hymn of Demeter
that I might take consolation from the likeness of their calamities to my own.
2224.
Yet this saddened me all the more;
for my disposition was not such that I could regard the misfortunes of others as comforts to me.
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2225.
And when many desired to receive me hospitably, a certain poor woman who dwells here constrained me to enter into her hut, saying that she had had a husband who was a sailor, and that he had died at sea while a young man, and that, although many afterwards asked her in marriage,
she preferred widowhood through love of her husband.
2226.
'Therefore,' said she, 'we shall share whatever we can gain by the labour of our hands.'
2227.
And, not to detain you with a long and profitless story,
I willingly dwelt with her on account of the faithful affection which she retained for her husband.
2228.
Yet not long after, my hands (unhappy woman that I was!), long torn with gnawing,
became powerless,
and she who had taken me in fell into palsy, and now lies at home in her bed;
also the affection of those women who had formerly pitied me grew cold.
2229.
We are both helpless. I, as you see, sit begging;
and when I get anything, one meal serves two wretches.
2230.
Behold, now you have heard enough of my affairs;
why do you delay the fulfillment of your promise, to give me a remedy,
by which both of us may end our miserable life without torment?
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER SEVENTY SEVEN
Divisions 2231-2265
Book 7
RECOGNITIONS 7
Peter's Reflections on the Story.
2231.
While she was speaking, Peter, being distracted with much thought, stood like one thunder-struck;
and I, Clement, approaching them, said:
2232.
I have been seeking you everywhere, and now what are we to do?
2233.
Yet he commanded me to go before him to the ship, and there to wait for him;
and because he must not be gainsayed, I did as he commanded me.
2234.
Yet he, as he afterwards told me the whole, being struck with a sort of suspicion,
asked of the woman her family, and her country, and the names of her sons;
and straightway, he said, if you tell me these things, I shall give you the remedy.
2235.
Yet she, like one suffering violence,
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because she would not confess these things, and yet was desirous of the remedy,
feigned one thing after another,
saying that she was an Ephesian, and her husband a Sicilian, and giving false names to her sons.
2236.
Then Peter, supposing that she had answered truly, said:
Alas! O woman, I thought that some great joy should spring up to us today;
for I suspected that you were a certain woman, concerning whom I lately learned certain like things.
2237.
Yet she adjured him, saying: I entreat you to tell me what they are,
that I may know if among women there be one more unfortunate than myself.
Peter's Statement to the Woman.
2238.
Then Peter, incapable of deception, and moved with compassion, began to say:
2239.
There is a certain young man among those who follow me for the sake of religion and sect, a Roman citizen, who told me that he had a father and two twin brothers, of whom not one is left to him.
2240.
'My mother,' he said, 'as I learned from my father, saw a vision, that she should depart from the Roman city for a time with her twin sons, else they should perish by a dreadful death;
and when she had departed, she was nevermore seen.'
2241.
And afterwards his father set out to search for his wife and sons, and was also lost.
A Discovery.
2242.
When Peter had thus spoken, the woman, struck with astonishment, fainted.
2243.
Then Peter began to hold her up, and to comfort her,
and to ask what was the matter, or what she suffered.
2244.
Yet she at length, with difficulty recovering her breath, and nerving herself up to the greatness of the joy which she hoped for, and at the same time wiping her face, said:
Is he here, the youth of whom you speak?
2245.
Yet Peter, when he understood the matter, said:
Tell me first, or else you shall not see him.
2246.
Then she said:
I am the mother of the youth.
2247.
Then says Peter:
What is his name?
2248.
And she answered:
Clement.
2249.
Then said Peter:
It is him;
and he it was that spoke with me a little while ago, and whom I ordered to go before me to the ship.
2250.
Then she fell down at Peter's feet and began to entreat him that he would hasten to the ship.
2251.
Then Peter said:
Yes, if you will promise me that you will do as I say.
2252.
Then she said:
I will do anything; only show me my only son, for I think that in him I shall see my twins also.
2253.
Then Peter said:
When you have seen him, dissemble for a little time, until we leave the island.
2254.
I will do so, she said.
A Happy Meeting.
2255.
Then Peter, holding her hand, led her to the ship.
2256.
And when I saw him giving his hand to the woman, I began to laugh;
yet, approaching to do him honour, I tried to substitute my hand for his, and to support the woman.
2257.
Yet as soon as I touched her hand, she uttered a loud scream,
and rushed into my embrace, and began to smother me with a mother's kisses.
2258.
Yet I, being ignorant of the whole matter, pushed her off as a mad woman;
and at the same time, though with reverence, I was somewhat angry with Peter.
A Miracle.
2259.
Yet he said:
Cease: what mean you, O Clement, my son?
Do not push away your mother.
2260.
