Letter 16: Paulinus sends greetings to his brother Jovius.

Paulinus to his brother Iovius, greeting. When our sons Posthumianus and Theridius were making for their homeland in Campania (which they visited for our sake), I judged it contrary to duty and affection not to write to one so united with me in heart; and I guarded against this not only so as not to seem to pass over the practice of our common regard with an unwonted negligence toward you, but much more so as not to be thought to judge wrongly of your disposition toward God, if, when I had a diligent opportunity of writing to you through men of religion, I should leave you unsaluted, as though shrinking from you as from holy men, when in fact you are taught to be a zealous and approving witness of the Christian name and of our own purpose besides, out of love. Receive them, therefore, gladly, approving not them on account of my letter, but my letter on account of them, who have seen to this very thing with the utmost sanctity, so that they might count it a matter of religion either to revisit their homeland by not going to you, or else to come to you by means of my writings. It seemed to me fitting too that the character of such letter-carriers should suit this purpose, so that I might make some reply to you concerning that earlier letter which you sent in answer to those letters of mine in which I had proclaimed the manifest benefit of the divine power in the elements and of God's care concerning us. For surely you remember that I learned from your writings that very thing about which I then replied in congratulation; whence I had urged you not to ascribe God's gift to chance, nor to judge it the work of fortune rather than of the divine will: that silver of holy commerce, which, amid winter storms and greedy sailors, with its keeper lost, was preserved and cast up onto that very shore where a town familiar to us, and to you your patrimony, had received our property into its most safe bosoms. But you, once again more complaining to me of the injury of the storm than grateful for God's clemency, subjected all the motions of the elements (amid which the divine hand alone is able to safeguard human well-being), and our own actions (which the power of the supreme Lord governs and, according to our merits, turns aside or directs), to the empty names of the fates and of fortune, as though to powers rivaling God. And in this do not suppose that you have paid honor to God, since you have rather injuriously, as it was, refused to allow it to be God's benefit, saying that these things must therefore be set apart from the divine power, because evils befit chance rather than God; and that this, without doubt, is an evil through which men often incur danger or loss. Among which evils, as I see, you place storms, by which there is often suffered, whether on land the devastation of fields, or in a ship the misery of the shipwrecked. But I see that this opinion arose from those teachers who, proud in their own wisdom and disdaining to seek the wisdom of God, drive on as exiles from the borders of truth, asserters of their own opinions, who, with their minds sent forth through the great void, have vanished away (as it is written and proved) in their own thoughts, and after their own judgments have fashioned the works and counsels of God; and to whom the sea or the sky seems to be ruled and stirred by chance: men who argue that this world is either empty without a ruler, or neglected by a God at leisure, and rolls along by fortuitous falls; or that it was composed with no author, so that, just as it is without a beginning, so it is also without an end - which a corporeal nature, such as this world is (of which we each are a portion), does not admit, since every fabric is dissoluble; or, what is more foolish, they will have it that it was created out of its own self, as though any thing could be to itself the cause of its own birth, so that the same thing should be alike creator and creature, that is, maker and work - which it is plain differ as in name, so also in kind and condition. For who does not see that this corporeal world is governed by an incorporeal power, and that the whole mass, with the mind of the divine Spirit (by which it was made) poured in and mingled with the great body of the universe, is set in motion toward life, tempered for use, held together for its standing, and ordered for endurance? Since, therefore, it is established that what is seen or perceived needs the help of another in order to subsist and continue, it cannot be doubted that it also needed something from elsewhere in order to be created. And since this is so, it is necessary that we confess all things to have arisen from God, because, except to the profane, it cannot come into doubt that the world was fashioned with God as its author; and accordingly that the winds, and all things which are within the world as parts of that same mass and, as it were, the bowels of the body, are not to be referred to another's governance, because the powers of the divine works - that is, the substances of all natures - would not suffer themselves to be ruled and held together amid so great a discord of themselves, except by that nature and power alone, that is, God, the one founder of all, by whom alone they could be made and ordered, and whose laws unless they kept, they would not maintain their standing. But it is far more inept to blame any nature and to call it