A letter from Hrotsvit, nun of Gandersheim ()

Translated letter:

I offer this little book, adorned by little beauty but worked over with no little diligence, for correction to the kindness of all the wise/ learned people who do not delight in disparaging errors but rather in correcting them. For I confess that I have erred not only in distinguishing the nature of syllables [prosody] but also in composing words, and many things worthy of criticism are hidden here. But confessing errors makes mercy easy and vices demand pious correction. If however it is objected that some things taken up in this work are, in the estimation of some people, apocryphal, it is not a crime of wicked presumption but an error of ignorance, since when I began to weave the threads, I did not know that there were doubts about the material I intended to work with. And when I found it out, I refused to undo it since what seems falsehood may prove to be truth. Since this is the case, I will need as much more help to defend the finished work as I had less skill from my own powers when I began it. For I was neither mature in age nor proficient in learning, but I did not presume to reveal my intention to any learned people for their council, lest I be stopped because of my crudeness/lack of polish. So secretly and almost furtively, sweating alone, sometimes composing, sometimes destroying what had been badly composed, I strove according to my ability, however necessarily small, to prepare a text from the sayings of the scriptures which I gathered within our monastery at Gandersheim. First [I studied] under the most learned and kind magistra Rikkardis, and the teaching of others, then with the favor and mercy of Gerberga of royal nature, to whose rule I am now subject. Though younger in age, she is, as befits an imperial niece, more advanced in learning, and she piously taught me some authors whom she had previously studied with more learned people. Although metrical modulation [prosody] may seem difficult and arduous for feminine fragility, yet with the help of merciful supernal grace only, not my own abilities, I have prepared the songs of this little work sung in dactyls. Rather than let the talent entrusted to my little wit be destroyed under the dark rust of negligence, inactive in my breast, I struck with the hammer of assiduous devotion some ringing of divine praise, by which if it offers no other value, at least it may be transformed into an instrument of great usefulness. Therefore, reader whoever you are, if you consider it right before God, do not hesitate to make amendments to the lacking page which has not had the benefit of any authoritative tutoring, but if by chance anything is properly composed attribute that to God and to my negligence all the vices/mistakes, not scornfully but indulgently, for the power of reproof is broken when the humility of confession intervenes. Hail, brilliant offspring of the royal line, Gerberga, illustrious in customs and studies. Accept the little volume, kind, serene ruler, which I offer to you to edit the little songs; direct her uncultivated measures worthily, whom your outstanding learning instructed; and when you are tired from the various labor, deign to read these verses for play, and try to cleanse this soiled poem and strengthen it with the flower of your mastery, so the praise of the lady supports the study of the pupil, and the pious teacher the songs of the disciple.

Original letter:

Hunc libellum, parvo ullius decoris cultu ornatum, sed non parva diligentia inlaboratum, omnium sapientium benignitati offero expurgandum, eorum dumtaxat, qui erranti non delectantur derogare, sed magis errata corrigere. Fateor namque, me haut mediocriter errasse non solum in dinoscendis syllabarum naturis, verum etiam in dictionibus componendis, pluraque sub hac serie reprehensione digna latitare; sed errores fatenti facilis venia vitiisque debetur pia correctio. Si autem obicitur, quod quaedam huius operis iuxta quorundam aestimationem sumpta a sint ex apocrifis, non est crimen praesumptionis iniquae, sed error ignorantiae, quia, quando huius stamen seriei coeperam ordiri, ignoravi dubia esse, in quibus disposui laborare. At ubi recognovi, pessumdare detrectavi, quia, quod videtur falsitas, forsan probabitur esse veritas. Cum res sese ita habeant, tanto ad perfecti defensionem opusculi permultorum iuvamine egeo, quanto in ipsa inceptione minus ulla proprii vigoris fulciebar sufficientia; quia nec matura adhuc aetate vigens nec scientia fui proficiens, sed nec alicui sapientium affectum meae intentionis consulendo praesumsi enucleare, ne prohiberer pro rusticitate. Unde clam cunctis et quasi furtim, nunc in componendis sola desudando, nunc male composita destruendo, satagebam iuxta meum posse, licet minime necessarium, aliquem tamen conficere textum ex sententiis scripturarum, quas intra aream nostri Gandeshemensis collegeram coenobii: primo sapientissimae atque benignissimae Rikkardis magistrae aliarumque suae vicis instruente magisterio, deinde prona favente clementia regiae indolis Gerbergae, cuius nunc subdor dominio abbatissae; quae aetate minor, sed, ut imperialem decebat neptem, scientia provectior, aliquot auctores, quos ipsa prior a sapientissimis didicit, me admodum pie erudivit. Quamvis etiam metrica modulatio femineae fragilitati difficilis videatur et ardua, solo tamen semper miserentis supernae gratiae auxilio, non propriis viribus, confisa, huius carmina opusculi dactilicis modulis succinere apposui, ne crediti talentum ingenioli sub obscuro torpens pectoris subigine neglegentiae exterminaretur, sed sedulae malleo devotionis percussum aliquantulum divinae laudationis referret tinnitum, quo, si occasio non daretur negotiando aliud lucrari, ipsum tamen in aliquod saltim extremae utilitatis transformaretur instrumentum. Unde quicumque lector, si recte et secundum deum sapias, egenti paginae, quae nullius praeceptoris munitur auctoritate, opem tuae rectitudinis ne pigriteris adhibere, deo videlicet, si quid forte probetur recte compositum, meaeque neglegentiae designando universale vitiorum, nec tamen vituperando, sed indulgendo, quia vis frangitur obiurgationis, ubi intervenit humilitas confessionis. Salve, regalis proles clarissima stirpis, Gerbirg, illustris moribus et studiis. Accipe fronticula, dominatrix alma, serena, Quae tibi purganda offero carminula, Eius et incultos dignanter dirige stichos, Quam doctrina tua instruit egregia; Et, cum sis certe vario lassata labore, Ludens dignare hos modulos legere, Hanc quoque sordidolam tempta purgare camenam Ac fulcire tui flore magisterii, Quo laudem dominae studium supportet alumnae Doctricique piae carmina discipulae.

Historical context:

The letter is addressed to all readers of the poems but the poem that follows it dedicates the book to Gerberga, so it seemed appropriate to include the letter here as well. The legends of the saints were translated by M.H. Wiegand, The Legends of Hrotsvitha: Text, Translation, and Commentary (PhD dissertation, St. Louis University, 1936)

Printed source:

Hrotsvithae Opera, ed. H. Homeyer (Munich: Schöningh, 1970), p.37-40, preface to legends of saints.