Tertullian: de Paenitentia

[1] Paenitentiam hoc genus homines quod et ipsi retro fuimus, caeci sine domini lumine, natura tenus norunt passionem animi quandam esse quae obveniat de offensa sententiae prioris.

[1] Men of this sort, such as we ourselves once were, blind without the Lord’s light, know by nature that penitence is a certain passion of the mind which comes upon one from displeasure at a prior sentiment.

[2] Ceterum a ratione eius tantum absunt quantum ab ipso rationis auctore. Quippe res dei ratio quia deus omnium conditor nihil non ratione providit disposuit ordinavit nihilque non ratione tractari intellegique voluit.

[2] Yet they are as far removed from its reason as they are from the very author of reason. For indeed the affair of God is reason, since God, the founder of all things, has provided, disposed, and ordered nothing not by reason, and has willed that nothing be handled and understood otherwise than by reason.

[3] Igitur ignorantes quique deum rem quoque eius ignorent necesse est quia nullius omnino thesaurus extraneis patet. Itaque universam vitae conversationem sine gubernaculo rationis transfretantes inminentem saeculo procellam evitare non norunt.

[3] Therefore the ignorant—and whoever are ignorant of God—necessarily are ignorant of his matter as well, since no treasure whatsoever stands open to outsiders. And so, crossing the whole conversation of life without the helm of reason, they do not know how to avoid the storm impending over the age.

[4] Quam autem in paenitentiae actu inrationabiliter deversentur, vel uno isto satis erit expedire cum illam etiam in bonis factis suis adhibent. Paenitet fidei amoris implicitatis liberalitatis patientiae misericordiae:

[4] But how irrationally they turn aside in the act of penitence, it will be enough to set forth by this one point, since they even apply it to their good deeds. They repent of faith, of love, of simplicity, of liberality, of patience, of mercy:

[5] prout quid in ingratiam cecidit, semetipsos execrantur quia benefecerint, eamque maxime paenitentiae speciem quae optimis operibus inrogatur in corde figunt meminisse curantes ne quid boni rursus praestent. Contra paenitentiae malorum levius incubant: denique facilius per eandem delinquunt quam per eandem recte faciunt.

[5] just as something has fallen into disfavour, they execrate themselves because they have done well, and they fix in their heart that very species of penitence which is imposed upon the best works, taking care to remember lest they again present anything good. Conversely, they press more lightly upon repentance for evils: in fine, they more easily transgress by means of the same than by means of the same do rightly.

II.

[1] Quodsi dei ac per hoc rationis quoque compotes agerent, merita primo paenitentiae expenderent nec umquam eam ad augmentum perversae emendationis adhiberent; modum denique paenitendi temperarent quia et delinquendi tenerent, timentes dominum scilicet.

[1] But if they acted as those compotes of God and, through this, of reason as well, they would first expend—weigh—the merits of penitence, and would never adhibit it to the augmentation of a perverse emendation; finally, they would temper the measure of repenting, since they would likewise hold the measure of delinquency, fearing the Lord, to wit.

[2] Sed ubi metus nullus, emendatio proinde nulla; ubi emendatio nulla, paenitentia necessario vana, quia caret fructu suo cui eam deus seuit, id est hominis salute.

[2] But where there is no fear, accordingly there is no emendation; where there is no emendation, penitence is necessarily vain, because it lacks its own fruit, for which God sowed it, that is, the salvation of man.

[3] Nam deus post tot ac tanta delicta humanae temeritatis a principe generis Adam auspicata, post damnatum hominem cum saeculi dote, post eiectum paradiso mortique subiectum, cum rursus ad suam misericordiam maturuisset, iam inde in semetipso paenitentiam dedicavit, rescissa sententia irarum pristinarum ignoscere pactus operi et imagini suae.

[3] For God, after so many and so great delicts of human temerity, inaugurated from the prince of the race Adam, after man condemned with the dowry of the age, after his being cast out of paradise and subjected to death, when he had once more matured unto his own mercy, from then on dedicated repentance in himself, the sentence of former wraths rescinded, having covenanted to forgive his work and his image.

[4] Itaque et populum sibi congregavit et multis bonitatis suae largitionibus fovit et ingratissimum totiens expertus, ad paenitentiam semper hortatus ei praedicandae universorum prophetarum emisit ora: mox gratiam pollicitus quam in extremitatibus temporum per spiritum suum universo orbi inluminaturus esset, praeire intinctionem paenitentiae iussit, si, quos per gratiam vocaret ad promissionem semini Abraham destinatam, per paenitentiae subsignationem ante conponeret.

[4] And so he gathered a people to himself and cherished them with many largesses of his goodness; and, having so often found them most ungrateful, always exhorting to repentance, he sent forth the mouths of all the prophets to preach it: soon, having promised the grace with which, at the extremities of the times, he would illuminate the whole world through his Spirit, he ordered the intinction of repentance to go before, so that those whom by grace he called to the promise destined for the seed of Abraham he might first set in order through the subsignation of repentance.

[5] Non tacet Iohannes paenitentiam initote dicens: iam enim salus nationibus adpropinquabat, dominus scilicet adferens secundum dei promissum.

[5] John is not silent, saying, “Begin penitence”: for already salvation was drawing near to the nations, the Lord, namely, bringing it according to the promise of God.

[6] Cui praeministram paenitentiam destinarat purgandis mentibus praepositam, uti, quidquid error vetus inquinasset, quidquid in corde hominis ignorantia contaminasset, id paenitentia averrens et eradens et foras abiciens mundam pectoris domum superventuro spiritui sancto paret quo se ille cum caelestibus bonis libens inferat.

[6] For which he had destined repentance as a handmaid-attendant, set over the purging of minds, so that whatever ancient error had befouled, whatever ignorance had contaminated in the heart of man, that repentance, sweeping away and erasing and casting out, might prepare the clean house of the breast for the Holy Spirit about to come, wherein he may gladly enter with heavenly goods.

[7] Horum bonorum unus est titulus, salus hominis criminum pristinorum abolitione praemissa; haec paenitentiae causa, haec opera, negotium divinae misericordiae curans, quod homini proficit, deo servit.

[7] One title of these goods is this: the salvation of man, with the abolition of former crimes preceding; this is the cause of penitence, this its work: attending to the business of divine mercy, which profits man, it serves God.

[8] Ceterum ratio eius, quam cognito domino discimus, certam formam tenet, ne bonis umquam factis cogitatisve quasi violenta aliqua manus iniciatur.

[8] Moreover, its rationale—which we learn once the Lord is known—holds a fixed form, lest, as if by some violent hand, there should ever be a laying upon good deeds or thoughts.

[9] Deus enim reprobationem bonorum ratam non habet utpote suorum: quorum cum auctor et defensor sit, necesse est proinde et acceptator; si acceptator, etiam remunerator.

[9] For God does not hold the reprobation of good things as ratified, inasmuch as they are his own: since he is the author and defender of them, it is necessary accordingly that he be also the acceptor; if an acceptor, then also a remunerator.

[10] Viderit ergo ingratia hominum, si etiam bonis factis paenitentiam cogit; viderit et gratia, si captatio eius ad benefaciendum incitamento est: terrena et mortalis utraque.

[10] Let the ingratitude of men look to it, if it even compels repentance for good deeds; let gratitude also look to it, if the captation of it is an incitement to beneficence: both are earthly and mortal.

[11] Quantulum enim conpendii, si grato benefeceris, vel dispendii, si ingrato? Bonum factum deum habet debitorem, sicuti et malum, quia iudex omnis remunerator est causae.

[11] For how little a gain, if you do good to a grateful person, or a loss, if to an ungrateful? A good deed has God as a debtor, just as also an evil one, because the judge is the remunerator of every cause.

[12] At cum iudex deus iustitiae carissimae sibi exigendae tuendaeque praesideat et in eam omnem summam disciplinae suae sanciat, dubitandum est, sicut in universis actibus nostris, ita in paenitentiae quoque causa iustitiam deo praestandam esse? Quod quidem ita impleri licebit, si peccatis solummodo adhibeatur.

