Abelard: ad Amicum Suum Consolatoria

Sepe humanos affectus aut provocant aut mittigant amplius exempla quam verba. Unde post nonnullam sermonis ad presentem habiti consolationem, de ipsis calamitatum mearum experimentis consolatoriam ad absentem scribere decrevi, ut in comparatione mearum tuas aut nullas aut modicas temptationes recognoscas et tolerabilius feras.

Often human affections are either provoked or mitigated more by examples than by words. Hence, after some consolation in a discourse delivered to the person present, I have resolved to write a consolatory [letter] to the absent one from the very experiences of my calamities, so that by comparison with mine you may recognize your temptations as either none or moderate, and may bear them more tolerably.

DE LOCO NATIVITATIS EIUS

ON THE PLACE OF HIS BIRTH

Ego igitur, oppido quodam oriundus quod in ingressu minoris Britannie constructum, ab urbe Namnetica versus orientem octo credo miliariis remotum, proprio vocabulo Palatium appellatur, sicut natura terre mee vel generis animo levis, ita et ingenio extiti et ad litteratoriam disciplinam facilis. Patrem autem habebam litteris aliquantulum imbutum antequam militari cingulo insigniretur; unde postmodum tanto litteras amore complexus est, ut quoscumque filios haberet, litteris antequam armis instrui disponeret. Sicque profecto actum est.

I therefore, born in a certain town which, built at the entrance of Lesser Brittany, I believe to be eight miles removed from the city of Nantes toward the east, and which by its own proper name is called Palatium, was—just as by the nature of my land or of my lineage light in spirit—so also in disposition, and facile for the literary discipline. Moreover, I had a father somewhat imbued with letters before he was distinguished with the military belt; whence afterward he embraced letters with such love that whatever sons he had, he resolved should be instructed in letters before in arms. And thus indeed it was done.

Me itaque primogenitum suum quanto cariorem habebat tanto diligentius erudiri curavit. Ego vero quanto amplius et facilius in studio /f.1vb/ litterarum profeci tanto ardentius eis inhesi, et in tanto earum amore illectus sum ut militaris glorie pompam cum hereditate et prerogativa primogenitorum meorum fratribus derelinquens, Martis curie penitus abdicarem ut Minerve gremio educarer; et quoniam dialecticarum rationum armaturam omnibus philosophie documentis pretuli, his armis alia commutavi et tropheis bellorum conflictus pretuli disputationum. Proinde diversas disputando perambulans provincias, ubicunque huius artis vigere studium audieram, peripateticorum emulator factus sum.

He therefore, having me as his firstborn, took care the more diligently to have me erudite the more dear he held me. But I, the more and more easily I advanced in the study /f.1vb/ of letters, the more ardently I clung to them, and I was so allured by so great a love of them that, leaving to my brothers the pomp of military glory together with the inheritance and prerogative of my primogeniture, I utterly abdicated the curia of Mars that I might be brought up in the bosom of Minerva; and since I preferred the armature of dialectical reasons to all the documents of philosophy, I exchanged other arms for these arms, and to the trophies of wars I preferred the conflicts of disputations. Accordingly, perambulating diverse provinces by disputing, wherever I had heard the zeal for this art to flourish, I became an emulator of the Peripatetics.

DE PERSECUTIONE MAGISTRI SUI GUILLHELMI IN EUM

ON THE PERSECUTION OF HIS MASTER WILLIAM AGAINST HIM

Perveni tandem Parisius, ubi iam maxime disciplina hec florere consueverat, ad Guillhelmum scilicet Campellensem preceptorem meum in hoc tunc magisterio re et fama precipuum; cum quo aliquantulum moratus, primo ei aceptus, postmodum gravissimus extiti, cum nonnullas scilicet eius sententias refellere conarer et ratiocinari contra eum sepius aggrederer et nonnumquam superior in disputanto viderer. Quod quidem et ipsi /f.1rc/ qui inter conscolares nostros precipui habebantur tanto maiori sustinebant indignatione quanto posterior habebar etatis et studii tempore. Hinc calamitatum mearum, que nunc usque perseverant, ceperunt exordia, et quo amplius fama extendebatur nostra, aliena in me succensa est invidia.

I arrived at last at Paris, where by now most of all this discipline had been accustomed to flourish, to William of Champeaux, namely, my preceptor, then preeminent in this magistracy in fact and in fame; with whom, having stayed a little while, at first I was acceptable to him, afterward I proved most burdensome, since indeed I tried to refute some of his sentences and would more often undertake to ratiocinate against him, and sometimes I seemed the superior in disputation. And this indeed those themselves /f.1rc/ who among our co‑scholars were held as preeminent endured with so much the greater indignation, the more I was reckoned junior in age and in time of study. Hence the beginnings of my calamities, which persist even until now, took their start, and the more widely our fame was extended, others’ envy against me was kindled.

Factum tandem est ut, supra vires etatis de ingenio meo presumens, ad scolarum regimen adolescentulus aspirarem, et locum in quo id agerem providerem, insigne videlicet tunc temporis Meliduni castrum et sedem regiam. Presensit hoc predictus magister meus, et quo longius posset scolas nostras a se removere conatus, quibus potuit modis latenter machinatus est ut priusquam a suis recederem scolis, nostrarum preparationem scolarum prepediret et provisum mihi locum auferret. Sed quoniam de potentibus terre nonnullos ibidem habebat emulos, fretus eorum auxilio voti mei compos extiti, et plurimorum mihi assensum ipsius invidia manifesta conquisivit.

At length it came to pass that, presuming beyond the strengths of my age upon my own ingenium, as a youth I aspired to the regimen of schools, and I provided a place in which I might do this, namely the then-time distinguished castle of Melun and royal seat. My aforesaid master perceived this beforehand, and, striving to remove our schools as far as he could from himself, clandestinely machinated by whatever means he could that, before I should withdraw from his schools, he might impede the preparation of our schools and take away the place provided for me. But since among the potent of the land he had there some rivals, relying on their aid I became in possession of my desire, and his manifest envy procured the assent of many for me.

Ab hoc autem scolarum nostrarum tirocinio ita in arte dialetica nomen meum dilatari cepit, ut non solum condiscipulorum meorum, verum etiam ipsius magistri fama contracta paulatim extingueretur. Hinc factum est ut de /f.1rd/ me amplius ipse presumens ad castrum Corbolii, quod Parisiace urbi vicinius est, quamtotius scolas nostras transferrem, ut inde videlicet crebriores disputationis assultus nostra daret importunitas. Non multo autem interiecto tempore, ex immoderata studii afflictione correptus infirmitate coactus sum repatriare, et per annos aliquot a Francia remotus, querebar ardentius ab his quos dialetica sollicitabat doctrina.

From this, however, the apprenticeship of our schools, my name in the art of dialectic began to be dilated, so that not only the fame of my fellow-disciples, but even that of the master himself, being contracted, was little by little extinguished. Hence it came about that, from /f.1rd/ greater presumption concerning myself, I as quickly as possible transferred our schools to the fortress of Corbeil, which is nearer to the city of Paris, so that from there, namely, our importunity might deliver more frequent assaults of disputation. Not much time, however, having intervened, seized by illness from the immoderate affliction of study, I was compelled to return to my homeland, and for several years removed from France, I was sought the more ardently by those whom the doctrine of dialectic stirred.

Elapsis autem paucis annis, cum ex infirmitate iam dudum convaluissem, preceptor meus ille Guillhelmus Parisiacensis archidiaconus, habitu pristino commutato, ad regularium clericorum ordinem se convertit; ea ut referebant intentione ut quo religiosior crederetur ad maioris prelationis gradum promoveretur, sicut in proximo contigit, eo Catalaunensi episcopo facto. Nec tamen hic sue conversionis habitus aut ab urbe Parisius aut a consueto philosophie studio revocavit, sed in ipso quoque monasterio ad quod se causa religionis contulerat statim more solito publicas exercuit scolas. Tum ego ad eum reversus ut ab ipso rethoricam audirem, inter cetera disputationum nostrarum conamina antiquam /f.2va/ eius de universalibus sententiam patentissimis argumentorum rationibus ipsum commutare, immo destruere compuli.

But after a few years had elapsed, when I had long since recovered from my infirmity, that preceptor of mine, William, the Parisian archdeacon, with his former habit changed, converted himself to the order of the regular clerics; with this intention, as they reported, that, in being accounted more religious, he might be promoted to the rank of higher prelacy, as shortly happened, he being made bishop of Châlons. Nor yet did the garb of his conversion call him back either from the city of Paris or from his accustomed study of philosophy, but even in the very monastery to which he had betaken himself for religion’s sake, straightway in his wonted manner he conducted public schools. Then I, having returned to him that I might hear rhetoric from him, among the other endeavors of our disputations compelled him, by the most patent reasons of arguments, to change, nay rather to destroy, his ancient /f.2va/ opinion concerning universals.

Erat autem in ea sententia de communitate universalium, ut eamdem essentialiter rem totam simul singulis suis inesse astrueret individuis, quorum quidem nulla esset in essentia diversitas sed sola multitudine accidentium varietas. Sic autem istam tunc suam correxit sententiam, ut deinceps rem eamdem non essentialiter sed indifferenter diceret. Et quoniam de universalibus in hoc ipso precipua semper est apud dialeticos questio ac tanta ut eam Porphirius quoque in Ysogogis suis cum de universalibus scriberet definire non presumeret dicens "Altissimum enim est huiusmodi negotium", cum hanc ille correxerit immo coactus dimiserit sententiam, in tantam lectio eius devoluta est negligentiam, ut iam ad cetera dialectice vix admitteretur quasi in hac scilicet de universalibus sententia tota huius artis consisteret summa.

He was, moreover, in that opinion on the community of universals, as to assert that the same thing essentially, the whole at once, inhered in each of its individuals, of which indeed there would be no diversity in essence but only a variety by the multitude of accidents. But he then corrected this his opinion thus, that thereafter he would say the same thing not essentially but indifferently. And since concerning universals this very point has always been the principal question among dialecticians, and so great a one that Porphyry also in his Isagoge, when he wrote about universals, did not presume to define it, saying, “For this business is most lofty,” when he had corrected—nay, had been compelled to abandon—this opinion, his lecturing devolved into such negligence that he was scarcely admitted now to the other matters of dialectic, as though, namely, the whole sum of this art consisted in this opinion about universals.

Hinc tantum roboris et auctoritatis nostra suscepit disciplina, ut hii qui antea vehementius magistro illi nostro adherebant et maxime nostram infestabant doctrinam, ad nostras convolarent scolas, et ipse qui in scolis Parisiace sedis magistro successerat nostro locum mihi suum offerret, ut ibidem cum ceteris no /f.2vb/ stro se traderet magisterio ubi antea suus ille et noster magister floruerat. Paucis itaque diebus ibi me dialectice studium regente, quanta invidia tabescere, quanto dolore estuare ceperit magister noster non est facile exprimere; nec concepte miserie estum diu sustinens, callide aggressus est me tunc etiam removere. Et quia in me quid aperte ageret non habebat, ei scolas auferre molitus est, pessimis obiectis criminibus, qui mihi suum concesserat magisterium, alio quodam emulo meo ad officium eius substituto.

Hence our discipline took on so much strength and authority that those who earlier adhered more vehemently to that master of ours and most grievously infested our doctrine flocked to our schools, and he himself who had succeeded our master in the schools of the Parisian See offered me his own place, so that there in the same spot, with the others, he might hand himself over to our /f.2vb/ magistery, where previously that his and our master had flourished. Therefore, with me for a few days governing the study of dialectic there, it is not easy to express how much our master began to waste away with envy and to seethe with what pain; and not long enduring the heat of the misery conceived, he cleverly set about removing me then as well. And because he had nothing he could do openly against me, he strove to take the schools away from him who had granted me his magistery, by lodging the worst charges, with a certain other rival of mine substituted into his office.

Tunc ego Melidunum reversus scolas ibi nostras sicut antea constitui; et quanto manifestius eius me persequebatur invidia tanto mihi auctoritatis amplius conferebat iuxta illud poeticum, "Summa petit livor, perflant altissima venti."

Then I, having returned to Melun, established our schools there as before; and the more manifestly his envy persecuted me, the more it conferred increased authority upon me, according to that poetic line, "Envy seeks the summits; the winds blow over the loftiest heights."

Non multo autem post, cum ille intelligeret omnes fere discretos de religione eius plurimum hesitare et de conversione ipsius vehementer susurrare, quod videlicet minime a civitate recessisset, transtulit se et conventiculum fratrum cum scolis suis ad villam quandam ab urbe remotam. Statimque ego Meliduno Parisius redii, pacem ab illo ulterius sperans. Sed quia ut diximus locum nostrum ab emulo nostro fecerat occupari, /f.2rc/ extra civitatem in monte Sancte Genovefe scolarum nostrarum castra posui, quasi eum obsessurus qui locum occupaverat nostrum.

Not long after, however, when he understood that almost all the discerning were greatly hesitating about his religion and were vehemently whispering about his conversion—namely because he had by no means withdrawn from the city—he transferred himself and the little conventicle of brothers with their schools to a certain villa remote from the city. And straightway I from Melidunum returned to Paris, hoping for peace from him thereafter. But because, as we said, he had caused our place to be occupied by our rival, /f.2rc/ outside the city on the Mount of Saint Genevieve I pitched the camp of our schools, as if about to besiege the one who had occupied our place.

Quo audito magister noster statim ad urbem impudenter rediens scolas quas tunc habere poterat et conventiculum fratrum ad pristinum reduxit monasterium, quasi militem suum quem dimiserat ab obsidione nostra liberaturus. Verum cum illi prodesse intenderet maxime nocuit. Ille quippe antea aliquos habebat qualescunque discipulos, maxime propter lectionem Prisciani in qua plurimum valere credebatur.

On hearing this, our master immediately, impudently returning to the city, led back both the schools which he could then maintain and the conventicle of brothers to the former monastery, as if about to liberate his own soldier, whom he had dismissed, from our siege. In truth, when he intended to profit him, he harmed him most. For previously he did have some disciples, such as they were, chiefly on account of the lecture of Priscian, in which he was believed to prevail greatly.

Postquam autem magister advenit, omnes penitus amisit; et sic a regimine scolarum cessare compulsus est. Nec post multum tempus, quasi iam ulterius de mundana desperans gloria, ipse quoque ad monasticam comversus est vitam. Post reditum vero magistri nostri ad urbem, quos conflictus disputationum scolares nostri tam cum ipso quam cum discipulis eius habuerint, et quos fortuna eventus in his bellis dederit nostris, immo mihi ipsi in eis, te quoque res ipsa dudum edocuit.

After however the master arrived, he utterly lost all; and thus he was compelled to cease from the regimen of the schools. Nor after much time, as if now despairing further of worldly glory, he too was converted to the monastic life. But after the return of our master to the city, what conflicts of disputations our scholars had both with him himself and with his disciples, and what outcomes Fortune granted in these wars of ours—nay, to me myself in them—the thing itself has long since instructed you as well.

Illud vero Aiacis, ut temperantius loquar, audacter proferam, "Si queritis huius Fortunam pugne, non sum superatus ab illo." Quod si ego taceam, res ipsa cla I mat et ipsius rei finis indicat.

That, indeed, of Ajax—I will, to speak more temperately, boldly bring forth: "If you seek the Fortune of this fight, I am not overcome by him." But if I were to be silent, the thing itself cries out, and the end of the matter indicates it.

Dum vero hec agerentur, karissima mihi mater mea Lucia repatriare me compulit; que videlicet post conversionem Berengarii patris mei ad professionem monasticam, idem facere disponebat. Quo completo reversus sum in Franciam, maxime ut de divinitate addiscerem, quando iam sepefatus magister noster Guillhelmus in episcopatu Catalaunensi pollebat. In hac autem lectione magister eius Anselmus Laudunensis maximam ex antiquitate auctoritatem tunc tenebat.

While indeed these things were being transacted, my most dear mother Lucia compelled me to repatriate; who, namely, after the conversion of my father Berengar to the monastic profession, was disposing to do the same. When this was completed, I returned to France, chiefly that I might learn more concerning divinity, since already our oft-mentioned master William was excelling in the bishopric of Châlons. But in this lectio his master Anselm of Laon then held the greatest authority from antiquity.

QUANDO LAUDUNUM VENIT AD MAGISTRUM ANSELMUM

WHEN HE CAME TO LAON TO MASTER ANSELM

Accessi igitur ad hunc senem, cui magis longevus usus quam ingenium vel memoria nomen comparaverat. Ad quem si quis de aliqua questione pulsandum accederet incertus, redibat incertior. Mirabilis quidem in oculis erat auscultantium, sed nullus in conspectu questionantium.

I therefore approached this old man, for whom a more long-standing practice than ingenuity or memory had procured a name. To him, if anyone should come, uncertain, to knock with some question, he would return more uncertain. He was marvelous indeed in the eyes of those listening, but no one in the sight of those questioning.

Verborum usum habebat mirabilem, sed sensum contemtibilem et ratione vacuum. Cum ignem accenderet, domum suam fumo implebat, non luce illustrabat. Arbor eius tota in foliis aspicientibus a longe conspicua videbatur, sed propinquantibus et diligen /f.3va/ tius intuentibus infructuosa reperiebatur.

He had a marvelous use of words, but a contemptible sense and void of reason. When he lit a fire, he filled his house with smoke; he did not illuminate it with light. His tree, all in leaves, seemed conspicuous to those looking from afar, but to those drawing near and looking more dili /f.3va/ gently it was found fruitless.

Ad hanc itaque cum accessissem ut fructum inde colligerem, deprehendi illam esse ficulneam cui maledixit Dominus, seu illam veterem quercum cui Pompeium Lucanus comparat dicens, "Stat, magni nominis umbra, Qualis frugifero quercus sublimis in agro," etc.

Therefore, when I had approached this one to gather fruit from there, I detected that it was the fig-tree which the Lord cursed, or that ancient oak to which Lucan compares Pompey, saying, “There stands, the shade of a great name, such as a sublime oak in a fruit-bearing field,” etc.

Hoc igitur comperto non multis diebus in umbra eius ociosus iacui; paulatim vero me iam rarius et rarius ad lectiones eius accedente, quidam tunc inter discipulos eius eminentes graviter id ferebant, quasi tanti magistri contemptor fierem. Proinde illum quoque adversum me latenter commoventes, pravis suggestionibus ei me invidiosum fecerunt. Accidit autem quadam die ut post aliquas sententiarum collationes nos scolares invicem iocaremur.

Therefore, this having been discovered, for not many days I lay otiose in his shade; but gradually, as I now resorted to his lectures more and more rarely, certain men then eminent among his disciples took it grievously, as though I were becoming a contemner of so great a master. Accordingly, covertly stirring him also against me, by depraved suggestions they made me odious to him. It happened, moreover, on a certain day that, after some collations of sentences, we scholars were jesting with one another.

Ubi cum me quidam animo intemptantis interrogasset quid mihi de divinorum lectione librorum videretur, qui nondum nisi in philosophicis studueram, respondi: saluberrimum quidem huius lectionis esse studium ubi salus anime cognoscitur, sed me vehementer mirari quod his qui litterari sunt ad expositiones sanctorum intelligendas ipsa eorum scripta vel glose non sufficiunt, ut alio scilicet non egeant magisterio. Irridentes /f.3vb/ plurimi qui aderant an hoc ego possem et aggredi presumerem requisierunt. Respondi me id si vellent experiri paratum esse.

Whereupon, when a certain man, testing my mind, had asked what seemed to me about the reading of the divine books—since I had hitherto studied only in philosophical matters—I replied: that the study of this reading is indeed most salubrious, wherein the salvation of the soul is known; but that I marvel greatly that for those who are literate, for understanding the expositions of the saints, their very writings or the glosses do not suffice, so that they should not need another master’s instruction. Laughing, /f.3vb/ many who were present asked whether I could do this and would presume to undertake it. I replied that, if they wished to make trial of it, I was prepared.

Tunc inclamantes et amplius irridentes: "Certe, inquiunt, et nos assentimus. Queratur itaque et tradatur vobis expositor alicuius inusitate scripture, et probemus quod vos promittitis." Et consenserunt omnes in obscurissima Hiezechielis prophetia. Assumpto itaque expositore statim in crastino eos ad lectionem invitavi.

Then, shouting out and mocking more: “Surely,” they say, “and we also assent. Therefore let an expositor of some unusual scripture be sought and delivered to you, and let us prove what you promise.” And all consented to the most obscure prophecy of Ezekiel. Therefore, an expositor having been taken up, immediately on the morrow I invited them to the reading.

