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

of speech, as shown by the example in Leander of Seville: “uirgo conscientiam tantum debet
habere liberam, non uocem, non sermonem [...] sit mente apud Deum secura, uoce uero
sermone atque aspectu humilis et uerecunda [...] memor sit Susannae castissimae, quae
adulteris accusatoribus non respondit ore iustitiam, quam corde gerebat”. 461
An even more rhetorical element can be found in a short passage from the late-seventh-
century Life of Columba by St. Aidan, which counts seven terms conveying the idea of
speech: “Quam cum ille duro ualde et stolido retentaret animo, sanctus ad eum loquutus hoc
profatur modo [...] et hoc coram Bruideo rege dicens domum egresus regiam ad Nesam uenit
fluium. De quo uidelicet fluio lapidem attollens candidum: ‗Signate‘, ait [...] et hoc effatus
uerbum consequenter intulit, inquiens [...]”. 462
What can be said concerning the use of the nouns in the monastic rules? As expected,
oratio is used only in the sense of „prayer‟, a semantic change that is typical of the later Latin.
For example: “Propriis autem temporibus oportet operari monachum, et propriis orationi
lectionique incumbere”; 463 Primum discant uoluntates proprias superare, et nihil suo arbitrio
uel minimum aliquid agere; nihil loqui nisi ad interrogata, et cogitationes de die in diem
nascentes cum ieiunio et oratione expellere, et suo abbati nunquam celare”; 464 “Priusquam
ad mensam conuenient, praecedat oratio”. 465 Colloqium is used just twice in the monastic
rules, once tautologically with sermo: “Lasciuus, petulans et superbus, saepius suspendatur
461 De institutione uirginum 7.
462 Life of Columba 28.
463 Rule of Isidore 5.6.
464 Common Rule 5.
465 Rule of Fructuosus 3.
192