E00356: Gregory of Tours, in his Life of *Leobardus (recluse of Marmoutier, later 6th c., S00175), recounts how he lent two books on the lives of saints to Leobardus, who had gone astray; inspired by them, he changed his behaviour. From Gregory's Life of the Fathers, written in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 573/594.

Gregory of Tours, Life of the Fathers 20.3

Leobardus leads the life of an ascetic in a cell in Marmoutier near Tours.

(Ch.3) Interea, ut se temptator manifestaret Dei servis semper inimicum esse ac invidum, cum aliquid de illius monacholi litem quandam cum vicinis habuisset, inmisit ei cogitationem, ut, relicta cellula illa, ad aliam transmigraret.
Cumque ibi ad orationem soliti evenissemus, dolum nobis veneni crassantis aperuit. Ego vero suspirans non minimo dolore, increpare hominem coepi, asserens diaboli [haec] esse caliditatem; librosque et vita patrum ac institutione monachorum, vel quales qui recluduntur esse debeant, vel cum quali cautela monachis vivere oporteat, abscedens ab eo, direxi. Quibus relictis, non solum cogitationem pravam a se discussit, verum etiam tantum sensum acumine erudivit, ut miraretur facundia elocutionis eius. Erat enim dulcis alloquio, blandus hortatu, eratque ei sollicitudo pro populis, inquesitio pro regibus, oratio assidua pro omnibus eclesiasticis Deum timentibus. Verum non ille, ut quidam, dimissis capillorum flagellis aut barbarum dimissione plaudebat, sed certo tempore capillum tondebat et barbam.

'Meanwhile, in order to show himself always as the enemy of the servants of God, the Tempter took advantage of a quarrel which had arisen between the saint and his neighbours over monastic matters and gave him the idea of leaving his cell and going to another. When we were in that place, coming there to pray as usual, he showed us the corruption of the poison which ravaged his heart. I sighed deeply with great sadness and began to exhort him and assure him that it was an artifice of the devil. And when I had left him I sent him books of the Life of the Fathers and the Institution of the Monks, in order that he might learn what hermits had to do and with what care monks had to live. He read them, and not only did he banish from his mind the evil thought that he had had, but also developed his learning so much that he astonished us by his facility in speaking of such matters. He expressed himself in such a gentle manner, and his exhortations were full of charm; he had solicitude for the poor, reproof for kings and assiduous prayer for all God-fearing clerics. He was not like those who delight in wearing long hair and long beards, for at fixed times he used to cut his hair and beard.'

Text: Krusch 1969, 292-293. Translation: James 1991, 128-129.