Qui invito mihi consilium dantes, dicebant ad rem tantam non esse properandum, sed diutius in expositione rimanda et firmanda mihi hanc inexperto vigilandum. Indignatus autem respondi non esse mee consuetudinis per usum proficere sed per ingenium; atque adieci vel me penitus desiturum esse, vel eos pro arbitrio meo ad lectionem accedere non differre. Et prime quidem lectioni nostre pauci tunc interfuere, quod ridiculum omnibus videretur me adhuc quasi penitus sacre lectionis expertem id tam propere aggredi.

Those who, giving counsel to me uninvited, kept saying that in so great a matter there ought not to be hurrying, but that the exposition should be for a longer time scrutinized and made firm, and that I, inexperienced in this, ought to keep vigil. Indignant, however, I replied that it was not my custom to make progress through use but through innate ingenium; and I added that either I would utterly desist, or that they should, at my arbitrament, not defer to come to the lection. And indeed at our first lection few were then present, because it seemed ridiculous to all that I, still as if entirely a stranger to sacred lection, should so promptly undertake it.

Omnibus tamen qui affuerunt in tantum lectio illa grata extitit ut eam singulari preconio extollerent, et me secundum hunc nostre lectionis tenorem ad glosandum /f.3rc/ compellerent. Quo quidem audito, hii qui non interfuerant ceperunt ad secundam et terciam lectionem certatim concurrere et omnes pariter de transcribendis glosis quas prima die inceperam in ipso earum initio plurimum solliciti esse.

Nevertheless, to all who were present that reading proved so pleasing that they extolled it with singular panegyric, and compelled me, according to this tenor of our reading, to go on to glossing /f.3rc/. Upon this being heard, those who had not been present began to run in rivalry to the second and third reading, and all alike were exceedingly solicitous about transcribing the glosses which I had begun on the first day, at the very beginning of them.

DE PERSECUTIONE EIUS QUOQUE IN EUM

ON HIS PERSECUTION LIKEWISE DIRECTED AGAINST HIM

Hinc itaque predictus senex vehementi commotus invidia et quorumdam persuasionibus iam adversum me, ut supra memini, et tunc stimulatus, non minus in sacra lectione me persequi cepit quam antea Guillhelmus noster in philosophia. Erant autem tunc in scolis huius senis duo qui ceteris preminere videbantur, Albericus scilicet Remensis et Lotulfus Lumbardus; qui quanto de se maiora presumebant, amplius adversum me accendebantur. Horum itaque maxime suggestionibus, sicut postmodum deprehensum est, senex ille perturbatus impudenter mihi interdixit inceptum glosandi opus in loco magisterii sui amplius exercere, hanc videlicet causam pretendens, ne si forte in illo opere aliquid per errorem ibi scriberem, utpote rudis adhuc in hoc studio, ei deputaretur.

Hence therefore the aforesaid old man, stirred by vehement envy and by the persuasions of certain persons, already set against me, as I have mentioned above, and then spurred on, began to persecute me in the sacred reading no less than formerly our William did in philosophy. There were, moreover, then in the schools of this old man two who seemed to pre-eminere above the rest, namely Alberic of Rheims and Lotulf the Lombard; who, the more they presumed greater things of themselves, were the more inflamed against me. By the suggestions of these men especially, therefore, as was afterward discovered, that old man, being perturbed, shamelessly interdicted me from exercising any further the undertaken work of glossing in the place of his magisterium, putting forward this cause, namely: lest, if perchance in that work I should write something there by error, as being still raw in this study, it be imputed to him.

Quod cum ad aures scolarium pervenisset, maxima commoti sunt indignatione super tam manifesta livoris calumpnia, que nemini umquam ulterius acciderat. Que quanto manifestior tanto mihi ho /f.3rd/ norabilior extitit et persequendo gloriosiorem effecit.

When this had come to the ears of the scholars, they were stirred with greatest indignation at so manifest a calumny of envy, which had befallen no one ever before. And the more manifest it was, the more ho /f.3rd/ norable it proved to me, and by persecuting me it made me more glorious.

QUANDO NOVISSIME PARISIUS FLORUIT

WHEN MOST RECENTLY HE FLOURISHED AT PARIS

Post paucos itaque dies, Parisius reversus, scolas mihi iamdudum destinatas atque oblatas unde primo fueram expulsus, annis aliquibus quiete possedi; atque ibi in ipso statim scolarum initio glosas illas Hiezechielis quas Lauduni inceperam consummare studui. Que quidem adeo legentibus acceptabiles fuerunt, ut me non minorem gratiam in sacra lectione adeptum iam crederent quam in philosophica viderant. Unde utriusque lectionis studio scole nostre vehementer multiplicate, quanta mihi de pecunia lucra, quantam gloriam compararent ex fama te quoque latere non potuit.

After a few days, therefore, having returned to Paris, I peacefully possessed for some years the schools long since destined and offered to me, from which at first I had been expelled; and there, immediately at the very beginning of the schools, I strove to consummate those glosses on Ezekiel which I had begun at Laon. These indeed were so acceptable to readers that they believed I had now obtained no less favor in sacred lection than they had seen in the philosophical. Whence, through zeal for both lections, our school was vehemently multiplied, and how great pecuniary gains and how much glory they procured for me from fame could not be hidden from you either.

Sed quoniam prosperitas stultos semper inflat et mundana tranquillitas vigorem enervat animi et per carnales illecebras facile resolvit, cum iam me solum in mundo superesse philosophum estimarem nec ullam ulterius inquietationem formidarem, frena libidini cepi laxare, qui antea vixeram continentissime. Et quo amplius in philosophia vel sacra lectione profeceram, amplius a philosophis et divinis immunditia vite recedebam. Constat quippe philosophos necdum divinos, id est sacre lectionis /f.4va/ exhortationibus intentos, continentie decore maxime polluisse.

But since prosperity always inflates fools and worldly tranquility enervates the vigor of the mind and easily loosens it through carnal allurements, when I already supposed that I alone survived in the world as a philosopher and feared no further disquiet, I began to loosen the reins to libido, I who had previously lived most continently. And the more I had progressed in philosophy or in sacred reading, the more by the uncleanness of life I was receding from philosophers and divines. For it is agreed that philosophers, not yet divines—that is, intent upon the exhortations of sacred reading /f.4va/—have most excelled in the adornment of continence.

Cum igitur totus in superbia atque luxuria laborarem, utriusque morbi remedium divina mihi gratia licet nolenti contulit. Ac primo luxurie, deinde superbie; luxurie quidem his me privando quibus hanc exercebam; superbie vero que mihi ex litterarum maxime scientia nascebatur, iuxta illud Apostoli "Scientia inflat", illius libri quo maxime gloriabar combustione me humiliando. Cuius nunc rei utramque historiam verius ex ipsa re quam ex auditu cognoscere te volo, ordine quidem quo processerunt.

Accordingly, since I was entirely laboring under pride and luxury (i.e., lust), divine grace bestowed on me, though unwilling, the remedy for each disease. And first for luxury, then for pride; for luxury indeed by depriving me of those with whom I practiced it; but for pride— which was being born in me especially from knowledge of letters, according to that saying of the Apostle, "Knowledge inflates"—by humbling me through the burning of that book in which I most gloried. Of which matter I wish you now to learn both stories more truly from the thing itself than from hearsay, in the order in which they proceeded.

Quia igitur scortorum immunditiam semper abhorrebam et ab accessu et frequentatione nobilium feminarum studii scolaris assiduitate revocabar nec laicarum conversationem multum noveram, prava mihi, ut dicitur, fortuna blandiens commodiorem nacta est occasionem, qua me facilius de sublimitatis huius fastigio prosterneret, imo superbissimum nec accepte gratie memorem divina pietas humiliatum sibi vendicaret.

Since therefore I always abhorred the uncleanness of prostitutes, and from the access to and frequentation of noble women I was called back by the assiduity of scholastic study, nor did I know much of the conversation (company) of laywomen, perverse Fortune, as it is said, flattering me, found a more commodious occasion, by which she might more easily prostrate me from the pinnacle of this sublimity—nay, that Divine Piety might claim for itself, humbled, one most proud and not mindful of the grace received.

QUOMODO IN AMOREM HELOYSE LAPSUS VULNUS INDE TAM MENTIS QUAM CORPORIS TRAXIT

HOW, HAVING FALLEN INTO THE LOVE OF HELOISE, HE THEREFROM DREW A WOUND BOTH OF MIND AND OF BODY

Erat quippe in ipsa civitate Parisius adolescentula quedam nomine Heloysa, neptis canonici cuiusdam qui Fulbertus vo /f.4vb/ cabatur, qui eam quanto amplius diligebat tanto diligentius in omnem qua poterat scientiam litterarum promoveri studuerat. Que cum per faciem non esset infima, per habundantiam litterarum erat suprema. Nam quo bonum hoc litteratorie scilicet scientie in mulieribus est rarius, eo amplius puellam commendabat et in toto regno nominatissimam fecerat.

There was indeed in the city itself, Paris, a certain young maiden named Heloise, the niece of a certain canon who was /f.4vb/ called Fulbert, who, the more he loved her, the more diligently he had endeavored that she be advanced into every knowledge of letters he could. And although in regard to face she was not lowest, by the abundance of letters she was highest. For the rarer this good of literary—namely, learned—knowledge is in women, by so much the more it commended the girl and had made her most renowned in the whole kingdom.

Hanc igitur, omnibus circunspectis que amantes allicere solent, commodiorem censui in amorem mihi copulare, et me id facillime credidi posse. Tanti quippe tunc nominis eram et iuventutis et forme gratia preminebam, ut quamcunque feminarum nostro dignarer amore nullam vererer repulsam. Tanto autem facilius hanc mihi puellam consensuram credidi, quanto amplius eam litterarum scientiam et habere et diligere noveram; nosque etiam absentes scriptis internuntiis invicem liceret presentare et pleraque audacius scribere quam colloqui, et sic semper iocundis interesse colloquiis.

Therefore, with all the things circumspected which are wont to entice lovers, I judged this one more convenient to couple to me in love, and I believed I could do that most easily. For I was then of such great a name, and I was pre-eminent by the grace of youth and of form, that whichever of the women I might deign worthy of our love, I would fear no repulse. Moreover, I so much the more easily believed that this girl would consent to me, by how much the more I knew that she both had and loved the science of letters; and that even when absent it would be permitted for us, by writings as inter-nuncios, to present ourselves to one another, and to write many things more audaciously than to converse, and thus always to take part in pleasant colloquies.

In huius itaque adolescentule amorem totus inflamatus, occasionem quesivi qua eam mihi domestica et cotidiana conversatione familiarem efficerem et facilius ad consensum traherem. Quod quidem ut fieret, egi cum predicto puelle avunculo, quibusdam ipsius ami /f.4rc/ cis intervenientibus, quatinus me in domum suam, que scolis nostris proxima erat, sub quocumque procurationis precio susciperet, hanc videlicet occasionem pretendens, quod studium nostrum domestica nostre familie cura plurimum prepediret, et impensa nimia nimium me gravaret. Erat autem cupidus ille valde atque erga neptim suam, ut amplius semper in doctrinam proficeret litteratoriam, plurimum studiosus.

Accordingly, wholly inflamed with love for this young maiden, I sought an occasion by which I might make her familiar to me through domestic and quotidian conversation, and more easily draw her to consent. And in order that this might be brought about, I dealt with the aforesaid girl’s uncle, certain of his fri /f.4rc/ ends intervening, to the end that he would receive me into his house, which was very near to our schools, under whatever procuration fee, putting forward this occasion, namely, that our study was very much hindered by the domestic care of our household, and that excessive expense weighed upon me excessively. Now he was very eager, and exceedingly zealous toward his niece, that she should always make further progress in literary doctrine.

Quibus quidem duobus facile eius assensum assecutus sum et quod obtabam obtinui, cum ille videlicet et ad pecuniam totus inhiaret et neptim suam ex doctrina nostra aliquid percepturam crederet. Super quo vehementer me deprecatus, supra quam sperare presumerem votis meis accessit, et amori consuluit, eam videlicet totam nostro magisterio committens, ut quotiens mihi a scolis reverso vaccaret, tam in die quam in nocte ei docende operam darem, et eam si neglegentem sentirem vehementer constringerem. In qua re quidem, quanta eius simplicitas esset vehementer ammiratus, non minus apud me obstupui quam si agnam teneram famelico lupo committeret.

By these two indeed I easily gained his assent and obtained what I was wishing for, since he, namely, was wholly gaping after money and believed that his niece would receive something from our doctrine. On which he vehemently besought me, acceded to my wishes beyond what I would presume to hope, and obliged my love, namely by committing her wholly to our magisterial instruction, so that whenever, on my return from the schools, I had leisure, both by day and by night I should give my effort to teaching her, and, if I perceived her negligent, I should severely constrain her. In which matter, indeed, greatly marveling at how great his simplicity was, I was no less stupefied than if he were committing a tender lamb to a famished wolf.

Qui cum eam mihi non solum docendam, verum etiam vehementer constringendam traderet, quid aliud agebat /f.4rd/ quam ut votis meis licentiam penitus daret, et occasionem, etiam si nollemus, offerret, ut quam videlicet blanditiis non possem, minis et verberibus facilius flecterem. Sed duo erant que eum maxime a turpi suspicione revocabant, amor videlicet neptis, et continentie mee fama preterita.

And since he was delivering her to me not only to be taught, but even to be vehemently constrained, what else was he doing /f.4rd/ than to grant complete license to my desires, and to offer an occasion, even if we were unwilling, so that the one whom I could not by blandishments I might more easily bend by threats and beatings? But there were two things which chiefly called him back from foul suspicion, namely, the love of his niece, and the past fame of my continence.

Quid plura? Primum domo una coniungimur, postmodum animo. Sub occasione itaque discipline, amori penitus vaccabamus, et secretos recessus, quos amor optabat, studium lectionis offerebat.

What more? First we are joined in one house, afterward in spirit. Under the pretext of discipline, therefore, we devoted ourselves wholly to love, and the study of reading offered the secret recesses which love longed for.

Apertis itaque libris, plura de amore quam de lectione verba se ingerebant, plura erant oscula quam sententie; sepius ad sinus quam ad libros reducebantur manus, crebrius oculos amor in se reflectebat quam lectio in scripturam dirigebat. Quoque minus suspicionis haberemus, verbera quandoque dabat amor, non furor, gratia, non ira, que omnium ungentorum suavitatem transcenderent. Quid denique?

Accordingly, with the books opened, more words about love than about reading thrust themselves in; there were more kisses than sentences; more often hands were brought back to bosoms than to books; more frequently love reflected the eyes upon itself than reading directed them to the writing. And, that we might have the less suspicion, love sometimes gave blows—grace, not fury; favor, not anger—which surpassed the sweetness of all unguents. What, finally?

Nullus a cupidis intermissus est gradus amoris, et si quid insolitum amor excogitare potuit, est additum; et quo minus ista fueramus experti gaudia, ardentius illis insistebamus, et minus in fastidium vertebantur.

No step of love was intermitted by the desirous, and if love could excogitate anything unusual, it was added; and the less we had experienced those joys, the more ardently we pressed upon them, and the less they were turned into loathing.

Et quo me amplius hec voluptas occupaverat, minus philosophie /f.5va/ vaccare poteram et scolis operam dare. Tediosum mihi vehementer erat ad scolas procedere vel in eis morari; pariter et laboriosum, cum nocturnas amori vigilias et diurnas studio conservarem. Quem etiam ita negligentem et tepidum lectio tunc habebat, ut iam nichil ex ingenio sed ex usu cuncta proferrem, nec iam nisi recitator pristinorum essem inventorum, et si qua invenire liceret, carmina essent amatoria, non philosophie secreta; quorum etiam carminum pleraque adhuc in multis, sicut et ipse nosti, frequentantur et decantantur regionibus, ab his maxime quos vita similis oblectat.

And the more this pleasure had occupied me, the less I could have leisure for philosophy /f.5va/ and give effort to the schools. It was exceedingly tedious for me to proceed to the schools or to remain in them; likewise laborious, since I kept the nocturnal vigils for love and the diurnal for study. Reading, too, then held me so negligent and tepid that I now produced nothing from ingenuity but from use, and I was now nothing but a reciter of former inventions; and if it were permitted to find anything, they would be amatory songs, not the secrets of philosophy; many of which songs even now, as you yourself know, are in many regions frequented and chanted, especially by those whom a similar life delights.

Quantam autem mestitiam, quos gemitus, que lamenta nostri super hoc scolares assumerent, ubi videlicet hanc animi mei occupationem immo perturbationem presenserunt, non est facile vel cogitare.

But how great a sadness, what groans, what laments our scholars would take up over this, when, namely, they sensed this occupation of my mind, nay rather, its perturbation, is not easy even to conceive.

Paucos enim iam res tam manifesta decipere poterat, ac neminem, credo, preter eum ad cuius ignominiam maxime id spectabat, ipsum videlicet puelle avunculum. Cui quidem hoc cum a nonnullis nonnumquam suggestum fuisset, credere non poterat, tum, ut supra memini, propter immoderatam sue neptis amicitiam, tum etiam propter ante acte vite mee continentiam cognitam. Non enim /f.5vb/ facile de his quos plurimum diligimus turpitudinem suspicamur, nec in vehementi dilectione turpis suspitionis labes potest inesse.

For by now the matter, so manifest, could deceive few, and no one, I believe, except him to whose ignominy it chiefly looked—namely, the girl’s very uncle. And although this had sometimes been suggested to him by some, he could not believe it, both, as I mentioned above, on account of his immoderate affection for his niece, and also on account of the known continence of my previously conducted life. For we do not easily suspect turpitude of those whom we love most, nor can the stain of base suspicion inhere in vehement affection. /f.5vb/

Unde et illud est beati Iheronimi in epistola ad Castricianum: "Solemus mala domus nostre scire novissimi ac liberorum ac coniugum vitia, vicinis canentibus, ignorare." Sed quod novissime scitur, utique sciri quandoque contingit, et quod omnes deprehendunt, non est facile unum latere; sic itaque pluribus evolutis mensibus et de nobis accidit.

Whence too is that saying of blessed Jerome in the letter to Castricianus: “We are wont to learn the troubles of our own house last, and to be ignorant of the vices of our children and spouses, while the neighbors are singing of them.” But what is known at the very latest does, to be sure, come to be known at some point, and what all detect is not easily hidden from one; and so, with many months having elapsed, it thus befell us also.

O quantus in hoc cognoscendo dolor avunculi! quantus in separatione amantium dolor ipsorum! quanta sum erubescentia confusus!

O how great, in coming to know this, was the uncle’s dolor! how great, in the separation of the lovers, was their own dolor! with how great an erubescence was I confounded!

quanta contritione super afflictione puelle sum aflictus! quantos meroris ipsa de verecundia mea sustinuit estus! Neuter quod sibi, sed quod alteri contigerat querebatur; neuter sua, sed alterius plangebat incommoda.

with what contrition over the affliction of the maiden was I afflicted! what surges of sorrow did she herself endure on account of my modesty! Neither complained of what had befallen self, but of what had befallen the other; neither mourned his own, but the other's incommodities.

Separatio autem hec corporum maxima erat copulatio animorum, et negata sui copia amplius amorem accendebat, et verecundie transacta iam passio inverecundiores reddebat; tantoque verecundie minor extiterat passio quanto convenientior videbatur actio. Actum itaque in nobis est quod in Marte et Venere deprehensis poetica narrat fabula. Non multo autem post, puella se concepisse comperit, et cum summa exultatione mihi super hoc ilico scripsit, consulens quid de hoc /f.5rc/ I ipse faciendum deliberarem.

But this separation of bodies was the greatest copulation of souls, and the denial of her availability inflamed love the more, and the passion of modesty, once passed, made us more shameless; and the passion of modesty had been the less, by as much as the act seemed more convenient. Thus there was enacted in us what the poetic fable narrates about Mars and Venus when they were caught. Not long after, however, the girl discovered that she had conceived, and with the highest exultation she wrote to me about this forthwith, consulting what about this /f.5rc/ I I myself should determine was to be done.

Quadam itaque nocte, avunculo eius absente, sicut nos condixeramus, eam de domo avunculi furtim sustuli et in patriam meam sine mora transmisi; ubi apud sororem meam tam diu conversata est donec pareret masculum quem Astralabium nominavit.

On a certain night, then, with her uncle absent, as we had agreed, I stealthily removed her from her uncle’s house and sent her across into my fatherland without delay; where she stayed with my sister for so long until she bore a male, whom she named Astralabium.

Avunculus autem eius post ipsius recessum quasi in insaniam conversus, quanto estuaret dolore, quanto afficeretur pudore, nemo nisi experiendo cognosceret. Quid autem in me ageret, quas mihi tenderet insidias, ignorabat. Si me interficeret seu in aliquo corpus meum debilitaret, id potissimum metuebat ne dilectissima neptis hoc in patria mea plecteretur.

