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E07780: Gregory of Tours, in his Histories (8.5), describes how during King Guntram's visit to Orléans (north-west Gaul) in July 585, the king told him of a vision, in which Guntram had seen *Tetricus (bishop of Langres, ob. 568/573, S00044), *Nicetius (bishop of Lyon, ob. 573, S00049) and *Agricola (bishop of Chalon-sur-Saône, ob. 580, S02830), deciding whether his brother, the recently dead King Chilperic, should be spared or condemned. Written in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 586/594.
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posted on 2019-09-10, 00:00 authored by dlambertGregory of Tours, Histories (Historiae) 8.5
Me haec narrante, rex ait: ' Vidi et ego aliam visionem, quae huius interitum nuntiavit. Adducebatur enim in conspectu meo a tribus episcopis vinctus catenis, quorum unus Tetricus, alius Agroecula, tertius vero Nicetius Lugduninsis erat. E quibus dicebant duo: "Solvite, quaesumus, eum et castigatum abire permittite". Quibus e contrario cum amaritudine Tetricus episcopus respondebat: "Non fiet ita, sed igni concremabitur pro sceleribus suis". Et cum diu multumque quasi altercantes haec inter se verba proferrent, conspicio eminus aeneum super ignem positum fervere vehementer. Tunc me flente, adpraehensum infilicem Chilpericum, confractis membris, proiciunt in aeneum. Nec mora, inter undarum vapores ita dissolutus ac liquefactus est, ut nullum ex eo paenitus indicium remaneret'. Haec rege dicente, admirantibus nobis, epulo expleto, surreximus.
'That is what I said, and the King answered: "I, too, saw a vision in which Chilperic’s death was announced. Three bishops led him into my presence and he was bound with chains: the first was Tetricus, the second Agricola and the third Nicetius of Lyons. Two of them said: 'Undo his fetters, we beseech you, give him a good beating and let him go.' Bishop Tetricus, on the contrary, opposed them with great bitterness. 'That is not what you must do!' he said, 'For his sins this man must be cast into the flames.' They went on arguing among themselves like this for a long time, and then far off I perceived a cauldron which was boiling fiercely, for there was a fire lighted beneath it. Poor Chilperic was seized: they broke his limbs and they threw him into the cauldron. I wept to see what happened. He was dissolved away and quite melted in the steaming water, and soon no trace at all of him remained." As the King said all this to our great astonishment, the meal came to an end and we rose from our seats.
Text: Krusch and Levison 1951, 374. Translation: Thorpe 1974, 437.
Me haec narrante, rex ait: ' Vidi et ego aliam visionem, quae huius interitum nuntiavit. Adducebatur enim in conspectu meo a tribus episcopis vinctus catenis, quorum unus Tetricus, alius Agroecula, tertius vero Nicetius Lugduninsis erat. E quibus dicebant duo: "Solvite, quaesumus, eum et castigatum abire permittite". Quibus e contrario cum amaritudine Tetricus episcopus respondebat: "Non fiet ita, sed igni concremabitur pro sceleribus suis". Et cum diu multumque quasi altercantes haec inter se verba proferrent, conspicio eminus aeneum super ignem positum fervere vehementer. Tunc me flente, adpraehensum infilicem Chilpericum, confractis membris, proiciunt in aeneum. Nec mora, inter undarum vapores ita dissolutus ac liquefactus est, ut nullum ex eo paenitus indicium remaneret'. Haec rege dicente, admirantibus nobis, epulo expleto, surreximus.
'That is what I said, and the King answered: "I, too, saw a vision in which Chilperic’s death was announced. Three bishops led him into my presence and he was bound with chains: the first was Tetricus, the second Agricola and the third Nicetius of Lyons. Two of them said: 'Undo his fetters, we beseech you, give him a good beating and let him go.' Bishop Tetricus, on the contrary, opposed them with great bitterness. 'That is not what you must do!' he said, 'For his sins this man must be cast into the flames.' They went on arguing among themselves like this for a long time, and then far off I perceived a cauldron which was boiling fiercely, for there was a fire lighted beneath it. Poor Chilperic was seized: they broke his limbs and they threw him into the cauldron. I wept to see what happened. He was dissolved away and quite melted in the steaming water, and soon no trace at all of him remained." As the King said all this to our great astonishment, the meal came to an end and we rose from our seats.
Text: Krusch and Levison 1951, 374. Translation: Thorpe 1974, 437.
History
Evidence ID
E07780Saint Name
Nicetius, bishop of Lyon, ob. 573 : S00049 Tetricus, bishop of Langres, ob. 568/573 : S00044 Agricola, bishop of Chalon-sur-Saône, ob. 580 : S02830Saint Name in Source
Nicetius Tetricus AgroeculaRelated Saint Records
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)Language
- Latin