Hugo of St. Victor: SOLILOQUIUM DE ARRHA ANIMAE

Dilecto fratri G. caeterisque servis Christi Hamerislevae degentibus H. qualiscunque vestrae sanctitatis servus, in una pace ambulare, et ad unam requiem pervenire. Soliloquium dilectionis, quod de Arrha animae inscriptum est, nisi charitati vestrae, ut discatis ubi vos oporteat verum amorem quaerere, et quemadmodum debeatis corda vestra spiritualium studio meditationum ad superna gaudia excitare. Hoc ergo, frater charissime, rogo, ut cum caeteris in memoriam mei suscipias, nec quod specialiter tibi mittitur, caeteros excludat, nec quod communiter omnibus datur, muneris praerogativam imminuat.

To the beloved brother G. and the other servants of Christ dwelling at Hamerisleva, H., whatever sort of servant of your sanctity, to walk in one peace and to arrive at one rest. The Soliloquy of Love, which is entitled On the Earnest of the Soul, I send to your charity, that you may learn where it behooves you to seek true love, and how you ought to arouse your hearts to the joys above by the zeal of spiritual meditations. Therefore this, dearest brother, I ask: that you receive it, together with the others, in remembrance of me, and let not that which is sent to you specially exclude the rest, nor let that which is given commonly to all diminish the prerogative of the gift.

Nolo vos hic provocare colore dictaminis, sed quia celare non potui meae erga vos affectum devotionis. Salutate fratrem B. et fratrem A. et omnes alios, quorum nomina, etsi ego in praesenti sigillatim enumerare non valeo, omnia tamen in libro vitae conscribi exopto. Valete.

I do not wish to provoke you here by the color of dictamen, but I could not conceal the affection of my devotion toward you. Greet brother B. and brother A. and all the others, whose names, although I am not at present able to enumerate one by one, yet I desire that all be inscribed in the book of life. Farewell.

Soliloquium de arrha animae.

Soliloquy on the Pledge of the Soul.

Interlocutores sunt homo et anima.

The interlocutors are the man and the soul.

HOMO. Loquar secreto animae meae, et amica confabulatione exigam ab ea quod scire cupio. Nemo alienus admittetur, sed aperta conscientia soli verba conferemus.

MAN. I will speak in secret to my soul, and by friendly confabulation I will exact from her what I desire to know. No alien will be admitted, but with conscience laid open we alone will confer words.

Sic enim nec mihi timor erit occulta quaerere, nec illi pudor vera respondere. Dic mihi, quaeso, anima mea, quid est quod super omnia diligis? Ego scio, quod vita tua dilectio est et scio quod sine dilectione esse non potes.

Thus neither will there be for me fear to seek out hidden things, nor for her shame to answer truths. Tell me, I pray, my soul, what is it that above all things you love? I know that your life is dilection, and I know that without dilection you cannot be.

Sed velim mihi sine verecundia confitearis, quid inter omnia diligendum elegeris? Dicam adhuc, ut manifestius intelligas quid te interrogem. Aspice mundum, et omnia quae in eo sunt; multas ibi species pulchras et illecebrosas invenies, quae humanos affectus illiciunt, et secundum varias utentium delectationes ad fluendum se desideria accendunt.

But I would wish you to confess to me without shame, what among all things you have chosen as the thing to be loved? I will say further, so that you may understand more manifestly what I ask you. Look upon the world, and all the things that are in it; there you will find many forms, beautiful and alluring, which entice human affections, and, according to the various delectations of those who use them, they kindle desires to flow along.

Habet aurum, habent lapides pretiosi fulgorem suum, habet decor carnis speciem, picta tapeta et vestes fucatae colorem. Infinita sunt talia. Sed haec cur tibi enumerem?

Gold has its sheen, precious stones have their splendor, the beauty of flesh has its appearance, painted tapestries and dyed garments have their color. Such things are infinite. But why should I enumerate these to you?

Ecce et tu novisti omnia, vidisti pene singula, experta plurima. Multa jam te vidisse recolis, et adhuc multa vides, in quibus quod dico experiri et comprobare possis. Dic ergo obsecro mihi, quid de his omnibus unicum tibi feceris, quod singulariter amplecti, quo semper perfrui velis?

Behold, you too know all things, you have seen almost each one, you have experienced very many. Many you recall that you have already seen, and you still see many, in which you can try and verify what I say. Tell me therefore, I beseech you, what among all these you have made the one-and-only for yourself, which you would singularly embrace, with which you would wish always to take full delight?

Certus enim sum, quod aut horum quae videntur aliquid amas, aut si jam postposuisti universa haec, aliud habes quae prae omnibus his diligas.

For I am certain that either you love something of those things which are seen, or, if you have already postponed all these, you have another which you love before all of these.

ANIMA. Sicut amare non possum quod nunquam vidi, sic de his omnibus quae videntur, nihil adhuc amare non potui, et tamen de his omnibus quid super omnia amandum sit nondum inveni. Multis enim jam experimentis didici fallacem esse, et fugacem amorem hujus saeculi, quem semper, vel cum perit id quod mihi elegeram perdere, vel cum aliud, quod magis placeat, supervenerit, cogor commutare; sic adhuc desideriis incerta fluctuo, dum nec sine amore esse possum, nec verum amorem invenio.

SOUL. Just as I cannot love what I have never seen, so, of all these things that are seen, I have not yet been able not to love something; and yet, among all these I have not yet found what ought to be loved above all. For by many experiments I have already learned the love of this age to be fallacious and fugacious, which I am always forced to change, either when that which I had chosen for myself perishes and I lose it, or when another, which pleases more, has supervened; thus, up to now, uncertain in my desires, I fluctuate, since I can neither be without love nor do I find true love.

HOMO. Gaudeo quod saltem in amorem temporalium non figeris, sed doleo quod in amore aeternorum nondum requiescis. Infelicior esses, si de exsilio patriam faceres; nunc vero, quia in exsilio erras, ad viam revocanda es. De exsilio patriam faceres, si in ista vita transitoria aeternum amorem habere velles.

MAN. I rejoice that at least you are not fixed in the love of temporals, but I grieve that you do not yet rest in the love of eternals. You would be more unhappy if you were making a homeland out of exile; but now, since you wander in exile, you are to be called back to the way. You would be making a homeland out of exile, if in this transitory life you were willing to have an eternal love.

Nunc vero in exsilio erras, quia dum traheris per concupiscentiam temporalium, amorem non invenis aeternorum. Sed magnum salutis principium tibi esse potest, quod amorem tuum didicisti mutare in melius, quia sic ab omni temporalium amore avelli poteris, si major tibi pulchritudo ostensa fuerit, quam gratius amplectaris.

Now indeed you err in exile, because while you are drawn along by the concupiscence of temporal things, you do not find the love of eternal things. But a great beginning of salvation can be yours, in that you have learned to change your love for the better, because thus you will be able to be torn away from every love of temporal things, if a greater pulchritude has been shown to you, which you would embrace more gladly.

ANIMA. Quomodo potest demonstrari, quod videri non potest? quod autem videri non potest, quomodo potest diligi?

SOUL. How can that be demonstrated which cannot be seen? but that which cannot be seen, how can it be loved?

Certe si in rebus temporalibus, et quae videri possunt, verus et permanens amor non est, amari autem non potest, quod non potest videri, aeterna miseria semper viventem sequitur, si semper permanens amor non invenitur. Nemo enim sine amore esse beatus potest, quia vel in hoc solo miserum esse constat, quod non diligit id quod est. Imo vero quis illum non dico beatum, sed vel hominem diceret, qui humanitatis oblitus, et societatis pacem respuens, solitaria quadam et misera dilectione se solum amaret?

Certainly, if in temporal things, and in things that can be seen, there is no true and permanent love, and moreover what cannot be seen cannot be loved, eternal misery follows the one who ever lives, if a love that is ever permanent is not found. For no one can be blessed without love, since even in this alone it is evident that he is wretched: that he does not love that which is. Nay rather, who would call him—I do not say blessed, but even a man—who, forgetful of humanity and spurning the peace of society, would, with a certain solitary and wretched affection, love himself alone?

Necesse est igitur, ut aut eorum quae videntur amorem approbes, aut si hunc tollis, alia quae salubrius atque jucundius amentur, demonstres.

It is necessary, therefore, that either you approve the love of those things which are seen, or, if you take this away, you demonstrate others which may be loved more salubriously and more pleasantly.

HOMO. Si temporalia ista et visibilia idcirco amari debere existimas, quia illis quemdam sui generis decorem inesse conspicaris, cur teipsam potius non diligis, quae specie tua omnino visibilium decorem et pulchritudinem vincis? O si teipsam aspiceres!

MAN. If you suppose that these temporal and visible things ought on that account to be loved, because you behold that a certain decor of its own kind is in them, why do you not rather love yourself, who by your own appearance altogether surpass the decor and beauty of visible things? O if only you would look upon yourself!

O si faciem tuam videres, agnosceres certe quanta reprehensione digna fueras, cum aliquid extra te amore tuo dignum existimabas!

O if you were to see your face, you would surely recognize how much you had been worthy of reprehension, when you were esteeming something outside yourself worthy of your love!

ANIMA. Oculus cuncta videt, seipsum non videt, et eo lumine, quo reliqua cernimus, ipsam, in qua positum est lumen, faciem nostram non videmus. Alienis indiciis discunt homines facies suas, et speciem vultus sui audiendo saepius quam videndo cognoscunt, nisi forte quoddam alterius generis speculum afferas, in quo faciem cordis mei cognoscam et diligam, quasi et illum non rectissime insipientem quisque diceret, qui ad pascendum amorem suum similitudinem vultus sui jugiter in speculo consideraret.

ANIMA. The eye sees all things; it does not see itself; and by that light by which we discern the rest, we do not see our own face, in which the light is set. By others’ indications men learn their faces, and they come to know the appearance of their countenance more often by hearing than by seeing, unless perchance you were to bring some speculum of another kind, in which I might know and love the face of my heart—for would not anyone most rightly call insipient the man who should continually consider in a mirror the likeness of his face for the feeding of his love?

Ego igitur quia faciem meam et speciem vultus mei qualis sit, contemplari nequeo, facilius in ea, quae foris admiranda videntur, affectum dilectionis meae extendo. Praesertim quia amor nunquam solitarius esse patitur, et in hoc ipso jam quodammodo amor esse, si desint in alterum parilitatis consortem vim dilectionis non diffundit.

Therefore I, because I cannot contemplate what my face and the appearance of my countenance are like, more easily extend the affection of my love into those things which outwardly seem admirable. Especially since love never allows itself to be solitary, and in this very fact it is already in some way the nature of love that, if there is lacking in another a consort of parity, it does not diffuse the force of love into another.

HOMO. Non est solitarius, cum quo est Deus, nec idcirco vis dilectionis exstinguitur, si a rebus abjectis et vilibus appetitus ejus cohibeatur. Ille magis sibi injuriam facit, qui vel inhonesta vel certe ea, quae amore suo digna non sunt, in societatem dilectionis admittit.

MAN. He is not solitary, with whom God is, nor therefore is the force of love extinguished, if his appetite is restrained from abject and base things. He rather does an injury to himself, who admits either dishonorable things or at any rate those which are not worthy of his love, into the society of love.

Primum igitur necesse est, ut quisque semetipsum consideret, et cum cognoverit dignitatem suam (ne injuriam faciat amori suo) abjectiora se non amet. Nam et ea, quae per se considerata, pulchra sunt, pulchrioribus comparata vilescunt. Et sicut ineptum est deformia pulchris conjungere, sic omnino indecens est ea, quae non habent nisi infimam quamdam et imaginariam pulchritudinem, pulchritudinis coaequare.

First, therefore, it is necessary that each person consider himself; and when he has recognized his dignity (lest he do injury to his love), let him not love things more abject than himself. For even those things which, considered per se, are beautiful, when compared with more beautiful things are cheapened. And just as it is inept to conjoin the deformed with the beautiful, so it is altogether indecent to make coequal with beauty those things which have nothing except a certain lowest and imaginary beauty.

Non vis habere anima amorem solitarium, noli tamen habere prostitutum. Quaeris unicum, quaere et unice electum. Scis quod amor ignis est, et ignis quidem fomentum quaerit ut ardeat.

You do not wish the soul to have a solitary love; do not, however, have a prostituted one. You seek the unique; seek also one uniquely elect. You know that love is a fire, and fire indeed seeks fuel that it may burn.

Sed cave ne id injicias, quod fumum potius aut fetorem ministrat. Ea vis amoris est, ut talem esse necesse sit, quale illud est quod amas, et qui per affectum conjungeris, in ipsius similitudinem ipsa quodammodo dilectionis societate transformaris. Tuam igitur anima pulchritudinem attende, et intelliges qualem debeas pulchritudinem diligere.

But beware lest you throw in that which furnishes rather smoke or stench. Such is the force of love, that it is necessary that you be such as that which you love; and you who through affection are joined are, by the very society of love, in a certain manner transformed into its similitude. Therefore attend to your soul’s beauty, and you will understand what kind of beauty you ought to love.

Non est tibi invisibilis facies tua. Oculus tuus nihil bene videt, si seipsum non videat. Nam cum ad seipsum contemplandum bene perspicuus est, nulla eum foris peregrina similitudo, vel adumbrata veritatis imaginatio fallere potest.

