Isidore of Seville: SENTENTIAE LIBRI III

The blessed life is the cognition of divinity. The cognition of divinity is the virtue of good work. The virtue of good work is the fruit of eternity.

1.2. Qui secundum saeculum sapiens est, secundum Deum stultus est. Vnde et propheta: Stultus, inquit, factus est omnis homo ab scientia. 1.3. Primum est scientiae studium quaerere Deum, deinde honestatem uitae cum innocentiae opere.

1.2. Whoever is wise according to the age is foolish according to God. Whence also the prophet: “Every man,” he says, “has become a fool from science.” 1.3. The first thing in the study of science is to seek God; then the honesty of life with the work of innocence.

1.4. Nullus sapientiam Dei plene recipit, nisi qui se ab omni abstrahere actionum cura contendit. Vnde et scriptum est: Sapientiam scribe in tempore otii et qui minoratur actu, ipse percipiet eam.

1.4. No one fully receives the wisdom of God, unless he strives to abstract himself from all care of actions. Whence also it is written: Write wisdom in a time of leisure, and he who is diminished in activity, he himself will perceive it.

1.5. Non paruae intellegentiae arcem peruenisse qui scit secreta Dei se penetrare non posse. Tunc autem recte Deum cognoscimus, quando eum perfecte scire nos denegamus. 1.6. Interdum quaedam nescire conuenit.

1.5. He has reached the citadel of no small intelligence who knows that he cannot penetrate the secrets of God. Then, however, we rightly recognize God, when we deny that we know him perfectly. 1.6. Sometimes it is fitting not to know certain things.

Nullus autem in culpa maior est quam ille qui Deum nescit. 1.7. Inuestigationem ueri multorum est quaerere, sed paucorum est inuenire. Ea autem quae supra hominis intellegentiam sunt, scrutanda non sunt.

No one, moreover, is greater in fault than he who does not know God. 1.7. The investigation of truth is for many to seek, but for few to find. But the things which are above human intelligence are not to be scrutinized.

Quidquid supra hominis intellectum est, quaerendum non est. Consilio autem diuino seruandum est, ut hoc credatur esse iustitia quod diuinae placuerit uoluntati. Non enim poterit esse iniustum quod iusto conplacet iudici.

Whatever is above human intellect is not to be sought. But the divine counsel is to be observed, that this be believed to be justice which has pleased the divine will. For what pleases a just judge cannot be unjust.

1.8. Omnis sapientia scientia et opinatione consistit. Melior est autem ex scientia ueniens quam ex opinatione sententia. Nam illa uera est, ista dubia.

1.8. All wisdom consists in science and opinion. But the sentence coming from science is better than that from opinion. For the former is true, the latter doubtful.

1.9. Ad maioris culpae cumulum pertinet scire quemquam quod sequi debeat, et sequi nolle quod sciat. Vnde et Dominus: Seruus, inquit, sciens uoluntatem Domini sui, et non faciens digna, plagis uapulauit multis et Iacobus: Scienti, inquit, bonum et nonfacienti peccatum est. 1.10. Simplicitatem cum ignauia uocari stultitiam, simplicitatem uero cum prudentia uocari sapientiam.

1.9. It pertains to the piling-up of a greater fault for someone to know what he ought to follow, and to be unwilling to follow what he knows. Whence also the Lord: “The servant,” he says, “knowing the will of his Lord, and not doing what is worthy, was scourged with many stripes”; and James: “To the one who knows the good and does not do it, it is sin.” 1.10. Simplicity with ignavia is called stupidity; but simplicity with prudence is called wisdom.

1.11. Vtile est multa scire et recte uiuere. Quod si utrumque non ualemus, melius est ut bene uiuendi studium quam multa sciendi sequamur. 1.12. Non pertinere ad beatitudinem consequendam scientiam rerum, nec esse beatum multa scire, sed esse magnum beate uiuere.

1.11. It is useful to know many things and to live rightly. But if we are not able for both, it is better that we follow the study of living well rather than of knowing many things. 1.12. That the knowledge of things does not pertain to the attaining of beatitude, nor is it blessedness to know many things, but it is great to live blessedly.

1.13. Nihil prodesse omnem scire prudentiam cum ignorantia Dei, et nihil obesse scientibus Deum ignorantiam mundi. Perfecte autem scit qui Deum prius et ista non pro se, sed pro Deo scit.

1.13. That it profits nothing to know all prudence together with ignorance of God, and that ignorance of the world harms nothing to those who know God. But he knows perfectly who first knows God, and knows these things not for himself, but for God.

1.14. Nihil obesse cuiusquam si per simplicitatem aliqua de elementis indigne sentiat, dum modo de Deo uera pronuntiet. Nam quamuis de incorporeis corporeisque naturis nequeat quisque disputare, beatum tamen illum facit uita recta cum fide. II. De fide.

1.14. It harms nothing for anyone if, through simplicity, he unworthily feels certain things about the elements, so long as he pronounces true things about God. For although each person may be unable to dispute concerning incorporeal and corporeal natures, yet a right life with faith makes that man blessed. 2. On faith.

2.1. Non posse ad ueram beatitudinem peruenire, nisi per fidem; beatum autem esse qui et recte credendo bene uiuit, et bene uiuendo fidem rectam custodit.

2.1. That one cannot attain to true beatitude, except through faith; but that he is blessed who, both by believing rightly, lives well, and by living well, preserves right faith.

2.2. Deus si creditur, merito inuocatur et quaeritur; ac per hoc tunc perfecte laudatur quando et creditur. 2.3. Non tantum id credendum est quod sensu carnis dinoscimus, sed magis etiam quod intellectu mentis conspicimus, id est Deum: Sine fide nemo potest placere Deo; omne enim quod non est ex fide peccatum est. 2.4. Fides nequaquam ui extorquetur, sed ratione atque exemplis suadetur.

2.2. If God is believed, he is deservedly invoked and sought; and by this very fact he is then perfectly praised when he is also believed. 2.3. Not only must that be believed which we discern by the sense of the flesh, but even more that which we behold by the intellect of the mind, that is, God: Without faith no one can please God; for everything which is not from faith is sin. 2.4. Faith is by no means extorted by force, but is persuaded by reason and by examples.

Quibus autem exigitur uiolenter, perseuerare in eis non potest: exemplo, ut ait quidam, nouellae arboris cuius si quisque cacumen uiolenter inpresserit, denuo, dum laxatur, in id quod fuerat confestim reuertitur.

But when it is exacted violently, it cannot persevere in them: by the example, as someone said, of a young tree, whose top, if anyone should press it down by force, then, when it is loosened, immediately returns to what it had been.

2.5. Sicut homo libero arbitrio conditus, sua sponte diuertit a Deo, ita ex propria mentis conuersione credendo recurrit ad Deum, ut et libertas agnoscatur arbitrii per propriam uoluntatem, et beneficium gratiae per acceptam fidei ueritatem. 2.6. In corde respicit Deus fidem, ubi se non possunt homines excusare qui ore simulant ueritatis professionem, et corde retentant erroris impietatem. 2.7. Sicut nihil proficit fides quae ore retinetur, et corde non creditur, ita nihil profutura fides, quae corde tenetur si ore non proferatur.

2.5. Just as man, constituted with free will, of his own accord turns aside from God, so by his own mind’s conversion, by believing he runs back to God, so that both the liberty of choice may be acknowledged through one’s own will, and the benefit of grace through the accepted truth of faith. 2.6. God looks upon faith in the heart, where men cannot excuse themselves who with the mouth simulate a profession of truth, and in the heart hold fast the impiety of error. 2.7. Just as the faith which is retained by the mouth and not believed in the heart profits nothing, so the faith which is held in the heart will profit nothing if it is not brought forth by the mouth.

De tali enim fide propheta ita quosdam obiurgat dicens: Periit fides, ablata est de ore eorum. Fides enim quae corde creditur, confessione oris ad salutem profertur.

For concerning such faith the prophet thus objurgates certain persons, saying: Faith has perished, it has been taken away from their mouth. For the faith which is believed in the heart is brought forth to salvation by the confession of the mouth.

2.8. Vacuam esse sine operibus fidem, et frustra sibi de sola fide blanditur, qui bonis operibus non ornatur. 2.9. Qui crucem portat, debet mundo mori. Nam ferre crucem, mortificare seipsum est: ferre et non mori, simulatio hypocritarum est.

2.8. Faith without works is void, and he flatters himself in vain about faith alone, who is not adorned with good works. 2.9. He who carries the cross ought to die to the world. For to bear the cross is to mortify oneself: to bear and not to die is the simulation of hypocrites.

2.10. Qui per fidem cognitionem Dei habent et operibus obscurantur, exemplum Balaam sequuntur qui cadens opere, apertos oculos habuit per contemplationis fidem.

2.10. Those who through faith have the cognition of God and are obscured by works follow the example of Balaam, who, falling in deed, had open eyes through the faith of contemplation.

2.11. Carnales fidem non pro uirtute animi sed pro commodo quaerere temporali. Vnde et Dominus dicit: Quaeritis me, non quia uidistis signa, sed quia manducastis de panibus. 2.12. Christianus malus, dum secundum euangelii doctrinam non uiuit, etiam ipsam fidem quam uerbo colit oborta temptatione facile perdit.

2.11. Carnal people seek faith not for the virtue of the mind but for temporal convenience. Whence also the Lord says: You seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves. 2.12. A bad Christian, while he does not live according to the doctrine of the Gospel, even the very faith which he professes in word, when temptation has arisen, easily loses.

2.13. Multi fide tantum Christiani sunt, opere uero a Christiana doctrina dissentiunt. Multi quoque fidem Christi ex corde non amant, sed humano terrore eandem per hypocrisin tenere se simulant, et qui esse non possunt aperte mali, per terrorem ficte boni noscuntur.

2.13. Many are Christians by faith only, but in deed they dissent from Christian doctrine. Many also do not love the faith of Christ from the heart, but, through human terror, pretend to hold the same by hypocrisy; and those who cannot be openly evil are, through terror, known as feignedly good.

2.14. Amatores mundi pugnant aliquando pro fide, et aliis quidem proficiunt; ipsi uero amore terreno inplicati caelestia non requirunt, sed uerbo tantum fidem defendunt. 2.15. Quidam pro fide etiam hereticos insequuntur, sed per arrogantiam eos qui intra ecclesiam sunt contemnunt. Aduersarios quidem fidei confutant pro infidelitate, sed fideles premunt fasce superbiae.

2.14. Lovers of the world sometimes fight for the faith, and indeed they profit others; but they themselves, implicated in earthly love, do not seek the heavenly things, but defend the faith only in word. 2.15. Certain people, for the faith, even pursue heretics, but through arrogance they contemn those who are within the church. They indeed confute the adversaries of the faith for their infidelity, but they oppress the faithful with the burden of pride.

III. De caritate.

3. On charity.

3.1. Quamuis nonnulli fide atque operibus sanctis uideantur esse participes, tamen quia priuantur a caritate fraternae dilectionis, nullum habent incrementum uirtutis. Nam sicut ait apostolus: Si tradidero corpus meum ut ardeam, caritatem non habuero, nihil mihi prodest. 3.2. Sine amore caritatis, quamuis quisque recte credat, ad beatitudinem peruenire non potest, quia tanta est caritatis uirtus, ut etiam prophetia et martyrium sine illa nihil esse credantur.

3.1. Although some may seem to be participants in faith and holy works, yet because they are deprived of the charity of fraternal love, they have no increment of virtue. For, as the apostle says: If I should deliver up my body to burn, and have not charity, it profits me nothing. 3.2. Without the love of charity, although anyone may believe rightly, he cannot arrive at beatitude, because so great is the virtue of charity that even prophecy and martyrdom without it are believed to be nothing.

3.3. Nullum praemium caritati pensatur. Caritas enim uirtutum omnium obtinet principatum. Vnde et uinculum perfectionis caritas ab apostolo dicitur, eo quod uniuersae uirtutes eius uinculo religentur.

3.3. No reward is weighed as equal to charity. For charity holds the principate of all the virtues. Whence also charity is called by the Apostle the bond of perfection, for this reason that all the virtues are bound by its bond.

3.4. Dilectio Dei morti conparatur, dicente Salomone: Valida est ut mors dilectio, idcirco quia sicut mors uiolenter separat animam a corpore, ita et dilectio Dei uiolenter segregat hominem a mundano et carnali amore. 3.5. Qui Dei praecepta contemnit, Deum non diligit. Neque enim regem diligimus, si odio leges eius habemus.

3.4. The love of God is compared to death, with Solomon saying: Love is strong as death, for just as death forcibly separates the soul from the body, so too the love of God forcibly segregates a man from worldly and carnal love. 3.5. Whoever contemns the precepts of God does not love God. For neither do we love a king, if we hold his laws in hatred.

3.6. Tenenda est cum sanctis uiris unitas caritatis, et quanto se quisque subtrahit mundo, tanto opus est ut se adsociet bonorum consortio.

3.6. The unity of charity with holy men must be held fast, and the more each withdraws himself from the world, by so much is there need that he associate himself with the consortium of the good.

3.7a. Caritas in dilectione Dei et proximi constat. Seruat autem in se dilectionem Dei, qui a caritate non diuiditur proximi. 3.7b. Qui a fraterna societate secernitur, a diuinae caritatis participatione priuatur.

3.7a. Charity consists in the dilection of God and of neighbor. But he keeps within himself the dilection of God who is not divided from charity toward the neighbor. 3.7b. He who is set apart from fraternal society is deprived of participation in divine charity.

Nec poterit Deum diligere qui noscitur in proximi dilectione errare. 3.7c. Christus Deus et homo: totum ergo Christum non diligit, qui hominem odit.

Nor will he be able to love God who is known to err in the dilection of his neighbor. 3.7c. Christ is God and man: therefore he does not love the whole Christ who hates man.

3.8. Bonorum discretionis est non odire personas sed culpas, et recte dicta pro falsis non spernere, sed probare. 3.9. Qui inperfecti sunt in Dei amore, saepe uitiis separari disponunt; sed pondere uitiorum grauati, rursus ad ea uitia quae optant relinquere reuoluuntur. IIII.

3.8. It belongs to the discernment of the good not to hate persons but faults, and not to spurn things rightly said as though false, but to prove them. 3.9. Those who are imperfect in the love of God often resolve to be separated from vices; but, weighed down by the weight of vices, they are rolled back again to those vices which they long to relinquish. 4.

De spe.

On hope.

4.1. Qui male agere non desistunt, uana spe indugentiam de Dei pietate requirunt; quam recte quaererent si ab actione praua cessarent. 4.2. Metuendum ualde est ut neque per spem ueniae quam promittit Deus perseueranter peccemus, neque, quia iuste peccata distringit, ueniam desperemus; sed utroque periculo euitato, et a malo declinemus et de pietate Dei ueniam speremus. Omnis quippe iustus spe et formidine nitet, quia nunc illum ad gaudium spes erigit, nunc ad formidinem terror gehennae addicit.

4.1. Those who do not cease to act badly, with vain hope seek indulgence from God’s mercy; which they would rightly seek if they ceased from depraved action. 4.2. It is very much to be feared that neither, through the hope of pardon which God promises, we should persistently sin, nor, because He justly chastises sins, should we despair of pardon; but, both dangers avoided, let us both turn aside from evil and hope for pardon from the mercy of God. For every righteous man indeed is upheld by hope and by fear, because now hope lifts him up to joy, now the terror of Gehenna subjects him to fear.

V. De gratia.

5. On grace.

5.1. Interdum peccantibus nobis sua Deus dona non retrahit, ut ad spem diuinae propitiationis mens humana consurgat. Nam non possit conuersum spernere, quem peccantem suis beneficiis prouocat ad se redire. 5.2. Confessionem hominis non esse humanae uirtutis; nam si confessionem boni operis non in nobis Deus operatur, cur per prophetam dicitur: Confessio et magnificentia opus eius?

5.1. At times, when we are sinning, God does not withdraw his gifts, so that the human mind may rise to the hope of divine propitiation. For he cannot spurn the converted, whom, while sinning, he provokes by his benefactions to return to himself. 5.2. That a man’s confession is not of human virtue; for if God were not working in us the confession of a good work, why is it said through the prophet: Confession and magnificence are his work?

Ab illo enim nobis omnia bona, gratia praeueniente, donantur. Nam nihil boni operis dedimus, per quod confessionem fidei accipere mereremur. 5.3. Profectus hominis donum Dei est.

For from him all good things are bestowed upon us, with prevenient grace. For we have given nothing of good work whereby we might merit to receive the confession of faith. 5.3. The progress of man is the gift of God.

Nec a se potest quisquam, sed a Domino corrigi. Non enim quidquam boni habet proprium homo, cuius uia non est eius, testante propheta: Scio, Domine, quia non est hominis uia eius; nec uiri est ut ambulet et dirigat gressus suos.

Nor can anyone be corrected by himself, but by the Lord. For man has nothing good as his own, whose way is not his, the prophet testifying: I know, O Lord, that a man’s way is not his; nor is it a man’s to walk and to direct his steps.

5.4. Sciant liberi arbitrii defensores nihil posse in bonum sua praeualere uirtute, nisi diuinae gratiae sustententur iuuamine. Vnde et per prophetam Dominus dicit: Perditio tua, Israel; tantum in me auxilium tuum, quasi diceret "ut pereas tuo merito; ut salueris meo auxilio". 5.5a. Hominis meritum superna gratia non ut ueniat inuenit, sed postquam uenerit facit, atque ad indignam mentem ueniens, facit in ea meritum quod remuneret, qui solum inuenerat quod puniret. Quid enim ex se ille latro meruit, qui de faucibus crucem ascendit, de cruce paradisum adiit?

5.4. Let the defenders of free will know that they can prevail unto the good by their own virtue in nothing, unless they are sustained by the help of divine grace. Whence also through the prophet the Lord says: Your destruction, Israel; only in me is your help, as if he were saying "that you perish by your own merit; that you be saved by my help". 5.5a. The merit of man the supernal grace does not find so that it may come, but after it has come it makes; and coming to an unworthy mind, it makes in it a merit which it may remunerate, who had found only what he might punish. For what did that thief deserve of himself, who from the jaws ascended the cross, from the cross went to Paradise?

Reus quidem ille, et fraterno sanguine uenit cruentus, sed diuina gratia in cruce mutatur. 5.5b. Sciendum quod et nostra sit iustitia in his quae recte agimus et Dei gratia eo quod eam mereamur. Haec enim et dantis Dei et accipientis est hominis, sicut et panem nostrum dicimus, quem tamen a Deo accipere postulamus.

Indeed he was guilty, and he comes blood-stained with a brother’s blood, but by divine grace on the cross he is changed. 5.5b. It must be known that our justice is ours in the things which we do rightly, and the grace of God in that we merit it. For this is both of God who gives and of the man who receives, just as we also say “our bread,” which nevertheless we ask to receive from God.

5.6. Spiritalis gratia non omnibus distribuitur, sed tantummodo electis donatur: Non enim omnium est fides. Quam licet etsi plurimi suscipiunt, opus tamen fidei non consequuntur. 5.7. In diuisione donorum diuersi percipiunt diuersa Dei munera; non tamen conceduntur unius omnia, ut sit pro humilitatis studio quod alter admiretur in altero.

5.6. Spiritual grace is not distributed to all, but is given only to the elect: For faith is not of all. Which, although very many receive, nevertheless they do not attain the work of faith. 5.7. In the division of gifts, different persons receive different gifts of God; yet all things are not granted to one person, so that, for the sake of the pursuit of humility, there may be something which one admires in another.

Nam quod in Ezechielo animalium alae altera ad alteram percutiuntur, uirtutes designantur sanctorum mutuo sese affectu prouocantium, atque alterno exemplo inuicem sese erudientium. 5.8. Munera gratiarum alio ista, alio uero donantur illa, nec datur ita habere uni, ut non egeant alteri.

For that in Ezekiel the wings of the animals strike one against the other, the virtues are designated—of the saints who, by mutual affection, provoke one another, and by alternate example mutually instruct one another. 5.8. The gifts of grace—these are bestowed on one, those on another; nor is it granted to a single person to have them so as not to need another.

5.9. Posse fieri non est dubium ut hii quos quidam uirtutum excellentia antecedunt, Dei repentina praeuenti gratia quosdam conpendio sanctitatis praeueniant; et dum sint conuersione postremi, subito efficiuntur uirtutis culmine primi. 5.10. Dum quisque aliquod donum accipit, non appetat amplius quam quod meruit, ne, dum alterius membri officium arripere temptat, id quod meruit perdat. Conturbat enim corporis ordinem totum, qui non suo contentus officio subripit alienum.

5.9. It is not doubtful that it can come to pass that those whom certain people outstrip in the excellence of virtues, by God’s sudden prevenient grace outstrip certain others by a shortcut of sanctity; and while they are last in conversion, they are suddenly made first at the summit of virtue. 5.10. While each one receives some gift, let him not desire more than he has merited, lest, while he tries to seize the office of another member, he lose that which he merited. For he disturbs the whole order of the body who, not content with his own office, filches another’s.

5.11a. Mali dona ideo ad damnationem accipiunt, quia illa non ad Dei laudem, sed ad suam uanitatem utuntur.

5.11a. The wicked therefore receive gifts unto damnation, because they use those not for the praise of God, but for their own vanity.

5.11b. Bona male utuntur qui ea quae a Deo illis donata sunt in malos usus adsumunt, sicut ingenium, sicut cetera Dei dona. 5.12. Multa Dei dona gaudemus, quae nos ab eo percepisse cognoscimus.

5.11b. They use good things badly who take for evil uses the things which have been given to them by God—such as talent, as also the other gifts of God. 5.12. We rejoice in many gifts of God, which we know that we have received from him.

Nam quod sapientes sumus, quod diuites, quod potentes existimus, non alterius, sed potius diuino munere sumus. Vtamur ergo optime diuina beneficia quatenus et Deum non paeniteat dedisse, et nobis accepisse sit utile. 5.13. Auferre Deus dicitur homini donum aliquod, quod homo non habuit, id est quod accipere non meruit.

For the fact that we are wise, that we are rich, that we stand as powerful, is not from another, but rather we are so by a divine gift. Let us therefore use the divine benefactions in the best way, to the extent that God not repent of having given, and that it be useful for us to have received. 5.13. God is said to take away from a man some gift which the man did not have, that is, which he did not deserve to receive.

Sic et obdurare dicitur Deus hominem, non eius faciendo duritiam, sed non auferendo eam quam sibi ipse nutriuit. Non aliter et obcaecare dicitur quosdam Deus, non ut in eis eandem ipse caecitatem faciat, sed quod pro eorum inutilibus meritis caecitatem eorum ab eis ipse non auferat.

Thus also God is said to harden a man, not by making his obduracy, but by not removing that which the man himself has nurtured for himself. Likewise God is said to blind certain persons, not in order that he himself make that same blindness in them, but because, on account of their unprofitable merits, he himself does not take away their blindness from them.

5.14. Plerisque Dei dona dantur, perseuerantia uero doni non datur. Et inde est quod quidam principia habent conuersionis bona, fine uero malo clauduntur. Electi uero accipiunt et conuersionis donum, accipiunt et perseuerantiam doni.

5.14. To very many the gifts of God are given, but the perseverance of the gift is not given. And from this it is that certain persons have good beginnings of conversion, but are closed with a bad end. But the elect receive both the gift of conversion, and also receive the perseverance of the gift.

Ea ergo causa est quod quidam et bene incipiunt et bene finiunt. VI. De praedestinatione. 6.1. Gemina est praedestinatio siue electorum ad requiem, siue reproborum ad mortem.

Therefore this is the cause why certain people both begin well and finish well. 6. On Predestination. 6.1. Predestination is twofold, whether of the elect to rest, or of the reprobate to death.

Vtraque diuino agitur iudicio, ut semper electos superna et interiora sequi faciat, semperque reprobos ut infima et exteriora delectentur deserendo permittat.

Both are conducted by divine judgment, so that it always makes the elect follow the supernal and interior things, and always, by deserting them, permits the reprobate to take delight in the lowest and exterior things.

6.2. Sicut ignorat homo terminum lucis et tenebrarum, uel utriusque rei quis finis sit, ita plenius nescit quis ante suum finem luce iustitiae praeueniatur uel quis peccatorum tenebris usque in suum terminum obscuretur, aut quis post lapsum tenebrarum conuersus resurgat ad lucem. Cuncta haec Deo patent, homini uero latent. 6.3. Quamuis iustorum conuersatio in hac uita probabilis sit, incertum tamen hominibus esse ad quem sint finem praedestinati, sed omnia reseruari futuro examini.

6.2. Just as a man does not know the terminus of light and of darkness, or what the end of either thing may be, so he knows less fully who before his own end will be anticipated by the light of justice, or who will be obscured by the darkness of sins up to his own terminus, or who, after a lapse into darkness, being converted, will rise again to the light. All these things are open to God, but hidden to man. 6.3. Although the conduct of the just in this life is commendable, yet it is uncertain to men to what end they are predestined, but all things are reserved for the future examination.

6.4. Mira dispositio est supernae distributionis per quam hic iustus amplius iustificatur, impius amplius sordidatur; malus ad bonum aliquando conuertitur, bonus ad malum aliquando reflectitur. Vult quis esse bonus, et non ualet; uult esse alter malus et non permittitur interire; datur ei qui uult esse bonus; alius nec uult nec ei datur ut sit bonus. Iste nascitur in errore et moritur; ille in bono quo coepit usque in finem perdurat.

6.4. A wondrous disposition of the supernal distribution, through which this just man is further justified, the impious is further made sordid; the evil man is sometimes converted to the good, the good man is sometimes reflected back to evil. Someone wills to be good and is not able; another wills to be evil and is not permitted to perish; it is given to him who wills to be good; another neither wills nor is it given to him to be good. This one is born in error and dies; that one, in the good in which he began, endures all the way to the end.

Tandiu iste stat quousque cadat; ille diu male uiuendo in fine saluatur respectusque conuertitur.

This one stands for so long until he falls; that one, living badly for a long time, in the end is saved, and the respect is converted.

