Letter 2039: God, who knows my heart, is witness to how heavy your bereavement weighs upon me — something I cannot express in...

39. To the most exalted and magnificent lords, his sons Eudomius and Melanthia, Bishop Ruricius. How grievous the mourning of your bereavement is to me, God, who knows the secret of my heart, is witness; for I cannot convey it in words to your discernment. For the suffering of your grief has so wounded my spirit, as if I had lost one of my own dear ones, because by treating me well you have made me close to you and in a certain manner of one blood with you. And therefore, since you frequently, out of your graciousness, take upon yourselves our labors and distresses, it is just that we too should share in your sorrows when they befall you. For if, according to the saying of the Apostle, the members of one body suffer and grieve together with one another in turn, it befits us also [to feel] their misfortunes [...] we often perceive. And so we grieve at your misfortune, and we believe that we share in your laments. But what shall we do, my lord sons, since we neither can nor ought to resist the divine will, and [must] guard against it with all anxiety, lest, while we weep with excessive grief for the sweet pledges [of our love], we be found in some way blasphemers and offenders against the Lord, and the author of death himself, having found the occasion, strike our souls more grievously than he struck [us] by the loss of our dear ones? And therefore in all bitterness or grief we must take refuge with God, and all our misfortunes must be referred to Him with our whole heart, who heals the wounded, who lifts up the sorrowful, who consoles the afflicted; and that saying of holy Job must by all means be spoken: 'The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it has pleased the Lord, so has it been done. Blessed be the name of the Lord.' And he, when he was saying this, had lost ten children together with all his estate, nor yet was he driven to blaspheme either by his loss or by his grief, as the Scripture says: 'In all the things that befell him, Job did not sin with his lips.' This I have presumed to write to your piety, out of our mutual love, that the grief of your spirits, which I could not soften by my letter, I might in whatever way temper by the divine sayings. And truly, if you trust me as it were [united] to your heart, you can take no small comfort from the will of Christ the Lord, in that, inasmuch as an untimely death awaited him, He deigned to take to Himself such a one as those of whom He taught that the kingdom of heaven belongs, so that you might both have a patron in your son and grieve the less for him whom you saw taken up by the Lord as one lost [to you]. I pray that you fare well.

XXXVIIII. DOMINIS SUBLIMIВUS ET MAGNIFICIS FILI1S EUDOMIO ET MELANTHIAE RURICIUS EPISCOPUS. Quam grauis mihi orbitatis uestrae sit luctus, testis est pectoris mei conscius deus, quod uerbis subtilitati uestrae indicare non possum. nam ita animum meum doloris uestri passio sauciauit, acsi unum de propriis affectibus perdidissem, quia me nobis proximum et quodam modo consanguineum bene mecum agendo fecistis. atque ideo, quia labores et angustias nostras frequenter in uobis pro uestra dignatione suscipitis, iustum est et nos uestris, cum acciderint, participare maeroribus. si enim iuxta apostoli sententiam unius corporis membra sibi inuicem conpatiuntur et condolent, decet nos quoque eorum incommoda ** saepe percipimus. dolemus itaque casui uestro et planctibus uestris interesse nos credimus. sed quid facimus, domni filii, quod uoluntati diuinae resistere nec possumus nec debemus 22] 1 Cor. 12, 26. 3 cerciores S meo e corr. 81 4 alloquio v, alloqui S 5 quid S r 1a. deo add. v, om. S porciorem S (f man. ati.), fotiorem v eu S (h man. alt.) 6 planum 1S1, et add. v deo sed plane Mommsenus 8 incolomitatem S reddistis S 9 ac v, a S a medella Mommaenus medillam S 12 melantiae S 15 subtilitati scripsi, subtilitatis SKr., sublimitati v 17 affinibus v 18 quadammodo S consanguine am 81 corr . 20 uoft S, uos Luetjohann 21 accederint S maroribus S 23 conpaciuntur S eorum] miserere quorum add. Luetjohann, persentire, quos a nobis indiuiduos esse post incommoda auppl. Mommsenus 24 percipiamus v, percepimus Luetjohann 25 sed-p.424,22 adswnptum] cf. ep. II3 26 qd S, equidem v et omni sollicitudine praecauere, ne, dum dulcia nobis pignora nimio dolore deflemus, blasphemi quidam et iniuriosi inueniamur in domino et grauius animas nostras auctor ipsius mortis inuenta occasione confodiat, quam carorum amissione percussit? Ideoque in omni amaritudine uel dolore ad deum nobis est refugiendum et ad illum omnes casus nostri toto corde referendi, qui sanat uulneratos, qui releuat maestos, qui consolatur adflictos, et illa sancti Iob sententia omnino dicenda est: dominus dedit, dominus abstulit, sicut domino placuit, ita factum est. sit nomen domini benedictum. et ille, hoc quando dicebat, decem filios cum omni facultate perdiderat nec tamen blasphemare aut damno aut dolore conpulsus est, sicut dicit scriptura: in omnibus, quae acciderunt ei, nihil peccauit labiis Iob. quod ego pietati uestrae scribere pro mutua caritate praesumpsi, ut dolorem animorum uestrorum, quem litteris meis mitigare non poteram, uel diuinis eloquiis utcumque moderarer. et uere, si mihi quasi uestro creditis cordi, non minimum potestis capere de Christi domini uoluntate solacium, quod, quatenus ipsum inmaturus manebat interitus, talem eum est dignatus adsumere, qualium regnum docuit esse caelorum, ut et patronum haberetis ex filio et minus doleretis amissum, quem a domino uidebatis adsumptum. opto bene agatis..