Yet I, as soon as I heard these words, with tears immediately knelt with my mother,
that had fallen down, and began to embrace her.
2261.
For as soon as I heard, by degrees I recalled her countenance to my memory;
and the longer I gazed, the more familiar it grew to me.
2262.
Mean time a great multitude assembled, hearing that the woman who used to sit and beg was recognised by her son, who was a good man.
2263.
And when we wished to sail hastily away from the island, my mother said to me:
2264.
My darling son, it is right that I should bid farewell to the woman who took me in;
for she is poor, and paralytic, and bedridden.
2265.
When Peter and all who were present heard this, they admired the goodness and prudence of the woman; and immediately Peter ordered some to go and to bring the woman in her bed as she lay.
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER SEVENTY EIGHT
Divisions 2266-2295
Book 7
RECOGNITIONS 7
2266.
And when she had been brought, and placed in the midst of the crowd,
Peter said, in the presence of all:
2267.
If I am a preacher of truth, for confirming the faith of all those who stand by,
that they may know and believe that there is one God, who made heaven and earth,
in the name of Jesus Christ, His Son, let this woman rise.
2268.
And as soon as he had said this, she arose whole, and fell down at Peter's feet;
and greeting her friend and acquaintance with kisses asked of her was the meaning of it all.
2269.
Yet she quickly related to her the whole proceeding of the Recognition,
so that the crowds standing around wondered.
Departure from Aradus.
2270.
Then Peter, so far as he could, and as time permitted, addressed the crowds on the faith of God, and the ordinances of religion; and then added, that if any one wished to know more accurately about these things, he should come to Antioch, where, said he, we have resolved to stay three months, and to teach fully the things which pertain to salvation.
2271.
For if, said he, men leave their country and their parents for commercial or military purposes,
and do not fear to undertake long voyages, why should it be thought burdensome or difficult to leave home for three months for the sake of eternal life?
2272.
When he had said these things, and more to the same purpose, I presented 1,000 drachmas to the woman who had entertained my mother, and who had recovered her health by means of Peter,
and in the presence of all committed her to the charge of a certain good man,
the chief person in that town, who promised that he would gladly do what we demanded of him.
2273.
I also distributed a little money among some others, and among those women who were said formerly to have comforted my mother in her miseries, to whom I also expressed my thanks.
2274.
And after this we sailed, along with my mother, to Antaradus.
Journeyings.
2275.
And when we had come to our lodging, my mother began to ask of me what had become of my father;
and I told her that he had gone to seek her, and never returned.
2276.
Yet she, hearing this, only sighed; for her great joy on my account lightened her other sorrows.
2277.
And the next day she journeyed with us, sitting with Peter's wife;
and we came to Balaneæ; where we stayed three days,
and then went on to Pathos, and afterwards to Gabala;
2278.
and so we arrived at Laodicea, where Niceta and Aquila met us before the gates,
and kissing us, conducted us to a lodging.
2279.
Yet Peter, seeing that it was a large and splendid city,
said that it was worthy that we should stay in it ten days, or even longer.
2280.
Then Niceta and Aquila asked of me who was this unknown woman;
and I answered:
It is my mother, whom God has given back to me by means of my lord Peter.
Recapitulation.
2281.
And when I had said this, Peter began to relate the whole matter to them in order, and said,
When we had come to Aradus, and I had ordered you to go on before us, the same day after you had gone, Clement was led in the course of conversation to tell me of his extraction and his family,
2282.
and how he had been deprived of his parents, and had had twin brothers older than himself,
and that, as his father told him, his mother once saw a vision, by which she was ordered to depart from the city of Rome with her twin sons, else she and they should suddenly perish.
2283.
And when she had told his father the dream, he, loving his sons with tender affection, and afraid of any evil befalling them, put his wife and sons on board a ship with all necessaries, and sent them to Athens to be educated.
2284.
Afterwards he sent once and again persons to inquire after them,
yet nowhere found even a trace of them.
2285.
At last the father himself went on the search, and until now he is nowhere to be found.
2286.
When Clement had given me this narrative, there came one to us,
asking us to go to the neighbouring island of Aradus, to see vine-wood columns of wonderful size.
2287.
I consented; and when we came to the place, all the rest went into the interior of the temple;
yet I— for what reason I know not— had no mind to go farther.
2288.
Yet while I was waiting outside for them, I began to notice this woman, and to wonder in what part of her body she was disabled, that she did not seek her living by the labour of her hands, yet submitted to the shame of beggary.
2289.
I therefore asked of her the reason of it.
2290.
She confessed that she was sprung of a noble race, and was married to a no less noble husband, 'whose brother,' said she, 'being inflamed by unlawful love towards me, desired to defile his brother's bed.
2291.