6.5. Vult prodesse in bono iustus, nec praeualet; uult nocere malus, et ualet; iste uult Deo uacare, et saeculo inpeditur; iste negotiis inplicari cupit nec perficit. 6.6. Dominatur malus bono, bonus damnatur pro impio, impius honoratur pro iusto. Et in hac tanta obscuritate non ualet homo diuinam perscrutare dispositionem, et occultum praedestinationis perpendere ordinem.

6.5. The just man wants to be of profit in good, and does not prevail; the evil man wants to harm, and does prevail; this man wants to be free for God, and is impeded by the world; this man desires to be entangled in business and does not bring it to completion. 6.6. The evil man rules over the good, the good man is condemned in place of the impious, the impious is honored instead of the just. And in so great an obscurity man is not able to scrutinize the divine disposition, nor to weigh the hidden order of predestination.

VII. De conversis.

7. On converts.

7.1-2. Non inchoantibus praemium promittitur, sed perseuerantibus datur, sicut scriptum est: Qui perseuerauerit usque in finem, hic saluus erit. Tunc enim placet Deo nostra conuersio, quando bonum quod inchoamus perseueranti fine conplemus. Nam sicut scriptum est: uae bis qui sustinentiam perdiderunt, id est opus bonum non consummauerunt.

7.1-2. The reward is not promised to those beginning, but is given to those persevering, as it is written: He who has persevered unto the end, this man will be saved. For then our conversion is pleasing to God, when we complete the good which we begin with a persevering end. For, as it is written: woe twice to those who have lost endurance, that is, they have not consummated the good work.

7.3. Indulgentia peccatorum sciendum ubi, quando uel qualibus datur. Vbi quippe, nisi intra ecclesiam catholicam? quando, nisi ante uenturi exitus diem?

7.3. The indulgence of sins—it must be known where, when, or to what kind of persons it is given. Where indeed, if not within the Catholic Church? when, if not before the day of the coming exit?

quia ecce nunc tempus acceptabile, ecce nunc dies salutis. Qualibus, nisi conuersis qui per humilitatem ad paruulorum transeunt imitationem? De quibus dicitur: Talium est regnum caelorum.

because behold, now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation. For whom, if not for the converted who through humility pass over to the imitation of the little ones? Of whom it is said: Of such is the kingdom of heaven.

7.4-5. Nemo perpendere potest quanti sit ponderis in iustitia, uel quanti fulgoris radio iustitia clareat, nisi quis prius toto mentis nisu conuertatur ad Deum, quatenus ipso lumine quo inlustratur, et suam foeditatem agnoscat, et lumen quod caeco corde non intuebatur intellegat. Tunc autem inadtingibilem intellegi posse iustitiam, dum eam quisque sequi conuersus temptauerit, quia lux non intellegitur nisi cum uidetur.

7.4-5. No one can weigh how great a weight there is in justice, or with a ray of how great splendor justice shines forth, unless one first with the whole effort of the mind be converted to God, so that by the very light by which he is illuminated, he both may acknowledge his own foulness and may understand the light which with a blind heart he did not behold. Then, moreover, that justice can be understood to be unattainable, when each person, having been converted, has attempted to follow it, because light is not understood unless when it is seen.

7.6. Iudicium quod in hominis potestate consistit conuersionis est gratia per quam nosmetipsos iudicamus, quando flentes mala nostra punimus et bono quod ex Deo nobis est solidius inhaeremus. 7.7. Tripertitum describitur esse uniuscuiusque conuersi profectum, id est primum corrigendi a malo, secundum faciendi bonum, tertium consequendi boni operis praemium. Nam quod ait propheta: Solue fasciculos deprimentes, mali est emendatio.

7.6. The judgment which consists in man’s power is the grace of conversion, through which we judge our very selves, when, weeping, we punish our evils and more solidly adhere to the good which is from God to us. 7.7. The progress of each converted person is described as tripartite, that is: first, of correcting from evil; second, of doing good; third, of obtaining the reward of a good work. For what the prophet says, “Loose the bundles that press down,” is an emendation of evil.

Quod uero adiecit: Frange esurienti panem tuum, operis boni est actio. In eo uero quod subiungit: Tunc erumpet matutinum lumen tuum, operis boni est retributio; ergo non proficit facere bonum, nisi correctum fuerit malum, nec poterit quisquam ad contemplationem Dei proficere nisi se prius in bonis studuerit actibus exercere. 7.8. Multis modis terret Deus homines ut uel sero conuertantur, atque exinde magis erubescant quod tandiu expectati sunt ut redirent.

But what he added: Break your bread to the hungry, is the action of a good work. And in what he subjoins: Then your morning light will burst forth, is the retribution of a good work; therefore it does not profit to do good unless the evil has been corrected, nor can anyone make progress to the contemplation of God unless he has first taken pains to exercise himself in good acts. 7.8. In many ways God terrifies men so that even if late they may be converted, and thereafter may be the more ashamed that they were waited for so long to return.

Nam nunc minis, nunc plagis, nunc reuelationibus quosdam concutit, ut qui uoluntate conuerti despiciunt commoti terroribus corrigantur.

For now by threats, now by blows, now by revelations he shakes certain persons, so that those who despise to be converted by their own will may, moved by terrors, be corrected.

7.9-10. Plerique ex sola mentis deuotione conuertuntur ad Deum, nonnulli uero coacti plagis conuertuntur qui ex deuotione non conuertebantur iuxta capitulum psalmi dicentis: In freno et camo maxillas eorum constringes, qui non adproximant ad te. Plerique autem, dum deuotione non conuertuntur, plagae stimulis feriuntur; qui tamen nec sub uerbere sentiunt ut aliquatenus corrigantur, sicut Aegyptus qui et poenas dedit et emendare nequiuit. De talibus enim ait propheta: Percussisti eos et non doluerunt; adtriuisti et rennuerunt suscipere disciplinam. 7.11. Nonnulli uiri saeculares elatione mentis tumentes, postmodum conuersi ad Deum, religiosa sequuntur obedientia Christum, et qui antea celsitudine mundiali tumebant, postea ipsam elationem in studio humilitatis commutant.

7.9-10. Very many are converted to God from the sole devotion of mind; some indeed, forced by blows, are converted who were not being converted from devotion, according to the chapter of the psalm that says: With bit and bridle you will constrain their jaws, who do not approach to you. Very many, however, since they are not converted by devotion, are smitten by the goads of blows; yet they do not even under the lash feel so as to be corrected to some extent, like Egypt, which both paid penalties and was unable to amend. Of such, indeed, the prophet says: You struck them and they did not grieve; you wore them down and they refused to receive discipline. 7.11. Some secular men, swelling with elation of mind, afterwards converted to God, follow Christ with religious obedience; and they who previously swelled with mundane exaltation afterwards change that very elation into the pursuit of humility.

7.12a. Quidam sunt qui iam secretim conuersi sunt, quorum conuersio, quia non procedit ad publicum, apud aestimationem humanam quales fuerunt, tales adhuc esse putantur; iam tamen in Dei oculis surrexerunt.

7.12a. There are some who already have been converted secretly, whose conversion, because it does not proceed into the public, in human estimation are thought still to be such as they were; yet already in the eyes of God they have risen.

7.12b. Item quidam adhuc humano iudicio stare cernuntur, iam tamen in Dei oculis ceciderunt. 7.13. Multi apud homines reprobi sunt, et apud Deum electi; atque item multi apud homines electi putantur, et apud Deum reprobi existunt, Salomone docente: Vidi, inquit, impios sepultos, qui cum aduiuerent, in loco sancto erant, et laudabantur in ciuitate quasi iustorum operum.

7.12b. Likewise certain persons are still discerned by human judgment to stand, yet already in the eyes of God they have fallen. 7.13. Many are reprobate among men, and elect with God; and likewise many are reckoned elect among men, and before God they exist as reprobate, Solomon teaching: I saw, he says, the impious buried, who, when they were alive, were in a holy place, and were praised in the city as though for the works of the just.

Nullus ergo se putet electum, ne forte iam apud Deum sit reprobus. VIII. De primordiis conversorum.

Therefore let no one think himself elect, lest perhaps he already be reprobate before God. 8. On the beginnings of the converted.

8.1. Trimodum genus est conuersionis ad Deum, inchoationis cum dulcedine, medietatis cum labore, perfectionis cum requie. Sed tamen plerumque alii incipiunt a dulcedine, alii a temptationum amaritudine. 8.2. Omnis conuersus ante ex fletu inchoet peccatorum, et sic transeat ad desiderium supernorum.

8.1. There is a threefold kind of conversion to God: of inchoation with sweetness, of mediety with labor, of perfection with rest. But yet for the most part some begin from sweetness, others from the bitterness of temptations. 8.2. Let every convert first begin from weeping over sins, and thus pass to the desire of supernal things.

Prius enim lacrimis purganda sunt uitia quae gessimus, et tunc mundata mentis acie id quod quaerimus contemplemur, ut, dum antea flendo peccati a nobis caligo detergitur, mundatis cordis oculis libere superna inspiciantur. 8.3. Ante necesse est timore conuerti ad Deum, ut metu futurarum poenarum carnales inlecebrae deuincantur. Deinde oportet, abiecto timore, ad amorem uitae aeternae transire.

For first the vices which we have borne must be purged by tears, and then, with the keenness of the mind cleansed, let us contemplate that which we seek, so that, while previously by weeping the mist of sin is wiped away from us, with the eyes of the heart cleansed the things above may be freely inspected. 8.3. First it is necessary to be converted to God by fear, so that by dread of future punishments the carnal allurements may be overcome. Then it is proper, fear having been cast aside, to pass over to the love of eternal life.

Perfecta enim caritas foris mittit timorem, qui autem timet poenam habet et non est perfectus. Vnde et apostolus: Non enim accepistis spiritum seruitutis iterum in timore, sed accepistis spiritum adoptionis, per quo scilicet iam non peccati poena seruos conprimit, sed amor iustitiae liberos reddit.

For perfect charity casts out fear; but he who fears has punishment and is not perfect. Whence also the apostle: For you did not receive a spirit of servitude again in fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, through which, namely, now it is not the punishment of sin that presses down slaves, but the love of justice renders free.

8.4. Necesse est omni conuerso ut post timorem consurgere ad caritatem Dei debeat quasi filius, ne semper sub timore iaceat quasi seruus. Tunc enim amorem nostrae conuersionis ostendimus si denuo ut patrem diligimus quem prius seruili mente uere ut Dominum formidabamus. 8.5. Primordia conuersorum blandis refouenda sunt modis, ne, si ab asperitate incipiant, exterriti ad priores lapsus recurrant.

8.4. It is necessary for every convert that, after fear, he ought to rise up to the charity of God as a son, lest he always lie under fear as a slave. Then indeed we show the love of our conversion if we anew love as a Father him whom before, with a servile mind, we truly dreaded as Lord. 8.5. The beginnings of the converted must be cherished by gentle modes, lest, if they begin from asperity, terrified they return to their former lapses.

Qui enim conuersum sine lenitate erudit, exasperare potius quam corrigere nouit. 8.6. Conuersus quisque antea ab opere corrigendus est, postea uero a cogitatione, ut prius refrenet prauum actum, deinde appetitum ac delictum, quod iam in opere non apparet, in cogitatione nequaquam perduret.

For he who instructs a convert without lenity knows rather how to exasperate than to correct. 8.6. Each convert must first be corrected with respect to deed, but afterward indeed with respect to thought, so that he may first bridle the depraved act, then the appetite and the delict—which now no longer appears in deed—may by no means endure in thought.

8.7. Omnis noua conuersio adhuc pristinae uitae habet commixtionem: propterea nequaquam ea uirtus procedere ad hominum oculos debet, donec conuersatio uetus funditus ab animo extirpetur. 8.8. Quisquis ex deteriore iam melior esse coepit caueat de acceptis extolli uirtutibus, ne grauius per uanam gloriam corruat quam prius per lapsum uitiorum iacebat. VIIII.

8.7. Every new conversion still has a commixture of the pristine life: therefore by no means ought that virtue to proceed to the eyes of men, until the old conversation is utterly extirpated from the mind. 8.8. Whoever, from a worse state, has now begun to be better, let him beware of being exalted on account of the virtues received, lest he collapse more grievously through vain glory than he previously lay through the lapse of vices. 9.

De conflictu conversorum.

On the conflict of the converted.

9.1. Quisque conuersus, si mox omnes carnis stimulos calcare cupiat, et summa uirtutum subire contendat, si forte adhuc aliqua aduersa de carnis molestiis tolerat, non frangatur, quia dispensator bonorum nouit aduersitatis reprimere uitium successione uirtutum. 9.2-3. Tunc magis grauari se quisque inpulsu uitiorum agnoscit, dum ad cognitionem Dei accesserit; sicut populus Israhel grauiore onere ab Aegytio premitur, dum per Moysen diuina illi cognitio aperitur. Vitia enim ante conuersionem quasi pacem in homine habent; quando autem expelluntur, acriore uirtute consurgunt.

9.1. Every convert, if he at once wishes to tread down all the stimuli of the flesh and strives to undertake the highest heights of the virtues, if perchance he still endures some adverse things from the annoyances of the flesh, let him not be broken, because the Dispenser of goods knows how to repress the ill of adversity by a succession of virtues. 9.2-3. Then each one recognizes himself to be more weighed down by the impulse of vices, when he has approached to the cognition of God; just as the people of Israel are pressed by a heavier burden from the Egyptian, when through Moses the divine cognition is opened to them. For vices before conversion have, as it were, peace in a man; but when they are expelled, they rise up with keener force.

Fiunt autem inimica conuerso quae peccatori prospere blandiebant; atque item fiunt blanda conuerso quae peccatori aduersa extiterunt. 9.4. Multos habet conflictus Dei seruus ex recordatione operum praeteritorum; multique post conuersionem etiam nolentes motum libidinis sustinent, quod tamen ad damnationem non tolerant, sed ad probationem, scilicet ut semper habeant, pro excutienda inertia, hostem cui resistant, dum modo non consentiant. Vnde et nouerint serui Dei se etiam a peccatis iam esse mundatos, sed tamen cogitationum turpium adhuc interpellatione pulsari.

However, those things become inimical to the converted which had flatteringly prospered the sinner; and likewise those things become bland to the converted which had proved adverse to the sinner. 9.4. The servant of God has many conflicts from the recollection of past works; and many, even unwilling, after conversion endure a movement of libido, which, however, they do not bear unto damnation, but unto probation—namely, that they may always have, for the shaking off of inertia, an enemy to resist, provided only that they do not consent. Whence let the servants of God also know that they have already been cleansed from sins, yet nevertheless are still assailed by the interpellation of shameful thoughts.

9.5. Ante conuersionem praecedit turba peccatorum, post conuersionem sequitur turba temptationum; illa se obiciunt ne ad Deum conuertamur, ista se ingerunt ne liberis cordis oculis Deum cernamus: utriusque tumultus insolentiam nobis gignit, intentionemque nostram saepe fraude multimoda intercludit. 9.6. Vtile est Dei seruo post conuersionem temptari, quatenus a torpore neglegentiae sollicitantibus uitiis ad uirtutes animum per exercitium praeparet uitiorum. X. De remissa conversione.

9.5. Before conversion there goes before a multitude of sins; after conversion there follows a multitude of temptations: those set themselves in the way lest we be converted to God; these intrude themselves lest we behold God with the free eyes of the heart: the insolence of both tumults begets in us disquiet, and often intercludes our intention by manifold fraud. 9.6. It is useful for the servant of God, after conversion, to be tempted, inasmuch as, from the torpor of negligence, with the vices soliciting, he may prepare his mind toward virtues through the exercise of vices. 10. On relaxed conversion.

10.1. Multos remissa conuersio in pristinos errores reducit, ac uiuendi tepore resoluit; horum ergo exempla quisque conuersus euita, ne, dum timorem Dei a tepore incipis, rursus mundanis erroribus inmergaris. 10.2. Tepidus in conuersione otiosa uerba et uanas cogitationes noxias esse non conspicit; quod si a torpore mentis euigilauerit ea quae leuia existimabat, confestim quasi horrenda atque atrocia pertimescit. 10.3. Fraus et desidia in omni bono opere formidanda est.

10.1. Many are led back by a relaxed conversion into former errors, and are loosened by tepidity of living; therefore let each person converted avoid the examples of these, lest, while you begin the fear of God from tepidity, you be plunged again into worldly errors. 10.2. The tepid in conversion does not perceive that idle words and vain thoughts are noxious; but if he shall have awakened from the torpor of mind, those things which he judged light he straightway dreads as though horrendous and atrocious. 10.3. Fraud and sloth are to be feared in every good work.

Fraudem facimus Deo quotiens de bono opere nostro nosmetipsos, non Deum laudamus. Desidiam agimus quotiens per torporem languide ea quae Dei sunt operamur.

We commit fraud against God whenever, with respect to our good work, we praise ourselves, not God. We practice sloth whenever, through torpor, we languidly perform the things that are God’s.

10.4. Omnis ars saeculi huius strenuos amatores habet, et ad exsequendum promptissimos; et hoc proinde fit quia praesentem habet operis sui remunerationem. Ars uero diuini timoris plerosque habet sectatores languidos, tepidos, pigritiae inertia congelatos; sed hoc proinde quod labor eorum non pro praesenti, sed pro futura remuneratione differtur: ideoque dum eorum laborem mercedis retributio non statim consequitur, spe pene dissoluta languescunt. Vnde et magna illorum gloria praeparatur qui bonae conuersionis uitae principia augmento solidiore consummant, atque eo ad promerendam retributionem clariores praeparantur quo firmius duri itineris labores et inchoant et consummant.

10.4. Every art of this age has strenuous lovers, and the most prompt for executing; and this accordingly happens because it has the present remuneration of its work. But the art of divine fear has very many followers languid, tepid, frozen by the inertia of sloth; and this for the reason that their labor is deferred not for a present but for a future remuneration: and so, while the repayment of wages does not immediately follow their toil, with hope almost dissolved they grow faint. Whence also great glory is prepared for those who consummate the beginnings of the life of good conversion with a more solid augmentation, and by that they are prepared the more illustrious for meriting the retribution, the more firmly they both begin and consummate the labors of the hard journey.

10.5. Quidam primo conuersionis calore ad uirtutes sese accingunt; accedente uero progressu, dum inmoderate terrenis rebus incumbunt, puluere infimi appetitus obscurantur. Vnde et Dominus de bonis seminibus dicit: Quod autem cecidit in spinis, hii sunt qui audiunt uerbum Dei, et sollicitudine saeculi, uel fallacia diuitiarum suffocant uerbum, et sine fructu efficitur. 10.6. Nuper conuersi nequaquam debent in curis exterioribus prouehi.

10.5. Certain men, at the first heat of conversion, gird themselves to virtues; but as progress comes on, while they immoderately press upon earthly things, they are obscured by the dust of low appetite. Whence also the Lord says about the good seeds: But that which fell among thorns—these are they who hear the word of God, and by the solicitude of the age, or the fallacy of riches, they suffocate the word, and it becomes without fruit. 10.6. Those newly converted ought by no means to be carried forward into exterior cares.

Nam si inplicentur confestim, quasi plantata arbuscula et necdum radice praefixa, concutiuntur pariter et arescunt.

For if they are immediately entangled, like a sapling planted and with its root not yet fastened, they are likewise shaken and wither.

10.7. Valet interdum conuersis pro animae salute mutatio loci. Plerumque enim, dum mutatur locus, mutatur et mentis affectus. Congruum est enim inde etiam corporaliter euelli, ubi quisque inlecebris deseruiuit; nam locus ubi praue quisque uixit, hoc in aspectu mentis opponit quod semper ibi uel cogitauit uel gessit.

10.7. It sometimes avails the converted, for the salvation of the soul, to have a change of place. For very often, when the place is changed, the affect of the mind is changed as well. It is congruent, indeed, to be torn up from there even bodily, where each person has been subservient to allurements; for the place where one has lived wrongly sets before the mind’s gaze that which he always either thought or did there.

XI. De exemplis sanctorum. 11.1-2. Ad conuersionem, seu correctionem mortalium multum prosunt exempla bonorum. Nam [cetera] praeter perfectorum exempla, mores inchoantium non queunt proficere ad bene uiuendum.

11. On the examples of the saints. 11.1-2. For the conversion, or correction, of mortals, the examples of the good are very useful. For [the rest], apart from the examples of the perfect, the mores of beginners are not able to make progress toward living well.

Reprobi autem non adtendunt documenta bonorum quae imitentur ad melius, sed proponunt sibi exempla malorum quae ad suorum morum peruersitatem utantur in peius.

The reprobate, however, do not attend to the lessons of the good that they might imitate for the better, but set before themselves examples of the wicked, which they use for the perversity of their own morals, to worse effect.

11.3. Ob hanc utilitatem scribuntur sanctorum ruinae et reparationes, ut spem faciant salutis humanae, ne quisquam post lapsum paenitendo desperet ueniam, dum conspicit sanctorum reparationem fuisse etiam post ruinam. 11.4. Sciant flagitio dediti ad quam utilitatem eorum exempla proponantur sanctorum, scilicet ut aut sint quos imitentur ad reparationem, aut certe ex eorum conparatione durius de inobedientia puniantur. 11.5-7. Propterea uirtutes sanctorum ad exemplum nostrum Deus proposuit ut quanto de imitatione eorum conferri possunt nobis iustitiae praemia, tanto de perseuerantia mali sint grauiora tormenta.

11.3. For this utility the ruinations and reparations of the saints are written, that they may make a hope of human salvation, lest anyone, after a lapse, despair of pardon by repenting, while he beholds that the reparation of saints took place even after a ruination. 11.4. Let those given over to flagitiousness know to what utility the examples of the saints are set forth for them—namely, that there may be those whom they might imitate unto reparation, or else, by comparison with them, they may be punished more harshly for disobedience. 11.5-7. Therefore God has set forth the virtues of the saints for our example, so that by as much as the rewards of righteousness can be conferred upon us from their imitation, by so much the torments for perseverance in evil may be more grievous.

Si enim ad boni incitamentum diuina quibus admoneremur praecepta deessent, pro lege nobis sanctorum exempla sufficerent. At contra, dum et Deus nos praeceptis suis admoneat et uitae sanctorum boni operis nobis exempla proponat, nulla est iam de reatu excusatio, quia et lex Dei aures nostras cotidie pulsat et factorum documenta bonorum cordis nostri intima prouocant. Et si prauorum saepe secuti sumus exempla, cur non imitemur sanctorum digna, et Deo placita facta?

For if, for the incitement to good, the divine precepts by which we might be admonished were lacking, the examples of the saints would suffice for us as a law. But on the contrary, while both God admonishes us by his precepts and sets before us from the life of the saints the examples of good work, there is now no excuse regarding guilt, since both the law of God knocks at our ears daily and the documents of good deeds provoke the inmost parts of our heart. And if we have often followed the examples of the depraved, why do we not imitate the saints’ deeds, worthy, and pleasing to God?

et si apti fuimus imitari iniquos in malum, cur pigri sumus imitari iustos in bonum?

and if we have been apt to imitate the iniquitous in evil, why are we slothful to imitate the just in good?

11.8. Orandus est Deus, ut uirtutes quas sanctis praeparauit ad coronam, nobis ad profectum sint positae, non ad poenam. Proficient autem ad profectum nostrum, si tot exempla uoluerimus imitari uirtutum. Certe si ea potius auersati quam imitati fuerimus, ad damnationem nostram erunt, quia ea legendo implere negleximus.

11.8. God must be prayed, that the virtues which he has prepared for the saints unto a crown may be set for us unto progress, not unto penalty. They will, moreover, profit for our progress, if we are willing to imitate so many examples of virtues. Certainly, if we have rather turned away from them than imitated them, they will be for our damnation, because by reading them we have neglected to fulfill them.

11.9. Multi uitam sanctorum imitantur et de moribus alterius effigiem uirtutis sumunt, tanquam si imago quaelibet intendatur, et de eius similitudine species picta formetur; sicque fit ad imaginem similis ille qui ad similitudinem uiuit imaginis. 11.10. Qui sanctum uirum imitatur, quasi exemplar aliquod intuetur, seseque in illo, quasi in speculo, praespicit, ut adiciat quod deesse uirtutis agnoscit. Minus enim seipsum homo ex semetipso considerat, sed dum alterum intendit, id quod minus est luminis adicit.

11.9. Many imitate the life of the saints and take from another’s morals a likeness, an effigy, of virtue, as if some image were set up and from its similitude a painted form were fashioned; and thus he who lives according to the likeness of the image becomes like to the image. 11.10. He who imitates a holy man looks upon a certain exemplar, and sees himself beforehand in him, as in a mirror, so that he may add what he recognizes to be lacking of virtue. For a man considers himself less from himself alone; but while he fixes his attention on another, he adds what light is lacking.

11.11. Perfectorum est iam uirorum non quemlibet sanctorum imitando, sed ipsam ueritatem intuendo, ad cuius imaginem facti sunt, iustitiam operare. Hoc indicat quod scribitur: Faciamus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram, quia ipsam intellegendo imitatur diuinitatem ad cuius factus est similitudinem. Iste ergo tantus est ut non egeat hominem demonstratorem iustitiae, sed ipsam contemplando imitetur iustitiam.

11.11. It already belongs to perfected men, not by imitating just any of the saints, but by gazing upon the Truth itself, according to whose image they have been made, to do justice. This is indicated by what is written: Let us make man after our image and likeness, because by understanding that very thing he imitates the divinity to whose likeness he was made. He, therefore, is so great that he has no need of a man as a demonstrator of justice, but by contemplating Justice itself he imitates it.

11.12. Exempla sanctorum quibus aedificatur homo, uarias consectare uirtutes: humilitatis ex Christo, deuotionis ex Petro, caritatis ex Iohanne, obedientiae de Abraham, patientiae de Isaac, tolerantiae de Iacob, castimoniae de Ioseph, mansuetudinis de Moyse, constantiae de Iosue, benignitatis de Samuhel, misericordiae de Dauid, abstinentiae de Danihel, sic et cetera facta priorum quo labore, quo moderamine, quaue intentione uel conpunctione gerantur, uir sanctus imitando considerat. XII. De compunctione cordis.