But her uncle, after her departure, as if turned into insanity, how fiercely he seethed with pain, how much he was affected with shame, no one would know save by experiencing it. What he should do against me, what ambushes he should lay for me, he did not know. If he were to kill me or in any way debilitate my body, this above all he feared: lest his most beloved niece be punished for this in my homeland.

Capere me et invitum alicubi coercere nullatenus valebat, maxime cum ego mihi super hoc plurimum providerem, quod eum, si valeret vel auderet, citius agredi non dubitarem.

He was in no way able to seize me and coerce me somewhere against my will, especially since I provided very much for myself in this matter, because, if he had the power or dared, I would not hesitate to attack him the sooner.

Tandem ego eius immoderate anxietati admodum compatiens, et de dolo quem fecerat amor tanquam de summa proditione me ipsum vehementer accusans, conveni hominem supplicando et promittendo quamcunque super hoc emendationem ipse constitueret, nec ulli mirabile id videri asserens, quicumque vim amoris expertus fuisset, et qui quanta /f.5rd/ ruina summos quoque viros ab ipso statim humani generis exordio mulieres deiecerint memoria retineret. Atque ut amplius eum mittigarem supra quam sperare poterat, obtuli me ei satisfacere, eam scilicet quam corruperam mihi matrimonio copulando, dummodo id secreto fieret, ne fame detrimentum incurrerem. Assensit ille, et tam sua quam suorum fide et osculis eam quam requisivi concordiam mecum iniit, quo me facilius proderet.

At length I, being very compassionate toward his immoderate anxiety, and vehemently accusing myself of the trick which love had perpetrated as of the highest treason, approached the man by supplicating and by promising whatever emendation concerning this he himself should determine, asserting that this would seem marvelous to no one who had experienced the force of love, and who kept in memory how great a ruin even the highest men women have cast down into from the very /f.5rd/ exordium of the human race. And that I might mitigate him further beyond what he could hope, I offered to make satisfaction to him, namely by coupling in marriage to myself her whom I had corrupted, provided that it be done in secret, lest I incur detriment of fame. He assented, and by the good faith both of himself and of his people, and with kisses, he entered with me upon the concord which I sought, in order that he might betray me the more easily.

DEHORTATIO SUPRADICTE PUELLE A NUPTIIS

DEHORTATION OF THE AFORESAID GIRL FROM NUPTIALS

Ilico ego ad patriam meam reversus amicam reduxi ut uxorem facerem, illa tamen hoc minime approbante, immo penitus duabus de causis dissuadente, tam scilicet pro periculo quam pro dedecore meo. Iurabat illum nulla unquam satisfactione super hoc placari posse, sicut postmodum cognitum est. Querebat etiam quam de me gloriam habitura esset, cum me ingloriosum efficeret, et se et me pariter humiliaret.

Immediately I, having returned to my fatherland, brought back my beloved to make her my wife; she, however, by no means approving this—in fact utterly dissuading it for two reasons, namely as much for the peril as for my disgrace. She swore that that man could by no satisfaction ever be placated about this, as was afterward known. She also asked what glory she would have from me, since she would render me inglorious, and would humble both herself and me alike.

Quantas ab ea mundus penas exigere deberet, si tantam ei lucernam auferret; quante maledictiones, quanta dampna ecclesie, quante philosophorum lacrime hoc matrimonium essent sequuture. Quam indecens, quam lamentabile esset, ut quem omnibus natura creaverat, uni me femine dicarem /f.6va/ et turpitudini tante subicerem. Detestabatur vehementer hoc matrimonium, quod mihi per omnia probrosum esset atque honerosum.

How many penalties the world ought to exact from her, if it took away from it so great a lamp; how many maledictions, how many damages to the Church, how many tears of philosophers would be about to follow this marriage. How indecent, how lamentable it would be, that him whom Nature had created for all, I should dedicate myself to one woman /f.6va/ and subject myself to such turpitude. She vehemently detested this marriage, as being in all respects opprobrious and onerous to me.

Pretendebat infamiam mei pariter et difficultates matrimonii, ad quas quidem vitandas nos exortans Apostolus ait: "Solutus es ab uxore? noli querere uxorem. Si autem acceperis uxorem, non peccasti; et si nupserit virgo, non peccabit.

She put forward both my infamy and the difficulties of matrimony, to avoid which indeed, exhorting us, the Apostle says: "Are you released from a wife? do not seek a wife. But if you have taken a wife, you have not sinned; and if a virgin has married, she will not sin."

Tribulationem tamen carnis habebunt huiusmodi. Ego autem parco vobis, etc..." Item: "Volo autem vos sine sollicitudine esse, etc..." Quod si nec Apostoli consilium nec sanctorum exhortationes de tanto matrimonii iugo susciperem saltem, inquit, philosophos consulerem, et que super hoc ab eis vel de eis scripta sunt attenderem; quod plerumque etiam sancti ad increpationem nostram diligenter faciunt. Quale illud est beati Jheronimi, in primo Contra Jovinianum, ubi scilicet commemorat Theophrastum, intolerabilibus nuptiarum molestiis assiduisque inquietudinibus ex magna parte diligenter expositis, uxorem sapienti non esse ducendam evidentissimis rationibus abstruxisse, ubi et ipse illas exhortationis philosophice rationes tali fine concludens: "Hoc, inquit, et huiusmodi Theophrastus disserens, quem non suffundat Christianorum?

Nevertheless, such as these will have tribulation of the flesh. “But I spare you, etc...” Likewise: “But I wish you to be without solicitude, etc...” But if I would take up neither the counsel of the Apostle nor the exhortations of the saints concerning so great a yoke of marriage, at least, he says, I would consult the philosophers, and would attend to what has been written on this by them or about them; which very often even the saints do diligently for our rebuke. Such is that passage of the blessed Jerome, in the first book Against Jovinian, where, namely, he commemorates Theophrastus, after the intolerable annoyances of nuptials and the continual disquietudes have for the most part been diligently set forth, to have proved by most evident reasons that a wife is not to be taken by a wise man; where he himself also, concluding those rationales of philosophical exhortation with such an ending: “This,” he says, “and things of this sort, as Theophrastus argues—whom among Christians does it not make blush?”

etc." Idem in eodem /f.6vb/ : "Cicero, inquit, rogatus ab Hyrtio ut post repudium Therentie sororem eius duceret omnino facere supersedit, dicens non posse se et uxori et philosophie operam pariter dare." Non ait: "operam dare" sed adiunxit "pariter", nolens quicquam agere quod studio equaretur philosophie."

etc." The same in the same place /f.6vb/ : "Cicero," he says, "when asked by Hyrtius that, after the repudiation of Terentia, he should take his sister in marriage, altogether refrained from doing it, saying that he could not give attention equally both to a wife and to philosophy." He did not say: "to give attention" but added "equally," unwilling to do anything that would be matched in zeal to philosophy."

Ut autem hoc philosophici studii nunc omittam impedimentum, ipsum consule honeste conversationis statum. Que enim conventio scolarium ad pedissequas, scriptoriorum ad cunabula, librorum sive tabularum ad colos, stilorum sive calamorum ad fusos? Quis denique sacris vel philosophicis meditationibus intentus, pueriles vagitus, nutricum que hos mittigant nenias, tumultuosam familie tam in viris quam in feminis turbam sustinere poterit?

But, in order that I may for the moment omit this impediment to philosophical study, consider the very state of honorable conversation. For what convention have scholars with handmaids, scriptoria with cradles, books or tablets with distaffs, styluses or reed-pens with spindles? Who, finally, intent upon sacred or philosophical meditations, will be able to endure infantile wailings, and the nurses’ lullabies that soften these, the tumultuous throng of a household, in both the men and the women?

Que etiam inhonestas illas parvulorum sordes assiduas tolerare valebit? Id, inquies, divites possunt, quorum palatia vel domus ample diversoria habent, quorum opulentia non sentit expensas nec cotidianis sollicitudinibus cruciatur. Sed non est, inquam, hec conditio philosophorum que divitum, nec qui opibus student vel secularibus implicantur curis divinis seu philosophicis vacabunt officiis.

Who will even be able to endure those unseemly, incessant filthinesses of little children? That, you will say, the rich can do, whose palaces or houses have ample guest-quarters, whose opulence does not feel expenses nor is tormented by daily solicitudes. But, I say, this is not the condition of philosophers as it is of the rich; nor will those who are devoted to wealth or are entangled in secular cares be at leisure for divine or philosophical offices.

Unde et insignes olim philoso /f.6rc/ phi mundum maxime contempnentes, nec tam relinquentes seculum quam fugientes, omnes sibi voluptates interdixerunt ut in unius philosophie requiescerent amplexibus. Quorum unus et maximus Seneca, Lucilium instruens ait: "Non cum vaccaveris philosophandum est... Omnia negligenda sunt ut huic assideamus, cui nullum tempus satis magnum est... Non multum refert utrum omittas philosophiam an intermittas; non enim, ubi interrupta est, manet.. Resistendum est occupationibus, nec explicande sunt sed submovende." Quod nunc igitur apud nos amore Dei sustinent qui vere monachi dicuntur, hoc desiderio philosophie qui nobiles in gentibus extiterunt philosophi. In omni namgue populo, tam gentili scilicet quam iudaico sive christiano, aliqui semper extiterunt fide seu morum honestate ceteris preminentes, et se a populo aliqua continentie vel abstinentie singularitate segregantes.

Whence even illustrious philosophers of old, most of all contemning the world, and not so much leaving the age as fleeing it, interdicted to themselves all pleasures, so that they might rest in the embraces of a single philosophy. Of whom one and the greatest, Seneca, instructing Lucilius, says: "One must not philosophize when you will have leisure... All things must be neglected so that we sit by this, for which no time is great enough... It makes not much difference whether you omit philosophy or intermit it; for, when it has been interrupted, it does not remain.. We must resist occupations, nor are they to be untangled but to be removed." What therefore among us now, for the love of God, those who are truly called monks endure, this, out of desire for philosophy, did the philosop /f.6rc/ hers who were noble among the nations. For in every people—both Gentile, namely, and Jewish or Christian—there have always been some who stood forth, preeminent over the rest by faith or by the honesty of morals, and who segregated themselves from the people by some singularity of continence or of abstinence.

Apud Judeos quidem antiquitus Nazarei, qui se Domino secundum legem consecrabant, sive filii prophetarum Helye vel Helysei sectatores, quos beato attestante Jheronimo monachos legimus in veteri Testamento; novissime autem tres ille phi /f.6rd/ losophie secte, quas Josephus in libro Antiquitatum distinguens, alios Phariseos, alios Saduceos, alios nominat Esseos. Apud nos vero monachi, qui videlicet aut communem apostolorum vitam, aut priorem illam et solitariam Johannis imittantur. Apud gentiles autem, ut dictum est, philosephi; non enim sapientie vel philosophie nomen tam ad scientie perceptionem quam ad vite religionem referebant, sicut ab ipso etiam huius nominis ortu didicimus, ipsorum quoque testimonio sanctorum.

Among the Jews indeed of old, the Nazirites, who consecrated themselves to the Lord according to the law, or the sons of the prophets, followers of Elijah or Elisha, whom, with blessed Jerome attesting, we read as monks in the Old Testament; and most recently those three sects of phi /f.6rd/ losophy, which Josephus, distinguishing in the book of Antiquities, calls some Pharisees, others Sadducees, others Essenes. Among us, indeed, the monks, who namely imitate either the common life of the apostles, or that earlier and solitary life of John. Among the Gentiles, however, as has been said, philosophers; for they referred the name of wisdom or phi /f.6rd/ losophy not so much to the perception of science as to the religion of life, as we have learned from the very origin of this name, by the testimony also of the saints themselves.

Unde et illud est beati Augustini, VIII de Civitate Dei libro, genera quidem philosophorum distinguentis: "Italicum genus actorem habuit Phitagoram Samium, a quo et fertur ipsum philosophie nomen exortum; nam cum antea sapientes appellarentur qui modo quodam laudabilis vite aliis prestare videbantur, iste interrogatus quid profiteretur, philosophum se esse respondit, id est studiosum vel amatorem sapientie, quoniam sapientem profiteri arrogantissimum videbatur." Hoc itaque loco cum dicitur: "qui modo quodam laudabilis vite aliis prestare videbantur, etc.", aperte monstratur sapientes gentium, id est philosophos, ex laude vite potius quam scientie /f.7va/ sic esse nominatos. Quam sobrie autem atque continenter ipsi vixerint, non est nostrum modo ex exemplis colligere, ne Minervam ipsam videar docere. Si autem sic laici gentilesque vixerint nulla scilicet professione religionis astricti, quid te clericum atque canonicum facere oportet, ne divinis officiis turpes preferas voluptates, ne te precipitem hec Caribdis absorbeat, ne obcenitatibus istis te impudenter atque irrevocabiliter immergas?

Whence also is that statement of blessed Augustine, in Book 8 of the City of God, distinguishing indeed the genera of philosophers: "The Italic genus had as its author Pythagoras the Samian, from whom the very name of philosophy is also reported to have arisen; for, whereas previously those were called wise men who in a certain manner seemed to excel others in a praiseworthy life, he, when asked what he professed, replied that he was a philosopher, that is, a student or lover of wisdom, since to profess oneself wise seemed most arrogant." Therefore in this passage, when it is said, "who in a certain manner seemed to excel others in a praiseworthy life, etc.," it is clearly shown that the wise men of the nations, that is, the philosophers, were thus named from the praise of life rather than of science /f.7va/. How soberly and continently they themselves lived, it is not for us now to gather from examples, lest I seem to teach Minerva herself. But if laymen and gentiles so lived—bound, to be sure, by no profession of religion—what ought you, a cleric and a canon, to do, lest you prefer base pleasures to the divine offices, lest this Charybdis swallow you headlong, lest you shamelessly and irrevocably plunge yourself into these obscenities?

Qui si clerici prerogativam non curas, philosophi saltem defende dignitatem. Si reverentia Dei contempnitur, amor saltem honestatis impudentiam temperet. Memento Socratem uxoratum fuisse, et quam fedo casu hanc philosophie labem ipse primo luerit, ut deinceps ceteri exemplo eius cautiores efficerentur.

Who, if you do not care for the prerogative of clerics, at least defend the dignity of the philosopher. If reverence of God is contemned, let at least love of honesty temper impudence. Remember that Socrates was wedded, and with what foul mishap he himself first paid the penalty for this stain of philosophy, so that thereafter the rest might be made more cautious by his example.

Quod nec ipse preterit Jheronimus, ita in primo Contra Jovinianum de ipso scribens Socrate: "Quodam autem tempore, cum infinita convitia ex superiori loco ingerenti Xanthippe restitisset, aqua profusus immunda, nichil respondit amplius quam, capite deterso: Sciebam, inquit, futurum ut ista tonitrua ymber sequeretur." Addebat denique ipsa et quam periculosum mihi esset eam reducere, et quam sibi carius /f.7vb/ existeret mihique honestius amicam dici quam uxorem ut me ei sola gratia conservaret, non vis aliqua vinculi nuptialis constringeret. Tantoque nos ipsos ad tempus separatos gratiora de conventu nostro percepere gaudia, quanto rariora. Hec et similia persuadens seu dissuadens, cum meam deflectere non posset stultitiam nec me sustineret offendere, suspirans vehementer et lacrimans perorationem suam tali fine terminavit: "Unum, inquid, ad ultimum restat ut in perditione duorum, minor non succedat dolor quam precessit amor." Nec in hoc ei, sicut universus agnovit mundus, prophecie defuit spiritus.

Nor does Jerome himself pass this by, thus in the first book of Against Jovinian writing about Socrates himself: "At a certain time, when Xanthippe, after he had endured her heaping endless revilings from an upper place, poured foul water upon him, he answered nothing more than this, his head wiped: ‘I knew,’ said he, ‘that after such thunder a shower would follow.’" She, finally, added both how perilous it would be for me to take her back, and how much the dearer to herself /f.7vb/ and the more honorable to me it would be to be called a friend rather than a wife, so that she might preserve me for herself by favor alone, not be constrained by some force of the nuptial bond. And by so much the more pleasing were the joys we received from our meeting, we ourselves being separated for a time, by how much the rarer. Urging or dissuading these and the like, since she could not deflect my stupidity nor could bear to offend me, sighing vehemently and weeping she terminated her peroration with such an end: "One thing," said she, "at the last remains: that in the perdition of the two, there succeed not a grief less than the love that preceded." Nor in this did the spirit of prophecy fail her, as the whole world has acknowledged.

Nato itaque parvulo nostro, sorori mee commendato, Parisius occulte revertimur; et, post paucos dies, nocte secretis orationum vigiliis in quadam ecclesia celebratis, ibidem, summo mane, avunculo eius atque quibusdam nostris vel ipsius amicis assistentibus, nuptiali benedictione confederamur; moxque occulte divisim abscessimus, nec nos ulterius nisi raro latenterque vidimus, dissimulantes plurimum quod egeramus. Avunculus autem ipsius atque domestici eius, ignominie sue solatium querentes, initum matrimonium divulgare et fidem mihi super hoc datam violare ceperunt; illa autem e contra /f.7rc/ anathematizare et iurare quia falsissimum esset. Unde vehementer ille commotus crebris eam contumeliis afficiebat.

Accordingly, our little child having been born, entrusted to my sister, we return secretly to Paris; and, after a few days, with nocturnal vigils of prayers celebrated in a certain church, there, at first light, with her uncle and certain of our or her friends assisting, we were confederated by the nuptial benediction; and soon, secretly, we withdrew separately, and thereafter we saw each other only rarely and covertly, dissembling very much what we had done. But her uncle and her domestics, seeking a solace for their ignominy, began to divulge the marriage that had been entered into and to violate the faith given to me on this point; but she on the contrary /f.7rc/ began to anathematize and to swear that it was most false. Whence he, greatly moved, was afflicting her with frequent contumelies.

Quod cum ego cognovissem, transmisi eam ad abbatiam quandam sanctimonialium prope Parisius, que Argenteolum appellatur, ubi ipsa olim puellula educata fuerat atque erudita, vestesque ei religionis que conversationi monastice convenirent, excepto velo, aptari feci et his eam indui. Quo audito, avunculus et consanguinei seu affines eius opinati sunt me nunc sibi plurimum illusisse, et ab ea moniali facta me sic facile velle expedire. Unde vehementer indignati et adversum me coniurati, nocte quadam quiescentem me atque dormientem in secreta hospicii mei camera, quodam mihi serviente per pecuniam corrupto, crudelissima et pudentissima ultione punierunt, et quam summa ammiratione mundus excepit, eis videlicet corporis mei partibus amputatis quibus id quod plangebant commiseram.

When I had learned this, I sent her to a certain abbey of holy women near Paris, which is called Argenteuil, where she herself as a little girl had once been brought up and instructed, and I had garments of religion fitted for her which would be suitable to monastic conversation, the veil excepted, and I clothed her with these. On hearing this, her uncle and her kinsmen or connections supposed that I had now mocked them exceedingly, and that, with her made a nun, I wished thus easily to be rid of the matter. Wherefore, greatly indignant and having conspired against me, on a certain night, while I was resting and sleeping in the secret chamber of my lodging, with a certain servant of mine corrupted by money, they punished me with a most cruel and most shameful vengeance, one which the world received with the highest astonishment, namely, by amputating those parts of my body with which I had committed that which they lamented.

Quibus mox in fugam conversis, duo qui comprehendi potuerunt oculis et genitalibus privati sunt, quorum alter ille fuit supradictus serviens qui, cum in obsequio meo mecum maneret, cupiditate ad proditionem ductus est.

With them soon turned to flight, two who could be apprehended were deprived of their eyes and genitals, of whom the one was that aforesaid servant who, while he remained with me in my service, was led by cupidity to treachery.

DE PLAGA ILLA CORPORIS

ON THAT WOUND OF THE BODY

Mane autem facto, tota ad me civitas congregata, quanta stuperet ammiratione, quanta se affligeret lamentatione, quanto me clamore vexarent, quanto planctu /f.7rd/ perturbarent, difficile, immo impossibile est exprimi. Maxime vero clerici ac precipue scolares nostri intolerabilibus me lamentis et eiulatibus cruciabant, ut multo amplius ex eorum compassione quam ex vulneris lederer passione, et plus erubescentiam quam plagam sentirem, et pudore magis quam dolore affligerer. Occurrebat animo quanta modo gloria pollebam, quam facili et turpi casu hec humiliata, immo penitus esset extincta, quam iusto Dei iudicio in illa corporis mei portione plecterer in qua deliqueram; quam iusta proditione is quem antea prodideram vicem mihi retulisset; quanta laude mei emuli tam manifestam equitatem efferrent; quantam perpetui doloris contritionem plaga hec parentibus meis et amicis esset collatura; quanta dilatatione hec singularis infamia universum mundum esset occupatura.