Your face is not invisible to you. Your eye sees nothing well, if it does not see itself. For when it is perspicuous for contemplating itself, no foreign similitude from without, nor an adumbrated imagination of truth, can deceive it.

Quod si forte interna illa tua visio per negligentiam obscurata est, et temetipsam ut decet et expedit contemplari non sufficis, cur saltem quid de te existimare debeas, ex judicio alieno non perpendis? Sponsum habes, sed nescis. Pulcherrimus est omnium, sed faciem ejus non vidisti.

But if perchance that inner vision of yours has been obscured through negligence, and you are not sufficient to contemplate your very self as is fitting and expedient, why at least do you not weigh, from another’s judgment, what you ought to esteem about yourself? You have a bridegroom, but you do not know. He is the most beautiful of all, but you have not seen his face.

Ille te vidit, quia nisi te vidisset, non te diligeret. Noluit adhuc seipsum tibi praesentare, sed munera misit, arrham dedit, pignus amoris, signum dilectionis. Si cognoscere illum posses, si speciem illius videres, non amplius de tua pulchritudine ambigeres.

He saw you, for unless he had seen you, he would not love you. He did not yet choose to present himself to you, but he sent gifts, he gave an earnest, a pledge of love, a sign of affection. If you were able to know him, if you were to see his appearance, you would no longer waver about your beauty.

Scires enim quod tam pulcher, tam formosus, tam elegans, tam unicus in tuo aspectu captus non esset, si eum singularis decor et ultra caeteros admirandus non traheret. Quid igitur ages? Nunc videre illum non potes, quia absens est.

For you would know that one so fair, so comely, so elegant, so unique would not have been captivated by your aspect, if a singular decor, admirable beyond the rest, were not drawing him. What then will you do? Now you cannot see him, because he is absent.

Et ideo non times, neque erubescis illi injuriam facere, quod singularem ejus amorem contemnis, neque alienae libidini turpiter et impudice prostituis. Noli sic facere. Si adhuc scire non potes qualis ille sit, qui te diligit, considera saltem arrham, quam dedit; fortassis in ipso munere ejus, quod penes te est, poteris agnoscere quo affectu illum diligere, quo studio et diligentia te illi debeas conservare In signis est arrha ejus, nobile donum ejus, quia nec magnum decuit ut parva daret, nec pro parvo sapiens magna dedisset.

And therefore you do not fear, nor do you blush to do him injury, in that you contemn his singular love, but instead you shamefully and impudently prostitute yourself to another’s libido. Do not do thus. If as yet you cannot know of what sort he is who loves you, consider at least the arrha which he gave; perhaps in his very gift, which is in your possession, you will be able to recognize with what affection you should love him, with what zeal and diligence you ought to conserve yourself for him In the signs is his arrha, his noble gift, because it was not fitting that one great should give small things, nor would a wise man have given great things for something small.

Magnum ergo est quod tibi dedit, sed majus est quod in te diligit. Magnum ergo est quod dedit. Quid dedit tibi anima sponsus tuus?

Therefore great is what he has given to you, but greater is what he loves in you. Great, therefore, is what he has given. What has your bridegroom given to you, O soul?

Exspectas fortassis, et nescis quid dicturus sim. Cogitas a quo quid magni acceperis, nec invenis te aliquid tale habere aut accepisse, unde gloriari possis. Dicam igitur tibi, ut scias quid dedit sponsus tuus.

Perhaps you are waiting, and you do not know what I am about to say. You consider from whom you have received something great, and you do not find that you have or have received anything of such a sort whence you could glory. I will tell you, then, so that you may know what your bridegroom has given.

Respice universum mundum istum, et considera si aliquid in eo sit, quod tibi non serviat. Omnis natura ad hunc finem cursum suum dirigit, ut obsequiis tuis famuletur, et utilitati deserviat, tuisque oblectamentis pariter et necessitatibus secundum affluentiam indeficientem occurrat. Hoc coelum, hoc terra, hoc aer, hoc maria, cum iis, quae in eis sunt, universis, explere non cessant; in hoc circuitus temporum annuis innovationibus, et redivivis partubus antiqua innovans, dilapsa reformans, consumpta restaurans, pastu perpetuo subministrat.

Look upon this whole universe, and consider whether there be anything in it that does not serve you. All nature directs its course to this end: that by obsequious services it may be your handmaid, that it may be devoted to your utility, and may alike meet your delights and your necessities according to an unfailing affluence. This heaven, this earth, this air, these seas, with all the things that are in them, do not cease to supply you; herein the circuits of times, by annual innovations and reviving births—renewing things ancient, refashioning things that have slipped away, restoring things consumed—minister perpetual pasture.

Quis ergo putas hoc instituit? quis istud naturae praecepit ut sic uno consensu tibi serviat? beneficium accipis, et auctorem ejus non agnoscis.

Who, then, do you think instituted this? Who prescribed this to nature, that thus with one consent it should serve you? You receive the benefaction, and you do not acknowledge its author.

Donum in manifesto est, largitor occultus. Et tamen ipsa te ratio dubitare non sinit hoc tuum non esse debitum, sed beneficium alienum. Quicunque ergo ille est, multum tibi contulit, qui hoc totum et tantum tibi dedit multum diligendus est, qui tantum dare potuit et qui tantum dare voluit, multum dilexit.

The gift is manifest, the benefactor occult. And yet reason itself does not allow you to doubt that this thing of yours is not a debt owed, but another’s benefaction. Whoever therefore he is, he who gave you all this, and so great, has conferred much upon you, he is much to be loved, who was able to give so much and who willed to give so much, has loved much.

Tantum ergo diligens, et tantum diligendus dono suo demonstratur, ut quam stultum est amorem tam potentis non ultro concupiscere, tam impium sit atque perversum tam diligentem non redamare. Vide ergo, o anima imprudens et temeraria, vide quid agis, cum in hoc mundo amari et amare concupiscis. Totus tibi mundus subjectus est, et tu non dico totum mundum, sed nescio quid vix aliquam mundi portiunculam, quod nec specie pulchra, nec utilitate necessaria, nec quantitate magna, nec bonitate optima antecedat, in societatem tui amoris admittere non aspernaris.

So greatly loving, and so greatly to be loved, is demonstrated by his gift, that—as how foolish it is not of your own accord to desire the love of one so powerful, so impious and perverse it is not to love back one so loving. See then, O imprudent and rash soul, see what you are doing, when in this world you desire to be loved and to love. The whole world is subject to you, and you—I do not say the whole world, but some I-know-not-what, scarcely any little portion of the world—which surpasses neither in fair appearance nor in necessary utility nor in great quantity nor in optimal goodness, you do not disdain to admit into the fellowship of your love.

Certe si haec diligis, ut subjecta dilige, ut famulantia dilige, ut dona dilige, ut arrham sponsi, ut munera amici, ut beneficia Domini. Sic tamen, ut semper memineris quid illi debeat, nec ista pro illo, nec ista cum illo, sed ista propter illum, et per ista illum, et supra ista illum diligas. Cave, o anima, ne (quod absit!) non sponsa, sed meretrix dicaris, si munera dantis plus quam amantis affectum diligis.

Surely, if you love these things, love them as things subject, love them as things serving, love them as gifts, as the pledge of the bridegroom, as the gifts of a friend, as the benefactions of the Lord. Yet so, that you always remember what they owe to him, and that you love neither these instead of him, nor these along with him, but these on account of him, and through these him, and above these him. Beware, o soul, lest (which be far from us!) you be called not a bride, but a harlot, if you love the gifts of the giver more than the affection of the lover.

Majorem charitati ejus injuriam facis, si et dona illius accipis, et tamen vicissitudinem dilectionis non rependis. Aut dona illius (si potes) respue, vel si dona illius respuere non potes, vicissitudinem dilectionis repende. Dilige illum, dilige te propter illum, dilige dona illius propter illum.

You do a greater injury to his charity, if you both receive his gifts and yet do not repay the reciprocation of love. Either spurn his gifts (if you can), or, if you cannot spurn his gifts, repay the reciprocation of love. Love him, love yourself for his sake, love his gifts for his sake.

Dilige illum ut fruaris illo, dilige te quod diligeris ab illo. Dilige in donis illius, quod data sunt ab illo. Illum tibi, et te illi dilige, dona illius ab illo tibi, propter te. Haec pura et casta dilectio est, nihil habens sordidum, nihil amarum, nihil transitorium, decora castitate, jucunda dulcedine, stabili aeternitate.

Love him that you may enjoy him, love yourself because you are loved by him. Love in his gifts, because they have been given by him. Love him for yourself, and yourself for him, his gifts as from him to you, for your sake. This is pure and chaste affection, having nothing sordid, nothing bitter, nothing transitory, decorous with chastity, delightful with sweetness, with stable eternity.

ANIMA. Verba tua inflammaverunt me, concepi ardorem, et aestuo intus. Quamvis enim nondum viderim hunc, quem tam amabilem esse asseris, ipsa me tamen (fateor) sermonis tui dulcedine et exhortationis suavitate ad amorem ejus accendis.

SOUL. Your words have inflamed me; I have conceived an ardor, and I seethe within. For although I have not yet seen this one whom you assert to be so lovable, yet I myself (I confess), by the sweetness of your discourse and the suavity of your exhortation, you kindle me to his love.

Cogor siquidem rationibus tuis illum super omnia diligere, a quo me video omnia in pignus dilectionis accepisse. Verumtamen adhuc unum superest, quod apud me valde felicitatem hujus amoris imminuat, nisi illud quoque (sicut caetera) manus tuae consolationis abstergat.

I am indeed compelled by your reasons to love him above all things, from whom I see that I have received all things as a pledge of love. Nevertheless one thing still remains, which with me greatly diminishes the felicity of this love, unless your hand of consolation wipe that away also (as the rest).

HOMO. Fiducialiter tibi promitto in hoc amore nihil esse, quod jure displicere debeat, et tamen ne magis videar credulitatem tuam fallere, quam veritati testimonium perhibere, volo ut mihi quod te movet aperias, ut meis iterum rationibus confirmata amplius in ejus desiderio convalescas.

MAN. Confidently I promise you that in this love there is nothing which ought by right to displease; and yet, lest I seem rather to deceive your credulity than to bear witness to the truth, I wish that you lay open to me what moves you, so that, confirmed again by my reasons, you may convalesce further in desire for him.

ANIMA. Meminisse te volo, sed nec oblitum existimo, quod paulo ante (cum tu probabilem et honestum amorem commendares) dixeris non solum unicum. sed et unice electum esse debere amorem, id est in solum dilecto et solum diligendo constitutum, eo quod perfecte laudabilis amor non sit, si vel alter cum solo diligitur, vel qui summe diligendus non est, solus amatur.

ANIMA. I wish you to remember, nor do I suppose you have forgotten, that a little before (when you were commending a plausible and honorable love) you said that love ought to be not only unique. but also uniquely elect— that is, constituted in the only one beloved and in loving the only one— because love is not perfectly laudable if either another is loved along with the only one, or he who is not supremely to be loved is loved alone.

Ecce igitur ego unice electum et unice dilectum diligo. Sed hanc hujus dilectionis meae injuriam patior, quod solum diligens sola non amor. Nam hanc dilectionis ejus arrham, quam mihi objicis, quot sint, vel certe quales, cum quibus haec mihi communis est, tu ipse agnoscis.

Behold, therefore, I love one uniquely elect and uniquely beloved. But I suffer this injury to my love, that, though loving only him, I am not loved alone. For as to that earnest-pledge of his love which you allege against me, you yourself acknowledge how many there are, or at least what sort they are, with whom this is common to me.

Quo igitur de privilegio singularis amoris potero gloriari, quae hoc, quod tam magnum asseris, non dicam cum bestialibus, sed et cum ipsis bestiis commune accepi? Quid mihi lux solis amplius confert, quam reptilibus et vermibus terrae? Omnia similiter vivunt, omnia spirant, idem pastus, idem potus omnium, quid hoc tam magnum?

How then shall I be able to boast of the privilege of singular love, I who have received this—what you assert to be so great—not to say in common with the bestial, but even with the beasts themselves? What does the light of the sun confer on me more than on the reptiles and the worms of the earth? All alike live, all breathe; the same food, the same drink for all—what is so great about this?

quid hoc tam singulare? vides certe quale est. Non itaque satis congrue singulariter diligendum probas, si non et ipsum quoque vel in aliquo singulariter dilexisse demonstras.

What is there so singular in this? you certainly see what sort it is. Therefore you do not prove sufficiently and congruently that he is to be loved singularly, if you do not also demonstrate that he himself likewise has loved, at least in some respect, in a singular fashion.

Magna quidem fateor haec et singulari amore digna forent, si singulariter data fuissent.

Great indeed, I confess, these things would be, and worthy of singular love, if they had been given in a singular manner.

HOMO. Non mihi displicere potest haec diligentia tua, quia in hoc patet, quod perfecte amare desideras, quoniam causam perfecti amoris tam diligenter investigas. Gratanter igitur hoc tecum disserendum suscipio, ut et tam optimi amorem ab hac, pro qua causaris, injuria defendam, et simul te, ne qua ab illius dilectione suspicione vacilles, ad integrum restituam.