11.12. Pursue, in the examples of the saints by which a person is edified, the various virtues: humility from Christ, devotion from Peter, charity from John, obedience from Abraham, patience from Isaac, tolerance from Jacob, chastity from Joseph, mansuetude from Moses, constancy from Joshua, benignity from Samuel, mercy from David, abstinence from Daniel; so too the other deeds of the predecessors—by what toil, by what moderation, and with what intention or compunction they are carried on—the holy man considers by imitating. 12. On the compunction of the heart.

12.1. Conpunctio cordis est humilitas mentis cum lacrimis, exoriens de recordatione peccati et timore iudicii. 12.2. Illa est conuersis perfectior conpunctionis affectio, quae omnes a se carnalium desideriorum affectus repellit, et intentionem suam toto mentis studio in Dei contemplationem defigit. 12.3. Geminam esse conpunctionem qua propter Deum anima cuique electi afficitur, id est uel dum operum suorum mala considerat, uel dum desiderio aeternae uitae suspirat.

12.1. Compunction of the heart is humility of mind with tears, arising from the remembrance of sin and the fear of judgment. 12.2. That is, for the converted, the more perfect affection of compunction, which repels from itself all affections of carnal desires, and fixes its intention, with the whole study of the mind, upon the contemplation of God. 12.3. There is a twofold compunction by which, for the sake of God, the soul of each elect person is affected, that is, either when it considers the evils of its works, or when it sighs with desire for eternal life.

12.4. Quattuor esse qualitates affectionum quibus mens iusti taedio salubri conpungitur, hoc est memoria praeteritorum facinorum, recordatio futurarum poenarum, consideratio peregrinationis suae in huius uitae longinquitate, desiderium supernae patriae, quatenus ad eam quantocius ualeat peruenire. 12.5. Quisque peccatorum memoria conpungitur ad lamenta, tunc Dei se uisitari sciat praesentia, quando ex id quod se admisisse recolit interius erubescit, suoque iudicio paenitendo iam punit. Nam tunc Petrus fleuit, quando in eum Christus respexit.

12.4. That there are four qualities of affections by which the mind of the just is compuncted with salutary weariness, that is: the memory of past misdeeds, the recollection of future punishments, the consideration of his peregrination in the long duration of this life, the desire for the supernal fatherland, to the extent that he may be able to arrive at it as quickly as possible. 12.5. Whenever one is compuncted to laments by the memory of sins, then let him know that he is being visited by the presence of God, when, from that which he recalls he has committed, he blushes inwardly, and by his own judgment, by repenting, already punishes himself. For then Peter wept, when Christ looked upon him.

Vnde et psalmus: Respexit, inquit, et commota est, et contremuit terra. 12.6. Gressus Dei sunt, in cor hominis, interior uis, qua bona desideria surgunt ut calcentur mala. Quando ergo ista in corde hominis fiunt, sciendum est tunc esse Deum per gratiam cordi humano praesentem; unde se tunc magis homo acuere ad conpunctionem debet quando sentit et Deum interius operantem.

Whence also the psalm: “He looked, he says, and it was moved, and the earth trembled.” 12.6. The steps of God, into the heart of man, are the interior force by which good desires arise, that evils may be trodden down. Therefore, when these things are done in the heart of man, it must be known that then God is present to the human heart by grace; whence a man ought then to spur himself the more to compunction, when he also senses God working within.

12.7. Quo mens hominis iusti ex uera conpunctione rapiatur, et qualiter infirmata reuertatur degustatae lucis magnitudine, illum nosse posse qui iam aliquid exinde gustauit. 12.8. Sunt qui non ex uera cordis conpunctione sui accusatores fiunt, sed tantum ad hoc esse se peccatores adsignant, ut ex ficta humilitate confessionis locum inueniant sanctitatis. XIII.

12.7. How the mind of a just man is rapt by true compunction, and how, having been weakened, it returns by the magnitude of the light that has been tasted, can be known by him who has already tasted something therefrom. 12.8. There are those who do not from true compunction of heart become accusers of themselves, but only for this purpose declare themselves to be sinners, that from feigned humility they may, by confession, find a place of sanctity. 13.

De confessione peccatorum et paenitentia.

On the confession of sins and penance.

13.1. Ex eo unusquisque iustus esse incipit, ex quo sui accusator extiterit. Multi autem e contra semetipsos peccatores fatentur, et tamen semetipsos a peccato non subtrahunt. 13.2. Magna iam iustitiae pars est seipsum nosse homo quod prauus est, ut ex eo diuinae uirtuti subdatur humilius, ex quo suam infirmitatem agnoscit.

13.1. From that point each person begins to be just, from which he has stood forth as his own accuser. Many, however, conversely, confess themselves sinners, and yet do not withdraw themselves from sin. 13.2. A great part of justice already is that a man know himself to be crooked, so that from that he may be more humbly subjected to divine virtue, inasmuch as he recognizes his infirmity.

13.3. Bene se iudicat iustus in hac uita, ne iudicetur a Deo damnatione perpetua. Tunc autem iudicium de se quisque sumit, quando per dignam paenitentiam sua praua facta condemnat.

13.3. The just man judges himself well in this life, lest he be judged by God with perpetual damnation. Then, however, each person takes judgment upon himself, when through worthy penance he condemns his own perverse deeds.

13.4. Amaritudo paenitentiae facit animum et sua facta subtilius discutere et dona Dei quae contempsit flendo commemorare. Nihil autem peius quam culpam agnoscere, nec deflere. 13.5. Duplicem habere debet fletum in paenitentia omnis peccator, siue quia per neglegentiam bonum non fecit, seu quia malum per audaciam perpetrauit.

13.4. The bitterness of penitence makes the mind both to scrutinize itself and its deeds more subtly, and to commemorate by weeping the gifts of God which it despised. Yet nothing is worse than to acknowledge the fault and not to bewail it. 13.5. Every sinner ought to have a double weeping in penitence, either because through negligence he did not do the good, or because through audacity he perpetrated the evil.

Quod enim oportuit non gessit, et gessit quod agere non oportuit. 13.6. Ille paenitentiam digne agit, qui reatum suum satisfactione legitima plangit, condemnando scilicet ac deflendo quae gessit, tanto in deplorando profusius, quanto extitit in peccando procliuius.

For he did not carry out what was fitting, and he carried out what it was not fitting to do. 13.6. He does penance worthily who bewails his guilt with legitimate satisfaction, namely by condemning and by weeping over the things he has done, the more profusely in deploring, the more he has been prone in sinning.

13.7. Ille paenitentiam digne agit, qui sic praeterita mala deplorat ut futura iterum non committat. Nam qui plangit peccatum, et iterum admittit peccatum, quasi si quis lauet laterem crudum, quem quanto magis elauerit, tanto amplius lutum facit. 13.8-9. Quamuis quisque sit peccator et impius, si ad paenitentiam conuertatur, consequi posse ueniam creditur.

13.7. He does penitence worthily, who so laments past evils that he does not commit them again in the future. For he who bewails the sin and again commits the sin is as if someone were to wash an unfired brick, which, the more he washes it, the more he makes mud. 13.8-9. Although anyone be a sinner and impious, if he be converted to penitence, he is believed to be able to obtain pardon.

Nullus enim de bonitate Dei dubitet, sed sola accipientium prauitas conferri sibi indulgentiam abnegat. 13.10. In hac uita tantundem paenitentiae patet libertas; post mortem uero nullam correctionis esse licentiam. Vnde et Dominus dicit: Me oportet operare opera eius qui me misit donec dies est; ueniet autem nox quando nemo potest operare.

For no one should doubt the goodness of God, but it is solely the perversity of the recipients that denies indulgence to be conferred upon themselves. 13.10. In this life the freedom for repentance stands open; after death, however, there is no license for correction. Whence also the Lord says: It behooves me to work the works of him who sent me while it is day; but night will come when no one can work.

Hinc et propheta: date, inquit, Domino Deo uestro gloriam antequam contenebrescat; id est: antequam mors aeterna praeueniat, in hac uita dum estis, Deum per paenitentiam glorificate.

Hence also the prophet: give, he says, glory to the Lord your God before it grows dark; that is: before eternal death overtakes you, in this life while you are, glorify God through penitence.

13.11. Adhuc in hoc saeculo paenitentiam operantibus Dei misericordia subuenit. In futuro autem iam non operamur, sed rationem nostrorum operum ponimus. 13.12. Per id deteriorantur plerumque iniqui, per quo per patientiam Dei spatium accipiunt emendandi; quam illi moram uiuendi non utuntur ad paenitentiam, sed ad peccandi usurpant audaciam.

13.11. Even yet in this age, the mercy of God comes to the aid of those working repentance. In the future, however, we no longer work, but we set forth the reckoning of our works. 13.12. By this the iniquitous are for the most part made worse—by that through the patience of God they receive a space for amending; which delay of life they do not use for repentance, but they usurp for a boldness of sinning.

A malo autem in deterius uadit, qui tempus sibi ad paenitentiam indultum ad libertatem praui operis utitur. 13.13. Festinare debet ad Deum paenitendo unusquisque dum potest, ne si dum potest noluerit, cum tarde uoluerit omnino non possit. Proinde propheta ait: Quaerite Dominum dum inueniri potest; inuocate eum dum prope est.

But he goes from bad into worse, who uses the time granted to him for penitence as a license for depraved work. 13.13. Each person ought to hasten to God by repenting while he is able, lest, if while he can he is unwilling, when he late wishes he may be not able at all. Accordingly the prophet says: Seek the Lord while he can be found; call upon him while he is near.

Et ubi inueniri potest, nisi in hac uita in qua etiam et prope est omnibus inuocantibus se? Nam tunc iam longe erit, quando dixerit: ite in ignem aeternum. Modo enim non uidetur, et prope est; tunc uidebitur, et prope non erit, quia et uideri poterit, et non poterit inueniri.

And where can he be found, unless in this life in which also he is near to all who invoke him? For then he will already be far away, when he shall say: go into the eternal fire. For now indeed he is not seen, and he is near; then he will be seen, and he will not be near, because both he will be able to be seen, and he will not be able to be found.

13.14-15. Si, quando quisque peccare potest, paenitet uitamque suam uiuens ab omni crimine corrigit, non dubium quod moriens ad aeternam transeat requiem. Qui autem praue uiuendo paenitentiam in mortis agit periculo, sicut eius damnatio incerta est, sic remissio dubia. Qui ergo cupit certus esse in morte de indulgentia, sanus paeniteat, sanusque perpetrata facinora deleat.

13.14-15. If, while each person is able, he repents and, living, corrects his life from every crime, it is not doubtful that, when dying, he passes over to eternal rest. But he who, by living perversely, pushes his repentance into the peril of death—just as his condemnation is uncertain, so his remission is doubtful. Therefore he who desires to be certain at death about indulgence, let him repent while healthy, and while healthy let him blot out the crimes perpetrated.

13.16-17. Sunt qui paenitentibus securitatem cito polliceantur. Quibus bene per prophetam dicitur: Curant contritionem filiae populi mei cum ignominia, dicentes "pax" et non est pax. Cum ignominia igitur curat contritionem qui peccanti et non legitime paenitenti promittit securitatem.

13.16-17. There are those who quickly promise security to penitents. To whom it is well said through the prophet: They cure the contrition of the daughter of my people with ignominy, saying "peace" and there is no peace. With ignominy, therefore, he cures the contrition who promises security to one sinning and not legitimately repenting.

Vnde et sequitur: Confusi sunt qui abominationem fecerunt, id est, confusi sunt non paenitendo, sed poenas luendo. Aliter enim confunditur coram iudice reus dum plectitur, atque aliter qui de malo opere erubescens corrigitur. Ille enim quia reprehensus est, confunditur; iste, quia se malum fecisse memoratur.

Whence also it follows: “They were confounded who did an abomination,” that is, they are confounded not by repenting, but by paying penalties. For one way the accused is confounded before the judge while he is punished, and another is he who, blushing for an evil work, is corrected. That man, indeed, is confounded because he has been rebuked; this one, because he remembers that he has done evil.

13.18. Quamuis per paenitentiam propitiatio peccatorum sit, sine metu tamen homo esse non debet, quia paenitentiae satisfactio diuino tantum pensatur iudicio, non humano. Proinde, quia miseratio Dei occulta est, sine intermissione flere necesse est. Neque enim unquam oportet paenitentem habere de peccatis securitatem.

13.18. Although through penitence there is propitiation of sins, nevertheless a man ought not to be without fear, because the satisfaction of penitence is weighed only by divine judgment, not by human. Accordingly, because the mercy of God is hidden, it is necessary to weep without intermission. For it is never fitting for the penitent to have security concerning sins.

Nam securitas neglegentiam parit, neglegentia autem saepe incautum ad uitia transacta reducit.

For security begets negligence, and negligence, moreover, often brings the incautious back to vices that were past.

13.19. Dum per paenitentiam expulsa fuerint ab homine uitia, si forte post haec, intercedente securitate, quaelibet culpa subrepserit confestim delectationes pristinae uitiorum mentem auidius inrepunt, pulsantesque hominem in consuetis operibus grauius pertrahunt, ita ut sint nouissima illius peiora prioribus. XIIII. De desperatione peccantium.

13.19. While through penitence the vices have been driven out from a man, if perchance after these things, with security intervening, any fault should creep in, at once the former delights of the vices creep more greedily into the mind, and, assailing the man, drag him more grievously into his accustomed works, so that his last things are worse than the first. 14. On the despair of sinners.

14.1. Non per locorum spatia, sed per affectum bonum uel malum itur recediturue a Deo. Neque enim gressu pedum, sed gressu morum elongamus uel propinquamus ad Deum.

14.1. Not by the spaces of places, but by a good or evil affection one goes or withdraws from God. For not by the step of the feet, but by the step of morals we are distanced or we draw near to God.

14.2. Perpetrare flagitium aliquod mors animae est; contemnere paenitentiam et permanere in culpam descendere in infernum post mortem est. Ergo peccare ad mortem pertinet, desperare uero in infernum descendere. Vnde et scriptura ait: Impius, dum in profundum malorum uenerit, contemnit.

14.2. To perpetrate some flagitious deed is the death of the soul; to contemn penitence and to remain in guilt is to descend into hell after death. Therefore to sin pertains to death, but to despair is to descend into hell. Whence also Scripture says: “The impious, when he shall have come into the depth of evils, contemns.”

14.3. Saepe diabolus eos quos conuerti ad paenitentiam aspicit, inmanitate scelerum perculsos ad desperationem deducit, ut, subtracta spe ueniae, trahat in diffidentiam quos non potuit retinere perseueranter in culpam. Sed paenitens praeuidere debet callidas contra se hostis insidias; sicque Dei iustitiam metuat ut tamen, quamuis in magnis sceleribus, de misericordia eius confidat. 14.4-5. Amplius laetatur Deus de anima desperata et aliquando conuersa, quam de ea quae nunquam extitit perdita.

14.3. Often the Devil, when he beholds those who are being converted to penitence, leads down into desperation men struck by the enormity of their crimes, so that, with the hope of pardon subtracted, he may drag into diffidence those whom he could not retain perseveringly in guilt. But the penitent ought to foresee the crafty snares of the enemy against himself; and thus let him fear the justice of God, yet, although in great crimes, let him trust in His mercy. 14.4-5. God rejoices more over a soul despaired-of and at some time converted, than over one which never was lost.

Sicut de prodigo filio, qui mortuus fuerat, et reuixit, perierat et inuentus est, de cuius regressu magnum fit gaudium patris. Non aliter coram Deo et angelis copiosiorem esse gaudium de eo qui a periculo liberatur, quam de eo qui nunquam nouit peccati periculum. Quanto enim contristat res perdita, tanto magis, si fuerit inuenta, laetificat.

Just as about the prodigal son, who had died and revived, had perished and was found, at whose return a great joy of the father is made. Not otherwise before God and the angels is there more copious joy over him who is delivered from peril, than over him who never knew the peril of sin. For by how much a lost thing saddens, by so much the more, if it has been found, it gladdens.

Sicut in euangelio pastor ille exultat qui perditam ouem inuentam humeris suis gaudens reportat.

Just as in the Gospel, that shepherd exults who, rejoicing, carries back upon his shoulders the lost sheep that has been found.

14.6. Nullus desperare debet ueniam etiamsi circa finem uitae ad paenitentiam conuertatur. Vnumquemque enim Deus de suo fine, non uita praeterita iudicat. Hoc quippe et legis testimonio edocetur quod homo de suo extreme iustificetur, quando Deus pro asini primogenita ouem iussit offerri, hoc est inmunditiam uitae prioris mutandam in innocentiam boni finis.

14.6. No one ought to despair of pardon, even if he is converted to penance around the end of life. For God judges each one by his own end, not by the life that is past. Indeed this is taught also by the testimony of the Law, that a man is justified by his own end, when God ordered that, in place of the firstborn of an ass, a sheep be offered, that is, that the uncleanness of the former life be changed into the innocence of a good end.

Vnde et cauda iubetur offerri in hostiam, id est uitae extrema in paenitentiam. 14.7. Multi superna respecti gratia in extremis suis ad Deum reuertuntur per paenitentiam et quaecumque mala gesserunt cotidianis fletibus purgant, atque in bonis factis male gesta commutant, quibus iuste totum quod deliquerant ignoscitur, quia ipsi quod male gesserunt paenitendo cognoscunt. 14.8. In uita hominis finis quaerendus est, quoniam Deus non respicit quales antea uiximus, sed quales circa uitae finem erimus.

Whence also the tail is ordered to be offered in sacrifice, that is, the last things of life into penitence. 14.7. Many, regarded by supernal grace, in their last moments return to God through penitence, and whatever evils they have done they purge with quotidian tears, and into good deeds they commute the things ill done; by which the whole of what they had transgressed is justly forgiven, because they themselves, by repenting, come to know what they have ill done. 14.8. In the life of a human being the end is to be sought, since God does not regard what sort we lived before, but what sort we shall be around the end of life.

XV. De his qui a Deo deseruntur. 15.1. Deo deserente, nullum paenitere; Deo respiciente sua unumquemque facta uidere et plangere, et unde ceciderit cogitare. Nonnulli autem ita despiciuntur a Deo, ut deplorare mala sua non possint, etiam si uelint.

15. On those who are deserted by God. 15.1. With God deserting, no one repents; with God looking upon, each one sees and laments his own deeds, and cogitates whence he has fallen. But some are so despised by God that they cannot deplore their own evils, even if they wish.

15.2. Consilii inmundorum spirituum hoc est, ut quia ipsis negatum est post praeuaricationem regredi ad iustitiam,obserare aditum paenitentiae hominibus cupiant, ne uel ipsi reuertantur ad Deum, eosque socios in perditione habere contendunt, quibuscumque fraudibus insistentes ut aut deserantur a Deo, aut flagelli inmanitate desperent.

15.2. The counsel of unclean spirits is this: since it has been denied to them, after their prevarication, to regress to justice, they desire to bar the adit of penitence to human beings, lest they themselves return to God; and they strive to have them as companions in perdition, pressing on with whatever frauds, so that either they may be deserted by God, or may despair at the savageness of the scourge.

15.3. Ingemiscendum est iugiter, et postposita securitate, lugendum ne Dei secreto et iusto iudicio deseratur homo, et perdendus in potestate daemonum relinquatur. Nam reuera, quem Deus deserit, daemones suscipiunt. 15.4. Dominici contemptores praecepti, statim ut auertuntur a Deo, a malignis spiritibus occupantur, a quibus etiam ut mala faciant persuadentur.

15.3. It is to be groaned continually, and, security set aside, one must lament lest by the secret and just judgment of God man be deserted, and, destined to be lost, be left in the power of daemons. For in truth, him whom God deserts, the daemons take up. 15.4. Despisers of the Lord’s precept, as soon as they are turned away from God, are seized by malignant spirits, by whom they are even persuaded to do evils.

Hinc est illud propheticum: Inimicos Dei persequuntur tenebrae, qui intelleguntur daemones. Vnde et in psalmo legitur: Inmissiones per angelos malos. 15.5. Quidam reproborum in potestate daemonum occulto Dei iudicio et iustissimo rediguntur, Esaia testante: Ipse misit eis sortem et manus eius diuisit eis eam in mensuram, usque in aeternum possidebunt eam.

Hence that prophetic word: Darkness pursues the enemies of God, which are understood to be demons. Whence also in the psalm it is read: “Inflictions through evil angels.” 15.5. Certain of the reprobate are reduced into the power of demons by the hidden and most just judgment of God, Isaiah bearing witness: “He himself sent to them a lot, and his hand divided it to them in measure; they will possess it unto eternity.”

15.6-7. Quidam electorum dimittuntur diuina iustitia incedere in errorem peccati, sed tamen miseratione eius reducti denuo conuertuntur. De talibus enim per prophetam Dominus loquitur: Et dimisi eum, et reduxi eum, et reddidi consolationem. Nonnunquam etiam reuertens Deus hominem quem deseruerat rursus adfligens uisitat, et per lamenta lacrimarum ac paenitentiae adflictionem a peccatis expurgat, dicente Iob ad Deum: Propter superbiam, inquit, quasi leenam capies me, reuersusque mirabiliter me crucias.

15.6-7. Certain of the elect are permitted by divine justice to walk into the error of sin, yet, brought back by His mercy, they are converted anew. For concerning such the Lord speaks through the prophet: And I let him go, and I brought him back, and I rendered consolation. Sometimes also, when He returns, God visits again the man whom He had deserted, afflicting him, and through the laments of tears and the affliction of penitence He purges him from sins, Job saying to God: On account of pride, he says, you will seize me as a lioness, and, returning, you marvelously torment me.

Reuertens enim Deus hominem cruciat quando quem peccantem deseruerat flagellando iterum uisitat. 15.8. Malis actibus contra nos amplius caelestem iracundiam nequaquam prouocare debemus; quin potius, si paenitendo digna Deo acta gesserimus, seueritatem eius in clementiam commutabimus. Nam ille qui nos malos tolerat, non dubium est quod conuersis clementer ignoscat.

For when God returns, he torments the man, in that the one whom he had abandoned while sinning he visits again with flagellation. 15.8. By evil deeds we ought by no means to provoke further against us the celestial ire; rather, if by repenting we have performed deeds worthy of God, we shall change his severity into clemency. For he who tolerates us when we are evil—there is no doubt that he mercifully forgives those who have turned back.

Nam quod seruatur nobis tempus paenitentiae, ut non simul morte obruamur praecipiti, sed detur nobis locus satisfactionis, hoc totum de Dei procedit clementia, ut nos non damnet crudeliter, sed expectet ad paenitentiam patienter. XVI. De his qui ad delictum post lacrimas revertuntur.

For the fact that a time of penitence is preserved for us, so that we are not at once overwhelmed by headlong death, but a place of satisfaction is given to us—this all proceeds from the clemency of God, that he may not condemn us cruelly, but may await us unto penitence patiently. 16. On those who return to the offense after tears.

16.1. Inrisor est, non paenitens, qui adhuc agit quod paenitet, nec uidetur Deum poscere subditus, sed subsannare superbus. 16.2. Canis reuersus ad uomitum et paenitens ad peccatum. Multi enim lacrimas indesinenter fundunt, et peccare non desinunt.

16.1. He is a mocker, not a penitent, who still does what he repents of; nor does he seem to ask God as one submissive, but to sneer, being proud. 16.2. The dog returned to its vomit, and the penitent to sin. For many pour out tears unceasingly, and do not cease to sin.

Quosdam accipere lacrimas ad paenitentiam et effectum paenitentiae non habere, quia inconstantia mentis nunc recordatione peccati lacrimas fundunt, nunc uero, reuiuiscente usu, ea quae fleuerunt iterando committunt. 16.3. Qui et praeterita uult plangere, et actionibus saecularibus incubare, iste mundationem non habet. quoniam adhuc agit quae paenitendo deflere possit.

Some receive tears for penitence and do not have the effect of penitence, because through inconstancy of mind now, at the recordation of sin, they pour out tears, now indeed, as the habit revives, they commit by iterating the very things they wept over. 16.3. He who both wants to bewail the things past and to be intent upon secular actions—this man does not have purification. since he still does the things which he can by repenting bewail.

16.4a. Esaias peccatoribus dicit: Lauamini, mundi estote; lauatur itaque et mundus est qui et praeterita plangit et flenda iterum non admittit. Lauatur et non est mundus qui plangit quae gessit nec deserit, et post lacrimas ea quae fleuerat repetit. Sic denique et alibi animam paenitentem atque iterum delinquentem sermo diuinus increpat dicens: Quam uilis es facta nimis, iterans uias tuas.

16.4a. Esaias says to sinners: Be washed, be clean; therefore he is washed and is clean who both laments the things past and does not admit again things to be wept over. He is washed and is not clean who laments the things he has done and does not desert them, and after tears repeats the things he had wept over. Thus, finally, also elsewhere the divine discourse rebukes a soul repenting and again delinquent, saying: How exceedingly vile you have been made, repeating your ways.

Quisquis ergo culpas praeteritas plorat, hunc necesse est modum teneat, ut sic admissa defleat, ne iterum flenda com?mittat. 16.4b. Vae mihi, misero Isidoro, qui et paenitere retro acta neglego, et adhuc paenitenda committo! XVII.

Whoever therefore bewails past faults, it is necessary that he hold this measure, that he so weep over the things committed, lest he commit again things to be wept. 16.4b. Woe to me, wretched Isidore, who both neglect to repent the things done in the past, and still commit things to be repented! 17.

De peccato.

On sin.

17.1. Duobus modis peccatum committitur, id est aut ui cupiditatis, aut metu timoris, dum uel quisque uult adipisci quod cupit, uel timet ne incurrat quod metuit. 17.2. Quattuor modis committitur peccatum in corde, quattuor perpetratur et opere. Admittitur in corde suggestione daemonum, delectatione carnis, consensione mentis, defensione elationis; committitur opere nunc latenter, nunc palam, nunc consuetudine, nunc desperatione.

17.1. Sin is committed in two ways, that is, either by the force of cupidity, or by the fear of dread, while either one wills to acquire what he desires, or fears lest he may incur what he dreads. 17.2. In four ways sin is committed in the heart, and in four it is perpetrated also in deed. It is admitted in the heart by the suggestion of demons, by the delectation of the flesh, by the consent of the mind, by the defense of elation; it is committed in deed now secretly, now openly, now by custom, now by desperation.

