E06570: Aldhelm, in his prose On Virginity, names *Julianus/Ioulianos (martyr of Egypt and/or Antioch with his wife Basilissa, S01341), as an exemplary virgin. Written in Latin in southern Britain, for the nuns at the monastery at Barking (south-east Britain), c. 675/686.
Creators: name: Bsavill
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2018
Subjects: History

description: Aldhelm, prose On Virginity, 36<br><br>Porro virginalem Iuliani martiris gloriam sub clandistino taciturnitatis latibulo delitescere non patiar, qui temporibus Dioclitiani et Maximiani nobili prosapia oriundus fuit. Quem cum parentes in primaevo pueritiae rudimento florentem tam dialecticae artis compotem quam rethoricae artis participem fecissent, pedagogis quoque et didasculis traditum multimodis philosophorum disciplinis imbuissent et iam in tenero pubertatis rudimento adultum [parentes] animadverterent eumque amatorem catholicae fidei sacrisque ecclesiae liminibus adhaerentem necnon ergastula confessorum crebro frequentantem comperissent, pertimescebant magnopere, ut, si unicum pignus ob religionis praerogativam et sanctae conversationis habitum ab illorum stirpe privaretur, ipsi, ut ait patriarcha lacrimabilem depromens querimoniam, canos suos cum dolore ducentes ad inferos optatae generationis heredibus et futuris nepotum nepotibus funditus fraudarentur. Idcirco puberem subnixis precibus et inauditis blandimentorum hortamentis inflectere nitebantur, ut ad thalami taedas et copulae consortium ferreos iuvenculi affectus immo adamante duriores iuclinarent. Ad argumentum etiam hortandae suasionis apostolicis utuntur oraculis, quibus ait: Volo iuvenes nubere, [patres familias esse], filios procreare nullam dantes occasionem maligno. Quibus ita respondisse scribitur: Nec voluntatis nec aetatis est tempus, ut faciam, quae hortamini; item, cum perseverarent pertinaciter in precibus, ait: Nec promittendi mihi est facultas nec negandi potestas; quod hortamini, Dei mei potestati committo et reliqua. Unius tamen ebdomadis indutias parentibus poposcit, ut nutum supernae maiestatis argumentis evidentibus experiretur. Qua peracta intercapidine somno sopitus et sopore depressus vidit Christum in oromate dixisse: Exurge! ne timeas nec suasiones a verborum vel voluntatem parentum horrescas! Accipies enim coniugem, quae te non polluendo a me separet, sed per te virgo perseveret; et infra: Multi iuvenes et virgines per vestram doctrinam vel vitam caelestis exercitus probabuntur et reliqua. Suscipitur itaque de thalamo beata virgo vocabuli praesagio Basilissa, hoc est regina, formosa frontis effigie, sed formosior cordis castitate, venusta, inquam, liniamentis membratim corporalibus, sed plus venusta suatim cicladibus compta spiritalibus.<br><br>O quanta caterva credentium in utroque sexu fetidas facinorum cloacas calcitrans et putida vitiorum volutabra abominans illorum magisterio ad fidem catholicam conversa cum martirii tropeo triumphans agonizavit, siquidem plura monachorum ergasteria in celeberrimo Antiochiae municipio, quae est metropolis Aegipti, opitulante Christo construxere, in quibus militum Christi circiter X milia sub distincto Iuliani regimine conversantia et nequaquam a sanctae religionis tramite per obliquos anfractus dextra laevaque declinantia regulariter vixerunt. Basilissa vero Deo dicatabis quingentenos sanctae messis manipulos evangelicae praedicationis falce metens in area tortoris triturandos et horreis caelestibus condendos invexit. Postremo cum effera persecutorum rabies sacrosanctos ecclesiae tirones feralibus edictis et ferocibus tormentorum cruciatibus truciter ingruens grassaretur et catholicae fidei propugnaculum saecularis argumenti ballista quassatum atrocisque machinae arietibus subrutum funditus evertere moliretur, quis ubertim angusto stili textu effari valeat, quanta idem Iulianus cum ceteris commanipularibus et eiusdem propositi sodalibus martirizando perpessus sit? Marciano praeside in alto tribunalis culmine vel theatri pulpito contionante nodosis fustibus et cruentis mastigiis sine respectu pietatis flagellatus a a cultura Christi flecti nequivit . Quinimmo pupillam percussoris evulsam , qui sibi crudeliter flagrorum vibices irrogabat, quamvis ut magus putenti lotio umectaretur, incolomem restituit. Insuper nefandas simulacrorum effigies plus quam quingentas, quibus pontifices delubrorum libamina litantes bachantum ritu turificabant, ad solum diruit, quassavit, evertit. <br><br>Item Iulianus cum iuvenculo filio praesidis, ut effebo hircitallo, qui neofitus et nuper ad fidem conversus fuerat, in fundum ergastuli profundum retrusus, ubi fetida damnatorum cadavera diuturno temporis intervallo horrida vermium examina ebulliebant, squaloris nausiam perpetitur, sed versa vice pietas divina, quae suorum semper reminiscitur militum , pro fetenti sterquilinio olfactum ambrosiae et nectaris flagrantiam carceris illuviem et latebras tolerantibus cum luce limpida clementer contulit. Haec tanta prodigia milites ad excubias confessorum deputati cernentes spreta fanaticae superstitionis cultura orthodoxorum falangibus agglomerantur. Interea defuncti cadaver prolixis fasciarum ambagibus conexum nondum in sarcofagi theca humatum flagitante praeside fusis ad polum precibus suscitavit; qui omnem istinc eundi tragoediam et illinc redeundi clementiam attonitis spectatoribus resurgens de tartari profundo patefecit.