Letter 8

44. To Marcella

That we may console the absence of our bodies by the converse of our spirits, let each of us do what he is best able to do. You send gifts, we send back letters of thanks—yet on this condition, that, since these are the gift of veiled virgins, we should show that there are certain mysteries even in these little presents. The sackcloth is a sign of prayer and of fasting; the stools, that the virgin should not move her feet abroad; the tapers, that with the light kindled the coming of the bridegroom may be awaited; the cups show the mortifying of the flesh and a spirit always made ready for martyrdom—for the cup of the Lord that makes us drunk is exceedingly good. And as for the fly-whisks you offer the matrons, to be waved against the little creatures, they signify that luxuries, which are soon to perish along with this perishing world, should be kept far from those women, and that they should drive out the oil of a more agreeable life. Let this be the type of virgins, this the figure of matrons. To us, however, your gifts are fitting, though in a contrary sense: to sit suits the idle, to lie in sackcloth befits the penitent, to have cups belongs to those who drink—though, both because of fears in the night and because of a mind whose conscience is always dreading evil, it is welcome to have kindled the tapers too.