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Chapter VI.
“And as we have,
once for all, entered the palace, I shall string together events which
there took place, although they happened at different times. And,
indeed, it does not seem to me right that I should pass unmentioned the
example of admiration for Martin which was shown by a faithful queen.
Maximus then ruled the state, a man worthy of being extolled
in119
119 Halm’s text is
here followed. The older texts which read “vir omni vitæ
merito prædicandus,” seem hardly intelligible. | his whole life, if only he had been
permitted to reject a crown thrust upon him by the soldiery in an
illegal tumult, or had been able to keep out of civil war. But the fact
is, that a great empire can neither be refused without danger, nor can
be preserved without war. He frequently sent for Martin, received him
into the palace, and treated him with honor; his whole speech with him
was concerning things present, things to come, the glory of the
faithful, and the immortality of the saints; while, in the meantime,
the queen hung upon the lips of Martin, and not inferior to her
mentioned in the Gospel, washed the feet of the holy man with tears and
wiped them with the hairs of her head. Martin, though no woman had
hitherto touched him, could not escape her assiduity, or rather her
servile attentions. She did not think of the wealth of the kingdom, the
dignity of the empire, the crown, or the purple; only stretched upon
the ground, she could not be torn away from the feet of Martin. At last
she begs of her husband (saying that both of them should constrain
Martin to agree) that all other attendants should be removed from the
holy man, and that she alone should wait upon him at meals. Nor could
the blessed man refuse too obstinately. His modest entertainment is got
up by the hands of the queen; she herself arranges his seat for him;
places his table; furnishes him with water for his hands; and serves up
the food which she had herself cooked. While he was eating, she, with
her eyes fixed on the ground, stood motionless at a distance, after the
fashion of servants, displaying in all points the modesty and humility
of a ministering servant. She herself mixed for him his drink and
presented it. When the meal was over, she collected the fragments and
crumbs of the bread that had been used, preferring with true
faithfulness these remains to imperial banquets. Blessed woman! worthy,
by the display of so great piety, of being compared to her who came
from the ends of the earth to hear Solomon, if we merely regard the
plain letter of the history. But the faith of the two queens is to be
compared (and let it be granted me to say this, setting aside the
majesty of the secret120
120 “Quod mihi liceat
separata mysterii majestate dixisse.” | truth implied): the
one obtained her desire to hear a wise man; the other was thought
worthy not only to hear a wise man, but to wait upon
him.”E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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