But when morning had come, the whole city congregated to me—how it stood agape with admiration, how it afflicted itself with lamentation, with how great a clamor they vexed me, with how great a beating of the breast they /f.7rd/ perturbed me—this is difficult, nay impossible, to express. Most of all indeed the clerics, and especially our scholars, were crucifying me with intolerable lamentations and ululations, so that I was wounded far more by their compassion than by the passion of the wound, and I felt shame more than the blow, and was afflicted by shame more than by pain. It occurred to my mind how much glory I lately prevailed in; by how easy and base a fall this was humbled—nay, utterly extinguished; by how just a judgment of God I was punished in that portion of my body in which I had transgressed; by how just a treachery the man whom I had earlier betrayed had paid me back in turn; with how much praise my rivals would extol so manifest an equity; what contrition of perpetual grief this wound was about to confer upon my parents and friends; with what diffusion this singular infamy was about to occupy the whole world.

Qua mihi ulterius via pateret! qua fronte in publicum prodirem, omnium digitis demonstrandus, omnium linguis corrodendus, omnibus monstruosum spectaculum futurus. Nec me etiam parum confundebat, quod secundum occidentem legis litteram tanta sit apud Deum eunuchorum abhominatio, ut homines amputatis vel attritis testiculis eunuchizati intrare ecclesiam /f.8va/ tanquam olentes et immundi prohibeantur, et in sacrificio quoque talia penitus animalia respuantur.

What path would lie open to me any further! with what face should I go forth into public, to be pointed out by the fingers of all, to be corroded by the tongues of all, about to be a monstrous spectacle to all. Nor did it confound me only a little besides, that according to the killing letter of the Law so great is, with God, the abomination of eunuchs, that men made eunuchs, with testicles amputated or crushed, are prohibited from entering the church /f.8va/ as though reeking and unclean, and likewise in sacrifice such animals are utterly spurned.

Lib. Numeri, cap. LXXIIII: "Omne animal, quod est contritis, vel tonsis, vel sectis ablatisque testiculis, non offeretis Domino;" Deuteronomii, cap.

Book of Numbers, chapter 74: "Every animal that is with testicles crushed, or shorn, or cut and removed, you shall not offer to the Lord;" Deuteronomy, chapter.

XXI: "Non intrabit eunuchus, atritis vel amputatis testiculis, et absciso veretro ecclesiam Dei."

21: "A eunuch, with crushed or amputated testicles, and with the penis cut off, shall not enter the church of God."

In tam misera me contritione positum, confusio fateor, pudoris potius quam devotio conversionis ad monastichorum latibula claustrorum compulit. Illa tamen, prius ad imperium nostrum sponte velata, et monasterium ingressa. Ambo itaque simul sacrum habitum suscepimus, ego quidem in abbatia sancti Dyonisii, illa in monasterio Argenteoli supradicto.

Placed in so wretched a contrition, confusion, I confess, of shame rather than of the devotion of conversion, drove me to the monastic hiding-places of cloisters. She, however, earlier, at our command, was veiled of her own accord and entered a monastery. Therefore we both together assumed the sacred habit, I indeed in the abbey of Saint Dionysius, she in the monastery of the aforesaid Argenteuil.

Que quidem, memini, cum eius adolescentiam a iugo monastice regule tanquam intolerabili pena plurimi frustra deterrerent ei compacientes, in illam Cornelie querimoniam inter lacrimas et singultus prout poterat prorumpens ait: "O maxime coniux! O thalamis indigne meis, hoc iuris habebat In tantum fortuna capud? Cur impia nupsi, Si miserum factura fui?

She indeed, I remember, when very many, sympathizing with her, tried in vain to deter her youth from the yoke of the monastic rule as though an intolerable penalty, bursting forth into that complaint of Cornelia amid tears and sobs, as she could, said: "O greatest spouse! O unworthy of my bridal chambers, did Fortune have this right over so great a head In so great a degree? Why did I impiously wed, Si I was going to make him wretched?"

Nunc accipe penas Sed quas sponte luam." Atque in his verbis ad altare mox properat, et confestim ab episcopo benedictum velum ab altari tulit, et se monastice professioni coram omnibus alligavit.

"Now receive the penalties But those which I will pay of my own accord." And at these words she soon hastens to the altar, and immediately she took from the altar the veil blessed by the bishop, and bound herself to monastic profession before all.

Vix autem de vulnere adhuc convalue /f.8vb/ ram, cum ad me eonfluentes clerici tam ab abbate nostro quam a me ipso continuis supplicationibus efflagitabant, quatinus quod hucusque pecunie vel laudis cupiditate egeram, nunc amore Dei operam studio darem, attendens quod mihi fuerat a Domino talentum commissum, ab ipso esse cum usuris exigendum, et qui divitibus maxime hucusque intenderam, pauperibus erudiendis amodo studerem; et ob hoc maxime dominica manu me nunc tactum esse cognoscerem, quo liberius a carnalibus illecebris et tumultuosa vita seculi abstractus studio litterarum vaccarem, nec tam mundi quam Dei vere philosophus fierem. Erat autem abbatia illa nostra ad quam me contuleram secularis admodum vite atque turpissime, cuius abbas ipse quo ceteris prelatione maior tanto vita deterior atque infamia notior erat. Quorum quidem intolerabiles spurcitias ego frequenter atque vehementer modo privatim modo publice redarguens, omnibus me supra modum onerosum atque odiosum effeci.

Hardly yet had I recovered from the wound /f.8vb/ when, as clerics flocked to me, they were demanding with continual supplications, both from our abbot and from me myself, that what I had hitherto done from a cupidity of money or praise, I should now, for love of God, give my effort to study; considering that a talent had been committed to me by the Lord, to be exacted by him with usury, and that I, who had up to now chiefly applied myself to the rich, should henceforth strive to instruct the poor; and that for this very reason I might recognize myself as now touched by the Lord’s hand, in order that, more freely, withdrawn from carnal allurements and the tumultuous life of the age, I might devote myself to the study of letters, and become a true philosopher, not so much of the world as of God. But that our abbey to which I had betaken myself was of a very secular and most disgraceful way of life, whose abbot himself, by as much as he was greater than the others in prelacy, by so much was he more depraved in life and more notorious in infamy. Their intolerable filthinesses I, frequently and vehemently rebuking, now privately, now publicly, made myself to all excessively burdensome and odious.

Qui ad cotidianam discipulorum nostrorum instantiam maxime gavisi occasionem nacti sunt, qua me a se removerent.

Who, at the daily importunity of our disciples, rejoiced exceedingly, having found an occasion by which they might remove me from themselves.

Diu itaque illis instantibus atque importune pulsantibus, abbate quoque nostro et fratribus intervenientibus, ad cellam quandam recessi, scolis more solito vaccaturus. /f.8rc/ Ad quas quidem tanta scolarium multitudo confluxit, ut nec locus ospitiis nec terra sufficeret alimentis. Ubi, quod professioni mee convenientius erat, sacre plurimum lectioni studium intendens, secularium artium disciplinam quibus amplius assuetus fueram et quas a me plurimum requirebant non penitus abieci, sed de his quasi hamum quendam fabricavi, quo illos philosophico sapore inescatos ad vere philosophie lectionem attraherem, sicut et summum Christianorum philosophorum Origenem consuevisse Hystoria meminit ecclesiastica.

Therefore, with them long pressing and importunately knocking, our abbot too and the brothers interceding, I withdrew to a certain cell, to devote myself to the schools in the customary manner. /f.8rc/ To which indeed there flocked such a multitude of scholars that neither the place sufficed for hospitium nor the land for provisions. There, as was more suitable to my profession, directing my zeal chiefly to sacred reading, I did not utterly cast aside the discipline of the secular arts, to which I had been more accustomed and which they especially demanded from me; but from these I fashioned, as it were, a certain hook, whereby, baited with a philosophical savor, I might draw them to the reading of true philosophy, just as the Ecclesiastical History remembers that Origen, the highest of Christian philosophers, was accustomed to do.

Cum autem in divina scriptura non minorem mihi gratiam quam in seculari Dominus contulisse videretur, ceperunt admodum ex utraque lectione scole nostre multiplicari et cetere omnes vehementer attenuari. Unde maxime magistrorum invidiam atque odium adversum me concitavi, qui in omnibus que poterant mihi derogantes, duo precipue absenti mihi semper obiciebant: quod scilicet proposito monachi valde sit contrarium secularium librorum studio detineri, et quod sine magistro ad magisterium divine lectionis accedere presumpsissem; ut sic videlicet omne mihi doctrine scolaris exercitium interdiceretur; ad quod incessanter /f.8rd/ episcopos, archiepiscopos, abbates, et quascunque poterant religiosi nominis personas incitabant.

But when it seemed that the Lord had conferred upon me no lesser grace in divine Scripture than in the secular, our schools began very much to be multiplied from both readings, and all the others were vehemently attenuated. Whence I most of all stirred up the envy and hatred of the masters against me, who, derogating from me in all the ways they could, especially and always objected two things to me in my absence: namely, that it is very contrary to the profession of a monk to be held by the study of secular books, and that without a master I had presumed to accede to the magisterium of divine reading; so that thus every exercise of scholastic doctrine might be interdicted to me; to which end they incessantly /f.8rd/ incited bishops, archbishops, abbots, and whatever persons of religious name they could.

DE LIBRO THEOLOGIE SUE ET PERSECUTIONE QUAM INDE SUSTINUIT A CONDISCIPULIS

OF HIS BOOK OF THEOLOGY AND THE PERSECUTION WHICH HE THEREFROM SUSTAINED FROM HIS CONDISCIPLES

Accidit autem mihi ut ad ipsum fidei nostre fundamentum humane rationis similitudinibus disserendum primo me applicarem, et quendam theologie tractatum De Unitate et Trinitate divina scolaribus nostris componerem, qui humanas et philosophicas rationes requirebant, et plus que intelligi quam que dici possent efflagitabant: dicentes quidem verborum superfluam esse prolationem quam intelligentia non sequeretur, nec credi posse aliquid nisi primitus intellectum, et ridiculosum esse aliquem aliis predicare quod nec ipse nec illi quos doceret intellectu capere possent, Domino ipso arguente quod ceci essent duces cecorum.

It befell me, moreover, that I first applied myself to discoursing upon the very foundation of our faith by similitudes of human reason, and that I composed for our scholars a certain tractate of theology, On the Unity and the Divine Trinity, for they were requiring human and philosophical reasons, and were insisting more on what could be understood than on what could be said: saying indeed that the utterance of words which understanding did not follow was superfluous, and that nothing could be believed unless first understood, and that it was ridiculous for someone to preach to others what neither he himself nor those whom he taught could grasp by intellect, the Lord himself reproving that they were blind guides of the blind.

Quem quidem tractatum cum vidissent et legissent plurimi, cepit in commune omnibus plurimum placere, quod in eo pariter omnibus satisfieri super hoc questionibus videbatur. Et quoniam questiones iste pre omnibus difficiles videbantur, quanto earum maior extiterat gravitas, tanto solutionis earum censebatur maior subtilitas. Unde emuli mei vehementer accensi concilium contra me congregaverunt, maxime duo illi antiqui insidiatores, Albericus scilicet et Lotulfus, qui iam de /f.9va/ functis magistris eorum et nostris, Guillhelmo scilicet atque Anselmo, post eos quasi regnare se solos appetebant, atque etiam ipsis tanquam heredes succedere.

Which treatise indeed, when very many had seen and read it, began to please everyone exceedingly in common, because in it there seemed to be satisfaction given equally to all concerning the questions on this matter. And since these questions seemed before all others difficult, the greater their weight had proved to be, by so much the greater was judged the subtlety of their solution. Whence my rivals, vehemently inflamed, assembled a council against me, especially those two long‑standing plotters, namely Alberic and Lotulf, who now, with their and our masters having passed away, /f.9va/ to wit William and Anselm, were aiming thereafter to reign as if alone, and even to succeed to them as heirs.

Cum autem utrique Remis scolas regerent, crebris suggestionibus archiepiscopum suum Radulfum adversum me commoverunt, ut ascito Conano Prenestino episcopo, qui tunc legatione fungebatur in Gallia, conventiculum quoddam sub nomine concilii in Suesionensi civitate celebrarent, meque invitarent quatenus illud opusculum quod de Trinitate composueram mecum afferrem; et factum est ita. Antequam autem illuc pervenirem, duo illi predicti emuli nostri ita me in clero et populo diffamaverunt, ut pene me populus paucosque qui advenerant ex discipulis nostris prima die nostri adventus; lapidarent, dicentes me tres deos predicare et scripsisse, sicut ipsis persuasum fuerat. Accessi autem, mox ut ad civitatem veni, ad legatum, eique libellum nostrum inspiciendum et diiudicandum tradidi; et me, si aliquid scripsissem aut dixissem quod a catholica fide dissentiret, paratum esse ad correctionem vel satisfactionem obtuli.

But when both of them were directing the schools at Reims, by frequent suggestions they stirred up their archbishop, Ralph, against me, so that, with Conan, the Prenestine bishop—who at that time was discharging a legation in Gaul—having been summoned, they might hold a certain conventicle under the name of a council in the city of Soissons, and invite me to bring with me that little work which I had composed on the Trinity; and so it was done. But before I arrived there, those two aforesaid rivals of ours so defamed me among the clergy and the people that the people almost stoned me and the few who had come from our disciples on the first day of our arrival; saying that I preached and had written three gods, as they had been persuaded. I went, however, as soon as I came to the city, to the legate, and handed over to him our booklet to be inspected and adjudged; and I offered that I, if I had written or said anything which dissented from the catholic faith, was prepared for correction or satisfaction.

Ille autem statim mihi precepit libellum ipsum archiepiscopo illisque emulis meis defferre, quatinus ipsi inde iudicarent qui me super hoc accusabant: /f.9vb/ ut illud in me etiam compleretur: "Et inimici nostri sunt iudices".

But he immediately ordered me to deliver the booklet itself to the archbishop and to those emulous rivals of mine, so that they themselves who were accusing me about this might judge from it: /f.9vb/ so that that, too, might be fulfilled in me: "And our enemies are judges."

Sepius autem illi inspicientes atque revolventes libellum, nec quid in audientia proferre adversum me auderent invenientes, distulerunt usque in finem concilii libri ad quam anhelabant dampnationem. Ego autem singulis diebus, antequam sederet concilium, in publico omnibus secundum quam scripseram fidem catholicam disserebam, et cum magna ammiratione omnes qui audiebant tam verborum apertionem quam sensum nostrum commendabant. Quod cum populus et clerus inspiceret, ceperunt ad invicem dicere: "Ecce nunc palam loquitur, et nemo in eum aliquid dicit; et concilium ad finem festinat, maxime in eum, ut audivimus, congregatum.

More often, however, they, inspecting and turning over the booklet, and not finding what they might dare to bring forth in an audience against me, deferred until the end of the council the condemnation of the book, which they were panting after. I, however, each day, before the council sat, was discoursing in public to all the catholic faith according to what I had written, and with great admiration all who were hearing commended both the opening of the words and our sense. When the people and the clergy observed this, they began to say to one another: "Behold, now he speaks openly, and no one says anything against him; and the council hastens to its end, assembled especially, as we have heard, against him.

Numquid iudices cognoverunt quia ipsi potius quam ille errant?" Ex quo emuli nostri cotidie magis ac magis inflamabantur.

"Have the judges recognized that they themselves rather than he are in error?" From which our emulous rivals were daily more and more inflamed.

Quadam autem die, Albericus ad me animo intemptantis cum quibusdam discipulis suis accedens, post quedam blanda colloquia, dixit se mirari quoddam quod in libro illo notaverat; quod scilicet, cum Deus Deum genuerit, nec nisi unus Deus sit, negarem tamen Deum se ipsum genuisse. Cui statim respondi: "Super hoc, si vultis, rationem proferam." - "Non cu /f.9rc/ ramus, inquit ille, rationem humanam aut sensum vestrum in talibus, sed auctoritatis verba solummodo." Cui ego: "Vertite, inquam, folium libri, et invenietis auctoritatem;" et erat presto liber quem secum ipse detulerat. Revolvi ad locum quem noveram, quem ipse minime compererat aut qui non nisi nocitura mihi querebat; et voluntas Dei fuit, ut cito occurreret mihi quod volebam.

But on a certain day, Alberic, approaching me with the mind of making a trial, together with some of his disciples, after some bland colloquies, said that he marveled at a certain thing which he had noted in that book; namely, that, since God has begotten God, and there is but one God, I nevertheless denied that God had begotten Himself. To which I at once replied: "On this, if you wish, I will bring forth a reason." - "We do not /f.9rc/ care for a human reason or your sense in such matters," said he, "but only words of authority." To which I: "Turn, I say, the leaf of the book, and you will find an authority;" and the book was at hand which he himself had brought with him. I turned back to the place which I knew, which he had by no means discovered, or he was seeking only what would be harmful to me; and it was the will of God that what I wanted should quickly come to meet me.

Erat autem sentencia intitulata Augustinus De Trinitate libro I: "Qui putat eius potentie Deum ut se ipsum ipse genuerit, eo plus errat, quod non solum Deus ita non est sed nec spiritualis creatura, nec corporalis. Nulla enim omnino res est que se ipsam gignat." Quod cum discipuli eius qui aderant audissent, obstupefacti erubescebant. Ipse autem, ut se quoquomodo protegeret: "Bene, inquit, est intelligendum." Ego autem subieci hoc non esse novellam sed ad presens nichil attinere, cum ipse verba tantum, non sensum, requisisset; si autem sensum et rationem attendere vellet, paratum me dixi ei ostendere secundum eius sententiam quod in eam lapsus esset heresim secundum quam is qui pater est sui ipsius filius sit.

Now the sentence was entitled Augustine On the Trinity, book 1: "He who thinks God is of such potency that he himself begot himself, errs so much the more, because not only is God not thus, but neither a spiritual creature nor a corporeal one. For there is absolutely no thing which begets itself." When his disciples who were present had heard this, they were thunderstruck and blushed. But he, in order somehow to protect himself, said: "Well, it is to be understood." I, however, subjoined that this was not new but had nothing to do with the present, since he had required words only, not the sense; but if he were willing to attend to sense and reason, I said I was prepared to show him, according to his own sentence, that he had fallen into that heresy according to which the one who is Father is his own Son.

Quo ille audito, statim quasi furibundus effectus ad minas conversus est, asserens nec rationes meas nec auctoritates mihi in hac causa suffragaturas esse. Atque ita recessit.

When he heard this, he immediately, as if made frenzied, turned to threats, asserting that neither my reasons nor authorities would be going to support me in this cause. And so he withdrew.

Extrema vero die concilii, priusquam /f.9rd/ residerent diu legatus ille atque archiepiscopus cum emulis meis et quibusdam personis deliberare ceperunt quid de me ipso et libro nostro statueretur, pro quo maxime convocati fuerant. Et quoniam ex verbis meis aut scripto quod erat in presenti non habebant quid in me pretenderent, omnibus aliquantulum conticentibus aut iam mihi minus aperte detrahentibus, Gaudrifus, Carnotensis episcopus, qui ceteris episcopis et religionis nomine et sedis dignitate precellebat, ita exorsus est: "Nostis, Domini omnes qui adestis, hominis huius doctrinam, qualiscunque sit, eiusque ingenium in quibuscunque studuerit multos assentatores et sequaces habuisse, et magistrorum tam suorum quam nostrorum famam maxime compressisse, et quasi eius vineam a mari usque ad mare palmites suos extendisse. Si hunc preiuditio, quod non arbitror, gravaveritis, etiamsi recte, multos vos offensuros sciatis et non deesse plurimos qui eum defendere velint, presertim cum in presenti scripto nulla videamus que aliquid obtineant aperte calumpnie; et quia iuxta illud Jheronimi: "Semper in propatulo fortitudo emulos habet, "Feriuntque summos Fulgura montes," videte ne plus ei nominis conferatis violenter agendo, et plus nobis criminis ex invidia quam ei ex iusticia conquiramus.

On the last day of the council, before they sat down, /f.9rd/ the legate and the archbishop, for a long time, began to deliberate with my rivals and certain persons about what should be decreed concerning me myself and our book, for the sake of which above all they had been convoked. And since from my words or from the writing that was at hand they had nothing which they could allege against me, while all were somewhat silent or now detracting from me less openly, Gaudrifus, the bishop of Chartres, who excelled the other bishops both in the name of religion and in the dignity of his see, began thus: "You know, all Lords who are present, this man’s doctrine, whatever it be, and that his genius, in whatever studies he has pursued, has had many flatterers and followers, and that he has very much suppressed the reputation of both his own masters and ours, and that, as it were, his vine has stretched its tendrils from sea to sea. If you burden him with a prejudgment, which I do not suppose, even if rightly, know that you will offend many, and that there will not be lacking very many who would wish to defend him, especially since in the present writing we see nothing that contains any open calumnies; and because, according to that saying of Jerome: "Strength always, out in the open, has rivals," "And Lightning strikes the highest mountains," see that you do not confer more renown upon him by acting violently, and that we do not acquire more blame to ourselves from envy than to him from justice."