evil; since, if all things are from God and God is good, surely all things which God made are good. But if there are, in the secrets of His ordinances, things higher than our senses and thoughts, even if we cannot follow out and gather their reason, it is nevertheless safer for us to believe that the reasons are hidden rather than that there are none, because we must not doubt that all the works of God, even if they are not clear to us, are nevertheless deliberate. And so, if God, who founded it, also governs the whole world, in what place or over what creature shall chance and fate or fortune hold dominion? If they depend, as some will have it, on the motions or arrangements of the stars - on little fires lesser not only than God but than the world itself, nay rather adorning a third part of the world itself by the service of a handmaid light - then they draw that power, which you make a rival to God, from these. For surely it belongs to the divine power to disturb the elements, and either to rouse the violence of the winds when it is asleep or to rein it in when it is stirred up, and to deliver mortals to the ragings of the storms or to snatch them away. And since every creature obeys this power, being made subject to the one creator of all, how is divine force and power given to those things which lack not only the name of creator but even the appearance of creature - empty names, neither of spirits nor of bodies, fitted to the conducting or signifying of affairs - if indeed both "chance" is the word of one in doubt, and "fate" the expression of one declaring, and "hap" the signification of things falling out or befalling? Nevertheless, from the usage of the ancient error, through ignorance of God, men destitute of reason fashion empty names, as though they were therefore also deities, into a bodily appearance with their foolish thoughts, and - more foolishly than they have fashioned them - they endow them with divine honor; whence both Hope and Nemesis and Love, and even Fury, are worshiped in their images, and Occasion is consecrated with bald hindhead, and that Fortune of yours is fashioned ill-poised upon a slippery globe. Nor with any less falsehood are the Fates feigned to spin the lives of men from their baskets, or to weigh them out from their scales. And lest we impute this raving to the common crowd, or admire the philosophers too much, even Plato is reported to rave, who sets out in the lap of an old woman the spindle of Necessity and adds to her three daughters, harmonizing and turning the spindle and playing along the threads, supposing forsooth that by this wool-working they complete the affairs of men and weave out the times marked for each. So far has the arrogance of empty eloquence abused human ears, that he did not blush to insert into his writings - by which, as though one in the know, he dared to dispute even concerning the divine nature - the ridiculous ditty of an old wife's tale. But for us, in that man only the courtesy of his Attic speech is to be regarded, not the neatness of an empty tale; the things which have been published only for the soothing of the ears ought not to overturn the foundations of our judgments. Nay rather, as reason and truth teach, let us refer to Him all the works of God, in which we exist and of which we are a part, and all His gifts, by which we are guided and preserved amid the uncertainties of this fragile and fleeting life; and let us by our error remove nothing from His power, since, willing or unwilling, He Himself is, as of all things, so our own creator and God. And since, in the measure that He is goodness and wisdom and the origin of reason, He established nothing except by reason and created it for the material of His goodness, let us spend upon Him all that we are, and be eager to learn the things that are pleasing to Him, and take care to do them. Then, with our mind purged, gazing more purely, we shall see this to be the truth: that from God are all things that are; and we shall see this to be the consequence: that all God's works are most beautiful, and that there is no evil which has good for its author - He who has prepared all things throughout the world for our uses, and works them for our advantages, and so founded the work of this universe that He created some things to serve, some to be exercised by, and some to hold dominion. And so over corporeal and animal natures we men hold dominion by reason. But, lest we be loosened by the very license of our power, we are usefully exercised by adversities, whether by the spirits of demons, or by the difficulties of affairs, or often by the very motions of the elements - namely, so that, harried by cares, we may be sharpened to prudence and to the fear of the Godhead. For that security which ought rather to make us thankful to the eternal Lord makes us, instead, negligent. Whence too the apostle, the teacher of the nations, says that by a hidden counsel of the divine mercy, and to the great profit of human salvation, certain obstacles are set against our courses, and prosperity is changed into adversities - diseases, losses, perils - because tribulation works the strength of patience, patience brings forth the proof of faith and confers the reward of glory. And this surely virtue cannot attain unless it is victorious, and it will not have the means of victory unless it has first contended with some difficulty. And since this could be intimated to your prudence (which you have both inborn and trained) by those very letters - which would that you already, as in judgment so also in zeal, set after the sacred letters! - in which it is recorded that the virtues of illustrious men, whether among leaders or among philosophers, shone forth to noble fame only through labors and perils, I greatly marvel why, in the plain truth of the divine gift, you have chosen so to grow dark, that you should attribute to fortuitous events that marvelous deliverance of the tossed ship, procured by evident signs, and that divinely-given guardianship of our property by land and sea, and should pour out so great an occasion of divine proclamation. Lift up your mind to the height of wisdom, and seek Christ Himself, the kindling-spark of the true light, who illumines faithful souls and glides through chaste breasts. And that you yourself feel thus, you have shown - although by way of excuse you have pretended that you are as yet unequal, and therefore not capable, of God, because, beset by earthly affairs and cares, you are barred from the higher regarding of heavenly things as though by interposed clouds. But would that you could put these things forward as truly as you can eloquently! For the very fecundity of your eloquence and learning proves that it is rather the will, equal to the task in sacred letters, that is wanting to you, than either leisure or capacity. For I do not think that, sleeping or doing something else, you have amassed such riches of mouth and breast. You breathe with the flowers of all the poets, you overflow with the rivers of all the orators, you are watered too from the springs of philosophy; rich even in foreign letters, you fill your Roman mouth at Attic shrines. I ask you, where then are the tributes, when you read through Tully and Demosthenes? Or, already, from a surfeit of the more familiar readings, growing disdainful, you turn over again Xenophon, Plato, Cato, and Varro, read through, and many more besides, whose very names perhaps we do not hold, while you hold even their volumes? In order that you may be occupied with these, you are exempt and free; in order that you may learn Christ - that is, the wisdom of God - you are a tributary and occupied. You have leisure to be a philosopher; you have no leisure to be a Christian. Rather turn your sentiment, turn your eloquence. For you need not lay aside the philosophy of the mind, provided you season it with faith and religion; use it, when it is interwoven, more wisely, so that you may be a philosopher of God and a seer of God - wise not by seeking but by imitating God, so that, learned not in tongue so much as in life, you may discourse great things in proportion as you do them. Be a Peripatetic to God, a Pythagorean to the world. As a preacher of the true wisdom that is in Christ, and at last silent to vanity, shun that ruinous sweetness of empty letters, as you would the Lotus-eaters who blotted out their homeland by the sweetness of the berries, like the songs of the Sirens, the chants of harmful enticements. And since it is permitted for the most part to take certain things from empty tales, as from common proverbs, into the use of true and serious discourse, I will say that not only letters, but all the kinds of temporal things, are to us Lotus-eaters or Sirens. For the pestilent sweetness of pleasures makes us forget our homeland, since it blots out for a man God, who is the homeland common to all; and the enticements of desires imitate, by the truth of their disaster, that fable of the Sirens. For what those Sirens are feigned to have been, that the enticements of desires and the blandishments of vices truly are; for they have allurement in appearance, poison in the taste, the use of which is reckoned in crime, the price in death. These we must flee, more cautious than the cunning of Ulysses, with not the ears only but the eyes also closed, and with the mind, as it were, flying past in a ship, lest, allured by deadly delight, we be hurried onto the rocks of crimes and, fixed to the crag of death, undergo the shipwreck of salvation. And would that it might be permitted us to escape even naked from the brine of this world, if, in this present time, in which we float in the frailty of the body and the slipperiness of possessions as in the treacherous frame of a gaping vessel, we might remember to strip off, for the sake of swimming free, the impediments that press us down, as it were wet garments, and to seize the saving faith - by which we lean on the virtue of Christ God, on the standard of the cross - as a plank of refuge: that from fleeting things we may procure a solid hope, and snatch from the harmful matter of desires something toward innocence and salvation; namely, that, serving God and ruling our desires, we may bound our cravings by the measure of necessity, and, having the necessary furnishings, may not seek superfluous equipment, because we are admonished to remember that we have brought nothing into this world, neither can we carry anything away. Which truth is so strong that even certain of the gentile philosophers - who with their loftier wits touched the very outermost lines of truth - perceived that one could not have leisure even for inquiring after wisdom, much less for following it, unless they cast the burdens of their moneys, like dung, even into the sea. But do you make a division with God, and as it were render thanks for a benefit in return to the