E06572: Aldhelm, in his prose On Virginity, names *Amos/Amun (ascetic and monk of Nitria, S00419), whose soul *Antony ('the Great', S00098) saw carried to heaven, as an exemplary virgin. Written in Latin in southern Britain, for the nuns at the monastery at Barking (south-east Britain), c. 675/686.

Aldhelm, prose On Virginity, 37

Amos, primus Nitriae famosus accola, qui cum a parentibus invitus ad nuptiarum commercia cogeretur et tamen invitus nequaquam pudicitiae palma privaretur, magis magisque invisi oblatam matrimonii sortem acsi squalentis ceni contagia vel venenatum aspidis morsum refragabatur – hic ergo Amos generosa prosapia oriundus fuit, qui i praepollenti gazarum affluentia et sumptuosa patrimonii opulentia apud Aegiptum celebris habebatur. Huius ergo parentes amantissimam sobolem cum adultam et iam pubescentem in annis iuvenilibus deprehenderent, quasi secuturae posteritati consulentes ad nuptiales thalami copulas licet magnopere refragantem invitant. Quorum obstinatam importunitatem cum refutando frustrari non posset simulata matrimonii coniventia invitus anulo subarratam sortitur virgunculam, quam in obstruso thalami cubiculo clandistinis verborum hortamentis ad pudicitiae praemia persuadet; cuius precibus et monitis obsecundans ad summum virginitatis fastigium anhelat. Qui prolixa temporum intercapidine pariter in castimonia Deo tantum a teste vixisse feruntur et in rigido sanctae conversationis proposito cum virtutum incrementis usquequaque prosperabantur. Sub quorum magisterio ad fidem Christi et contemptum mundi numerosa utriusque sexus caterva confluxit; cumque secundis meritorum successibus in practica pollesceret, horrentis heremi vastitatem aggressus theoricam anachoreseos exercuit vitam.

Infinitis a vero remuneratore virtutum prodigiis donatur. Nam quidam iuvenculus rabidis molosi rictibus in vesaniam versus strictis catenarum nexibus ad eum deductus actutum incolomitati a pristinae donatur, sed ea conditione prius interposita, ut pauperculae direpta et depeculata mulierculae redderentur. Ast illi strofam in abdito perpetratam profetica virtute propalatam cognoscentes ea, quae fraude abegerant, sponte restituunt. Sed et illud strictim et summatim commemorandum, quod duo quidam dolium se viro Dei delaturos spoponderunt; e quibus alter, dum pollicita fefellisset, obeuntem gibbum amisit camellum, alius promissa complens asello sospite perfruitur. Quanta vero sit pudicitiae virtus, ex hoc manifestius liquebit, quod vir Dei, dum Nilotica gurgitis fluenta transire satageret et spoliare se melote et amiculis erubesceret, ne pudibunda corporis nuditas et indecens obscenitas castos offenderet obtutus, extemplo in citeriorem alvei marginem divina virtute translatus legitur, ne hoc incredibile videatur, memento, qualiter Ambacuc discifer messorum fercula de Iudea ad Chaldeos angelico fretus officio in puncto temporis perniciter detulerit et in leonum lacu e rugientium per tanta terrarum intervalla familicum Dei profetam affatim paverit et ubertim saginaverit. Huius itaque Amos spiritum Antonius heremita, cum carnalis ergastuli vinculis enodaretur, a caelestis militiae manipulo astriferis inferri caelorum orbibus conspexit.


'AMOS, the first renowned citizen of Nitria, who, although he was compelled unwillingly by his parents to the intercourse of marriage – and yet, unwillingly, would in no way be deprived of the palm of chastity – resisted more and more the proffered lot of this detested marriage, as if it were the contagion of squalid filth or the poisonous bite of an asp. This Amos, therefore, was born of a respectable family which was renowned in Egypt for the outstanding affluence of its riches and the sumptuous wealth of its estate. Accordingly his parents, when they saw their most affectionate offspring growing up and maturing in youthful years, thinking as it were of posterity to follow, they urge Amos to the nuptial bonds of marriage, even though he was resisting strenuously. When he could no longer disappoint their obstinate importunity by refusing, he unwillingly chooses a young virgin who is betrothed by a ring under a simulated connivance of matrimony; (and) in the secret seclusion of their wedding-chamber he persuades her with private verbal exhortations to (strive after) the rewards of chastity. Complying with his prayers and admonitions she aspires to the highest summit of virginity. The two of them are said to have lived together – with God alone as witness – in chastity for a lengthy period of time; and they continually prospered, with an increase in virtue, in their strict observance of the holy way of life. Under the instruction of a numerous crowd of either sex streamed to the faith of Christ and to contempt of this world; and when Amos had prevailed in practical affairs through the favourable outcome of his merits, he set out for the wilderness of the dreadful desert, where he practised the contemplative life of an anchorite.

He is endowed with an infinite number of prophetic signs by the true rewarder of virtues. For a certain young man, turned to insanity by the rabid bites of a dog, was brought to him bound tightly in chains; he is immediately restored to his pristine health, but with the condition first imposed, that what had been stolen and plundered would be returned to a certain poor little lady. And these (people), recognizing that the deceit perpetrated in stealth was now revealed through the prophetic power (of Amos), restored of their own volition those things which they had removed by fraud. And this (following) story ought to be retold briefly and cursorily: that two certain men had promised that they would bring a large jar to the man of God. The one of them, when had broken his promise, lost his hump-backed camel which died thereafter; the other man, fulfilling his promise, has the benefit of a healthy donkey. How great is the value of chastity shall be made more clear by the following (anecdote) – that the man of God, when he was endeavouring to cross the waters of the river Nile, was ashamed to shed his sheepskin coat and other clothing lest the shameful nakedness of his body and its improper indecency were to offend chaste eyes; he is said to have been transported suddenly to the far bank of the river by divine power. And, lest this seem incredible, recall how Habacuc, the bearer of food to the reapers, swiftly brought a meal from Judea to the (land of) the Chaldeans [i.e. Babylon] in one split second, supported by angelic aid, and over so great a distance of land amply fed the prophet of God [i.e. Daniel] and abundantly nourished him (while he) was in the den of roaring lions. St Anthony the hermit saw the soul of this Amos being borne aloft by a band of heavenly soldiers into the starry orbs of heaven when it was released from the bonds of its fleshly prison.'

Text: Ehwald 1919, 284-6. Translation: Lapidge and Herren 1979, 102-3.