Primary source · Latin
The Letters of Sulpicius Severus
Sulpicius Severus · c. AD 397–400
What this text is
The sequel to the Life: Martin's fire-tried cell, and the third letter with his death at Candes — the refusal to be spared: Lord, if I am still necessary to thy people, I do not refuse the labour.
Profile of Sulpicius Severus →
Interlinear passages
Word-for-word glosses of the original; the complete public-domain translation is linked below.
Letter 3 — the last words
Domine,Lordsiifadhucstillpopuloto the peopletuothysumI amnecessarius,necessarynonnotrecusoI refuselaboremthe labour
Public-domain translations
Alexander Roberts (NPNF, 1894)
O Lord, if I am still necessary to thy people, I do not refuse the labour: thy will be done… And so he yielded up his spirit to heaven, testifying that eyes and hands, to the last, were stretched toward the Lord.
Manuscript witnesses
The Martinellus tradition
7th c. onwardLetters and Dialogues traveling as one liturgical-hagiographic package with the Vita.
Provenance
Primuliacum, c. AD 397–404 — the letters and dialogues completing the Martin dossier
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Sulpice Sévère: Gallus — Dialogues sur les 'vertus' de saint Martin (SC 510)Jacques Fontaine, 2006Critical edition with French translation.
- Sulpicius Severus: The Complete Works (FOC 7 / NPNF II/11)Bernard Peebles / Alexander Roberts, 1949 / 1894Faithful English translations.