Isidore of Seville: SENTENTIAE LIBRI III

Incipit Liber Tertivs. I. De flagellis Dei. 1.1a. Diuinae sapientiae subtilitas, sicut interius, ut testis, scrutatur conscientias, ita exterius inrogat poenas; ut uerum sit testimonium prophetae, quia ipse est testis et iudex.

Here begins Book Three. 1. On the scourges of God. 1.1a. The subtlety of divine wisdom, just as inwardly, as a witness, it scrutinizes consciences, so outwardly it inflicts penalties; so that the testimony of the prophet may be true, because he himself is witness and judge.

1.1b. Miserere, Domine, misero Isidoro indigna agenti et digna patienti, assidue peccanti et tua flagella cotidie sustinenti. 1.2. Ordinata est miseratio Dei quae prius hic hominem per flagella a peccatis emendat, et postea ab aeterno supplicio liberat. Electus enim Dei doloribus uitae huius adteritur, ut perfectior uitae futurae lucretur.

1.1b. Have mercy, Lord, on wretched Isidore, doing unworthy things and suffering worthy ones, assiduously sinning and daily enduring your flagellations. 1.2. God’s mercy is ordained, which first here emends a man from sins through flagellations, and afterwards liberates from eternal punishment. For the elect of God is worn down by the dolors of this life, that he may gain a more perfect life of the future.

1.3. Nequaquam Deus delinquenti parcit, quoniam peccatorem aut flagello temporali ad purgationem ferit, aut iudicio aeterno puniendum relinquit, aut ipse in se homo paenitendo punit quod male admisit. Ac proinde est quod Deus delinquenti non parcit.

1.3. By no means does God spare the delinquent, since he either strikes the sinner with a temporal scourge for purgation, or leaves him to be punished by the eternal judgment, or the man himself punishes in himself, by repenting, what he has ill-committed. And accordingly it is that God does not spare the delinquent.

1.4. Iusto temporalia flagella ad aeterna proficiunt gaudia; ideoque et iustus in poenis gaudere debet, et impius in prosperitatibus timere debet. 1.5-6. Neque iusto, neque reprobo Deus misericordiam et iustitiam abstrahit. Nam et bonos hic per adflictionem iudicat, et illuc remunerat per miserationem; et malos hic remunerat per temporalem clementiam, et illuc punit per aeternam iustitiam.

1.4. For the just man, temporal scourges profit toward eternal joys; and therefore the just ought to rejoice in punishments, and the impious ought to fear in prosperities. 1.5-6. Neither from the just nor from the reprobate does God withdraw mercy and justice. For He both judges the good here through affliction, and there remunerates by mercy; and the evil He here remunerates by temporal clemency, and there He punishes by eternal justice.

In hac enim uita Deus parcit impiis et tamen non parcit electis; in illa parcet electis, non tamen parcet iniquis. 1.7. Periculosa est securitas in hac uita malorum, et bonorum dolor tranquillus. Nam iniquus post mortem ducitur cruciandus; iustus uero dormit post laborem securus.

For in this life God spares the impious and yet does not spare the elect; in that one he will spare the elect, yet he will not spare the iniquitous. 1.7. The security of the wicked in this life is perilous, and the pain of the good is tranquil. For the iniquitous man after death is led to be tormented; but the just man sleeps secure after his labor.

1.8. Non tantum de corporalibus passionibus, sed etiam de spiritalibus oportet intellegi ut quanto quisque aut in corpore aut in mente flagella sustinet, tanto se in fine remunerari speret. 1.9. Saepe occulto Dei iudicio extra flagelli correptionem sunt reprobi in hoc mundo; dumque multa damnabilia commisisse uideantur, despecti tamen a Deo nullo emendationis uerbere feriuntur. 1.10. Plus corripitur flagello qui a Deo diligitur, si peccauerit, dicente Amos propheta: Tantummodo uos cognoui ex omnibus nationibus terrae, idcirco uisitabo super uos omnes iniquitates uestras.

1.8. Not only with respect to bodily sufferings, but also to spiritual ones, it ought to be understood that by as much as each person endures scourges either in the body or in the mind, by so much he may hope to be remunerated at the end. 1.9. Often by the hidden judgment of God the reprobate are outside the correction of the scourge in this world; and while they seem to have committed many damnable things, yet, despised by God, they are struck by no lash of emendation. 1.10. He who is loved by God is more corrected with a scourge, if he should sin, as says the prophet Amos: Only you have I known out of all the nations of the earth; therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities.

Quem enim diligit Dominus corripit, flagellat autem omnem filium quem recipit.

For whom the Lord loves, he reproves; moreover he scourges every son whom he receives.

1.11. Valde pernecessarium est iustum in hac uita et uitiis temptari, et uerberari flagello, ut, dum uitiis pulsatur, de uirtutibus non superbiat, dum uero aut animi aut carnis dolore adteritur, a mundi amore retrahatur. Temptari autem oportet iustum, sed temptatione plagae, non temptatione luxuriae. 1.12. Durius circa suos electos in hac uita Deus agit, ut, dum fortioribus flagelli stimulis feriuntur, nulla oblectamenta praesentis uitae delectent, sed caelestem patriam, ubi certa requies expectatur, indesinenter desiderent.

1.11. It is very necessary that the just man in this life be tempted by vices and also beaten by the scourge, so that, while he is struck by vices, he not be proud of virtues; and, while he is worn down by the pain either of mind or of flesh, he be drawn back from love of the world. But the just ought to be tempted—by the temptation of a blow, not by the temptation of luxury. 1.12. God deals more harshly with his chosen in this life, so that, while they are smitten by stronger goads of the scourge, no delights of the present life may please them, but they may unceasingly desire the heavenly fatherland, where sure rest is awaited.

1.13. Electos uitae istius aduersitate probari, ut, secundum Petrum, iudicium a domo Dei incipiat, dum in hac uita electos suos Deus iudicii flagello castigat.

1.13. The elect are proved by the adversity of this life, so that, according to Peter, judgment may begin from the house of God, while in this life God chastises his own elect with the scourge of judgment.

II. De gemina percussione. 2.1. Gemina percussio est diuina; una in bonam partem, qua percutimur carne ut emendemur. Altera qua uulneramur conscientia ex caritate, ut Deum ardentius diligamus.

2. On the double striking. 2.1. The double striking is divine; one in a good sense, by which we are struck in the flesh that we may be emended. The other, by which we are wounded in conscience out of charity, that we may love God more ardently.

2.2. Gemino more Deus respicit uel ad ueniam, uel ad uindictam. Ad ueniam sicut Petrum; ad uindictam, sicut dum facta Sodomorum se descensurum et uisurum testatur.

2.2. In a twofold manner God looks, either toward pardon, or toward vengeance. Toward pardon, as Peter; toward vengeance, as when he attests that he will descend and see the deeds of the Sodomites.

2.3. Trimoda ratione Deus quos uoluerit percutit, id est ad damnationem reprobos, ad purgationem quos errare uidet electos, ad propagandam meritorum gloriam iustos. Primo namque modo Aegytus caesa est ad damnationem; secundo modo pauper Eleazar ad purgationem; tertio modo percussus est Iob ad probationem. 2.4-5. Flagellatur homo plerumque a Deo ante peccatum ne malus sit, ut Paulus, qui Satanae angelo instigante carnis tolerabat stimulos.

2.3. In a trimodal manner God strikes whom He has willed: that is, unto damnation the reprobates; unto purgation those elect whom He sees to err; unto the propagating of the glory of merits the just. For in the first mode Egypt was smitten unto damnation; in the second mode the poor Eleazar unto purgation; in the third mode Job was struck unto probation. 2.4-5. A man is frequently scourged by God before sin, lest he be evil, as Paul, who, with the angel of Satan instigating, tolerated the stimuli of the flesh.

Flagellatur etiam et post peccatum, ut corrigatur, sicut ille in apostolo qui traditus est Satanae in interitum carnis, ut spiritus saluus esset. Non tamen iuste murmurat etiam qui nescit cur uapulat. Nam Deus ideo plerumque iustum flagellat, ne de iustitia superbiens cadat.

He is also scourged even after sin, so that he may be corrected, just as that man in the Apostle who was handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved. Yet not even he who does not know why he is being beaten murmurs justly. For God therefore often scourges the just man, lest, growing proud of his righteousness, he fall.

2.6. In hac uita Deus tanto magis studet ut parcat, quanto magis expectando flagellat; sed alios feriendo corrigit, de quibus dicit: Ego quos amo arguo et castigo; alios feriendo punit quos incorrigibiliter delinquentes aspicit, quosque non iam sub disciplina ut filios pater, sed districta damnatione, ut hostes aduersarius, percutit. De quibus dicit: Flagello inimici percussi te castigatione crudeli. Et iterum: Quid clamas ad me super contritione tua?

2.6. In this life God strives so much the more to spare, the more, by waiting, he scourges; yet by striking he corrects others, of whom he says: I reprove and chastise those whom I love; he punishes others by striking, whom he beholds offending incorrigibly, and whom he strikes no longer under discipline as a father [does] sons, but with strict condemnation, as an adversary [strikes] enemies. Of whom he says: With the scourge of an enemy I have smitten you with cruel chastisement. And again: Why do you cry to me over your contrition?

Insanabilis est dolor tuus. Vnde unusquisque festinet, et timeat ne simul feriatur uita eius cum culpa. Flagellum namque tunc diluit culpam, cum mutauerit uitam.

Your pain is insanable. Wherefore let each one hasten, and fear lest his life be struck together with his fault. For the scourge then washes away the guilt, when it has changed the life.

Nam cuius mores non mutat, actiones non expiat.

For whomever’s morals it does not change, it does not expiate that person’s actions.

2.7. Omnis diuina percussio aut purgatio uitae praesentis est, aut initium poenae sequentis. Nam quibusdam flagella ab hac uita inchoant, et in aeterna percussione perdurant. Vnde per Moysen Dominus dicit: Ignis exarsit in ira mea, et ardebit usque ad inferos deorsum.

2.7. Every divine smiting is either a purgation of the present life, or the beginning of the punishment that follows. For in some, the scourges begin from this life and endure in eternal smiting. Whence through Moses the Lord says: A fire has blazed up in my wrath, and it will burn down to the underworld below.

2.8-9. A quibusdam dici solet: Non iudicat Deus bis in idipsum; qui tamen non adtendunt illud quod alias scriptum est: Iesus populum de terra Aegypti liberans, secundo eos qui non crediderunt perdidit. Quamuis enim si una culpa bis non percutitur, una tamen percussio intellegitur, quae hic coepta illuc perficitur, ut in his qui omnino non corriguntur, praecedentium percussio flagellorum sequentium sit initium tormentorum. Hinc est quod in psalmo scribitur: Operiantur sicut diploide confusione sua.

2.8-9. It is wont to be said by some: God does not judge twice in the selfsame; who yet do not attend to that which elsewhere is written: Jesus, delivering the people from the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. For although, indeed, if one fault is not smitten twice, yet one percussion is understood, which, begun here, is perfected there, so that in those who are in no way corrected, the percussion of the preceding scourges is the beginning of the torments that follow. Hence it is that in the psalm it is written: Let them be covered, as with a diplois, with their own confusion.

Diploidis enim duplex uestimentum est quo figuraliter induuntur qui et temporali poena et aeterna dannantur. Vnde et Hieremias: Contritio super contritionem, id est gemina damnatio, et hic, et in futuro saeculo. Et idem alibi: Et duplici contritione contere eos, id est gemina poena, praesenti scilicet et futura.

For the diploidis is a double garment with which, figuratively, those are clothed who are condemned by both temporal punishment and eternal. Whence also Jeremiah: Crushing upon crushing, that is twin damnation, both here and in the future age. And the same elsewhere: And with double crushing crush them, that is twin punishment, namely present and future.

2.10. Quibusdam secreto Dei iudicio hic male est, illuc bene, scilicet ut dum hic castigati corriguntur, ab aeterna damnatione liberentur. Quibusdam uero hic bene est, illuc male, sicut diuiti illi acccidit, qui hic potentiae claritate conspicuus, post mortem gehennae incendiis traditur cruciandus. Porro quibusdam et hic male, et illuc male est, quia corrigi nolentes et flagellari in hac uita incipiunt, et in aeterna percussione damnantur.

2.10. For certain people, by a secret judgment of God, it is ill here, there well—namely, that while chastised here they are corrected, they may be freed from eternal damnation. For others, however, it is well here, there ill, as befell that rich man, who, conspicuous here in the splendor of power, after death is handed over to the fires of Gehenna to be tormented. Furthermore, for some it is ill both here and there, because, unwilling to be corrected, they begin to be scourged in this life and are condemned in eternal punishment.

2.11. In tanto inmergi quosdam desperationis profundo, ut nec per flagella ualeant emendari. De quibus recte per prophetam Dominus dicit: Frustra percussi filios uestros; disciplinam non receperunt. 2.12. Plerumque iustus plangit et nescit utrum pro omnibus suis peccatis praesentia patiatur flagella, an pro uno tantum, et nescit quae sit culpa illa pro qua meruit eius modi pati supplicia, et pro ipso ambiguo maxime in maerore uersatur.

2.11. Some are plunged into so great a profundity of desperation that they are not even able to be corrected by scourges. Concerning whom the Lord rightly says through the prophet: 'In vain I struck your sons; they did not receive discipline.' 2.12. Often the just man laments and does not know whether he is suffering present scourges for all his sins, or only for one, and he does not know what that fault is for which he has deserved to suffer punishments of that sort, and because of the ambiguity itself he is most especially turned in sorrow.

2.13. Quamuis flagella praesentia iustum a peccatis absoluant, adhuc tamen sub metu uindictae turbatur, ne instantes ei plagae non sufficiant ad purganda delicta. Proinde ergo, dum praesentia patitur et futura pertimescit, quodammodo, sicut ait propheta, pro suis peccatis duplicia recipit.

2.13. Although the present scourges absolve the just man from sins, nevertheless he is still disturbed under the fear of vengeance, lest the blows pressing upon him not suffice to purge the offenses. Therefore, while he suffers the present things and dreads the future, in a certain manner, as the prophet says, he receives double for his sins.

III. De infirmitate carnis. 3.1. Esse nonnullos eiusdem qualitatis homines qui nesciant corrigi, nisi alios uiderint flagellari; sicque proficiunt conparatione malorum, dum sibi id accidere timent, in quo deperire alios uident.

3. On the infirmity of the flesh. 3.1. There are some men of the same quality who do not know how to be corrected, unless they see others being flagellated; and thus they make progress by a comparison of evils, while they fear that thing to happen to themselves, in which they see others perish.

3.2. Quosdam uidens Deus nolle proprio uoto corrigi, aduersitatum tangit stimulis. Quosdam etiam praesciens multum peccare posse, in salutem flagellat eos corporis infirmitate, ne peccent, ut eis utilius sit frangi languoribus ad salutem, quam manere incolumes ad damnationem.

3.2. Seeing certain people unwilling to be corrected by their own resolve, God touches them with the goads of adversities. Some also, foreknowing that they could sin greatly, he scourges with infirmity of the body for salvation, lest they sin, so that it may be more useful for them to be broken by languors unto salvation than to remain unharmed unto condemnation.

3.3. Visitatio Dei nec semper in bonum accipitur, nec semper in malum. In bonum enim accipitur, sicut est illud: Visita nos in salutari tuo. In malum uero, iuxta illud: in tempore uisitationis suae peribunt.

3.3. The visitation of God is not always received for good, nor always for evil. For it is received for good, as in that: Visit us in thy salvation. But for evil, according to that: in the time of his visitation they will perish.

3.4. Tribus ex causis infirmitates accidunt corporis, id est ex peccato, ex temptatione, et ex intemperantiae passione; sed huic tantum nouissimae humana potest medicina succurrere; illis uero sola pietas diuinae misericordiae. 3.5. Qui ualentiores sunt et sani, utile est illis infirmari et non peccare, ne, per uigorem salutis, inlicitis sordidentur cupiditatum et luxuriae desideriis.

3.4. Infirmities of the body happen from three causes, that is, from sin, from temptation, and from the passion of intemperance; but human medicine can succor only this last; for the others, solely the compassion of divine mercy. 3.5. For those who are stronger and healthy, it is useful for them to be made infirm and not to sin, lest, through the vigor of health, they be soiled by illicit desires of cupidity and lust.

3.6. Duritia quae mentem premit, nec sentitur, utiliter mutatur in carne, ut sentiatur atque intellecta emendetur. Namcitius uulnera carnis sentiuntur quam animae; ideoque per carnis flagello errantes citius corriguntur. Hoc quippe indicant in Pauli oculis squamae infidelitatis, quae dum mutatae sunt per increpationem in oculis carnis, confestim resoluta est duritia mentis.

3.6. The hardness which presses the mind, and is not perceived, is usefully transformed into the flesh, so that it may be felt and, once understood, corrected. For the wounds of the flesh are felt more quickly than those of the soul; and therefore, by the scourge of the flesh, those who err are corrected more swiftly. This, indeed, is indicated by the scales of infidelity in Paul’s eyes: when they were changed, through the rebuke, in the eyes of the flesh, immediately the hardness of the mind was loosened.

3.7. Est perniciosa sanitas quae ad inobedientiam hominem ducit. Est et salubris infirmitas quae per diuinam correptionem mentem a duritia frangit. 3.8. Languor animae, id est peccatorum infirmitas, perniciosa est; de qua etiam apostolus ait: Quis infirmatur et ego non uror?Naminfirmitatem carnis utilem esse idem apostolus adprobat dicens: Quando infirmor, tunc fortior sum.

3.7. There is a pernicious health which leads a man to disobedience. There is also a salubrious infirmity which, through divine correction, breaks the mind from hardness. 3.8. The languor of the soul, that is, the infirmity of sins, is pernicious; about which the apostle also says: Who is made infirm and I do not burn?For the same apostle approves the infirmity of the flesh to be useful, saying: When I am infirm, then I am stronger.

IIII. De tolerantia divinae correptionis. 4.1. Murmurare in flagellis Dei peccator homo non debet quia maxime per hoc quod corripitur emendatur.

4. On the toleration of divine correction. 4.1. A sinful man ought not to murmur at the scourges of God, because most of all through this very thing, that he is corrected, he is amended.

Vnusquisque autem tunc leuius portat quod patitur si sua discusserit mala pro quibus illi infertur retributio iusta. 4.2a. Discat non murmurare qui male patitur, etiam si ignorat cur mala patiatur; et per hoc iuste se pati arbitretur, per quod ab illo iudicatur, cuius numquam iniusta iudicia sunt.

Each one, however, then carries more lightly what he suffers if he has examined his own evils, for which a just retribution is imposed on him. 4.2a. Let him learn not to murmur who suffers evils, even if he is ignorant why he suffers evils; and from this let him judge himself to suffer justly, by which he is judged by Him, whose judgments are never unjust.

4.2b. Qui flagella sustinet et contra Deum murmurat, iustitiam iudicantis accusat; qui uero se cognoscit a iusto iudice pati quod sustinet, etiamsi pro quod patitur ignoret, per hoc iam iustificatur per quo et seipsum accusat et Dei iustitiam laudat. 4.3. Dum ex rebus prosperis utilia iustus exempla praestat hominibus, necesse est iterum eum et aduersitatibus tangi, quatenus eius patientia conprobetur, ut denuo fortitudinis documenta ex eo sumant qui prosperitatis eius temperantiam agnouerunt. 4.4. Qui passionibus animae insidiante aduersario cruciatur, non idcirco se credat alienari a Christo qui talia patitur; sed magis per hoc Deo commendabilem se esse existimet, si, dum haec patitur, laudet Deum potius, non accuset.

4.2b. He who endures the scourges and murmurs against God accuses the justice of the one judging; but he who recognizes himself to suffer from a just judge that which he endures, even if he is ignorant on account of what he suffers, by this already he is justified, in that by it he both accuses himself and praises the justice of God. 4.3. While from prosperous things the just man furnishes useful examples to men, it is necessary that again he also be touched by adversities, to the extent that his patience may be proved, so that anew they may take proofs of fortitude from him whose temperance in prosperity they have recognized. 4.4. He who is tormented by the passions of the soul, with the adversary lying in wait, should not therefore believe himself to be alienated from Christ because he suffers such things; but rather let him think that by this he is commendable to God, if, while he suffers these things, he praises God rather, not accuses.

4.5. Ad magnam utilitatem diuino iudicio mens iusti diuersis passionum temptationibus agitatur. Pro quibus si Deo gratias egerit suaeque culpae quod talia dignus sit reputauerit, hoc quod ex passione tolerat ei pro uirtutibus reputabitur, qui et diuinam agnoscit iustitiam et suam culpam intellegit. V. De temptationibus diaboli.

4.5. To great utility, by divine judgment, the mind of the just man is agitated by diverse temptations of passions. For which, if he has given thanks to God and has reckoned to his own fault that he is worthy of such things, this which he endures from passion will be reckoned to him as virtues, since he both acknowledges divine justice and understands his own fault. 5. On the temptations of the devil.

5.1. Multis calamitatum temptationibus mens iusti in hac uita pulsatur; unde et optat ab hoc saeculo funditus euelli, quo et aerumnas careat et fixam illuc securitatem inueniat.

5.1. By many temptations of calamities, the mind of the just is buffeted in this life; whence it also longs to be utterly uprooted from this age, that there it may both be without hardships and find fixed security.

5.2. Inter eas poenas quas iustus in corpore patitur, atque eas quas mente per fraudem diaboli tolerat, multum interest. Namgrauius fert quas interius luget, quam eas quas exterius sustinet. Has enim et loco euitat et tempore; illas nec loco potest euitare nec tempore.

5.2. Between those punishments which the just man suffers in the body, and those which he endures in the mind through the fraud of the devil, there is much difference. For he bears more grievously those which he laments inwardly than those which he sustains outwardly. For these he avoids both by place and by time; those he can avoid neither by place nor by time.

5.3. Non amplius temptat electos diabolus quam Dei uoluntas permittit. Temptando autem, sanctorum profectibus seruit. 5.4. Etsi nolens, utilitati tamen sanctorum seruit diabolus, quando eos temptationibus suis non decipit, sed potius erudit.

5.3. The Devil does not tempt the elect any more than the will of God permits. But by tempting, he serves the progress of the saints. 5.4. Although unwilling, yet the Devil serves the utility of the saints, when by his temptations he does not deceive them, but rather instructs them.

Namtemptationes quas ille ad humanum interitum mouet, interdum Christus ad exercitium uirtutum salubri utilitate conuertit.

For the temptations which he moves toward human ruin, Christ sometimes converts them, with a salutary utility, to the exercise of virtues.

5.5-6. Insidiae diaboli atque astutiae, quamuis huc atque illuc, quaerentes quem deuorent, diffundantur, a potestate tamen diuina non egrediuntur, ne tantum noceant quantum malitiose contendunt. Namquando sanctorum uirtustantatolerare potuisset, si superna dispensatio pio moderamine nequitiam daemonum non frenaret? Et licet diabolus temptationem iustorum semper inferre cupiat, tamen, si a Deo potestatem non accepit, nullatenus adipiscere potest quod appetit.

5.5-6. The snares of the devil and his astutenesses, although they are diffused hither and thither, seeking whom they may devour, nevertheless do not go beyond the divine power, lest they harm as much as they maliciously strive. For when could the virtue of the saints have been able to endure so much, if the supernal dispensation did not with pious moderation bridle the wickedness of the daemons? And although the devil longs always to inflict temptation upon the just, yet, if he has not received authority from God, he can in no way attain what he desires.

Vnde et omnis uoluntas diaboli iniusta est, et tamen, permittente Deo, omnis potestas iusta. Ex se enim temptare quoslibet iniuste appetit, sed eos qui temptandi sunt, et prout temptandi sunt, nonnisi temptari Deus iuste permittit. Vnde etiam in libris regum de diabolo scriptum est quia spiritus Domini malus inruebat in Saul.

Whence also every will of the devil is unjust, and yet, with God permitting, every power is just. For of himself he unjustly desires to tempt whomsoever, but those who are to be tempted, and insofar as they are to be tempted, God only justly permits to be tempted. Whence also in the Books of Kings it is written about the devil that an evil spirit of the Lord was rushing upon Saul.

Vbi iuste quaeritur: si Domini cur malus? si malus, cur Domini? Sed duobus uerbis conprehensa est et Dei potestas iusta et diaboli uoluntas iniusta.

Where it is justly asked: if “of the Lord,” why evil? if evil, why “of the Lord”? But in two words are comprehended both the just power of God and the unjust diabolic will.

Namspiritus malus per nequissimam uoluntatem, et idem spiritus Domini per acceptam iustissimam potestatem. 5.7. Diabolus non est inmissor, sed incentor potius uitiorum. Neque enim alibi concupiscentiae fomenta succendit, nisi ubi prius prauae cogitationis delectationes aspexerit; quas si a nobis spernimus, sine dubio ille confusus abscedit, statimque franguntur iacula concupiscentiae eius "contemptaeque iacent et sine luce faces illius." 5.8a. Sollicite hostis insidias intellegere pariter et cauere Dei seruum oportet; sicque in innocentia uitae existere simplicem, ut tamen oporteat cum simplicitate esse prudentem.

For the evil spirit through a most nefarious will, and the same the Spirit of the Lord through a received most just power. 5.7. The Devil is not an inserter, but rather an inciter of vices. For he kindles the kindlings of concupiscence nowhere else, unless where he has first beheld the delectations of a crooked thought; which, if we spurn them, without doubt he, confounded, withdraws, and at once the darts of his concupiscence are broken, "and his torches lie despised and without light." 5.8a. It behooves the servant of God solicitously both to understand and equally to beware the ambushes of the enemy; and thus to be simple in the innocence of life, yet nevertheless with simplicity to be prudent.

5.8b. Qui prudentiam simplicitati non miscet, iuxta prophetam, columba est seducta non habens cor. Sed ideo columba, quia simplex, ideo autem cor non habens, quia ignara prudentiae est. 5.9. Saepe fraus Satanae sanctorum cordibus aperitur, quando, per speciem boni angelum se simulans lucis, dum nititur electos decipere, detegitur atque contemnitur, Sic et uerba fallacis doctrinae sanctos suos Deus facit intellegere, quatenus diabolicum errorem interius cognoscant, ac sollicite caueant.

5.8b. He who does not mix prudence with simplicity, according to the prophet, is a dove seduced, not having a heart. But for this reason a dove, because she is simple; but for this reason not having a heart, because she is ignorant of prudence. 5.9. Often the fraud of Satan is opened to the hearts of the saints, when, under the appearance of good, feigning himself an angel of light, while he strives to deceive the elect, he is detected and also contemned. Thus too God makes his saints understand the words of a fallacious doctrine, in order that they may inwardly recognize the diabolic error, and carefully beware.

5.10. Discretio sanctorumtantaesse debet ut inter bonum et malum praediti ratione diiudicent, ne eos diabolus per speciem boni fallat. Haec est enim percontatio Iosuae dicentis: Noster es, an aduersariorum? Propter hoc et Hieremiae dicitur: si separaueris pretiosum a uili, quasi os meum eris.

5.10. The discretion of the saints ought to be so great that, endowed with reason, they adjudge between good and evil, lest the devil deceive them by a semblance of good. For this is, in fact, the interrogation of Joshua, saying: Are you ours, or of our adversaries? For this reason it is also said to Jeremiah: if you separate the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth.

Tunc enim bene de se iudicant sancti, quando eos Deus fallacia daemonum temptamenta facit intellegi.

For then the saints judge well about themselves, when God makes the deceitful temptations of demons to be understood by them.

5.11. Multi decipiuntur a diabolo, et ignorant se esse deceptos, Oseae prophetae testimonio declarante: Comederunt, inquit, alieni robur eius, et ipse ignorauit. Alieni namque maligni spiritus significantur, qui uirtutes mentis comedunt; sed hoc corda neglegentium non intellegunt. 5.12. Tamquam inermis diabolus uincitur, quando de aperta iniquitate hominem deprauare conatur; armatus uero tunc incedit, dum per speciem sanctitatis et uirtutis ea quae sancta sunt destruit, quando et qui decipitur sua detrimenta non sentit, sed tamquam sint uirtutes, quae sunt uitia sectatur et diligit.

5.11. Many are deceived by the devil, and they are ignorant that they have been deceived, as the testimony of the prophet Hosea declares: “Strangers have devoured his strength, and he himself did not know.” For by “strangers” malignant spirits are signified, who devour the virtues of the mind; but the hearts of the negligent do not understand this. 5.12. As if unarmed the devil is conquered, when he tries to deprave a man by open iniquity; but armed he proceeds when, through the appearance of sanctity and virtue, he destroys the things that are holy, when also he who is deceived does not perceive his own losses, but, as though they were virtues, he follows and loves the things that are vices.

5.13. In oculis carnalium diabolus terribilis est, in oculis electorum terror eius uilis est. Ab incredulis ut leo timetur; a fortibus in fide ut uermis contemnitur, atque ad momentum ostensus repellitur.

5.13. In the eyes of the carnal the Devil is terrible; in the eyes of the elect his terror is paltry. By the unbelievers he is feared as a lion; by the strong in faith he is contemned as a worm, and, once shown for a moment, he is repelled.

5.14. Qui suggestiones diaboli non recipit, in eius insidias minime transit. Namfacile in consequenti opere repellitur, si prima oblectamenta illius respuantur. Diabolus enim serpens est lubricus, cuius si capiti, id est primae suggestioni non resistitur, totus in interna cordis, dum non sentitur, inlabitur.

5.14. He who does not receive the devil’s suggestions does not at all pass into his snares. For he is easily repelled in the consequent work, if his first delectations are spurned. For the devil is a slippery serpent; if one does not resist his head—that is, the first suggestion—he, while he is not perceived, glides wholly into the inner parts of the heart.

5.15. Temptationum diabolicarum initia fragilia sunt, quae, si non caueantur, sed per usum in consuetudinem transeant, in nouissimis fortiter conualescunt, ita ut aut nunquam aut cum difficultate uincantur. 5.16. Dum in tota uita diabolus praeuaricare hominem cupiat, amplius tamen in finem molitur decipere. Hinc est quod in principio contra protoplaustum serpenti est dictum: Et tu insidiaberis calcaneum eius, quia nimirum hominem, quem diabolus in cursu praeteritae uitae non decipit, in nouissimis supplantare disponit.

5.15. The beginnings of diabolic temptations are fragile, which, if they are not guarded against, but through use pass into consuetude, at the last grow strong, such that they are either never conquered or only with difficulty. 5.16. While through the whole life the devil desires to make the man transgress, yet more at the end he strives to deceive. Hence it is that in the beginning it was said to the serpent against the Protoplast: And you will lie in wait for his heel, because indeed the man whom the devil does not deceive in the course of past life, he plans to supplant at the last.

Proinde quamuis quisque sit iustus, numquam necesse est ut sit in hac uita securus, sed semper humilis caueat, semperque, ne in finem corruat, sollicitus pertimescat.

Accordingly, although anyone be just, it is never necessary that he be secure in this life, but let him, humble, always beware, and let him always, lest he fall in the end, be anxiously afraid.

5.17. Diabolus suis fautoribus blanditur, Dei uero seruis molitur temptamenta contraria, exemplo Domini, qui se post baptismum passus est a diabolo temptari. 5.18. Diabolus sanctos omnes non tenendo possidet, sed temptando persequitur. Namquia non in eis intrinsecus regnat, contra eos extrinsecus pugnat.

5.17. The Devil flatters his favourers; indeed, upon the servants of God he contrives contrary temptations, after the example of the Lord, who suffered himself to be tempted by the Devil after baptism. 5.18. The Devil does not possess all the saints by holding them, but persecutes them by tempting. For since he does not reign in them from within, he fights against them from without.

Et qui interius amisit dominium, exterius commouet bellum. 5.19. Tunc contra eum quem possidet diabolus acrius saeuit, quando se uirtute diuina ab eo expellendum cognoscit. Vnde inmundus spiritus tunc decerpit grauius puerum in quo habitabat, quando ad Christi imperium exire ab eo coactus est.

And he who has lost dominion within stirs up war without. 5.19. Then against the one whom he possesses the devil rages more fiercely, when he recognizes that by divine virtue he is to be expelled from him. Whence the unclean spirit then more grievously rends the boy in whom he was dwelling, when at the command of Christ he was forced to go out from him.

Quod factum et ad Iob uerba respicit, ubi in nouissimis Behemoth caudam suam, quasi cedrus adstringit.

Which fact also has regard to the words of Job, where, in the last passages, Behemoth binds his tail, as if a cedar.

5.20. Plus contra eos diabolum diuersis temptationibus insistere, qui possint et aliis sua utilitate prodesse, ut dum illi inpediuntur, non proficiant qui docendi sunt. 5.21. Maligni spiritus hoc, quod intra nos mundari cupimus, sine intermissione temptant iterum sordidare. Sancti autem praesago spiritu eorum insidias praecognoscunt, et quicquid in semetipsis terrenum sentiunt, indesinenter operibus sanctis exhauriunt, ut de intimis puri inueniantur.

5.20. The devil presses more against those, with diverse temptations, who can by their utility profit others, so that while they are impeded, those who are to be taught may not make progress. 5.21. Malignant spirits attempt without intermission to make sordid again that which we desire to be cleansed within us. But the saints, with a presaging spirit, pre-recognize their stratagems, and whatever they perceive as earthly in themselves they unceasingly draw out by holy works, so that from their inmost parts they may be found pure.

5.22. Eodem blandimento decipiuntur nunc per diabolum homines, quo protoplausti in paradiso sunt decepti. Multis enim uitiorum praestigiis mentes reproborum pertemptando deglutit. Nunc enim promissis decipit; nunc rebus transitoriis, quasi necessariis inlicit; nunc etiam ipsa inferni supplicia quasi leuia et transitoria suggerit, quatenus miserorum corda in cupiditatem lasciuiamque dissoluat secumque ad tartara ducat.

5.22. By the same blandishment men are now deceived through the devil by which the protoplasts in Paradise were deceived. For with many sleights of vices, by thoroughly tempting he swallows down the minds of the reprobate. Now he deceives with promises; now he entices with transitory things, as if necessary; now he even suggests that the very punishments of hell are, as it were, light and transitory, so that he may dissolve the hearts of the wretched into cupidity and lasciviousness and lead them with himself to Tartarus.

5.23. Argumenta machinationum malarumque cogitationum semina, quae in cordibus hominum diabolus fundit, ita saepe undique captam inplicant mentem, ut ex qua parte euadere quisque temptauerit, sine periculo exire non possit, ueluti si iures hoc facere quod si feceris pecces, si non feceris reus periurii sis. In tanto ergomalidiscrimine, ut euadendi aditus pateat, minora potius eligenda sunt, ut maiora uitentur. 5.24. Diabolus quando decipere quemquam quaerit, prius naturam uniuscuiusque intendit, et inde se adplicat, unde aptum hominem ad peccandum inspexerit.

5.23. The arguments of machinations and the seeds of evil cogitations, which the devil pours into the hearts of men, so often entangle a mind captured on every side that, from whatever side one has tried to escape, he cannot go out without danger—just as if you should swear to do this which, if you do it, you sin; if you do not do it, you are guilty of perjury. In so great therefore a crisis of evil, in order that an entrance for escaping may lie open, the lesser are rather to be chosen, so that the greater may be avoided. 5.24. When the devil seeks to deceive anyone, first he focuses on the nature of each individual, and there he applies himself, from that point whence he has inspected the man apt for sinning.

5.25. Ex ea parte homines diabolus temptat, qua eos per excrescentem humorem facile inclinari ad uitia conspicit, ut, secundum humoris consparsionem, adhibeat et temptationem. Lege Balaam, qui in figura diaboli contra populum Dei ex ea parte praecepit perniciosus praetendere laqueos ex qua sentit eos facilius esse lapsuros. Namet qui aquam alicubi deducit, non eam per aliam partem mittit nisi ubi impetum eius intendit.

