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

ecalling memories of their mother. It may well be then, that Leander wished to leave a very
personal inheritance to his sister.
However, there is a recurring theme throughout the epistle, almost selfish in its nature.
There can be no doubt that whilst Leander was concerned for the well-being of his sister, he
was also just as concerned for his own personal salvation. There are a couple of hints that
Leander thought himself to have sinned, perhaps through some sort of previous sexual
activity prior to entering the Church, and his perceived proximity to death may have
prompted him to re-evaluate the effects of his earthly life on his standing with God. There is
no evidence to suggest that Leander had read Augustine‟s Confessions, but exomologesis
through confessional literature was something that both they and other writers shared in
common (Taylor 2008: 13-46). Although there are no detailed references, Leander on a few
occasions refers overtly to the possibility of a less-than-holy past: Epistle line 78, “non sum
idoneus eloqui [...] praemia uirginitatis; Epistle line 120, “qui etsi in me non habeo quod in
te perficere uolo, perdidisse me doleam quod te tenere desidero”; Epistle line 138, “atque in
illo terribili metuendoque iudicio, ubi de factis ac dictis uel de commissis discussio fuerit, ubi
de meis dispendiis, heu mihi, sum cogendus reddere rationem”. Whatever Leander may or
may not have done (and it might be possible that this is an example of nothing more than
excessive Christian humilitas), he clearly sees Florentina as key to his entrance into Heaven
and absolution for his earthly sins; “et uindicata quae mihi debetur pro negligentia mea, forte
castitatis tuae sedabitur intercessione”. Indeed, lines 120-162 represent nothing more than
an all-out exhortation for the salvation of Leander‟s soul through the chastity of Florentina.
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