Paschasius of Dumium

Abbot Pimenius asked Abbot Nesteron, who was sitting in the monastery, “Where did you acquire this virtue, brother, that, whenever a quarrel arises in the monastery, you neither speak nor interfere as mediator?” Though he was unwilling to speak, he was compelled by the old man and said, “Forgive me, father, for in the beginning when I entered here I said to my thought: ‘Lo, you and this donkey are alike. Just as it gets beaten without speaking and gets thrashed without returning an answer, so you must be also, for the psalm says, “I am become as a beast of burden before you: and I am always with you.” ’ ”