supreme Father, who nevertheless, of all those things, whatever He has given you inborn or has added from without, requires of you only yourself. Though you may keep for yourself and for your own all the things you possess, only taking care of this: that you confess God to be the bestower of these things too. For we have nothing which we have not received, who came, as I have said, naked into this world. But the faculties of your wit, and all the resources of your mind and tongue, dedicate to God, sacrificing to Him, as it is written, the sacrifice of praise with an eloquent mouth and a devoted heart. Straightway, as soon as you direct the keenness of your mind to the heavenly inner chambers, the truth will open its face to you and unseal you to your own self. For by the knowledge of the divine truth we attain this also, that we may know our own selves. For whence, do you suppose, has so great a perversity of pride or of sloth grown ingrained in wretched mortals, that, not worshiping God, they serve demons or the elements that are subject to themselves, venerating waters, fire, the stars, trees, and images, with a most impious injury to the divine majesty? In whose name, whether they worship demons or creatures, they honor slaves, for which they deserve to be blinded with these shadows, so that, because they will not understand the true God, they may be struck also with ignorance of themselves; from which a man is freed when, enlightened by faith, understanding the order and measure of his own kind, he recognizes that he is subject only to God, whose unity is reckoned in an ineffable Trinity, but is equal to all other creatures if they are rational, and superior if they are corporeal. Tempered by this mean, a man falls away neither from the lot of salvation nor from the dignity of his nature, and becomes conscious of truth, master of wisdom, servant of justice, free of error, and lord of vices - by which the soul, when it serves not God, is condemned to serve; the soul which thereafter, as an exile from its own proper state, is scattered through all the byways of its own thoughts or of others' opinions: wandering among the philosophers, curious among the soothsayers, religious toward superstition, profane toward religion, ever hanging between hope and fear with wavering affections. Hence, carried about by every wind of any doctrine whatever, because it is empty of the divine fear, it does not have the head of wisdom, as though with maimed senses, from which to draw the understanding of things; ignorant where it may fix its judgment, when in vain it has distracted itself with thought ranging over all the regions of heaven and earth, it sets up, in the visible creatures and in the empty names of chances and of fates, the universal force by which the world is driven - as tenacious of the false and depraved as it is ignorant of the true. But may your mind, which, kindled from a heavenly seed, already breathes a divine ardor, be directed, with faith going before, into the very citadel of wisdom, Christ. There is for you a greater abundance, even in our pursuits, of possessing the eloquence of the philosophers, provided you cease to love a wisdom adverse to the truth. For it is better that you should hold, while seeking divine things, than that you should seek while disputing. Dismiss those men, ever rolled in the shadows of ignorance, consumed in the contentions of learned loquacity, and in mad altercation enslaved to their own phantasms, ever seeking wisdom and never finding it, because they do not deserve to understand the God whom they are unwilling to believe. Let it be enough for you to have taken from them the abundance of tongue and the adornment of mouth, as it were certain spoils from hostile arms, so that, naked of their errors and clothed with their eloquence, you may apply that veneer of eloquence (by which empty wisdom deceives) to full matter - adorning a body not empty of fictions but full of the marrow of truth - meditating on things that will please not the ears alone but will profit also the minds of men.

XVI. IOVIO FRATRI PAVLINVS SALVTEM. Filiis nostris Posthumiano et Theridio patriam de Campania, quam nostri gratia accessere, petentibus non scribere unanimitati tuae contra officium et affectum putaui, non ab eo tantum praecauens, ne uiderer communis obseruantiae studium insolita a te mihi neglegentia praeterire, sed multo etiam illud magis, ne de tua in deum mente secus crederer iudicare, si omnium scribendi tibi occasionem diligens per uiros religionis insalutatum te tamquam a sanctis hominibus abhorrentem praetermitterem, cum certe studiosus Christiani nominis conprobatorque propositi etiam nostri amore docearis. suscipe igitur libens non illos ex meis litteris, sed litteras meas de illis probans, qui summa id ipsum sanctitate curarunt, ut religioni haberent uel patriam te non adeundo reuisere uel te sine 1 silicam L, siliquum FPU 4 iam] iam in LM 7 praestetur] uale add. FP* — finit ad amandum VI. 0 FLMOPU . — incipit ad Iouium philosophum • XLIII. M, epistola sPi paulini ad iouium philosophum ■ XXXVII. L, incipit ad iouium clarissimum 0, epistola sancti paulini ad iouium clarum oratorem et philosophum maximum aduersus eos: qui dicunt non esse diuinam prouidentiam in rebus humanis aut electibus: sed omnia fortune et casibus deputant U 10 Iouio] claro add. FP\'U 11 posthumiano 0, postumino cet. teridio ii M1, theridiano 0 12 ad quam LM repetentibus LM 14 