FRIVOLITIES OF COURTIERS AND FOOTPRINTS OF PHILOSOPHERS

Being a Translation of the First, Second, and Third Books and Selections from the Seventh and Eighth Books of the Policraticus of

JOSEPH B. PIKE

1972

OCTAGON BOOKS

New York

FOREWORD

Copyright 1938 by the University of Minnesota

Reprinted 1972 by special arrangement with The University of Minnesota Press

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THE PORTIONS of the Policraticus which Professor Pike here presents in translation not merely make available a complete English version of the great twelfth-century masterpiece, but include those parts of the work which have the widest appeal to students of thought and manners, and best illustrate the author's learning, breadth of interests, and characteristic independence of mind. The accidental circumstances which cause these chapters to appear separately, rather than as integral parts of the complete version which Professor Pike might otherwise have given us, should not obscure the fact that they are portions of a single treatise, intimately linked in intention and argument with the rest.

The theme of the Policraticus is the art of rulership; and to understand the author's approach to that theme it is necessary to recognize that, in accordance with the orientation of his age and tradition, John of Salisbury was emphatically an exponent of what has sometimes been called the "good man" theory of government. He regards good government, that is to say, as being fully as much, if not more, a matter of the personal character of the ruler, and of the conformity of that character to morality and "divine law," than of human laws and institutional arrangements. It is probably not too much to say that he would not even have been able to perceive a distinction between the two. Since Machiavelli, the distinction has been in the ascendant; technical opinion has accepted the view that

'Tis not the mildness of the man that rules Makes the mild regimen, or, as Dr. Johnson put it, it is no more true that "who rules o'er free men should himself be free" than that "who drives fat oxen should himself be fat." Only in the last few years have certain extraordinary developments of our own time once more raised a doubt as to whether or not institutions alone can dispense with those personal virtues which, to John of Salisbury, constituted the essence of the problem of government.

It is John's conception of the art of government as essentially a matter of personal character which accounts for the inclusion in the

Policraticus of the portions of the work presented in this volume by Professor Pike. These sections deal broadly with two classes of subject matter: first, the vices and follies which are apt to prevail among princes and their entourage; and, secondly, the different types of philosophical ideas and viewpoints which may be expected to lead to wisdom on the one hand or folly on the other.

The chapters on the vices and follies of courts, dealing as they do with such subjects as hunting, gaming, music, theatricals, magic, dreams, superstitions, flattery, and the like, have always seemed to me, from the standpoint of the historical investigator, distinctly disappointing. Chapters such as these might be expected to afford a rich mine of detailed information concerning the life and habits of the twelfth century. Instead they are singularly devoid of contemporary flavor and the emphasis is on the abstract rather than the concrete. John is too deeply implicated in the tradition of the classic satirists who before him had castigated the vices of a degenerate age, and follows too closely in the footsteps of the patristic literature of the early Empire, to allow himself to give us the direct accounts of what was going on under his own eyes in the London and Paris and Rome of his own day, for which we would gladly exchange his wealth of quotation from Juvenal, Perseus, Horace, Martial, Tertullian, Jerome, Augustine, St. Isidore, and the rest.

But if these chapters are disappointing in the light they shed on John's times, they are not so in the light they shed on John himself. Puritanical and ascetic as their tone necessarily is, and sincerely as John accepts the ecclesiastical tradition to which he gives expression, he tempers that tone and tradition with a moderation and practical reasonableness which are peculiarly his own. Thus, for example, in speaking of hunting, after repeating the usual condemnations, he goes on to say that for his own part he is willing to regard it as in itself a matter of indifference unless carried to the immoderate degree where it unduly excites the spirits and subverts the reason. On the other hand, as a relaxation from labor, or a means of preventing corpulence, it deserves no reproach. Gaming likewise may be an innocent recreation. It is only intemperance which converts these pastimes

into vices.

John brings this same spirit of moderation and common-sense reasonableness to his discussion of the more profound and theoretical issues of philosophy with which he deals in connection with his treatment of superstition in the first book and in his critique of different

philosophical schools in the seventh book. In these portions of the work he traverses many of the familiar battlegrounds of earlier and later speculation — substance and accident, universal and particular, predestination and free will, scientific law and miracles, skepticism and absolutism — always seeking some common-sense via media between competing extremes of theory. It is interesting to compare the treatment of such themes in the Policraticus with their later development in the great age of scholastic philosophy. In the light of such a comparison, John's dialectics are pedestrian. Nor is he any match in subtlety for contemporaries or immediate predecessors like Abelard and Anselm; he is always the enlightened layman rather than the technical expert — a Cicero rather than an Aristotle of medieval thought. Yet far more than the technical philosophers he leaves definitely the impression of attempting to arrive by hard and sustained thinking at practical solutions of practical problems, and, in so far as possible, by the light of experience. Such an objective so pursued with urbanity, good taste, and honest conviction constitutes the essence of John's way of thought. The constant recurrence to experience is noteworthy in a medieval writer; equally noteworthy are the clean-cut clarity of style, the conscious fear of superstition, and the total absence of any spirit of mysticism.

In his deliberate avoidance of subtlety, his freedom from emotionalism, his sound scholarship and good taste, his insistence on the teachings of experience, and his suspicion of every form of extreme, John not merely foreshadows but represents an intellectual temper which was to become characteristically English; and incidentally, he produced a masterpiece which because of these qualities has still a real contribution to make to the cause of sober good sense in spite of all the changes in the trappings and forms of thought which have intervened in following centuries.

It is to be hoped that as a result of Professor Pike's labors, a somewhat wider circle of readers will be able to know at first hand that there was common sense, if not before Agamemnon, at least before the Age of the Enlightenment.

JOHN DICKINSON University of Pennsylvania August 23, 1938

PREFACE

THE PURPOSE of this volume is to make accessible in English the part hitherto untranslated of the Policraticus of John of Salisbury, the most pretentious and longest work of a writer who is regarded as the most learned man of his time.

There appeared in 1927, under the title The Statesman's Book in a political science series,¹ an excellent translation by John Dickinson of that part of the Policraticus in which its author expounds his political philosophy. The portion of the Policraticus comprised in the Dickinson translation is a fairly systematic and lucid statement of its author's views on the state, its prince, its members, its administration of justice, its army, and the bond between its members. These matters are discussed in the fourth, fifth, and sixth books of the Policraticus. The selections from the seventh book on ambition and the wiles of the ambitious and those from the eighth book on tyrants and tyrannicide are more discursive. If the word Policraticus² connotes "statesman's book," as it undoubtedly does, whatever its etymology, that is a fitting title for the translation of the part of the work just mentioned.

The portion of the Policraticus contained in this volume is far less coherent than the preceding; in fact it is so discursive that it may, not inaptly, be called an encyclopedia of the culture of the age.

The author has appended a secondary title to his Policraticus, which we translate Frivolities of Courtiers and Footprints of Philosophers. Now it happens that this title is exactly applicable to the part contained in this volume; and further, the title Frivolities of Courtiers covers books one to three, while Footprints of Philosophers fittingly applies to the selections from books seven and eight.

The frivolities discussed in the first three books are hunting and its abuse; gaming; music; the actor and conjurer of various types;

¹ Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

² John in common with several other medieval writers had a penchant for sonorous sounding titles that look like Greek but are not. Besides the Policraticus, John wrote a Metalogicon, which means a defense of logic; at least he so states in its preface and he should know. There is also an Entheticus, supposed by some to be a distortion for Nutheticus the Counsellor. See below, p. 4.

omens, including dreams, which are discussed at great length; astrology; and flattery, with a tirade against flatterers, in which the world is likened to a play, a comedy or tragedy as you please, with God and his angels as spectators. The selections from the seventh and eighth books form an outline of ancient philosophy. John here expresses his preference for the Academic school, which refuses to dogmatize on subjects which may wisely be regarded as admitting doubt.

The text followed is naturally that of C. J. Webb (Oxford, 1909). Wherever some explanation of the translation seemed necessary, notes have been added; Webb's notes have been used where available. Citation of sources, both classical and patristic, upon which John drew have been made more extensively than may seem necessary in a translation of this character. It is, however, important that the reader realize the great indebtedness of John to his predecessors and that he perceive for himself how imitative in general the formal literature of the twelfth-century renaissance is as illustrated by one of its foremost works.

Passages from the Bible are given in the Rheims-Douai version, as being nearer to the Vulgate, which John ordinarily quotes. For the convenience of the reader, references to the text of Latin and Greek writers are accompanied by page citations to the Loeb Classical Library (L. C. L.) edition where this is available. The translation of such passages, however, has been made independently.

I wish to express my appreciation of the assistance given me, in the preparation of the translation, by Professor Marbury B. Ogle, head of the department of classical languages in the University of Minnesota, whose knowledge of the Latinity of the period is evinced in his translation of Walter Map; by Professor A. C. Krey, of the department of history, who has put at my disposal his wealth of medieval lore; and by Professor Alburey Castell, of the department of philosophy, who read about one-half of the manuscript and whose criticisms have been invaluable. Many more of my colleagues' at the University of Minnesota and acquaintances in other institutions have been generous in assisting me on various points connected with their own specialties. To all of these I am deeply indebted. From Dr. Dickinson, the learned translator and commentator of the portion of the Policraticus not included in this volume, I have received very helpful suggestions.

JOSEPH B. PIKE University of Minnesota

CONTENTS

John of Salisbury.........3

Book I ...

................. 6

Book II ..

................... 55

Book III .

................... 152

Selections from Book VII

..........213

Selections from Book VIII

Entheticus .

...................413

Index ....

..................427

JOHN OF SALISBURY

JOHN OF SALISBURY was born between the years 1115 and 1120 at Old Sarum, situated on a hill near the Salisbury of the present day. He was first called Little John or John the Short, but afterward received the appellation by which he is universally known. The only record of his boyhood or early school-life days is contained in an interesting passage found in chapter twenty-eight of the second book of the Policraticus.¹

Some time between his fifteenth and twentieth years he went to France to continue his studies. His most famous teacher at this period was Abelard, whom he always refers to as the Peripatetic of Pallet, from his philosophical leaning and his Breton birthplace. Abelard was then lecturing on the heights of Ste Geneviève at Paris, where he had reopened his school for a short time.

In 1137 John went to Chartres, where he studied grammar under William of Conches. The school of Chartres, owing to the influence of Bernard, its former head, was emphasizing the importance of the study of the poets and historians, and its humanistic tendencies made a deep impression upon John. He spent some three years studying not only the grammar for which he had come but also rhetoric and logic; in other words, the three elementary arts taught in medieval schools. Here he also received instruction from Richard L'Évêque and made the acquaintance of the celebrated Gilbert de la Porrée.

On his return to Paris in 1140 John supported himself by acting as tutor to young men of noble birth. Peter of Celle, afterward one of John's most intimate friends, may have been one of these. Among his other teachers at the time he speaks of Peter Helias, a commentator on Priscian; Adam du Petit Pont, a distinguished Aristotelian; William of Soissons, a logician; Gilbert de la Porrée, who had likewise come to Chartres from Paris; and Robert Pullen, an eminent theologian.

In the Policraticus² John relates that he was present at the council of Rheims, held by Pope Eugenius III in 1148. On this occasion, it is

¹ See below, p. 147. ² See below, p. 109.

conjectured, John was introduced by St. Bernard of Clairvaux to Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, whose secretary he became. He held this position for a period of seven years. For twenty years he regarded Canterbury as his home. While holding the position of secretary to the archbishop, he became acquainted with Thomas Becket; this intimacy proved to be one of the potent influences in John's life. During this period he went on many missions to the Papal See; it was probably on one of these that he made the acquaintance of Nicholas Breakspear, who in 1154 became Adrian IV, the only Englishman to ascend the papal throne. The following year John visited him, remaining at Benevento with him for several months. He was at the court of Rome at least twice afterward.

In the year 1159 he published his two most important works, the Policraticus and the Metalogicon. They are both dedicated to the chancellor Thomas Becket, who at the time was in the retinue of Henry II, then directing the siege of Toulouse.

In 1161 Theobald died. Becket succeeded him as archbishop of Canterbury and John became his secretary. For some reason John had incurred the ill will of the king even during his service with Theobald, and this was so enhanced by his support of Becket's policies that he found it advisable to retire to France. Some years later the king forced Becket into exile and the two friends were together once more. On the archbishop's recall by the king, John went in advance to England to prepare for his return. He probably remained with his friend during the weeks immediately preceding his murder, and it appears that he was with Becket on the very day that the deed was perpetrated.

In 1176 John was called to the archbishopric of Chartres by the French king, Louis VII, a position which he held until his death in 1180.

John's works comprise, beside the Policraticus, the Metalogicon, a plea for the study of logic. In reality it is more than that; the first book develops into a defense of the two other arts of the trivium, rhetoric and grammar. Indeed, the work is a general treatise on the education of the day and presents an instructive picture of the intellectual life of the age. There are two poems with the title Entheticus. The longer, which consists of 1,852 lines, is an outline of the history of philosophy. It also contains an invective against some of the prominent politicians of the reign of Stephen. In the shorter Entheticus,³

³ See below, p. 413.

serving as an introduction to the Policraticus, John apostrophizes his book, bidding it speed to the one to whom it is dedicated. The Historia Pontificalis survives in an incomplete condition. It is a continuation of Sigebert's Chronographia, which is a history of the church to the Council of Rheims, 1148. John carries the narrative to the year 1163.

John's correspondence comprises 329 letters, some of them fairly long. It is in these that he appears to the best advantage. He may, without exaggeration, be called one of the world's greatest letter writers.

BOOK I

Introduction

[12] THE PLEASURE of letters, agreeable in many respects, is especially so for the reason that all inconvenience due to interval of time or space is banished, friends are brought into the presence of one another, and matters worth knowing do not remain unknown because of their separation. For arts as well had inevitably perished, law disappeared, fidelity and religion itself crumbled, and even the proper use of language been lost, had not divine commiseration, to offset human frailty, provided mortals with the knowledge of letters.

The experiences of our ancestors, ever incentives and aids to virtue, would never have inspired or saved a single soul, had not the loyalty, zeal, and diligence of writers triumphing over sloth transmitted them to posterity.

Even as it is, the shortness of life, our obtuseness, our careless indifference, and our sterile activities permit us to know but little; and even this little is straightway driven from our minds by forgetfulness, that betrayer of knowledge, that ever hostile and faithless counterpart of memory. Who would ever have heard of an Alexander or a Caesar? Who would ever have felt admiration for the Stoics or Peripatetics, had not the testimony of writers given them their distinction? Who would ever have followed in the footsteps, so revered, of the apostles and prophets, had not Holy Scripture consecrated them to the service of posterity?

[13] Triumphal arches add to the glory of illustrious men only when the writing upon them informs in whose honor they have been reared, and why. It is the inscription that tells the spectator that the triumphal arch is that of our own Constantine,¹ liberator of his country and promoter of peace. Indeed no one has ever gained permanent fame except as the result of what he has written or of what others have written of him. The memory of fool or emperor is, after a brief lapse of time, the same unless it be prolonged by

Note. The numbers in brackets are page citations in Webb's text, Vol. I. ¹ There was a belief, unfounded, that Britain was the birthplace of Constantine.

courtesy of writers. How many great kings do you² imagine there have been, with regard to whom there is nowhere in the world a thought given or a word uttered? Therefore there is no wiser policy for those who crave glory than to cultivate sedulously the favor of scholars and writers; for their own achievements, doomed to utter darkness unless illumined by the lamp of letters, avail them naught. Whatever popularity and renown are derived from other sources are as when Echo, of whom we read in fable, catches up the applause of the theater, no sooner begun than done.

In addition we can with utmost confidence draw upon letters for solace in sorrow, rest in labor, cheerfulness in poverty, self-restraint in pleasure and in wealth. When an active intellect devotes itself to reading and writing what is really worth while, the soul is purged of its defects and is revivified even in adversity by a mysterious and serene cheerfulness. One will find no human activity more agreeable or more profitable unless it be divinely inspired piety, which by prayer converses with Deity, or, with heart full of love, takes God into the soul and fondly meditates upon his wondrous ways. Believe me as one who knows, that all the sweetness of the world is as wormwood when compared with such experience, and all the more in proportion to the normality of one's senses and the keenness and unimpaired vigor of his mind.

Do not be surprised therefore that I am not mounting some round of that ladder which, as you once warned, is the sole means of rising [14] in the world. I am not involving myself in greater responsibilities, for I give you my reply in the words of Isocrates,³ who, when asked by friends why he took no part in the activities of the forum, replied "Of the specialties of this place I know naught; of mine own, this place knows naught." That is to say, I scorn the aspirations of courtiers and they mine.

You are further surprised that I do not sever or break the cord, if otherwise it cannot be untied, which has held me so long in bondage to the frivolities of court life, and still holds me. I am filled with regret and shame that, trained for a far different sphere, I have already wasted almost twelve years. It were more fitting that one suckled by a holier philosophy had, when weaned, passed into the ranks of philosophers rather than into the guild of courtiers.

² The Policraticus, which appeared in 1159, was dedicated to Thomas Becket, chancellor of Henry II, who became archbishop of Canterbury three years later. ³ Macrobius, Sat. VII. i. Cf. Seneca, Ep. xxix. 10 (L. C. L., I, 208).

I feel that you too are in a similar situation except that you, more upright and wiser in pursuing the proper course, ever stand unshaken upon the firm foundation of righteousness. You do not bend like a reed with every breath of wind nor are you led astray by pleasure. To vanity, who lays down the law for the whole world, you yourself dictate. Consequently, when different states heap richly deserved encomiums upon you, as though constructing a triumphal arch, I too, a man of lowly origin, with the shrill pipings of my uncouth style have tossed, like a pebble on the heap of your laudations, this book to do you honor. Though it have no charm I am sure it cannot fail to please, as it is a proof of the author's loyal devotion.

I deal in part with the frivolities of court life, bearing more heavily upon those which I find harder to tolerate. In part, too, I busy myself with the teachings of the philosophers, leaving to the judgment of the wise what should be accepted or rejected in the tenets of each. To the end that my criticism offend no one, I found it necessary to address one entirely unaffected by any foible. I therefore determined to address myself to you, the most discriminating mind of our generation, and to point out to you what seemed to be worthy [15] of criticism in the conduct of men like myself. The consequence will be that if anyone as he reads or listens recognizes a weakness of his own, he will recall the adage "Change the name and the story fits you."⁴ The lesson will be the more effective since all know that matters of high import are your constant occupation. It was in this way that Seneca, by teaching others, gave warning to his dear Lucilius. Jerome writes specifically to Oceanus and Pammachius, but for the most part he is reprimanding the excesses of others. Let whosoever pleads the attractiveness of folly estimate the trouble it involves, the time it wastes, and as a wise man pass judgment upon what is said on the basis of the reason for saying it.

Should anyone think my words too severe, he may consider the remarks addressed not to himself but to myself as well and to those who, like me, crave improvement or to those who, having passed away, endure calmly any rebuke. I well know that the slaying of Achilles⁵ offends no one and that the present generation is being criticized while the past is being blamed as it deserves. Thus Horace, to discipline himself, permits his own slaves, in the license of the Saturnalia, to criticise their master.⁶

⁴ Horace, Sat. I. i. 69, 70 (L. C. L., p. 8).

⁵ Juvenal, Sat. i. 163 (L. C.L., p. 16).

° Horace, Sat. II. vii. 4, 5 (L. C. L., p. 224).

That sly dog Horace touches every fault

His friend displays, but makes him laugh withal,

And thus admitted plays about his heart.⁷

I have been at pains to use appropriate matter from other writers, provided I found it profitable and helpful, occasionally without giving credit; partly because I know that your familiarity with writers has for the most part already made it known to you; partly to inspire the ignorant with the love of reading. If anything appears incredible therein I trust to be forgiven, for I am not promising that all that has been here written down is true but that, false or true, it is helpful to the reader.

[16] I am not so senseless as to ascribe as true that once upon a time the tortoise spoke to winged fowl, or that the country rat received in his humble home the city rat,⁸ and similar stories; but I have no doubt as to the fact that such inventions serve the purpose of instruction. The very material which I for the most part use belongs to others, unless it be that whatever has been well said by anyone I make my own, and express, sometimes in paraphrase in my own words, and again, to inspire confidence and carry weight, in the words of the author.

Since I have begun to reveal my mental secrets, I shall expose my presumption more fully. All whom I meet who are in word or deed philosophers, I deem my retainers. What is more, I claim them as my slaves, to such an extent that they in their complete subservience are to offer themselves as bulwarks in my defense against the tongues of my traducers. Yes, and these I cite as my authorities. Of course I have never seen Alexander or Caesar, nor have I heard Socrates or Zeno, Plato or Aristotle debating, yet from these and others equally strangers to me I have drawn much for the edification of my readers.

That I may not seem to be disputatious, I make a concession: I confess that I have had recourse to lies when it has suited my purpose; and if my rival will on no other terms hold his peace (I too have my Cornificius⁹ and Lanvinus¹⁰) I grant that I have been guilty of mendacity, for I am familiar with the verse "Every man is a liar."¹¹ Let him not imagine that his huge chest, swollen belly, cheeks puffed and red, his wanton tongue, insipid and quicker to tear to shreds

⁷ Persius, Sat. i. 116-17 (L.C.L., p. 328). ⁸ Horace, Sat. II. vi. 80 (L. C. L., p. 216). ⁹ A detractor of Virgil. ¹⁰ An envious elder contemporary of Terence.

¹¹ Ps. cxv. 11.

his neighbor's character than to correct his own, shall save my Lanvinus. Unless he cease his abuse I shall disclose who he is, and he shall soon learn that the fact of his being no novice does not confer upon him nor guarantee unquestioned authority. Let him [17] refute my slander by reason or weight of influence. I shall not shrink from mending my ways even at the reproof of a foe. I shall even regard as friend one who points out my own mistakes.

Any discrepancy discovered between what I say and the statement of others does not constitute proof of falsification on my part since in military matters I have followed the historians, who frequently contradict one another, and in philosophy, accepting as I do the Academic system, I have admitted that which seems to the best of my judgment likely or probable.

I feel no shame in proclaiming myself a member of the Academic school, and I am faithful to their rule in all matters that appear doubtful to the sage. For although this sect is supposed to introduce an element of obscurity in all discussions, none is more devoted to the critical examination of truth, and we have it on the authority of Cicero,¹² who in old age took refuge in this school, that none is more friendly to progress.

In statements made from time to time in regard to providence, fate, freedom of the will, and the like, I am to be regarded as a disciple of the Academy rather than as a dogmatic exponent of that which is still a matter of doubt. At times too I have employed the testimony of Holy Writ, a potent means of elucidating thought; in such a way, however, that nothing inimical to faith or morals will be discovered, since the same unchanging truth, so to speak, is the mother of both ancient and modern thought:

The features are not like in all, nor yet Unlike, as is but meet in sisters.¹³

I reserve the whole for your judgment, that a higher and juster claim to glory may be conceded you for your criticism, than to me for the authorship. The inequality of the different volumes is to be ascribed to the varied occupations by which my attention has been distracted to such a degree that at times I have with difficulty found time to write at all. However, while you were busied with the siege of Toulouse¹⁴ I began this work and freed myself for a time from

¹² Cicero, Acad. II. iii. (L. C. L., p. 472); I. iv. 13 (L. C. L., pp. 422ff.). ¹³ Ovid, Met. ii. 13-14 (L. C. L., I, 60).

¹⁴ Toulouse was besieged by Henry II in 1159. Thomas Becket, the chancellor, organized the campaign.

the frivolities of court life, pondering the thought that leisure without letters is the death and burial of the living man.¹⁵

If anyone joins Lanvinus¹⁶ as disparager of unknown or imaginary writers, let him attack that resuscitated material derived from [18] Plato, Cicero's Dream of Africanus, and those philosophers who revel during the Saturnalia, or else be indulgent to my fantasies and to those of the classic writers, provided they are of service to the general public.

In addition I fervently pray that he who reads or listens to my work may deign to commend me in his prayers to the All-pitying Father and that he strive to obtain indulgence for my manifold sins. For I hope that I too am a god-fearing man, and with heartfelt words in my turn, I pray for those who need it that the All-powerful and All-pitying Father may purify all our thoughts and deeds. To the end that we may not be swept away by our own mistakes may the Angel of the Great Judgment with his spirit deign to illumine our minds.

Chapter One. The Greatest Danger to the Favorites of Fortune

THE MOST dangerous situation, in my opinion, that men of eminence have to face lies in the fact that the enticements of fawning fortune blind their eyes to truth. The world heaps upon them its wealth and its pleasures and thereby kindles and fosters their craving for self-indulgence. The soul, deceived by allurements of many kinds, proving false to its own inner light, by a sort of self-betrayal goes astray as the result of its desires amid the deceptions of the outer world. [19] Success, implacable foe of virtue, applauds its devotees only to harm them, and with its ill-starred prosperity escorts them on their joyous way to bring about their ultimate fall by first pledging them in cups of sweet wine and, when they are intoxicated thereby, mixing in the draught deadly poison or anything conceivably worse. The more brilliant the success the denser the clouds that gather around their dazzled eyes. As the darkness thickens truth vanishes, virtue withers with severed roots, and a crop of vices sprouts. The light of reason is extinguished, and the whole being is carried headlong into the abyss of destruction.

¹⁵ Seneca, Ep. lxxxii. 3 (L. C. L., II, 242). ¹⁶ See n. 10 above.

Thus the creature of reason becomes a brute;¹⁷ thus the image of the Creator is transformed into a beast by virtue of a sort of similarity in character; thus man degenerates and falls from his pinnacle, having become like to vanity¹⁸ for the reason that, swollen with pride because of honors acquired, pride has destroyed his understanding. Who more contemptible than he who scorns a knowledge of himself, who lavishly wastes upon life and squanders to his own disgrace time which has been sparingly meted out for life's needs — time, which alone cannot be replaced and if reclaimed at all, at a ruinously usurious rate? Who more brutish than he who, by lack of judgment and lustful passion disregards his own interests¹⁹ in attending to those foreign to him and unceasingly occupies himself not merely with the interests but even with the diversions of others? Who more bestial than he who, neglecting duties, rises at midnight, that with the aid of dogs keen of scent, his active huntsmen, his zealous comrades, and his retinue of devoted servants, at cost of time, labor, money, and effort, he may wage from earliest dawn till darkness his campaign against beasts?

Chapter Two. Impropriety

THAT which does not follow from principles of nature or duty is termed alienum, "belonging to another," if as a matter of fact it ever is proper to employ the word alienum to express that which with more propriety should never have belonged to anyone. The principles of nature are binding upon all alike; considerations of duty, [20] upon particular individuals. Consequently the dictates of duty and those of law are different, though obedience to natural law is a part of duty. Indeed, to violate the laws of nature is a sort of parricide, and to nullify the mandates of a parent and not to render due homage to the mother of us all is like a sacrilege.

That which reason admits on worthy grounds cannot be classified baldly as alienum, "foreign to the proper nature of man." For example, if seemly gaiety or expediency forms an element in an act and no one is harmed, there is no conflict with duty or nature. But if one or the other of these latter is assailed, we at once detect a flat case of impropriety and in no wise to be permitted. Transgression of this rule is always either an error or a crime.

¹⁷ Ps. xlviii. 21. ¹⁸ Ps. cxliii. 4.

¹⁹ Horace, Sat. II. iii. 19 (L. C. L., p. 154).

Chapter Three. Division of Functions in the Political Organizations of the Ancients

PAGAN philosophers, fashioning by precept and practice so-called political equity by which human government exists and thrives, decreed that each one should be content with his own activities and interests. They prescribed their own particular places and interests to those living in or about cities, also to the farmer or country man. The individual and the body of citizens were solicitous for the public welfare. Each received on the basis of his worth the resources of nature and the product of his own labor and industry. No one appropriated his neighbor's goods, since love of one's neighbor still persisted.

The dominating and central place in the city was consecrated to the Supreme Court,²⁰ and from this the laws governing conduct, like streams of health and life, flowed down to the individual occupations which had been suitably apportioned according to the requirements of each activity. But among these hunting as a recreation or profession was not conceded to those who dwelt in the neighborhood of cities, since hunters, like farmers and other dwellers of the rural districts, are kept somewhat sequestered from cities and from the wellborn as a class. For it is quite unfair that noble natures be degraded by lowly pursuits and that those whose tasks are to be arduous and [21] burdensome be distracted by the vain pursuit of pleasure. Consequently hunting, if properly pursued, is viewed as an occupation or business; if not, as a waste of time or as vicious; and they who practice it in the face of duty are punished by law.

Chapter Four. Hunting, Its Origin, Its Forms, and Its Practice, Lawful and Otherwise

THE THEBANS, if we may credit history, were the first to decree that the knowledge of hunting should be imparted to all. They in particular formulated the rules of this profession, or shall we call it vice? As a result of this the Theban people became an object of suspicion to the world, as befouled with parricide, incest, deception, and perjury. They it was who transmitted the knowledge to the Phrygians,

²⁰ Valerius Maximus, II. vi. 4. The Areopagus, originally a criminal court, evolved into the powerful legislative and administrative body of Athens.

an effeminate, spineless people, fickle and utterly lacking in modesty. The Thebans were held in little esteem by the Athenians and the Spartans (peoples of greater dignity, who clothed in the ornate veil of mythology historical facts, the secrets of nature, and the origin of customs). Their tales, however, served the useful purpose of admonition against defects of character and conduct, and the charm of their poetic form gave pleasure.

They fabled that the Dardanian hunter²¹ had been caught up to heaven by an eagle, to serve first as Jove's cupbearer and then for purposes of illicit and unnatural love; quite properly, seeing that volatility is the characteristic of a winged creature and that pleasure, blind to sobriety, blushes not to prostitute itself indiscriminately. A Theban chieftain,²² having unwittingly caught sight of the naked Artemis whom he had ever revered in the woods, started to rectify the mistake caused by his passion and marveled to find himself, though still with his human sensations, changed into an animal. When, under the form of a deer, he strove to drive away his own dogs, he was torn to pieces by their fangs, a deplorable result of the type of training they had received.

Perhaps a goddess was chosen to preside over hunting because the people did not wish to degrade their gods by making them preside [22] over an activity characterized by self-indulgence and vice. Venus, herself a hardy huntress, mourned the destruction of Adonis by the tusks of a boar. Maro,²³ making a mockery of the hospitality of lofty Carthage, knew not how to consummate the desires of Aeneas and Dido until their companions were scattered in the hazards of the hunt, when he unlocked for the lovers the secrecy of a sylvan bower; possibly it thus happened because such a pursuit, owing to its consciousness of guilt, shuns the light, while the joy of lawful wedlock is illumined by the fire of hymeneal torches.

Can you name any man of distinction who has been an enthusiast in the sport of hunting? The heroic son of Alceus,²⁴ although he pierced the bronze-hoofed hind and brought sweet calm to Erymanthus' grove,²⁵ had in view not his own pleasure but the general good. Meleager slew the boar that ravaged Caledonia,²⁶ not to give pleasure to himself but to free his country from the scourge. The founder of

²¹ Ganymede. ²² Actaeon.

²³ I. e., Virgil. See Aen. iv. 160 ff. (L. C. L., I, 406).

²⁴ Ibid., vi. 802 (L. C. L., I, 562). ²⁵ Ibid., 803-04 (L. C. L., I, 562).

²⁶ Ovid, Met. ii. 499 (L. C. L., I, 426ff.).

the Roman race²⁷ laid low the seven huge stags not to sate his vanity and pleasure but to keep himself and his followers alive. It is from their purpose and result that deeds are judged. An act is seemly if the cause that preceded it is honorable. Who ever formed an army of hunters and dogs except for the purpose of battling beasts with courage not his own? Why shouldn't he? Perhaps he will bag a tiny beast, a timid hare, with his elaborate equipment. But if the booty be more glorious, a deer maybe or boar, and the hunter's efforts be conspicuous, spontaneous applause bursts out, the huntsmen are wild with joy, and the head of the victim with the usual trophies will be born before the conquering hero. One would think that the capture of the king of the> Cappadocians²⁸ was being celebrated, to judge by the blare of trumpet and squeal of pipe proclaiming the victory. When a female animal is caught, then gloom prevails, or when a noble beast is laid low by the cunning of the trappers rather than by their prowess.

If a wild goat or hare be the victim, it is thought unworthy of the [23] glory of a triumph. Then, too, there are no exultant blasts of horn or trumpet from the eighth grade of Capricorn until the beginning of Gemini.²⁹ The triumphant pipe and horn are silent unless a wolf or lion, more dreadful foe, or tiger or panther becomes our prey — a triumph which, thank God, is rarely ours. Despite this, the long space of the year is taken up with the various interests of the hunt.

In Asia the Albanians³⁰ possess dogs more powerful than lions, which they fear as little as the most timid beast, thanks to the courage of the hounds and their own skill. In fact, there is no wild beast known braver or stronger than these dogs. They were brought into Asia from Africa by Hercules³¹ after he had vanquished the three-headed monster Geryon,³² and he bequeathed to them, as it were, the prowess of downing lions. In addition, this butchery requires skill and exacts it. It possesses its artists at whom you will marvel as he "Gesticulates with brandished knife,"³³ and now with blunted sword, should you chance to be present at their sacred rites. Be care-

²⁷ Virgil, Aen. i. 184ff. (L. C. L., I, 128).

²⁸ Horace, Ep. I. vi. 39 (L. C. L., p. 288).

²⁹ A period approximately from January 1 to May 22.

³⁰ The inhabitants of ancient Albania, a district east of the Caspian Sea. See Solinus, Polyhist. xv. 6-8; cf. Pliny, N.H. VIII. xl. 149. ³¹ Justin, xlii. 3.

³² Virgil, Aen. viii. 202 (L. C. L., II, 74). ³³ Juvenal, Sat. v. 121, 122 (L. C. L., pp. 121-22).

ful, however, not to misuse any of their hunting jargon in speaking, for you will be flogged or be branded with ignorance of all propriety in displaying your lack of knowledge of their technique. In our day this knowledge constitutes the liberal studies of the higher class. This forms the underlying principles of rectitude; this is the short cut for the blessed to the acme of happiness, a goal which our ancestors taught could be reached only by climbing the steep and laborious path of virtue.

The Gauls scoff at the people of Emilia and Liguria, asserting that they make their wills, arouse the neighborhood, and pray for arms if an invading tortoise threatens their frontiers. This reputation has risen from the fact that no attack of any kind has found them unprepared. How can our own people avoid derision since, with still greater commotion, more worry, trouble, and expense, they think it proper to proclaim formal war against wild beasts? Yet they pursue [24] with less ferocity those beasts which mankind justly regards as its greatest and most malignant enemies. The wolf, the fox, the bear, and all harmful animals are undisturbed while others are slaughtered, and are allowed to commit their depredations before the very eyes of the huntsmen.

Hannibal is said to have slain a Roman who at his bidding had killed in single combat an elephant.³⁴ He remarked that the Roman was unworthy of living in that he could be forced to enter a contest with beasts, although it is nearer the truth to say that he did not wish a captive to be rendered famous by the glory of an unprecedented triumph, nor those beasts by whose valor he had terrorized nations to be maligned. Is one then worthy of life whose sole interest in it is the trivial one of waging cruel warfare against beasts?

Those who delight in that type of hunting in which birds are taught to pursue their kind, if you think that this sort of bird-catching is to be included in the term hunting, are afflicted with a milder form of insanity but with similar levity. Hunting on the ground, as it is more dependable, is also more profitable than that in the sky.

Devotees of hunting cite from ancient authorities Ulysses as the originator of their preoccupation. He was the first after the destruction of Troy to introduce into Greece birds equipped with bronze spurs and to incite them to attack their kind to the surprise and de-

³⁴ Pliny, N.H. VIII. lxi. 6, 7.

light of the spectators. They have indeed chosen a potent patron and one

Who saw the ways of many men and towns.³⁵

No foe escaped unharmed from his snares. His unarmed host raised the glory of Greece higher than did the armed crews of the thousand ships.

But he himself gave Circe credit for this art, the woman who is said to have worked by charms and potions upon the minds of men for the reason that she won them by her artful words and agreeable ways and transformed them to suit her every purpose. And so the [25] poisonous cup of illicit pleasure was passed to the Greeks, but when the cautious Ithacan had tasted he would not drink for fear that, degraded and spiritless, he be forced to live under a harlot's sway. But because in his wisdom he had had experience in every field, this wary man foresaw how, when his labors and his wanderings had ended and when his chaste Penelope and his dear Telemachus failed to recognize him, he could make good to Greece the loss of his companions, of whom she had been deprived by their long exile.

Admiration should also have been expressed for his faithful dog, from whom alone of that numerous household the lapse of even twenty years had not obliterated the memory of his master, and who had joyously greeted him on his return; there would, however, have been the danger that the fame of the hunting pack be enhanced had praise been lavished upon Argus.

Ulysses enjoined his son Telemachus to abjure this new type of amusement, remarking that he had introduced it only for the entertainment of those who, by loss of their fathers, had felt the burden of the Trojan war. I infer that the art of hunting is unprofitable inasmuch as a man of his prowess had not wished to impart it to his only son. And this you as well as I may infer from the fact that the inferior sex excels in the hunting of birds. For this you might be inclined to blame nature did you not know that inferior creatures are always more prone to rapine. Hunting is indeed a silly and very trying business and never balances the losses of its extravagance by the advantages of its successes.

It may be that such large numbers of men engage in hunting in order that under cover of it they may cut down their expenditures, rarely dining at home, often with their acquaintances. They court

³⁵ Horace, A. P. 142 (L. C. L., p. 462).

solitude, wandering about forest glades and lakes clothed in coarse garments, content with cheap food. The sight of their inane amusement is the only consolation they have to offer their relatives and dependents who are being worked to death, starving and ill-clothed. As a matter of fact, Athens' first fall was at the date when she decreed [26] that the edict forbidding hunting be rescinded and that the art of hunting both animals and birds be recognized by the state, and practiced.

The seer of Mantua³⁶ is said to have asked Marcellus, when the latter was enthusiastically engaged in playing havoc with birds, whether he preferred that a bird be produced for the capture of others or a fly be fashioned for the purpose of exterminating its kind. Referring the point to his uncle Augustus, on his advice Marcellus chose that a fly be formed to drive flies from Naples and free the city from an intolerable pest. The same was in fact accomplished, clear evidence that the common weal should take precedence of the individual's pleasures.

In the cave of the Centaur Chiron,³⁷ if entire credence is to be given the Greeks, Achilles was taught to play the lyre and cithera.³⁸ He was then taken into the forest and amid the slaughter of wild beasts, becoming inured to killing and to eating disgusting food, he lost his awe of nature and fear of death. Are we not told that Bacchus had the same trainer? In truth those who have such inclinations and desires are half-beast. They have shed the desirable element, their humanity, and in the sphere of conduct have made themselves like unto monsters. From levity to lewdness, from lewdness to lust, and finally, when hardened, they are drawn into every type of infamy and lawlessness.

Repose is sought after labor. Amusements are more delightful if hardships precede. Organisms utterly exhausted recruit themselves with greater avidity. To this day hunters smack of the Centaurs' training. Rarely is one found to be modest or dignified, rarely self-controlled, and in my opinion never temperate. They were indeed [27] imbued with these characteristics in the home of Chiron. Hence the warning to shun the Centaurs' feasts,³⁹ from which no one goes unscathed.

³⁶ I. e., Virgil, who was regarded as a magician in the Middle Ages. For this incident see Comparetti, Vergil in the Middle Ages, translated by Benecke, p. 267.

³⁷ Ovid, Met. ii. 633 (L. C. L., I, 104); Fast. v. 380 (L. C. L., p. 288); c£. Claudian, On the Third Consulship of Honorius, 61 (L. C. L., I, 274).

³⁸ Statius, Achilleis i. 106ff. (L. C. L., II, 516).

³⁹ Ovid, Met. xii. 213 ff. (L. C. L., p. 194).

If credence may not be given to the stories which poets have distorted with figments of their imagination, we must at least believe that which, written by the hand of God, has acquired indisputable authority among all nations. First, therefore, must be counted Nimrod,⁴⁰ a stout hunter before the Lord.⁴¹ We do not doubt that he was in disrepute, since all scholars condemn him. It is stated that he rose to such a pitch of pride that he feared not to scorn the laws of nature in that he reduced to servitude those of his own status and race whom she had created free and equal. Therefore tyranny, initiated by a huntsman to insult the Creator, finds its sole source in one who, amid the slaughter of beasts, wallowing in blood, learned to feel contempt for the Lord. He began indeed to grow powerful in the land for thus it was written: For the reason that he did not expect to receive power from the Lord.⁴² The beginning of his rule was Babylon and he spread into the land of Sennar where, when the whole earth was of one tongue and the same speech, the tower of Babel arose to the heavens. It was constructed not of stone but of brick covered with bitumen. It was not built upon a rock, on the firm foundation of which alone every edifice that is constructed waxes strong in the Lord. But shameless indiscretion, destroying harmony, also destroyed the unity of tongues and richly deserved the confusion that ensued in that it preferred to glory in itself rather than in the Lord. Hence the proverb: Even as Nimrod, the stout [28] hunter before the Lord,⁴³ possibly because he was so inflated with pride that the lesson of the recent flood failed to teach him not to wax haughty in the eyes of the Lord and not to claim defiantly for himself the obedience which man owes to God; since it is a fact that the flood preceded the confusion of tongues. Babylon⁴⁴ hath indeed made drunken all the earth with her golden cup. Against Jerusalem⁴⁵ which is above, she hath pitched a camp doomed to inevitable destruction and they that serve therein are damned by the eternal curse of the blessed.

Esau⁴⁶ also practiced hunting and deserved to be cheated of his father's blessing. In the forest he became hungry, with the result

⁴⁰ The account of Nimrod, the tower of Babel, and Nimrod's tyranny is taken by John from Rufinus' version of Josephus. For the original Greek see Josephus, Antiq. i. 115 (L. C. L., IV, 54ff.).

⁴¹ Gen. x. 9. ⁴² Ibid., 10. ⁴³ See above, n. 41.

⁴⁴ Jer. li. 7; Apoc. xvii. 4, 5. ⁴⁵ Gal. iv. 26.

⁴⁶ Gen. xxv. 27ff.

that in his ravenous desire for food he sold his birthright for a mess of pottage, and passed on to his descendants the yoke of voluntary slavery so that they bent their necks to the younger brother who remained at home. Esau's hands were covered with a thick growth of hair; he was rough in action, with boorish manners, and had left at home his fine garments since he incessantly engaged in hunting and had cast aside the garb of virtue. He thirsted for his brother's blood and yet, placated by gifts, he was not ashamed to be courted by him who he knew was preferred by divine grace to himself in the matter of his father's blessing.

They boast that the originator of hunting with falcons was Maccabeus. It is generally believed however that, engaged as he was in more serious occupations, he passed his life without this diversion. He waged successful wars, restored freedom to his brothers, improved the laws, revised ceremonies, cleansed the holy places, adorned the façade of the temple whence he believed victory had come to him with garlands of gold. Into none of his acts

Did selfish pleasure steal and claim a share.⁴⁷

Finally, falling in battle in defense of his brothers, he left them heirs to a righteous war.

You upon whom nature from the earliest years has enjoined the [29] rule of reason, consider the patriarchs, pass on freely to generals, proceed to judges, advance to kings, peruse the long line of prophets, examine the duties and pursuits of a devoted people; do you read in the whole range of ancient documents of anyone who has been a professional hunter? To be sure the Idumeans,⁴⁸ Ishmaelites, and the tribes that knew not God. "Where are they that take their diversion with birds of the air?"⁴⁹ asks the prophet or, if you will, his scribe, provided he be inspired. It is as if he makes the suggestion, though he does not say it, that those whose life is but sport have vanished along with their birds; and he does say in so many words that they have gone down into hell. Question your parents and they will cite your ancestors and say that they have never read of a hunter-saint. If, however, you should show partiality for the term hunter because the prophets promise that the Lord will send hunters⁵⁰ to chase from the forests and high places those who have wandered astray, then you should know that it is the life of bestial men that

⁴⁷ Lucan, Phars. ii. 391 (L.C.L., p. 86). ⁴⁸ Ezek. xxxii. 29, 30. ⁴⁹ Bar. iii. 17.

⁵⁰ Jer. xvi. 16.

is reproved, and not the vanity of hunters that is commended. Nor should the fact that, as you assert, on the authority of pious but not canonical writings, Placidus (also named Eustachius),⁵¹ a glorious martyr indeed, was visited while hunting by the Lord impress you overmuch. This would be as foolish as to praise the madness of the persecutors of the Church for the reason that from among them Paul was called to be an apostle and became one of the distinguished preachers of the gospel.

Granted that there have been distinguished men who were devoted to hunting, an Alexander or perhaps a Caesar, you will never find among them a philosopher or one deemed a sage among his people. Nor were Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Soranus,⁵² or he whose wisdom and virtue centered admiration upon himself and who made as nothing all the marvels not only of his own city but of the world, Archytas of Tarentum.⁵³

[30] But to return to those of our own fold who excel in respect to the truth of their doctrine, the example of their virtue, and the authority of their faith, we find no Saint Augustine, Lawrence, or Vincent; in fine no one of the band of Christian Fathers troubled by this crazy mania of hunting. We are instructed by painful examples in our own period also to guard against this type of feverish activity, in that divine wrath by many authentic miracles has smitten leaders while engaged in the hunt; for they who lived while they could like beasts have often died like dogs.

Kings themselves⁵⁴ have not been spared by the hand of God, which, for their wickedness, has inflicted deserved and signal punishment. We do not mention their names and the circumstances not because of lack of instances — perhaps indeed because of the difficulty of choosing amid such abundance — but in reality that we may avoid, by touching wounds still sore, causing additional pain to the smitten hearts of those still mourning. We have in fact many instances at home.

Some inspired by this form of vanity have gone to such extreme of madness as to become enemies of nature, forgetting their own condi-

⁵¹ A Christian martyr of the reign of Hadrian.

⁵² A distinguished Greek physician. As to the question whether there were four persons of this name cf. Smith, Dictionary of Classical Biography.

⁵³ For one marvel that Archytas made for his city see Aulus Gellius, X. xii. 9 (L.C. L., II, 244).

⁵⁴ E. g., William Rufus, King of England; Richard, Son of Robert, Duke of Normandy; Fulk, Count of Anjou, King of Jerusalem; and John II, known as John the Good.

tion and scorning divine judgment by subjecting God's image to exquisite torture in enforcing their claim to wild beasts; for a beast's defense they have not feared to destroy man, whom the Only Begotten Son of God hast redeemed with his blood. Wild animals, which are gifts of nature and become the lawful property of those who get them, are claimed by presumptuous man even under the watchful eye of God; and the uniform right over all of them wherever they exist is upheld by him as though he had thrown his encircling net around the whole universe. A fact that excites surprise is the frequent practice of declaring it a crime to lay snares for birds, to weave nooses, to allure by tunes or whistle, or to trap them in any manner whatsoever. The punishment prescribed is confiscation of goods or loss of life or limb. You have heard it said that birds of the sky and fishes of the deep are common property, but those that hunting claims, wherever they nourish, belong to the royal treasury. Stay thy hand; [31] touch them not; for under pain of treason thou mayst fall a victim to the hunter.

Farmers are kept from their fields that wild beasts may have liberty to roam. That feeding ground for them may be increased farmers are deprived of their fields of grain, tenants of their allotments, the herds and flocks of their pasturage. Hives are excluded from flowery places and the very bees are scarcely allowed to roam at liberty.

You are correct in saying that although the gadfly and other pests which do not annoy wild beasts but the pets of the mighty, cannot be driven off by them with all their might; even the gnat employs its weapons to avenge man and properly turns its sharp sting against wild beasts. In this way, if you should be here you will be compelled to buy up or lose your own fields, year by year. Choose whichever you prefer of the two fundamental rights of citizenship, you are threatened with the loss of life or property, one or the other.

If any hunter should pass through your estate, set before him without delay and with due respect what you have on hand. What you have not and your neighbor has,⁵⁵ purchase for his use for fear that in accord with power conferred by edict he may carry away your possessions despite you, and because of irreverence and contempt force you in the court of the hundred or that of the sheriff or of the king's itinerant justice or possibly in the king's court itself, to answer the charge of high treason. For the royal treasury is en-

⁵⁵ Cf. Juvenal, Sat. iv. 55 (L. C. L., p. 60).

riched while the family is forced to go into debt to meet its obligations as well as it can.

That it may be evident that I am attacking with my pen hunting and other diversions of courtiers judiciously rather than in a spirit of hatred, I would gladly agree to count hunting among things called indifferentia (neither good nor evil) were it not for the fact that the inordinate pleasure that it causes impairs the human mind and undermines reason itself. It should not, however, be indiscriminately condemned on this score; wine intoxicates but the intoxication is the fault of the one who drinks; the old often exhibit a senility that is not the result of age but of their own defects. Therefore it is quite possible, depending upon the circumstances, time, manner, individual, and purpose, for hunting to be a useful and honorable occupation. For it is the individual that glorifies the pursuit when following the path of duty and not infringing upon the rights of others. That activity of a man is most seemly which is in greatest harmony with his duty. The philosopher, describing seemly conduct for indi-[32] vidual cases, puts it admirably: "That which is most consistent with his character is most seemly for each."⁵⁶

What have you or I to do with the business of hunting? For one to neglect his own business and to devote himself with excess of enthusiasm to another's, is a disgrace indeed. For what has one whose distinction is based upon his public service to do with a private, not to say rural, occupation? A people should follow its leader; the teacher should disseminate knowledge; the judge should check delinquency; the industrious should be rewarded with the gift of power; private individuals should pursue humble, the well-born higher, servants menial, occupations.