5.25. From that quarter the devil tempts men, from which he perceives them, through a swelling humor, to be easily inclined to vices, so that, according to the dispersion of the humor, he applies the temptation as well. Read Balaam, who, as a figure of the devil, pernicious, ordered that snares be stretched against the people of God from that side from which he senses they would more easily slip. For indeed he who channels water in any place does not send it by another path except where he directs its impulse.

5.26. Nullus culpam non existimet quam ex consparsione propria sustinet; sed quantum ualet, contra id quod tolerat, pugnet. Namsi consparsioni ceditur, temptationi uel uitio nequaquam resistitur. 5.27-28. Ideo diabolus in sacris eloquiis Behemoth, id est animal, dicitur quia de caelis lapsus ad terras cecidit.

5.26. Let no one fail to reckon as fault that which he sustains from his own consparsion; but, so far as he is able, let him fight against that which he endures. For if one yields to the consparsion, he by no means resists the temptation or the vice. 5.27-28. Therefore the devil in the sacred utterances is called Behemoth, that is, animal, because, having slipped from the heavens, he fell to the earth.

Ideo Leuiathan, id est serpens de aquis, quia in huius saeculi mare uolubili uersatur astutia. Auis uero propterea nominatur quia per superbiam ad alta sustollitur. Et recte his tribus uocabulis appellatur, quia pro suo merito aerem quasi auis pro carcere meruit; terram, ut animal brutum sit; serpens, ut in huius saeculi mare insana iactetur fluctuatione.

Therefore Leviathan, that is, a serpent from the waters, because in the sea of this age he is busied with a whirling astuteness. “Bird,” however, he is named for this reason, because through pride he is lifted up to the heights. And rightly he is called by these three vocables, because according to his own merit he has earned the air as, as it were, a prison, like a bird; the earth, to be a brute animal; a serpent, to be tossed in the sea of this age by insane fluctuation.

Ex id enim quod per membra sua diabolus operatur, sortitur uocabula, ita ut quod singuli agunt, incitante illo, ipse nominetur ex eo. Quem enim non decipit diabolus? Vnde animal est, hoc est per carnis luxuriam temptat. Vnde serpens est, hoc est cupiditatis ac nocendi malitia.

From that very fact that the devil works through his members, he derives appellations, so that what individuals do, with him inciting, he himself is named from it. Whom indeed does the devil not deceive? Hence he is “animal,” that is, he tempts through the luxury of the flesh. Hence he is “serpent,” that is, by the malice of cupidity and of harming.

Quem autem nec sic decipit, insidiatur. Vnde auis est, hoc est superbiae ruina. Vndique enim dolos praeparat, quousque inueniat uiam per quam incautum decipiat.

But whoever he does not thus deceive, he lies in ambush for. Whence he is a bird, that is, the ruin of pride. For on all sides he prepares deceits, until he finds a way by which he may deceive the incautious.

5.29. Aliud est intrare in mentem cuiquam diabolum, aliud uero inhabitare. Namet in cordibus sanctorum ingreditur, dum malas suggestiones insinuat; sed non habitat in eis, quia in suo corpore non eos transducit. Qui uero in corpore eius sunt, ipsos inhabitat, quia ipsi sunt templum eius.

5.29. It is one thing for the Devil to enter into anyone’s mind, but quite another for him to inhabit. For indeed he enters into the hearts of the saints, while he insinuates evil suggestions; but he does not dwell in them, because he does not lead them over into his own body. But those who are in his body, he inhabits them, because they themselves are his temple.

Et si subripiat mentibus electorum diabolus, non autem in eis requiescit, sicut in cordibus reproborum; nam calore fidei mox excitatur ut exeat ab electis.

And even if the devil steal into the minds of the elect, yet he does not rest in them, as in the hearts of the reprobate; for by the heat of faith he is straightway roused to go out from the elect.

5.30. Nonnulli, quos iam auido ore diabolus deuorauerat, rursus diuini iudicii occulta miseratione ab eius ore eripiuntur, et saluti restituuntur. Namsaepe multos, quos antiquus hostis luxuriae uoragine mersos tenuit, potentia diuina per paenitentiam ab eius faucibus traxit. 5.31. Quomodo bonorum interitum propheta electam dicit esse diaboli escam, dum alibi scriptum sit de illo: Fenum sicut bos comedet, nisi quod in oculis Dei fenum sunt, qui electus cibus secundum homines esse uidentur?

5.30. Some, whom the devil had already devoured with an avid mouth, are again torn from his mouth by the hidden compassion of the divine judgment, and are restored to salvation. For often many, whom the ancient enemy held submerged in the whirlpool of lust, divine power through penitence has drawn from his jaws. 5.31. How does the prophet say that the destruction of the good is the devil’s chosen food, while elsewhere it is written of him: “He will eat hay like an ox,” unless it is that, in the eyes of God, they are hay who seem, according to men, to be the chosen food?

Ac per hoc, qui de bonorum numero pereunt, apud homines electi, apud Deum fenum existunt. 5.32. Eum diabolus iam deglutisse dicitur quem iam perfecto scelere deuorasse uidetur. Eum uero quem non deglutiuit operis perfectione, sed temptationum inlecebris mordet ut deuoret, adhuc quasi in maxillam mandit.

And hence, those who perish from the number of the good, among men are elect, before God are hay. 5.32. The devil is already said to have swallowed him whom he seems to have devoured by a crime brought to perfection. But him whom he has not swallowed by the perfection of the work, but bites with the allurements of temptations in order to devour, he still, as it were, chews in his jaw.

Vnde et Paulus habet stimulos carnis quibus humilietur, non habet peccandi perfectionem qua deglutiatur.

Whence also Paul has stimuli of the flesh by which he may be humbled; he does not have the perfection of sinning by which he may be swallowed down.

5.33. Os diaboli uerba eius sunt. Verba uero eius inspirationes occultae sunt quibus corda hominum adloquens occultis urit cupiditatibus. 5.34. Quidam ob incorreptibilem iniquitatem, quia sponte non corriguntur, inmundis spiritibus uexandi traduntur, ut arripiendi eos daemones corporaliter habeant potestatem, terroribusque eorum afflicti humilientur, paeniteant et saluentur, sicut et apostolus corinthiis scribens dicit: Tradere huiusmodi Satanae in interitum carnis, ut spiritus saluus sit.

5.33. The mouth of the devil is his words. But his words are occult inspirations, with which, addressing the hearts of men, he burns them with hidden concupiscences. 5.34. Certain persons, on account of incorrigible iniquity—since of their own accord they are not corrected—are handed over to be vexed by unclean spirits, so that demons may have power to seize them bodily, and, afflicted by their terrors, they may be humbled, repent, and be saved, as also the Apostle, writing to the Corinthians, says: to hand over such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved.

Vtile est enim quosdam peccantes, ut in anima saluentur, Satanae corporaliter deputari, quatenus ex praesenti correptione futurum iudicium timeant, et de cetero delinquere caueant. Quidam autem potestati daemonum ad emendationem deputantur; quidam uero despecti ad solam perditionem traduntur. 5.35. Numquam uacat diabolus aduersus hominem iustum.

For it is useful that certain sinning persons, in order that they may be saved in soul, be corporally assigned to Satan, so that from present correction they may fear the future judgment, and henceforth beware of transgressing. But some are assigned to the power of demons for emendation; but some, despised, are handed over to sheer perdition. 5.35. The devil is never idle against a righteous man.

Aut enim tribulationes cordis illi exaggerat, aut dolores corporis suscitat. Hinc est quod apostolus ait: Datus est mihi stimulus carnis angelus Satanae, qui me colafizet.

For either he heaps up tribulations of the heart for him, or he arouses pains of the body. Hence it is that the apostle says: A stimulus of the flesh was given to me—an angel of Satan—to buffet me.

5.36. Saepe iusti mentem uariis uexationum doloribus uis daemonum cruciat, unde interdum usque ad desperationis angustiam coarctatur. Permanenti autem in Dei amore animae et ipsa talis angustia ad meritum proficit. Namsiue in animo, seu in corpore, per instinctum inmundorum spirituum quaelibet aduersa iustus patiatur, ex Dei utique permissu id patitur.

5.36. Often the force of demons torments the mind of a just man with various pains of vexations, whence at times he is constrained even to the straits of desperation. Yet to the soul remaining in the love of God, even such anguish advances unto merit. For whether in mind or in body, whatever adversities a just man suffers by the instigation of unclean spirits, he suffers it surely by the permission of God.

Quod si hoc ipsud ad Dei gloriam humilis referat, et dicat quod pro corporis passione Iob dixit: Si bona suscepimus de manu Domini, mala quare non suscipiamus?iste non separatur a Deo, sed coniungitur, quamlibet atroci angustia torqueatur. 5.37. Multa iustus aduersa in anima patitur instigatione daemonum, sed talibus temptamentis perire uitae aeternae non potest, quia pius Dominus ad damnationem culpae non reputat quod de suae maiestatis permissu nolens qui patitur portat. Namibi peccamus, ubi cupiditate uel uoluntate deflectimus; ubi uero uiolenter addicimur, etsi facinus aut flagitium non est, miseria tamen pro flagitio et facinore est.

But if he, humble, refers this very thing to the glory of God, and says what Job said on account of the passion of the body: “If we have received good things from the hand of the Lord, why should we not receive evil?” this man is not separated from God, but is conjoined, however much he be wracked by atrocious anguish. 5.37. The just man suffers many adversities in his soul by the instigation of daemons, but by such temptations he cannot perish from eternal life, because the Pious Lord does not reckon, unto the condemnation of guilt, that which the one who suffers unwillingly bears by the permission of His Majesty. For there we sin where we turn aside by cupidity or by will; but where we are violently compelled, even if it is not a crime or a flagitious deed, nevertheless the misery stands in place of the flagitious deed and the crime.

Sed qui Deum pro inrogata laudat miseria, commissa procul dubio caret facinora. VI. De temptamentis somniorum.

But he who praises God for the inflicted misery is, beyond doubt, free of the crimes committed. 6. On the temptations of dreams.

6.1. Plerumque daemones in noctibus occurrentes humanos sensus per uisiones conturbant, ut formidolosos et timidos faciant, quotiens et desperatione peccatorum mentem conuersi per soporem conturbant, horrendaque gehennae supplicia minitant. Nonnumquam autem et aperta inpugnatione crassantes humana corpora uerberant, quod tamen. Deo permittente, malorum fit ad uindictam, iustorum ad tolerantiae gloriam.

6.1. Frequently demons, encountering in the nights, disturb human senses through visions, so that they make them fearful and timid; whenever also, by the desperation of sins, they disturb the mind through slumber, they threaten the horrendous torments of Gehenna. Sometimes, moreover, even with open impugnation, weighing down human bodies, they beat them; which, however, with God permitting, happens for the vengeance of the wicked, for the glory of the endurance of the just.

6.2. Plerumque immundi spiritus eos quos incumbere in saeculi amore conspiciunt, dormientes quadam uana spei prosperitate inludunt. Quosdam uero, quos formidare aliqua aduersa persentiunt, dormientes inani terrore concutiunt. Sicque miserorum corda uariis inlusionibus intentantes, modo uacua prosperitate demulcent, modo uana formidine terrent.

6.2. Oftentimes unclean spirits, when they behold certain people bent upon the love of the world, make sport of them as they sleep with a certain vain hope of prosperity. But some, whom they perceive to dread certain adverse things, they shake with empty terror while sleeping. And thus, by aiming at the hearts of the wretched with various delusions, now they soothe with empty prosperity, now they frighten with vain dread.

6.3-5. Qui aut nullis aut raris conscii sunt delictis, aut numquam aut raro terroribus fatigantur nocturnis; sed placato somno quiescentes, interdum etiam per soporem quaedam arcana et mystica contuentur ac uident. Qui uero corda sua grauioribus uitiis polluerunt conscientiae pauore inlusi, species tremendas aspiciunt. Fallax enim imago mentes miserorum diuersis eludit imaginibus et quos uigilantes in uitia traxit, dormientes fatigat, ut numquam securos requiescere sinat.

6.3-5. Those who are conscious of either no delicts or only rare ones are either never or rarely wearied by nocturnal terrors; but, resting with appeased sleep, sometimes even through sleep they behold and see certain arcane and mystical things. But those who have polluted their hearts with graver vices, beguiled by the dread of conscience, behold tremendous apparitions. For the fallacious image deludes the minds of the wretched with diverse images, and those whom it drew into vices while awake, it wearies while sleeping, so that it never allows them to rest secure.

Nonnunquam etiam electorum mentes horrendis imaginibus somniorum spiritus inmundi terrificare conantur, et quos uigilantes uitiis temptant nec superant, acriter dormientes inpugnant. Sancti autem etsi ad momentum huiusmodi uisionibus commoueantur, mox tamen euigilantes inlusionum uanitates despiciunt, intentionemque suam protinus ad Deum conuertunt.

Sometimes also the minds of the elect the unclean spirits try to terrify with horrendous images of dreams, and those whom they tempt with vices while awake and do not overcome, they sharply impugn while sleeping. But the Saints, even if for a moment they are moved by visions of this kind, yet soon, waking, they despise the vanities of the illusions, and straightway turn their intention to God.

6.6-7. Diuersae qualitates sunt somniorum. Quaedam enim ex saturitate seu inanitione occurrunt, quae etiam per experientiam nota sunt. Quaedam uero ex propria cogitatione oriuntur; nam saepe quae in die cogitamus, in noctibus recognoscimus.

6.6-7. There are diverse qualities of dreams. Certain ones indeed occur from satiety or inanition, which also are known through experience. Certain others, however, arise from one’s own cogitation; for often the things we think in the day, we recognize again in the nights.

Nonnullae autem uisiones spirituum inmundorum fiunt inlusione Salomone probante: Multos, inquit, errare fecerunt somnia et inlusiones uanae. Porro quaedam iusto fiunt modo, id est supernae reuelationis mysterio, sicut legitur in lege de Ioseph filio Iacob, qui somnio fratribus praeferendus praedicitur. Vel sicut in euangelio de Ioseph sponso Mariae, qui ut fugiret cum puero in Aegyptum somnio admonetur.

Some visions of unclean spirits, however, happen by illusion, Solomon attesting: “Dreams,” he says, “and vain illusions have caused many to err.” Moreover, certain [visions] come about in a just manner, that is, by the mystery of supernal revelation, as is read in the Law about Joseph the son of Jacob, who by a dream is foretold as to be preferred before his brothers. Or as in the Gospel about Joseph, the spouse of Mary, who is admonished in a dream to flee with the boy into Egypt.

Nonnumquam et permixtae accedunt uisiones, id est cogitatione simul et inlusione, atque item cogitatione et reuelatione, Danihelo dicente: Tu, inquit, rex, cogitare coepisti in stratu tuo quid esset futurum post haec; qui reuelat mysteria ostendit tibi quae uentura sunt. Etenim saepe ea in quibus cogitationum nostrarum sensum porrigimus, quodam mentis excessu reuelantur, dum requiescimus. 6.8. Quamuis nonnulla uera sint somnia, facile tamen eis credi non opus est, quia diuersis imaginationum qualitatibus oriuntur, et unde ueniant rare considerantur.

Sometimes mixed visions also occur, that is, at once from thought and from illusion, and likewise from thought and revelation, Daniel saying: “You, he says, O king, began to think upon your couch what would be after these things; he who reveals mysteries has shown you what is going to come.” For indeed often those things in which we extend the sense of our thoughts are revealed by a certain ecstasy of mind while we are at rest. 6.8. Although some dreams are true, nevertheless it is not necessary that they be easily believed, because they arise from diverse qualities of imaginations, and whence they come is rarely considered.

Tam facile igitur somniis fides habenda non est, ne forte Satanas, in angelum lucis se transformans, quemlibet incautum fallat, et aliqua erroris fraude decipiat. 6.9. Nonnumquam interdum daemones deceptoria fraude ita quosdam curiosos obseruantesque inludunt, ut quaedam somnia non aliter eueniant quam ostenduntur. Vt enim in multis fallant, interdum et uera pronuntiant.

Therefore faith is not so easily to be given to dreams, lest perhaps Satan, transforming himself into an angel of light, deceive anyone incautious, and beguile by some fraud of error. 6.9. Sometimes, moreover, demons by deceptive fraud so illude certain curious and observant persons that certain dreams come to pass just as they are shown. For, in order that they may deceive in many things, at times they also pronounce truths.

Sed quamuis ita accedant, contemnenda sunt, ne forte de inlusione procedant, recolentes testimonium scripturae dicentis: Si dixerint uobis, et ita euenerit, non credatis.

But although they thus come to pass, they are to be contemned, lest perchance they proceed from an illusion, recalling the testimony of Scripture saying: “If they say to you, and it thus comes to pass, do not believe.”

6.10a. Somnia similia sunt auguriis, et qui ea intendunt, reuera auguriare noscuntur. 6.10b.

6.10a. Dreams are similar to auguries, and those who attend to them are truly known to augurate. 6.10b.

Non esse uera somnia quae cogitans animus die noctuque sibi imaginatur; mentes enim nonnunquam ipsa sibi somnia fingunt. 6.11-12. Saepe, dum priora mala per tristem memoriam ac gehennae uindictam in nobis ipsis recolendo imaginamus, huius modi mentis imaginationes aut de praeteritis admissis aut de futuris suppliciis memoria uigilantibus fiunt, et per uisiones somniaque occurrunt, et cogitantium mentes concutiunt. Namuna ui memoriae fiunt utraque, siue uigilantibus, siue dormientibus nobis.

The dreams are not true which the thinking mind by day and night imagines to itself; for minds sometimes themselves fashion dreams for themselves. 6.11-12. Often, while through gloomy memory and the vengeance of Gehenna we, by recalling within ourselves, imagine former evils, imaginations of this kind of the mind arise—either from past offenses committed or from future punishments—with memory awake, and they present themselves through visions and dreams, and shake the minds of those who are thinking. For by one power of memory both come to be, whether we are awake or sleeping.

Tali enim animi monitione horribili pauore etiam per quietem concutimur, et quam grauia sunt quae commisimus, et quam dura quae pertimescimus, mentis aspectu etiam in somnia contemplamur.

For by such a monition of the mind, with horrible dread, we are shaken even during sleep, and both how grave are the things we have committed and how hard the things we dread, we contemplate by the mind’s gaze even in dreams.

6.13. Non esse peccatum quando nolentes imaginibus nocturnis inludimur; sed tunc esse peccatum si, antequam inludamur, cogitationis affectibus praeuenimur. Luxuriae quippe imagines quas in ueritate gessimus, saepe dormientibus in animo apparent, sed innoxie, si non concupiscendo occurrent. 6.14. Qui nocturna inlusione polluitur, quamuis etsi extra memoriam turpium cogitationum sese persentiat inquinatum, tamen hoc ut temptaretur culpae suae tribuat, suamque immunditiam statim fletibus tergat.

6.13. It is not a sin when, being unwilling, we are deluded by nocturnal images; but it is a sin then if, before we are deluded, we are preempted by the affections of cogitation. For the images of luxury which we have carried out in truth often appear in the mind to sleepers, but innocuously, if they do not occur with concupiscence. 6.14. He who is defiled by a nocturnal illusion, although even if, apart from the memory of shameful cogitations, he perceives himself stained, nevertheless should attribute this—that he was tempted—to his own fault, and should at once wipe away his uncleanness with tears.

VII. De oratione.

7. On prayer.

7.1. Hoc est remedium eius qui uitiorum temptamentis exaestuat, ut quotiens quolibet tangitur uitio totiens ad orationem se subdat, quia frequens oratio uitiorum inpugnationem extinguit. 7.2. Tam perseueranter intendere oportet animum nostrum orando atque pulsando, quousque inportunas desideriorum carnalium suggestiones quae nostris obstrepunt sensibus, fortissima intentione superemus, ac tamdiu insistere, quousque persistendo uincamus. Namneglegentes orationes nec ab ipso homine impetrare ualent quod uolent.

7.1. This is the remedy for one who burns under the temptations of vices: that as often as he is touched by any vice, so often he submit himself to prayer, because frequent prayer extinguishes the assault of vices. 7.2. We ought to apply our mind so perseveringly by praying and knocking, until we overcome, with the strongest intention, the importunate suggestions of carnal desires which clamor against our senses; and to press on just so long, until by persisting we conquer. For negligent prayers are not able to obtain even from the man himself what they want.

7.3. Quando quisque orat, Sanctum ad se Spiritum aduocat. At ubi uenerit, confestim temptamenta daemoniorum quae se mentibus humanis inmergunt, praesentiam eius ferre non sustinentes effugiunt.

7.3. Whenever anyone prays, he invokes the Holy Spirit to himself. But when he has come, immediately the temptations of demons, which immerse themselves into human minds, unable to endure his presence, flee.

7.4. Oratio cordis est, non labiorum. Neque enim uerba deprecantis Deus intendit, sed orantis cor aspicit. Quod si tacite cor oret et uox sileat, quamuis hominibus lateat, Deo latere non potest, qui conscientiae praesens est.

7.4. Prayer is of the heart, not of the lips. For God does not attend to the words of the supplicant, but looks upon the heart of the one praying. And if the heart should pray silently and the voice be hushed, although it may lie hidden from men, it cannot lie hidden from God, who is present to the conscience.

Melius est autem cum silentio orare corde sine sono uocis, quam solis uerbis sine intuitu mentis. 7.5. Numquam est sine gemitu orandum, nam peccatorum recordatio maerorem gignit. Dum enim oramus, ad memoriam culpam reducimus, et magis reos tunc nos esse cognoscimus.

Better it is, moreover, to pray in the heart with silence, without the sound of the voice, than with words alone without the mind’s intuition. 7.5. One must never pray without a groan, for the recollection of sins begets sorrow. For while we pray, we bring guilt back to memory, and we then recognize that we are more guilty.

Ideoque, cum Deo adsistimus, gemere et flere debemus, reminiscentes quam grauia sint scelera quae commisimus, quamque dira inferni supplicia quae timemus. 7.6. Mens qualem se in orationem offert, talem post orationem conseruet. Namnihil proficit oratio, si denuo committitur unde iam uenia postulatur.

And so, when we stand by God, we ought to groan and to weep, remembering how grave are the crimes which we have committed, and how dire the infernal punishments which we fear. 7.6. Let the mind keep itself after prayer such as it presents itself in prayer. For prayer profits nothing, if anew there is committed that for which pardon is already being petitioned.

Ille enim precis desideratum effectum sine dubio percipit, qui quod orando ablui postulat delinquendo non iterat.

For he indeed, without doubt, obtains the desired effect of prayer, who does not, by delinquency, repeat that which he asks by praying to be washed away.

7.7. Mens nostra caelestis est, et tunc orando Deum bene contemplatur, quando nullis terrenis curis aut erroribus inpeditur. Apta est enim ad bonum in sua natura, in aliena uero turbatur. 7.8. Pura est oratio quam in suo tempore saeculi non interueniunt curae; longe autem a Deo est animus qui in oratione cogitationibus saeculi fuerit occupatus.

7.7. Our mind is celestial, and then, by praying, it contemplates God well, when it is impeded by no earthly cares or errors. For it is apt to the good in its own nature, but it is disturbed by what is alien. 7.8. Pure is the prayer into which, in its own time, the cares of the world do not intervene; but far from God is the spirit that, in prayer, has been occupied with secular thoughts.

Tunc ergo ueraciter oramus, quando aliunde non cogitamus. Sed ualde pauci sunt qui tales orationes habeant. Et licet in quibusdam sint, difficile tamen ut semper sint.

Then, therefore, we pray truly, when we do not cogitate about anything else. But very few are they who have such prayers. And although they are found in some, yet it is difficult that they should always be so.

7.9-10. Mens quae ante orationem uacans a Deo inlicitis cogitationibus occupatur, dum in orationem uenerit, confestim illi imagines rerum quas nuper cogitauit occurrunt, aditumque precis obstruunt, ne se mens libera ad caeleste desiderium erigat. Purgandus est itaque primum animus, atque a temporalium rerum cogitationibus segregandus, ut pura acies cordis ad Deum uere et simpliciter dirigatur. Namreuera tunc inpetranda diuina munera credimus, quando simplici affectu adsistimus cum oramus.

7.9-10. The mind which, before prayer, being vacant from God, is occupied by illicit cogitations—when it has come into prayer, at once the images of the things which it has lately cogitated rush upon it and obstruct the access of petition, lest the free mind raise itself to celestial desire. Therefore the soul must first be purged, and segregated from the cogitations of temporal things, so that the pure acuity of the heart may be directed to God truly and simply. For indeed we believe that then the divine gifts are to be obtained, when with simple affection we stand by as we pray.

7.11. Multis modis interrumpitur orationis intentio, dum se per incuriam uana mundi ingerunt in cuiuscumque orantis animo. Tunc autem magis diabolus cogitationes curarum saecularium humanis mentibus ingerit quando orantem aspexerit. 7.12. Duobus modis oratio inpeditur ne inpetrare quisque ualeat postulata: hoc est si aut quisque adhuc mala committit, aut si delinquenti sibi debita non dimittit.

7.11. In many ways the intention of prayer is interrupted, while through carelessness the vain things of the world thrust themselves into the mind of whatever person is praying. Then moreover the devil inserts thoughts of secular cares into human minds most of all when he has seen one praying. 7.12. In two ways prayer is impeded, so that each is not able to obtain the things requested: that is, if either one is still committing evils, or if he does not remit the debts to the delinquent against himself.

Quod geminum malum, dum quisque a semetipso absterserit, protinus securus studio orationis incumbit, et ad ea quae inpetrare precibus cupit, mentem libere erigit. 7.13. Qui laeditur, non desistat orare pro se laedentibus; alioquin, iuxta Domini sententiam, peccat qui pro inimicis non orat.

Which twin evil, when each person has cleansed it from himself, straightway, secure, he applies himself to the zeal of prayer, and he raises his mind freely to the things he desires to obtain by prayers. 7.13. He who is injured, let him not cease to pray for those injuring him; otherwise, according to the Lord’s sentence, he sins who does not pray for his enemies.

7.14. Sicut nullum proficit in uulnere medicamentum, si adhuc ferrum in eo sit, ita nihil proficit oratio illius cuius adhuc dolor in mente, uel odium manet in pectore. 7.15. Tantus esse debet orantis erga Deum affectus, ut non desperet precis affectum. Inaniter autem oramus, si spei fiduciam non habemus.

7.14. Just as no medicament avails in a wound, if the iron is still in it, so the prayer of him whose pain still remains in his mind, or whose hatred remains in his breast, avails nothing. 7.15. So great ought to be the affection of the one praying toward God, that he not despair of the efficacy of prayer. But we pray in vain, if we do not have the confidence of hope.

Petat ergo, ut apostolus ait, unusquisque in fide nihil dubitans, nam qui dubitat similis est undae maris, quae uento fertur atque dispargitur. 7.16. Diffidentia nascitur inpetrandi orata, si se adhuc animus sentiat circa peccandi affectionem uersari. Non enim potest habere precis certam fiduciam, qui adhuc in praeceptis Dei pigritat, et peccati recordationes delectat.

Let each person ask, therefore, as the apostle says, in faith doubting nothing; for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, which is borne by the wind and scattered. 7.16. Diffidence about obtaining what is prayed for is born, if the mind still feels itself to be occupied around an affection for sinning. For he cannot have a sure confidence in prayer who is still slothful in the precepts of God and takes delight in recollections of sin.

7.17. Qui a praeceptis Dei auertitur, quod in oratione postulat non meretur, nec inpetrat ab illo bonum quod poscit cuius legi non oboedit. Si enim id quod Deus praecipit facimus, id quod petimus sine dubio obtinemus. Namsicut scriptum est: Qui auertit aurem suam ne audiat legem, oratio eius execrabilis erit.

7.17. He who is averted from the precepts of God does not merit what he asks in prayer, nor does he obtain from Him the good which he demands, whose law he does not obey. For if we do what God commands, that which we ask we obtain without doubt. For, just as it is written: He who averts his ear so as not to hear the law, his prayer will be execrable.

7.18. Multum apud Deum utraque sibi necessario commendatur, ut oratione operatio et opere fulciatur oratio. Vnde etiam Hieremias ait: Leuemus corda nostra cum manibus ad Deum. Cor enim cum manibus leuat, qui orationem cum opere subleuat.

7.18. With God it is greatly commended that both be necessarily conjoined, so that the work may be buttressed by prayer and the prayer supported by work. Whence also Jeremiah says: Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to God. For he lifts the heart with the hands who uplifts prayer with work.

Namquisquis orat, et non operatur, cor leuat, et manus non leuat. Quisquis uero operatur, et non orat, manus leuat et cor non leuat. Sed quia et operare necesse est et orare, bene iuxta utrumque dictum est: Leuemus corda nostra cum manibus ad Deum, ne de neglegentia mandatorum corde reprehendamur, dum salutem nostram obtinere aut sola oratione, aut sola operatione contendimus.

For whoever prays and does not operate, he lifts the heart, and he does not lift the hands. Whoever, however, operates and does not pray, he lifts the hands and does not lift the heart. But since it is necessary both to operate and to pray, well according to both it is said: Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to God, lest on account of negligence of the commandments we be reproved in heart, while we strive to obtain our salvation either by prayer alone or by operation alone.

7.19. Postquam bonum opus agimus, lacrimae orationum fundantur, ut meritum actionis humilitas inpetret precis.

7.19. After we perform a good work, the tears of prayers are poured out, so that the humility of supplication may obtain the merit of the action.

7.20. Culpabiliter manus ad Deum expandit qui facta sua orando iactanter prodit, sicut pharisaeus in templo iactanter orabat, seque magis quam Deum de operibus iustis laudare uolebat. 7.21. Quorundam oratio in peccatum conuertitur, sicut de Iuda proditore scribitur. Qui enim iactanter orat, laudem adpetendo humanam, non solum quia eius oratio non delet peccatum, sed et ipsa uertitur in peccatum.

7.20. Culpably he stretches out his hands to God who, by praying boastfully, ostentatiously brings forth his deeds, just as the Pharisee in the temple prayed boastfully and wished to praise himself more than God for righteous works. 7.21. The prayer of certain people is converted into sin, as it is written about Judas the traitor. For he who prays boastfully, seeking human laud, not only does his prayer not blot out sin, but it itself is converted into sin.

Sicut Iudaei uel heretici, qui licet ieiunare et orare uideantur, eorum tamen oratio non illis ad purgationis proficit meritum, sed mutatur potius in peccatum. 7.22. Ideo interdum oratio electorum in pressuris eorum differtur, ut impiorum peruersitas augeatur. Verum dum iusti temporaliter audiuntur, pro eorum fit salute qui eos adfligunt, ut, dum illis temporali remedio subuenitur, prauorum oculi ad conuersionem aperiantur.

Just as the Jews or heretics, who although they seem to fast and to pray, nevertheless their prayer does not profit them unto the merit of purgation, but is rather changed into sin. 7.22. Therefore sometimes the prayer of the elect is deferred in their pressures, so that the perversity of the impious may be increased. Truly, while the just are heard temporally, it is done for the salvation of those who afflict them, so that, while a temporal remedy is brought to their aid, the eyes of the depraved may be opened unto conversion.

Vnde et trium puerorum frigidus ignis fuit, ut Nabuchodonosor Deum uerum agnosceret. Sicut et propheta in psalmis ait: Propter inimicos meos eripe me.

Whence also the fire of the three youths was frigid, so that Nebuchadnezzar might acknowledge the true God. Just as the prophet also says in the psalms: “Because of my enemies deliver me.”

7.23. Proinde tardius exaudiuntur quorundam orationes, ut, dum differuntur, fortius excitatae maioribus praemiis cumulentur: exemplo pruinarum et repressione messium, in quibus quanto tardius sata semina exeunt, tanto ad frugem cumulatius crescunt. 7.24. Quotiens orantes non cito exaudimur, nostra nobis facta in oculis proponamus, ut hoc ipsud quod differimur diuinae reputetur iustitiae et culpae nostrae. 7.25. Interdum quod perseueranter orantes non cito exaudimur, utilitatis nostrae est, non aduersitatis.

7.23. Accordingly, the prayers of certain persons are heard more slowly, so that, while they are deferred, being aroused more strongly they may be heaped up with greater rewards: by the example of frosts and the checking of harvests, in which the more slowly the sown seeds come forth, the more abundantly they grow to fruit. 7.24. Whenever, as we pray, we are not quickly heard, let us set our deeds before our eyes, so that this very fact that we are deferred may be reckoned to divine justice and to our own fault. 7.25. Sometimes the fact that, though perseveringly praying, we are not quickly heard, is for our benefit, not our adversity.

Saepe enim multos Deus non exaudit ad uoluntatem, ut exaudiat ad salutem.

For often God does not hear many according to their volition, in order that he may hear them unto salvation.

7.26. Multi orantes non exaudiuntur, prouidendo illis Deus meliora quam petunt, sicut contingere solet paruulis, qui, ne in scolis uapulent, Deum exorant. Sed non datur illis postulationis effectus quia inpedit talis exauditio ad profectum. Non aliter quibusdam contingit electis: deprecantur enim Deum pro nonnullis uitae huius commodis, uel aduersis.

7.26. Many who pray are not heard, God providing for them better things than they ask, as is wont to happen with little children who beseech God that they may not be flogged in schools. But the effect of the petition is not given to them, because such a hearing impedes their progress. Not otherwise does it befall certain of the elect: for they entreat God concerning certain conveniences of this life, or adversities.

Prouidentia uero diuina temporaliter eorum desiderio minime consulit, quia meliora illis in aeternum promittit. 7.27-28. Oratio priuatis locis oportunius funditur, magisque obtentum inpetrat, dum Deo tantum teste depromitur. Proprium autem hypocritarum est offerre se in oratione uidentibus; quorum fructus est non Deo placere, sed gloriam ab hominibus conparare.

Divine providence, however, does not in a temporal way at all consult their desire, because it promises better things to them for eternity. 7.27-28. Prayer is more opportunely poured forth in private places, and more readily obtains its request, when it is brought forth with God alone as witness. But it is the proper mark of hypocrites to offer themselves in prayer to onlookers; whose fruit is not to please God, but to acquire glory from men.

7.29. Non in multiloquio exaudiuntur homines a Deo, quasi plurimis eum uerbis conentur inflectere. Neque enim conciliat eum multiplex orantis sermo, sed pura sinceraque orationis intentio.

7.29. Not in multiloquence are human beings heard by God, as though they were trying to bend him by very many words. For neither does the manifold discourse of the one praying conciliate him, but the pure and sincere intention of the oration.

7.30a. Bonum est corde semper orare, bonum etiam et sono uocis Deum spiritalibus hymnis glorificare. 7.30b.

7.30a. It is good to pray always with the heart, and it is also good to glorify God with the sound of the voice with spiritual hymns. 7.30b.

Nihil est sola uoce canere sine cordis intentione; sed sicut ait apostolus: Cantantes in cordibus uestris, hoc est non solum uoce sed corde psallentes. Vnde et alibi: Psallam spiritu, psallam et mente. 7.31. Sicut orationibus regimur, ita psalmorum studiis delectamur.

It is nothing to sing with the voice alone, without the heart’s intention; but just as the apostle says: “Singing in your hearts,” that is, not only with the voice but psalming with the heart. Whence also elsewhere: “I will psalm with the spirit, I will psalm also with the mind.” 7.31. Just as we are ruled by prayers, so we are delighted by the studies of psalms.

Psallendi enim utilitas tristia corda consolatur, gratiores mentes facit, fastidiosos oblectat, inertes exsuscitat, peccatores ad lamenta inuitat. Namquamuis dura sint carnalia corda, statim ut psalmi dulcedo insonuerit, ad affectum pietatis animum eorum inflectit.

For the utility of psalmody consoles sad hearts, makes minds more gracious, delights the fastidious, rouses the inert, invites sinners to lamentation. For although carnal hearts are hard, as soon as the sweetness of the psalm has resounded, it bends their mind to the affection of piety.