[12] But since God the judge presides over justice most dear to himself, to be exacted and safeguarded, and sanctions into it the whole sum of his discipline, is it to be doubted that, just as in all our acts, so also in the cause of penitence justice must be rendered to God? Which indeed will be able to be fulfilled thus, if it be applied solely to sins.

[13] Porro peccatum nisi malum factum dici non meretur nec quisquam benefaciendo delinquit.

[13] Moreover, a sin does not deserve to be called anything but an evil deed, nor does anyone, by well-doing, commit an offense.

[14] Quodsi non delinquit, cur paenitentiam invadit delinquentium privatum? Cur malitiae officium bonitati suae inponit? Ita evenit ut, cum aliquid ubi non oportet adhibeatur, illic ubi oportet neglegatur.

[14] But if he is not delinquent, why does he invade the private property of delinquents—penitence? Why does he impose the office of malice upon his own goodness? Thus it comes about that, when something is applied where it ought not, there, where it ought, it is neglected.

III.

[1] Quorum ergo paenitentia iusta et debita videatur, id est quae delicto deputanda sint, locus quidem expostulat denotare, sed otiosum videri potest.

[1] Whose, therefore, penance may appear just and due—that is, what is to be deputed to the delict—the place indeed demands to denote, yet it can seem otiose.

[2] Domino enim cognito ultro spiritus a suo auctore respectus emergit ad notitiam veritatis et admissus ad dominica praecepta ex ipsis statim eruditur id peccato deputandum, a quo deus arceat: quoniam, cum deum grande quid boni constet esse, utique bono nisi malum non displiceret, quod inter contraria sibi nulla ami- citia est.

[2] For, once the Lord is known, the spirit, of its own accord, being regarded by its own author, emerges into the knowledge of truth; and, admitted to the dominical precepts, from these it is at once instructed that that is to be assigned to sin, from which God keeps one away: since, it standing established that God is something of great good, assuredly to the good nothing would be displeasing except the evil, because between contraries there is no amity.

[3] Praestringere tamen non pigebit delictorum quaedam esse carnalia, id est corporalia, quaedam vero spiritalia - nam cum ex hac duplicis substantiae eongregatione confectus homo sit, non aliunde delinquit quam unde constat -;

[3] Nevertheless, it will not be irksome to touch briefly that certain sins are carnal, that is, corporal, but others spiritual - for since man has been composed from this aggregation of a twofold substance, he sins from no other source than that from which he consists -;

[4] sed non eo inter se differunt, quod corpus et spiritus duo sunt, atquin eo magis paria sunt, quia duo unum efficiunt, ne quis pro diversitate materiarum peccata earum discernat ut alterum altero levius aut gravius existimet.

[4] but they do not on that account differ among themselves, because body and spirit are two; rather they are so much the more equal, because the two make one, lest anyone, by reason of the diversity of the materials, discern their sins so as to esteem one lighter or heavier than the other.

[5] Siquidem et caro et spiritus dei res, alia manu eius expressa, alia adflatu [eius] consummata; cum ergo ex pari ad dominum pertineant, quodcumque eorum deliquerit ex pari dominum offendit.

[5] Indeed both flesh and spirit are God’s property: the one fashioned by his hand, the other consummated by [his] afflatus; since therefore they pertain to the Lord on equal terms, whichever of them has transgressed offends the Lord equally.

[6] An tu discernas actus carnis et spiritus, quorum et in vita et in morte et in resurrectione tantum communionis atque consortii est, ut pariter tunc aut in vitam aut in iudicium suscitentur, quia scilicet pariter aut deliquerint aut innocenter egerint?

[6] Will you distinguish the acts of the flesh and of the spirit, for whom both in life and in death and in the resurrection there is so much communion and consortium, that alike then they are raised either into life or into judgment, since, namely, they have alike either transgressed or acted innocently?

[7] Hoc eo praemisimus ut non minorem alteri quam utrique parti, si quid deliquerit, paenitentiae necessitatem intellegamus inpendere; communis reatus amborum est, communis et iudex, deus scilicet: communis igitur et paenitentiae medella.

[7] We have premised this for this reason, so that we may understand that no lesser necessity of penitence impends for the one than for both parts, if anything has transgressed; the guilt of both is common, and the judge is common as well, namely God: therefore the remedy of penitence is common too.

[8] Exinde spiritalia et corporalia nominantur, quod delictum omne aut agitur aut cogitatur, ut corporale sit quod in facto est quia factum ut corpus et videri et contingi habet, spiritale vero quod in animo est quia ut spiritus neque videtur neque tenetur.

[8] Thereupon spiritual and corporal things are so named, since every delict is either acted or cogitated, so that corporal is what is in the deed, because a deed, like a body, has the capacity both to be seen and to be touched; but spiritual is what is in the mind, because, like spirit, it is neither seen nor held.

[9] Per quod ostenditur non facti solum, verum et voluntatis delicta vitanda et paenitentia purganda esse. Neque enim, si mediocritas humana facti solummodo iudicat quia voluntatis latebris par non est, idcirco [etiam] crimina eius etiam sub deo neglegamus.

[9] Through which it is shown that not only delicts of deed, but also of will, must be avoided and purged by penitence. For neither, if human mediocrity judges only the deed because it is not equal to the hiding-places of the will, for that reason [also] should we neglect its crimes even under God.

[10] Deus in omnia sufficit; nihil a conspectu eius remotum unde omnino delinquitur; quia non ignorat, nec omittit quominus in iudicium decernat: dissimulator et praevaricator perspicaciae suae non est!

[10] God suffices for all things; nothing is removed from his sight wherein at all delinquency is committed; for he does not ignore, nor does he omit so as not to decree into judgment: he is no dissembler or prevaricator of his own perspicacity!

[11] Quid quod voluntas facti origo est? Viderint enim, si qua casui aut necessitati aut ignorantiae inputantur, quibus exceptis iam non nisi voluntate delinquitur.

[11] What of the fact that will is the origin of the deed? Let them consider, indeed, if any are imputed to chance or necessity or ignorance; these excepted, now an offense is committed by will alone.

[12] Cum ergo facti origo sit, non tanto potior ad poenam est quanto principalis ad culpam? Qua ne tunc quidem liberatur cum aliqua difficultas perpetrationem eius intercipit: ipsa enim sibi inputatur nec excusari poterit per illam perficiendi infelicitatem, operata quod suum fuerat.

[12] Since therefore it is the origin of the deed, is it not of so much the greater weight for punishment as it is principal for blame? Whereby it is not freed even when some difficulty intercepts its perpetration: for it is imputed to itself, nor can it be excused by that infelicity of accomplishing, having wrought what was its own.

[13] Denique dominus quemadmodum se adiectionem legi superstruere demonstrat nisi et voluntatis interdicendo delicta? Cum adulterum non eum solum definit qui comminus in alienum matrimonium cecidisset, verum etiam illum qui adspectus concupiscentia contaminasset.

[13] Finally, how does the Lord show that he builds an addition upon the Law, unless also by interdicting the delicts of the will? Since he defines as an adulterer not him only who at close quarters had fallen into another’s matrimony, but also him who had contaminated himself by the concupiscence of sight.

[14] Adeo quod prohibetur administrare, satis periculose animus sibi repraesentat et temere per voluntatem expungit effectum. Cuius voluntatis cum vis tanta sit ut nos solatio sui saturans pro facto cedat, pro facto ergo plectetur.

[14] To such an extent the mind, quite perilously, represents to itself what is forbidden to administer, and rashly, through the will, sets down the effect as accomplished. Since the force of such a will is so great that, saturating us with its own solace, it yields as a deed, therefore it will be punished as a deed.

[15] Vanissimum est dicere: 'volui nec tamen feci'; atquin perficere debes quia vis, aut nec velle quia nec perficis.

