r which he returned to his
garden. On a certain day, there came thither a woman, with her two
daughters, to walk. Serenus seeing them come up to him, said, "What do
you seek here?" "I take a particular satisfaction," she replied, "in
walking in this garden." "A lady of your quality," said Serenus, "ought
not to walk here at unseasonable hours, and this you know is an hour you
ought to be at home. Some other design brought you hither. Let me advise
you to withdraw, and be more regular in your hours and conduct for the
future, as decency requires in persons of your sex and condition." It
was usual for the Romans to repose themselves at noon, as it is still
the custom in Italy. The woman, stung at our saint's charitable
remonstrance, retired in confusion, but resolved on revenging the
supposed affront. She accordingly writes to her husband, who belonged to
the guards of the emperor Maximian, to complain of Serenus as having
insulted her. Her husband, on receiving her letter, went to the emperor
to demand justice, and said: "While we are waiting on your majesty's
person, our wives in distant countries are insulted." Whereupon the
emperor gave him a letter to the governor of the province to enable him
to obtain satisfaction. With this letter he set out for Sirmium, and
presented it to the governor, conjuring him, in the name of the emperor
his master, to revenge the affront offered to him in the person of his
wife during his absence. "And who is that insolent man," said the
magistrate, "who durst insult such a gentleman's wife?" "It is," said
he, "a vulgar pitiful fellow, one Serenus, a gardener." The governor
ordered him to be immediately brought before him, and asked him his
name. "It is Serenus," said he. The judge said: "Of what profession are
you?" He answered: "I am a gardener." The governor said: "How durst you
have the insolence and boldness to affront the wife of this officer?"
Serenus: "I never insulted any woman, to my knowledge, in my life." The
governor then said: "Let the witnesses be called in to convict this
fellow of the affront he offered this lady in a garden." Serenus,
hearing the garden mentioned, recalled this woman to mind, and answered:
"I remember that, some time ago, a lady came into my garden at an
unseasonable hour, with a design, as she said, to take a walk: and I own
I took the liberty to tell her it was against decency {446} for one of
her sex and quality to be abroad at such an hour." This plea