The Monastic Rules of Visigothic Iberia - eTheses Repository ...

and a discussion of such techniques can be found throughout ancient literature (Kirby 1997).
Notwithstanding sole stylistic purpose, figurative tropes are particularly popular in didactic
works since such techniques can be of importance for the purpose of clarification and
reinforcement: “through metaphor, complex abstractions may achieve concrete semantic
reality” (Walde 2006: 788). Added to this is the fact that understanding such tropes often
requires little or no sophisticated knowledge on behalf of the listener, a feature that Cicero
was keen to highlight: “sic uerbi translatio instituta est inopiae causa, frequentata
delectionis. Nam ‗gemmare uites‘, ‗luxuriem esse in herbis‘, ‗laetus esse segetes‘ etiam
rustici dicunt”. 352
Isidore opens his monastic rule with a description of a monastery likening it to a prison
and demonstrating clearly the extent to which it should be removed from the secular world:
“Inprimis, fratres charissimi, monasterium uestrum miram conclauis diligentiam habeat ut
firmitatem custodiae munimenta claustrorum exhibeant”. 353 Elsewhere, the content of
similes is wide-ranging but with a couple of recognisable themes. Also popular are
comparisons to weapons and violence: prudence must be maintained as though there were a
nocturnal thief coming to slay the monk‟s body: “tanta ibique debet esse astutia, quantum fur
nocturnus in pectore nostro Christo occidere festinate et non corpora sed animas iugulare
desiderat”; 354 speaking to a nun is compared to shooting an arrow into a mortal heart: “quod
si fecerint, sciant se rumpere Patrum instituta et cordis uitalia mortis infixisse sagittam”. 355
352 De Oratore 3.155.
353 Rule of Isidore 1
354 Common Rule 15.
355 Common Rule 15.
139