Indeed so far have a number of Abbots, or Superiors of Convents, been from suffering their power of flagellation to lay dormant and useless, that they, on the contrary, have abused it to a great degree. Ovisiesius cautioned them, in very early days, against being guilty of such a fault. Nay, certain Heads of Monasteries have gone such lengths in that respect, that Cesarius, Bishop of Arles, was obliged to remind them, that, ‘if they inflicted flagellations continued too long upon Offenders, so that they died in consequence thereof, they were guilty of homicide.’ Among those Abbots who have distinguished themselves by their severity, St. Romuald may be mentioned, who, as we are informed in his Life written by Cardinal Damianus, was once exposed to a calumny of the blackest kind, from a Monk whom he used to scourge with great severity: nay, that holy Man’s Monks, as we are also informed by Cardinal Damianus, in one instance rose against him, flogged him without mercy, and drove him out of the Convent. This Saint, besides, had before been frequently lashed by the Devil[63]. [Illustration: (end of chapter mark)] FOOTNOTES: [61] ... _Tum Præpositus multum scandalizans, & iracundiæ furore succensus, eisdem Carpentariis disciplinam corporis imponi jussit._ Aulus Gellius, in his _Noctes Atticæ_, relates a fact which bears much resemblance to the above; though, indeed, much greater Men were concerned in it, than the Prior of a Convent, and Carpenters: the one was a Roman Consul, and the other, the Engineer of a Town, allied to the Republick. The name of the Consul in question was P. Crassus, who must not, however, be mistaken for the celebrated M. Crassus, the partner in power with Pompey and Cæsar; though both lived in the same times. This Consul P. Crassus, having been intrusted with the conduct of the war that was then carrying on in Asia, laid siege to the Town of Leucas; and wanting a strong beam of oak to make a battering-ram, he recollected he had lately seen at Elæa, a Town allied to the Romans, just such a piece of timber as he wished to have: he therefore wrote to the Magistrates of that place, to request them to send it to him. The Magistrates accordingly directed their Engineer to convey the beam to Crassus; but as there was another in the yards belonging to the Town, which, the Engineer thought, would be fitter for the use Crassus wanted to put it to, he made choice of the latter, and conveyed it to the Roman camp. However, the Engineer had been mistaken in his calculations, and the beam unfortunately proved too small; which the Consul did no sooner perceive, and that his orders had been neglected, than, like the above-mentioned Prior, he fell into a passion, and ordered the Engineer to be stript, and soundly lashed.