An Enduring Lady

Tunc igitur et quaedam uxor cujusdam cellaritae regis nomino Dagila, quae temporibus Geiserici multoties jam confessor exstiterat, matrona nobilis ac delicata, flagellis et fustibus omnino debilitata, exsilio arido et invio relegatur, ubi nullus hominum forte consolationis gratia veniendi haberet accessum, relinquens cum gaudio domum, maritum simul et filios. Cui postea oblatum esse dicitur, ut in mitiorem eremum translata, frueretur, si vellet, solatio sociorum. Illa vero ingens sibi adesse credens gaudium, ubi nullus humanus esset consolantis affectus, ne fieret supplicavit. Victor Vitensis, Historia Persecutionis Africae Provinciae, Liber V Source: Migne PL 58.246b-c

Then there was a certain wife of a royal attendant named Dagila, who in the days of king Geiseric had already stood forth as a confessor, a noble and delicate matron, who having been beaten with whips and clubs, was sent into exile into a dry and trackless place, where there was no possibility of human comfort, which she had received with thanks, leaving with joy her house and husband and children. Later she was told that she might be moved to a milder place in the desert, where she might enjoy, if she wished, the consolation of companions. But this great lady, believing herself to have obtained a state of joyfulness where there was no touch of human comfort, entreated that it not be so. Victor Vitensis, History of the Persecution of the African Province, Book 5