Passion of St Cassian

tr. Owen, 1927

cassian

I.

WHEN Aurelius Agricolan was acting as deputy for the Prefects of the Praetorian Guard, at the time when he was preparing to hear the case of the holy martyr Marcellus, the blessed Cassian was a shorthand-writer¹ under the orders of his staff. So when Marcellus, one of the centurions of Asta, was brought into court at Tingis² on the 30th of October, Aurelius Agricolan by his power as judge strove with many threats to seduce him from perseverance in his confession. But the blessed Marcellus by the power of his constancy, so that all henceforward considered him his judge’s judge, proclaimed that he was the soldier of Christ, and could not serve the cares of the world, while Aurelius Agricolan on the other hand poured forth words full of fury. Cassian was taking down these statements, but, when he saw Aurelius Agricolan, beaten by the devotion of so great a martyr, pronounce sentence of death, he vowed with an imprecation³ he would go no farther, and threw on the ground his pen⁴ and note-book.⁵ So, amid the astonishment of the staff and the laughter of Marcellus, Aurelius Agricolan trembling leapt from the bench and demanded why he had thrown down his note-books with an oath. Blessed Cassian answered that Agricolan had dictated an unjust sentence. To avoid further contradiction, Agricolan ordered him to be at once removed and cast into prison.

II.

Now the blessed martyr Marcellus had laughed because, having knowledge of the future through the Holy Spirit, he rejoiced that Cassian would be his companion in martyrdom. On that very day amid the eager expectation of the city blessed Marcellus obtained his desire. After no long interval, namely, on the 3rd of December, the worshipful Cassian was brought into the same court in which Marcellus had been tried, and by almost the same replies, the same statement as holy Marcellus had made merited to obtain the victory of martyrdom, through the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom belong honour and glory, excellency and power for ever and ever. Amen.

Notes

shorthand-writer: ‘exceptor’, also called ‘notarius’ (which had a wider meaning). A system of shorthand seems to have been invented by Tiro, Cicero’s secretary. It was used, as here, in the courts (cf. Acts of S. Marcellus, ch. ii), and extensively by the Christians to take down sermons, the proceedings of Councils (v. Augustine, Ep. 141) &c. It is to these ‘exceptores’ that we probably owe many of the Acts (v. Le Blant, Actes des Martyrs, p. 10 foil., and my Gen. Introd., p. 15).
For Asta and Tingis see notes to the Acts of S. Marcellus.
vowed with an imprecation: lit. ‘calling them to witness his curse on himself’, i. e. he prayed that he might be accursed if he went on.
pen: ‘graphium’, or ‘stilus’, a pencil used for writing on waxed tablets, sharpened to a point at one end for scratching the characters on the wax, while the other end being flat and circular served to render the surface of the tablets smooth again, and so to obliterate what had been written (Smith’s Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Antiq.).
note-book: ‘codicem’, wooden tablets bound together and lined with a coat of wax for the purpose of writing; the word denotes also a book of parchment or paper (ib.).