"Falsus enim rumor, ut predictus doctor meminit, cito opprimitur et vita /f.10va/ posterior iudicat de priore." Si autem canonice agere in eum disponitis, dogma eius vel scriptum in medium proferatur, et interrogato libere respondere liceat, ut convictus vel confessus penitus obmutescat, iuxta illam saltem beati Nichodemi sententiam qua Dominum ipsum liberare cupiens aiebat: "Numquid lex nostra iudicat hominem, nisi audierit ab ipso prius, et cognoverit quid faciat?" Quo audito, statim emuli mei obstrepentes exclamaverunt: "O sapientis consilium, ut contra eius verbositatem contendamus cuius argumentis vel sophismatibus universus obsistere mundus non posset!" Sed, certe, multo difficilius erat cum ipso contendere Christo, ad quem tamen audiendum Nichodemus iuxta legis sanctionem invitabat.

"For a false rumor, as the aforesaid doctor reminds, is quickly oppressed, and the later life judges concerning the earlier /f.10va/." But if you intend to proceed canonically against him, let his dogma or writing be brought forth into the midst, and let it be permitted to the interrogated to respond freely, so that, convicted or confessing, he may be utterly silenced, according at least to that sentence of the blessed Nicodemus, who, wishing to free the Lord himself, was saying: "Does our law judge a man, unless it has first heard from him, and has known what he does?" Upon hearing which, immediately my emulators, making a din, cried out: "O wise counsel, that we should contend against his verboseness, whose arguments or sophisms the whole world could not withstand!" But surely it was much more difficult to contend with Christ himself, whom, nevertheless, to be heard Nicodemus was inviting according to the sanction of the law.

Cum autem episcopus ad id quod proposuerat eorum animos inducere non posset, alia via eorum invidiam refrenare attemptat, dicens ad discussionem tante rei paucos qui aderant non posse sufficere, maiorisque examinis causam hanc indigere. In hocque ulterius tantum suum esse consilium, ut ad abbatiam meam, hoc est monasterium sancti Dyonisii, abbas meus, qui aderat, me reduceret; ibique pluribus ac doctioribus personis convocatis, diligentiori examine quid super hoc faciendum esset statueretur. Assensit legatus huic no /f.10vb/ vissimo consilio, et ceteri omnes.

But when the bishop could not induce their minds to that which he had proposed, he attempts by another way to rein in their envy, saying that for the discussion of so great a matter the few who were present could not suffice, and that this case needed a greater examination. And moreover that his counsel was only this: that to my abbey, that is, the monastery of Saint Dionysius, my abbot, who was present, should lead me back; and there, with more and more learned persons convoked, by a more diligent examination it should be established what ought to be done concerning this. The legate assented to this most re /f.10vb/ cent counsel, and all the others.

Inde mox legatus assurrexit, ut missam celebraret antequam concilium intraret, et mihi per episcopum illum licentiam constitutam mandavit, revertendi scilicet ad monasterium nostrum, ibi expectaturo quod condictum fuerat.

Thence at once the legate arose, to celebrate Mass before he should enter the council, and through that bishop he mandated to me the license that had been constituted, namely of returning to our monastery, there to await what had been agreed upon.

Tune emuli mei, nichil se egisse cogitantes si extra diocesim suam hoc negotium ageretur, ubi videlicet vim minime exercere valerent, qui scilicet de iusticia minus confidebant, archiepiscopo persuaserunt hoc sibi valde ignominiosum esse si ad aliam audientiam causa hec transferretur, et periculosum fieri si sic evaderem. Et statim ad legatum concurrentes, eius immutaverunt sententiam, et ad hoc invitum pertraxerunt, ut librum sine ulla inquisitione dampnaret atque in conspectu omnium statim combureret, et me in alieno monasterio perhenni clausura cohiberet. Dicebant enim ad dampnationem libelli satis hoc esse debere quod nec romani pontificis nec Ecelesie auctoritate eum commendatum legere publice presumpseram, atque ad transeribendum iam pluribus eum ipse prestitissem; et hoc perutile futurum fidei christiane, si exemplo mei multorum similis presumptio preveniretur.

Then my emulous rivals, thinking they had accomplished nothing if this business were handled outside their diocese, where indeed they would least be able to exert force—who, to wit, were less confident of the justice—persuaded the archbishop that it would be very ignominious to him if this case were transferred to another audience, and that it would become dangerous if I should thus escape. And straightway, hastening to the legate, they changed his judgment, and dragged him, though unwilling, to this: that he should condemn the book without any inquisition and immediately burn it in the sight of all, and confine me under perpetual enclosure in another’s monastery. For they said that for the condemnation of the little book this ought to suffice: that, commended by neither the authority of the Roman Pontiff nor of the Church, I had presumed to read it publicly, and that I myself had already furnished it to several for transcribing; and that this would be very useful for the Christian faith, if by my example a similar presumption of many were forestalled.

Quia autem legatus ille minus quam necesse esset litteratus fuerat, plurimum archiepiscopi consilio nitebatur, /f.10rc/ sicut et archiepiscopus illorum. Quod cum Carnotensis presensisset episcopus, statim machinamenta hec ad me retulit, et me vehementer hortatus est ut hoc tanto levius tolerarem quanto violentius agere eos omnibus patebat; atque hanc tam manifeste invidie violentiam eis plurimum obfuturam, et mihi profuturam non dubitarem; nec de clausura monasterii ullatenus perturbarer, sciens profecto legatum ipsum, qui coactus hoc faciebat, post paucos dies cum hinc recesserit me penitus liberaturum. Et sic me, ut potuit, flentem flens et ipse consolatus est.

Because that legate had been less lettered than was necessary, he leaned very much on the counsel of the archbishop, /f.10rc/ as likewise did their archbishop on theirs. When the bishop of Chartres had perceived this, he at once reported these machinations to me, and strongly exhorted me to tolerate this the more lightly the more violently they were acting, as was evident to all; and that I should not doubt that this violence of envy so manifest would greatly be to their hurt and to my profit; nor should I be in any way perturbed about the cloistering in the monastery, knowing for a fact that the legate himself, who was doing this under compulsion, after a few days, when he had departed from here, would set me entirely free. And thus, as he could, he, weeping as well, consoled me weeping.

DE COMBUSTIONE IPSIUS LIBRI

ON THE BURNING OF THE BOOK ITSELF

Vocatus itaque statim ad concilium adfui, et sine ullo discussionis examine meipsum compulerunt propria manu librum memoratum meum in ignem proicere; et sic combustus est. Ut tamen non nichil dicere viderentur, quidam de adversariis meis id submurmuravit quod in libro scriptum deprenderat solum patrem Deum omnipotentem esse. Quod cum legatus subintellexisset, valde admirans ei respondit hoc nec de puerulo aliquo credi debere quod adeo erraret, cum communis, inquid, fides et teneat et profiteatur tres omnipotentes esse.

Therefore, having been called at once to the council, I was present, and without any examination of discussion they compelled me myself, with my own hand, to throw my aforementioned book into the fire; and thus it was burned. Yet, that they might seem to say not nothing, a certain one of my adversaries murmured under his breath this which he had discovered written in the book: that the Father alone is God omnipotent. When the legate had perceived this, greatly marveling he answered him that such a thing ought not to be believed even of some little boy, that he would err to such a degree, since, quoth he, the common faith both holds and professes that there are three omnipotents.

Quo audito Terricus quidam, scolaris magister, irridendo /f.10rd/ subintulit illud Athanasii "Et tamen non tres omnipotentes, sed unus omnipotens". Quem cum episcopus suus increpare cepisset et reprimere quasi reum, qui in maiestatem loqueretur, audacter ille restitit, et quasi Danielis verba commemorans, ait: "Sic fatui, filii Israel non iudicantes, neque quod verum est cognoscentes, condempnastis filium Israel. Revertimini ad iudicium, et de ipso iudice iudicate, qui talem iudicem quasi ad instructionem fidei et correctionem erroris instituistis; qui cum iudicare deberet, ore se proprio condemnavit, divina hodie misericordia innocentem patenter, sicut olim Susannam a falsis accusatoribus, liberante."

Upon hearing this, a certain Terricus, a schoolmaster, jeeringly /f.10rd/ subjoined that saying of Athanasius, "And yet not three almighties, but one almighty." When his bishop began to rebuke him and to restrain him as though a culprit, as one speaking against majesty, he boldly stood his ground and, as if recalling the words of Daniel, said: "So, you fools, sons of Israel, not judging, nor recognizing what is true, you have condemned a son of Israel. Return to the judgment, and pass judgment on the judge himself, whom you have appointed such a judge, as it were for the instruction of faith and the correction of error; who, when he ought to judge, by his own mouth has condemned himself, divine mercy today openly freeing the innocent, as once Susanna from false accusers."

Tunc archiepiscopus assurgens, verbis prout oportebat commutatis, sententiam legati confirmavit, dicens: "Revera, domine, inquit, omnipotens Pater, omnipotens Filius, omnipotens Spiritus sanctus; et qui ab hoc dissentit, aperte devius est, nec est audiendus. Et modo, si placet, bonum est ut frater ille fidem suam coram omnibus exponat, ut ipsa, prout oportet, vel approbetur vel improbetur atque corrigatur." Cum autem ego ad profitendam et exponendam fidem meam assurgerem, ut quod sentiebam verbis propriis exprimerem, adversarii dixerunt non aliud mihi necessarium esse nisi ut symbolum Athanasii recitarem, quod quisvis puer eque facere posset. Ac ne ex ig /f.11va/ norantia pretenderem excusationem, quasi qui verba illa in usu non haberem, scripturam ad legendum afferri fecerunt.

Then the archbishop, arising, with the words changed as was proper, confirmed the legate’s sentence, saying: "Truly, lord," he said, "the omnipotent Father, the omnipotent Son, the omnipotent Holy Spirit; and whoever dissents from this is openly deviant, nor is he to be listened to. And now, if it pleases, it is good that that brother set forth his faith before all, so that it itself, as is proper, may either be approved or disapproved and corrected." But when I arose to profess and set forth my faith, so that I might express in my own words what I held, the adversaries said that nothing else was necessary for me except that I recite the Athanasian Symbol, which any boy could equally do. And lest I should pretend an excuse from ig /f.11va/ norance, as one who did not have those words in use, they had the writing brought to be read.

Legi inter suspiria, singultus et lacrimas, prout potui. Inde, quasi reus et convictus abbati sancti Medardi, qui aderat, traditus, ad claustrum eius tanquam ad carcerem trahor; statimque concilium solvitur.

I read amid sighs, sobs, and tears, as I could. Thence, as if a defendant and convicted, handed over to the abbot of Saint Medard, who was present, I am dragged to his cloister as if to a prison; and immediately the council is dissolved.

Abbas autem et monachi illius monasterii me sibi remansurum ulterius arbitrantes, summa exultatione susceperunt, et cum omni diligentia tractantes, consolari frustra nitebantur. Deus, qui iudicas equitatem, quanto tunc animi felle, quanta mentis amaritudine te ipsum insanus arguebam, te furibundus accusabam, sepius repetens illam beati Anthonii conquestionem: "Jhesu bone, ubi eras?" Quanto autem dolore estuarem, quanta erubescentia confunderer, quanta desperatione perturbarer, sentire tunc potui, proferre non possum. Conferebam cum his que in corpore passus olim fueram quanta nunc sustinerem; et omnium hominum me estimabam miserrimum.

But the abbot and the monks of that monastery, supposing that I would remain with them further, received me with the highest exultation, and treating me with all diligence, strove in vain to console me. O God, who judge equity, with how much gall of soul, with how great bitterness of mind, I, insane, was arraigning you yourself, I, furibund, was accusing you, often repeating that complaint of blessed Anthony: “Good Jesus, where were you?” With how great pain I seethed, with how much blushing shame I was confounded, with how great desperation I was perturbed, I could then feel, I cannot utter. I compared with those things which I had once suffered in the body how great things I was now sustaining; and I was esteeming myself the most miserable of all men.

Parvam illam ducebam proditionem in comparatione huius iniurie, et longe amplius fame quam corporis detrimentum plangebam, cum ad illam ex aliqua culpa devenerim, ad hanc me tam patentem violentiam sincera intentio amorque fidei nostre induxissent, que me ad scribendum com /f.11vb/ pulerant.

I deemed that betrayal small in comparison with this injury, and I lamented far more the detriment of fame than of the body, since to that I had come through some fault, whereas to this so patent violence my sincere intention and the love of our faith had led me, which had com /f.11vb/ pelled me to write.

Cum autem hoc tam crudeliter et inconsiderate factum omnes ad quos fama delatum est vehementer arguerent, singuli qui interfuerant a se culpam repellentes in alios transfundebant, adeo ut ipsi quoque emuli nostri id consilio suo factum esse denegarent, et legatus coram omnibus invidiam Francorum super hoc maxime detestaretur. Qui statim penitentia ductus, post aliquos dies, cum ad tempus coactus satisfecisset illorum invidie, me de alieno eductum monasterio ad proprium remisit, ubi fere quotquot erant olim iam, ut supra memini, infestos habebam, cum eorum vite turpitudo et impudens conversatio me suspectum penitus haberet, quem arguentem graviter sustineret.

But when this had been done so cruelly and inconsiderately, all to whom the report was borne vehemently arraigned it, and each of those who had been present, repelling the fault from himself, transferred it onto others, to such a degree that even our rivals themselves denied that it had been done by their own counsel, and the legate before all detested most especially the envy of the Franks over this. He, straightway led by penitence, after some days, when for a time he had been compelled to satisfy their envy, sent me back from an alien monastery, whither I had been led out, to my own proper one, where I had, as I mentioned above, well-nigh all who had formerly been there already as enemies, since the foulness of their life and their impudent conversation held me utterly suspect, and they could hardly endure me as one reproving them.

Paucis autem elapsis mensibus, occasionem eis fortuna obtulit qua me perdere molirentur. Fortuitu namque mihi quadam die legenti occurrit quedam Bede sententia qua in expositione Actuum Apostolorum asserit Dyonisium Ariopagitam Corinthiorum potiusquam Atheniensium fuisse episcopum. Quod valde eis contrarium videbatur, qui suum Dyonisium esse illum Ariopagitam iactitant, quem ipsum Atheniensem episcopum gesta eius fuisse profitentur.

However, with a few months having elapsed, Fortune offered them an occasion by which they might contrive to destroy me. For by chance, on a certain day, as I was reading, there occurred to me a certain sentence of Bede, in which, in his exposition of the Acts of the Apostles, he asserts that Dionysius the Areopagite was bishop of the Corinthians rather than of the Athenians. This seemed very contrary to those who boast that their Dionysius is that Areopagite, whom they profess his deeds themselves declare to have been the Athenian bishop.

Quod cum reperissem, quibusdam circonstantium fratrum quasi iocando monstravi testimonium scilicet illud /f.11rc/ Bede quod nobis obiciebatur. Illi vero, valde indignati, dixerunt Bedam mendacissimum scriptorem, et se Huldoinum abbatem suum veriorem habere testem, qui pro hoc investigando Greciam diu perlustravit et rei veritate agnita, in gestis illius que conscripsit, hanc penitus dubitationem removit. Unde cum unus eorum me importuna interrogatione pulsaret quid mihi super hac controversia, Bede videlicet atque Huldoini, videretur, respondi Bede auctoritatem, cuius scripta universe Latinorum frequentant Ecclesie, gratiorem mihi videri.

When I had found this, I showed, as if jesting, to certain of the brothers standing by the testimony, namely that /f.11rc/ of Bede which was being objected to us. They, however, very indignant, said that Bede was a most mendacious writer, and that they had Huldoïn, their abbot, as a more veracious witness, who, for investigating this, long traversed Greece and, the truth of the matter recognized, in the deeds (gesta) of that man which he composed, utterly removed this doubt. Whence, when one of them kept assailing me with importunate questioning as to what seemed to me about this controversy, namely of Bede and of Huldoïn, I replied that Bede’s authority, whose writings the churches of all the Latins frequent, seemed to me more agreeable.

DE PERSECUTIONE ABBATIS SUI ET FRATRUM IN EUM

ON THE PERSECUTION BY HIS OWN ABBOT AND BY THE BRETHREN AGAINST HIM

Ex quo illi vehementer accensi clamare ceperunt nunc me patenter ostendisse quod semper monasterium illud nostrum infestaverim, et quod nunc maxime toti regno derogaverim, ei videlicet honorem illum auferens quo singulariter gloriaretur, cum eorum patronum Ariopagitam fuisse denegarem. Ego autem respondi nec me hoc denegasse nec multum curandum esse utrum ipse Ariopagita an aliunde fuerit, dummodo tantam apud Deum adeptus sit coronam. Illi vero ad abbatem statim concurrentes quod mihi imposuerant nuntiaverunt; qui libenter hoc audivit, gaudens se occasionem aliquam adipisci qua me opprimeret, utpote qui quanto ceteris turpius vivebat, magis me verebatur.

From which they, vehemently inflamed, began to cry out that now I had openly shown that I had always infested that monastery of ours, and that now most especially I had derogated from the whole kingdom, namely by taking away from it that honor in which it singularly gloried, since I was denying that their patron had been an Areopagite. But I replied that neither had I denied this nor was it to be much cared whether he himself was an Areopagite or from elsewhere, provided that he had attained so great a crown with God. They, however, immediately running together to the abbot, reported what they had imputed to me; and he gladly heard this, rejoicing that he might acquire some occasion by which to oppress me, inasmuch as, the more shamefully he lived than the rest, the more he feared me.

Tunc consilio suo congregato et fratribus congregatis, graviter mihi /f.11rd/ comminatus est, et se ad regem cum festinatione missurum dixit, ut de me vindictam sumeret, tanquam regni sui gloriam et coronam ei auferente. Et me interim bene observari precepit donec me regi traderet; ego autem ad regularem disciplinam, si quid deliquissem, frustra me offerebam.

Then, his council assembled and the brethren gathered, he gravely threatened me /f.11rd/, and said that he would send with haste to the king, that he might exact vengeance upon me, as though I were depriving him of the glory and crown of his kingdom. And in the meantime he ordered that I be well kept under observation until he should hand me over to the king; but I, to regular discipline, if I had committed anything, was offering myself in vain.

Tunc ego nequitiam corum vehementer exhorrens, utpote qui iam diu tam adversam habuissem fortunam, penitus desperatus, quasi adversum me universus coniurasset mundus, quorumdam consensu fratrum mei miserantium et quorumdam discipulorum nostrorum suffragio, nocte latenter aufugi atque ad terram comitis Theobaldi proximam, ubi antea in cella moratus fueram, abscessi. Ipse quippe et mihi aliquantulum notus erat, et oppressionibus meis quas audierat admodum compaciebatur. Ibi autem in castro Pruvigni morari cepi, in cella videlicet quadam Trecensium monachorum, quorum prior antea mihi familiaris extiterat et valde dilexerat; qui valde in adventu meo gavisus, cum omni diligentia me procurabat.

Then I, vehemently shuddering at their iniquity, as one who for a long time had had so adverse a fortune, utterly despairing, as if the whole world had conspired against me, by the agreement of certain brothers who pitied me and by the suffrage of certain of our disciples, fled secretly by night and withdrew to the land nearest of Count Theobald, where previously I had stayed in a cell. For he too was somewhat known to me, and he deeply sympathized with my oppressions which he had heard of. There, moreover, in the castle of Pruvigni I began to dwell, namely in a certain cell of the monks of Troyes, whose prior had formerly been familiar to me and had loved me greatly; who, greatly rejoicing at my arrival, took care of me with every diligence.

Accidit autem quadam die ut ad ipsum castrum abbas noster ad predictum comitem pro quibusdam suis negotiis veniret; quo cognito, accessi ad comitem cum priore illo, rogans eum quatinus pro me ipse intercederet ad abbatem nostrum, ut me absolveret et licentiam /f.12va/ daret vivendi monastice ubicunque mihi competens locus occurreret. Ipse autem et qui cum eo erant in consilio rem posuerunt, responsuri comiti super hoc in ipsa die antequam recederent. Inito autem consilio, visum est eis me ad aliam abbatiam velle transire, et hoc sue dedecus inmensum fore.

It happened, moreover, on a certain day that to that very castle our abbot came to the aforesaid count for certain of his business affairs; which, once known, I approached the count with that prior, begging him that he himself would intercede for me with our abbot, that he would absolve me and grant license /f.12va/ to live monastically wherever a place suitable to me should present itself. But he and those who were with him placed the matter before their council, promising to answer the count on this matter on that very day before they departed. However, when counsel had been taken, it seemed to them that I wished to pass over to another abbey, and that this would be an immense dishonor to himself.