<br><br>Igitur urgente imperatorum decreto sancti martires in circi spectaculo ter denis cuparum gremiis includuntur, quae intrinsecus atrae picis massa et bituminis fomite sulfurisque fetore farciuntur et extrinsecus suppositis crepitantis rogi torribus et sarmentorum faculis conflagrantibus succenduntur intantum, ut flammantis pyrae cacumina minacem obolisci proceritatem et rotundum sperae apicem XXX cubitis inconum praecellerent. Sed tamen de torrente incendio superna potestate compresso triumphabiles viri velut obrizum rutilans spectante circi caterva in publicum processere. Exin reciproca tortoris nefandi ferocitas, quae semper insontum poenis pascitur et fuso sanguine saginatur, anthletis et agonithetis Christi macta martirii merita cumulavit, dum liciis olei liquore delibutis digitorum articulos et palmarum pollices obvolverent simulque pedum alloces truciter adnecterent; sed liciorum filis flamma combustis anthletas Dei in scammate mundi ritu palestrico agonizantes sine fumigabundis flammarum globis immunes divina tutela protexit. Verum hac confessorum Christi victoria confutatus in amfitheatrum sanctos ferreis collariis conexos cruentus carnifex imperat duci, quatenus patefactis cavearum clustellis et apertis clatrorum obstaculis ursorum genuinis carperentur et leonum rictibus roderentur. Sic stolida praesidis praecordia Deoque invisa spes pascebant inanes, dum furibunda ferarum rabies et gulosa beluarum ingluvies caelesti nutu compressa oblatam praedam lurcare non audens hiuleas faucium gurguliones opilavit, ut poeta de profeta dicit<br><br>Et didicere truces praedam servare leones.<br><br>Ad ultimum beatus Iulianus cum ceteris commilitonibus stricta machera crudeliter percussus et rubicundo cruoris rivo perfusus feliciter occubuit; ad quorum venerabiles sarcofagos cum X leprosi venissent, quos dira cutis callositas elefantino tabo deturpans non particulatim, sed membratim maculaverat, ilico et secundae nativitatis gratia in baptisterio regenerati, qui in sabanis et in sindonibus baiolabantur aegroti, sanctorum meritis sospites et voti compotes abscedunt. <br><br> <br>'Moreover, I shall not allow the virginal glory of the martyr JULIAN to lie hidden in the secret recesses of silence. Julian was born in the time of Diocletian and Maximian of a noble stock. When his parents, while he was still blooming in the first stages of childhood, had arranged for him to be master of the dialectic art as well as to be a participant in the arts of rhetoric, they gave him over to tutors and teachers to have him instructed in the various disciplines of philosophy; and already in the tender beginning of boyhood, his parents observed the grown man (that he was to be), having discovered him (to be) a lover of the catholic faith, hanging round the sacred portals of the church and also visiting often the prisons of confessors, (and) they feared greatly that, if their only child were to be deprived of offspring because of his choice of religion or the practice of a holy way of life, they would – as the patriarch said, pouring out a tearful lament, "bring down his grey hairs with sorrow unto hell" [Gen. 64:20] – to be completely deprived of heirs for their hoped-for succession and of children to come to their children. Therefore, they attempted to influence the youth with earnest prayers and unheard-of incitements of flattery, so that they might incline the young man's disposition – which was not so much iron, as harder than adamant – to wedding-festivities and the companionship of marriage. For this argument of urgent persuasion, they even use the pronouncements of the apostle in which he says: "I will, therefore, that the younger should marry, bear children, be parents of families, give no occasion to the adversary to speak evil" [I Tim. 5:14], To whom he is reported to have replied, "It is not the appropriate time according to my will nor to my age that I should do these things which you urge"; likewise, when they persevered obstinately in their entreaties, he said: "I have not the capacity to promise, nor have I the power to refuse; what you urge, I commit to the power of my God," and so on. However, he asked from his parents a respite of one week so that he might discover the will of the heavenly majesty by divine proofs. When this interval was up, and he was laid in sleep and sunk in slumber, he saw Christ say to him in a vision: "Arise! Do not fear the persuasions of words nor shudder at your parents' wish! For you shall take a wife who shall not separate you from me by fleshly pollution, but through you shall remain a virgin," and thereafter, "Many young men and women through your teaching shall be recruited into the life of the heavenly army," and so forth. Accordingly, a blessed virgin named prophetically Basilissa, that is "queen," is accepted in marriage, beautiful in the features of her face, yet more beautiful in the chastity of her heart; lovely, I say, in each and every one of her physical fea