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The Life of Malchus, the Captive Monk

6.

But no condition can ever shut out the Devil. How manifold past expression are his snares! Hid though I was, his malice found me out. My master seeing his flock increasing and finding no dishonesty in me (I knew that the Apostle has given command that masters should be as faithfully served as God Himself), and wishing to reward me in order to secure my greater fidelity, gave me the woman who was once my fellow servant in captivity. On my refusing and saying I was a Christian, and that it was not lawful for me to take a woman to wife so long as her husband was alive (her husband had been captured with us, but carried off by another master), my owner was relentless in his rage, drew his sword and began to make at me. If I had not without delay stretched out my hand and taken possession of the woman, he would have slain me on the spot. Well; by this time a darker night than usual had set in and, for me, all too soon. I led my bride into an old cave; sorrow was bride’s-maid; we shrank from each other but did not confess it. Then I really felt my captivity; I threw myself down on the ground, and began to lament the monastic state which P. 317 I had lost, and said: “Wretched man that I am! have I been preserved for this? has my wickedness brought me to this, that in my gray hairs I must lose my virgin state and become a married man? What is the good of having despised parents, country, property, for the Lord’s sake, if I do the thing I wished to avoid doing when I despised them? And yet it may be perhaps the case that I am in this condition because I longed for home. What are we to do, my soul? are we to perish, or conquer? Are we to wait for the hand of the Lord, or pierce ourselves with our own sword? Turn your weapon against yourself; I must fear your death, my soul, more than the death of the body. Chastity preserved has its own martyrdom. Let the witness for Christ lie unburied in the desert; I will be at once the persecutor and the martyr.” Thus speaking I drew my sword which glittered even in the dark, and turning its point towards me said: “Farewell, unhappy woman: receive me as a martyr not as a husband.” She threw herself at my feet and exclaimed: “I pray you by Jesus Christ, and adjure you by this hour of trial, do not shed your blood and bring its guilt upon me. If you choose to die, first turn your sword against me. Let us rather be united upon these terms. Supposing my husband should return to me, I would preserve the chastity which I have learnt in captivity; I would even die rather than lose it. Why should you die to prevent a union with me? I would die if you desired it. Take me then as the partner of your chastity; and love me more in this union of the spirit than you could in that of the body only. Let our master believe that you are my husband. Christ knows you are my brother. We shall easily convince them we are married when they see us so loving.” I confess, I was astonished and, much as I had before admired the virtue of the woman, I now loved her as a wife still more. Yet I never gazed upon her naked person; I never touched her flesh, for I was afraid of losing in peace what I had preserved in the conflict. In this strange wedlock many days passed away. Marriage had made us more pleasing to our masters, and there was no suspicion of our flight; sometimes I was absent for even a whole month like a trusty shepherd traversing the wilderness.

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Vita Malchi monachi captivi

VI

[Conservam in uxorem cogitur accipere. Virtus feminae captivae.]

O nihil umquam tutum apud diabolum! O multiplices et ineffabiles eius insidiae! Sic quoque me latentem invenit invidia. Dominus videns gregem suum crescere nihilque in me deprehendens fraudulentiae (sciebam enim apostolum praecepisse dominis sic quasi deo fideliter serviendum) et volens me remunerare, quo fidum sibi magis faceret, tradidit mihi illam conservam mecum aliquando captivam. Et cum ego refutarem diceremque me Christianum, nec mihi licere uxorem viventis accipere (siquidem captus nobiscum vir eius ab alio domino fuerat abductus), herus ille implacabilis in furorem versus evaginato me coepit appetere gladio. Et nisi festinus brachio tenere mulierem praeoccupassem, ilico fudisset sanguinem meum.

Iam venerat tenebrosior solito et mihi nimium matura nox. Duco in speluncam semirutam novam coniugem, et pronubante nobis tristitia uterque detestamur alterum, nec fatemur. Tunc vere sensi captivitatem meam prostratusque humi monachum coepi plangere, quem perdebam, dicens: ‹Huccine miser servatus sum? Ad hoc me mea scelera perduxerunt, ut incanescente iam capite virgo maritus fierem? Quid prodest parentes, patriam, rem familiarem contempsisse pro domino, si hoc facio, quod ne facerem, illa contempsi? - nisi quod forte propterea haec sustineo, quia patriam desideravi.

Quid agimus, anima? Perimus an vincimus? Exspectamus manum domini an proprio mucrone confodimur? Verte in te gladium! Tua magis mors timenda quam corporis est. Habet et pudicitia servata martyrium suum. Iaceat insepultus Christi testis in eremo. Ipse mihi ero et persecutor et martyr!›

Sic fatus eduxi in tenebris micantem gladium et acumine contra me verso ‹Vale›, inquam, ‹infelix mulier; habeto me martyrem potius quam maritum.› Tunc illa provoluta pedibus meis ‹Precor›, inquit, ‹te per Iesum, per huius horae necessitatem rogo, ne effundas sanguinem tuum in crimen meum. Vel si mori placet, in me prius verte mucronem. Sic nobis potius coniungamur. Etiam si vir meus ad me rediret, servarem castitatem, quam me captivitas docuit, vel interirem, antequam perderem. Cur moreris, ne mihi iungaris? Ego morerer, si iungi velles. Habeto ergo me coniugem pudicitiae et magis animae copulam amato quam corporis. Sperent domini maritum; Christus noverit fratrem. Facile persuadebimus nuptias, cum nos viderint sic amare.›

Fateor: obstipui, et admiratus virtutem feminae coniuge plus amavi. Numquam tamen illius nudum corpus intuitus sum, numquam eius carnem attigi timens in pace perdere, quod in proelio servaveram. Transeunt in tali matrimonio dies plurimi. Amabiliores nos dominis fecerant nuptiae. Nulla fugae suspicio; interdum et mense toto abibam fidus gregis pastor per solitudinem.