Maxime namque glorie sibi imputabant quod ad eos in conversione mea divertissem, quasi ceteris omnibus abbatiis contemptis, et nunc maximum sibi imminere dicebant opprobrium si, eis abiectis, ad alios transmearem. Unde nullatenus vel me vel comitem super hoc audierunt, immo mihi statim comminati sunt quod, nisi festinus redirem, me excommunicarent, et priori illi ad quem refugeram modis omnibus interdixerunt ne me deinceps retineret, nisi excommunicationis particeps esse sustineret. Quo audito, tam prior ipse quam ego valde anxiati fuimus.

For they accounted it most of all to themselves as glory that I had turned aside to them at my conversion, as if all the other abbeys had been despised; and now they said the greatest opprobrium was impending for them if, with them cast aside, I should pass over to others. Whence by no means did they hear either me or the count on this matter; nay rather, they immediately threatened me that, unless I returned with haste, they would excommunicate me, and they in every way interdicted that prior to whom I had fled from retaining me henceforth, unless he were willing to be a participant in the excommunication. On hearing this, both the prior himself and I were greatly anxious.

Abbas autem in hac obstinatione recedens, post paucos dies defunctus est. Cui cum alius successisset, conveni eum cum episcopo Meldensi, ut mihi hoc quod a predecessore eius petieram indulgeret. Cui rei cum nec ille primo acquiesceret, postea intervenientibus amicis quibusdam nostris regem et consilium eius super hoc compellavi; et sic quod volebam impetravi.

However, the abbot, retiring in this obstinacy, after a few days passed away. When another had succeeded him, I met with him together with the bishop of Meaux, that he might grant to me this which I had asked from his predecessor. And since he too did not at first acquiesce in this matter, later, with certain of our friends intervening, I addressed the king and his council about this; and thus I obtained what I wanted.

Stephanus quippe regis tunc dapifer, vocato in partem abbate et familiaribus eius, quesivit ab eis cur me invitum retinere vellent, ex quo /f.12vb/ incurrere facile scandalum possent et nullam utilitatem habere, cum nullatenus vita mea et ipsorum convenire possent. Sciebam autem in hoc regii consilii sententiam esse ut quo minus regularis abbatia illa esset, magis regi esset subiecta atque utilis, quantum videlicet ad lucra temporalia; unde me facile regis et suorum assensum assequi credideram; sicque actum est. Sed ne gloriationem suam quam de me habebat monasterium nostrum amitteret, concesserunt mihi ad quam vellem solitudinem transire, dummodo nulli me abbatie subiugarem, hocque in presentia regis et suorum utrimque assensum est et confirmatum.

Stephen, indeed, then the king’s seneschal, having called the abbot and his familiars aside, asked them why they wished to keep me unwilling, from which /f.12vb/ they might easily incur scandal and have no utility, since by no means could my manner of life and theirs agree. I knew, moreover, that in this the opinion of the royal council was that the less regular that abbey was, the more it would be subject and useful to the king, namely as regards temporal profits; whence I had believed I would easily obtain the assent of the king and his men; and so it was done. But lest our monastery should lose its vaunting which it had on my account, they granted me to pass over to whatever solitude I wished, provided that I should subject myself to no abbey; and this in the presence of the king and his men was agreed to on both sides and confirmed.

Ego itaque ad solitudinem quandam in Trecensi pago mihi antea cognitam me contuli ibique, a quibusdam terra mihi donata, assensu episcopi terre oratorium quoddam in nomine sancte Trinitatis ex callis et culmo primum construxi; ubi cum quodam clerico nostro latitans, illud vere Domino poteram decantare: "Ecce elongavi fugiens et mansi in solitudine." Quod cum cognovissent scolares, ceperunt undique concurrere, et relictis civitatibus et castellis solitudinem inhabitare, et pro amplis domibus parva tabernacula sibi construere, et pro delicatis cibis herbis aggrestibus et pane cibario victitare, et pro mollibus stratis culmum sibi et stramen comparare, et pro mensis glebas erigere, ut vere eos /f.12rc/ priores philosophos imitari crederes, de quibus et Jheronimus in secundo Contra Jovinianum his commemorat verbis: "Per quinque sensus, quasi per quasdam fenestras, vitiorum ad animam introitus est. Non potest metropolis et arx mentis capi, nisi per portas irruerit hostilis exercitus... Si circensibus quispiam delectatur, si athletarum certamine, si mobilitate histrionum, si formis mulierum, si splendore gemmarum, vestium et ceteris huiusmodi per oculorum fenestras anime capta libertas est, et impletur illud propheticum: Mors intravit per fenestras nostras... Igitur cum per has portas quasi quidam perturbationum cunei ad arcem nostre mentis intraverint, ubi erit libertas? ubi fortitudo eius?

Therefore I betook myself to a certain solitude in the district of Troyes known to me beforehand, and there, land having been given to me by certain persons, with the assent of the bishop of the region, I first constructed a certain oratory in the name of the Holy Trinity out of wattle and thatch; where, hiding with a certain cleric of ours, I could truly chant to the Lord that: "Behold, I have been far off, fleeing, and I remained in solitude." When the scholars learned this, they began to run together from every side, and, leaving cities and strongholds, to inhabit the solitude, and in place of spacious houses to build little tabernacles for themselves, and instead of delicate foods to live on wild herbs and common bread, and in place of soft beds to procure for themselves stubble and straw-litter, and for tables to set up clods, so that you would truly have believed them to be imitating the earlier philosophers, of whom also Jerome in the second book Against Jovinianus commemorates in these words: "Through the five senses, as through certain windows, there is an entrance of vices to the soul. The metropolis and citadel of the mind cannot be taken, unless through the gates the hostile army shall have rushed in... If someone is delighted by the circus-games, by the contest of athletes, by the mobility of stage-players, by the forms of women, by the splendor of gems, of garments, and other things of this sort, through the windows of the eyes the liberty of the soul is taken captive, and that prophetic word is fulfilled: Death has entered through our windows... Therefore, when through these gates, as certain wedges of perturbations, they shall have entered to the citadel of our mind, where will liberty be? where will its fortitude?"

ubi de Deo cogitatio? Maxime cum tactus depinguat sibi etiam preteritas voluptates, et recordatione vitiorum cogat animam compati et quodam modo exercere quod non agit. His igitur rationibus invitati, multi philosophorum reliquerunt frequentias urbium et ortulos suburbanos, ubi ager irriguus et arborum come et susurrus avium, fontis speculum, rivus murmurans, et multe oculorum auriumque illecebre, ne per luxum et habundantiam copiarum anime fortitudo mollesceret et eius pudicitia stupraretur.

where, then, is cogitation about God? Especially since the sense of touch paints for itself even past voluptuities, and by the recordation of vices compels the soul to co-suffer and, in a certain way, to exercise what it does not do. Therefore, invited by these reasons, many of the philosophers left the frequentings of cities and the suburban little gardens, where an irrigated field and the leafy tresses of trees and the susurrus of birds, the mirror of the spring, a murmuring brook, and many allurements of eyes and ears, lest through luxury and the abundance of resources the fortitude of the soul should grow soft and its pudicity be defiled.

Inutile quippe est crebro videre per que aliquando captus sis, /f.12rd/ et eorum te experimento committere quibus difficulter careas. Nam et Pytagorei huiuscemodi frequentiam declinantes, in solitudine et desertis locis habitare consueverant... Sed et ipse Plato, cum dives esset et thorum eius Diogenes lutatis pedibus conculcaret, ut posset vacare philosophie elegit Academiam villam, ab urbe procul, non solum desertam, sed et pestilentem: ut cura et assiduitate morborum libidinis impetus frangerentur, discipulique sui nullam aliam sentirent voluptatem nisi earum rerum quas discerent." Talem et filii prophetarum, Helyseo adherentes, vitam referuntur duxisse, de quibus ipse quoque Jheronimus, quasi de monachis illius temporis, ad Rusticum monachum, inter cetera ita scribit: "Filii prophetarum, quos monachos in veteri legimus Testamento, edifficabant sibi casulas prope fluenta Jordanis, et turbis et urbibus derelictis, polenta et herbis aggrestibus victitabant." Tales discipuli nostri ibi super Arduzonem fluvium casulas suas edificantes, heremite magis quam scolares videbantur.

For it is indeed unprofitable to look often upon the things by which at some time you were taken captive, /f.12rd/ and to commit yourself by experience to those things of which you can with difficulty be without. For the Pythagoreans too, declining such frequentation, were accustomed to dwell in solitude and desert places... And Plato himself also, though he was rich and Diogenes with muddied feet trampled his couch, chose the villa called Academy, far from the city, not only deserted but even pestilential, so that by the care and assiduity of diseases the impulses of libido might be broken, and his disciples might feel no other pleasure save of those things which they learned." Such a life, too, the sons of the prophets, adhering to Elisha, are reported to have led, of whom Jerome himself likewise, as though of the monks of that time, writes thus to Rusticus the monk among other things: "The sons of the prophets, whom we read as monks in the Old Testament, built for themselves little huts near the waters of the Jordan, and, crowds and cities abandoned, lived on polenta and wild herbs." Such were our disciples there, building their little huts above the river Arduzon, who seemed more like hermits than scholars.

Quanto autem illuc maior scolarium erat confluentia et quanto duriorem in doctrina nostra vitam sustinebant, tanto amplius mihi emuli estimabant gloriosum et sibi ignominiosum. Qui cum cuncta que poterant /f.13va/ in me egissent, omnia cooperari mihi in bonum dolebant; atque ita iuxta illud Jheronimi, "Me procul ab urbibus, foro, litibus, turbis remotum, sic quoque ut Quintilianus ait: latentem invenit invidia". Quia apud semetipsos tacite conquerentes et ingemiscentes, dicebant: "Ecce mundus totus post eum abiit", nichil persequendo profecimus, sed magis eum gloriosum effecimus. Extinguere nomen eius studuimus, sed magis accendimus.

But the greater the confluence of scholars there, and the harder a life they were sustaining in our doctrine, by that much the more my rivals esteemed it glorious for me and ignominious for themselves. And when they had done against me all that they could /f.13va/, they were pained that all things were cooperating for good to me; and thus, according to that saying of Jerome, "Me, removed far from cities, the forum, litigations, crowds, thus also, as Quintilian says: envy found me though hidden." For, complaining and groaning softly among themselves, they were saying: "Behold, the whole world has gone after him; we have advanced nothing by persecuting, but have rather made him glorious. We strove to extinguish his name, but we have rather kindled it."

Ecce in civitatibus omnia necessaria scolares ad manum habent, et civiles delicias contempnentes, ad solitudinis inopiam confluunt et sponte miseri fiunt." Tunc autem precipue ad scolarum regimen intolerabilis me compulit paupertas, cum "fodere non valerem et mendicare erubescerem". Ad artem itaque quam noveram recurrens, pro labore manuum ad officium lingue compulsus sum. Scolares autem ultro mihi quelibet necessaria preparabant, tam in victu scilicet quam in vestitu vel cultura agrorum seu in expensis edificiorum, ut nulla me scilicet a studio cura domestica retardaret. Cum autem oratorium nostrum modicam eorum portionem capere non posset, necessario ipsum dilataverunt, et de lapidibus et lignis construentes melioraverunt.

Behold, in the cities the scholars have all necessities at hand, and, despising civil delights, they flock to the want of solitude and of their own accord become wretched." Then especially intolerable poverty compelled me to the governance of the schools, since "I was not able to dig and I was ashamed to beg." Returning therefore to the art I knew, instead of the labor of the hands I was compelled to the office of the tongue. The scholars moreover of their own accord prepared for me whatever necessities, namely both in victuals and in clothing, or in the cultivation of the fields, or in the expenses of buildings, so that no domestic care might, to be sure, retard me from study. But when our oratory could not contain even a modest portion of them, they necessarily enlarged it, and, building out of stones and timbers, they improved it.

Quod cum in honore sancte Trinitatis esset fundatum ac postea dedicatum, quia tamen ibi profugus /f.13vb/ ac iam desperatus divine gratia consolationis aliquantulum respirassem, in memoria huius beneficii ipsum Paraclitum nominavi. Quod multi audientes non sine magna admiratione susceperunt, et nonnulli hoc vehementer calumpniati sunt, dicentes non licere Spiritui sancto specialiter magis quam Deo patri ecclesiam aliquam assignari; sed vel soli Filio, vel toti simul Trinitati, secundum consuetudinem antiquam.

Although it had been founded in honor of the Holy Trinity and afterward dedicated, yet because there, a fugitive /f.13vb/ and now despairing, by the grace of divine consolation I had somewhat caught my breath, in memory of this benefaction I named it the Paraclete itself. Which many, on hearing, received not without great admiration; and some vehemently caviled at this, saying that it is not permitted that a church be assigned specifically to the Holy Spirit rather than to God the Father, but either to the Son alone, or to the whole Trinity together, according to ancient custom.

Ad quam nimirum calumpniam hic eos error plurimum induxit, quod inter Paraclitum et Spiritum Paraclitum nichil referre crederent, cum ipsa quoque Trinitas et quelibet in Trinitate persona, sicut Deus vel adiutor dicitur, ita et Paraclitus, id est consolator, recte noncupetur, iuxta illud Apostoli: "Benedictus Deus et pater domini nostri Jhesu Christi, pater misericordiarum, et Deus totius consolationis, qui consolatur nos in omni tribulatione nostra," et secundum quod Veritas ait: "Et alium Paraclitum dabit vobis." Quid etiam impedit, cum omnis Ecclesia in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti pariter consecretur, nec sit eorum in aliquo possessio diversa, quod domus Domini non ita Patri vel Spiritui sancto ascribatur, sicut Filio? Quis titulum eius cuius est ipsa domus de fronte vestibuli radere presumat? Aut cum se Filius in sacrifitium Patri obtulerit, et secundum hoc in celebrationibus missarum specialiter /f.13rc/ ad Patrem orationes dirigantur et hostie fiat immolatio, cur eius precipue altare esse non videatur cui maxime supplicatio et sacrifitium agitur?

To which calumny indeed this error led them very much, that they believed it made no difference between Paraclete and Spirit-Paraclete, since the Trinity itself and any person in the Trinity, just as is called God or helper, so too Paraclete, that is, consoler, may rightly be denominated, according to that of the Apostle: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our tribulation," and according to what the Truth says: "And he will give you another Paraclete." What moreover hinders, since every Church is equally consecrated in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and their possession is in no respect diverse, that the house of the Lord be ascribed to the Father or to the Holy Spirit just as to the Son? Who would presume to scrape the title of him whose the house itself is from the front of the vestibule? Or, since the Son offered himself in sacrifice to the Father, and according to this in the celebrations of masses especially /f.13rc/ prayers are directed to the Father and the immolation of the victim is made, why should the altar not appear to be especially his to whom most of all supplication and sacrifice are made?

Numquid rectius eius qui immolatur quam illius cui immolatur altare dicendum est? An melius Dominice crucis aut sepulchri vel beati Michaelis seu Johannis aut Petri vel alicuius sancti, qui nec ibi immolantur nec eis immolatur aut obsecrationes eis fiunt, altare quis esse profitebitur? Nimirum nec inter idolatras altaria vel templa aliquorum dicebantur, nisi quibus ipsi sacrificium atque obsequium impendere intendebant.

Ought the altar more rightly to be said to belong to him who is immolated, rather than to him to whom it is immolated? Or will anyone more fittingly profess the altar to be that of the Lord’s cross or sepulcher, or of blessed Michael, or John, or Peter, or of any saint, who neither are immolated there, nor is anything immolated to them, nor are supplications made to them? Indeed, not even among idolaters were altars or temples said to be those of anyone, except of those to whom they themselves intended to expend sacrifice and obsequy.

Sed fortasse dicat aliquis, ideo Patri non esse vel ecclesias vel altaria dedicanda, quod eius aliquod factum non existit quod specialem ei sollempnitatem tribuat. Sed hec profecto ratio ipsi hoc Trinitati aufert, et Spiritui sancto non aufert, cum ipse quoque Spiritus ex adventu suo propriam habeat Pentecostes sollempnitatem, sicut Filius ex suo natalis sui festivitatem; sicut enim Filius missus in mundum, ita et Spiritus sanctus in discipulos propriam sibi vendicat sollempnitatem.

But perhaps someone will say that therefore churches or altars are not to be dedicated to the Father, because there does not exist some deed of his which would bestow upon him a special solemnity. But this rationale assuredly takes this away from the Trinity itself, and it does not take it away from the Holy Spirit, since the Spirit too, from his Advent, has his own solemnity of Pentecost, just as the Son, from his own, has the festivity of his Nativity; for as the Son was sent into the world, so also the Holy Spirit into the disciples claims for himself his own solemnity.

Cui etiam probabilius quam alicui aliarum personarum templum ascribendum videtur, si diligentius apostolicam attendamus auctoritatem atque ipsius Spiritus operationem. Nulli enim trium personarum speciale templum specialiter ascribit Apostolus, nisi Spiritui sancto; non enim /f.13rd/ ita templum Patris, vel templum Filii dicit, sicut templum Spiritus sancti, in prima ad Corinthios, ita scribens: "Qui adheret Domino, unus Spiritus est." Item: "An nescitis quia corpora vestra templum sunt Spiritus sancti, qui in vobis est, quem habetis a Deo, et non estis vestri ?" Quis etiam divinorum sacramenta beneficiorum que in Ecclesia fiunt operationi divine gratie, que Spiritus sanctus intelligitur, nesciat specialiter ascribi? Ex aqua quippe et Spiritu sancto in baptismo renascimur et tunc primo quasi speciale templum Deo constituimur.

To whom also, more probably than to any of the other persons, a temple seems to be ascribable, if we more diligently attend to apostolic authority and to the operation of the Spirit himself. For the Apostle ascribes a special temple to none of the three persons specifically, except to the Holy Spirit; for he does not /f.13rd/ thus say “temple of the Father,” or “temple of the Son,” as “temple of the Holy Spirit,” in the First to the Corinthians, writing thus: “He who adheres to the Lord is one spirit.” Likewise: “Do you not know that your bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” Who, moreover, does not know that the sacraments of divine benefits which are done in the Church are specially ascribed to the operation of divine grace, which is understood to be the Holy Spirit? For indeed from water and the Holy Spirit we are reborn in baptism, and then for the first time we are constituted, as it were, a special temple for God.

In confirmatione quoque septiformis Spiritus gratia traditur, quibus ipsum Dei templum adornatur atque dedicatur. Quid ergo mirum si ei persone cui specialiter spirituale templum Apostolus tribuit, nos corporale assignemus? Aut cuius persone rectius ecclesia esse dicitur, quam eius cuius operationi cuncta que in ecclesia ministrantur beneficia specialiter assignantur?

In Confirmation too the grace of the sevenfold Spirit is handed over, by whose gifts the very temple of God is adorned and dedicated. What, then, is strange if to that Person to whom the Apostle specially attributes the spiritual temple, we assign the corporeal? Or to whose Person is the Church more rightly said to belong than to his, to whose operation all the benefits that are ministered in the Church are specially ascribed?

Non tamen hoc ita conicimus, ut cum Paraclitum primo nostrum vocaverimus oratorium uni ipsum persone nos dicasse fateamur, sed propter eam quam supra reddidimus causam, in memoria scilicet nostre consolationis, quamquam si illo quoquo, quo creditur, modo id fecissemus, non esset rationi adversum, licet consuetudini incognitum.

Not, however, do we infer this in such a way that, when we first called our oratory the Paraclete, we should admit that we dedicated it to that one Person alone, but on account of the reason which we have given above—namely, in memory of our consolation—although, if we had done this also in that manner in which it is believed, it would not be contrary to reason, though unknown to custom.

DE PERSECUTIONE QUORUMDAM QUASI NOVORUM APOSTOLORUM IN EUM

ON THE PERSECUTION BY CERTAIN SO-CALLED NEW APOSTLES AGAINST HIM

Hoc autem loco me corpore latitante, sed fama tunc maxime universum mundum /F.14va/ perambulante et illius poetici figmenti quod Equo dicitur instar penitus retinente, quod videlicet plurimum vocis habet sed nichil substantie, priores emuli, cum per se iam minus valerent, quosdam adversum me novos apostolos, quibus mundus plurimum credebat, excitaverunt; quorum alter regularium canonicorum vitam, alter monachorum se resuscitasse gloriabatur. Hii predicando per mundum discurrentes et me impudenter quantum poterant corrodentes, non modice tam ecclesiasticis quibusdam quam secularibus potestatibus contemptibilem ad tempus effecerunt, et de mea tam fide quam vita adeo sinistra disseminaverunt, ut ipsos quoque amicorum nostrorum precipuos a me averterent, et si qui adhuc pristini amoris erga me aliquid retinerent, hoc ipsi modis omnibus metu illorum dissimularent.