HOMO. This diligence of yours cannot displease me, because herein it is evident that you desire to love perfectly, since you investigate the cause of perfect love so diligently. Gladly therefore I undertake to discuss this with you, both that I may defend the love of so excellent a one from this injury for which you make complaint, and at the same time that I may restore you, lest by any suspicion you waver from his affection, to integrity.

Tria quaedam sunt, in quibus id quod te movet, invenias. Discerne quae dona a sponso tuo accepisti; alia enim communiter, alia specialiter, alia singulariter data sunt Communiter data sunt, quae omnibus propter te tecum serviunt. Specialiter data sunt, quae multis nec tamen omnibus propter te tecum sunt concessa.

There are certain three things, in which you may find that which moves you. Discern which gifts you have received from your bridegroom; for some are given commonly, some specially, some singularly. Commonly given are those which, on account of you, serve with you for all. Specially given are those which, to many yet not to all, have been conceded, on account of you, to be with you.

Singulariter data sunt, quae tibi soli sunt data. Quid igitur, nunquid ideo minus te diligit, quia quaedam dona sua tecum simul omnibus concessit? Nunquid feliciorem te fecisset, si tibi soli mundum dedisset?

Singularly given are those which have been given to you alone. What then? Does he therefore love you less, because he has conceded certain of his gifts to all at the same time together with you? Would he have made you happier, if he had given the world to you alone?

Ecce non sunt creati homines super terram, non sunt bestiae, sola divitias mundi possides, ubi igitur illa grata et utilis societas humanae conversationis? ubi solatia, ubi oblectamenta, quibus nunc frueris? vide igitur quia et in hoc multum tibi contulit, quod haec ad solamen tuum tecum creavit.

Behold: suppose men were not created upon the earth, there were no beasts, and you alone possess the riches of the world—where then is that pleasing and useful society of human conversation? where the solaces, where the delectations which you now enjoy? See, therefore, that even in this he has much conferred upon you, that he created these things together with you for your solace.

Si mundus iste, et haec omnia tibi serviunt, quomodo etiam omnia ad obsequium tuum facta non sunt? Nunquid paterfamilias solus panem suum comedit? nunquid solus potum suum bibit?

If this world, and all these things, serve you, how is it that all things were not also made for your service? Does the paterfamilias eat his bread alone? does he alone drink his drink?

nunquid solus vestimentis suis induitur? nunquid solus calefit igne suo? nunquid solus habitat in domo sua?

does he alone put on his garments? is he alone warmed by his own fire? does he alone inhabit his house?

Totum tamen non immerito ejus dicitur, quidquid habent ii, qui ei vel per dilectionem, vel per subjectionem famulantur. Sive igitur illa, quae tibi serviunt, sive illa, quae tibi servientibus necessaria sunt, omnia tibi data sunt, omnia tibi obsequium impendunt.

The whole, however, is not without merit said to be his, whatever those possess who serve him either by dilection or by subjection. Therefore, whether those things which serve you, or those things which are necessary for those serving you, all have been given to you, all expend obedience to you.

ANIMA. Quod me movebat, praecidisti potius quam eradicasti. Ego namque hoc querebar, quod unice diligens, unice dilecta non sum, quia pignus amoris mei aliis aeque video esse concessum.

SOUL. What was moving me, you have cut off rather than uprooted. For I was complaining of this, that, loving uniquely, I am not uniquely beloved, because I see that the pledge of my love has been granted equally to others.

Tuae vero rationes hoc persuaserunt, ut illa quoque singulariter mihi donata crederem, quae in usum servientium mihi communiter data viderem. In quo te convenienter satis, sed non sufficienter de hoc, quod me movebat, locutum esse confiteor; hinc enim doceor omnia, quibus vita irrationalium fovetur, meae potius ditioni esse assignanda, propterea quod illa quoque, quae iis aluntur, in usum meum sunt deputata. Privilegium tamen singularis amoris exinde non astruitur, quia haec non soli mihi, sed cunctis similiter hominibus, multis vero amplius subjecta esse noscuntur.

Your reasons, indeed, have persuaded me to this: that I should believe those things also to have been granted to me singularly, which I saw to be given commonly for the use of those who serve me. In this I confess that you have spoken suitably enough, yet not sufficiently, concerning that which was moving me; for from this I am taught that all things by which the life of irrational beings is fostered are rather to be assigned to my dominion, because those things also by which they are nourished are deputed to my use. Yet the privilege of singular love is not thereby established, since these things are known to be subjected not to me alone, but similarly to all human beings, and indeed to many in greater measure.

In iis ergo omnibus, quae communiter usui hominum concessa sunt, et si quidem non juste amplius aliquid sibi vindicent, errant qui suae ditioni quidquam singulariter ascribunt. Est igitur specialis quidam amor Creatoris ad homines, in quo quidem ipsi homines aliis creaturis, non autem ad invicem, amplius gloriari habent. Nam quod in assertionem singularis amoris dicis, etiam mihi inter caetera donatam esse societatem hominum, cum tam mea illis, quam illorum mihi concessa sint, nihil ego in hoc singulare reperire possum.

In all therefore those things which have been conceded in common for the use of men, unless indeed they justly vindicate anything more for themselves, they err who ascribe anything in a singular manner to their own jurisdiction. There is therefore a certain special love of the Creator toward human beings, in which indeed humans themselves have to glory more than other creatures, but not, however, in relation to one another. For as to what you say in assertion of a singular love, that the society of human beings has been given to me also among the rest, since both what is mine has been granted to them and what is theirs to me, I can find nothing singular in this.

In qua societate non solum me laedit amissa gloria singularitatis, sed et vilitas participationis. Quot enim increduli, quot scelesti, quot impuri sunt, qui in hac societate similiter gloriari possunt?

In which society not only does the lost glory of singularity wound me, but also the vileness of participation. For how many unbelievers, how many wicked, how many impure are there, who in this society can similarly glory?

HOMO. Non te conturbare debet, quod in usu rerum temporalium eadem bonis et malis est participatio, nec idcirco eos similiter a Deo amari existimes, quia his omnibus tecum similiter communicare vides. Nam sicut bestiae non propter se, sed propter hominem creatae sunt, ita mali homines non propter se, sed propter bonos vivunt.

MAN. It ought not to disquiet you that, in the use of temporal things, there is the same participation for the good and for the evil, nor therefore should you think that they are loved by God in like manner, because you see that in all these things they similarly communicate with you. For just as beasts were created not on account of themselves, but for the sake of man, so evil men live not for their own sake, but for the sake of the good.

Et sicut vita eorum utilitati bonorum deservit, sic omne, quo vita illorum alitur, dubium non est quin additionem bonorum referendum sit. Idcirco autem mali inter bonos vivere permittuntur, ut societas illorum, bonorum vitam exerceat, quos et felicitate sua admonent potiora his, et quae mali communicare non possunt, bona quaerere, et iniquitate sua cogunt arctius virtutem amare. Postremo, ut dum illos divina gratia destitutos vident per quaelibet abrupta vitiorum ruere, discant quantas pro sua salute debeant Creatori gratias referre.

And just as their life subserves the utility of the good, so everything by which their life is nourished, without doubt, ought to be referred as an addition to the good. For this reason the evil are permitted to live among the good: that their fellowship may exercise the life of the good—whom, by their felicity, they admonish to seek goods better than these, goods which the evil cannot communicate (share); and by their iniquity they compel to love virtue more closely. Finally, so that, when they see them, bereft of divine grace, rushing headlong through whatever precipices of vices, they may learn how great thanks, for their own salvation, they ought to render to the Creator.

Ratio siquidem divinae dispensationis ad nostrae salutis augmentum et glorificationis documentum hoc exigebat, ut sicut in vita bestiarum dicimus summam felicitatem non esse his uti, ita quoque in vita malorum hominum discamus nec esse summam felicitatem istis dominari. Similiter igitur bonis ac malis ista concedi debuerunt, quia aliter boni potiora sibi servari non crederent, nisi ista tam bonis quam malis communia esse viderent. Nihil igitur amplius de societate aut felicitate malorum conqueraris, nec ideo in privilegium singularis amoris tecum ascribendos putes, quia eos in usu et dominio rerum transeuntium socios habes, quia etiam in hoc, sicut jam diximus, saluti tuae proficiunt, quod istis tecum non tantum uti, sed et dominari possunt.

For indeed the rationale of the divine dispensation required this for the augmentation of our salvation and as a document of glorification: that just as in the life of beasts we say that their highest felicity is not to use these things, so also in the life of evil men we may learn that their highest felicity is not to lord over these things. Therefore in like manner these things ought to have been conceded to both the good and the bad, because otherwise the good would not believe that better things are reserved for themselves, unless they saw that these things are common to both good and bad. Do not, then, complain any more about the society or felicity of the wicked, nor think that they must on that account be enrolled with you in the privilege of singular love, because you have them as partners in the use and dominion of transitory things; for even in this, as we have already said, they profit your salvation, in that they are able not only to use these things with you, but also to dominate them.

Quid autem de societate bonorum dicam? Nam hoc solum nunc restat, ut consideres utrumne idcirco de singulari amore sponsi tui gloriari non possis, quod ab eo non sine societate bonorum diligeris. Quapropter reminisci te volo illius (quam superius in assertionem attuli) sententiae, quam tunc quidem quasi minus congruam ad id, de quo illic agebatur atque igitur comprobandum, judicasti.

But what shall I say about the society of the good? For this alone now remains: that you consider whether for this reason you cannot glory in the singular love of your bridegroom, because by him you are loved not without the society of the good. Wherefore I want you to remember that sentence (which above I adduced for assertion), which you then judged as if less congruent to the matter that was being dealt with there and therefore to be proved.

Replico igitur nunc eam, ut diligentius coram te discutiam; utrumne aliquid nobis ad id quod demonstrare nitimur confirmandum, ejus veritas astipuletur. Dixi enim etiam societatem hominum dono tibi Creatoris esse concessam, ut inde solamen vivendi capias, ne quadam solitaria et inerti vita destituta contabescas. Sicut igitur vita malorum tibi est exercitium, sic solamen est vita bonorum, qui certe tales sunt, quos nec felicitatis, tuae participes, nec amoris tui aspernari debes habere consortes.

I therefore now repeat it, that I may discuss it more diligently before you; whether its truth may attest something for us toward the confirming of that which we strive to demonstrate. For I said also that the society of men has been conceded to you by the Creator as a gift, that from it you might take solace for living, lest, left to a certain solitary and inert life, you waste away. Just as therefore the life of the wicked is an exercise for you, so the life of the good is a solace—who assuredly are such as you ought not to spurn to have as consorts, participants both of your felicity and of your love.

Nam si vere bonos diligis, quidquid illis beneficii impenditur, inde charitas, quae in te est, non quasi de alieno, sed quasi de proprio gratulatur. Licet igitur beatum esset, isto amore te vel solam perfrui, multo tamen beatius est in ipso cum multorum bonorum congratulatione delectari, quia cum in eos etiam, qui comparticipant, affectus dilectionis expanditur, charitatis gaudium et suavitatis ampliatur. Spiritualis namque amor tunc melius cuique fit singularis, quando omnibus est communis.

For if you truly love the good, whatever beneficence is expended upon them, the charity which is in you rejoices at it not as over something alien, but as over something proper, its own. Granted, therefore, that it would be blessed for you to enjoy this love even alone, yet it is much more blessed to be delighted in it with the congratulation of many good people, because when the affection of love is spread out even toward those who co-participate, the joy of charity and of suavity is enlarged. For spiritual love then becomes the more singular to each, when it is common to all.

Nec participatione plurium minuitur, cujus fructus unus et idem totus in singulis reperitur. Nihil igitur privilegio singularis amoris tui societas bonorum praescribit, quia sponsus tuus in omnibus diligit te, quos diligit propter te, ac per hoc etiam singulariter diligit te, quia nihil diligit sine te. Non autem timeas animum illius in amorem plurium quasi per affectum distrahi, et idcirco minorem esse ad singulos, quod partitus quodammodo et divisus videatur in cunctos. Sic singulis adest quasi omnibus, quia nec alium nec majorem dilectionis affectum singulis impenderet, si absque cunctorum participatione singulos amaret.

Nor is it diminished by the participation of many, whose fruit is one and the same, entire in each individual. Therefore the society of the good prescribes nothing against the privilege of your singular love, because your Bridegroom loves you in all those whom he loves on account of you, and through this he also loves you singularly, because he loves nothing without you. Do not, however, fear that his mind is distracted, as it were, into the love of many by affection, and therefore is lesser toward individuals, because he seems in some way apportioned and divided among all. He is thus present to individuals as to all, since he would not expend upon individuals either a different or a greater affection of dilection, even if he were to love individuals without the participation of all.

Ergo omnes unum unice diligant, ut omnes ab uno unice diligantur, quia nec alius praeter unum unice ab omnibus diligendus est, nec alius praeter unum unice omnes diligere potest. Omnes autem in uno se quasi unum diligant, ut unius dilectione unum fiant. Iste amor unicus est non tamen privatus, solus nec tamen solitarius, participatus nec divisus, communis et singularis, cunctorum singulus et singulorum totus, nec participatione decrescens, nec usu deficiens, nec tempore veterascens, antiquus et novus, affectu desiderabilis, experientia dulcis, fructu aeternus, jucunditate plenus, reficiens et satians, nec unquam fastidium generans.