For that which will be base for Seius and For Titius, men of honor each, will be Quite seemly for Crispinus.⁵⁷

Thus, though a body have several members, all do not have the same function; each has its own to perform. Why therefore do you who do not surrender yours to the hunter claim the right to his? Would you not deem it unseemly should the hunter aspire to the regal or papal throne? It would be even more unseemly to descend from either of these exalted positions to the filthy and bloody work of the hunter.

⁵⁶ Cicero, De Off. I. xxxi. 113 (L. C. L., p. 114). ⁵⁷ Juvenal, Sat. iv. 13-14 (L. C. L., p. 58).

For innate love of virtue always strives to rise; inversely, vicious impulses naturally tend downward.

Its purpose may redeem an act if it be based upon necessity, if effective in point of utility, or conspicuous for its integrity, since intention has the power to change its entire complexion. For, remarks the philosopher, one's attitude stamps its character upon one's work. Esau went out to hunt at the bidding of his father,⁵⁸ hence without blame, in order to appease his father's hunger and obtain the promised blessing as the just reward for his obedience. If this [33] could not have been done without guilt, such a patriarch as he would never have sent his son on such an errand, whom by virtue of his blessing he proposed to place over the nations. But perhaps delay brought on its own peril in that Esau tarried longer than permissible, though in a permitted task, since he was enamoured of this bad habit. No one may be deemed at fault who, under the sharp goad of necessity is forced to sustain life by following a lawful pursuit.

They who shun inactivity, who prepare themselves for the business of life by inuring their bodies to hardships, who do not allow themselves to become physically unwieldy and who maintain their personal dignity in all situations, are immune to sharp rebuke. An action becomes criminal not in itself but from its intention. No display of virtue gives an act distinction if its origin is rooted in pleasure. Pleasure is indeed a spurious source for virtue. I am not speaking of the pleasure which is the fruit of peace, patience, kindness, forbearance, and delight in the spirit of holiness.⁵⁹ I refer to pleasure which, devoted to feasting, drinking, banquets, song and dance, sport, over-refinements of luxury, debauchery, and varied types of defilement, weakens even robust souls and, by a sort of irony on nature's part, renders men softer and more corrupt than women. Circumstances also palliate the blame attached to hunting or even justify its pursuit. Granted these circumstances, justification for the action is derived from them as it is in the majority of cases. Hunting then may be untimely from the point of view of religious ceremonies, natural order, or obligation of duty such as ought not to be neglected and should take precedence of other activities. But enough of this, as our purpose is not a formal treatise on hunting but that of deriving a little amusement at the expense of the frivolities of courtiers. Consideration must be given to place also; that is, hunting should ⁵⁸ Gen. xxvii. ⁵⁹ Gal. v. 22.

be pursued on preserves, on common or on public land, provided that no injury is done the community and provided the locality is not exempt from such disturbance by reason of its sanctity or renown. For the bold trespasser is caught in the law's net and punished. The activity, however, is laudable when moderation is shown and hunting is pursued with judgment and, when possible, with profit, with [34] the result that the advice of the dramatist Terence is followed: "Moderation in all things."⁶⁰ For 'tis also true,

The wise is called a mad man, the just unjust, If he pursue e'en virtue beyond the realm Of sense.⁶¹

For nothing is less becoming than to cause a smile to pass over the countenances of the spectators as you with excess of zeal devote yourself to an activity of which you have no knowledge or, for that matter, which you have no intention of mastering. It is as if to be amusing, you should attempt to speak a tongue of which you are utterly ignorant.

There are indeed persons who are forever excluded not only from this but from certain other pursuits which are still more trifling and frivolous; for instance, those who are in holy orders and those who hold high judicial appointments. For conduct which, in the case of some, might appear a slight lapse, in the case of such as these would convey the impression of guilt. Indeed those considerations are always more weighty which break agreements entered into than those which hinder their formation. Furthermore the pursuit of hunting not only precludes advancement in holy orders for its votaries but even disqualifies one who has already attained the highest rank therein.

The following is a striking statement among many such attributed to Themistocles: "Magistrates should be forbidden the public games and other frivolities that the state may not appear trivial and advertise its own shortcomings by such lapse of dignity. If, however, it should happen that those of the governing class be unhampered by duties — a rare occurrence — they are permitted during the years of young manhood, by the dispensation of youth, to depart a little from their customary dignity and be somewhat more lenient toward themselves, because as they advance to maturity they will make

⁶⁰ Terence, And. 60 (L. C. L., I, p. 60). ⁶¹ Horace, Ep. I. vi. (L. C. L., p. 286).

amends to the state by their service to it." Such are his words. Would that our own statesmen gave ear to it, for then, having attained years of discretion, they would allow serious affairs of state to take precedence of their own diversions. The state would then feel a surge of strength course through its entire frame and the appearance of perfect harmony would impart charm and it would attain the perfection of an exquisite beauty,

If each part keep, as it is meet, the part Allotted to it,⁶²

[35] and if there be no confusion, but perfect harmony, in its various functions. This result may be attained if we but follow an unerring guide, nature.⁶³ As it is

Workmen try the doctor's trade and doctors Handle tools,⁶⁴

and our public servants are drafted from among hunters, from those of more humble pursuits, and even from criminals. With the rashness of ignorance the uninitiated dare to dabble in affairs of state.

Chapter Five. Gaming, Its Use and Abuse

LISTEN! As the noisy train of hunters leaves the courtyard, the hum of other amusements, though not so noisy, persists. It is a hackneyed proverb, "He who chases hares has naught but words to eat." If you will but turn your gaze upon your neighbors you will find them devouring life as well, which is passed entirely in faction, folly, fraud. Do you not think the gamester foolish who by grace of dice lives, nay rather perishes, and makes each throw the arbiter of his fate? Does that pursuit conform to reason, in devotion to which one becomes less devout?

Attalus Asiaticus, if credence is to be given profane historians, is said to have invented this form of amusement by changing slightly the subject matter available in mathematics. For in preceding ages the science of mathematics was merely tolerated because it was serviceable in the search for truth and also as a desirable element in a liberal education or because it inculcated principles of correct living.

⁶² Horace, A. P. 92 (L. C. L., p. 450).

⁶³ Cicero, De Amic. 19 (L. C. L., p. 128).

⁶⁴ Horace, Ep. II. i. 115-16 (L. C. L., p. 406).

Attalus, however, by an acute albeit sterile innovation, did not do away with the difficulties inherent in the subject (as a matter of fact many of them still remain) but he made it more attractive.

Greece had as yet not discarded the abacus nor mental arithmetic nor the game in which the establishment of a complete and perfect harmony with the marked pawn on the field of one's opponent con-[36] stituted a perfect victory. When on the same field the harmonic, arithmetical, or geometric mean of three terms is established, it is only a half-victory. Any other harmonies, although they fall short of winning, give public testimony to the luck or skill of the player. To be acquainted with mathematical games is an interesting and valuable accomplishment — so also the ability to recognize what opponents are vulnerable to surprise and in what way others are safer in their camp, knowing nothing of danger except that of being surrounded and taken captive by the foe.

We read that Ptolemy, Alexander, Caesar, and Pythagoras himself found relief from their more burdensome duties in contests of this kind. Even their amusements were calculated to prepare them to meet the problems of philosophy. On the defeat of Darius at the battle of Issus, gambling in its many forms was introduced into Greece along with the treasures of the conquered city. Hence dice, draughts, chess,⁶⁵ ario⁶⁶ or the Dardanian contest, the cast of six, tricolus, monarchus, quoits, taliorchas, wolf — skill in all of which is better forgotten than learned.

Who would not be ashamed to owe the favor of his own destiny not to his own character but to the cast of dice? Who would not resent allowing the foresight of the dice-box to take precedence of his own judgment? Is not the practice of any activity sufficiently condemned in which one becomes more depraved in proportion as his skill in it increases? Such indeed is the status of the gamester. Gambling is the mother of liars and perjury for she is prodigal as the result of her lust for others' possessions⁶⁷ and, having no respect for private

⁶⁵ The Latin word is tabula, table or board on which games are played. Isidore of Seville (Etym. xviii. 80) defines tabula as equivalent to alea (dice) or any game of chance. He says that it is played with the purgus (castle), calculi (counters), and tessera (draughts or dice). Webb cites Rashdell (Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, I, 195n), who states that the words ad scacos (chess) vel tabula are found in regulations governing gambling among students.

⁶⁶ The Latin word is retained where the translator is not acquainted with the game or its English equivalent.

⁶⁷ Sallust, Catil. v. 4 (L. C. L., p. 8).

property, as soon as she has squandered her own, gradually has recourse to theft and rapine.

Some esteem gambling, influenced by the fact that we read that Ulysses found amusement in it because it appears that acuteness of mind is, to a considerable degree, acquired by the long meditation it exacts. But to me it seems the more ruinous in that nothing is less profitable than to expend much labor on that by which one profits [37] little. For the importunity of the suppliant is inexpedient when by it the inexpedient is acquired, and zeal in requesting is folly where attainment produces no beneficial result. Would that thought and mental alertness, which in this case are wasted, might by all means be applied to nobler and better purposes! Gambling is absolutely banished from the domain of morals by the authority of him⁶⁸ who, teaching the world in the person of his son, pronounced that it should be shunned by all. It arms men for strife; it incites enmity; it causes pitiful if not pitiable destitution. If you ask who makes this assertion, allow me to introduce him⁶⁹

Who believed that he was born to help the world

And not himself.⁷⁰

There are, however, times when, viewed from a certain aspect, games of chance are permissible. For example, if without evil consequences they alleviate the strain of heavy responsibilities and if without harming character they introduce an agreeable period of relaxation. Liberty to do as one pleases is justified if moderation controls the act. The lack of it impairs the efficacy even of real worth. The circumstances that regulate all freedom from restraint are dependent upon a preceding consideration of place, time, individual, and cause. It is this consideration which makes all transactions appear beautiful or condemns them as morally ugly. In each individual case many roles are to be considered, since nature, situation, and fortune each invests a man with its own garb and from these he must choose that which in his own case is becoming.

Chilo the Spartan was sent to Corinth for the purpose of forming a treaty with the people of that city and on arriving found the leaders and elders of the city engaged in playing draughts. Not at-

⁶⁸ I. e., Cato the censor. See Cato, Dist. Prolog. 37 (L. C. L., Minor Latin Poets,

p. 595).

⁶⁹ I. e., Cato of Utica.

⁷⁰ Lucan, Phars. ii. 383 (L. C.L., p. 84).

tempting to transact his business, he returned and explained that he did not wish the glory of the Spartans whose valor had been conspicuous for the building of Byzantium⁷¹ to be dimmed, should it be said that they had made a treaty with a nation of gamesters. Then, [38] too, golden dice were presented to King Demetrius⁷² by the king of the Parthians to taunt him for his childish inconsistency. As a result of that gift it would seem that he should have cast off a senile adolescence which did not shrink in the slightest degree from trivial conduct though vested with the dignity of regal power.

In our days it is a proof of the intelligence of our nobles to be acquainted with the art of hunting; to be well grounded — and this is still more ruinous — in the principles of gaming; to tone down the manly voice into dulcet, effeminate strains; to forget their manhood and with vocal and instrumental music to disgrace their birth. It is from such parents that children are infected with their moral diseases. For what will the son do if not what he sees his father doing?⁷³ If gaming with its ruin attracts the old, The noble heir will play as well, and with Toy dice-box imitate his sire.⁷⁴

A greater effort should have been made to protect those of tender years from lustful pleasures whence vices spring, and precautions should have been taken that in their presence there be no questionable conduct on the part of their elders, because, as the same satirist says,

Bad examples in the home corrupt

The more and quicker, since they steal into

The mind with weight of mighty precedent.⁷⁵

Admirable it was in Eleazar, when entreated to save his life by transgressing the law of God, to avoid such a dangerous precedent by saying: Who am I, Eleazar, at ninety years of age, to adopt the life of the stranger and to corrupt pious youth?⁷⁶ The result is that in these times fathers leave degenerate sons who disgrace their manhood with effeminate vices.

⁷¹ A reference to the taking and rebuilding of Byzantium by Pausanias. ⁷² Justin, XXXVIII. ix. 9.

⁷³ John v. 19. ⁷⁴ Juvenal, Sat. xiv. 4-5 (L. C. L., p. 264).

⁷⁵ Juvenal, Sat. xiv. 31-33 (L. C. L., p. 266). Juvenal's text reads "swifter" in place of "more,"

⁷⁶ 2 Macc. vi. 24ff.

Chapter Six. Music, Instruments, Melodies,

Their Enjoyment and Proper Use

[39] ONE SHOULD not slander music by charging it with being an ally of the frivolities of courtiers, although many frivolous individuals endeavor by its help to advance their own interests. Music is indeed one of the liberal arts and it has an honorable origin whether it claims Pythagoras, Moses, or Tubal,⁷⁷ the father of those who play upon the harp, as the author of its being. Because of the great power exercised by it, its many forms, and the harmonies that serve it, it embraces the universe; that is to say, it reconciles the clashing and dissonant relations of all that exists and of all that is thought and expressed in words by a sort of ever varying but still harmonious law derived from its own symmetry. By it the phenomena of the heavens are ruled and the activities of the world and men are governed. Its instruments form and fashion conduct and, by a kind of miracle of nature, clothe with melodies and colorful forms of rhymes and measures the tone of the voice, whether expressed in words or not, and adorn them as with a robe of beauty.

To add our own testimony, the Fathers of the Church⁷⁸ have highly praised music. Finally, by virtue of it the violence of the evil spirit is controlled, and thanks to it his power over his own subjects [40] is weakened. For when the evil spirit of the Lord took possession of Saul, David sang, harp in hand, until the spirit ceased to trouble the king.⁷⁹ Even though the spirit which is concealed in the word be not yet revealed, it is most fitting that the soul, thanks to a kindred element, calm itself and forget all resentment when harmonies of like origin with itself and mysteries of nature in her kindlier aspects are revealed in sound.

The opinion or conviction is widespread that the soul consists of musical harmonies. The prince of all philosophers, Plato⁸⁰ (if the Aristotelians will permit), since he postulated a soul consisting of divisible and indivisible elements and fashioned it of the same and divers nature, believed that it could exist only if he united the divers lines which in manifold division radiated from both elements by portions consisting of half as much again, of four thirds and nine

⁷⁷ Gen. vi. 21. Tubal was the form of Jubal used in the Middle Ages.

⁷⁸ E. g., Augustine, De Orig. An. Hum. 13.

⁷⁹ 1 Kings xvi. 23.

⁸⁰ Tim. 35A, B (L. C. L., pp. 64ff.).

eighths, due regard being given to semitone⁸¹ and interval.⁸² Consequently under a few clear terms the variety, however great, of discordant elements may be shown to be closely related to the soul by reason of a harmony due to a similarity in their kindred natures. Hence, by a kind of course through concealed passages, it pervades the whole universe with its own vital force. Sense harmonizing with reason regulates and renders efficient the life of each nature and substance by decree of divine disposition. The soul therefore distributes nourishment to all things and thrives in each of them in its own essence except insofar as it is not submerged by the weight of corporeal mass or as the confusion of external commotion does not disturb the spirit's tranquility. When this assails it nothing can be more wholesome than for the soul to be recalled, so to speak, from the violence of tumult to itself by nature's tones, which are its own. What, in fine, can be more comparable to the spirit of man than tone? When it is molded in him, passing through all that surrounds it, with course as nimble as it is invisible, it fills the ear, and with its being penetrates dense bodies without impairing them; it, [41] as it were, by touch influences the mind and at its bidding depresses or exalts it. Although tone is by no means spirit, it certainly is a type of conveyance of spirit and is the medium of spirit — now human, now divine, and again prophetic. When heard in its more delicately uttered strains, it captivates with its beauty even austere minds and by the exhibition of a sort of charming gaiety drives gloom away. It is potent to wipe away the swirling clouds of dust and mist that have found lodgment in our minds.

Consequently the Christian Fathers, when they were spreading reverence for the Church, held that not only vocal but instrumental music should be turned to the service of the Lord for the purpose of improving morals and of turning men's minds to the love of God by inspiring a feeling of joy for goodness. If the authority of the Church Militant appears insignificant to you, even the Church Triumphant will not refrain from sounding the praise of music. The son of thunder saw its elders and revealed them to you and their voices were as the voice of harpers harping with their harps.⁸³ But if you have not yet heard them, listen to the King exulting and desiring you

⁸¹ Macrobius, In Somn. Scip. II. i. 24; Boethius, De Mus. ii. 28: "That which we now call semitone, our ancestors named quarter tone." ⁸² Boethius, De Mus. ii. 30; iii. 4, 8. ⁸³ Apoc. xiv. 2; Mark iii. 17.

to be a sharer in his kingdom and his triumph, for he says: Take up psalm and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant psaltery with the harp.⁸⁴ Wherefore? you say. That you may praise him with the timbrel and choir. Praise him with strings and organs.⁸⁵

This is the sole or principal use of music. The Phrygian mode and other corrupting types serve no purpose in wholesome training; rather develop the evil inherent in its devotee. Legitimate musical instruction grieves and laments its disfigurement by a vice that is not inherent in it and by the fact that a harlot's appearance is given to that which was wont to inspire virile minds with manly ideals. The singing of love songs in the presence of men of eminence was once considered in bad taste, but now it is considered praiseworthy for men of greater eminence to sing and play love songs which they themselves with greater propriety call stulticinia, follies.

The very service of the Church⁸⁶ is defiled, in that before the face of the Lord, in the very sanctuary of sanctuaries, they, showing off [42] as it were, strive with the effeminate dalliance of wanton tones and musical phrasing to astound, enervate, and dwarf simple souls. When one hears the excessively caressing melodies of voices beginning, chiming in, carrying the air, dying away, rising again, and dominating, he may well believe that it is the song of the sirens and not the sound of men's voices; he may marvel at the flexibility of tone which neither the nightingale, the parrot, or any bird with greater range than these can rival. Such indeed is the ease of running up or down the scale, such the dividing or doubling of the notes and the repetitions of the phrases and their incorporation one by one; the high and very high notes are so tempered with low or somewhat low that one's very ears lose the ability to discriminate, and the mind, soothed by such sweetness, no longer has power to pass judgment upon what it hears. When this type of music is carried to the extreme it is more likely to stir lascivious sensations in the loins than devotion in the heart. But if it be kept within reasonable limits it frees the mind from care, banishes worry about things temporal, and by imparting joy and peace and by inspiring a deep love for God draws souls to association with the angels.

But how may these reasonable limits be realized? "My lips shall greatly rejoice" says the psalmist "when I shall sing to thee."⁸⁷ If

⁸⁴ Ps. lxxx. 2. ⁸⁵ Ps. cl. 4.

⁸⁶ For a freer translation of this paragraph, by Professor H.E. Woolbridge, cf. Oxford History of Music, II, 85 n. ⁸⁷ Ps. lxx. 23.

therefore out of the abundance of the heart your mouth sing the praise of the Lord,⁸⁸ if you make music with the spirit and the mind, if in fine you sing in wisdom,⁸⁹ even without the use of words, you possess the secret of true moderation and, not so much with the rejoicing of the voice as with that of the mind, you soothe the ears of the Most High and wisely avert his wrath.

He who, however, expresses passion or vanity, who prostitutes the voice to his own desires, who makes music the medium of pandering, is indeed ignorant of the song of the Lord⁹⁰ and is revelling with Babylonian strains in a foreign land. Such as he gives greater delight; why I know not, unless it be that

We strive for the forbidden ever, And long for the denied,⁹¹

[43] and that stolen waters are sweeter and hidden bread is more pleasant.⁹² The Phrygian mode, by decree of the philosophers, had long before been banished from the court of Greece, and all such melodies as lead to the abyss of lust and corruption.

Do you not recall that the mothers and wives of the Thracians poured out upon Orpheus all their indignation, even to the degree of arousing the ill will of the fates, because he had by his melodies rendered their males effeminate? (Granted that he moved the spirits of the nether world and appeased its stern lord and that thanks to his song, he won, though on ill-starred terms, his Eurydice's return.) Therefore plaints of men of his type can expect for the most part no happy outcome. Possibly the reason is that

Base gain can have no happy end.⁹³

However, influences that weaken the character and subvert morals are everywhere borrowed from our own age, for we concede that it is superabundantly supplied with vices of its own. If you notice that any one of those somewhat addicted to such faults is at the same time dignified, moderate, and modest, be sure to count him among the strong men of our day. He is indeed a rara avis.⁹⁴

Consequently a certain venerable man,⁹⁵ the superior of some

⁸⁸ Matt. xxii. 2, 4; Luke vi. 45. ⁸⁹ 1 Cor. xiv. 15.

⁹⁰ Ps. cxxxvi. 4. ⁹¹ Ovid, Am. III. iv. 17 (L. C.L., p. 460).

⁹² Prov. ix. 17. ⁹³ Ovid, Am. I. x. 48 (L. C. L., p. 362).

⁹⁴ Juvenal, Sat. vi. 165 (L.C.L., p. 96).

⁹⁵ St. Gilbert of Sempringham. A translation of his words cited by Webb follows: We do not permit our nuns to sing. We absolutely forbid it, preferring with the blessed Virgin to hymn indirectly in a spirit of humility rather than with Herod's notorious daughter to pervert the minds of the weak with lascivious strains.

seven hundred nuns, imposed the law upon his convents that all the canticles be stripped entirely of their melodious vestments and rest content with the enunciation alone that expressed the meaning of the psalms and lauds.

The holy man was indeed suspicious of languishing tones as being related to voluptuousness, which is the parent of lust. Does not such music intensify day by day the evil of feasting? As though there can be no deadly poisons except those that are administered! Is it not folly to throw straw on the fire, oil on the hearth,⁹⁶ poison to the snake?

[44] Though the wickedness of deeds be obscured by a veil of words whose fundamental meaning is the same, it makes no difference. The Greek word for banqueting signifies dining together or drinking together; we with greater propriety term it convivium, living together.⁹⁷ Do not feasts seem in themselves sufficiently inane unless enlivened with song? The Lord chid the custom, saying, Woe to you that arise up early in the morning to follow your drunkenness, to drink till the evening, to be inflamed with wine. The harp and the lyre, the timbrel and pipe, and wine are in your feasts. The work of the Lord you regard not, nor do you consider the works of his hands.⁹⁸ Was it not at a feast that the king of Babylon⁹⁹ saw the handwriting on the wall — Mene, Mene, Tekel — by which it was announced that his kingdom had been numbered, found wanting, and divided? By divine judgment, indeed, he who exposes the vessels of the Lord, that is human bodies, to the short-lived joys of passion and opens the chamber of the bridegroom to the foulness of the Evil Spirit is judged unworthy of his kingdom.

Argus had a head surrounded with A hundred eyes,¹

all of which were not so much lulled to sleep as put out by the charm of a single pipe. Who art thou to boast of being more circumspect than he?

⁹⁶ Horace, Sat. II. iii. 321 (L. C. L., p. 180). ⁹⁷ Cicero, De Senect. 45 (L. C. L., p. 56). ⁹⁸ Isa. v. 11, 12. ⁹⁹ Dan. v. 24-28.

¹ Ovid, Met. i. 625 (L. C. L., I, 46).

Chapter Seven. Contrast between Augustus and Nero

AT A FEAST Augustus was once seen playing upon a tamborine. A certain soldier branded the unseemly conduct with these words:

Dost see how debauchee with finger thrums Upon the orb?²

Struck by the biting remark, Augustus ever after kept body and mind free of such frivolity and was always grateful to his critic.

[45] Far otherwise Nero. The foulest not merely of emperors but of men, he is said to have been so enamoured of the sweetness of his voice that he denied himself not merely fruits and food injurious to it but, to preserve it, he purged himself with enemas and emetics and, by the prescription of doctors, often and for long periods supported a leaden plate upon his belly³ as he lay upon his back.

He took such delight in singing and playing that not even when the theater was rocking in an earthquake would he leave, if he had commenced, until he had finished what he had begun. Nor while he was singing was anyone allowed to go out. Consequently quite a few, bored with the performance, pretended to be dead and were carried out. He never addressed his soldiers except by the lips of someone else and he never engaged in any business affair or amusement without a throat specialist beside him to warn him to spare his vocal organs.

Musical instruments excited his great curiosity and he envied the proficiency of others with them. So intense was this feeling that he loved to be called the prince of harpists. This gave rise to the following:

A peer is born, his prince performs upon His harp. What next except the sawdust and The ring?⁴

Though he had the weight of the world upon his shoulders he had an aversion to all dignity. He consequently persecuted philosophers

² Suetonius, Aug. 68 (L. C. L., I, p. 228). The Latin word orbis (orb) means both "a round drum" and "the world."

³ Suetonius says "chest"; this he did to strengthen his voice. ⁴ Juvenal, Sat. viii. 198-99 (L. C. L., p. 174). I have translated John's reading of Juvenal natus in place of mimus. A phrase of Claudian (Nupt. Honor, et Mariae, 35), principe natus, was possibly in his mind. Juvenal's text reads The prince performs upon his harp, his heir Upon the stage ...

as enemies to his imperial dignity and, being in awe of nobler natures than his own, he fell under the domination of actors whose low calling he was not ashamed to follow. Hence the following: What nobles do not grant, an actor will.⁵

Although he was so very avaricious that he assigned no duty without the comment, "You know of what I stand in need," or without adding, "He who presides over all is in need of all," nevertheless he did not hesitate to lavish immense sums upon mimics and actors. He honored them individually according to the pleasures he derived from each, with title of high dignity, naming some patricians and others senators; on these he conferred the names of distinguished and illustrious men.

Chapter Eight. Actors, Mimics, and Jugglers

[46] INDEED some still imitate Nero as far as they can (even if no one deigns to smirch himself with his foulness, although many curry favor with actors and mimics) and in displaying their vicious tendencies squander monstrous — shall we say, rather than marvelous — sums, in a sort of blind and despicable munificence.

That age⁶ however, to make a concession for the time being, possessed more respectable actors than ours, if we may apply the word respectable to that which is regarded as unworthy of any gentleman. I do not, however, assert that the actor is dishonorable when he follows his profession, although it is undoubtedly dishonorable to be an actor. Indeed there were once actors who by the magic of gesture, of language, and of voice reproduced vividly for the audience both fact and fiction. These were the contemporaries of Plautus and Menander and such as were intimate with our favorite Terence. Subsequently comedy and tragedy disappeared, since frivolity held universal sway. The actors of the legitimate drama were consequently forced into retirement. One will, however, discover that the status

⁵ Juvenal, Sat. vii. 90 (L. C. L., p. 144).

⁶ See Macrobius, Sat. III. xiv. Elsewhere John speaks thus of actors: Concerning actors and mimes, buffoons and harlots, panderers and other like human monsters which the prince ought rather to exterminate entirely than to foster, there needed to be no mention made in the law, which not only excludes all such abominations from the court of the prince but totally banishes them from among the people. Policraticus, IV, iv (Dickinson, p. 16). See also Book VIII, Chapter Twelve (pp. 369ff., below).

of the actor was for the most part that of the slave although his utility is emphasized by him who teaches the art of poetry, in the words,

Our dramatists desire to be of help And to amuse; to give expression to The jocund and the just.⁷

But our own age, descending to romances and similar folly, prostitutes not only the ear and heart to vanity but also delights its idleness with the pleasures of eye and ear. It inflames its own wantonness, seeking everywhere incentives to vice. Does not the shiftless man divert his idleness and court slumber with the sweet tones of instruments and vocal melody, with gaiety inspired by musicians and with the pleasure he finds in the narrator of tales or, and this is more disgraceful still, in drunken revels?

[47] Horace has given a prescription of better form:

Let those who need sound sleep anoint themselves And swim across the Tiber thrice.⁸

The preacher, too, says, Sleep is sweet to a laboring man whether he eat little or much.⁹ Exercise does indeed beget and foster liking for repose, which is destroyed by long continued ease and the languor bred by it. An idle man is especially under the dominion of his desires since idleness is a foe of the soul and banishes from it all interest in virtue. The moralist proclaims:

Dost see how sloth corrupts the idle frame; How waters motionless become defiled?¹⁰

What? you say; Listen! you will learn if you trust the same guide, as he also says,

'Tis questioned why Aegistus came to be Adulterer; the cause is clear to see, He had abundant ease.¹¹

It is therefore the advice of a most learned man¹² that the Enemy should find you occupied, that you may with success equal to your

⁷ Horace, A. P. 333-34 (L. C. L., p. 478).

⁸ Horace, Sat. II. i. 7-8 (L. C. L., p. 126). ⁹ Eccles. v. 11.

¹⁰ Ovid, Pont. I. v. 5-6 (L. C. L., p. 290).

¹¹ Ovid, Rem. Am. 161-62 (L. C. L., p. 188).

¹² I.e., St. Jerome, who says "See to it that you engage in some work, that the devil always find you occupied." Ep. cxxv (Ad Rusticum).

judgment oppose the shield of your occupations to his manifold temptations. Says the moralist,

That shameless siren idleness you must

Avoid.¹³

But with us, actors give her new life. Tedium steals upon unoccupied minds and they are not able to endure their own company unless they are pampered by the solace of some pleasure. Therefore spectacles and the countless hosts of vanities by which they who cannot endure to be entirely idle are occupied, but to their greater harm. Better had it been for them to have idled away their time than to have busied themselves to their own ruin. Hence the procession of mimics, jumping or leaping priests, buffoons, Aemilian¹⁴ and other gladiators, wrestlers, sorcerers, jugglers, magicians, and a whole army [48] of jesters. They are in such vogue that even they whose exposures are so indecent that they make a cynic blush are not barred from distinguished houses. Then too, a surprising fact, they are not even turned out when with more hellish tumult they defile the air and more shamelessly disclose that which in shame they had concealed. Does he appear to be a man of wisdom who has eye or ear for such as these? Who would, however, not be glad to see and laugh when juggler is drenched with urine, his tricks disclosed, and when eyes that have been blinded with his magic find their power restored? It is pleasant and not in the least unbecoming for a man of honor to indulge occasionally in reasonable mirth, but it is disgraceful to lower personal dignity by excessive indulgence in it. From such spectacles also (especially if obscene) the eye of the honorable man should be turned lest the incontinence of his mind, as well, proclaim his lewdness. Pericles, his colleague, chiding Sophocles, the general, well said "It is fitting, Sophocles, that a general have not only continent hands but eyes."¹⁵ "Turn away my eyes that they may not behold vanity"¹⁶ said he to whom much was permitted because of his regal estate, for he knew, doubtless, that the groan uttered by another; "My eye hath wasted my soul,"¹⁷ is true. However, the wise man's mind detects what is helpful or fitting in cases as they occur, nor does he shun fables, stories, or spectacles in general, providing that

¹³ Horace, Sat. II. iii. 14-15 (L. C. L., p. 158).

¹⁴ So called perhaps because trained at the Aemilian school for gladiators men tioned by Horace, A. P. 32 (L. C. L., p. 452). ¹⁵ Cicero, De Off. i. 40 (L. C. L., p. 146). ¹⁶ Ps. cxviii. 37. ¹⁷ Lam. iii. 51.

they possess the requirements of virtue and honorable utility. You are not unaware that by the authority of the Christian Fathers the sacrament of holy communion is forbidden actors and mimics as long as they persist in their evil career. Hence you may infer in what a perilous position their supporters are if you but recall that perpe-[49] trator and confederate are to suffer like penalty. Why is it that people make gifts to actors, you ask. They court them for their worst qualities. Can he who courts wickedness be himself good? Although all who are wicked are indeed hateful, those who do less harm are easier to endure.

Chapter Nine. Derivation of the Word "Praestigium" and the Originator of the Art

LONG ago the Christian Fathers condemned those who practiced the more demoralizing forms of legerdemain, the art of magic, and astrology because they realized that all these arts, or rather artifices, derive from unholy commerce between men and demons. Very frequently their practitioners cite truth with the sole intent to deceive, and of these Our Lord warns the souls of his faithful; If they shall tell you and so it come to pass, believe them not.¹⁸

The word praestigium¹⁹ is said to have been invented by Mercury for the reason that he blinds²⁰ the eyes. He was the most adept of magicians and could make invisible whatever he desired or, as it appears, change it into other forms. Indeed all manifestations of mathesis,²¹ if the penultimate syllable be pronounced long, may be referred to magic, and of this there are many different forms.

Chapter Ten. Magicians and the Reputed Origin of the Name

MAGICIANS do indeed exist and are so called because of the magni-[50] tude of their incantations;²² for they, by God's grace, cause

¹⁸ Deut. xiii. 1, 2; Matt. xxiv. 36.

¹⁹ "Illusion," "sleight-of-hand." ²⁰ Latin praetringit.

²¹ John of Salisbury distinguished between ma'thesis (mathematics) and mathe'sis (astrology).

²² Isidore, Orig. VIII. ix. 9. Note that the etymology is derived from the fact that the first syllable of each word is the same. In general, classical and medieval derivations are as bizarre as this.

the elements to shudder, destroy the identity of things, often predict the future, cloud the minds of men, send dreams, and, so far as that goes, by the violence of their charms slay them — a fact known to Lucan for he says

Men's minds polluted by no poisonous draft, By incantations perish.²³

That you may not lightly esteem Lucan's testimony, you are aware that Jannes²⁴ and Jambres, magicians of Pharaoh (for Egypt is the mother of such kinds of superstition and sorcery), not only withstood Moses but vied in signs and miracles with him, though afterward quite reluctantly they were forced to acknowledge that the hand of God was in the signs of Moses.²⁵

Chapter Eleven. Types of Magic

VARRO,²⁶ most painstaking of scholars,-borrowed four types of magic from the four elements; pyromantia, aeromantia, hydromantia, and geomantia. You will see that many forms spring from these as origins, whether divination is performed by craft or divine inspiration. To illustrate, I shall subjoin the names of a few types.

Chapter Twelve. Definitions of Enchanters, Wizards, Soothsayers, Prophets, "Vultivoli,"²⁷ "Imaginarii," Dream Interpreters, Palmists, Crystal-Seers, Astrologers, "Salisatores," Fortune Tellers, Augurs

ENCHANTERS²⁸ are they who practice their art by means of words. Wizards are they who on altars²⁹ make their unholy prayers and accursed sacrifices. On their necks the hand of the Lord weighs, for

²³ Lucan, Phars. vi. 475 (L. C. L., p. 336).

²⁴ 2 Tim. iii. 8; Exod. vii. 11ff.; cf. Isidore, Orig. VIII. ix. 4.

²⁵ Exod. viii. 19.

²⁶ "Varro says that there are four types of divination, having to do with earth, water, air, and fire; hence the terras geomantia, hydromantia, aeromantia, and pyromantia." Isidore, Orig. VIII. ix. 15.

²⁷ Where there seems to be no English equivalent the Latin word is retained.

²⁸ Isidore, Orig. VIII. ix. 5.

²⁹ Wizards, altars; the Latin words are arioli and arae, hence the etymology. See above, n. 22.

his prophet says "Thou dost not permit wizards and magicians to live."³⁰

Soothsayers are they who consider the hours and prescribe the expedient time for action. Their error the apostle damns in the [51] words: "I am afraid of you lest perhaps I have labored in vain among you for ye observe days and months and seasons and years."³¹ Success should be attained not from time but from the name of God. Auspice-taking also has to do with the inspection of vitals. One Tages is said to have invented the art. Hence Lucan's remark,

May entrails be but false and may the lore Of Tages, founder of the art, be proved Sheer fiction.³²

By the word vitals all that is covered by the outer skin is meant, as a consequence of which it is clear that those who base their prophecies on the dry bones of animals without blood, whether they expound the present or the past, are classed as soothsayers. For prophecy is the art by which, as the result of knowledge of the truth, the hidden is revealed, since it is conceded that the art deals not only with the future but also with the present, the future, and the past. If, however, use is made of blood we enter the domain of the Black Art,³³ which is so called because it depends entirely upon investigation of the dead. Its essential character is that of being able to raise the dead for the purpose of ascertaining truth. It is indeed a trick of demons who mock and play with human frailty.

Prophets³⁴ are those who are filled with the prophetic spirit. This works more frequently in maidens³⁵ that it may delude the more, as if the unclean spirit were attracted by a mind and body undefiled.

Vultivoli³⁶ are they who, for the purpose of working upon the [52] feelings of men, fashion in a somewhat soft substance (as wax or clay) images of those whose natures they are striving to distort. Virgil in his Pharmaceutria mentions this type of illusion:

The clay grows hard; the wax grows soft and so By this same fire, may Daphnis melt with love For me.³⁷

³⁰ Lev. xx. 6; Exod. xxii. 18. ³¹ Gal. iv. 10, 11.

³² Lucan, Phars. i. 636 (L. C. L., p. 48).

³³ Isidore, Orig. VIII. ix. 11. ³⁴ Ibid., 21.

³⁵ Acts xvi. 16. ³⁶ Literally, "they who change features."

³⁷ Virgil, Ed. viii. 80 (L. C. L., I, 60).

Ovid also in the Heroides:

She dooms the absent, moulds the waxen forms And plunges slender needles into wretched Hearts.³⁸

Their sorcery, although they do much harm, may be easily counteracted; for example, if the persons suspected, being confronted by someone, deny their crime or, having confessed, are compelled to revoke their incantation.

Imaginarii are they who send as it were the figures they fashion to the presiding spirits, that by them they may be informed on matters of doubt. Holy Scripture³⁹ assures that such are idolaters and condemned by the judgment of divine majesty.

Dream interpreters⁴⁰ are they who by some art claim they have the power of interpreting dreams.

Palmists are they who by inspecting the hands prophesy concerning things unknown.

Crystal-seers are they who by gazing into smooth and polished surfaces such as shining sword blades, basins, cups, and mirrors of various types, satisfy the curiosity of their clients; an art which Joseph⁴¹ too is said to have practiced, or rather feigned, when he accused his brethren of having stolen the cup in which he was accustomed to prophesy.

Astrologers⁴² are they (though this word has a wider application as well) who, from the position of the stars, the situation of the [53] firmament, and the movement of the planets, foretell the future, as illustrated in the lines,

A truth abiding fate on even balanced scales Our destinies doth weigh; or else between The Twins, the natal hour divides the lot Concordant of us twain. Assuredly there is Some star which links thy fate with mine,⁴³

as if it were an established fact that the courses of the stars and their connection the one with the other fix, so to speak, a kind of fated

³⁸ Ovid, Her. vi. 91-92 (L. C. L., p. 76). ³⁹ Ezek. xxl. 21.

⁴⁰ Quintilian, Inst. Orat. III. vi. 30 (L. C. L., I, 424).

⁴¹ Gen. xliv. 5.

⁴² Latin mathematici. Isidore states that this is the popular name for them, the learned one being genethliaci (calculator of nativities). Orig. VIII. ix. 23.

⁴³ Persius, Sat. v. 47-51 (L. C. L., p. 372). In this quotation Persius refers to the concordant destinies of himself and his friend Cornutus.

course for things, which in reality results from the free action of the will. The error of the astrologist is repeated in the calculator of nativities,⁴⁴ who specializes upon the hour of birth. Hence the satirist remarks

Unto astrologers thy nativity is known.⁴⁵ They are sometimes termed horoscopi.⁴⁶ To quote again,

O horoscope, thou bring'st before us, twins Of diverse temperament.⁴⁷

This science flourished and doubtless was lawfully practiced to a certain extent until after the star in the heavens announced the birth of Christ, and with its strange, marvelous guidance led the Magi, then men of worth,⁴⁸ to offer their adoration, the first fruits of piety. Thereafter, however, astrology was absolutely banned.⁴⁹

Salisatores⁵⁰ are they who, as a result of palpitation in the limbs or unexpected movements of the body, pronounce a future event favorable or unfavorable.

Fortune tellers⁵¹ are they who, under the name of false religion by a sort of superstitious observation of things, promise certain results: for example, the lots⁵² of apostles and prophets and those of fortune [54] tellers; the use of the Pythagorean table;⁵³ the observation as well of every incident that may have significance for the matter under investigation.

⁴⁴ Latin genelliaci; Gellius, N. A. XIV. i (L. C. L., III, 2); the genethliaci of Isidore. See above, n. 42.

⁴⁵ Juvenal, Sat. xiv. 248 (L. C. L., p. 282).

⁴⁶ "Horoscopi are they who examine the time of men's birth with its diverse and varying destiny." Isidore, Orig. VIII. ix. 27. This is a purely medieval meaning of horoscopi. John is therefore at fault when he gives this meaning to the word in his quotation from Persius below. The word in classical Latin always means "nativity."

⁴⁷ Persius, Sat. vi. 18-19 (L. C. L., p. 394). ⁴⁸ Matt. ii.

⁴⁹ "At first the interpreters of the stars were called Magi, who, as we read in the gospels, announced the birth of Christ; subsequently they were called mathematici. Their art was tolerated until the time of Christ, for after his teaching no one cast nativities." Isidore, Orig. VIII. ix. 25-26.

⁵⁰ Isidore, Orig. VIII. ix. 29. ⁵¹ Ibid., 28.

⁵² This consisted in opening the Holy Scriptures at random and taking as an omen the first passage that met the eye. The custom was doubtless adopted from the Sortes Vergilianae of classical antiquity.

⁵³ The Pythagorean table or globe (Latin tabula or spaera) was a method of divination. A diagram of the table with directions for its use in predicting the recovery or death of a sick person is contained in the reference cited by Webb: K. Gillert, Neues Archiv fur altere deutsche Geschichtskunde, V, 254.

The Phrygians⁵⁴ are said to have been the inventors of augury which consists in the observation of the conduct of birds, expressed in voice and flight. There is, moreover, according to the augur's tradition, a flight that has to do with the feet as well as with the wings; vola⁵⁵ indeed is the inner portion of the palm or foot; hence, in the sixth book of Virgil,⁵⁶ the doves are described as volantes instead of gradientes (walking). It is indeed regarded as a good omen if walking doves, provided they are feeding, advance in front of travelers.

Chapter Thirteen. Omens in General

A ROMAN consul,⁵⁷ having been sent on a military expedition and being unable to secure favorable auspices, directed that pigeons which had been starved for some time be sent on ahead and that kernels of wheat be spread on the road where he was to pass, in order that by their omen at least he might offset to some extent the unfavorable auspices. However, when they persisted in refusing food he ordered them hurled into the river that they at any rate might drink. Drowned in the swift current they served as a premonition that the consul and his army would perish in like manner. Such in fact was their fate.

Bees brought honey to the lips of the infant Plato,⁵⁸ thus presaging that the eloquence of his style was to be of striking sweetness.

Hiero,⁵⁹ afterward tyrant of Syracuse, a position won by his merit, had when an infant been exposed to die by his father, a nobleman, for the reason that his mother was a slave. The child was considered

⁵⁴ Isidore, Orig. VIII. ix. 32.

⁵⁵ Isidore says, "For vola means the middle of the foot and hand and, in the case of birds, the middle portion of the wing bone, by which the feathery portion of the wing is moved; hence volucres, birds." (Orig. XII. vii. 4). The translator knows no classical authority for the statement with regard to the wing's being called vola. See Servius, Comm. in Verg. Aen. vi. 198: "Some think that volando [flying] is equivalent to ambulando [walking] because the middle portion of the foot or hand is called vola."

⁵⁶ Virgil, Aen. vi. 191 (L. C. L., I, 520).

⁵⁷ P. Claudius Pulcher. When birds ate greedily the omen was favorable. Valerius Maximus, IV. iii. Cf. Cicero, De Div. II. viii. 29 (L. C. L., I, 292); Florus, Epit. I. viii. 29 (L. C. L., p. 84).

⁵⁸ Cicero, De Div. I. xxxvi. 78 (L. C. L., p. 308); II. xxxi. 66 (L. C. L., p. 444); Valerius Maximus, I. vi.

⁵⁹ Justin, xxiii. 4.

a dishonor to the line and an ignominious blot upon an illustrious name. The baby, bereft of human aid, was succored by the bees and kept alive for a number of days by the honey which they brought to it. Consequently, on the advice of soothsayers who prophesied that he was destined for the throne, he was recovered, acknowledged by his father, and given a careful education.

[55] Ants made a pile of grains of wheat on the cradle of little Midas,⁶⁰ indicating that he would be very rich; hence poets fable that all that he touched became gold.

His cap fell from the head of Sulpicius⁶¹ when sacrificing, and this cost him his holy office.

Marcus Fabricius heard the squeaking of a shrew mouse and lost his office as prefect.⁶² If you place complete credence in the nonsense of the Spaniards⁶³ and notice on beginning a task that your clothing has been gnawed by mice, desist from your undertaking. If as you go out you trip on the threshold, stop. If on the point of transacting business you suffer some loss, defer what you have begun lest you be entirely thwarted or what you do accomplish prove ineffectual. Wait until such time as you may begin again under better auspices. Everything has some significance. When you sally forth, birds which are named prophetic will indicate to you the secrets of the future. What are those birds, you ask. Why, those which the poets assert have been changed from human beings into the form of birds. Listen with attention to what the crow says. Be sure not to disregard its position when perched or flying. It is indeed significant whether it be on the right or left; in what position it be as it turns its eye upon your elbow as you walk along; whether it chatter, caw, or be quite silent; whether it go on ahead or follow; whether it await your coming as you pass, or fly away; and in what direction it go; for as Virgil says,

Had not a crow upon the left from high On hollow oak warned me to stay, as best I might, this new dispute, your Moeris here, Menalcas too, would not be living now.⁶⁴

⁶⁰ Valerius Maximus, I. lxii; see also n. 58 above. ⁶¹ Valerius Maximus, I. i. 5.

⁶² But Valerius Maximus, I. i. 5, says "dictator."

⁶³ This expression had its origin in the wide acceptance of apocryphal writings by the Spaniards. "A multitude of apocryphal writings introduced by the Pricillianists usurped the place of the Scriptures." Smith, Dictionary of Christian Biography.

⁶⁴ Virgil, Ecl. ix. 14-16 (L. C. L., I, 66).

[56] Virgil seems to have run counter to the art of augury in that the crow which he asserted saved his life has no knowledge of auspices of high import. Possibly in this instance the portent took place contrary to nature. Such was the case when the words which the crow perched on the Tarpeian rock proclaimed in Greek to the city when the richly deserved and long desired destruction of Domitian was impending, "It will be well." The interpretation of the augur was as follows:

The crow which lately perched upon Tarpeia's

Rock, because it could not say "It is,"

Cawed out "'Twill be."⁶⁵

But you must forgive the scholar-poet, either because he is drawing a picture of rural simplicity or because the life of the poor seems of little importance to the rich, who assert that mankind is created to wait upon the few.

But the raven, which you are to watch with no less care, gives omens on matters of higher importance and everywhere takes precedence of the crow. Then too there is the swan, in augury the favorite bird of sailors⁶⁶ since it has foreknowledge of the secrets of the waters, thanks to its being on such familiar terms with them. Don't you remember in Virgil that

Twice six swans rejoicing in the sky⁶⁷

announced by prophecy of Venus the safe return of Aeneas' fleet? Swans when joyful promise favorable outcome not only to sailors but to all travelers, unless this be canceled by the coming of a more potent omen; for example, if the eagle contradicts, as he is the king of birds unless we except the eaglehawk (which is perhaps only the strongest specimen of the eagle kind) he nullifies credence in all other birds by virtue of his royal majesty. In Statius⁶⁸ an army of Greeks might have been comforted by the prediction of the birds. But behold, a mightier host⁶⁹ coming through space predicted on the authority of Amphiaraus the destruction of the Greeks as well.

⁶⁵ The meaning of the augur's words is not so clear as that of the words quoted by Suetonius: "The crow which lately perched upon the top of the Tarpeian rock said 'It is well'; it could not say 'It will be well.'" Dom. 23 (L. C. L., II, 384).

⁶⁶ Webb remarks that Isidore, making the same statement, quotes from Aemilius Macer's poem on birds: "The swan ever the happiest in augury because he sinks not beneath the waves." Orig. XII. vii. 19.

⁶⁷ Virgil, Aen. i. 393 (L. C. L., I, 269).

⁶⁸ Statius, Theb. iii. 525ff. (L. C. L., I, 488).

⁶⁹ Ibid., 530, 531 (L. C. L., I, 488ff.).

For although the eagle is surpassed by certain birds, there is none more efficient in predicting what will come to pass. He can outstrip [57] all other birds in flight; he is nowhere excluded from the secrets of Jove himself, since he is said to possess such keenness of vision⁷⁰ that from high heaven he can espy tiny fish in the depths of the sea and can fix his gaze upon the orb of the sun (something impossible for other living creatures). As a result of the keenness of his senses, he received by grace of Jove a knowledge of truth and of the mysteries of nature.

Who would dare to say that one who shares the plans of Jove is a false interpreter of the same? An eagle, flying above the field as the battle between the Locrians⁷¹ and the men of Croton was still raging, is said to have conferred the victory upon the former, who though few in number annihilated an innumerable host. We read that this sign was supported by a stranger one. Two young men of lofty stature and graceful bearing, clothed in white, preceded the Locrians, one on either side. It was commonly held that they were Castor and Pollux. Omens of this type are of greater significance when they appear in pairs. When Hiero,⁷² whom we have mentioned before, was beginning his military career an eagle suddenly perched on his shield as he advanced, indicating that he would be a doughty warrior and would become king. The day on which Alexander was born⁷³ two eagles sat perched on the ridgepole of his father's house, an omen of double empire, in Europe and Asia.