studio M 15 illo M 17 omnino LM, omnem v dirigens LM 18 insalutantium F aborrentem 0 19 coprobatorque v, conprobaturque 0, com-. ita probatusque cet . amator esse M 22 ut M relligioni U, irreligiosum M 23 haberent] ducerent M meis scriptis adire. apte autem mihi uisa est ad id quoque huiusmodi tabellariorum persona congruere, ut aliquid de pristina illa epistola responderem tibi, quam tu ad illas mihi litteras, quibus manifestum diuinae potestatis in elementis et curae circa nos beneficium praedicaueram, retulisti. nam profecto retines me de tuis scriptis id, de quo tunc gratulans responderam, conperisse; unde suaseram, ne casibus dei munus adscriberes et forte magis quam numine arbitrareris argentum illud sancti conmercii inter hibernos turbines et nautas auaros amisso custode seruatum, in illud potissimum litus eiecta naui, in quo familiare nobis oppidum, tibi patrimonium tutissimis rem nostram sinibus exceperat. Sed tu iterum mihi de tempestatis iniuria magis querulus quam de clementia dei gratus omnes motus elementorum, inter -quos diuina tantum manus humanam salutem tueri ualet, actusque nostros, quos summi domini potestas regit et pro nostris meritis uertit aut dirigit, uacuis fatorum fortunaeque nominibus tamquam aemulis deo potestatibus subdidisti. in quo ne te existimes deo detulisse, cum iniuriose potius, ut erat, dei beneficium esse nolueris, dicens ideo haec a diuina potestate secerni oportere, quia casum magis quam deum deceant mala, id autem sine dubio malum esse, quo periculum saepe homines aut damnum capessant. in quorum malorum, ut uideo, numero tempestates locas, quibus aut in terra agrorum saepe uastitas aut in naui naufragorum aerumna capiatur. sed hanc sententiam uideo de illis obortam magistris, qui 1 apta U quoque] quod F 2 tabellariorum huiusmodi U 3 illa pristina FPU 4 elementa M1 5 cura M1 7 comperiisse F* suaseram, ne] suas aerumnae F, suas erumne PU 8 asscriberes F, ascriberes MPU et] te F fortuna LM numine] minime FPU arbitreris FOU 9 iter U nautos 0 10 litus] luctus U 18 magisque rudus quam 0 14 omnis OPU elimentorum 0, clementorum U 16 domini om. U 17 uacuns U, uacui 0 fatuorum 0 18 nominibus I dcmonibtu cont. Sasacla., numinibus Ov, omnibus FLPU, ominibus M 19 nec FPU, nolo M 20 uolueris U 21 deum om. FPU 23 capessunt 0 24 potestates 0 quia FPU 25 uastatas F1 naui] mari coni. Ltbrun naufragiorum M 26 abortam U de illis obortam uideo M magristris 0 8* sapientia sua superbi sapientiam dei quaerere dedignati a finibus ueritatis exules agunt, adsertores opinionum suarum, qui missis per inane magnum mentibus euanuerunt, sicut scriptum est et probatur, in cogitationibus suis, et pro suis arbitriis opera dei et consilia finxerunt; illisque mare uel caelum casu regi commouerique uideatur, qui mundum istum aut sine rectore uacuum aut otiante neglectum deo fortuitis lapsibus uolui disputant aut nullo auctore conpositum ut principii, ita finis expertem, quod corporea, qua mundus iste, cuius singuli portio sumus, natura non obtinet, quia omnis conpago resolubilis, aut, quod stultius est, ex semet ipso creatum uolunt, tamquam ulla res ipsa sibi possit esse causa nascendi, ut sit eadem creator pariter et creatura id est opifex et opus, quae ut nomine, ita et genere ac statu discrepare perspicuum est. quis enim non uidet mundum istum corporeum ui incorporea gubernari totamque molem infusa atque permixta magno uniuersitatis corpori diuini spiritus mente, qua facta est, agitari ad uitam, temperari ad usum, contineri ad statum, ordinari ad diuturnitatem? Cum ergo constet quod cernitur aut sentitur alienae opis, ut consistat et maneat, indigere, non potest ambigi aliunde etiam ut crearetur eguisse. quod cum ita sit, omnia ex deo orta fateamur necesse est, quia nisi profanis in dubium uenire non potest mundum deo auctore confectum, proinde uentos et omnia, quae intra mundum partes molis eiusdem et quasi uiscera corporis sint, non ad alterius regimen esse referenda, quia neque regi continerique paterentur diuinorum operum uirtutes hoc est substantiae naturarum omnium in tanta 4] Rom. 1, 21. 5 fixerunt M1 illisque scripsi, illis quod 0, illis ergo M, illis cet . 6 mouerique FPU 7 sociante U deo neglectum LMv 8 lapsis FP nullo om. L copositu aut (situ in ras.) M ut 0, aut ut cet . nisi quod aut in ras. M 9 quo FPU qua] quia 0 iste] constat addendum cens. Sacch . 12 illa FPU 13 eadem] res add. U 14 et om. FP ao] et M 16 infusam 0 permista U, permixtam 0 19 diurnitatem 0 20 opus 0 22 crearetur ex creature 0 m. 2 25 mundum F s. I. m. 2 26 sunt LM discordia sui nisi ab ea tantum natura atque uirtute hoc est deo, uno omnium conditore, a quo uno fieri ordinarique potuerunt et cuius leges nisi seruarent, statum suum non obtinerent. multo autem ineptius est ullam culpare naturam et malam dicere, quoniam, si a deo omnia et deus bonus est, omnia profecto quae fecit deus bona. si qua autem sunt in arcanis statutorum eius altiora sensibus et cogitationibus nostris, etiamsi rationem eorum consequi et colligere non possumus, tutius tamen nobis est magis occultas esse rationes quam nullas credere, quia non ambigendum omnia dei, etsi nobis non sint perspicua, tamen esse consulta. Itaque si totum mundum deus, qui condidit, et gubernat, quo in loco uel cui creaturae casus et fatum aut fortuna dominabitur? si de motibus uel ordinibus astrorum, ut quidam uolunt, pendent, de igniculis non solum deo sed et mundo ipso minoribus, immo etiam mundi ipsius tertiam partem ministerio famulae lucis ornantibus, istam, quam deo aemulam facis, potestatem trahunt. nam certe diuinae potestatis est elementa turbare uentorumque uiolentiam uel excitare sopitam uel incitatam refrenare et furoribus tempestatum uel dedere uel eripere mortales. qua potestate cum omnis creatura pareat uni omnium creatori subdita, quomodo his diuina uis et potestas datur, quae non solum nomine creatoris sed etiam creaturae specie carent, uacua non spirituum neque corporum nomina gerendis uel significandis rebus aptata, si quidem et fors uerbum dubitantis sit et fatum profantis expressio et casus significatio cadentium uel accidentium? tamen ab usu erroris antiqui ob ignorantiam dei rationis inopes cassa 18] (Verg. Aen. I 52). 