Istis ergo gradibus et corde delinquitur, et opere malitia perpetratur. 17.3. Tribus modis peccatum geritur, hoc est ignorantia, infirmitate, industria, periculo autem poenarum diuerso. Ignorantiae namque modo peccauit in paradiso Eua, sicut apostolus ait: Vir non est seductus, mulier autem seducta in praeuaricatione fuit.

By these steps, therefore, delinquency is committed in heart, and malice is perpetrated in deed. 17.3. In three ways sin is conducted, that is, by ignorance, infirmity, and industry, but with a different peril of punishments. For by the mode of ignorance Eve sinned in Paradise, as the apostle says: The man was not deceived, but the woman, having been deceived, was in transgression.

Ergo Eua peccauit ignorantia, Adam uero industria, quia non seductus, sed sciens prudensque peccauit; qui uero seducitur quid consentiat euidenter ignorat. De infirmitate autem Petrus deliquit, quando ad metum interrogantis ancillae Christum negauit; unde et post peccatum amarissime fleuit.

Therefore Eve sinned by ignorance, but Adam by deliberate intent, because he was not deceived, but sinned knowing and prudent; while he who is seduced clearly is ignorant of what he consents to. But by infirmity Peter sinned, when, out of fear of the questioning maidservant, he denied Christ; whence also, after the sin, he wept most bitterly.

17.4-5. Grauius est infirmitate quam ignorantia quemquam delinquere; grauiusque industria quam infirmitate peccare. Industria namque peccat qui studio ac deliberatione mentis malum agit; infirmitate autem qui casu uel praecipitatione delinquit. Nequius autem et de industria peccant qui non solum non bene uiuunt, sed adhuc et bene uiuentes, si possunt, a ueritate diuertunt.

17.4-5. It is more grievous to delinque by infirmity than by ignorance; and graver still to sin by industry than by infirmity. For he sins by industry who, with zeal and deliberation of mind, does evil; but by infirmity, he who offends by chance or precipitancy. More wickedly yet do they sin, and by industry, who not only do not live well, but even those living well they divert, if they can, from the truth.

Sunt enim qui ignoranter peccant et sunt qui scienter. Sunt etiam et qui pro ignorantiae excusatione scire nolunt ut minus culpabiles habeantur; qui tamen seipsos non muniunt, sed magis decipiunt. 17.6. Nescire simpliciter ad ignorantiam pertinet; noluisse uero scire ad contumacem superbiam.

There are, indeed, those who sin ignorantly, and there are those who do so knowingly. There are also those who, for the excuse of ignorance, are unwilling to know, so that they may be held less culpable; who, nevertheless, do not fortify themselves, but rather deceive themselves the more. 17.6. To be simply unaware pertains to ignorance; but to have been unwilling to know pertains to contumacious pride.

Voluntatem quippe proprii Domini uelle nescire, quid aliud est quam uelle Dominum superbiendo contemnere? Nemo igitur de ignorantia se excuset quia Deus non solum eos iudicat qui a cognitione sua reuertuntur, sed etiam et illos qui nescierunt, testante eodem Domino per prophetam: Disperdam, inquit, homines a facie terrae, et eos qui auertuntur post tergum Domini, et qui non quaesierunt Dominum, nec inuestigauerunt eum. Et psalmus: Effunde, inquit, iram tuam in gentes quae te non nouerunt.

Indeed, to will not to know the will of one’s own Lord—what else is it than to will, by pridefully exalting oneself, to contemn the Lord? Therefore let no one excuse himself on the plea of ignorance, because God judges not only those who turn back from his cognition, but also those who did not know, the same Lord bearing witness through the prophet: “I will destroy,” he says, “humans from the face of the earth, both those who turn away after the back of the Lord, and those who have not sought the Lord nor investigated him.” And the Psalm: “Pour out,” he says, “your wrath upon the nations who have not known you.”

XVIII. De levioribus peccatis.

18. On lighter sins.

18.1. Multi uitam sine crimine habere possunt, sine peccato non possunt. Nam quamuis in hoc saeculo magna iustitiae quisque claritate resplendeat, nunquam tamen ad purum peccatorum sordibus caret, Iohanne apostolo adtestante qui ait: Si dixerimus quia peccatum non habemus, ipsi nos seducimus et ueritas in nobis non est. 18.2. Quaedam sunt facta peccatis similia, sed si bono animo fiant, non sunt peccata: utpote potestas, si non se ulciscendi cupiditate, sed magis corrigendi studio ulciscatur in reum.

18.1. Many can have a life without crime, they cannot be without sin. For although in this age each person may shine forth with great brightness of justice, never, however, is he entirely free from the filth of sins, the apostle John attesting who said: If we say that we do not have sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 18.2. Certain deeds are similar to sins, but if they are done with a good spirit, they are not sins: for instance, authority, if it takes vengeance upon the accused not from a cupidity of avenging itself, but rather from a zeal for correcting.

18.3. Item sunt peccata leuia quae ab incipientibus cotidiana satisfactione purgantur, quae tamen a perfectis uiris, uelut magna crimina euitantur. Quid autem homines de magnis sceleribus agere debent, quando etiam perfecti leuia quaeque delicta quasi grauissima lugent?

18.3. Likewise there are light sins which, for beginners, are purged by daily satisfaction, which nevertheless are avoided by perfect men as if great crimes. But what ought men to do about great crimes, when even the perfect lament each light offense as though most grievous?

18.4. Non solum grauia, sed leuia sunt cauenda peccata. Multa enim leuia unum grande efficiunt, sicut solent paruis et minimis guttis inmensa flumina crescere. Numerositas enim in unum coacta exundantem efficit copiam.

18.4. Not only grave, but light sins must be avoided. For many light ones make one great one, just as immense rivers are wont to grow from small and very smallest drops. For numerosity gathered into one produces an overflowing abundance.

18.5-6. Peccata quae incipientibus leuia sunt, perfectis uiris grauia deputantur. Tanto enim maius cognoscitur esse peccatum, quanto maior qui peccat habetur. Crescit enim delicti cumulum iuxta ordinem meritorum, et saepe quod minoribus ignoscitur, maioribus inputatur.

18.5-6. Sins which are light for beginners are accounted grave for perfect men. For the sin is known to be the greater, the greater the one who sins is held to be. For the cumulation of the delict grows according to the order of merits, and often that which is forgiven to the lesser is imputed to the greater.

XVIIII. De gravioribus peccatis.

19. On the more grievous sins.

19.1. Experimento minorum peccatorum maiora committi peccata, ut durius feriantur pro magnis sceleribus qui de paruis corrigi noluerunt. Iudicio autem diuino in reatu nequiore labuntur qui distringere minora sua facta contemnunt. 19.2. Multi a crimine in crimine corruunt, qui, Dei cognitionem habentes, timorem eius neglegunt, et quem nouerunt per scientiam, per actionem non uenerantur.

19.1. By the experience of lesser sins, greater sins are committed, so that those who were unwilling to be corrected from small ones may be struck more harshly for great crimes. But by divine judgment they slip into a more nefarious guilt, who contemn to restrain their lesser deeds. 19.2. Many collapse from crime into crime, who, having cognition of God, neglect his fear, and him whom they have known through knowledge, they do not venerate by action.

Ideoque caecantur diuino iudicio punienda committere, et in poenam commissi facinoris facinus detenus addere. 19.3-4. Saepe peccatum alterius peccati causa est; quod cum committitur, aliud ex ipso quasi sua suboles oritur, sicut fieri solet nasci libidinem ex nimia uentris ingluuie. Poena uero peccati peccatum admittitur, quando pro merito cuiusque peccati, Deo deserente, in aliud peccatum deterius itur, de quo amplius qui admiserit sordidetur.

And so they are blinded by divine judgment to commit things to be punished, and, as a penalty for the crime committed, to add crime upon crime. 19.3-4. Often one sin is the cause of another sin; and when it is committed, another arises from it as if its own offspring, just as it is wont to happen that libido is born from excessive belly-gluttony. But indeed, by the punishment of sin a sin is admitted, when, according to the desert of each sin, with God deserting, one goes into another, worse sin, by which the one who has committed it is made the more sordid.

Ergo praecedens peccatum causa est sequentis peccati, sequens uero peccatum poena est praecedentis delicti. Praecedentia itaque peccata sequentium sunt criminum causa, ut illa quae sequuntur sint praecedentium poena.

Therefore the preceding sin is the cause of the subsequent sin, whereas the subsequent sin is the penalty of the preceding delict. Thus the preceding sins are the cause of the subsequent crimes, so that those which follow may be the penalty of the preceding.

19.5. Praecedentium peccatorum poena ipsa uocatur induratio ueniens de diuina iustitia. Hinc est quod ait propheta: Indurasti cor nostrum, ne timeremus te; neque enim dum quicumque iusti sunt, a Deo inpelluntur, ut mali fiant; sed dum mali iam sunt, indurantur ut deteriores existant, sicut et apostolus dicit: Quoniam ueritatem Dei non receperunt, ut salui fierent, inmisit illis Deus spiritum erroris. Facit ergo Deus quosdam peccare, sed in quibus iam talia peccata praecesserint, ut iusto iudicio eius mereantur in detenus ire.

19.5. The punishment of preceding sins is itself called a hardening coming from divine justice. Hence it is that the prophet says: You have hardened our heart, lest we should fear you; for it is not that, while whosoever are just, they are impelled by God to become evil; but while they are already evil, they are hardened so that they may become worse, just as the apostle also says: Because they did not receive the truth of God, that they might be saved, God sent into them a spirit of error. Therefore God makes certain people to sin, but in those in whom such sins have already gone before, so that by his just judgment they deserve to go on further.

Talia quippe peccata praecedentibus aliis peccatis prolabuntur in poenam quam peccata merentur. 19.6-7. Quaedam de ira Dei ueniunt peccata, quae pro merito aliorum conpensantur peccatorum. Vnde et propheta: Ecce, inquit, tu iratus es et nos peccauimus, in ipsis fuimus semper, tamquam si diceret: quia semper in peccatis fuimus, iratus es ut deterius peccaremus.

Such sins indeed, with other sins preceding, slip down into the punishment which sins deserve. 19.6–7. Certain sins come from the wrath of God, which are recompensed according to the merit of other sins. Whence also the prophet: ‘Behold,’ he says, ‘you were angry and we have sinned; in them we have been always,’ as if he were to say: because we have always been in sins, you were angry so that we might sin worse.

Quid enim sit iram Dei mereri, quid uero prouocare, prudens lector debet scire. Grauius namque est ira quae prouocatur quam ea quae meretur. Nam meremur, quando ignorando peccamus; prouocamus, quando scimus bonum facere, nec uolumus.

For what it is to merit the wrath of God, and what to provoke it, the prudent reader ought to know. For the wrath which is provoked is more grave than that which is merited. For we merit it when we sin through ignorance; we provoke it when we know to do good, and are not willing.

19.8. Nunc iram Dei, dum uiuimus, uitare possumus. Timeamus ergo ne ueniente illo terrore iudicii, sentiri possit, uitari non possit.

19.8. Now the wrath of God, while we live, we can avoid. Let us therefore fear lest, when that terror of judgment comes, it can be felt, and cannot be avoided.

XX. De manifestis occultisque peccatis. 20.1-3. Maioris est culpae manifeste quam occulte peccare. Dupliciter enim reus est qui aperte delinquit, quia et agit et docet.

20. On manifest and hidden sins. 20.1-3. It is a greater fault to sin manifestly than to sin secretly. For he who sins openly is guilty in a twofold manner, because he both does and teaches.

De talibus Esaias dicit: Et peccata sua, quasi Sodoma praedicauerunt, nec absconderunt. Multi enim publice delinquentes, sine ullo pudore sua flagitia praedicant, nec ullam utuntur sceleris uerecundiam. Quaedam enim iam iustitiae portio est iniquitatem suam homini abscondere, et in semetipso de peccatis propriis erubescere.

Concerning such people Esaias says: And they proclaimed their sins, like Sodom, and they did not hide them. For many, sinning publicly, without any shame proclaim their flagitious deeds, and they employ no shame of crime. For it is already a certain portion of justice to hide one’s iniquity from man, and to blush within oneself over one’s own sins.

20.4. Peccatum perpetrare crimen est, peccatum praedicare clamor est de quo etiam dicit apostolus: Et clamor auferatur a uobis cum omni malitia, id est cum ipsis peccatis.

20.4. To perpetrate a sin is a crime, to preach a sin is a clamor, about which the apostle also says: And clamor let be taken away from you with all malice, that is, together with the sins themselves.

20.5. Ex eo ipso quo quisque peccatum quod agit abscondit, iudicii iam esse indicium, quia non erubescitur nisi de conscientiae reatu. Ergo ex hoc ipsud quod quisque de facto suo erubescit ipse sibi iam iudex fit. XXI.

20.5. From that very fact that each person hides the sin which he commits, there is already an indication of judgment, because one is not ashamed except on account of the guilt of conscience. Therefore, from this very thing—that each is ashamed of his own deed—he already becomes a judge to himself. 21.

De peccati amore. 21.1. Aliud est non peccare amore dilectionis Dei, aliud timore supplicii. Qui enim amore caritatis Dei non peccat, horrescit omne malum, amplectendo iustitiae bonum, nec eum delectat peccatum, etiam si sceleris inpunitas promittatur.

On the love of sin. 21.1. It is one thing not to sin by love of the dilection of God, another by fear of punishment. For he who does not sin by love of the charity of God shudders at every evil, by embracing the good of justice, nor does sin delight him, even if the impunity of crime be promised.

Qui uero sola poena supplicii in se uitia reprimit, quamuis non expleat opus peccati, uiuit tamen in eo uoluntas peccandi; doletque sibi inlicitum, quod lex prohibere dinoscitur. Ille ergo mercedem boni operis percipit, qui amando iustitiam facit, non is qui eam solo metu poenarum inuitus custodit.

But he who restrains vices in himself by the sole penalty of punishment, although he does not complete the work of sin, yet the will of sinning lives in him; and he is sorry that what is illicit for him is that which the law is recognized to forbid. Therefore he receives the wage of a good work who, by loving justice, does it, not he who keeps it unwillingly by the sole fear of punishments.

21.2-3. Quidam et diligunt peccatum, et faciunt; quidam diligunt tantum, et non faciunt; plerique uero faciunt tantum, et non diligunt. Nonnulli peccatum non faciunt et tamen iustitiam odiunt. Grauius autem peccat qui non solum peccatum diligit, sed et facit, quam qui non facit, et diligit; grauiusque interdum qui diligit et non facit, quam qui facit et odit; grauissimum est non solum facere, sed et diligere peccatum.

21.2-3. Some both love sin and commit it; some love it only, and do not commit it; but most commit it only, and do not love it. Some do not commit sin and yet hate justice. He sins more gravely who not only loves sin but also commits it, than he who does not commit it and loves it; and sometimes more gravely he who loves and does not commit it than he who commits it and hates it; the gravest is not only to commit, but also to love, sin.

Nam sunt quidam qui confestim peracto flagitio confunduntur et sunt qui non solum non dolent gessisse malum, sed etiam de ipso malo opere gloriantur. Sicque ad conparationem mali fit deterius dum de uitiis gratulantes extolluntur in peius. De talibus ait Salomon: Qui laetantur cum male fecerint, et exultant in rebus pessimis.

For there are certain who immediately, with the outrage completed, are confounded, and there are those who not only do not sorrow to have done evil, but even glory in the evil work itself. And thus, by the comparison of evil, it becomes worse, while, congratulating themselves on vices, they are lifted up into the worse. Of such Solomon says: Those who rejoice when they have done evil, and exult in the worst things.

XXII. De peccandi necessitate. 22.1a. Interdum mali quod sumus, necessitate potius, non uoluntate existimus.

22. On the necessity of sinning. 22.1a. Sometimes the evil that we are, we exist rather by necessity than by will.

Vertenda est autem necessitas mali in uoluntatem boni.

Moreover, the necessity of evil must be turned into the volition of good.

22.1b. Plerique non uoluntate, sed sola necessitate peccant, pertimescentes temporalem inopiam; et, dum praesentis saeculi necessitatem refugiunt, a futuris bonis priuantur. 22.2. Item nonnulli peccatum uoluntate, non necessitate committunt, nullaque coacti inopia existunt iniqui; sed tantum gratis cupiunt esse mali. Neque enim ipsam rem amant quam appetunt, sed ipsam tantum peccati malitiam delectantur.

22.1b. Many sin not by will, but by necessity alone, fearing temporal indigence; and, while they flee the necessity of the present age, they are deprived of future goods. 22.2. Likewise, some commit sin by will, not by necessity, and, compelled by no want, they are unjust; but they merely desire to be evil gratuitously. For they do not love the thing itself which they seek, but they delight only in the very malice of sin.

XXIII. De peccandi consuetudine.

23. On the consuetude of sinning.

23.1. Melius est peccatum cauere quam emendare. Facilius enim resistimus hosti a quo nondum uicti sumus, quam ei a quo iam superati ac deuicti cognoscimur. 23.2. Omne peccatum, antequam admittatur, amplius pertimescitur.

23.1. It is better to beware a sin than to emend it. For we more easily resist an enemy by whom we have not yet been conquered than him by whom we are already recognized as overcome and vanquished. 23.2. Every sin, before it is admitted, is more feared.

Quamuis autem graue sit, dum in usum uenerit, leue existimatur, et sine ullo metu committitur. 23.3. Istis fomitibus, quasi quibusdam gradibus, coalescit omne peccatum: cogitatio namque praua delectationem parit; delectatio consensionem, consensio actionem, actio consuetudinem, consuetude necessitatem. Sicque his uinculis homo inplicatus, quadam catena uitiorum tenetur adstrictus, ita ut ab ea euelli nequaquam ualeat, nisi diuina gratia manum iacentis adprehendat.

Although, however, it is grave, once it has come into use it is considered light, and is committed without any fear. 23.3. By these kindlings, as by certain steps, every sin coalesces: for a depraved cogitation begets delectation; delectation, consent; consent, action; action, consuetude; consuetude, necessity. And thus, entangled in these bonds, the man is held constrained by a certain chain of vices, so that he is by no means able to be torn away from it, unless divine grace should take hold of the hand of the one lying prostrate.

23.4. Peccatum admittere cadere est in puteum; consuetudinem uero peccandi facere, os putei est coangustare, ne is qui cecidit ualeat exire. Sed interdum etiam tales Deus liberat, dum eorum desperationem ad conuersionem libertatis commutat. Ipso enim miserante, peccata dimittuntur; quo protegente fit ne in deterius peccando eatur.

23.4. To admit sin is to fall into a well; but to make a habit of sinning is to narrow the mouth of the well, so that he who has fallen may not be able to go out. But sometimes God even frees such as these, when he turns their desperation into a conversion unto liberty. For by his compassion sins are remitted; with his protection it comes about that one does not go on into worse by sinning.

23.5. Nequissimum est peccare, peius est peccandi consuetudinem facere. Ab illud facile, ab hoc cum labore resurgitur, dum malae consuetudini repugnatur. 23.6. Male agendi consuetudinem recessum esse propheta adserit in profundum, cuius usu quasi quadam lege homo tenetur adstrictus, ut etiam quando non uult, peccatum admittat.

23.5. It is most wicked to sin; worse is to make a consuetude of sinning. From that one rises again easily; from this, with labor, one rises again, while an evil consuetude is resisted. 23.6. The prophet asserts that the consuetude of doing evil is a recession into the deep, by the use of which a man is held bound as if by a certain law, so that even when he does not will it, he admits sin.

A lapsu uero cito resurgere, non est in profundum ire.

From a lapse, however, to rise quickly is not to go into the deep.

23.7. Apostolus legem peccati dicit in membris nostris; quae lex consuetude est, quam peccando concipimus et non ab ea, cum uolumus, discedimus, quia iam necessitatis uinculo per consuetudinem retinemur. 23.8. Multum ueri amor agit in homine, sed resultat caro malae consuetudinis lege. Bene autem audacter pro bona conscientia exultat, qui ualenter in se reprimit quod insolenter inpugnat.

23.7. The Apostle says the law of sin is in our members; which law is consuetude, which we conceive by sinning, and we do not depart from it when we wish, because already by the bond of necessity we are held fast through consuetude. 23.8. The love of truth works much in a man, but the flesh rebounds by the law of evil consuetude. Yet he exults well and boldly for a good conscience who valiantly represses within himself that which insolently impugns.

23.9. Frequenter peccare cauendum est; nam hoc ipsud quod de malo nostro plerumque Deus nobis salutem operatur, quanto mirabile est, tanto perrarum est. Propterea metuendum est confidere ita saluari, ne forte, dum expectamus a uitiis sanari, et uitia multiplicemus et salutem non adipiscamur. Ergo studeamus aut non cadere, aut cito conuersi a lapsu consurgere.

23.9. To sin frequently must be guarded against; for this very thing, that God for the most part works salvation for us out of our evil—as marvelous as it is, so it is very rare. Therefore it must be feared to trust to be saved in such a way, lest perhaps, while we expect to be healed from vices, we both multiply vices and do not attain salvation. Therefore let us strive either not to fall, or, quickly turned back from a lapse, to rise.

23.10. Omnino peccare cauendum est; quod si humana fragilitate peccatum subrepserit, confestim erit corrigendum quod nequiter sentitur commissum. Cito enim corrigitur culpa quae cito cognoscitur; tardius autem sanatur uulnus quod, iam putrescentibus membris, longo post tempore curationibus adhibetur. 23.11. [Iteratio peccati grauior est, sicut si morbus super morbum ueniat, sicut si imber super imbrem occurrat.] 23.12. Mora peccandi inmanitatem facit sceleris, unde et propheta: Vae inquit, qui trahitis iniquitatem infuniculis uanitatis, et quasi uinculum plaustri peccatum.

23.10. Altogether, sinning must be guarded against; but if by human fragility a sin has crept in, at once that which is perceived to have been wickedly committed must be corrected. For a fault is quickly corrected which is quickly recognized; but a wound is healed more slowly which, with the limbs already putrefying, is subjected to curative treatments after a long time. 23.11. [The iteration of sin is graver, just as if disease should come upon disease, just as if a shower should meet a shower.] 23.12. Delay in sinning makes a monstrosity of crime, whence also the prophet: “Woe,” he says, “who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and, as if the bond of a wagon, sin.”

Trahit enim iniquitatem ut funiculum, qui tardat conuerti ad Deum. Trahere est enim iniquitatem moram facere iniquitati. Vnde et psalmus: Prolongauerunt iniquitates suas; Dominus iustus concidet ceruices peccatorum.

For he draws iniquity like a little cord, who delays to be converted to God. For to draw iniquity is to make a delay for iniquity. Whence also the psalm: They have prolonged their iniquities; the just Lord will cut the necks of sinners.

XXIIII. De peccati recordatione. 24.1. Bonum est homini semper ante oculos propria adhibere delicta, secundum psalmi sententiam: Et peccatum meum contra me est semper.

24. On the remembrance of sin. 24.1. It is good for a man always to set his own delicts before his eyes, according to the sentence of the Psalm: And my sin is ever before me.

Sicut enim non oportet reminiscere peccati affectum, sic semper necesse est unumquemque suum in deflendo commemorare peccatum. 24.2. Apud iustum recordatio peccati facit taedium animi. Qui autem luxuriae et cupiditati subditi sunt, contumaci superbia etiam de ipso peccati opere gloriantur.

Just as indeed one ought not to recall the passion of sin, so it is always necessary that each person commemorate his own sin in bewailing it. 24.2. With the just man, the recollection of sin produces a weariness of soul. But those who are subject to luxury and cupidity, with contumacious pride even glory in the very work of sin.

24.3. Serui Dei tanta recordatio esse debet peccati, ut ea quae gessit semper lacrimans confiteatur. Vnde et psalmus dicit: Conuersus sum in aerumna, dum confringitur spina, peccatum meum cognitum feci, et dixi: pronuntiabo aduersum me iniustitias meas Domino. Supra enim dixerat: Quoniam tacui, hoc est non sum confessus, inueterauerunt omnia ossa mea, dum clamarem tota die.

24.3. The servants of God ought to have so great a recordation of sin that, weeping always, he may confess the things which he has done. Whence also the psalm says: I was turned in affliction, while the thorn is being broken; I made my sin known, and I said: I will proclaim against myself my injustices to the Lord. For above he had said: Because I kept silence, that is, I did not confess, all my bones grew old, while I cried out all the day.

Quid ergo tacuisse se paenitet, nisi confessionem peccatorum? Quid clamasse se dolet, nisi defensionem malorum? Qui ergo peccatorum suorum defensor extitit, necesse est ut paenitendo accuset quod superbiens praue admisit.

What then does he regret having kept silent, if not the confession of sins? What does he lament having cried out, if not the defense of evils? Therefore he who has stood forth as a defender of his sins must, by repenting, accuse what he in pride perversely committed.

XXV. De cogitatione. 25.1-2a. Bipertita est causa peccandi, id est operis et cogitationis, quorum unum iniquitas dicitur quod opere geritur, aliud iniustitia quod cogitatione admittitur.

25. On cogitation. 25.1-2a. The cause of sinning is bipartite, that is, of work and of cogitation, of which the one is called iniquity which is carried on in work, the other injustice which is admitted in cogitation.

Prius autem actio resecanda est, postea cogitatio; prius praua opera, postmodum desideria. Vicissim autem et a cogitatione opera procedunt, et ab opere cogitatio nascitur.

First, however, action is to be cut away; afterward, cogitation; first, perverse works, afterward desires. In turn, both from cogitation works proceed, and from work cogitation is born.

25.2b-3. Quamuis etsi ab opere malo quisque uacet, pro solius tamen prauae cogitationis malitia non erit innocens. Vnde et Dominus per Esaiam: Auferte, inquit, malum cogitationum uestrarum ab oculis meis. Non enim solum factis, sed et cogitationibus delinquimus, si eis inlicite occurrentibus delectemur.

25.2b-3. Although even if anyone be vacant from an evil work, nevertheless on account of the malice of a depraved thought alone he will not be innocent. Whence also the Lord through Isaiah: “Remove,” he says, “the evil of your thoughts from before my eyes.” For we are delinquent not only by deeds, but also by thoughts, if, when they illicitly occur, we take delight in them.