Vultures portend difficulties, hardships, and rapine, such as accompanied the founding of Rome. The appearance of the phoenix is a strikingly happy omen. It appeared when Constantine was founding a new Rome⁷⁴ under happier auspices. A bird of brilliant plumage⁷⁵ gave its name to the city of the Pictavi, auguring by its voice and color the fickleness of that race. The heron presages times of [58] stress. The stork, being the bird of harmony, finds it or produces it. The crane [grus] always brings the advantageous; consequently the archaic word gruere whence is derived congruere, to be advantageous, and its antonym, ingruere. Hence the line

⁷⁰ Isidore, Orig. XII. vii. 10, 11. Isidore also remarks that the word aquila is derived from acumen, keenness of vision. See above, p. 39, n. 22.

⁷¹ Justin, xx. 3. ⁷² Ibid., xxiii. 4. ⁷³ Ibid., xii. 16.

⁷⁴ I.e., Constantinople. Webb states that the appearance of phoenix on this occasion is not mentioned elsewhere.

⁷⁵ I. e., the pie; Latin pica. City of the Pictavi, i. e., Poitiers.

Bis vitibus ingruit imber.⁷⁶

One should not, however, disregard the significance of lesser birds, as when the chattering pie warns you to be cautious not only in many other matters but especially in the reception of strangers. If the bird commonly called albanellus⁷⁷ flies across the road, passing from left to right, do not doubt the success of your entertainment; if it fly in the opposite direction you may expect the reverse.

Domestic fowls too are not without knowledge of this art. The crowing of the cock⁷⁸ is auspicious for one's expectations, for a journey, or for undertaking a task. On the eve of Tiberius' birth⁷⁹ his mother Livia, now in her own and now in the hands of her maids, kept warm an egg which had been taken from a setting hen, until it hatched a cock with a fine crest. As a consequence the augurs said that the boy about to be born would be emperor.

Omens from the horned owl, the screech owl, and the night owl are always unfavorable. The night owl, however, for the reason that it is not blinded by the darkness of night, points to the watchfulness of a man of discretion, as in the portent of the night owl said to have perched upon the spear of Hiero⁸⁰ as he advanced to his first attack. This was an indication that he would be a man of great discretion. Dido heard the ill omened screech of an owl as she lay in the arms of Aeneas.⁸¹

If a hawk or other bird of that type seizes its prey in its accustomed way before the eyes of a traveler about to start on his journey, rapine threatens him while on his way. Ovid jokingly refers to this omen in the line,

We hate the hawk because he lives for war.⁸²

[59] The kinglet itself, also called bistricus, at times does not disdain to prophesy. Even small birds by their coming and going indicate the diminution or the augmentation of the household. The calmer the flight of all birds the more favorable the omen. Consequently the augur Melampus, mentioned above,⁸³ laments as he presages from the flight of birds the slaughter of the Greeks,

⁷⁶ Virgil, Georg. ii, 410 (L. C. L., I, 144). Virgil's text reads "shade" instead of "storm."

⁷⁷ An unidentified bird.

⁷⁸ Pliny, N. H. x. 24. Cf. Cicero, De Div. II. xxvi. 56 (L. C. L., p. 434).

⁷⁹ Suetonius, Tib. 14 (L. C. L., I, 314).

⁸⁰ Justin, xxiii. 4. ⁸¹ Virgil, Aen. iv. 462 (L. C. L., I, 426).

⁸² Ovid, Ars Am. ii. 147 (L. C. L., p. 76).

⁸³ See p. 46, end. But the above mentioned seer is Amphiaraus.

Thou see'st that no bird wings its course serene.⁸⁴

You may ascertain the outcome of your journeys from beasts also. You are to avoid the hare; that is if it escape, for undoubtedly its fitting place is the table, not the road. You are to be grateful if you meet a wolf.⁸⁵ He is indeed the herald of good news, though he is harmful if he sees you first. Hence the following:

His very voice fails Moeris; wolves have Seen him first.⁸⁶

Hiero of Sicily,⁸⁷ engaged in his school work, was writing in the company of his companions when a wolf suddenly appeared among them and ran away with his tablet, thus confirming the man's success by an unprecedented form of prodigy. Need more be said? Whosoever believes that the founder of the Roman line was suckled by a wolf will not deny its efficiency in augury. Hence some of the more attractive qualities of the Romans savor of the wolf. The earliest of them preserved for each other the fidelity which they had learned from their wolf-mother. The same characteristic was transmitted to their posterity.

If you meet sheep you should be thankful, remembering to avoid the goat of which the poet remarks,

Avoid a meeting with the goat; it butts.⁸⁸

You may meet oxen threshing, but if they are plowing it is a better omen. Be not displeased if they cause an interruption in your journey because the pleasure of your entertainment will compensate you for the delay.

The mule brings bad luck; the ass is useless notwithstanding that it is most useful for bearing burdens. The horse sometimes brings [60] good luck but the most serviceable thing about him is his service to man. He does indicate disputes and battle. At times however the omen is modified as the result of his color or the service to which he is put. Consequently in Virgil, when Italy rises to view and old Anchises sees white horses, he cries out

Ah, war! 'Tis war thou bringest, O land Of our adoption.⁸⁹

⁸⁴ Statius, Theb. iii. 503-04 (L. C. L., I, 486ff.).

⁸⁵ Pliny, N. H. viii. 34.

⁸⁶ Virgil, Ecl. ix. 53 (L. C. L., I, 68). ⁸⁷ Justin, xxiii. 4.

⁸⁸ Virgil, Ecl. ix. 25 (L. C. L., I, 66).

⁸⁹ Ibid., Aen. iii. 539 (L. C. L., I, 385).

The stag, the wild goat, the wild boar, the wild ass, and others of this type I would have you meet at table rather than on the road. Aeneas, having laid low stags to the number of the ships,⁹⁰ turned by his prowess what seemed an ill omen to the service of himself and his companions.

A dog at heel is most comforting; if Hebrew tradition is reliable the very angel who accompanied Tobias⁹¹ did not scorn its companionship. Then too Cyrus,⁹² being exposed to die in the forest by his wicked grandfather, was suckled by a bitch and attained the throne of Persia. The locust, although its power is very limited, thwarts the desires of travelers perhaps for the reason that it causes those who are walking to stop (loco stare). To offset this the cicala speeds the traveler on his way and favors the completion of any undertaking. A spider, if it spin its web overhead, is thought to hold out the hope of coming wealth.

Meeting with a toad announces success to come, though for myself I can scarcely bear the sight of one. As a matter of fact there is nothing so potent as man, nothing so capable, and you will find no other creature who can with greater perspicacity expound truth. So if you wish to perfect yourself in this art you will with complete mental concentration note his station, natural gifts, gestures, carriage, and the meaning of what he says.

They tell us that it is ominous to meet a priest or monk. I too believe it is dangerous to meet not merely priests but philosophers [61] as well. It is also safer to meet slaves than those invested with high power. A woman walking with uncovered head is to be regarded as bringing ill luck unless, as we read in Pliny,⁹³ she be a woman of the street or is notorious for numerous liaisons. Nor is it well to encounter one who is not ashamed to disfigure her head by removing her veil.

From what you hear at the beginning of any action you may prognosticate what is to follow.

Then leaning on the staff he bore in his

Right hand, the god replied: All things are wont

To be implied in their beginnings; words

⁹⁰ Ibid., i. 192-93 (L. C. L., I, 254).

⁹¹ Tob. vi. 1.

⁹² Justin, i. 4.

⁹³ Webb finds no such statement in Pliny.

We hear, we weigh with timid ear; the seer Consults the first bird seen.⁹⁴

Beginnings do indeed prognosticate what is to come. The consul Petilius,⁹⁵ storming the height in Sicily which was named Death, as his soldiers stripped for action remarked: "Today I shall have Death." It so chanced that he met death that day. Another consul also, on being appointed to carry on the war against the king of the Persians,⁹⁶ asked his little daughter, whom he met at the door weeping, the reason for her tears. She replied that Persa had died, for so her puppy which had just died was named. The consul set out on the campaign but did not win his triumph for the very good reason that the Persian king had perished at the very time that the consul's daughter was crying because she had lost her puppy.

Even from the elements themselves and the state of the weather auspices may be deduced. A grateful dew or moderate shower mitigates the cruelty of chance. Periods when there is dew, a moderate amount of rain, or clear bright weather (if the undertaking be begun at once) are believed to be the precursors of good fortune. When for-[62] tune, which had long frowned upon the Phrygian exiles, at length as from a watchtower of grace regarded them more kindly, Above his head appeared a cloud of rain.⁹⁷

Venus, paving the way for the hospitable reception of her shipwrecked son by Dido, gave him Achates as an attendant and concealed them in an enveloping cloud to introduce him to the favor of the queen.⁹⁸

Peals of thunder also have various meanings. If they produce any harm whatsoever due to the bolt, they are of ill omen, hence the lines:

As I recall, the oaks oft struck by bolts Foretold this woe for me, had not my mind Been clouded.⁹⁹

⁹⁴ Ovid, Fast. i. 177-80 (L. C. L., p. 114). The correct text of the passage has "omens" in place of "all things," and the last line should say "At the first word ye prick up anxious ears."

⁹⁵ Valerius Maximus, I. v. 9. The incident occurred in Liguria, not Sicily.

⁹⁶ The king in question was Perses, king of Epirus, a fact which would spoil John's pun upon the word Persa, a Persian and the Puppy's name. See Cicero, De Div. I. xlvi. 103 (L. C. L., p. 334).

⁹⁷ Virgil, Aen. v. 10 (L. C. L., I, 446).

⁹⁸ Ibid., i. 411ff. (L. C. L., pp. 286ff.).

⁹⁹ Ibid., Ecl. i. 16-17 (L. C. L. I. 4).

This too must be considered, whether the bolt descend in one path or scatter its flames all through the riven air; the latter is always somewhat sinister. Ancient history is unequal to the task of narrating how full of flashes the air was, how many whirling clouds of fire therein, how many hurtling bolts, at the time that Gaius Caesar was menacing his native land with civil war; at that time

Dark night saw stars it knew naught of.¹

But if the heavens be not invaded by a tempestuous thunderstorm and if the rumbling be on the left, it is taken to announce Jove's approval. When Aeneas heard Jove's thunder on the left,² he believed that he had won his favor by the sacrifice he had offered. However this may be, the fact that no one will feel the stroke of the bolt who has heard its crash or who has seen its flash may calm man's innate fear.

Tiberius Caesar³ used to wear a laurel crown upon his head when the sky was somewhat stormy because its leaves, they say, are invulnerable to lightning. He was indeed always in terror of thunder and would tremble violently when he heard it. There is, however, without a shadow of a doubt a far safer refuge for man; that is to cherish [63] in his heart faith in the Cross, in his head belief in justice, and with stainless fingers to mark his brow with the saving sign of his faith. He should have ever before his vision Him who, banishing all worldly fear, said to his flock "Fear not the signs of the sky which the gentiles fear, because I, your Lord God, am with you."⁴ It is said that these words, heard or uttered during a thunder storm, have protected many from the danger of lightning. But there is nothing which, because of threatening signs, so shakes the entire being as a guilty conscience which fears at every instant that it must atone for its sins. Hence, says the moralist with regard to the guilty,

They are the men who quake and pale each time The lightning gleams.⁵

On the other hand the just man has the boldness of the lion.⁶ So

¹ Lucan, Phars. i. 526 (L. C. L., p. 40).

² Virgil, Aen. ix. 630ff. (L. C. L., I, 154). ³ Suetonius, Tib. 69 (L. C. L., I, 390ff.).

⁴ Jer. x. 2.

⁵ Juvenal, Sat. xiii. 223 (L. C. L., p. 262). ⁶ Prov. xxviii. 1.

too it is said "Whatever shall befall the just man, it shall not make him sad."⁷ The brightness of flame, if it be such as not to burn with its heat, confers the prestige of fame. Though it scorch not, it is still fire, if Plato be acceptable on this point.⁸ "Fire has" says he "in my opinion two properties; one consuming and destructive, the other soothing and of harmless brightness." He asserts that the latter is the source of vision and exercises its function especially in the heavens. Fire as though sent from heaven played around the head of Ascanius,⁹ who accompanied his father on his perilous exile. This was a prediction that for Ascanius happiness would spring from the banishment and that he would found a great race.

The fame of Alexander of Macedon and Octavian Augustus¹⁰ was predicted at their birth by the miraculous appearance of fire. An accompanying breeze blesses with the hope of success one setting out on a military expedition. As long as the standards are born against the foe they will, on the testimony of the breezes, be triumphant; but if they are threatening their own country they arouse justifiable fear.

[64] Earth herself is also conscious of mysteries, but more frequently her tidings are of grave import because resting upon her own solid foundation she prefers a state of rest to disturbance. When therefore a rumbling is heard from her she is condoling bitter experience, and in order to show her affection for her children is protesting in a voice of sorrow. She is indeed the great and loving parent of all of us. She desired to protect the Phoenician queen from the embraces of her guest,¹¹ but because Venus, the goddess of hospitality, had already prevailed, filled with heartfelt grief she rumbled, since rumbling with her takes the part of groaning. Again, as often as she trembles she foresees some danger for her children unless perchance she is suffering the pangs of birth. Then in truth she has a complete miscarriage or a premature delivery because, as often, when

The mountains are in labor, a puny mouse is born.¹²

⁷ Ibid., xii. 21.

⁸ Tim. 45B (L. C. L., p. 100). John knew no Greek; his acquaintance with the Timaeus was through the Latin version of Chalcidius. ⁹ Virgil, Aen. ii. 679ff. (L. C. L., I, 340). ¹⁰ Suetonius, Aug. 94 (L. C. L., I, 262ff.). ¹¹ Virgil, Aen. iv. 166 (L. C. L., I, 406). ¹² Horace, A. P. 139 (L. C. L., p. 462).

These are the instances by which one may see that she keeps her

watch over the greatest possible number.

Examples of the like are many; quite Enough to bore loquacious Fabius¹³

and whatosever house is built upon them cannot, methinks, be saved

by safety herself.¹⁴

¹³ Ibid., Sat. i. 13-14 (L. C. L., p. 4).

¹⁴ Terence, Adel. 760 (L. C. L., II, 298).

BOOK II

Introduction

[65] ALL THAT is said or done serves the purpose of the sage and is a medium for practicing virtue. For even his leisure is labor, and as he weighs in the scale of reason the import of all things he seizes with wisdom and discretion, as with virtue's grasp, all that avails for happiness. You too inspire confidence in your extraordinary wisdom, both by the convincing proof of the rectitude of your conduct and by your philosophic attitude toward the frivolities of others. Consequently, let our treatise on frivolities continue its joyous progress, since your excellency commands its appearance in public, that it may exhibit astrologers along with practitioners of other trivialities, inasmuch as you guarantee safety to those whom you have emboldened to sally forth. What is to follow is therefore connected with what has preceded, and if any mistake or lapse in taste be in evidence in either we trust that your kindness and wisdom will make the necessary correction.

Chapter One. Omens Meaningless; Circumstances the Result of Each One's Faith

IT is a farmer's proverb, possibly one of Orfellus,¹ that he who puts faith in dreams and augury will never be free of worry. We consider the statement perfectly sound. Of what significance is it in the sequence of events whether one sneeze once or several times, or that he [66] yawn, or in fine give vent to any sound? Such manifestations, for reasons with which physicians are acquainted, do indeed pertain to some extent to him who is subject to them. We grant this provided they be not supposed to impede or to promote the activities of others any more than do silly charms or certain amulets² worn

¹ A farmer friend of Horace. Horace, Sat. II. ii. 2, 3 (L. C. L., p. 136).

² Isidore calls them execrable remedies condemned by the medical profession, whether in the form of enchantments, magic writing, or in formulae for banishing or retaining a person. Orig. VIII. ix. 30.

by the superstitious, practices condemned by the whole medical profession despite the fact that some people give them the high sounding name of supernatural phenomena.³ By the supernatural, the laws of which are most mysterious, they mean those manifestations of nature which cannot be compassed by human sense unaided. In fact there is no act or object whose origin is not due to some specific cause and purpose.⁴ As one has put it, "nothing upon earth is done without a cause."⁵ This is a statement generally accepted because nothing escapes the hand of the master builder of nature. It is consequently apparent that all things belong to the domain of the supernatural. I, for my part, whatever may be the nature of these things, firmly believe that only those things should be accepted which are the product of faith and are attributed to the glory of an omnipotent God; for I know that it has been written "and whatever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord,"⁶ in whom alone the way of man prospers.⁷ It was thus that the host of all the saints excelled.

One Cuthbert, the standard-bearer of our people in the law of God, placed the gospel of St. John upon the bodies of the afflicted and they were made well. A tunic of Saint Stephen⁸ was placed upon the body of a dead man and he arose. One possessed by devils has been cured by the Apostles' Creed which he was carrying. The Lord's Prayer repeated in perfect faith while herbs were being gathered or administered, has frequently produced the medicinal effect required.

[67] St. Benedict by the sign of the cross shattered the deadly cup as if he had used a stone instead of a sign.⁹ To carry upon one's person passages of the New Testament, to listen to or repeat them, has been found effective in many instances. Such and similar practices are not merely permissible; they are highly useful. But from others one should flee, not merely look upon them with contempt. It is indeed true that all things work for the good of those who

³ Latin physica, a feminine singular, normally means in medieval Latin "medicine." It is to be noted that the proponents of the use of amulets etc., give it a wider meaning approaching the classical physica, a neuter plural, "physics."

⁴ Plato, Tim. 28A (L. C. L., pp. 48ff.). See above, p. 53, n. 8.

⁵ Job v. 6.

⁶ Col. iii. 17. ⁷ Jer. xii. 1.

⁸ Augustine, De Civ. Dei, XXII. viii. 12, 16.

⁹ The brothers over whom St. Benedict presided, angered by stern discipline, offered him a cup containing a deadly potion. Before taking it Benedict made the sign of the cross, whereupon the cup was shattered. Gregorius Magnus, Dial. ii. 3.

love God.¹⁰ Unbelievers, reprobates, or even those who waver in their faith are subjected by God to many disillusionments. All omens however possess power only in proportion to the faith of him who receives them. Consequently Julius Caesar could be diverted from no undertaking whatsoever by any augury or other superstition. It chanced that sailing once for Africa, as he disembarked he slipped and fell; by exclaiming "Africa, I hold thee,"¹¹ he averted the omen, as in fact he did get hold of it.

Furthermore his wife, Calpurnia,¹² on the last night that he was to know on earth had a vision that she held in her arms his body pierced with wounds. She begged him not to attend the senate on the following day but could not prevail upon him. He could not endure the thought of ever acting timidly in anything, no matter what the portent. In the destruction of Massilia¹³ he was the first to turn the axe upon a grove that was reputed to be dedicated to the gods, thus proving that all superstition was quite foreign to his nature.

The apostle Mark, setting out for Alexandria to spread the gospel, when on disembarking he burst the latchets of his shoe offered thanks that his journey had been unimpeded. If one is called back as he starts on a journey he should not on that account, if indeed he has set out with the blessing of the Lord, give it up, unless he is persuaded that every recall is of bad omen because of the example of the raven which lost its charming hue when it was recalled by the crow and chose not to stop but to continue on its way.¹⁴ Such are the inanities that seduce the heedless mind; the mind of faith disregards them utterly.

Chapter Two. One Should Not Disregard Entirely the

Import of Natural Phenomena

[68] ALTHOUGH I assert that all omens are meaningless and credence should not be given to augury, I do not condemn the authenticity and value of those signs which have been conceded by divine ordinance for the guidance of man. In manifold ways indeed¹⁵ God

¹⁰ Rom. viii. 28.

¹¹ Suetonius, Jul. 59 (L. C. L., I, 82, top).

¹² Valerius Maximus, I. vii. 2.

¹³ Lucan, Phars. iii. 436ff. (L. C. L., p. 146).

¹⁴ Ovid, Met. ii. 547ff. (L. C. L., I, 48);

¹⁵ Heb. i. 1.

instructs his creatures; now by the sound of the elements, now by signs of animate and inanimate nature he makes manifest what is to come in accord with what he knows to be expedient for the elect. Certain preceding signs foretell the coming of storms or of fine weather, that man who is born for toil¹⁶ may in accord with these regulate his activities.

Consequently farmers and sailors, as the result of certain familiar experiences, infer what ought to be done at any particular time by conjecturing the state of the weather to come from that which has preceded. In this connection I think that birds, a subject treated in a former chapter, have not been neglected by mother nature. The gull,¹⁷ the kingfisher,¹⁸ the swan frequently disclose the secrets of nature. When about midwinter you notice the kingfisher building nests and brooding, you may be assured that fifteen days of fine weather will ensue. Sailors are accustomed to observe carefully these birds, and the period during which scarcely a breath of wind is felt is called halcyon days. One may reasonably conjecture that this period has been granted them by nature to permit the hatching of their young.

But when you see waterfowl diving joyfully, you may expect showers. When you hear a crow cawing in the morning¹⁹ it is calling for rain:

I do not think because of that, that they Possess a nature more divine, nor yet A greater judgment by the will of fate,²⁰

[69] but because ever abiding in the air they feel more quickly within themselves its moods and hence experience joy or fear. Nor is it surprising that the bodies of animals too, though heavier than birds, are frequently affected by external influences, and by a sort of mysterious dispensation of nature necessarily feel in harmony with the elements.

The blessings or evils to which living bodies are subject the medical profession, with its rules, understands with a reasonable degree of certainty, if the periods are recurrent and of some duration, or even if only for the moment. Physicians learn to recognize the im-

¹⁶ Job v. 7.

¹⁷ Pliny, N.H. xxviii. 87.

¹⁸ Gellius, III. x. 5 (L. C. L., I, 268); Pliny, N. H. II. xlvii; Ovid, Met. xi. 745ff. (L. C. L., II, 172).

¹⁹ Virgil, Georg. i. 388 (L. C. L., I, 106); Pliny, N. H. XVIII. lxxxvii.

²⁰ Virgil, Georg. i. 415-16 (L. C. L., I, 108).

minence of health, disease, or the state they term neutral, or even death itself by preceding symptoms, and at times, if they are acquainted with the causes, they effect remarkable cures. But if, to use their own words, "they do not know the causes"²¹ how can they effect a cure? Assuredly not by art; if at all, by chance. The judgment they pronounce as the result of their knowledge of symptoms, though attained with difficulty, often proves exceptionally sound.

Good weather²² and the different types of storms and tempests are indicated by many signs which the moon reflects as in a mirror. For a ruddy tint betrays wind;²³ dark blue, rain;²⁴ a combination of the two, showers and high winds. A bright sunrise promises sailors the serenity which its countenance wears, especially if on its fourth rising²⁵ (for this is the most dependable sign)²⁶ it is neither red with blunted horns nor dark with gathered moisture;

For all that day and those that follow in Its train until the ending of the month Shall be quite free of wind and rain.²⁷

It is also of import whether the setting sun rejoice with symmetrical rays or blaze red with interposing cloud; whether it be brilliant with unobscured splendor or fiery with the driving winds; whether white with snow or spotted with impending rain.²⁸ The atmosphere [70] as well, the sea itself, and the size or appearance of the clouds offer much information. Then too birds and fishes give definite signs of what is to come, and this the divinely inspired Virgil or Lucan²⁹ feels; Varro also, in his instruction to harried sailors in his books on seafaring.

Chapter Three. Some Signs of General, Others of Specific Application; Significance of the Double Sun

THE SIGNS which occur in accordance with nature's laws in the case of the sun and the moon are quite definite and attested by many authors.

²¹ Celsus, i. Proem. 14 (L. C. L., I, 8 alibi).

²² From this point to the end of the chapter Vegetius is quoted.

²³ Virgil, Georg. i. 430-31 (L. C. L., I, 110). ²⁴ Ibid., 453 (L. C. L., I, 110).

²⁵ Ibid., 432ff. (L.C.L., I, 110).

²⁶ The statement in parentheses is not found in Vegetius.

²⁷ Virgil, Georg. i. 434-35 (L. C.L., I, 110). This quotation is not found in Vegetius.

²⁸ Virgil, Georg. i. 440ff. (L. C. L., I, 170). ²⁹ Vegetius does not mention Lucan.

Who dares say the sun deceives?³⁰

As often therefore as the sun appears double in the heaven, the earth beneath may expect floods. This rare and seemingly miraculous appearance is none the less a phenomenon of nature, there being in reality not two suns³¹ but a reflection in the clouds of the one. This is called parelion,³² which means a cloud of the semblance of the sun, a sign of considerable but not of general application, for some signs are specific and others general; specific when they affect individuals; general when they affect many, or all. Each type is thought to originate sometimes in the will of a kind creator, sometimes in nature's laws, and again in malicious spirits whom God permits to torment men.

To distinguish these, explain their operation, and deduce their causes is indeed a task difficult, indefinite, and often too deep for man's mind to compass. None the less there are volumes filled with discussion on such subjects, the result of the irresponsible fancies of the astrologers.

Aeneas asserts that

He followed destiny, his goddess Mother pointing out the way,³³

[77] for the reason that Lucifer, identified with Venus, appeared to him as he took the auspices and continued with him until he reached Italy. It is human ingenuity that adjusts

The various eclipses of the sun, the labors of the moon,³⁴ to the circumstances of life.

Chapter Four. Signs That Preceded the Final Destruction of Jerusalem

AN ANCIENT history (so called because its author is unknown and the subject matter ancient) states that on the eve of the destruction of Jerusalem for twelve consecutive nights, even in out-of-the-way regions, the moon was in eclipse. This possibly indicated the overthrow of Jewish disbelief and the banishment of superstition which very properly attended the illumination of the world by Christ through

³⁰ Virgil, Georg. i. 463-64 (L. C. L., I, 112). ³¹ Seneca, N. Q. I. xi. 2. ³² See ibid.

³³ Virgil, Aen. i. 382 (L. C. L., I, 268). ³⁴ Ibid., Georg. ii. 478 (L. C. L., I, 148).

the agency of his apostles' teachings. It has indeed been written: The fool changes as the moon but the wise man remains steadfast as the sun.³⁵

Many other incidents also occurred as divine judgment threatened the unbelievers. Should I begin to narrate them in detail as they are stated by writers, they alone would indeed take up all one's time and leisure. A few of them however, with Josephus as my authority, I shall briefly summarize for the reason that they are helpful in strengthening our faith and refuting the stubborn disbelief of the Jews. For [72] the punishment of the wretches was put off until forty years after the perpetration of their crime.

During these years³⁶ all the apostles and particularly James, who was said to be the brother of our Lord,³⁷ having been appointed bishop of Jerusalem was tireless in reminding the people of this wickedness and the fatal character of the deed they had committed. He warned them to repent if they could of what they had done, to weep if possible for their crime, and to quench the avenging flames with the flood of their tears. God by his patience was proving that he was desirous of their repentance; for God desires not so much the death of the sinner as his conversion and life.³⁸ Moreover, in his divine majesty he was striving to soften the hardness of their hearts by signs and portents displayed in the sky and by showing the terrors of his threatening hand rather than by turning it against them. The credibility of the historian mentioned above will be adequate to vouch for this as well as for the other statements.

Let us therefore review what Josephus himself has confirmed in the sixth book of his history. "But," he remarks, "certain vile deceivers by their false ravings kept persuading the populace not to put faith in the self-evident signs and indications of heaven's wrath and indignation by which the destruction of the city and its people was being indubitably foretold.

"But as though paralyzed and bereft of sense, without eyes or souls, they disregarded all heaven's warnings. A bright star like a sword was seen to be raised threateningly over the whole city; a comet, too, blazed with deadly flame the whole year through. Then,

³⁵ Ecclus. xxvii. 12.

³⁶ From this sentence to the end of the chapter John quotes Eusebius (iii. 7, 8) in the Latin version of Rufinus. ³⁷ Matt. xiii. 55; Mark vi. 3. ³⁸ Ezek. xviii. 32; xxxiii. 11.

before the period of destruction and war, when the people were assembling to celebrate a festival on the eighth day of the month Xanticus,³⁹ which is the same as April, at the ninth hour of the night such a blaze of light invested the altar and the temple that everyone thought it was broad day, and this persisted for half an hour. The thoughtless and ignorant interpreted this as a favorable sign, but its sinister import did not escape those learned in the law and approved teachers. At the same festival a calf that had been led to the sacrifice, as the very attendants were laying their hands upon it, gave birth to [73] a lamb. Then too the door of the inner temple, which looked toward the east, covered with plates of bronze and consequently of such weight that it required the united effort of twenty men to swing it, secured as it was with iron bolts and bars and fastened by pegs let deep into the pavement, suddenly flew open of its own accord at the sixth hour of the night and the twenty-first day of the month.

"Some days after this festival, on the twentieth day of Arthemesius, which with us is the month of March, there appeared a strange, almost incredible vision. It might have been deemed false but for the fact that the credibility of the eye was confirmed by the calamity and miseries that ensued. The whole surrounding atmosphere appeared crowded with chariots of war; cohorts of soldiers were seen amid the clouds and cities surrounded by rising hosts.

"Likewise on another feast day which is called Pentecost, as the priests at nightfall were entering the temple to perform as usual their holy office, on a sudden they detected a movement and a sort of rustling; then heard voices breaking out with these words: 'Let us move hence; let us move from this abode.' In addition another terrifying incident occurred. There was a certain man named Jesus, son of Ananias, of humble country stock. Four years before the war, when the city was at peace and prosperous, on the day called the Feast of the Tents,⁴⁰ he suddenly burst forth: 'A voice from the east, a voice from the four winds, a voice above Jerusalem and her temple, a voice above bride and bridegroom, a voice above the people.' Ceaselessly, day and night, he passed through the streets crying these words. At last some of the leaders of the people, moved with indignation at what seemed an omen of evil, had the man arrested and flogged. But

³⁹ A Macedonian word.

⁴⁰ Called Senopigia, celebrated in memory of the forty years' sojourn of the Jews in the desert.

he, without a word in his own defense and with no plea to his captors, with undaunted persistence, kept repeating these same words. Then the leaders, realizing that the man's actions were of super-[74] natural origin, brought him before the Roman judge, in whose presence he was mercilessly flogged; but never a plea or a tear, only the same pitiable cry with its note of lamentation as the lashes fell, and then the added words, 'Woe, woe unto the people of Jerusalem.'"

The same historian proceeds with another incident of even greater import. He states that a certain oracle was discovered in sacred script which pointed out that at this same period a man would come forth from their land who would gain the dominion of the whole world. The historian himself surmises that the oracle pointed to Vespasian. But Vespasian held sway only over those people who were subject to Rome. Consequently the words are more plausibly applied to Christ, to whom the Lord said: "Ask of me and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, and the uttermost part of the earth for thy possession";⁴¹ and his sound went out at the same period into all the earth, through his apostles and their words, unto the ends of the world.⁴²

Chapter Five. Calamity of the Besieged; Outcome of Their Perverse Obstinacy; Pity of Titus

THAT it may not be imagined that the many significant signs were indicative of an ordinary scourge or of perfunctory indignation of God against the impenitent Jews, a succinct account will be given of unendurable calamity and irreparable destruction and of such enslavement of an outcast and blinded people as has never been heard of or experienced in all of the ages.

The extent of suffering of the whole world at this period;⁴³ how the land of Judaea itself was ravaged by war, famine, fire, and slaughter; the many thousands pitilessly slain, husbands with their wives and little children too, without number; the sieges of different cities and [75] then the harrowing sack of the great and flourishing city of Jerusalem itself; the horror of indiscriminate slaughter; the wars without end; and finally, in the words of the prophet, the abomina-

⁴¹ Ps. ii. 8. ⁴² Ps. xviii. 5; Rom. x. 18.

⁴³ From this sentence to the end of Chapter Six John quotes from Rufinus' Latin version of Eusebius, iii. 5, 6.

tion of desolation in that once famous temple of God; and finally utter destruction by fire and flame. If one desires a more detailed account he may consult the pages of Josephus.

Of this we select only that which serves to illuminate the task we have undertaken. The principal point is that the people of Judaea on the feast of Pentecost assembled at Jerusalem as though herded by some hand bent on their destruction. The historian narrates that there were some three million souls there by the righteous judgment of God, at the stated time of vengeance, in order that they who at the feast of Passover had violated with bloodstained hands and blasphemous words their own saviour, Christ, Son of God, might be all shut as within a single prison on the very anniversary of the awful deed to receive the merited punishment of their deadly sin.

I shall not enumerate all that they suffered by the edge of the sword or engines of war. I shall merely set forth what they endured as the result of stark starvation, in the words of our historian, that they who read this account may understand how great the guilt to sin against Christ and with what severe penalties such arrogance is punished. Come then, let us take down the fifth volume of Josephus, for in it the whole tragic story may be perused.

"To remain or to perish," he continues, "was one and the same thing for the well-to-do; for had they remained in the city the charge would have been brought against them, for the purpose of securing their wealth, that they were plotting to desert. The demands of hunger increased the mob's arrogance, and their boldness grew with their hunger. There were no public supplies of grain, but marauders, forcing their way in, searched the houses, and if they found any food they would wreak vengeance upon the owners as though they had been deceived; if they found none they tortured them on the [76] pretext that they had been at pains to hide it. The very fact that they were still alive in the flesh was deemed proof that they were holding back provisions, for assuredly they had ere now perished had they not been concealing somewhere their hoarded stores. Those worn down by emaciation were left undisturbed. It seemed waste of time to slay those so soon to perish of starvation.

"Many, however, in secrecy spent all their means to purchase a measure of wheat (if they were wealthy, or barley if less well-to-do), shut themselves up, each in the privacy of his own home, and devoured the grain, some not even waiting to make it into bread; others, however, as well as their fear and destitution permitted,

cooked it. None waited to lay a table but snatched from the very fire their own scorched grain as though they were pilfering it, and devoured it. A pitiful sight it was when the stronger discovered and pounced upon even this meager store; for the weaker there was naught left but lamentation and tears.

"Although hunger vanquished all other pangs there was nothing that it undermined and destroyed so effectively as the sense of right and wrong. For all that in normal times was deemed worthy of respect was, in this desperate plight, disregarded. As a result wives snatched food from the hands and mouths of their husbands, children from their parents, and, more distressing still, mothers from their little babies. Even when their dear ones, before their eyes and in their arms, were perishing no one refrained from snatching from their very lips the food that would prolong his own life, were it but for a moment.

"But even those who partook of such meager and wretched food could not escape detection. Marauders were everywhere, and as soon as any one of them saw a closed door he took it as proof that those within were eating. Disregarding bolts and bars, they rushed in and, if I may use the expression, forced from the very jaws and recovered any food that had been already taken. Old men were beaten did they attempt to sell food; women were seized and dragged by their streaming hair as they strove to conceal such food as chanced to be [77] detected in their hands. No reverence for age, no pity for childhood; they would swing in the air and dash to the ground little children as they clung tenaciously to their pitiful morsels of bread.

"Crueler still were they to one who had anticipated the plunderers by consuming the food. They contrived cruel torture, stopping up the wretch's natural passages of evacuation and in other cases forcing sharpened stakes up the same. I shudder as I narrate what took place. They kept urging the wretches to digest, after that, one loaf or even a thimbleful of flour. The torturers were themselves not suffering the pangs of hunger. It might have seemed more endurable had it appeared that their acts were impelled by hunger. But either to secure future store for themselves or that they might not lose their knack of cruelty, even in the case of those who succeeded in making their way through the outposts of the foe to gather grass, if they chanced to meet them as they returned rejoicing in having escaped the hands of the foe, they would seize all that they had brought. If the victim besought, invoking God (that name once awe-inspiring), that they

would grant him but a small portion of what he himself had secured at the peril of his life, they would concede him absolutely nothing. It was regarded as a kindness if a single soul was allowed to depart with his life."

To the above Josephus adds a few details. "When the Jews had lost all hope of saving themselves by leaving the city the increasing severity of the famine continued to ravage their homes, their families, and their nation to a degree that the corpses of women and children were lying stark within the houses while the bodies of old men strewed the streets, the victims of starvation rather than of age. Youths and the more robust like specters wandered the streets and lanes, collapsing wherever starvation overtook them as they walked.

"The vast number of the dead and the weakness of the living prevented the burial of the bodies of one's kin; the uncertainty of his own life made each fearful. Finally, not a few would breathe their last over the bodies they were striving to bury. Many too as they followed the dead, before they could reach the tomb, would give [75] their last gasp. But neither the usual lamentation nor grief attended the dead because hunger had claimed all this for itself. Then too starvation had dried the fount of tears. The city was wrapt in deep silence and the pall of death was spread over all things.

"Harder to endure than all these woes, robbers alone flourished; they did not deem it wrong to strip and despoil the dead, not so much for plunder as to cap the climax of mockery and to test the keenness of their blades by hacking the bodies. At times it was the point to be tested and this was soon turned against some who were still breathing. When others, half dead, saw this they would extend their palms in supplication that upon themselves too, as a favor, they might do their awful work and more quickly free them from the agony of starvation. But with cruelty unbelievable, the death they of their free will were dealing they would deny when sought. When, however, with a groan the dying would turn their eyes to the temple, it was not their own death that caused their grief but the thought of the impunity of the brigands who were to survive them.

"At first orders were issued that the dead be buried at public expense because of the unbearable stench, but when funds failed owing to the hosts of dead the bodies were cast from the walls. When Titus was making his rounds and had seen the valleys choked with the bodies of the dead and his country reeking with human gore, with

a deep groan and with hand raised to heaven he called God to witness that this was not his work and that he sustained the burden of it against his will."

After some pages Josephus continues somewhat as follows: "I shall not hesitate to state my own views, for I think that if ever for a moment the Romans had ceased their operations against the impious citizens the city would have paid the penalty of being destroyed by the yawning earth, flood of water, or by the fires of Sodom and hurtling thunderbolts, because it would have begotten for our present age a race more ill-starred and vile than that which suffered the foregoing woes. Because of it the whole world had merited destruction."

[79] He continues in the same strain in the sixth book. "Those who were perishing of starvation throughout the entire city were beyond numbering, and the misery incapable of description. In every house where any food had been found, there straightway bloody war broke out between beloved parents and children, as they strove to tear the food not merely from each other's hands but even from their jaws.

"No faith was put even in the dead. In the very hour of their last agony they were searched by marauders to see if they had concealed any food in their bosoms. Others, as the result of hunger, with open jaws like mad dogs darted hither and thither, and as though driven by a sort of frenzy would rush back a second or third time to the same houses into which they had burst but a moment before. The sad plight turned everything into food, even that which dumb animals were not wont to eat. Finally they fell upon thongs and leathern belts or even their very shoes; stripping off the covering of shields also, they would endeavor to eat them. Some would devour wisps of moldy hay and would parcel out and sell minute portions of four drachms' weight of the refuse they had gathered."

Chapter Six. The Mary Who, Driven by Hunger, Ate Her Own Child

"BUT WHAT avail such details to illustrate the crushing burden of famine when compared with a deed which was committed there such as was never heard of among the Greeks or the barbarians? So horrible as to seem well nigh unbelievable. I would indeed have gladly passed in silence such a heinous deed for fear of giving the impression that I am pandering to man's interest in the horrible, had I not the

testimony of many men of our own generation that the awful thing was done. Furthermore I do not wish it thought that I am showing partiality to my own country by suppressing the words of those whose deeds she had to endure.

[80] "A certain woman of good breeding and wealth dwelt in a community beyond the Jordan. She was named Mary, daughter of Eleasarus, of the village of Bethezob, which means house of Ysopus. She found herself in Jerusalem along with the multitude that had flocked there and was, as everybody else, suffering the miseries of the siege. The remnants of her property which she had brought with her from her home and from which she was deriving a meager sustenance had been seized by the despots. Remnants is perhaps too strong a word for that which, from time to time, bands of marauders had been plundering. As a result this courageous woman was driven to such a pitch of frenzy caused by resentment that at times, with curses and reviling, she challenged the thieves to slay her. But none, either in wrath or in pity, would kill her, and whatever food she sought was itself being sought by others; there was by now none for anyone. Frightful hunger now assailed her vitals, penetrating her very being, and starvation at last drove her to fury. Impelled by the pangs of hunger and by rage, she steeled herself against the very laws of nature.

"She still carried at her breast a baby boy. Holding it out before her eyes she cried, 'Unhappy son of an unhappy mother, amid this war, famine, and pillage, for what brigand am I preserving you? Even were it possible to hope for life, still the yoke of Roman slavery presses down upon us. Now, however, starvation outweighs even slavery, and harder to endure than either, pillagers press us sorely. Come therefore, my son, be thy mother's sustenance, the cause of rage to robbers, the example of the ages, and the climax of the disasters of the Jews!' As she said this, she cut the child's throat. She then roasted the body, of which she ate one half and one half she concealed for future use. But lo! Suddenly a plundering band burst in and, detecting the smell of burned meat, threatened to kill her on the spot unless she point out the food they knew she had prepared. Her reply was: 'I have saved the choicest part for you,' and straight-[81] way she uncovered the baby's limbs that yet remained.

"A frightful shudder shook their frames; hardened as they were, their blood curdled in their veins and their tongues clave to the roofs of their mouths. But she with scowl of hate and more ruthless

than the brigands themselves, spoke out: ' 'Tis mine own son, fruit of my womb, and I did the deed. Eat, for I was the first to eat what I myself produced. Be not more scrupulous than a mother or weaker than a woman, for if pity prevail and you abhor my viands, I who have already partaken thereof will partake again of this.' Thereafter they who had left to the wretched mother of all her wealth this meal alone departed, quaking with fear.

"The whole city was straightway filled with the report of the frightful deed and each one conjured up before his eyes the crime that had been done, shuddering as though he himself had done it. All who were hard pressed by starvation were in the greater haste to perish, asserting that happy indeed were they whose lot it had been to pass away with ears undefiled by the story of such woe." Such is Josephus' account.

Chapter Seven. Of the Number of Those Taken Captive, Slain, or Who Had Starved to Death

FOLLOWING the same authority I shall append a brief account of the end of this appalling disaster. Our author, computing the number of those who had perished by hunger,⁴⁴ thirst, or the sword, makes a grand total of eleven hundred thousand. He also declares that others — robbers, murderers, and marauders — as the result of feuds among themselves perished after the destruction of the city. He states that all the choice youth conspicuous for height and physical beauty were reserved for the triumph; that of the rest above seventeen years of age some were sent as slaves to work in the Egyptian mines and some distributed among other provinces to fight as gladiators or against wild beasts. Those under seventeen years were ordered distributed as slaves to the several provinces. Their number [82] reached the enormous sum of ninety thousand.

All this took place in the second year of the reign of Vespasian according to that which Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ had predicted, for he saw, as though present, events that were to come. According then to the testimony of the Gospels, as he gazed he shed tears over the city and uttered these words as though addressing her: "If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that

⁴⁴ From this sentence to the end of the biblical quotation below, "and thy children who are in thee," John quotes from Rufinus' version of Eusebius, iii. 7.

are to thy peace! But now they are hidden from thy eyes. For the days shall come upon thee and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round and straighten thee on every side and beat thee flat to the ground and thy children who are in thee."⁴⁵ In this wise many divine warnings thundered on ears that in general were deaf to them, until the blood of the righteous⁴⁶ and even that of the most righteous only begotten Son which was foully shed by the wicked, was sacrificed in accord with the righteous judgment of the Lord. They were therefore smitten with misfortune, trampled by wars, and banished from their native land by a blast of divine indignation, so that in that famous city one stone did not remain upon another.⁴⁷ Great was the tribulation of that people whose hearts were harder than stone, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now.⁴⁸

Chapter Eight. The Wandering of the Faithful Whom at That Time Christ Saved at Pella⁴⁹

NOW THE congregation which had been gathered at Jerusalem was divinely ordered to go across the Jordan to a certain town named Pella, in order that after the servants of God had been taken away opportunity might be given for the vengeance which was to be wreaked upon the city. This Eusebius of Caesarea narrates at greater length in his Ecclesiastical History.

Chapter Nine. Witness to Christ Which Josephus Bears

[83] MOST justly indeed did they who laid sacrilegious hands upon the Son of God suffer all these woes, since by the testimony of the Scriptures and by his own miracles it was established that Christ was the true son of God. Consequently Josephus says "There was moreover in those days a wise man,⁵⁰ Jesus, if indeed it be right to call him man. For he was a worker of miracles and a teacher of men

⁴⁵ Luke xix. 42-44. ⁴⁶ Matt. xxiii. 35.

⁴⁷ Matt. xxiv. 2; Luke xix. 44. ⁴⁸ Matt. xiv. 21.

⁴⁹ This chapter is quoted from Rufinus' version of Eusebius, iii. 5. ⁵⁰ The passage from this sentence to the end of the chapter is quoted from Rufinus' version of Eusebius, i. 14.

who love the truth and he joined unto himself many Jews and many gentiles, too. This was the Christ. When Pilate decreed that he suffer crucifixion those who had loved him from the beginning did not abandon him, and he in living form appeared unto them on the third day, for divinely inspired prophets had predicted that such and countless other miracles would be performed by him. To this day the name and sect of Christians, as they were called, persist."

Chapter Ten. Vespasian Is Said to Have Cured a Lame and a Blind Man

ACCORDING to some writers the finger of God by miraculous signs pointed out to Vespasian the way to punish the tribe who laid Judaea waste, and to Titus, his son, who utterly destroyed Jerusalem.⁵¹

Vespasian, before he was emperor, as he was sitting in judgment was approached by two cripples, one blind and the other lame. They begged alleviation of their infirmity for the reason that it had been indicated to them in dreams that the eyes would be restored if he would but gaze upon them and the defective leg be made whole if he would deign to touch it with his foot. At the insistence of his [84] friends he did, though unwillingly, as implored, and the cures were effected. His reign also and the death of Vitellius and Otho who were the successors of the monster Nero, were foretold by many signs in the heavens, some of them amazing.

Chapter Eleven.⁵² Signs That Violate Nature's Laws

THAT astounding things of this sort which happen in such cases are generally signs no one will doubt who recalls and believes the promise of the Gospel that "There shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars" etc.⁵³ The signs that appeared on this occasion, however, I think without prejudice to a better theory should be classed with those that violate nature's laws; that is to say, the obscurity of the sun at the crucifixion,⁵⁴ the rending of the veil of the

⁵¹ Suetonius, Vesp. viii. 1 (L. C. L., II, 298).

⁵² With content of Chapters Eleven and Twelve cf. Augustine, De Civ. Dei, xxi. 7, 8.

⁵³ Luke xxi. 25. ⁵⁴ Ibid., xxiii. 45; Matt. xxvii. 51-52.

temple, the bursting of the rocks, the yawning of the tombs, and the rising of the many bodies of saints that had fallen asleep. The eclipse could not have been a natural one, which latter is the result of the obscuration by the moon, since it is an established fact that it took place on the day before the fourteenth moon. It is of course barely possible that some unbelieving Jew gave vent to his incredulity by asserting that at the time Venus was in the ecliptic opposite to the sun, for it is indeed a large planet and, as astronomers say, the only one of five which casts a shadow like that of the moon.⁵⁵ This, because it is not supported by reason, authority, or fact, is rejected as untrustworthy; for if Venus' body is so luminous, how could it produce such darkness?

Dionysius the Areopagite in a letter to Polycarp writes that he and several other philosophers had seen at that time the moon impinging upon the sun, contrary to the law of nature for it was not the period of their conjunction.⁵⁶ Paul's preaching of this a little later was the cause of his conversion. I am aware that there are others who have a different story to tell on this score, but I give preference to Dionysius because he wrote of what he saw; others have drawn upon their imagination.

[85] Very often however there are signs which are not merely universal but also general, as for example the darkness which at the death of Christ spread over the entire world from the sixth to the ninth hour.⁵⁷ The particular or less universal element in such signs covers the scope of the general by reason of its everlasting character; for that death did indeed unveil the face of Moses⁵⁸ for all, rend persistent hardness, and make everlasting joy the first fruit of the resurrection.

Those signs also which it is said will foretell for fifteen days the day of judgment, if indeed they are to be, for they have no foundation in canonical writing, will not be subject to the laws of nature; that is to say if here, as elsewhere, by nature we mean the customary course of events and the hidden causes of phenomena for which a reasonable explanation can be given.

⁵⁵ Martianus Capella, viii. 883.

⁵⁶ Dionysius Areopagita, Ep. vii, in the version of Joannes Scotus. Dionysius the Areopagite, who flourished about the end of the fifth century, was erroneously supposed to have lived in the early Christian period.

⁵⁷ Matt. xxvii. 45. Approximately from 12 to 3 P.M.

⁵⁸ 2 Cor. iii. 15. 16.

Chapter Twelve. Plato's Belief That There Is Nothing

Contrary to the Law of Nature for He Says That

Nature Is the Will of God

IF WE agree with Plato, who asserts that nature is the will of God,⁵⁹ as a matter of course none of the above mentioned occurrences violate the laws of nature, since all things have occurred in accord with his will. He, as he enforces the laws of nature, has in view divine goodness as the ultimate goal. He, Plato continues, is the personification [86] of goodness; consequently entirely freed from envy. Hence He decreed that all nature should be like unto himself in so far as each of its parts is susceptible to divine happiness. If anybody postulates that this purpose of God is the real source of all things, I agree that his judgment is sound.⁶⁰

Indeed the wisdom and goodness of God, in which originate all things, are with perfect truth called nature, and nothing works contrary to this because nothing annuls the purpose of God or interferes with those causes which have existed from eternity in the mind of him who in his understanding has made the heavens.⁶¹

So there exist in things primal causes of phenomena and primitive motives which in the preordained time work out their results; hence marvelous indeed, not because they have no motives but because these motives are hidden. As an example, moisture⁶² from the depths of the earth is drawn by the roots of trees and vines because they possess a sort of appetitive quality; it is then distributed by a natural process to the stems of plants and when perfected by its own digestive processes surges into the shoots and distributes what it does not need for its own existence to the leaves and fruits. When the latter are mature they foam with must, and after a proper interval of time our native wine is the result.

