The Lausiac History

I \A,' HOLY WOMEN

[i] It is necessary also to mention in my book certain women with manly qualities, to whom God apportioned labours equal to those of men, lest any should pretend that women are too feeble to practise virtue perfectly. Now I have seen many such and met many distinguished virgins and widows.^ [[2] Among them w;is the Roman lady Paula,^ mother of Toxotius, a woman of great distinction in' the spiritual life. She was hindered by a certain Jerome from Dalmatia. For tliough she was able to surpass all, having great abilities, he hindered her by his jealousy, having induced her to serve his own plan. She has a daughter now living an ascetic life at Bethlehem, Eustochium by name. I have never met her, but she is said to be very chaste, and she has a convent of fifty virgins.

[3] I knew also Veneria, wife of Vallovicus the count,^ w'ao gallantly distributed her camel's burden* and was delivered from the wounds which property inflicts. And Theodora the wife of the tribune, who reached such a depth of poverty that she became a recipient of alms and finally died in the monastery of Hesychas near the sea. I knew a lady named Hosia, in every respect most venerable ; and her sister Adolia,

* Passages enclosed in square brackets are translations of Butler's Greek text, which is here a critical reconstruction.

* Cf. XXXVI. 6.

^ Comes was a word of wide meaning. " Constantine . . . used it as a honorific designation for officers of many kinds, who were not necessarily in the immediate neighbourhood of an Augustus or Ciesar, but were servants of the Augustus or Augusti and Caesars generally, that is to say might occupy any place in the whole imperial administration." — Reid in Camb. Med. Hist. Vol. I. ch. 2.

* /. e. riches ; cf. Mt. xix. 24.

142 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

who lived in a way not indeed comparable to her, but proportionately to her own capacity. [4] I knew also Basianilla, the wife of Candidianus the general, wlio practised virtue ardently and scrupulously, and is still even now strenuously engaged in contests. Also the virgin Photina, venerable in the extreme, daughter of Theoctistus the priest near Laodicea. Again, I met in Antioch a most venerable lady who conversed familiarly with God, the deaconess Sabaniana, aunt of John the bishop of Constantinople. And I saw also in Rome the beautiful Asella, the virgin who had grown old in the monastery, a very gentle lady and a supporter of convents. [5] There also I saw men and women recently instructed. I saw also Avita,^ who was worthy of God, with her husband Apronianus and their daughter Eunomia, all so desirous to please God that they were publicly converted to the life of virtue and continence, and were held worthy on this account to fall asleep in Christ freed from all sin, having become possessed of knowledge and leaving their life in good remembrance.]