7.32. Dum christianum non uocis modulatio, sed tantum uerba diuina, quae ibi dicuntur debeant commouere, nescio quo tamen pacto modulatione canentis maior nascitur conpunctio cordis. Multi enim repperiuntur qui, cantus suauitate commoti, sua crimina plangunt, atque ex ea parte magis flectuntur ad lacrimas, ex qua psallentis insonuerit dulcedo suauissima. 7.33. Oratio in praesenti tantum uita pro remedio peccatorum effunditur; psalmorum autem decantatio perpetuam Dei laudem demonstrat in gloriam sempiternam, sicut scriptum est: Beati qui habitant in domo tua, in saecula saeculorum laudabunt te. Cuius operis ministerium quicumque fideliter intentaque mente exequitur, quodammodo angelis sociatur.

7.32. Although it ought to be not the modulation of the voice, but only the divine words that are said there, that move a Christian, yet by I-know-not-what manner a greater compunction of heart arises from the singer’s modulation. For many are found who, moved by the suavity of the chant, bewail their crimes, and are more bent toward tears from that side whence the most sweet suavity of the psalmist has resounded. 7.33. Prayer is poured forth in the present life only for a remedy of sins; but the chanting forth of psalms demonstrates the perpetual praise of God unto everlasting glory, as it is written: Blessed are they who dwell in your house; they will praise you unto ages of ages. Whoever faithfully and with an intent mind carries out the ministry of this work is in some manner associated with the angels.

VIII. De lectione.

8. On reading.

8.1. Orationibus mundamur, lectionibus instruimur; utrumque bonum, si liceat; si non liceat, melius est orare quam legere. 8.2. Qui uult cum Deo semper esse, frequenter debet orare, frequenter et legere. Namcum oramus, ipsi cum Deo loquimur; cum uero legimus, Deus nobiscum loquitur.

8.1. By prayers we are cleansed, by readings we are instructed; both are good, if it be permitted; if it be not permitted, it is better to pray than to read. 8.2. Whoever wishes to be always with God ought to pray frequently, and frequently also to read. For when we pray, we ourselves speak with God; but when we read, God speaks with us.

8.3. Omnis profectus ex lectione et meditatione procedit. Quae enim nescimus, lectione discimus; quae autem didicimus, meditationibus conseruamus.

8.3. All progress proceeds from reading and meditation. For the things we do not know, we learn by reading; but the things we have learned, we preserve by meditations.

8.4. Geminum confert donum lectio sanctarum scripturarum, siue quia intellectum mentis erudit, seu quod a mundi uanitatibus abstractum hominem ad amorem Dei perducit. Excitati enim saepe illius sermone, subtrahimur a desiderio uitae mundanae, atque accensi in amore sapientiae, tanto uana spes mortalitatis huius nobis uilescit, quanto amplius legendo spes aeterna claruerit. 8.5. Geminum est lectionis studium: primum quomodo scripturae intellegantur, secundum qua utilitate uel dignitate dicantur.

8.4. The reading of the holy scriptures confers a twin gift, whether because it educates the intellect of the mind, or because it leads a man, withdrawn from the vanities of the world, to the love of God. For often, stirred by its discourse, we are drawn away from desire for worldly life, and, enkindled in the love of wisdom, the vain hope of this mortality grows cheap to us, in the degree that by reading the eternal hope has shone forth more brightly. 8.5. The study of reading is twin: first, how the scriptures are to be understood; second, with what utility or dignity they are spoken.

Erit enim antea quisque promptus ad intellegendum quae legit, sequenter idoneus ad proferendum quae dicit. 8.6. Lector strenuus potius ad implendum quae legit, quam ad sciendum erit promptissimus. Minor enim poena est nescire quid appetas, quam ea quae noueris non implere.

For indeed each person will beforehand be prompt for understanding what he reads, subsequently suitable for setting forth what he says. 8.6. A strenuous reader will be most prompt rather to fulfill what he reads than to know. For the lesser penalty is not to know what you seek, than not to fulfill the things which you have come to know.

Sicut enim legendo scire concupiscimus, sic sciendo, recta quae didicimus implere debemus.

For just as by reading we desire to know, so by knowing we ought to fulfill the right things which we have learned.

8.7. Lex Dei et praemium habet, et poenam legentibus eam. Praemium in eis qui eam bene uiuendo custodiunt; poenam uero qui eam male uiuendo contemnunt. 8.8. Omnis qui a praeceptis Dei discedit opere, quotiens eadem Dei praecepta legere uel audire potuerit, corde suo reprehensus confunditur, quia id quod non agit memoratur, et teste conscientia interius accusatur.

8.7. The Law of God has both a reward and a penalty for those reading it. The reward is for those who keep it by living well; but the penalty for those who, by living badly, contemn it. 8.8. Everyone who departs from the precepts of God in deed, whenever he is able to read or hear those same precepts of God, being reprehended in his heart is confounded, because that which he does not do is called to mind, and, with conscience as witness, he is accused within.

Vnde et Dauid propheta deprecatur dicens: Tunc non confundar, dum respicio in omnia mandata tua. Grauiter namque unusquisque confunditur, quando mandata Dei uel legendo uel audiendo respicit, quae uiuendo contemnit. Corde enim reprehenditur, dum mandatorum meditatione docetur, quia non impleuit opere, quod diuina didicit iussione.

Whence also the prophet David entreats, saying: Then I shall not be confounded, when I look upon all your commandments. For each person is grievously confounded when he regards the mandates of God, either by reading or by hearing, which he contemns by the way he lives. For he is reproved in heart, while by the meditation of the commandments he is taught that he has not fulfilled in deed what by divine injunction he learned.

VIIII. De adsiduitate legendi.

9. On the assiduity of reading.

9.1. Nemo potest sensum scripturae sanctae cognoscere, nisi legendi familiaritate, sicut scriptum est: Ama illam, et exaltabit te; glorificaberis ab ea cum eam fueris amplexatus. 9.2. Quanto quisque magis in sacris eloquiis adsiduus fuerit, tanto ex eis uberiorem intellegentiam capit; sicut terra, quae quanto amplius excolitur, tanto uberius fructificatur. 9.3. Quanto amplius ad quamlibet artem homo conscendit, tanto magis ad hominem ars ipsa descendit, sicut in lege scribitur: Moyses ascendit in montem, et Dominus descendit.

9.1. No one can know the sense of sacred scripture except by familiarity in reading, as it is written: Love her, and she will exalt you; you will be glorified by her when you shall have embraced her. 9.2. The more each person is assiduous in the sacred utterances, the more abundant an intelligence he takes from them; as the earth, which the more it is cultivated, the more abundantly it bears fruit. 9.3. The more a man ascends to any art, the more the art itself descends to the man, as it is written in the Law: Moses ascended the mountain, and the Lord descended.

9.4. Verum est de otio spiritali, quod ille tantum secreta diuinorum scrutabitur mandatorum, qui ab actione terrenae curae auocauerit animum, et sedula familiaritate scripturis sanctis inhaeserit. Nam sicut caecus et uidens potest quidem uterque ambulare, sed non consimili libertate, dum caecus pergens quo non uidet, offendat, uidens uero offendicula caueat, et quo sit pergendum agnoscat; sic et qui nubilo terrenae curae fuscatur, si temptet Dei perscrutare mysteria non ualet, quia caligine curarum non uidet. Quod ille tantundem efficere ualet, qui sese de exterioribus saeculi curis abstrahit, et totum scripturarum meditationi defigit.

9.4. It is true of spiritual leisure, that only he will scrutinize the secrets of the divine commandments who has called his mind away from the activity of earthly care, and has adhered to the holy scriptures with assiduous familiarity. For just as a blind man and a seeing man indeed can both walk, but not with like freedom, since the blind, proceeding where he does not see, stumbles, while the seeing one avoids stumbling-blocks and recognizes whither it is to proceed; so also he who is darkened by the cloudiness of earthly care, if he attempts to scrutinize the mysteries of God, is not able, because in the murk of cares he does not see. But he is able to effect the same thing, who withdraws himself from the external cares of the age, and fixes himself wholly upon the meditation of the scriptures.

9.5. Quidam habent intellegentiae ingenium, sed neglegunt lectionis studium; et quod legendo scire potuerunt, neglegendo contemnunt. Quidam uero amorem sciendi habent, sed tarditate sensus praepediuntur; qui tamen adsidua lectione sapiunt quod ingeniosi per desidiam non nouerunt. 9.6. Ingenio tardus, etsi non per naturam, per assiduitatem tamen lectionis augmentat.

9.5. Some have a genius of understanding, but they neglect the study of reading; and what they could have known by reading, they contemn through neglect. Some indeed have a love of knowing, but are impeded by tardity of sense; who nevertheless by assiduous reading come to wisdom in that which the ingenious, through sloth, have not known. 9.6. One slow in talent, even if not by nature, yet augments himself by the assiduity of reading.

Namquamuis sensus hebetudo sit, frequens tamen lectio intellegentiam adhibet.

For although there be dullness of sense, nevertheless frequent reading supplies intelligence.

9.7. Sicut qui tardus est ad capiendum, pro intentione tamen boni studii praemium percipit, ita qui praestitum sibi ex Deo ingenium intellegentiae neglegit, condemnationisreusexistit, quia donum quod accepit despicit, et per desidiam derelinquit. 9.8. Quidam Dei iudicio donum scientiae quod neglegunt accipiunt, ut durius de rebus creditis puniantur. Tardiores autem ideo quod scire cupiunt difficulter inueniunt, ut pro maximo exercitio laboris maximum praemium habeant retributionis.

9.7. Just as he who is slow to grasp nonetheless receives a reward in proportion to the intention of good study, so he who neglects the talent of understanding granted to him from God stands as guilty of condemnation, because he despises the gift which he received and abandons it through sloth. 9.8. Some, by God’s judgment, receive the gift of knowledge which they neglect, so that they may be punished more severely regarding the matters believed. But the slower sort, for this reason, find with difficulty what they long to know, so that for the very great exercise of labor they may have the greatest reward of retribution.

X. De doctrina sine gratia.

10. On doctrine without grace.

10.1-2. Doctrina sine adiuuante gratia, quamuis infundatur auribus, ad cor numquam descendit; foris quidem perstrepit, sed interius nihil proficit. Tunc autem Dei sermo infusus auribus ad cordis ultima peruenit, quando Dei gratia mentem interius, ut intellegat, tangit. Sicut enim quosdam flamma caritatis suae Deus inluminat ut uitaliter sapiant, ita quosdam frigidos torpentesque deserit ut sine sensu persistant.

10.1-2. Doctrine without aiding grace, although it be poured into the ears, never descends to the heart; outwardly indeed it makes a din, but inwardly it profits nothing. Then, however, the word of God, poured into the ears, reaches to the inmost depths of the heart, when the grace of God touches the mind within, that it may understand. Just as, indeed, God illuminates certain persons with the flame of his charity so that they may be wise vitally, so he deserts certain others frigid and torpid, that they may persist without sense.

10.3. Plerique in acumine intellegendi uiuaces existunt, sed loquendi inopia angustantur. Quidam uero in utrisque pollent, quia et sciendi copiam et dicendi efficaciam habent. XI. De superbis lectoribus.

10.3. Many appear vivacious in the acumen of understanding, but are straitened by a poverty of speaking. Some indeed are potent in both, since they have both a copiousness of knowing and an efficacy of speaking. 11. On proud readers.

11.1. Plerique scientiam acceptam scripturarum non ad Dei gloriam, sed ad suam laudem utuntur, dum ex ipsa scientia extolluntur, et ibi peccant ubi peccata mundare debuerunt. 11.2. Numquam consequuntur legendo perfectam scientiam adrogantes. Namquamuis sapientes in superficie uideantur, medullitus tamen ueritatis arcana non tangunt, quia superbiae nube praepediuntur.

11.1. Most use the received science of the Scriptures not for the glory of God, but for their own praise, while by that very science they are exalted, and there they sin where they ought to have cleansed sins. 11.2. The arrogant never attain by reading to a perfect science. For although they seem wise on the surface, yet to the very marrow they do not touch the arcana of truth, because they are hampered by the cloud of pride.

Semper enim superbi legunt, quaerunt et numquam inueniunt. 11.3. Diuinae legis penetrabilia humilibus et bene ad Deum intrantibus patent; prauis autem atque superbis clauduntur. Namquamuis diuina eloquia in lectione adrogantibus sint aperta, in mysterio autem clausa atque occulta sunt.

For the proud always read, seek, and never find. 11.3. The penetrable things of the divine law stand open to the humble and to those who enter well unto God; but to the perverse and the proud they are shut. For although the divine oracles are open in the reading to the arrogant, yet in the mystery they are closed and hidden.

11.4. Dum sermo Dei fidelibus lux sit, reprobis autem ac superbis quodammodo tenebrescit; et unde illi inluminantur, inde isti caecantur. XII. De carnalibus lectoribus et hereticis.

11.4. While the word of God is light for the faithful, but for the reprobate and the proud it is in a certain manner darkened; and whence those are enlightened, thence these are blinded. 12. On carnal readers and heretics.

12.1-2. Nequaquam legem intellegit qui carnaliter uerba legis percurrit, sed is qui eam sensu interioris intellegentiae praespicit. Namqui litteram legis intendunt, eius occulta penetrare non possunt. Multi enim, non intellegendo spiritaliter scripturas, nec eas recte sentiendo, in heresim deuoluti sunt atque in multis erroribus defluxerunt.

12.1-2. By no means does he understand the law who runs through the words of the law carnally, but rather the one who apprehends it by the sense of interior intelligence. For those who fix upon the letter of the law cannot penetrate its occult things. For many, by not understanding the Scriptures spiritually, nor perceiving them rightly, have been rolled down into heresy and have flowed away into many errors.

12.3. In solis fidelibus religata est lex, testante Domino per prophetam: Signa testimonium, signa legem in discipulis meis, ne eam aul iudaeus intellegat, aut hereticus quia non est Christi discipulus; unitatem quippe pacis quam Christus docuit non sequuntur, de qua idem Dominus dicit: In hoc cognoscent quia mei discipuli estis, si dilectionem inter uos habueritis. 12.4. Scripturas heretici sano sensu non sapiunt, sed eas ad errorem prauae intellegentiae ducunt; neque semetipsos earum sensibus subdunt, sed eas peruerse ad errorem proprium pertrahunt. 12.5. Doctores errorum prauis persuasionibus ita per argumenta fraudulentiae inligant auditores, ut eos quasi in laberinto inplicent, a quo exire uix ualent.

12.3. In the faithful alone is the Law bound, the Lord bearing witness through the prophet: “Bind up the testimony, seal the Law among my disciples, lest a Jew understand it, or a heretic, since he is not a disciple of Christ”; for they do not follow the unity of peace which Christ taught, about which the same Lord says: “By this they will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.” 12.4. Heretics do not savor the Scriptures with sound sense, but lead them into the error of a crooked understanding; nor do they subject themselves to their meanings, but perversely drag them to their own error. 12.5. The teachers of errors, by perverse persuasions, so through arguments of fraudulence enchain their hearers that they entangle them as if in a labyrinth, from which they are scarcely able to exit.

12.6. Tantaest hereticorum calliditas ut falsa ueris malaque bonis permisceant, salutaribusque rebus plerumque erroris sui uirus interserant, quo facilius possint prauitatem peruersi dogmatis sub specie persuadere ueritatis. 12.7. Plerumque sub nomine catholicorum doctorum heretici sua dicta conscribunt, ut indubitanter lecta credantur. Nonnumquam etiam blasphemias suas latenti dolo in libris nostrorum inserunt doctrinamque ueram adulterando corrumpunt, scilicet uel adiciendo quae impia sunt, uel auferendo quae pia sunt.

12.6. So great is the cunning of the heretics that they commix false things with true and evils with goods, and for the most part intersperse the virus of their error into salutary matters, whereby they may more easily persuade the depravity of a perverse dogma under the appearance of truth. 12.7. For the most part under the name of catholic doctors the heretics compose their own sayings, so that, when read, they may be believed indubitably. Sometimes also they insert their blasphemies with latent guile into the books of our people and, by adulterating, corrupt the true doctrine—namely, either by adding things which are impious, or by taking away things which are pious.

12.8. Caute meditanda cautoque sensu probanda sunt quae leguntur, ut iuxta apostolica monita et teneamus quae recta sunt, et refutemus quae contraria ueritatis existunt, sicque in bonis instruamur ut amalisinlaesi permaneamus.

12.8. The things that are read are to be meditated on cautiously and approved with a cautious sense, so that, according to the apostolic admonitions, we may both hold what is right and refute what stands contrary to the truth, and thus be instructed in good things, that we may remain unharmed from evils.

XIII. De libris gentilium. 13.1. Ideo prohibetur christianus figmenta legere poetarum quia per oblectamenta inanium fabularum mentem excitant ad incentiua libidinum.

13. On the books of the gentiles. 13.1. Therefore the Christian is prohibited to read the figments of the poets, because through the delights of empty fables they stir the mind to incentives of lusts.

Non enim solum tura offerendo daemonibus immolatur, sed etiam eorum dicta libentius capiendo. 13.2. Quidam plus meditare delectantur gentilium dicta propter tumentem et ornatum sermonem, quam scripturam sanctam propter eloquium humile. Sed quid prodest in mundanis doctrinis proficere, et inanescere in diuinis; caduca sequi figmenta et caelestia fastidire mysteria?

For one sacrifices to the demons not only by offering incense, but also by more readily taking up their dicta. 13.2. Some take greater delight to meditate the dicta of the Gentiles on account of the tumid and ornate speech, than [to meditate] holy Scripture on account of its humble elocution. But what does it profit to make progress in mundane doctrines and to become inane in divine things; to follow perishable figments and to disdain heavenly mysteries?

Cauendi sunt igitur tales libri, et propter amorem sanctarum scripturarum uitandi.

Therefore such books are to be guarded against, and to be avoided for the love of the holy scriptures.

13.3-4. Gentilium dicta exterius uerborum eloquentia nitent, interius uacua uirtutis sapientia manent; eloquia autem sacra exterius incompta uerbis apparent, intrinsecus autem mysteriorum sapientia fulgent. Vnde et apostolus: Habemus, inquit, thesaurum istud in uasis fictilibus. Sermo quippe Dei occultum habet fulgorem sapientiae et ueritatis repositum in uerborum uilissimis uasculis.

13.3-4. The dicta of the Gentiles shine outwardly with the eloquence of words, inwardly they remain empty of the sapience of virtue; but the sacred oracles appear outwardly unadorned in words, yet inwardly they gleam with the sapience of mysteries. Whence also the apostle: We have, he says, this treasure in earthen vessels. The discourse of God, for its part, has an occult splendor of sapience and truth laid up in the very cheapest little vessels of words.

13.5. Ideo libri sancti simplici sermone conscripti sunt, ut non in sapientia uerbi, sed in ostensione spiritus, homines ad fidem perducerentur. Namsi dialectici acuminis uersutia, aut rhetoricae artis eloquentia editi essent, nequaquam putaretur fides Christi in Dei uirtute, sed in eloquentiae humanae argumentis consistere; nec quemquam crederemus ad fidem diuino inspiramine prouocari, sed potius uerborum calliditate seduci. 13.6. Omnis saecularis doctrina spumantibus uerbis resonans, ac se per eloquentiae tumorem adtollens, per doctrinam simplicem et humilem christianam euacuata est, sicut scriptum est: Nonne stultam fecit Deus sapientiam huius mundi?

13.5. Therefore the holy books were written in simple speech, so that not in the wisdom of word, but in the demonstration of the Spirit, men might be led to faith. For if they had been issued with the craftiness of dialectic acumen, or the eloquence of the rhetorical art, the faith of Christ would by no means be thought to consist in the power of God, but in the arguments of human eloquence; nor would we believe anyone to be called to faith by divine inspiration, but rather to be seduced by the cleverness of words. 13.6. Every secular doctrine, resounding with foaming words and lifting itself up by the swelling of eloquence, has been emptied out by the simple and humble Christian doctrine, as it is written: Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

13.7. Fastidiosis atque loquacibus scripturae sanctae minus propter sermonem simplicem placent; gentili enim eloquentiae conparata uidetur illis indigna. Quod si animo humili mysteria eius intendant, confestim aduertunt quantum excelsa sunt quae in illis despiciunt. 13.8. In lectione non uerba sed ueritas est amanda.

13.7. To the fastidious and the loquacious, the holy Scriptures please less on account of their simple discourse; for, compared with gentile eloquence, they seem to them unworthy. But if with a humble mind they attend to its mysteries, they immediately perceive how exalted are the things which they despise in them. 13.8. In reading, it is not words but truth that is to be loved.

Saepe autem repperitur simplicitas ueridica, et conposita falsitas quae hominem suis erroribus inlicit et per linguae ornamenta laqueos dulces adspargit. 13.9. Nihil aliud agit amor mundanae scientiae, nisi extollere laudibus hominem. Namquanto maiora fuerint litteraturae studia, tanto animus arrogantiae fastu inflatus, maiore intumescit iactantia.

Often, however, veridical simplicity is found, and a composed falsity which entices a man by its own errors and, through the ornaments of the tongue, sprinkles sweet snares. 13.9. The love of mundane science does nothing else except to exalt man with praises. For the greater the studies of literature have been, the more the mind, inflated with the haughtiness of arrogance, swells with greater jactancy.

Vnde et hene psalmus ait: Quia non cognoui litteraturam, introibo in potentias Domini.

Whence also the psalm well says: Because I have not known literature, I shall enter into the powers of the Lord.

13.10. Simplicioribus litteris non est proponendus fucus grammaticae artis. Meliores sunt enim communes litterae, quia simpliciores, et ad solam humilitatem legentium pertinentes; illae uero nequiores quia ingerunt hominibus perniciosam mentis elationem. 13.11. Meliores esse grammaticos quam hereticos; heretici enim haustum letiferi sucus hominibus persuadendo propinant; grammaticorum autem doctrina potest etiam proficere ad uitam, dum fuerit in meliores usus adsumpta.

13.10. The cosmetic of the grammatical art is not to be set before the more simple letters. For the common letters are better, because they are simpler and pertain solely to the humility of readers; but those are worse, because they thrust upon men a pernicious elation of mind. 13.11. Grammarians are better than heretics; for heretics, by persuading, proffer to men a draught of lethal juice; but the doctrine of grammarians can even profit unto life, provided it has been taken up for better uses.

XIIII. De conlatione.

14. On the Collation.

14.1. Cum sit utilis ad instruendum lectio, adhibita autem conlatione maiorem intellegentiam praebet; melius est enim conferre quam legere. 14.2. Conlatio docibilitatem facit; nam propositis interrogationibus cunctatio rerum excluditur, et saepe obiectionibus latens ueritas adprobatur. Quod enim obscurum est aut dubium, conferendo cito perspicitur.

14.1. Since reading is useful for instructing, yet when collation is applied it provides greater understanding; for it is better to collate (compare) than to read. 14.2. Collation makes teachability; for, with questions set forth, hesitation about matters is excluded, and often by objections the lurking truth is approved (proved). For what is obscure or doubtful, by comparing is quickly clearly perceived.

14.3. Multum prosunt in conlatione figurae. Res enim quae minus per se aduertuntur, per conparationem rerum facile capiuntur. Namsaepe sub specie alia scripturae diuinae spiritales causas insinuant; et nisi per aliqua euidenti ostensione, uix apparent occulta legis mysteria.

14.3. Figures are of much use in collation. For things which are less adverted to in themselves are easily grasped through the comparison of things. Oftentimes, under another appearance, the divine Scriptures insinuate spiritual causes; and, unless by some evident ostension, the hidden mysteries of the Law scarcely appear.

14.4. Sicut instruere solet conlatio, ita contentio destruit. Haec enim, relicto sensu ueritatis, lites generat et, pugnando uerbis, etiam in Deum blasphemiam. Inde haereses et scisma, quibus subuertitur fides, ueritas corrumpitur, scinditur caritas.

14.4. Just as comparison is wont to instruct, so contention destroys. For this, with the sense of truth left behind, generates quarrels and, by fighting with words, even blasphemy against God. From this come heresies and schism, by which faith is subverted, truth is corrupted, charity is rent.

14.5. Contentiosorum studium non pro ueritate sed pro appetitu laudis certatur, tantaque est in his peruersitas, ut ueritati cedere nesciant, ipsamque rectam doctrinam euacuare contendant. 14.6. In disputatione fidelium cauenda est propositionum artificiosa subtilitas, quae callidis obiectionibus retia tendit; ita enim uersutis adsertionibus prauorum disputatio innodatur, ut recta esse simulent quae peruersa persuadent.

14.5. The zeal of the contentious is contested not for truth but for an appetite for praise, and so great is the perversity in them that they do not know how to yield to truth, and they strive to evacuate even the right doctrine. 14.6. In the disputation of the faithful the artful subtlety of propositions is to be avoided, which with crafty objections spreads nets; for thus by wily assertions the disputation of the depraved is entangled, so that they make to seem straight the things which they persuade are perverse.

14.7. Lectio memoriae auxilium eget; quod si fuerit naturaliter tardior, frequenti tamen meditatione acuitur ac legendi adsiduitate collegitur. 14.8. Saepe prolixa lectio longitudinis causa memoriam legentis oblitterat. Quod si breuis sit, submotoque libro sententia retractetur in animo, tunc sine labore legitur, et ea quae lecta sunt recolendo memoria minime exciduntur.

14.7. Reading needs the aid of memory; and if it be naturally slower, nevertheless by frequent meditation it is sharpened and by the assiduity of reading it is gathered. 14.8. Often a prolix reading, by reason of its length, obliterates the reader’s memory. But if it be brief, and, the book set aside, the sense be reconsidered in the mind, then it is read without labor, and the things that have been read, by recollecting them, are not at all lost from memory.

14.9. Acceptabilior est sensibus lectio tacita quam aperta; amplius enim intellectus instruitur quando uox legentis quiescit et sub silentio lingua mouetur. Namclare legendo et corpus lassatur et uocis acumen obtunditur.

14.9. A silent reading is more acceptable to the senses than an open one; for the intellect is more amply instructed when the reader’s voice rests and under silence the tongue is moved. For by reading aloud both the body grows weary and the keenness of the voice is blunted.

XV. De contemplatione et actione. 15.1. Actiua uita innocentia est operum bonorum, contemplatiua speculatio supernorum; illa communis multorum est, ista uero paucorum. 15.2. Actiua uita mundanis rebus bene utitur, contemplatiua uero mundo renuntians, soli Deo uiuere delectatur.

15. On contemplation and action. 15.1. The active life is the innocence of good works, the contemplative the speculation of supernal things; that one is common to many, this indeed to few. 15.2. The active life makes good use of worldly things, but the contemplative, renouncing the world, takes delight in living for God alone.

15.3a. Qui prius in actiua uita proficit, ad contemplationem bene conscendit. Merito enim in ista sustollitur, qui in illa utilis inuenitur. 15.3b-4. Quicumque adhuc temporalem gloriam, aut carnalem adfectat concupiscentiam, a contemplatione prohibetur, ut positus in actualis uitae operatione purgetur.

15.3a. He who first makes progress in the active life ascends well to contemplation. For deservedly he is lifted up into this who is found useful in that. 15.3b-4. Whoever still seeks temporal glory, or aims at carnal concupiscence, is prohibited from contemplation, so that, being set in the operation of the active life, he may be purged.

In ista enim prius per exercitium boni operis cuncta exhaurienda sunt uitia, ut in illa iam pura mentis acie ad contemplandum Deum quisque pertranseat. Et licet conuersus statim ad contemplationem conscendere cupiat, tamen ratione cogitur ut prius in actiuae uitae operatione uersetur. Exemplum enim actiuae et contemplatiuae uitae de Iacob sume qui dum ad Rachel, hoc est ad uisum principium, destinaret quae contemplationem significat, Lia illi, hoc est laboriosa uita, subponitur quae actiuam demonstrat.

For in this one, first, through the exercise of good work, all vices must be drained away, so that in that one, with the now pure edge of the mind, each person may pass over to contemplate God. And although, once converted, he may at once desire to climb to contemplation, nevertheless he is compelled by reason first to be engaged in the operation of the active life. For take an example of the active and the contemplative life from Jacob: while he was aiming at Rachel, that is, at the principle of vision, which signifies contemplation, Leah is put in place for him, that is, the toilsome life, which demonstrates the active.

15.5. Sicut sepultus ab omni negotio terreno priuatur, ita et contemplatione uacans ab omni occupatione actuali auertitur. Et sicut ab actuali uita conscendentes in contemplationis quiete sepeliuntur, ita ab actione saeculi recedentes eos uita actiua in se quasi sepeliendo suscipit; ac per hoc uitae mundanae actiua uita et uitae actiuae contemplatiua sepulchrum est.

15.5. Just as one buried is deprived of all earthly business, so also one free for contemplation is turned away from all active occupation. And just as, ascending from the active life, they are buried in the quiet of contemplation, so, withdrawing from the action of the world, the active life receives them into itself as if by burying; and through this the active life is a tomb of worldly life, and the contemplative [life] is a tomb of the active life.

15.6. Viri sancti, sicut a secreto contemplationis egrediuntur ad publicum actionis, ita rursus ab actionis manifesto ad secretum contemplationis intimae reuertuntur, ut intus Deum laudent, ubi acceperunt unde foris ad eius gloriam operantur. 15.7. Sicut aquilae moris est semper oculum in radium solis infigere nec deflectere, nisi escae solius obtentu, ita et sancti a contemplatione ad actualem uitam interdum reflectuntur considerantes illa summa sic esse utilia ut tamen ista humilia sint paululum nostrae indigentiae necessaria. 15.8. In actiuae uitae genere humana intentio perseueranter incedit; in contemplatione autem sese per interualla resumit, quia diuturnitate contemplandi lassatur.

15.6. Holy men, just as they go out from the secret of contemplation to the public of action, so in turn from the manifest of action they return to the secret of inmost contemplation, that within they may praise God, where they received that whence outside they work unto his glory. 15.7. As it is the custom of the eagle always to fix its eye on the ray of the sun and not to turn aside, unless by the lure of food alone, so also the saints are sometimes bent back from contemplation to the active life, considering that those highest things are thus useful, yet these lowly things are a little necessary to our indigence. 15.8. In the kind of active life human intention proceeds perseveringly; but in contemplation it resumes itself by intervals, because by the long duration of contemplating it grows weary.

15.9. Visio animalium in Ezechielo quae ibant et non reuertebantur pertinet ad uitae actiuae perseuerantiam; et iterum ea animalia quae ibant et reuertebantur pertinent ad contemplatiuae uitae mensuram, in qua dum quisque intenderit, sua reuerberatus infirmitate reflectitur; atque iterum renouata intentione, ad ea unde descenderat rursus erigitur. Quod fieri in actiua uita non potest, de qua si quisque reflectat, uel ad modicum, statim uitiorum excipitur luxu. 15.10. Oculum dextrum scandalizantem quem euelli Dominus praecepit, uita contemplatiua est.

15.9. The vision of the animals in Ezekiel which were going and did not turn back pertains to the perseverance of the active life; and again those animals which were going and turning back pertain to the measure of the contemplative life, in which, while anyone strains, he is beaten back by his own infirmity and bent back; and again, with intention renewed, he is raised up once more to those things from which he had descended. Which cannot happen in the active life, from which, if anyone draws back, even a little, he is immediately caught by the luxury of vices. 15.10. The right eye causing scandal, which the Lord commanded to be plucked out, is the contemplative life.

Duo oculi in facie, actiua uita et contemplatiua in homine. Qui igitur per contemplationem docebit errorem, melius si euellit contemplationis oculum, seruans sibi unum uitae actualis obtutum, ut sit utilius illi per simplicem actionem ire ad uitam, quam per contemplationis errorem mitti in gehennam. 15.11. Saepe mens ad summa ab imis erigitur, et saepe a summis ad infima pondere carnis inclinata reflectitur.

Two eyes in the face: the active life and the contemplative in man. Therefore he who through contemplation will teach error, it is better if he plucks out the eye of contemplation, keeping for himself one gaze of the active life, so that it may be more profitable for him to go to life by simple action than to be sent into Gehenna through the error of contemplation. 15.11. Often the mind is raised to the highest from the lowest, and often from the highest to the lowest it is bent back, inclined by the weight of the flesh.

15.12. Multos Deus ex carnalibus sua gratia uisitat, et ad contemplationis fastigium eleuat. Multosque a contemplatione iusto iudicio deserit et lapsos in terrenis operibus derelinquit. XVI.

15.12. God visits many of the carnal by his grace, and elevates them to the fastigium of contemplation. And many also he deserts from contemplation by a just judgment, and, fallen, he leaves them in terrene works. 16.

De contemptoribus mundi. 16.1. Ea quae saeculi amatoribus cara sunt, sancti uelut aduersa refugiunt, plusque aduersitatibus mundi gaudent quam prosperitatibus delectantur.

On the despisers of the world. 16.1. The things which are dear to the lovers of the age, the holy shun as if adverse, and they rejoice more in the adversities of the world than they are delighted by prosperities.

16.2. Alienos esse a Deo quibus hoc saeculum ad omne commodum prosperatur. Seruis autem Dei cuncta huius mundi contraria sunt, ut dum ista aduersa sentiunt, ad caeleste desiderium ardentius excitentur. 16.3. Magna apud Deum refulget gratia, qui huic mundo contemptibilis fuerit.

16.2. Those are alien from God, for whom this age is prospered to every advantage. But for the Servants of God all things of this world are contrary, so that, while they experience these adversities, they are stirred more ardently to celestial desire. 16.3. Great grace shines forth with God for the one who has been contemptible to this world.

Namreuera necesse est ut quem mundus odit diligatur a Deo. 16.4. Sanctos uiros in hoc saeculo peregrinos esse et hospites; unde et reprehenditur Petrus quod tabernaculum in monte fieri cogitauit, quia sanctis in hoc mundo tabernaculum non est, quibus patria et domus in caelo est.

Indeed it is necessary that he whom the world hates be loved by God. 16.4. That holy men in this age are pilgrims and sojourners; whence also Peter is reproved because he thought that a tabernacle should be made on the mountain, because for the saints in this world there is no tabernacle, for whom fatherland and home are in heaven.

16.5. Sancti uiri ideo contemnere cupiunt mundum, et motum mentis ad superna reuocare, ut ibi se recolligant unde defluxerunt, et inde se subtrahant ubi dispersi sunt. 16.6. Iusti qui rebus honoribusque ac uitae blandimentis renuntiant, proinde se ab omni terrena possessione mortificant, ut Deo uiuant; ideoque saeculi huius blanditias calcant, ut ualidiores ad uitam illam de huius uitae mortificatione consurgant. Cuncta quippe temporalia, quasi herbae uirentes, arescunt et transeunt, ideoque pro aeternis rebus, quae numquam arescunt, recte ista Dei seruus contemnit, quia in eis stabilitatem non aspicit.

16.5. Holy men therefore desire to contemn the world, and to call back the motion of the mind to the things above, so that there they may re-collect themselves whence they have flowed down, and from there withdraw themselves from where they have been dispersed. 16.6. The just, who renounce things and honors and the blandishments of life, accordingly mortify themselves from every earthly possession, that they may live to God; and therefore they trample the blandishments of this age, that they may arise stronger to that life from the mortification of this life. For all temporal things, as if green herbs, dry up and pass away; and therefore, for the sake of eternal things, which never dry up, the servant of God rightly contemns these things, because in them he beholds no stability.

16.7. Qui post renuntiationem mundi ad supernam patriam sanctis desideriis inhiat, ab hac terrena intentione quasi quibusdam pinnis subleuatus erigitur, et in quo lapsus erat per gemitum conspicit et ubi peruenerit cum gaudio magno intendit. Qui uero, a contemplationis requie reflexus, in curis huius saeculi incidit, si ad memoriam sui reuertatur, protinus ingemiscit, quantumque fuerint tranquilla quae perdidit,et quam confusa sint in quibus cecidit, ex ipsa laboris sui difficultate cognoscit. Quid enim in hac uita laboriosius quam terrenis desideriis aestuare?