But if by God's hidden purpose the juice, when distributed by certain channels of nature and matured, is unexpectedly turned into wine without the intervention of time, we have a miracle because the extent of divine control transcends our understanding. But, as the philosopher says, "Let the mists of error be dissipated and the marvelous will cease to be."⁶³

⁵⁹ Augustine, De Civ. Dei, viii. 3, states that Socrates sought the cause of things in the will of God. See Plato, Phaedo, 99 (L. C. L., pp. 340ff.).

⁶⁰ Plato, Tim. 29E, 30E (L. C. L., p. 54) in the version of Chalcidius.

⁶¹ Prov. iii. 19.

⁶² Augustine, De Gen. ad Litt. vi. 15.

⁶³ Boethius, Consol. Phil. IV. met. v (L. C. L., p. 338, top).

I am not weakening faith in God's marvels and their authority. In fact, filled with humility, I venerate and marvel at the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God,⁶⁴ knowing that the foolishness of God is wiser than men.⁶⁵ For to fall into error in many matters is but human weakness, while to know naught but reality is the divine perfection of angels.

Chapter Thirteen. How God by Signs Deigns to Forewarn His Creatures

[87] THIS too is proof of divine pity; at times God forearms our ignorance by the warning of signs. It is indeed believed that the appearance of a comet proclaims the imminence of comitia [assemblies]. We all recall the line:

The comet that portends the fall of thrones.⁶⁶

Anyone with a mere smattering of historical knowledge is aware of the signs that occurred also when destruction threatened Italy. Volumes written by historians treating of memorable events are filled with accounts of prodigies and portents. Finally under Elijah and Elisha you are aware that many true and miraculous signs were in evidence. The Men of Nineveh repented⁶⁷ because of the disclosure of signs at the preaching of Jonah. Infidelity is halted by the evidence of signs, and wavering faith is strengthened. Hence the saying, "What sign showest thou unto us?"⁶⁸ and "Jews ask for signs and Greeks seek wisdom."⁶⁹

Chapter Fourteen. The Definition of Signs; Sleep

IN THIS discussion signs are understood to mean all that by any indication gives man an inkling of divine intention. A sign is something that makes an impression upon the senses and in addition has some significance.⁷⁰ There are, however, some signs which make no im-

⁶⁴ Rom. xi. 33.

⁶⁵ 1 Cor. i. 25.

⁶⁶ Lucan, Phars. i. 529 (L. C. L., p. 40).

⁶⁷ Matt. xii. 41; Luke xi. 32.

⁶⁸ John ii. 18. ⁶⁹ 1 Cor. xxii.

⁷⁰ Pseudo-Augustine, Dial. (Migne, P. L. xxxii. 1410).

pression upon the bodily senses and yet which convey truth or falsehood to the mind by the aid of some medium, or even directly, without the intervention of such mediation.

At times signs are true; at times false. Who is ignorant of the various meanings of dreams which experience approves and the authority of our forefathers confirms? In dreams especially, since it is [88] the sleeping state, the animal properties⁷¹ (that is to say the senses which are called corporeal but are in reality spiritual)⁷² are quiescent, but the natural properties are intensified.

It sometimes happens that the mind, refreshed by physical exercise, returns to its own sphere with freer sweep and contemplates truth with greater intuition; now figuratively or allegorically, now face to face. This matter of truth and error did not escape the notice of him who,⁷³ depicting the gates of sleep, imagined one to be of ivory and the other of horn, since horn is penetrable for vision, which rarely errs, while ivory is of an opaque nature and even when worked down to a thin veneer is not transparent. Ivory is more like the teeth, horn more like the eyes. By the one gate true, by the other false

Dreams the Manes send to heaven.⁷⁴

Chapter Fifteen. The Types, Forms, Causes, and Meaning of Dreams

THERE are many classes, manifold causes, various forms and meanings of dreams. We recognize the troubled dream,⁷⁵ dream of hallu-

⁷¹ Latin virtutes, also called vis. See Pseudo-Augustine, De Spiritu et Anima, xxii (Migne, P. L. xl. 795).

⁷² Augustine, De Gen. ad Litt. iii. 5 alibi. ⁷³ Virgil.

⁷⁴ Virgil, Aen. vi. 896 (L. C. L., I, 570).

⁷⁵ Macrobius, In Somn. Scip. I. ii. In this passage Macrobius defines and explains at considerable length different kinds of dreams. Somnium, dream, is the more general term; insomnium, troubled dream caused by physical or mental disturbance; phantasma, hallucination, a dream on the borderland of a state of being asleep and awake, when one sees strange vague forms flitting around him, to which type belongs ephialtes or nightmare (the two last classes contain no element of the prophetic); oraculum, prophetic dream, in which some person of eminence appears — priest or even god — who delivers oracular pronouncements; and visio, vision, which produces in exact detail an event that is to occur in the future. With regard to the word insomnium Macrobius (In Somn. Scip. V. i. 3, 7) gives this explanation: "Insomnia appear with sleep and disappear with it. Hence the name

cination, ordinary dream, prophetic dream, and visionary dream. Troubled dreams are in general the result of insobriety or drunkenness, different emotions, turmoil of feeling, or vestiges of thoughts. Hence the frenzied souls of lovers are always invaded by troubled dreams. This state Virgil distinctly alludes to:

O, Sister Ann, what dreams are these that hold

Me fast in terror and suspense? The hero's

Many deeds and high nobility

Of birth surge through my mind. Implanted in

My heart his features dwell and words,

Whilst woes of love deprive my frame

Of sleep and peace.⁷⁶

These also attend grief or joy, anxiety and fear, and the flame of [89] uncontrolled desire.

Hallucination gives rise to strange kinds of forms, contradicting nature with respect to their substance, quantity, or arrangement, or number of their members. For example:

Nor foot nor head to one type corresponds — A graceful female form above becomes Below a monstrous fish.⁷⁷

Physicians state that such appearances are the result of impaired mental or physical health, and devote their attention to the causes rather than to any meaning that may be attached to them. They assign to the same category ephialtes⁷⁸ or nightmare, by which a person, as the result of various kinds of oppression, as though in semi-wakefulness or restless sleep imagines himself to be awake when in reality he is asleep, and feels himself crushed down by someone. All these types are in need of the doctor rather than of our verbal treatment, especially as the only reality that is apparent in them is the fact that they are very real but very disagreeable forms of mental ill health.

Somnium or a dream, however, which is the general term (though it may have a specific meaning as well) contains images of events

insomnium, not because it is seen during sleep, for this is a characteristic of all dreams, but because it inspires belief only during sleep itself, after which it leaves behind no significant meaning."

⁷⁶ Virgil, Aen. iv. 9, 3-5 (L. C. L., I, 396).

⁷⁷ Horace, A. P. 8, 9, 3, 4 (L. C. L., p. 450).

⁷⁸ Macrobius, In Somn. Scip. I. iii. 7.

wrapped as it were in a cloak of disguise, and it is with this disguise that the art of interpreting dreams deals. The dream at times pertains to oneself, at times to another person; sometimes it is common to both of these, at others it is of public or general application.

In all cases, however, careful attention is to be given to the condition of the actors, to the facts, and to the circumstances, for as Nestor says, with regard to the public interests credence should be given to a king's dream⁷⁹ or for that matter to that of any chief magistrate, be he a magistrate in fact or by virtue of a prediction soon to be fulfilled. Equal credence should be given when an omen involving the interest of the state has appeared to a number of people; for example, there is written evidence that a revelation was made to many Roman citizens concerning the mystery of the Incarnation, as a result, some believe, of a prophecy of the Sibyl. She indeed, instructed by the Holy Spirit, disclosed the mysteries not only of the Incarnation but of the passion, ascension after resurrection, and of the second coming, as you may discover for yourself in the Sibylline prophecies. This prophecy, which is found in the works [90] of many Christian writers, begins thus:

A sign of coming judgment, the earth oozed drops Of sweat.

If the initial letter of each verse of this prophecy be strung together in order of occurrence, the following words are formed to the everlasting confusion of the faithless Jews: "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Our Saviour."⁸⁰ To be sure the Latin alphabet is incapable of representing exactly some of the Greek letters. You will find, unless I am mistaken, these very verses in the work entitled The City of God by St. Augustine. The gist of this revelation is that the Jesus predicted is in fact the Son of the living God become flesh; the Universal Judge; the Eternal King, who will reward his faithful servants; the Source of life; and by virtue of His grace the Bestower of everlasting bliss.

⁷⁹ Ibid., 15.

⁸⁰ The Latin words of the text are Jesus Christus Teio Sother and indicate roughly what John means by the remark, "To be sure the Latin alphabet" etc., namely that Latin has no single letter to represent the th sound in Greek, nor its sound of u. The passage of The City of God mentioned later is found in Book xviii, Chapter 23.

In this passage Augustine also remarks that, on the authority of Varro, there were several Sibyls but that he himself believes the one mentioned to be the Sibyl of Eretria, a town of Boetia.

The words "in fact or by virtue of a prediction soon to be fulfilled," are used because the word magistrate refers sometimes to an official holding office at the time, and again, to an official elect. The destruction of Numantia⁸¹ became known to the younger Scipio at a period when he was little more than an ordinary soldier.

During the middle or latter part of autumn somnia or dreams usually tend to disappear, while the meaningless insomnia or troubled dreams hold sway when the leaves are falling. Virgil⁸² apparently noted this in that he burdens the falling leaves⁸³ with various kinds of dreams in the book in which he investigates all the mysteries of philosophy. Different localities give rise to different kinds of sleep, so that some dreams are more numerous in one place and others in another. A swampy or lonely place is more productive of imaginary forms than a higher or more populous region. Information also is at one time conveyed more explicitly, at another more obscurely; it is revealed now directly to the mind and again by the medium of a third person.

[91] But when this knowledge is imparted directly in a flood of light, it becomes a vision by virtue of the fact that it seems to be presented to the eye in complete and concrete form. For example, Alexander recognized Cassander,⁸⁴ whom he had never seen and by whom he was destined to be poisoned, because he had seen his living image in a dream. Further, one vision is more explicit as representing a clear picture of the event; another requires deeper consideration when an admixture of allegory clouds the meaning as in the following instance.

As Julius Caesar was crossing the Rubicon to invade his native land, for the purpose of indicating the terror of the citizens who were to be crushed by the lawlessness of a fellow citizen

A mighty figure of his quaking land Appeared unto the chief.⁸⁵

It warned its captain not to involve his fellow citizens in war. For the figure of the state was a personification of public fear and of the

⁸¹ Two passages in Macrobius (In Somn. Scip. I. iii. 13, 16) indicate clearly that this was Carthage and not Numantia.

⁸² Macrobius, In Somn. Scip. I. vi; I. xv.

⁸³ Servius, Comm. in Verg. Aen. vi. 282-84. Servius in this passage remarks that writers on dreams state that dreams are meaningless during the period when leaves are falling.

⁸⁴ Valerius Maximus, I. vii. ext. 2. ⁸⁵ Lucan, Phars. i. 186 (L. C. L., p. 16).

crushing of Rome by the terror of Caesar's name. Now if anyone believes there was no image of the state that could thus appear, the fact that there was may be substantiated by an appeal to history.

When the city fathers decided that the majesty of Rome be honored in tangible form, they had a female figure of exquisite workmanship, with a globe in her right hand, cast in bronze.⁸⁶ When the figure, lovely in its perfectly harmonizing proportions, was finished [92] it deserved not criticism but admiration and unstinted praise from the people. There were a few however who contended that such legs were incapable of supporting such a massive frame. The sculptor replied that they would suffice on all occasions until the maid should become a mother. He believed naturally that a virgin could never have a child — a miracle which occurred on the birth of Christ. When this event happened the statue fell crashing to the ground, because the kingdom of man contracts as the kingdom of heaven expands.

When a communication is made in sleep by the agency of a second person and this individual is of honorable position, worthy of reverence, we have the oracular dream. As someone has remarked, an oracle is the pronouncement of divine will by the mouth of man.⁸⁷ By man we mean anything that assumes the human form: a human being, angel, god, or what you will. Moreover, an individual is honorable and worthy of reverence either as the result of nature as in the case of a parent, of position as in the case of a master, of character as in a man of piety, of chance as in a magistrate, of religion as in a god, angel, or man consecrated to holy office.

From this it is apparent, if not directly yet by inference, that in respect to the art of interpreting dreams individuals not merely lacking honor but even accursed are included in the class worthy of reverence. On the one hand we find those of the Catholic Church paying their pious devotion to the true God and to those objects which are sacred because dedicated to his service; on the other we see heretics and devotees of superstitious cults displaying not due reverence but base servitude to false gods — nay, rather to real demons and their abominable rites.

This anomaly may be illustrated more broadly from pagan litera-

⁸⁶ Webb calls attention to the fact that James of Voragine in the Legenda Aurea, chapter six, narrates a similar legend with regard to a statue of Romulus. ⁸⁷ Seneca, Controv. Praef. 9.

ture. Aeneas,⁸⁸ guided by oracles, found the promised land he was seeking, and there by the will — we shall not say of divinity but of demons — fixed his abode and planted the seed of the Roman race in the garden which he had chosen. This was the task that father Anchises,⁸⁹ Jupiter, Apollo, and others too numerous to mention were promoting in dreams. Consequently if from that seed a tainted [93] race springs, impious toward God, cruel to man, eager to persecute our saints, rarely loyal, more often treacherous, servile in character, overweening in pride, foul with avarice, notorious for desires, swollen with insolence, unbearable because of all types of wickedness, it should not be regarded as anything miraculous, since their progenitor himself was a murderer⁹⁰ from the beginning, as well as a traitor to truth who, goaded by envy, branded the world with death. Therefore the children of such a father, although incapable of filling up his measure,⁹¹ are wont notwithstanding to imitate his vices; though it is still a fact that into such a garden some plants have been introduced by the hand of the Lord, and these, watered by the apostles, have produced the fruit of virtue.

But if one considers the whole history of the Romans from the foundation of the city he will find them victims of vainglory and greed beyond all people of the earth, and they have harried the entire world by sedition and afflictions of many kinds. They themselves have so frequently felt the burden of their own tyranny and civil strife that scarcely one of their rulers has died a natural death. The satirist Juvenal has remarked most pertinently:

To Ceres' son-in-law few kings and tyrants

Have descended without bloodshed, in

A peaceful death.⁹²

In Holy Scripture, too, many oracular dreams are recorded, as when Joseph more than once received instruction from an angel,⁹³ or rather, he was forbidden to return to Herod.⁹⁴ Peter was taught in the dream of the vessel of creeping creatures that all the peoples of the world were to be gathered together.⁹⁵ After Constantinople had been visited by the apostles⁹⁶ the banner of the Cross was raised

⁸⁸ Virgil, Aen. iii (L. C. L., I, 348ff.).

⁸⁹ Ibid., iv. 351-53 (L. C.L., I, 418); iv. 268ff. (L. C. L., I, 414).

⁹⁰ John viii. 44. ⁹¹ Matt. xxiii. 32.

⁹² Sat. x. 112-13 (L. C. L., p. 200).

⁹³ Matt. i. 20; ii. 13, 19. ⁹⁴ Ibid., ii. 12.

⁹⁵ Acts x. 10ff.; xi. 5.

⁹⁶ Cf. James of Voragine, Legenda Aurea, xii (concerning St. Silvester).

over the imperial palace, and on the restoration of peace the mistress of the world by the voice of her scribes, advocates, and judges proclaimed that all victory, power, and dominion belonged to Christ. [94] As the first two classes of dreams are absolutely without significance and the last two present truth to the understanding as it were in visible form, He generally employs the intermediate class,⁹⁷ which stretches before the body of truth a curtain, as it were, of allegory.

Chapter Sixteen. General Considerations with Regard to the Significance of Dreams and Other Signs

As THE work of artists who imitate nature is surpassed by the works of nature herself, so the significance of events, which is much more intricate than meaning conveyed by words, requires much shrewdness for the interpretation of dreams and the elucidation of riddles and signs. If an utterance has three or four meanings it is termed polixenus,⁹⁸ that is to say, "conveying many meanings."

Any particular thing has inherent in it as many meanings of other objects as it has likenesses to them, on condition, however, that the more important is never the sign of the less important thing. Signs must always hold the superior position. Consequently any substance may signify man, since he possesses something in common with all things, as is quite clear in Peter's parable of the creeping creatures⁹⁹ and in several other passages of Scripture. Then too the more striking the likeness the more naturally is the meaning conveyed. Now likeness is either essential, as similarity arising from genus or species, or accidental, as that due to quantity, quality, or other form of the accidental; or again it is the likeness of imitation, as when anyone is, for any motive whatever, patterned after another. In this sense the thing created may be quite like the creator, although they share in no essential or accidental property.

Effect also conforms to its cause, and reciprocally cause, if it be the lesser of the two, is said to be quite similar to effect. Just as judgment is identical in regard to similar events, so also the mark is the same; and because signs are frequently the same, the skill of the interpreter of dreams is in especial evidence, if with similar signs he displays caution and discretion in distinguishing different events.

⁹⁷ I. e., somnia, dreams, as enumerated in the first paragraph of the chapter. ⁹⁸ The word should be polysemos. ⁹⁹ Acts x, 10ff.; xi. 5ff.

[95] Such are the general considerations; the particulars covering individual cases have a broader application. It must however not be forgotten that the meaning of signs has a more sinister or kindlier aspect corresponding to the status of the individual concerned. For some the handling of money is an omen of death, for others, of mischance. Thus the unexpected presence of Venus for no apparent reason is quite frequently the forerunner of misfortune. Hence the words of Hypsiphile bewailing the death of Archemorus:

Not once did Venus come before My startled vision but ill befell.¹

For if, from vestiges of thought, or incited by the stimulus of Ceres or Bacchus, Venus appears, the vision is more justly to be attributed to meaningless and troubled dreams, all of which the interpreter's art rejects as without significance according to the words of the sage:

Regard not dreams; the mind of man awake But hopes for his desires, asleep beholds the same.²

At times however truth must be traced by antithesis. For example, when ruin was imminent for Pompey the Great³ sleep presaged the opposite of his dreams, and his destiny presented to the view of the doomed man the rejoicing of the city, the laudations of an enthusiastic people, and the plaudits of his own theater,⁴ as though all were well with the state.

A fact which at first sight seems foul and obscene at times may conceal the germ of that which is in reality honor and truth. Julius Caesar in his early life dreamed that he had defiled the couch of his own mother. Shocked by the abhorrent dream, he related the incident to the astrologers. Their interpretation was that the whole world was destined to come under his sway. It was thus that the aspiration of securing dominion of the world was implanted in that noble soul.

Finally who, on the face of it, was more just than Urias?⁵ Who more base and cruel than David, whom the charms of Bethsabee al-[96] lured to betrayal, murder, and adultery? All of which changes its aspect⁶ when Urias is understood to represent the devil, David

¹ Statius, Theb. 621-22 (L.C.L., II, 48).

² Cato, Dist. ii. 31 (L. C. L., Minor Latin Poets, p. 608).

³ Lucan, Phars. vii. 7ff. (L. C. L., pp. 368ff.).

⁴ Ibid., i. 133 (L.C.L., p. 12).

⁵ 2 Kings xi.

⁶ Augustine, Contra Faustum, xxii. 37. Gregorius Magnus, Mor. Hi. 28 in Job,

ii. 13.

Christ and Bethsabee the Church besmirched by the stain of sin. The usual and as it were regular rule is for interpretation to proceed from like to like.

It is however certain that this class of visions which appear during sleep does not go by opposites since they are partly vision and partly oracle and since they can be grouped with ordinary dreams on account of the figurative element in them. At times they even fall under the general classification of these dreams. All this is quite apparent to the student of Scripture. The vision of Africanus,⁷ the Apocalypse of St. John the Apostle, the oracles of Daniel and Ezekiel, the dreams of Pharaoh and Joseph,⁸ give credence to what has been stated. The light of truth shines out more frequently in the case of certain personalities inasmuch as they possess well ordered minds; others are more prone to be led astray.

Augustus,⁹ on the eve of his decisive conflict with Antony,¹⁰ was seriously ill. In a dream he was ordered to take part next day in the battle in order to win it. He obeyed, was carried to the battlefield in a litter, and won a victory.

Socrates, from the altar of Venus at the Academy, saw a swan appear, thrusting its neck into the heavens, touching the region called the empyrean, passing out of sight, and singing in such loud and joyous strains as to charm the whole world. On the following day Aristides brought his little son Plato from the Academy to Socrates to be instructed in literature and morality by him. On seeing him Socrates,¹¹ divining his mental powers from his bodily conformation, said: "This is the swan which Venus in the Academy consecrated to Apollo."

Plato, as he set out for Egypt to continue the studies in which he was interested, had a vision of his capture during the voyage and his sale into captivity. This was his fate on that voyage.¹²

⁷ Cicero calls it Scipio's Dream. ⁸ Gen. xli; xxxvii. ⁹ Valerius Maximus, I. vii. 1. ¹⁰ This should be Brutus; see citation above. ¹¹ Apuleius, De Dogm. Plat. i. 1.

¹² Webb states that this account of Plato's captivity is not found elsewhere as far as he could discover.

Chapter Seventeen. Dream Interpretation Not to Be Recommended

[97] IN DESCRIBING the methods of the interpreters of dreams I fear it may seem that I am not describing the art but am myself nodding, for it is no art or at best a meaningless one. For whoever involves himself in the deception of dreams is not sufficiently awake to the law of God, suffers a loss of faith, and drowses to his own ruin. Truth is indeed far removed from him, nor can he grasp it any more effectually than he who with blinded eyes gropes his way in broad daylight can lance a boil or treat a cancer.¹³

Although this drowsiness of infidelity in the form of dream interpretation is to be aroused by the goad of faith, and this mockery of craftiness (shall we call it, rather than of a craft) is to be battled with, we do not propose to block the path of the disposition of divine grace nor prevent the Holy Spirit¹⁴ from breathing where it will and according to its will suffusing obedient souls with its truth. But all who are credulous enough to put faith in dreams have patently wandered not only from the orbit of pure belief but also from that of reason.

Surely if ambiguous language is used which lends itself to many interpretations would not one be justly regarded as quite ignorant who, as a result of it, stubbornly makes some particular decision without taking into consideration these meanings? All things involve varied and manifold meanings, as has been stated above.¹⁵ Careful discrimination is to be made amid this multiplicity of meanings, lest by following one line too enthusiastically there be a tendency to fall into error. Hence the dream interpreter which is inscribed with the name of Daniel is apparently lacking in the weight which truth carries, when it allows but one meaning to one thing. [98] This matter really needs no further consideration since the whole tradition of this activity is foolish and the circulating manual of dream interpretation passes brazenly from hand to hand of the curious.

Daniel himself certainly had received from the Lord the gift of interpreting dreams and visions. God forbid that this prophet, who was aware that it had been prohibited by the law of Moses¹⁶ for any

¹³ I. e., any more than a blind man can be a surgeon.

¹⁴ John iii. 8.

¹⁵ I. e., particularly in Chapter Sixteen, above.

¹⁶ Lev. xix. 26.

of the faithful to pay attention to dreams, should be the one to reduce this inane practice to an art, for he well knew that the accomplice of Satan is transformed into an angel of light¹⁷ for the ruin of man and that the Lord sent upon him wicked angels.¹⁸

Joseph¹⁹ also, thanks to his gift of interpreting dreams, held the chief place in Egypt. His brothers, as if envying his dreams, sold him into slavery to the Ishmaelites but the hand of the Lord, by a miracle as pleasant as it was favorable to him, revealed the face of the future which was presented to the king as he slept and, as it were by the medium of dreams, raised Joseph not only from servitude to freedom but to the chief place among the nobles and grandees; so that only in respect to the royal throne was the king above him. Now were this possible with regard to a profession based upon human wisdom, I would be inclined to believe that one of his predecessors had won distinction before him, or I would readily think that a holy man filled with the spirit of piety had bequeathed the knowledge of acquiring distinction, if not to man in general, which would have been but right, at least to his own sons and brothers.

Furthermore Moses,²⁰ trained in all the wisdom of Egypt, either was not acquainted with this art or scorned it, since in his abhorrence of impiety he banished it from God's people. However Daniel, a holy man, acquired the learning and wisdom of the Chaldeans,²¹ which assuredly a pious man would not have done if he had believed that the educational system of the Gentiles were sinful. He had too as fellow students those whom he rejoiced to have as sharers [99] in the law and justice of God. For Ananias, Azariah, and Michael received with him all that the Chaldeans had to teach. They too were inspired by God and refrained from partaking of the royal table. Their diet too was vegetarian; they were content with it and they attended the King on his military expeditions.

But behold! A unique gift which man was unable to confer had been conferred upon Daniel²² alone; he could solve the riddle of dreams and at the dictation of the Lord clarify the obscurity of allegory. To make his intimacy with divine favor more conspicuous, he knew what the king, when lying in bed, premeditated. Pondering upon his visions Daniel had the wisdom to expound the miracle of salvation, which then lay in shadow and took place or rather was to take place at the end of the ages.

¹⁷ 2 Cor. xi. 14. ¹⁸ Ps. lxxvii. 49. ¹⁹ Gen. xli. 39ff

²⁰ Acts vii. 22.

²¹ Dan. i. 4. ²² Ibid., ii.

Are interpreters of dreams thus wont to enter even into the thoughts of others, to banish darkness, to disclose the hidden, and to clarify the obscurity of allegory? If there be any who enjoys such special favor let him join Daniel and Joseph and like them attribute it to the Lord. But for him whom the spirit of truth has not illumined it is vain to place trust in the art, since every art has its source in nature and its development in experience and reason. But reason is so undependable in the case of interpreters of dreams that for the most part it knows not where to turn or what decision to make. That this is frequently the case may be gathered from a few instances.

A certain individual (his name escapes me though I remember that the great Augustine narrates the incident),²³ much troubled by a matter which caused him to hesitate, demanded with great insistence the opinion of one to whom he was aware the matter at issue was well known. This person put off the request with promises, thwarting by his cunning the insistence of the other. It chanced that on the same night each had a dream, the one that he was giving the explanation as requested, the other that he was being instructed by his informant. The result was that when he awoke he marveled that he had obtained the knowledge without the help of the other and without [100] effort on his own part. Afterward, when as usual pleading that the promised information be given him, "What you asked," replied the other, "was done the night I came to instruct you." Who can explain such an incident unless on the supposition that good or bad spirits, influenced by the good or bad deeds of men, instruct or lead them astray?

Our Holy Mother²⁴ the Catholic Church knows on the authority of Jerome himself how he was hurried before the tribunal of God the Judge for the reason that he had been too devoted to pagan books, where he was forced to assert that he would not merely not read them further but would not even keep them. Before this declaration he had been questioned and had said that he was a Christian. His judge rebuked him sharply for being not His disciple but Cicero's.

²³ Augustine, De Civ. Dei, xviii. 18. Augustine's account is much clearer. The person questioned was a philosopher and the point in question had to do with Platonic philosophy. The questioner before he fell asleep had a vision in which the philosopher came to him and explained the point. When asked why he had not explained it before, the philosopher replied "I did not do it but dreamed I did." Augustine concludes "And thus what the one saw when sleeping, was shown to the other when awake by a phantasmal image."

²⁴ Jerome, Ep. xxii. 30.

I do not dare affirm that this should be classed as a dream since this same truthful and learned teacher most solemnly states that it was not a shadowy dream but an actual experience and that the Lord did indeed visit him. To prove his assertion beyond the shadow of a doubt, on arising he displayed the livid welts and scars of wounds upon his body.

When spirits act thus in the case of human beings the devout soul should reject every image except that which leaves its innocence unimpaired. For should the dream add fuel to vice, perchance by inducing lust and avarice or by inspiring greed for dominion or anything of the sort to destroy the soul, undoubtedly it is the flesh or the evil spirit that sends it. This spirit, with the permission of the Lord because of their sins, wreaks its unbridled wickedness upon some men so violently that what they suffer in the spirit they wretchedly but falsely believe comes to pass in the flesh.

[101] For example it is said that some Moon or Herodias²⁵ or Mistress of the Night calls together councils and assemblies, that banquets are held, that different kinds of rites are performed, and that some are dragged to punishment for their deeds and others raised to glory. Moreover babes are exposed to witches and at one time their mangled limbs are eagerly devoured, at another are flung back and restored to their cradles if the pity of her who presides is aroused.

Cannot even the blind see that this is but the wickedness of mocking demons? This is quite apparent from the fact that it is for the weaker sex and for men of little strength or sense that they disport themselves in such a cult. If in fact anyone who suffers from such illusion is firmly censured by someone or by some sign the malign influence is either overcome or yields, and, as the saying is, as soon as one is censured in the light the works of darkness cease.²⁶ The most effective cure however for this bane is for one to embrace the true faith, refuse to listen to such lies, and never to give thought to follies and inanities of the sort.

²⁵ Herodias was a north German divinity comparable with Diana. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, page 1011, quotes the whole passage of our author. Cf. Index of Grimm's work, Herodias, for further information.

²⁶ John iii. 19, 20.

Chapter Eighteen. Basis of Mathematics; Exercise of the

Senses; Powers of the Soul; Cultivation of Reason;

and Efficacy of Liberal Studies²⁷

WOULD that the errors of astrologers²⁸ were as easily removed from superior minds as evil spirits are effectively stilled in the light of true faith and sound knowledge of those illusions! Their error is, however, the more dangerous in that they seem to base it upon the firm foundation of nature and sound reason. It does indeed seem rash to people in general to abuse nature and foolish to dissent from what reason dictates. Astrologers therefore start with the truth, but the result is that though they advance further with her aid they, together with their followers, fall headlong into the snare of falsehood and the pit of delusion.

[102] They take as a sort of foundation of their teaching authentic ma'thesis,²⁹ pronounced with the penultimate syllable short, which is of natural origin proved by reason and supported by experience. As a result of their own unsound views, allured by a false vision of reason, they slip to their own destruction into pseudo mathe'sis, pronounced with the penultimate syllable long.

To begin with they discuss creation and investigate it in its manifold forms, inquiring into its divisions, material, and forms. That they may the more readily do this, they measure the force of sensations and weigh the efficacy of intelligence. Because the obtuseness of the senses does not pass beyond the nature of corporeal things, gradually, thanks to other aids, they rise to more subtle considerations. For the sense of sight in the case of body by itself when actually present takes note merely of color, bulk, form; sound by itself affects the hearing; taste passes judgment on flavor, and the sense of smell is entirely occupied with odors. Touch discerns what is hard or soft, smooth or rough, heavy or light, hot or cold, wet or dry. At times it examines form and discerns bulk or weight. It is also sensitive to pleasure or pain. It permeates in general all parts of the sentient body and so closely is it connected with the vital principle that when it departs all life of the body is seen to depart as well.

²⁷ Cf. the content of Chapters Eighteen-Twenty-Four with Augustine, De Civ. Dei, v. 1-11.

²⁸ The Latin word is mathematici, which means mathematicians as well as astrologers, and the two meanings must be kept in mind in this passage. Cf. above, p. 39, n. 21.

²⁹ See above, p. 39, n. 21.

If you inquire into the foregoing properties in the case of bodies not present your imagination, by drawing comparison from those which sense has learned to know, can bring them before you. This imagination will be dependable in proportion to the exactness of the likeness. Consequently Virgil's Tityrus complains that his imagination failed him through false analogy.

The city that they call Rome, O Meliboeus,

Fool that I was, methought like this of ours [103] To which we shepherds drive the tender offspring

Of our sheep; whereas she rears her head

Among the other cities as the cypress

Does among the bending osiers.³⁰

But if the imagination shape a more intimate likeness of an object, it is exact and trustworthy; exemplified by Andromache's words in Virgil:

O thou in whom alone survives the form

Of my Astyanax! Such were his eyes

His hands, his face. E'en now he would be growing

Into man's estate with thee.³¹

If we turn to the abstract we must employ reason and understanding, since without the aid of intelligence it is incomprehensible and there can be no true understanding with regard to it without reason. So understanding when all else fails puts forth its own powers, and as though placed in the citadel of the soul embraces all that lies below, since the higher may not be comprehended by the lower. It now views things as they exist and again in other aspects; now each by itself and now in combination. It associates what is dissociated and, again, what is associated it dissociates and separates. Understanding therefore proceeds directly as long as it contemplates any particular object — for example when it apprehends a horse or a man. But when step by step it embraces several things, it is obliged to have recourse to combination; for example, its conception of a white man, or a horse running. It associates that which is dissociated as if it Should join a horse's neck to human head Laying on bright plumage everywhere,³² with the result, according to the poet,

³⁰ Virgil, Ecl. i. 19-21, 24, 25 (L. C. L., I, 4).

³¹ Ibid., Aen. iii. 489-91 (L. C. L., I, 380). ³² Horace, A. P. 1-2 (L. C. L., p. 450).

A lovely woman's form above, below Becomes a black and ugly fish.³³

Poets convey such conceptions to their readers by means of words when they describe a goat-deer, a centaur, or a chimera.

Understanding dissociates the associated, as when it forms the conception of form apart from matter, although without matter the form cannot exist at all except as a form of being and as the forms of forms attached thereto. From these are derived those which are ma-[104] terial and produce body.³⁴ When understanding, being abstract and apart from the verity of reality, examines things otherwise than as they are, having formed them by combination it tends to error which is incident to opinion; and when it asserts that they exist or do not exist, it is, to speak plainly, mere opinion.

But although it dissociates what has been associated otherwise than it exists, provided it does so in a simple manner the conception will not be fruitless, for it paves the shortest way to a complete examination of knowledge. Such an understanding is the instrument of all philosophy, an instrument which sharpens the mind amazingly and distinguishes individual things, the one from the other, by the peculiar attributes of their nature.

If you do away with understanding that deals with the abstract the very keystone of the liberal arts will be destroyed, for without its assistance none of these can be understood or taught. And so understanding addresses itself to matter apart from form as it does to form apart from matter, and that which the power of virtue by itself is not sufficient to grasp it at times comprehends by a sort of lack of it, just as though darkness were seen by not seeing or silence were heard by not hearing.

Now no man exists who is not white or black or of some tint between, nor can there be man who is not forthwith some man, since for anyone to exist is the same as to be one in respect of number. As a matter of fact understanding deals with man in such a way that its regard does not fall upon anyone as a man, but it regards him from a general point of view, which is possible only in the singular number. For just as diversity of speech or of meaning so also that of understanding transcends by reason of its multiplicity the modes of its being, and man who can exist only as an individual is included in a general mental concept.

³³ Ibid., 3-4 (L.C.L., p. 450).

³⁴ Boethius, De Trin. ii.

Reason therefore defines what understanding had conceived,³⁵ a rational, mortal, living creature, and it is evident to every careful philosophic thinker that such a definition applies to those alone who are subsumed under a higher category. And so, as reason considers similarities and dissimilarities, as it examines more minutely agreements of difference and differences of agreements, as it carefully investigates what individual things have in common with the greater number and what with the less, and contemplates with clear vision what must be present in each thing and what cannot be absent, it finds itself in the presence of many states, some universal, others particular.

[105] Defining these according to its own judgment and making numerous divisions, it turns its attention to the mysteries of nature herself with the result that no phenomena entirely escape its scrutiny. First it casts its keen glance upon matter, the foundation of everything, in which the handiwork of the Architect of nature is in evidence, by clothing it with its various properties and forms as with a sort of vestment and by shaping it with its own organs of sense whereby it becomes more capable of being grasped by the human mind.

Therefore that which sense perceives and which necessarily has form is first and unique substance. But that without which substance can neither exist nor be understood is essential to it and is generally called second substance. That however which is indeed present in substance and though substance persists can be absent from it is classed as an accidental property; singular if there be but a single individual, universal if, though not by nature yet by analogy, it be common to many. Such properties can doubtless be discovered more easily in the domain of understanding than in that of nature.

It is easy too in the domain of understanding to discover genera and species, differences, permanent and accidental properties which are called universal, while to seek the substance of things universal in the world of fact brings little profit and costs much toil, whereas in the mental world they are easy to find and attended with profit.

Now if anyone deal mentally with the fundamental similarity of things which differ in number alone he comprehends species; but if the harmony in things which differ in species occurs to the mind the broader classification, genus, spreads out before the mental vision.

Finally, the understanding is stirred to a comprehension of the

³⁵ Ibid., Consol. Phil. V. pros, iv (L. C. L., pp. 388ff.).

universal by perceiving conformity in things which nature has made alike in respect to permanent or accidental properties; but when it ponders on the differences of similar things it approaches more intimately the works of nature which exist individually, in proportion to the exactness of the likeness, provided it views substance clothed with its own property and does not deviate from the natural state of things. But if, disregarding appearance, it strip substance, so to speak, of its vestment of form it does indeed exercise its own acumen and contemplates more freely and with greater fidelity what part of [106] nature exists in itself and what in other things by dividing it and setting apart each element, viz. substance, quantity, relation, quality, position, place, time, state, activity, and passivity.³⁶

Now although these cannot exist each as an entity, each can be investigated as though it were. This speculation in which the nature of magnitude and multitude, which taken together compass and encircle the universe, is investigated is most useful as a compendium of the whole of philosophy.

Intelligence dealing with the abstract is surely no useless and idle thing when thus employed, for through it the mind ascends the ladder of the liberal arts step by step to the throne of perfect wisdom. The mind divides multitude,³⁷ which by its own power increases to infinity just as magnitude diminishes to infinity, into two halves, as it views it, now simply and in itself and again as related to something else, assigning the one to arithmetic and reserving, as it should, the other for music.

It also cuts magnitude into two divisions, placing the one which is immovable under the jurisdiction of the geometricians, the other, namely the movable, under that of those who impart a knowledge of the stars and of the heavenly bodies. Indeed the ma'thesis as taught in the schools consists entirely of these four forms³⁸ and attains the perfection of worldly wisdom by these four so-called paths of philosophy.

So the first step is to borrow the power of number from arithmetic; the second to draw upon music for the favor of proportion; the third to secure from geometry the science of mensuration; the fourth and last to attain the true position of the stars and to examine the nature of the heavenly bodies.

³⁶ I. e., the ten types of predication or categories of Aristotle. ³⁷ For this fourfold division of mathematics see Boethius, Arith. i. 1. ³⁸ Here we have the well-known quadrivium: arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy.

[107] Of those who profess to impart a knowledge of the stars, some fall a victim to fable by reason of error due to opinion, and even Hyginus³⁹ is caught in this snare; others content themselves solely with the sphere of the imagination, reserving for the judgment of the learned the question of what constitutes truth, being content provided they grasp its similitude. Both astronomy and astrology accept each of these classes as teachers in their fields. There are others who in teaching of the stars are indeed attentive to the interest of truth but are content if they merely attain the truth of the movement of the stars and of the systems of the constellations.

Chapter Nineteen.⁴⁰ Difference between Astronomy and Astrology; Lore of Astrologers and Their Errors

BECAUSE it is plausible that there is some potency in the phenomena of the heavens, since on earth also it is believed that nothing is done which does not bestow from the hand of the Creator some beneficial result, inquisitive minds investigate the powers of celestial phenomena and endeavor to explain by the rules of their type of astronomy⁴¹ everything which comes to pass on this world below. Now astronomy is a noble and glorious science if it confine its disciples within the bounds of moderation, but if it be presumptuous enough to transgress these it is rather a deception of impiety than a phase of philosophy.

There is indeed much that is common to astronomy and astrology but the latter tends to exceed the bounds of reason and, differing in its entire aim, does not enlighten its exponent but misleads him. The following is common to each: dividing into zones, drawing parallels, turning the zodiac and its signs obliquely, encircling almost the whole celestial globe with the colures, measuring the eclipse of planets, making the outer celestial sphere independent of motion, drawing lines from the north to the south pole, dividing the signs of the zodiac by grades and points, maintaining the balance of the ris-[108] ing and setting constellations. Each agrees with physicians⁴²

³⁹ Hyginus, in his Poetica Astronomia.

⁴⁰ John draws heavily upon Macrobius, In Somn. Scip., and Martianus Capella, Book viii, for the contents of this chapter. ⁴¹ Cf. above, p. 39, n. 21. ⁴² Martianus Capella, viii. 814.

in that they do not consider that fine, tenuous bodies are distributed along fixed paths as it were and segments of circles.

They also assert in common that the sun is the source of heat⁴³ and they regulate both the increase and decrease of moisture by the motion of the moon, since sense proves it. But astrology, deriving its origin in the principles of philosophy, as stated above, goes too far and with rash pride infringes upon the prerogative of Him

Who counts the stars, whose names and signs and powers,

Courses, places, times, are known to Him

Alone,⁴⁴

since the astrologer, thanks to his art, claims this power for himself. They wander farther from the knowledge of the truth in proportion to the arrogance with which they strive to force their way to it. Pondering therefore on the nature of the signs as they had perchance come to know it, they say that some of them as they roved aimlessly among the companion stars, are of masculine, others of feminine, gender, and that perhaps they would have multiplied by offspring were it not for the fact that being separated in space they were unable to embrace each other. They explore diligently the intentions of the planets which they regard as governing the twelve constellations, and this is something easy to ascertain from their relation, motion, and attraction, the one for the other, and for the hosts of stars.

Saturn⁴⁵ therefore, because old and cold, is stern and harmful, malicious by nature, and morose because of age. Hence, inimical to all, he scarcely spares his own disciples. Next comes Jupiter, his opposite; benign, salutary, and so well disposed toward others that neither as the result of the maliciousness of his father nor the savagery of his subject Mars does he harm anyone, except that he does himself become stationary, to the detriment of the lower part of his orbit, or recedes, or suffers painful burning.

[109] Mars, haughty, unconquerable, pursues all but his own disciples, mollified at times by the approach of Jove or Venus, since she too is propitious and kindly disposed. Mercury is as the neighboring planets permit, since he himself is of unstable character and clings to the more powerful. As a consequence many consider him the

⁴³ Macrobius, In Somn. Scip. II. vii alibi. ⁴⁴ Sedulius, Carm. Pasch. i. 66-67.

⁴⁵ Webb calls attention to the fact that Firmicus, Book vii, gives a similar description of the planets.

presiding deity of eloquence, for the reason that this when united with wisdom is most helpful, when joined to evil most harmful.

Although these were not the teachings of Lucan he nevertheless touched upon the erroneous doctrine when describing the fear of the city, and when he warned that by the inevitable proofs of astrology civil war is bound to come with Caesar's advance.⁴⁶ For the learned poet (if it be proper to call one poet who by his veracious narration of events comes close to being an historian) intimated that it was fated that the evil of him who alone was lording it in heaven had undeniably to be endured. Though Figulus⁴⁷ discusses the design of fate and the intention of the stars, not yet did he transmit complete knowledge of their visible bodies, for not one of the astrologers has settled the question whether the stars are composed of the four elements or of a fifth element which Aristotle postulates.⁴⁸ For when children pose the question whether the stars are hard or soft, or some similar question, astrologers disdain to listen, although I have seen some famous men, wise in their own estimation, hard put to it on such points.

None the less they explain and prove to their own satisfaction what the deliberations of destiny are and what the purpose of the stars which they have discovered deals out to this world of ours. Possibly divine intention is thwarted, and it is no astrologer who propounds this, saying

What kind of ruin, O supernal beings Are you preparing for us? In what form Will your anger come? The day of doom For thousands coincides. Had that chill [110] And baleful planet Saturn lighted his

Dark fires in the zenith, then Aquarius Had poured out such rains Deucalion knew, And all of earth had been concealed below The waste of waters. Or if thy rays, O Phoebus, Were passing now above the fierce Nemean Lion, then fire had surged through all the worlds. Then ether kindled by thy car had burned. But all these planets now are still. But Mars!

⁴⁶ Lucan, Phars. i. 469ff. (L. C. L., pp. 36ff.). ⁴⁷ Ibid., 640ff. (L. C. L., pp. 48ff.).

⁴⁸ Cicero states that Aristotle added a fifth to the usual four elements. Tusc. Disp. I. x. 22 (L. C. L., p. 26). Martianus Capella (viii. 814) says that the stars are composed of the fifth element.

What dreadful purpose have you as you light The Scorpion threatening with its fiery tail, And scorch its claws? For Jupiter, star benign, Is hidden deep down in the west, while Venus, Healthful planet, burns quite dim and Mercury's Swift course is stayed; alone Mars lords it in The heaven. Why have constellations fled Their course to move in darkness through the sky, The while sword-girt Orion's side shines all Too bright? War madness is upon us now; The might of sword shall take the place of law And reign for many years to come.⁴⁹

From the state of the planets, the position of the constellations, and the combination of causes, how clearly and inevitably does war result! For this is of utmost importance to the teaching of the art, that it rest upon the natural or accidental abode of the planets. Since indeed all the planets except the sun and moon, which are content with one habitation each, rejoice in two, namely the natural and accidental. The natural habitat of each is that in which it was first created, if indeed the casters of horoscopes concede that they were created by the Lord.

The abode of the moon is Cancer; of the sun, Leo; of Mercury, Virgo; of Venus, Libra; of Mars, the Scorpion; of Jove, the Bowman; of Saturn, Capricorn; and all this by nature's law. By accident, Aquarius gives place to Saturn; Pisces to Jove; the Ram to Mars; the Bull to Venus; the Gemini to Mercury. The moon is kindly, and she along with other stars,⁵⁰ whatever nonsense others utter, was created by God to rule the night.

What am I to say of the Sun who is captain, prince, and guide of the other luminaries? However much devotees of the planets cry out in opposition, I do not hesitate to pronounce him good and indis-[111] pensable, since he also illumines the day for all to see, regulates its orbit, divides the year into seasons, induces nature's changes, and does much more that would be tedious to mention. But though causes of many benefits reside in it and in other luminaries, there is none the less but one First Cause, of these themselves and of all things that rightfully exist. He has created the universe by His own majesty and power and has formed and strengthened it by the

⁴⁹ Lucan, Phars. i. 648-68 (L. C. L., p. 50).

⁵⁰ Gen. i. 16.

boundless quality of His wisdom and has been influenced by goodness alone to confer both substance and form upon it.

But astrologers and star-gazers in their endeavor to extend the influence of their profession fall to their own destruction into the pit of error, impiety, and deception. The rules of no art whatsoever are preserved intact except by being confined to their own proper field; especially since it is a common experience, according to the philosopher, that discoveries are frequently made regardless of rules. Every rule is adapted to a certain class of things. If it be transferred to another its truth is immediately exposed to distortion.

If mathematicians were content with the aim of approved mathematics, that of the schools, they would have the power to ascertain the position of the stars and from their signs to presage with sober judgment the character of periods according as they occur in nature and to pluck the ripe fruit of their speculations. But when they make their phylacteries broad and enlarge their fringes⁵¹ by assigning to constellations and planets excessive power, ascribing to them some sort of authority for their work, they end by wronging the Creator. Not knowing the celestial phenomena with which they deal as a sobering influence they are, according to the apostle, fools.⁵²

See the great abyss of error into which they are cast by the very phenomena of the heaven! They ascribe everything to the constellations. Seest thou whether wrong is done Him who hath made heaven, earth, and all that is in them.⁵³ In fine the stars impose such compulsion upon events that free will is destroyed. Ponder whether this too be right.

[112] Finally, some reach such a pitch of insanity that from the different positions of the stars they say an image⁵⁴ can be formed by man which, if it be formed and preserved in the constellation through intervals of time by a sort of system of proportions, will by decrees of the stars receive the breath of life and will disclose to those who consult it the mysteries of hidden truth. And although it sometimes teaches what is just and right, as, for example, its wish to be preserved in its place in the universe or its desire that God alone be consulted when anything is sought, none the less it is quite certain that this is deception of the Evil Spirit, who in order to foster carelessness often seems to offer just and harmless precepts. No true believer is ignorant that this is indeed a form of idolatry.

⁵¹ Matt. xxiii. 5. ⁵² Rom. i. 22. ⁵³ Ps. xlv. 6.

⁵⁴ Cf. Paracelsus' remarks on homunculi and imagines. A. E. Waite, The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus, I, 124; II, 120.

Far more fittingly do those astronomers mount the heavens who, after the fashion of the disciples of the Academy, meet as they have a right to do, with the argument of probability whatever objection is made to them; and so some of them contend that the planets press against the outer motionless sphere with a sort of irrational movement of their own; others on the authority of Aristotle teach that the same are carried along with the firmament, neither of which theories is found, on the testimony of Mineius,⁵⁵ to be incompatible with the rules of astronomy.

But the casters of horoscopes, by insisting overmuch on the science of celestial bodies for the purpose of divination, have destroyed not only the knowledge of these, but also of God. Those among them however seem to have some excuse for their error who, with Plotinus,⁵⁶ do not deprive the Creator of the honor of His works but assert that law was established by Him once for all. This law no attempt can nullify since all things which He arranged are to be as He foresaw. Perhaps this is what Papinius meant when he said

He thus begins enthroned on high; his words Are weighty; fate then does as he decrees.⁵⁷

[113] Its own capabilities have been bestowed by Him upon each and every created thing, among which it were in no way fitting that the celestial bodies be neglected or that they which were the more impressive should have least power. And so God bestowed as much as he thought proper upon them, and although he retained the chief governance in his own hands he assigned to them the less impressive duty of serving as signs. Though it is but infrequently that they serve the purpose of signs, yet by God's authority they perform that service. Hence perhaps the saying, "The heavens shew forth the glory of God and the firmament declareth the work of his hands."⁵⁸ And no wonder when even birds and many other creatures, by God's provision and the kindness of nature, anticipate certain events by signs.