[15] Most vain is it to say: 'I willed and yet I did not do'; nay rather you ought to perfect it because you will, or not even to will because you do not perfect.

[16] Sed ipse conscientiae tuae confessionem pronuntias, nam si bonum concupisceres, perficere gestisses; porro si ut malum non perficis, nec concupiscere debueras: quaqua te constitueris, crimini adstringeris qua aut malum volueris aut bonum non adinpleveris!

[16] But you yourself pronounce the confession of your conscience, for if you had desired the good, you would have been eager to effect it; furthermore, if, as being evil, you do not carry it out, you ought not to have desired it either: whichever way you set yourself, you are bound to a charge, in that either you have willed evil or you have not fulfilled good!

IV.

[1] Omnibus ergo delictis seu carne seu spiritu, seu facto seu voluntate commissis qui poenam per iudicium destinavit, idem et veniam per paenitentiam spopondit dicens ad populum: paenitere et salvum faciam te.

[1] Therefore, for all delicts, whether in the flesh or in the spirit, whether committed by deed or by will, he who has destined the penalty through judgment, the same has also pledged pardon through penitence, saying to the people: repent, and I will save you.

[2] Et rursus: vivo, inquit, dicit dominus et paenitentiam malo quam mortem. Ergo paenitentia vita est, quae praeponitur morti. Eam tu peccator, mei similis - immo me minor: ego enim praestantiam in delictis meam agnosco - ita invade, ita amplexare ut naufragus alicuius tabulae fidem.

[2] And again: I live, says the Lord, and I prefer penitence to death. Therefore penitence is life, which is preferred to death. You, sinner, like me - nay, less than I: for I acknowledge my preeminence in my delicts - so seize upon it, so embrace it as a shipwrecked man puts his trust in some plank.

[3] Haec te peccatorum fluctibus mersum prolevabit et in portum divinae clementiae protelabit. Rape occasionem inopinatae felicitatis, ut ille tu nihil quondam penes dominum nisi stilla situlae et areae pulvis et vasculum figuli arbor exinde fias, illa arbor quae penes aquas seritur et in foliis perennat et tempore suo fructus agit, quae non ignem, non securem videbit.

[3] This will buoy you up, submerged by the billows of sins, and will bear you into the harbor of divine clemency. Seize the occasion of unanticipated felicity, so that you—who once were, in the Lord’s regard, nothing but a drop of a bucket and the dust of the threshing-floor and a little vessel of the potter—may from then become a tree, that tree which is planted beside the waters and is perennial in its leaves and in its season produces fruit, which will see neither fire nor axe.

[4] Paeniteat errorum reperta veritate, paeniteat amasse quae deus non amat, quando ne nos quidem ipsi servulis nostris ea, quibus offendimur, nosse permittimus: obsequi enim ratio in similitudine animorum constituta est.

[4] Let there be repentance of errors, the truth having been found; let there be regret for having loved things which God does not love, since not even we ourselves permit our own little household servants to know those things by which we are offended: for the reason of obedience is constituted in a similitude of minds.

[5] De bono paenitentiae enumerando diffusa et per hoc magno eloquio committenda materia est: nos vero pro nostris angustiis unum inculcamus, bonum atque optimum esse quod deus praecipit.

[5] In enumerating the good of penitence the subject-matter is diffuse and, by this very fact, to be committed to great eloquence; but we, for our constraints, inculcate one thing: that what God prescribes is good and best.

[6] Audaciam existimo de bono divini praecepti disputare; neque enim quia bonum est, idcirco auscultare debemus, sed quia deus praecepit: ad exhibitionem obsequi prior est maiestas divinae potestatis, prior est auctoritas imperantis quam utilitas servientis.

[6] I consider it an audacity to dispute about the good of the divine precept; for we ought not to hearken because it is good, but because God has commanded: for the exhibition of obedience the majesty of divine power is prior, the authority of the one commanding is prior to the utility of the one serving.

[7] 'Bonum est paenitere an non?' Quid revolvis? deus praecepit! Atenim ille non praecipit tantum, sed etiam hortatur; invitat praemio: salute; iurans etiam, vivo dicens cupit credi sibi.

[7] 'Is it good to repent or not?' Why do you turn it over? God has commanded! Indeed, he not only commands, but also exhorts; he invites with a prize: salvation; even swearing, saying 'I live', he longs to be believed.

[8] O beatos nos quorum causa deus iurat; o miserrimos si nec iuranti domino credimus! Quod iterum deus tantopere conmendat, quod etiam humano more sub deieratione testatur, summa utique gravitate et adgredi et custodire debemus, ut in adseveratione divinae gratiae permanentes in fructu quoque eius et emolumento proinde perseverare possimus.

[8] O blessed are we for whose sake God swears; O most wretched if we do not believe even the Lord when he is swearing! That which God again so greatly commends, which he also attests in human fashion under an oath, we ought surely to approach and to guard with the utmost gravity, so that, remaining in the asseveration of divine grace, we may likewise be able to persevere in its fruit and emolument.

[1] Hoc enim dico, paenitentiam, quae per dei gratiam ostensa et indicta nobis in gratiam nos domino revocat, semel cognitam atque susceptam numquam posthac iteratione delicti resignari oportere.

[1] For this I say: repentance, which through the grace of God, having been shown and enjoined to us, calls us back into favor with the Lord, once recognized and undertaken, ought never hereafter to be rescinded by a repetition of transgression.

[2] Iam quidem nullum ignorantiae praetextum patrocinatur tibi, quod domino adgnito praeceptisque eius admissis, denique paenitentia delictorum functus, rursus te in delicta restituis.

[2] Already indeed no pretext of ignorance stands as a patron for you, since, with the Lord acknowledged and his precepts admitted, and finally, repentance for your delicts discharged, you restore yourself again into delicts.

[3] Ita in quantum ab ignorantia segregaris, in tantum contumaciae adglutinaris; nam si idcirco te deliquisse paenituerat quia dominum coeperas timere, cur quod metus gratia gessisti rescindere maluisti nisi quia metuere desisti?

[3] Thus, in as much as you are segregated from ignorance, in so much you are agglutinated to contumacy; for if for that reason you had repented of having transgressed because you had begun to fear the Lord, why did you prefer to rescind what you did for the sake of fear, unless because you ceased to fear?

[4] Neque enim timorem alia res quam contumacia subvertit. Cum autem etiam ignorantes dominum nulla exceptio tueatur a poena, quia deum in aperto constitutum et vel ex ipsis caelestibus bonis conprehensibilem ignorari non licet, quanto cognitum despici periculosum est?

[4] For indeed nothing other than contumacy subverts fear. But since no exception protects even those ignorant of the Lord from punishment—because it is not permitted that God, set in the open and, even from the heavenly goods themselves, comprehensible, be ignored—how perilous is it to despise him when known?

[5] Despicit porro qui, bonorum ac malorum intellectum ab illo consecutus, quod intellegit fugiendum quodque iam fugit resumens intellectui suo id est dei dono contumeliam facit: respuit datorem, cum datum deserit; negat beneficium, cum beneficum non honorat!

[5] Moreover, he despises who, having obtained from him the intellect of good things and of evil things, by resuming what he understands is to be fled and what he has already fled, does contumely to his intellect, that is, to the gift of God: he rejects the giver, when he deserts the gift; he denies the benefit, when he does not honor the benefactor!

[6] Quemadmodum ei potest placere cuius munus sibi displicet? Ita in dominum non modo contumax sed etiam ingratus apparet.

[6] How can he be pleasing to him whose gift displeases him? Thus toward the Lord he appears not only contumacious but also ungrateful.

[7] Ceterum non leviter in dominum peccat qui, cum aemulo eius diabolo paenitentia sua renuntiasset et hoc nomine illum domino subiecisset, rursus eundum regressu suo erigit et exultationem eius semetipsum facit, ut denuo malus recuperata praeda sua adversus dominum gaudeat.

