DLH IV.12

English, pp.205-207

There was at that time in Clermont-Ferrand a priest called Anastasius, a man of free birth, who owned a certain property which had been granted to him by Queen Clotild of glorious memory. Bishop Cautinus summoned him several times and asked him to surrender the title-deeds given by Queen Clotild and to make the property over to him. Anastasius refused to submit to the demands of his Bishop. Cautinus first tried what he could do by flattery, then he resorted to threats. In the end he ordered Anastasius to be brought into the city against his well, he had him locked up in the most outrageous manner and he went so far as to command that he should be beaten and starved to death if he would not hand over the title-deeds. Anastasius had the courage to resist and he refused steadfastly to produce the papers, saying that he preferred to waste away for lack of food rather than leave his children destitute. Then Bishop cautinus ordered that he should be guarded closely and that if he did not hand over the documents he should be guarded closely and that if he did not hand over the documents he should die of hunger. In the church of Saint Cassius the Martyr there was a crypt which had been there for centuries and where no one ever went. It contained a great sarcophagus of Parian marble, in which, so it seems, lay the body of some person dead these many years. In this sarcophagus, on top of the body which was mouldering away there, they buried Anastasius alive. The stone slab which they had removed was put back and guards were posted at the crypt door. These guards were convinced that Anastasius must have been crushed to death by the slab. It was winter time, so they lit a fire, warmed some wine and fell asleep after they had drunk it. Meanwhile our priest, like some new Jonah, from the confines of his tomb, as if from the belly of hell, was praying for God's compassion. The sarcophagus was quite big, as I have told you. Anastasius could not turn over completely, but he could stretch out his hands in all directions. Years afterwards he used to describe the fetid stench which clung about the dead man's bones, and tell how this not only offended his sense of smell but turned his stomach over. If he stuffed his cloak into his nostrils he could smell nothing as long as he held his breath; but whenever he removed his cloak, for fear of being suffocated, he breathed in the pestilential odour through his mouth and his nose and even, so to speak, through his ears! To cut a long story short, God finally took pity on him, for that is what I think must have happened. Anastasius stretched out his right hand to touch the edge of the sarcophagus and discovered a crowbar. When the lid had been lowered on top of him, this had been left between the stone slab and the edge of sarcophagus. He levered the crowbar to and fro until, with God's help, he felt the lid move. Once it was edged far enough along for the priest to be able to stick his head out he was able to make a bigger opening and so creep out of the tomb. The shades of night were falling fast, but it was not yet completely dark. Anastasius made his way to another door of the crypt. This was secured by heavy locks and enormous nails, but it was not so well fitted together that one could not peer out between the planks. The priest knelt down and through one of these chinks he saw a man pass by. Anastasius called out to him in a low voice. The man heard him. Without much ado he grasped his axe, cut through the wooden planks to which the locks were attached and made a way out for the priest. Anastasius emerged into the night and found his way home, having first impressed upon the man that he must not tell anyone what had happened. Once safe and sound inside his house, he looked out the title-deeds which Queen Clotild had given to him. He took them to King Lothar and told him how he had been buried alive by his bishop. All those present were astounded: not even Nero or Herod, they declared, had committed such a crime as to bury a man alive. Cautinus appeared before King Lothar, but when Anastasius taxed him with this crime he left immediately, for he had no answer and he was confused. King Lothar gave Anastasius new title-deeds, which confirmed him in the possession of his property and prevented anyone from taking it away. He bequeathed the land to his descendants.

Deutsch, S.207

Es lebte aber zu jener Zeit ein Priester Anastasius, ein Mann von freier Geburt, der durch Gnadenbriefe der Königin Chrodichilde ruhmreichen Andenkens ein Grundstück besaß. Diesen nun ging der Bischof öfters an und bat ihn flehentlich, er möchte ihm die Gnadenbriefe der genannten Königen geben und ihm die Besitzung abtreten. Da aber jener es aufschob den Wunsch seines Bischofs zu erfüllen, der ihn bald durch Schmeicheleien zu gewinnen, bald durch Drohungen zu schrecken suchte, so ließ er ihn zuletzt wider seinen Willen nach der Stadt bringen, dort ruchlos festhalten, und befahl, ihm, wenn er die Urkunden nicht herausgebe, alle mögliche Unbill anzutun und ihn Hungers sterben zu lassen. Dennoch sträubte sich jener mannhaft und lieferte die Urkunden nicht aus, denn es sei ihm besser, sagte er, daß er eine Zeitlang Hunger leide, als daß er seine Nachkommen später im Elende hinterlasse. Darauf wurde er auf Geheiß des Bischofs den Schergen übergeben, und sollte, wenn er die Gnadenbriefe nicht auslieferte, den Hungertod erleiden. Es war aber bei der Kirche des heiligen Märtyrers Cassius eine sehr alte und ganz verborgene unterirdische Kapelle, in der war ein großes Grabmal von Parischem Marmor, in dem der Leichnam eines hochbetagten Mannes beigsetzt worden war. In diesem Grabmal nun wurde der Priester lebend über dem Leichnam begraben und mit dem Stein bedeckt, mit dem vorher der Sarkophag geschlossen war, während vor der Türe Wachen aufgestellt wurden. Die

Latin, p.206

Erat enim tunc temporis Anastasius presbiter, ingenuus genere, qui per chartas gloriosae memoriae Chrodigildis reginae proprietatem aliquam possidebat. Quem plerumque conventum episcopus rogat suppliciter, ut ei chartas supradictae reginae daret sibique possessionem hanc subderet. Sed ille cum voluntatem sacerdotis sui implere differret eumque episcopus nunc blanditiis provocaret, nunc minis terreret, ad ultimum invitum / urbi exhiberi praecepit ibique inpudenter teneri et, nisi instrumenta daret, iniuriis adfici et fame negari iussit. Sed ille virili repugnans spiritu, numquam praebuit instrumenta, dicens, satius sibi esse ad tempus inaedia tabescere quam sobolem in posterum miseram derelinqui. Tunc ex iussu episcopi traditur custodibus, ut, nisi has chartulas proderet, fame necaretur. Erat enim ad basilicam sancti Cassii martyris cripta antiquissima abditissimaque, ubi erat sepulchrum magnum ex marmore Phario, in quo grandaevi cuiusdam hominis corpus positum videbatur. In hoc sepulchro super sepultum vivens presbiter sepelitur operiturque lapide, quo prius sarchofagum fuit obtectum, datis ante ostium custodibus. Sed custodes fidi, quod lapide premere

Comments

What I find interesting with this example, is that the narrative is not entirely like Jonah’s. Jonah was called by God to speak to the sinful Ninevites, but he chose to run away because he did not want to. As a result of his sin, he ended up in the belly of a whale or large fish and only after repenting for three days he was spurt out and he went off to complete the task. For some reason, Gregory equates the wrongful imprisonment of an innocent man with the story of Jonah for the mere detail that he was trapped in a tomb praying for God’s compassion. Unlike a lot of patterned stories, Gregory does not even incorporate a numeral link by claiming that the priest was trapped in the tomb for three days like Jonah.

- new Jonah