If therefore there are celestial indications of things which are undeniably to come to pass, since immutable destiny has so ordained, what is there to prevent that those things which are foretold by the testimony of the heavenly bodies be known by man and in turn

⁵⁵ I. e., Capella. His full name was Martianus Mineius Felix. ⁵⁶ Plotinus, Ennead. ii. 3.

⁵⁷ Statius, Theb. i. 212-13 (L. C. L., p. 356). The poet's full name was P. Statius Papinius.

⁵⁸ Ps. xviii. 2.

transmitted by him to man? Signs have indeed been given to man for his edification and not to those who, being acquainted with the celestial bodies, are not in need of them.

Chapter Twenty. Foreknowledge Not the Annihilation of

Nature; the Course of Events Not an Infringement upon

Foreknowledge; Freedom of Will Persists

along with Foreknowledge

THESE propositions of theirs are credible but beware the poison that is here concealed in the honey.⁵⁹ They impose upon things a sort of fatality under the pretext of humility and reverence for God, possibly in the fear that His decrees be nullified unless necessity be a concomitant of events. Furthermore they intrude upon the especial function of divine majesty by arrogating a knowledge by which they foresee times and moments⁶⁰ which, on the Son's testimony, have been reserved for the power of the Father, with the result indeed that things are hidden from the eyes of those to whom the Son of God has made known whatsoever he had heard from his Father.⁶¹ Then too they inflate men's minds with false pride or dishearten them with [114] cowardly despair, either by promising long life or worldly prosperity to such as deserve to be brought low, or on the other hand by threatening imminent death or mundane adversity for those who deserve to be raised up. They certainly are forbidden to lift the upper millstone, which is fear, or the lower, which is hope, between which the souls of the faithful are ground in the mill of this life. They do lift, not however so much to their own destruction and that of their clients as to affront Him who forbids.

But just as the course of events does not alter God's foreknowledge, so eternal disposition does not annihilate the laws of nature. For neither was it impossible for man not to sin because God had foreknowledge that he would sin nor was the Lord ignorant that he would sin because he had the power not to sin. Neither was he ignorant that he had the power not to die for the reason that he was to die because his sin deserved it; nor was it necessary that he die because the Lord had foreknowledge that he would. He was therefore made immortal after a fashion, as he was undoubtedly to die; it was

⁵⁹ In the ensuing chapters John follows Augustine and Boethius. ⁶⁰ Acts. i. 7. ⁶¹ John xv. 15.

guilt that brought death and this was not imposed upon him by nature's law. He would have had to be transferred from a state of immortality, in which he could not die, to one in which he would not have been able to die, had not the sin of disobedience, interrupting the course of justice, temporarily blocked his way to such glory.

So we see that, exercising complete freedom of will, he had the power to sin or not to sin, for by no harsh dispensation, no compulsion of fate, no spur of stipulation, nor yet by any fault of nature was he urged on to sin, and this as indubitable cause plunged man almost of his own free will into death. But because in wrongdoing he allowed the reins of discretion to slip from his hands, he lies prostrate, overwhelmed to such a degree that by the righteous judgment of God he is now unable to abstain from sin when he so desires, because he did not will to abstain from it when he had the power.

The only sphere in which he now exercises freedom of will is in that of iniquity and he rises to goodness only when forestalled and aided by the grace of God. Thus voluntarily leaving the path of justice he is led on to sin and death, with the result that burdened by the yoke of slavery he finds himself subject to the destiny of sin and death, although this was not brought about by the chain of fate but by the result of his own transgression. Otherwise there is no justice that will condemn man, since the blame would recoil not [115] upon him but upon his Maker. Consequently there are possibilities which will never come to pass; now these would by no means have been termed possibilities if just because they are not to be, they could not possibly come to pass. It is indeed possible that a naval engagement⁶² will take place, likewise that it will not. One of the alternatives is, however, definitely and unalterably true and foreordained.

⁶² Aristotle, De Interpr. ix (19A, 30ff.).

Chapter Twenty-One⁶³ Can God Know the Unknown'? Change Is by No Means to Be Attributed to Him; Knowledge, Foreknowledge, Disposition, Foresight, and Predestination Are One and the Same Thing; There Is an Infinity of Things True; Consequently Their Number Cannot Be Increased or Diminished; Foreknowledge Does Not Impose Any Necessity upon Things

BEHOLD the horns of another dilemma and wheresoever I turn I seem involved in error. For if things which are not, nor will be, can be foretold, God can know what he does not know or something can occur without his knowledge. For a naval engagement which is not to be — as it can be waged so it can be known by those who wage it. Can that not be known by God which can assuredly both be and be known by man? If therefore God can know what he does not know he can assuredly also not know what he knows, for the reason that there can be no knowledge of contradictories, since one of the two must be false because it lacks the substance of truth. Besides, there is no knowledge of what is not true. How therefore can there be unvarying knowledge which is subject to decrease and increase of fact and which can be ignorant of what it knows, or can know that of which it is ignorant. For if we allow that it is changeable in spite of James's objection,⁶⁴ then with Him there is change and shadow of alteration and the Father of enlightenment ceases to exist if that of which He has foreknowledge eludes Him.

[116] This indeed even the misguided pagans refuse to admit with regard to their demons, shall we call them, rather than divinities, for they say that the river Styx is impassable for the gods, asserting that it must be revered by all and at no point is it permissible to be passed by celestial beings. Forgetfulness is something that cannot touch the minds of heavenly beings. Must faith then accept that with reference to God which even paganism itself abhors? All agree that God knows that the one thing is not to be, although many do not concede that He can or cannot know that the other will be, for fear of seeming to brand Him with the mark of mutability or weakness.

Provided however, if such a thing be possible, that one does not sin as a result of the position or conjunction of the heavenly bodies,

⁶³ For content of Chapter Twenty-One Webb calls attention to Abelard, Dialect. ii; Anal. Prior, iii; and Introd. ad Theol. iii. ⁶⁴ Jas. i. 17.

let it be granted, since many so concede, that God can know what He does not know; yet no one maintains that for that reason He is changeable, for His knowledge does not decrease or increase a whit since that alone can be true in nature which He from the beginning had preordained by His immutable decree. While this is conceded, the utmost care must be exercised lest a knowledge of the forms of the verb introduced by Apollonius⁶⁵ bring in an element of disbelief or falsehood. This possibility itself of coming to pass is fittingly ascribed not to the fickleness of Him who is not moved but to the complaisance of things which can be moved without objection on the part of nature.

God's knowledge therefore remains everywhere intact and immovable, and if there be any variability in anything it is a mutability due not so much to the One who knows as to the thing known. For what God's knowledge comprises is subject to change, but that knowledge itself knows naught of such changes and compasses and holds within its one sole and indivisible ken the totality of all that can be expressed in words or ascertained by any sense whatsoever. To such a degree does it comprehend under a single form and without motion that for it neither past nor future exists, just as it comprehends the local without location, the growing without beginning, the departing without end, the fluctuating without change, the temporal [117] without mutability and motion. Nor is this surprising in the state of eternity, except that all that is there is marvelous, since even with us contemplation grasps to a certain extent the abstract idea of movement and of rapidity.

Understanding also contemplates a large object without the idea of its expansion and a small one without that of its contraction; nor does it need place to enclose the local nor intervals of space to include the distant, and therein it follows the example of the Father of light but not keeping pace with Him, since it is subjected to many disturbing influences but He to none at all.

But though the ken of the divine in its purity includes things innumerable, the substance of Him who has foreknowledge is one and indivisible and in essence one for Him, since in His case to be and to have wisdom is one and the same. Besides, let him who can imagine who it was that united such diversity without being the cause of all

⁶⁵ Sc. Apollonius Dyscolus, the grammarian. His book On Forms of Verbs is not extant, but Webb cites Egger, Apollonius Dyscole, pages 147ff., for information on this point.

things, for this cause, in order to be, needs the support of such union.

But the knowledge of the being created is in a far different situation. It is indeed not one and the same thing for spirit and soul to be and to have knowledge. Since the soul with its first impulse toward growth in power is directed toward the knowledge of things, and since, if this knowledge be so rooted that it can in no wise be torn from it without harm to nature, nature by its own character forms the soul and imparts to it the capacity of knowing. Therefore this state is fittingly called knowledge although at times the objects with which it deals are given the name of knowledge. Hence by interchange the name which belonged to the one passes to the other. So at all events the adjective "much" is applied to knowledge whereas this expression applies not to knowledge itself but to the facts with which knowledge deals.

If therefore we consider the immensity and singleness of God's wisdom, it is one, simple, and indivisible; if the great number of things with which it has to do, it is manifold and diverse. If one turn his attention to the substance of Him who possesses the will and power, the will and power are one; if to what He wishes and to what He can accomplish, the number of these is infinite; according to the saying of the prophet, "Great is our Lord and great is His power: and of His wisdom there is no number,"⁶⁶ and again, "Great are the works [118] of the Lord sought according to all His wills,"⁶⁷ and the following: "Who shall declare the powers of the Lord?"⁶⁸

This is something at once uniform and diverse and though it knows naught of diversity as a whole, yet is called by various names and for various reasons; to wit, knowledge, foreknowledge, disposition, foresight, and predestination. Knowledge however has to do with things as they are, foreknowledge with what is to be, foresight with what is to be governed, predestination with what is to be saved. Predestination is also a preparation from time eternal for grace, through which each is called to life; as the Apostle puts it, "Whom he predestinated, them he also called and whom he called, them he also justified and them he also glorified."⁶⁹ And again, "With thee is the fountain of life and in thy light we shall see light."⁷⁰

In fine, that with boldness born of reverence we may end our explanation of God's knowledge, which itself knows no end: God's knowledge is the true comprehension and full knowledge of all that

⁶⁶ Ps. cxli. 5. ⁶⁷ Ps. ex. 2. ⁶⁸ Ps. cv. 2.

⁶⁹ Rom. viii. 30. ⁷⁰ Ps. xxxv. 10.

is, has been, and is to be. All that He knows is true and only that, for He disdained to have acquaintance with the false, which however He judges and condemns.

His knowledge therefore is necessarily infinite in that it embraces universal truth, which is assuredly without number, or so limitless that it has no end save in the wisdom of God, which alone comprehends its own greatness. None of the things that he knows, therefore, come to naught, since they are true; for the beginning and cause of all things that have been regularly disposed, be they present, past, or future, is truth. As the psalmist says: "The beginning of thy words is truth; all the judgments of thy justice are forever."⁷¹ Yet heaven and earth shall pass away⁷² since this too is in accord with the words of truth; then surely after the vileness of the world has been cleansed away, a new heaven and a new earth shall be formed.

[119] Let each believe what his faith or his reason dictates; I, without prejudice to a better view, judge that truth is limitless, since in the case of all things which are and are not, they must necessarily be or not be from the beginning, and since of those which are contradictory, one or the other must of necessity be true. At one and the same time there grew up or rather came into being such a large number of true things that it is incapable of diminution or increase and remains infinite forever and forever, except in the wisdom of God. Unfailing knowledge therefore belongs to Him whom none of these things eludes, and this knowledge receives no increase since it comprises all of them.

God in his wisdom, that is, in His only begotten Word, arranged from all eternity the system of regulating these things. He created all of them in this eternity at the same time. In due order he set the system working by the agency of a destiny that seems to cause things to surge on the waves of chance, and conducted them each according to a prearranged order from the birth which brought them into being, even to the corruption which, as it were, severed the thread of existence and thrust them back into non-being.

This system is what the ancients were pleased to call Parcae⁷³ or Fate,⁷⁴ for the reason that the regulations of God's providence spare [parcere] no one from being subject to it, and because it receives

⁷¹ Ps. cxviii. 160.

⁷² Matt. xxiv. 13; Mark xiii. 31; Luke xxi. 33.

⁷³ See Servius, Comm. in Verg. Aen. i. 22; Ecl. iv. 47.

⁷⁴ Priscian, Partit. XII. vers. Aen. 116.

assurance of fulfillment from the Word of God, by which he has said all things for eternity and by which they are done.

Hence the Stoic believes that all things are unavoidable for fear of bringing to naught immutable knowledge. On the contrary, Epicurus thinks that there are no events which are the result of the regulation of providence for fear of imposing necessity upon things subject to change.

They are both equally mistaken since the one subjects the universe to chance and the other to necessity. There is therefore a changeless disposition of changeable things.⁷⁵ Since this providence cannot be moved from its state of eternity it has freed the train of events from all bond of necessity.

And although the light inaccessible⁷⁶ of God's wisdom incomparably surpasses the darkness of human knowledge, there is nevertheless that in which the obscurity of our vision is put, relatively, on a [120] footing with the clarity of His. For just as what I see is impending does not occur of necessity from the fact that I see it, so also what His eye contemplates is under no compulsion of coming to pass.

I know indeed that the stone or arrow which I have shot into the clouds will by nature's law fall back upon the earth as do all heavy bodies born by their own weight; yet there was no compulsion that they fall onto the earth either naturally or because I know they do. For there is the possibility of their falling or not falling; one or the other, though not of necessity, is nevertheless true. That which I know will, in any case, be. For if it is not to be, although it is thought to be, it nevertheless is not known, since there is no knowledge of that which is not; there is merely opinion.

However even if it cannot be, there is nothing that hinders that there be knowledge, for it deals not merely with the inevitable but with whatever exists, unless possibly you join the Stoics in deeming that existing things are one with inevitable things. Thus the things that He knows beforehand will all undoubtedly be fulfilled. There is the possibility however that all things that are to befall may not come to pass, so true is it that to bring things to pass, His vision as well as ours confirms the things which we alone with Him know beforehand will be, although all things by His disposition may be allotted their form of being insofar as they are good.

⁷⁵ Augustine, De Civ. Dei, xv. 25. ⁷⁶ 1 Tim. vi. 16.

At other times however things do not present an image of the form of existence but offer testimony to its defect, owing to the fault of their own irregularity. Foreknowledge is therefore not the cause of things happening, nor is the fact that things have happened the cause of His foreknowledge; for in the one case the movement of things temporal would be the cause of eternal providence; in the other, streams of evil would flow from the uncorrupted fountain of goodness; but God is at least the Author of good. The common objection made, that if anything is known beforehand it will of necessity come to pass, rests upon no substantial foundation of truth, although there is the possibility that, when all things are freed from all necessity, one should put a limit to the dilemma by making the truth of a proposition depend rather upon the necessity of logical sequence than upon the necessity of the consequent itself.

Nor will you force me, although I acknowledge that the nature of events that have been disposed is changeable, to state that for this reason the knowledge of the One who disposes is subject to change; [121] since, according to the mystery of truth itself (I have in mind John, the son of thunder)" faith is resolved that, however great the instability of His subjects, what was made was life in Him through whom all things were made.⁷⁸

And so His mighty dispositions live and flourish in the strength of their own stability, to such a degree that they can be shaken by no movement of nature nor be destroyed by mutability of time or chance.

Chapter Twenty-Two. The Impossible Is Not the Result of the Possible; the Most High, Who Alone Is All-Powerful, Knows What Consequences Follow from What Necessity

YET YOU persist in saying that unless anything that is foreseen by Him happens (comprehending as you do with full assurance that the stone will happen to fall back upon the earth), His disposition is belied. Therefore, because it is possible for the stone not to fall, you require me to elect from alternatives neither of which is generally accepted, namely, that I acknowledge that His providence can be belied (a thing from which true faith shrinks) or that I agree that from

⁷⁷ Mark iii. 17. ⁷⁸ John i. 3, 4.

the impossible the possible will in true sequence come to pass, which is illogical. I am indeed in difficulties; on the one hand for fear of belittling divine majesty, on the other of contradicting that which many acclaim and which is quite generally believed.

But inasmuch as it is better to incur the abuse of men than to be impious toward God, if I am unable to avoid both I prefer to seem illogical than lacking in faith. For all are not yet persuaded that the impossible does not result from the possible. Some accept this, whether correctly is for them to decide. But no man of sense will agree that the false is the result of the true. Truth indeed is the result of the false and the true, but truth only can be the result of the true. The possible is at times the result of the possible and the impossible, yet all impossibilities are not the result of any possibility whatsoever.

Perhaps they have persuaded you otherwise, for if all that they say is true all impossibilities are the result of one impossibility, and all possible false things whatsoever may be the result of any false thing [122] whatsoever. But had you derived the false from the true I would have justly complained and with the approval of all that I had been led away from the path of truth.

I am however not troubled by such unreasonableness to the extent that, though I find comrades in error, I rashly strive on my own part to support what is untenable. I prefer with the disciples of the Academy, if there be no other way out, to express doubt with regard to statements rather than to make false claims to knowledge and be so rash as to define what is unknown or obscure, especially on a matter on which nearly all the world would combat my assertion.

I am the more ready to give ear to the school of the Academy because it deprives me of none of the things I know and in many matters renders me cautious, being supported as it is by the authority of great men, since he in whom alone the Latin tongue finds whatever elegance it has to offset the arrogance of Greece turned to it in his old age. I mean of course Cicero, the originator of Roman style, whose work De Natura Deorum⁷⁹ proves that he favored this school toward the end of his life.

Let the Stoics vaunt their startling axioms,⁸⁰ which they call paradoxes, as being true, noble, and admirable. We with our dull wits⁸¹ approve nothing that appears false to everybody, or to the

⁷⁹ Cicero, De N.D. I. v. 11, 12 (L. C. L., pp. 12ff.).

⁸⁰ Gellius, N.A. xvii. 12 (L. C. L., III, 250). Cicero, Paradox. Proem. 4.

⁸¹ Cicero, De Amic. v. 19 (L.C. L., p. 128).

majority, or, especially, to individual philosophers who, in view of their ability, are more trustworthy. Not even if Cicero himself or Aristotle should derive the impossible from the possible do I think I should acquiesce. I shall imagine that I had been mystified under the guise of truth by some deceit.

In this way I avoid your snares and say that providence cannot be misled, but that there is the possibility that a thing foreseen may not come to pass. But I know the point you are wont to make, that the thing may possibly not have been foreseen. Granted, is my answer. What is your next step? Despite the objection of philosophy you say that what is, is not, that what was, possibly was not, and what has already passed can be revoked so that it was not.

[123] I do not indeed confine the infinite power of God within the narrow limits of my petty knowledge and reason, nor do I impose upon it a limit which it does not have, for I know that it can do all things. But all the same your false inferences are perfectly clear to me; first that you circumscribe limitless divine majesty within the narrow limits of finite human understanding and attribute to the immutable condition of eternity the likeness of things transitory and the vicissitudes of periods that succeed one another. But it should have been conceived from what has preceded that it is far otherwise here, and in these matters, than in the things considered before, since no disturbance at all influences the eternal state and since all created things are influenced by increase and decrease of accidental properties.

Now if man foresees any future event his mind is stirred to movement, with the result that its imaginative faculty conjures up the appearance of the future event and at one time stores it away in the secret chambers of memory and at another unfolds and unrolls it, so to speak, in the mirror of pure truth. It is in fact more natural that this mental disturbance be entirely lacking than that the mind should be continually occupied with it. Indeed if it is not providence it is either the parent of providence or is closely related to it by the consciousness of some bond or other. But when the activity preceding and the attendant vision of the future event conceived therefrom disappoint, the mental agitation is meaningless and vanishes like a shadow in dreams without the substance of truth.

The activity, however, in that it was really in the soul, cannot fail to have existed in it and it is impossible that the soul, which was stirred by the activity, did not exist before it was stirred. The condi-

tion of pure divinity is far different. Its single, simple, undiverted gaze, as before stated, contemplates all that is, was, and is to be; and is not moved by the course of mutable events but in itself, viewing at one and the same time the universe, exists unvarying;

Itself immovable, gives unto all things Their movement.⁸²

Although on occasions words in the past or future tense are [124] attributed to Him, there is no hint that anything as a result of this is withdrawn from Him or is in the future for Him; merely the mutability of His subject universe, if accurate language is employed, is truthfully declared. When therefore we hear that He has known something beforehand, we by no means understand that by lapse of time His knowledge has evaded Him, but, if we follow the natural meaning, that time has preceded in which it is really believed that He had knowledge of that which was to be.

Thus it is assuredly certain that He has foreseen all things from eternity, not because time by its flux had withdrawn anything from his vision but because the gaze of Him who in universal time is first in nature, always compasses all things. Therefore His providence is not thwarted in its disposition because the sequence of events always attends it. Again, it cannot be thwarted because neither as the result of change of events, nor flight, nor uncertainty of time can anything be concealed from His eyes.

The disposition of man, however, can be and is thwarted; and an event, the image of which he has formed beforehand in his mind, in the course of time either does not come to pass at all or is displayed in another form. All however that is implied in the meaning of a word in the past tense is not to be attached to past events. If I assert that I lived when the logician of Pallet⁸³ flourished I do not for that reason acknowledge that my life has slipped from me or passed me by. Or if I dissented from the Arians at the council of Rheims,⁸⁴ held by Pope Eugenius III, I have not by grace of past time quarreled with the avowed soundness of his faith. But because at some time or other it was true for me to say, "I live now," "Thus I think," I acknowledge in subsequent time with discrimination and truth that "I lived then"

⁸² Boethius, Consol. Phil. III. met. ix. 3 (L. C.L., p. 262). Boethius' reading says "you" instead of "itself."

⁸³ I. e., Abelard, born at Pallet near Nantes.

⁸⁴ This council was held in 1148 to pass upon the teachings of Gilbert de la Porrée.

and "I thought thus"; I do not by that acknowledge that life or sensation has passed from me.

Yet I know that some may say that we are mistaken in looking forward to death;⁸⁵ a great part of death has already passed; whatever time is behind us death possesses. But indeed if life had slipped from one once for all, he would indeed not have said this, or would have said it after having been restored to life. Therefore it is not [125] inevitable that what has been stated by a verb in the past tense is a thing of the past; and although many have been predestined, the predestination by which they have been elected is not a thing of the past.

The mark of predestination indeed, whatever tense of the verb is used so far as that goes, connotes the future rather than the past and indicates that he who is under discussion, unless he has already passed on, is to be saved. It is, as they say, a fecund word,⁸⁶ and always includes within it the meaning of another word. And so it does not impose any activity upon the One who predestines but asserts that, thanks to the primal grace of God, the gate of salvation and the door of compassion is open to one, by which, as time goes on, he can be saved — nay, shall be saved — though there is the possibility of not being saved.

Do not quote me the statement of your favorite Aristotle⁸⁷ that it is inevitable that what was, was, and what is, is, when it is; with the result that you infer that statements couched in the past tense are definitely true or definitely and of necessity false. You will receive little help from such objections, as even the very words of Aristotle raise the question and offer little or no help in solving the problem. Indeed declarations which unite to the past a future contingency impair the soundness of the rule. For example, yesterday it was true that you would read tomorrow, or, Plato once knew that you would sleep. In these declarations confidence in past time is shaken as the result of the addition of future time, as long, that is, as you had it in your power not to have slept, and Plato in his not to have known; not because an activity which was in his soul can not have been, but because the knowledge which was might have degenerated into opinion because of the mutability of things and the undependable

⁸⁵ See Seneca, Ep. i. 2 (L. C. L., I, 2).

⁸⁶ Varro, however, defines a fecund word as one which has various forms due to inflection. L. L. viii. 9. ⁸⁷ Aristotle, De Interpr. ix.

character of time; if indeed there can be any knowledge of future contingencies, although beyond doubt there is opinion which imitates knowledge with a degree of probability.

Likewise there will be the possibility that what yesterday we predicted was true was not true, not because the past event is canceled, [126] since it by no means has passed so far as the assertion is concerned, but because a future event is awaited and because that depends upon the hazard of fortune for its existence. Then too, you yourself have the power to foresee some good which is likely to be good, though there is the possibility that it will not be good. You likewise have the power not to have foreseen a good, not because you have power not to foresee what you have foreseen but because there is the possibility that what you have foreseen is not good.

Furthermore you have the power to have made a promise or to have driven a good bargain and yet you have the power not to have made the promise or not to have driven the good bargain; notwithstanding you have not the power not to have promised or not to have made the bargain which you have made.

Moreover you preceded in the possession of the Sempronian property⁸⁸ him who follows you, and if you precede another, that other preceded or followed you, or follows or will follow. Since therefore the result of what logically follows can fail to occur, the truth of a preceding cause may be impugned with the result that there is the possibility that you yourself who did precede did not precede.

However when you have entered a place, it is impossible that you have not entered it; when a thing has been done it is impossible that it be classed with things not done; and there is no recalling to nonexistence a thing of the past. All of these instances, be they mental conception, verbal expression, or accomplished acts of the past, are never able nor will be able thereafter not to have been; and yet such as were to be in the future, as long as an occurrence definite in its nature has not made them definite, are capable of not having been; but all things which are included under the name of any class whatsoever of things yet to occur, are included within the circle of such things, although more commonly they are naturally applied to quantity, relation, or to any one of the other categories.

⁸⁸ An example taken from the jurists, e. g., Dig. XLIV. i. 16. Sempronius, like Seius, some paragraphs later is used to indicate any individual.

Why surprising then, that He who has all power can also not have foreseen what He had foreseen; since faith agrees that it is possible that those things which have been foreseen cannot come to pass and that those which have not, can; though they are not capable of coming to pass without being seen by providence; for Isaiah says, "If you be willing to walk in my commands and will harken to me, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you will not and will provoke me to wrath, the sword shall devour you because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."⁸⁹

[127] Behold, freedom of will is preserved herein, seeing that by saying "If you be willing" and "If you refuse," He promises to all punishment or reward — either the one or the other; not as a result of the irrevocable judgment or destiny of God but in accord with each one's deserts. The condition of winning favor conferred upon the will would have been useless indeed if the obligation of doing or not doing had been bound by the chains of providence or destiny.

Now if this suffice not my disputants, could not, on the testimony of the gospel, the Son in His passion have besought His Father to send to Him more than twelve legions of angels,⁹⁰ although it is clear after the event that not this but the contrary, that which happened, had been foreseen? Let it not disturb the acute mind if, in the investigation of such majesty, examples fail us and we do not abound in reasons, since reason banishes admiration and the citing of examples excludes the unique. But His majesty, marvelous in its inexpressible uniqueness and unique in its marvelous greatness, surpasses the comprehension not only of men but of angels.

I know indeed that he who delves into the majesty of the Almighty⁹¹ will be crushed by its glory, and that according to His edict the beast will be stoned if it touch the mountain.⁹² Hence statements made in such matters are, without prejudice to better ones, the expression of the thought of the searcher of truth rather than that of one making rash statements for the purpose of attacking truth. But I confess that I am ignorant why, when He has rejected, He should choose another, except that with the Fathers⁹³ I feel that in the former case the mysterious justice of God should be revered, in the latter that the manifest pity of grace should be embraced. For that

⁸⁹ Isa. i. 19, 20.

⁹⁰ Matt. xxvi. 53.

⁹¹ Prov. xxv. 27. ⁹² Heb. xii. 20. Cf. Exod. xix. 13.

⁹³ Cf. Augustine, Ep. cxlix. 22; cxciv. 5.

one too who, caught up even to the third heaven, heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for man to utter,⁹⁴ did not so much dispel this difficulty as marvel at the depth of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God⁹⁵ and with humble confession announce that His judgments were unsearchable and His ways past tracing out.

[128] He who glories that the mysteries and secrets of God are manifest to him asserts that His works are magnified beyond the understanding of man, and in his wide investigation he learns that the thoughts of the All High are most profound. What Solomon in Ecclesiastes preached to the ears of the faithful harmonizes with this truth: "There are some that day and night take no sleep with their eyes,"⁹⁶ and he knew that man makes no accounting of all the works of God that are under the sun, and the more he shall labor in his search the less he shall find. Even though a wise man think to know it yet shall he not be able to find it.

If therefore the reason for the things under the sun cannot be discovered, who is to give an adequate account of the things above the sun? "For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath instructed Him?"⁹⁷ And so it is agreed that the explanation of all things is to be sought with such zeal for truth that pious endeavor acknowledges its own shortcomings and derives aid from all things, provided it be persuaded that divine majesty is to be honored with piety and that the depth of never failing pity is constantly to be embraced.

Finally the philosophers⁹⁸ have seen to it that what has been predicated remains such as the subjects permit and that the specific meaning of all things that can be predicated is held within the bounds of natural things, but that when the heights of theology are ascended, this meaning is altered, as if stripped of its natural quality and force. Assuredly the meaning of words fails and human understanding itself gives ground when the vastness of divine majesty is in question and prevails in the realm of nature; in that part at least where there is increase and diminution, so that what has been is not able not to have been, or what has passed, not to have passed; provided however that what was true, namely that Seius perhaps would read, may none the less not have been true.

⁹⁴ 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4. ⁹⁵ Rom. xi. 33.

⁹⁶ Eccles. viii. 16, 17. ⁹⁷ 1 Cor. ii. 16.

⁹⁸ Boethius, De Trin. iv, beginning.

Consequently what has passed cannot be recalled so as not to have been, and equally, what is dependent upon the hazard of fortune is not subject to the necessity of coming to pass, having, be it understood, expectation of the outcome of either case as the result of the compliance of nature. Thus perchance the operation of providence not being fulfilled, what is to be and has the power of not coming [129] to pass can even not have been foreseen.

I do not however, as remarked before, belittle omnipotent power nor prescribe any limit whatsoever to its boundless scope, by the audacity of my research. I do agree with many others that if God has foreseen any event it will come to pass; if it does not come to pass, he has not foreseen it. Hence, on credible grounds it is inferred, at least, that if there is the possibility of its not coming to pass, there is even the possibility that it has not been foreseen. Truth itself knows what will truly follow upon what, and natural reason weighs fully and perfectly the rational connection.

The Academy of the ancients makes to human beings the concession that whatever seems probable to each, that he has full right to defend. In our own times the logician of Pallet⁹⁹ was wont to reject all conditions where the conception of the antecedent does not imply knowledge of the consequent or where denial of the consequent does not point the contrary of the antecedent, because all conceptions wish to be effectual in dictating a necessary consequence, although some of them are content with probability alone, provided it be great. For just as opinion subserves knowledge more clearly in proportion to its own perspicacity, so the more probable particular assertions of conditionality are, the more certainly do they foreshadow what must necessarily be true.

That you may not think that I waver on the unstable ground of opinion alone, I cite to support my contention the great Augustine¹ who, in expounding the passage of the gospel where mention is made by our Saviour of the many mansions which are in the house of his Father, says "If not, I would have told you; because I go to prepare a place for you";² that is to say, if they had not been foreordained I would have said, "I shall go and shall foreordain." For He selects for divine predestination (which secures many blessings of grace and favor for those who are to be saved according to the kind decree of

⁹⁹ See above, p. 109, n. 83, and below, p. 259, n. 15; also Abailardus, Dial. III. Topica.

¹ Tract. in Joann. lxviii. 1. ² John xiv. 2.

Him who disposes) many mansions which have been prepared in his Father's house for his chosen.

[130] When therefore a holy father of such repute has placed such an interpretation on the passage that he explains thus: "If they had not been foreordained I would have said to you, 'I shall go and shall foreordain,'" it is credible as long as the outcome of events is hanging in the balance that, if it be the will of the Almighty, those who have not yet been foreordained can be foreordained for life and that the names of those who have already been enrolled in the book of life³ can be erased from the same if they merit it. Hence perchance the words: "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living and with the just let them not be written."⁴ And again: "Yet now thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me I pray thee out of thy book which thou hast written."⁵

"Whoever is born of God" saith the Evangelist "sinneth not but the generation of God preserveth him."⁶ The generation of God means eternal foreordination, all of whose children enter life, although it is possible that the same, because of transgression, stray from the righteousness which is the way of life. If you do not believe me, hearken then to Him who, if an angel from heaven contradict⁷ let him deservedly be anathema. "Father," He said "of those whom thou hast given me, I lost not one but do thou keep them."⁸ Had he not, I ask, already lost them in that they had been backsliders? Had he not even, so to speak, already lost Judas? Surely the Son had not received him in the holy mystery of his counsel, nor had the Father given to His Son him who had not been foreordained for life to be saved among the chosen. But if the others had been predestined, if they could not fall into sin, why did the Son so zealously intercede for them? Therefore they were to be saved; and yet as they were straying from the Lord it was possible that they deserved death, being bound to life by no compulsion of predestination.

A man glories that nothing will separate him from the love of Christ⁹ and yet chastises his body and brings it into subjection, lest in some way, after he has preached to others, he himself should be rejected.¹⁰ In the Apocalypse¹¹ also the angels of the Church are

' Webb calls attention to the fact that Augustine (Enarr. in Ps. lxix. 29) states that this is not possible.

⁴ Ps. lxviii. 29. ⁵ Exod. xxxii. 31, 32. ⁶ 1 John v. 18.

⁷ Gal. i. 8. ⁸ John xvii. 11, 12; xviii. 9.

⁹ Rom viii. 35. ¹⁰ 1 Cor. ix. 27. ¹¹ Apoc. ii. 5; iii. 11.

[131] warned to repent now, to do the first works lest their candlestick be moved, and to hold their place now lest they yield the same to another. Why so, if what was to be could not be changed? This consideration did not escape even the pagan philosophers for they say that the course of destiny is unchangeable not because it cannot be changed but because it certainly does not happen that it is changed at all. Hence the line:

Pharsalia might well have been erased From destiny's mighty scroll.¹²

Likewise the passage which the old man of Chartres¹³ used to quote when fortune was cruel: "Fate will find a way," etc.¹⁴

But it is impossible in the nature of things for that which has passed and been completed by the successful working out of divine disposition not to have been; though I dare not make any statement, one way or the other, that does harm to Him who disposes. Yet the most learned of teachers — I mean Jerome — says "I shall speak boldly; though God can do all things, he cannot raise up a virgin after her fall; He can however crown her, though defiled."¹⁵ According to the same interpreter,¹⁶ the apostle defines a virgin as one who is holy in body and soul." But it is beyond doubt that God can sanctify the soul by his miracles and can restore the corrupted flesh so that its very being which had perished may seem to be raised from the dead.

Now if experience, to use a figurative expression, has learned that it is impossible for what has been not to have been, it were unnecessary to have recourse to the case of the fallen virgin, since in all past occurrences by similar counsel or error the same discovery could have been made. I advisedly separate counsel from error for the reason that counsel ought to connote truth as you find it in Job: "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?"¹⁸

[132] But perhaps there is a state of virginity which it is impossible for any fallen woman to attain. The word possible is sometimes referred to the facility which is inherent in individual things as the result of the hazard of chance, or from natural disposition;

¹² Lucan, Phars. vi. 313 (L. C. L., p. 326).

¹³ Bernard of Chartres.

¹⁴ Virgil, Aen. iii. 395 (L. C. L., I, 374); x. 113 (L. C. L., II, 178).

¹⁵ Jerome, Ep. xxii. 5. ¹⁶ Ibid., De Perp. Virg. B. Mariae, xx.

¹⁷ 1 Cor. vii. 34. ¹⁸ Job xxxviii. 2.

at times it has in view nature itself; and finally it is applied to the source of all things, divine majesty, from which all the power not only of the domination of persons but also of things is derived. Hence the saying of Solomon: "All power is from God."¹⁹ Against this I shall not rear myself in defiance, which, I am sure, is the only thing which can cast both body and soul into hell.²⁰

Chapter Twenty-Three. The Objection of a Modern Stoic

THERE remains the question propounded by that Stoic of yours whom I saw tarrying some time in Apulia. He, after many vigils, long fasting, great labor and hardship, at the cost of such an unsuccessful and useless exile, brought back to France the bones rather than the brains of Virgil. Now this Louis²¹ would inquire whether you could do any of those things which you have no intention at all of doing. When you conceded that you could, he would offer you a thousand gold coins to do it. If you perchance refused them, then he would direct that they be multiplied by any sum you pleased, to induce you to do that which could easily be done. At length, not understanding or ignoring the implicit contradiction, he would burst into a loud guffaw of scorn and derision and point you out to the bystanders as an object of ridicule in that you had rejected for no reason such a large sum.

You may gather many instances of this sort; I am not, however, spurred by such instances to the belief that all things are inevitable because they are known, or that no contingencies are known because [133] they are not inevitable. I really seem, along with the Peripatetics, a bit of an ignoramus²² in comparison with him who when confronted with this dilemma acknowledged, in the Attic Nights,²³ that he did not know that he was not a cicala.

¹⁹ See Wisd. vi. 4, and cf. Rom. xiii. 1.

²⁰ Matt. x. 28; Luke xii. 5.

²¹ See Schaarschmidt, Johannes Saresberiensis, p. 98, n. 2; Comparetti, Vergil in the Middle Ages, translated by Benecke, pp. 274-75.

²² Isidore, Diff. i. 505.

²³ Webb remarks that no such statement seems to be found in Aulus Gellius.

Chapter Twenty-Four.²⁴ Astrologers Rash in Presuming to Subject Unconcernedly the Future to Their Own Judgment

THEY also, although we disagree on many points, acknowledge as I myself do that they are not ignorant of all things, in that the stars converse with them and that they draw truth, as it were, from the very bosom of the celestial bodies. In fact the more conservative among them do not promise the fulfillment of events by the stars nor do they bind these events to necessity by the law of divine disposition, but because they are to occur and are announced beforehand, they do not fear to predict them.

But if the order of future events can be changed it is a risky thing to limit by definite judgment a matter indefinite by its very nature. But if it cannot be changed, what profit in scrutinizing with such minute attention what can by no diligence be avoided? But perhaps, although there is the possibility of its being otherwise, the fact is not uncertain and the undoubted system governing the constellations excuses rashness of judgment. For though it be possible that a fact be otherwise, none the less obvious signs presage that it will be as declared. "Nor" remarks the custodian of the stars "am I interested in whether it can be otherwise, provided I am in no doubt that the point at issue is to be as declared."

What then is this inevitability of the signs? For the most part assuredly the precarious outcome of events is a matter difficult to judge and the significance of signs themselves is varied and manifold. [134] Again variety produces ambiguity and in ambiguous things all explanation is risky. But granted that signs are uniform, how does that single meaning become known or what prevents it from being false? Nature, you say. But what nature? That of the world or that of divine will?

I do not presume to speak against divine will for I know that it has done all that it has willed.²⁵ If that is what has been made known to you, it is well. You can indeed in that light²⁶ see the light and bring forth unfailing truth from the book which, sealed for others, is open for you. In it all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge²⁷ have been hidden and I have heard that no one²⁸ has been allowed to open it except the Lamb who was slain and who by His own

²⁴ Webb suggests a comparison of this chapter with Abelard, Dial. II Anal. Pr. III (Ouvr. Inéd., p. 288).

²⁵ Ps. cxiii. 3. ²⁶ Ps. xxxv. 2. ²⁷ Col. ii. 3. ²⁸ Apoc. v. 1ff.

courage killed death itself. Do not from now on marvel with the Apostle at the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God,²⁹ since his judgments are comprehensible to you and his ways can be searched out by the guidance of the stars and the great deep of his Judgments³⁰ can be forded by you.

But if you place your dependence on nature, which is of the world, that is on nature which is circumstanced by the constant course of events, it is vain to flatter yourself that you are conversant with the stars, since many things turn from this accustomed course of events and strike the sense with the greater amazement because they seem not only unusual but contrary to nature herself. For example, when an eclipse of the sun occurs at the time of full moon, or if the moon suffers eclipse about the time of conjunction³¹ or about full moon or past it. For He who has laid down the law for the stars, who regulates the cycles of time at the dictate of his will,³² who fits the occurrence of events to his own periods, when and as he wishes, is able to amaze nature by his power of producing some new or rare phenomenon from concurrent causes which were wont to respond quite otherwise. For who hath been his counsellor³³ or who will say unto him "What doest thou?"³⁴ It is indeed the Lord; let him do what is good in his sight.³⁵

[135] Therefore He alone who disposes has the power to adapt periods of time to divine disposition and to diversify with periods the course of events, and though He has conceded to His creatures the knowledge of many things according to the measure of His pleasure, the Trinity has reserved to itself this particular function. And so He, through whose agency time itself has been created, dispenses the periods of time and knows what event is to be and when and for how long.

Periods of time also He paints with movement and variation of events as with different tints. He entangles the rolling wheel of time with a kind of connecting chain of events by which it is held. In order that He may convey to the understanding a thing incomprehensible in itself, He shapes it marvelously with characteristics of events as though they belonged to it.

It is not, says the word of the Most High, "for you to know the

²⁹ Rom. xi. 33. ³⁰ Ps. xxxv. 7.

³¹ Martianus Capella, viii. 871.

³² Isidore, Grig. V. xxxv. 1.

³³ Isa. xl. 13. ³⁴ Job ix. 12. ³⁵ 1 Kings iii. 18.

times,"³⁶ that you may know fully what is to be, and when, and for how long; or to know changes, that you may comprehend the manner and variety of those things that are to be. Behold wherefor it is rash to subject the future to definite judgment; it has indeed been put in the power of the Father,³⁷ not in the necessity of coming to pass. Further, what is set within this power can be, or not so be; for what is set in destiny is destined so to be.

Chapter Twenty-Five. An Incident Not Inevitable as a Result

of Its Omen; Hezekiah, Ahab, and the Ninevites; Things

That Are Announced by Omens May Be Changed

BUT PERHAPS Truth, speaking to her friends, says "It is not for you to reserve such a great prerogative for strangers, for example, the astrologers." Granted if the mind of faith acquiesce; but how great, as remarked before, is the certainty of omens? To be sure when

Constellations leave their course,³⁸

it is believed that some strange occurrence is impending; for I do not go so far as to believe that great events are never preceded by warning signs, since I have learned that there is in sun, moon, and [136] in the very elements and their furniture,³⁹ portentous meaning, derived from the Lord. But as to the existence of an art by which one can give truthful replies to all the questions with regard to the future, I am persuaded on the testimony and evidence of many things that either there is no such thing or that it has not yet been made known to man."

If I cannot persuade you of this in view of the arguments with regard to providence and destiny with which you unceasingly oppose me and of the examples from history which you cite me, I have at any rate persuaded myself not to yield to this untruth. I do not indeed consider that there exists such a close connection between signs and that which is signified, that the one necessarily follows upon the other. Unless the trivialities of the court detain you, I shall tell you why I so believe.

King Hezekiah was sick unto death.⁴⁰ Do you not imagine that the

³⁶ Acts i. 7. ³⁷ Ibid.

³⁸ Lucan, Phars. i. 663-64 (L. C. L., p. 50).

³⁹ Gen. ii. 1.

⁴⁰ 4 Kings xxi. 1; Isa. xxxviii. 1.

King of Judah found a physician who could diagnose his case by the state of his urine, pulse, and many other symptoms? Then no doubt he, who was so far gone that he had no hope of living longer, had received the sentence of death in his body.⁴¹ Finally the Holy Spirit was announcing that death was at the door. What more convincing evidence do you require? What is convincing, to waive all the rest, if you doubt the testimony of the Holy Spirit?

Will you deny that Isaiah said in the spirit "Thou shall die and not live"?⁴² Yet he lived and did not die, for he was granted still fifteen years⁴³ through the mercy of Him who has set future events within his powers. Perchance God's mercy following His threat, because Hezekiah was dead in respect to sin through repentance, offset the death with which nature and the weakness of living beings was threatening him.

Ahab also,⁴⁴ an impious king, with the help of Jezebel, united to him not so much in marriage as in cruelty, had taken possession of the vineyard by the shedding of Naboth's blood and was awaiting impending death which the Lord had announced. If you do not [137] believe that the Lord had announced it, listen to the words of Elijah, for he said "Thus said the Lord: 'Thou hast slain and thou has possessed'";⁴⁵ and again: "In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood" and "The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the ramparts of Jezeel."⁴⁶

When Ahab heard these words⁴⁷ he rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth. And the word of Jehovah came to Elijah, saying "Because Ahab humbleth himself before me, I will not bring evil in his days." Behold, the penalty which was due Ahab was deferred till the time of his descendants, but Jezebel, because she persisted in crime, was condemned to instant punishment. It was one and the same judgment which delivered the blood of Ahab and Jezebel to the dogs and yet this was in part changed and in part stood.

So also the Ninevites,⁴⁸ freed from instant destruction by doing penance by order of their king and his nobles, at the preaching of Jonah changed the judgment of the Lord. Does the judgment of

⁴¹ 2 Cor. i. 9.

⁴² 4 Kings xx.1; Isa. xxxviii. 4.

⁴³ 4 Kings xx. 6; Isa. xxxviii. 4.

⁴⁴ 3 Kings xxi. ⁴⁵ Ibid., 19.

⁴⁶ 2 Kings xxi. 23. ⁴⁷ 3 Kings xxi. 27-29.

⁴⁸ Jonah iii.

Jove and Mars seem truer or more trustworthy than that of the Creator?

You surely are not agreeing with Plautus if you ascribe such power to the planets; for when the sycophant asked Mandrogerus⁴⁹ whether those planets which by their rhythm rotate the whole are to be appeased, Mandrogerus replied that they are not easy to see nor to address, adding that they roll the atoms in their mouths,⁵⁰ count the stars, and cannot change their abode. Thus from the disposition of the stars he imposes the destiny of events, and with delicate irony makes mockery of those who strain their eyes in the contemplation of planets which avoid the eye and disdain to speak. And since they roll the atoms in their mouths it is to be feared that if an atom [138] slip from the calculator of nativities he will slip up in his interpretation of the judgment of the heavens.

Therefore let their authority be impressive but on condition that the Creator's abide stable and unshaken. Assuredly whatever your Mars or Jupiter bestows upon you God is truthful, and you as long as you trust them more than you do Him are balefully deceitful. The stars are indeed deceitful in His sight⁵¹ and even His angels He chargeth with folly. Yet, to tell the truth, it is not the stars that betray you but you yourself. Charge to your own account the fact that you are deceived. For who compels you to have false values? Who persuaded you that impending events which you conjectured as the result of omens were immutable? Were you deceived because Figulus,⁵² prophesying, said

This world of ours forever strays and knows No law; its stars move to and fro with course Unfixed, or else if destiny guides them, Destruction now impends for Rome and all Mankind.⁵³ And again he more explicitly adds:

Of what avail to beg the Gods to end

This war? With peace a tyrant comes. Pass through

O Rome, the endless line of woes; draw out

⁴⁹ A character in the pseudo-Plautine play Querolus; see ii. 3. ⁵⁰ This is the reading with which John was acquainted. In modern times the reading "in their orbit" has been suggested. Cf. Querolus, ed. Klinkhammer (1829). ⁵¹ Job xv. 15; iv. 18.

⁵² Sc. Publius Nigidius Figulus. Cf. above, p. 95, n. 47.

⁵³ Lucan, Phars. i. 642-45 (L. C. L., pp. 48ff.).

For years to come, thy agony; thou art Now free, but only free for civil war.⁵⁴

But doubtless thy many gods were unable to avert the coming war because they were many — nay, because they were not gods. This the one God and Lord could have compassed. For he knows how to change his judgment if thou by his good will would end thy evil ways.

Hence Nebuchadnezzar, at the advice of Daniel atoning for his sin by righteousness and his iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, escaped the stern impending judgment for a time, until in the court of Babylon boasting he said: "Is not this great Babylon which I have built for the royal dwelling-place in the midst of my power and [139] for the glory of my majesty?"³⁵ So by his vaunting words he called down upon himself the judgment of the Lord which would pass him by.

Chapter Twenty-Six. The Judgment of the Lord Capable of Being Influenced,⁵⁶ His Counsel Immutable; His Will the First Cause of All Things; Astrology the Way of Damnation

AND so, since the immutable judgment of God is capable of being influenced shall the communications of the wandering and restless stars be immovable? But in whatever way the judgment of the Lord is influenced, his counsel abideth forever. What indication of God's counsel and will is more definite than divine injunction and prohibition? Assuredly he will seem right in willing what he enjoins. To be sure he enjoined the patriarch to sacrifice his only son of great promise.⁵⁷ Was the patriarch right in hearkening to the command? Entirely so, for the reason that the command of that will which is the first cause of all things and which never fails in its accomplishment is the surest proof. So truly indeed is that will the first cause that if the question be raised why anything is as it is, the correct answer is that He who has done all things whatsoever He pleased⁵⁸

⁵⁴ Ibid., 669-72 (L. C. L., pp. 50ff.).

⁵⁵ Dan. iv. 24.

⁵⁶ Augustine, Conf. i. 4 (L. C. L., I, 8). The distinction between judgment (sententia) and counsel (consilium or dispositio) of the Lord is discussed by John in Epistles 96, 137, and 185.

⁵⁷ Gen. xvi. ⁵⁸ Ps. cxiii. 11.

has so willed it. But if inquiry is made into why He willed, the question is meaningless for the reason that the cause of the first cause, to wit His will, is asked, and of that there is no cause at all.

It is in fact said, and truly said, that the prince has in his hands the power to judge with greater clemency than the laws, since he who has prescribed a law has also the power to modify or even abrogate it. Shall, therefore, the Creator of the heavens not dare to oppose the law which your Figulus has imposed upon the heavens? The prince alone is allowed and bound to be the interpreter when the question arises as to the letter and the spirit of a law.⁵⁹ When the [140] law says one thing and justice, which is concerned with the public welfare, another the interpretation of the prince is to be sought, for it is impartial and indispensable.