2 omnium-uno om. L 3 et ex ut F 4 illam FPU 5 bona] sunt add. U 7 archanis OJ 8 colligere et consequi FPU 9 tamen om. M est nobis U 10 etsi] esse etsi 0 11 occulta F 18 et] ant U statum FP, statuitur U 14 si de] fide FPU 15 geniculis FPU et] etiam M 16 etiam om. M ipsius mundi M 20 sopitam] positam Ov excitatam FPU 21 qua] sub qua fort . 22 pereat 0, careat coni. Sacch . 28 et om. U qui 0 numine coni. Lebrtm 25 si quidem] cum M 26 fatum LMO\', statum FPU, fanum O1 prosantis F, pro sanctis U 27 aocedentium FPU nomina, tamquam ideo numina quoque sint, in speciem corporatam stultis cogitationibus fingunt stultiusque, quam finxerint, donant honore diuino, unde et Spes et Nemesis et Amor atque etiam Furor in simulacris coluntur et occipiti caluo sacratur Occasio et tua ista Fortuna lubrico male nixa globo fingitur. nec minore mendacio Fata simulantur uitas hominum nere de calathis aut trutinare de lancibus. quod deliramentum ne uulgo inputemus aut nimium philosophos admiremur, Platone etiam delirante narratur, qui in gremio anus pensum Necessitatis exponit et tres ei filias addit concinentes et uersantes fusum et per fila ludentes, hoc scilicet lanificio autumans eas conficere res hominum et tempora cuique signata detexere. tantum abusus est humanis auribus adrogantia inanis facundiae, ut ridiculam anilis fabulae cantilenam non erubesceret scriptis suis, quibus de diuina etiam natura quasi conscius disputare audebat, inserere. sed nobis in illo sermonis tantum Attici comitas, non inanis fabulae spectanda concinnitas; quae demulcendis tantum auribus edita sunt, non debent sensuum fundamenta conuellere. Quin potius, ut ratio et ueritas docet, omnia operum dei, in quibus consistimus et quorum pars sumus, omniaque munerum eius, quibus inter uitae istius fragilis et caducae incerta regimur atque seruamur, ad ipsum referamus, nihilque ab illius potestate nostro remoueamus errore, quia, uelimus nolimus, ipse nostri ut omnium et creator et deus est. et quia, quantum est bonitas et sapientia et origo rationis est, nihil 8] (Platon. de rep. X p. 617 B). 21] (VergiL Aen. Il 6). 1 ideo] in do Mv numina URosw., numima FP, nomina LMOv quoque Rosw., quaeque MLOv, queque FP, qq; U 2 finxerunt pI, infinierinfc L 3 et Spes] spes FPU 5 figuratur FPU 7 aere de] 1 eootinentaa ne crede FPU chalatis PU, chalatus F 10 concinentes M 11 filia 0 autumans eas hoc scilicet lanificio M 12 signate Rosw . dextere Px 18 auribus ex rebus 0 facumdia U 16 illa 0 17 inanis est LM 20 ueritas et ratio M opera FPU 21 et-sumus om. FPU 26 quantum <0, quantus Rosw., quantus quantus Schot . in quantum et bonitas fort . quia quantus quantus est, bonitas et Lebrun distinguit nisi ratione constituit et ad materiam suae bonitatis creauit, ipsi omne quod sumus inpendamus et quae illi placita sunt studeamus discere et facere curemus. tunc defaecata mente purius intuentes uidebimus hanc esse ueritatem, ut a deo sint cuncta quae sunt, et hanc esse consequentiam, ut omnia dei facta pulcherrima sint et non sit malum quod bonum habeat auctorem, qui cuncta per mundum nostris usibus praeparauit et nostris utilitatibus agit et ita istius uniuersitatis opus condidit, ut alia ad seruiendum, alia ad exercendum, alia ad dominandum creauerit. itaque corporeis animalibusque naturis homines ratione dominamur. sed ne ipsa potestatis nostrae licentia resoluamur, utiliter exercemur aduersis aut spiritibus daemonum aut difficultatibus negotiorum aut ipsorum saepe elementorum motibus, uidelicet ut exagitati curis prudentiae et metui diuinitatis acuamur. a quo nos quae deberet magis gratificos domino aeterno facere securitas neglegentes facit. unde et magister gentium apostolus ait arcano diuinae pietatis consilio et magno humanae salutis emolumento opponi quosdam obices cursibus nostris et aduersis secunda mutari, ut morbos damna discrimina, quia tribulatio patientiae robur operetur, patientia probationem fidei pariat et praemium gloriae conferat. quod certe uirtus capere nisi uictrix non potest, non habitura uictoriae facultatem, nisi cum aliqua prius diffcultate certauerit. Quod cum prudentiae tuae, quam et ingenitam et eruditam habes, litteris quoque ipsis, quas utinam iam ut iudicio ita et studio sacris litteris posthaberes, potuerit intimari, quibus egregie clarorum in ducibus aut philosophis uirorum 21] (Rom. 5,8). 1 materiam] naturam fort., memoriam coni. Latin . bonitatis] rationis M 4 purius Ov, prius cet . 8 ita] ista PU istius om. M 12 resokatur FPU 13 demonium P saepe] etiam U 14 prudentiae Ov, prudentia cet . 