He Could Not Write to a Man Who Did Not Know Him

For my part, I am so astonished at the enormity of the thing that I hardly know what I ought to say in my defense. I can only declare that I condemn myself to die ten thousand deaths if even the least suspicion attaches to me in this matter. And to you, Sire, as a lover of the truth, I confidently make my appeal. I beg you, as I said before, to investigate this affair, and especially through the testimony of those he once sent to you as ambassadors. These are the bishops Servatius and Maximus and the others, with Clementius and Valens. Ask them, I beg you, whether they brought letters to me. If they did, that would have given me occasion to write to him. But if he did not write to me, if he did not even know me, how could I write to someone I was not acquainted with? Ask them whether, when I saw Clementius and his companions and spoke of your brother of blessed memory, I did not, in the words of Scripture, wet my garments with tears, as I remembered his kindness of heart and his Christian spirit. Learn from them how anxious I was when I heard of the cruelty of the beast and found that Valens and his company had come by way of Libya. I feared that he might attempt a crossing too, and like a robber murder those who held the departed emperor in love and memory, among whom I count myself second to none. [a]