Chapter 7. The Nobility and Piety of Constantine’s Mother

¹ As for the things concerning your mother—but who could grant me the sweetness of Herodotus and the density of Aristides,[1] so that I might leave out nothing worth telling? Your mother, then, is herself royal, of a wholly blessed lineage—able to count not only illustrious fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers, but countless emperors among her ancestors upon ancestors—and yet she has shown a soul more royal still through her own deeds. For her, to take her dignity from her imperial rank would be like prizing a pearl for its shell. What was the marvel of royalty to her? She counted everything as refuse, choosing, as the Apostle says, to gain Christ alone, by whom she was also rescued from the death of the flesh, having come to love the life hidden in him; and so, all at once, she counted the height of royalty a pit, and the true height of Christ’s humility a thing truly heavenly—so that the suddenness of her change is more to be marveled at than the change itself, and, more than its suddenness, her ascent to the very summit. For to be carried off to the solitary life has happened to many others besides—but rather womanishly, rather softly; whereas to become so ardently poor in spirit belongs to the blessed Maria alone, as her zeal and her chosen discipline. Other women, perhaps, driven by countless necessities, have taken on the appearance of the monastic life, dragged unwillingly under the yoke by some prod or other; but what is unwilling is neither faithful nor lasting. And this is itself, among the other things, a further cause for wonder in her case: that pursued by no distress, compelled by no one, she ran—for no other reason than love for Christ — after the fragrance of his perfumes, and desired his shadow, and sat down in it. And yet, if we marvel at women wrapped in poverty from birth when they choose this hard and toilsome way of life, how much more wonder do we owe to our sovereign lady, who was born to luxury, and who, enjoying an even more luxurious upbringing and manner of living than most, chose for herself a bitter and laborious life—setting rags against soft garments, dark and coarse clothing against splendid robes, and against delicate fare, a meager diet and fasting. In short, she kept to hard paths for the sake of the Lord’s words.