16.7. He who, after the renunciation of the world, yearns toward the supernal fatherland with holy desires, from this terrene intention, as if by certain pinions, is uplifted and raised, and he beholds through his groaning that into which he had fallen, and with great joy he aims toward where he has arrived. But he who, bent back from the repose of contemplation, falls into the cares of this age, if he returns to the remembrance of himself, straightway he groans, and how tranquil were the things which he lost,et how confused are the things into which he fell, he recognizes from the very difficulty of his toil. For what, indeed, is more laborious in this life than to seethe with earthly desires?

Aut quid hic securius quam huius saeculi nihil adpetere? Qui enim hunc mundum diligunt, turbulentis eius curis et sollicitudinibus conturbantur. Qui autem eum odiunt nec sequuntur, internae quietis tranquillitate fruentes, futurae pacis requiem, quam illuc expectant, hic quodammodo habere iam inchoant.

Or what is safer here than to seek nothing of this age? For those who love this world are disturbed by its turbulent cares and solicitudes. But those who hate it and do not follow it, enjoying the tranquility of inner quiet, in a certain manner here already begin to have the rest of the future peace which they expect there.

XVII. De sanctis qui se a consortio saeculi separant. 17.1. Sancti uiri funditus saeculo renuntiantes ita huic mundo moriuntur ut soli Deo uiuere delectentur; quantoque ab huius saeculi conuersatione se subtrahunt, tanto internae mentis acie praesentiam Dei et angelicae societatis frequentiam contemplantur.

17. On the saints who separate themselves from the fellowship of the world. 17.1. Holy men, utterly renouncing the age, so die to this world that they take delight in living to God alone; and the more they withdraw from the way of life of this age, by the keen edge of the inner mind they contemplate the presence of God and the frequent company of the angelic society.

17.2. Malorum tam praua sunt opera manifesta, ut hii qui supernam patriam desiderant, non solum mores eorum, sed et consortia fugiant. Quidam etiam corporaliter separari desiderant ab iniquis, ut eorum non inuoluantur delictis. Nonnulli, etsi non corporali discessu, spiritali tamen ab eis intentione recedunt; qui etsi communes sunt conuersatione, discreti tamen sunt corde uel opere; et licet saepe in medio carnalium uitam Deus protegat electorum, tamen satis rarum est ut quisquis inter saeculi uoluptates positus a uitiis maneat inlibatus, in quibus etsi non cito inplicetur, aliquando tamen adtrahitur.

17.2. The works of the evil are so perverse and manifest, that those who desire the supernal fatherland flee not only their mores but also their consortia. Certain even desire to be separated corporally from the iniquitous, lest they be entangled in their delicts. Some, although not by a bodily departure, yet withdraw from them by a spiritual intention; who, although they are common in conversation, are nevertheless discrete in heart or in deed. And although God often protects the life of the elect in the midst of carnal people, nevertheless it is quite rare that anyone placed among the pleasures of this age remains inviolate from vices; in which, even if he is not quickly entangled, yet at some time he is drawn in.

Neque enim diu tutus esse poterit, qui periculo proximus fuerit.

For indeed he will not be able to be safe for long, who has been proximate to peril.

17.3. Via sine offendiculo, uita monachi sine cupiditatis et timoris inpedimento. Dum enim quisque a consortio mundi abstrahitur, nec cupiditas eum obligat consentientem, nec cruciat sentientem. 17.4. Bonum est corporaliter remotum esse a mundo, sed multo est melius uoluntate; utrumque uero perfecte.

17.3. A way without a stumbling-block is the life of a monk without the impediment of cupidity and fear. For while each person is drawn away from the association of the world, neither does cupidity bind him in consenting, nor torment him in feeling. 17.4. It is good to be corporally removed from the world, but much better by will; yet both, indeed, perfectly.

Ille ergo perfectus est, qui huic saeculo et corpore et corde discretus est. 17.5. Onager, ut ait Iob, contemnit ciuitatem, et monachi communem saecularium ciuium conuersationem. Hii aduersa uitae nostrae appetunt, prospera contemnunt, ut, dum ab eis haec uita despicitur, futura inueniatur.

Therefore, he is perfect who is separated from this age both in body and in heart. 17.5. The onager, as Job says, despises the city, and monks [despise] the common conversation of secular citizens. These seek the adversities of our life, they scorn prosperities, so that, while this life is looked down upon by them, the future is found.

XVIII. De praeceptis altioribus monachorum. 18.1. Alia sunt praecepta quae dantur fidelibus communem in saeculo uitam degentibus, atque alia saeculo huic renuntiantibus.

18. On the higher precepts of monks. 18.1. There are precepts given to the faithful living a common life in the world, and others to those renouncing this world.

Illis enim dicitur ut sua omnia bene gerant, istis ut sua omnia derelinquant. Illi praeceptis generalibus adstringuntur, isti praecepta generalia perfectius uiuendo transcendunt. 18.2. Ad perfectum non sufficit nisi, abnegatis omnibus suis, etiam seipsum quisque abneget; sed quid est seipsum abnegare, nisi uoluptatibus propriis renuntiare?

For to those it is said that they should manage all their own affairs well; to these, that they should abandon all their own things. Those are constrained by general precepts; these, by living more perfectly, transcend the general precepts. 18.2. To reach the perfect, it does not suffice unless, all their own things having been denied, each one also deny himself; but what is it to deny oneself, if not to renounce one’s own pleasures?

ut qui superbus erat sit humilis, qui iracundus est esse studeat mansuetus. Namsi ita quisque renuntiet quibus possidet omnibus, ut suis non renuntiet moribus, non est Christi discipulus. Qui enim renuntiat rebus suis, sua abnegat; qui uero renuntiat moribus prauis, semetipsum scilicet abnegat.

so that he who was proud may be humble, he who is irascible should strive to be meek. For if anyone thus renounces all that he possesses, yet does not renounce his own mores, he is not a disciple of Christ. For he who renounces his own things abnegates what is his; but he who renounces depraved mores, clearly abnegates himself.

Vnde et Dominus: Qui uult, inquit, post me uenire, abneget semetipsum.

Whence also the Lord: “Whoever wills,” he says, “to come after me, let him deny himself.”

XVIIII. De tepore monachorum. 20.1-2. Qui non rigida intentione monachi professionem sectantur, quanto superni amoris propositum dissolute appetunt, tanto procliuius ad mundi amorem denuo reducuntur.

19. On the tepidity of monks. 20.1-2. Those who do not follow the profession of a monk with a rigid intention, the more loosely they desire the purpose of supernal love, by so much the more readily are led back anew to the love of the world.

Namprofessio non perfecta praesentis uitae repetit desideria; in quibus etsi nondum se monachus alliget opere, iam tamen alligat cogitationis amore. Longe quippe a Deo est animus cuius haec adhuc uita dulcis est; iste enim quid de supernis appetat, quid de infimis fugiat nescit. Namsicut scriptum est: Qui adponit scientiam adponit dolorem.

For the profession not perfected calls back the desires of the present life; in which, although the monk does not yet bind himself by work, yet already he binds himself by the love of cogitation. For far indeed from God is the mind to which this life is still sweet; for such a one knows not what he should appetite from the supernal things, nor what he should flee from the things lowest. For, as it is written: He who adds knowledge adds sorrow.

Quantum enim quisque potuerit superna scire quae appetat, tanto de infimis acrius quibus inhaeret dolere debet. Propter hoc enim et lacobus apostolus dicit: Miseri estote, lugete et plorate; risus uester in luctum conuertatur et gaudium in maerorem. Hinc etiam Dominus: Beati qui lugent, quoniam ipsi consolabuntur; et rursus: Vae uobis qui ridetis, quoniam flebitis.

For the more each person is able to know the supernal things that he desires, by so much the more sharply ought he to grieve over the inferior things to which he clings. For this reason the apostle James also says: Be wretched, mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into sorrow. Hence also the Lord: Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted; and again: Woe to you who laugh, for you shall weep.

20.3. Qui ad hoc conuersionem sanctitatis praetendit, ut aliis quandoque praeesse desideret, iste non discipulus Christi, sed prauitatis sectator existit, quia non pro Deo, sed pro saeculi honore portare studet crucis Christi laborem.

20.3. He who pretends a conversion to sanctity for this purpose, namely that he may at some time desire to preside over others, is not a disciple of Christ but a follower of pravity, because he strives to carry the labor of the cross of Christ not for God, but for the honor of the world.

XX. De humilitate monachi vel opere. 19.1. Summa uirtus monachi humilitas, summum uitium eius superbia est. Tunc autem se quisque monachum iudicet, quando se minimum existimauerit, etiam cum maiora uirtutum opera gesserit.

20. On the monk’s humility or on work. 19.1. The highest virtue of the monk is humility, his highest vice is pride. Then, however, let each one judge himself a monk when he has esteemed himself the least, even when he has carried out greater works of virtue.

19.2. Qui mundum deserunt, et tamen uirtutes praeceptorum sine cordis humilitate sequuntur, isti quasi de excelso grauius corruunt, quia deterius per uirtutum elationem deiciuntur quam per uitia prolabi potuerunt.

19.2. Those who desert the world, and yet follow the virtues of the precepts without humility of heart, these, as if from a height, fall the more grievously, because they are cast down worse through the elation of virtues than they could have slipped through vices.

19.3a. Omnis Dei seruus de suis meritis non debet adtolli, dum posse uideat ex inferioribus sibi praelatiores alios fieri. Nouerit autem se omnis sanctus alterius non praeponere sanctitati. 19.3b. Semper conscientia serui Dei humilis esse debet et tristis, scilicet ut per humilitatem non superbiat, et per utilem maerorem cor ad lasciuiam non dissoluat.

19.3a. Every servant of God ought not to be exalted on account of his own merits, when he sees that from those lower than himself others can be made to be preferred over him. Moreover, let every holy person know not to set himself before another’s sanctity. 19.3b. The conscience of the servant of God ought always to be humble and sad, namely, that through humility he not become proud, and through useful grief he not dissolve his heart into lasciviousness.

19.4. Dei seruus dum bonum aliquod opus agit, utrum ei ad boni remunerationem pertineat quae facit, incertus est, ne forte discussione caelestis iudicisreuspensetur, et in his quae Dei sunt neglegenter aut superbe aliquid operasse inueniatur. Ideoque pro hoc ipsud tristis maerensque efficitur, atque indesinenter turbatur, reminiscens procul dubio scriptum esse: Maledictus qui facit opus Domini neglegenter. Namueraciter condemnamur, si per torporem ea quae bona sunt agimus.

19.4. While the servant of God does some good work, he is uncertain whether what he does pertains to the remuneration of good, lest perhaps, upon the scrutiny of the celestial Judge, he be reckoned as a defendant, and be found to have wrought something negligently or arrogantly in the things that are God’s. And therefore for this very thing he becomes sad and grieving, and is incessantly troubled, recalling without doubt that it is written: “Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord negligently.” For truly we are condemned, if through torpor we perform the things that are good.

19.5. Dei seruum sine intermissione legere, orare et operare oportet, ne forte mentem otio deditam spiritus fornicationis subripiat. Cedit enim labori uoluptas, animum autem uacantem cito praeoccupat. Contuere Salomonem per otium multis fornicationibus inuolutum, et per fornicationis uitia usque in idolatriam lapsum.

19.5. It behooves the servant of God without intermission to read, to pray, and to work, lest perhaps the spirit of fornication steal upon a mind given over to idleness. For pleasure yields to labor, but it quickly preoccupies an idle mind. Consider Solomon, through idleness entangled in many fornications, and through the vices of fornication fallen even into idolatry.

XXI. De monachis qui curis saeculi occupantur. 21.1a. Hii qui pro Dei timore saeculo renuntiant, et tamen curis rerum familiarium inplicantur, quanto se rerum studiis occupant, tanto diuinae se ipsos subtrahunt caritati.

21. On monks who are occupied with the cares of the secular world. 21.1a. Those who, for fear of God, renounce the secular world, and yet are entangled in the cares of household affairs, the more they busy themselves with the pursuits of things, the more they withdraw themselves from divine charity.

21.1b. Qui simul et terrenis parere curis et diuinis exercere student, utrumque conplectere simul non ualent; nam duas curas pariter inesse pectori humano non posse, et duobus seruientem dominis uni placere difficile esse. 21.2. Nisi prius a secretioribus cordis expellatur inportuna saecularium multitudo curarum, anima, quae intrinsecus iacet, nequaquam resurget. Namdum se per innumeras saeculi cogitationes aspargit, ad considerationem sui se nullatenus collegit.

21.1b. Those who at once are eager both to obey terrene cares and to exercise divine things are not able to embrace both together; for two cares cannot alike inhabit the human breast, and one serving two masters finds it difficult to please one. 21.2. Unless first from the more secret places of the heart the importunate multitude of secular cares be expelled, the soul, which lies within, will by no means rise again. For while it scatters itself through the innumerable thoughts of the age, it by no means gathers itself to the consideration of itself.

21.3. Arguitur eorum tepor qui, Deo uacare uolentes, et mundo renuntiant et curas proprias aspernantur, sed dum propinquorum utilitates procurant, a Dei amore se separant.

21.3. The tepidity of those is reproved who, wishing to be free for God, both renounce the world and spurn their own cares; but while they procure the advantages of their kinsfolk, they separate themselves from the love of God.

21.4. Vir spiritalis ita prodesse debet suae propinquitatis, ut, dum illis gratiam carnis praestare studet, ipse ab spiritali proposito non declinet. Multi enim monachorum amore parentum non solum terrenis curis, sed etiam forensibus iurgiis inuoluti sunt, et pro suorum temporali salute suas animas perdiderunt. 21.5. Interdum ordinata discretio est, dum negatur parenti quod praestatur extraneo, ut noueris non prohibere pietatis officium, sed negare carnalitatis affectum.

21.4. A spiritual man ought so to be of benefit to his own kindred that, while he strives to bestow on them the favor of the flesh, he himself does not decline from his spiritual purpose. For many monks, out of love for their parents, have been entangled not only in earthly cares but even in forensic quarrels, and, for the temporal salvation of their own, have lost their own souls. 21.5. Sometimes there is a well-ordered discretion, when that is denied to a parent which is granted to a stranger, so that you may know you are not forbidding the office of piety, but denying the affection of carnality.

Parentibus enim carnaliter praestatur, quod extraneis pie inpenditur. 21.6. Sicut nostra nobis non odienda est anima, sed eius carnales odio debemus affectus habere, ita nec parentes odio a nobis habendi sunt, sed eorum inpedimenta, quae nobis ab itinere recto praepediunt, dum tamen Dominus ita praecepit a nobis parentes odire, sicut et animas nostras.

For to parents there is rendered carnally that which is expended piously upon strangers. 21.6. Just as our soul is not to be hated by us, but we ought to have its carnal affections in hatred, so neither are parents to be held in hatred by us, but their impediments, which shackle us from the straight path; yet the Lord has thus commanded us to hate parents, as also our own souls.

21.7. Figuram sanctorum uirorum renuntiantium saeculo uaccas designasse allophylorum, arcam Dei gestantes. Nam, sicut illae pignerum affectibus a recto itinere minime digressae sunt, ita et uir mundo renuntians, parentelae obtentu non debet a bono praepediri proposito. XXII.

21.7. The cows of the Philistines, bearing the ark of God, are said to have designated the figure of holy men renouncing the world. For, just as they did not at all digress from the straight way by the affections for their pledges (their calves), so also the man renouncing the world ought not, under the pretext of kinship, to be hindered from his good purpose. 22.

De his qui mundi amore praepediuntur. 22.1. Multi cupiunt conuolare ad gratiam Dei, sed timent carere oblectamenta mundi. Prouocat quidem eos amor Christi, sed reuocat cupiditas saeculi.

On those who are impeded by love of the world. 22.1. Many desire to fly swiftly to the grace of God, but they fear to be without the delights of the world. The love of Christ indeed calls them forth, but the cupidity of the age calls them back.

Qui proinde obliuiscuntur uoti, quia capiuntur inlecebris uanitatis.

Who therefore forget their vow, because they are captured by the allurements of vanity.

22.2. Quaecumque mens procellis mundi huius inuolueris, lignum conscende crucis, ut a mari, id est tempestate huius saeculi libereris. Namnullus te a lacu mortis humanae saluabit, nisi Christus eruerit. 12.3. Qui saeculo renuntiare disposuit, transgressionis reatu adstringitur, si uotum mutauerit.

22.2. Whenever your mind is entangled by the storms of this world, climb the wood of the cross, so that you may be freed from the sea, that is, the tempest of this age. For no one will save you from the pit of human death, unless Christ rescues you. 12.3. He who has resolved to renounce the world is bound by the charge of transgression, if he changes his vow.

Atrociter enim in discussione diuini iudicii arguendi sunt, qui, quod professione sponderant, implere opere contempserunt. 22.4. Mirabiliter conparatur simititudo a uoluptatibus mundi conati redire ad Deum, retinentibus eum cupiditatibus saeculi, ei qui dormitans exsurgere conatur, et sopore somni deprimitur. Ille enim ad bonum nouit redire, et uoluptatum fascibus non sinitur.

For severely, in the examination of the divine judgment, those are to be charged who have scorned to fulfill in deed what they had pledged by profession. 22.4. A likeness is marvelously drawn: the one who has tried to return to God from the pleasures of the world, with the desires of the age holding him back, is compared to one who, dozing, tries to rise, and is pressed down by the drowsiness of sleep. For he knows how to return to the good, and he is not allowed by the bands of pleasures.

Iste melius elegit uigilare, sed soporis torpore tenetur.

This one has chosen better to keep vigil, but he is held by the torpor of sleep.

22.5. A bono in deterius lapsos, supra carbones frigidos fieri nigriores, quia per torporem mentis ab igne caritatis Dei extincti sunt et per mundi appetitum a luce supernae inluminationis priuati nigredine peccatorum fuscantur. 22.6. Quidam intentionem bonae operationis metu extingunt inopiae, nec permittuntur infirma mente desiderata perficere; et cum indigere in mundo metuunt, a gloria superna semetipsos abscidunt. 22.7. Multis consiliorum argumentis insidiatur eis diabolus, in acquirendo plurima, qui in paucis et modicis uouerant esse contenti.

22.5. those who have slipped from good into worse become blacker upon cold coals, because through the torpor of the mind they have been extinguished from the fire of the charity of God, and through the appetite of the world, being deprived of the light of supernal illumination, they are darkened by the blackness of sins. 22.6. Some extinguish the intention of good operation by fear of want, nor are they permitted, with an infirm mind, to perfect the things desired; and when they fear to be in need in the world, they cut themselves off from supernal glory. 22.7. With many arguments of counsels the devil lies in wait for them, unto acquiring very many things, who had vowed to be content with few and moderate things.

Opponit igitur in eorum mentes futuras filiorum egestates, persuadet habere plura, unde sibi egenisque sufficiat, quatenus his blandimentis intentionem bonae deuotionis subuertat, atque in terrenis lucris deceptam mentem reducat.

Therefore he sets before their minds the future scarcities of their sons, persuades them to have more, whence it may suffice for themselves and for the needy, so that by these blandishments he may subvert the intention of good devotion, and lead back the deceived mind to earthly lucre.

22.8. Multis argumentis insidiatur diabolus eis qui renuntiant saeculo, ut eius se iterum amori substernant. Grauius autem illos in concupiscentiis saeculi ferit, quos post renuntiationem ad mundi amorem reduxerit. Et maxime per cenodoxiam subicit sibi diabolus monachum, ut quem per saeculi amorem retinere non potuit, ab humilitatis culmine subtrahat, et per superbiae tumorem sibi subditum faciat.

22.8. By many arguments the devil lays ambushes for those who renounce the saeculum (the world), so that they may lay themselves again beneath its love. More grievously, however, he strikes them in the concupiscences of the saeculum, those whom, after renunciation, he has brought back to the love of the world. And most of all through kenodoxia (vainglory) the devil subjects the monk to himself, so that the one whom he could not hold by the love of the saeculum he may withdraw from the summit of humility, and through the swelling of superbia (pride) make him subject to himself.

22.9. Dei seruus semper fallentis diaboli praeuidere debet insidias et magis in bonis operibus cordis debet adhibere cautelam, ne per uanam gloriam perdat semetipsum ac pereat, cunctaque bona amittat quae recte agendo obtinuerat. XXIII. De iactantia.

22.9. The servant of God ought always to foresee the insidious plots of the deceiving devil, and he ought to apply caution of heart all the more in good works, lest through vain glory he lose himself and perish, and lose all the goods which by acting rightly he had obtained. 23. On boasting.

23.1. Tam in factis quam in dictis cauendam esse iactantiam; flenda tamen ruina sibi quemquam magis quam Deo placere, et laudem ab hominibus conparare. 23.2a. Vanus et erroris est animus plenus famam adpetere et ad capiendam terrenam laudem studium dare. 23.2b. Circumspice temetipsum homo, nihilque tibi arroges quae in te sunt praeter peccatum.

23.1. Boasting must be guarded against as much in deeds as in words; yet to be wept is the ruin of one who seeks to please himself rather than God, and to procure praise from men. 23.2a. It is vain and full of error for the mind to pursue renown and to give zeal to seize earthly praise. 23.2b. Look around at yourself, O man, and arrogate nothing to yourself of the things that are in you, except sin.

23.2c. Non declinat ad dexteram, qui non sibi sed Deo tribuit bona quae agit; neque ad sinistram se uertit, qui de diuina indulgentia peccandi licentiam non praesumit. Hoc est quod propheta ait: Haec uia, ambulate in ea, neque ad dexteram, neqne ad sinistram. 23.3. Verum est quod natura expectat delectari in laudibus; sed tunc recte si in Deo, non in se quisque laudetur, sicut scriptum est: In Domino laudabitur anima mea.

23.2c. He does not turn aside to the right, who attributes to God, not to himself, the good things that he does; nor does he turn himself to the left, who does not presume, out of divine indulgence, a license for sinning. This is what the prophet says: This is the way, walk in it, neither to the right nor to the left. 23.3. It is true that nature expects to be delighted by praises; but then rightly so, if each person is praised in God, not in himself, as it is written: In the Lord my soul shall be praised.

23.4. Saepe uanam gloriam contemnendo in aliud genus elationis inciditur, dum in se quisque gloriatur, pro eo quod contemnat ab hominibus laudem.

23.4. Often, by contemning vainglory, one falls into another genus of elation, while each person glories in himself, on account of the fact that he despises praise from men.

23.5. Quibusdam concessum est tantundem bene agere et fructum boni operis non habere, quod ipsi sibi auferunt per studium humanae iactantiae. 23.6. Semper suam aspiciant foeditatem qui uanae gloriae fauores diligunt, et perdidisse bonum opus doleant, quod pro humana ostentatione fecerunt. 23.7. Amator uanae gloriae, unde possit semper laudari, agere non quiescit, et subinde illi uires uanitatis prauus adpetitus auget.

23.5. To certain persons it is conceded to do good just as much and yet not to have the fruit of the good work, which they themselves take away from themselves through the pursuit of human jactation. 23.6. Let those who love the favors of vain glory always look upon their own foulness, and let them grieve that they have lost the good work which they did for human ostentation. 23.7. The lover of vain glory does not rest from doing whatever may allow him always to be praised, and again and again a depraved appetite augments for him the forces of vanity.

23.8. Boni operis inchoatio non debet citius palam ad hominum cognitionem uenire, ne, dum boni inchoatio humanis oculis reseratur, a virtute perfectionis inanescat coeptio sanctitatis. Ante maturitatis enim tempus, messes florentes cito pereunt, germinaque inutilia fiunt. 23.9. Virtutes sanctorum per ostentationis appetitum dominio daemonum inmundorum subiciuntur, sicut Ezechias rex, qui diuitias suas chaldeis per iactantiam prodidit, et propterea perituras per prophetam audiuit, ut significaret Dei seruum uirtutes suas, dum uanae gloriae studio prodiderit, perdere et statim daemones suorum operum dominos facere, sicut ille per ostentationem chaldeos rerum suarum dominos fecit.

23.8. The initiation of a good work ought not to come openly too quickly into the cognition of men, lest, while the initiation of good is laid bare to human eyes, the undertaking of sanctity become empty of the virtue of perfection. Before the time of maturity, blossoming harvests quickly perish, and the shoots become useless. 23.9. The virtues of the saints, through the appetite of ostentation, are subjected to the dominion of unclean demons, just as Hezekiah the king, who through vaunting betrayed his riches to the Chaldeans, and on that account heard through the prophet that they would perish, so as to signify that the servant of God, when by zeal for vain glory he has betrayed his virtues, loses them and straightway makes demons the masters of his works, just as he through ostentation made the Chaldeans the masters of his goods.

23.10. Optima est illa discretio, ut et nota sint opera nostra ad Dei augendam gloriam, et occulta pro elatione uitanda humana. Ille autem debet publicare bonum quod agit, qui perfecta humilitate Fundatus, nulla iam elatione contingitur. Namis qui se intellegit adhuc amore laudis pulsari, facta bona in occulto agat, ne forte quod egerit perdat.

23.10. That discretion is the best: that our works be known as well for augmenting the glory of God, and hidden to avoid human elation. But he ought to publish the good that he does who, Founded upon perfect humility, is now touched by no elation. For he who understands himself still to be struck by a love of praise should do good deeds in secret, lest perhaps he lose what he has done.

23.11. Interdum uiri sancti, dum cupiunt funditus suam mutabilitatem corrigere, aliquando tumore tanguntur elationis suae, conscii actione iustitiae, sed ab huius subreptionis malo humilitatis conpunctione purgantur. 23.12. Viri sancti nonnumquam quosdam de se audientes instruunt, et tamen in his alta se consideratione custodiunt, ne, dum alios a terrena intentione erigunt, ipsi in terrenae laudis appetitu demergantur. 23.13. Quidam per incautam uirtutum iactantiam relabuntur ad uitia, et quidam dum uitiorum inpulsu frequenter plangunt, de ipsa infirmitate per humilitatem ualidius conualescunt.

23.11. Sometimes holy men, while they desire to correct their mutability from the foundation, are at times touched by the swelling of their own elation, being conscious of an act of righteousness; but from the evil of this surreption they are purged by the compunction of humility. 23.12. Holy men sometimes instruct certain persons hearing about them, and yet in these matters they guard themselves by lofty consideration, lest, while they raise others from an earthly intention, they themselves be sunk in the appetite of earthly praise. 23.13. Some, through incautious vaunting of virtues, slip back to vices; and some, while they frequently lament under the impulse of vices, from that very infirmity, through humility, more strongly convalesce.

23.14. Plerumque utile est adrogantibus deseri a Deo, quatenus suae infirmitati conscii ad humilitatem redeant, et humiles post casum existant. 23.15. Nonnulli falsa opinione adrogantiae se esse perfectos existimant, dum non sint, quia obortis temptationibus innotescunt. 23.16. Tanto quisque fit ueritati uicinior, quanto se esse longius ab ea fuerit arbitratus.

23.14. Often it is useful for the arrogant to be deserted by God, so that, conscious of their infirmity, they may return to humility and be humble after a fall. 23.15. Some, by a false opinion of arrogance, suppose themselves to be perfect, while they are not, because, when temptations arise, they are made known. 23.16. Each person becomes the nearer to the truth, the more he has judged himself to be farther from it.

Hoc enim humilitatis est quae Deo hominem iungit. Ceterum haec iactantia oculos, quibus Deus uideri poterat, claudit.

For this belongs to humility, which joins man to God. Moreover, this vaunting closes the eyes by which God could be seen.

23.17. Sicut solis radius, dum conspicitur, acies oculi hebetatur, sic et qui inmoderate alta de se scrutatur, ab intentione ueri obtunditur. 23.18. Sicut aquila ex alto ad escas conlabitur, sic homo de alto bonae conuersationis per carnalem adpetitum ad inferiora demergitur. XXIIII.

23.17. As the sun’s ray, while it is beheld, dulls the sharpness of the eye, so too the one who immoderately scrutinizes lofty things about himself is blunted from the intention of truth. 23.18. Just as the eagle from on high slips down to its food, so a man from the height of good conversation, through carnal appetite, is submerged to lower things. 24.

De hypocrisin.

On hypocrisy.

24.1. Hypocrita uerba sanctorum habet, uitam non habet, et quos per sermonem doctrinae genuerit, non fouet exemplis, sed deserit, quia, quos uerbo aedificat, uita et moribus destruit. 24.2. Hypocritae simulatores dicuntur, qui iusti non esse quaerunt, sed tantum uideri cupiunt. Hii mala agunt, et bona profitentur.

24.1. The hypocrite has the words of the saints; he does not have life; and those whom he has begotten through the sermon of doctrine, he does not foster with examples, but deserts, because those whom he edifies by word, he destroys by life and by morals. 24.2. Hypocrites are called simulators, who do not seek to be just, but only desire to seem so. These do evils, and profess goods.

Per ostentationem quippe boni apparent, per actionem ueromaliexistunt. 24.3. Omnia possunt a simplicibus uitia perpetrari, simulatio uero et hypocrisis non committitur nisi a male astutis per calliditatem ualentibus uitia sub specie uirtutum celare et non ueram sanctitatem obicere.

By ostentation of good they appear; by action, in truth, they exist as evil. 24.3. All vices can be perpetrated by the simple, but simulation and hypocrisy are not committed except by malignantly astute men, who by callidity have the power to conceal vices under the appearance of virtues and to put forward not true sanctity.

24.4. Sancti non solum gloriam supra modum suum omnino non appetunt, sed etiam hoc ipsud uideri refugiunt quod esse meruerunt. Hypocritae autem, malitiae suae occulta tegentes ante oculos hominum, quadam innocentiae sanctitate se uestiunt, ut uenerentur. Quibus bene diuina uoce dicitur: Vae uobis, hypocritae, quia similes facti estis sepulchris dealbatis, quae foris quidem apparent hominibus speciosa, intus uero plena sunt ossibus mortuorum!

24.4. The saints not only do not at all seek glory beyond their measure, but even shrink from seeming to be that which they have merited to be. But the hypocrites, covering the hidden things of their malice before the eyes of men, clothe themselves with a certain sanctity of innocence, so that they may be venerated. To whom it is well said by the divine voice: Woe to you, hypocrites, because you have been made like whitewashed sepulchers, which indeed appear outwardly beautiful to men, but within are full of the bones of the dead!

Ita et uos foris quidem apparetis hominibus iusti, intus uero pleni estis auaritia et iniquitate! 24.5. Dupliciter damnantur hypocritae, siue pro occulta iniquitate, siue pro aperta simulatione. Ex illud enim condemnantur quia iniqui sunt; ex istud quia ostendunt quod non sunt.

Thus you too outwardly indeed appear to men as just, but within you are full of avarice and iniquity! 24.5. In a twofold way the hypocrites are condemned, whether for hidden iniquity, or for open simulation. For the former they are condemned because they are iniquitous; for the latter because they display what they are not.

24.6. Non semper latent hypocritae; nam etsi in principio sui quidam non pateant, prius tamen quam uita eorum finiatur, quam simulate uixerint deteguntur. Omne enim sincerum permanet, nam quae simulata sunt diuturna esse non possunt.

24.6. Hypocrites do not always lie hidden; for even if at their beginning some are not evident, yet before their life is finished, how in simulation they have lived is uncovered. For everything sincere remains, for the things that are simulated cannot be long-lasting.

24.7. Non eorum desperanda est salus qui adhuc aliquid terrenum sapiunt, dum possint et in occultis agere unde iustificentur. Hii enim meliores sunt hypocritis, eo quodmalisint in aperto, et in occulto boni; hypocritae uero in occultomalisunt, et boni se palam ostendunt. 24.8. Hypocritam iustus arguere prohibetur, ne deterior castigatus existat, dicente Salomone: Noli arguere derisorem, ne oderit te. XXV.

24.7. The salvation of those is not to be despaired of who still savor something earthly, so long as they are able also to do in secret that by which they may be justified. These are better than hypocrites, for this reason: that they are evil in the open, and good in secret; but hypocrites are evil in secret, and show themselves good openly. 24.8. A just man is forbidden to reprove a hypocrite, lest, when chastised, he become worse, Solomon saying: Do not reprove a derider, lest he hate you. 25.

De invidia.

On envy.

25.1. Liuor alieni boni suum punit auctorem. Namunde bonus proficit, inde inuidus contabescit. 25.2. Homines praue uiuentes, sicut de bonorum lapsibus gratulantur, ita de eorum recte facta bonique persuerantia confunduntur.

25.1. Envy of another’s good punishes its own author. For whence the good man profits, thence the envious one wastes away. 25.2. Men living perversely, just as they congratulate themselves over the lapses of the good, so by their right deeds and the perseverance of the good they are confounded.

25.3. Inuidus membrum est diaboli, cuius inuidia mors introiuit in orbem terrarum, sicut et superbus membrum est diaboli, de quo scriptum est: Omne sublime uidet, et ipse est rex super omnes filios superbiae.

25.3. The envious man is a member of the devil, by whose envy death entered into the world, just as the proud man also is a member of the devil, concerning whom it is written: He sees every sublime thing, and he himself is king over all the sons of pride.

25.4. Nulla est uirtus quae non habeat contrarium inuidiae malum; sola miseria caret inuidia, quia nemo inuidet misero, cui reuera non liuor obicitur, sed sola misericordia adhibetur. 25.5. Multi et bonos imitare nolunt, et de bonorum profectibus inuidiae liuore tabescunt. Quo fit ut nec illi corrigantur a malo suo, sed per inuidentiam deteriorentur et bonos a recto studio, quantum in ipsis est, si potuerint, deprauare conentur.

25.4. There is no virtue that does not have the contrary evil of envy; misery alone is without envy, because no one envies the wretched, to whom in truth not livor is cast, but only mercy is applied. 25.5. Many both are unwilling to imitate the good, and they waste away with the livor of envy at the advances of the good. Whence it comes about that neither are they corrected from their own evil, but through envy they grow worse, and they try to deprave the good from right pursuit, so far as it lies within them, if they can.

25.6. Quando malos boni proficere uident, non scandalizentur, sed quem sint finem habituri maxime cogitent.

25.6. When the good see the wicked profit, let them not be scandalized, but let them most of all consider what end they are going to have.

25.7. Hoc omnis inuidus alienis uirtutibus praestat, quod beato Iob Satan praestitit. Namdum aemulatur prosperitatibus, commouit aduersa, sed unde eum credidit diabolus posse prosternere, inde eius aucta sunt merita, atque inde claruerunt probabiliora patientiae documenta. 25.8. Ita requirunt inuidi aditum malae famae, per quam bonorum uitam maculent, sicut quaerebant ostium Sodomitae, quo domum Loth nocituri introirent.

25.7. This every envious man does against others’ virtues, the very thing that Satan did against blessed Job. For while he emulates their prosperities, he stirs up adversities; but from that whence the devil believed he could prostrate him, from thence his merits were increased, and from thence there shone forth more persuasive proofs of patience. 25.8. Thus the envious seek an entry for ill repute, by which they may maculate the life of the good, just as the Sodomites were seeking the doorway, by which they might enter the house of Lot to do harm.

Illi uero caecitate erroris, parietes uidebant, ostium non inueniebant. Non aliter inuidi uidendo uelut parietem uirtutes dissimulant, uitia uero perquirunt, per quae eorum conscientiam urant. XXVI.

They, indeed, in the blindness of error, were seeing the walls, they were not finding the door. Not otherwise do the envious, by seeing, as it were, a wall, dissimulate the virtues, but they search out the vices, by which they sear their conscience. 26.

De simulatione.

On simulation.

26.1. Fraudulentiae genus in modum faretrae subtiliter insidiarum sagittas celat, ut falsam faciat securitatem, decipiatque callide eum contra quem molitur occulte. 26.2. Cauendus est inimicus qui manifestus est, sed magis ille qui uideri non potest. Facile enim uincimus quae uidemus, quae autem non uidemus difficile a nobis expellimus.

26.1. A kind of fraudulence, in the manner of a quiver, subtly conceals the arrows of ambush, so that it may make a false security, and cunningly deceives him against whom it plots in secret. 26.2. The enemy who is manifest must be guarded against, but even more that one who cannot be seen. For we easily conquer the things we see, but the things we do not see we with difficulty expel from us.