15 metui (tui m. 2 add.) 0, metu cet. v nosque F, nos quoque 0 17 archano w 21 operatur FOPU 22 conferat] pariat U 25 ingentem U 26 ipsius FOPU ut om. 0 27 imiteri F 28 aegregiae 0, egregi§ uirtutes M in ducibus] indicibus 0 iudiciis aut philosophia uel in dictis aut factis coni. Sacch . uirtutes ad nobilem famam non nisi per labores et pericula emicuisse memorantur, admodum miror, cur in ueritate perspicua diuini muneris ita uolueris caligare, ut mirabilem illam nauis iactatae salutem et euidentibus signis procuratam nostrae rei diuinitus terra marique custodiam fortuitis euentibus dederis tantamque occasionem diuinae praedicationis effuderis. erige in summam sapientiae mentem tuam et ipsum ueri luminis fomitem Christum pete, qui fideles animas inluminat et pectora casta perlabitur. quod et te ita sentire docuisti, licet pro excusatione praetenderis inparem te adhuc et ideo non capacem dei, quia terrenis rebus et curis obsessus ab altiore suspectu caelestium quasi nubibus interpositis arcearis. sed utinam ista tam uere possis obtendere, quam facunde potes. arguit enim ipsa facundiae tuae doctrinaeque fecunditas uoluntatem tibi potius in sacris litteris parem quam aut uacationem aut facultatem abesse. non enim, opinor, dormiens aut aliud agens tantas oris aut pectoris diuitias coegisti. omnium poetarum floribus spiras, omnium oratorum fluminibus exundas, philosophiae quoque fontibus inrigaris, peregrinis etiam diues litteris Romanum os Atticis fanis inples. quaeso te, ubi tunc tributa sunt, cum Tullium et Demosthenem perlegis? uel iam usitatiorum de saturitate fastidiens lectionum Xenophontem, Platonem, Catonem Varronemque perlectos reuoluis multosque praeterea, quorum nos forte nec nomina, tu etiam uolumina tenes? ut istis occuperis, inmunis et liber, ut Christum hoc est sapientiam dei discas, tributarius et occupatus es. uacat tibi ut et philosophus sis, non uacat ut Christianus sis. uerte 25] (I Cor. 1, 24). 1 ad 0, sed FLPU, om. M emicuisse Ov, miscuisse eet . 4 nostrae F 8. 1. m. 2 regi 0 5 diuiuitus om. M seuentibus tn fluctibus seuientibus L corr. m. 2 7 summa M diuine sapientiae tuam mentem V 9 et] de FPU sentisse 0 10 in partem FPU non pacem 0 ( m. 2), incapacem cet . 12 arceare FPU ita FU 14 facumdia tna doctrineque tue U 15 potius om. FPU 16 ut opinor LM 21 demostenem 01 perleges FPU iam ex etiam 0 22 zenofontem FLOU 28 perlector FPU 24 tu] tu uero M 25 hoc] id M 26 et om. FPU 27 et om. FlLM pr . sis om. FMPU potius sententiam, uerte facundiam. nam animi philosophiam non deponas licet, dum eam fide condias et religione; conserta utare sapientius, ut sis dei philosophus et dei uates, non quaerendo sed imitando deum sapiens, ut non lingua quam uita eruditus tam disseras magna quam facias. Esto Peripateticus deo, Pythagoreus mundo. uerae in Christo sapientiae praedicator et tandem tacitus uanitati, perniciosam istam inanium dulcedinem litterarum quasi illos patriae oblitteratores de baccarum suauitate Lotophagos, ut Sirenarum carmina blandimentorum nocentium cantus euita. et quia licet quaedam plerumque de inanibus fabulis ut de uulgaribus aliqua prouerbiis in usum ueri ac serii sermonis adsumere, dicam non litteras tantum, sed et omnes rerum temporalium species nobis esse Lotophagos uel Sirenas. nam et uoluptatum pestifera dulcedo patriae nobis obliuionem facit, cum homini deum, qui est patria omnium communis, oblitterat, et inlecebrae cupiditatum illam Sirenarum fabulam ueritate cladis imitantur. nam quod illae Sirenae fuisse finguntur, id uere sunt inlecebrae cupiditatum et blandimenta uitiorum; habent enim in specie lenocinium, in gustu uenemum, quorum usus in crimine, pretium in morte numeratur. has oportet ultra Vlixis astutiam cauti non auribus tantum sed et oculis obseratis et animo quasi nauigio praeteruolante fugiamus, ne sollicitati 2 depones FMPU licet om. M dum] si M condies FPU coudias fide M religion 0 cousertis L conserta-ut sis om. M 3 uitare FPU sapientius Ov, sapientium cet. pr . dei] esto dei M natis 0 4 non] non tam Mv 5 eruditus plus facias magna quam disseras M dixeras JJ 6 phytagoreus 0, pictagoreus U, pitagoreus LM, pytagoreus P uere w 7 tandem om. M 9 oblitteratores v, obliteratores Q) bacharum FLMOP lothophagos M, lotofagos FLOP, letofagos U; et sic codd. I.14 ut] et Ros-co . 10 cardina FPU cautue P 11 manibus FPU fabule FPU 12 in usum] uisunt ex insunt F ueri ex seri 0 14 uel v, ut Q) 16 deum] domini FPU communis omnium M 17 cupidatum L, uoluptatum FPU illam-l.19 cupiditatam om. L claudis 0 18 sirenes FO, syrenes PU 19 uoluptatam F habent enim LMOv, habentem FPU, habentia Lebrun ex Vatic . 20 in uenenum L 22 sed et LOv, sed eet . obseruatio 0 23 praeteruolante quasi nauigio FPU solliciti F delectatione letifera in criminum saxa rapiamur et scopulo mortis adfixi naufragium salutis obeamus. Atque utinam uel nudis nobis ex istius mundi salo liceat euadere, si in tempore isto, quo in fragilitate corporea et possessionum lubrico tamquam in nauigii fatiscentis infida conpage fluitamus, exuere nos ad enatandum inpedimentis angentibus quasi uestibus madidis et fidem salutarem, qua in uirtute Christi dei uexillo crucis nitimur, quasi tabulam perfugii meminerimus inuadere, ut de rebus fluentibus spem solidam conparemus et de noxia cupiditatum materia aliquid ad innocentiam salutemque rapiamus, quo uidelicet ut deo seruientes cupiditatibus inperantes necessitatis modo desideria terminemus et necessarios habentes habitus non quaeramus superfluos apparatus, quia recordari admonemur nihil intulisse in hunc mundum neque auferre posse. quae ueritas in tantum ualet, ut de gentilibus quoque philosophorum, qui uel extremae ueritatis lineas celsioribus ingeniis attigerunt, inquirendae tantum, nedum sequendae sapientiae uacari non posse senserint, nisi pecuniarum onera quasi stercorum etiam in mare quidam proicerent. Sed tu diuisionem cum deo facito et quasi mutuo bene- Scio redde summo patri gratiam, qui tamen de his, quaecumque tibi donauit ingenita aut adiecit extrinsecus, te tantum a te reposcit. habeas licet tibi et tuis cuncta quae possides, tantum id curans, ut horum quoque largitorem deum esse fatearis. nihil enim habemus quod non acceperimus, qui in hunc, ut dixi, mundum nudi uenimus. ingenii autem tui facultates et omnes mentis ac linguae opes deo dedica immolans ei, 14] (I Tim. 6, 7). 