[7] However, he does not sin lightly against the Lord who, when by his repentance he had renounced his rival, the devil, and under this title had subjected himself to the Lord, again by his relapse raises that same one and makes himself his exultation, so that once more the evil one, his prey recovered, may rejoice against the Lord.

[8] Nonne - quod dicere quoque periculosum est, sed ad aedificationem proferendum [est] - diabolum domino praepones? Conparationem enim videtur egisse, qui utrumque cognoverit, et iudicato pronuntiasse eum meliorem, cuius se rursus esse maluerit!

[8] Will you not — which it is dangerous even to say, but [it is] to be brought forward for edification — prefer the devil to the lord? For he seems to have made a comparison, who has come to know both, and, by a judgment, to have pronounced him the better, whose he has preferred again to be.

[9] Ita qui per delictorum paenitentiam instituerat domino satisfacere, diabolo per aliam paenitentiae paenitentiam satisfaciet eritque tanto magis perosus deo quanto aemulo eius acceptus.

[9] Thus he who had purposed to satisfy the Lord through repentance of delicts will satisfy the devil by another repentance—repentance for his repentance—and he will be so much the more hateful to God as he is acceptable to His rival.

[10] Sed aiunt quidam satis dominum habere, si corde et animo suscipiatur, licet actu minus fiat; itaque se salvo metu et fide peccare, hoc est salva oastitate matrimonia violare, salva pietate parenti venenum temperare.

[10] But certain ones say that it is enough for the Lord, if he be received in heart and mind, though less be done in act; and thus that they sin with fear and faith kept safe, that is, with chastity kept safe to violate marriages, with piety kept safe to mix poison for a parent.

[11] Sic ergo et ipsi salva venia in gehennam detrudentur, dum salvo metu peccant.

[11] Thus therefore they also, with pardon intact, will be thrust down into Gehenna, while, with fear intact, they sin.

[12] Pro mirum exemplum perversitatis: quia timent delinquunt; opinor non delinquerent, si non timerent!

[12] O wondrous example of perversity: because they fear, they sin; I suppose they would not sin, if they did not fear!

[13] Igitur qui deum nolet offensum, nec revereatur omnino, si timor offendendi patrocinium est! Sed ista ingenia de semine hypocritarum pullulare consuerunt, quorum individua cum diabolo amicitia est, quorum paenitentia numquam fidelis.

[13] Therefore, let him who does not wish God to be offended not revere at all, if the fear of offending is a defense! But such dispositions are wont to pullulate from the seed of hypocrites, whose inseparable friendship is with the devil, whose penitence is never faithful.

VI.

[1] Quidquid ergo mediocritas nostra ad paenitentiam semel capessendam et perpetuo continendam suggerere conata est, omnes quidem debitos domino spectat ut omnes salutis in promerendo deo petitores, sed praecipue novitiolis istis inminet, qui cum maxime incipiunt divinis sermonibus aures rigare quique ut catuli infantiae adhuc recentis necdum perfectis luminibus incerta reptant et dicunt quidem pristinis renuntiare et paenitentiam adsumunt, sed includere eam neglegunt.

[1] Whatever, therefore, our mediocrity has attempted to suggest for penitence to be once undertaken and perpetually maintained, concerns indeed all as debtors to the Lord, as all petitioners of salvation in meriting with God; but it presses especially upon those little novices, who just now begin to irrigate their ears with divine sermons and who, like whelps of an infancy still fresh, with lights not yet perfected, crawl uncertainly and indeed say they renounce former things and assume penitence, but they neglect to enclose it.

[2] Interpellat enim illos ad desiderandum ex pristinis aliquid ipse finis desiderandi, velut poma, cum iam in acorem vel amaritudinem senescere incipiunt, ex parte aliqua tamen adhuc ipsi gratiae suae adulantur.

[2] For the very end of desiring itself prompts them to long for something from their former things, like fruits, when they already begin to grow old into sourness or bitterness, yet still in some part flatter their own grace.

[3] Omne praeterea cunctationis et tergiversationis erga paenitentiam vitium praesumptio intinctionis inportat. Certi enim indubitatae veniae delictorum medium tempus interim furantur et commeatum sibi faciunt delinquendi quam eruditionem non delinquendi.

[3] Moreover, the presumption upon dipping (baptism) imports every vice of delay and tergiversation toward repentance. For, being certain of the indubitable pardon of sins, they steal the intervening time meanwhile, and make for themselves a furlough for delinquency rather than a discipline of not delinqueing.

[4] Quam porro ineptum, quam (perversum), paenitentiam non adimplere et veniam delictorum sustinere, hoc est pretium non exhibere et ad mercem manum emittere! Hoc enim pretio dominus veniam addicere instituit, hac paenitentiae conpensatione redimendam proponit inpunitatem.

[4] How moreover inept, how (perverse), not to fulfill penance and yet to expect pardon of sins—this is not to render the price and to stretch forth the hand toward the merchandise! For by this price the Lord has instituted to adjudge pardon; by this compensation of penance he sets forth impunity to be redeemed.

[5] Si ergo qui venditant prius nummum quo paciscuntur examinant, ne scalptus ne versus ne adulter, non etiam dominum credimus paenitentiae probationem prius inire tantam nobis mercedem, perennis scilicet vitae, concessurum?

[5] If, therefore, those who vend first examine the coin with which they strike the bargain, lest it be clipped, or turned, or adulterate, do we not also believe that the Lord will first enter upon a probation of repentance before he will grant to us so great a reward, namely of perennial life?

[6] 'Sed differamus tantisper paenitentiae veritatem: tunc opinor emendatos licebit, cum absolvimur'. Nullo pacto, sed cum pendente venia poena prospicitur, cum adhuc liberari non meremur, ut possimus mereri, cum deus comminatur, non cum ignoscit.

[6] 'But let us defer for a little the truth of penitence: then, I suppose, it will be permitted to be amended, when we are absolved.' By no means, but when, with pardon pending, punishment is foreseen; when we do not yet merit to be freed, in order that we may be able to merit it; when god threatens, not when he pardons.

[7] Quis enim servus, posteaquam libertate mutatus est, furta sua et fugas sibi inputat? quis miles, postquam castris suis emissus est, pro notis suis satagit?

[7] For what slave, after he has been transformed by freedom, imputes to himself his thefts and flights? what soldier, after he has been discharged from his camp, busies himself over his own marks on record?

[8] Peccator ante veniam deflere se debet, quia tempus paenitentiae idem quod periculi et timoris.

[8] The sinner ought to bewail himself before pardon, because the time of penitence is the same as that of peril and fear.

[9] Neque ego renuo divinum beneficium, id est abolitionem delictorum, inituris aquam omnimodo salvum esse; sed ut eo pervenire contingat elaborandum est. Quis enim tibi tam infidae paenitentiae viro asperginem unam cuiuslibet aquae commodabit?

[9] Nor do I deny the divine benefit, that is, the abolition of sins, to those about to enter the water as being in every way safe; but in order that it may come to pass to attain to that, there must be labor. For who, indeed, will lend to you, a man of so faithless a penitence, even a single sprinkling of any water?

[10] Furto quidem adgredi et praepositum huius rei adseverationibus tuis circumduci facile est: sed deus thesauro suo providet, nec sinet obrepere indignos. Quid denique ait? Nihil occultum quod non revelabitur: quantascumque tenebras factis tuis superstruxeris, deus lumen est!

[10] To approach by stealth and to have the overseer of this affair circumvented by your asseverations is easy: but God provides for his treasury, nor will he allow the unworthy to creep in. What, finally, does he say? Nothing is hidden that will not be revealed: however much darkness you may superimpose upon your deeds, God is light!

[11] Quidam autem sic opinantur, quasi deus necesse habeat praestare etiam indignis quod spopondit, et liberalitatem eius faciunt servitutem.

[11] Some, however, opine thus, as if God must needs provide even to the unworthy what he has pledged, and they make his liberality a servitude.