25.4. Sicut uipera a filiis in utero positis lacerata perimitur, ita nos cogitationes nostrae intra nos enutritae occidunt et conceptae interius uipereo ueneno consumunt, animamque nostram crudeli uulnere perimunt. 25.5. Non est arbitrii nostri cogitationis prauae suggestionibus praeuenire; iacere autem in animo cogitationem nostrae adtinet uoluntati. Illud ergo ad culpam non redigitur, istud culpae propriae inputatur.

25.4. Just as a viper, torn by the sons placed in the womb, is destroyed, so our thoughts, nourished within us, kill us, and, conceived inwardly, consume us with viperine poison, and destroy our soul with a cruel wound. 25.5. It is not within our power to forestall the suggestions of an evil thought; but for a thought to lie in the mind pertains to our will. Therefore the former is not brought under guilt; the latter is imputed to one’s own fault.

Nam cogitationes inlicitas occurrere, daemonum est; cogitationibus oblectare peruersis, nostrum est.

For the occurrence of illicit thoughts belongs to the demons; to take pleasure in perverse thoughts is ours.

25.6. Plerumque fieri solet ut inmundae corporalium rerum species, quas didicimus, nostris mentibus opponantur, et nolentes eas cogitemus; quantumque ab eis aciem mentis auertere nitimur, tanto illae se magis animo ingerunt, obscenisque in nobis motibus obrepunt. Sed fit hoc pro conditione mortali quam meruit primus homo in poenam sui peccati. 25.7. Dum unusquisque diuina inluminatione praeuenitur, statim molestiis turpium cogitationum pulsatur.

25.6. It very often is wont to happen that unclean appearances of corporeal things, which we have learned, are set before our minds, and, unwilling, we think them; and the more we strive to turn the gaze of the mind away from them, so much the more do they thrust themselves upon the mind, and they creep upon us with obscene impulses. But this happens on account of the mortal condition which the first man merited as the penalty of his sin. 25.7. While each person is anticipated by divine illumination, at once he is assailed by the annoyances of shameful thoughts.

Sed Dei seruus iudicio timoris Dei earum temptamenta a semetipso reicit, bonisque contra obiectis cogitationibus, turpes a se repellit. 25.8. Magna obseruantia circa cordis est custodiam adhibenda, quia aut bonae aut malae rei ibi consistit origo; nam, sicut scriptum est: Ex corde exeunt cogitationes malae. Ideoque si prius prauae cogitationi resistimus, in lapsum operis non incurrimus.

But the servant of God, by the judgment of the fear of God, casts away their temptations from himself, and, with good thoughts set in opposition, repels the foul from himself. 25.8. Great observance is to be applied to the custody of the heart, because there consists the origin of either a good or an evil thing; for, as it is written: Out of the heart go forth evil thoughts. And therefore, if we first resist the perverse thought, we do not fall into the lapse of deed.

25.9. Non est timendum si bona malaque in cogitationem ueniant; sed magis gloriandum est si mens mala a bonis intellectu rationis discernat. 25.10. Item nihil iuuat quod inter bonum et malum sensu prudentiore discernimus, nisi opere aut mala cognita caueamus, aut bona intellecta faciamus. XXVI.

25.9. It is not to be feared if good and evil come into thought; but rather it is to be gloried in if the mind discerns the evil from the good by the intellect of reason. 25.10. Likewise it helps nothing that we discern between good and evil with a more prudent sense, unless in deed we either beware of the evils known, or do the goods understood. 26.

De conscientia.

On conscience.

26.1. Humana conditio dum diuersis uitiositatibus mentem conturbat, etiam ante poenas gehennae per inconditum animae appetitum iam poenas conscientiae patitur. 26.2. Omnia fugire poterit homo praeter cor suum. Non enim potest a se quisque recedere.

26.1. The human condition, while it disturbs the mind with diverse vitiosities, even before the punishments of Gehenna, through the incondite appetite of the soul already suffers the punishments of conscience. 26.2. A man will be able to flee all things except his own heart. For no one can recede from himself.

Vbicumque enim abierit reatus sui conscientia illum non derelinquit. 26.3-4. Quamuis humana iudicia subterfugiat omnis qui male agit, iudicium tamen conscientiae suae effugire non potest. Nam etsi aliis celat quod egit, sibi tamen celare non potest, qui plene nouit malum esse quod gessit.

Wherever he goes, the conscience of his guilt does not abandon him. 26.3-4. Although human judgments are evaded by everyone who does evil, nevertheless he cannot escape the judgment of his own conscience. For even if he conceals from others what he has done, yet he cannot conceal it from himself, who fully knows that what he has carried out is evil.

Duplex fit ergo in eo iudicium, quia et hic suae conscientiae reatu punitur, et illuc perpetuali poena damnatur. Hoc enim significat: Abyssus abyssum inuocat in uoce cataractarum. Abyssus enim abyssum inuocare est de iudicio suae conscientiae ire ad iudicium damnationis perpetuae.

Therefore a double judgment is made in him: for both here he is punished by the guilt of his own conscience, and there he is condemned to perpetual punishment. For this is what it signifies: The abyss calls to the abyss in the voice of the cataracts. For the abyss to call the abyss is to go from the judgment of one’s own conscience to the judgment of perpetual damnation.

In uoce cataractarum, id est in praedicatione sanctorum.

In the voice of the cataracts, that is, in the preaching of the saints.

XXVII. De intentione mentis. 27.1. Oculus hominis intentio operis eius est.

27. On the intention of the mind. 27.1. The eye of a man is the intention of his work.

Si ergo intentio eius bona est, et opus intentionis ipsius bonum est. Alioquin malae intentionis etiamsi bonum in factis opus appareat, bonum iam non est, quoniam ex sua intentione aut probatur bonum, aut reprobatur indignum. Bona est ergo intentio quae propter Deum est; mala uero quae pro terreno lucro aut uana gloria est.

If therefore his intention is good, the work of his intention is also good. Otherwise, with a bad intention, even if a good work appears in deeds, it is now no longer good, since by its own intention it is either approved as good, or reproved as unworthy. Good, therefore, is the intention which is for God’s sake; but bad, that which is for earthly lucre or vain glory.

27.2. Qui opus bonum bona intentione non faciunt, per hoc magis caecantur opere per quod inluminari potuerunt.

27.2. Those who do not do a good work with a good intention, by this very work by which they could have been illuminated are the more blinded.

27.3. Vnusquisque bonum opus quod agit intentione bona agat, quoniam pro mala intentione plerumque opus bonum quod agimus perdimus, et minus a culpa uacamus. 27.4. Saepe quae apud hominum iudicium bona patent, apud examen diligentissimi et acutissimi iudicis reproba deteguntur. Ideoque omnis sanctus ueretur ne forte bonum quod agit pro aliqua animi intentione in oculis Dei reprobum sit.

27.3. Let each person do the good work that he does with good intention, since on account of bad intention we very often lose the good work that we do, and we are the less free from guilt. 27.4. Often those things which, in the judgment of men, appear as good are detected as reprobate under the examination of the most diligent and most acute Judge. And therefore every holy person fears lest perhaps the good that he does, on account of some intention of the mind, should be reprobate in the eyes of God.

XXVIII. De sensibus carnis.

28. On the senses of the flesh.

28.1-2. Per sensus carnis morbus inrepit mentis. Vnde et per prophetam Dominus dicit: Omnes cognationes terrae ab aquilone uenient, et ponent unusquisque solium suum in introitu portarum Hierusalem. Regna aquilonis uitia sunt, quae sedes suas in portis ponunt quando per sensus carnis labem animae ingerunt; ideoque in ipsis portis, id est in ipsis sensibus regnant.

28.1-2. Through the senses of the flesh a disease creeps into the mind. Whence also through the prophet the Lord says: All the kindreds of the earth shall come from the north, and each will set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem. The kingdoms of the north are vices, which place their seats in the gates when through the senses of the flesh they inject a taint into the soul; and therefore in the very gates, that is, in the very senses, they reign.

Neque enim aliunde peccamus nisi uidendo, audiendo, adtractando, gustando atque tangendo. Vnde et alias dicitur: Intrauit mors per fenestras nostras; et alibi: Et extranei ingrediebantur per portas eius, et super Hierusalem mittebant sortem. Extraneos quippe inmundos esse spiritus, qui tanquam per portas ita per sensus carnis animam inrepunt et eam inlecebrando deuincunt.

Nor indeed do we sin from any other source except by seeing, hearing, handling, tasting, and touching. Whence also elsewhere it is said: Death has entered through our windows; and elsewhere: And strangers were entering through her gates, and they were casting lots over Jerusalem. For the strangers are unclean spirits, who, as through gates, so through the senses of the flesh, creep into the soul and, by alluring, overpower it.

XXVIIII. De sermone. 29.1. Dum quaedam parua uitiorum uerba non euitamus, in magno linguae prolabimur crimine et dum facta quaedam non grauia libere ac sine metu committimus, ad potiora scelera et horrenda peccandi consuetudine labimur.

29. On speech. 29.1. While we do not avoid certain small words of vices, we slip into a great crime of the tongue; and while we freely and without fear commit certain deeds not grave, by the habit of sinning we slide down to weightier and horrendous crimes.

29.2. Sicut plerumque multiloquiorum stultitia reprehenditur, ita rursum nimis tacentium uitia denotantur. Illi enim satis laxando linguam in leuitatis uitio defluunt, isti nimis reticendo ab utilitate torpescunt. 29.3. Inperiti, sicut loqui nesciunt, ita tacere non possunt.

29.2. Just as the foolishness of the multiloquent is reprehended, so in turn the vices of the overly-silent are denoted. For those, by letting the tongue sufficiently loose, drift into the vice of levity; these, by excessive reticence, grow torpid with respect to utility. 29.3. The inexpert, just as they do not know how to speak, so they cannot keep silence.

Mente enim ineruditi, ore loquaces, uerbis perstrepunt, sensu nihil dicunt. 29.4. Sicut falsitatis crimen a proficientibus pertimescitur, ita otiosa uerba a perfectis uiris uitantur. Nam sicut ait quidam: Pro otioso uerbo ratio ponitur, pro sermone iniusto poena exsoluitur.

For in mind unlearned, in mouth loquacious, they make a din with words; in sense they say nothing. 29.4. Just as the crime of falsity is greatly feared by those making progress, so idle words are avoided by perfect men. For, as someone says: For an idle word a reckoning is set, for unjust discourse a penalty is paid.

29.5. Vani sermones in ore christiani esse non debent. Nam sicut malos mores bona conloquia corrigunt, ita praua conloquia bonos mores corrumpunt. 29.6. Custodia ori ponitur dum quisque non se iustum, sed quod magis uerum est, peccatorem fatetur.

29.5. Vain speeches ought not to be in the mouth of a Christian. For just as good colloquies correct bad morals, so depraved colloquies corrupt good morals. 29.6. A guard is set upon the mouth when each person confesses himself not just, but, what is more true, a sinner.

29.7. Manum super os ponit, qui bonis operibus linguae excessum operit. Manum super os ponit qui malae locutionis culpas bonae actionis uelamine tegit.

29.7. He puts the hand upon the mouth, who by good works covers the excess of the tongue. He puts the hand upon the mouth who covers the faults of evil speech with the veil of good action.

29.8. Loquens quae ad Deum pertinent, nec faciens, etsi inutilis sibi est, audientibus tamen prodest. 29.9. Qui de sapientia se laudari affectant, loquentem prophetam adtendant: Vae qui sapientes estis in oculis uestris, et coram uobismetipsis prudentes. 29.10-11. Recte ex sententia dicit, qui ueram sapientiam gustu interni saporis sentit.

29.8. The one speaking things that pertain to God, and not doing them, although he is unprofitable to himself, nevertheless profits the hearers. 29.9. Those who affect to be praised for wisdom, let them attend to the prophet speaking: Woe to you who are wise in your own eyes, and prudent before your own selves. 29.10-11. He speaks rightly from judgment, who senses true wisdom by the taste of inner savor.

A sentiendo enim sententia dicitur. Ac per hoc, adrogantes qui sine humilitate dicunt, de sola scientia dicunt, non de sententia. Ille enim sapit qui recte et secundum Deum sapit.

For “sentence” is said from “sensing.” And therefore the arrogant, who speak without humility, speak from science alone, not from judgment. For he is sapient who savors rightly and according to God.

29.12. In suam dicunt contumeliam doctores, si dum sint ab eis dicta sapienter nimium tamen eloquenter. Horret enim sapientia spumeum uerborum ambitum, ac fucum mundialis eloquentiae inflatis sermonibus perornatum. 29.13. Quidam curiosi delectantur audire quoslibet sapientes, non ut ueritatem ab eis quaerant, sed ut facundiam sermonis eorum agnoscant, more poetarum qui magis conpositionem uerborum quam sententiam ueritatis sequuntur.

29.12. Doctors call it a contumely to themselves, if, though things have been spoken by them sapiently, yet they have been too eloquently spoken. For sapience shudders at the foamy ambit of words, and at the rouge of worldly eloquence over-ornamented with puffed-up discourses. 29.13. Certain curious persons take delight in hearing any wise men whatsoever, not that they may seek truth from them, but that they may recognize the facundity of their speech, after the manner of poets who follow more the composition of words than the sense of truth.

29.14. Quadrimoda est dicendi ratio, qua praeuidendum est quid, cui, quando uel quomodo aliquid proferatur.

29.14. The method of speaking is quadrimodal, whereby it must be foreseen what, to whom, when, or in what mode something should be proffered.

29.15. Item quadrimoda est dicendi ratio, qua aut bene sentiendo quid bene profertur, aut nihil sentiendo nihil dicitur, aut parum sentiendo loquacitas sola ostentatur, aut optime sentiendo non eleganter profertur quod intellegitur. 29.16-17. Item quadripertita est loquendi ratio, qua uel bonum bene, uel malum male, seu bonum male, uel malum bene profertur. Bonum quippe bene loquitur qui ea quae recta sunt humiliter adnuntiare uidetur.

29.15. Likewise fourfold is the method of speaking, whereby either, by thinking well, something is well brought forth; or, by thinking nothing, nothing is said; or, by thinking little, mere loquacity is ostentated; or, by thinking very well, that which is understood is not elegantly put forth. 29.16-17. Likewise quadripartite is the manner of speaking, whereby either the good well, or the bad badly, or the good badly, or the bad well is brought forth. For indeed he speaks the good well who seems to announce humbly the things which are right.

Malum male loquitur qui quodlibet flagitium persuadere conatur. Bonum male loquitur qui quodcumque rectum adroganter praedicare sentitur. Malum bene loquitur qui, aliquod narrando uitium, detestatur ut ab eo homines auertantur.

He speaks evil evilly who tries to persuade any flagitious deed. He speaks good badly who is perceived to preach whatever is right arrogantly. He speaks evil well who, by narrating some vice, detests it so that people may be averted from it.

29.18. Corde bene loquitur qui caritatem non simulat. Ore bene loquitur qui ueritatem adnuntiat. Factis bene loquitur qui alios bonis exemplis aedificat.

29.18. He speaks well with the heart who does not simulate charity. He speaks well with the mouth who announces the verity. He speaks well with deeds who edifies others by good examples.

29.19. Corde male loquitur qui interius cogitationes noxias meditatur et cogitat. Lingua male loquitur qui pro quod male agit flagellatur et murmurat. Factis male loquitur qui male uiuendo exemplis suis alios ad praue agendum informat.

29.19. In heart he speaks ill who inwardly meditates and thinks noxious cogitations. By the tongue he speaks ill who, for that which he does ill, is flagellated and murmurs. By deeds he speaks ill who, by living ill, by his examples informs others to act perversely.

29.20. Semel bene loquitur qui se paenitendo redarguit. Bis bene loquitur qui bene uiuendo et alios instruit. 29.21. Semel male loquitur qui post uitium cito corrigitur.

29.20. He speaks well once who reproves himself by repenting. He speaks well twice who, by living well, also instructs others. 29.21. He speaks ill once who, after a vice, is quickly corrected.

Bis male loquitur qui et male uiuit et male docet. Item bis male loquitur qui et male cogitat et male refert cogitata. Item bis male loquitur qui et bonum quod debuit non egit et malum quod non oportebat admisit.

Twice he speaks ill who both lives badly and teaches badly. Likewise, twice he speaks ill who both thinks badly and badly relates his cogitations. Likewise, twice he speaks ill who both did not do the good that he ought to have done and committed the evil that he ought not.

29.22. Mali mala respondent pro bonis et aduersa pro optimis. Boni bona respondent pro malis, et prospera pro aduersis. 29.23. Aduersus conuicium linguae fortitudo adhibenda est patientiae, ut temptatio uerbi quae foris inpugnat, tolerantiae uirtute deuicta discedat.

29.22. The wicked respond with evils in place of good things, and with adverse things in place of the best. The good respond with good things in place of evils, and with prosperous things in place of adversities. 29.23. Against the reviling of the tongue, the fortitude of patience must be applied, so that the temptation of the word which impugns from without may depart, vanquished by the virtue of tolerance.

29.24. Non omnis qui patitur probra iustus est; sed qui pro ueritate innox patitur, ille tantummodo iustus est.

29.24. Not everyone who suffers reproaches is just; but he who, innocent, suffers for the truth—he only is just.

29.25. Inter uituperationes linguae et obprobria hominum isto se remedio mens iusti corroborat, ut tanto solidius in Deum figatur interius, quanto exterius ab humanis spernitur sensibus. 29.26-27. Qui inlatas sibi contumelias tranquillo animo prodit, dolorem cordis aperit et uirus quod feruet in animo facile reicit. Vulnera enim mentis aperta cito exhalant, clausa nimis exulcerant.

29.25. Among the vituperations of the tongue and the reproaches of men, by this remedy the mind of the just man is strengthened, so that the more solidly it is fixed inwardly in God, the more outwardly it is spurned by human senses. 29.26-27. He who brings to light the insults inflicted on himself with a tranquil spirit opens the pain of his heart and easily casts off the venom that seethes in his mind. For the wounds of the mind, when open, quickly exhale; when closed, they fester excessively.

29.28. Qui dolorem iniuriae clauso pectore tegit, quanto amplius silentio linguam premit, tanto acriorem intrinsecus nutrit. Vnde et uere quidam poetarum gentilium dixit: "Quoque magis tegitur, tectus magis aestuat ignis. " Caecus enim languor uehemens est ac nimius, quia "tacitum uiuit sub pectore uulnus.

29.28. Whoever covers the pain of an injury with a closed breast, the more he presses his tongue with silence, the more sharply he nourishes it within. Whence also truly a certain one of the gentile poets said: "And the more it is covered, the covered fire seethes the more. " For blind languor is vehement and excessive, because "a silent wound lives beneath the breast.

XXX. De mendacio. 30.1. Mendaces faciunt ut nec uera dicentibus credatur.

30. On lying. 30.1. Liars bring it about that not even those speaking truths are believed.

Reddet enim saepe hominem multa falsitas etiam in ueritate suspectum. 30.2. Saepe uera promittit, qui falsa dicturus est, ut, cum primum adquisierit fidem, ad reliqua mendacia audientes credulos faciat.

For much falsity will often render a man suspect even when he is in the truth. 30.2. Often he who is about to speak false things promises true things, so that, when he has first acquired credence, he may make the hearers credulous for the remaining lies.

30.3. Multis uidentur uera esse quae falsa sunt, et ideo non ex Deo, sed ex suo mendacio loquuntur. 30.4. Nonnunquam falsitas ueriloquio adiungitur, et plerumque a ueritate incipit qui falsa confingit. 30.5. Latent saepe uenena circumlita melle uerborum, et tandiu deceptor ueritatem simulat quousque fallendo decipiat.

30.3. To many, things which are false seem to be true, and therefore they speak not from God, but from their own mendacity. 30.4. Sometimes falsity is adjoined to truth-speaking, and for the most part he who fabricates falsehoods begins from truth. 30.5. Poisons often lie hidden, smeared round with the honey of words, and the deceiver simulates truth for so long until, by beguiling, he deceives.

30.6. Nonnunquam peius est mendacium meditare quam loqui; nam interdum quisque incautus solet ex praecipitatione loqui mendacium; meditare autem non potest, nisi per studium. Grauius ergo ille ex studio mentire perhibetur, quam is qui ex praecipitatione sola mentitur. 30.7. Summopere cauendum est omne mendacium, quamuis nonnunquam sit aliquod mendacii genus culpae leuioris, si quisquam pro salute hominum mentiatur.

30.6. Sometimes it is worse to premeditate a lie than to speak it; for at times someone incautious is wont, out of precipitation, to speak a lie; but he cannot premeditate it, except by study. Therefore he is held to lie more gravely out of study, than he who lies out of precipitation alone. 30.7. In the highest degree every lie must be guarded against, although sometimes there is some kind of lie of lighter fault, if anyone should lie for the salvation of men.

Sed quia scriptum est: Os quod mentitur occidit animam; et Perdes eos qui loquuntur mendacium, hoc quoque mendacii genus perfecti uiri summopere fugiunt, ut nec uita cuiuslibet per eorum fallaciam defendatur, nec suae animae noceant, dum praestare alienae carni nituntur, quamquam hoc ipsud peccati genus facillime credimus relaxari. Nam si quaelibet culpa sequenti mercede purgatur, quanto magis haec facile abstergitur, quam merces ipsa comitatur. 30.8. Multa mentiuntur multaque fingunt homines propter hominum laudem; sicque fit ut et isti mentiendo pereant, et eos quos laudant ad uanae gloriae ruinam perducant.

But because it is written: The mouth that lies kills the soul; and You will destroy those who speak mendacity, this kind of mendacity too do perfect men flee with the utmost care, so that neither the life of anyone be defended through their fallacy, nor do they harm their own soul while they strive to bestow benefit upon another’s flesh, although we believe that this very kind of sin is most easily remitted. For if any fault whatsoever is purged by the recompense that follows, how much more is this easily wiped away, which the reward itself accompanies. 30.8. Men lie many things and fashion many things for the praise of men; and thus it comes about that both these perish by lying, and they lead those whom they praise to the ruin of vainglory.

30.9-10. Sicut bene sibi conscius non metuit alienae linguae conuicium, ita et qui laudatur ab alio non debet errorem alienae laudis adtendere; sed magis unusquisque testimonium conscientiae suae quaerat, cui plus ipse praesens est quam ille qui eum laudat. Opus enim suum unusquisque probet, ut ait apostolus, et tunc in seipso quisque gloriam habebit, id est occulte in sua conscientia, non palam in aliena lingua. 30.11. Perfecti, qui alta radice fundati sunt, etsi flamine laudis ac uituperationis utcumque quasi uentorum interdum curuentur inpulsu, funditus tamen non deiciuntur, sed protinus firmitate radicis ad se redeunt.

30.9-10. Just as one well conscious to himself does not fear the reviling of another’s tongue, so also he who is praised by another ought not to attend to the error of another’s praise; but rather let each one seek the testimony of his own conscience, to which he himself is more present than he who praises him. For each one should prove his own work, as the apostle says, and then each will have glory in himself, that is, hiddenly in his own conscience, not openly in another’s tongue. 30.11. The perfect, who are founded with a deep root, even if by the blast of praise and of blame they are bent somewhat, as by the impulse of winds, yet are not overthrown utterly, but straightway by the firmness of the root they return to themselves.

30.12. Bona mens ad malum nec praemiis nec terroribus uincitur. Nam iniqui terrorem blanditiis miscent, ut aut oblectatione quemquam decipiant, aut terroribus frangant.

30.12. A good mind is not won over to evil by rewards nor by terrors. For the iniquitous mix terror with blandishments, so that they may either deceive anyone by delectation, or break him by terrors.

30.13. Qui laudatur, in auditorum amore inseritur, sed si ueraciter et non ficte laudetur, hoc est si uera sunt quae de illo dicuntur. XXXI. De iuramento.

30.13. He who is praised is inserted into the love of the hearers, but only if he is praised truthfully and not fictitiously—that is, if the things that are said about him are true. 31. On the oath.

31.1. Sicut mentiri non potest qui non loquitur, sic periurare non poterit qui iurare non appetit. Cauendam igitur esse iurationem, nec eam utendam nisi in sola necessitate.

31.1. Just as he who does not speak cannot lie, so he who does not desire to swear will not be able to perjure himself. Therefore oath-taking is to be avoided, and it is not to be used except in sole necessity.

31.2. Non est contra Dei praeceptum iurare, sed dum usum iurandi facimus, periurii crimen incurrimus. Nunquam ergo iuret qui periurare timet. 31.3. Multi, dum loquuntur, iurare semper delectantur, dum oporteat hoc tantum esse in ore: "Est, est; non, non". Amplius enim quam "est" et "non est" a malo est.

31.2. It is not against the precept of God to swear, but when we make use of swearing, we incur the crime of perjury. Therefore let him who fears to perjure never swear. 31.3. Many, while they speak, always take delight to swear, whereas this alone ought to be in the mouth: "Yes, yes; no, no." For more than "yes" and "no" is from evil.

31.4. Multi, ut fallant, periurant, ut per fidem sacramenti fidem faciant uerbi, sicque fallendo, dum periurant et mentiuntur, hominem incautum decipiunt.

31.4. Many, in order to deceive, perjure themselves, so that by the faith of the sacrament they may give credence to their word, and thus, by deceiving, while they perjure themselves and lie, they deceive the incautious man.

31.5. Interdum et falsis lacrimis seducti decipimur, et creditur dum plorant, quibus credendum non erat. 31.6. Plerumque sine iuramento loqui disponimus, sed incredulitate eorum qui non credunt quod dicimus iurare conpellimur, talique necessitate iurandi consuetudinem fa?cimus. 31.7. Sunt multi ad credendum pigri, qui non mouentur ad fidem uerbi.

31.5. At times too, seduced by false tears we are deceived, and those who ought not to have been believed are believed while they weep. 31.6. For the most part we resolve to speak without an oath, but by the incredulity of those who do not believe what we say we are compelled to swear, and by such a necessity of swearing we make a custom of swearing. 31.7. There are many sluggish to believe, who are not moved to faith in the word.

Grauiter autem delinquunt qui sibi loquentes iurare cogunt.

However, they sin gravely who compel those speaking to them to swear.