Therefore let all love the One uniquely, that all may be loved uniquely by the One, since neither is any other besides the One uniquely to be loved by all, nor can any other besides the One uniquely love all. Moreover, let all love themselves in the One as if one, that by the love of the One they may become one. This love is unique yet not private, alone yet not solitary, shared yet not divided, common and singular, the single one of all and the whole of each of the individuals, neither decreasing by participation, nor failing through use, nor growing old with time, ancient and new, desirable in affection, sweet in experience, eternal in fruit, full of gladness, refreshing and satisfying, and never generating disgust.

ANIMA. Satis jucundae mihi sunt assertiones tuae, et fateor quoniam inde jam incipio ardentius hujus amorem appetere, unde prius coeperam eum amplius fastidire. Sane unum adhuc superest desiderio meo quod si per te adipisci potero, satis per omnia mihi factum esse non dubitabo.

ANIMA. Your assertions are quite jocund to me, and I confess that from them I now begin to seek this love more ardently, whence before I had begun to disdain it more. Surely one thing still remains for my desire which, if I can obtain it through you, I shall not doubt that enough has been done for me in all respects.

Hoc autem est, si quomodo demonstrari possit, qualiter iste sponsus castitatis singulis quos diligit quasi omnibus affectu et effectu adsit. Et de affectu quidem dubitare non potero, si hoc in effectu verum esse cognosco.

This, however, is this: if it can somehow be demonstrated, how this bridegroom of chastity is present, to each of those whom he loves as though to all, in affection and in effect. And as to the affection indeed, I shall not be able to doubt, if I recognize this to be true in effect.

HOMO. O anima mea, si tantopere in incepto persistis, nec tibi satisfactum esse judicas, si non prorsus singulare beneficium sponsi tui impensum agnoscas, etiam in hoc tuae petitioni libenter annuo, quoniam hanc tuam instantiam ex devotione potius nasci, quam ex importunitate cognosco. Nam in hoc quoque providit tibi optimus amator tuus, ne nihil esset, in quo singulariter de ipso gloriari possis sed sicut communia et specialia dedit, sic et singularia tribuit.

MAN. O my soul, if you persist so greatly in the undertaking, and do not judge yourself to have been satisfied unless you plainly acknowledge the singular benefaction expended by your bridegroom, even in this I gladly assent to your petition, since I recognize that this your insistence is born from devotion rather than from importunity. For in this too your best lover has provided for you, lest there should be nothing in which you could glory concerning him in a singular way; but just as he gave things common and things special, so also he has bestowed things singular.

Communia quidem sunt ea, quae in usum universorum veniunt, sicut est lux solis, spiramen aeris. Specialia vero, ut ea, quae non omnibus, sed quasi quidam societati concessa sunt, sicut est fides, sapientia, disciplina. Singularia autem ut ea, quae unicuique propria impertita sunt, sicut Petro principatus in apostolis, Paulo apostolatus in gentibus, Joanni privilegium amoris.

Common, indeed, are those things which come into the use of all, such as the light of the sun, the spiration of air. Special, however, are those which are granted not to everyone, but as it were to a certain society, such as faith, sapience, discipline. Singular, moreover, are those which are imparted as proper to each individual, such as to Peter the primacy among the apostles, to Paul the apostleship among the Gentiles, to John the privilege of love.

Considera ergo anima mea, quae communia cum omnibus, quae specialia cum aliquibus, quae singularia sola acceperis. In omnibus iis te dilexit, quae vel cummuniter tecum omnibus, vel specialiter quibusdam, vel singulariter tibi soli tribuit. Cum iis rursum omnibus te dilexit, quibus te participatione doni sui sociavit.

Consider, therefore, my soul, what things you have received in common with all, what things specially with some, what things singularly alone. In all these he loved you, in that he bestowed on you either commonly with all, or specially on certain, or singularly on you alone. With all those, again, he loved you, by which he associated you through a participation of his gift.

Prae omnibus iis te dilexit, quibus te singularis gratiae dono praetulit. In omni creatura dilecta es, cum omnibus bonis dilecta es, prae omnibus malis dilecta es. Et ne parum tibi videatur, quod prae omnibus malis dilecta es, quanti boni sunt, qui minus te acceperunt? Sed quia pro desiderio singularis amoris ad ea potius, quae singulariter data sunt niti te video, quamvis multa adhuc dici possent de iis in quibus et cum quibus dilecta es, hoc quod jam dictum est sufficere volo.

Above all these he loved you, in that by the gift of singular grace he has set you before them. In every creature you are beloved, with all goods you are beloved, before all evils you are beloved. And lest it seem too little to you that you are loved before all evils—how many goods there are who have received less than you! But because, in accordance with the desire of singular love, I see you rather strive toward those things which have been given singularly, although many things could still be said about those things in which and with which you have been loved, I wish what has now been said to suffice.

Nolo tamen, ut parum existimes vel in tantis, vel cum talibus te esse dilectam, ubi et bonos omnes habeas socios, malos vero, ut quae condita sunt universa, subjectos. Vidisti igitur, o anima mea, quanta sunt in quibus dilecta es, vidisti quales sunt cum quibus dilecta es, nunc prae quibus dilecta sis considera, quantum potes. Tibi loquor, anima mea, tu nosti quid acceperis, et necesse habes adhuc melius nosse, ne incipias vel de iis quae non accepisti praesumere, vel de iis quae accepisti gratias non referre.

I do not wish, however, that you think it little either among such great things, or with such ones, to have been loved, where you have all the good as companions, but the evil, like all things that have been created altogether, as subjects. You have seen, therefore, O my soul, how great are the things in which you have been loved; you have seen what sort they are with whom you are loved; now consider, as far as you can, before whom you have been loved. I speak to you, my soul; you know what you have received, and you have necessity to know it better still, lest you begin either to presume concerning those things which you have not received, or not to render thanks for those things which you have received.

Utinam recolere possim ea quomodo tibi expedit, et quomodo illi placet, qui tibi haec dedit! Nam et ipse idcirco haec tibi dedit, ut tu semper ea in memoria habeas, et nunquam ab ejus amore oblivione tepescas. Primum cogita anima mea, quod aliquando non fueris, et ut esse inciperes, hoc ejus dono acceperis.

Would that I could recollect these things in the way that is expedient for you, and in the way that it pleases him who gave these things to you! For he himself for this reason gave these things to you, that you may always hold them in memory, and that you may never grow tepid from his love through oblivion. First consider, my soul, that at one time you were not, and that, in order that you might begin to be, you received this by his gift.

Donum ergo ejus erat, ut fieres. Sed nunquid tu ei aliquid dederas priusquam fieres, quo tibi hoc ab eo redderetur ut fieres? Nihil prorsus, nihil tu dederas, nihil dedisse poteris priusquam fieres, sed gratis accepisti ab eo ut fieres.

Therefore it was his gift that you should come to be. But had you given him anything before you came to be, by which this might be rendered back to you by him, that you should come to be? Nothing at all; you had given nothing; you could have given nothing before you came to be; but you received it gratis from him, that you should come to be.

Cui ergo praelata es in eo quod facta es? Quis minus accipere potuit, quam qui ut fieret accepit? Et tamen nisi hoc esset aliquid accipere; non poterat qui non erat incipere, et nisi esse quam non esse melius esset, nihil ille qui est eo, qui non est, amplius accepisset. Quare ergo, Deus meus, fecisti me, nisi quia esse magis quam non esse voluisti me? Et plus dilexisti me omnibus iis qui accipere non meruerunt illud a te. Cum ergo, Deus meus, esse mihi dedisti bonum et magnum, bonum et pulchrum bonum tuum mihi dedisti, et me (cum hoc mihi dares) praetulisti omnibus quibus hoc tantum bonum tuum dare noluisti.

To whom, then, have you been preferred in this, that you were made? Who could receive less than he who received in order that he might come to be? And yet, unless this were to receive something, he who was not could not begin to be; and unless being were better than not-being, he who is would have received nothing more than he who is not. Why therefore, my God, did you make me, unless because you willed me to be rather than not to be? And you loved me more than all those who did not deserve to receive that from you. Since therefore, my God, you gave to me being—good and great—you gave to me your good, good and beautiful; and me (when you gave this to me) you preferred above all those to whom you were unwilling to give this so great a good of yours.

O anima mea, nunquid aliquid dicimus, cum hoc Deo nostro dicimus? Deo nostro a quo facti sumus, facti qui non fuimus, et ab omnibus qui facti non sunt, amplius accepimus. Sic prorsus, sic aliquid dicimus, et multum dicimus cum hoc dicimus, et hoc semper dicere debemus, ne unquam obliviscamur eum a quo tantum bonum accepimus.

O my soul, do we say anything when we say this to our God? To our God by whom we were made—made when we were not—and we have received more than all who have not been made. Thus altogether, thus we say something, and we say much when we say this, and we ought always to say this, lest we ever forget him from whom we have received so great a good.

Qui utique si nihil amplius dedisset, pro eo ipso tamen semper a nobis laudandus et diligendus esset. Nunc autem amplius dedit, quia dedit non solum esse, sed pulchrum esse, formosum esse, quod quantum superat nihil per existentiam, tantum antecedit aliquid per formam, in quo multum placet id quod est, et amplius id quod tale est. In quo, anima mea, omnibus te praelatam aspice, quos tale et tam excellens existendi bonum vides non accepisse.

Who assuredly, even if he had given nothing further, would nevertheless for that very thing always be to be praised and to be loved by us. Now, however, he has given more, because he has given not only to be, but to be beautiful, to be formous, which, inasmuch as it surpasses nothing with respect to existence, by so much it precedes something with respect to form; in which what is pleases much, and more what is such. In this, my soul, behold yourself preferred before all those whom you see not to have received such and so excellent a good of existing.

Sed nec hic terminari potuit munificentia largitoris optimi. Adhuc aliquid plus dedit, et magis nos ad similitudinem suam traxit; voluit ad se trahere per similitudinem quos ad se trahebat per dilectionem. Dedit ergo nobis esse, et pulchrum esse; dedit et vivere, ut praecellamus et iis quae non sunt per essentiam, et iis quae inordinata aut incomposita sunt, per formam, et quae inanimata, per vitam.

But neither could the munificence of the best giver be terminated here. He gave still something more, and drew us more to his similitude; he wished to draw to himself by similitude those whom he was drawing to himself by dilection. He therefore gave us to be, and to be beautiful; he gave also to live, so that we might excel both those things which are not by essence, and those which are disordered or uncomposed, by form, and those which are inanimate, by life.

Magno debito obligata es anima mea, multum accepisti, et nihil a te habuisti. Et pro iis omnibus non habes quid retribuas, nisi tantum ut diligas. Nam quod per dilectionem datum est, nec melius nec decentius quam per dilectionem rependi potest.

You are bound by a great debt, my soul; you have received much, and you have had nothing from yourself. And for all these things you have nothing to repay, except only that you love. For what has been given through dilection cannot be repaid either better or more fittingly than through dilection.

Accepisti autem hoc totum per dilectionem. Poterat enim Deus etiam aliis creaturis suis dedisse vitam, sed amplius in hoc dono dilexit te. Nec ideo plus dilexit te, quoniam plus diligendum invenit in te, sed quia gratuito plus dilexit te, talem fecit te ut jam nunc merito plus diligat te.

You have received, moreover, this whole thing through love. For God indeed could also have given life to His other creatures, but in this gift He loved you more. And not therefore did He love you more because He found in you something more to be loved, but because gratuitously He loved you more, He made you such that now already He deservedly loves you more.

ANIMA. Quanto plus audio, tanto plus audire concupisco, perge, quaeso, et quae sequuntur narrato.

ANIMA. The more I hear, the more I long to hear; proceed, I beg, and narrate what follows.

HOMO. Post esse, et post pulchrum esse, post vivere, datum est et sentire, datum est et discernere, et per eamdem dilectionem datum est, quae nisi praecessisset, nihil a largiente datum, nihil ab indigente acceptum fuisset. Quam sublimis, et quam decora facta es, anima mea.

MAN. After being, and after being beautiful, after living, it was also given to feel, it was also given to discern; and through that same love it was given, which, unless it had preceded, nothing would have been given by the largess-giver, nothing would have been accepted by the indigent. How sublime, and how decorous you have been made, my soul.

Quid sibi iste ornatus tantus ac talis voluit, nisi quia idem ipse, qui te induit, sponsam suo thalamo praeparavit? Novit ad quod opus te conderet, novit qualis ornatus illud opus deceret, et ideo dedit quod decuit, et quod tantum decuit, ut et ipse diligeret hoc, qui dedit. Sensibus foris decoravit, intus sapientia illustravit.

What did this adornment, so great and of such a kind, intend, unless that the very same one who clothed you prepared the bride for his bridal chamber? He knew for what work he would frame you, he knew what sort of adornment would befit that work, and therefore he gave what was fitting, and gave it so fittingly that he himself who gave it would love it. He decorated you outwardly with senses, he enlightened you inwardly with wisdom.

