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serpent and expelled the first man from paradise. Why does it not move on its tail or on some other part, but on its breast and belly? “And earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life,” that is, you will not rise to the heavens, but you will wallow in earthly, filthy pollutions . But for this reason the Lord teaches the saints to be wise like serpents, since the serpent, when it is struck by someone, gives its body to the beating, but hides its head; and thus the bodies of the saints are beaten, but they hide the head of us all, which is Christ, under the veil of their hearts and prayers. “And simple as doves”: although other birds have gall, this is absent from the dove, which is a sweet animal, lacking bitterness, a gentle bird. And the dove takes its name from the clapping of its wings, whence the beating of wings is said in Greek: “peristera,” this means “dove” in Latin. (.)This most blessed man sat __ years, __ months, __ days. CONCERNING HOLY PROBUS II . Probus, the thirteenth bishop, rich in divine grace and beautiful of form, decrepit with age, heavy of body, cheerful of face,1 infused with heavenly grace, he always stoutly sought God. He did not cease to admonish his sheep, but stood out as a great preacher. Such great excellence of divinity was in him, that he excelled those who had been instructed in spiritual wisdom and he refreshed with the grace of the Holy Spirit those who had not. Placed in the vicinity of death, contemplating the hosts of angels , joyful and exulting, stretching his hands to the stars, he closed his flaming eyes and rendered up his spirit. And this most blessed man was buried, as I suspected, with his predecessor. He sat __ years, __ months, __ days.          . Agnellus gives a portrait of the bishop at the beginning of many of the Lives; see Introduction. Nauerth, Agnellus von Ravenna, Untersuchungen, , n. , notes that hilaris can mean cheerful, friendly, or obliging. In the Roman LP Popes Agatho, Zacharias, and Leo III are described as hilaris, which probably reflects the same meaning (see Squatriti, “Personal Appearance and Physiognomies,” ). ...

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