si quempiam nominavero monachorum, quamvis illum, Paulis Antoniis, Hilarionibus Macariis conferendum, sectatae anachoreseos  praerogativa comitetur, aures ilico meas incondito tumultu circumstrepitas ignobilium pumilionum murmur everberat conquerentum: hic qui nominatur, inquiunt, non episcopi, sed potius abbatis complet officium et intercedere magis pro animabus apud caelestem quam pro corporibus apud terrenum iudicem potest.
If I nominate a monk, even though he be worthy of comparison with a Paulus, an Antonius, a Hilarion, or a Macarius, even though he possess the special claim of having followed the life of an anchorite, my ears will straightway be assailed by the noise of ignoble pygmies raising a confused uproar on every side. This nominee, they will protest, discharges the office not of a bishop but rather of an abbot; he is better qualified to intercede with the heavenly Judge for our souls than with an earthly judge for our bodies.
final_alignments\Sidonius_Letters_Book7.json