Letter 11
Braulio to my lord, the priest Tajo. Your thoughts are so agitated and you are so tossed by the stormy blasts of impatience that it is fair to say: „O thou of little patience, why art thou disturbed?” I wish you were equally moved to take refuge in humility, rather than to turn abuse and harsh words. For you may be quite sure, I say it with God as my witness, that, when I wrote about that donkey in my letter and told you to climb onto it, I was joking and not intending to censure you, which should be easy to understand from my facetious tone. You, on the contrary, became indignant, like Aesop’s jackdaw, and told me to go climb on the camel and to watch out not to bang my head on the church doors. This you poured out without much elegance, with less wisdom, and more evil purpose than on previous occasions, not realizing that our Head, which is Christ, does not hurl Himself against the doors of the church, though He may agains 'the synagogue of Satan'. The shame herein seems to us to lie not in the words but in the sentiment; we do not at all blame your ignorance, but we wish your attitude were more humble, for it is patient endurance of criticism which shows a man’s humility, and how much of that you have can be learned in the present situation.
Braulio continues his acrimonious response quoting Virgil, Ovid and Terence. Eventually, he expresses his will to be reconciled with Taio.
(trans. Barlowe 1969: 30-31)