[12] Quodsi necessitate nobis symbolum mortis indulget, ergo invitus facit; quis autem promittit permansurum et quod tribuerit invitus?

[12] But if by necessity he indulges to us the symbol of death, therefore he does it unwillingly; and who promises that what he has granted unwillingly will remain?

[13] Non enim multi postea excidunt? non a multis donum illud auferetur? Hi sunt scilicet qui obrepunt, qui paenitentiae fidem adgressi super harenas domum ruituram conlocant!

[13] For do not many afterwards fall away? Is not that gift taken away from many? These are, to be sure, those who creep in, who, having undertaken the faith of penitence, set a house about to collapse upon the sands!

[14] Nemo ergo sibi aduletur quia inter auditorum tirocinia deputatur, quasi eo etiamnunc sibi delinquere liceat: dominum simul cognoveris timeas, simul inspexeris reverearis!

[14] Therefore let no one flatter himself because he is reckoned among the tyrocinia of the auditors, as if thereby it were even now permitted him to delinque: the moment you have come to know the lord, fear; the moment you have inspected him, revere!

[15] Ceterum quid te cognovisse interest, cum isdem incubas quibus retro ignarus? Quid autem te a perfecto servo dei separat? An alius est intinctis Christus, alius audientibus?

[15] Moreover, what does it profit you to have come to know, when you cling to the same things as formerly in ignorance? What, furthermore, separates you from the perfect servant of God? Is Christ one for the immersed and another for the hearers?

[16] Num alia spes uel merces, alia formido iudicii, alia necessitas paenitentiae ? Lavacrum illud obsignatio est fidei, quae fides a paenitentiae fide incipitur et commendatur.

[16] Is there another hope or reward, another dread of judgment, another necessity of penitence ? That laver is the sealing of faith, which faith is begun from the faith of penitence and is commended.

[17] Non ideo abluimur ut delinquere desinamus, sed quia desiimus, quoniam iam corde loti sumus: haec enim prima audientis intinctio est. Metus integer exinde quod dominum senserit; fides sana conscientia semel paenitentiam amplexata!

[17] We are not therefore washed in order that we may cease to sin, but because we have ceased, since we are already washed in heart: for this is the first intinction of the hearer. An undiminished fear from then on, in that he has sensed the Lord; faith with a sound conscience, once-for-all having embraced repentance!

[18] Ceterum si ab aquis peccare desistimus, necessitate, non sponte, innocentiam induimus. Quis ergo in bonitate praecellens ? cui non licet aut cui displicet malo esse ? qui iubetur an qui delectatur a crimine vacare ?

[18] Moreover, if from the waters we cease to sin, by necessity, not of our own accord, we put on innocence. Who then is preeminent in goodness ? the one to whom it is not permitted, or the one to whom it is displeasing, to be evil ? the one who is commanded, or the one who takes delight, to be free from crime ?

[19] Ergo nec a furto manus avertamus, nisi claustrorum duritia repugnet, nec oculos a stupri concupiscentiis refrenemus, nisi a custodibus corporum obstructi, si nemo domino debitus delinquere desinet nisi intinctione alligatus.

[19] Therefore let us not turn our hands away from theft, unless the hardness of locks should resist, nor rein back our eyes from the concupiscences of debauchery, unless, obstructed by custodians of bodies, if no one who is a debtor to the lord will cease to transgress unless bound by intinction.

[20] Quodsi qui ita senserit, nescio an intinctus magis contristetur quod peccare desierit, quam laetetur quod evaserit! Itaque audientes optare intinctionem, non praesumere oportet.

[20] But if anyone has so thought, I know not whether the intincted would be more saddened that he has ceased to sin than rejoice that he has escaped! And so the hearers ought to desire intinction, not to presume.

[21] Qui enim optat, honorat; qui praesumit, superbit; in illo verecundia, in isto autem petulantia apparet; ille satagit, hic neglegit; ille emerere cupit, at hic ut debitum sibi repromittit; ille sumit, hic invadit.

[21] For he who desires, honors; he who presumes, is arrogant; in that one modesty appears, but in this one petulance; that one is diligent, this one neglects; that one longs to merit, but this one claims it to himself as a debt; that one accepts, this one seizes.

[22] Quem censeas digniorem nisi emendatiorem? quem emendatiorem nisi timidiorem et idcirco vera paenitentia functum ? timuit enim adhuc delinquere, ne non mereretur accipere.

[22] Whom would you deem more worthy except the more emended? whom more emended except the more timid and therefore one who has fulfilled true penitence ? for he still feared to transgress, lest he should not merit to receive.

[23] At ille praesumptor oum sibi repromitteret, securus scilicet, timere non potuit: sic nec paenitentiam implevit, quia instrumento paenitentiae, id est metu, caruit.

[23] But that presumptuous man, when he was promising to himself, secure, of course, could not fear: thus neither did he fulfill repentance, because he lacked the instrument of repentance, that is, fear.

[24] Praesumptio inverecundiae portio est: inflat petitorem, despicit datorem; itaque decipit nonnumquam. Ante enim quam debeatur repromittit, quo semper is qui est praestaturus offenditur.

[24] Presumption is a portion of immodesty: it inflates the petitioner, despises the donor; and thus it sometimes deceives. For it promises beforehand, before it is owed, whereby the one who is going to bestow is always offended.

VII.

[1] Hucusque, Christe domine, de paenitentiae disciplina servis tuis dicere vel audire contingat, quousque etiam delinquere non oportet et audientibus: vel nihil iam de paenitentia noverint, nihil eius requirant.

[1] Thus far, Christ Lord, let it befall your servants to speak or to hear about the discipline of penitence, only so far as it is not fitting to transgress—even for the hearers; or else let them now know nothing about penitence, let them require nothing of it.

[2] Piget secundae, immo iam ultimae spei subtexere mentionem, ne retractantes de residuo auxilio paenitendi spatium adhuc delinquendi demonstrare videamur.

[2] It irks to weave in mention of a second—nay, now an ultimate—hope, lest, by reconsidering the remaining aid, we seem to show that the interval of penitence is an interval for still delinquenting.

[3] Absit ut aliquis ita interpretetur, quasi eo sibi etiamnunc pateat ad delinquendum, quia patet ad paenitendum, et redundantiam clementiae caelestis libidinem faciat humanae temeritatis!

[3] Far be it that anyone interpret it thus, as though a way for sinning were open to him even now because a way for repenting stands open, and make the redundancy of celestial clemency into the libido of human temerity!

[4] Nemo idcirco deterior sit, quia dominus melior est, totiens delinquendo quotiens et ignoscitur: ceterum finem utique evadendi habebit, qui offendendi non habebit. Evasimus semel: hactenus periculosis nosmetipsos inferamus etsi iterum evasuri videmur.

[4] Let no one therefore be worse, because the Lord is better, offending as often as he is forgiven: moreover, he will surely come to an end of evading, who will not come to an end of offending. We have escaped once: thus far let us bring ourselves into dangers, even if we seem about to escape again.

[5] Plerique naufragio liberati exinde repudium et navi et mari dicunt et dei beneficium, salutem suam scilicet, memoria periculi honorant. Laudo timorem, diligo verecundiam: nolunt iterum divinae misericordiae oneri esse, formidant videri inculcare quod consecuti sunt; bona certe sollicitudine iterum experiri devitant quod semel didicerunt timere.

[5] Most people, once delivered from shipwreck, thereafter pronounce a divorce both to the ship and to the sea, and they honor God’s beneficence—namely their salvation—by the memory of the peril. I praise fear, I cherish modesty: they do not wish again to be a burden to divine mercy; they dread to seem to trample upon what they have obtained; with good solicitude they certainly avoid experiencing again what once they learned to fear.

[6] Ita modus temeritatis testatio est timoris; timor autem hominis dei honor est.

[6] Thus a check upon temerity is an attestation of fear; however, a man’s fear is the honor of God.

