Letter CXXIX. To the Citizens of Genoa

(A.D. 1133.)

He exhorts them to preserve with all possible care the peace that he had re-established among them.

To the consuls, magistrates, and people of Genoa, health, peace, and eternal life.

1. That my visit to you last year was not fruitless, the Church who sent me soon afterwards experienced in her time of need. You received me honourably, and even thought my stay with you was all too short; this was, in deed, conduct worthy on your part, but quite beyond my humble deserving. At all events, I am neither forgetful of it, nor ungrateful to you. May God, who has the power, and whose cause it was, repay to you your goodness! But how can I recompense you for the honour you showed me, except by an affectionate service full of love and gratitude? Not that I take pleasure in favour shown to me, but I rejoice to see your devotion. What joyous days were those; but alas! only too few. Never will I forget thee,¹ devoted people, honourable nation, illustrious state. At evening, and at morning, and at noon-day did I relate my news and announce my tidings, and I found that the hearers had as much charity as eagerness to hear. We took back the word of peace, and when we had found the sons of peace our peace rested upon them. I had gone out to sow seed, not mine, but God's; and it fell on good ground and brought forth fruit a hundredfold and immediately. Wonderful was the rapidity, for great was the necessity. I met writh no delay or difficulty; in one day I sowed and reaped and brought back rejoicing sheaves of peace. This was the harvest that I gathered in. To those in exile, in captivity, in chains, and in prison, I took a joyous hope of freedom and return to their native land, to the enemy I brought fear, to schismatics confusion, to the Church glory, to the world gladness.

2. And now what remains for me, dearly beloved, but to exhort you to perseverance, which alone wins for man glory, and for his virtues the crown of victory? Without perseverance the soldier does not obtain victory, nor the victor his crown. It lends vigour to the will and perfects all virtues, it is the nurse to merit and the mediator between the battle and the prize. Perseverance is sister to patience, the daughter of constancy, the bosom-friend of peace, the cementer of friendships, the bond of harmony, the bulwark of holiness. Take away perseverance, and obedience loses its reward, well-doing its grace, and fortitude its praise. It is not he who has begun, but he that has persevered unto the end that shall be saved (S. Matt. xxiv. 13). Saul when he was little in his own sight was made King over Israel, but not persevering in humility he lost both his kingdom and his life. If the caution of Samson and the devotion of Solomon had been persevered in, the one would not have been deprived of his strength, nor the other of his wisdom. I exhort and beseech you to hold fast firmly to this gift of perseverance, the highest mark of honour, the one trusty guardian of integrity. Keep carefully what you have heard joyfully. Remember the words that are written of Herod: that he feared John and heard him gladly (S. Mark vi. 20). Well would it have been for him if he had been as ready to act as to listen. It is not they that hear merely who are called blessed, but they that hear the Word of God and keep it (S. Luke xi. 28).

3. Keep, therefore, peace between yourselves and your brethren at Pisa; keep your fidelity to the Pope, your loyalty to the King; guard your own honour. This is expedient, this is befitting, and this is demanded by justice. I have heard that some messengers of King Roger have come to you; I know not their object, nor their success. But I must confess with the poet that / fear the Greeks, even when they bring gifts (VERG., ^En. ii. 49). If anyone among you is caught (which God forbid) in the disgraceful act of stretching out his hand for filthy lucre, note him straightway, judge him to be an enemy to your name, a betrayer of his fellow-citizens, and a traitor to the common good and honour. If, again, you find any whisperer among the people assuming the devil's occupation of sowing dis cords, and trying to disturb the existing peace, as he is ever the author and lover of division, then visit such a dangerous fellow the more quickly with severe judgment; such a disease is the most deadly, because the most inward. A hostile army lays waste the fields and burns your houses, but evil communications corrupt good manners, and a little leaven permeates the whole lump. Sow, plant, and exert yourselves not only not to commit your former misdoings again, but even by works of righteousness to atone for them and blot them out. It is written, as you know: The redemption of a man's soul is his riches (Prov. xv. 6), and again, Give alms and all things are clean to you (S. Luke xi. 41). But if you determine to go to war, and, again, bravely and strenuously to try your strength, to make test of your arms, I, for my part, think that you ought not to proceed against your neighbours and friends; it would be more fitting for you to subdue the enemies of the Church and defend your crown that has been assailed by the Sicilians. From them, at all events, it will be more honourable for you to take possessions, and more just to keep them when taken. May the God of love and peace remain with you all always. Amen.

Footnotes

1. The men of Genoa made trial of this in the year 1625. When Charles Emmanuel, Duke of Savoy, came up to lay siege to their city, they called on Bernard to redeem his pledge, and vowed as follows: — '' We promise to enrol S. Bernard among the tutelary Saints of our State for he engaged in a Letter to us that he would never forget us. We engage to have his day observed as a feast day; to erect a chapel dedicated to him in our Cathedral or some other Church; yearly to go in procession, both clergy and laity, and solemnize the sacred rites at his altar, with the consent of the most illustrious Archbishop, and most reverend Bishops, and at which we will piously assist; lastly, we promise to pay this year and every year for the future by the hand of the Duke, a hundred pounds with each of twelve maidens, as their dowry. In testimony whereof, etc. Given at the Cathedral Church, on Sunday, 2-;th April, 1625." This was when ruin was staring the citizens of Genoa in the face. The issue proved the worth of their vow. For on the eve of this Festival, Bernard quickly put their enemy to flight, by causing the appearance of the Spanish fleet. Thus writes Manrique. — [Mabillon's note.] ↩