31.8. Quacumque arte uerborum quisque iuret, Deus tamen, qui conscientiae testis est, ita hoc accipit sicut ille cui iuratur intellegit. Dupliciter autem reus fit qui et Dei nomen in uanum adsumit, et proximum dolo capit. 31.9. Non est conseruandum sacramentum quo malum incaute promittitur, ueluti si quispiam adulterae perpetuam cum ea permanendi fidem polliceatur.

31.8. By whatever artifice of words anyone may swear, yet God, who is the witness of conscience, accepts it thus as the one to whom it is sworn understands it. Moreover, he becomes guilty in a twofold way who both takes up the name of God in vain, and ensnares his neighbor by deceit. 31.9. An oath by which an evil is incautiously promised is not to be kept, as for instance if someone should pledge to an adulteress a troth of remaining with her perpetually.

Tolerabilius est enim non implere sacramentum quam permanere in stupri flagitium. 31.10. Iurare est Dei illa prouidentia quae statuit non conuellere statuta. Paenitentia autem Dei rerum mutatio est; non paenitere autem statuta non reuocare, ut est illud: Iurauit Dominus et non paenitebit eum, id est quae iurauit, non mutauit.

For it is more tolerable not to fulfill the oath than to persist in the disgrace of stuprum. 31.10. The swearing is of God—that providence which has decreed not to tear up what has been established. But the repentance of God is a change of things; not to repent, however, is not to revoke what has been established, as in that saying: The Lord has sworn and it will not repent him, that is, what he has sworn, he has not changed.

XXXII. De vitiis. 32.1-2. Recedens homo a Deo statim uitiorum traditur potestati, ut dum patitur infesta uitia reuertendo unde cecidit resipiscat.

32. On vices. 32.1-2. A man receding from God is immediately delivered to the power of vices, so that, while he suffers hostile vices, by reverting whence he fell he may come to his senses.

Et si sancti toto annisu contendunt superare uitia nec extinguunt, quid agunt hii qui non solum non odiunt uitia, sed toto ea amore sectantur? 32.3. Satis delicate se palpat qui uult sine labore uitia superare, dum peccati legem quam sibi deseruiendo uitiis fecit, sine uiolentia doloris resecare non possit.

And if the saints with total exertion strive to overcome vices and yet do not extinguish them, what are those doing who not only do not hate vices, but pursue them with total love? 32.3. He quite delicately flatters himself who wishes to overcome vices without labor, since the law of sin which he made for himself by serving the vices he cannot resect without the violence of pain.

32.4. Perfecte renuntiat uitio, qui occasionem euitat in perpetrando peccato. Nam si uelis tantundem non peccare, et data occasione peccaueris, tu tibi et reus et iudex es, qui et conmissa damnas et damnata committis. Se autem iudice reus est, qui uitia et accusat et perpetrat.

32.4. He perfectly renounces vice who avoids the occasion for perpetrating sin. For if you should wish just as much not to sin, and, an occasion having been given, you have sinned, you are to yourself both defendant and judge, who both condemn the things committed and commit the things condemned. But he is a defendant, himself as judge, who both accuses vices and perpetrates them.

32.5. Quaedam uitia dum non perfecte uitantur, suos in se faciunt relabi auctores. Nam si unum uitium districte uitetur et alia neglegantur, inanis labor est. Non enim potest in unius obseruatione uirtutis fortiter perdurare, cuius alia uitia dominantur in corde.

32.5. Certain vices, when they are not avoided perfectly, make their own authors relapse into themselves. For if one vice is strictly avoided and the others are neglected, the labor is vain. For he cannot endure stoutly in the observance of one virtue, in whose heart other vices hold dominion.

32.6. Nonnunquam hominem sua uitia persequuntur quia nimirum qui prius uolendo ea sibi fecit socia, postea sentit etiam nolens stimulosa.

32.6. Sometimes a man is pursued by his own vices, for indeed he who earlier, by willing, made them companions to himself, thereafter feels them, even unwilling, as stinging goads.

32.7. Nonnulli non antea in errorem uitiorum labuntur, nisi prius interioris rationis perdiderint oculos, sicuti Samson non antea ab Allophilis ad erroris ligatus est machinam, nisi postquam ei sunt lumina oculorum extincta. 32.8. Quidam, uegetante mentis ratione, uitiorum superantur incursu, sicque deinde intentionem bonorum operum perdunt, sicut rex Babylonis in oculis Sedeciae prius filios ipsius interfecit, et sic postea oculos eius euulsit; ac per hoc, post multorum operum consuetudinem et interemptionem bonorum, perit quorundam et ratio. XXXIII.

32.7. Some do not beforehand slip into the error of vices, unless first they have lost the eyes of interior reason, just as Samson was not beforehand bound by the Philistines to the machine of error, unless after the lights of his eyes were extinguished. 32.8. Certain persons, while the mind’s reason is thriving, are overcome by the incursion of vices, and thus thereafter they lose the intention of good works, just as the king of Babylon, before the eyes of Zedekiah, first killed his sons, and thus afterwards gouged out his eyes; and through this, after the customary practice of many works and the interemption of good things, the reason of some also perishes. 33.

Quod ex vitiis vitia, ex virtutibus virtutes oriuntur.

That from vices vices arise, from virtues virtues arise.

33.1. Sic gignuntur ex peccato peccata, ut dum non euitantur parua, incedatur in maximis; et dum defenduntur admissa nec lamentantur, ex flagitio ad superbiam itur. Vnde fit ut duplicati sit criminis reus qui et admittit scelera per uoluntatem et defendit ea per contumaciae tumorem. 33.2. Sic uitio uitium gignitur, sicut uirtus uirtute concipitur.

33.1. Thus sins are begotten from sin, so that, while the small ones are not avoided, one advances into the greatest; and while the things committed are defended and are not lamented, one goes from flagitious deed to pride. Whence it comes about that he is guilty of a doubled crime who both commits crimes by will and defends them by the swelling of contumacy. 33.2. Thus vice is begotten from vice, just as virtue is conceived from virtue.

Ex uitio enim gignitur uitium, sicuti Dauid qui, dum non euitat adulterium perpetrauit et homicidium. 33.3. Item uirtus uirtute concipitur, sicut per uirtutem euangelicae praedicationis, uirtutem martyrii apostoli meruerunt.

For from vice indeed vice is engendered, just as David who, while he did not avoid adultery, perpetrated homicide as well. 33.3. Likewise virtue is conceived by virtue, just as through the virtue of evangelical preaching, the apostles merited the virtue of martyrdom.

33.4. In cordibus saeculariter uiuentium inuicem sibi succedunt uitia, ut, dum unum abierit, succedat aliud, iuxta Iohel prophetae testimonium qui ait: Residuum erucae comedit locusta, et residuum locustae comedit brucus, et residuum bruci comedit rubigo. Pro id ergo ista sub uitiorum allegoria colliguntur, quia sequitur: Expergiscimini ebrii et flete. 33.5. Aliquando utiliter peccatur in minimis uitiis ut maiora utilius caueantur.

33.4. In the hearts of those living secularly, vices succeed one another in turn, so that, when one has gone away, another may succeed, according to the testimony of the prophet Joel who says: The residue of the caterpillar the locust has eaten, and the residue of the locust the cankerworm has eaten, and the residue of the cankerworm the rust has eaten. For this reason, therefore, these things are gathered under the allegory of vices, because it follows: Awake, you drunkards, and weep. 33.5. Sometimes one sins usefully in the least vices, so that greater ones may be more usefully avoided.

Lege Paulum apostolum minora permittentem peccata, ne maiora perpetrentur. Veraciter autem sanantur uitia quae uirtutibus non uitiis excluduntur. Quorundam autem quaedam latentia uitia tunc apparent quando ab aliis uitiis desinent.

Read Paul the Apostle permitting lesser sins, lest greater be perpetrated. Truly, however, those vices are healed which are excluded by virtues, not by vices. Moreover, certain hidden vices of some then appear when they cease from other vices.

XXXIIII. De male usis virtutibus.

34. On ill-used virtues.

34.1. Interdum et male usae uirtutes ex se uitia gignunt; quod fit per inmoderatum animi appetitum, cui non sufficit donum quod meruit, nisi inde aut laudes aut lucra damnanda quaesierit. 34.2-3. Interdum uirtutes uitia gignunt dum aliquando pro tempore opportune minime relaxantur. Sicque fit ut quae congruo loco uirtutes sunt, incongruo uitia deputentur, ueluti si pro fratris aduentum canonicum non soluatur ieiunium.

34.1. Sometimes even virtues badly used beget vices from themselves; which happens through an immoderate appetite of the mind, to which the gift it has merited does not suffice, unless from it he seek either lauds or damnable lucre. 34.2-3. Sometimes virtues beget vices when at times they are by no means relaxed suitably for the time. And thus it comes about that what in a congruous place are virtues, in an incongruous are accounted vices, as for example if for a brother’s arrival the canonical fast is not relaxed.

Virtutum igitur discretionem a Paulo apostolo sume, qui ad tempus egit quod agendum esse omnino prohibuit. 34.4-5. Item quaedam uirtutes dum discretioni non seruiunt, in uitiis transeunt. Nam saepe iustitia dum suum modum excedit, crudelitatis saeuitiam gignit; et nimia pietas dissolutionem disciplinae parturit, et zeli studium, dum plus est quam oportet, in iracundiae uitium transit, et multa mansuetudo torporis segnitiem gignit.

Therefore take the discretion of virtues from the Apostle Paul, who for a time did what he altogether forbade to be done. 34.4-5. Likewise certain virtues, when they do not serve discretion, pass over into vices. For often justice, when it exceeds its own measure, begets the savagery of cruelty; and excessive piety brings forth the dissolution of discipline; and the pursuit of zeal, when it is more than is fitting, passes into the vice of irascibility; and much gentleness begets the sluggishness of torpor.

Prudentis autem uiri discretio sollerter prospicit, ne bonum intemperanter agat et de uirtute in uitium transeat.

But the discretion of a prudent man skillfully foresees, lest he do the good intemperately and pass from virtue into vice.

34.6. Item apud quosdam ex uirtute uitium gignitur, dum quisque de castitatis et abstinentiae meritis gloriatur. Nam et qui elemosinam uanae gloriae causa inpertit, ex uirtute uitium facit; sed et is qui de sapientia adrogantiam habet, et qui pro iustitia praemium appetit, et qui aliquod donum Dei quod meruit in suam laudem conuertit, aut in malos usus adsumit, procul dubio uirtutem in uitium transfert. 34.7. Homines de uirtutibus uitia nutriunt, ex quibus pereant.

34.6. Likewise, among certain people, out of virtue vice is engendered, when each one boasts of the merits of chastity and abstinence. For he who imparts alms for the sake of vainglory makes from virtue a vice; and likewise he who has arrogance from wisdom, and he who seeks a reward for justice, and he who turns some gift of God which he has merited into his own praise, or appropriates it to evil uses, without doubt transfers virtue into vice. 34.7. People nourish vices from virtues, by which they perish.

Iterum Deus arte potentissima ex nostro uitio uirtutes format, quibus nos ab iniquitate reformet. XXXV. De simulatis virtutibus.

Again God, by a most potent art, fashions virtues out of our vice, by which he may reform us from iniquity. 35. On simulated virtues.

35.1-2. Quaedam uitia species uirtutum praeferunt, ideoque perniciosius suos sectatores decipiunt quia se sub uelamine uirtutum tegunt. Nam uitia quae statim uirtutum contraria apparent, cito dum in palam uenerint, emendantur, propter quod sequaces eorum de talibus criminibus erubescunt. Carnales autem plerumque per insensualitatem mentis non agnoscunt uitium esse culpabile quod dignum uidetur damnatione.

35.1-2. Certain vices put forward the appearance of virtues, and therefore they more perniciously deceive their followers, because they cover themselves under the veil of virtues. For the vices which at once appear contrary to virtues are quickly amended when they have come into the open, on account of which their followers blush for such crimes. Carnal people, however, for the most part, through insensibility of mind do not recognize as a blameworthy vice that which seems worthy of condemnation.

35.3. Item quaedam uitia species uirtutum esse uidentur, sed tamen uirtutes non sunt. Nam interdum sub praetextu iustitiae crudelitas agitur, et putatur esse uirtus quod nimirum est uitium, sicut remissa segnities mansuetudo esse creditur, et quod agit torpens neglegentia, putatur agere indulgentia pietatis. Nonnunquam etiam uirtutem largitatis imitatur uitium prodigae effusionis, et uirtutem parcitatis tristis tenacitas imitatur, et uitium pertinaciae absconditur sub uirtute constantiae.

35.3. Likewise certain vices seem to be an appearance of virtues, yet nevertheless they are not virtues. For sometimes under the pretext of justice cruelty is carried out, and that is thought to be a virtue which indeed is a vice, just as remiss sluggishness is believed to be mildness, and what a torpid negligence does is supposed to be done by the indulgence of piety. Sometimes also the vice of prodigal effusion imitates the virtue of liberality, and gloomy tight‑fistedness imitates the virtue of parsimony, and the vice of pertinacity is concealed under the virtue of constancy.

Item timor sub specie obedientiae occultatur, et dicitur uirtus humilitatis, quod tamen uitium est timoris. Sed et procacitas uocis pro ueritatis libertate accipitur, et uitium pigritiae quietis uirtutem imitatur. Porro uitium inquietudinis uirtutem se uult uocari sollicitudinis, et praecipitationis facilitas feruor boni studii creditur, et bene agendi tarditas consilii mora esse uidetur, dum tamen ista sit uirtus, illa uitium.

Likewise fear is hidden under the semblance of obedience, and what is nonetheless the vice of fear is called the virtue of humility. But also the procacity of voice is taken for the liberty of truth, and the vice of sloth imitates the virtue of quietness. Furthermore the vice of inquietude wishes to be called the virtue of solicitude, and the facility of precipitancy is believed to be the fervor of good zeal, and the tardity of doing well seems to be a delay of counsel, while yet this is virtue, that vice.

Tali igitur exemplo uitia species uirtutum imitantur, et inde se nonnulli esse iustos confidunt, unde maxime reprobantur. 35.4. Aptum exemplum uitiorum de latronis specie sumitur; nam sicut ex insidiis latro prodit, seque iter agentibus iungit, fingens se socium donec decipiat inprouisum et, dum subito eruperit, ad exitium latro manifestus ostenditur, ita se miscunt interdum periculose uirtutibus uitia quousque omnem boni operis efficaciam in suis usibus rapiant, ut anima quae sibi erat placens de uirtutibus, deceptam se conspiciat uitiis damnabilibus.

By such an example, therefore, vices imitate the appearance of virtues, and from that some are confident that they are just, whence most of all they are reprobated. 35.4. A fitting example of vices is taken from the appearance of a robber; for just as out of ambush a robber comes forth, and joins himself to travelers, feigning himself a companion until he deceives the unwary, and, when he has suddenly burst forth, he is shown manifest as a robber to their destruction, so vices sometimes dangerously mingle themselves with virtues until they snatch all the efficacy of a good work into their own uses, so that the soul which had been pleasing itself on account of its virtues may behold itself deceived by damnable vices.

XXXVI. De appetitu virtutum. 36.1. Ad uirtutes difficile consurgimus, ad uitia sine labore dilabimur.

36. On the appetite for virtues. 36.1. We rise to virtues with difficulty; to vices we slip down without labor.

Ista enim prona, illa ardua sunt. Grandes enim sudores perpetimur ut ad caelum conscendere ualeamus. 36.2. Quemadmodum ad uirtutum tendentes culmen, non a summis inchoant, sed a modicis, ut sensim ad altiora pertingant, ita et qui dilabuntur ad uitia, non statim a magnis criminibus incipiunt, sed a modicis adsuescunt, et sic in maximis proruunt.

For these are downward-sloping, those arduous. For we endure great sweats so that we may be able to ascend to heaven. 36.2. Just as those tending toward the summit of the virtues do not begin from the highest things, but from modest ones, so that by degrees they may attain to higher things, so also those who slip down to vices do not at once begin from great crimes, but grow accustomed from small ones, and thus rush headlong into the greatest.

36.3-4. Sicut paulatim homo a minimis uitiis in maximis proruit, ita a modicis uirtutibus gradatim ad ea quae sunt excelsa contendit. Qui autem inordinate uirtutes conprehendre nititur, cito periclitatur. Haec est causa in rerum natura, ut quaecumque uelociter ad profectum tendunt, sine dubio celeriter finiantur, sicut herbae, quae tanto festinius pereunt, quanto celerius crescunt.

36.3-4. Just as a man, little by little, from the least vices rushes headlong into the greatest, so from moderate virtues he step by step strives toward those things which are exalted. But whoever strives to grasp virtues in an inordinate way is quickly endangered. This is the cause in the nature of things: that whatever tends swiftly toward progress, without doubt is quickly brought to an end, just like herbs, which perish the more hastily, the more quickly they grow.

At uero contra, arbores alta radice fundatae, ideo perdurant diutius, quia gradatim ad profectum perueniunt. 36.5. Nihil prodest, admixto malo, agere aliquid bonum, sed prius est cohibendum a malo, deinde exercendum bonum. Hoc enim indicat propheta, cum dicit: Quiescite agere peruerse, discite benefacere.

But truly, on the contrary, trees founded with a deep root therefore endure longer, because they reach unto progress step by step. 36.5. Nothing profits, if evil is admixt, to do something good; but first one must be restrained from evil, then the good must be exercised. For the prophet indicates this, when he says: Cease to act perversely, learn to do good.

36.6. Prius uitia extirpanda sunt in homine, deinde inserendae uirtutes. Nam cohaerere et coniungi non potest ueritas cum mendacio, pudor cum petulantia, fides cum perfidia, castitas cum luxuria.

36.6. First, vices are to be extirpated in a man, then the virtues are to be engrafted. For truth cannot cohere and be conjoined with mendacity, modesty with petulance, faith with perfidy, chastity with luxury.

36.7. Quaedam sunt summae uirtutes, quaedam uero mediae. Fides, spes et caritas summae uirtutes sunt. Nam a quibus habentur utique ueraciter habentur.

36.7. Certain virtues are supreme, and certain indeed are middle. Faith, Hope, and Charity are supreme virtues. For by those by whom they are held, assuredly they are held veraciously.

Aliae uero uirtutes mediae sunt, quia et ad utilitatem et ad perniciem possunt haberi, si de his adroganter quisque tumuerit, utputa doctrina, ieiunium, castitas, scientia siue temporales diuitiae, de quibus scilicet et bene operare possumus, et male. 36.8. Quisquis e deteriore iam melior esse coepit, caueat de acceptis extolli uirtutibus, ne grauius per uirtutes corruat quam prius ex lapsu uitiorum iacebat. 36.9. Quem Deus iustificat, ne iterum se de uirtutibus erigat, quaedam illi uirtutum dona tribuit, quaedam retrahit, ut dum mens de id quod habet erigitur, iterum de id quod nequaquam habere cognoscitur humilietur.

Other virtues indeed are middle, because they can be held both to utility and to perdition, if anyone swells arrogantly on account of these—such as doctrine, fasting, chastity, science, or temporal riches—by which, of course, we are able both to work well and ill. 36.8. Whoever from a worse state has now begun to be better, let him beware of being exalted by the virtues received, lest he through virtues fall more grievously than before he lay from the lapse of vices. 36.9. Whom God justifies, lest he again raise himself up by his virtues, to him He grants certain gifts of virtues, certain He withdraws, so that while the mind is lifted up because of that which it has, again, because of that which it is recognized by no means to have, it may be humbled.

36.10. Quisquis dono caelestis gratiae inspiratus ad uirtutes erigitur, si forte moderantis Dei manu aliqua aduersitate reprimitur, ne de acceptis uirtutibus adtollatur, frangi non debet, quia et hoc ipsud quod plagis humiliatur aequanimiter ferre procul dubio uirtutis est magnae. XXXVII. De pugna virtutum adversus vitia.

36.10. Whoever, inspired by the gift of heavenly grace, is raised up toward virtues, if perchance by the hand of the moderating God he is restrained by some adversity, lest he be lifted up by the virtues received, ought not to be broken; because even this very thing—that he is humbled by blows—to bear with equanimity is, without doubt, of great virtue. 37. On the battle of virtues against vices.

37.1. Tunc se uiri sancti ueracius a uitiorum conluuione detergunt, dum ab eis contra singula uitia uirtutes singulae opponuntur. Interdum uitia cum uirtutibus ad utilitatem confligunt, ut ipso certamine uel mens exerceatur, uel ab elatione concussus animus restringatur.

37.1. Then holy men cleanse themselves more truly from the confluence/filth of vices, when by them individual virtues are opposed against individual vices. Sometimes vices conflict with virtues to utility, so that by the contest itself either the mind may be exercised, or the spirit, shaken from elation, may be restrained.

37.2. Aduersus impetus uitiorum contrariis uirtutibus est pugnandum. Contra luxuriam enim cordis est adhibenda munditia; contra odium dilectio praeparanda; contra iracundiam patientia proponenda est. Porro contra timorem fiduciae adhibenda est uirtus, contra torporem zeli proelium; tristitiae quoque gaudium, acidiae fortitudo, auaritiae largitas, superbiae humilitas opponenda est.

37.2. Against the onrush of vices one must fight with contrary virtues. For against the wantonness of the heart cleanness is to be applied; against hatred dilection is to be prepared; against irascibility patience is to be set forth. Moreover, against fear the virtue of confidence is to be applied, against torpor the battle of zeal; to sadness also joy, to acedia fortitude, to avarice largess, to pride humility is to be opposed.

Sicque singulae uirtutes nascentia contra se uitia reprimunt, ac temptationum motus uirtute diuinae caritatis extinguunt. 37.3. Libidinem abstinentia domat. Nam quantum corpus inedia frangitur, tanto mens ab inlicito appetitu reuocatur.

And thus the several virtues repress the vices arising against them, and they extinguish the movements of temptations by the virtue of divine charity. 37.3. Abstinence tames libido. For by as much as the body is broken by fasting, by so much is the mind called back from illicit appetite.

37.4. Aduersus iram tolerantia dimicat; ira autem semetipsam necat, sustinendo autem patientia uictoriam portat.

37.4. Against anger tolerance fights; anger, however, kills its very self, while by enduring patience carries victory.

37.5. Tristitiae maerorem spes aeterni gaudii superat, et quem turbata mens de exterioribus afficit, dulcedo interioris tranquillitatis lenit. 37.6. Aduersus inuidiam praeparatur caritas, et aduersus irae incendia mansuetudinis adhibetur tranquillitas. 37.7. Superbiam diaboli imitantur superbi, aduersus quem opponitur humilitas Christi qua humiliantur elati.

37.5. The grief of sadness is overcome by the hope of eternal joy, and the sweetness of interior tranquility soothes what a disturbed mind suffers from external things. 37.6. Against envy charity is prepared, and against the fires of anger the tranquility of meekness is applied. 37.7. The proud imitate the pride of the Devil, against whom the humility of Christ is set, by which the exalted are humbled.

37.8. Principalium septem uitiorum regina et mater superbia est, eademque septem principalia multa de se parturiunt uitia, quia ita sibimet quadam cognatione iunguntur ut ex altero alterum oriatur. 37.9. Sicut princeps septem uitiorum superbia nos eorum potestatibus subdit, ita Christus, septiformi gratia plenus, a dominatu uitiorum nos eruit, et quos illa addicit septemplici uitio, iste liberat septiformis gratiae dono. XXXVIII.

37.8. The queen and mother of the seven principal vices is pride, and these same seven principal ones bring forth from themselves many vices, because they are joined to one another by a certain cognation such that from the one the other is begotten. 37.9. Just as pride, the chief of the seven vices, subjects us to their powers, so Christ, full of sevenfold grace, draws us out from the dominion of vices; and those whom that one consigns to sevenfold vice, this one frees by the gift of sevenfold grace. 38.

De superbia.

On pride.

38.1. Omni uitio deteriorem esse superbiam, seu propter quod a summis personis et primis adsumitur, seu quod de opere iustitiae et uirtutis exoritur, minusque culpa eius sentitur. Luxuria uero carnis ideo notabilis omnibus est, quoniam statim per se turpis est. Et tamen pensante Deo, superbiae minor est, sed qui detinetur superbia, et non sentit, labitur carnis luxuria, ut per hac humiliatus et a confusione surgat et a superbia.

38.1. That pride is worse than every vice, whether because it is assumed by the highest and foremost persons, or because it arises from the work of justice and virtue, and its fault is less perceived. But the luxury of the flesh is notable to all for this reason, because at once in itself it is shameful. And yet, in God’s weighing, it is lesser than pride; but he who is detained by pride, and does not perceive it, slips into the luxury of the flesh, so that through this, humbled, he may rise from confusion and from pride.

38.2. Omnis peccans superbus est eo quod faciendo uetita contemptui habeat diuina praecepta. Recte ergo initium omnis peccati superbia, quia nisi praecesserit mandatorum Dei inobedientia, transgressionis non sequitur culpa. 38.3. Omnis superbia tanto in imo iacet, quanto in alto se erigit, tantoque profundius labitur, quanto excelsius eleuatur.

38.2. Everyone who sins is proud in that, by doing the forbidden things, he holds the divine precepts in contempt. Therefore, rightly, the beginning of every sin is pride, because unless inobedience to the commandments of God has preceded, the guilt of transgression does not follow. 38.3. Every pride lies the more in the depths, the higher it raises itself, and it slips the more profoundly, the more loftily it is elevated.

Qui enim per propriam superbiam adtollitur, per Dei iustitiam inclinatur.

For whoever is exalted by his own pride is brought low by the justice of God.

38.4. Qui inflantur superbia, uento pascuntur; unde et propheta: Omnes, inquit, pastores tuos pascit uentus, hoc est superbiae spiritus. 38.5. Qui de suis uirtutibus superbiunt, ex ipsis iudicandi sunt operibus quae pro uirtutibus utuntur, quia rem bonam non bona uoluntate faciunt. Nam reuera sine humilitate uirtus quaelibet et sine caritate in uitio deputatur.

38.4. Those who are puffed up by pride are fed by wind; whence also the prophet: “All your shepherds the wind feeds,” he says—that is, the spirit of pride. 38.5. Those who boast in their own virtues must be judged from the very works which they employ as virtues, because they do a good thing not with a good will. For truly, any virtue, without humility and without charity, is reckoned as a vice.