Sensus dans quasi exteriorem, sapientiam quasi interiorem habitum. Sensus quasi quasdam gemmas fulgentes appendens exterius, sapientiam quasi naturali pulchritudine faciem vultus tui decorans intus. Ecce ornatus tuus, omnium gemmarum vincit pulchritudinem, ecce facies tua omnium formarum superat decorem.

Giving the senses as a kind of outward habit, wisdom as a kind of inward habit. Hanging the senses outwardly like certain shining gems, adorning within the face of your countenance with wisdom as with natural beauty. Behold your adornment: it surpasses the beauty of all gems; behold your face: it outstrips the comeliness of all forms.

Talem omnino esse decebat, quae ad coelestis regis thalamum introducenda fuerat. Quantum dilecta es, et prae quantis dilecta es, quando talis facta es! Quam singulare donum, quam non omnibus concessum, non nisi dilectis et diligendis concedendum! Multum gloriari poteras, et multum custodiri debueras, ne tale donum perderes, ne tale ornamentum foedares, ne tantum decorem corrumperes, ne eo amisso vel immunito amplius misera fieres, quam eo non accepto vel non perfecto misera fuisses, ne te cum damno amissae pulchritudinis simul torqueret confusio foeditatis, et abjecta vilior fieres quam si recepta non fuisses.

Such altogether it was fitting that she be, who was to be led into the bridal chamber of the celestial king. How greatly you are beloved, and above how many you are beloved, since you have been made such! What a singular gift, one not granted to all, to be granted only to those loved and those to be loved! You could have gloried much, and you ought to have been greatly guarded, lest you lose such a gift, lest you defile such an ornament, lest you corrupt so great a decor, lest, with it lost or impaired, you become more wretched than you would have been had it not been received or not perfected; lest the confusion of foulness torture you together with the loss of beauty, and, cast off, you become more abject and viler than if you had not been received.

Istud ergo custodiendum et illud cavendum fuerat, ut istud custoditum persisteret, et illud cautum non eveniret. Sed vide quid fecisti, anima mea; dereliquisti sponsum tuum, et cum alienis prostituisti amorem tuum. Corrupisti integritatem tuam, foedasti pulchritudinem tuam, dispersisti ornatum tuum.

Therefore this was to be guarded and that to be shunned, so that this, once guarded, might persist, and that, once guarded against, might not come to pass. But see what you have done, my soul; you have forsaken your bridegroom, and you have prostituted your love with strangers. You have corrupted your integrity, you have defiled your beauty, you have dispersed your ornament.

Tam vilis, et tam turpis, et tam immunda facta es, quasi talis sponsi amplexibus amplius digna non esses. Oblita es ergo sponsi tui, et pro tantis beneficiis condignas gratias non egisti. Meretrix facta es, et prae nimiis fornicationibus tuis laxata sunt ubera tua.

So vile, and so base, and so unclean you have been made, as though you were no longer worthy of the embraces of such a bridegroom. You have therefore forgotten your bridegroom, and for such great benefactions you have not rendered condign thanks. You have become a prostitute, and because of your excessive fornications your breasts have been loosened.

Rugosa effecta est frons tua, genae marcidae, languentes et stupentes oculi, labia pallore obducta, exsiccata cutis, virtus infracta, ipsis quoque amatoribus tuis odiosa.

Your brow has been made rugose, your cheeks withered, your eyes languishing and stupefied, your lips overcast with pallor, your skin desiccated, your strength broken, odious even to your lovers themselves.

ANIMA. Sperabam tanta illa praecoma ad alium finem tendere, sed ut video ad majorem confusionem mei haec dixisti, ut eo magis odio dignam ostenderes, quo tantis beneficiis acceptis, et non custoditis magis ingratam comprobasses. Vellem ergo aut factum non esse quod dictum est, aut saltem dictum non esse quod factum est, ut vel oblivio confusionem tegeret, si praesumptio reatum non vitasset.

ANIMA. I was hoping those so great preambles were tending to another end; but, as I see, you have said these things to my greater confusion, so that you might show me the more worthy of hatred, in that, benefits so great having been received and not kept, you have proved me the more ungrateful. I would wish, therefore, either that what has been said had not been done, or at least that what has been done had not been said, so that even oblivion might cover the confusion, if presumption had not avoided the charge of guilt.

HOMO. Non ad confusionem tui, sed ad eruditionem dicta sunt, ut magis illi fias obnoxia, qui te et fecit cum non eras, et redemit cum perieras. Nam illud quoque in assertionem amoris illius commemoravi, ut inde occasione sumpta jam nunc tibi narrare incipiam, quantum iste sponsus tuus (qui tam excelsus apparuit cum te conderet) humiliari dignatus est cum te repararet.

MAN. Not to your confusion, but to your erudition they were spoken, that you may become the more beholden to him who both made you when you were not, and redeemed you when you had perished. For I also commemorated that in assertion of that love, so that, taking occasion from it, I may even now begin to narrate to you how greatly this bridegroom of yours (who appeared so exalted when he was fashioning you) deigned to be humbled when he was repairing you.

Illic tam sublimis, hic tam humilis, non tamen hic quam illic minus amabilis, quia nec hic quam illic minus admirabilis. Illic potenter magna tibi contulit, hic misericorditer pro te dira sustinuit. Ut enim te relevaret illuc unde cecideras, ipse descendere dignatus est huc ubi jacebas, et ut tibi juste redderetur quod perdideras, ipse dignatus est pie pati quod tolerabas.

There so sublime, here so humble, yet not here less amiable than there, because neither here less admirable than there. There he powerfully conferred great things upon you; here he mercifully endured dire things for you. For in order to raise you up thither whence you had fallen, he deigned himself to descend hither where you lay; and that what you had lost might be justly rendered back to you, he deigned piously to suffer what you were enduring.

Descendit ergo, suscepit, sustinuit, vicit, restauravit, descendit ad mortalem, suscepit mortalitatem, sustinuit passionem, vicit mortem, restauravit hominem; ecce, anima mea, obstupesce tanta mirabilia, tanta beneficia propter te exhibita. Cogita quantum diligat te, qui tanta facere dignatus est propter te. Pulcrha facta fueras ejus munere, foeda facta es tua iniquitate. Sed iterum mundata es et formosa facta ejus pietate, operante tamen utrobique charitate.

He descended, he assumed, he sustained, he conquered, he restored; he descended to the mortal, he assumed mortality, he sustained the passion, he conquered death, he restored man; behold, my soul, be stupefied at such marvels, such benefactions exhibited on your account. Consider how much he loves you, who deigned to do such great things on your account. Beautiful you had been made by his gift, foul you have been made by your iniquity. But again you have been cleansed and made fair by his piety, with charity, however, operative in both cases.

Olim cum non esses, dilexit te ut conderet Postea cum foeda esses, dilexit te ut pulchram faceret, et ut ostenderet tibi quantum te diligeret, non nisi moriendo a morte te liberare voluit, ut non tantum pietatis impenderet beneficium, verum et charitatis monstraret affectum Nunc autem tam sincera charitate te diligit, ac si semper cum eo perstitisses, nec exprobrat tibi reatum, nec improperat tibi beneficium. Et si deinceps fideliter cum eo perseverare, ipsumque ut decet amare, ac tuum illi amorem incontaminatum conservare volueris, majora prioribus se daturum promittit.

Once, when you did not exist, he loved you so as to found you; afterwards, when you were foul, he loved you so as to make you fair; and to show you how much he loved you, he willed to free you from death only by dying, so that he might not only expend the beneficence of piety, but also display the affection of charity. Now, however, with so sincere a charity he loves you as if you had always persisted with him; he neither reproaches you with the guilt, nor upbraids you with the benefit. And if henceforth you are willing faithfully to persevere with him, and to love him as is fitting, and to keep your love for him uncontaminated, he promises that he will give things greater than the former.

ANIMA. Jam quodam modo amare incipio culpam meam, quia, ut video, non parum mihi malefecisse profuit, quanto ex eo mihi, id quod votis omnibus scire desiderabam luce, clarius innotescit. O felix culpa mea, ad quam diluendam dum ille charitate trahitur, ipsa quoque ejus charitas mihi desideranti, et totis eam praecordiis concupiscenti aperitur.

SOUL. Already in a certain manner I begin to love my fault, because, as I see, it has profited me not a little to have done ill, in that from it that which I was desiring with all my vows to know becomes known to me more clearly than light. O my happy fault, for the washing-away of which, while he is drawn by charity, that very charity of his too is opened to me as I desire it and long for it with all my inmost heart.

Nunquam tam bene dilectionem ejus agnoscerem, si in tantis periculis eam experta non fuissem. O quam feliciter cecidi, quae post lapsum felicior resurrexi! Nulla dilectio major, nullus amor sincerior, nulla charitas sanctior, nullus affectus ardentior; mortuus est pro me innocens, nihil in me, quod amaret inveniens.

Never would I so well recognize his dilection, if I had not experienced it in such great dangers. O how happily I fell, I who after the lapse have risen happier! No dilection greater, no love more sincere, no charity more holy, no affection more ardent; the Innocent died for me, finding nothing in me which he might love.

Quid ergo, Domine, dilexisti in me, et tantum dilexisti ut morereris pro me? Quid tale in me invenisti, pro quo tanta et tam dura sustinere voluisti?

What, therefore, Lord, did you love in me, and did you so love me that you would die for me? What such thing did you find in me, for which you were willing to sustain such great and so hard things?

HOMO. O anima mea, argue temetipsam coram Domino, quod hucusque tantis beneficiis ejus ingrata fuisti, et miserationes ejus plurimas cognoscere noluisti. Sed ut adhuc melius intelligere possis quantum illi debeas, me reliqua ejus beneficia secundum coeptum ordinem prosequente, volo ut diligenter intendas.

MAN. O my soul, arraign yourself before the Lord, for thus far you have been ungrateful for his so great benefits, and have been unwilling to recognize his very many miserations. But so that you may be able to understand still better how much you owe to him, with me prosecuting the remaining benefits of his according to the order begun, I wish you to attend diligently.

ANIMA. Hoc semper audire desidero, quod mihi tam dulce est, ut idem te incessanter iterare cuperem, non ad alia quoque quae restant audienda, festinarem.

SOUL. This I always desire to hear, which is so sweet to me that I would wish you to iterate the same incessantly, and I would not hasten even to the other things which remain to be heard.

HOMO. Abieras ergo et perieras, et quia in peccatis tuis venundata eras, venit ille post te ut redimeret te, et tantum dilexit te, ut sanguinis sui pretium appenderet pro te, talique pacto et reduxit te de exsilio, et redemit de servitio.

MAN. You had gone away, then, and were lost, and because in your sins you had been sold, he came after you to redeem you, and so greatly loved you that he would pay the price of his own blood for you, and by such a pact he both brought you back from exile and redeemed you from servitude.

ANIMA. Nescivi quod tantum me diligeret Deus, amplius mihi vilis esse non debeo, quae tantum Deo placui, ut et mori eligeret pro me, ne perderet me.

SOUL. I did not know that God loved me so greatly; I ought no longer to be vile in my own eyes, I who have so pleased God that he even chose to die for me, that he might not lose me.

HOMO. Et quid si cogitare coeperis quot et quales in comparatione tui abjecti sunt, qui hanc, quae tibi data est, gratiam consequi non potuerunt? Certe audisti ab initio usque ad hanc diem, quam multae generationes hominum pertransierunt, quae omnes sine cognitione Dei, et pretio suae redemptionis in interitum sempiternum dilapsae sunt.

MAN. And what if you begin to consider how many, and of what sort, in comparison with you, have been cast off, who could not attain this grace which has been given to you? Surely you have heard, from the beginning up to this day, how many generations of men have passed by, all of whom, without the knowledge of God and without the price of their redemption, have lapsed into sempiternal destruction.

Omnibus illis te redemptor et amator tuus praetulit, quando tibi hanc gratiam largitus est, quam nullus horum percipere meruit. Et quid dices? Quare putas praelata es illis omnibus?

Over all those, your Redeemer and Lover preferred you, when he bestowed upon you this grace which none of them merited to receive. And what will you say? Why do you think you have been preferred before all of them?

Nunquid tu fortior, nunquid sapientior, nunquid nobilior, nunquid ditior illis omnibus fuisti, quia hanc prae illis omnibus specialem gratiam sortiri meruisti? Quot fortes, quot sapientes, quot nobiles, quot divites ibi fuerunt? et tamen universi relicti et abjecti perierunt.

Were you stronger, were you wiser, were you nobler, were you richer than all those, because you merited to be allotted this special grace in preference to them all? How many strong, how many wise, how many noble, how many rich were there? and yet all, left behind and cast off, perished.

Tu sola prae omnibus illis assumpta es, et quare in te hoc factum sit, nullam praeter gratuitam Salvatoris tui charitatem, causam invenire potes. Elegit ergo et praeelegit te sponsus tuus, amator tuus, Redemptor tuus, Deus tuus. Elegit te in omnibus, et assumpsit te ex omnibus, et amavit te prae omnibus.

You alone, before all those, have been taken up, and why this has been done in you, no cause can you find except the gratuitous charity of your Savior. Therefore your Bridegroom, your lover, your Redeemer, your God chose and pre-chose you. He chose you among all, and assumed you out of all, and loved you before all.