But at that time, with me hiding in body, yet my fame then most especially perambulating the whole world /F.14va/ and retaining entirely the likeness of that poetic figment which is called Echo—namely, which has very much of voice but nothing of substance—the former rivals, since by themselves they now had less strength, stirred up certain new apostles against me, in whom the world put very much trust; of whom the one boasted that he had resuscitated the life of the regular canons, the other that of monks. These, running through the world preaching and impudently corroding me as much as they could, made me for a time not a little contemptible both to certain ecclesiastical and to secular powers, and they disseminated so sinister reports about my faith as well as my life that they even turned away the very foremost of our friends from me; and if any still retained something of their former love toward me, they themselves, by every method, for fear of them, dissimulated this.

Deus ipse mihi testis est, quotiens aliquem ecclesiasticarum personarum conventum adunari noveram, hoc in dampnationem meam agi credebam. Stupefactus ilico quasi supervenientis ictum fulguris, expectabam ut quasi hereticus aut prophanus in conciliis traherer aut sinagogis. Atque ut de pulice ad leonem, de formica ad elefantem comparatio ducatur, non me mitiori animo persequebantur emuli mei quam beatum olim Athana /f.14vb/ sium heretici.

God himself is my witness: as often as I knew some convocation of ecclesiastical persons to be assembled, I believed this was being done to my damnation. Stupefied forthwith as by the stroke of lightning coming upon me, I expected that I would be dragged as a heretic or a profane person into councils or synagogues. And, that a comparison may be drawn from a flea to a lion, from an ant to an elephant, my emulous rivals were not persecuting me with a milder spirit than the heretics once did the blessed Athana /f.14vb/ sius.

Sepe autem, Deus scit, in tantam lapsus sum desperationem, ut Christianorum finibus excessis ad gentes transire disponerem, atque ibi quiete sub quacunque tributi pactione inter inimicos Christi christiane vivere. Quos tanto magis propitios me habiturum credebam quanto me minus christianum ex imposito mihi crimine suspicarentur, et ob hoc facilius ad sectam suam inclinari posse crederent.

Often, however—God knows—I fell into so great a desperation that, the bounds of the Christians left behind, I resolved to pass over to the Gentiles, and there to live Christianly in quiet, under whatever pact of tribute, among the enemies of Christ. Whom I believed I would have all the more propitious to me, in proportion as they suspected me less to be a Christian from the charge imposed upon me, and for this reason they would believe that I could more easily be inclined to their sect.

DE ABBATIA AD QUAM ASSUMPTUS EST, ET PERSECUTIONE TAM FILIORUM, ID EST MONACHORUM, QUAM TYRANNI IN EUM

OF THE ABBEY TO WHICH HE WAS ASSUMED, AND OF THE PERSECUTION BOTH OF THE SONS, THAT IS, THE MONKS, AND OF THE TYRANT AGAINST HIM

Cum autem tantis perturbationibus incessanter affligerer atque hoc extremum mihi superesset consilium ut apud inimicos Christi ad Christum confugerem, occasionem quandam adeptus qua insidias istas paululum declinare me credidi, incidi in Christianos atque monachos gentibus longe seviores atque peiores. Erat quippe in Britannia minore, in episcopatu Venecensi, abbatia quedam sancti Gildasii Ruiensis, pastore defuncto desolata. Ad quam me concors fratrum electio cum assensu principis terre vocavit, atque hoc ab abbate nostro et fratribus facile impetravit; sicque me Francorum invidia ad Occidentem sicut Jheronimum Romanorum expulit ad Orientem.

While I was being incessantly afflicted by such great perturbations, and this last counsel remained for me—that among the enemies of Christ I should take refuge with Christ—having obtained a certain occasion by which I believed I might somewhat sidestep those ambushes, I fell in with Christians and even monks far more savage and worse than the gentiles. For there was in Lesser Britain, in the episcopate of Vannes, a certain abbey of Saint Gildas of Rhuys, left desolate with its shepherd deceased. To this the concordant election of the brothers, with the assent of the prince of the land, called me, and easily obtained this from our abbot and the brothers; and thus the envy of the Franks drove me to the West, just as the Romans expelled Jerome to the East.

Numquam enim huic rei, sciat Deus, acquievissem, nisi ut quocunque modo has quas incessanter sustinebam opp /f.14rc/ ressiones, ut dixi, declinarem. Terra quippe barbara et terre lingua mihi incognita erat, et turpis atque indomabilis illorum monachorum vita omnibus fere notissima, et gens terre illius inhumana atque incomposita. Sicut ergo ille, qui imminente sibi gladio perterritus in precipitium se collidit et ut puncto temporis mortem unam differat aliam incurrit, sic ego ab uno periculo in aliud scienter me contuli; ibique ad horrisoni undas Occeani, cum fugam mihi ulterius terre postremitas non preberet, sepe in orationibus meis illud revolvebam: "A finibus terre ad te clamavi, dum anxiaretur cor meum."

Never indeed to this matter, God knows, would I have acquiesced, except that in whatever way I might, I might, as I said, decline these op /f.14rc/ pressions which I was unceasingly enduring. For the land was barbarous and the land’s tongue unknown to me, and the life of those monks, foul and indomitable, was almost to all most notorious, and the people of that land inhuman and incomposed. Just as, therefore, that man who, terrified with a sword impending over him, dashes himself into a precipice, and, that he may defer by a point of time one death, incurs another, so I, from one danger into another, knowingly betook myself; and there, by the dread-sounding waves of the Ocean, since the extremity of the land afforded me no further flight, I often in my prayers kept revolving this: "From the ends of the earth I have cried to you, while my heart was anxious."

Quanta enim anxietate illa etiam quam regendam susceperam indisciplinata fratrum congregatio cor meum die ac nocte cruciaret, cum tam anime mee quam corporis pericula pensarem, neminem iam latere arbitror. Certum quippe habebam quod si eos ad regularem vitam quam professi fuerant compellere temptarem, me vivere non posse; et si hoc in quantum possem non agerem, me dampnandum esse. Ipsam etiam abbatiam tirannus quidam in terra illa potentissimus ita iam diu sibi subiugaverat, ex inordinatione scilicet ipsius monasterii nactus occasionem, ut omnia loca monasterio adiacentia in usus proprios redegisset, ac gravioribus exactionibus monachos ipsos quam tributarios iudeos /f.14rd/ exagitaret.

For with how great anxiety that undisciplined congregation of brothers, which I had even undertaken to govern, tormented my heart day and night, when I weighed the dangers of both my soul and my body, I suppose now no one is unaware. For I had it as certain that if I should attempt to compel them to the regular life which they had professed, I could not live; and if I did not do this insofar as I could, I would be to be condemned. Moreover, a certain tyrant, most powerful in that land, had for a long time already so subjugated the abbey itself, having seized the occasion from the very disorder of the monastery, that he had reduced all the places adjacent to the monastery to his own uses, and with heavier exactions vexed the monks themselves than the tributary Jews /f.14rd/ he harassed.

Urgebant me monachi pro necessitudinibus cotidianis, cum nichil in commune haberent quod eis ministrarem, sed unusquisque de propriis olim marsupiis se et concubinas suas cum filiis vel filiabus sustentaret. Gaudebant me super hoc anxiari, et ipsi quoque furabantur et asportabant que poterant, ut cum in administratione ista deficerem, compellerer aut a disciplina cessare aut omnino recedere. Cum autem tota terre illius barbaries pariter exlex et indisciplinata esset, nulli erant hominum ad quorum confugere possem adiutorium, cum a moribus omnium pariter dissiderem.

The monks pressed me for daily necessities, when they had nothing in common from which I might minister to them, but each one long since sustained himself and his concubines with sons or daughters from his own purses. They rejoiced that I was anxious over this, and they themselves also stole and carried off what they could, so that, when I should fail in this administration, I would be compelled either to cease from discipline or to withdraw altogether. But since the whole barbarism of that land was alike lawless and undisciplined, there were no men to whose aid I could flee, since I was equally at variance with the manners of them all.

Foris me tyrannus ille et satellites sui assidue opprimebant; intus mihi fratres incessanter insidiabantur ut illud Apostoli in me specialiter dictum res ipsa indicaret: "Foris pugne. Intus timores".

Outside, that tyrant and his satellites assiduously oppressed me; within, the brothers were incessantly laying ambush for me, so that the thing itself indicated that that saying of the Apostle was spoken specially about me: "Fights without. Fears within".

Considerabam et plangebam quam inutilem et miseram vitam ducerem, et quam infructuose tam mihi quam aliis viverem, et quantum antea clericis profecissem et quod nunc, eis propter monachos dimissis, nec in ipsis nec in monachis aliquem fructum haberem, et quam inefficax in omnibus inceptis atque conatibus meis redderer; ut iam mihi de omnibus illud improperari rectissime deberet: "Hic homo cepit edificare, et non potuit con /f.15va/ summare." Desperabam penitus, cum recordarer que fugerem et considerarem que incurrerem; et priores molestias quasi iam nullas reputans, crebro apud me ingemiscens dicebam: "Merito hec patior, qui Paraclitum, id est consolatorem, deserens, in desolationem certam me intrusi, et minas evitare cupiens, ad certa confugi pericula." Illud autem plurimum me cruciabat, quod oratorio nostro dimisso, de divini celebratione officii ita ut opporteret providere non poteram, quoniam loci nimia paupertas vix unius hominis neccessitudini sufficeret. Sed ipse quoque verus Paraclitus michi maxime super hoc desolato veram attulit consolationem, et proprio prout debebat providit oratorio.

I considered and lamented what a useless and miserable life I was leading, and how fruitlessly I lived both for myself and for others, and how much I had formerly profited the clerics, and that now, with them dismissed on account of the monks, I had no fruit either in them or in the monks, and how ineffectual I was rendered in all my beginnings and endeavors; so that by now that saying ought most rightly to be cast in my teeth about everything: "This man began to build, and was not able to con /f.15va/ summate." I despaired utterly, when I recalled what I was fleeing and considered what I was incurring; and reckoning the former annoyances as now almost nothing, often groaning to myself I used to say: "I suffer these things deservedly, I who, deserting the Paraclete, that is, the Comforter, thrust myself into certain desolation, and, wishing to avoid threats, took refuge in certain dangers." But this tortured me most of all: that, our oratory being abandoned, I could not provide for the celebration of the divine office as was fitting, since the excessive poverty of the place scarcely sufficed for the necessity of a single man. But he himself too, the true Paraclete, brought to me—most desolate over this very matter—true consolation, and provided for the oratory itself as was proper.

Accidit namque ut abbas noster sancti scilicet Dyonisii predictam illam Argenteoli abbatiam, in qua religionis habitum nostra illa iam in Christo soror potius quam uxor Heloysa susceperat, tanquam ad ius monasterii sui antiquitus pertinentem quocunque modo acquireret, et conventum inde sanctimonialium, ubi illa comes nostra prioratum habebat, violenter expelleret. Que cum diversis locis exules dispergerentur, oblatam mihi a Domino intellexi occasionem qua nostro consulerem oratorio. Illuc itaque reversus, eam cum quibusdam aliis de eadem congregatione ipsi adherentibus ad predictum oratorium invitavi; eoque illis adductis, ipsum orato /f.15vb/ rium cum omnibus ei pertinentibus concessi et donavi; ipsamque postmodum donationem nostram, assensu atque interventu episcopi terre, papa Innocentius secundus ipsis et earum sequacibus per privilegium in perpetuum coroboravit.

For it happened that our abbot—namely of Saint Denis—would in some way acquire that aforesaid abbey of Argenteuil, to which, as belonging of old to the right of his monastery, our Heloise—now in Christ rather a sister than a wife—had received the habit of religion; and he would violently expel from there the convent of holy women, where that companion of ours held the priorate. And when they, exiles, were scattered to diverse places, I understood the occasion offered to me by the Lord by which I might look to the interests of our oratory. Returning therefore thither, I invited her, with certain others of the same congregation adhering to her, to the aforesaid oratory; and when they had been brought there, I granted and donated that orato /f.15vb/ rium with all things pertaining to it; and afterward Pope Innocent II, with the assent and intervention of the bishop of the territory, corroborated that donation of ours for them and their followers by privilege in perpetuity.

Quas ibi quidem primo inopem sustinentes vitam et ad tempus plurimum desolatas, divine misericordie respectus, cui devote serviebant, in brevi consolatus est et se eis quoque verum exhibuit Paraclitum et circumadiacentes populos misericordes eis atque propitios effecit. Et plus, sciat Deus, ut arbitror, uno anno in terrenis commodis sunt multiplicate quam ego per centum si ibi permansissem; quippe quo feminarum sexus est infirmior, tanto earum inopia miserabilior facile humanos commovet affectus, et earum virtus tam Deo quam ho minibus est gratior. Tantam autem gratiam in oculis omnium illi sorori nostre, que ceteris preerat, Dominus annuit, ut eam episcopi quasi filiam, abbates quasi sororem, laici quasi matrem diligerent; et omnes pariter eius religionem, prudentiam, et in omnibus incomparabilem patiencie mansuetudinem ammirabantur.

Those whom, indeed, at first sustaining a needy life there and for a long time very desolate, the regard of divine mercy, to which they devoutly served, shortly consoled, and He showed Himself to them also as the true Paraclete, and made the surrounding peoples merciful and propitious to them. And more—God knows—as I suppose, in a single year they were multiplied in earthly commodities more than I in a hundred, if I had remained there; for, inasmuch as the sex of women is weaker, by so much their more pitiable indigence easily moves human affections, and their virtue is more grateful both to God and to men. Moreover, so great a grace in the eyes of all did the Lord grant to that our sister who presided over the rest, that bishops loved her as a daughter, abbots as a sister, laymen as a mother; and all alike admired her religion, prudence, and, in all things, the incomparable gentleness of patience.

Que quanto rarius se videri permittebat, ut scilicet clauso cubiculo sacris meditationibus atque orationibus purius vaccaret, tanto ardentius eius presentiam atque spiritalis colloquii monita hii qui foris sunt efflagitabant.

And the rarer she permitted herself to be seen—so that, with her chamber shut, she might more purely devote herself to sacred meditations and prayers—by so much the more ardently did those who were outside demand her presence and the monitions of spiritual colloquy.

DE INFAMATIONE TURPITUDINIS

ON THE DEFAMATION OF TURPITUDE

/f.15rc/ Cum autem omnes earum vicini vehementer me culparent quod earum inopie minus quam possem et deberem consulerem, et facile id nostra saltem predicatione valerem, cepi sepius ad eas reverti, ut eis quoquomodo subvenirem. In quo nec invidie mihi murmur defuit, et quod me facere sincera karitas compellebat, solita derogantium pravitas impudentissime accusabat, dicens me adhuc quadam carnalis concupiscentiae oblectatione teneri, qua pristine dilecte sustinere absentiam vix aut numquam paterer. Qui frequenter illam beati Jheronimi querimoniam mecum volvens qua ad Asellam de fictis amicis scribens, ait: "Nichil mihi obicitur nisi sexus meus, et hoc nunquam obiceretur nisi cum Jherosolimam Paula profisciscitur." Et iterum: "Antequam, inquit, domum sancte Paule nossem, totius in me urbis studia consonabant, omnium pene iuditio dignus summo sacerdotio decernebar; sed scio per bonam et malam famam pervenire ad regna celorum." Cum hanc, inquam, in tantum virum detractionis iniuriam ad mentem reducerem, non modicam hinc consolationem carpebam, inquiens: "O si tantam suspitionis causam emuli mei in me reperirent, quanta me detractione opprimerent!

/f.15rc/ But when all their neighbors vehemently blamed me because I provided for their indigence less than I could and ought, and that I could easily prevail in this at least by our preaching, I began more often to return to them, that I might succor them in some way. In this neither did the murmur of envy fail me, and that which sincere charity compelled me to do the usual depravity of detractors most shamelessly accused, saying that I was still held by a certain delectation of carnal concupiscence, by which I would scarcely or never endure the absence of the formerly beloved. And I, frequently turning over with myself that complaint of blessed Jerome, in which, writing to Asella about feigned friends, he says: “Nothing is objected to me except my sex, and this would never be objected unless Paula were setting out to Jerusalem.” And again: “Before I knew the house of holy Paula,” he says, “the zeal of the whole city harmonized in my favor, by the judgment of almost all I was decreed worthy of the supreme priesthood; but I know that through good and bad repute one comes to the kingdoms of heaven.” When, I say, I brought back to mind this injury of detraction against so great a man, I gathered from this no small consolation, saying: “O if my rivals could find in me so great a cause of suspicion, with how great detraction would they overwhelm me!”

Nunc vero mihi divina misericordia /f.15rd/ ab hac suspitione liberato, quomodo, huius perpetrande turpitudinis facultate ablata, suspitio remanet? Que est tam impudens hec criminatio novissima?" Adeo namque res ista omnem huius turpitudinis suspitionem apud omnes removet, ut quicunque mulieres observare diligentius student, eis eunuchos adhibeant, sicut de Hester et ceteris regis Assueri puellis sacra narrat hystoria. Legimus et potentem illum regine Candacis eunuchum universis eius gazis preesse; ad quem convertendum et baptizandum Philippus apostolus ab angelo directus est.

Now indeed, with me by divine mercy /f.15rd/ freed from this suspicion, how, the faculty for perpetrating this turpitude having been taken away, does the suspicion remain? How impudent is this latest crimination! For this matter so removes all suspicion of this turpitude among everyone, that whoever strives to watch over women more diligently employs eunuchs for them, as sacred history narrates about Esther and the other girls of King Ahasuerus. We read also that that powerful eunuch of Queen Candace was set over all her treasures; to whom, for converting and baptizing, the apostle Philip was directed by an angel.

Tales quippe semper apud verecundas et honestas feminas tanto amplius dignitatis et familiaritatis adepti sunt quanto longius ab hac absistebant suspitione. Ad quam quidem penitus removendam maximum illum Christianorum philosophum Origenem, cum mulierum quoque sancte doctrine intenderet, sibi ipsi manus intulisse Ecclesiastice historie lib. VI continet.

Such men, indeed, have always among modest and honorable women attained so much the more dignity and familiarity, the farther they stood away from this suspicion. And to remove this suspicion utterly, Origen, that greatest philosopher of the Christians, when he was also applying himself to the sacred instruction of women, laid hands upon himself (i.e., castrated himself), as Ecclesiastical History, book 6, relates.

Putabam tamen in hoc mihi magis quam illi divinam misericordiam propitiam fuisse, ut quod ille minus provide creditur egisse atque inde non modicum crimen incurrisse, id aliena culpa in me ageret, ut ad simile opus me liberum prepararet, ac tanto minore pena quanto breviore ac subita, ut oppressus /f.16va/ sompno cum mihi manus inicerent nichil pene fere sentirem; sed quod tunc forte minus pertuli ex vulnere, nunc ex detractione diutius plector, et plus ex detrimento fame quam ex corporis crucior diminutione, sicut enim scriptum est: "Melius est nomen bonum quam divitie multe." Et ut beatus meminit Augustinus in sermone quodam de Vita et moribus clericorum: "Qui, fidens conscientie sue, negligit famam suam, crudelis est." Idem supra: "Providemus, inquit, bona, ut ait Apostolus, non solum coram Deo sed etiam coram hominibus. Propter nos, consciencia nostra sufficit nobis; propter vos, fama nostra non pollui, sed pollere debet in vobis... Due res sunt conscientia et fama. Conscientia tibi, fama proximo tuo." Quid autem horum invidia ipsi Christo vel eius membris, tam prophetis scilicet quam apostolis seu aliis patribus sanctis obiceret, si in eorum temporibus existeret, cum eos videlicet corpore integros tam familiari conversatione feminis precipue viderent sociatos?

I was thinking, however, that in this matter divine mercy had been more propitious to me than to him, so that what he is believed to have done less providently and thereby to have incurred no small crime, that, by another’s fault, would be done upon me, so that it might prepare me, free, for a similar work—with so much the lesser penalty as it was briefer and sudden—so that, overwhelmed /f.16va/ by sleep, when they should lay hands on me I would scarcely feel almost anything; but what then perchance I bore less from the wound, now I am punished longer by detraction, and I am tormented more by the detriment of fame than by the diminution of the body, for as it is written: “Better is a good name than many riches.” And as blessed Augustine recalls in a certain sermon On the Life and Morals of the Clergy: “He who, trusting in his conscience, neglects his fame, is cruel.” The same above: “We provide, he says, good things, as the Apostle says, not only before God but also before men. For our sakes, our conscience suffices for us; for your sakes, our fame ought not to be polluted, but to be potent among you... Two things are conscience and fame. Conscience for you, fame for your neighbor.” What, moreover, would the envy of these things object to Christ himself or to his members—namely, to the prophets as well as to the apostles or to other holy fathers—if it existed in their times, since they would see them, indeed intact in body, joined especially to women by so familiar a conversation?