[7] Sed enim pervicacissimus hostis ille numquam malitiae suae otium facit, atquin tunc maxime saevit cum hominem plene sentit liberatum, tunc plurimum accenditur cum extinguitur.

[7] But indeed that most obstinate enemy never grants leisure to his malice; nay rather, then he rages most when he senses a man fully liberated, then he is most kindled when he is being extinguished.

[8] Doleat et ingemiscat necesse est venia peccatorum permissa tot in homine mortis opera diruta, tot titulos dominationis retro suae erasos. Dolet quod ipsum et angelos eius Christo servus ille peccator iudicaturus est.

[8] It must needs be that he grieve and groan, the pardon of sins having been granted, so many works of death in the man razed, so many titles of his former domination erased. He grieves that that slave, the sinner, is going to judge him and his angels for Christ.

[9] Itaque observat obpugnat obsidet, si qua possit aut oculos concupiscentia carnali ferire aut animum inlecebris saecularibus inretire aut fidem terrenae potestatis formidine evertere aut a via certa perversis traditionibus detorquere; non scandalis, non temptationibus deficit.

[9] And so he watches, he attacks, he besieges, if in any way he can either strike the eyes with carnal concupiscence or ensnare the mind with secular allurements or overthrow the faith by the dread of earthly power or twist from the sure way by perverse traditions; he is not lacking either in scandals or in temptations.

[10] Haec igitur venena eius providens deus clausana licet ignoscentiae ianuam et intinctionis sera obstructam aliquid adhuc permisit patere: conlocavit in vestibulo paenitentiam secundam, quae pulsantibus patefaciat, sed iam semel quia iam secundo, sed amplius numquam quia proxime frustra.

[10] Therefore, God, foreseeing these venoms of his, although the door of forgiveness has been shut and the bolt of intinction fastened, allowed that something should still lie open: he placed Second Penitence in the vestibule, to throw open to those who knock—but now once, since it is now a second time, but never any more, since a next time would be in vain.

[11] Non enim et hoc semel satis est? Habes quod iam non merebaris: amisisti enim quod acceperas. Si tibi indulgentia domini adcommodat, unde restituas quod amiseras, iterato beneficio gratus esto, nedum ampliato.

[11] For is not even this once enough? You have what you no longer deserved: for you have lost what you had received. If the indulgence of the Lord accommodates you with the means whereby you may restore what you had lost, be grateful for the repeated benefit, let alone the enlarged one.

[12] Maius [est] enim restituere quam dare, quoniam miserius est perdidisse quam omnino non accepisse. Verum non statim succidendus ac subruendus est animus desperatione, si secundae quis paenitentiae debitor fuerit.

[12] For greater [is] to restore than to give, since it is more miserable to have lost than not to have received at all. But the spirit is not to be at once felled and undermined by desperation, if someone should be a debtor to second penitence.

[13] Pigeat sane peccare rursus, sed rursus paenitere non pigeat; pudeat iterum periclitari, sed [non] iterum liberari neminem pudeat: iterandae valitudinis iteranda medicina est.

[13] Let it indeed be vexatious to sin again, but let it not be vexatious to repent again; let it be shameful to hazard oneself again, but let no one be ashamed to be freed again: for health to be renewed, the medicine must be renewed.

[14] Gratus in dominum extiteris, si quod tibi denuo offert, non recusaveris. Offendisti sed reconciliari adhuc potes: habes cui satisfacias et quidem volentem!

[14] You will have proved grateful to the lord, if you do not refuse what he offers to you anew. You have offended, but you can still be reconciled: you have one to whom you may make satisfaction, and indeed one willing!

VIII.

[1] Id si dubitas, evolve quae spiritus ecclesiis dicat: desertam dilectionem Ephesiis inputat, stuprum et idolothytorum esum Thyatirenis exprobat, Sardos non plenorum operum incusat, Pergamenos docentes perversa reprehendit, Laudicenos divitiis fidentes obiurgat: et tamen omnes ad paenitentiam commonet, sub comminationibus quidem.

[1] If you doubt this, unroll what the Spirit says to the churches: he imputes deserted love to the Ephesians, reproaches the Thyatirans for fornication and the eating of idol-offerings, accuses the Sardians of works not full, reprehends the Pergamenes as teaching perverse things, objurgates the Laodiceans as trusting in riches; and yet he admonishes all to repentance, indeed under threats.

[2] Non comminaretur autem non paenitenti, si non ignosceret paenitenti, dubium, si non et alibi hanc clementiae suae profusionem demonstrasset: Non, ait, qui ceciderit, resurget et qui aversatus fuerit, convertetur?

[2] Moreover, he would not threaten the impenitent, if he did not forgive the penitent—this would be doubtful, if he had not also elsewhere demonstrated this profusion of his clemency: "Does not, he says, he who has fallen rise again, and he who has turned away be converted?"

[3] Ille est scilicet, ille [est] qui misericordiam mavult quam sacrificia. Laetantur caeli et qui illic angeli paenitentia hominis; heus tu peccator, bono animo sis: vides ubi de tuo gaudeatur!

[3] He it is, to be sure, he [is] who prefers mercy rather than sacrifices. The heavens rejoice, and the angels there, at the repentance of a human being; ho, you sinner, be of good spirit: you see where there is rejoicing on your account!

[4] Quid illa similitudinum dominicarum argumenta nobis volunt ? Quod mulier dragmam perdit et requirit et repperit, [et] amicas ad gaudium invitat, nonne restituti peccatoris exemplum est?

[4] What do those arguments of the Lord’s similitudes want for us ? That a woman loses a drachma and seeks and finds it, [and] invites her friends to rejoicing, is it not an example of the restored sinner?

[5] Errat et una pastori ovicula, sed grex una carior non erat; una illa conquiritur, una pro omnibus desideratur, et tamen invenitur et humeris pastoris ipsius refertur: multum enim errando laboraverat.

[5] And a single little sheep too strays from the shepherd, but in the flock there was not a single one more dear; that one is sought out, that one is longed for in place of all, and yet she is found and is carried back on the shoulders of the shepherd himself: for by wandering she had labored much.

[6] Illum etiam mitissimum patrem non tacebo qui prodigum filium revocat et post inopiam paenitentem libens suscipit, inmolans vituum praeopimum convivio gaudium suum exornat: quidni? filium enim invenerat quem amiserat, cariorem senserat quem lucri fecerat.

[6] I will not be silent, too, about that most mild father who recalls his prodigal son and, after indigence, willingly receives him repentant, and, immolating a very choice calf, adorns his joy for the banquet: why not? for he had found the son whom he had lost; he had perceived him as dearer, whom he had made a gain.

[7] Quis ille nobis intellegendus pater ? Deus scilicet: tam pater nemo, tam pius nemo.

[7] Who is that father to be understood by us ? God, of course: no one so much a father, no one so pious.

[8] Is ergo te filium suum, etsi acceptum ab eo prodegeris, etsi nudus redieris, recipiet quia redisti magisque de regressu tuo quam de alterius sobrietate laetabitur, sed si paeniteas ex animo, si famem tuam cum saturitate mercennariorum paternorum conpares, si porcos inmundum relinquas pecus, si patrem repetas vel offensum Deliqui dicens, pater, nec dignus ego iam vocari tuus.

[8] He therefore will receive you as his son, even if you have squandered what was received from him, even if you should return naked; he will receive you because you have returned, and he will rejoice more over your return than over another’s sobriety, but if you repent from the soul, if you compare your hunger with the satiety of your father’s mercenary servants, if you leave the pigs, that unclean herd, if you seek back the father even though offended, saying, I have transgressed, father, nor am I now worthy to be called yours.

[9] Tantum relevat confessio delictum quantum dissimulatio exaggerat; confessio enim satisfactionis consilium est, dissimulatio contumaciae.

[9] Confession lightens the offense as much as dissimulation aggravates it; for confession is the counsel of satisfaction, dissimulation that of contumacy.