When a question arises as to the written word and the sense the intention of the author is to be considered. Who, therefore, made you the interpreter of the heavenly bodies? How do you know what is expedient? Whence the boldness to ascribe to your — nay, to God's stars — the work of another? I grasp your subtle argument;

Thou who enkindleth Scorpion's flaming tail

And scorcheth threatening Claws, what awful purpose

Hast thou, Mars?⁶⁰

But the father of lies,⁶¹ who taught that this power was to be ascribed to the celestial bodies, treacherously deals thus with you, that when he has smirched, with this stain, created man he may at the same time defame his creator. Finally, to fill with swelling elation the puny souls of wretched creatures treacherously deceived by the prophecy of an inevitable future, or to plunge them into the abyss of despair, is madness. This then is the fruit of the astrologers' art; and straying further than their planets in their wandering from the knowledge of piety they are brought, as a result of their long investigation of signs, down into hell together with him who was rising like the daystar,⁶² son of morning, and carry others along to share their fall.

But when such arguments are propounded and cited against you, what do you do? You laugh⁶³ to be sure and indulge in excess of dis-

⁵⁹ Cod. Justinian, I. xiv. 1.

⁶⁰ Lucan, Phars. i. 658-60 (L. C. L., p. 50).

⁶¹ John viii. 44.

⁶² Isa. xiv. 12, 15.

⁶³ Persius, Sat. i. 40, 41 (L. C. L., p. 320).

dain, casting ridicule upon simple faith. You rush back to the protection of providence and you, like another Antëus,⁶⁴ plunge headlong into the inscrutable abyss.

You have posited as your refuge the light inaccessible,⁶⁵ from which vantage you assail rustic faith as if the fountain of truth were the bulwark of error. Granted that I am unable to still this ancient dispute about providence and have not the power to solve the difficulties of all questions, for who so wise as to answer satisfactorily all questions of every ignoramus, not to mention yours?

[141] And finally Plato, the prince of all ancient philosophers, was not able, it is said (although the story is more truthfully told of Homer),⁶⁶ to answer a certain question posed by sailors. In consequence, when he continued to be ruthlessly derided by his interlocutors, being as he was a very sensitive man and mortally pierced by the poisoned arrow of confusion, he breathed his last. For he was covered with shame, as though it were a reproach to the whole Academy that they had taunted the prince of philosophers of Greece with being ignorant of even the most insignificant matter.

Flavian however in his book entitled Footprints of Philosophers⁶⁷ asserts that the followers of Xenephon, envious of Plato's fame, shamelessly invented this story, although most people state that he voluntarily gave up the ghost on account of a vow with regard to a number, on completing that year of his life which is the product of nine times nine, for the reason that after that period humanity experiences nothing but misery and pain.

I indeed confess that I know but little and like many others am ignorant of many things, and yet I do not reject, overcome by a sense of shame, the gift of life as Homer did. If therefore I am incapable of deciding the controversy between free will and fate, if I am unable to harmonize the discrepancy between fate and natural laws, is it for that reason any the less true that they exist? Just as in civil law⁶⁸ it quite frequently happens that the defendant enjoys the advantage, so there are certain questions in philosophic investigation where the side of the Creator is seen to play the more im-

⁶⁴ Lucan, Phars. iv. 593ff. (L. C. L., pp. 218ff.).

⁶⁵ 1 Tim. vi. 16.

⁶⁶ The story is told in the Life of Homer by the so-called Herodotus. It was applied to Plato by Flavian, mentioned below. See Schaarschmidt, Johannes Saresberiensis, pp. 103, 104.

⁶⁷ The title of a lost work of Flavian. ⁶⁸ Dig. L. xvii. 125.

portant role. I believe however that this is the result of our own deficiency; for our understanding fails in regard to the first principles of nature. Among these I am justified in reckoning the consideration of providence, the investigation of matter, and many articles of our faith.

While you are answering one troublesome argument in regard to providence many more spring up, as did many heads when the Hydra's was severed. If we penetrate into the dense jungle of matter, [142] straightway we are as those in a dream who find themselves midway between some matter and none. When the origin of the soul is sought, our understanding raises original sin to oppose us. Finally, accept the Trinity in divine substance; save by virtue of faith how will you avoid the snares of Arius? Admit one simple indivisible divine substance; how will you escape the grasp of Sabellius⁶⁹ except by reason of faith? And yet these are none the less truths though they may be assailed by many questions. Although God's wisdom has made itself visible to us in the mystery of the Incarnation, it has not made it so clear to our understanding that with it we can roam everywhere, apprehending the length and the breadth and the height and depth of all things.⁷⁰

But if the way of astrologers were entirely praiseworthy the great Augustine⁷¹ would not have been so repentant at having been too favorably disposed toward their consultations. Add to this the fact that St. Gregory the Great, who vivified and entranced the whole Church with the honeyed eloquence of his preaching, not only ordered astrology banished from the court⁷² but, as is related by our ancestors, threw into the fire⁷³

All that Apollo's shrine upon the Palatine contained⁷⁴ of the proscribed works which claimed to reveal to mankind the intention of the heavenly bodies and the oracles of supernal beings. Why say more? Is it not sufficient that the universal Catholic Church execrates this pseudo-science and smites with deserved punishment those who would presume to practice it further? But for fear that I should seem not to be persecuting but to be pursuing the error of the

⁶⁹ Webb cites our author's remarks on the Scylla of Sabellianism and the Charybdis of Arianism (Hist. Pontif. xiii) which he quotes from Gilbert Porrée.

⁷⁰ Eph. iii. 18.

⁷¹ Conf. vii. 6 (L. C. L., I, 350ff.).

⁷² Gregorius Magnus, Mor. xxxiii. 10; Hom, in EVV. i. 10.

⁷³ First mentioned by John. See Dictionary of Christian Biography, II, 788.

⁷⁴ Horace, Ep. I. iii. 17 (L. C. L., p. 272).

devotees of the planets, let my discourse proceed on its accustomed course.

Those who become enslaved to this type of inquisitiveness can no more be truthful than they who seek the chief places at feasts⁷⁵ and [143] fare sumptuously every day⁷⁶ can be humble and abstemious. Finally, I have listened to many of them and am acquainted with many of them, but I recall not one who has persisted in this error on whom the Lord has not laid the heavy hand of condign punishment.⁷⁷

Chapter Twenty-Seven. Soothsayers, Palmists, Prophets, and the Dethronement of Saul

WHAT shall I say of necromancers, whose impiety, at the instance of God, has already discredited itself, except that those are worthy of death who attempt to borrow knowledge from death? For it is a work of supererogation to discuss at length soothsayers, augurs, salisatores, wizards, prophets, divines, and others so numerous as to be tedious to recount, since none of them appear in public; but such of them as still exist practice the works of darkness in secrecy.⁷⁸ For cogent reasons, however, some of their activities must be cursorily treated. Even if soothsayers⁷⁹ hide themselves they still exist in their evil work. It has been stated before that some of them divine by inspecting the vitals of animals. (All parts covered by the epidermis are called vitals.) It is clear that those also who prophesy by inspecting the shoulder bones of rams or the bones of any other animal are to be reckoned among them.

Palmists⁸⁰ also boast that they are acquainted with the truth which is hidden in the lines of the hand. It is unnecessary to attack with reasons an error which has no foundation in reason, although reason does assail them in that they lack reason.

There is one question which I in all seriousness put to you, if you will but listen to me. What do these mountebanks, since I doubt not that they are known to you, divulge when questioned with regard to matters of doubt? When the King's army was preparing to

⁷⁵ Matt. xxiii. 6. ⁷⁶ Luke xvi. 19.

⁷⁷ See below, Book II, Chapter Twenty-Eight, p. 147.

⁷⁸ Rom. xiii. 12.

⁷⁹ See above, Book I, Chapter Twelve.

⁸⁰ See n. 79.

[144] advance against the Snowdon Welsh,⁸¹ in what respect did the soothsayers, when consulted, give you warning to advance? To be sure the mystery of truth ought not to be required of him who, because of a chamberlain's compliance, should be regarded as the deviser of lies rather than the interpreter of hidden truth. In fact when anyone is to be branded as a liar, the common expression used is "a greater liar than a chamberlain."

Again, what has the palmist to offer when summoned and consulted? For at that crisis each, whoever he was, who practiced either art was consulted. As a matter of fact after the lapse of a few days, without warning, you lost your brother-in-law,⁸² who was your star, the son of morning as it were. The rest of it, which you know better than I, I purposely pass in silence since they, as a result of their lies, no longer deserve to be trusted.

The advice of prophets is the more pernicious in proportion as the deception of the evil spirit is more apparent in those whose intention, whether or no they lie, is to deceive. At times they deceive of set purpose, at times themselves are deceived by the error of their own blindness, but their constant aim is to appear in everything conversant with the future. This is the reason that they cloud their oracles with ambiguous language, that they may conceal their deception by some cloak of reason, should they chance to be discovered false and untrustworthy. So it is that they cease not to deceive until they bring destruction upon their disciples.

Who, since the beginning of time, was ever helped by the response of seers? Was it Croesus⁸³ or Pyrrhus or any one of their predecessors or successors? The Theban chieftain, in hope of victory because of an oracle, was slain by the blade of his brother. To him, however, [145] his grandsire Laius seemed to promise successes in war. For what else did what he uttered after many circumlocutions mean,

Unto the Thebans victory is assured?⁸⁴

But for fear that he be taxed with falsehood should the chieftain fall, to cover his deception with the ambiguous mark of truth he added,

⁸¹ King Henry invaded North Wales in 1157.

⁸² This brother-in-law, Webb suggests, may have been the son of Henry I and the daughter of a British prince, Rhys ap Tewdwr.

⁸³ Cicero, De Div. ii. 56 (L. C. L., p. 116). ⁸⁴ Statius, Theb. iv. 641 (L. C. L., I, 554).

Alas! thy father conquers by the sword.⁸⁵

Thus invited to be a parricide, as though secure in the counsel of fate, he is dragged to destruction by the halter of impiety. A father's desire,⁸⁶ a parricide himself, was also fulfilled in that the impious brothers whom he had cursed, praying that the harmony of the family should be destroyed by the sword, perished by mutual wounds, cut down by each other's swords.

Croesus, because of his faith in oracles, was confident that great kingdoms would be subject to him if he crossed the river Alis. But when it turned out otherwise, shifty Apollo by the ambiguity of a single word freed himself from the odium of mendacity. What of Pyrrhus? After vanquishing the Romans, whom he had often routed on the field of battle by his prowess, he, thanks to Apollo, promised himself dominion; but suffering a crushing defeat he paid the penalty in that he had not properly understood the ambiguity of the oracle.

Let us pass on to better known examples from the pages of history. At the time when that terrible tempest of civil war was shaking the state Apius, at the instance of Apollo, sought rest in the Euboean Gulf, but found death. The oracle, on the testimony of Lucan, is famous:

Thou shalt escape the threats of awful war, The ordeal shall not be for thee. Alone Thou art to rest in peace within the curve Of the Euboean coast.⁸⁷

But lest the brand of falsehood be imprinted upon the page of history and not upon oracles, let sacred history, credence in which is still unshaken, be examined.

Saul, changing from prince to tyrant, abandoned by God because of his great crimes, leading hostile armies against the Lord's people and harassed by his fallen fortunes, would seek an escape therefrom. [146] He therefore consulted the Lord⁸⁸ but Jehovah answered him not, neither by dreams nor by priests nor by prophets.

Samuel had, however, already announced to Saul⁸⁹ that the Lord repented having made him king in that he had not fulfilled the com-

⁸⁵ Ibid., 644 (L.C. L., I, 554).

⁸⁶ I. e., Oedipus. ⁸⁷ Lucan, Phars. v. 194-96 (L. C. L., p. 252).

⁸⁸ 1 Kings xxviii. 6. ⁸⁹ Ibid., xv.

mandment of the Lord, because influenced by avarice he had spared King Agag who was exceeding rich in fat flocks of sheep and herds and raiment and rams and all that was beautiful in the eyes of the people. But whatever was vile and reprobate, that at the command of the Lord they destroyed, and though victory comes to no leader but from the hand of the Lord of hosts, Saul applauded his own prowess before the people for the gift bestowed and did not attribute glory to the Author of all blessings. For thus it was written: The word of the Lord came to Samuel saying "It repenteth me that I have made Saul king; for he hath forsaken me and hath not executed my commandments." And Samuel was grieved and he cried unto the Lord all night. And when Samuel rose early to go to Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel that Saul was come to Carmel and had erected for himself a triumphal arch, and returning, had passed on and gone down to Gigal.⁹⁰

Then when Samuel upbraided him, under the pretense of religion he chose to excuse the crime of disobedience rather than to atone for it through repentance, which has been left as the second plank⁹¹ to the sinner after shipwreck; for he said "Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and have gone the way which the Lord sent me and have brought Agag, the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites."⁹²

But the people took the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the devoted things, to sacrifice unto their Lord God in Gigal. Behold how he excused himself, and whatever fault there was, he either extenuated or attributed to the people. And Samuel said "Doth the Lord desire holocausts and victims and not rather that the voice of the Lord should be obeyed? For obedience is better than sacrifice and to hearken than to offer the fat of rams. Because it is like the [147] sin of witchcraft, to rebel; and like the crime of idolatry to refuse to obey. Forasmuch therefore as thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord hath also rejected thee from being king."⁹³

Methinks indeed that the same fate awaits all who, raised to eminence, follow their own selfish ends, and under the cloak of power and dominion vent their haughty pride upon their subjects, putting law and license upon an equality as if their own necks were not subjected to the yoke of divine law and as though they were

⁹⁰ Ibid., l0ff.

⁹¹ Jerome, Ep. cxxx. 9.

⁹² 1 Kings xv. 20, 21. ⁹³ Ibid., 22, 23.

under no obligation to exercise God's justice. Could the hardness or pride of his unfeeling breast, which by the iniquity of his tyranny had waxed strong in Saul's heart, have ever been softened, even at such thunder of divine resentment? By no means. For Saul said to Samuel "I have sinned because I have transgressed the commandments of the Lord and thy words, fearing the people and obeying their voice. But now bear, I beseech thee, my sin and return with me that I may adore the Lord." And Samuel said to Saul "I will not return with thee for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel."⁹⁴

Do you not see what a different task it is to cure by words and exhortations wickedness when fortified by pride? "I sinned" he said "because I feared the people and obeyed their voice." Does he not confess his guilt in a manner to implicate others for whom, were he their prince, he should have made it easy rather than expedient for himself. Had he ever heard that Moses acted thus when God's wrath burst upon the people and the Lord said to him, "Let me alone that my wrath may be kindled against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of thee a great nation?"⁹⁵

What therefore did he, constituted leader as well as loyal prince by the Lord at his good pleasure, do? "Either forgive them this trespass" he said "or if thou do not, strike me out of the book thou hast written."⁹⁶ But in showing such affection was he seeking glory [148] for himself? For this clement prince, loving father, eloquent speaker, mighty in work and word,⁹⁷ a leader walking in the justice of the commandments of God, said "The Egyptian will say 'He craftily brought them out that he might kill them in the mountains.'"⁹⁸ Thus therefore even to his own detriment did he prefer the glory of God and the liberty of the people whose leader he was.

When David also by his fault provoked the Lord to anger⁹⁹ and his subjects were enduring the penalty for their prince's fault, he saw the angel of the Lord smiting his people. And so he fervently prayed from the depths of his heart and added "I am he that have sinned, I have done wickedly; these that are the sheep what have they done?"¹ A true king indeed and a prince, just and worthy to

⁹⁴ Ibid., 24-26.

⁹⁵ Exod. xxxii. 10. ⁹⁶ Ibid., 31, 32.

⁹⁷ Luke xxiv. 19. ⁹⁸ Exod, xxxii. 12.

⁹⁹ 2 Kings xxiv.

¹ Ibid., 17.

check the wrath of the Most High who, exposing himself in defence of his people to the scourging of the Lord, stayed the lash of his indignation.

Him indeed no excuse turns from His purpose except that one accuse himself before the tribunal of his own conscience; nothing moves Him to indulgence except that the guilty lay bare his own fault; nothing excites His pity except that the soul aflame with love abase itself utterly; nothing persuades that He should be merciful except that the mind stretch out the hand for atonement. For if one confess his fault, the confession is unavailing except that he be eager for forgiveness at the price of giving satisfaction.

"I have sinned," said Judas "in that I betrayed innocent blood."² And so his confession was in all respects true, but it availed naught because he rushed to the noose which he deserved before he had recourse to the fountain of pity which he did not deserve and of which by his hardheaded stubbornness he had deprived himself.

Yet he repented having done what he did, but not with that feeling of devotion which sufficed to soften "the stone of help."³ Influenced by repentance indeed, he hanged himself. He therefore ended his life by a death richly deserved; but because he corrected not his wickedness, by no remedy of deliverance did he secure forgiveness for himself. For thus, even in hell, it is written, there is the sting of [149] repentance;⁴ though there is no correction for evil intention.

So doubtless Saul strove to place his sin upon the shoulders of others, and while pretending to wish to free himself from punishment through the prayers of Samuel, he entangled himself in a mesh of greater difficulties and subjected himself to the irreparable judgment of damnation.

The story continues: "And Samuel turned about to go away; but he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle and it rent. And Samuel said to him: 'The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day and hath given it to thy neighbor who is better than thee. And also the triumpher in Israel will not be moved to repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent.' Then he said: 'I have sinned; yet honor me now, I pray thee, before the ancients of my people and before Israel and return with me that I may adore the Lord thy God.'"⁵

Behold with what insane exultation he heard that he had been

² Matt. xxvii. 4. ³ 1 Kings vii. 12. ⁴ Mark ix. 43.

⁵ 1 Kings xv. 27-30.

cast down by the Lord and yet, when deprived of his throne by implacable judgment, strove as if to rule against His will. He doubts not that the kingdom has been transferred to a better man, and yet having been deprived of it by irrevocable sentence, he by deceit usurps its glory. And so he falls while striving to scale the forbidden height and becomes worse than he was before, while desirous of being preferred to his better in opposition to God's purpose.

He does indeed confess his fault but refuses to bear its penalty; for this is the meaning of what he said; "I have sinned but honor me now, I pray thee"; as if he said, "Although justly dethroned for the guilt of crime, for the pride of arrogance, and for the wickedness of a tyrant, I have deserved scorn; yet let your patience in the sight of those who know not the counsel of the Lord render me glorious. Therefore return with me that I may proudly walk in the support of thy allegiance. Attended by such a retinue, esteemed because of such authority, let me adore thy God whom I dare no longer call mine own, in that I have departed from him in disobedience and, still in defiance, walk apart from him."

So haughty indeed had his spirit waxed that he esteemed himself not only more highly than man but even than God himself, by a kind of daring born of impiety. Indeed the higher the favor in which [150] he saw David, whom God had preferred, held, the keener the envy with which he secretly plotted against him with enmity as apparent as it was unjust; and the clearer it was that God had extolled him, the more eagerly did he endeavor not merely to belittle but to destroy him; and in his endeavor to steal or tear from him his regal power he put himself in direct opposition to God.⁶

It was therefore fitting that the spirit of God did not abide with him since he had made his heart not merely the habitation but the very foundation of such vileness. And so an evil spirit drove him from God, and from that time the power of his kingdom began to wane and day by day to slip from him, and the safety of his people to be undermined. The victories of his enemies becoming more numerous and striking broke down the spirit of both king and people.

He banished from his realm the one whom God himself had established on the throne. What therefore did he propose to do? Not assuredly to deliver the kingdom over to his better in order to submit to divine intention which was known to him and thereby to be

⁶ Ibid., xviii.

repentant, to his own advantage, for his past life; but he who had risen in pride against the Lord led his people out for battle at Mount Gilboa, where he was to receive his punishment and meet death. He, who in himself esteemed only what was lofty, deserved to die on a mountain top.

Therefore because truth itself had abandoned him this false and wicked prince fled for refuge to the fountain of lies. And he said to his servants "Seek me a woman who hath a divining spirit and I will go to her and inquire by her."⁷ Would a gentile or a disbeliever have said aught else? Is it not as though he said

I cannot move supernal beings; I'll raise The powers of hell,⁸

or, to put it in the plain language of mad impiety, "If God withholds the knowledge of truth from me, yet shall I know it despite him through the father of lies,⁹ and willy-nilly I shall explore his secret counsels through adverse powers." And his servants said to him "There is a woman that hath a divining spirit, at Endor."¹⁰

[151] He was unworthy of receiving man's counsel, in that despair had crushed him to such an extent that even from the lowest and meanest creatures he implored aid against omnipotence to save the throne of which God had deprived him. Therefore he disguised himself¹¹ and put on other garments and went and two men with him and they came to the woman by night. All this was quite just because the holy spirit is just even in the case of the perverse. For it was fitting that he be stripped of royal garb, since he had seized upon an unholy way to serve, not God, but demons. He who had thrown away the dress of innocence and changed the gown of justice deserved not to be arrayed in robes of honor and glory.

And he went away after him indeed who standeth not in the truth¹² and two men with him, dishonored and dishonorable in that they could attend even a king in such perfidy and not be deterred by faith. The king was fittingly attended by a retinue of two, since he was departing from the supreme and true Unity. They came to the woman by night, a fitting time indeed at which to discuss with the prince of darkness such matters as the death of kings, the destruc-

⁷ Ibid., xxviii. 7.

⁸ Virgil, Aen. vii. 312 (L. C. L., II, 24).

⁹ John viii. 44. ¹⁰ 1 Kings xxviii. 7. ¹¹ Ibid., 8.

¹² John viii. 44.

tion of a people, and the public woe. Thus Solomon,¹³ by night too, is said to have received wisdom when, allured and corrupted by the love of women, he was on the point of withdrawing from the Lord. Peter¹⁴ also, deprived of the warmth of faith while by night he was warming himself at a fire of coals, lapsed into disloyalty which he intensified by the crime of perjury. Even the rest of the apostles,¹⁵ overcome by fear, fled by night. And Saul said to the woman, for the divining spirit more usually possesses women, "Divine unto me, I pray thee, by the divining spirit and bring me up whomsoever I shall say unto thee."¹⁶

Read books, thumb the pages of history, search all the nooks and corners of Scripture, you will scarcely anywhere find the word divination used in a good sense. Consequently Scripture asserts that repro-[152] bate prophets are diviners, not prophets, such as were the prophets of Achab¹⁷ who with God's permission, because he merited it, enticed him.

In fact, according to the command of God, the lying spirit went forth and took form in the mouths of all the prophets of Achab. It promised success, as he was about to go up to Ramoth-Galaad; Michaeas, the Morashite, alone cried out against it, for conscious of divine counsel he warned beforehand the Israelites whom he had seen scattered upon the mountains; and he was struck, because of the bitter truth he had told, by him who putting on horns of iron had said "With these horns thou shalt push the Syrians, Oh King!"

Moreover divination is not usually forthcoming without reward, inasmuch as it is practiced in the spirit of greed and villainy. Hence it is that the holy spirit upbraids Jerusalem, doomed to fall. "Thy princes have judged for bribes, thy priests have taught for hire, and thy prophets divined for money: and they leaned upon the Lord, saying: Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No evil shall come upon us."¹⁸ Therefore the Lord said "Zion shall be plowed as a field and Jerusalem shall be as a place to keep fruit." Therefore those who divine for money, although they exult in the name of prophet, are often liars, always mistaken, strangers to virtue and to the truth of prophecy. With the divining spirit he said, as it were, "because the

¹³ 3 Kings iii. 5ff.; ix, beginning.

¹⁴ Matt. xxvi; Mark xiv; Luke xxii; John xviii.

¹⁵ Matt. xxvi. 56; Mark xiv. 50. ¹⁶ 1 Kings xxviii. 8.

¹⁷ 3 Kings xxii.

¹⁸ Mic. iii. 11; Ps. lxxix. 1.

spirit of God has left me, may the divining spirit support me and bring me up whomsoever I shall name unto thee." Assuredly,

Trick presses close on trick.¹⁹

The king gave himself over to a reprobate sense for he persuaded himself that the familiar spirit was the director of knowledge, had knowledge of the future, was conscious of secret counsel, and the interpreter of truth; he was also persuaded that it was gifted with such power that it could raise even the dead, and of such benignity that in all things unusual and difficult it would be complacent to its familiars.

Undoubtedly he had forgotten, or remembered to no purpose, the song of praise of the faithful Hannah: The Lord killeth and [155] maketh alive; he bringeth down to hell and bringeth back again. The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich; he humbleth and exalteth; and (that which Saul had seen fulfilled in himself) he raiseth the needy from the dust to make him sit with princes and hold the throne of glory.²⁰

Now he who does all this is indisputably a God of knowledge.²¹ And the woman said to him "Behold thou knoweth all that Saul hath done, how he hath rooted out the magicians and soothsayers from the land; why then dost thou lay a snare for my life to cause me to be put to death?" And Saul swore unto her by the Lord, saying "As the Lord livest, there shall no evil happen to thee for this thing."²² True it is indeed that he who abides in squalor becomes more squalid,²³ and whom favor deserts, the last state of that man becometh worse than his first.²⁴ The sorceress, conscious of sacrilege, grew pale, and the power established by God to root up sacrilege, in other instances timid, makes idolaters bold and lends to the sacrilegious regal authority when affairs of state are at issue or when wars of the Lord are waged.

"They that have divining spirits and wizards thou shalt not suffer to live" saith the Lord.²⁵ But he to whom the words of the Lord are addressed and who carries the sword to punish malefactors and to glorify the good, not only gives immunity to such as these but strengthens this promise with the binding power of an oath. And it

¹⁹ Terence, And. 780 (L. C. L., I, 84). ²⁰ 1 Kings ii. 6-8. ²¹ Ibid., 3.

²² Ibid., xxviii. 9, 10. ²³ Apoc. xxii. 11. ²⁴ Matt. xlii. 45.

²⁵ Exod. xxii. 18; 2 Kings xxviii. 3, 9.

thus came to pass that, in personal peril, he learned how wrapped together²⁶ are the sinews of the testicles of leviathan,²⁷ when he stretched for himself the snare of his own making from which he escaped only at the cost of his own salvation.

He is now fairly caught and confronts the horns of a dilemma. If the sorceress is spared, the command of the Lord that sorcery of this sort be banished from the land is disobeyed; if she is not spared, his solemn oath is disregarded. Whithersoever the impious man turns he is snared by the work of his own hands.²⁸ Therefore the woman said [154] "Whom shall I bring up to thee?" And he said "Bring me up Samuel."²⁹

There is one faith for all time: that God exists³⁰ and that he is just and good and that he rewards those that believe in him and responds fully to the merits of all. Before the law, under the law, and under grace, no right thinker has ever doubted this. Without faith no one has ever entered into salvation. But whosoever errs in small things gradually lapses into greater. Thus Saul, first careless, then disobedient, afterward defiant, again obstinate, finally lapses into such a state of spiritual blindness that he does not preserve intact the article of faith before mentioned.

Indeed he did not believe that God is in all cases just, imagining that after this life power is granted evil spirits even over holy men. For he knew that the righteous Samuel had paid no attention to sorceresses during his life and had made no advances to them whatsoever. Yet now he hoped and sought that at command of a familiar spirit he would be raised up for him. He even wished that the dead man be forced to that to which he could not in life be impelled. He had in life never desired to indicate anything to the king except that which he had to by God's inspiration.

And when the woman saw Samuel³¹ she cried with a loud voice and said to Saul "Why hast thou deceived me? For thou art Saul." She believed indeed that she had been deceived, oppressed as she was even after the oath given, by the knowledge and presence of the prince. And the king said to her "Fear not; what hast thou seen?" And the woman said to Saul "I saw gods ascending out of the earth.³²

²⁶ Job xl. 12.

²⁷ This should be behemoth, a Hebrew word meaning animal. Some think it refers to the elephant.

²⁸ Ps. ix. 17. ²⁹ 1 Kings xxxviii. 11. ³⁰ Heb. xi. 6.

³¹1 Kings xxviii. 12. ³² Ibid., 13.

The reply of the sorceress might have deterred even a man of little faith from his undertaking, since she introduced a plurality of gods and indicated that their habitation was under the earth and in darkness. Then Saul said "What form is he of? And she said: An old man cometh up and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul understood that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and adored."³³

[155] He inquired carefully into the form of the apparition, deceived perhaps by an error of the gentiles in supposing that in the lower world each had the garment and activity with which he was endowed on earth. Hence the lines:

As they esteemed their arms and chariots

Of war in life, and cared for their sleek steeds,

The same they prized when laid to rest

In earth.³⁴

But would it not have been possible for the glory of the holy man to be brighter, or the garb which he wore while living to be changed after his death? Indeed it displays wisdom and conscientiousness for Scripture not to say that Samuel was brought up at the command of the familiar spirit, but to express discreetly the blindness of an impious meaning; for it says "When he heard the form and the garb of the man, Saul understood that it was Samuel." He understood, but assuredly he was deceived,³⁵ and this is also proved by the words that followed: "He bowed down and adored." For if it had been Samuel he would by no means have allowed a human being to bow down to him, for he had believed in accordance with the law and had taught that the Lord God alone is to be adored.

Moreover the souls of the holy are immune to the influence of evil spirits. Finally, he would not have fostered the error of a man deceived, and that he did this is inferred from what follows. And Samuel said to Saul "Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up?"³⁶ For this is an example of the deception practiced by evil spirits in order that they may effectively conceal what they voluntarily do, and say to men that they were compelled to do so in order to seem to do it unwillingly.

³³ Ibid., 14.

³⁴ Virgil, Aen. vi. 653-55 (L. C. L., I, 550).

³⁵ On the question whether it was really Samuel whom the sorceress raised up, Webb cites the loci classici of the medieval writers, Augustine, De Div. Quaest. ad Simplicianum, ii. 3, and Rabanus Maurus, De Magicis Artibus.

³⁶1 Kings xxviii. 15.

They pretend that they were under compulsion and feign that they were drawn forth by virtue of exorcism. That they be not under suspicion they feign that the rites of exorcism have been conceived, as it were, in the name of the Lord or in the belief of the Trinity or by virtue of the Incarnation or the Passion. These rites they hand on to men and obey them when they practice them, until they involve [156] both them and themselves in the crime of sacrilege and the pain of damnation.

They even fashion themselves at times into angels of light;³⁷ their precepts are naught but honorable; they warn against the unlawful; their aim is purity; they are alive to the expedient, that they may like good and helpful friends be admitted on close terms of intimacy, may be listened to with good will, be deeply loved, and be readily heeded. They also assume the raiment of holy men to gain for themselves a greater and quicker esteem.

And Saul said "I am in great distress, for the Philistines fight against me and God is departed from me and would not hear me neither by the hand of prophets nor by dreams; therefore I have called thee that thou mayest shew me what I shall do."³⁸

It was as though he baldly said: I have been cast headlong into the abyss of despair; men attack me; God deserts me; I flee to thee who in reality art the enemy of each, that as a teacher thou mayest instruct thy disciple what he should do in such straits. For although he believes that it was Samuel who was speaking, nevertheless it was in reality an angel of Satan. Nor could he plead ignorance since everyone must know that the mortal who demands adoration for himself is a disbeliever and is of perverse will. He also knew that it was forbidden to question wizards and soothsayers, or to harry a divining spirit with regard to the future.

Now if his ignorance of the personality of the apparition excuses him, simple folk will be better than the sophisticated, and the evil than the virtuous. And Samuel said (not indeed the real but the shadowy and fictitious Samuel, one worthy the impious and outcast questioner) "Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee and is become thine adversary?"³⁹ The beginning of the reply harmonizes with faith and is in accord with reason. For what can a mortal do for him from whom God has departed and from whom he has stripped his honors?

³⁷ 2 Cor. xi. 14. ³⁸ 2 Kings xxviii. 15.

³⁹ Ibid., 16.

But gradually the foe and enemy of faith turns to his natural role, mingling the false with the true and lies with the semblance of [757] truth. For he continues: "For the Lord will do to thee as he spoke by me; and will rend thy kingdom out of thy hand and give it to thy neighbor David. Because thou didst not obey the voice of the Lord, neither didst thou execute the wrath of his indignation upon Amalek. Therefore hast the Lord done to thee what thou sufferest this day. And the Lord also will deliver Israel with thee into the hands of the Philistines, and tomorrow thou and thy sons shall be with me, and the Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.⁴⁰

A faithless apparition faithfully exposed the outcome of the war, but none the less with specious words deceived a faithless and unhappy soul. It confirmed the error of this wanderer and promised to him, still unrepentant, repose after death. For when it said "the Lord will accomplish what he spoke by me" it was without doubt pretending that it was Samuel through whom the Lord uttered to Saul his denunciation; but when it added "And tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me" what it announced was true but misleading. For he was on the following day, in despair, to lay violent hands upon himself,⁴¹ to descend to hell and have a place with him whom, in his avarice, pride, and obstinacy he had followed. But it falsely flattered Saul with the promise of rest, as in gesture and speech it simulated Samuel, for he was assured that an abode of rest had been granted him by the Lord among them that call upon his name.⁴²

How then did the response of Samuel, or rather of the familiar spirit, profit Saul? He might perhaps, if not forewarned, have at least waited until pierced by the sword of another. But informed by a false oracle he fell upon his own sword and breathed his last while taking thought of his own fame. He might well have died more bravely in battle but he feared the breath of rumor, and by the counsel of a weak and despondent spirit elected death both of body and soul.

Let pagans boast of their courage; let their authors state each his own views as they proclaim the roll of honors of their heroes and as they herald the bravery of their great men; let Cato drink poison at

⁴⁰ Ibid., 17-19.

⁴¹ 1 Kings xxxi. 4. ⁴² Ps. xcviii. 6.

the well of these authors; let Vulteius⁴³ arm the hands and souls of his men for self inflicted death; let Cleopatra absorb through her [158] breast into her vitals the deadly poison of the asp; let Lucretia⁴⁴ condemn another's lust by the shedding of her own blood; I, at least, do not believe that it can ever come to pass that it be permissible, whatsoever the incentive be, for a man of his own free will to adjudge death unto himself; not even when chastity is at stake, although that teacher of teachers⁴⁵ to whom I would give in the matter of sacred literature precedence over all others is seen to make an exception in a contingency of this sort.

Suicide is assuredly the resource of the desperate and of those who, although they still live in the body, are already dead by the death of the mind and have ceased to live in the spirit. It is indeed a death of those not living but of those already dead.

Run over the list of disbelieving kings. Jeroboam,⁴⁶ Ahab, Jesabel,⁴⁷ Nebuchadnezzar,⁴⁸ Sennacherib,⁴⁹ and others, whose errors I have not time to relate. What did they gain by their seers, who saw for them what was false and foolish but did not disclose to them their iniquity in order to cause their repentance? All of them indeed have vanished, following the prince of darkness, and while seeking what was not permitted them to know, or doing it in a manner not permitted, have suffered utter annihilation.

I have classed the kings of Israel with disbelievers because, although some of the kings of Judah were good and others bad, all of them were outcasts.

Relinquish thought of knowing secrets God Conceals, nor ask what heaven is⁵⁰

says Cato, because what God has determined and decided for you, he has the power, without worry on your part, to carry out.⁵¹ Pertinently has the pagan author said

Deem every day that dawns thy last;

Grateful the added hour for which thou didst not hope.⁵²

⁴³ Lucan, Phars. iv. 540ff. (L. C. L., p. 214).

⁴⁴ See Augustine, De Civ. Dei, i. 16-19.

⁴⁵ I.e., Jerome, In Jonam, i. 12.

⁴⁶ 3 Kings xiii, xiv. ⁴⁷ Ibid., xviii, xxii.

⁴⁸ Dan. ii. ⁴⁹ 3 Kings xviii. 25.

⁵⁰ Cato, Dist. ii. 2 (L. C. L., Minor Latin Poets, p. 604).

⁵¹ Ibid., 12 (L. C. L., Minor Latin Poets, p. 606).

⁵² Horace, Ep. I. iv. 13-14 (L. C. L., p. 276).

[159] Truth is everywhere consistent; never is it discordant even when it emerges from the very home of falsehood, just as purity, as long as it has the strength of its own innocence, is not polluted by the proximity of any contaminating influence whatsoever. In itself it is a proof that death inspires no fear, and it enjoins us to be prepared to accept it at each and every hour so that the less we take a continuation of life for granted, the more eagerly we may advance step by step along the path of virtue to the attainment of honor.

Death is inevitable and natural when an object is in a state of corruption. Corruption is the origin of death. Do away with corruption; seek purity and virtue; behold! thou hast entered upon the way of life and hast grasped, as it were, a guaranty of your divine nature. Grasped, do I say? Thou hast received. But, to speak in a greater spirit of faith, thou hast grasped and received, for it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.⁵³

Who knows when death cometh, whether at even, or at midnight, or at cockcrowing or in the morning?⁵⁴ For as Anselm says, "Nothing is more certain than death, nothing more uncertain than its hour."⁵⁵ Assuredly it is not to be feared as an evil, but when it comes it is to be embraced with gratitude as an end of evil.

There is one thing to be shunned with all the strength of body and mind. What is that, you ask. Baseness and every kind of dishonor. For dishonor is the thing that makes death not an end of evils but the link that connects what precedes with what follows. To shun dishonor no oracle of seer nor consultation with familiar spirit is needed; reason given for this purpose is the trustworthy and helpful counselor.

When Cato,⁵⁶ in Africa, found himself hemmed in by difficulties on all sides he did not deign to consult Jupiter Hammon, for he thought that reason sufficed to advise that liberty must be preserved and that not merely the yoke of Caesar's domination but even the slightest suspicion of baseness were to be shunned, though he did indeed err in casting away the gift of life by his own act. That this is unlawful is testified not only by the practice of true believers but by the decree of nations⁵⁷ and the edicts of philosophers.

⁵³ Rom. ix. 16. ⁵⁴ Mark xiii. 35.

⁵⁵ Anselm, Medit. vii, beginning.

⁵⁶ Lucan, Phars. ix. 566ff. (L. C. L., pp. 546ff.).

⁵⁷ Cod. Justinian, IX. 1. 1.

[160] The prince of ancient philosophers, Pythagoras,⁵⁸ and Plotinus⁵⁹ are not so much the originators as the promulgators of this prohibition, for they said that it was absolutely forbidden a soldier on duty to leave the stronghold and post entrusted to him without orders from a commander or prince. The figure they employed was a very felicitous one, for life on earth is a military service.⁶⁰

What if oracles of seers or the responses of familiar spirit order otherwise? Undoubtedly they should be disregarded because no one owes allegiance to anyone who endangers his own integrity. If you do not believe me, consider if you will Numa,⁶¹ the most blameless perhaps of the Roman kings except Titus. When tempted to take human life, by the demand for a head to be sacrificed, he decreed that a head of lettuce be cut, thus rendering harmless the will of even an evil divinity. When the divinity added the words "of a man," he promised that he would offer up a head of hair. When the unclean spirit thirsted for blood as well, he replied that a fish should be sacrificed. Since his reason could not be outwitted in a manner to incriminate him, on the testimony of unclean spirits he was pronounced quite worthy to converse with the gods.

There is no reason that anyone should shield his own error under the pretext of exorcisms, for they have been established to diminish the power of demons and to break the tie of intimacy which they have with man, and can accomplish nothing in virtue of their own power unless they gain their potency from direction given by God.

Furthermore the Holy Spirit flees from false knowledge and disdains as its habitation the body, which is subject to sin.⁶² The black art is entirely fictitious, illusory, and knows not the essence of truth. The Holy Spirit seems indeed to be present while invoked by prayer and offerings, and the sacrilegious desire of the erring soul is [161] satisfied with the result that attends its solicitations. So far is it from being present however that when its protection is withdrawn it allows those whom such faithlessness has stirred to be drawn by divers mockeries of demons, down to hell.

The Holy Spirit by the general voice of the Church, against which

⁵⁸ Cicero, De Sen. xx. 73 (L. C. L., p. 84). ⁵⁹ Macrobius, In Somn. Scip. I. xiii. 9. ⁶⁰ Job. vii. 1.

⁶¹ Ovid, Fast. iii. 339ff. (L. C. L., p. 144).

⁶² Wisd. i. 5.

not even the gates of hell shall prevail,⁶³ forbids that it be lured to such abominations. When therefore, by its grace, the authority of the Church contemns and rejects exorcism, they who misuse rather then use it sin against the Spirit, and though it has withdrawn from them they strive to retain for themselves its potency and efficacy.

Chapter Twenty-Eight. Crystal Seers; Malignant Spirits at

Times Foresee the Future Because of the Subtlety of Nature,

of Long Experience in Events, and of the Revelations of

Higher Powers; They Often Deceive, Either Deceiving

Themselves or Being Deceived; They Follow the

Indubitably Wicked Ways of the Crystal Seers

CRYSTAL seers falsely flatter themselves that they offer no sacrifices, that they harm no one, that often they are helpful in detecting theft and purging the world of malefactors, and that they seek only truth that is helpful and practical. The wicked are not so.⁶⁴ "He that gathereth not with me" He said "scattereth, and he who is not with me is against me."⁶⁵ In practicing such arts despite the prohibition of God, what else are the wicked doing than lifting up the heel⁶⁶ against Him who prohibits them?

Excessive is the sacrifice that he offers who casts out the Holy Spirit and prostitutes his mind to idolatry; excessive is the sacrifice of him who solicits with the voice that is consecrated to God the polluted ears of demons; excessive is the sacrifice that he makes who lends the movement of his body to the performance of execrable rites. What then has he who has delivered over his brain, tongue, and body to demons, reserved for his Creator? Has he done no harm to truth who seeks his perfection in such corruption? Truly in such matters no one may plead ignorance, for it is common knowledge, [162] or ought to be, that such a stigma on the faith has been upbraided and condemned by anathema.

The soldier in this world indeed is not exempted from the obligation of his oath, or the ward from that of his age, or the woman from the infirmity of her sex, or the farmer from the task of cultivation at which he works for the public weal. For although in loss

⁶³ Matt. xvi. 18.

⁶⁴ Ps. i. 4. ⁶⁵ Matt. xii. 30. ⁶⁶ John xiii. 18.

of property ignorance of law may be pleaded, in the subversion of the faith no such plea is permissible, the decision being that he who ignores is ignored, that he who is unwise as the result of guilt shall be instructed by penalty, and that he who has neglected to learn seemly conduct shall be wisely punished. For how could anyone have learned to free himself from great distress without effort while he was at the same time painfully learning the painful lesson of mortal sin? One who is capable of straying from the faith as result of worry of soul and acts of the body is not able to enjoy tranquillity of faith without great effort. For whoever indulges in these frivolous superstitions hath denied the faith⁶⁷ and is worse than an unbeliever, and although he acknowledge God in word,⁶⁸ he denies Him in his evil works. It is no more easy for a man of such character to be steadfast than it is for a corrupt judge who hankers after gifts and who has recompense in view.

But that which influences the minds of the simple, to wit that the secrets of the future can be made manifest only by the hand of Him in whose power are times and seasons,⁶⁹ does not touch the crux of the matter. For although there is but one Arbiter of the future, who is the Lord God of all, none the less the future at times becomes known to men through signs.

Why is it strange if they sometimes have foreknowledge⁷⁰ of things of subtle nature and if, as the result of long experience and the revelations of superior powers, they are warned with regard to many matters? If therefore spirit when weighed down by the bulk of body and retarded by its vestment of clay, whose keenness has been blunted by the corruption of turbulent sensation, conjectures what [163] is to come from what precedes or from indications derived from certain things — what prevents spirit, loosed from all bodily ties and unretarded by impeding bulk, from measuring beforehand the outcome of events impending or to occur after long lapse of time?

Now one who was born, as it were, the day before and is destined to die after a few days, deduces in the intervening period like from like and draws conclusions as to the future from causes that have become known to him in the meantime. Will not then one not merely ancient⁷¹ but long established of days, who from the day that he was born⁷² is full of wisdom and perfect in his ways, be able

⁶⁷ 1 Tim. v. 8. ⁶⁸ Titus i. 16. ⁶⁹ Acts i. 7.

⁷⁰ Augustine, De Divinatione Daemonum; cf. De Civ. Dei, ix. 22.

⁷¹ Dan. vii. 9. ⁷² Ezek. xxviii. 15, 17.

with greater ease to do this? Who so dull and egregiously stupid as not to rise to the best of his ability in such a span of time, to the prophesying of things that are to be? Moreover, propitious powers which with affection and devoted obedience zealously serve the Lord are indeed able to reveal secrets to seers and are at times supposed to do so.

Yet it is not forthwith true that discredited seers perceive and predict; rather on occasion they hasten to announce what they suspect or fear, with the result that they appear to be aware of secrets. For example, about the time of the birth of our Lord the demons presiding over the temples of Egypt predicted their abandonment and their own departure. Hence, in the writings of Trismegistus,⁷³ the words concerning the extermination of the religion of idolatry: "The time will come, Egypt, when the fables of thy religion shall alone survive."

Often what seers do of necessity and under compulsion they pretend to do of their own accord, as if wroth with men to whom they feign to be hostile. Often too they lie, either deceiving or themselves deceived. But at any rate, though what they announce be true, they are either to be repressed or to be avoided. Hence in Deuteronomy: If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet or a dreamer of dreams [164] and he foretell a sign and a wonder and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying: "Let us go and follow strange gods which thou knowest not, and let us serve them," thou shalt not hear the words of that prophet or dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God trieth you that it may appear whether you love him or not.⁷⁴

From this it is indeed clear that although things happen which are stated by those divining not according to God, they are not to be accepted in the sense that what is anticipated by them takes place, or what they worship is worshipped. Nor did the apostle in the Acts of the Apostles spare the unclean spirit because, in the case of the maid having a spirit of divination, it presented testimony of the truth to the Apostles and their preaching.⁷⁵ But nothing is more effective against such a plague than for one to refuse absolutely to give ear to such deception. I thank God that He held out for my

⁷³ I. e., The Hermetic Books. See Apuleius, Asclepius, xxiv; cf. Augustine, De Civ. Dei, xiii. 1-3.

⁷⁴ Deut. xiii. 1-3. ⁷⁵ Acts xvi. 16ff.

defense, even in my earliest years, the shield of his gracious purpose. During my boyhood I was placed under the direction of a priest, to teach me psalms. As he practiced the art of crystal gazing, it chanced that he after preliminary magical rites made use of me and a boy somewhat older, as we sat at his feet, for his sacrilegious art, in order that what he was seeking by means of finger nails moistened with some sort of sacred oil or crism, or of the smooth polished surface of a basin, might be made manifest to him by information imparted by us.

And so after pronouncing names which by the horror they inspired seemed to me, child though I was, to belong to demons, and after administering oaths of which, at God's instance, I know nothing, my companion asserted that he saw certain misty figures, but dimly, while I was so blind to all this that nothing appeared to me except the nails or basin and the other objects I had seen there before.

As a consequence I was adjudged useless for such purposes, and, as though I impeded the sacrilegious practices, I was condemned to have nothing to do with such things, and as often as they decided to practice their art I was banished as if an obstacle to the whole procedure. So propitious was God to me even at that early age.

[165] But as I grew older more and more did I abominate this wickedness, and my horror of it was strengthened because, though at the time I made the acquaintance of many practitioners of the art, all of them before they died were deprived of their sight, either as the result of physical defect or by the hand of God, not to mention other miseries with which in my plain view they were afflicted. There were two exceptions. — the priest whom I have mentioned and a certain deacon; for they, seeing the affliction of the crystal gazers, fled (the one to the bosom of the collegiate church⁷⁶ — the other to the refuge of the monastery of Cluny) and adopted holy garb. None the less I am sorry to say that even they, in comparison to others in their congregations, suffered many afflictions afterward.

Now if the consensus of opinion and the authority of the Catholic Church do not suffice to combat this error, the example of its evils are enough to root it out. Moreover, as no one can drink the chalice⁷⁷ of the Lord and the chalice of demons, or serve two masters, God

⁷⁶ I. e., a church in which there is a college or chapter of canonics. ⁷⁷ 1 Cor. x. 27.

and Mammon,⁷⁸ so no one attains the grace of God and practices this type of sorcery. But why, with a prick as of an awl, do I assail a view inimical to the faith and to morals while I have the power to pierce it with a thrust of the sword of the Spirit⁷⁹ plunged to the hilt? Let it therefore be smitten but once with the strong hand⁸⁰ and with the arm of Him who divided the Red Sea in sunder to submerge the Egyptians; and a second time⁸¹ there will not be need, for there is none that can deliver out of his hand.⁸²

Therefore let Him unsheath the sword of Moses and lay low the Egyptian abomination and hide them in the sand of their sterility,⁸³ that they may not appear in the eyes of the faithful. Let Him speak the word and pronounce sentence of condemnation against errors which we for long now have been working to drive from His home. His word is indeed a sharp two-edged sword,⁸⁴ living and active, [166] sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern thoughts.⁸⁵

Foolish is he who fears not this threatening sword. And behold, it threatens before the face of the Church, in sight of all. In fine it is turned against all, for He hath said "For when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God shall give thee, beware lest thou have a mind to imitate the abominations of those nations. Neither let there be found among you anyone that shall expiate his son or daughter, making them to pass through the fire, or consulteth soothsayers, or observeth dreams and omens; neither let there be any wizard, nor charmer, nor anyone that consulteth pythonic spirits or fortune tellers, or that seeketh truth from the dead; for the Lord abhorreth all these things and for these abominations he will destroy them at thy coming. Thou shalt be perfect and without spot before the Lord thy God. These nations whose lands thou shall possess hearken to soothsayers and diviners, but thou art otherwise instructed by the Lord thy God."⁸⁶

Who therefore can doubt that these, which the words of the prophet, nay of the Holy Spirit, extirpate with such pains, are wicked practices and not merely a weakening but a destruction of the faith? In the words of God they are abominations; and man

⁷⁸ Matt. vi. 24. ⁷⁹ Eph. vi. 17. ⁸⁰ Ps. cxxxvi. 12, 13.