26.3. Raro nocetur homo ab extraneis, si sui eum non laedant. Magis enim insidiis nostrorum quam aliorum periclitamur.

26.3. Rarely is a man harmed by outsiders, if his own do not wound him. For more, in fact, we are imperiled by the ambushes of our own than of others.

26.4. Latent saepe uenena circumlita melle uerborum, et tamdiu deceptor bonitatem simulat, quousque fallendo decipiat. XXVII. De odio.

26.4. Poisons often lie hidden, coated with the honey of words, and the deceiver simulates goodness for so long, until by deception he deceives. 27. On hatred.

27.1-2. Non hominem, sed uitia odio habenda. Flebiliter autem deplorandi sunt, qui odio in fratrem tabescunt, et contra alios perniciosum animae dolum seruant. A regno enim Dei se separant qui semetipsos a caritate dissociant.

27.1-2. Not the man, but the vices are to be held in hatred. Tearfully, however, those are to be deplored who waste away with hatred against a brother, and who keep against others a pernicious guile of the soul. For they separate themselves from the kingdom of God who dissociate themselves from charity.

27.3. Sicut mater ecclesia praue ab hominibus haereticis premitur, sed tamen eos uenientes ad se benigna caritate amplectitur, ita et singuli nostrum, quoscumque inimicos sustinemus, reuertentes materna imitatione amplectere statim debemus. 27.4-5. Cito est ignoscendum cuiquam dum ueniam postulat. Non enim posse peccata dimitti ei qui in se peccanti debita non dimittit.

27.3. Just as mother Church is pressed perversely by heretical men, yet nevertheless embraces them, as they come to her, with benign charity, so too each of us, whatever enemies we endure, ought at once, by maternal imitation, to embrace as they return. 27.4-5. One must quickly forgive anyone while he seeks pardon. For sins cannot be remitted to him who does not remit debts to the one sinning against himself.

Formam enim nobis indulgentiae Deus ex merito conditionis nostrae inposuit, dum ita orare nos praecepit: Dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Iustum est enim Dei iudicium, tantumque peccatori a se indulgi ostendit, quantum alterutro unusquisque in se offenso indulgit. 27.6. Quidam de suis fidentes meritis pigre in se delinquentibus ueniam praestant, sed nihil proficit esse inlibatum a culpa, qui non est paratus ad ueniam, dumque potius haec magna sit culpa, quando tardius relaxantur fraterna delicta.

For God has imposed upon us the form of indulgence in accordance with the due of our condition, inasmuch as he has commanded us to pray thus: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. For the judgment of God is just, and he shows that just so much is to be indulged to the sinner by himself as each one indulges the other who has offended against himself. 27.6. Certain persons, trusting in their own merits, grant pardon sluggishly to those who transgress against themselves; but it profits nothing to be unblemished from fault if one is not prepared for pardon; and rather this is a great fault, when fraternal offenses are remitted more slowly.

27.7. Qui fratrem sibi tardius reconciliat, Deum sibi tardius placat. Frustra enim propitiari sibi Deum quaerit qui cito placari in proximum neglegit. XXVIII.

27.7. He who more slowly reconciles his brother to himself, placates God more slowly for himself. For in vain does he seek to have God propitiated for himself who neglects to be quickly appeased toward his neighbor. 28.

De dilectione. 28.1. Duo sunt erga dilectionem proximi conseruanda: unum ne malum quis inferat; alterum ut bonum inpendat. Primum ut caueat laedere, sequenter ut discat praestare.

On love. 28.1. Two things are to be conserved regarding love of the neighbor: the one, that no one inflict evil; the other, that he expend good. First, that he beware of injuring; next, that he learn to bestow.

28.2. Amicitia est animorum societas; haec quippe a duobus incipit, nam minus quam inter duos dilectio esse non poterit. 28.3. Antiqui dixerunt de societate duorum unam esse animam in duo corpora, propter uim scilicet amoris, sicut in actibus apostolorum legimus: Erat illis cor unum, et anima una, non quia multa corpora unam habebant animam, sed quia uinculo et igne caritatis coniuncti, unum omnes generaliter sine dissensione sapiebant. 28.4. Amicitia et prosperas res dulciores facit, et aduersas communione temperat leuioresque reddit, quia dum in tribulatione amici consolatio adiungitur, nec frangitur animus, nec cadere patitur.

28.2. Friendship is a society of souls; this, to be sure, begins from two, for love cannot be between fewer than two. 28.3. The Ancients said that from the society of two there is one soul in two bodies, namely on account of the force of love, just as we read in the Acts of the Apostles: There was for them one heart, and one soul, not because many bodies had one soul, but because, joined by the bond and fire of charity, all as a whole were of one mind without dissension. 28.4. Friendship both makes prosperous things sweeter, and tempers adverse things by communion and renders them lighter, because, while in tribulation the consolation of a friend is added, the spirit is neither broken, nor does it permit it to fall.

28.5a. Tunc uere amicus amatur, si non pro se, sed pro Deo ametur. Qui uero pro se amicum diligit, insipienter eum amplectit. 28.5b. Multum in terra demersus est qui carnaliter hominem moriturum plus diligit quam oportet.

28.5a. Then truly a friend is loved, if he be loved not for himself, but for God. But he who loves a friend for himself embraces him foolishly. 28.5b. He is much sunk in the earth who carnally loves a man about to die more than is fitting.

Qui enim intemperanter amicum amat, pro se magis illum, non pro Deo amat. Quantum ergo bonum est qui pro Deo fratrem diligit, tanto perniciosum qui eum pro seipso amplectit. 28.6. Plerumque diligit in alio homo quod odit in se, utpote in infantibus.

For he who loves a friend intemperately, loves him more for himself, not for God. Therefore, by as much as it is a good thing when one loves a brother for God, by so much is it pernicious when one embraces him for himself. 28.6. For the most part, a man loves in another what he hates in himself, as for example in infants.

Amamus enim quandam eorum ignauiam, et tamen odimus quia ignaui esse nolumus. Sic lapides, equos et cetera, quae licet diligimus, sed tamen nolumus hoc esse, etiam si possimus.

For we love a certain indolence of theirs, and yet we hate it because we do not wish to be indolent. Thus stones, horses, and the rest—which, although we love, yet we do not wish to be this, even if we could.

XXVIIII. De fictis amicitiis. 29.1. Cito per aduersa fraudulentus patet amicus; nam in prosperitate incerta est amicitia, nec scitur utrum persona an felicitas diligatur.

29. On feigned friendships. 29.1. In adversity the fraudulent friend quickly stands revealed; for in prosperity friendship is uncertain, nor is it known whether the person or the felicity is being loved.

29.2. Saepe per simulationem amicitia colitur, ut qui non potuit aperte decipere, decipiat fraudulenter.

29.2. Often through simulation pretense friendship is cultivated, so that he who could not deceive openly may deceive fraudulently.

29.3. Tunc quisque magis fit pietati iustitiaeque diuinae contrarius, quando despicit amicum aliqua aduersitate percussum. Qua in re et sibi occasionem mercedis tollit, et erga percussionem proximi crudelis existit: ueluti actum est inter Eleazarum ulcerosum diuitemque superbum. Per aduersa igitur et prospera conprobatur, si utique uere diligatur Deus et proximus, quia, dum aduersa procedunt, amicus fraudulentus detegitur, statimque despicit quem se diligere simulauit.

29.3. Then each one becomes the more contrary to piety and to divine justice, when he despises a friend smitten by some adversity. In which matter he both removes from himself the occasion of recompense, and proves cruel toward the smiting of his neighbor: as was done between Eleazar, ulcerous, and the proud rich man. Through adversities therefore and prosperities it is proved whether indeed God and neighbor are truly loved, because, while adversities proceed, the fraudulent friend is uncovered, and immediately he despises him whom he pretended to love.

29.4. Amicitia certa nulla ui excluditur, nullo tempore abolitur; ubicumque enim se uerterit tempus, illa firma est. 29.5. Rari sunt qui usque in finem existant cari. Nammultos a caritate aut aduersitas temporis, aut contentio qualibet actionis auertit.

29.4. A sure friendship is excluded by no force, is abolished at no time; for wherever time turns itself, that is firm. 29.5. Rare are those who remain dear all the way to the end. For many are turned away from charity either by the adversity of time or by any contention of action.

29.6. Saepe et per honorem quorundam mutantur et mores; et quos ante conglutinatos caritate habuerunt, postquam ad culmen honoris uenerint, amicos habere despiciunt. XXX. De amicitia munere orta.

29.6. Often also, through the honor of certain persons, even their mores are changed; and those whom before they had held cemented by charity, after they have come to the summit of honor, they disdain to have as friends. 30. On friendship arisen from a favor.

30.1. Inter ueros, amicitia ex beneuolentia oritur; inter fictos, beneficio adiungitur.

30.1. Among the genuine, friendship arises from benevolence; among the feigned, it is adjoined by a benefaction.

30.2a. Non sunt fideles in amicitia, quos munus non gratia copulat. Namcito deserunt, nisi semper acceperint. Dilectio enim quae munere glutinatur, eodem suspenso dissoluitur.

30.2a. They are not faithful in friendship, whom a gift, not grace/favor, binds together. For they quickly desert, unless they always receive. For the affection that is glued together by a gift is dissolved when that same gift is withheld.

30.2b. Illa uera est amicitia quae nihil quaerit ex rebus amici, nisi solam beneuolentiam, scilicet ut gratis amet amantem. 30.3. Plerumque amicitia ex necessitate uel indigentia nascitur, ut sit per quem quisque quod desiderat consequatur. Ille autem eam ueraciter quaerit, qui nihil egendo eam appetit.

30.2b. That is true friendship which seeks nothing from a friend’s possessions, except benevolence alone—namely, to love the loving one freely. 30.3. For the most part, friendship is born from necessity or indigence, so that there may be someone through whom each person may obtain what he desires. But he truly seeks it who, needing nothing, seeks it.

Namilla ex inopia breuis est et fugata, ista pura atque perpetua.

For that one, arising from indigence, is brief and put to flight; this one is pure and perpetual.

XXXI. De malorum concordia. 31.1. Amicitia in rebus tantum bonis habenda est; nam qui eam in malo utuntur, non sibi amici, sed inimici existunt.

31. Of the concord of the wicked. 31.1. Friendship is to be held only in good matters; for those who use it in evil are not friends to themselves, but enemies.

31.2. Concordiam malorum contrariam esse bonorum, et sicut optandum est ut boni pacem habeant inuicem, sic optandum utmaliinuicem sint discordes. Vnanimitatem quippe malorum bonorum esse contrariam Paulus apostolus adprobat, qui malos contra se diuidit, quos in necem suam concordasse conspexit. Inde et in lege, mare rubrum, hoc est malorum hominum concordia diuiditur, ut electorum uia tendens ad beatitudinem non inpediatur.

31.2. The concord of the wicked is contrary to that of the good; and just as it is to be desired that the good have peace among themselves, so it is to be desired that the evil be mutually discordant. For the unanimity of the wicked is contrary to that of the good, as Paul the apostle approves, who divides the wicked against themselves, whom he observed to have concorded for his own death. Hence also in the Law the Red Sea—that is, the concord of evil men—is divided, so that the way of the elect, tending toward beatitude, may not be impeded.

Inpeditur autem iter bonorum, si mare, hoc est unitas, non diuiditur iniquorum.

But the journey of the good is impeded, if the sea, that is, the unity, of the iniquitous is not divided.

XXXII. De correptione fraterna. 32.1. Non debet uitia aliena corripere qui adhuc uitiorum contagionibus seruit.

32. On fraternal correction. 32.1. He ought not to censure the vices of others who still serves the contagions of vices.

Inprobum est enim arguere quemquam in alio quod adhuc reprehendit in semetipso. 32.2. Qui ueraciter fraternam uult corripere ac sanare infirmitatem, talem se praestare fraternae utilitati studeat, ut eum quem corripere cupit humili corde admoneat, et hoc faciens ex conpassione quasi communis periculi, ne forte et ipse subiciatur temptationi.

For it is base to accuse anyone for in another the very thing that he still reproves in himself. 32.2. He who truly wishes to correct and to heal a fraternal infirmity should strive to show himself such for fraternal utility, so that he may admonish the one whom he longs to correct with a humble heart, and doing this out of compassion as for a common peril, lest perhaps he himself also be subjected to temptation.

32.3. Sicut uiri spiritales alieni peccati emendationem expectant, ita proterui delinquentibus deridendo insultant, et quantum in ipsis est, eos insanabiles putant, nec declinant cor ad conpatiendi misericordiam, sed superbientes detestantur atque blasphemant. 32.4. Nonnumquam accidit ut inter amicos aliqua redargutionis enutrita discordia maiorem postea caritatem parturiat, utpote cum corriguntur ea quae displicere in amico uidentur; et hoc quidem primum non sine quadam aemulatione admonitus suscipit, sed correctus postmodum gratias agit. At contra multi pro parua laesione uim caritatis rescindunt, et ab amore dilectionis sese perenniter retrahunt.

32.3. Just as spiritual men await the emendation of another’s sin, so the insolent, by deriding, insult delinquents, and, as far as lies in themselves, deem them incurable; nor do they incline the heart to the mercy of compassion, but, being proud, they detest and blaspheme. 32.4. Sometimes it happens that between friends a certain discord, nourished by refutation, later brings forth greater charity, inasmuch as those things which seem to displease in a friend are corrected; and the one thus admonished at first receives it not without a certain emulation, but, corrected afterward, he gives thanks. But on the contrary many, for a slight lesion, rescind the force of charity, and withdraw themselves perennially from the love of affection.

32.5. Plerique correptionem suam officium caritatis existimant. Plerique uero hoc ipsud quod ex caritate corripiuntur ad iniuriae contumeliam trahunt. Vnde occurrit et euenit ut ex eo deteriores efficiantur, per quo emendari oboediendo potuerunt.

32.5. Most consider their correction to be an office of charity. Very many, however, drag this very fact—that they are corrected out of charity—into the contumely of injury. Whence it occurs and comes to pass that they are made worse by that through which they could have been amended by obeying.

32.6. Salubriter accipiunt iusti, quotiens de suis excessibus arguuntur; superflua autem est humilitas eorum qui se gessisse accusant quae non admiserunt. Qui uero sine adrogantia bona facta sua pronuntiat, procul dubio nequaquam peccat. 32.7. Est quorundam excusatio peruersorum, qui, dum pro suis facinoribus arguuntur, uerba iustorum pro censura declinanda abiciunt, seruantes se diuino iudicio, quo puniendi sunt durius, dum temporaliter contemnunt iudicari se ab hominibus.

32.6. The just salutarily receive it, whenever they are reproved for their excesses; but superfluous is the humility of those who accuse themselves of having done things which they did not commit. Yet he who, without arrogance, proclaims his good deeds, without doubt by no means sins. 32.7. There is the excuse of certain perverse people, who, while they are accused for their crimes, cast aside the words of the just as a censure to be shunned, reserving themselves for the divine judgment, by which they are to be punished more harshly, while temporally they contemn to be judged by men.

32.8. Iniquis molesta est ueritas, et amara disciplina iustitiae; nec delectantur nisiplacentiapropriae inbecillitatis; iniustitiae fecundi, steriles ueritati, caeci ad contuendam lucem et oculati ad tenebrarum aspiciendum errorem.

32.8. To the iniquitous, truth is troublesome, and the discipline of justice bitter; nor are they delighted except by the complacency of their own infirmity; fertile for injustice, sterile for truth, blind to behold the light, and sharp-sighted to look upon the error of darkness.

32.9. Corda reproborum lubrica sunt ad male consentiendum et fluxa; ad bene consentiendum durissima. 32.10. Probat Salomon et iusti emendationem correpti et stulti obstinationem admoniti dicens: Doce iustum et festinabit accipere. De stulto autem ait: Qui erudit derisorem, ipse sibi facit iniuriam.

32.9. The hearts of the reprobate are slippery to consent to evil and fluid; to consent to good, most hard. 32.10. Solomon proves both the correction of the just when corrected and the obstinacy of the fool when admonished, saying: 'Teach the just man and he will hasten to receive.' But of the fool he says: 'He who instructs a derider does injury to himself.'

32.11. Nonnullos esse prauitatis homines, qui dum ipsi a malo corrigi neglegunt, correptorum falsa criminatione detractant; et ad sui sceleris solatium usurpant, si, uel falso, conpererint quod ad infamiam bonorum obiciant, sicut est illud ex Salomone: Bona in malum conuertit impius, et electis inponit maculam. Vae autem illi qui et suam rennuit uitam corrigere, et bonorum non desinit detractare.

32.11. There are some men of depravity, who, while they themselves neglect to be corrected from evil, detract from the corrected by false crimination; and they appropriate, for a solace of their own crime, whatever, even falsely, they have learned to cast to the infamy of the good, as is that from Solomon: The impious converts good into evil, and imposes a stain upon the elect. But woe to him who both refuses to correct his own life, and does not cease to detract from the good.

32.12. Pleriquemalisimiles sibi in malum defendunt, et patrocinio suo prauos contra correctionem bonorum suscipiunt, ne unde displicent emendentur, adicientes in se aliena delicta, ut non tantum de suismalis, sed etiam et de aliorum facinorilus puniantur, quorum peccata defendunt. XXXIII. De praepositis ecclesiae.

32.12. Most defend those like themselves in evil, and with their patronage they support the depraved against the correction by the good, lest they be amended in the very things wherein they are displeasing, adding to themselves alien delicts, so that they may be punished not only for their own evils, but also for the crimes of others, whose sins they defend. 33. On the prepositi of the church.

33.1. Vir ecclesiasticus et crucifigi mundo per mortificationem propriae carnis debet, et dispensationem ecclesiastici ordinis, si ex Dei uoluntate prouenerit, nolens quidem, sed humilis gubernandam suscipiat.

33.1. The ecclesiastical man ought also to be crucified to the world through the mortification of his own flesh, and, if the dispensation of the ecclesiastical order should come about from the will of God, let him, indeed unwilling, but humble, undertake to govern it.

33.2. Multis intercipit Satanas fraudibus eos qui uitae ei sensus utilitate praestantes, praeesse et prodesse aliis nolunt, et, dum eis regimen animarum inponitur, rennuunt, consultius arbitrantes otiosam uitam degere quam lucris animarum insistere. Quod tamen decepti agunt per argumentum diaboli fallentis eos per speciem boni, ut, dum illos a pastorali officio retrahit, nequaquam proficiant qui eorum uerbis atque exemplis instrui poterant. 33.3. Sancti uiri nequaquam occupationum saecularium curas appetunt, sed occulto ordine sibi superinpositas gemunt, et quamuis illas per meliorem intentionem fugiant, tamen per subditam mentem portant.

33.2. By many frauds Satan intercepts those who, excelling in the utility of life and of sense, are unwilling to preside over and to profit others; and, when the regimen of souls is imposed upon them, they refuse, judging it more advisable to pass an idle life than to apply themselves to the gains of souls. Yet they do this deceived, through the argument of the devil, who beguiles them by a semblance of good, so that, while he draws them back from the pastoral office, those who could have been instructed by their words and examples make no progress. 33.3. Holy men by no means desire the cares of secular occupations, but they lament those superimposed on them by a hidden ordinance; and although they flee them with a better intention, nevertheless they bear them with a submissive mind.

Quas quidem summopere, si liceat, uitare festinant, sed timentes occultam dispensationem Dei, suscipiunt quod fugiunt, exercent quod uitare noscuntur. Intrant enim ad cor, et ibi consulunt quid uelit occulta uoluntas Dei: seseque subditos debere esse summis ordinationibus cognoscentes, humiliant ceruicem cordis iugo diuinae dispensationis. XXXIIII.

They indeed hasten, if it be permitted, to avoid these to the utmost; but, fearing the occult dispensation of God, they take up what they flee, they exercise what they are known to avoid. For they enter into the heart, and there consult what the occult will of God wills; and, recognizing that they ought to be subject to the highest ordinations, they humble the neck of the heart to the yoke of divine dispensation. 34.

De indignis praepositis.

On unworthy superiors.

34.1. Non sunt promouendi ad regimen ecclesiae qui adhuc uitiis subiacent. Hinc est quod praeceptum est Dauid non aedificare uisibile templum quia sanguinum uir belli frequentia esset. Qua figura illi spiritaliter admonentur qui adhuc corruptioni sunt dediti, ne templum aedificent, hoc est ecclesiam docere praesumant.

34.1. Those who still are subject to vices are not to be promoted to the regimen of the church. Hence it is that David was commanded not to build the visible temple, because he was a man of blood, through the frequency of war. By which figure those who are still given over to corruption are spiritually admonished not to build a temple, that is, not to presume to teach the church.

34.2. Non debet honoris ducatum suscipere qui nescit subiectos tramite uitae melioris praeire. Neque enim quisque ad hoc praeficitur ut subditorum culpas corrigat, et ipse uitiis seruiat. 34.3a. Qui regimen sacerdotii contendit appetere, ante in se discutiat si uita honori sit congrua; quod si non discrepat, humiliter ad id quod uocatur accedat.

34.2. He ought not to undertake the leadership of honor who does not know how to go before his subjects by the pathway of a better life. For indeed one is not appointed to this, that he should correct the faults of subordinates, and himself be a servant to vices. 34.3a. He who strives to seek the governance of the priesthood should first examine in himself whether his life is congruent to the honor; and if it does not disagree, let him humbly approach that to which he is called.

Reatum quippe culpae geminat, si quisque cum culpa ad sacerdotale culmen aspirat.

Indeed, he doubles the guilt of the fault, if anyone, while still at fault, aspires to the sacerdotal summit.

34.3b.[Heu me miserum inexplicabilibus nodis astrictum; si enim susceptum regimen ecclesiastici ordinis retentem, criminis conscius timeo; si deseram, ne deterior sit culpa susceptum gregem relinquere, amplius reformido; undique miser metuo et in tanto rei discrimine quid sequar ignoro.] 34.4. Vniuscuiusque casus tanto maioris est criminis quanto, priusquam caderet, maioris erat uirtutis. Praecedentium namque magnitudo uirtutum crescit ad cumulum sequentium delictorum. 34.5. Plerique sacerdotes suae magis utilitatis causa quam gregis praeesse desiderant, nec ut prosint praesules fieri cupiunt, sed magis ut diuites fiant, et honorentur.

34.3b.[Alas, wretched me, bound with inextricable knots; for if, while retaining the assumed regimen of the ecclesiastical order, I, conscious of crime, am afraid; if I desert it, I fear still more, lest it be the worse guilt to leave the undertaken flock; on every side, wretched, I fear, and in so great a crisis of the matter I do not know what course to follow.] 34.4. Each one’s fall is of so much the greater crime as, before he fell, he was of greater virtue. For the magnitude of preceding virtues swells the accumulation of the offenses that follow. 34.5. Not a few priests desire to preside more for their own utility than for that of the flock, nor do they long to be made prelates in order to profit others, but rather that they may become rich and be honored.

Suscipiunt enim sublimitatis culmen non pro pastorali regimine, sed pro solius honoris ambitione, atque abiecto opere dignitatis, solam nominis appetunt dignitatem.

For they assume the summit of sublimity not for pastoral governance, but for the ambition of honor alone, and, the work of dignity cast aside, they crave the dignity of the name alone.

34.6. Dummalisacerdotes, Deo ignorante, non fiant, tamen ignorantur a Deo, ipso per prophetam testante:Principesextiterunt, sed non cognoui. Sed hic nescire Dei reprobare est, nam Deus omnia nouit. XXXV.

34.6. While evil priests do not come to be with God unaware, nevertheless they are not known by God, He Himself attesting through the prophet:Princes have arisen, but I did not know. But here for God “not to know” is to reprobate, for God knows all things. 35.

De indoctis praepositis. 35.1a. Sicut iniqui et peccatores ministerium sacerdotale adsequi prohibentur, ita indocti et inperiti a tali officio retrahuntur. Illi enim exemplis suis uitam bonorum corrumpunt; isti sua ignauia iniquos corrigere nesciunt.

On unlearned prelates. 35.1a. Just as the iniquitous and sinners are prohibited from attaining the sacerdotal ministry, so the unlearned and inexpert are held back from such an office. For those men, by their examples, corrupt the life of the good; these, through their own sloth, do not know how to correct the unjust.

Quid enim docere poterunt, quod ipsi non didicerunt?

For what, indeed, will they be able to teach, which they themselves have not learned?

35.1b. Desinat locum docendi suscipere qui nescit docere. Ignorantia quippe praesulum uitae non congruit subiectorum: Caecus enim si caeco ducatum praebeat, ambo infoueam cadunt. 35.2. Sacerdotes indoctos per Esaiam prophetam Dominus inprobat: Ipsi, inquit, pastores ignorauerunt intellegentiam, et iterum: Speculatores caeci omnes, id est inperiti episcopi, nescierunt, inquit, uniuersi canes muti, non ualentes latrare, hoc est plebes commissas non ualentes resistendomalisper uerbum doctrinae defendere.

35.1b. Let him cease to assume a place of teaching who does not know how to teach. For the ignorance of prelates does not befit the life of subjects: for if a blind man should offer guidance to a blind man, both fall into the pit. 35.2. The Lord reproves unlearned priests through the prophet Isaiah: “The shepherds themselves,” he says, “have ignored understanding,” and again: “All the watchmen are blind”—that is, unskilled bishops—“they have not known; all are mute dogs, not able to bark,” that is, not able to defend the entrusted peoples by resisting evils through the word of doctrine.

XXXVI. De doctrina et exemplis praepositorum.

36. On the doctrine and examples of superiors.

36.1. Tam doctrina quam uita clarere debet ecclesiasticus doctor. Namdoctrina sine uita adrogantem reddit, uita sine doctrina inutilem facit. 36.2. Sacerdotis praedicatio operibus confirmanda est, ita ut, quod docet uerbo, instruat exemplo.

36.1. Both doctrine and life ought to shine in an ecclesiastical doctor. For doctrine without life makes one arrogant; life without doctrine makes one useless. 36.2. A priest’s preaching must be confirmed by works, so that what he teaches by word, he instructs by example.

Vera est enim illa doctrina quam uiuendi sequitur forma. Namnihil turpius est quam si bonum quod quisque sermone praedicat explere opere neglegat. Tunc enim praedicatio utiliter profertur, quando efficaciter adimpletur.

For that doctrine is true which the form of living follows. For nothing is more disgraceful than if one neglects to fulfill by work the good which one proclaims by speech. For then preaching is brought forth usefully, when it is efficaciously fulfilled.

36.3. Vnusquisque doctor et bonae actionis et bonae praedicationis habere debet studium; nam alterum sine altero non facit perfectum, sed praecedet iustus bene agere, ut sequenter possit bene docere.

36.3. Each doctor ought to have zeal both for good action and for good predication; for the one without the other does not make perfect, but the just man will go before to act well, so that thereafter he may be able to teach well.

36.4.[Omnis utilis doctor plebibus subiectis ita praestare se debet, atque insistere doctrinae, ut quanto claret uerbo tanto clarescat et merito. Namquod apostolus Timotheo praecipit cum omni imperio docere, non hortatur ad tumorem superbiae, sed ad bonae uitae auctoritatem, uidelicet ne libertatem perderet praedicandi si bene doceret, et male uiueret. Vnde et Dominus: Qui soluerit unum ex mandatis minimis, et sic docuerit, minimus erit in regno caelorum; uides quod auctoritatem magisterii caret, qui quod docet non facit.] 36.5. Sicut in numisma metallum, et figura, et pondus inquiritur, ita in omni doctore ecclesiastico quid sequatur, quid doceat, quomodo uiuat.

36.4.[Every useful doctor to the plebs subject to him ought so to present himself, and to persist in doctrine, that by as much as he shines in word, by so much he may shine also in merit. For the fact that the Apostle commands Timothy to teach with all authority does not exhort to the tumor of pride, but to the authority of a good life, namely lest he lose the liberty of preaching if he should teach well and live badly. Whence also the Lord: Whoever shall loose one of the least commandments, and shall so teach, he shall be least in the kingdom of the heavens; you see that he lacks the authority of the magistery who does not do what he teaches.] 36.5. Just as in a coin one inquires into the metal, and the figure, and the weight, so in every ecclesiastical doctor: what he follows, what he teaches, how he lives.

Per qualitatem igitur metalli, doctrina, per figuram, similitudo patrum, per pondus, humilitas designatur. Qui ergo ab his tribus discrepauerit non metallum, sed terra erit. XXXVII.

Therefore, by the quality of the metal, doctrine; by the figure, the similitude of the fathers; by the weight, humility are designated. He who, therefore, departs from these three will be not metal, but earth. 37.

De his qui bene docent et male vivunt.

On those who teach well and live badly.

37.1. Interdum doctoris uitio etiam ipsa uerax doctrina uilescit, et qui non uiuit sicut docet, ipsam quam praedicat ueritatem contemptibilem facit. 37.2. Arcus peruersus est lingua magistrorum docentium bene et uiuentium male. Et ideo quasi ex peruerso arcu sagittam emittunt, dum suam prauam uitam propriae linguae ictu confodiunt.

37.1. Sometimes by the fault of the teacher even the veracious doctrine itself is cheapened, and he who does not live as he teaches makes the very truth which he proclaims contemptible. 37.2. The tongue of teachers who teach well and live badly is a perverse bow. And therefore, as from a perverse bow, they send forth an arrow, while they pierce their own depraved life by the stroke of their own tongue.

37.3.[Qui diuina praedicant et ex eius praedicationis dignitate uiuere rninus curant, habentes uerbum Dei in ore et in opere non habentes, multa et bene docentes, nihil autem operantes imitantur Balaam hariolum qui corruens opere, apertos oculos habuit ad contuendam lucem doctrinae.]

37.3.[Those who preach divine things and yet care less to live according to the dignity of that preaching, having the word of God in the mouth and not having it in deed, teaching many things and well but doing nothing, imitate Balaam the soothsayer, who, collapsing in deed, had open eyes to behold the light of doctrine.]

37.4. Qui bene docet et male uiuit, tamquam aes aut cymbalum sonum facit aliis, ipse tamen sibi manet insensualis. 37.5. Qui bene docet et male uiuit, quod docet bene, uiuentibus proficit; quod uero male uiuit, seipsum occidit; sicut sacerdos qui, si digne se agit ut sacerdotem decet ministerium eius, et ipsi et aliis utilis est; indigne autem uiuens, aliis quidem utilis est loquendo, se autem interficit praue uiuendo. Ac per hoc, quod in illo mortuum est, proprium eius est; quod uero uiuit in eo, id est sacrum ministerium, quod est uitae, alienum est.

37.4. He who teaches well and lives badly, like bronze or a cymbal, makes a sound for others, yet himself remains insensible to himself. 37.5. He who teaches well and lives badly—what he teaches well profits those who live; but by the fact that he lives badly, he kills himself; just as a priest who, if he conducts himself worthily, as befits the priest, his ministry is useful both to himself and to others; but living unworthily, he is indeed useful to others by speaking, yet he kills himself by living perversely. And accordingly, that which in him is dead is his own; but that which lives in him, that is, the sacred ministry, which pertains to life, is alien.

37.6. Qui bene docet et male uiuit uidetur ut cereus aliis, dum bonum exponit, lucem praestare, se uero inmalissuis consumere atque extinguere.

37.6. He who teaches well and lives badly seems like a candle to others: while he expounds the good, to provide light, but himself to be consumed and extinguished in his own evils.

37.7. Qui bene docet et male uiuit, uidetur bonum malo coniungere, lucem tenebris permiscere, ueritatem mendacio mutare. XXXVIII. De exemplis pravorum sacerdotum.

37.7. He who teaches well and lives ill seems to conjoin the good to the bad, to commingle light with darkness, to change truth into mendacity. 38. On the examples of depraved priests.

38.1. Saepe per quos iustitia docetur, per ipsos peccati morbus inrepit et mors ad plebes pertransit, scilicet uel dum mala docent, uel dum faciunt praua.

38.1. Often through those by whom justice is taught, through those very persons the disease of sin creeps in, and death passes over to the plebs, namely either while they teach evils or while they do depraved things.

38.2. Plerique sacerdotes et clerici praue uiuentes, forma ceteris in malum existunt, qui in bonis exemplum esse debuerunt. Hii enim quoscumque exemplo malae conuersationis suae perdunt, de illis rationem sine dubio reddituri sunt. 38.3. Ex carnalium praepositorum exemplo, plerumque fit uita deterior subditorum, et plebis merito fiunt tales sacerdotes, qui exemplo deteriori populum destruant, non aedificent.

38.2. Many priests and clerics, living depravedly, become a pattern to the rest for evil, who ought to have been an example in good things. For these, indeed, whomsoever they destroy by the example of their evil conversation, they will without doubt render an account concerning them. 38.3. From the example of carnal prelates, very often the life of subordinates becomes worse; and by the deserts of the common people there come to be such priests as, by a worse example, destroy the people, not edify.

Ex merito enim plebis nonnumquam episcopi deprauantur, quatenus procliuius corruant qui sequuntur. 38.4. Capite languente, cetera corporis membra inficiuntur. Vnde et scriptum est: Omne caput languidum, et omne cor moerens, a planta pedis usque ad uerticem, non est in eo sanitas.

Indeed, by the deserts of the plebs, bishops are sometimes corrupted, so that those who follow may fall more readily. 38.4. With the head languishing, the other members of the body are infected. Whence also it is written: "The whole head sick, and the whole heart mourning; from the sole of the foot up to the crown, there is no soundness in it."

Caput enim languidum doctor est agens peccatum, cuius malum ad corpus peruehitur, dum eo uel peccante, uel praue docente, pestifer languor ad plebes subiectas transfertur.

For the sick head is the doctor committing sin, whose evil is conveyed to the body; while he, either sinning or teaching perversely, transfers pestiferous languor to the subject plebes.

38.5. Deteriores sunt qui siue doctrinis seu exemplis uitam moresque bonorum corrumpunt his qui substantias aliorum praediaque diripiunt; hii enim ea quae extra nos sunt, sed tamen nostra sunt, auferunt; corruptores uero morum proprie nos ipsos decipiunt, quoniam diuitiae hominum mores eorum sunt. Multum ergo distant damna morum a damnis temporalium rerum, dum ista extra nos sint, mores uero in nobis. XXXVIIII.

38.5. Worse are those who either by doctrines or by examples corrupt the life and mores of the good than those who plunder the substances and estates of others; for these take away things which are outside us, yet nevertheless are ours; but the corrupters of morals properly deceive our very selves, since the riches of men are their mores. Therefore the losses of morals differ much from the losses of temporal things, since these are outside us, but the mores are within us. 39.

De praepositis carnalibus. 39.1a. Prouidentia plerumque diuini consilii ordinantur praepositi mundana et exteriora sectantes, ut, dum temporalibus rebus se totos inpendunt, spiritales tuitiorem uitam contemplationis exerceant.

On carnal prelates. 39.1a. By the providence of divine counsel prelates are often ordained who pursue worldly and external things, so that, while they expend themselves wholly on temporal matters, the spiritual may exercise the more secure life of contemplation.

39.1b-3. Quia dura sunt quiete uiuere uolentium sarcina curarum episcopalium, prouidet saepe Deus curis deditos saecularibus ad susceptionem regiminis ut, dum hii exteriora sine taedio procurant, spiritales rebus interioribus sine inpedimento rerum terrenarum deseruiant. Dei ergo ordinem accusat a quo instituuntur, qui episcopos condemnat dum minus spiritalia, sed magis terrena sectantur. Ex diuini enim tabernaculi dispositione, ob iniurias mundi ferendas et turbines, quosdam institui episcopos saecularibus curis insistentes, ut hii qui interius superna desiderant, nullo terreno obsistente negotio, liberius hoc quod amant intendant.