IX.

[1] Huius igitur paenitentiae secundae et unius quanto in arto negotium est tanto operosior probatio ut non conscientia sola praeferatur, sed aliquo etiam actu administretur.

[1] Therefore, of this second and only penitence, the more straitened the business is, the more laborious the proof, so that it be not put forward by conscience alone, but be administered also by some act.

[2] Is actus, qui magis Graeco vocabulo exprimitur et frequentatur, exomologesis est qua delictum nostrum domino confitemur, non quidem ut ignaro, sed quatenus satisfactio confessione disponitur, confessione paenitentia nascitur, paenitentia deus mitigatur.

[2] That act, which is more expressed and more commonly practiced under the Greek vocable, is exomologesis, by which we confess our delict to the Lord, not indeed as to one ignorant, but insofar as satisfaction is arranged by confession, from confession penitence is born, by penitence God is mitigated.

[3] Itaque exomologesis prosternendi et humilificandi hominis disciplina est conversationem iniungens misericordiae inlicem, de ipso quoque habitu atque victu:

[3] Accordingly, exomologesis is a discipline of prostrating and of humbling the man, enjoining a conversation (way of life) that is a lure to mercy, even with respect to the very habit and diet:

[4] mandat sacco et cineri incubare, corpus sordibus obscurare, animum maeroribus deicere, illa quae peccant tristi tractatione mutare; ceterum pastum et potum pura nosse, non ventris scilicet sed animae causa; plerumque vero ieiuniis preces alere, ingemiscere, lacrimari et mugire dies noctesque ad dominum deum tuum, presbyteris advolvi, [et] aris dei adgeniculari, omnibus fratribus legationem deprecationis suae iniungere.

[4] it enjoins to lie upon sackcloth and ashes, to obscure the body with filth, to cast down the mind with griefs, to change, by sad handling, those things that sin; moreover, to have food and drink pure, clearly not for the belly’s sake but for the soul’s; and indeed for the most part to nourish prayers with fasts, to groan, to weep and to bellow days and nights to the Lord your God, to prostrate oneself to the presbyters, [and] to kneel at the altars of God, to impose upon all the brothers the legation of one’s deprecation.

[5] Haec omnia exomologesis, ut paenitentiam commendet, ut de periculi timore dominum honoret, ut in peccatorem ipsa pronuntians pro dei indignatione fungatur et temporali afflictatione aeterna supplicia non dicam frustretur, sed expungat.

[5] All these things exomologesis does, in order to commend penitence, in order by fear of peril to honor the Lord, in order that, itself pronouncing upon the sinner, it may serve in place of God’s indignation, and by temporal affliction may— I will not say frustrate— but expunge eternal punishments.

[6] Cum igitur provolvit hominem, magis relevat; cum squalidum facit, magis emundatum reddit; cum accusat, excusat; cum condemnat, absolvit: in quantum non peperceris tibi, in tantum tibi deus, crede, parcet!

[6] Therefore, when it prostrates the man, it relieves him the more; when it makes him squalid, it renders him the more cleansed; when it accuses, it excuses; when it condemns, it absolves: in so far as you do not spare yourself, so far God—believe it—will spare you!

10.

[1] Plerosque tamen hoc opus ut publicationem sui aut suffugere aut de die in diem differre praesumo pudoris magis memores quam salutis, velut illi, qui in partibus verecundioribus corporis contracta vexatione conscientiam medentium vitant et ita cum erubescentia sua pereunt.

[1] Yet I presume that most, regarding this work as a publication of themselves, either avoid it or defer it from day to day, being more mindful of modesty than of salvation—just like those who, having contracted a vexation in the more modest parts of the body, shun the notice of the physicians, and thus perish together with their blushing.

[2] Intolerandum scilicet pudori domino offenso satisfacere, saluti prodactae reformari! Ne tu verecundia bonus, ad delinquendum expandens frontem, ad deprecandum vero subducens!

[2] Intolerable, forsooth, to modesty—to satisfy an offended Lord, to be reformed to the salvation you have betrayed! Indeed, you are quite the modest one, spreading your brow for delinquency, but for deprecating you draw it back!

[3] Ego rubori locum non facio, cum plus de detrimento eius adquiro, cum ipse hominem quodammodo exhortatur 'ne me respexeris', dicens, 'pro te mibi melius est perire'.

[3] I make no place for shame, since I acquire more from its detriment, since it itself, in a certain way, exhorts the man: 'do not regard me,' saying, 'for you it is better for me to perish'.

[4] Certe periculum eius tunc, si forte, onerosum est, cum penes insultatores in risiloquio consistit, ubi de alterius ruina alter attollitur, ubi prostrato superscenditur; ceterum inter fratres atque conservos, ubi communis spes metus gaudium dolor passio, quia communis spiritus de communi domino et patre, quid tu hos aliud quam te opinaris?

[4] Certainly its peril then, if by chance, is onerous, when it rests with insulters in risiloquy, where one is uplifted from another’s ruin, where men mount over the prostrate; but among brothers and fellow-servants, where hope, fear, joy, grief, passion are common, because a common spirit from a common lord and father, what do you suppose these to be other than yourself?

[5] Quid consortes casuum tuorum ut plausores fugis? Non potest corpus de unius membri vexatione laetum agere: condoleat universum et ad remedium conlaboret necesse est.

[5] Why do you flee the co-sharers of your fortunes as applauders? The body cannot act glad at the vexation of one member: it is necessary that the whole condole and collaborate toward a remedy.

[6] In uno et altero ecclesia est, ecclesia vero Christus: ergo, cum te ad fratrum genua protendis, Christum contrectas, Christum exoras; aeque illi cum super te lacrimas agunt, Christus patitur, Christus patrem deprecatur. Facile inpetratur semper quod filius postulat.

[6] In one and another the Church is, and the Church indeed is Christ: therefore, when you stretch yourself to the knees of the brethren, you touch Christ, you implore Christ; likewise, when they shed tears over you, Christ suffers, Christ beseeches the Father. What the Son requests is always easily obtained.

[7] Grande plane emolumentum verecundiae occultatio delicti pollicetur! Videlicet si quid humanae notitiae subduxerimus, proinde et dominum celabimus ?

[7] The concealment of the delict plainly promises a great emolument of modesty! Forsooth, if we have withdrawn anything from human notice, shall we therefore likewise hide it from the Lord ?

[8] Adeone existimatio hominum et dei conscientia comparantur ? An melius est damnatum latere quam palam absolvi?

[8] Are the estimation of men and the conscience of God so compared ? Or is it better to lie hidden as condemned than to be openly absolved?

[9] 'Miserum est sic ad exomologesin pervenire'. Malo enim - amans si pervenitur; sed ubi paenitendum est, deserit miserum, quia factum est salutare.

[9] 'It is wretched to come to exomologesis thus.' For I prefer it - if one comes as a lover; but when there must be repenting, the lover deserts the wretch, because it has become salutary.

[10] Miserum est secari et cauterio exuri et pulveris alicuius mordacitate cruciari: tamen quae per insuavitatem medentur, et emolumento curationis offensam sui excusant et praesentem iniuriam superventurae utilitatis gratia commendant.

[10] It is wretched to be cut, and to be burned out by cautery, and to be tormented by the mordacity of some powder: nevertheless, the things which heal through insuavity both excuse their own offensiveness by the emolument of the cure, and commend the present injury for the sake of the utility that is about to supervene.

XI.

11.

[1] Quid si praeter pudorem, quem potiorem putant, etiam incommoda corporis reformident, quod inlotos, quod sordulentos, quod extra laetitiam oportet deversari in asperitudine sacci et horrore cineris et oris de ieiunio vanitate?

[1] What if, besides modesty, which they deem more preferable, they also dread the incommodities of the body: that it is necessary to sojourn unwashed, somewhat sordid, and outside of gladness, in the roughness of sackcloth and the horror of ashes, and with the face by the emptiness of fasting?

