While I was intent upon the Fathers very near to us, I had left aside the deeds of those of former times, so that the miracle of Paulinus, bishop of the city of Nola—who in virtue and in time went before many of whom I have made mention—seemed to have slipped from my memory. But now I return to earlier matters, and set them down with what brevity I can. For as the deeds of the good are wont to become known more quickly to those like them, while our elders walked forward by the examples of the righteous, the renowned name of the aforesaid venerable man became known, and his admirable work stretched itself out to instruct their zeal; men of such age that I was obliged to believe them as surely as if I had seen with my own eyes the things they told.
When, in the time of the raging Vandals, Italy in the region of Campania had been laid waste, and many from that land had been carried across into the African country, the man of the Lord, Paulinus, bestowed upon the needy captives all that he had been able to keep for the use of the episcopate. And when now nothing at all remained that he could give to those who asked, on a certain day a widow came who declared that her son had been led into captivity by the son-in-law of the king of the Vandals, and she asked from the man of God his ransom, if perchance his master would deign to accept it and grant that he might return to his own.
But the man of God, earnestly inquiring what he could give to the beseeching woman, found nothing in his possession but himself, and answered the woman who asked, saying: "Woman, I have not what I might give; but take me myself, declare me to be a slave under your right, and, in order that you may receive back your son, hand me over into servitude in his stead." When she heard this from the mouth of so great a man, she believed it rather mockery than compassion. But he—being a most eloquent man, and moreover exceedingly learned also in worldly studies—quickly persuaded the doubting woman that she should believe what she had heard, and should not hesitate to hand over the bishop into servitude for the recovery of her son. So the two of them set out for Africa.
Now as the king's son-in-law, who held her son, came forward, the widow presented herself to petition him, and first asked that he ought to give her back her son. But when the barbarous man, swollen with the pride of arrogance and puffed up with the joy of fleeting prosperity, disdained not only to do this but even to hear it, the widow added, saying: "Behold, I offer you this man in his place; only show mercy toward me, and give me back my only son." And when he had beheld the man of handsome countenance, he inquired what craft he knew. To him the man of God, Paulinus, answered, saying: "Indeed I know no craft, but I know how to tend a garden well." This the barbarian gladly accepted, when he heard that he was skilled in the raising of vegetables.
So he received the servant, and gave back to the beseeching widow her son. Having received him, the widow departed from the African country. But Paulinus took up the care of tending the garden. And when this same son-in-law of the king would often enter the garden, and would ask his gardener certain things, and saw that he was a very wise man, he began to forsake his friends and intimates, and more frequently to converse with his gardener and to be delighted by his discourse. To him Paulinus had grown accustomed daily to bring fragrant and green herbs to his table, and, receiving bread, to return to the care of the garden. And when this had gone on for a long while, one day he said to his master, as he spoke with him more privately:
"Consider what you do, and provide beforehand how the kingdom of the Vandals ought to be disposed, for the king will die shortly and with all speed." Hearing this, the son-in-law—since he was loved by that king above the rest—was by no means silent to him, but disclosed what he had learned from his gardener, a wise man indeed. And when the king had heard this, he at once replied: "I would wish to see this man of whom you speak." To him his son-in-law, the temporal master of the venerable Paulinus, answered, saying: "He is accustomed to bring me green herbs for my meal; therefore I will have him carry them here to the table, that you may recognize who it is that has spoken these things to me." And so it was done.
And while the king sat down to dine, Paulinus came, about to bring from his labour fragrant and green herbs. When the king suddenly caught sight of him, he trembled, and, having summoned Paulinus's master—his kinsman through his daughter—he disclosed to him the secret which he had before concealed, saying: "What you have heard is true; for this night in a dream I saw judges sitting on tribunals against me, among whom this man too was sitting; and the scourge which they had once received was being taken away by their judgment. But inquire who he is; for I do not suspect a man of such great merit to be a commoner, as he appears." Then the king's son-in-law took Paulinus aside privately, and asked who he might be.
To him the man of the Lord answered: "I am your slave, whom you received in exchange for the widow's son." And when the man insistently required that he should disclose, not what he now was, but what he had been in his own land, and demanded this of him by the repetition of frequent questioning, the man of the Lord, constrained by great adjurations and no longer able to deny what he was, testified that he had been a bishop. Hearing this, his possessor was greatly afraid, and humbly offered, saying: "Ask what you will, so that you may return to your land from me with a great gift." To him the man of the Lord, Paulinus, said: "There is one benefit you can bestow upon me: that you release all the captives of my city."
All of these were forthwith sought out throughout the African country, and, for the satisfaction of the venerable man Paulinus, they were set free in his company, with ships laden with grain. Now after not many days the king of the Vandals died, and lost the scourge which, by God's dispensation, he had received for his own ruin but for the discipline of the faithful. And so it came to pass that the servant of Almighty God, Paulinus, prophesied truly, and he who had handed himself over into servitude alone returned from servitude to liberty with many—imitating, that is, Him who took the form of a servant, that we might not be slaves of sin. Following in whose footsteps, Paulinus for a time voluntarily became a servant alone, that he might afterward be free with many. PETER:
When it befalls me to hear what I cannot imitate, I am more inclined to weep than to say anything. GREGORY: Concerning whose very death it is written in his Church that, when he was touched inwardly with grief, he was brought to his last extremity. And while his whole house remained firm in its solidity, the chamber in which he lay sick, by a wide earthquake, trembled, and struck all who were present there with exceeding terror; and thus that holy soul was loosed from the flesh. And so it came about that a great dread seized those who had been able to see the death of Paulinus.
But since this power of Paulinus, of which I spoke above, is a very inward one, let us now, if it please you, come to his outward miracles, which are already known to many, and which I myself have learned from the report of men so religious that I can in no way doubt concerning them.