39.1b-3. Because the burdensome load of episcopal cares is hard for those wishing to live in quiet, God often provides men devoted to secular cares for the undertaking of governance, so that, while these procure exterior things without tedium, the spiritual may serve interior matters without the impediment of earthly things. Therefore he accuses the order of God, by whom they are appointed, who condemns bishops when they pursue less the things spiritual and more the things earthly. For from the disposition of the divine tabernacle, for the bearing of the injuries and storms of the world, certain men are appointed bishops who persist in secular cares, so that those who inwardly desire the supernal, with no earthly business opposing, may more freely apply themselves to that which they love.

Non est itaque iudicandus a plebe rector inordinatus, dum magis nouerint populi sui fuisse meriti peruersi regimen suscepisse pontificis. Nampro meritis plebium disponitur a Deo uita rectorum, exemplo Dauid peccati ad conparationem principum qui ex merito plebis praeuaricantur. 39.4-6. Sententia damnantur Cham filii Noe, qui suorum praepositorum culpas in publico produnt; sicut Cham, qui patris pudenda non operuit, sed deridenda monstrauit.

Therefore the rector is not to be judged disordered by the plebs, since rather his peoples should know that by their own deserts they have received the perverse regimen of a pontiff. For according to the merits of the plebs the life of rectors is disposed by God, with David’s sin as an example, for the comparison of princes who prevaricate by the merit of the plebs. 39.4-6. By sentence are condemned the Ham-like sons of Noah, who publish in public the faults of their prepositors; just as Ham, who did not cover his father’s shameful parts, but showed them to be mocked.

Habituri Sem meritum et Iapheth, qui reuerenter operiunt quae patres suos excessisse cognoscunt, si tamen patrum facta non diligant, sed tantum operiant nec imitentur. Namsunt qui praepositos suos peruerse iudicant, dum terrenis studiis eos plus uiderint esse intentos, si uel parum iam ipsi de spiritalibus cogitauerunt. Rectores ergo a Deo iudicandi sunt, a suis autem subditis nequaquam iudicandi sunt: exemplo Domini qui per se uendentes columbas et nummulariorum mensas proprio euertit flagello et proiecit a templo; uel etiam sicut dicit: Deus stetit in synagoga deorum, in medio autem deos discernit.

Shem and Japheth will have merit, who reverently cover what they recognize their fathers to have exceeded—if, however, they do not love the deeds of the fathers, but only cover them and do not imitate them. For there are those who perversely judge their prelates, when they have seen them to be more intent on earthly pursuits, if they themselves have by now thought even a little about spiritual things. Therefore rulers are to be judged by God, but by their own subjects they are by no means to be judged: by the example of the Lord, who by himself overturned with his own scourge the tables of the money-changers and cast out from the temple those selling doves; or also as he says: God stood in the synagogue of gods, moreover in the midst he discerns the gods.

Quod si a fide exorbitauerit rector, tunc erit arguendus a subditis; pro moribus uero reprobis tolerandus magis quam distringendus a plebe est. XL. De iracundis doctoribus.

But if a ruler has deviated from the faith, then he is to be reproved by his subjects; yet for reprobate morals he is to be endured rather than constrained by the populace. 40. On irascible teachers.

40.1. Iracundi doctores per rabiem furoris disciplinae modum ad inmanitatem crudelitatis conuertunt; et unde emendare subditos poterant, inde potius uulnerant. 40.2. Ideo sine mensura ulciscitur culpas praepositus iracundus, quia cor eius dispersum in rerum curis non colligitur in amorem unius deitatis. Mens enim soluta in diuersis catena caritatis non adstringitur; sed male laxata, male ad omnem occasionem mouetur.

40.1. Irascible teachers, through rabid frenzy, convert the measure of discipline into the inhumanity of cruelty; and whence they could have amended their subjects, thence rather they wound. 40.2. Therefore the irascible superior avenges faults without measure, because his heart, scattered in the cares of things, is not collected into the love of the one Deity. For a mind loosened in diverse things is not constrained by the chain of charity; but, badly loosened, it is badly moved at every occasion.

XLI. De superbis doctoribus.

41. On proud teachers.

41.1-2. Bonus rector est qui et in humilitate seruat disciplinam, et per disciplinam non incurrit superbiam. Elati autem pastores plebes tyrannice premunt, non regunt, quique non Dei sed suam gloriam a subditis exigunt. 41.3. Multi sunt qui in uerbo doctrinae non humiles, sed adrogantes existunt, quique ipsa recta quae praedicant non studio correctionis, sed uitio elationis adnuntiant.

41.1-2. A good rector is he who both in humility preserves discipline, and through discipline does not incur superbia. But exalted/puffed-up pastors press the plebes tyrannically, they do not rule them, and they demand not the glory of God but their own from their subjects. 41.3. Many there are who in the word of doctrine appear not humble but arrogant, and who announce the very right things that they preach not from zeal for correction, but from the vice of elation.

41.4. Multi sunt qui non ex consulto aedificandi, sed ex tumore superbiendi docent, nec ut prosint sapientes sunt, sed ut sapientes uideantur docere student.

41.4. Many are those who teach not from deliberate counsel for edification, but from the tumor of pride; nor are they sapient so as to profit, but they strive to teach in order to seem sapient.

41.5. Est imitatio praua adrogantium sacerdotum, per quam imitantur sanctos rigore disciplinae, et sequi neglegunt caritatis affectione; uideri uolunt rigidi seueritate, et formam humilitatis praestare nequeunt, ut magis terribiles quam mites aspiciantur. 41.6. Superbi doctores uulnerare potius quam emendare nouerunt, Salomone testante: In ore stulti uirga superbiae,quia increpando rigide feriunt, et conpati humiliter nesciunt. 41.7. Bene alieni peccati curanda uitia suscipit, qui hoc ex cordis dilectione et humili conscientia facit.

41.5. There is a perverse imitation of arrogant priests, whereby they imitate the saints in the rigor of discipline, and they neglect to follow in the affection of charity; they wish to appear rigid by severity, and they cannot present the form of humility, so that they are looked upon as more terrible than mild. 41.6. Proud doctors know rather how to wound than to amend, with Solomon bearing witness: In the mouth of the fool is a rod of pride, because by rebuking rigidly they strike, and they do not know how to have compassion humbly. 41.7. He rightly undertakes the curing of another’s sinful faults, who does this from love of the heart and with a humble conscience.

Ceterum qui delinquentem superbo uel odioso animo corripit, non emendat, sed percutit. Quidquid enim proteruus, uel indignatus animus protulerit, obiurgantis furor est, non dilectio corrigentis.

Moreover, he who rebukes the delinquent with a superb or odious spirit does not amend, but strikes. For whatever a protervous or indignant spirit has uttered is the fury of the upbraider, not the love of the corrector.

XLII. De humilitate praepositorum. 42.1a. Qui praeficitur ad regimen, taliter erga disciplinam subditorum praestare se debet ut non solum auctoritate, uerum etiam humilitate clarescat.

42. On the humility of superiors. 42.1a. He who is put in charge of the regimen ought to present himself with respect to the discipline of his subordinates in such a way that he may be distinguished not only by authority, but also by humility.

Sed tamen ita erit in eo uirtus humilitatis, ne dissoluatur uita subditorum in uitiis; atque ita auctoritas aderit potestatis, ne per tumorem cordis seueritas existat inmoderationis. 42.1b. Haec est in Dei sacerdotibus uera discretio, qua nec per libertatem superbi, nec per humilitatem remissi sunt. Hinc est quod sancti cum multa constantia redarguerunt etiam principum uitia; in quibus cum summa esset humilitas, loco tamen necessario libere transgressores iustitiae increpabant.

But yet the virtue of humility will be in him in such a way that the life of the subordinates not be dissolved into vices; and likewise the authority of power will be present, lest, through a swelling of heart, there arise a severity of immoderation. 42.1b. This is in God’s priests the true discretion, whereby neither through liberty are they proud, nor through humility remiss. Hence it is that the saints, with much constancy, reproved even the vices of princes; in whom, although there was the highest humility, yet, in the necessary place, they freely rebuked transgressors of justice.

42.2. Aliquando etiam subditis nos oportet animo esse humiliores, quoniam facta subditorum iudicantur a nobis, nostra uero Deus iudicat. 42.3. Agnoscat episcopus seruum se esse plebi non dominum; uerum haec caritas, non conditio exigit. XLIII.

42.2. At times it behooves us to be in spirit even more humble than our subjects, since the deeds of the subjects are judged by us, but ours God judges. 42.3. Let the bishop acknowledge that he is a servant to the people, not a lord; but this charity, not condition, demands. 43.

De doctrinae discretione.

On the discretion of doctrine.

43.1. Non omnibus una eademque doctrina est adhibenda, sed pro qualitate morum diuersa exhortatio erit doctorum. Namquosdam increpatio dura, quosdam uero exhortatio corrigit blanda. 43.2. Sicut periti medici ad uarios corporis morbos diuerso medicamine seruiunt, ita ut iuxta uulnerum uarietates medicina diuersa sit, sic et doctor ecclesiae singulis quibusque congruum doctrinae remedium adhibebit, et quid cuique oporteat, pro aetate, pro sexu ac professione adnuntiabit.

43.1. One and the same doctrine is not to be applied to all, but there will be diverse exhortation on the part of teachers according to the quality of morals. For some a harsh increpation corrects, but others a blandishing exhortation corrects. 43.2. Just as expert physicians attend to various diseases of the body with diverse medicament, such that, according to the varieties of wounds, the medicine be diverse, so also the doctor of the Church will apply to each and every one the congruent remedy of doctrine, and will announce what is fitting for each, according to age, sex, and profession.

43.3-4a. Non omnibus ea quae sunt clausa aperienda sunt. Multi sunt enim qui capere non possunt. Quibus si indiscrete manifestentur, statim aut detrahunt aut neglegunt.

43.3-4a. The things that are closed are not to be opened to all. For there are many who cannot grasp. To whom, if such things are made manifest indiscriminately, at once they either detract or neglect.

Prima quippe prudentiae uirtus est eam quam docere oporteat existimare personam.

The first virtue of prudence, indeed, is to appraise the person whom it is proper to teach.

43.4b. Rudibus populis, seu carnalibus, plana atque communia, non summa atque ardua praedicanda sunt, ne immensitate doctrinae opprimantur, potius quam erudiantur. Vnde et Paulus apostolus ait: Non potui uobis loqui quasi spiritalibus, sed quasi carnalibus, tamquam paruulis in Christo lac uobis potum dedi, non escam. Carnalibus quippe animis nec alta nimis de caelestibus nec terrena conuenit praedicare, sed mediocriter, ut initia eorum moresque desiderant, edocere.

43.4b. To rude peoples, or carnal ones, the plain and the common are to be preached, not the highest and arduous, lest by the immensity of doctrine they be overwhelmed rather than educated. Whence also the apostle Paul says: I could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal; as to little children in Christ I gave you milk to drink, not food. For to carnal minds it is fitting to preach neither things too high about the heavenly nor earthly things, but in moderation, to instruct as their beginnings and morals desire.

43.5. Coruus, dum suos pullos uiderit albi coloris, nullis eos cibis alit, sed tantumdem adtendit donec paterno colore nigrescant, et sic illos frequenti cibo reficiat, ita et ecclesiae doctor strenuus, nisi eos quos docet uiderit ad suam similitudinem paenitentiae confessione nigrescere, et, nitore saeculari deposito, lamentationis habitum de peccati recordatione induere, utpote adhuc exteriores, hoc est carnalibus, non aperit intellegentiae spiritalis profundiora mysteria, ne dum audita non capiunt, prius incipiant contemnere quam uenerare mandata caelestia. 43.6. Aliter est agendum erga eos qui nostro committuntur regimini, si offendunt, atque aliter cum his qui nobis commissi non sunt; qui si iusti sunt, uenerandi sunt; si uero delinquunt, pro sola caritate, ut locus est, corripiendi sunt, non tamen cum seueritate, sicut hii qui nobis regendi commissi sunt.

43.5. The raven, when it has seen its chicks of a white color, nourishes them with no foods, but only attends until they blacken with the paternal color, and thus refreshes them with frequent food; so too a strenuous doctor of the Church, unless he sees those whom he teaches blacken to his own likeness by the confession of penitence, and, with secular sheen set aside, put on the habit of lamentation from the recollection of sin, as being still exterior—that is, carnal—does not open to them the deeper mysteries of spiritual understanding, lest, while they do not grasp the things heard, they begin to contemn rather than to venerate the heavenly mandates. 43.6. It is to be done otherwise toward those who are committed to our governance, if they offend, and otherwise with those who are not committed to us; if they are just, they are to be venerated; but if indeed they transgress, for charity alone, as there is room, they are to be corrected—not, however, with severity, as are those who are committed to us to be ruled.

43.7. Prius docendi sunt seniores plebis, ut per eos infra positi facilius doceantur; unde et apostolus: Haec, inquit, commenda fidelibus hominibus qui idonei sunt et alios docere. 43.8. Ingenium boni doctoris est incipientis a laudibus eorum quos salubriter obiurgatos corrigere cupiunt; sicut apostolus ad corinthios facit, quos a laudibus inchoat et increpationibus probat. Sed erant apud corinthios qui et laude et increpatione digni essent.

43.7. First the elders of the people are to be taught, so that through them those placed below may more easily be taught; whence also the apostle: “These things,” he says, “commend to faithful men who are suitable to teach others also.” 43.8. It is the character of a good doctor to begin with praises of those whom they desire to correct by a salutary rebuke; as the apostle to the Corinthians does, whom he begins with praises and proves by rebukes. But there were among the Corinthians those who were worthy both of praise and of rebuke.

Ille uero indiscrete sic utraque omnibus loquitur, ut omnium utraque conuenire uideantur. XLIIII. De silentio doctorum.

But he, indeed, so indiscriminately speaks both to everyone, that both seem to befit all. 44. On the silence of teachers.

44.1. Pro malo merito plebis aufertur doctrina praedicationis. Pro bono merito audientis tribuitur sermo doctoris. 44.2. In potestate diuina consistit cui uelit Deus doctrinae uerbum dare, uel cui auferre; et hoc aut pro dicentis, aut pro audientis fit merito, ut modo pro culpa plebis auferatur sermo doctoris, modo uero pro utilibus meritis tribuatur.

44.1. For the evil merit of the people, the doctrine of preaching is taken away. For the good merit of the hearer, the discourse of the teacher is bestowed. 44.2. It consists in divine power to whom God may will to give the word of doctrine, or from whom to take it away; and this is done either according to the merit of the speaker or of the hearer, such that at one time for the fault of the people the discourse of the teacher is taken away, at another time indeed it is granted for beneficial merits.

Namet bonus docet bonum, et malus malum, et bonus malum et malus bonum; quod tamen fit iuxta meritum populorum. 44.3. Non omnia tempora congruunt doctrinae, secundum Salomonis sententiam dicentis: tempus tacendi et tempus loquendi. Non quidem per timorem, sed per discretionem, propter malorum incorrectibilem iniquitatem nonnumquam electos oportet a doctrina cessare.

For indeed the good teaches good, and the evil evil, and the good evil and the evil good; yet this happens according to the merit of peoples. 44.3. Not all times are congruent for doctrine, according to the sentence of Solomon saying: a time of being silent and a time of speaking. Not indeed out of fear, but out of discretion, on account of the incorrigible iniquity of the wicked, it is sometimes necessary for the elect to cease from doctrine.

44.4. Interdum doctores ecclesiae, calore caritatis ardentes, conticescunt a docendo, quia non est qui audiat, testante propheta: Ciuitates austri clausae sunt, et non est qui aperiat. 44.5. Qui docendi accepit officium, interdum ad tempus facta proximi taceat, quae statim corrigere nequaquam existimat. Namsi corrigere potest et dissimulat, uerum est quod consensum erroris alieni habeat.

44.4. Sometimes the doctors of the church, burning with the heat of charity, fall silent from teaching, because there is no one to hear, the prophet bearing witness: The cities of the south are closed, and there is no one to open. 44.5. He who has received the office of teaching should sometimes for a time be silent about his neighbor’s deeds, which he judges by no means to be able to correct immediately. For if he can correct and passes it over, it is true that he has a consent in another’s error.

44.6. Plerique sancti doctores promalipertinacia, quia iniquos emendare nequeunt, his tacere disponunt, sed calorem spiritus quo aguntur ferre non sustinentes, iterum in increpationem prosiliunt iniquorum.

44.6. Most holy doctors, on account of the pertinacity of the wicked, because they cannot amend the iniquitous, determine to be silent toward them; but, unable to bear the heat of the Spirit by which they are actuated, they spring forth again into the increpation of the iniquitous.

XLV. De praebenda sacerdotali protectione in plebe. 45.1. Quibus docendi forma commissa est, multum subeunt periculi si contradicentibus ueritati resistere noluerint, dum propheta doctorem ecclesiae instruat ad summum usque iustitiae peruenire, cum dicit: Super montem excelsum ascende qui euangelizas Sion, scilicet ut ita praemineat merito, sicut et gradu.

45. On providing sacerdotal protection among the people. 45.1. To those to whom the form of teaching has been committed, they undergo much peril if they are unwilling to resist those contradicting the truth, while the prophet instructs the teacher of the church to arrive even to the summit of justice, when he says: Ascend upon a high mountain, you who evangelize Zion, namely, that he may thus be preeminent in merit, as also in degree.

Sequenter ne forte debeat a docendo timore restringi, audit: Exalta in fortitudine uocem tuam et noli timere. Vnde et Hieremiae ita Dominus ait: Accinge lumbos tuos, et surge loquere ad eos! ne formides a facie eorum!

Next, lest perchance he should be restrained from teaching by fear, he hears: Exalt your voice in fortitude and do not fear. Whence also to Jeremiah thus the Lord says: Gird your loins, and arise, speak to them! do not be afraid before their face!

nec enim timere te faciam uultum eorum, unde et apparet quia et non timere Dei donum est. 45.2. Qui personam potentis accipit et ueritatem loqui pauescit, graui multatur culpae sententia. Multi enim sacerdotes metu potestatis ueritatem occultant, et a bono opere, uel a iustitiae praedicatione, rei alicuius formidine aut potestate terrente auertuntur.

nor indeed will I make you fear their face, whence it also appears that not to fear is a gift of God. 45.2. He who accepts the person of a powerful man and is afraid to speak the truth is penalized with the judgment of a grave offense. For many priests hide the truth from fear of power, and from good work, or from the preaching of justice, they are turned aside by the dread of some matter or by a power that terrifies.

Sed heu! pro dolor! inde metuunt quia uel amore rerum saecularium inplicantur, uel quia aliquo facinoris opere confunduntur.

But alas! alas! and so they fear, because either they are implicated by love of secular things, or because they are confounded by some work of crime.

45.3. Multi praesules ecclesiarum, timentes ne amicitiam perdant et molestiam odiorum incurrant peccantes non arguunt, et corripere pauperum oppressores uerentur; nec pertimescunt de seueritate reddendae rationis, pro eo quod conticescunt de plebibus sibi commissis. 45.4. Quando a potentibus pauperes opprimuntur, ad eripiendos eos boni sacerdotes protectionis auxilium ferunt, nec uerentur cuiusquam inimicitiarum molestias, sed oppressores pauperum palam arguunt, increpant, excommunicant, minusque metuunt eorum nocendi insidias, etiamsi nocere ualeant: Pastor enim bonus animam suam ponit pro ouibus. 45.5. Sicut peruigil pastor contra bestias oues custodire solet, ita et Dei sacerdos super gregem Christi sollicitus esse debet, ne inimicus uastet, ne persecutor infestet, ne potentioris cuiusque cupiditas uitam pauperum inquietet.

45.3. Many prelates of the churches, fearing lest they lose friendship and incur the annoyance of hatreds, do not arraign those who sin, and they shrink from reproving the oppressors of the poor; nor do they dread the severity of the account to be rendered, on the ground that they keep silence about the peoples committed to them. 45.4. When the poor are oppressed by the powerful, good priests bring the aid of protection to snatch them away, nor do they fear the annoyances of anyone’s enmities, but they openly arraign, rebuke, excommunicate the oppressors of the poor, and they less fear the plots of their harming, even if they are able to harm: For the good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 45.5. Just as the ever-vigilant shepherd is accustomed to guard the sheep against beasts, so too the priest of God ought to be solicitous over the flock of Christ, lest the enemy lay waste, lest the persecutor infest, lest the cupidity of any more powerful person disquiet the life of the poor.

Praui autem pastores non habent curam de ouibus, sed sicut legitur in euangelio de mercenariis: Vident lupum uenientem et fugiunt. Tunc enim fugiunt, quando potentibus tacent, etmalisresistere metuunt.

Perverse pastors, however, do not have care for the sheep, but just as it is read in the Gospel concerning mercenaries: They see the wolf coming and they flee. For then indeed they flee, when they keep silent before the powerful, and fear to resist the wicked.

XLVI. De disciplina sacerdotum in his qui delinquunt. 46.1. Sacerdotes pro populorum iniquitate damnantur, si eos aut ignorantes non erudiant, aut peccantes non arguant, testante Domino ad prophetam: Speculatorem te dedi domui Israhel.

46. On the discipline of priests in regard to delinquents. 46.1. Priests are condemned on account of the iniquity of the peoples, if they either do not educate them when ignorant or do not arraign them when sinning, the Lord bearing witness to the prophet: “I have given you as a watchman to the house of Israel.”

Si non fueris locutus, ut se custodiat impius a uia sua, ille in iniquitate sua morietur; sanguinem autem eius de manu tua requiram. Sic enim Heli sacerdos pro filiorum iniquitate damnatus est, et licet eos delinquentes admonuit, sed tamen non ut oportebat redarguit. 46.2. Sacerdotes exquirere debent peccata populorum, et sagaci sollicitudine unumquemque probare, iuxta testimonium Domini ad Hieremiam loquentis: Probatorem, inquit, dedi te populo meo robustum, et scies et probabis uias eorum.

If you have not spoken, that the impious man guard himself from his way, he will die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from your hand. Thus indeed the priest Eli was condemned for the iniquity of his sons, and although he admonished them as they were delinquent, yet he did not rebuke as was fitting. 46.2. Priests ought to inquire after the sins of the peoples, and with sagacious solicitude to prove each and every one, according to the testimony of the Lord speaking to Jeremiah: “A prover (assayer),” he says, “I have set you for my people, robust, and you shall know and you shall prove their ways.”

46.3. Sacerdotes studio corrigendi facta perscrutari debent subiectorum, ut emendatos lucrifacere possint; sicut autem peccatorem conuenit argui, ita iustum non exulcerari. 46.4. Sacerdotes curam debent habere de his qui pereunt, ut eius redargutione aut corrigantur a peccatis, aut, si incorrectibiles existunt, ab ecclesia separentur. 46.5. Atrociter arguuntur qui decipiendo peccantes, non solum quia non arguunt pro peccato, sed etiam adulanter decipiunt, dicente propheta: Et erunt qui beatificant populum istum seducentes, et qui beatificantur praecipitati.

46.3. Priests ought, with the zeal of correcting, to scrutinize the deeds of their subjects, so that they may be able to make gain of the corrected; and as it is fitting that the sinner be reproved, so the just man is not to be ulcerated. 46.4. Priests ought to have care for those who perish, so that by his reproof they may either be corrected from sins, or, if they prove incorrigible, be separated from the church. 46.5. Those are harshly reproved who, deceiving, deal with sinners, not only because they do not reprove for sin, but also because they seducingly flatter, the prophet saying: And there shall be those who beatify this people, seducing, and those who are beatified shall be precipitated.

46.6. Atrociter iterum arguuntur qui peccantem non recipiunt, sed despiciunt et spernunt, nec alterius delictum tamquam proprium ingemescunt. De talibus per Esaiam Dominus comminans dicit: Qui dicunt "recede a me, non adpropinques mihi quia inmundus es", isti fumus erunt in furore meo, ignisardenstota die. Inde est quod et apostolus omnibus omnia factus est, non imitatione erroris, sed conpassionis miseratione, scilicet ut ita uitia aliena fleret, quemadmodum si tali et ipse inplicaretur errore.

46.6. Again, those are harshly rebuked who do not receive the one sinning, but despise and spurn him, nor groan over another’s delict as though it were their own. Concerning such, the Lord, threatening through Isaiah, says: Those who say, "Withdraw from me; do not approach me, because you are unclean," these shall be smoke in my wrath, a fire burning the whole day. Hence it is that even the Apostle became all things to all, not by imitation of error, but by the commiseration of co-suffering, to wit, that he might thus weep over others’ vices, as though he himself were entangled in such an error.

46.7. Boni pastores populi debent delicta deflere et totos se planctibus tradere, imitantes Hieremiam prophetam diceritem: Quis dabit capiti meo aquam et oculis meis fontem lacrimarum? et plorabo die ac nocte interfectos populi mei. Tanquam propria igitur delicta plebis peccata sacerdos flere debet, sed affectu conpatiendi, non actione commissi.

46.7. Good pastors of the people ought to bewail the delicts and hand themselves over wholly to lamentations, imitating the prophet Jeremiah saying: Who will give to my head water and to my eyes a fountain of tears? and I will weep day and night for the slain of my people. As though his own, therefore, the priest ought to weep for the sins of the plebs, but with the affect of compassion, not by the action of the committed deed.

46.8. Nonnulli praesules gregis quosdam pro peccato a communione eiciunt, ut paeniteant, sed quali sorte uiuere debeant, ad melius exhortandos non uisitant. Quibus congrue sermo diuinus increpans comminatur: Pastores qni pascunt populum meum, uos dispersistis gregem meum, eiecistis et non uisitastis eos; ecce ego uisitabo super uos malitiam studiorum uestrorum.

46.8. Some prelates of the flock cast certain persons out from communion on account of sin, that they may do penance, but they do not visit them as to in what sort they ought to live, to exhort them to better. To such, fittingly, the divine word, rebuking, threatens: “Pastors who feed my people, you have scattered my flock, you have cast them out, and you have not visited them; behold, I will visit upon you the malice of your endeavors.”

46.9. Bonorum studia sacerdotum multa diligentia etiam parua plebium facta perquirunt, ut, dum in minimis subditorum peccatis se acerrimos praestant, maiores malos cautos, sibi subditos ac sollicitos faciant. 46.10. Sicut medici morbos inminentes curandos suscipiunt, futuros uero ne inripiant, medicinae obiectu quadam praescientia antecedunt, ita et doctores boni sic ea quae male acta sunt resecant ut ea quae admitti possunt, ne perpetrentur, doctrina succurrente, praeueniant. 46.11. Qui blando uerbo castigatus non corrigitur, acrius necesse est arguatur.

46.9. The pursuits of good priests, with much diligence, even enquire into the small deeds of the plebs, so that, while in the least sins of their subordinates they show themselves most keen, they make their subjects cautious and solicitous against greater evils. 46.10. Just as physicians take up impending diseases to be cured, but forestall future ones, lest they creep in, by the interposition of medicine with a certain prescience, so also good teachers thus resect the things that have been ill done, and, with doctrine coming to the rescue, anticipate those things that could be committed, lest they be perpetrated. 46.11. He who, chastised with a bland word, is not corrected must of necessity be reproved more sharply.

Cum dolore enim abscidenda sunt quae leniter sanari non possunt.

For those things which cannot be healed gently must be excised with pain.

46.12. Qui admonitus secretim corrigi de peccato neglegit, publice arguendus est, ut uulnus, quod occulte sanari nescit, manifeste debeat emendari. 46.13. Manifesta peccata non sunt occulta correctione purganda; palam enim sunt arguendi qui palam nocent, ut, dum aperta obiurgatione sanantur, hii qui eos imitando deliquerant, corrigantur. 46.14. Dum unus corripitur, plurimi emendantur.

46.12. He who, admonished in secret to be corrected of sin, neglects it, must be publicly rebuked, so that the wound which cannot be healed covertly ought to be amended manifestly. 46.13. Manifest sins are not to be purged by occult correction; for they who harm openly are to be reproved openly, so that, while they are healed by open objurgation, those who had transgressed by imitating them may be corrected. 46.14. While one is rebuked, very many are amended.

Necesse est enim ut pro multorum saluatione unus condemnetur, quam per unius licentiam multi periclitentur.

For it is necessary that, for the salvation of many, one be condemned, rather than that through the license of one many be imperiled.

46.15. Ita erga delinquentem sermo est proferendus, sicut eius qui corripitur expostulat salus. Quod si opus est aliquam medicamenti salutem uerbo increpationis aspargere, lenitatem tamen corde opus est retinere. 46.16. Doctores nonnumquam duris feriunt increpationibus subditos; qui tamen a caritate eorum quos corripiunt non recedunt.

46.15. Thus a discourse is to be brought forth toward the delinquent, as the salvation of him who is corrected demands. But if there is need to asperse some medicinal remedy by the word of increpation, yet there is need to retain lenity in the heart. 46.16. Teachers sometimes smite their subordinates with harsh increpations; who, nevertheless, do not withdraw from charity toward those whom they correct.

46.17. Saepe ecclesiae censura arrogantibus uidetur esse superbia, et quod a bonis pie fit, crudeliter fieri putatur a prauis, quia non discernunt recto oculo quod a bonis recto fit animo.

46.17. Often the church’s censure seems to the arrogant to be pride, and what is done piously by the good is thought by the depraved to be done cruelly, because they do not discern with a straight eye what is done by the good with a straight mind.

46.18-20a. Notandum ab omni pontifice uehementer ut tanto cautius erga commissos agat, quanto durius a Christo iudicari formidat; nam sicut scriptum est: In qua mensura mensi fueritis, in ipsa remetietur uobis. Cotidie namque omnes delinquimus, et in multis erroribus labimur.

46.18-20a. It must be noted very strongly by every pontiff that he should act all the more cautiously toward those entrusted to him, in proportion as he dreads being judged more harshly by Christ; for, as it is written: In what measure you have measured, in that same it will be measured back to you. For daily indeed we all transgress, and we slip in many errors.

Qui enim in nostris delictis clementes sumus, in alieno peccato rigorem tenere nequaquam debemus. 46.20b. Multi aliorum uitia cernunt, sua non aspiciunt et cum ipsi maximis criminibus obnoxii teneantur, minora peccata fratribus non dimittunt.

For indeed, if we are clement in our own delicts, we ought by no means to hold rigor in another’s sin. 46.20b. Many discern the vices of others, they do not look upon their own; and when they themselves are held liable to very great crimes, they do not remit lesser sins to their brothers.

46.21. Hypocritae trabem in oculo suo consistentem non sentiunt, et haerentem festucam in lumine fratris intendunt.

46.21. Hypocrites do not perceive the beam standing fast in their own eye, and they fix upon the splinter clinging in the eye of a brother.

46.22. Facilius reprehendimus uitia aliena quam nostra. Namsaepe quae peruersa in aliis iudicamus, in nobis nocibilia esse minus sentimus, et quod in aliis reprehendimus, agere ipsi non erubescimus. 46.23. Facilius uitia uniuscuiusque quam uirtutes intendimus, nec quid boni quisque gesserit agnoscere, sed quidmaliegerit, perscrutamur.

46.22. We more easily reprehend others’ vices than our own. For often the things which we judge perverse in others we feel to be less noxious in ourselves, and what we reprehend in others we ourselves do not blush to do. 46.23. We more easily fix upon the vices of each individual than the virtues, and we do not acknowledge what good each has done, but we scrutinize what evil he has done.

XLVII. De subditis.

47. On subordinates.

47.1. Propter peccatum primi hominis humano generi poena diuinitus inlata est seruitutis, ita ut quibus aspicit non congruere libertatem, his misericordius inroget seruitutem. Et licet per peccatum humanae originis, tamen aequus Deus ideo discreuit hominibus uitam, alios seruos constituens, alios dominos, ut licentia male agendi seruorum potestate dominantium restringatur. Namsi omnes sine metu fuissent, quis esset qui amalisquempiam cohiberet?

47.1. On account of the sin of the first man, a penalty of servitude was divinely inflicted upon the human race, such that, for those whom he sees that liberty does not agree with, to these he more mercifully imposes servitude. And although it is through the sin of human origin, nevertheless the just God for this reason has distinguished life among human beings, appointing some as slaves and others as masters, so that the license of doing ill of the slaves might be restrained by the power of those exercising dominion. For if all were without fear, who would there be to restrain anyone from evils?

Inde et in gentibus principes regesque electi sunt, ut terrore suo populos a malo coercerent, atque ad recte uiuendum legibus subderent. 47.2. Quantum ad penetrationem, non est personarum acceptio apud Deum, qui mundi elegit ignobilia et contemptibilia, et quae non sunt ut ea quae sunt destrueret, ne glorietur omnis caro, hoc est carnalis potentia, coram illo; unus enim Dominus aequaliter et dominis fert consultum et seruis. 47.3. Melius est subiecta seruitus quam elata libertas.

Thence also among the nations princes and kings were elected, that by their terror they might coerce peoples from evil, and subject them by laws to living rightly. 47.2. As to penetration, there is no acceptance of persons with God, who chose the ignoble and contemptible things of the world, and the things that are not, that he might destroy the things that are, lest all flesh— that is, carnal potency— should glory before him; for one Lord equally provides for both masters and servants. 47.3. Subjected servitude is better than exalted liberty.

Multi enim inueniuntur Deo libere seruientes sub dominis constituti flagitiosis; qui, etsi subiecti sunt illis corpore, praelati tamen sunt mente.

For many are found freely serving God, constituted under flagitious masters; who, although they are subject to them in body, are nevertheless preeminent in mind.

XLVIII. De praelatis. 48.1. Vir iustus aut omni potestate saeculari exuitur aut, si aliqua cingitur, non sub illa curuatur ut superbus tumeat, sed eam sibi subicit ut humilior innotescat.

48. On prelates. 48.1. A just man is either stripped of all secular power, or, if he is girded with some, he does not bend beneath it so as to swell with pride, but he subjects it to himself so that he may be known as the more humble.

Probatur autem hoc apostolico exemplo, qui datam sibi potestatem etiam nec ad hoc usus est quod licebat, sed, dum possit utere, licita abnuit seseque ut paruulum in medio eorum quibus praeerat ostendit. 48.2. Qui in adpetendis honoribus saeculi aut prosperitatibus mundi instanti desudat labore, et hic et in futuro uacuus inuenitur a requie, tantoque sarcinis peccatorum grauatur, quanto a bonis operibus alienus.

But this is proven by the apostolic example, who did not even use, for that which was lawful, the power given to him; but, though he could use it, he refused the permitted things, and showed himself as a little child in the midst of those over whom he presided. 48.2. He who, in seeking after the honors of the age or the prosperities of the world, sweats with pressing toil, is found void of rest both here and in the future, and is weighed down by the burdens of sins in proportion as he is alienated from good works.

48.3. Quanto quisque amplius saecularis honoris dignitate sublimatur, tanto grauius curarum ponderibus adgrauatur, eisque magis mente et cogitatione subicitur, quibus sublimitatis gradu praeponitur. Namut quidam patrum ait: "Omne quod supereminet, plus maeroribus afficitur quam honoribus gaudet." 48.4. Quanto quisque curis mundi maioribus occupatur, tanto facilioribus uitiis premitur. Si enim uix ualet peccata animus deuitare quietus, quanto magis occupatione saeculari deuinctus.

48.3. The more each person is exalted by the dignity of secular honor, by so much the more he is aggravated by the weights of cares, and he is the more subjected in mind and thought to those over whom he is set by a degree of sublimity. For, as one of the fathers says: "Everything that overtops is affected more by griefs than it rejoices in honors." 48.4. The more each person is occupied with the greater cares of the world, by so much the more he is pressed by more facile vices. For if a mind at rest scarcely has strength to avoid sins, how much more [so] one bound by secular occupation.

48.5a. Non statim utile est omne potestatis insigne, sed tunc uere est utile si bene geratur; tunc autem bene geritur quando subiectis prodest quibus terreni honores praeferuntur.

48.5a. Not every ensign of power is useful straightway, but then it is truly useful if it be well administered; and then it is well administered when it profits the subjects over whom earthly honors are set in precedence.

