Caput XX
The Prior of Autun and the Monk of Duren
Two monks who secretly craved meat met sudden, violent deaths as divine judgment on their gluttony and disobedience.
The prior of the monastery at Autun, whenever he could find any opportunity, greedily gorged himself on meat. Since the brothers could by no means correct this fault in him, it happened that when on one occasion he wanted to eat meat, he choked on a morsel with which he'd filled his mouth, and died. Another man, from the monastery at Duren, set out to a certain farmstead and asked his host for meat. When the man had answered, "Look, they're already cooking," the monk said, "Hurry up — put something on the spit to cook faster." But while the host was preparing the meat on the spit, the monk, burning with fever, cut a piece off the spit and threw it onto the coals. He shook the ashes off what was clearly a scorched chunk and thrust it into his mouth — but soon, with that very greediness, he ended his life.
Sudden Deaths as Warnings
Three further examples of unexpected death—a frivolous man, an abbot, and a tormented canon—illustrate how swiftly the world's vanities are cut short.
A certain man from Cormarrin — whose frivolity I myself had come to know — had gone to bed very cheerfully one evening and was found dead at the time of the night office. This also happened to Abbot Jammon — or perhaps you yourselves know about it. And yet another — a canon of Saint Martin's, Lord Obert's chamberlain, that is, his arch-claviger — was seized by a demon and tormented for a long time until he breathed out his last breath.
Read the original Latin
Heduensis coenobii praepositus quamcunque occasionem reperire poterat, carnibus inhianter vescebatur. Quod scilicet vitium cum nullatenus fratres emendare possent, ipse cum quadam vice carnes comedere vellet, offa, qua os impleverat, strangulatus obiit. Alius quoque de coenobio Durensi progressus ad quamdam villam, petiit ab hospite suo carnes. Cum ille respondisset: Ecce jam coquuntur; Accelera, inquit, in spito aliquid coquere citius. At ille parabat carnes in spito, sed monachus aestuans partem de spito praecidit, et super carbones jactavit: quam videlicet torridam cineribus excussit, et ori ingessit, sed mox cum praesenti voracitate vitam finivit. Quidam de Cormarrino, quem ego et levitates ejus ipse noveram, cum laetissimus sero se cubitum collocasset, tempore nocturni officii defunctus repertus est. Quod et abbati Iammoni contigisse vel ipsi vos scitis. Sed et alius quidem sancti Martini canonicus domini Oberti archiclavis, camerarius scilicet, a daemone arreptus tandiu vexatus est quousque spiritum exhalavit.
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