The Empress Placilla

The emperor had still other opportunities to grow better within his reach. His wife used constantly to remind him of the divine laws, in which she had first carefully trained herself. Her imperial rank did not make her proud at all. Instead it set her burning with a greater longing for divine things. The greatness of the gift she had been given made her love for the One who gave it all the greater. So she gave every kind of care to the crippled and the maimed. She refused all help from her household and her guards, and went herself to the houses where the sufferers stayed, providing each one with what he needed. She also went around the guesthouses of the churches and tended to the needs of the sick with her own hands. She handled the pots and pans and tasted the broth. Now she would bring in a dish, break the bread and offer the pieces; now she would wash out a cup. She went through all the other tasks that are thought to belong to servants and maids. To those who tried to stop her from doing these things with her own hands, she would say: “It is fitting for a sovereign to hand out gold. But in return for the sovereign power that has been given me, I am giving my own service to the Giver.” To her husband, too, she would always say: “Husband, you ought always to remember what you once were and what you have now become. If you keep this constantly in mind, you will never become ungrateful to your benefactor. You will govern the empire he has given you according to the law, and in this way you will worship the One who gave it.” By always speaking in this way, she watered, as it were, with good and wholesome care the seeds of virtue planted in her husband’s heart.

She died before her husband. Not long after her death, events took place that showed how much her husband loved her. [a]