48.5b. Potestas bona est quando Deo donante est, ut malum timore coerceat, non ut temere malum committat. Nihil autem peius quam per potestatem peccandi libertatem habere, nihilque infelicius male agendi felicitate. 48.6. Qui intra saeculum bene temporaliter imperat, sine fine in perpetuum regnat, et de gloria saeculi huius ad aeternam transmeat gloriam.

48.5b. Power is good when, by God’s gift, it exists to coerce evil by fear, not to commit evil rashly. Moreover, nothing is worse than to have, through power, a liberty of sinning, and nothing more unfortunate than a felicity of doing ill. 48.6. He who within the age rules well in temporal matters reigns without end perpetually, and passes over from the glory of this world to eternal glory.

Qui uero praue regnum exercent, post uestem fulgentem et lumina lapillorum, nudi et miseri ad inferna torquendi descendunt. 48.7. Reges a recte agendo uocati sunt, ideoque recte faciendo regis nomen tenetur, peccando amittitur. Namet uiros sanctos proinde reges uocari in sacris eloquiis, eo quod recte agant, sensusque proprios bene regant et motus resistentes sibi rationabili discretione conponant.

But those who exercise kingship perversely, after the shining garment and the gleam of little stones, go down naked and wretched to hell to be tormented. 48.7. Kings are called such from acting rightly; and thus, by doing right the name of king is held, by sinning it is lost. For even holy men are accordingly called kings in the sacred utterances, because they act rightly, and they rule their own senses well and compose resisting impulses with rational discretion.

Recte igitur illi reges uocantur qui tam semetipsos quam subiectos, bene regendo, modificare nouerunt.

Therefore, those are rightly called kings who know how, by ruling well, to moderate both themselves and their subjects.

48.8. Quidam ipsud nomen regiminis ad inmanitatem transuertunt crudelitatis, dumque ad culmen potestatis uenerint, in apostasiam confestim labuntur, tantoque se tumore cordis extollunt, ut cunctos subditos in sui conparatione despiciant, eosque quibus praeesse contigit non agnoscant. Quibus congrue per ecclesiasten dicitur: Ducem te constitui, noli extolli. [sed esto in illis quasi unus ex illis] 48.9. Dum mundi reges sublimiores se ceteris sentiant, mortales tamen se esse agnoscant, nec regni gloriam, qua in saeculo sublimantur, aspiciant, sed opus quod secum ad inferos deportent intendant.

48.8. Certain men transpose the very name of governance into the inhumanity of cruelty, and when they have come to the summit of power, they straightway slip into apostasy, and so much do they lift themselves up with a tumor of heart that they despise all their subjects in comparison with themselves, nor do they acknowledge those over whom it has chanced them to preside. To whom it is fittingly said through Ecclesiasticus: I have appointed you leader, do not be exalted. [but be among them as one of them] 48.9. While the kings of the world feel themselves more exalted than the rest, nevertheless let them acknowledge that they are mortal, and let them not look to the glory of the kingdom by which they are exalted in the age, but let them attend to the work which they will carry down with themselves to the lower regions.

Si ergo carebunt huius temporis gloriam, illa agant quae post finem sine fine possideant. 48.10. Dum apostolus dicat: Non est potestas nisi a Deo,quomodo Dominus per prophetam de quibusdam potestatibus dicit: Ipsi regnauerunt, sed non ex me, quasi diceret non me propitio, etiamsi me irato? Vnde inferius per eundem prophetam adicit: Dabo, inquit, tibi regem in furore meo.

If therefore they will lack the glory of this time, let them do those things which after the end they may possess without end. 48.10. While the apostle says: There is no power unless from God,how does the Lord through the prophet say about certain powers: They themselves have reigned, but not from me, as if he were saying: not with me propitious, even with me angry? Whence lower down through the same prophet he adds: I will give, he says, to you a king in my fury.

Quo manifestius elucet bonam malamque potestatem a Deo ordinari, sed bonam propitius, malam iratus.

Whence it shines forth more manifestly that both good and bad authority are ordained by God—yet the good propitiously, the bad in anger.

48.11. Reges quando boni sunt, muneris esse Dei; quando ueromali, sceleris esse populi. Secundum meritum enim plebium disponitur uita rectorum, testante Iob: Qui regnare facit hypocritam propter peccata populi. Irascente enim Deo, talem rectorem populi suscipiunt, qualem pro peccato merentur.

48.11. When kings are good, they are a gift of God; when indeed they are evil, they are the crime of the people. For according to the merit of the plebs the life of the rulers is disposed, Job bearing witness: “He makes a hypocrite reign on account of the sins of the people.” For when God is wrathful, they receive such a ruler of the people as they deserve for their sin.

Nonnumquam pro malitia plebis etiam reges mutantur, et qui ante uidebantur esse boni, accepto regno fiunt iniqui. XLVIIII. De iustitia principum.

Sometimes, on account of the malice of the plebs, even kings are changed, and those who previously seemed to be good, once the reign has been received, become iniquitous. 49. On the justice of princes.

49.1. Qui recte utitur regni potestatem, ita praestare se omnibus debet, ut quanto magis honoris celsitudine claret, tanto semetipsum mente humiliet, praeponens sibi exemplum humilitatis Dauid, qui de suis meritis non tumuit, sed humiliter sese deiciens dixit: Vilis incedam et uilis apparebo ante Deum qui elegit me.

49.1. He who uses rightly the power of the kingdom ought so to present himself to all, that the more he shines with the loftiness of honor, by that much he humbles himself in mind, setting before himself the exemplar of the humility of David, who did not swell because of his own merits, but, casting himself down humbly, said: "I will walk lowly and I will appear lowly before God who chose me."

49.2. Qui recte utitur regni potestatem, formam iustitiae factis magis quam uerbis instituit. Iste nulla prosperitate erigitur, nulla aduersitate turbatur, non innititur propriis uiribus, nec a Domino recedit cor eius; regni fastigium humili praesidet animo, non eum delectat iniquitas, non inflammat cupiditas, sine defraudatione alicuius ex paupere diuitem facit et, quod iusta potestate a populis extorquere poterat, saepe misericordi clementia donat. 49.3. Dedit Deus principibus praesulatum pro regimine populorum, et illis eos praeesse uoluit cum quibus una est eis nascendi moriendique conditio.

49.2. He who uses rightly the power of the kingdom establishes the form of justice by deeds rather than by words. This man is raised up by no prosperity, is troubled by no adversity; he does not lean upon his own strengths, nor does his heart depart from the Lord; at the summit of kingship he presides with a humble mind; iniquity does not delight him, greed does not inflame him; without the defraudation of anyone he makes from a pauper a rich man; and what he could have extorted from the peoples by rightful power, he often bestows with merciful clemency. 49.3. God gave to princes a presidency for the regimen of the peoples, and willed them to preside over those with whom they have one and the same condition of being born and of dying.

Prodesse ergo debet populis principatus, non nocere, nec dominando premere, sed condescendendo consulere, ut uere sit utile hoc potestatis insigne, et donum Dei pro tuitione utantur membrorum Christi. Membra quippe Christi fideles sunt populi, quos, dum ea potestate quam accipiunt optime regunt, bonam utique uicissitudinem Deo largitori restituunt. 49.4. Bonus rex facilius ad iustitiam a delicto regreditur, quam de iustitia ad delictum transfertur, ut noueris hic esse casum, illuc propositum.

Therefore the principate ought to benefit the peoples, not to harm, nor to press them down by dominating, but to counsel them by condescending, so that this ensign of power may truly be useful, and they may use the gift of God for the protection of the members of Christ. For the faithful peoples are the members of Christ, and when they govern them most excellently with that power which they receive, they assuredly render a good vicissitude—a return—to God the Bestower. 49.4. A good king more easily goes back to justice from a delict than he is transferred from justice to a delict, so that you may know that here there is a fall, there a resolve.

In proposito eius esse debet numquam egredi a ueritate; quod si casu titubare contigerit, mox resurgere.

In his purpose there ought to be never to depart from the truth; and if by chance he should happen to stumble, to rise again at once.

L. De patientia principum. 50.1. Plerumque princeps iustus etiam malorum errores dissimulare nouit, non quod iniquitati eorum consentiat, sed quod aptum tempus correctionis expectet, quando eorum uitia, uel emendare ualeat, uel punire. 50.2. Multi aduersus principes coniurationis crimine deteguntur, sed probare uolens Deus clementiam principum illos male cogitare permittit, istos non deserit.

50. On the patience of princes. 50.1. Usually a just prince also knows how to dissimulate the errors of the wicked, not because he consents to their iniquity, but because he awaits the apt time of correction, when he may be able either to amend their vices or to punish them. 50.2. Many are detected on the charge of conspiracy against princes, but God, wishing to prove the clemency of princes, permits those to think ill, does not desert these.

De illorum malo bene istis facit, dum culpas quas illi agunt isti mira o patientia indulgent.

From the evil of those he does good to these, while these—O marvelous patience!—indulge the faults which those commit.

50.3. Reddere malum pro malo uicissitudo iustitiae est, sed qui clementiam addit iustitiae, non malum pro malo culpatis reddit, sed bonum pro malo offensis impertit. LI. De delictis principum sive exemplis. 50.4. Difficile est principem regredi ad melius, si uitiis fuerit inplicatus.

50.3. To render evil for evil is the reciprocation of justice, but he who adds clemency to justice does not render evil for evil to the culpable, but imparts good for evil to the offenders. 51. On the delicts of princes or examples. 50.4. It is difficult for a prince to return to the better, if he has been entangled in vices.

Populi enim peccantes iudicem metuunt, et a malo suo legibus coercentur. Reges autem, nisi solo Dei timore metuque gehennae coerceantur, libere in praeceps proruunt, et per abruptum licentiae in omne facinus uitiorum labuntur.

For peoples who are sinning fear the judge, and are restrained from their evil by laws. But kings, unless they are restrained by the fear of God alone and the fear of Gehenna, freely rush headlong, and down the precipice of license they slip into every criminal deed of vices.

50.5. Quanto quisque in superiori constitutus est loco, tanto in maiori uersatur periculo; et quanto splendoris honore celsior quisque est, tanto, si delinquat, peccato maior est: Potentes enim potenter tormenta patientur. Cui enim plus committitur, plus ab eo exigitur. etiam cum usura poenarum.

50.5. The higher each person is constituted in a superior place, the greater he is involved in danger; and the loftier anyone is in the honor of splendor, by so much, if he should be delinquent, the sin is greater: For the powerful will mightily suffer torments. For to whom more is committed, more is exacted from him, even with the usury of penalties.

50.6. Reges uitam subditorum facile exemplis suis uel aedificant, uel subuertunt, ideoque principem non oportet delinquere, ne formam peccandi faciat peccati eius inpunita licentia. Namrex qui ruit in uitiis cito uiam ostendit erroris, sicut legitur de Hieroboam qui peccauit et peccare fecit Israhel! Illius autem adscribitur quicquid exemplo eius a subditis perpetratur.

50.6. Kings, by their own examples, easily either edify, or subvert, the life of their subjects; and therefore it is not fitting for the prince to transgress, lest the unpunished license of his sin make a form of sinning. For a king who rushes headlong into vices quickly shows the way of error, just as it is read about Jeroboam, who sinned and made Israel sin! Moreover, whatever is perpetrated by subjects by his example is ascribed to him.

50.7. Sicut nonnulli bonorum principum Deo placita facta sequuntur, ita facile multi praua eorum exempla sectantur. Plerique autem apud iniquos principes, necessitate magis quam uoto,maliexistunt, dum imperiis eorum oboediunt. Nonnulli autem sicut prompti sunt sequi reges in malum, sic pigri sunt imitare illos in bonum.

50.7. Just as some follow the deeds of good princes that are pleasing to God, so many easily pursue their depraved examples. Most, moreover, under iniquitous princes, become evil more by necessity than by choice, while they obey their commands. Some, however, just as they are prompt to follow kings into evil, so they are slow to imitate them in good.

50.8. Saepe undemalireges peccant, inde boni iustificantur, dum praecedentium cupiditatem et malitiam corrigunt. Namreuera peccatis eorum communicant, si, quod illi diripuerunt, isti retentant. 50.9. Cuius peccatum quisque sequitur, necesse est ut eius poenam sequatur.

50.8. Often from the same source whence evil kings sin, from there the good are justified, while they correct the cupidity and malice of their predecessors. For in truth they communicate in their sins, if what those men plundered, these men retain. 50.9. Whose sin each one follows, it is necessary that he follow his punishment.

Neque enim erit inpar supplicio, cuius errore quisque par est ac uitio. LII. Quod principes legibus teneantur.

For neither will he be unequal in punishment, he in whose error and vice each is equally involved. 52. That princes are bound by the laws.

51.1. Iustum est principem legibus obtemperare suis. Tunc enim iura sua ab omnibus custodienda existimet, quando et ipse illis reuerentiam praebet. 51.2. Principeslegibus teneri suis, nec in se posse damnare iura quae in subiectis constituunt.

51.1. It is just that the prince obey his own laws. For then let him consider his laws to be kept by all, when he himself also shows reverence to them. 51.2. Princes are held by their own laws, nor can they, in their own case, condemn the laws which they constitute among their subjects.

Iusta est enim uocis eorum auctoritas, si, quod populis prohibent, sibi licere non patiantur. 51.3. Sub religionis disciplinam saeculi potestates subiectae sunt; et quamuis culmine regni sint praediti, uinculo tamen fidei tenentur adstricti, ut fidem Christi suis legibus praedicent, et ipsam fidei praedicationem moribus bonis conseruent.

For the authority of their voice is just, if they do not allow that to be lawful for themselves which they forbid to the peoples. 51.3. Under the discipline of religion the secular powers are subjected; and although they are endowed with the summit of kingship, nevertheless they are held bound by the bond of faith, so that they may preach the faith of Christ by their own laws, and preserve the very preaching of the faith with good morals.

LIII. De disciplina principum in ecclesia. 51.4. Principessaeculi nonnumquam intra ecclesiam potestatis adeptae culmina tenent, ut per eandem potestatem disciplinam ecclesiasticam muniant.

53. On the discipline of princes in the church. 51.4. Princes of the age sometimes hold within the church the summits of power they have attained, so that by that same power they may fortify ecclesiastical discipline.

Ceterum intra ecclesiam potestates necessariae non essent, nisi ut, quod non praeualet sacerdos efficere per doctrinae sermonem, potestas hoc imperet per disciplinae terrorem. 51.5. Saepe per regnum terrenum caeleste regnum proficit, ut, qui intra ecclesiam positi, contra fidem et disciplinam ecclesiae agunt, rigore principum conterentur, ipsamque disciplinam quam ecclesiae utilitas exercere non praeualet, ceruicibus superborum potestas principalis inponat; et, ut uenerationem mereatur, uirtute potestatis inpertiat.

Moreover, within the church powers would not be necessary, except so that what the priest does not prevail to effect through the discourse of doctrine, the power may command this through the terror of discipline. 51.5. Often through an earthly kingdom the heavenly kingdom advances, so that those who, placed within the church, act against the faith and the discipline of the church are crushed by the rigor of princes, and that the very discipline which the church’s utility does not prevail to exercise the princely power may impose upon the necks of the proud; and, in order that veneration may be merited, let it impart it by the virtue of power.

51.6. Cognoscant principes saeculi Deo debere se rationem propter ecclesiam, quam a Christo tuendam suscipiunt. Namsiue augeatur pax et disciplina ecclesiae per fideles principes, siue soluatur, ille ab eis rationem exigit, qui eorum potestati suam ecclesiam credidit. LII.

51.6. Let the princes of the age recognize that they owe an account to God on account of the church, which they undertake from Christ to be safeguarded. For whether the peace and discipline of the church is augmented through faithful princes, or whether it is dissolved, he exacts an account from them who has entrusted his church to their power. 52.

De iudicibus. 52.1. Ad delictum pertinet principum, qui prauos iudices contra uoluntatem Dei populis fidelibus praeferunt. Namsicut populi delictum est quando principesmalisunt, sic principis est peccatum quando iudices iniqui existunt.

On judges. 52.1. It pertains to the delict of princes, who set depraved judges over faithful peoples against the will of God. For just as it is the people’s delict when the princes are evil, so it is the prince’s sin when iniquitous judges exist.

52.2. Bonus iudex sicut nocere ciuibus nescit, ita prodesse omnibus nouit. Aliis enim praestat censura iustitiae, aliis bonitate. Iudicia sine personarum acceptione suscipit, non infirmat iustitiam auaritiae flamma, nec studet auferre alteri quod cupiat sibi.

52.2. A good judge, just as he does not know how to harm citizens, so he knows how to benefit all. For to some he provides the censure of justice, to others goodness. He undertakes judgments without acceptance of persons, he does not weaken justice by the flame of avarice, nor does he strive to take away from another what he desires for himself.

52.3. Boni iudices iustitiam ad solam obtinendam salutem aeternam suscipiunt, nec eam muneribus acceptis distribuunt, ut, dum de iusto iudicio temporalia lucra non appetunt, praemio aeterno ditentur. 52.4. Omnis qui recte iudicat, stateram in manu gestat, in utroque penso iustitiam et misericordiam portat; sed per iustitiam reddet peccati sententiam, per misericordiam peccati temperat poenam, ut isto libramine quaedam per aequitatem corrigat, quaedam uero per miserationem indulgeat.

52.3. Good judges take up justice for the sake only of obtaining eternal salvation, nor do they distribute it with gifts received, so that, while from a just judgment they do not seek temporal lucre, they may be enriched with an eternal reward. 52.4. Everyone who judges rightly bears a balance in his hand, he carries in each pan justice and mercy; but by justice he will render the sentence of sin, by mercy he tempers the penalty of sin, so that by this balance he may correct certain things through equity, but certain things indeed he may indulge through commiseration.

52.5. Qui Dei iudicia oculis suis proponit, semper timens tremensque, in omni negotio refomidat ne de iustitiae tramite deuians cadat, et unde non iustificatur inde potius condemnetur. LV. De pravis iudicibus. 52.6. Neminem stultorum uel inproborum oportere iudicem esse.

52.5. He who sets the judgments of God before his eyes, always fearing and trembling, in every business greatly dreads lest, deviating from the path of justice, he fall, and from that whence he is not justified, from there rather he be condemned. CHAPTER 55. On depraved judges. 52.6. No one who is foolish or wicked ought to be a judge.

Namstultus per ignauiam ignorat iustitiam; inprobus per cupiditatem corrumpit ipsam quam didicit ueritatem.

For the fool, through sloth, is ignorant of justice; the wicked man, through cupidity, corrupts the very truth which he has learned.

52.7-9. Grauius lacerantur pauperes a prauis iudicibus quam a cruentissimis hostibus. Nullus enim praedo tam cupidus in alienis quam iudex iniquus in suis. Latrones inaccessis faucibus ac latebrosis latentes insidias ponunt, isti palam rapacitatis auaritia saeuiunt.

52.7-9. The poor are more grievously lacerated by depraved judges than by the most bloodthirsty enemies. For no brigand is so full of cupidity for others’ goods as an unjust judge is for his own interests. Robbers, lying hidden in inaccessible gorges and lair-filled hiding-places, set ambushes; these men rage openly with the avarice of rapacity.

Hostes in aliorum sanguinem tantum intendunt; iudices, quasi crudelissimi carnifices ciuium, oppressione sua subiectorum uitam extingunt. Qui enim destruant multi sunt, rari sunt qui populos legum moderamine regant. 52.10. Plerumque et boni iudices sunt, sed ministros rapaces habent.

Enemies aim only at the blood of others; judges, as the most cruel executioners of citizens, by their oppression extinguish the life of their subjects. For those who destroy are many; rare are those who rule peoples by the moderation of laws. 52.10. For the most part even judges are good, but they have rapacious ministers.

Horum figura, ut ait quidam, tamquam Scilla pingitur atque describitur: ipsa quidem humana species, sed capitibus caninis accincta et circumdata. Non aliter quibusdam potestatibus accidit ut ipsorum humanitatem inmanitas iniquorum sociorum perturbet. 52.11. Saepe iudices praui cupiditatis causa aut differunt, aut peruertunt iudicia, nec finiunt coepta partium negotia, quousque marsupia eorum qui causantur exhauriant.

The figure of these, as someone says, is painted and described like Scylla: a human appearance indeed, but girded and surrounded with canine heads. No otherwise does it befall certain powers that their own humanity is disturbed by the inhumanity of unjust associates. 52.11. Often perverse judges, for cause of cupidity, either defer or pervert judgments, nor do they finish the suits of the parties once begun, until they drain the purses of those who litigate.

Quando enim iudicant, non causam, sed dona considerant, et sicut neglegentes sunt in discussione causantium, sic in eorum damno solliciti sunt.

For when they judge, they consider not the cause, but gifts, and just as they are negligent in the discussion of those pleading their case, so they are solicitous about their harm.

52.12. Iudices praui, iuxta prophetae uerbum, quasi lupi uespere, non relinquunt in mane; hoc est de praesentis uitae tantum commodis cogitant, non de futuris. Vita enim ista uesperum, futura uero mane accipitur. Et bene ait quasi lupi, quia luporum more cuncta diripiunt et uix pauca pauperibus derelinquunt.

52.12. Depraved judges, according to the prophet’s word, as wolves at evening, leave nothing for the morning; that is, they think only of the conveniences of the present life, not of the future. For this life is taken as evening, but the future as morning. And well he says “as wolves,” because in the manner of wolves they plunder all things and scarcely leave a few to the poor.

LVI. De verbosis et iracundis iudicibus. 52.13. Verbosi iudices et elati, ut sapientes uideantur, non discutiunt causas, sed adserunt, sicque conturbant iudicii ordinem, dum non suo contenti officio aliena praesumunt.

56. On verbose and irascible judges. 52.13. Verbose and puffed-up judges, in order that they may seem wise, do not discuss the cases, but assert; and thus they confound the order of judgment, while, not content with their own office, they presume upon what belongs to others.

52.14. Quidam, dum iudicare incipiunt, irascuntur, ipsamque iudicii sententiam in insaniam uertunt. De quibus recte per prophetam dicitur: Qui conuertunt in furorem iudicium. Qui enim iratus iudicat, in furorem iudicium mutat et ante profert sententiam quam agnoscat.

52.14. Certain men, when they begin to judge, grow angry, and they turn the very sentence of judgment into madness. Of whom it is rightly said through the prophet: “Those who turn judgment into fury.” For he who judges in anger turns judgment into fury and brings forth a sentence before he recognizes.

52.15. Furor in iudice inuestigationem ueri non ualet adtingere, quia mens eius turbata furore ab scrutatione alienatur iustitiae. 52.16. Iracundus iudex iudicii examen plene contuere non ualet quia caligine furoris non uidet. Qui autem repulso furore discutit, facilius ad contuendam ueritatem mentis serenitate consurgit, et sine ulla perturbatione ad aequitatis intellegentiam peruenit.

52.15. Fury in a judge is not able to attain the investigation of the true, because his mind, disturbed by fury, is alienated from the scrutiny of justice. 52.16. An irascible judge is not able to fully behold the examination of judgment, because in the gloom of fury he does not see. But he who, with fury repelled, examines, more easily rises, by serenity of mind, to behold verity, and without any perturbation arrives at the understanding of equity.

LIII. De acceptione personarum. 53.1. Non est persona in iudicio consideranda, sed causa; scriptum est enim: non accipies personam in iudicio.

53. On the acceptance of persons. 53.1. The person is not to be considered in judgment, but the cause; for it is written: you shall not accept a person in judgment.

Et iterum: Non misereberis pauperi in iudicio. Qui enim consanguinitatis uel amicitiae fauore, siue inimicitiarum odio, iudicium peruertunt, sine dubio in Christum, qui est ueritas et iustitia, peccare noscuntur. 53.2. Iniqui iudices errant in ueritate sententiae, dum intendunt in qualitate personae et exulcerant saepe iustos, dum inprobe defendunt iniquos; qui autem recte praesidere studet nec partem palpare nouit, nec cohibere a iustitia didicit.

And again: You shall not pity the poor man in judgment. For those who, by the favor of consanguinity or of amity, or by the hatred of enmities, pervert judgment, without doubt are known to sin against Christ, who is Truth and Justice. 53.2. Unjust judges err in the truth of the sentence, while they fix upon the quality of the person, and often grievously wound the just, while they shamelessly defend the iniquitous; but the one who strives to preside rightly neither knows how to fawn upon a party, nor has learned to be restrained from justice.

LIIII. De muneribus. 54.1. Qui recte iudicat et praemium inde remunerationis expectat, fraudem in Deo perpetrat, quia iustitiam quam gratis inpertire debuit acceptione pecuniae uendit.

54. On bribes. 54.1. He who judges rightly and expects from it the reward of remuneration perpetrates a fraud against God, because by the acceptance of money he sells the justice which he ought to impart gratis.

54.2. Bona male utuntur qui iuste pro temporali lucro iudicant; tales quippe ad ueritatem non iustitiae defensio, sed amor praemii prouocat. Quibus si spes nummi subtrahitur, confestim a iustitiae defensione recedunt.

54.2. They use good things ill who judge “justly” for temporal lucre; for such persons, toward the truth they are provoked not by the defense of justice, but by love of a reward. If the hope of coin is withdrawn from them, they immediately withdraw from the defense of justice.

54.3. Acceptio munerum praeuaricatio ueritatis est; unde et pro iusto dicitur: Qui excutit manus suas ab omni munere, iste in excelsis habitat. 54.4. Diues muneribus cito corrumpit iudicem, pauper autem dum non habet quod offerat, non solum audire contemnitur, sed etiam et contra ueritatem opprimitur. 54.5. Cito uiolatur auro iustitia nullamquereuspertimescit culpam quam redimere nummis existimat.

54.3. The acceptance of gifts is a prevarication of truth; hence also it is said concerning the just: “He who shakes his hands free from every gift, this man dwells on high.” 54.4. The rich man quickly corrupts the judge with gifts; but the poor man, since he has not what to offer, is not only despised from being heard, but is also oppressed against the truth. 54.5. Justice is quickly violated by gold; nor does the accused fear any guilt which he thinks to redeem with coins.

Plus enim obtinet mentem censoris amor lucri, quam aequitas iudicii.

For the love of lucre prevails in the mind of the judge more than the equity of judgment.

54.6. Tres sunt munerum acceptiones quibus contra iustitiam humana uanitas militat, id est fauor amicitiarum, adulatio laudis et corporalis acceptio muneris. Facilius autem peruertitur animus rei corporeae munere quam gratiae laudisque fauore. 54.7. Quattuor modis iudicium humanum peruertitur: timore, cupiditate, odio, amore.

54.6. There are three acceptances of gifts by which human vanity wages war against justice, that is, the favor of friendships, the adulation of praise, and the corporeal acceptance of a gift. But the mind is more easily perverted by the gift of a corporeal thing than by the favor of grace and of praise. 54.7. In four modes human judgment is perverted: by fear, by cupidity, by hatred, by love.

Timore dum metu potestatis alicuius ueritatem loqui pauescimus; cupiditate dum praemio muneris alicuius corrumpimur; odio dum contra quemlibet aduersari molimur; amore dum amico uel propinquis praestare contendimus. His enim quattuor causis saepe aequitas uiolatur, saepe innocentia laeditur. LV. De testibus.

By fear, when through dread of someone’s power we shrink from speaking the truth; by cupidity, when we are corrupted by the reward of some gift; by hatred, when we endeavor to oppose anyone; by love, when we strive to show favor to a friend or to kin. For by these four causes equity is often violated, innocence is often injured. 55. On witnesses.

55.1. Etsi mendacium gratis dicitur, quanto magis si uenale quaeratur? Neque enim deerit multiplex conuentus falsorum, si tantum praesentia sit nummorum. 55.2. Testis falsidicus tribus est personis obnoxius.

55.1. Even if a lie is told gratis, how much more if it be sought for sale? For a manifold assembly of the false will not be lacking, if only the presence of coins is there. 55.2. A false-witness is liable to three persons.

Primum Deo quem periurando contemnit; sequenter iudici quem mentiendo fallit; postremo innocenti quem falso testimonio laedit. 55.3.[Vnum pene crimen habent et qui falsitatem promit et qui supprimit ueritatem, quia et ille obesse uult, et iste prodesse non uult. Peior est testis qui laedit quam qui praestare nolit, nam ille malignus est, iste inutilis.]

First, to God, whom he contemns by perjuring; next, to the judge, whom he deceives by lying; finally, to the innocent person, whom he injures by false testimony. 55.3.[They have almost one and the same crime, both he who brings forth falsehood and he who suppresses the truth, because that one wishes to harm, and this one does not wish to benefit. Worse is the witness who injures than he who is unwilling to assist; for that one is malignant, this one useless.]

55.4. Testibus falsis coniunctis tarde mendacii falsitas repperitur. Quod si separati fuerint, examine iudicantis cito manifestantur. Namsicut in unitate prauorum grandis est fortitudo, ita in separatione maior infirmitas.

55.4. With false witnesses joined together, the falsity of the lie is found late. But if they are separated, by the examination of the judge they are quickly made manifest. For just as in the unity of the depraved there is great fortitude, so in separation there is greater infirmity.

55.5. Fraudulentiae cito reprehenditur mendacium, falsidicorum enim testimonium sibi non conuenit. 55.3. Vnum pene crimen habent et qui falsitatem promit et qui supprimit ueritatem, quia et ille obesse uult, et iste prodesse non uult. Peior est testis qui laedit quam qui praestare nolit, nam ille malignus est, iste inutilis.

55.5. The mendacity of fraudulence is quickly reproved, for the testimony of false-speakers does not agree with itself. 55.3. They have almost one and the same crime, both he who proffers falsehood and he who suppresses truth, because the former wishes to be of harm, and the latter is unwilling to be of profit. A witness who injures is worse than one who is unwilling to render service, for that one is malignant, this one useless.

55.6. Iniquus testis, quamuis sua falsitate corpori rebusque inpediat, animo tamen nihil damni confert. Erit autem ille apud Deum condemnatus, qui aduersus innocentem falsum testimonium uel dicit, uel dicentibus credit. Namnon solum illereusest qui falsum de alio profert, sed et is qui cito aurem criminibus praebet.

55.6. An iniquitous witness, although by his falsity he impedes the body and goods, yet to the soul he confers no damage. But he will be condemned before God who either speaks false testimony against an innocent, or gives credence to those who speak. For not only is he guilty who brings forth a falsehood about another, but also he who quickly lends an ear to accusations.

55.7a. Qui metu potestatis ueritatem occultat, eiusdem ueritatis iracundiam sibi caelitus prouocat, quia plus pertimescit hominem quam diuinam trepidat indignationem. 55.7b. Beatus, cuius testimonio innocens ab scelere obiecto purgatur, impius, cuius proditione etiam iniquus perimitur. Neque enim decet christiano mortis obnoxium prodere, et ad effundendum sanguinem infelicium uocem testificationis praebere.

55.7a. He who conceals the truth out of fear of power provokes upon himself from heaven the ire of that same truth, because he fears a man more than he trembles at divine indignation. 55.7b. Blessed is he by whose testimony an innocent person is purged from the crime alleged; impious is he by whose betrayal even a wicked man is put to death. For it is not fitting for a Christian to betray one liable to death, and to offer the voice of testimony for the shedding of the blood of the unfortunate.

Sermo enim iusti hominis tantum ad ministerium debet esse salutis: Ira enim indignationis et tribulationis et immissiones per angelos malos.

For the speech of a just man ought to be only for the ministry of salvation: for wrath brings indignation and tribulation and inflictions through evil angels.

LVI. De causidicis. 56.1. Negotiorum forensium sectatores propter proximi dilectionem saeculare negotium deserere debent, aut certe, manente proximi caritate, negotium sequantur terrenum.

56. On advocates. 56.1. Practitioners of forensic affairs, on account of love of neighbor, ought to desert secular business; or at least, with love of neighbor remaining, let them pursue terrene business.

Sed quia perrarum est ut inter iurgantes caritas maneat, postponenda est rei causatio, ut perseueret dilectio. 56.2. Antiqui forensem eloquentiam caninam facundiam nuncupabant, eo quod causidici in certaminibus causarum, omissis quae agunt, ueluti canes alterutrum sese lacerant iurgiaque causarum ad iniurias suas commutant.

But since it is very rare that charity remains among those quarreling, the pleading of the matter must be postponed, that love may persevere. 56.2. The ancients called forensic eloquence a canine facundity, because advocates in the contests of cases, setting aside what they are prosecuting, like dogs tear one another, and they turn the quarrels of the cases into their own injuries.

LVII. De oppressoribus pauperum. 57.1. Pauperum oppressores tunc se sciant grauiori dignos sententia, quando praeualuerint his quos nocere uoluerint.

57. On the oppressors of the poor. 57.1. Let the oppressors of the poor then know themselves worthy of a more grievous sentence, when they have prevailed over those whom they wished to harm.

Namtanto atrocius futuro supplicio condemnandi sunt, quanto hic fortius contra miserorum uitam inualuerint. 57.2. Audiant iudices, et qui praesunt populis, quia pro temporalibus molestiis quas plebibus ingerunt, aeterno incendio cremabuntur, testante Domino per Esaiam prophetam: Iratus sum, inquit, super populum meum, et dedi eos in manu tua; non posuisti eis misericordiam, adgrauasti iugum tuum ualde; descende inpuluere; sede, tace et intra in tenebras; ueniet super te malum, et nescies, et inruet super te calamitas quam non poteris expiare; ueniet super te repente miseria quam nescis.

For by so much the more atrocious a future punishment they are to be condemned to, by how much the more strongly they have prevailed here against the life of the miserable. 57.2. Let the judges, and those who preside over peoples, hear: for the temporal vexations which they inflict upon the plebs, they will be cremated in eternal fire, the Lord bearing witness through the prophet Isaiah: “I was wroth,” he says, “against my people, and I gave them into your hand; you did not set mercy for them, you made your yoke very heavy; descend into the dust; sit, be silent, and enter into the darkness; evil will come upon you, and you will not know; and calamity will rush upon you which you will not be able to expiate; misery will come upon you suddenly, which you do not know.”

57.3. Magis mala facientibus quam mala patientibus dolere debemus. Illi enim praua faciendo in malum proficiunt, isti patiendo a malo corriguntur. Deus autem per malas uoluntates aliorum in aliis multa operatur bona.

57.3. We ought to grieve more for those doing evils than for those suffering evils. For the former, by doing depraved things, advance into evil; the latter, by suffering, are corrected from evil. But God, through the evil wills of some, works many good things in others.

57.4. Malignantium hominum uoluntas nequaquam potest impleri, nisi Deus dederit potestatem. Namdum homines, Deo permittente, malum quod concupiscunt perficiunt, ipse dicitur facere qui permittit. Inde est quod scriptum est per prophetam: Si erit malum quod Dominus non fecit.

57.4. The will of malignant men can by no means be fulfilled, unless God has given power. For while men, with God permitting, accomplish the evil which they desire, he who permits is said to do it. Hence it is that it is written through the prophet: If there shall be an evil which the Lord has not made.

Verumtamen quod iniqui mala ex uoluntate quaerunt, idcirco Deus perficiendi dat potestatem per suam bonam uoluntatem, quia de nostro malo ipse multa operatur bona. 57.5. Quidam, cum Dei uoluntati resistunt, nescientes consilium Dei faciunt; quo noueris sic Deo subiecta esse omnia, ut et ipsi qui eius dispositioni aduersantur eius impleant uoluntatem.

Nevertheless, because the iniquitous seek evils out of will, therefore God gives the power of accomplishing through his good will, because out of our evil he himself works many good things. 57.5. Some, when they resist the will of God, unknowingly do the counsel of God; whereby you may know that all things are thus subjected to God, so that even those who oppose his disposition fulfill his will.

57.6. Propterea in hac uita boni iudicantur amalis, ut iterum in illa uitamaliiudicentur a bonis, siue ut etiam sit hic bonis temporalis adflictio et illuc aeterna remuneratio. 57.7. Idcirco sunt necessariimali, ut quotiens boni offendunt, flagellentur ab illis. Hinc est quod Assur uirgam furoris sui testatur Dominus; sed quotiens ita fit, de Dei indignatione procedit, ut Deus per illos in eos saeuiat quos flagellando emendare desiderat.