38.6. Merito superbiae diabolus a superna beatitudine corruit. Qui ergo de uirtutibus adtolluntur, diabolum imitantur; et exinde grauius corruunt, quia de excelsis labuntur.

38.6. Rightly, for pride, the devil fell from supernal beatitude. Therefore those who are exalted on account of their virtues imitate the devil; and from that they fall more grievously, because they slip from the heights.

38.7. Superbia, sicut origo est omnium criminum, ita ruina cunctarum uirtutum. Ipsa est enim in peccato prima, ipsa in conflictu postrema. Haec enim aut in exordio mentem per peccatum prosternit, aut nouissime de uirtutibus deicit.

38.7. Pride, just as it is the origin of all crimes, so it is the ruin of all virtues. For it is itself first in sin, itself last in the conflict. For this either at the exordium casts down the mind through sin, or at the very last casts one down from the virtues.

Inde et omnium peccatorum est maxima, quia tam per uirtutes quam per uitia humanam mentem exterminat. 38.8. Ibi cadere superbiam, ubi et nasci, ut non sit superbis aliud culpa, aliud poena, sed ipsa culpa sit illis et poena. 38.9. De superbia nasci adrogantiam, non de adrogantia nasci superbiam.

Therefore it is also the greatest of all sins, because it exterminates the human mind both through virtues and through vices. 38.8. There let pride fall where also it is born, so that for the proud there may not be one thing guilt, another punishment, but that the guilt itself may be for them also the punishment. 38.9. From pride arrogance is born, not from arrogance is pride born.

Nam nisi praecesserit occulta elatio mentis, non sequitur aperta iactantia laudis. Ita ergo in culpa praeponitur superbia adrogantiae, sicut praefertur origine.

For unless a hidden elation of mind has preceded, an open boasting of praise does not follow. Thus, therefore, in fault pride is set before arrogance, just as it is given precedence in origin.

38.10. Plerumque ad elationis emendationem prouidentia Dei aliquo casu nonnulli cadunt, per quo lapsu reprehensi a semetipsis, humiliter sapiant, et de muneribus Dei laudari non appetant, sed laudent Deum a quo acceperunt unde laudari se uolunt. 38.11. Vtilius est adrogantium quocumque uitio labi, et humiles post casum Deo fieri, quam per elationem superbire, grauioremque ruinae damnationem per superbiam sumere. XXXVIIII.

38.10. Oftentimes for the correction of elation, by the providence of God some fall by some mishap, and, reproved by themselves by which slip, may think humbly, and may not seek to be lauded for the gifts of God, but may laud God, from whom they received that on account of which they wish themselves to be lauded. 38.11. It is more useful for the arrogant to slip into whatever vice and become humble to God after the fall, than to be over-proud through elation and to take a graver damnation of ruin through pride. 39.

De fornicatione.

On fornication.

39.1. Ex culpa superbiae plerumque in abominanda carnis inmunditia itur. Nam alterum pendet ex altero, sed sicut per superbiam mentis itur in prostitutionem libidinis, ita per humilitatem mentis salua fit castitas carnis. Deus autem nonnunquam deicit occultam mentis superbiam per carnis manifestam ruinam.

39.1. Out of the fault of pride one for the most part goes into the abominable immundity of the flesh. For the one depends on the other; but just as through the pride of the mind one goes into the prostitution of lust, so through the humility of the mind the chastity of the flesh is made safe. But God sometimes casts down the hidden pride of the mind through the manifest ruin of the flesh.

39.2. Libidinis nasci inmunditiam de animi occulta superbia, exemplo primi hominis, qui mox per superbiam contra Deum tumuit, statim carnis libidinem sensit, et pudenda operuit. Quapropter unusquisque suae deputet culpae quod cecidit, quotiens libidine uincitur, quia nisi praecessisset latens superbia, non sequeretur libidinis manifesta ruina. 39.3. Nonnunquam gemino uitio christianus a diabolo appetitur, et occulto per elationem, et publico per libidinem.

39.2. The uncleanliness of libido is born from the mind’s hidden pride, by the example of the first man, who soon through pride swelled against God, straightway felt the libido of the flesh, and covered his pudenda. Wherefore let each one impute to his own fault that he has fallen, as often as he is conquered by libido; because, unless a lurking pride had preceded, the manifest ruin of libido would not have followed. 39.3. Sometimes by a twin vice a Christian is assailed by the devil, both secretly by elation and publicly by libido.

Sed dum euitat quis libidinem, cadit in elationem. Item dum incaute declinat elationem cadit segniter in libidinem; sicque ex occulto uitio elationis itur in aperto libidinis, et de aperto libidinis, itur in occulto elationis. Sed Dei seruus discrete utrumque pensans, sic cauet libidinem ut non incurrat elationem, et sic premit elationem ut non resoluat animum ad libidinem.

But while someone avoids libido, he falls into elation. Likewise, while incautiously turning aside from elation, he falls sluggishly into libido; and thus from the occult vice of elation one goes into the open vice of libido, and from the open of libido one goes into the occult of elation. But the servant of God, weighing both with discretion, so guards against libido that he does not incur elation, and so presses down elation that he does not unloose his mind toward libido.

39.4. Luxuriosis atque superbis daemones plus fautores existunt, dumque in ceteris uitiis spiritus maligni deseruiant, his tamen maiori familiaritate iunguntur, eisque amplius iuxta desiderium famulantur. 39.5. Principaliter his duobus uitiis diabolus humano generi dominatur, id est per superbiam mentis et luxuriam carnis. Vnde et Dominus ad Iob loquitur de diabolo dicens: Sub umbra dormit in secreto calami in locis humentibus.

39.4. For the lustful and the proud demons exist as greater favorers; and while in the other vices the malign spirits are subservient, yet to these they are joined with greater familiarity, and they serve them more abundantly according to their desire. 39.5. Principally by these two vices the devil dominates the human race, that is, through the pride of the mind and the lust of the flesh. Whence also the Lord speaks to Job about the devil, saying: He sleeps under the shadow, in the secret of the reed, in moist places.

Per calamum enim inanis superbia, per loca uero humentia carnis demonstratur luxuria. Per haec enim duo uitia diabolus humanum possidet genus, uel dum mentem in superbiam erigit, uel dum per luxuriam carnem corrumpit. 39.6. Multi luxuriae subditi sunt, et contumaci superbia de ipso luxuriae opere gloriantur, et inde magis elati sunt unde humiliari debuerunt.

For by the reed is signified vain pride, whereas by the moist places is shown the luxury of the flesh. Through these two vices the devil possesses the human race, either when he raises the mind into pride, or when through luxury he corrupts the flesh. 39.6. Many are subject to luxury, and with stubborn pride they boast of the very work of luxury, and from that they are more exalted whence they ought to have been humbled.

39.7. Ad conparationem mali fit deterius, quando non solum flagitia committuntur, sed etiam de ipsis flagitiis uanitate laudis perditi extolluntur, sicut scriptum est: Quoniam laudatur peccator in desideriis animae suae. Quid enim peius quam in flagitiis miseros gaudere, de quibus iam debent copiosius deplorare? 39.8. Libido tunc magis quaeritur, dum uidetur.

39.7. By comparison it becomes worse, when not only are flagitious crimes committed, but the ruined are even exalted by the vanity of praise on account of those very crimes, just as it is written: Because the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul. For what is worse than for the wretched to rejoice in flagitious deeds, over which they already ought to bewail more copiously? 39.8. Lust is then more sought, when it is seen.

Nam sicut quidam sapiens ait: "Prima fornicationis oculorum tela sunt, secunda uerborum. " Sed qui non capitur oculis, potest uerbis resistere. Sufficit natura ubi adhuc liber affectus est.

For as a certain wise man says: "The first darts of fornication are those of the eyes, the second, of words. " But he who is not captured by the eyes can resist with words. Nature suffices where the affect is still free.

39.9. Qui delectationem refrenat libidinosae suggestionis, non transit ad consensum libidinis. Cito enim resistit operi, qui titillanti non accommodat delectationi.

39.9. He who restrains the delectation of a libidinous suggestion does not pass over to the consent of lust. For he quickly resists the act who does not accommodate to titillating delectation.

39.10. Durius inpugnatur qui usque ad consensionem etsi non usque ad perpetrationem temptatur, quam is qui sola suggestione, pro conditione carnis, temptamentis sollicitatur. 39.11. Stimuli carnis qui in Paulo excitante Satanae angelo inerant, ex lege peccati erant, quae in membris hominum de necessitate libidinis habitant. Quam reluctantem dum in se expugnat perficitur, et de infirmitate libidinosae titillationis uirtutem suscipit gloriosi certaminis.

39.10. He is assailed more harshly who is tempted up to consent, even if not up to perpetration, than he who is solicited by temptations by mere suggestion, in accordance with the condition of the flesh. 39.11. The goads of the flesh which were inherent in Paul, the angel of Satan inciting, were from the law of sin, which dwells in the members of men by the necessity of libido. Which, as it resists, while he overcomes it within himself, he is perfected; and from the infirmity of libidinous titillation he receives the virtue of a glorious combat.

39.12. Seruorum Dei multa certamina de sua carne mouentur; nam quamuis in amore Dei eorum sit inconcussa intentio, mens tamen de carne, quam exterius gestat, interna proelia tolerat. Deus autem, qui haec ad probationem permittit, gratia protegente, suos non deserit.

39.12. Many battles of the servants of God are stirred up from their own flesh; for although in the love of God their intention is unshaken, nevertheless the mind, because of the flesh which it bears outwardly, endures internal battles. But God, who permits these things for probation, with grace protecting, does not desert his own.

39.13. Ideo nonnunquam electi lapsu carnali corruunt, ut a uitio superbiae, qua de uirtutibus tument, sanentur; et qui de uirtutum effectibus existunt superbi ut cadant, carnis uitio humiliantur ut surgant. 39.14. Antequam perficiatur adulterium in opere, iam adulterium extat in cogitatione. Ex corde enim primum fornicationes sunt auferendae, et non praerumpunt in opere.

39.13. Therefore sometimes the elect collapse by a carnal lapse, so that from the vice of pride, wherein they swell on account of virtues, they may be healed; and those who become proud from the effects of virtues, that they may fall, are humbled by the vice of the flesh that they may rise. 39.14. Before adultery is perfected in act, already adultery exists in cogitation. For fornications are to be removed first from the heart, and they do not break forth into act.

Hinc est quod per prophetam dicitur: Accingite lumbos uestros super ubera uestra, hoc est in corde libidines resecate, quae ad lumbos pertinent, nam cor super ubera est, non in lumbis. 39.15. Libidinis inmoderata licentia nescit habere modum. Nam dum se uitiosus animus in explenda fornicatione carne luxuriante laxauerit, nihilominus ad alia nefanda scelera suadentibus daemonibus transit, dumque inmoderate metas pudoris excesserit, crimen criminibus adicit, paulatimque ad deteriora procedit.

Hence it is that it is said through the prophet: Gird your loins over your breasts—that is, in the heart cut back the libidos which pertain to the loins, for the heart is above the breasts, not in the loins. 39.15. The immoderate license of libido does not know how to have a measure. For when the vicious mind, in accomplishing fornication, has let itself loose with the flesh luxuriating, nonetheless at the demons’ persuading it passes over to other nefarious crimes; and when it has immoderately overstepped the bounds of modesty, it adds crime to crimes, and little by little proceeds to worse things.

39.16. Non ita suauis est amantium, immo amentium, incerta carnis libido, sicut experta; nec ita delectat fornicatio, dum primum committitur, nam repetita maiorem delectationem ingerit. Iam uero si in usum uenerit, tanto perditis dulcior fit, ut superari difficile sit. Vnde et saepe ex consuetudine delinquendi quasi captiui ad peccandum cum quadam uiolentia trahimur, sensusque nostros contra rectam uoluntatem in nobis rebellare sentimus.

39.16. Not so sweet is the uncertain libido of the flesh in lovers—nay, in madmen—as when it has been experienced; nor does fornication so delight when it is first committed, for repeated it brings greater delectation. And indeed, if it has come into use, it becomes so much sweeter to the ruined that it is difficult to be overcome. Whence also often, from the consuetude of delinquency, we are dragged to sin like captives with a certain violence, and we feel our senses rebel within us against our right will.

39.17. Si plus oblectat mentem delectatio fornicationis quam amor castitatis, adhuc in homine peccatum regnat. Certe si amplius delectat pulchritudo intimae castitatis, iam non regnant peccata, sed regnat iustitia. Nam non solum de commissa fornicatione peccatum regnat in homine; sed si adhuc delectatur, atque animum teneat, procul dubio regnat.

39.17. If the delectation of fornication pleases the mind more than the love of chastity, sin still reigns in the man. Certainly, if the beauty of inward chastity delights more, sins no longer reign, but justice reigns. For not only through committed fornication does sin reign in a man; but if he still takes delight, and it holds the mind, without doubt it reigns.

39.18. Fornicatio carnis adulterium est, fornicatio animi seruitus idolorum est. Est autem et spiritalis fornicatio secundum quod Dominus ait: Qui uiderit mulierem ad concupiscendum eam, iam moechatus est eam in corde suo.

39.18. Fornication of the flesh is adultery; fornication of the mind is servitude to idols. But there is also spiritual fornication, according as the Lord says: Whoever looks at a woman in order to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

39.19. Omnis inmunda pollutio fornicatio dicitur, quamuis quisque diuersa turpitudinis uoluptate prostituatur. Ex delectatione enim fornicandi uaria gignuntur flagitia, quibus regnum Dei clauditur, et homo a Deo separatur. 39.20. Inter cetera septem uitia fornicatio maximi est sceleris, quia per carnis inmunditiam templum Dei uiolat, et tollens membra Christi, facit membra meretricis.

39.19. Every unclean defilement is called fornication, although each person is prostituted by a diverse pleasure of disgrace. For from the delectation of fornicating various flagitious deeds are engendered, by which the kingdom of God is shut, and man is separated from God. 39.20. Among the other seven vices, fornication is of the greatest crime, because through the uncleanness of the flesh it violates the temple of God, and, taking away the members of Christ, makes them members of a harlot.

39.21. Maxime per carnis luxuriam humanum genus subditur diabolo quam per cetera uitia. Cum enim ille uariis temptamentis inlectos homines conetur peruertere, magis autem moechandi desiderium suggerit, quia utrumque sexum in hoc uitio amplius aegrotare intendit.

39.21. Most of all, by the luxury of the flesh the human race is subjected to the devil rather than by the other vices. For when he tries to pervert men enticed by various temptations, he rather suggests the desire to commit adultery, because he intends that both sexes be more diseased in this vice.

39.22. Daemones, scientes pulchritudinem esse animae castitatem et per hanc hominem angelicis meritis e quibus illi lapsi sunt coaequari, liuore perculsi inuidiae, iniciunt per sensus corporis opus desideriumque libidinis quatenus a caelestibus deorsum deiectam aninam pertrahant, secumque, quod uicerint gloriantes, ad tartara ducant. 39.23. Quando inpulsu daemonum mens ad delectationem fornicationis inpellitur, diuini iudicii metus et aeterni tormenta incendii ante oculos proponantur, quia nimirum omnis poena grauioris supplicii formidine superatur. Sicut enim clauus clauum expellit, ita saepe recordatio ardoris gehennae ardorem excludit luxuriae.

39.22. Demons, knowing that the pulchritude of the soul is chastity, and that through this a man is made equal to angelic merits from which they themselves fell, smitten by the livid envy, cast in through the senses of the body the operation and desire of libido, so that they may drag down the soul, thrown down from heavenly things, and, glorying that they have conquered, lead it with them to Tartarus. 39.23. When by the impulse of demons the mind is driven to the delectation of fornication, let the fear of the divine judgment and the torments of the eternal fire be set before the eyes, because assuredly every punishment is overcome by the dread of a graver penalty. For as a nail drives out a nail, so often the recollection of the ardor of Gehenna excludes the ardor of lust.

39.24. Quidam in iuuentute luxuriose uiuentes, in senectute continentes fieri delectantur, et tunc eligunt seruire castitati quando eos libido seruos habere contemnit.

39.24. Certain men, living luxuriously in youth, in old age take delight in becoming continent, and then they choose to serve chastity when libido disdains to have them as slaves.

39.25. Nequaquam in senectute continentes uocandi sunt, qui in iuuentute luxuriose uixerunt. Tales non habent praemium quia laboris certamen non habuerunt. Eos enim expectat gloria, in quibus fuerint laboriosa certamina.

39.25. By no means in old age are those to be called continent who in youth lived luxuriously. Such have no reward, because they did not have the contest of labor. For glory awaits those in whom there have been laborious contests.

XL. De continentia. 40.1. A Deo datur continentia, sed petite et accipietis. Tunc autem tribuitur quando Deus gemitu interno pulsatur.

40. On continence. 40.1. Continence is given by God, but ask and you will receive. Then, however, it is bestowed when God is knocked at by an inner groaning.

40.2a. Praelatam esse uirginitatem nuptiarum. Illud enim bonum, hoc optimum. 40.2b. Coniugium concessum est, uirginitas admonita tantum, non iussa.

40.2a. That virginity has been preferred to marriage. For that is good; this is best. 40.2b. Marriage has been conceded; virginity only admonished, not commanded.

Sed ideo tantum admonita quia nimis excelsa. 40.3. Geminum est bonum uirginitas, quia et in hoc mundo sollicitudinem saeculi amittit, et in futuro aeternum castitatis praemium percipit.

But for this reason only admonished, because it is exceedingly exalted. 40.3. Virginity is a twin good, because both in this world it loses the solicitude of the age, and in the future it receives the eternal reward of chastity.

40.4. Virgines feliciores esse in uita aeterna, Esaia testante: Haec dicit Dominus eunuchis: dabo eis in domo mea et in muris meis locum, et nomen melius a filiis et filiabus, nomen sempiternum dabo eis, quod non peribit. Nec dubium quod qui casti perseuerant et uirgines angelis Dei efficiantur aequales. 40.5. Amanda est pulchritudo castitatis.

40.4. Virgins are more fortunate in eternal life, Isaiah bearing witness: Thus says the Lord to the eunuchs: I will give them a place in my house and within my walls, and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, which shall not perish. Nor is there doubt that those who persevere chaste and virgins are made equal to the angels of God. 40.5. The beauty of chastity is to be loved.

Cuius degustata delectatio dulcior inuenitur quam carnis. Castitas enim fructus suauitatis est, pulchritudo inuiolata sanctorum. Castitas securitas mentis, sanitas corporis; unde et aliquos gentilium gimnicos perpetuam ueneris abstinentiam exercuisse, ne uirtutem libidine frangerent.

Whose tasted delectation is found sweeter than that of the flesh. For chastity is the fruit of suavity, the inviolate beauty of the saints. Chastity is security of mind, health of body; whence even certain of the gentile gymnics practiced perpetual abstinence from Venus, lest they break their virtue by libido.

Luxuriosa namque uita carnem cito debilitat, fractamque celeriter ducit ad senectutem. 40.6. Omne peccatum per paenitentiam recipit uulneris sanitatem; uirginitas autem si labitur, nullatenus reparatur. Nam quamuis paenitendo ueniae fructum percipiat, incorruptionem tamen nullatenus recipit pristinam.

For a luxurious life quickly debilitates the flesh, and, once broken, quickly leads it to old age. 40.6. Every sin through penitence receives the healing of the wound; but virginity, if it lapses, is in no way restored. For although by repenting it may receive the fruit of pardon, yet it by no means receives back its former incorruption.

40.7. Virgo carne non mente nullum praemium habet in repromissione. Vnde et insipientibus uirginibus Saluator in iudicio ueniens dicit: Amen dico uobis, nescio uos. Vbi enim iudicans mentem corruptam inuenerit, carnis procul dubio incorruptionem damnabit.

40.7. A virgin in flesh, not in mind, has no reward in the re-promise. Wherefore also to the foolish virgins the Savior, coming in judgment, says: Amen I say to you, I do not know you. For where he, judging, shall have found the mind corrupted, he will without doubt condemn the incorruption of the flesh.

40.8. Nihil prodest incorruptio carnis, ubi non est integritas mentis, nihilque ualet mundum esse corpore eum qui pollutus est mente. 40.9. Multi sunt reproborum qui carnalis corruptelae contagium nesciunt; qui, sicut infecundi sunt corpore, ita steriles manent et mente operis boni fecunditate. Qui recte de uirginitate gauderent, si aliis prauis operibus non inseruirent.

40.8. The incorruption of the flesh profits nothing where there is no integrity of mind, and it avails nothing for one to be clean in body who is polluted in mind. 40.9. There are many among the reprobate who do not know the contagion of carnal corruption; who, just as they are infertile in body, so they remain sterile also in mind with respect to the fecundity of good work. They would rightly rejoice in virginity, if they did not be subservient to other depraved deeds.

40.10. Qui se continentem profitetur et ab aliis terrenis desideriis non subtrahitur, quamuis hunc luxuria carnis non polluat, diuersa tamen mundanae conuersationis operatio maculat. 40.11. Virgines de suis meritis gloriantes hypocritis conparantur qui gloriam boni operis foris appetunt quam intra conscientiam humiles habere debuerunt. Tales igitur ad promissa caelestia non perueniunt, quia ipsi sibi uirginitatis praemium per elationis uitium auferunt.

40.10. He who professes himself continent and is not withdrawn from other terrene desires, although the luxury of the flesh does not pollute him, is nevertheless stained by a diverse operation of worldly conversation. 40.11. Virgins glorying in their own merits are compared to hypocrites, who seek outwardly the glory of a good work which they ought to have held humble within the conscience. Such, therefore, do not attain to the heavenly promises, because they themselves by the vice of elation take away from themselves the reward of virginity.

Hoc est enim in euangelio non habere uirgines in uasis oleum, id est non seruare intra conscientiam boni operis testimonium, sed in facie gloriari apud homines, non in corde apud Deum. 40.12. Ruina adulterii excipitur destina matrimonii, meliusque est uxorem ducere quam per libidinis ardorem perire.

For this, in the Gospel, is for the virgins not to have oil in their vessels, that is, not to preserve within the conscience the testimony of a good work, but to glory in the face before men, not in the heart before God. 40.12. The ruin of adultery is met by the remedy of matrimony, and it is better to take a wife than to perish through the ardor of lust.

40.13. Quidam coniugale decus non pro gignendis filiis delectantur, sed hoc pro turbulenta carnis et libidinosa consuetudine appetunt, sicque bonum male utuntur. 40.14. Vitia per se mala sunt, coniugia uero et potestates per se quidem bona sunt, per ea uero quae circa ea sunt mala existunt. Coniugia enim per id mala sunt per quod dicit apostolus: Qui autem cum uxore est, cogitat quae sunt mundi; etpropter fornicationem unusquisque suam uxorem habeat.

40.13. Certain people are not delighted in the conjugal honor for the begetting of children, but they seek this for the turbulent and lust-driven habit of the flesh, and thus they use a good badly. 40.14. Vices are evil per se; but marriages and powers (authorities) are indeed good per se, yet by reason of the things which are around them they come to be evil. For marriages are evil in this respect, as the Apostle says: ‘But the one who is with a wife thinks on the things of the world’; and: ‘Because of fornication, let each man have his own wife.’

Sic et potestates per elationem, per oppressionem, per iustitiae quoque praeuaricationem, malae existunt. Nocent enim nuptiae, nocent et potestates, sed per id quod eis iuxta ponitur, non per se, exemplo itineris recti, iuxta quod spinae nascuntur, quae surgentes e latere nocent eis qui recto itinere gradiuntur. XLI.

So also powers, through elation, through oppression, and even through the prevarication of justice, come to exist as evil. For marriages do harm, and powers do harm as well, but by that which is set beside them, not by themselves, by the example of a straight road, alongside which thorns are born, which, rising up from the side, harm those who walk by the straight road. 41.

De cupiditate.

On cupidity.

41.1. Non posse quempiam spiritalia bella suscipere, nisi prius carnis edomuerit cupiditates. 41.2. Non potest ad contemplandum Deum mens esse libera, quae desideriis huius mundi et cupiditatibus inhiat. Neque enim alta conspicere poterit oculus quem puluis claudit.

41.1. No one can undertake spiritual battles unless he has first tamed the concupiscences of the flesh. 41.2. A mind that gapes after the desires and concupiscences of this world cannot be free for contemplating God. For an eye that dust shuts cannot behold high things.

41.3. Omni peccato peior est auaritia et amor pecuniarum. Vnde et per Salomonem dicitur: Nihil est scelestius quam amare pecuniam; haec enim animam suam uenalem facit, quoniam in uita sua proiecit intima sua.

41.3. Avarice and the love of money are worse than every sin. Hence also it is said through Solomon: Nothing is more wicked than to love money; for this makes one’s soul venal, since in his life he has cast away his innermost things.

41.4. Cupiditas omnium criminum materia est. Vnde et apostolus ait: Radix omnium malorum est cupiditas, quam quidam appetentes errauerunt a fide. Si ergo succiditur radix criminum, non pullulant ceterae suboles peccatorum.

41.4. Cupidity is the material of all crimes. Wherefore also the apostle says: The root of all evils is cupidity, which some, desiring it, have wandered from the faith. If therefore the root of the crimes is cut down, the other offspring of sins do not sprout.

41.5. Multi causa cupiditatis terrenae etiam ipsam fidem renuntiauerunt. Cupiditas enim Christum uendidit. Nam et plerisque tantum in rebus alienis est desiderium, ut etiam homicidium perpetrare non uereantur, sicut Achab qui appetitu cupiditatis suae sanguinis expleuit effusionem.

41.5. Many, for the sake of earthly cupidity, have even renounced the faith itself. For cupidity sold Christ. For in very many there is such desire for others’ goods that they do not even hesitate to perpetrate homicide, just as Ahab, who by the appetite of his cupidity filled up the shedding of blood.

41.6. Saepe iniqui mala quae concupiscunt, et adsequuntur, quatenus de effectu mali desiderii fortius puniantur. Electos autem suos Deus non dimittit ire in desideriorum malorum perfectionem, sed in dolorem mentem conuertit eorum, pro id quod in saeculo nequiter appetunt, ut hac experientia resipiscant reuerti ad Deum, quod his mente cesserunt. Deum ergo sibi propitium aduersari, qui quod temporaliter concupiscit non permittitur adimplere.