⁸¹1 Kings xxvi. 8. ⁸² Deut. xxxii. 39.

⁸³ Exod. ii. 12. ⁸⁴ Apoc. i. 16.

⁸⁵ Heb. iv. 12. ⁸⁶ Deut. xviii. 9-14.

thinks to rise above man by following their teaching.⁸⁷ On account of such crimes nations have been blotted out and yet man in his rashness is confident that he is advanced by them.

Chapter Twenty-Nine. Physicians Theoretical⁸⁸ and Practical

YET IT is permissible that one be consulted with regard to the future on condition that he possess the spirit of prophecy, or that as the result of his knowledge of medicine he recognize from natural signs what is taking place in bodies of living creatures, or if he infers the character of time impending by indication derived from his experi-[167] ence. To these latter however no one should give ear in such a way as to make it prejudicial to faith or religion. Even the first are not to be given a hearing except in what they speak from the Lord, which never is inimical to religion because truth cannot be contrary to truth nor good to good.

Physicians however, placing undue emphasis upon nature, in general encroach upon the rights of the author of nature by their opposition to faith. I am not accusing all of them of error although I have heard very many of them arguing about the soul, virtue and its works, growth and decay of body, the resurrection of the same, and creation in a manner contrary to the tenets of faith.

Of God himself they at times speak as if

They were the earthborn giants storming Heaven's starry heights,⁸⁹

and in vain attempt, along with Enceladus, were eager to deserve that Aetna's mighty molten mass be piled upon them. But in these matters they well may be at fault because their talents, great as they are, lack profound knowledge of the difficulties that are inherent in them. When understanding fails by the lack of the guiding principle of faith, which is the keystone, there is left naught but opinion. But when the question concerns matters of less exalted import, for example animal structure, cause and cure of disease, physicians are not at all lacking except in the failure of their efforts, when that occurs. Theoretical physicians do indeed perform their function, and

⁸⁷ There is a pun in the sentence, as if the Latin word abominationes were abhominationes.

⁸⁸ Cf. Enth. 449 and Boethius, In Porph. Dial. i. ⁸⁹ Lucan, Phars. iii. 316 (L. C. L., p. 136).

(perchance in view of their regard for you they will draw more generously upon their resources) you will learn from them the cause and nature of each and every thing. They are the guardians of health, sickness, and the neutral state. They confer, so far as words go, health and maintain it; they give advice that obtains for you the neutral state; they foresee illness and instruct as to the cause; they indicate its beginning, growth, crisis, and decline.

Need more be said? As I listen to them it seems to me they have the power to raise the dead. They are considered not inferior to Aesculapius or Mercury. Yet I am perfectly amazed and greatly [168] disturbed by the fact that they engage in such heated arguments and as a result are divided into factions. Of one thing I am convinced, that contraries can not at the same time be true.

What am I to say of the practicing physicians? Far be it from me to say anything detrimental to them; I have too frequently fallen into their hands as atonement for my sins. Their resentment is not to be aroused by words; rather are they to be soothed by compliance. I do not wish them to deal harshly with me nor yet do I dare entertain the views that all acclaim. I shall therefore say with the holy man Solomon⁹⁰ that medicine is from the Lord God and no wise man will despise it.

There is indeed no one more indispensable than the doctor, provided he be a man of faith and wisdom. Who may sound the praises of him who as builder of salvation and protector of life imitates the Lord and performs his function in that he as agent and servant regulates and dispenses the salvation which He effects and as Lord and Prince grants?⁹¹ Nor is it pertinent that some who sell pseudo favor and who wish to appear quite just by refusing to receive a penny until the patient is convalescent are far from just, in that they ascribe to their own skill the kindly work of time — nay, the gift of the Lord, notwithstanding that he whom God and the recuperating power of nature restore would have been restored without the physician's effort. To be sure, nowadays there are a few doctors who constantly advise one another with the words "Take your fee while the patient

⁹⁰ This name should be Siracida, which means the son of Sirach; his name was Jesus and he was the author of Ecclesiasticus. See Ecclus. xxxviii. 4, "The Most High hath created medicines out of the earth and a wise man will not abhor them."

⁹¹ John plays upon the meaning of salus in this sentence, the ordinary meaning of which is "health." In theology it means "salvation." The doctor attends to the health of the body, God to the salvation of the soul.

is still in pain." I am not disturbed when their activities are mutually inimical, since I am aware that the effects of contraries are generally the same.

But when anyone succumbs under their ministrations they will then necessarily adduce reasons by which it will be clear that it would not have been possible to prolong the patient's life further. And, as is whispered about, they concoct refreshing drinks and prepare nourishing and delicious food for those whom they have weak-[169] ened by long fasting and who are now as good as dead. Perhaps you are waiting for me to repeat the popular remark that they are those who in the pursuit of their profession kill men.⁹² By no means; Heaven forbid that I repeat this insult. If you are really anxious to hear it, consult Seneca,⁹³ Pliny,⁹⁴ and Sidonius, who will shout it loud and in your ears.

⁹² Sidonius Apollinaris, Ep. II. xii. 3 (L. C. L., I, 472).

⁹³ Seneca, De Benef. VI. xxxvi. 2 (L. C. L., Seneca's Moral Essays, III, 440).

⁹⁴ Pliny, N. H. XXIX. i. 18.

BOOK III

Preface

[170] BY ATTACKING the follies of the frivolous I become the foe of the many, and for this reason I decided to go into retirement and hold my peace; but the unsettled state of my affairs forced me to give up the former, and my feelings the latter, course. On finding himself under a regime one is wise to obey the will of the ruler; so one goaded by the spur of emotion cannot help betraying his feelings. Consequently exultation is the result of the thrill of joy; hope engenders gaiety; fear, panic; and grief finds expression in tears. To every one of us joy or sorrow pays its respects in turn. But the feeling of sorrow is deeper and the more universal, for who does not more often experience the sting of suffering than the caress of pleasure? Rare is the person who possesses the strength to protect himself entirely from the assault of fortune's whole host. He who does conquer by virtue of his own resistance is attacked in the life or the fortune of his friend or relative. He is hardly human who is not shaken by his own material losses, while he is not quite a man who remains unmoved by what happens to others.

Philosophers have, however, already raised the question whether anything which pertains to man is foreign to him. Progress in virtue has solved this difficulty, since the great comedian¹ thinks that nothing human is alien to man, and our Heavenly Master teaches that man shall love his neighbor as himself.² Hence it is clear that the disciple who does not rejoice with the truth³ and whose wrath does not blaze against enemies of the public weal is unworthy the [171] Great Teacher. To the best of its ability the present work directs its attention to these and will attack their folly with the weapon it knows how to use.

¹ Terence, Hauton.; Tim. 77 (L. C. L., I, 124).

² Matt. xix. 19; Mark xii. 31. ³ 1 Cor. xiii. 6.

Chapter One. Welfare, Universal and Public

PUBLIC welfare which fosters the state and its individual citizens consists in sanctity of life, for life is man's most cherished possession and its sanctity his greatest blessing. Now man is made up of a rational soul and of corruptible flesh, according to the definition of ancient philosophers.⁴ Flesh, however, derives its life from the soul, since from no other source can the body possess it, being always quiescent by virtue of its paralyzing inertia and moving only by virtue of the spiritual element. The soul as well has its own life, for God is its life — a thought which a modern writer has impressively and with truth expressed, albeit in the lighter form of verse:

The soul of life is God, the body's life is soul;

At flight of soul the body dies; And soul is lost when God's support is gone.⁵

As, therefore, it is the nature of the body to be alive and active, to yield to the soul's impulses by reason of its own structure, and to obey it as by a sort of harmony with it, so the soul derives life from the fact that it possesses activities in its own realm, undoubtedly receives its impulses from God, obeys him with complete devotion, and acquiesces in all things. In proportion as it fails so to respond, it fails to live. The body too falls victim to the torpor of death in any of its parts that cease to be animated by the soul. As long therefore as the body is alive in all its parts, it is entirely subject to the soul, which is diffused not part to part but exists as a whole and functions in each and every part.

God also takes entire possession of the soul that lives the perfect life, governs it, and vitalizes the whole to such an extent that no nook or cranny eludes Him. But why use the expression nook or [172] cranny or the word part in speaking of the soul? For it has no parts, being single in its nature and knowing absolutely naught of division. Such parts as it could, however, it claimed from the Dispenser of all good. What parts were these, you ask? Assuredly the virtues through which it has its being, performs its holy functions, and tests itself. If therefore it does not grow by multiplication or any increase in size, none the less, despite the persistence of its inherent singleness, it expands in reason and understanding because it attracts good and repulses evil. When, however, spirit (for God is

⁴ Augustine, Serm. CL. iv. 5: "Man consisting of rational soul and mortal flesh." ⁵ Ibid., De Lib. Arbit. II. xvi. 41; Serm. CLVI. vi. 6; De Civ. Dei, XIII. xxiv. 6.

spirit⁶) fills these parts, the life of the soul becomes complete and perfect. For when the understanding, in so far as it has the power and is permitted, apprehends God, who is the perfection of goodness, when inclination, uncontaminated, seeks the good it sees, and reason points the way in order that no one, attracted to good by his own healthy impulse, may stray to right or left, then the soul's life attains as it were the glory of immortality.

Perhaps this is what he felt who said, as joy suffused his being, "My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God."⁷ He who proceeds along this path does indeed experience neither hopes nor fears, sadness nor sorrow, caused by any failure as the result of departure from the supreme and true good. Perhaps too this is the reason that the words of the prophet invite the souls of the faithful, saying: Be converted to me with all your heart,⁸ that the angel of joy or grief, fear or hope, may not turn from my face, may not displease my will.

This life fills every created thing because without it there is no substance for its creation. For all that is exists by reason of sharing in it. But, though it be by nature in all things, by grace it dwells only in the rational. They exist therefore because truth is in them; they are enlightened because wisdom is in them; they love the good because the source of goodness and charity is in them. For all angelic, even human, virtue is a mark of divinity stamped as it were upon the rational creature.

[173] The holy spirit dwelling within impresses upon the soul the seal of sanctity, streams of which it widely diffuses, revealing the gifts of its varied favors. This seems to me the only real safeguard of life: that the mind, by the life-giving power of the spirit, be illuminated for the acquisition of knowledge and be inspired with the love of honor and zeal for virtue.

Therefore knowledge precedes the cultivation of virtue, for no one can truly seek that of which he is ignorant; nor can evil be effectively shunned unless it be known. Further, the treasures of knowledge are disclosed to us in two ways; first, by the use of reason understanding discovers what is capable of being known; second, revealing grace discloses what has been hidden by presenting it to our eyes.

It is then through nature or through grace that each one can arrive at the recognition and knowledge of truth of those things that

⁶ John iv. 24.

⁷ Ps. lxxxiii. 3. ⁸ Joel ii. 12.

are indispensable. What is more remarkable, every one of us carries in his heart a book of knowledge, opened by the exercise of reason. In this are portrayed not only the forms of all visible things and nature in general; the invisible things⁹ of the Fabricator of all things are also written down by the very hand of God. So true it is that they to whom the list of duties to be performed are made known by gift of nature or of grace can by no means be excused on grounds of ignorance.

As has been written: For what of God is known is manifest in them, for God revealed it to them.¹⁰ Yet I do not enlarge the fringes of corrupt nature¹¹ nor raise the phylacteries against grace as though nature possessed any good which it did not receive;¹² since it is certain that without grace¹³ we can do nothing. Therefore the recognition of truth and the cultivation of virtue is the general and universal safeguard of the individual, of the state, and of rational nature; while its contrary is ignorance and her hateful and hostile offspring, vice. Ignorance is indeed fittingly called the mother of vice, for she is never so barren as not to produce a useless crop of hateful things. The moralist remarks

No incense to the gods avails to plant A mite of wisdom in the brain of fools.¹⁴

[174] Recognition connotes certitude and applies either to learning or to faith. Let the rule of faith be deferred however, as it will be discussed in its own time and place. Learning then involves knowledge of self, which cannot be attained if it fail to measure its own strength or if it be ignorant of the strength of others.

Chapter Two. Man's First Contemplation in His Aspiration for Wisdom; the Fruits of Such Contemplation

THE FIRST task of man aspiring to wisdom is the consideration of what he himself is: what is within him, what without, what below, what above, what opposite, what before, and what after.

Next perhaps comes that which those whose task it was to hand down to posterity the first principles of philosophy thought ought

⁹ Rom. i. 20. ¹⁰ Ibid., 17.

¹¹ Matt. xxiii. 5.

¹² 1 Cor. iv. 7. ¹³ John xv. 5.

¹⁴ Persius, Sat. v. 120-21 (L. C. L., p. 380).

to be investigated; that is to say the substance,¹⁵ quantity, relation, quality, position, place, time, state, activity, and passivity of individual things; the peculiar properties in all of these; whether they admit of increase, can tolerate contraries, and whether anything is found opposed to them.

So far they displayed wisdom and zeal, and yet they were somewhat careless in that, amid such light cast upon things, they attained to no knowledge of themselves and lost the knowledge of the light inaccessible;¹⁶ being vain in their thoughts and professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and their foolish heart was darkened.¹⁷ This is proved by the fact that, giving themselves up to dishonorable passions, they would do that which was seemly neither to their sex, age, nor fortune, nor even to nature, and they degraded the persons of all by the testimony of their works. They were given over to a reprobate sense, and this is clear to those who are more fully acquainted with the Apostle. The strongest proof¹⁸ of all, however, is this: that credence is granted each on the basis of his faith and sincerity. For the works that each does¹⁹ offer testimony concerning himself, while he who does not know himself, [175] what of profit does he know? "If thou knowest not thyself, O fairest among women, go forth and follow after the steps of the flocks."²⁰

There is an oracle of Apollo which is thought to have come down from the skies; Noti seliton,²¹ that is, Know thyself. With this in mind, the moralist writes:

Learn, puny beings, to know the cause of things; Why we are born and what our lives should be; What course we have to run in life; How just to miss the danger of the turn; What limit should be placed upon our wealth; What prayer we may address to God above; What use to make of gold acquired in mart; How much to spend on country and on kin; What role has been assigned to you by God, For you to play upon the stage of life.²²

¹⁵ See above, p. 92, n. 36.

¹⁶ 1 Tim. vi. 16. ¹⁷ Rom. i. 21ff.

¹⁸ Matt. vii. 16, 20; John x. 37. ¹⁹ John v. 36. ²⁰ Cant, i. 7.

²¹ Noti seliton, i. e., gnw~di seauto/n; Juvenal, Sat. xi. 27 (L. C. L., p. 222).

²² Persius, Sat. iii. 66-72 (L. C. L., p. 360).

Such contemplation bears fourfold fruit: benefit to self, affection for neighbor, scorn for the world, and love of God. Is not that a good tree²³ which bringeth forth such sweet fruit and produces such advantages? Surely he will not vaunt himself who is a little one²⁴ in his own eyes. Who will not blush at his own poverty as he thinks over the number of desirable things that he has or has not? But if he recount the number of his undesirable possessions he finds abundant cause for reasonable grief and humility.

Who seeks comfort from God is thrown back upon himself wherever he turns, saying "I have been humbled, O Lord, exceedingly; quicken thou me according to thy word."²⁵ Or again, he says "For I am ready for scourges and my sorrow is continually before me."²⁶

Chapter Three. Pride the Root of All Evil; Concupiscence a Widespread Leprosy Injecting All

PRIDE is verily the root of all evils and the fuel that feeds the fires of death.²⁷ Streams dry up if cut off from their source; nor do limbs [176] of trees wax vigorous when the root is cut away. Vices wither, if arrogance be killed; but if fertilizer be heaped about their roots the branches swell and the sterility of barren wastes begins to put forth leaves. If you turn water into a spring the overflow forms streams; if you increase the fire of the hearth²⁸ the blaze breaks out again in the fuel. So if you foster the poison of the arrogance innate in corrupt nature you cannot prevent, even if you wish, the deadly virus from infecting the very vitals. Love of self is not so much related to all; rather it is innate in all, and if it be excessive it becomes a moral fault. Every virtue is marked by its own boundaries, and its essence is moderation. If one exceed this he is off the road, not on it.²⁹ If this love gain the upper hand no one can hope for cure. It is a leprosy, the most incurable imaginable. If you are ignorant that

²³ Matt. vii. 17; Luke vi. 43. ²⁴1 Kings xv. 17.

²⁵ Ps. cxviii. 107.

²⁶ Ps. xxxvii. 18.

²⁷ Gregorius Magnus, Mor. xxxiv. 23 in Job, xli. 47.

²⁸ Cf. above, p. 34, n. 96.

²⁹Cf. Policraticus, IV, ix (beginning): "Let him [i.e., the prince] incline neither to the right nor to the left. To incline to the right is to put overemphasis even upon virtues. To incline to the right in the works of virtue is to transgress the bounds of moderation and moderation is virtue's essence." (Dickinson, p. 43).

concupiscence is a leprosy, consult Giezi.³⁰ If the patient feel ashamed to confess his symptoms, convince him by the spot upon his body. But why do I intimate that Giezi should be consulted, as if he were the only sufferer?

Interview the world, for the whole world is infected. Even question me for I am one of the sufferers. Yes, concupiscence is a wretched and deplorable leprosy. Possibly you fail to catch my meaning. Not knowing infirmity yourself and being immune to vice and therein above mankind you are ignorant of the scourge of concupiscence; but my trustworthy witness in heaven joins me in asserting that all are corrupt³¹ and have become abominable; there is none that doeth good; no, not one. Whether you are such an one is for you to decide. I know Paul is not, who cries out at the assault of this scourge and laments "Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"³² I know that he is not who from the breast of truth drank streams of wisdom when he thundered against the world infected with this disease: "All that is in this world is the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life."³³ Whoso does not temper this love, let him fear the leprosy and quake at the blindness of the eyes which it threatens.

[177] So if they who do not repress concupiscence, which is the especial source of evil and fosters it, suffer the loss of salvation, what will happen to those who inflame it with the zeal of time-servers and as it were add fuel to the flames of vice. What will those do, or rather, what will they suffer, who stop their ears to truth, do not shut their eyes in their admiration for things corruptible and corrupting, but stretch out their hands and call into play the keenness of every sense.

Then, as if their own wickedness were not sufficient for the day,³⁴ the deceit of one crowds upon the deceit of the other.³⁵ As a matter of fact I make rather free use of Terence's words,³⁶ as flatterers, plaintiffs, informers, traducers, the envious, the self-seeking, the haughty, the quarrelsome, the superstitious, the profligate, and traitors to all duties assemble to keep the furnace of concupiscence burning. It is easier to find all these than to count them because they are

³⁰ 4 Kings v. 24ff.

³¹ Ps. xiii. 1. ³² Rom. vii. 24. ³³ 1 John ii. 16.

³⁴ Matt. vi. 34. ³⁵ Terence, And. 779 (L. C. L., I, 84).

³⁶ Cicero, De Amic. xxiv. 89 (L. C. L., p. 169), "Complaisance gets us friends; plain speaking, hate." But the whole passage should be read.

found almost everywhere in the world. All law is directed against such as these, all its statutes conspire against them, and against these same a day will come when all living creatures will take up arms against them as foes of the safety of the state.

Chapter Four. The Flatterer; the Timeserver; the Wheedler; None More Pernicious than They

THE FLATTERER is the enemy of all virtue and forms as it were a cataract over the eye of him whom he engages in conversation. He is the more to be avoided, as he never ceases harming under the guise of friendship, until he has blinded keen vision and put out the modicum of light that seemed present. Added to this he stops up the ears of his listeners that they may not hear the truth. I hardly know anything that can be more disastrous than this. The words of Laelius, or rather of Cicero, are well known: "We must despair of the welfare of the man whose ears are closed to the words of truth."³⁷

[178] What more treacherous than to hoodwink by verbal flattery, beguiling manners, and deceptive gesture him to whom you owe allegiance, and to plunge him blinded by all the deceptions of vanity into degrading vice and down into the bottomless abyss? What more odious than deception and guile, by which, in the guise of love and fidelity, villainous treachery and enmity are practiced against a frank and guileless, and what is far more contemptible, against a loving friend.

Men of this type always speak to give pleasure, never to tell the truth. The words of their mouths are wicked guile which, even when friends are in error, bellows Bravo! Bravo! to their undoing. That you may be better acquainted with them I cite Terence's Gnatho. Listen to what he says;

Does one say nay, 'tis nay I say. If he Says yes, why yes it is. In fine My never-failing rule is to agree.³⁸

The Gnathos form a class by themselves;

They're mimics all. Dost laugh, he's shaken

³⁷ Cicero, De Amic. xxiv. 90 (L. C. L., p. 198).

³⁸ Terence, Eun. 252-53 (L. C. L., I, 258).

With a greater roar; he weeps when friends' Tears flow, but does not grieve; you order Fire when cold spell comes; his overcoat he dons; You say 'tis hot; he sweats.³⁹

At this point Umbricius⁴⁰ remarks

We're not on equal footing, he and I;

He's ready, night or day, to take the look

His neighbor's face then wears, prepared to throw

His arms in air and shout his praise, if he

But belch a good full belch or do aught else

Which is not nice for modest pen to write.⁴¹

This is indeed conduct unbecoming not merely a friend but even a free man; for real and genuine freedom degenerates into the appearance of virtue, and infamy reduces to degrading servitude those whom it has infected.

To turn actor or mimic brands with infamy those whom innate or acquired dignity seems to have delivered from the disgrace of such a mean calling. Then too, he who puts on another's expression, [179] allowing another's feelings one after another to flit over his own face, is plotting against the sanctity of his own sensations

And caters then to others' wanton ease.⁴²

If he disavow the actor in words, in character and degradation he acknowledges the same. This is characteristic of the timeserver who lives at another's beck and call and who, before expressing his own opinion, awaits that of all the others.

The wheedler,⁴³ who also goes by the name timeserver and flatterer, since the same thing is marked by many traits, pries into men's minds and assays their wishes, to make his own humors harmonize with those of anyone you will. His purpose is to pilfer like a pickpocket the good graces of him with whom he is dealing; for he is aware that from confluence of sentiment and harmony of interests, streams of friendship bubble forth as it were. The same likes and dislikes (as the historian remarks⁴⁴) form the firm foundation of friendships. Naturally, for

³⁹ Juvenal, Sat. Hi. 100-03 (L. C. L., p. 38). ⁴⁰ Ibid., 21 (L. C. L., p. 32).

⁴¹ Ibid., 104-07 (L. C. L., pp. 38ff.). ⁴² Persius, Sat. i. 22 (L.C. L., p. 318). ⁴³ Ibid., v. 176 (L. C. L., p. 386). ⁴⁴ Sallust, Catil. xx. 4 (L. C.L., p. 34).

Who believes you feel the same as he, Applauds your play with might and main.⁴⁵

When the wheedler has got his clue he becomes so flattering, so fawning, and lays on the honey of adulation so thick that he lulls virtue to sleep, and by dipping it in Lethean waters⁴⁶ overcomes all forms of that moderation without which a good life is impossible.

So Thais sent me many thanks?⁴⁷

(It is entertaining and appropriate that this writer of comedy make his frequent appearance in this work of ours.) The reply is "A thousand." It would indeed have been sufficient had the answer been "Many"; but because it is a trick of the flatterer to exaggerate all things and then add a bit thereto wherewith to enhance his claim, his answer is "A thousand."⁴⁸ Nor does a lie cause flush of shame; for he who could persuade himself to blot man's honor with such a [180] stain, for any cause whatsoever, will surely persuade himself to accomplish his purpose

With honor if he can; if not, in any way.⁴⁹

But to be literal, one who is called flatterer in the strict sense of the word is he who whitewashes another's faults, and, that the latter may not see himself, spreads before the eyes of his victim a cloud, as it were, of vanity and fills his ears with false encomiums. Says the moralist:

Then too this tribe, most deft to praise, extols The speech of lout, the hideous face of friend; The invalid's scrawny neck he likens To the shoulders broad of Hercules, as He dangles Antëus high above the ground; He marvels at a squeaky voice that sounds Far worse than squawking cry of cock that pecks The ravished hen.⁵⁰

However, it should cause no surprise if abandoned beings, with which this feculent world inimical to morals is defiled, are impelled to such degrading conduct. What I consider surprising is this, that

⁴⁵ Horace, Ep. I. xviii. 65-66 (L. C. L., p. 372). ⁴⁶ Virgil, Aen. vi. 714 (L. C. L., I, 554). ⁴⁷ Terence, Eun. 391 (L. C. L., I, 274).

⁴⁸ Ibid., 392 (L. C. L., I, 274).

⁴⁹ Horace, Ep. I. i. 66 (L. C. L., p. 256). ⁵⁰ Juvenal, Sat. iii. 86-91 (L. C. L., p. 38).

they find a crowd to believe them, to acquiesce in what others say on matters of import to themselves rather than in their own judgment, and that everyone is seeking something outside himself⁵¹ and disdaining to learn how poorly furnished his own mind is.⁵² There is indeed nothing which, not to say divine majesty but every soul swollen with the yeast of pride is unable to swallow when he himself is praised.⁵³

Chapter Five. Cunning of Flatterers; the Manifold Deception and Companions of Flattery and Its Consequence

THERE are those who, when they enjoy the society of friends and guests, do not tolerate vulgar and commonplace flattery any more than they would use cheap perfume and rancid ointment which disgusts everybody. What more degrading than to follow the example of the actor; to make up the face, to change Costumes, to study one's movements, and to play oneself the role of actor rather than [181] to view the actor in his role. How lacking in taste, when some one opens wide his mouth and belches forth his gale of vapid flattery to speed you on your way, for you to spread your ears and expand your chest to catch the swelling blast!

Because it is so apparent to everyone, this servile type of flattery is almost universally scorned. There is however another type, more to be feared because more insidious, which is carefully disguised under the veil of caution and as it were of criticism, correction, or some other laudable service. You will find that not a few have acted thus in their inordinate desire to appear kindly disposed. Laelius says (not he who formulated the principles of friendship, but the one who advised civil war and fanned its fury, otherwise known as Lentulus)

Our sole complaint is this; thy patience hath Too long now held in leash thy strength. Hast thou no faith in us? As long as life Has power to move our breathing forms, as long As arms have strength to hurl the valiant spear, Shalt thou endure to don the toga of

⁵¹ Persius, Sat. i. 7 (L. C. L., p. 316). ⁵² Ibid., iv. 52 (L. C. L., p. 362).

⁵³ Juvenal, Sat. iv. 70, 71 (L. C. L., p. 62).

Disgrace or bow to haughty senate's rule? Is there no fame to win in civil war?⁵⁴

Thus it is also in Roman comedy⁵⁵ that masters are mocked by the cunning of their slaves, who, after giving utterance to their strictures, allow the rebuttal of their own reasons and pretend that they have at length been convinced only to mislead their old masters further and receive thanks for the treachery of their betrayal. They do all in their power to keep up this form of deception to prevent themselves from ever being taxed with treachery; thus truth becomes the slave of their lies.

Thus too as gossip mongers⁵⁶ they gather scandal with which to tickle the ears of the curious, that in this way they may more readily attain their ends. They are also careful to observe the opportune moment so as not to make an ill-timed presentation of any matter, but to do it at luncheon time or when one is gay with wine or enjoying some other pleasure. Virgil remembers caution of this sort when he states that her sister was sent by Dido to call Aeneas back; for

'Twas she alone who knew the hour propitious For approach.⁵⁷

[182] Who can refrain from laughter when a worthless lackey⁵⁸ is bedizened with the badge of office, and amid the grins and jeering of the audience Dama is transformed into Marcus;

What now, art slow to lend when Marcus gives His word; hast fear when Marcus sits as judge? Does Marcus speak, it must be so. Just here May Marcus please to place his seal and name.⁵⁹

The good will of all is indeed to be cultivated, for it is the source of friendship and the first step to affection, but cultivated without staining honor, by zealous service, by the path of virtue, by the fruit of service, and by sincerity of speech. Add too steadfast consistency in word and deed, and truth, which is the foundation of all duty and good. Virtue seeks the esteem of the good and even of all men, if that be possible, but scorns to attain it by degrading means. Esteem

⁵⁴ Lucan, Phars. i. 361-66 (L. C. L., p. 30).

⁵⁵ The comedies of Terence only are referred to.

⁵⁶ Cicero, De Leg. III. xvi. 35 (L. C. L., p. 500).

⁵⁷ Virgil, Aen. iv. 423 (L. C. L., I, 424).

⁵⁸ Persius, Sat. v. 76 (L. C. L., p. 376).

⁵⁹ Ibid., 79-81 (L. C.L., p. 376).

is in particular a noble and delicate sentiment which scorns all that is not becoming. All splendor that does not derive its luster from esteem is suspect to it. Can it therefore lie to please, call good evil or evil good, goad on an ill balanced friend to act still more insane? Furthermore though all adulation is disgraceful, that is more pernicious which uses authority of personality, nature, or position to incite vice. To be sure philosophers call a thing plausible⁶⁰ which appeals to all, to the majority, or to the wiser, or that which gains the approval of the master in his own field. If therefore Plato or Socrates commends one for wisdom, Aristotle for mental keenness, Cicero for eloquence, Pythagoras for interest in mathematics, Horace for metrical skill, Ovid for smoothness of verse,⁶¹ why should he not believe them? Indeed, incentives to vice steal more quickly and effectively into the minds of individuals,

When they steal in with great names to support.⁶²

[183] Yet the mind in full possession of its faculties is not seduced by this because no man knoweth what is in man but the spirit of man that is in him.⁶³ Consequently the levelheaded shepherd in Virgil, wiser than philosophers and great men of our time, says

The shepherds call me bard as well, but them I do not trust.⁶⁴

Then too:

If thou becometh pale with greed at sight Of gold, if all you get you spend for thrills Of sensual joys,⁶⁵

though all your neighbors call you self-controlled and chaste, you would not believe them even under oath. Keep well in mind what you learned at school;

Beware to trust in others more than in Thyself about thy self.⁶⁶

I would hardly dare to say who takes the palm in vice, he who defiles his tongue with adulation or he whose heart leaps with joy

⁶⁰ Aristotle, Top. I. i (100B, 21ff.).

⁶¹ Ovid, Trot. IV. x. 25-26 (L. C. L., p. 198).

⁶² Juvenal, Sat. xiv. 32-33 (L. C. L., p. 266). ⁶³ 1 Cor. ii. 11.

⁶⁴ Virgil, Ecl. ix. 33-34 (L. C. L., I, 66ff.). ⁶⁵ Persius, Sat. iv. 47-48 (L. C. L., p. 362). ⁶⁶ Cato, Dist. i. 14 (L. C. L., Minor Latin Poets, p. 598).

thereat. In the latter the blindness of arrogance is condemned, in the former the treachery of causing it. Deception is everywhere condemned, but blindness as well, which in every case is accompanied by haughty pride. Granted that the flatterer be the worse, the victim is no less contemptible, for he would not have been caught in the snare of another's tongue had he not been his own flatterer as well. Should he who is a self flatterer accuse another of flattery? For wherein he accuseth another, he condemneth himself. For he doeth the same things which he judgeth.⁶⁷ "Woe to them" saith the Lord "that sew cushions under every elbow and make pillows for the heads of every age."⁶⁸

Assuredly they sew cushions who lay snares for ears, who pile on agreeable and empty praise with which to soothe the feelings, who commend the works of men to lull them to repose by heralding their fame and by the sweet allurement of popular favor; for the use of pillows and cushions is the voluptuousness of sleep.

[184] The cushion therefore is placed under every elbow when not only the specific action but all that has to do with it is commended. The head of every age is placed upon the pillow as long as any one takes delight, as the result of words of flattery, in all that he has done during his whole life.

And again, "The people build up a wall and they daub it."⁶⁹ Whosoever builds a wall instead of a house because of the defect of a deadened mind is rearing a structure of vicious works. He who makes a door in a wall alone wheresoever he enters finds himself out of doors. He who with deadened mind dwells upon his faulty works is sundered from the society of the blessed; therefore whosoever flatters and applauds the evil works of anyone daubs the wall that has been built up.

Although it is base to flatter anyone it is far worse when flattery attacks men of established authority, or of rank. So true is this that provision has been made by the rules of sacred canon that clerics who are known to be the slaves of flattery shall be without exception rejected. Rightly so because all flattery is accompanied by deception, fraud, betrayal, the infamy of lying, and as a consequence servile ignominy, the blinding of one's neighbor and the utter loss of all honor. Should not then the flatterers be ejected, not only from the clergy, but from the entire body of the faithful as well?

⁶⁷ Rom. ii. 1. ⁶⁸ Ezek. xiii. 18.

⁶⁹ Ibid., 10.

Chapter Six. Incredible Increase of Flatterers; Supplanting

by Them of Men of Honor Unlike Themselves in

Houses of Distinction

THIS scourge of flatterers, notwithstanding God's indignation, has grown to such an extent that if perchance it came to an open break I fear that they would have the power to expel the honorable and meritorious rather than suffer expulsion themselves; for the foul inundation of their cancerous disease seeps into all so that there is rarely anyone left uncontaminated. Everyone naturally strives to be on good terms with those with whom he lives. This is an attitude not only permissible but also honorable, as is all else that nature, the parent of virtues and the best guide to good living,⁷⁰ has brought into being.

[185] But as soon as such affection abandons the rule of moderation the flatterer is borne on headlong. He rushes to and fro, having recourse to legitimate and illegitimate means, to honor and dishonor. He becomes a trapper of good will and an incestuous seeker of favors, with the result that, after having previously debauched his friend by blandishments, following the practice of harlots he steals away his fortune, weakens his faculties, gathers to himself all the plunder, and turns everything to his own profit. The result is that no servile obsequiousness⁷¹ worries him, no complaisance seems unbecoming, and he assumes a role for every service, provided he may fraudulently anticipate the gains thereof.

Who, pray, are these in such gorgeous attire, who haughtily strut about surrounded by a retinue of footmen, accompanied by a band of companions and messmates, saluted first in the market place,⁷² sitting in the first places at feasts, their ears tickled by the sound of their first names and by such words as have power to reach the sensitive ears of nobles, raised on high and held there by the oarage of fortune's wings,⁷³ setting the style and changing the fashions of every house? Flatterers to be sure who are ready to live at the beck and call of others, provided they may swindle them out of everything.

Truth is stern and is generally the mother of annoyance in not deigning to flatter anyone; but the wormwood she dispenses is more helpful and more grateful to sound sense than the dripping honey-

⁷⁰ Cicero, De Amic. v. 19 (L. C. L., p. 128). ⁷¹ Cod. Justinian, x. 24.

⁷² Matt. xxiii. 6-7.

⁷³ Virgil, Aen. i. 301 (L. C. L., I, 262); vi. 19 (L. C. L., I, 506).

comb of a harlot's lips.⁷⁴ Better the wounds of a friend, on the testimony of the pious Solomon, than the deceitful kisses of the flatterer;⁷⁵ naturally faith is ever to be preferred to treachery. Faith cannot remain pure when one thing is done and another pretended, especially when there is the will and spirit to harm. The expression [186] good faith,⁷⁶ if we follow the Stoics, derives from the fact that what has been said is made good.

Light of my life, my salvation, my refuge, most generous and kind of men, model of life, mirror of virtue, and other farfetched epithets of the sort — are they not to be called poisonous rather than adulatory? There are indeed those who do not shrink from the role of buffoon in proffering their friendship. "Poison is administered only in sugar coated pills"⁷⁷ says a wise man. No plot is more insidious than that which is formed under the guise of service and in the name of intimacy. What one regards as complaisance, imagines to be friendship, or esteems as affection is in reality a plot.

Never, according to the story⁷⁸ (for the poet's myths serve the purpose of divulging truth), would Juno have tricked Semele to a death by fire had she not assumed the disguise of her nurse and pretended affection for her. One imagines that service is being rendered him; in fact he is being subjected to the extreme of wretched slavery for

When into ready ear he pours a little Of the poison of his nature and His wickedness,⁷⁹

I'll swear he would clear out the whole pack⁸⁰ of those who speak the truth and disdain to submit to the ignominy of being a fawner. He who, I'll not say opposes, but even fails to fall in with the sensual enjoyments of an influential friend, however foul he be, is shown the door and is fortunate too if not regarded as a foe. Nor is consent sufficient to win his good graces. One must approve, commend, applaud his madness. After he has indulged in every vice he must be praised as though he had done some good deed. As identity of interests is a sign of love, so on the basis of dissent one is accused of enmity. Consequently the satirist says

⁷⁴ Prov. v. 3. ⁷⁵ Ibid., xxvii. 6.

⁷⁶ Cicero, De Off. I. vii. 23 (L. C. L., p. 24).

⁷⁷ Jerome, Ep. cvii. 6.

⁷⁸ Ovid, Met. iii. 253ff. (L. C. L., I, 142).

⁷⁹ Juvenal, Sat. iii. 122-23 (L. C. L., p. 40). ⁸⁰ Horace, Sat. I. ix. 47, 48 (L. C. L., p. 108).

Just what have I to do at Rome? I can Not lie; if book is bad, I do not praise Or crave; the motive of the stars is dark [187] To me; to plot a father's death I neither can

Nor will; insides of frogs I've never scanned; To bear the gift or note of paramour To newly married girl is not my forte; To be a thief I've taught no one, and so I'm in no governmental post abroad; I'm useless as a trunk with both its arms Lopped off.⁸¹

Therefore I flee from the city filled with such obscenities; I abandon the victims poisoned with the venom of flattery to their adulators.

Asturias and Catulus may live

Therein; and they that transmute black

To white.⁸²

Don't imagine that the vice of a single city merely is depicted; vice is now characteristic of the whole world. So far as that goes, take the Roman world. I remember having heard that the Roman pontiff⁸³ was wont to deride the Lombards, saying that they took off their hats to all with whom they held discourse, with the idea of gaining their good will at the beginning of the discussion and of fattening their heads with oil of commendation,⁸⁴ as it were.

Solomon said: My son, if sinners shall entice thee, consent not to them,⁸⁵ for they themselves lie in wait for their own blood and practice deceits against their own souls.⁸⁶ Restrain thy foot from their paths, for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood.⁸⁷

⁸¹ Juvenal, Sat. Hi. 41-48 (L. C. L., p. 34).

⁸² Ibid., 29-30 (L. C. L., p. 34).

⁸³ I. e., Hadrian IV. ⁸⁴ Ps. cxl. 5.

⁸⁵ Prov. i. 10. ⁸⁶ Ibid., 18. ⁸⁷ Ibid., 15-16.

Chapter Seven. Imposition of Flatterers to Be Avoided from the Start; Its Rapid Progress as the Result of Gifts or the Exacting Duties They Perform

BEHOLD, the wise man, instructing the whole world in the person of his son, renders the favor of timeservers suspect to all, and warns all, and that too from the very start, for the reason I imagine that the first attack of flatterers is made on one who is traveling the path [188] of rectitude. This is perhaps the meaning of the parable of the harlot, avoidance of whom he prescribes. He says:

For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dripping, and

her throat is smoother than oil. But her end is bitter as wormwood and sharp as a two-edged

sword.

Her feet go down into death and her steps go in as far as hell. They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering

and unaccountable. Now therefore, my Son, hear me and depart not from the

words of my mouth. Remove thy way far from her and come not nigh the doors

of her house.⁸⁸

Although these words are thought to apply particularly to heretical sects, they are not inappropriate to the deception of timeservers. If therefore it is not permitted to approach the doors of the harlot's house, much less is she to be admitted to the heart within the breast.

Now though the vice of flattery has many forms, for some ply their trade by expression of countenance, others by words, and still others by deed or gift, it is most effective when gifts give force to the pretence, or complaisance under unusual circumstances offers its testimony. If you believe otherwise:

Thou knowest ill thy times, if thou dost believe That honeycomb is sweeter than the cash That one receives.⁸⁹

The test of pure affection in our degenerate days is the frequency of gifts. It is the art of arts; if thou desirest to please, thou shalt give gifts.

⁸⁸ Prov. v. 3-8.

⁸⁹ Ovid, Fast. i. 191-92 (L. C. L., p. 14).

If thou canst serve a dish of steaming tripe, Canst give a shivering friend a threadbare coat;⁹⁰

you will be a second Mercury to him, or if you wish more, be Apollo,

More beautiful than Phoebus or his sister.⁹¹

Nor is there any reason that you should fear that the person you support with your gifts may withhold his approbation. Maintenance is but a petty gift, a dubious favor falsely so named. Gifts must be constantly repeated, otherwise the name of friendship perishes. One [189] cannot count on the magnitude of a gift; he must temper the soul kindled with the fire of greed by a frequent refresher, and appease the insatiable hunger of avarice by a constant feeding with benefactions.

It is said to be a characteristic of eagles' that when they have glutted their crops with a generous meal they abstain from eating for a fortnight, or as some say for forty days, and disregard any amount of food that may be accessible to them, being content with the one filling meal.

Far different is the situation of the rich, nay, rather of those that put their favor up at auction, for they resemble somewhat more closely men under the necessity of being often fed because they are often hungry. They can hardly prolong their fast for forty days; rather are they indignant with their friends if they do not fill the void of their avarice.

In ancient times it was customary to represent the graces naked,⁹² for the reason that staunch friendship and true fidelity, without which grace is a mere name, cannot be clothed in any robe of pretense. But when we consider men, since they love not their friends but themselves in each instance, there is need of the garb of pretense that they may appear engaging. In their estimation, because favor is not to be had for nothing, it is not favor but bait for profit. It takes on the face of the harlot,⁹³ nor blushes at any vice in its pursuit of money. There is that ancient complaint of the wise man lamenting the wane of friendship;

⁹⁰ Persius, Sat. i. 53-54 (L. C. L., p. 320). ⁹¹ Petronius, Sat. 109 (L. C. L., p. 226). ⁹² See Servius, Comm. in Verg. Aen. i. 724. ⁹³ Jer. iii. 3.

The name of friendship once so dear to man, Is offered up for sale; a courtesan, She waits her fee.⁹⁴

This results from the fact that if there is no advantage to be gained it is the rare person, non-existent I may say, who cherishes friendship for its own sake. In the cycles of eternity, in such a lapse of time, amid such a multitude of varied persons, as Laelius put it, scarce three or four pairs of friends are found.⁹⁵ This fact too our [190] Petronius laments, although it would seem in another's role. He says

The name of friendship yet endured as long As there was something in it for a man. The ups and downs of fortune in the game Of life are varied; when I win, you smile My friend; I lose, you turn your back in flight. Behold a troupe upon the stage; one plays The role of son; another that of sire; The third a nabob is. Down goes The curtain and the play is done. The real Appears as mask is cast aside.⁹⁶

Chapter Eight. The Comedy or Tragedy of This World PETRONIUS does indeed employ an appropriate simile, because almost everything that takes place in the seething mob of the irreligious is more like comedy than real life. It has been said that the life of man on earth is a warfare.⁹⁷ If the spirt of the prophet had had any conception of our times, he would have been correct in saying that the life of man on earth is a comedy, where each forgetting his own plays another's role. Perhaps the oracular utterance of the prophet intended to teach that those not yet swallowed up by the earth wage continuous war; for, prisoners of their own vice, they are dragged to punishment like an ox to the altar. In pursuit of their own passions, although they are seen in body inhabiting the surface of the earth, in reality they have been swallowed up and are going down alive into hell.⁹⁸

⁹⁴ Ovid, Pont. II. iii. 19-20 (L. C. L., p. 332).

⁹⁵ Cicero, De Amic. iv. 15 (L. C. L., p. 124). ⁹⁶ Petronius, Sat. So (L. C. L., p. 160).

⁹⁷ Job vii. 1. ⁹⁸ Num. xvi. 30.

Using another figure of speech we may say that the earth is everywhere inhabited by those whose intercourse is not in the heavens,⁹⁹ nor are they aware that they possess anything in the sky; all they comprehend is what they see on the surface of the earth.

Constant warfare is also proclaimed for those (if we may return to fable) who know their water of Tantalus, vulture of Ticinum, [191] wheel of Ixion, urn of Danaides, or stone of Sisyphus, their worldly desires being impossible to satisfy as long as they are absent from God.¹ Their life is a warfare and assuredly a worry.

Now if this figure does not appeal to you, you may be taught by another interpretation, that life on earth is a trial;² and this, if we take the literal meaning of the word, usually implies evil. In this trial, at any rate, or warfare, although the Lord has reserved for himself seven thousand men,³ almost the entire world, according to the opinion of our friend Petronius, is seen to play the part of actor to perfection, the actors gazing as it were upon their own comedy and what is worse, so absorbed in it that they are unable to return to reality when occasion demands. I have seen children imitate so long those afflicted with stuttering that even when they wished to they were unable to speak in the normal way; for usage, as someone has said,⁴ is difficult to unlearn, and habit becomes second nature;⁵

You pitch it forth with fork but it comes back Again.⁶

As a consequence the moralist wisely and indeed happily remarks "Accustom yourself from an early age to the best way to live; practice will make it agreeable to you."⁷

So this comedy of the age affects the thought of even great men. The different periods of time take on the character of shifts of scene. The individuals become subordinate to the acts as the play of mocking fortune unfolds itself in them; for what else can it be that invests at one moment some unknown upstart with wide flung power

⁹⁹ Phil. iii. 20.

¹ 2 Cor. v. 6.

² The Latin word is tentatio; this is the reading of an ancient Latin version of the old testament, according to the testimony of Jerome, Augustine, and others. See Gregorius Magnus, Mor. V. iii. 6.

³ 3 Kings xix. 18.

⁴ Quintilian, Inst. Orat. I. i. 5 (L. C. L., I, 22).

⁵ Cicero, De Fin. V. xxv. 74 (L. C. L., p. 476); De Invent. i. 2, 3.

⁶ Horace, Ep. I. x. 24 (L. C. L., p. 316).

⁷ Cicero, Ad Heren. IV. xvii. 24.

and raises him to a throne and again hurls another born to the purple from his imperial height down into chains, dooms him to [192] captivity, and casts him forth into extreme misery? Or, and this is his usual fate, stains the blades of ignoble men or even vile slaves with the blood not merely of rulers but of princes.

If fortune wills, she makes a consul teach; She wills again and lo! the teacher takes The consul's seat.⁸

The life of man appears to be a tragedy rather than a comedy in that the end is almost invariably sad; for all the sweetness of the world, however entrancing it may be, grows bitter, and mourning taketh hold of the end of joy.⁹ However prosperous the unjust may be in their lives, however enriched by association with the successful, and however much fortune is at their beck and call, at the end of their course she casts them down and she at length becomes as bitter as wormwood.¹⁰ Job says

Why then do the wicked live, are they advanced and

strengthened with riches? Their seed continueth before them, a multitude of kinsmen

and of children and of children's children in their sight. Their houses are secure and peaceable and the rod of God is

not upon them. Their cattle have conceived and failed not; their cow has

calved and is not deprived of her fruit. Their little ones go out like a flock and their children dance

and play. They take the timbrel and the harp and rejoice at the sound

of the organ. They spend their days in wealth and in a moment they go

down to hell.¹¹

What sadder exit to former joy! What unhappy end of a happy life! This is the way of those who are not in the labor of men¹² nor are they scourged like other men. The counsel of God indeed casts them down¹³ while they were lifted up. All this is assuredly to be

⁸ Juvenal, Sat. vii. 197-98 (L. C. L., p. 152). ⁹ Prov. xiv. 13. ¹⁰ Prov. v. 4.

¹¹ Job xxi. 7-13. ¹² Ps. lxxii. 5. ¹³ Ibid., 18.

ascribed to Him rather than to fortune, which is itself from Him or, as I am inclined to believe, does not exist at all;

Thou shouldst not deem the goddess fortune blind. There's no such being as she.¹⁴

[193] Homer also,¹⁵ in that masterpiece of his, disclaimed any knowledge of fortune; in fact she is nowhere named in that long poem. He preferred to commit the control of the universe to God alone, whom he calls moera, rather than to ascribe anything to the hazard of fortune, which by general consent is regarded as no goddess, and is furthermore called blind and is so represented in art. It is idle to accuse her of blindness since she is nowhere to be found in the domain of nature.

Consequently it is also proved that no such thing as chance exists if one define it as an unforeseen occurrence, since nothing takes place without a proper cause or reason preceding,¹⁶ and since a trustworthy preacher teaches us that nothing upon earth takes place without a cause.¹⁷ None the less, because some things happen contrary to the purpose and to the expectation of those interested in them, they are included in the term chance, although they are just as truly foreseen in the mind of the Dispenser as are those things which are seen by the laws of nature to be confined by the bonds of necessity. In like manner also it is apparent that these very happenings are connected with the primal cause of all things in such a way that all things are referred to it, and in my opinion this cause itself necessarily follows by the affirmation of all things that of necessity exist.

Perhaps the more prudent will smile at my lack of wisdom in agreeing that the existence of God is a corollary of the existence of all things. It is the Peripatetics who have taught me that cause is inferred, and with probability, from effect. Furthermore the expounders of our faith of necessity infer a cause deriving from all things, of which, by which, and in which cause¹⁸ are all existing things, and without which nothing has been created or can exist.

The fact therefore that we are seen to ascribe some event to for-

¹⁴ Cato, Dist. iv. 3 (L. C. L., Minor Latin Poets, p. 614).

¹⁵ Macrobius, Sat. V. xvi. 8.

¹⁶ Plato, Tim. 28A, in the Latin translation of Chalcidius. For the Greek see L. C. L., pp. 48ff.

¹⁷ Job v. 6.