57.6. Therefore in this life the good are judged by the wicked, so that again in that life the wicked may be judged by the good, or also so that here there may be for the good a temporal affliction and there an eternal remuneration. 57.7. On that account the wicked are necessary, so that whenever the good offend, they may be flagellated by them. Hence it is that the Lord attests Assur to be the rod of his fury; but whenever it thus happens, it proceeds from the indignation of God, so that God through them rages against those whom by scourging he desires to amend.

Sed ille iustissima uoluntate, illi uero saepe crudeli intentione, sicut per prophetam dicitur de eodem Assur: Ipse autem non sic arbitratur, sed ad conterendum paratum est cor eius. 57.8. Atrocem super eos diuinum furorem uenturum qui existunt persecutores et uiolenti fidelibus. Consolando enim per prophetam Deus suos ita iudicare promittit: Aduersus eos, inquit, qui iudicauerunt te, ego iudicabo; et cibabo hostes tuos carnibus suis, et quasi a musto sanguine suo inebriabuntur.

But He with a most just will, while they indeed often with a cruel intention—just as it is said through the prophet about that same Assur: “He, however, does not so reckon, but his heart is prepared for crushing.” 57.8. A fierce divine fury will come upon those who stand forth as persecutors and violent against the faithful. For in consoling, through the prophet God promises thus to judge His own: “Against those,” he says, “who have judged you, I will judge; and I will feed your enemies with their own flesh, and, as with must, they will be inebriated with their own blood.”

57.9-10. Habet aliquod usum et malorum iniquitas, quod electos Dei suis moribus laniat ac per hoc uita impiorum sibi deperit, iustorum autem non perit, sed proficit, dum eos mali per tribulationis exercitium ad praesentem odiendam uitam et futuram desiderandam erudiunt. Interdum enim prodest peruersorum prauitas utilitati iustorum, dum eos malita sua erudiunt et ad regna caelorum requirenda molestia temporali inpellunt. Probatur hoc exemplis israheliticae plebis quae tunc durius agebatur in Aegypto, quando oportebat eam per Moysen ad terram repromissionis uocari, et exmalisquae in Aegypto patiebantur discedere, et ad promissam patriam festinare.

57.9-10. The iniquity of the wicked, too, has some use, in that it lacerates the elect of God by its own mores, and through this the life of the impious perishes for themselves, but that of the just does not perish; rather, it makes progress, while the evil, through the exercise of tribulation, educate them to hate the present life and to desire the future. At times indeed the depravity of the perverse profits the utility of the just, while by their malice they school them and, by temporal molestation, impel them to seek the kingdoms of the heavens. This is proved by the examples of the Israelitic people, who were then treated more harshly in Egypt when it was necessary for them to be called through Moses to the land of promise, and to depart from the evils which they were suffering in Egypt, and to hasten to the promised fatherland.

57.11. Iniqui, dum constantiam iusti in persecutionibus suis aspiciunt, mentis confusione tabescunt. Et dum aduersa ostentant, nec uincunt, tandem de suae peruersitatis insania confunduntur. 57.12. Stulti contra bonos studium semper adsumunt; quibus dum prosperitas elucet, iactanter de suis meritis gloriantur, et bonorum atque iustorum adflictionibus detrahunt, dumque eis aduersa contigerint, mox ad blasphemiam pusillanimitate animi conuertuntur.

57.11. The iniquitous, when they behold the constancy of the just in their persecutions, waste away with confusion of mind. And while they ostentate adversities and yet do not conquer, at length they are confounded by the madness of their own perversity. 57.12. The foolish always assume zeal against the good; when prosperity shines for them, they vauntingly glory in their own merits, and they detract amid the afflictions of the good and the just; and when adverse things have befallen them, forthwith they turn to blasphemy through pusillanimity of soul.

57.13. Quidam simplicium nescientes dispensationem Dei in malorum profectibus scandalizantur dicentes iuxta prophetam: Quare uia impiorum prosperatur, bene est omnibus qui praeuaricantur et inique agunt? Qui ergo hoc dicunt, non mirentur quod prauorum hominum temporalem et caducam felicitatem aspiciunt, sed magis nouissima eorum intendant, quanta illis post haec aeterna supplicia praeparentur, dicente propheta: Ducent in bonis dies suos, et subito ad inferna descendent. LVIII.

57.13. Certain of the simple, not knowing the dispensation of God in the advances of the wicked, are scandalized, saying with the prophet: Why is the way of the impious prospered? it is well with all who prevaricate and act iniquitously. Therefore let those who say this not marvel that they behold the temporal and caducous felicity of perverse men, but rather let them attend to their last things, how great eternal punishments are being prepared for them after these things, the prophet saying: They will lead their days in good things, and suddenly they will descend to the infernal regions. 58.

De tribulatione iustorum. 58.1. Iustus in aduersis probari se cognoscat, non deici.

On the tribulation of the just. 58.1. Let the Just man recognize that in adversities he is proved, not cast down.

58.2. Viri sancti plus formidant prospera quam aduersa, quia Dei seruos prospera deiciunt, aduersa uero erudiunt. Ideoque sancti uiri constantia ita portare debet aduersa, ut frangi non queat. 58.3. Tunc magis sunt Dei oculi super iustos, quando eos adfligi ab iniquis prouidentia superna permittit.

58.2. Holy men fear prosperous things more than adverse things, because prosperous things cast down the servants of God, whereas adverse things educate them. And therefore the constancy of holy men ought so to bear adverse things that it cannot be broken. 58.3. Then the eyes of God are the more upon the just, when supernal providence permits them to be afflicted by the iniquitous.

Namtunc eis gaudia disponuntur aeterna, quando praesenti tribulatione probantur. 58.4. Omnes uitae huius tribulationes aquis conparantur praetereuntibus, propterea quia, si quid in hac uita tribulationis acciderit, non stat, sed celeriter transit.

For then eternal joys are appointed for them, when they are proved by present tribulation. 58.4. All the tribulations of this life are compared to passing waters, for this reason that, if anything of tribulation should happen in this life, it does not stand, but swiftly passes.

58.5. Qui uitae futurae praemia diligenter excogitat, mala omnia uitae praesentis aequanimiter portat, quoniam ex illius dulcedine huius amaritudinem temperat, et ex aeternitate illius breuitatem huius despicit transitoriam. 58.6. Grauati diuerso malo temporali pro utilitate eorum est, quod uitae istius mala perferunt, quia, dum in dolore grauantur, cupiditatis et luxuriae uitiorumque ceterorum mala non appetunt. 58.7. Plus prodesse saluti temptationes saeculi quam prosperitates, nam ex prosperitate in deterius itur, ex temptationis dolore in melius proficitur.

58.5. He who diligently thinks over the prizes of the life to come bears with equanimity all the evils of the present life, since from the sweetness of that one he tempers the bitterness of this one, and from the eternity of that one he despises the transitory brevity of this one. 58.6. For those weighed down by diverse temporal evil, it is for their benefit that they endure the evils of this life, because, while they are burdened with pain, they do not desire the evils of cupidity and luxury and of the other vices. 58.7. The temptations of the age profit salvation more than prosperities; for from prosperity one goes into the worse, from the pain of temptation one advances into the better.

58.8. Vnusquisque ad temptationem animum praeparare debet. Minus enim dum speratur temptatio, grauat; dure autem premit, si non sperata aduenerit. 58.9. Sapientis est contra omnia aduersa ante meditare, nec inuenire casus debet quem non consilia eius praeueniant.

58.8. Each person ought to prepare the mind for temptation. For, while temptation is expected, it burdens less; but it presses harshly if it comes unlooked-for. 58.9. It is the part of the wise man to meditate beforehand against all adverse things, and there ought not to be found a chance event that his counsels do not forestall.

LIX. De amatoribus mundi.

59. On lovers of the world.

59.1. Mundi amatores non solum ex eo rei sunt quod infima pro summis appetunt, uerum etiam et miseri per hoc quod cum graui aerumna ad ipsa desiderata pertingunt. 59.2. Grauius torquetur impius mundi exaggerando commoda, quam iustus tolerando aduersa. Qui enim bona mundi diligit, uelit non uelit, timoris et doloris poenae subcumbit, quique plus quam oportet res transitorias diligunt, maiorem sibi ingerunt dolorem rei ablatae, quam amorem parturiebant possessae.

59.1. Lovers of the world are liable not only in this, that they seek the lowest things in place of the highest, but also are wretched in this, that with grievous distress they attain to the very things they desired. 59.2. The impious is tormented more grievously by exaggerating the world’s advantages than the just man by enduring adversities. For he who loves the goods of the world, whether he will or no, succumbs to the penalties of fear and pain; and those who love transitory things more than is meet bring upon themselves a greater grief at the thing taken away than the love which the things, while possessed, were engendering.

Cum graui enim dolore amittuntur quae cum magno amore habentur. Minus autem carendo dolemus quae minus possidendo diligimus. 59.3. Sciant saeculi lucra sectantes quantum sint uana uel aduersa quae diligunt, quae etiam nec in hoc saeculo sine contritione graui conquirunt, et pro quibus in futuro supplicio poenas dabunt.

For those things which are held with great love are lost with grave pain. Moreover, we grieve less by being without those things which we love less in possessing. 59.3. Let those who pursue the lucre of the age know how vain or adverse are the things which they love, which also not even in this age do they acquire without grave contrition, and for which in the punishment to come they will pay penalties.

59.4. His qui in uoluntate saecularium desideriorum persistunt, bene testimonium prophetae dicitur: Factus est Effraim panis subcinericius, qui non reuersatur, hoc est ita obruuntur caecitate saecularis amoris, ut numquam resipiscant ad Deum amorem retorquere mentis. 59.5. Multis mortuus est mundus, ipsi tamen uicissim mundo mortui non sunt. Bona enim saeculi diligunt, et tamen ipsa quae diligunt, minime consequuntur; in utroque uacui quia et futura perdunt, et praesentia non adquirunt.

59.4. For those who persist in the will of secular desires, the testimony of the prophet is well said: “Ephraim has become a bread baked under the ashes, which is not turned,” that is, they are so overwhelmed by the blindness of secular love that they never come to their senses to turn back the love of the mind to God. 59.5. To many the world is dead, yet they themselves in turn are not dead to the world. For they love the goods of the age, and yet the very things they love they scarcely attain; empty in both respects, because they lose the things to come and do not acquire the things present.

59.6. Egestas est electorum quod peregrinantur a bonis sempiternis, et in hoc exilio diutius remorantur. Egestas est reproborum quod abundant diuitiis et uirtutibus uacuantur seque esse inopes nesciunt. Quod probatur per apocalipsin Iohannis, qui contra huius mundi amatores sic ait: Dicis quod diues sum, et locuples, et nullius egeo; et nescis quia tu es miser, et miserabilis, et pauper, et caecus, et nudus.

59.6. The want of the elect is that they peregrinate away from sempiternal goods, and in this exile linger longer. The want of the reprobate is that they abound in riches and are void of virtues, and do not know themselves to be indigent. Which is proved through the Apocalypse of John, who, against the lovers of this world, thus says: 'You say that I am rich, and wealthy, and I have need of nothing; and you do not know that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.'

59.7-8. Gloriae temporalis sequaces, etsi nitidi sunt foris fulgore potentiae, interius tamen uacui sunt elatione superbiae; sicut calami exterius quidem nitent, sed interius uacuantur. Obhoc reprobi exterius, ut calamus, nitidi, interius uacui; electi uero exterius quasi arborum cortices foedi, interius uero solidi. 59.9. Qui pretioso cultu incedunt, audiant prophetam quemadmodum detestatur eorum corporalia ornamenta, et quos successus habeat cultus conpositus et ornatus, hoc est pro suaui odore foetorem, et pro zona funiculum, et cetera.

59.7-8. Followers of temporal glory, even though they are shiny outside with the splendor of power, yet inwardly they are empty through the elation of pride; just as reeds indeed shine outwardly, but are emptied within. For this reason the reprobate outwardly, like the reed, are shiny, inwardly empty; but the elect outwardly, as the barks of trees, are foul, but inwardly solid. 59.9. Those who go about in precious attire, let them hear the prophet, how he detests their corporeal ornaments, and what outcomes the composed and ornate dress has: that is, instead of sweet odor, fetor; and instead of a girdle, a cord; and the rest.

59.10. Legant prophetam diuites, quorum spes opulentia est, et audiant eum dicentem: Vae qui opulenti estis; quanto enim quisque potentia minor est, tanto magis liber a peccato est. Nampatrimonium grande temptatio est.

59.10. Let the rich read the prophet, whose hope is opulence, and hear him saying: Woe, you who are opulent; for the less each person is in power, by so much the more is he free from sin. For a great patrimony is a temptation.

59.11. Plus uenerantur homines in hoc saeculo pro temporali potentia, quam pro reuerentia sanctitatis. Suscipiunt enim quod magis sunt diuites, et quod homines sunt omnino despiciunt. 59.12. Sunt quidam iusti qui sine laesione cuiusquam suis rebus utuntur.

59.11. Men venerate others in this age more on account of temporal power than out of reverence for sanctity. For they welcome them all the more because they are wealthy, and they utterly despise the fact that they are human beings. 59.12. There are certain just men who use their own goods without injury to anyone.

Item sunt quidam diuites humiles, quos non inflat superbia rerum, ueluti plerique fuerunt sancti ueteris testamenti qui et affluebant diuitiis, et tamen humilitate pollebant. At contra, quosdam superbos diuites rerum copia facit elatos, quorum non sunt opes in uitio, sed uoluntas. Namcrimen in rebus non est, sed in usu agentis.

Likewise there are certain rich who are humble, whom the pride of things does not inflate, just as very many were the saints of the Old Testament who both overflowed with riches and yet excelled in humility. But on the contrary, the abundance of things makes certain proud rich men elated, in whom it is not the wealth that is in vice, but the will. For the crime is not in the things, but in the use of the agent.

59.13. Est elatio pauperum quos nec diuitiae eleuant, et uoluntas in eis sola superbia est. His etsi opes desunt, propter mentis tamen tumorem plus quam superbi diuites condemnantur.

59.13. There is an elation of the poor, whom not even riches elevate, and in them the will is pride alone. For these, although wealth is lacking, yet on account of the swelling of mind they are condemned more than proud rich men.

59.14. Securus uult esse diues, pauper esse non uult. Sed quomodo erit diues quietus, quem suis stimulis res ipsae ne careantur semper faciunt inquietum? Et ideo eligit cupiditas inquietum esse et timidum diuitem, quam securum pauco sumptu contentum esse et pauperem.

59.14. The rich man wants to be secure; he does not want to be poor. But how will the rich man be quiet, whom the things themselves, by their own goads, for fear they be lacked, always make unquiet? And therefore cupidity chooses that the rich man be unquiet and timid, rather than secure and content with small expense and poor.

59.15. Bona bene utuntur qui diuitias sibi concessas in rebus salutaribus perfruuntur. Bona male utuntur qui aut iuste pro temporali lucro iudicant, aut aliquid boni pro uanae gloriae appetitu faciunt. Mala male utuntur qui noxias cogitationes operibus prauis perficiunt.

59.15. Good things are used well by those who enjoy to the full the riches granted to them in salutary matters. Good things are used badly by those who either judge justly for temporal lucre, or do some good on account of the appetite for vain glory. Evil things are used badly by those who bring noxious thoughts to completion by depraved works.

Bene mala utuntur qui luxuriam carnis coniugali honestate restringunt. Sed sicut malum bene uti bonum est, sic bonum bene uti melius est; et sicut bonum male uti malum est, sic malum male uti pessimum est. LX. De amatoribus misericordiae.

They use evils well who restrain the luxury of the flesh by conjugal honesty. But just as to use an evil well is good, so to use a good well is better; and just as to use a good badly is evil, so to use an evil badly is worst. 60. On lovers of mercy.

60.1. Grauiter in Deum delinquunt qui diuitias a Deo concessas, non in rebus salutaribus, sed in usibus prauis utuntur. Nesciunt enim inpertire pauperibus, oppressis subuenire despiciunt, et inde magis augent delicta, unde redimere debuerunt. 60.2. Hoc habet tantum bonum possessio praesentium rerum, si uitam reficiat miserorum; praeter hoc, temptatio est mundi lucrum, tantoque maiora supplicia in futurum dabunt, quanto et ipsa maiora sunt: Potentes enim potenter tormenta patiuntur.

60.1. They sin gravely against God who use riches conceded by God not in salutary matters, but in depraved uses. For they do not know how to impart to the poor, they despise to come to the aid of the oppressed, and from that very source they increase their offenses all the more, whence they ought to have redeemed. 60.2. Possession of present things has only this good, if it refresh the life of the miserable; apart from this, the world’s profit is a temptation, and so much the greater punishments will be given in the future, as those riches themselves are greater: For the powerful suffer torments powerfully.

60.3. Terrena omnia seruando amittimus, largiendo seruamus; patrimonium enim retentum perit, manet autem erogatum. Diuenim cum rebus nostris durare non possumus, quia aut nos illas moriendo deserimus, aut illae nos uiuentes deserunt.

60.3. We lose all earthly things by keeping them; by largessing we preserve them; for a patrimony retained perishes, but disbursed it remains. For indeed we cannot long endure with our own possessions, because either we, by dying, desert them, or they, while we are living, desert us.

60.4. Pro diuersitate usus alii de rebus mundanis pereunt, quas cupidius rapiunt; alii uero saluantur, dum in eorum pulchritudinem Conditoris pulcherrimam prouidentiam laudantes mirantur; uel dum per misericordiae opus ex eis caelestia bona mercantur. 60.5. Misericordia a conpatiendo alienae miseriae uocabulum sortita est. Nullus autem in alio misericors esse potest, qui praue uiuendo in se misericors non est: Qui enim sibi nequam est, cui bonus est?

60.4. By the diversity of use, some perish on account of worldly things, which they seize more greedily; others, however, are saved, while, at their beauty, praising the most beautiful providence of the Creator, they marvel; or while through a work of mercy they purchase heavenly goods from them. 60.5. Mercy has received its appellation from compassionating another’s misery. Yet no one can be merciful to another who, by living perversely, is not merciful to himself: for he who is evil to himself, to whom is he good?

60.6. Nulla scelera elemosinis posse redimi, si in peccatis quisque permanserit. Tunc autem fructu elemosinarum indulgentia conceditur, quando ab scelerum opere desinitur. Verum est quod peccata omnia misericordiae operibus expurgentur, sed iam caueat peccare qui misericordiam inpertitur.

60.6. No crimes can be redeemed by alms, if anyone persists in sins. But then indulgence is granted by the fruit of alms, when one ceases from the work of crimes. It is true that all sins are purged by works of mercy, but let him who imparts mercy now beware of sinning.

Ceterum nulla est delicti uenia, quando sic praecedit misericordia ut eam sequantur peccata.

Moreover, there is no pardon of the delict, when mercy so goes before that sins follow it.

60.7-9. Non est elemosina quae gloriae magis causa quam misericordiae inpertitur intuitu. Quali enim intentione ab unoquoque largitur, taliter et apud Deum recipitur. Qui ergo hic de bono laudem praesentem appetit, spem perdit et gloriam mercedis in futuro non recipit.

60.7-9. That is not alms which is imparted with a view more to glory than to mercy. - For with whatever intention each one bestows, in such manner also it is received with God. Therefore he who here seeks present praise from his good deed loses the hope and does not receive the glory of the reward in the future.

Dum enim causa iactantiae pauper pascitur, etiam ipsud misericordiae opus in peccatum conuertitur. 60.10. In tantum elemosinarum opera peccata extingunt, atque in tantum ad regnum saeculi futuri proficiunt, ut etiam iudex caelestis in futuro iudicio ueniens in dexteram consistentibus dicat: Esuriui et dedistis mihi manducare; sitiui et dedistis mihi bibere; hospes eram et collegistis me; nudus et operuistis me. Quibus etiam bene praemittitur dicens: Venite, benedicti Patris mei, percipite paratum uobis regnum. His autem, quos nulla praecedentia elemosinarum facta sequuntur, aeterni iudicis uoce sic dicitur: Esuriui et non dedistis mibi manducare; sitiui et non dedistis mihi bibere.

For when, on account of vainglory, a poor man is fed, even that very work of mercy is converted into sin. 60.10. So far do the works of alms extinguish sins, and so far do they profit toward the kingdom of the age to come, that even the heavenly judge, coming in the future judgment, says to those standing on the right: I hungered and you gave me to eat; I thirsted and you gave me to drink; I was a guest and you gathered me; naked and you covered me. To whom it is also well prefaced, saying: Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you. But to those whom no preceding deeds of alms follow, it is thus said by the voice of the eternal judge: I hungered and you did not give me to eat; I thirsted and you did not give me to drink.

Quibus iuste dicitur: Discedite a me maledicti in ignem aeternum, qui paratus est diabolo et angelis eius. 60.11. Qui hic misericordiam non inpertit, illuc pietatis fructum non inuenit, exemplo ardentis diuitis qui in inferno tenuissima petenda conpulsus est, qui hic tenuissima neganda studuit. Quid retribui subtilius, quid districtius poterat?

To whom it is justly said: Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels. 60.11. He who here does not impart mercy, there does not find the fruit of piety, by the example of the burning rich man, who in the inferno was compelled to ask for the very least things, who here made it his endeavor to deny the very least things. What could be repaid more subtly, what more strictly?

guttam aquaeardenspetit, qui micas panis negauit. Sero diues oculos aperuit quando Lazarum pauperem requiescentem uidit, quem iacentem ante ianuas uidere despexit.

burning he seeks a drop of water, he who denied crumbs of bread. Late did the rich man open his eyes when he saw poor Lazarus resting, whom he had disdained to see lying before the doors.

60.12. Non solum qui esurienti et sitienti et nudo beneficium largitatis inpendit, uel si quid aliud indigenti largitur, sed et qui inimicum diligit, et qui lugenti affectum conpassionis et consolationis inpertit, aut in quibuslibet necessitatibus consilium adhibet, elemosinam procul dubio facit. Namet doctrinae bonum elemosina est, et misericordiae carnalis eminentior est. 60.13. Quicumque egens poscit, etiamsi indigentem simulet, ex toto illi corde commiserandum oportet.

60.12. Not only he who expends the benefit of largess upon the hungry and the thirsty and the naked, or who bestows anything else upon the needy person, but also he who loves the enemy, and he who imparts to the one who mourns the affection of compassion and consolation, or applies counsel in whatever necessities, beyond doubt performs almsgiving. For even the good of doctrine is alms, and it is more eminent than bodily mercy. 60.13. Whoever, being in need, asks, even if he simulates being needy, must be commiserated with one’s whole heart.

Et licet ille fortasse falsam indigentis speciem praeferat, is tamen qui simpliciter inpertit fructum misericordiae non amittit. 60.14. Quamuis quisque sit egens, nullus tamen unde tribuat indigenti excusationem inopiae potest obtendere, quando ex praecepto Saluatoris etiam calicem aquae frigidae praecipiamur indigenti praebere. Namsi aliud non habentes id ipsud benigne tribuamus, mercedem procul dubio non amittimus.

And although he perhaps puts forward a false appearance of indigence, nevertheless he who simply imparts does not lose the fruit of mercy. 60.14. Although anyone may be needy, yet no one can put forward poverty as an excuse for not giving to the indigent, since by the precept of the Savior we are even commanded to offer a cup of cold water to the needy. For if, having nothing else, we kindly bestow that very thing, we without doubt do not lose the reward.

Ceterum, si amplius possumus et egestatem simulando minus largimus, non egentem, sed Deum fallimus, cui conscientiam nostram abscondere non possumus.

Moreover, if we are able to do more and, by simulating want, give less, we do not deceive the needy, but God, from whom we cannot conceal our conscience.

60.15. Duae sunt elemosinae: una corporalis, egenti dare quicquid potueris; altera spiritalis, dimittere a quo laesus extiteris. Harum prima adhibenda est miseris, secundamalis. Erit ergo quod semper inpertias, etsi non pecuniam, saltim uel gratiam.

60.15. There are two alms: one corporeal, to give to the needy whatever you can; the other spiritual, to remit the one by whom you have been injured. Of these, the first is to be applied to the wretched, the second to the wicked. Therefore there will be something you may always impart, if not money, at least grace.

60.16. Non est elemosina cum murmuratione praebenda, ne, comitante tristitia, merces pereat dispensata. Tunc autem bene tribuitur, quando cum mentis hilaritate praebetur. Vnde et apostolus: Hilarem, inquit, datorem diligit Deus.

60.16. Alms are not to be offered with murmuration, lest, with sadness accompanying, the reward of what is dispensed perish. Then, however, it is well bestowed, when it is offered with cheerfulness of mind. Whence also the Apostle: "God loves a cheerful giver," he says.

Metuendum est itaque ne pauper aut cum taedio nostro oblata suscipiat, aut ne omnino praetermissus maerens tristisque recedat. 60.17. De rapinis alienis elemosinam facere non est officium miserationis, sed emolumentum sceleris; unde et Salomon: Qui offert, inquit, sacrificium de rapina pauperum tamquam si quis uictimet filium in conspectu patris sui. Qui enim iniuste tollit, iuste numquam distribuit, nec bene alteri praebet quod ab alio male extorquet.

It must be feared, therefore, lest the poor man either receive what is offered with our weariness, or lest, entirely passed over, he depart grieving and sad. 60.17. To make alms from others’ rapines is not a duty of compassion, but an emolument of crime; whence also Solomon: “He who offers a sacrifice from the plunder of the poor is as if someone were to immolate a son in the sight of his father.” For he who unjustly takes away never justly distributes, nor does he well proffer to one what he ill extorts from another.

60.18. Magnum scelus est rem pauperum praestare diuitibus, et de sumptibus inopum adquirere fauores potentum; arentis terrae aquam tollere, et flumina quae non indigent inrigare. 60.19. Nonnumquam largitas diuitum prodiga, non ad utilitatem, sed ad elationem effunditur: conparati hypocritis qui non ad aedificationem docent audientium, sed ad suae gloriae exagerandum cothurnum. 60.20. Reprehensibilis est superflua effusio largitatis: nam qui modum seruat auarus nulli est, sed omnibus largus est.

60.18. It is a great crime to bestow the property of the poor upon the rich, and from the expenses of the needy to acquire the favors of the potentates; to take water from parched earth, and to irrigate rivers which do not need it. 60.19. Sometimes the largess of the rich, prodigal, is poured out not for utility, but for exaltation: compared to hypocrites who teach not for the edification of their auditors, but to exaggerate the buskin of their own glory. 60.20. Blameworthy is the superfluous outpouring of largess: for he who keeps the measure is a miser to none, but generous to all.

60.21. Dispensator non debet esse prodigus, sed discretus; largire enim debet quantum oportet, ut, tenendo in uno mensuram, sufficiat plurimis. LXI. De brevitate huius vitae.

60.21. The steward ought not to be prodigal, but discreet; for he ought to bestow as much as is fitting, so that, by holding the measure in one, he may suffice for very many. 61. On the brevity of this life.

61.1. Tantum enim in hac uita est licitum operare bonum; illuc namque non iam operatio expectatur, sed retributio meritorum.

61.1. For only in this life is it permitted to work the good; for there no longer is operation expected, but the retribution of merits.

61.2. Haec uita impiis longa et grata est, in oculis autem iustorum amara et breuis est. Et licet uita ista breuis sit, moras tamen sibi fieri creditur, quia, quantolibet breuis sit temporis spatium, tamen etsi uiuenti parum est, amanti procul dubio longum est. 61.3a. Qui uitae praesentis longitudinem non de suo spatio, sed de eius fine considerat quam sit misera et breuis, satis utiliter pensat.

61.2. This life is long and pleasing to the impious, but in the eyes of the just it is bitter and brief. And although this life is brief, it is nevertheless believed to be protracted for itself, because, however brief the span of time may be, still, though to the living person it is too little, to the lover it is, beyond doubt, long. 61.3a. He who considers the length of the present life not from its own span but from its end—how miserable and brief it is—thinks quite usefully.

Vita enim praesens, quia ipsis suis incrementis deficit, breuis est; suo enim augmento perit, dum id quod uidetur in futuro proficere in praeterito deficit. 61.3b. Item ex ipso esse breuis uita praesens ostenditur ex quo non permanet, sed finitur. Tela enim consummatur filis, et uita hominis expletur diebus singulis.

For present life, because by its very own increments it fails, is short; for by its own augmentation it perishes, while that which seems to advance into the future fails in the past. 61.3b. Likewise the present life is shown to be short from this very fact, that it does not remain, but is finished. For the web is consummated by threads, and the life of a man is filled up by individual days.

61.4. Quod diu in hac uita uiuitur, quaeritur utrum augmentum an rectius detrimentum dicatur. Sed quomodo possit recte dici augmentum quod per dimensiones aetatum ad mortis tenditur detrimentum? 61.5. Qui uitam longam quaeris, ad eam tende uitam pro qua christianus es, id est aeternam, non ad istam de qua ad eruendum te descendit uita aeterna, id est Christus Verbum caro coniunctus.

61.4. That to live long in this life—whether it should be called an augmentation or, more rightly, a detriment—is questioned. But how can that rightly be called an augmentation which, through the dimensions of the ages, is stretched toward the detriment of death? 61.5. You who seek a long life, aim toward that life for which you are a Christian, that is, the eternal one, not toward this life on account of which Eternal Life descended to extricate you, that is, Christ the Word conjoined with flesh.

Haec est enim uita uitalis, nostra ista uita mortalis est. 61.6. Mori oportet hominem in carne mundo, ne moriatur in anima Christo. Namtunc quisque uiuere creditur, si secundum saeculum moriens in solo Deo uiuere delectetur.

For this is the vital life; this our life is mortal. 61.6. It is necessary for a man to die in the flesh to the world, lest he die in the soul to Christ. For then each person is believed to live, if, dying according to the age, he takes delight to live in God alone.

61.7. De mora uitae istius taedium patitur iustus, ec quod ad desideratam patriam tarde perueniat, et uitae praesentis aerumnam serius amittat. LXII. De exitu.

61.7. On the delay of this life the just man suffers tedium, both because he arrives late at the desired fatherland, and because he more slowly loses the hardship of the present life. 62. On the exit.

62.1. Quamuis sancti huius uitae aerumnis liberari se cupiant, cito uolentes exire de corpore, Dei tamen dispositione plerumque diu in hac uita uersantur, ut per longum tolerantiae experimentum solidius eorum patientia roboretur.

62.1. Although the saints desire to be freed from the hardships of this life, being willing to go out quickly from the body, yet by God’s disposition they for the most part remain long in this life, so that through a long experiment of tolerance their patience may be more solidly strengthened.

62.2. Multi uitam odio habent et tamen mori timent: quod plerisque in angustia contingere solet, sicque contrario affectu et uiuendi habent taedium, et moriendi metum. 62.3. Sollicite debet unusquisque uiuere et semper terminum uitae suae considerare, ut, de contemplatione illius, huius saeculi blanditias caueat. Scriptum est enim: In omnibus operibus tuis memorare nouissima tua et in aeternum non peccabis.

62.2. Many have life in hatred and yet fear to die: which is wont to befall most in distress; and thus, with a contrary affection, they have a tedium of living and a fear of dying. 62.3. With solicitude ought each one to live and always consider the terminus of his life, that, from the contemplation of that, he may beware the blandishments of this age. For it is written: In all your works remember your last things, and you will not sin unto eternity.

62.4. Venturi exitus ignorantia incerta est, et, dum mori quisque non existimat, tollitur; unde unusquisque festinet ne in iniquitatibus suis rapiatur simulque finiatur uita cum culpa. Namincentor diabolus eos quos uiuentes accendit ad uitia, subito morientes pertrahere nititur ad tormenta.

62.4. The outcome that is to come is uncertain to our ignorance, and, while each person does not suppose he is going to die, he is taken away; whence let each one make haste, lest he be snatched in his iniquities and his life be finished together with his guilt. For the inciter, the devil, those whom he inflames to vices while they live, when they die suddenly he strives to drag to torments.

62.5. Saepe diuites in hac fallaci uita, dum de potentiae gloria uel rerum abundantia gestiunt, repente, hora qua nesciunt, inprouiso exitu rapiuntur, atque, absorbente profundo, cruciandi aeternis gehennae incendiis deputantur. De quibus bene per prophetam dicitur: Ducunt in bonis dies suos, et inpuncto ad inferna descendunt. 62.6. Iniquus moriens qui imitatione sua multos ad culpam traxerat delectatione peccati, multos a culpa reuocat terrore tormenti.

62.5. Often the rich in this fallacious life, while they exult in the glory of power or the abundance of things, suddenly, at an hour which they do not know, are snatched away by an unlooked‑for exit, and, as the deep swallows, they are assigned to be tormented by the eternal fires of Gehenna. Concerning whom it is well said through the prophet: They lead their days in good things, and in a moment they descend to hell. 62.6. The iniquitous man, dying—who by his imitation had drawn many to culpability by the delectation of sin—recalls many from fault by the terror of torment.

Quod etiam psalmista testatur dicens: Laetabitur iustus, cum uiderit uindictam impiorum, manus suas lauabit in sanguine peccatorum. In peccatorum enim morientium sanguine iusti lauantur manus quia, dum eorum poena conspicitur, conspicientis uita mundatur. Cuius enim talis crudelis exitus cernitur, non solum qui uiderit refugit, sed alios etiam ab imitatione illius, quanta ualuerit exhortatione, conpescit.

Which the psalmist also attests, saying: The just will rejoice when he has seen the vengeance of the impious; he will wash his hands in the blood of sinners. For in the blood of sinners dying the hands of the just are washed, because, while their penalty is beheld, the life of the beholder is cleansed. For of one whose such cruel exit is discerned, not only does he who has seen it shrink back, but he also restrains others from the imitation of that man, by as much exhortation as he has been able.

62.7-9. In exitu uitae animae electorum nimio terrentur metu, incerti utrum ad praemium an ad supplicium transeant. Quidam autem electi in fine suo purgantur a leuibus quibusdam peccatis; quidam uero in ipso suo fine hilarescunt aeternorum contemplatione bonorum. Quamuis enim quisque in hac uita sit iustus, tamen dum ex corpore isto egreditur, pertimescit ne dignus supplicio sit.

62.7-9. At the exit of life the souls of the elect are terrified with excessive fear, uncertain whether they pass to reward or to punishment. Yet certain of the elect at their end are purged from certain light sins; but certain indeed at their very end grow cheerful at the contemplation of eternal goods. For although anyone in this life be just, nevertheless, while he goes forth from this body, he is afraid lest he be worthy of punishment.

Nullus est enim homo absque peccato; nec quisquam potest de Dei securus esse iudicio, cum etiam et de otiosis uerbis reddenda sit ratio.

For no man is without sin; nor can anyone be secure concerning the judgment of God, since even for idle words an account must be rendered.

62.10-11. Finem iustorum optimum uocatio tranquilla commendat, ut ex eo intellegantur sanctorum habere consortium angelorum, ex quo ab hoc corpore sine uexatione dura tolluntur. Prauos autem homines apostatae angeli excipiunt morientes, ut eis sint ipsi tortores in poenis qui fuerant suasores in uitiis. 62.12. Etsi pietas pro defunctis fidelibus flere iubeat, fides tamen pro eis lugere uetat.

62.10-11. A tranquil calling commends the best end of the just, so that from this it is understood that the saints have a consortium of angels, from the fact that they are taken from this body without harsh vexation. But depraved men are received as they die by apostate angels, so that those who had been persuaders in vices may themselves be tormentors in punishments. 62.12. Although piety bids us weep for the faithful departed, yet faith forbids mourning for them.

Illi enim deplorandi sunt in morte quos miseros infernus ex hac uita recipit, non quos caelestis aula laetificandos includit. Explicit liber tertius.

For they are to be lamented in death whom the infernal realm receives from this life as wretched, not those whom the celestial court encloses to make them glad. Here ends the third book.