, about the year 714, where they still remain deposited.[7] His
disciple relates, that Pontian, a neighboring bishop, was assured in a
vision of his glorious immortality. The veneration for his virtues was
such, that he was interred within the church, contrary to the law and
custom of that age, as is remarked by the author of his life. St.
Fulgentius proposed to himself St. Austin for a model; and, as a true
disciple, imitated him in his conduct, faithfully expounding his
doctrine, and imbibing his spirit.

Footnotes:
1. A comumnione Petri perfida dissentio separavit. Vit S. Fulg. c. 12.
2. Anastas. in Symmacho. Bar. ad ann. 504. Fleury, Liv. 31.
3. Inter opera Ennodii. t. 4. Conc. Labb. col. 1300.
4. Patrocinia.
5. S. Fulgentius, in his first letter, to a gentleman whose wife in a
violent sickness had made a vow of continency, proves that a vow of
chastity ought not to be made by a person engaged in a married
state, without the free consent of the husband. In his second, to
Galla, a most virtuous Roman lady, he comforts her upon the death of
her husband, who, he says, was only gone a little before her to
glory; and he sets before her the divine mercy, which by this means
calls her to a more heroic practice of all virtues in the state of
widowhood,--especially continence, plainness in dress, furniture,
and diet, profuse alms-deeds, and holy prayer, the exercise whereof
ought to be her most assiduous employment. Herein he warns her that
vanity and pride are our most dangerous enemies, against which we
must diligently watch and arm ourselves. In his third letter,
addressed to the holy lady Proba, sister to Galla, consecrated to
God by a vow of virginity, he shows the excellency of that virtue,
and recommends, at length, temperance, penance, and perfect
humility, as its essential attendants, without which it cannot
render a soul the spouse of Christ, who chose her poor, and bestowed
on her all she had. In his fourth letter, to the same lady, he again
puts her in mind of the extreme danger of pride and vain-glory, and
lays down excellent precepts concerning the necessity of assiduous
prayer and compunction; in which spirit we are bound to weep
continually before God, imploring his mercy and succor under the
weight of our miseries, and to pay him the constant tribute of
praise and thanksgiving for all his benefits and gratui