[2] Num ergo in coccino et Tyrio pro delictis supplicare nos condecet? 'Cedo acum crinibus distinguendis et pulverem dentibus elimandis et bisulcum aliquid ferri vel aeris unguibus repastinandis! Si quid ficti nitoris, si quid coacti ruboris [in] labia aut genas urgeat?'

[2] So then, does it befit us to supplicate for delicts in scarlet and Tyrian purple? 'Hand over the needle for parting the hair, and the powder for polishing the teeth, and some two-pronged implement of iron or of bronze for cleaning out the nails! If any feigned luster, if any forced rouge presses upon [in] the lips or the cheeks?'

[3] Praeterea exquirito balneas laetiores hortulani maritimive secessus, adicito ad sumptum, conquirito altilium enormem saginam, defaecato senectutem quamque vini: quis interrogarit, cur animae largiaris: 'Deliqui', dicito, 'in dominum et periclitor in aeternum perire: itaque nunc pendeo et ma.ceror et excrucior, ut deum reconciliem mihi, quem delinquendo laesi'!

[3] Moreover, go seek out cheerier baths, the gardener’s or the seaside retreats; add to the expense; procure an enormous fattening of fattened fowl; have the aged vintage and every kind of wine clarified: if anyone should ask why you are lavishing for the soul: 'I have offended,' say, 'against the Lord, and I am in peril of perishing forever: and so now I hang and am macerated and am excruciated, that I may reconcile God to myself, whom by sinning I have wounded'!

[4] Sed enim illos qui ambitus obeunt capessendi magistratus neque pudet neque piget iucommodis animae et corporis, nec incommodis tantum verum etiam contumeliis omnibus eniti in causa votorum suorum

[4] But indeed those who go through canvassing for the sake of taking up magistracies are neither ashamed nor wearied by the incommodities of soul and body, and they strive, not only with incommodities but even with every contumely, in the cause of their vows.

[5] - quas non ignobilitates vestium adfectant, quae non atria nocturnis et crudis salutationibus occupant, ad omnem occursum maioris cuiusque personae decrescentes, uullis conviviis celebres, nullis commessationibus congreges, sed exules a libertatis et laetitiae felicitate, itaque totum propter unius anni volaticum gaudium! -:

[5] - what ignobilities of garments do they not aspire to, what atria do they not occupy with nocturnal and raw salutations, diminishing themselves at every encounter with the personage of each superior, celebrated at no banquets, congregated at no commessations, but exiles from the felicity of liberty and gladness, and thus all for the volatile joy of a single year! -:

[6] nos, quod securium virgarumve petitio sustinet, in periculo aeternitatis tolerare dubitamus et castigationem victus atque cultus offenso domino praestare cessabimus quae gentes nemine omnino laeso sibi inrogant?

[6] we—what a petition for axes and rods endures—do we hesitate to tolerate in the peril of eternity, and shall we cease to render to an offended Lord the castigation of way of living and of dress, which the nations inflict upon themselves with absolutely no one harmed?

[7] Hi sunt, de quibus scriptura commemorat: Vae illis, qui delicta sua velut procero fune nectunt!

[7] These are they, of whom Scripture makes mention: Woe to those who bind their sins as if with a long rope!

XII.

12.

[1] Si de exomologesi retractas, gehennam in corde considera, quam tibi exomologesis extinguet, et poenae prius magnitudinem imaginare, ut de remedii adoptione non dubites.

[1] If you are reconsidering about exomologesis, consider Gehenna in your heart, which exomologesis will extinguish for you; and first imagine the magnitude of the penalty, so that you do not hesitate about the adoption of the remedy.

[2] Quid illum thesaurum ignis aeterni existimamus, cum fumariola quaedam eius tales flammarum ictus suscitent, ut proximae urbes aut iam nullae extent aut idem sibi de die sperent?

[2] What are we to reckon that treasury of eternal fire to be, when certain little smoke-vents of it arouse such blows of flames that the neighboring cities either now no longer exist, or expect the same for themselves any day?

[3] Dissiliunt superbissimi montes ignis intrinsecus feti et, - quod nobis iudicii perpetuitatem probat -, cum dissiliant, cum devorentur, numquam tamen finiuntur!

[3] The most arrogant mountains, inwardly teeming with fire, burst asunder, - which proves to us the perpetuity of the judgment -, though they burst, though they are devoured, nevertheless they are never finished!

[4] Quis haec supplicia interim montium non iudicii minantis exemplaria deputabit? quis scintillas tales non magni alicuius et inaestimabilis foci missilia quaedam et exercitatoria iacula consentiet?

[4] Who will not reckon these punishments of the mountains, meanwhile, as exemplars of a menacing judgment? who will not consent that such sparks are certain missiles and training javelins from some great and inestimable hearth?

[5] Igitur cum scias adversus gehennam post prima illa intinctionis dominicae munimenta esse adhuc in exomologesi secunda subsidia, cur salutem tuam deseris, cur cessas adgredi quod scias mederi tibi?

[5] Therefore, since you know that, against Gehenna, after those first muniments of the Lord’s intinction, there are still, in exomologesis, second subsidies, why do you desert your salvation, why do you delay to undertake what you know heals you?

[6] Mutae quidem animae et inrationabiles medicinas sibi divinitus adtributas in tempore agnoscunt: cervus sagitta transfixus, ut ferrum et inrevocabiles moras eius de vulnere expellat, scit sibi dictamnum edendam; hirundo si excaecauerit pullos, novit illos oculare rursus de sua chelidonia:

[6] Mute souls indeed and irrational ones recognize in time the medicines divinely attributed to themselves: a stag, transfixed by an arrow, so that he may expel from the wound the iron and its irrevocable delays, knows that dittany is to be eaten by him; a swallow, if she has blinded her nestlings, knows to eye them again with her own celandine:

[7] peccator restituendo sibi institutam a domino exomologesin sciens praeteribit illam, quae Babylonium regem in regna restituit? Diu enim paenitentiam domino immolarat septenni squalore exomologesin operatus, unguium leoninum in modum efferatione et capilli incuria horrorem aquilinum praeferente. Pro malae tractationis felicitatem!

[7] Will the sinner, knowing that the exomologesis instituted by the Lord is for restoring himself, pass by that which restored the Babylonian king to his kingdoms? For long indeed he had immolated penitence to the Lord, performing exomologesis with seven-year squalor, with his nails’ brutalization in leonine fashion, and with the neglect of his hair presenting an aquiline horror. O the felicity of ill-treatment!

quem homines perhorrebant, deus recipiebat.

whom men shuddered at, God was receiving.

[8] Contra autem Aegyptius imperator qui populum dei aliquando adflictum, diu domino suo denegatum persecutus [in] proelio inruit, post tot documenta plagarum discidio maris, quod soli populo pervium licebat, revolutis fluctibus perit: paenitentiam enim et ministerium eius, exomologesin, abiecerat!

[8] By contrast, however, the Egyptian emperor, who had persecuted the people of God—once afflicted, long denied to their Lord—rushed [into] battle, and after so many proofs of the plagues, into the sundering of the sea, which was permitted to be passable to the people alone; with the waves rolled back he perished: for he had cast away repentance and its ministry, exomologesis!

[9] Quid ego ultra de istis duabus humanae salutis quasi plancis, stili potius negotium quam officium conscientiae meae curans? Peccator enim omnium notarum cum sim nec ulli rei nisi paenitentiae natus, non facile possum super illa tacere, quam ipse quoque et stirpis humanae et offensae in dominum princeps Adam exomologesi restitutus in paradisum suum non tacet!

[9] What more should I say further about those two, as it were, planks of human salvation, attending rather to the business of the stylus than to the duty of my conscience? For since I am a sinner of every mark, and born for no thing except penitence, I cannot easily keep silence about this, about which even Adam himself—the prince both of the human stock and of the offense against the Lord—restored to his own paradise by exomologesis—does not keep silence!