This I abhorring, and yet not daring to tell my husband of so great wickedness,
lest I should stir up war between the brothers, and bring disgrace upon the family, judged it better to depart from my country with my two twin sons, leaving the younger boy to be a comfort to his father.
2292.
And that this might be done with an honourable appearance, I thought good to feign a dream,
and to tell my husband that there stood by me in a vision a certain deity, who told me to set out from the city immediately with my two twins, and remain until he should instruct me to return.'
2293.
She told me that her husband, when he heard this, believed her,
and sent her to Athens, with the twin children to be educated there;
yet that they were driven by a terrible tempest upon that island,
where, when the ship had gone to pieces, she was lifted by a wave upon a rock,
and delayed killing herself only for this, 'until,' said she,
'I could embrace at least the dead limbs of my unfortunate sons, and commit them to burial.
2294.
Yet when the day dawned, and crowds had assembled,
they took pity upon me, and threw a garment over me,
yet I, miserable, entreated them with many tears,
to search if they could find anywhere the bodies of my unfortunate sons.
2295.
And I, tearing all my body with my teeth, with wailing and howlings cried out constantly,
Unhappy woman that I am, where is my Faustus?
Where my Faustinus?'
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER SEVENTY NINE
Divisions 2296-2330
Book 7
RECOGNITIONS 7
More Recognitions.
2296.
And when Peter said this, Niceta and Aquila suddenly started up,
and being astonished, began to be greatly agitated, saying:
2297.
O Lord, Ruler and God of all, are these things true, or are we in a dream?
2298.
Then Peter said:
Unless we be mad, these things are true.
2299.
Yet they, after a short pause, and wiping their faces, said:
We are Faustinus and Faustus:
and even at the first, when you began this narrative, we immediately fell into a suspicion that the matters that you spoke of might perhaps relate to us; yet again considering that many like things happen in men's lives, we kept silence, although our hearts were struck by some hope.
2300.
Therefore we waited for the end of your story, that,
if it were entirely manifest that it related to us, we might then confess it.
2301.
And when they had thus spoken, they went in weeping to our mother.
2302.
And when they found her asleep, and wished to embrace her, Peter prevented them, saying:
Permit me first to prepare your mother's mind, lest haply by the great and sudden joy she lose her reason, and her understanding be disturbed, especially as she is now stupefied with sleep.
Nothing Common or Unclean.
2303.
Therefore, when our mother had risen from her sleep, Peter began to address her, saying:
I wish you to know, O woman, an observance of our religion.
2304.
We worship one God, who made the world, and we keep His law, in which He commands us first of all to worship Him, and to reverence His name, to honour our parents, and to preserve chastity and uprightness.
2305.
Yet this also we observe, not to have a common table with Gentiles, unless when they believe, and on the reception of the truth are baptized, and consecrated by a certain threefold invocation of the blessed name; and then we eat with them.
2306.
Otherwise, even if it were a father or a mother, or wife, or sons, or brothers, we cannot have a common table with them.
2307.
Since, therefore, we do this for the special cause of religion, let it not seem hard to you that your son cannot eat with you, until you have the same judgment of the faith that he has.
Who Can Forbid Water?
2308.
Then she, when she heard this, said:
And what hinders me to be baptized today?
2309.
For even before I saw you I was wholly alienated from those whom they call gods because they were not able to do anything for me, although I frequently, and almost daily, sacrificed to them.
2310.
And as to chastity, what shall I say, when neither in former times did pleasures deceive me,
nor afterwards did poverty compel me to sin?
2311.
Yet I think you know well enough how great was my love of chastity,
when I pretended that dream that I might escape the snares of unhallowed love, and that I might go abroad with my two twins, and when I left this my son Clement alone to be a comfort to his father.
2312.
For if two were scarcely enough for me,
how much more it would have saddened their father, if he had had none at all?
2313.
For he was wretched through his great affection towards our sons,
so that even the authority of the dream could scarce prevail upon him to give up to me Faustinus and Faustus, the brothers of this Clement, and that himself should be content with Clement alone.
Too Much Joy.
2314.
While she was yet speaking, my brothers could contain themselves no longer,
yet rushed into their mother's embrace with many tears, and kissed her.
2315.
Yet she said:
What is the meaning of this?
2316.
Then said Peter:
Be not disturbed, O woman; be firm.
2317.
These are your sons Faustinus and Faustus, whom you supposed to have perished in the deep;
2318.
yet how they are alive, and how they escaped in that horrible night,
and how the one of them is called Niceta and the other Aquila,
they will be able to explain to you themselves, and we also shall hear it along with you.
2319.
When Peter had said this, our mother fainted, being overcome with excess of joy;
and after some time, being restored and come to herself, she said:
2320.
I beseech you, darling sons, tell me what has befallen you since that dismal and cruel night.
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