Unde et beatus Augustinus in libro de Opere monachorum ipsas etiam mulieres domino Jhesu Christo atque apostolis ita inseparabiles comites adhesisse demonstrat, ut et cum eis etiam ad predicationem procederent. "Ad hoc enim, inquit, et fideles mulieres habentes terrenam substantiam ibant cum eis et ministrabant eis de sua substantia, ut nullius indigerent horum que ad substantiam vite huius pertinent... Quod quisquis non putat ab apostolis fieri ut cum eis sancte conversationis /f.16vb/ mulieres circuirent quocunque euvangelium predicabant, euvangelium audiant, et cognoscant quemadmodum hoc ipsius Domini exemplo faciebant... In euvangelio enim scriptum est: Deinceps et ipse iter faciebat per civitates et castella, euvangelizans regnum Dei, et duodecim cum illo et mulieres alique, que erant curate a spiritibus immundis et infirmitatibus: Maria, que vocatur Magdalene, et Johanna, uxor Cuze, procuratoris Herodis, et Susanna, et alie multe que ministrabant ei de facultatibus suis." Et Leo nonus, contra epistolam Parmeniani de Studii monasterio: "Omnino, inquit, profitemur non licere episcopo, presbytero, diacono, subdiacono propriam uxorem causa religionis abicere cura sua, ut non ei victum et vestitum largiatur, sed non ut cum illa carnaliter iaceat. Sic et sanctos apostolos legimus egisse beato Paulo dicente: Numquid non habemus potestatem sororem mulierem circumducendi, sicut fratres Domini et Cephas?

Whence also blessed Augustine, in the book On the Work of Monks, shows that women themselves adhered as inseparable companions to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the apostles, so that they would even go forth with them for preaching. "For to this end," he says, "even faithful women possessing earthly substance used to go with them and minister to them out of their own substance, so that they might lack none of those things which pertain to the substance of this life... Whoever does not think it was done by the apostles that women of holy conversation /f.16vb/ went about with them wherever they preached the Gospel, let them hear the Gospel, and learn how they did this by the example of the Lord himself... For in the Gospel it is written: Thereafter he himself was making a journey through cities and villages, evangelizing the kingdom of God, and the Twelve with him, and certain women who had been cured of unclean spirits and infirmities: Mary who is called Magdalene, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s procurator, and Susanna, and many others who ministered to him out of their resources." And Leo the Ninth, against the epistle of Parmenianus concerning the Studium monastery: "Altogether," he says, "we profess that it is not permitted for a bishop, presbyter, deacon, subdeacon to cast off his own wife from his care for the sake of religion, so as not to grant her food and clothing, but not so as to lie carnally with her. Thus too we read that the holy apostles acted, blessed Paul saying: Do we not have authority to lead about a sister, a woman, as the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?"

Vide insipiens quia non dixit: Numquid non habemus potestatem sororem mulierem amplectendi, sed: circumducendi; scilicet ut mercede predicationis sustentarentur ab eis, nec tamen deinceps foret inter eos carnale coniugium." Ipse certe Phariseus, qui intra se de Domino ait: "Hic, si esset propheta, sciret utique que et qualis esset mulier que tangit eum, quia peccatrix est", /f.16vc/ multo commodiorem, quantum ad humanum iudicium spectat, turpitudinis coniecturam de Domino concipere poterat quam de nobis isti; aut qui matrem eius iuveni commendatam, vel prophetas cum viduis maxime hospitari atque conversari videbant, multo probabiliorem inde suspitionem contrahere.

See, foolish one, that he did not say: “Have we not authority to embrace a sister-woman,” but: “to lead about,” namely, that by the wage of preaching they might be supported by them, and yet thereafter there would not be carnal conjugium between them.” The Pharisee himself, surely, who said within himself about the Lord: “This man, if he were a prophet, would surely know who and what sort the woman is who touches him, because she is a peccatrix,” /f.16vc/ could, so far as pertains to human judgment, conceive a much more convenient conjecture of turpitude about the Lord than these men about us; or those who saw his mother entrusted to a young man, or saw the prophets especially lodge with and converse with widows, could contract from that a much more probable suspicion.

Quid etiam dixissent isti detractatores nostri, si Malchum illum captivum monachum, de quo beatus scribit Jheronimus, eodem contubernio cum uxore victitantem conspicerent? Quanto id crimini conscriberent, quod egregius ille doctor cum vidisset maxime commendans ait: "Erat illic senex quidam nomine Malchus... eiusdem loci indigena, anus quoque in eius contubernio... studiosi ambo religionis, et sic ecclesie limen terentes, ut Zachariam et Elysabeth de euvangelio crederes, nisi quod Johannes in medio non erat." Cur denique a detractione sanctorum patrum se continent, quos frequenter legimus vel etiam vidimus monasteria quoque feminarum constituere atque eis ministrare; exemplo quidem septem diaconorum, quos pro se apostoli mensis et procurationi mulierum prefecerunt? Adeo namque sexus infirmior fortioris indiget auxilio, ut semper virum mulieri quasi capud preesse Apostolus statuat; in cuius etiam rei signo ipsam semper velatum habere capud precipit.

What, moreover, would these our detractors have said, if they were to behold that Malchus, the captive monk of whom blessed Jerome writes, living in the same contubernium with his wife? How greatly would they write it up as a crime, that which that distinguished doctor, when he had seen it, highly commending said: "There was there a certain old man by name Malchus... a native of the same place, and an old woman likewise in his contubernium... both studious of religion, and so often treading the threshold of the church, that you would have believed them Zachariah and Elizabeth from the Gospel, except that John was not in the midst." Why, finally, do they refrain from the detraction of the holy fathers, whom we frequently read, or even have seen, to establish monasteries of women as well and to minister to them; after the example indeed of the seven deacons, whom the apostles set over, in their stead, the tables and the procuration of the women? For so much does the weaker sex need the aid of the stronger, that the Apostle appoints the man to be set over the woman as the head; as a sign of which very matter he also bids that she always have her head veiled.

Unde non mediocriter miror consuetudines has in monasteriis dudum inolevisse, quod quemadmodum viris /f.16rd/ abbates, ita et feminis abbatisse preponantur, et eiusdem regule professione tam femine quam viri se astringant, in qua tamen pleraque continentur que a feminis tam prelatis quam subiectis nullatenus possunt adimpleri. In plerisque etiam locis, ordine perturbato naturali, ipsas abbatissas atque moniales clericis quoque ipsis, quibus subest populus, dominari conspicimus, et tanto facilius eos ad prava desideria inducere posse quanto eis amplius habent preesse, et iugum illud in eos gravissimum exercere; quod satiricus ille considerans ait, "Intolerabilius nichil est quam femina dives."

Whence I am not moderately amazed that these customs have long grown in monasteries, that just as abbots are set over men /f.16rd/, so also abbesses are set over women, and that by the profession of the same rule both women and men bind themselves, in which, however, many things are contained which by women, both prelates and subjects, by no means can be fulfilled. In very many places also, with the natural order disturbed, we observe those very abbesses and nuns even to domineer over the clerics themselves, over whom the people is subject, and that they can so much the more easily lead them to depraved desires by as much as they have greater authority over them, and to exercise that most grievous yoke upon them; which the satirist, considering, says, "Nothing is more intolerable than a rich woman."

Hoc ego sepe apud me petractando, quantum mihi liceret sororibus illis providere et earum curam agere disposueram, et quo me amplius revererentur, corporali quoque presentia eis invigilare et sic etiam earum magis necessitudinibus subvenire. Et cum me nunc frequentior ac maior persecutio filiorum quam olim fratrum afligeret, ad eas de estu huius tempestatis quasi ad quendam tranquillitatis portum recurrerem atque ibi aliquantulum respirarem, et qui in monachis nullum, aliquem saltem in illis assequerer fructum; ac tanto id mihi fieret magis saluberrimum quanto id earum infirmitati magis esset neccessarium.

This, by often pertracting it with myself, I had determined how far it would be permitted me to provide for those sisters and to take their care, and, that they might revere me the more, to keep watch over them also with corporal presence, and thus also to succor their needs the more. And since now a more frequent and greater persecution of sons than formerly of brothers was afflicting me, I would run back to them from the surge of this tempest as to a certain harbor of tranquillity, and there I would breathe a little, and, whereas among the monks I achieved no fruit, among them at least I might attain some; and this would become for me the more salubrious by as much as it was the more necessary for their infirmity.

Nunc autem ita me Sathanas impedivit, ut ubi quiescere possim aut etiam vivere non inveniam, /f.17va/ sed vagus et profugus, ad instar maledicti Caym ubique circumferar; quem, ut supra memini, "foris pugne, intus timores" incessanter cruciant, immo tam foris quam intus pugne pariter et timores; et multo periculosior et crebrior persecutio filiorum adversum me sevit quam hostium. Istos quippe semper presentes habeo, et eorum insidias iugiter sustineo. Hostium violentiam in corporis mei periculum video, si a claustro procedam; in claustro autem filiorum, id est monachorum, mihi tanquam abbati, hoc est patri, commissorum, tam violenta quam dolosa incessanter sustineo machinamenta.

Now, however, Satan has so impeded me that I do not find where I can rest or even live, /f.17va/ but, a wanderer and a fugitive, after the manner of the accursed Cain, I am borne about everywhere; I, whom, as I have recalled above, “without, battles; within, fears” incessantly torment—nay, as much without as within, battles likewise and fears; and a persecution of sons has raged against me much more perilous and more frequent than that of enemies. These, indeed, I have always present, and I continually endure their ambushes. The violence of enemies I foresee to the peril of my body, if I go forth from the cloister; but in the cloister I incessantly endure, from the sons—that is, the monks—entrusted to me as to an abbot, that is, a father, both violent and deceitful machinations.

O quotiens veneno me perdere temptaverunt, sicut et in beato factum est Benedicto, ac si hec ipsa causa, qua ille perversos deseruit filios, ad hoc ipsum me patenter tanti patris adhortaretur exemplo, ne me certo videlicet opponens periculo, temerarius Dei temptator potius quam amator, immo mei ipsius peremptor invenirer. A talibus autem cotidianis eorum insidiis cum mihi in administratione cibi vel potus quantum possem providerem, in ipso altaris sacrificio toxicare me moliti sunt, veneno scilicet calici immisso. Qui etiam quadam die, cum Namneti ad comitem in egritudine sua visitandum venissem, hospitatum me ibi in domo cuiusdam fratris mei carnalis per ipsum qui in co /f.17vb/ mitatu nostro erat famulum veneno interficere machinati sunt, ubi videlicet me minus a tali machinatione providere crediderunt.

O how often they tried to destroy me with venom, just as it was done to blessed Benedict, as if this very cause, for which he abandoned his perverse sons, openly exhorted me by the example of so great a father to this very thing, lest, by manifestly exposing myself to danger, I be found a rash tempter of God rather than a lover, indeed a destroyer of myself. But from such daily ambushes of theirs, while in the administration of food or drink I provided for myself as much as I could, they attempted to poison me in the very sacrifice of the altar, namely with venom put into the chalice. They also, on a certain day when I had come to Nantes to visit the count in his sickness, having lodged me there in the house of a certain brother of mine according to the flesh, through the very servant who was in our re /f.17vb/ tinue machinated to kill me with poison, where, namely, they believed I would be less on guard against such a machination.

Divina autem dispositione tunc actum est, ut dum cibum mihi apparatum non curarem, frater quidam ex monachis quem mecum adduxeram hoc cibo per ignorantiam usus ibidem mortuus occumberet, et famulus ille qui hoc presumpserat tam conscientie sue quam testimonio ipsius rei perterritus aufugeret.

By divine disposition it was then brought about that, while I did not concern myself with the food prepared for me, a certain brother from among the monks whom I had brought with me, having used this food in ignorance, fell dead there on the spot; and that servant who had presumed this, terrified both by his own conscience and by the testimony of the very deed, fled away.

Ex tunc itaque manifesta omnibus eorum nequitia, patenter iam cepi eorum, prout poteram, insidias declinare, et iam a conventu abbatie me subtrahere et in cellulis cum paucis habitare. Qui si me transiturum aliquo presensissent, corruptos per pecuniam latrones in viis aut semitis ut me interficerent opponebant. Dum autem in istis laborarem periculis, forte me die quadam de nostra lapsum equitatura manus Domini vehementer collisit, colli videlicet mei canalem confringens.

From that time, therefore, their wickedness being manifest to all, I now openly began, as I could, to decline their ambushes, and already to withdraw myself from the convent of the abbey and to dwell in little cells with a few. If they sensed that I would be passing somewhere, they set bribed robbers, corrupted with money, on the roads or the footpaths to kill me. While, however, I was laboring in these dangers, by chance on a certain day, having fallen from our riding-horse, the hand of the Lord struck me vehemently, breaking, namely, the canal of my neck.

Et multo me amplius hec fractura afflixit et debilitavit quam prior plaga.

And this fracture afflicted and debilitated me far more than the prior blow.

Quandoque horum indomitam rebellionem per excommunicationem cohercens, quosdam eorum, quos magis formidabam, ad hoc compuli ut fide sua seu sacramento publice mihi promitterent se ulterius ab abbatia penitus recessuros, nec me amplius in aliquo inquietaturos. Qui publice et impudentissime /f.17rc/ tam fidem datam quam sacramenta facta violantes, tandem per auctoritatem romani pontificis Innocentii, legato proprio ad hoc destinato, in presentia comitis et episcoporum hoc ipsum iurare compulsi sunt et pleraque alia; nec sic adhuc quieverunt. Nuper autem cum, illis quos predixi eiectis, ad conventum abbatie redissem et reliquis fratribus, quos minus suspicabar, me committerem, multo hos peiores quam illos reperi, quos iam quidem non de veneno sed de gladio in iugulum meum tractantes cuiusdam proceris terre conductu vix evasi.

At times, coercing their untamed rebellion by excommunication, I compelled certain of them, whom I feared more, to this: that by their faith or by a sacrament they should publicly promise me that they would henceforth withdraw utterly from the abbey, nor any longer in any way would trouble me. Who, publicly and most impudently /f.17rc/ violating both the faith given and the oaths made, were at length, by the authority of the Roman pontiff Innocent, with his own legate appointed for this, in the presence of the count and the bishops, compelled to swear this very thing and very many others; nor even thus did they yet grow quiet. But recently, when, those whom I have aforesaid having been cast out, I had returned to the convent of the abbey and committed myself to the remaining brothers, whom I suspected less, I found these much worse than those, who now indeed were contriving not poison but the sword for my throat; by the escort of a certain noble of the land I scarcely escaped.

In quo adhuc etiam laboro periculo, et cotidie quasi cervici mee gladium imminentem suspitio, ut inter epulas vix respirem, sicut de illo legitur qui cum Dyonisii tiranni potentiam atque opes conquisitas maxime imputaret beatitudini, filo latenter apensum super se gladium suspitiens que terrenam potentiam felicitas consequatur edoctus est. Quod nunc quoque ipse de paupere monacho in abbatem promotus incessanter experior, tanto scilicet miserior quanto ditior effectus; ut nostro etiam exemplo eorum qui id sponte appetunt ambitio refrenetur.

In which peril I still also labor, and every day, as though a sword were impending over my neck, I am in suspicion, so that amid banquets I scarcely breathe, just as we read of that man who, since he most ascribed to blessedness the power and amassed riches of Dionysius the tyrant, perceiving a sword secretly hung above him by a thread, was taught what felicity attends earthly power. Which now also I myself, promoted from a poor monk to abbot, unceasingly experience—namely, the richer I have been made, by so much the more wretched; so that by our very example the ambition of those who of their own accord crave this may be reined in.

Hec, dilectissime frater in Christo et ex divina conversatione familiarissime comes, de calamitatum mearum hystoria, in quibus quasi a cunabulis iugiter laboro, tue me desolationi atque iniurie illate scripsisse suffilciat: /f.17rd/ ut, sicut in exordio prefatus sum epistole, oppressionem tuam in comparatione mearum aut nullam aut modicam esse iudices, et tanto eam patientius feras quanto minorem consideras; illud semper in consolationem assumens, quod membris suis de membris diaboli Dominus predixit: "Si me persecuti sunt, et vos persequentur. Si mundus vos odit, scitote quoniam me priorem vobis odio habuit. Si de mundo fuissetis, mundus quod suum erat diligeret." Et: "Omnes, inquit Apostolus, qui volunt pie vivere in Christo, persequutionem patientur." Et alibi: "Aut quero hominibus placere.

Let these things, most beloved brother in Christ and, from divine conversation, most familiar companion, from the history of my calamities, in which as it were from the cradle I labor continually, suffice me to have written to your desolation and the injury inflicted: /f.17rd/ so that, as I said in the exordium of the epistle, you may judge your oppression in comparison with mine to be either none or slight, and may bear it the more patiently the smaller you consider it; always taking up for consolation that which the Lord foretold to his members concerning the members of the devil: "If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love what was its own." And: "All, says the Apostle, who wish to live piously in Christ will suffer persecution." And elsewhere: "Or do I seek to please men.

Si adhuc hominibus placerem, Christi servus non essem." Et Psalmista: "Confusi sunt, inquit, qui hominibus placent, quoniam Deus sprevit eos." Que diligenter beatus attendens Jheronimus, cuius me precipue in contumeliis detractionum heredem conspicio, ad Nepotianum scribens ait: "Si adhuc, inquit Apostolus, hominibus placerem, Christi servus non essem. Desinit placere hominibus, et servus factus est Christi." Idem ad Asellam de fictis amicis: "Gratias ago Deo meo quod dignus sim quem mundus oderit," et ad Heliodorum monachum: "Erras, frater, erras si putas umquam Christianum persequutionem non pati. Adversarius noster, tanquam leo rugiens, devorare querens circuit, et tu pacem putas?

“If I were still pleasing men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” And the Psalmist: “They are confounded, he says, who please men, because God has despised them.” Which things the blessed Jerome, diligently attending, whose heir I especially perceive myself to be in the contumelies of detractions, writing to Nepotianus says: “If I were still, says the Apostle, pleasing men, I would not be a servant of Christ. He ceases to please men, and has been made a servant of Christ.” The same, to Asella about feigned friends: “I give thanks to my God that I am worthy to be one whom the world hates,” and to Heliodorus the monk: “You err, brother, you err if you think that ever a Christian does not suffer persecution. Our adversary, like a roaring lion, goes about seeking to devour, and do you suppose peace?”

Sedet in insidiis, cum divitibus, etc." His itaque documentis atque exemplis animati, tanto securius ista toleremus quanto /f.18va/ iniuriosius accidunt. Que si non ad meritum nobis, saltem ad purgationem aliquam proficere non dubitemus; et quoniam omnia divina dispositione geruntur, in hoc se saltem quisque fidelium in omni pressura consoletur, quod nichil inordinate fieri umquam summa Dei bonitas permittit, et quod quecumque perverse fiunt optimo fine ipse terminat; unde et ei de omnibus recte dicitur: "Fiat voluntas tua". Quanta denique diligentium Deum illa est ex auctoritate apostolica consolatio, qua dicit: "Scimus quoniam diligentibus Deum omnia cooperantur in bonum, etc...!" Quod diligenter ille sapientium sapientissimus attendebat, cum in Proverbiis diceret: "Non contristabit iustum quicquid ei acciderit." Ex quo manifeste a iusticia eos recedere demonstrat quicunque pro aliquo sui gravamine his irascuntur que erga se divina dispensatione geri non dubitant, et se proprie voluntati magis quam divine subiciunt, et ei quod in verbis sonat: "Fiat voluntas tua" desideriis occultis repugnant, divine voluntati propriam anteponentes. Vale.

"He sits in ambush, with the rich, etc." Thus encouraged by these documents and examples, let us endure these things so much the more securely the more injuriously they befall /f.18va/ us. And if they do not advance us to merit, let us not doubt that at least they profit for some purgation; and since all things are conducted by divine disposition, in this at least let each of the faithful console himself in every pressure, that the highest goodness of God never permits anything to be done inordinately, and that whatever things are done perversely he himself terminates with the best end; whence also concerning all things it is rightly said to him: "Thy will be done." How great, finally, is that consolation for those who love God, from apostolic authority, wherein he says: "We know that for those who love God all things cooperate unto good, etc...!" Which the wisest of the wise was carefully attending to, when in Proverbs he said: "Nothing that happens to him will sadden the just man." From which he clearly shows them to recede from justice, whoever, on account of any burden upon themselves, grow angry at those things which they do not doubt are being done toward them by divine dispensation, and subject themselves to their own will rather than to the divine, and to that which in words sounds, "Thy will be done," they oppose with hidden desires, preferring their own to the divine will. Farewell.