26] (I Cor. 4, 7). 27] (Iob 1, 21). 2 adiixi v, adfigi 0, affixi cet . 4 si] et M corporeae 0 5 lubrica 0 infidg 0 7 qua] quia 0 8 uexillo ex uello Mm.2 profugii U 9 ut] et U coparemus M 11 quod FOPUv ut om. M 14 nihil <0, nos nihil v 16 gentibus OU philosophis U extremae LMv, extreme cet., extremas coni. Sacch . 18 consequendae M uacare FPU 19 quidam ut ex margine inlatum fort. dclendum 27 facultates LM, facultas cet. v 28 ei ex do M m. 2 sicut scriptum est, sacrificium laudis ore facundo et corde deuoto. ilico ut ad superna penetralia aciem mentis intenderis, aperiet ad te faciem suam ueritas teque ipsum reserabit tibi. nam diuinae ueritatis agnitu, id quoque, ut nosmet ipsos nouerimus, adsequimur. unde enim putas tantam miseris mortalibus uel superbiae uel ignauiae peruersitatem inoleuisse, ut non colentes deum daemoniis aut elementis subditis sibi seruiant, aquas ignem sidera arbores et simulacra uenerantes cum impiissima diuinae maiestatis iniuria? cuius nomine siue daemones sine creaturas colant, seruos honorant, pro quo his tenebris caecari merentur, ut quia deum uerum intellegere nolunt, etiam sui ignoratione feriantur; qua liberatur homo inluminatus fide, ut ordinem atque mensuram sui generis intellegens deo tantum, cuius unitas ineffabili trinitate censetur, se esse subiectum, ceteris uero omnibus creaturis, si rationabiles sunt, parem, sin uero corporeae, superiorem esse cognoscat. Qua mediocritate homo temperatus neque a salutis sorte delabitur neque a dignitate naturae fitque conscius ueritatis, conpos sapientiae, seruus iustitiae, liber erroris dominusque uitiorum, quibus anima non deo seruiens seruire damnatur, quae deinde ut proprii status exul per omnes cogitationum suarum aut alienarum opinionum deuias uias spargitur, per philosophos uaga ac per ariolos curiosa, superstitioni religiosa, religioni profana, spem inter ac metum semper ambiguis affectionibus pendens. hinc omni uento cuiuslibet doctrinae circumlata, quia diuini timoris uacua, sapientiae caput 1] (Ps. 49,14). 26] (Eph. 4, 14). 1 sacrificium laudis sicut scriptum est M 2 ilico autem ut M 8 neritas faciem U suam om. U 4 ambitu agnitu U 5 agnoueria mus U 9 siue—seu FL U 10 demonas MO colant M 11 caecare U 12 uolunt U ignorantia M, ignorantiae L 14 deura 0 16 sin uero Ov, si L\'M, sin FMPU, sui Ll 19 ueritatis conscius FPU 21 damnatus 0 22 ut] in FPU 23 spergitur F 24 ac 0, om. M, aut cet. v 25 inter spem LU 26 factionibus M omni om. FPU lã 27 sapientie M, sapientia FPU, sapientiam L non habet quasi truncis sensibus, unde intellectum rerum trahat, ubi sententiam statuat ignara; cum se frustra omnibus caelo terraque regionibus peruagata cogitatione distraxerit, in creaturis conspicuis et in nominibus uacuis casuum atque fatorum uim uniuersam, qua mundus agitur, constituit, tam falsi prauique tenax quam nescia ueri. Tua uero mens, quae ignita de caelesti semine diuinum iam spirat ardorem, in ipsam arcem sapientiae Christum fide praeuia dirigatur. potior est copia tibi in nostris quoque studiis possidendae philosophorum facundiae, dum aduersam ueris desinas amare sapientiam. melius enim tenere te potius diuina quaerentem quam quaerere disputantem. mitte illos semper in tenebris ignorantiae uolutatos, in contentionibus eruditae loquacitatis absumptos et altercatione uesana cum suis phantasmatis famulatos, semper quaerentes sapientiam et numquam inuenientes, quia quem nolunt credere deum intellegere non merentur. tibi satis sit ab illis linguae copiam et oris ornatum quasi quaedam de hostilibus armis spolia cepisse, ut eorum nudus erroribus et uestitus eloquiis fucum illum facundiae, quo decipit uana sapientia, plenis rebus accommodes, ne uacuum figmentorum sed medullatum ueritatis corpus 5] Verg. Aen. IIII 188. 15] (II Tim. 3, 7). 1 et quasi M truncis] carens FU et in uacuo spat . P* rerum intellectum U 3 dixtrasserat U 4 et om. U nominibus Rosw., ominibus LM, hominibus FPU, omnibus Ov ominibus-atque in ras. M 5 constituens M 6 praui quae 0, paruique F 7 diuina P 8 artem F 9 dirigatur preuia FPU potior est scripsi, paciscor ex M, patior ex cet . patior esse copiam coni. Clauerius, facio et copiam uel potior: est copia coni. Sacch . studiis om. FPU 10 possidendam LM facumdie PU, facundiam LM ueris aduersam U 11 melius] est add. LM potius om. M 12 dispitantem F1 omitte LM 18 uoluptatus 0 14 absumtoe Rosw., adsumptos LOv, assumtos FPU, assuefactos M fantasmatibus LU, phantasmatibus M 15 fabulantes M 16 qui U . deum credere nolunt U non non U 18 cepisse] reportasse M 20 quod FPU quo decipit uana om. LM decepit 0 uana] ima F, yma PU plenis Ov, plenus cet . accommode F post acomodes add. M: quod tunc ueraciter fiet cum ad uerae pietatis cultum postpositis erroribus uniuersis tota mentis intentione conuersus ne] non M exornans, non solis placitura auribus sed et mentibus hominum profutura mediteris.