CHAPTER IV

THE DEPARTURE OF THE MISSION

It might seem at first sight that it would require great preparations for the journey of so great a company for so long and difficult a journey. We are persuaded, on the contrary, that these monks set out, as all the groups of monks did who in subsequent times left the parenthouse to found a new home, with nothing but each man his robe, staff, scrip, and water-bottle, and a pair of strong shoes. All the baggage they had besides, was

half a dozen letters of introduction.

These are

addressed by Gregory to half a dozen Gallic bishops commending the travellers to their protection and assistance, viz., to Virgilius Arelatensis (of Arles), Pelagius Turnis (of Tours ?), Protasius Aquæ Galliæ (of Aixles-Bains), Desiderius Viennensis (of Vienne), and Syagrius Augustodunensis (of Autun). They carry also letters to Queen Brunhilda and her royal sons, Theodoric and Theodebert, and to Arigius the Patrician; thus securing for them the protection of the civil authorities of Gaul. The example of them which Bede has transcribed into his History, he says, was addressed to Ætherius, Bishop of Arles, in which he is mistaken, since it is certain, from the contemporary History of Gregory of Tours, that Virgilius was at that time Bishop of Arles. Etherius was the name of the Bishop of Lyons, and it is very probable that

Gregory sent a copy of the letter to that bishop, as well as to his near neighbour of Vienne.

The letter is as follows:

"To the most Reverend and Holy Brother Ætherius, my Fellow-Bishop-Gregory, the Servant of the Servants of God.

"Although to priests who possess the charity which is pleasing to God, religious men need no one's recommendation, yet, since a suitable opportunity of writing offered itself, we have taken advantage of it to send this our letter to your Fraternity, to inform you that, for the welfare of souls, we have directed thither the bearers of these presents, Augustine, the servant of God, of whose earnestness we are assured, with other servants of God, whom it is requisite that your Holiness should hasten to help with friendly affection, and to give them your support. We have enjoined him to explain the business in detail, that you may the more readily give him your good aid, being sure that, when you are acquainted with it, you will, out of devotion to God, give all the help which the business requires. Moreover, we commend to your kindness in all things Candidus, the priest, our common son, whom we have sent to govern a small patrimony of our Church [1 God keep you in safety, most reverend brother].-Given the tenth day before the Kalends of August [1in the fourteenth year of our most pious and august lord, Mauricius Tiberius, the thirteenth year after the consulship of our lord aforesaid], the fourteenth indiction," that is, the 23rd of July, in the year 596 a.d.

1 These words are in the Letters of Gregory, but not in Bede's History.

In the Collection of the Letters of Gregory, we find this same letter addressed also to the Bishop of Marseilles and to the Bishop of Tours; another of the same general tenor, but differently worded, to Desiderius, Bishop of Vienne, to Syagrius of Autun, and to Protasius of Aix, and a separate letter to Virgilius of Arles. In the letter to Virgilius he adds a paragraph to the effect that his predecessor [probably not Licerius, but Sapandus], who had taken care of the little patrimony at Marseilles, had not accounted for some of the revenue due from it, and asking for restitution; and the letter to Protasius consists mainly of a request that he will urge Virgilius to make this restitution.

It is perhaps natural to suppose that the missioners would travel by the Aurelian Way, the great Roman road which skirted the Italian coast all round till it reached Provence, and then by Aix to Arles; then another Roman road, along the left bank of the Rhone, would take them northward to Vienne. We have to submit an alternative route for consideration.

First, let us look at these letters of introduction as a guide to the intended route. We observe that there are no letters to any place between Rome and Gaul. On the theory of the land journey, this could only be accounted for by supposing that there was nobody in the Lombard territory of North Italy, to whose good offices Gregory could commend his missioners. But this was not the fact. The Lombards, Barbarians and Arians as they were, had not destroyed the orthodox churches of North Italy, whose bishops would have shown all hospitality to those who came to them recommended by the great Roman Bishop. But it is true that the

Lombards were in possession of the country districts between the northern limits of the Roman Duchy, a few miles from Rome, and the city of Nice; and they were hostile to the Romans, continually committing outrages upon them, ravaging their fields up to the very gates of Rome, and carrying off their Roman captives into slavery. A company of Romans travelling across the country would therefore have been in great danger.

We submit that the monks avoided the toilsome journey and the perils of the way by a coasting voyage, which carried them without fatigue or danger from the Port of Rome to Marseilles, where they would find Candidus zealous in their service, and where their letters of introduction would ensure them influential countenance.

The conjecture, suggested by the probabilities of the case, is supported by several facts. First, by the fact that at a little later date, when Pope Stephen went to Gaul to appeal to King Pepin for aid, he avoided the whole Lombard country by taking the sea route; and secondly, by the fact that, at a still later period, Theodore, with Adrian and his monks, went by sea from Rome to Marseilles.1

If we wish to see with the mind's eye the start of an expedition of so much interest in our history, we must first picture the scene. The present Monastery of St. Andrew still occupies the same site on the north side of the Cælian Hill, conspicuous among the Seven Hills by its crown of pines, rising immediately behind the vast Colosseum, which the windows of the monastery overlooked; to the north of the Cælian rises the Palatine Hill, divided from it by the road which leads 1 Bede, Eccl. Hist. iv. 1.

through the Arch of Constantine, and turns into the Forum. Upon this scene we may next place the actors in this memorable incident. We may picture the company of some thirty monks in their russet robes, equipped with staff and scrip, issuing from the great gate of the palatial monastery on the Cælian Hill, with the silver cross before them, and the picture of our Lord on a panel mounted as a banner, singing a litany; their brother monks on the terrace watching their departure, and the bishop at the gate with his hands raised in a parting benediction; a crowd of Romans, men, women, and children, with their flashing eyes and eager gestures, and loud addios, lining the sides of the hollow road as spectators; and we may accompany their procession along the twelve miles of dusty road to Ostia; and watch them embark on the good ship which the provident bishop has provided for their voyage, and wait on the seashore till the sails are lost to sight in the glow of the setting sun.