Letter 3: Direptiones, caedes, incendia, omne facinus extremae dementiae generosissimae holy uirgines Eustochium and Paüla...

Innocentius [Innocent I, bishop of Rome] to his most beloved brother John [bishop of Jerusalem]. The most noble and holy virgins Eustochium and Paula have lamented that the devil has perpetrated plunderings, slaughters, burnings, and every crime of the utmost madness in the places of your church; for they have kept silent the name of the man and the cause. And although there is no doubt by whom [...] it was committed, nevertheless it was fitting that your brotherly affection guard and provide more carefully for the keeping of that flock, lest anything of this kind should arise which assails your negligence at the peril of others. Add to this: we have heard that the Lord's flock and such lambs, stripped bare and weakened by fire, by arms, and by persecutions, after the slaughter and deaths of their own, scarcely go on living. Does the so great power granted to the devil against you and against your people in no way move that piety of your priesthood? Against you, I say: for so great a wickedness, that it should have been carried out in the church, utterly condemns the gravity of the priest. Where were your provisions? Where, surely, if such events had befallen, were the aids or the consolations, when they say that they still fear more than they complain of having endured? I would judge of it more deeply, if they had conferred anything with me more openly concerning this matter. See, brother, the snares of the ancient enemy, and keep wide-awake watch with the spirit of a good ruler, so that these things, which have been reported to us made manifest more by repute than by formal accusation, may either be corrected or beaten back, lest ecclesiastical law compel him who has not defended the ruined causes to render account.

DILECTISSIMO FRATRI IOHANNI INNOCENTIUS. Direptiones, caedes, incendia, omne facinus extremae dementiae generosis- simae sanctae uirgines Eustochium et Paüla deplorauerunt in locis ecclesiae tuae perpetrasse diabolum; nomen enim hominis causamque reticuerunt. quod etsi ambiguum non sit ἃ quo 1 «libens? quisque coni. Vallarsi recepta falsa coniectura Baronsi pro quia scribentis qui; est enim haec werborum constructio *muliis saepe narrasti, quicumque pro ueritate periculo percelletur, eum expectare beati- ᾿ iudinem' — 3 narrastis V, corr. Vallarsi οἷ tu atice praedicationum V. corr. p? Coust. 4 itaque Bár. tanti malorum scen& V, corr. Car 11 solliticiusque V — «a» nobis Bar. — redardabo V 14 quale proui- dere et propellere ne accidere uel ne accidat corrupte V: ne si circa . . . quale prouidere eum oportuit ne accideret uel ne accidat Coust., ne quid - circa .. propellere «debuisset»? ne accideret uel si accidat Vallarsi; ego 4 ne accidat in archelypo ne accidere fuisse arbitratus eieci werba ne accidere uel .48. Dat. ut ep. 42. — Edd. Car. I? 80; Bar. ad a. 416, 31; Col- lect. Concil.; Cowst. 908; Vallarss L c. 1046 18 facimus V, corr. o. 19 eusthochium Y — pavla ez palla V 21 sit Car.: sit sed V, sit et Ber. XXXV. | 4 98 De rebus Pelagii epistulae commissum, oportuit tamen custodiam germanitatem tuam gregis illius sollicitius prouidere, ne quid huiusmodi oriretur, quod cum aliorum periculo tuam lacessit neglegentiam. adice: gregem domini et tales agnas incendio armis et persecutionibus nudas, debiles, post suorum caedes et mortes uix uiuere au- 5 diuimus: nihil mouet pietatem illam sacerdotii tui de tanta diaboli in te atque in tuos potestate admissa? in te inquam: prorsus enim sacerdotis graujtatem condemnat tantum nefas in ecclesia fuisse completum. ubi prouisienes tuae? ubi certe, . 8i casus euenerant, auxilia uel consolationes, cum. plus se "Ὁ adhuc metuere dicant quam conqueruntur esse perpessas? altius censerem, si essent aliquid de hae re mecum apertius collocutae. uide, frater, antiqui hostis insidias ei spiritu boni rectoris peruigila, ut haec, quae ad nes opinione magis quam accusatione manifesta delata sunt, uel corrigantur uel retun- s dantur, ne ius ecclesiastieum de labefaetatis causas eum, qui noh defenderit, praestare conpellat.