Nomine suo vocavit te, ut memoriale ejus semper esset apud te, voluit te participem esse in nomine, participem in nominis veritate, quoniam unxit te illo (quo et ipse unctus erat) oleo laetitiae, ut ab uncto sit unctus, qui a Christo dicitur Christianus.

He called you by his own name, so that his memorial might always be with you; he willed you to be a participant in the name, a participant in the truth of the name, since he anointed you with that oil of gladness (with which he himself had been anointed), so that from the Anointed he who is called Christian from Christ might be anointed.

ANIMA. Multum, fateor, collatum est mihi, sed quaeso te, si ut (asseris) ego jam assumpta sum, quid adhuc differor, quoniam ad amplexus sponsi necdum venire possum?

SOUL. Much, I confess, has been conferred upon me; but I beseech you, if, as (you assert), I have already been assumed, why am I still deferred, since I am not yet able to come to the embraces of the Bridegroom?

HOMO. Nescis ergo, anima mea, nescis quam foeda prius fuisti, quam polluta, quam deformis et squalida, discissa et dissipata, omni horrore et enormitate plena. Et quomodo tam cito in illum pudoris et castitatis thalamum introduci expetis, nisi prius saltem cura aliqua et studio exculta ad pristinum decorem repareris?

MAN. Do you not know then, my soul, do you not know how foul you were before, how polluted, how deformed and squalid, torn and dissipated, full of every horror and enormity? And how do you so quickly seek to be introduced into that bridal chamber of modesty and chastity, unless first at least, cultivated by some care and zeal, you be repaired to your former decor?

Nam hoc est quod nunc exspectaris, hoc est quod iste tuus sponsus adhuc praesentiam suam tibi subtrahit, et necdum in mutuos amplexus et dulcia oscula te admittit, quia videlicet nec polluta debet mundum tangere, nec turpem decet pulchrum videre. Cum autem praeparata et decenter ornata fueris, tunc demum in illum coelestis sponsi thalamum sine confusione permansura introibis. Nec te pudebit tunc priscae turpitudinis, cum nihil turpe, nihil pudore dignum habebis.

For this is why you are now being kept waiting; this is why your bridegroom still withdraws his presence from you, and does not yet admit you to mutual embraces and sweet kisses: because, namely, the polluted ought not to touch the clean, nor is it fitting that the shameful behold the fair. But when you shall have been prepared and decorously adorned, then at last you will enter that bridal chamber of the celestial bridegroom, to remain there without confusion. Nor then will you be ashamed of your ancient turpitude, since you will have nothing base, nothing worthy of shame.

Prius ergo stude formam tuam excolere, faciem ornare, habitum componere, maculas tergere, munditiam reparare, mores corrigere, disciplinam servare, et omnibus tandem in melius commutatis digno sponso dignam sponsam reddere. Aliquid dicere volo, unde te magis cautam efficiam, ne pro eo quod electam te audis, aut elatio tumidam, aut negligentia reddat dissolutam. Nunquam audisti quid rex Assuerus fecit, quando Vasthi reginam propter insolentiam illius repudiavit?

Therefore first strive to cultivate your form, to adorn your face, to compose your habit, to wipe away stains, to restore cleanliness, to correct your mores, to preserve discipline, and, with all things at length changed for the better, to render a bride worthy of a worthy bridegroom. I wish to say something, whereby I may make you more cautious, lest, on account of your hearing yourself chosen, either elation make you swollen, or negligence render you dissolute. Have you never heard what King Ahasuerus did, when he repudiated Queen Vashti on account of her insolence?

factum insigne, exemplum utile, periculum grave Abjecta est ergo illa propter superbiam suam, et factum est regis praeceptum, ut de omni regno suo congregarentur puellae speciosae virgines, et adducerentur ad civitatem Susan, et traderentur in domum feminarum sub manu Egei eunuchi, qui erat praepositus et custos mulierum regiarum, ibique acciperent mundum muliebrem, et caetera ad usum necessaria. Sicque omnibus abundanter secundum regiam ambitionem suppletu excolerentur, et ornarentur. Per sex menses oleo myrtino ungerentur, per alios sex quibusdam pigmentis uterentur, et sic compositae et ornatae, de triclinio feminarum ad regis cubiculum transirent, ut quae ex omnibus magis placuisset, illa pro Vasthi in solio regni sederet (Esther.

a notable deed, a useful example, a grave peril Therefore she was cast off on account of her pride, and the king’s edict was made that from his whole realm beautiful virgin maidens be gathered and be brought to the city Susa, and be handed over into the house of the women under the hand of Hegai the eunuch, who was superintendent and guardian of the royal women, and there they would receive the women’s toilette, and the other things necessary for use. And so, with all things abundantly supplied according to royal ambition, they were groomed and adorned. For six months they were anointed with myrtle oil, for another six they used certain pigments, and thus arranged and adorned, from the triclinium of the women they would pass to the king’s bedchamber, so that whichever of all had pleased the more, she would sit in place of Vasthi on the throne of the kingdom (Esther.

II). Vide quam multae electae sunt, ut una eligeretur, illa scilicet quae oculis regis formosior et ornatior caeteris videretur. Ministri regis multas eligant ad cultum. Rex ipse unam eligit ad thalamum.

2). See how many were elected, that one might be selected, namely she who would seem to the king’s eyes more beautiful and more ornate than the others. The ministers of the king elect many for adornment. The king himself selects one for the bridal chamber.

Prima electio multarum facta est, secundum regis praeceptionem, secunda electio unius facta est, secundum regis voluntatem. Consideremus ergo si forte exemplum hoc praesenti (de quo agimus) negotio valeat adaptari. Rex, summi regis Filius, venit in hunc mundum (quem ipse creaverat) desponsare sibi uxorem electam, uxorem unicam, uxorem nuptiis regalibus dignam.

The first election of many was made, according to the king’s precept, the second election of one was made, according to the king’s will. Let us therefore consider whether perchance this example may be able to be adapted to the present business (of which we are treating). The King, the Son of the highest King, came into this world (which he himself had created) to betroth to himself a chosen wife, a unique wife, a wife worthy of royal nuptials.

Sed quia hunc Judaea humilitatis forma apparentem recipere contempsit, abjecta est. Et missi sunt ministri regis, apostoli videlicet, per totum mundum congregare animas, et adducere ad civitatem Regis, id est ad sanctam Ecclesiam, in qua domus est et mansio mulierum regiarum, id est sanctarum animarum, quae fecundantur et generant non ad servitutem, sed ad regnum filios. Quae, quia non ex timore, sed chararitate Deo serviunt, quasi in libertatem bonorum operum partus edunt.

But because Judea disdained to receive him appearing in the form of humility, she was cast off. And the ministers of the king were sent, namely the apostles, through the whole world to gather souls and to lead them to the City of the King, that is, to the holy Church, in which there is the house and the mansion of royal women, that is, of holy souls, who are made fruitful and beget sons not for servitude but for the kingdom. Who, because they serve God not from fear but from charity, bring forth, as it were, births into the freedom of good works.

Multi ergo vocati intrant per fidem Ecclesiam, et ibi sacramenta Christi quasi quaedam unguenta et antidota ad reparationem, et ad ornatum animarum praeparata, accipiunt. Sed quia ore veritatis dicitur: Multi sunt vocati, pauci vero electi (Matth. XX) , non omnes, qui ad hunc cultum sunt admissi, ad regnum sunt eligendi, nisi tantum ii qui sic student se per ista mundare et excolere, ut cum ad regis praesentiam introducti fuerint, tales inveniantur, quos ipse magis velit eligere quam reprobare.

Many therefore called enter through faith into the Church, and there they receive the sacraments of Christ, as certain unguents and antidotes prepared for the reparation and for the adornment of souls. But because it is said by the mouth of truth: Many are called, but few indeed chosen (Matt. 20) , not all who have been admitted to this cult are to be chosen for the kingdom, except only those who thus strive to cleanse and cultivate themselves through these things, so that, when they shall have been introduced to the presence of the king, they may be found such as he would rather choose than reprobate.

Vide ergo ubi posita es, et intelliges quid facere debes. Posuit enim te sponsus tuus in triclinio, ubi mulieres ornantur, varia pigmenta et diversas species dedit, cibosque regios, de mensa sua ministrari tibi praecepit, quidquid ad sanitatem, quidquid ad refectionem, quidquid ad reparandam speciem, quidquid ad augendum decorem valere potest, tribuit. Cave ergo, ne ad colendam teipsam negligens sis, ne in novissimo tuo, cum in conspectu sponsi hujus repraesentata fueris, indigna (quod absit!) ejus consortio inveniaris.

See therefore where you have been placed, and you will understand what you ought to do. For your bridegroom has placed you in the triclinium, where women are adorned, he has given various pigments and diverse spices, and he has commanded royal foods to be ministered to you from his table, he has granted whatever can avail for health, whatever for refreshment, whatever for repairing appearance, whatever for augmenting decor. Beware therefore, lest you be negligent in cultivating yourself, lest at your last, when you shall have been presented in the sight of this bridegroom, you be found unworthy (far be it!) of his consort.

Praepara te sicut decet sponsam Regis, et sponsam Regis coelestis, sponsam Sponsi immortalis. NIMA. Amaricasti iterum me, et perculisti pavore non modico.

Prepare yourself as befits the bride of the King, and the bride of the celestial King, the bride of the immortal Bridegroom. NIMA. You have embittered me again, and you have struck me with no small fear.

Nam quantum ex verbis tuis intelligi datur, mutavi propositum, sed non evasi periculum. Mutavi propositum, quia ab illo, qui me olim distrahebat vago instabilique amore, ad unicam dilectionem conversa sum. Non evasi periculum, quia, sicut asseris, nisi me omnibus modis dignam exhibere studuero, ad fructum hujus dilectionis non pertingo.

For so far as can be understood from your words, I have changed my purpose, but I have not escaped the peril. I have changed my purpose, because from him who once was distracting me with a wandering and unstable love I have been converted to a single dilection. I have not escaped the peril, because, as you assert, unless I strive by every way to exhibit myself worthy, I do not attain to the fruit of this dilection.

Superest ergo ut nunc mihi diligentius edisseras de hoc triclinio in quo mulieres regiae aluntur, et de cibo regio qui eis datur, et de ipsis quoque unguentis quibus unguntur, et de caeteris omnibus quae ad cultum sive decorem exhibentur. Ipsius enim dilectione provocor, iis deinceps studium impendere, sine quibus me video ad dilectionis affectum non posse pervenire. Atque utinam ego illa una esse merear, cujus decorem atque ornatum rex laudabit.

It remains therefore that you now explain to me more carefully about this triclinium in which regal women are nourished, and about the royal food that is given to them, and also about the very unguents with which they are anointed, and about all the other things which are furnished for attire or decor. For by His own love I am provoked to expend zeal henceforth upon those things, without which I see that I cannot attain to the affection of love. And would that I may deserve to be that one whose decor and ornament the King will praise.

Quam felix illa et quanto electis electior, quae ad hunc finem studium suum perducet? Quam exiguum jam omnem laborem reputarem, si ad hunc finem studium meum perducere possem. Quaeso igitur ut non pigriteris per singula mihi ediscere, quae sint illa remedia quibus faciem meam debeam ad hunc decorem reformare, quia vehementer illi placere cupio, cujus charitatem erga me tam benignam et amorem tam jucundum agnosco.

How happy is she, and by how much more elect than the elect, who will bring her zeal to this end? How slight I would now reckon every labor, if I could bring my zeal to this end. I therefore beg that you not be slothful to set forth to me, item by item, what those remedies are by which I ought to reform my face to this decor, because I vehemently desire to please him, whose charity toward me so benign and love so jocund I acknowledge.

HOMO. Sic vere necesse est ut facias. Precorque, ut ipse, qui tibi jam voluntatem hoc faciendi tribuit, vires etiam perficiendi tribuere velit.

MAN. Thus truly it is necessary that you do so. And I also pray that he himself, who has already bestowed upon you the will of doing this, may also be willing to bestow the strength for perfecting it.

Quaeris quod sit triclinium, quaere etiam quod sit regis cubiculum. Istas duas mansiones propone tibi, quia harum tibi consideratione opus est. Est ergo triclinium, est regis cubiculum.

You ask what a triclinium is; ask also what the king’s cubiculum is. Set before yourself these two mansions, because you have need of the consideration of these. There is therefore a triclinium, there is the king’s cubiculum.

In triclinio sponsae ad nuptias praeparantur, in cubiculo autem nuptiae celebrantur. Praesens Ecclesia quasi triclinium est, in qua nunc sponsae Dei ad futuras nuptias praeparantur. Coelestis Jerusalem quasi Regis cubiculum est, in qua nuptiae ipsae celebrantur.

In the triclinium the brides are prepared for nuptials, but in the cubiculum the nuptials are celebrated. The present Church is, as it were, a triclinium, in which now the brides of God are prepared for future nuptials. The Heavenly Jerusalem is, as it were, the King’s cubiculum, in which the nuptials themselves are celebrated.

Post tempora autem ornandi, de triclinio transeunt ad Regis cubiculum, quia post tempora bene operandi veniunt, ut boni operis sui percipiant fructum. Praesens vero Ecclesia triclinium dicitur propter tres ordines fidelium, conjugatorum, continentium, rectorum vel virginum. Videamus deinceps quae sint unguenta, et pigmentorum genera, qui cibi, quae vestimenta ad cultum sponsarum praeparata.