41.6. Often the iniquitous both covet the evils and attain them, in order that they may be more strongly punished from the effect of the evil desire. But God does not allow His elect to go into the consummation of evil desires, but converts their mind into sorrow for that which they wickedly crave in the world, so that by this experience they may come to their senses to return to God, from whom in mind they had withdrawn. Therefore, let him reckon that God, being propitious to him, opposes him—the one who is not permitted to fulfill what he desires temporally.

Secreto autem Dei iudicio fieri ut durius pereant hii quorum cupiditatem effectus statim sequitur actionis.

But by the secret judgment of God it happens that those perish more severely, whose cupidity the effect of the action immediately follows.

41.7. Nunquam satiari nouit cupiditas. "Semper enim auarus eget", quantoque magis adquirit, tanto amplius quaerit; nec solum desiderio augendi excruciatur, sed etiam amittendi metu afficitur. 41.8. Inopes nascimur in hac uita, inopes recessuri a uita.

41.7. Cupidity never knows how to be sated. "For the avaricious man is always in want," and the more he acquires, the more he seeks; and he is excruciated not only by the desire of augmenting, but is also affected by the fear of losing. 41.8. Indigent we are born in this life, indigent we shall depart from life.

Si bona mundi huius peritura credimus, cur peritura tanto amore cupimus? 41.9. Plerumque potentes tanta cupiditatis rabie inflammantur, ut de confiniis suis pauperes excludant, nec habitare permittant. Quibus recte per prophetam dicitur: Vae qui coniungitis domum ad domum, et agrum ad agrum copulatis usque ad terminum loci.

If we believe the goods of this world are going to perish, why do we covet things doomed to perish with such great love? 41.9. Very often the powerful are inflamed with such a rabid fury of cupidity that they exclude the poor from their confines, nor do they permit them to inhabit. To whom it is rightly said through the prophet: Woe to those who join house to house, and couple field to field, up to the boundary of the place.

Numquid soli uos habitabitis in medio terrae? Tales quippe homines infernum, id est diabolum, rapere ad perditionem, idem propheta sequenter adnuntiat dicens: Propterea dilatauit infernus animam suam, et aperuit os suum absque ullo termino et descendent fortes eius et sublimes, gloriosique eius ad eum. Nec mirum quod morientes inferni ignibus deputentur, qui uiuentes flammam cupiditatis suae minime extinxerunt.

Will you alone dwell in the midst of the earth? For indeed the same prophet subsequently announces that hell—that is, the devil—seizes such men to perdition, saying: Therefore hell has enlarged its soul, and has opened its mouth without any limit, and his strong ones and the lofty, and his glorious ones will go down to him. Nor is it a wonder that the dying are assigned to the fires of hell, who, while living, did not at all extinguish the flame of their cupidity.

41.10. Qui desiderio cupiditatis exaestuant, flatu diabolicae inspirationis uruntur. Accendit enim mentem Euae superbia, ut de ligno uetito manducaret. Accendit Cain mentem inuidia, ut fratrem occideret.

41.10. Those who seethe with the desire of cupidity are burned by the breath of diabolical inspiration. For pride inflamed Eve’s mind, that she might eat from the forbidden tree. Envy inflamed Cain’s mind, that he might kill his brother.

Accendit Salomonem luxuriae facibus, ut, per amorem libidinis, idola adoraret. Accendit Achab cupiditate, ut homicidium auaritiae adnecteret. His ergo inspirationibus diabolus corda hominum occultis deprauat cupiditatibus.

He kindled Solomon with the torches of luxury, so that, through the love of libido, he would adore idols. He kindled Ahab with cupidity, so that he might annex homicide to avarice. By these inspirations, therefore, the devil depraves the hearts of men with hidden cupidities.

XLII. De gula. 42.1. Prima concupiscentiae suggestio panis est, cui si minime ceditur, diuersa edacitatis desideria conprimuntur.

42. On gluttony. 42.1. The first suggestion of concupiscence is bread; and if one yields to it not at all, the diverse desires of edacity are restrained.

Vnde et Danihel: Panem, inquit, desiderii non comedi, hoc est, eius concupiscentiam non inpleui.

Whence also Daniel: “Bread of desire I did not eat,” he says; that is, I did not fulfill its concupiscence.

42.2. Prima est luxuriae materies saturitas panis. Vnde et propheta Sodomam de panis satietate accusat dicens: Haec fuit iniquitas sodomorum: superbia, saturitas panis et abundantia. Panem quippe sodomitae inmoderate sumentes, in turpitudines defluxere flagitiorum, atque inde meruerunt, comitante superbia, caelestibus aduri incendiis, ex quo modum non tenuerunt edacitatis.

42.2. The first material of luxury is the satiety of bread. Whence also the prophet accuses Sodom for the satiety of bread, saying: This was the iniquity of the Sodomites: pride, satiety of bread, and abundance. For indeed the Sodomites, taking bread immoderately, flowed down into the turpitudes of flagitious deeds, and thence they merited, with pride accompanying, to be seared by heavenly fires, since they did not keep the measure of edacity.

42.3. Vtile est cauere gulam ciborumque concupiscentiam. Quid enim tam noxium quam ut animus seruiat uentri et escae, quae sunt destruenda, testante apostolo ac dicente: Deus autem et hunc et hanc destruet? 42.4. Proxima est uentri libido, sicut loco, sic uitio.

42.3. It is useful to beware gluttony and the concupiscence of foods. For what is so noxious as that the mind should serve the belly and food, which are to be destroyed, the Apostle attesting and saying: But God will destroy both this and that? 42.4. Libido is next to the belly, as in place, so in vice.

Vbi enim uentris cura, ibi et eorum quae circa uentrem sunt proxima. In ordine namque membrorum genitalia uentri iunguntur, dumque unum ex his inmoderate reficitur, aliud ad luxuriam excitatur.

For where there is care of the belly, there too are next the things that are around the belly. For in the order of the members the genitalia are joined to the belly, and while the one of these is immoderately refreshed, the other is stirred to luxury.

42.5. Non ad luxuriam uel ad satietatem, sed tantummodo ut corpus sustentetur epulis est utendum. Nam, ut philosophi disserunt, cibos inuentos esse ut contineant animam, non ut corrumpant. 42.6. Qui nimium cibis utuntur, quanto magis uentrem pascunt, tanto amplius sensum mentis obtundunt.

42.5. Not for luxury or for satiety, but only that the body may be sustained is food to be used. For, as the philosophers discourse, foods were invented to sustain the soul, not to corrupt it. 42.6. Those who make excessive use of foods, the more they feed the belly, by so much the more they blunt the sense of the mind.

Nam graeci dixerunt ex crasso uentre subtilem sensum gigni non posse. Nam gulae saturitas nimia aciem mentis obtundit, ingeniumque hebescere facit. 42.7. Libidinis ignes ciborum fomentis increscunt; corpus autem quod abstinentia frangit, temptatio non exurit.

For the Greeks said that from a thick belly a subtle sense cannot be begotten. For the excessive satiety of the gullet blunts the keenness of the mind, and makes the genius grow dull. 42.7. Libido’s fires increase by the fomentations of foods; but a body which abstinence breaks, temptation does not burn up.

Vnde et tres pueros abstinentes flamma Babylonii incendii, etsi tetigit, non conbussit, quia nimirum etsi desideriorum carnalium ignis abstinentium mentes inflammet, usque ad consensum tamen concupiscentiae uel operis non exurit.

Whence also the three youths, being abstinent, the flame of the Babylonian conflagration, although it touched them, did not burn them; because assuredly, although the fire of carnal desires inflames the minds of the abstinent, yet it does not burn up to the consent of concupiscence or of the deed.

42.8. Cuius abundantia est epularum, ardentis diuitis intendat supplicium, cuius tanta in inferno inter ignes erat inopia, quanta hic epularum fuerat copia. In hoc enim saeculo esurire et sitire noluit, propterea illuc inter flammas sitiens stillam aquae quaesiuit nec meruit. 42.9. Considerandum quam uehementer arguantur comessatio et sumptuosa conuiuia per prophetam, ita ut comminetur Dominus se non hanc relaxare iniquitatem his qui eam libenter ambiunt.

42.8. Let him whose is an abundance of banquets consider the punishment of the burning rich man, whose lack in hell among the fires was as great as here had been his abundance of feasts. For in this age he was unwilling to hunger and to thirst; therefore, there, thirsting amid the flames, he sought a drop of water and did not merit it. 42.9. It must be considered how vehemently carousing and sumptuous banquets are arraigned by the prophet, such that the Lord threatens that he will not relax this iniquity for those who gladly court it.

Dicit enim per Esaiam: Ecce gaudium et laetitia occidere uitulos et iugulare arietes, comedere carnes et bibere uinum; si dimittetur iniquitas haec uobis, donec moriamini! 42.10. Sicut omnes carnales cupiditates abstinentia resecantur, ita omnes animae uirtutes edacitatis uitio destruuntur. Inde est quod et princeps coquorum muros Hierusalem subuertit, quia et uenter, cui seruitur a coquis, uirtutes animae destruit.

For he says through Isaiah: Behold joy and gladness, to kill calves and to slaughter rams, to eat meats and to drink wine; if this iniquity shall be forgiven you, until you die! 42.10. Just as all carnal cupidities are cut back by abstinence, so all the virtues of the soul are destroyed by the vice of edacity. Hence it is that the chief of the cooks overthrew the walls of Jerusalem, because the belly too, which is served by cooks, destroys the virtues of the soul.

Neque enim posse quempiam uirtutum perfectionem adtingere, nisi prius uentris edomuerit ingluuiem.

For indeed no one can attain the perfection of virtues, unless he has first subdued the belly’s gluttony.

42.11. Nemo potest dominare ceteris uitiis, nisi prius ingluuiem uentris restrinxerit. Nec quisquam facile poterit a semetipso spiritus inmundos expellere, nisi per abstinentiam gulae. Tunc enim hostes qui extra nos sunt a nobis fortius superantur, quando prius quae intra nos sunt uitia extinguntur.

42.11. No one can dominate the other vices, unless he has first restrained the ingluvies of the belly. Nor will anyone be able easily to expel unclean spirits from himself, unless through abstinence of the gullet. For then the enemies who are outside us are more strongly overcome by us, when first the vices which are within us are extinguished.

Nam frustra foris agit bellum, qui intus habet periculum. 42.12. Non qualitatem ciborum, sed eorum cupiditatem cauendam. Nam saepe accuratius praeparata sine gulae concupiscentia degustantur et saepe abiecta et uilia edendi cupiditate sumuntur.

For he wages war outside in vain, who has danger within. 42.12. Not the quality of the foods, but the cupidity for them is to be guarded against. For often more carefully prepared things are tasted without the concupiscence of the gullet, and often cast-off and cheap things are taken with a cupidity for eating.

Sicque fit ut non sit in culpa ciborum qualitas, sed illud reputetur in uitium quod cum desiderio degustatur. 42.13. Quattuor sunt genera distinctionum in gulae appetitu, id est, quid, quando, quantum et quomodo appetatur. Quid, ad rem ipsam pertinet quae adpetitur.

And thus it comes to pass that the quality of foods is not in fault, but that is reckoned into vice which is tasted with desire. 42.13. There are four kinds of distinctions in the appetite of gluttony, that is: what, when, how much, and how it is desired. What pertains to the thing itself which is sought.

Quando, si ante legitimum tempus quid adpetatur. Quantum uero, ad inmoderationem refertur. Quomodo, ad inpatientiam festinationis adscribitur.

When, if anything is desired before the legitimate time. How much, indeed, is referred to immoderation. In what manner, is ascribed to the impatience of hastiness.

42.14. Nullus homini tam inportunus exactor quam uenter, qui quotidianam refectionem quotidiana famis exactione adimplet. Cum ceteris enim uitiis etsi interdum nascimur, interdum tamen cum eis non morimur; cum isto autem et nascimur, cum isto et morimur. 42.15. Plerumque uoluptas uescendi ita sub obtentu necessitatis subrepit, ut dum putatur seruire necessitati, uoluptatis desiderio seruiatur; nec facile discernitur utrum quod accipitur gulae an indigentiae deputetur.

42.14. No exactor so importunate to a man as the belly, which completes the daily refection by the daily exaction of hunger. For with the other vices, although sometimes we are born with them, yet sometimes we do not die with them; but with this one we are born, and with this one we die. 42.15. For the most part, the pleasure of eating so creeps in under the pretext of necessity, that while it is thought that necessity is being served, service is rendered to the desire of pleasure; nor is it easy to discern whether what is taken should be assigned to gluttony or to indigence.

XLIII. De ebrietate.

43. On drunkenness.

43.1. Esca crapulam, potus ebrietatem generat. Ebrietas autem perturbationem gignit mentis, furorem cordis, flammam libidinis. 43.2. Ebrietas ita mentem alienat, ut ubi sit nesciat.

43.1. Food generates crapulence, drink generates ebriety. Ebriety, moreover, begets perturbation of mind, fury of heart, the flame of libido. 43.2. Ebriety so alienates the mind that it does not know where it is.

Vnde etiam et malum non sentitur quod per ebrietatem committitur. 43.3a. Verum est quod, iuxta prophetam, fornicatio et ebrietas auferat cor. Fornicatio enim, sicut ait Salomon, infatuat sapientem.

Whence also the evil that is committed through drunkenness is not perceived. 43.3a. It is true that, according to the prophet, fornication and drunkenness take away the heart. For fornication, as Solomon says, makes the wise man foolish.

Ebrietas, sicut in Loth sensus rationem captiuat. Vnde et in Prouerbiis: Potentes, inquit, qui iracundi sunt uinum non bibant, ne cum biberint obliuiscantur sapientiam.

Drunkenness, as in Lot, captivates the rational sense. Whence also in Proverbs: “Let the potentates,” he says, “who are irascible not drink wine, lest, when they have drunk, they forget wisdom.”

43.3b. Plerisque laus est multum bibere, et non inebriari. Audiant hii aduersum se dicentem prophetam: Vae qui potentes estis ad bibendum uinum, et uiri fortes ad miscendam ebrietatem. 43.4-5. Vino multo deditos et luxuriose uiuentes Esaias sic arguit dicens: Vae qui consurgitis mane ad ebrietatem sectandam et potandum usque ad uesperum, ut uino aestuetis.

43.3b. For many it is a praise to drink much and not become inebriated. Let these hear the prophet speaking against them: Woe to you who are potent for drinking wine, and men strong for mixing drunkenness. 43.4-5. Isaiah thus arraigns those given over to much wine and living luxuriously, saying: Woe to you who rise early to pursue drunkenness and to drink until evening, that you may seethe with wine.

De talibus et alio loco dicitur: Vae tibi ciuitas cuius rex iuuenis est, et cuius principes mane comedent. Multi enim a mane usque ad solis occubitum ebrietati et gulae uoluptatibus seruiunt nec intellegunt cur nati sunt; sed consuetudine beluina detenti, luxuriae tantum tota die epulisque inseruiunt. 43.6. Clamat Iohel propheta his qui ebrietati deseruiunt, dicens: Expergiscimini ebrii et flete, et ululate omnes qui bibitis uinum in dulcedinem.

Of such people it is said also in another place: Woe to you, city, whose king is a youth, and whose princes eat in the morning. For many from morning until the sun’s setting are in bondage to the voluptuous pleasures of ebriety and gluttony, nor do they understand why they were born; but, detained by a bestial consuetude, they serve only luxury and banquets the whole day. 43.6. The prophet Joel cries out to those who are devoted to ebriety, saying: Awake, you drunkards, and weep, and howl, all you who drink wine for sweetness.

Quo testimonio non ait tantumflete omnes qui bibitis uinum, ut bibere omnino non liceat, sed adiecit in dulcedinem, quod ad uoluptuosam pertinet et prodigam effusionem. Nam quantum satis est necessitati, edocet Timotheo bibere apostolus, dicens: Vino modico utere.

By which testimony he does not say only, “weep, all you who drink wine,” such that drinking would be altogether not permitted, but he added “for sweetness,” which pertains to a voluptuous and prodigal effusion. For as much as suffices for necessity, the Apostle instructs Timothy to drink, saying: “Use a little wine.”

43.7. Non solum ex uino inebriantur homines, sed etiam ex ceteris potandi generibus, quae uario modo conficiuntur. Vnde et nazaraeis, qui se sanctificabant Domino, praeceptum est uinum et siceram non bibere. Vtraque enim statum mentis euertunt, et ebrios faciunt; luxuriam quoque carnis utraque aequaliter gignunt.

43.7. Not only are humans inebriated from wine, but also from the other kinds of potation, which are prepared in various ways. Whence also to the Nazirites, who sanctified themselves to the Lord, it was commanded not to drink wine and strong drink. For both overturn the state of the mind and make drunk; the lust of the flesh, too, both equally beget.

43.8. Quidam continentes, sicut panem cum pondere edunt, ita et aquam cum mensura sumunt, adserentes ad castimoniam carnis etiam aquae abstinentiam conuenire. XLIIII. De abstinentia.

43.8. Some continent people, just as they eat bread by weight, so also they take water by measure, asserting that for the chastity of the flesh even abstinence from water is appropriate. 44. On abstinence.

44.1a. Hoc est perfectum et rationabile ieiunium, quando noster homo exterior ieiunat, interior orat. 44.1b. Facilius per ieiunium oratio penetrat caelum. Tunc enim homo, spiritalis effectus, angelis coniungitur, Deoque liberius copulatur.

44.1a. This is the perfect and rational fast, when our outer man fasts, the inner prays. 44.1b. More easily through fasting does prayer penetrate heaven. For then a man, having become spiritual, is conjoined with the angels, and is more freely joined to God.

44.2. Per ieiunium etiam occulta mysteriorum caelestium reuelantur diuinique sacramenti arcana panduntur. Sic namque Danihel, angelo reuelante, mysteriorum sacramenta cognoscere meruit. Haec enim uirtus et angelorum manifestationes et eorum adnuntiationes ostendit.

44.2. By fasting also the hidden things of celestial mysteries are revealed and the arcana of the divine sacrament are laid open. Thus indeed Daniel, an angel revealing, merited to know the sacraments of the mysteries. For this power shows both the manifestations of angels and their annunciations.

44.3. Ieiunia fortia tela sunt aduersus temptamenta daemoniorum. Cito enim per abstinentiam deuincuntur. Vnde etiam Dominus et Saluator noster eorum incursus ieiuniis et orationibus praemonet superare dicens: Hoc genus non eicitur nisi per orationem et ieiunium.

44.3. Fasts are strong weapons against the temptations of demons. For quickly by abstinence they are overcome. Whence also our Lord and Savior forewarns to overcome their incursions by fasts and prayers, saying: This kind is not cast out except by prayer and fasting.

Inmundi enim spiritus ibi sese magis iniciunt ubi plus uiderint escam et potum. 44.4a. Sancti, quandiu in huius saeculi uita inhabitant, desiderio superni roris corpus suum aridum portant. Vnde et psalmus: Sitiuit, inquit, in te anima mea quam multipliciter et caro mea.

For unclean spirits there hurl themselves the more where they have seen more food and drink. 44.4a. The Saints, as long as they inhabit the life of this age, carry their own body arid, by desire for the supernal dew. Whence also the psalm: “It has thirsted, he says, in you my soul how manifoldly, and my flesh.”

Caro enim tunc Deum sitit, quando per ieiunium abstinet et arescit. 44.4b. Abstinentia et uiuificat et occidit; uiuificat animam, corpus necat.

For the flesh then thirsts for God, when through fasting it abstains and dries up. 44.4b. Abstinence both vivifies and kills; it vivifies the soul, it kills the body.

44.5. Saepe abstinentia simulate agitur, ieiunia per hypocrisin exercentur. Quidam enim mira inedia corpus suum laniant, exterminantes, sicut ait euangelium, facies suas ut appareant hominibus ieiunantes. Ore namque pallescunt, corpore adteruntur, cordis alta suspiria ducunt, ante mortem quoque mortiferis se suppliciis tradunt, tantumque miseri laboris exercitium non pro Dei amore, sed pro sola humanae laudis admiratione sectantur.

44.5. Often abstinence is practiced in pretense, fasts are exercised through hypocrisy. Certain people indeed with remarkable fasting lacerate their body, disfiguring, as the gospel says, their faces so that they may appear to men as fasting. For in countenance they grow pale, in body they are worn down, they draw deep sighs of the heart, and even before death they hand themselves over to death-bringing torments; and they pursue such an exercise of wretched labor not for the love of God, but for the mere admiration of human praise.

44.6. Quidam incredibiliter abstinent, ut hominibus curiosis sancti appareant; sed hoc bonum abstinentiae talibus non est uirtus reputanda sed uitium, quia bona male utuntur. 44.7. Ieiunium et elemosina in abscondito sese amant, ut solus Deus qui inspicit omnia meritum operum bonorum rependat. Nam qui ea sub populari manifestatione faciunt nequaquam a Deo iustificantur, quia, iuxta sermonem euangelicum, mercedem suam ab hominibus receperunt.

44.6. Some abstain incredibly, so that they may appear holy to curious people; but this good of abstinence for such as these is not to be reckoned a virtue, but a vice, because they use good things badly. 44.7. Fasting and alms love to be in secret, so that God alone, who inspects all things, may repay the merit of good works. For those who do them under popular manifestation are by no means justified by God, because, according to the evangelical discourse, they have received their reward from men.

44.8. Ieiunia cum bonis operibus Deo acceptabilia sunt. Qui autem cibis abstinent et praue agunt, daemones imitantur, quibus esca non est, et nequitia semper est. Ille enim bene abstinet cibis, qui et a malitiae actibus, et a mundi ieiunat ambitionibus.

44.8. Fasts, together with good works, are acceptable to God. But those who abstain from foods and act perversely imitate the demons, for whom there is no food, and for whom there is always wickedness. For he abstains well from foods who fasts both from the acts of malice and from the ambitions of the world.

44.9. Qui execrationis studio non abstinentiae uoto ab escis carnium se suspendunt, hii potius execrandi sunt, quia Dei creaturam usibus humanis concessam reiciunt. Nihil enim fidelibus inquinatum, nihilque esse iudicatur inmundum, Paulo adtestante apostolo: Omnia munda mundis: coinquinatis autem et infidelibus, nihil est mundum, sed polluta sunt eorum et mens et conscientia. 44.10. Spernitur ieiunium quod in uesperum repletione ciborum reficitur.

44.9. Those who, by a zeal of execration, not by a vow of abstinence, suspend themselves from the foods of flesh, these are rather to be execrated, because they reject the creature of God conceded to human uses. For nothing is defiled for the faithful, and nothing is judged to be unclean, the Apostle Paul attesting: All things are clean to the clean: but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is clean, but both their mind and conscience are polluted. 44.10. A fast is spurned which, at evening, is restored by a repletion of foods.

Neque enim reputanda est abstinentia, ubi fuerit uentris saturitas subsecuta.

For abstinence is not to be reckoned, where the satiety of the belly has followed.

44.11-12. Spernitur ieiunium quod in uesperum deliciis conpensatur, dicente Esaia propheta: Ecce in die ieiunii uestri inuenitur uoluptas. Voluptas enim deliciae intelleguntur. Sicut enim repetitio debiti et lites, et contentio, et percussio, ita et deliciae inprobantur a propheta in ieiunio.

44.11-12. The fast is spurned which is compensated at evening by delicacies, the prophet Isaiah saying: “Behold, on the day of your fast pleasure is found.” For pleasure is understood as delicacies. For just as the exaction of a debt and lawsuits, and contention, and striking, so also delicacies are disapproved by the prophet in a fast.

Tota enim die epulas in cogitatione ruminat qui ad explendam gulam uespere sibi delicias praeparat. 44.13. Non est corporis adhibenda inmoderata abstinentia, ne, dum amplius grauatur caro pondere inediae, nec malum agat postea, nec bene facere incipiat, et quae addicitur ut usum mali careat, simul et boni officium, dum plus premitur perdat. Sollicita igitur discretione carnis est moderanda materies, scilicet ne aut integre extinguatur, aut inmoderate laxetur.

For the whole day he ruminates banquets in thought, who, to fill gluttony, prepares delicacies for himself in the evening. 44.13. Inmoderate abstinence is not to be applied to the body, lest, while the flesh is further weighed down by the burden of fasting, it do neither evil thereafter nor begin to do good; and that which is consigned in order that it may lack the use of evil, at the same time, while it is pressed more, lose the office of good. Therefore, with solicitous discretion, the material of the flesh is to be moderated, namely, lest it either be entirely extinguished, or be inmoderately loosened.

44.14. Infirmitate carnis nimia praeualente, ad perfectionem pertingere nemo potest, nam quamuis sanctitatis amorem quisque habeat, exequi tamen non ualet operis meritum, cuius intentione cordis deseruire conatur.

44.14. With the infirmity of the flesh prevailing excessively, no one can attain to perfection; for although each may have a love of sanctity, nevertheless he is not able to execute the merit of the work, which he strives to serve with the intention of his heart.

44.15. Corporis debilitas nimia etiam uires animae frangit, mentis quoque facit ingenium marcescere, nec ualet quicquam boni per inbecillitatem perficere. 44.16. "Ne quid nimis," nam quicquid cum modo et temperamento fit, salutare est; quicquid autem nimis et ultra modum est, perniciosum fit studiumque suum in contrarium uertit. In omni ergo opere modum et temperamentum oportet habere.

44.15. Excessive debility of the body also breaks the powers of the soul, and likewise makes the genius of the mind to wither, nor is it able, through feebleness, to accomplish anything good. 44.16. "Nothing in excess," for whatever is done with measure and temperament is salutary; but whatever is too much and beyond measure becomes pernicious and turns its zeal to the contrary. Therefore in every work one ought to have measure and temperament.

Nam omne quod excedit periculosum est, sicut aqua quae si nimios imbres praebeat, non solum nullum usum adhibet, sed etiam periculum exhibet. Explicit Liber Secundus.

For everything that exceeds is perilous, just as water which, if it proffers excessive rains, not only affords no use, but also exhibits danger. Here ends Book Two.