¹⁸ Rom. xi. 36; John i. 3.

tune does not prejudge the case in her favor. But since we are addressing men we use the words in vogue among men, discussing with our dull wits,¹⁹ as before remarked, various questions, but giving no profound explanation of any. Now if this be indulgently conceded, what prevents our listening to what the pagan philos-[194] ophers have written for general edification? It has been said "For what things soever were written, were written for our learning,"²⁰ that through patience and the comfort of the scriptures we may have hope.

As long as peace is absent from the sons of Adam, who have been born to labor, prepared for flagellation, conceived in sin, reared in toil, rushing rather than traveling toward death, than which there is no sadder sight, patience is necessary, an effective consolation which, derived from the balm of joy in the conscience and from the boundless clemency of God, fosters and strengthens those predestined for life by inspiring them with hope of the future. "O keeper of men" said Job, expressing in his own person the calamities of mankind, "why hast thou set me opposite to thee and I am become burdensome to myself?"²¹ There really is no one who, when his faults begin to cry out within him, does not find cause and matter for grief, since on the testimony of Philosophy herself it is man's lot to have what he does not want and to want what he does not have.²² Consequently the soul of the believer for whom the joys of real beatitude are deferred, seeks the upper with the nether watery ground.²³

To lend an attentive ear to the fantasies of the gentiles, the end of all things is tragic, or if the name of comedy be preferred I offer no objection, provided that we are agreed that, as Petronius remarks,²⁴ almost all the world is playing a part. A certain distinguished author²⁵ of our own time, albeit in the language of the unbelievers, has felicitously expressed the same thought;

Blind destiny allots his puny tasks

To man. Our age supplies amusement, nay,

Derision, to the gods.

¹⁹ Cicero, De Amic. v. 19 (L. C. L., p. 128).

²⁰ Rom. xv. 4. ²¹ Job vii. 20.

²² Boethius, Consol. Phil. III. pros. iii (L. C. L., p. 236). ²³ Joshua xv. 19.

²⁴ See above, p. 172.

²⁵ Supposed to be Bernard Silvester.

It is surprising how nearly coextensive with the world is the stage on which this endless, marvelous, incomparable tragedy, or if you will comedy, can be played; its area is in fact that of the whole world.

[195] It is most difficult for anyone excluded to be admitted, or admitted to be excluded, as long as he wears this muddy vesture of decay. To be thrown off it must be of such fine texture indeed that it can be passed through the eye of a needle²⁶ without touching it at all. Otherwise no one makes his exit intact, perhaps for the reason that the Styx,²⁷ nine times wound around, hems in this all so spacious stage. "I have seen" says Ecclesiastes "all things that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity";²⁸ and this is because all things that withdraw from the firm ground of truth become subject to the vanity which so graces our comedy; for not willingly was the creature made subject to vanity.²⁹

Although this habitation of ours is entirely enclosed by nine circles, or rather spheres,³⁰ all of us must none the less make our exit, and inexorable Charon in that bark as decrepit as himself will ferry us across. Others will ever take our place, and thus ephemeral man abides in his kind just as, though water flows by, the river we know remains in its bed. It is written; Where are the princes of the nations knowing war from the beginning? And who take their diversions with the birds of the air and hoard up gold wherein men trust, joining house to house and field to field, even to the end of the place? And there is no end of their getting.³¹ Straightway is added that of which all have been persuaded by unvarying experience: They have gone down to hell and others are risen up in their place.³²

None the less those departing hence have been kindly dealt with in that they are not taken from this drama of fortune to be cast into exterior darkness,³³ where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, nor do they have to pass from the snow waters which Job, the holy man, mentions to excessive heat.³⁴ Kindly have they been dealt with in that they await their Elysian Fields, which the sun of

²⁶ Matt. xix. 24; Mark x. 25; Luke xviii. 25.

²⁷ Virgil, Georg. iv. 480 (L. C. L., I, 230); Aen. vi. 439 (L. C. L., I, 536).

²⁸ Eccles. i. 14. ²⁹ Rom. viii. 20.

³⁰ Cicero, De Somn. Scip. 4 (De Re Pub. VI. xvii. 17) (L. C. L., p. 270).

³¹ Bar. iii. 16-18, 26; Isa. v. 8. ³² Bar. iii. 19.

³³ Matt. viii. 12.

³⁴ Job. xxiv. 19.

justice illumines with his light.³⁵ But why do my words exclude [196] the Elysian Fields from the confines of things mutable? They are indeed, as far as possible, included, stretching away with the broadness of good souls to whom it has been granted by the Father of lights³⁶ to devote their entire energy to the knowledge and love of good. Hence the moralist addresses the restless man in search of an empty happiness outside himself;

Thou seekest that which lieth everywhere In Ulubrae as well, if thou dost have But a contented mind.³⁷

Chapter Nine. Elysian Fields of This World; the Faith of

Our Time and That of the Fathers Our Predecessors, the

Same; the Guardians of Virtue the Directors

of This Mundane Stage

THEREFORE the world has its own Elysian Fields; Its own sun it knows, and stars,³⁸

since virtue has been given to all to enjoy as a kind of solar ray from the fountain of light, and it glorifies all things that it bathes with its radiance. This is the reason that they also upon whom the glory of this ray is seen to have descended, as by a reflection of itself, immediately gain distinction in the eyes of their inferiors and are glorified by this claim to virtue.

God forbid that any glorieth except him who glorieth in the Lord;³⁹ for not he who commendeth himself or men commend is approved, but he whom God commendeth; and this approval is won only by real virtue, not by its semblance however striking. This last comprises, I believe, all distinction in character due to natural endowment and the exercise of mental power without grace, which philosophers promise themselves as reward. For this very reason they become vain⁴⁰ in their thoughts because of their confidence in the

³⁵ Mal. iv. 2. ³⁶ Jas. i. 17.

³⁷ Horace, Ep. I. xi. 29-30 (L. C. L., p. 324). ³⁸ Virgil, Aen. vi. 641 (L. C. L., I, 550).

³⁹ 2 Cor. x. 17-18. ⁴⁰ Rom. i. 21-22.

freedom of the will, and professing themselves wise, they become fools. Consequently the moralist writes:

But 'tis enough to pray to Jove who gives And takes away, that he may grant to me My life and means; I shall myself provide [197] The mental balance of the sane.⁴¹

Another also says:

Thou hast, O Fortune, naught of power if one Possess but wisdom; goddess art thou in The sky because we put thee there.⁴²

Cato too, though he knew not the true God and was led astray by the superstitions of the gentiles, nevertheless in Lybia scorned the oracles of Jove, his god, for he judged that he himself was sufficient to do that which he had to do.⁴³

Indeed even the image of virtue possesses an aura, so to speak, of beauty and charm, so that whatever is perceived in its image by virtue of it is thought to be beautiful and seemly. Not in every case however is that which dwells in the darkness of ignorance becoming; nor can anyone be distinguished except in the faith of Him who is the true light and who illumines every man that comes into this world.⁴⁴ From this it is apparent that there can be no true virtue but in the knowledge and worship of the true God. Ezekiel's vision⁴⁵ did not leave this unsaid, for it asserted that the creed of those that had preceded and of those that had followed Christ was the same. Indeed the faith of the holy men of the Old and of the New Testament differs in this, that the latter already rejoice in the fulfillment of that which the former awaited and desired to be fulfilled.

Let therefore the semblance of virtue be revered, provided it be understood that without faith and love there can be no substance of virtue;

For who is there that can embrace The very self of virtue?⁴⁶

Who now clothes himself in even the shadow of the virtues in which we see that gentiles excelled, albeit having no Christ they did not

⁴¹ Horace, Ep. I. xviii. 111-12 (L. C. L., p. 376). ⁴² Juvenal, Sat. x. 365-66 (L. C. L., p. 220). ⁴³ Lucan, Phars. ix. 566ff. (L. C. L., pp. 546ff.). ⁴⁴ John i. 9.

⁴⁵ Gregorius Magnus, Hom. in Ezek. II. iv. 7. ⁴⁶ Juvenal, Sat. x. 141 (L. C.L., p. 202).

attain the fruit of true blessedness? Who imitates the diligence of Themistocles,⁴⁷ the gravity of Fronto,⁴⁸ the continence of Socrates, [198] the honor of Fabricius,⁴⁹ the innocence of Numa, the modesty of Scipio, the patience of Ulysses, the frugality of Cato, or the pity of Titus? Who does not admire and venerate, since

Honesty is praised but shivers in the cold.⁵⁰

Moreover the before mentioned and similar really great and praiseworthy men shone forth like luminaries of their age, lighting up their time, torch-bearers of their contemporaries toward that justice and truth which, by divine dispensation, had lighted the way for them. Thus, as the generation of the faithful succeeded one another, never has mankind been without its luminaries to dispel the darkness of its night and alleviate the affliction of its blindness, men indeed noble on the score of virtue, conspicuous for the honors of their achievement, men by whose example others are ever carried onward in their pursuit of justice. Did not Abel⁵¹ teach innocence and Enoch purity of conduct? What patience in hope and effort did not Noah possess? Did Abraham ever fail to do faithfully whatever he was bidden? Isaac teaches the chastity of marriage and Jacob endurance in toil. Joseph rewards his brothers who plotted his death by repayment in kindness, and by so doing teaches that by the good good should be returned for evil.

Among the many thousands of unbelievers, hardened people who constantly irritated God, the clemency of Moses is conspicuous; and amid impending adversity the greatness of the soul of the faithful Joshua is manifest. Job serves as a pattern of patience. John the Baptist, precursor of the grace of our Saviour, by preaching penitence and flight from wickedness extorted an avowal of truth and whetted the tongues of all the faithful to attack injustice and condemn iniquity.

Why should I cite the fathers of the New Testament, whose examples serve to form character and teach the fundamental principles of a good life? These do indeed belong to the seven thousand⁵² [199] men whom the Lord reserved for himself and whose knees

⁴⁷ Valerius Maximus, VIII. vii. ext. 15.

⁴⁸ Jerome, Ep. cxxv. 12.

⁴⁹ Boethius, Consol. Phil. II. met. vii (L. C. L., p. 218).

⁵⁰ Juvenal, Sat. i. 74 (L. C. L., p. 8).

⁵¹ Gregorius Magnus, Mor. vi. Praef. 13.

⁵² 3 Kings xix. 18.

were not bowed before Baal, nor their souls prostituted to any vanity whatsoever. These are those who are deemed mad by fools⁵³ in that they do not wish to share in the insanity of others. It is believed that they will end without honor because they have disdained to corrupt the dignity of nature by donning the costume of the actor on the stage of this world. These are perhaps those who from the lofty pinnacle of virtue look down upon the stage of the world, and scorning the drama of fortune are not in any way allured to take parts in acts of vanity and madness. They are already enjoying their Elysian Fields, see much that is profitable to themselves, and direct to such purpose all that they see; for when the soul of the true believer is lifted from the earth⁵⁴ then at length it will draw all things to itself. They view the world-comedy along with Him who towers above to watch ceaselessly over men, their deeds and their aspirations; for since all are playing parts, there must be some spectators.

Let no one complain that his acting is marked by none, for he is acting in sight of God, of his angels, and of a few sages who are themselves also spectators at these Circensian Games. Rather should one himself blush if on such a brilliantly lighted stage his movements be unseemly and he completely discredit himself by his farcical antics.

Chapter Ten. The Characters Form Their Own Guild and Lose Their Significance When Dissociated; Cleopatra, Augustus, Scipio; the Roman Victims of Vanity; Aim of the Art of Flattery

Now IN this comedy of fortune the characters choose one another, and if they separate from one another the appearance of the entire act changes, as if you should do away with the role of a Gliscerium or Pamphilium.⁵⁵ When one of the two is withdrawn the name of the other becomes meaningless; as, for example, if you withdrew the suspicious old man and the lovers there would be no role at all for Davus to play; hence the following:

⁵³ Wisd. v. 4.

⁵⁴ John xii. 32.

⁵⁵ Glycerium, Pamphilium, and Davus are characters in Terence's play The Woman of A ndros.

[200] Labienus was of good repute as long

As he could serve in Caesar's ranks; but now A worthless fugitive he roams the land And sea, with chief who has no men to lead.⁵⁶

If the decree of chance dissociates the roles to which the actors are habituated and which they have made for themselves, the usual result is that each role appears incapable of developing its own line of action, and it loses caste as though the reason for its action had been canceled. Cleopatra's enticements lost their force when she found no Caesar or Antony. She did indeed bend to her will by her gifts Caesar, conqueror of the world; and a harlot's charm and courtesan's face overcame the invincible spirit of an unconquered man. It was a poet who, giving expression to the seduction of her blandishments, added:

Her face it was that plead her case, her charms Incestuous that won it, too.⁵⁷

But when Julius shuffled off this mortal coil, she who had gloried in her liaison with the Great Captain dared to essay the enslavement of the Chief of the Romans, and not in vain, since she found Antony ripe for all her plans; for he thought to equal Caesar's glory, did he but occupy his couch. He succeeded to Pompey's influence and, as he imagined, to Caesar's right, and was a man who placed greater faith in the hazard of fortune than in the consciousness of virtue.

Next when the presumptuous and wanton creature undertook to seduce Augustus, on being rebuffed she regarded his love of honor as an insult to herself and felt impelled to make war upon him whom she had found to be stronger than Caesar. She had recourse to every art of harming, and at last taken prisoner she cast herself at Augustus' feet⁵⁸ and even then made her appeal to the commander's eyes; but all in vain her beauty bowed before the virtue of the prince.

When, in despair, she saw that she was spared to grace the triumph of his victory, evading the guards she slipped away and betook herself to the royal mausoleum; and there, clothed as was her wont in regal raiment and sweet with precious perfumes, the coffin all heaped

⁵⁶ Lucan, Phars. v. 345-47 (L. C. L., p. 264). In the last line Lucan's correct text would read: With him he willed to take my place. ⁵⁷ Ibid., x. 105 (L. C.L., p. 596). ⁵⁸ Florus, II. xxi (L. C. L., p. 236).

round with costly objects, she stretched herself beside her Antony, and clasping the asp to her breast she relaxed in death as though in [201] sleep. Psylli⁵⁹ were summoned at Augustus' behest, whose practice it was to suck venom from the veins; being called too late they were of no avail; a worthy death for a poisonous courtesan created to corrupt character and assail the virtue of noble men.

She had formerly dominated kings; afterward not to be pitied despite her pitiable plight, she made her exit — a tragedy perhaps for her, but a comedy for the Roman Empire that she had been striving to overthrow. The fact that he remained invincible in his encounter with the notorious woman is especially counted among Augustus' most distinguished titles to renown.

However, in the case of Scipio Africanus conduct no less great is noted. After his unprecedented victory over Hannibal he won striking commendation for his unprecedented victory over self. Now Hannibal⁶⁰ had slaughtered the Romans until their very foes were glutted and until he ordered his soldiers to show consideration, at least for their own swords. A causeway of the bodies of the slain was laid in the torrential stream of the Vergellus. Two pecks of rings were sent to Carthage, from which she made a golden shield to honor her god Mars, who is the patron deity of Lybia, for the brilliant victory. Rome would undoubtedly have seen her last day had Hannibal known how to take advantage of his victory as well as he knew how to win it.

To avenge this loss Scipio Africanus⁶¹ was sent from Italy, and recovered with such dispatch the lost territory, extending from the Pyrenees to the Pillars of Hercules and the ocean, that it is difficult to say whether he did it with greater speed or ease. He even restored their strikingly beautiful girls and youths to the barbarians nor allowed any one of them to come before his eyes for fear that it might appear that he had enjoyed some foretaste of unsullied virginity, though it were only with his eyes. How Hannibal yielded and how the well-known laurel on the flagship presaged a decisive victory [202] Livy, the historian of the Punic War,⁶² has narrated.

Moreover, despite the fame of such a victory, who ever conducted himself with greater modesty than Scipio? He in his great success

⁵⁹ Suetonius, Aug. 17 (L. C. L., I, 146).

⁶⁰ Florus, i. xxii (L. C. L., p. 100).

⁶¹ Ibid., xxii (L. C. L., p. 112).

⁶² Florus' work is an epitome of Livy; see Livy, xxxii. i. 12 (L. C. L., IV, 156).

never allowed himself to be saluted as master or victor except by Hannibal and a few of his accomplices who, by breaking the treaty, treacherously disavowed its just terms. Those whom he had punished as flatterers or public enemies and who disregarded his efforts to control them he expelled from the army, this too notwithstanding the fact that the race of Aeneas had not yet lost its weakness for hearing agreeable things, and so still delighted in flattery. Though they had indeed been most staid at the beginning, at the time when they especially deprecated their origin from the frivolous Trojans there is the well-known testimony of history⁶³ that they were constant sufferers from this affliction. Hence the saying: "Every Roman is corrupted, or corrupts by flattery." Certain it is that they can all be overcome, if not by word, at least by wily gifts; and those whom gifts do not dislodge are taken captive by public honors.

Romulus dedicated the founding of his city⁶⁴ to his divinities by the sacrilege of parricide and the shedding of a brother's blood; then haunted by spirits⁶⁵ he atoned for his brother's murder by an empty honor, the pretense of a partnership in power.

Their emperors too, whom according to their custom the Roman people loyally murdered, with still greater loyalty they defied, concealing thereby palpable treason under the form of meaningless solace just as if they were administering soothing potions to one whom they had already destroyed. They also declared falsely that their rulers had attained the status of divinities, as though the hand of the All Powerful were not sufficient to rule His heaven and His world without calling on human tyrants.

Thus local divinities were formed, or as others preferred to call them, heroes,⁶⁶ whom the pagan Romans did not think worthy [203] even of human status. A term was thus derived by which princes distinguished for their virtues and purity of faith dare, even rejoice, to be called divi, divine; for the ancient and vicious practice long persisted, contrary to the teaching of the Catholic faith.

But when it comes to words, the Roman had already excelled the pagan Greeks — for he had himself so perfectly taught the art of flattery that he passed easily from the taught to the teaching race. The Roman people invented forms by which we lie to our masters, using the plural number to show respect when addressing a single

⁶³ Orosius, Adv. Paganos, IV. xiii. 17. Cf. Augustine, De Civ. Dei, ii. 13. ⁶⁴ Jerome, Ep. cxxv. 15. ⁶⁵ Ovid, Fast. v. 451ff. (L. C. L., 292ff.).

⁶⁶ Macrobius, In Somn. Scip. I. ix. 7, 8.

individual, and has transmitted them to its kindred and to posterity by the authority of its name. If you ever look into the matter, conjure up that period when Julius Caesar, I don't know whether to say stripped off or perfected the role of dictator, and having been made all things, seized all things.

To me, at any rate, the vision of that period frequently occurs when all that the subjects had or did was regulated at the nod of the master, and although their souls struggled against it they were prepared to pronounce a sentence of exile or death upon themselves. Hence forsooth results terror-inspiring despotism; hence the sting of agonizing and burning thoughts shakes terror stricken hearts and claims for itself authority over all. Matters go so far indeed that priests distort divine law, elders know not wisdom, the judge is ignorant of law, the official knows no authority and the subject no discipline, the freeborn scorns liberty, and, in fine, the entire people peace and tranquillity.

As long as all, collectively and individually, are born along at the will of a single head, they are deprived" of their own free will. Was not this the state of affairs when

The august senate was prepared to sit And vote his will did he demand a throne, A temple, or the slaughter of themselves, Or e'en the violation of their kin.⁶⁷

In this alone was destiny kind to the citizens that

There were more things that Caesar blushed to order, Far more, than that Rome blushed to do.⁶⁸

Were not the views of the tyrant passed on to his successors in tyranny, for the people suspected that he preferred that laws be disregarded by himself rather than that they be observed by humbler beings? Herein the semblance of liberty is preserved: if each pretends that he desires that which is enjoined and makes or rather [204] seems to make a virtue of necessity⁶⁹ by uniting consent and necessity and by gratefully embracing that which is incumbent upon him. There is however no iota of real and pure liberty when flattery claims all for itself and vanity does the same, leaving nothing for truth and nothing for virtue.

⁶⁷ Lucan, Phars. Hi. 109-10 (L. C. L., p. 122); v. 307 (L. C. L., p. 260). ⁶⁸ Ibid., iii. 111-12 (L. C. L., p. 122). ⁶⁹ Jerome, Apol. Adv. Ruf. iii. 2.

But you are not to doubt that there is such a thing as adulation without pretense, since Gnatho⁷⁰ speaking for flatterers acknowledges

My triumph comes when I do best deceive.

As it is the function of the orator to persuade with his eloquence, or the doctor to cure with his medicine, so it is that of the flatterer to deceive with honeyed words; for

Sweetly sounds the pipe as fowler traps his bird;⁷¹

and poison is administered in honeyed cup to do its work more quickly. But

It is not always in the doctor's power

To cure the ill,⁷²

and an orator does not always attain his aim when this depends upon someone else. So the flatterer does not always deceive or triumph over his friend. It is not however that he has failed in his intention, if he has neglected none of the circumstances conducing to his purpose. Ulysses⁷³ did not escape the sirens' songs because he found anything lacking in their melody but because he met the incentives to lust and the delusive attraction of harlotry with the strength of impregnable virtue.

What wiles did the tempting Pharisees⁷⁴ and the plotting Herodians not employ to ensnare Him in His words with their guileful tongues, in whose mouth there was no guile?⁷⁵ "Master," said they "we know that thou are a true speaker and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man; for thou dost not regard the person of men." What more persuasive? But the guileful intention [205] and the envious purport were disclosed in the following question, which ran: "Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?" Behold! a noose for the feet of one innocent is made ready, and wickedness stretched her snares, but to no purpose. Should he advise that tribute be paid, he would completely enslave the chosen people of the Lord, seed of their children and the glorious heritage of the

⁷⁰ Gnatho, the character in Terence's play the Eunuch. No such line is found in the play as we now know it.

⁷¹ Cato, Dist. i. 27 (L. C. L., Minor Latin Poets, p. 600).

⁷² Ovid, Pont. I. iii. 17 (L. C. L., p. 280).

⁷³ Ambrose, Expos. in Luc. iv. 2, 3.

⁷⁴ Matt. xxii. 16ff. ⁷⁵ 1 Pet. ii. 22.

Lord, to tithes, first fruits and ceremonies of the law. But should he reply to the guardians of public safety that the tribute was to be disregarded, he would be justly seized by the publicans as an instigator of sedition and as guilty of treason. But because a net is spread in vain before the eyes of them that have wings,⁷⁶ the meshes of the whole calumny were loosened; for when he was shown a coin of the tribute he ordered that his own image should be rendered unto each; and so the things that are Caesar's are to be rendered to Caesar that God may not be defrauded of His.

It is indeed not given to all to escape the snares of flattery in this way, since some do not see them and others, though they do, cannot avoid them. One thing however is certain; that virtue no more attracts those given to the vice of flattery than that they who spend their lives in a scullery are accompanied by an agreeable aroma.

Chapter Eleven. Givers of Gifts and Those Who Promise; Promising Not Conducive to Virtue

THE ART of flattery is very effective when you appear to be negligent of your own interests and attend to those of others; speaking of your own profit never or rarely, but always, or at least often, of his whose favor you are currying. In addition don't hold out your hand lest, if anything should be put into it even against your wish, you should receive it; rather let the Jordan run into the mouth of him⁷⁷ who in his greed for everything also thinks that everything should by right be his.

The hungry gullet of certain insatiable animals grudges to others food that belongs to all, until itself is sated; in so far as the needs of others are relieved, it suspects that it is being defrauded. So too the man of means thinks that he is being deprived when anything for any reason whatsoever is conferred upon another. Crassus⁷⁸ [206] should be a warning against greed. It is said that he, under

⁷⁶ Prov. i. 17. ⁷⁷ Job xl. 18.

⁷⁸ As I am unable to construe the Latin from here to the end of the paragraph, I have expressed in the translation what seems to me might have been the meaning of the original in the light of what Florus states. "The head of Crassus was cut off and with his right hand was taken to the King and treated with mockery which was not undeserved; for molten gold was poured into his gaping mouth, so that

pretext of a military campaign, coveted beyond all others the gold of Parthia and as a consequence had to drink down molten gold.

Jugurtha repeatedly crushed and disarmed the Roman army and undermined the majesty of the city itself by giving on some occasions larger bribes and on others greater promises.⁷⁹ This is a course open to those whose custom it is to bestow gifts, and they often profit by it. In general a promise given to assist one is of no avail; on the contrary, as though it were a means of evasion, it generally destroys the effect of the favors already granted, and the more effectively in proportion to the wisdom and dignity of the man with whom one is dealing. This is true, for a guileless man is more easily imposed upon by his associates and his downfall is more readily brought about.

Ovid, who filled not the city but the world with his poetry of wanton love, says in his instructions to the seducer and lascivious lover;

Be lavish with thy promises, for they

Can do no harm; with them we all can play

The rich man's part.⁸⁰

The philosopher⁸¹ however asserts that very rarely is this procedure expedient, and for good reason: for if there is no opportunity of making good the promise it is a rash thing to promise⁸² what you cannot do. But if its accomplishment is within your power, unless you show the will to do the favor, your promise does not inspire gratitude, while your lie blackens your character.

Now if one fulfill his promise after some interval, the appeal of generosity and the charm of the act itself are dimmed for the reason that he who procrastinates appears reluctant.⁸³ Consequently an outstanding poet has written; [207] Delay but smirches what the giver gives;

the dead and bloodless flesh of one whose heart had burned with the lust for gold was itself burnt with gold." i. 46 (L. C. L., p. 212).

⁷⁹ Sallust, in his Jugurtha, in several passages speaks of Jugurtha's skillful employment of bribery. Cf. also Florus, I. xxxvi (L. C. L., pp. 160ff.).

⁸⁰ Ovid, Ars Amat. 443-44 (L. C. L., p. 42).

⁸¹ Webb states that he has been unable to identify the author of this view. Cf. Cicero, De Off. III. xxv. 95 (L. C. L., p. 372).

⁸² Cf. Cato, Dist. i. 25 (L. C. L., Minor Latin Poets, p. 600).

⁸³ Seneca, De Benef. II. v. 4 (L. C. L., Seneca's Moral Essays, III, 58).

The gift quick given carries more of favor And of fame.⁸⁴

Moreover, who can be so certain of the future as to be sure that he can some day do what he has put off? Did not that counsellor of truth,⁸⁵ defender of the faith, vase of election (I am speaking of the teacher of the gentiles) disappoint the longing of the hearts of the faithful whom he had kept in suspense with regard to his coming? What else did that excuse of his do, wherein he states that there was not to him It is and It is not, but only It is? And he protests that he did not use lightness.

If he could not do what he wished because God hindered (he assuredly wished to do what he had promised) what man of wisdom can promise with any assurance that which depends upon the whim of nature, since he may be readily hindered for many a cause? In addition anyone may at times for good reasons change his intention. This is so, for a person may seem deserving of a favor at a given moment and yet as the same circumstances develop, be found undeserving. At times one, although he has reformed and wrests by his deserts favor even from the hand of a stranger, as the popular saying is, is found undeserving.

In such cases to change one's mind is often no fault; on the contrary, a virtue; for, to allow ourselves to be instructed by fable,⁸⁶ Theseus would not have been bereft of his only son⁸⁷ had he been willing to change his mind. Phoebus,⁸⁸ too, under the goad of sorrow at Phaeton's fall would not have tended the herds of Admetus, had it been permitted him to change the wish by which, under Stygian oath,⁸⁹ he had bound himself to his aspiring son.

Should you scorn the material of fable, the unbelieving king⁹⁰ (this you find in the Gospels) would better have broken his rash and traitorous oath than have polluted the supper and have caused [208] the downfall of his royal power by extinguishing the light of the word, by putting away the messenger of grace and by slaying the herald of truth, as everything favors the incestuous union and bends to the will of the dancer.

⁸⁴ These lines are not found in Ovid. Webb conjectures that they are by some unknown medieval writer.

⁸⁵ I. e., St. Paul. 2 Cor. i. 15ff.; 1 Thess. ii. 17, 18.

⁸⁶ Cicero, De Off. I. x. 32 (L. C. L., p. 32); III. xxv. 94 (L. C. L., p. 370).

⁸⁷ Hippolytus.

⁸⁸ Cicero, De Off. III. xxv. 94 (L. C. L., p. 370).

⁸⁹ Ovid, Met. ii. 101 (L. C. L., p. 66).

⁹⁰ Sc. Herod. Matt. xiv. 3ff.; Mark vi. 17ff.

It is a rule of ethics⁹¹ that all promises are not to be kept, for example if they are disastrous for the recipient or harmful to him who has given them. It has become a law governing friendship⁹² that only what is honorable may be required of friends or be conferred by them. Provision has been made by law itself that no promise is to be fulfilled the doing of which would result in shame or sorrow. Finally a preceding promise either cancels or lessens the gratitude for the favor. Just as spears which are seen before they strike inflict less severe wounds but those which are entirely unexpected inflict deeper wounds, so in the case of benefits, that which is the result of a promise is less acceptable while that which is conferred unsolicited inspires the greater gratitude.

Although a mere promise⁹³ in the judgment of those termed learned in the law does not obligate its fulfillment, everyone who makes a promise has engaged his hand to truth,⁹⁴ and though civil law takes no cognizance he is bound to good faith by natural law. But what plaintiff will act more sternly than good faith, if it begin to accuse? If conscience take action, who will absolve? True it is that

A bad example is a source of woe

To him who does the thing; his first atonement

Is, the culprit damns himself at conscience's bar.⁹⁵

But if she justifies, who is to condemn?⁹⁶ Undoubtedly the Lord is the one to inspire fear at such a moment, when the day of man⁹⁷ is [209] scorned and conscience finds naught to condemn. But if its own works accuse the soul, if conscience appears as a witness against it, and truth weighs the cause of justice what judge, I ask, will pronounce a more severe sentence upon it after it has been indicted and found guilty of mendacity, than truth? Although the judge is indeed said to be the living voice of law it is truth that generally reviews his sentence, while the sentence pronounced by truth remains irrevocable because its justice is forever⁹⁸ and its law is truth; while often in court, "more law, less justice,"⁹⁹ as the saying is.

⁹¹ Cicero, De Off. I. x. 32 (L. C. L., p. 32). ⁹² Ibid., De Amic. xiii. 44 (L. C.L., p. 154). ⁹³ Cf. Cod. Justinian, VIII. xxxvii. 5. ⁹⁴ Cf. Prov. vi. 1.

⁹⁵ Juvenal, Sat. xiii. 1-3 (L. C. L., p. 246). ⁹⁶ Rom. viii. 33, 34.

⁹⁷ Jer. xvii. 16. Jerome explains "the day of man" as meaning the prosperous of this world.

⁹⁸ Ps. cxviii. 142. ⁹⁹ Cicero, De Off. I. x. 33 (L. C. L., p. 34).

Whoever therefore makes a promise becomes a debtor and by the verdict of truth is compelled to make good the guaranty. Then too as far as compulsion is required, the obligation is diminished; hence the philosopher's dictum I mentioned at the beginning of the chapter:¹ Be not hasty in making a promise for fear, though you wish to, you may not be able to fulfill it, or lest on good grounds you may not wish to, or, it may be, that after having performed it you may lose or diminish gratitude for the reason that previously "thou hast thyself ensnared with the words of thy mouth.²

It may be however not merely permissible but even desirable to make a promise; to waive all other examples for the present, Christ himself promised and sent the Paraclete³ to his disciples. And to the same who had left all for his sake, when they asked what they were to have he promised seats in the regeneration and also power to pass judgment, which they were to have along with him.⁴ From which it is agreed that the cause is what commends a resolution or an undertaking; consequently it is evident from this that the philosopher's rule⁵ need not be violated.

Chapter Twelve. Financial Agents and Private Secretaries of

the Wealthy; Friendships Only between the Virtuous; a Rich

Man Holds the Place of Acquaintance Rather than Friend;

Familiarity with the Rich though Seemingly Advantageous

Often Dangerous; One Must Live a Blameless Life

BUT IF you are ambitious to outstrip those who are lavish with both promises and gifts, in the esteem of him with whom you are currying [2/0] favor, you should associate yourself with his financial interests and prove yourself economical, for the good reason that one who is privy to his secrets and careful of his purse cannot fail to satisfy a careful head of a family. Acceptable are even the vices of him who compensates faults of character by frugality in expenditure. "The best revenue" says Cicero (if by chance you are unfamiliar with the words) "is frugality."⁶ The poor but thrifty man's pocket is easily filled but far more

¹ See above, p. 187, and n. 81.

² Prov. vi. 2. ³ John iv. 26; xvi. 7.

⁴ Matt. xix. 27, 28. ⁵ See above, p. 187, and n. 81.

⁶ De Re Pub. IV. vii. 7 (L. C. L., p. 236).

easily is the rich but prodigal man's emptied. The deepest treasure chest has a bottom; the most generous store of water flows away through small outlet; a bubbling spring is exhausted if the copious gushing sources that feed it are cut off.

The crack is slight that oft leaves pitcher dry.⁷

So it is that ample riches are exhausted by very small expenditures provided the drain be continuous, and a great inheritance is dissipated by the subtraction of small amounts provided they be frequent, unless the prodigal be fortunate enough to discover a currency that may be spent more than once.

Extravagance is ever ravisher

Of wealth, and on its heels with humble tread

Comes stalking Poverty.⁸

The necessities of life must therefore be used sparingly, and something must be added to the capital, which shrinks by the constant drawing off of parts. Although but paltry portions of the estate are used for current expenses the careful proprietor is grateful to be kept informed as to his financial situation, for that is doubly lost which slips away unnoticed. Then too,

Your gain, from whatsoever source, smells good.

A saw there is, to be forever on thy lips;

'Tis worthy of the gods; quite good for Jove to write;

"None asks from whence you get your pile of gold;

You've got to get it, just the same."⁹

To dwell on such matters is to bind to you with closer ties the well-to-do; it is possible to bind even a Proteus,¹⁰ elusive with his shifting shapes. If favor based on truth fails, there remains the attainment of even a deeper intimacy.

Though you fail to attain both goals, participation in private matters and careful management of expenditures, you must worm [211] your way into his secrets at any cost. You are not ignorant, are you, that they who aim to rule rulers,

Desire to know the secrets of the house And thence to be the cause of fear?¹¹

⁷ Perhaps this is a verse of some unknown writer. ⁸ Claudian, In Ruf. i. 35-36 (L. C. L., I, 28). ⁹ Juvenal, Sat. xiv. 204-07 (L. C. L., p. 278). ¹⁰ Horace, Sat. II. iii. 71 (L. C. L., p. 158). ¹¹ Juvenal, Sat. iii. 113 (L. C. L., p. 40).

The more carefully these secrets are guarded the more persistently are they to be pried into; for

To Verres he is dear who has the power

To launch a charge 'gainst Verres when he list.¹²

It has indeed been a question whether affection or friendship can exist between vicious men. The decision was finally reached that this bond can exist only between the virtuous.¹³ To be sure there is a harmony between rakes and rascals, but this is as far removed from friendship as light is from darkness. Though at times evil as well as good men may have similar desires or dislikes¹⁴ they do not thereby attain the rank of friendship. Consequently Sallust,¹⁵ most outstanding of Roman historians, and even Cicero¹⁶ laid down the rule that what is called real friendship among good men goes by the name gang among evil ones. Although the vicious man cannot be a friend because his vices prevent, and though he may not be an object of respect, yet he will be an object of fear if by his cognizance of secrets he can strike terror into the heart of his confederate. The words of the moralist are to the point:

He never thinks he owes you aught; he never Makes a gift, who shares with you a secret That is not vile to know.¹⁷

There is too the much disputed point as to whether the rich or powerful man is capable of love. It has finally been agreed that such as they are never, or rarely, capable of this sentiment¹⁸ and particularly in those cases where it is apparent that they love themselves rather than others. Contraries cannot exist in the same person; as the wealthy are possessed of great greed, so they possess very little [212] love, for these are traits diametrically opposed.

Furthermore as some one says: "Every rich man is unjust or the heir of the unjust, and it is most rare that coins do not roll away unless bound together by the solder of love and greed."¹⁹ They are acquired by watchfulness and effort on the part of the craving soul, but are retained and preserved by worry still more bitter. The moralist says

¹² Ibid., 53-54 (L.C.L., pp. 34ff.)

¹³ Cicero, De Amic. xviii. 65 (L. C. L., p. 176).

¹⁴ Sallust, Cat. xx. 4 (L. C. L., p. 34). ¹⁵ Jug. XXXI. xiv. 15 (L. C. L., p. 200).

¹⁶ Perhaps De Re Pub. III. xiii. 23 (L. C. L., pp. 200ff.).

¹⁷ Juvenal, Sat. iii. 51-52 (L. C. L., p. 34).

¹⁸ Cicero, De Amic. xvii. 64 (L. C. L., p. 174). ¹⁹ The origin is not known.

It's just as brave a thing to guard what you Have won as to acquire the same. There's chance In that, in this there must be craft.²⁰

Since the one is rated as chance and the other as craft, who can preserve his wealth very long without intense mental application? There is indeed an old proverb, "Where your love is, there are your eyes; and where there is watchful concentration of thought, there is the heart centered."²¹ Wherefore though riches abound for the most part without the desire of them, nay with repugnance for them, the philosopher of the faith²² forbids to set the heart upon them and the teacher of the gentiles²³ says that they who desire to become rich fall into temptation and into the snares of the devil. He who is greater than either, the First Begotten of the dead²⁴ and the Prince of the kings of the earth, asserts that God and Mammon cannot be served at the same time,²⁵ since

The wealth that each one has acquired Becomes the slave or master of himself,²⁶

but rarely or never does it become the slave of the wealthy man. From which it is clear that the rich are more likely to be unjust than their heirs. How then is affection to reign where injustice rules? In any case the rich man realizes that he is merely an acquaintance, never or rarely a friend.

We have been speaking not of him who possesses wealth but of him who is enamored of it. As a consequence it is plain that however great the intimacy from which the favor of the more influential appears to derive, this favor exacts great caution on the part of the subordinate. Otherwise all his enticements finally

Exhale far more of aloes than of honey.²⁷

[213] But the surest way to succeed is to become the confidant of secrets. Of course it is. Respect increases; authority wanes; unpleasantnesses are kept at a distance; advantages are in evidence; the number of friends increases; votaries become more devoted; and fortune seems to breathe the radiance of its full favor and happiness upon its

²⁰ Ovid, Ars. Amat. ii. 13-14 (L. C. L., p. 66).

²¹ The origin of this proverb is not known, but cf. Matt. vi. 21.

²² Sc. David; Ps. lxi. 11. ²³ Sc. Paul; 1 Tim. vi. 9. ²⁴ Apoc. i. 5. ²⁵ Matt. vi. 24.

²⁶ Horace, Ep. I. x. 47 (L. C. L., p. 318). ²⁷ Juvenal, Sat. vi. 181 (L. C. L., p. 96).

favorites. The end however of all these is more bitter than any wormwood,²⁸ or even if it is not bitter it arouses the apprehension of bitterness to come.

It is indeed a hazardous thing to share the secrets of the wealthy and influential man. If he through carelessness divulges a secret, who is to blame but the confidant? All the gossip that his valets, hairdressers, mummers, or other riff-raff of the sort without whom our wealthy patron with his fine sensibilities cannot get along, spread abroad in the brothel or tavern or divulge to the public in order to enhance their own reputation because of their intimacy with the man of power — all this, I say, becomes the basis for the calumniation of him who seemed to have held an important place in his patron's counsels. If you desire to know in advance about events, investigate the brothels and question camp-followers.

There is no secret so deep but that there will be some leak.²⁹ If you do not believe me, just give ear to what the bard of Aquinum³⁰ has to say:

O Corydon, O Corydon, dost think That rich man's secret ever can be kept? His slaves may keep it, yet his beasts will speak, His dogs, his doorposts and his marble floors. "The windows shut; pull close the curtains, too." They will but shout it out. "Let all be quite Alert." Yet what he does at second time The cock doth crow, the nearby tavern-host Will know before the sun comes up.³¹

I'll say more; should he bury his secret in the earth, even the growing reed will divulge it and blazon it abroad, since Midas hath the ears of ass.³²

[214] Pallas³³ also was not able to hide her Erichthonius effectually enough to prevent the gossip crow from learning about him and broadcasting it. As a consequence the bird lost its beautiful color and was branded the gossip because it was the betrayer of another's deed.

²⁸ Prov. v. 4. ²⁹ Luke viii. 17; xii. 2.

³⁰ Sc. Juvenal.

³¹ Juvenal, Sat. ix. 102-08 (L. C. L., p. 188). ³² Persius, Sat. i. 121 (L. C. L., p. 328). ³³ Ovid, Met. ii. 553ff. (L. C. L., pp. 98ff.).

Moreover private secretaries of the wealthy are, so to speak, pack animals who have to bear the burden of their owner's faults. Any fault the latter commits becomes a brand of dishonor for the former; unless possibly the general view with regard to the man of influence is that no advice can pervert him. If his malady is the usual one, if there is a general impression that he is crafty and tricky, the reputation of the whole household is purged; as if a malady of the head in cases of illness would counteract pain in the sides.³⁴ On the other hand, if his sway is regarded as benign and courteous his household, like pack animals, carry as it were on the shoulders of their reputation all his indiscretions. All the good that is done is attributed to the benignity and courteousness of the directing head.

If at any time a heavier reckoning threatens, the rich man will surrender your life like skin for skin³⁵ to safeguard his own reputation. To attribute his own faults to you he will not hesitate to expose you to those penalties which are attached to high crimes. But, and this is rather surprising, he will rejoice if by his cunning he has rewarded your worry and effort by bestowing upon you a gift of infamy and by actually charging you with unspeakable crimes or pretending that you are guilty of them. There is hardly an evil in the state which is not pinned on the counsellors of the wealthy, since excuse is unavailing because the man in power molds every service to his own purpose; and no wise man tarries long over the counsel of the short sighted, for he himself sees everything and passes judgment.

Do you imagine that the conscience of him whose baseness you have the power to bring out into the light of day and display to all can be carefree? For everyone that doth evil hateth the light,³⁶ and every work is seen to bear the imprint of its originator. Painted harlots in fear of being accused by the light seek the shadows, and dread [215] lest they be homelier than they really are if they display themselves to the gaze of the spectators in broad daylight. Therefore all their vigilance strives for this, that the dazzled eyes may see in them what is not there and that those who see may become blind.³⁷

³⁴ There would seem to be almost a play upon the word sides here. Cf. Policraticus, V, ii (Dickinson, p. 65). One sentence reads "Those who always attend upon the prince are likened to the sides."

³⁵ Job ii. 4.

³⁶ John iii. 20. ³⁷ John ix. 39.

In the case of those who depend upon the complexion that nature gave them it is far otherwise, for

The one obscurity doth love, and one

Doth wish to court the light, nor dreads to meet

The keen acumen of the judge.³⁸

The sharing of secrets appears to confer some happiness, yet it destroys peace of mind to a considerable degree. It would be difficult if not impossible to enumerate all those who have descended into hell by this path or who have writhed under the infliction of extreme penalties.

Alas for me, why did I look and why

Pollute mine eyes?³⁹

said he who merited exile, whether because of his cognizance of another's deed or because of his own guilt is uncertain. It is certain, however, that knowledge of another's evil deeds is disadvantageous. Whether secrets are known or not, there is no greater safeguard than the preservation of one's own innocence.

A philosopher⁴⁰ has laid down the principle that one should live among foes as though among friends and among friends as if in the midst of foes. The satirist adds

To live the life of rectitude there's much

To lead you on, but most of all because

You need not fear the prattling tongues of slaves.

The vilest part of evil slave we know

To be his tongue.⁴¹

This precept of the satirist should be heeded, not only because of the tongues of slaves but because of the daggers and poison of the powerful and the plots of everybody else as well.

³⁸ Horace, A. P. 363-64 (L. C. L., p. 480). ³⁹ Ovid, Trist. ii. 103 (L. C. L., p. 62).

⁴⁰ Sc. Bias; Cicero, De Amic. xvi. 59 (L. C. L., p. 168). Valerius Maximus, VII. iii. ext. 3.

⁴¹ Juvenal, Sat. ix. 118-21 (L. C. L., p. 188).

Chapter Thirteen. Suit May Be Brought to Recover What

Has Been Exacted by Flattery; Perverts and Procurers; Their

Punishment; Chastity Inviolable unless the

Mind Itself Consents

[216] AND YET he can by no means appear to be a flatterer who desires nothing except to please his victim, by his own unaided effort if possible, if not by employing a substitute, wife or some other woman connected by duty or affection. Affection is the more effective bond because it approaches closer to nature, and whatever is joined by the tie of affection is united to the very soul. There is assuredly no more deadly form of adulation than that which proceeds by the path of affection. Consequently husbands are often too cordial, expose themselves too readily to rivals, and quite often invite to their table the destroyers of their domestic happiness; as the proverb runs, "The unsuspicious lover trusts his chaste bride rather than the eyes which play him false."

Is he not effectively hoodwinked who allows his own eyes to be blinded by the assertion of a woman who deceives quite constantly for the sole reason that she is very rarely caught? As a domestic tyrant⁴² she is at her best; in delivering a curtain lecture she can outtalk the professional orator and is a veritable artist when it comes to giving a scene the exact coloring she desires. The more cautious she is the more she is to be suspected.

If fraud⁴³ is the basis of a contract it is null and void, and every action that has proceeded from it or on account of it is revoked. The heirs of the deceased⁴⁴ are liable jointly and forever with regard to the property which was acknowledged to have come into their possession. But who more fraudulent than the flatterer? Possibly you object and say that I am not acquainted with all of them. Conceded; but I feel that from many samples I have learned to know them all.

Duillius,⁴⁵ advanced in years, decrepit in body, and with a weak heart, returned home plunged in grief because in the course of a quarrel he had been taunted with having a foul mouth and evil [217] smelling breath. He complained bitterly to his wife that she had never suggested asking medical advice. "I would have done

⁴² Petronius, Sat. 37 (L. C. L., p. 56).

⁴³ Dig. IV. iii. Cf. XVIII. i. 43. ⁴⁴ Cod. Justinian, iv. 17. ⁴⁵ Jerome, Ad Jovin. i. 46.

so" she replied "had I not thought that such was the odor of all men's breath." One may praise the chastity of that union and laud a woman for bearing such an infliction in her husband with great patience, so that he learned of this bodily infirmity not as a result of his wife's disgust but by the abuse of his enemy.

I make some such reply to flatterers for I consider all of them in bad odor. They are all redolent of fraud and deception, and whithersoever they turn they waft to sensitive nostrils not a smell but a stench. Therefore all that is acquired by the art of flattery may with justice be torn from the clutches even of the heir. I do not imagine that plaintiffs would meet with any obstacle should they be bold enough to lay claim to all that they have bestowed upon sycophants. But "Who is wise and he shall understand these things?"⁴⁶ And who is capable enough to meet the situation, when not only in every home but in every social gathering the army of flatterers is so numerous that if even a discreet person should venture so much as to open his lips in condemnation,

Their host would well defend them and their wall Of close locked shields.⁴⁷

As it is, the man who has a conscience and pursues the path of virtue suffers cold, thirst, and the many insults of angry fortune; but

On purple broidered couch the flatterer Is basely stretched in drunken sleep.⁴⁸

He becomes intoxicated with good things, is flushed with wine, and by various shifts fashions a heaven to suit himself. He has the first places⁴⁹ at feasts and the seat of importance at gatherings; he is familiarly announced by his first name; he receives the first salutations; he pronounces his opinions first in courts of law; all that he says is wit unalloyed; all that he does is the essence of justice and liberty.

Come now! Just venture to display a bit of common sense. Straightway a great crowd of sycophants will come and, like the Jews, will [218] force you to submit to their superior throng.⁵⁰ So they are safe by reason of their great numbers and their craft. The result

⁴⁶ Os. xiv. 10; 2 Cor. ii. 16.

⁴⁷ Juvenal, Sat. ii. 46 (L. C. L., p. 20).

⁴⁸ Petronius, Sat. 83 (L. C. L., p. 166).

⁴⁹ Matt. xxiii. 6.

⁵⁰ Horace, Sat. I. iv. 141-43 (L. C. L., p. 60).

is that they have the power to conquer even kings and princes. By a miracle the unarmed element of the people prevails over the armed and makes a powerful attack upon manhood by the medium of effeminacy. I had intended to pass perverts by in silence who, being dishonorable, are and are seen to be worthy of their dishonor. Respect for morals imposes silence, and modesty by natural instinct diverts its gaze from them. Need more be said?

If talent fail us, then rage makes us write.⁵¹

Their profession is that of prostituting their own chastity and of assaulting and violating that of others. Yet not simply their own chastity, since marriage itself is defiled and the one mate abets the adultery of the other. As the bride leaves the bridal chamber do not imagine her consort to be a husband; he is a procurer. It is he who leads her forth, exposes her to libidinous eyes, and if the hope⁵² of tainted money flashes before his vision, with crafty display of affection he sells her into prostitution.

A daughter at all comely, or any one else of the household that takes the fancy of a man of property, is merchandise displayed for sale to attract the customer.⁵³ But though natural resentment causes a twinge of pain to those who admit or allure sharers to their couch, resentment is assuaged by the money made in the transaction, or at least it mitigates their suffering. If the matter is discussed seriously and all parties are free to express their views, the sorrow⁵⁴ is not like that with which one sees his own body defiled by another's lust. For other sins⁵⁵ are without the body but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. This, Adam says, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh,⁵⁶ so that there are no longer two, man and woman, but one flesh. This assuredly cannot be sundered without pain nor shared without ill will;

A throne, and love, cannot be shared by two.⁵⁷

As go