When Augusta Taurinorum (Turin) was in trepidation, and the citizens were preparing themselves for flight because of the imminent incursion of the barbarians' army, this homily and the preceding one seem to have been delivered by St. Maximus. Just as in the first, by the example of the Ninevites, who by penitence bent God to pardon and to mercy, Maximus exhorted the people of Turin that by holy works they might merit to be saved from so great a peril; so in this repeated discourse, not so much with new admonitions as with stronger counsels, he addresses the more timid, lest they desert their homeland, and rouses them to turn all their hope of salvation to God. Each homily is so proper to our holy prelate, considering the circumstances of the time, that it cannot suit any other.
From the Codex Sangallensis, where it is homily 72, Mabillon first published it in volume I, part I of the Museum Italicum, and after him Gallandi. It is confirmed by the testimony of the codex 99 of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, where it is homily 90 with the title: Likewise what follows, which is read in the same way in the Codex Sangallensis. Concerning the style we add nothing; it is indeed such as to display the eloquence of St. Maximus. We said on the previous Sunday that the Ninevites, placed in tribulation, merited the mercy of the Godhead through abstinence, and freed their city from peril by fasting; and that they were of such great wisdom that they defended themselves not by foreign aids, but saved themselves by their own devotion. For they did not at once despair of their salvation;
because they had heard from the prophet that they were to be overthrown together with the walls of the city. But the nearer the destruction was announced to be, the more they armed themselves with religious deeds; nor did they abandon their city to be overthrown, but rather remained in it—wisely, so that the city which was afflicted by the sins of its citizens might be saved by the prayers of its citizens; and that to it, to which evil conduct had brought perdition, devout religion might bring salvation. For it was just that the same people whom the city had suffered as sinners it should have as its own defenders. For destruction is brought upon a city only because of the sins of its citizens. Cease, therefore, to sin, and the city will not perish. Why do you flee your homeland? If you wish to be safe, flee rather from your own sins.
If you cease to sin, the enemy is conquered. Divine Scripture says to Abraham that a homeland can be saved by ten righteous men. Therefore, if it is the righteous who make the homeland safe, surely it is the unrighteous who abandon it; and if the former, because of their presence, obtain grace, it must be that the latter, because of their flight, merit desolation. Plainly unrighteous and impious is the son who deserts his imperilled mother. For in a certain way the homeland is a sweet mother, who begot you, who nourished you, who, that you might be able to flee, made you rich. For if an abundant store of resources were not at your disposal, you would have no means of flight; and therefore, led by avarice, while you fear to lose your riches, you do not hesitate to be impious toward your mother.
From which we understand that you take more counsel for your money than for your salvation. Tell me, O good citizen, why do you plan to flee? Why do you forsake your homeland? Do you perhaps fear captivity, and yet do not understand how to grant pardon? Do you not know that this is the first captivity: not to see one's homeland, and—what is graver than every evil—to endure the exile of a hostile pilgrimage? He who has committed some crime is wont to be condemned to a punishment of this kind: to be driven from his homeland, to be banished to unknown regions. This evil, therefore, you provide for yourself by your own will, which one condemned is wont to receive as a cause of punishment. But let us suppose you are of brave spirit, and able to bear with equanimity the injury of pilgrimage; tell me, with what liberty will you live among strangers?
Will it not be, when you begin to speak, cast up against you: from where is this exile, from where has this fugitive come? For he strives to oppress our city too, as he oppressed his own homeland. So you will be perplexed, so you will be troubled, that, fearing for your liberty, you will dread lest you find there no champion for your freeborn status. Believe me, in a foreign homeland you will hear as much as you yourself often said to others in your own homeland. But this I do not wish to say: that although you are rich in your own homeland, although you enjoy abundance, the moment you go out of your house you are a beggar and a poor man. God therefore says to Abraham that the city can be saved by ten righteous men.
You think ill of yourself, therefore, O Christian people, if in so great an assembly of ours you do not believe there are ten righteous men to save the city. For while you desert your homeland, you profess that there are not in it worthy men by whose merits it may be delivered. But I fear lest, when all the righteous have been left in it, you alone, who desert it, be found unrighteous. But I do not wish you to be disturbed about the number of ten righteous men. For we read that, in the destruction of the Sodomites, Lot alone by his merits delivered the city: that the grace of one availed more to save than the sins of many to overthrow. For to him, as he went out of Sodom, little Segor (Zoar) was granted for the sake of lodging. But if a city is given to a righteous guest, how much more is a homeland granted to a righteous possessor! Here it ends.