But after the times of adorning, they pass from the triclinium to the King’s bedchamber, because after the times of well working they come, that they may receive the fruit of their good work. The present Church is called a triclinium on account of the three orders of the faithful: the married, the continent, the rectors, or the virgins. Let us see next what unguents there are, and the kinds of pigments, which foods, which garments prepared for the adornment of the brides.

Neque hoc praetermittendum est, quod ipse sponsus sicut gratuito primum quodammodo foedas ac turpes diligit, ita et gratuito eis ad ornatum adminiculum omne impendit. Nec quidquam ex se habent, nisi ab illo accipiant unde illi placeant, ut etiam hoc ad dilectionem pertinere scias, quod habes unde ornare te possis, quae utique ex te nihil habes, nisi ab illo acceperis. Primum est fons baptismi hic positus, et lavacrum regenerationis, in quo sordes praeteritorum criminum abluis.

Nor must this be passed over: that the bridegroom himself, just as at the first he loves gratuitously, in a certain way, the foul and base, so also gratuitously he expends every support for their adornment. Nor do they have anything from themselves, unless they receive from him that whereby they may please him; so that you may know that this too pertains to love: that you have that by which you may be able to adorn yourself—of which, to be sure, you have nothing from yourself, unless you have received it from him. First, the font of baptism is set here, and the laver of regeneration, in which you wash away the filth of past crimes.

Deinde chrisma et oleum, in cujus unctione Spiritu sancto liniris. Post haec delibuta et unctione laetitiae perlusa ab mensam venis, et percipis ibi alimentum corporis et sanguinis Christi, quo interius saginata atque refecta noxiam illam praeteritorum jejuniorum maciem depellis, et pristina plenitudine atque fortitudine reparata rursus quodammodo juvenescis. Deinde vestimenta bonorum operum induis, et fructu eleemosynarum, cum jejuniis et orationibus, cum sacris vigiliis, aliisque operibus, pietatis, quasi quodam vario ornatu decoraris.

Then the chrism and the oil, in whose anointing you are smeared with the Holy Spirit. After these, having been daubed and thoroughly bathed with the unction of joy, you come to the table, and there you receive the aliment of the body and blood of Christ, by which, being inwardly fattened and refreshed, you drive away that noxious leanness of past fasts, and, restored to your former plenitude and fortitude, you again in a certain manner grow young. Then you put on the garments of good works, and with the fruit of alms, with fasts and prayers, with sacred vigils and other works of piety, you are adorned as with a certain variegated ornament.

Ad ultimum sequuntur aromata virtutum, quarum odor suave spirans omnem illum antiquarum sordium fetorem fugat, ita ut tibi quodammodo tota mutari, et in aliam transformari videaris, et magis laeta, magis alacris, magis sospes efficiaris. Datur etiam tibi speculum sancta Scriptura, ut ibi videas faciem tuam, ne quid minus aut aliter quam decet habeat compositio ornatus tui. Quid ergo dicis anima mea?

At the last there follow the aromata of the virtues, whose sweet-breathing odor drives away all that stench of ancient sordidness, so that it seems to you, in a certain manner, that you are wholly changed and transformed into another, and you become more elated, more alacritous, more sound. A mirror too is given to you, holy Scripture, that there you may see your face, lest the composition of your adornment have anything lacking or otherwise than is becoming. What then do you say, my soul?

Scis utrumne adhuc aliquid horum perceperis? Certe in fonte abluta fuisti, certe de mensa Regis eumdem cibum comedisti, et eumdem potum bibisti. Sed forte iterum polluta es, habes lacrymas, quibus iterum te abluas.

Do you know whether you have as yet received any of these? Surely in the font you were washed, surely from the table of the King you ate the same food, and drank the same drink. But perhaps you have been defiled again; you have tears, with which you may wash yourself again.

Iterum unctio emarcuit in te, per bonam et piam devotionem iterum te ungas. Iterum jejunio diuturno confecta es: iterum lacrymis abluta, et piae devotionis unctione renovata ad refectionem tuam redeas. Vide quam pia dispensatione tibi ubique concurritur.

Again the unction has withered in you; through good and pious devotion anoint yourself again. Again you are worn out by long-continued fasting: again, washed with tears and renewed by the unction of pious devotion, return to your refection. See how by a pious dispensation aid converges upon you everywhere.

Non habuisti et datum est tibi, perdidisti et restauratur tibi, nusquam derelinqueris, ut scias quantum ille te diligat, a quo amaris; non vult te perdere, et ideo tanta patientia exspectat, et concedit pie, negligenter toties amissa iterum atque iterum si tu volueris reparare. O quot jam perierunt, qui ista tecum acceperant, sed amissa iterum tecum recipere non meruerunt. Plus ergo omnibus illis dilecta es, quia tibi tam benigne amissum redditur, quod illis perditum tam districte negabatur.

You did not have, and it was given to you; you lost it, and it is restored to you; nowhere are you abandoned, that you may know how greatly he loves you, by whom you are loved; he does not wish to lose you, and therefore with such patience he waits, and piously grants that the things so often lost through negligence be repaired again and again, if you are willing. O how many have already perished, who had received these things with you, but, having lost them, did not merit to receive them again with you. Therefore you are more beloved than all of them, because to you the thing lost is so benignly rendered back, which to them, being lost, was so strictly denied.

Nunquid tibi gratia bene operandi nulla data est? tamen voluntas bona ipso largiente negata non est. Si magna opera facis; misericorditer sublimaris.

Has there been given to you no grace for well-doing? yet good will, with Himself as the giver, is not denied. If you do great works; you are mercifully exalted.

Si non facis magna opera, fortassis salubriter humiliaris. Melius novit ille quid tibi expediat quam tu, et ob hoc si vis bene de illo sentire, totum, quod ab illo tibi fit, bene fieri intellige. Forte gratiam vitutum non habes, sed dum vitiorum impulsu concuteris, melius in humilitate solidaris.

If you are not doing great works, perhaps you are salubriously humbled. He knows better what is expedient for you than you do, and on account of this, if you wish to think well of him, understand that everything which is done to you by him is done well. Perhaps you do not have the grace of virtues, but while you are shaken by the impulse of vices, you are better consolidated in humility.

Suavius redolet Deo humilitas infirma, quam virtus elata. Nihil ergo dispositioni illius praejudicare audeas, sed semper cum timore et reverentia ora eum, ut quemadmodum ipse novit tibi subveniat. Si qua adhuc in te mala permanserunt, pie diluat, si qua inchoata sunt bona benigne perficiat, et ea te (qua ipse voluerit) via ad se perducat.

Feeble humility is more sweetly redolent to God than exalted virtue. Therefore dare to prejudge nothing of his disposition, but always with fear and reverence pray to him, that, as he himself knows, he may succor you. If any evils have still remained in you, may he piously wash them away; if any good things have been begun, may he benignly bring them to perfection, and by that way (which he himself shall have willed) may he lead you to himself.

Quid tibi amplius dicam? estne aliquid adhuc quod dicere possumus ad ostendendam dilectionem? Tibi loquor, anima mea, estne aliquid?

What more shall I say to you? Is there anything yet that we can say to demonstrate dilection? I speak to you, my soul, is there anything?

Quid dicis? Si tua dicis, aliena non poteris. Si aliena et tua, non tamen omnia.

What do you say? If you speak your own, you will not be able to speak alien things. If both alien things and your own, yet not everything.

Quis enim omnia dicere potest? et tamen scimus quod omnium origo charitas est. Ecce duo nati sunt, eadem utrisque nobilitas generis, eadem hora nativitatis.

For who can say all things? And yet we know that the origin of all things is charity. Behold, two were born: the same nobility of lineage to both, the same hour of nativity.

Alter in paupertate relinquitur, alter divitiis sublimatur, et utrumque charitas operatur, quia et hunc paupertate humiliat, et illum abundantia consolatur. Iste debilis est, et ille fortis. Ille tenetur ne malum perficiat, iste roboratur, ut ad bonum opus convalescat; utrumque charitas probat, non reprobat.

One is left in poverty, another is exalted with riches, and charity works both, because it both humbles this one by poverty and consoles that one by abundance. This one is weak, and that one strong. That one is restrained lest he bring evil to completion; this one is strengthened, that he may grow strong for a good work; charity approves both, it does not disapprove.

Alter per sapientiam illuminatur, alter in simplicitate sui sensus relinquitur. [0967C] Iste ut seipsum despicere, ille ut studeat Creatorem suum agnoscere, utrique tamen voluit charitas adesse. Talis est amor Dei erga nos, nec quidquam omnino humana infirmitas tolerat, quod ipse (quantum in sua bonitate est) ad bonum nostrum non disponat.

One is illuminated through wisdom, another is left in the simplicity of his own sense. [0967C] This one, that he may despise himself; that one, that he may strive to recognize his Creator; yet charity willed to be present to each. Such is the love of God toward us, nor does human infirmity at all endure anything which he himself (so far as lies in his goodness) does not dispose for our good.

Confessio

Confession

Confiteor tibi miserationes tuas, Domine Deus meus, quid non dereliquisti me, dulcedo vitae meae, et lumen oculorum meorum. Quid retribuam tibi pro omnibus quae tribuisti mihi? (Psal.

I confess to you your mercies, O Lord my God, that you have not forsaken me, O sweetness of my life, and light of my eyes. What shall I render to you for all the things that you have bestowed upon me? (Ps.

CXV.) Vis ut diligam te, et quomodo diligam te? quantum diligam te? quis sum ego ut diligam te? et tamen diligam te, Domine, fortitudo mea, firmamentum meum, refugium meum, liberator meus, Deus meus, adjutor meus, protector meus, cornu salutis meae, et susceptor meus, et quantum adhuc dicam? Tu es Dominus Deus meus (Psal. XVII) . O anima mea, quid faciemus Domino Deo nostro, a quo tot et tanta bona accepimus?

115.) Do you will that I love you, and how shall I love you? how much shall I love you? who am I that I should love you? and yet I will love you, O Lord, my fortitude, my firm foundation, my refuge, my liberator, my God, my helper, my protector, the horn of my salvation, and my supporter, and how much more shall I say? You are the Lord my God (Ps. 17) . O my soul, what shall we do for the Lord our God, from whom we have received so many and so great good things?

Neque enim contentus fuit eadem (quae et caeteris) bona nobis tribuere, sed in malis quoque nostris eum singularem dilectorem agnoscimus, ut eum tam de bonis quam de malis nostris omnibus singulariter diligamus. Tu dedisti mihi, Domine, ut te agnoscam, et prae caeteris multis de tuis secretis revelata intelligam. Alios coaetaneos meos in tenebris ignorantiae dereliquisti, et mihi prae illis lumen sapientiae tuae infudisti.

For neither was he content to bestow upon us the same goods (as also upon the others), but even in our evils we acknowledge him as a singular lover, so that we may love him uniquely for all our goods as well as for all our evils. You gave me, Lord, to acknowledge you, and, before many others, to understand things revealed from your secrets. Other contemporaries of mine you left in the darkness of ignorance, and into me, before them, you poured the light of your wisdom.

Tu dedisti mihi verius cognoscere te, purius diligere te, sincerius credere in te, ardentius sequi te. Tu dedisti mihi sensum capacem, intellectum facilem, memoriam tenacem, linguam disertam, sermonem gratum, doctrinam suasibilem, efficaciam in opere, gratiam in conversatione, provectum in studiis, effectum in coeptis, solamen in adversis, cautelam in prosperis, et quocunque vertebam me, ubique gratia tua et misericordia praecessit me. Et fecisti promo omnia saepe cum mihi consumptus videbar, subito liberasti me; quando errabam, reduxisti me; quando ignorabam, docuisti me; quando peccabam, corripuisti me, quando tristabar consolatus es me, quando desperabam confortasti me, quando cecidi erexisti me; quando steti, tenuisti me, quando ivi duxisti me; quando veni, suscepisti me. Haec omnia mihi fecisti, Domine Deus meus, et alia multa de quibus mihi dulce erit semper cogitare, semper loqui, semper gratias agere, ut te laudem et amem pro omnibus beneficiis tuis, Domine Deus meus. Ecce habes, anima mea, arrham tuam, et in arrha tua cognoscis sponsum tuum; serva te illi intactam, serva impollutam, serva integram, serva incontaminatam. Si olim meretrix fuisti, jam virgo facta es, quemadmodum amor illius consuevit corruptis integritatem reddere, et integris castitatem conservare.

You gave to me to know you more truly, to love you more purely, to believe in you more sincerely, to follow you more ardently. You gave me a capacious sense, a facile understanding, a tenacious memory, an eloquent tongue, a pleasing speech, a suasive doctrine, efficacy in work, grace in conversation, progress in studies, effect in undertakings, solace in adversities, caution in prosperities, and wherever I turned myself, everywhere your grace and mercy preceded me. And you have often done all things for me: when I seemed consumed, you suddenly delivered me; when I was erring, you led me back; when I was ignorant, you taught me; when I was sinning, you corrected me; when I was sorrowing, you consoled me; when I was despairing, you strengthened me; when I fell, you raised me; when I stood, you held me; when I went, you led me; when I came, you received me. All these things you have done for me, Lord my God, and many others about which it will be sweet for me always to think, always to speak, always to give thanks, that I may praise and love you for all your benefits, Lord my God. Behold, you have, my soul, your earnest, and in your earnest you recognize your bridegroom; keep yourself for him untouched, keep unpolluted, keep entire, keep uncontaminated. If once you were a meretrix, now you have been made a virgin, inasmuch as his love is accustomed to restore integrity to the corrupted, and to preserve chastity in the intact.

