Letters286 Letter CCLXXXVI. To the same, on behalf of the same (A.D. 1153)
Letter CCLXXXVI. To the same, on behalf of the same (A.D. 1153)
If secret calumnies and craft have prevailed against the Abbot of S. Denys, I am clean from his blood, for I wrote before against his bitter foes. But what accusation do they bring against the man? Is it not a fact that they cannot find whereof to accuse him? And if they have good grounds for accusing, how is it that he is acquitted by all his neighbours who are of a right conversation? He is accused of having incurred many debts, of having mortgaged his lands, and wasted his goods, as though all this could not have happened from necessary and good causes. An assembly of that Church gave me an account of all these things, and testified through a trustworthy person that things are not as they have been reported to you. Nevertheless, let an inquiry be held, for in matters of this kind we place more confidence in what we see than in any oath; and if things are found to be as his accusers maliciously state, no matter how it came about, then let not the Abbot be excused. If they are not so, then let not these informers gain anything by their falsehood. They charge him with the death of a certain man; if he cannot clear himself let him die. And yet anyone can see how unlikely it is that he should have handed over to death a man whom but a little before he had rescued from it. How can these men have the audacity to insinuate such charges into your mind, when they have seen and known the zeal of the Abbot in freeing those who before had committed homicide, and in punishing those who had avenged the blood of a relation?
Vol. II.
Letter CCLXXXVIII.
Lastly, if you had known them well, it would be enough to make you disbelieve any unsupported statement of theirs. May God help your Holiness, that the deceitful tongue may not avail anything against the Abbot's innocence.
Si susurrationes et subreptiones praevaluerint adversus abbatem Sancti-Dionysii, mundus ego sum a sanguine ejus, qui scripsi in alia vice adversus malignantes. Verumtamen quam accusationem afferunt adversus hominem illum! An quod non inveniunt quod accusent? Et quomodo si recte isti eum accusant, excusatur a vicinis omnibus qui recto sunt corde? Accusatur quod debita multa fecerit, impignoraverit terras, dilapidaverit bona. Quasi haec vel necessariis, vel justis ex causis non potuerint contigisse. Mandavit nobis de his universis conventus illius ecclesiae, et per fidelem personam testatus est aliter, quam vobis dicta sunt, se habere. Verumtamen inquiratur; nam certius de his oculus, quam juramentum fidem faciet: et si inventa fuerint quemadmodum isti malitiose componunt, quoquo modo acciderint, abbas non excusetur. Si non fuerint, delatores nihil de falsitate lucrentur. Insimulant eum de morte hominis: si se purgare non potest, moriatur. Quanquam quis non videat nec verisimile esse, ut quem paulo ante de morte eripuerat, in mortem tradiderit? Qua fronte haec audent insusurrare vobis, qui viderunt et cognoverunt zelum abbatis in liberatione illorum, qui prius homicidium perpetraverant, et in ultione eorum, qui sanguinem proximi ulti erant! Postremo si bene nossetis istos, posset profecto sufficere ad decredendum quidquid non accipitis nisi per eos. Adsit Deus sanctae menti vestrae, ne quid illi lingua dolosa adversus innocentiam subripere possit.