Semper autem cogita quantam tecum misericordiam fecerit, et in hoc perpende quantum ab ipso diligeris, quod ejus beneficium nunquam tibi defuisse cognoscis.

Always, however, think how great a mercy he has done with you, and in this weigh how much you are cherished by him, in that you recognize that his beneficence has never been lacking to you.

ANIMA. Vere fateor merito amor iste singularis dicitur, qui, cum se in multos diffundat, ita tamen unice singulos amplexatur. Vere pulchrum et mirificum bonum, quod commune est omnium, et totum singulorum.

ANIMA. Truly I confess that deservedly this love is called singular, which, although it diffuses itself into many, yet thus uniquely embraces each one. Truly a beautiful and marvelous good, which is common to all, and whole to each.

Cunctis praesidens, singulos implens, ubique praesens, omnium curam agens, et tamen singulis quasi omnibus providens Sic certe mihi videtur cum ejus miserationes circa me attendo, quod (si fas est dicere) quodammodo nihil aliud agat Deus, nisi ut meae saluti provideat, et ita totum ad custodiam mei occupatum video, quasi omnium oblitus sit, et mihi soli vacare velit. Semper praesentem se exhibet, semper paratum se offert, quocunque vertero me, non me deserit, ubicunque fuero non recedit, quidquid egero pariter assistit; et quod tandem cunctis actionibus sive cogitationibus meis perpetuus inspector, et quantum ad bonitatem suam pertinet, individuus cooperator adsit, ipso operis sui effectu patenter ostendit. Ex quo constat quod licet facies ejus adhuc a nobis non possit videri, nunquam tamen possit praesentia ejus evitari.

Presiding over all, filling individuals, present everywhere, taking care of all, and yet providing for individuals as if for all. Thus certainly it seems to me, when I attend to his mercies toward me, that (if it is lawful to say) in a certain manner God does nothing else except provide for my salvation; and so I see him wholly occupied with my guard, as if he had forgotten all things and wished to have leisure for me alone. He always shows himself present, he always offers himself ready; wherever I turn myself, he does not desert me; wherever I may be, he does not withdraw; whatever I may do, he likewise stands by; and that at last, for all my actions or thoughts, he is a perpetual inspector and, so far as pertains to his goodness, an inseparable cooperator, he plainly shows by the very effect of his work. Whence it is clear that although his face cannot yet be seen by us, nevertheless his presence can never be avoided.

Ego autem fateor, diligentius hoc considerans timore pariter et pudore ingenti confundor, quod illum, cui tam vehementer placere cupio, ubique mihi praesentem et omnia mea occulta videntem intueor. O quam multa sunt in me de quibus coram oculis ejus erubesco, et pro quibus jam magis illi displicere timeo, quam pro iis quae laudanda in me sunt (si qua sunt) placere posse in me confido? O utinam ad modicum ab oculis ejus possem abscondi, donec maculas istas omnes detergerem, et sic demum ante conspectum ejus sine macula immaculata apparerem!

I, however, confess that, considering this more carefully, I am confounded with fear and likewise with immense shame, because I behold him, whom I so vehemently desire to please, everywhere present to me and seeing all my hidden things. O how many things there are in me before which I blush before his eyes, and on account of which I now fear rather to displease him, than am confident that by those things which are laudable in me (if there are any) I can please? O would that I could be hidden for a little while from his eyes, until I wiped away all those stains, and thus at last I might appear before his sight without spot, immaculate!

Nam quomodo in hac deformitate placere illi potero, quae et mihi quoque in illa vehementer displiceo? O maculae veteres, o maculae foedae et turpes, quid tandiu haeretis? Abite, discedite, et ne praesumatis amplius oculos dilecti mei offendere.

For how shall I be able in this deformity to please him, I who in it am also vehemently displeasing to myself? O old stains, O foul and turpid stains, why do you cling so long? Go away, depart, and do not presume any longer to offend the eyes of my beloved.

Nolite fallere vosmetipsas, non semper mecum (ipso adjuvante) manebitis, quamvis me adhuc pigritante exterminari non potuistis. Ego juravi super vobis quod nec tenebo, nec diligam vos amplius, quia omnino detestor et prorsus abominor turpitudinem vestram. Jamque deinceps, etiamsi possem a Sponso meo non videri, nollem tamen a vobis infici.

Do not deceive yourselves; you will not always remain with me (with him aiding), although, with me still lingering in sloth, you have not yet been able to be exterminated. I have sworn against you that I will neither keep nor love you any longer, because I utterly detest and thoroughly abominate your turpitude. And now henceforward, even if I could not be seen by my Bridegroom, yet I would not wish to be infected by you.

Quanto magis nunc quia palam ipso sum, et quia plus certe me contristat ejus offensio, quam mea etiam turpitudo. Recedite ergo, in vanum amplius mihi adhaeretis, quia, etiam mecum manentes, meae non estis. Alienas vos a sorte mea judico, et vobiscum deinceps nullam communionem habere volo.

How much more now, since I am openly with Himself, and since assuredly his offense grieves me more than even my own turpitude. Withdraw, then; you adhere to me further in vain, for even while remaining with me, you are not mine. I judge you alien from my lot, and with you henceforth I will to have no communion.

Habeo aliud exemplar cui conformari cupio, et ad aliud jugiter respicio, ac quantum possum magis semper ac magis exinde similitudinem traho. Et quo hoc etiam didici, quod vos exterminare debeo, et qualiter hoc faciam jam agnosco

I have another exemplar to which I desire to be conformed, and to it I continually look, and, as much as I can, ever more and more, from thence I draw the similitude. And by this too I have learned that I ought to exterminate you, and how I may do this I now recognize.

HOMO. Mira res nobiscum agitur, quam ideo fortassis non miraris, quia necdum quid dicere velim intelligis. Considero namque qualiter a principio nostri sermonis multa quae adversari videbantur dilectioni in medium adduxeris, et quod ex eis semper non infirmata, sed amplius probata sit virtus dilectionis.

MAN. A wondrous matter is being transacted with us, which perhaps you do not marvel at, because you do not yet understand what I wish to say. For I consider how from the beginning of our discourse you have brought into the midst many things which seemed to be adverse to dilection (love), and that from them the virtue of dilection has always been not weakened, but rather all the more approved.

Dixisti dilectionem singularem pariter et communem esse non posse, sed inde comprobata est amplius mirabilis, quod demonstrata est communis esse et singularis. Dixisti rursum te perfecte non diligi, eo quod ad cultum electam audieras, et adhuc ad thalamum assumptam non vidisti. Sed tamen iterum ostenditur tanto major erga te dilectio, quanto major per ejus patientiam tua exspectatur perfectio.

You said that dilection cannot be at once singular and common; but from that it has been proved more marvelous, in that it has been shown to be both common and singular. You said again that you are not loved perfectly, for the reason that you had heard her chosen for service, and you have not yet seen her assumed to the bridal chamber. But nevertheless it is shown again that the dilection toward you is the greater, the greater your perfection is awaited through her patience.

Ad extremum modo dubitare coepisti, an, in hac deformitate tua quam (licet invita) pateris, ab illo posses diligi. Sed quando hoc dubitasti, olim te totam foedam et tamen dilectam fuisse jam non meministi. Si ergo te nunc diligere dignatus est, quando tota turpis, et nihil adhuc decoris habens fuisti, quanto magis nunc diliget te, quando decorari, et priscam turpitudinem deponere jam coepisti?

At last you have just begun to doubt whether, in this deformity of yours which you suffer (though unwilling), you could be loved by him. But when did you doubt this? Do you not remember that once you, altogether foul, were nevertheless loved? If therefore he deigned to love you then, when you were wholly base and as yet having nothing of comeliness, how much more will he love you now, when you have begun to be decorated and to lay aside your former turpitude?

Nam et hoc quoque ad laudem dilectionis ejus pertinet, quod imperfectam diligere dignatur. Et quamvis quaedam adhuc in te videat, quae sibi non placent, diligit tamen hoc ipsum, quod tu quoque ea in temetipsa jam odisse coepisti quae illi displicent. Non enim tam statum quam propositum respicit, nec quid sis, sed quid esse velis, attendit, si tamen tu quantum potes satagis, ut quod adhuc esse non coepisti, esse merearis.

For this too pertains to the praise of his love, that he deigns to love the imperfect. And although he still sees certain things in you which do not please him, nevertheless he loves this very fact: that you too have begun to hate in yourself those things which displease him. For he regards not so much the state as the purpose, and he attends not to what you are, but to what you wish to be—provided, however, that you strive as far as you are able, so that you may merit to be what you have not yet begun to be.

ANIMA. Hoc ultimum interrogationis meae benigne, ut suscipias, quaeso, quid est illud dulce, quod in ejus recordatione aliquando me tangere solet, et tam vehementer atque suaviter afficere, ut jam tota quodammodo a memetipsa abalienari, et nescio quo abstrahi incipiam. Subito enim innovor et tota immutor, et bene mihi esse incipit ultra quam dicere sufficiam.

ANIMA. This last of my questioning kindly, I beg you to take up: what is that sweetness, which in the recollection of him sometimes is wont to touch me, and so vehemently and sweetly to affect me, that now I, in a certain manner, am wholly alienated from myself, and begin to be drawn away I know not whither. For suddenly I am renewed and wholly changed, and it begins to be well with me beyond what I am able to express.

Exhilaratur conscientia, in oblivionem venit omnis praeteritorum dolorum miseria, exsultat animus, clarescit intellectus, cor illuminatur, desideria jucundantur, jamque alibi (nescio ubi) me esse video, et quasi quiddam amplexibus amoris intus teneo, et nescio quid illud sit, et tamen illud semper retinere, et nunquam perdere toto adnisu laboro. Luctatur quodammodo delectabiliter animus, ne recedat ab eo, quod semper amplecti desiderat, et quasi in illo omnium desideriorum finem invenerit summe et ineffabiliter exsultat, nihil amplius quaerens, nihil ultra appetens, semper sic esse volens Nunquid ille est dilectus meus? Quaeso, dic mihi, ut sciam an ille est, ut si denuo ad me venerit, obsecrem eum ne recedat, sed semper permaneat.

The conscience is exhilarated, into oblivion comes all the misery of past pains, the soul exults, the intellect grows clear, the heart is illuminated, desires are gladdened, and now elsewhere (I know not where) I see myself to be, and as it were I hold within a certain something in the embraces of love, and I do not know what that is, and yet I labor with total exertion to retain it always and never to lose it. The soul struggles in a certain delectably way, lest it withdraw from that which it always longs to embrace, and as if in it it had found the end of all desires it exults supremely and ineffably, seeking nothing more, desiring nothing beyond, wishing always to be thus Is that perhaps my beloved? I beg, tell me, that I may know whether it is he, so that if he should come to me again, I may beseech him not to withdraw, but to remain always.

HOMO. Vere ille est dilectus tuus qui visitat te, sed venit invisibilis, venit occultus, venit incomprehensibilis. Venit ut tangat te, non ut videatur a te; venit ut admoneat te, non ut comprehendatur a te; venit non ut totum infundat se, sed ut gustandum praebeat se; non ut impleat desiderium, sed ut trahat affectum; primitias quasdam porrigit suae dilectionis, non plenitudinem exhibet perfectae satietatis.

MAN. Truly that is your beloved who visits you, but he comes invisible, he comes occult, he comes incomprehensible. He comes to touch you, not to be seen by you; he comes to admonish you, not to be comprehended by you; he comes not to pour himself in wholly, but to offer himself to be tasted; not to fill the desire, but to draw the affection; he proffers certain firstfruits of his love, he does not exhibit the plenitude of perfect satiety.

Et hoc est quod maxime ad arrham desponsationis tuae pertinet, quod ille, qui in futuro se tibi videndum, et perpetuo possidendum dabit, nunc aliquando (utquam dulcis sit agnoscas) se tibi ad gustandum praebet. Simul etiam interim de absentia ejus consoleris, quando ejus visitatione ne deficias incessanter reficeris. Quaeso, anima mea, multa jam diximus, post haec omnia unum agnosce, unum dilige, unum sequere, unum apprehende, unum posside.

And this is what most pertains to the earnest of your betrothal: that he, who in the future will give himself to you to be seen and to be possessed perpetually, now at times (that you may recognize how sweet he is) offers himself to you to be tasted. At the same time, too, in the meantime you may be consoled about his absence, since by his visitation you are unceasingly refreshed, lest you fail. I beg, my soul, we have already said many things; after all these things, acknowledge one, love one, follow one, lay hold of one, possess one.

ANIMA. Hoc opto, hoc desidero, hoc totis praecordiis concupisco.

SOUL. This I opt for, this I desire, this I concupisce with all my precordial depths.