Migne Reading Room
PL 195 · cols. 659–702
Aelred of Rievaulx, On Spiritual Friendship
Book I
BEATI AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALLIS DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA
OF BLESSED AELRED, ABBOT OF RIEVAULX, ON SPIRITUAL FRIENDSHIP
LIBER.
BOOK.
PROLOGUS.
PROLOGUE.
Cum adhuc puer essem in scholis, et sociorum meorum me gratia plurimum delectaret, inter mores et vitia, quibus illa aetas periclitari solet, tota se mens mea dedit affectui et devovit amori; ita ut nihil mihi dulcius, nihil jucundius, nihil utilius quam amari et amare videretur. Itaque inter diversos amores et amicitias fluctuans, rapiebatur animus huc atque illuc: et verae amicitiae legem ignorans, ejus saepe similitudine fallebatur.
When I was still a boy in school, and the favour of my companions delighted me very greatly, amid the habits and vices by which that age is wont to be imperilled, my whole mind gave itself up to affection and devoted itself to love; so that nothing seemed to me sweeter, nothing more pleasant, nothing more useful than to be loved and to love. And so, wavering among various loves and friendships, my mind was swept hither and thither; and, not knowing the law of true friendship, it was often deceived by its likeness.
Tandem venit mihi in manus liber, quem de amicitia Tullius scripsit, qui statim mihi et sententiarum gravitate utilis, et eloquentiae suavitate dulcis apparebat. Et licet nec ad illud amicitiae genus me viderem idoneum, gratulabar tamen quamdam me amicitiae formulam reperisse, ad quam amorum meorum et affectionum valerem revocare discursus. Cum vero placuit bono domino meo corrigere devium, elisum erigere, salubri contactu mundare leprosum; relicta spe saeculi, ingressus sum monasterium; et statim legendis sacris litteris operam dedi, cum prius nec ad ipsam earum superficiem oculus lippiens et carnalibus tenebris assuetus sufficeret. Igitur cum sacra Scriptura dulcesceret, et parum illud scientiae quod mihi mundus tradiderat, earum comparatione vilesceret; occurrebant animo, quae de amicitia
At length there came into my hands the book which Tullius wrote on friendship, which at once appeared to me both useful for the weight of its sentiments and sweet for the charm of its eloquence. And although I did not see myself fit even for that kind of friendship, I rejoiced nonetheless to have found a certain pattern of friendship, to which I might be able to recall the wanderings of my loves and affections. But when it pleased my good Lord to correct the straying, to raise up the fallen, to cleanse the leper with His healing touch, I left behind the hope of the world and entered the monastery; and at once I gave my effort to reading the sacred letters, although before, my bleary eye, accustomed to carnal darkness, had not been equal even to their very surface. So when sacred Scripture was growing sweet to me, and that little knowledge which the world had handed down to me was growing cheap by comparison with them, there came to my mind the things about friendship […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 659
Editors' prose
Opusculi hujus compendium inter opera sancti Augustini reperitur, tomo IV, adjuncta Erasmi censura auctorem, quem ignoravit, affectasse Augustinum videri, inepte existimantis: qui alias saepe de similibus alienis libris, qui in opera Patrum irrepserunt, judicium facit. Quid enim emolumenti inde sperassent noster Aelredus, aliique viri docti et pii? Lucubrationes alienas sibi tribuere potest quis, ad nomen sibi conciliandum: haeretici quoque aliquando libros erroribus refertos Patribus affinxerunt; at a catholicis piis, atque a fictione et mendacio abhorrentibus hoc alienum fuit. Errore itaque eorum, qui Patrum opera ediderunt, accidit, ut aliena illis admiscerentur. Sane hoc Opusculum De amicitia, in manuscriptis passim nomen Aelredi Rievallis abbatis praefert: imo dialogus est, cujus interlocutores sunt ipse Aelredus, et Ivo ex monachis ejus unus. Digestum est autem in tres libros, et quadruplo prolixius est, quam apud Augustinum, apud quem cum sit mutilum, non mirum, si minus gratum appareat. Quos autem carpit Erasmus flosculos sermonis ita quod pro invicem, et similes, non adeo venustant opus, ut non obtinuerit, sicut idem Erasmus fatetur, ut Augustini esse crederetur. Patres saepe eloquentiam suam spreverunt, et Scripturae phrases nostrae versionis libenter usurparunt, licet minus elegantes.
A compendium of this little work is found among the works of Saint Augustine, in tome IV, with the censure of Erasmus attached, who foolishly supposes that its author, whom he did not know, affected to seem to be Augustine; he often passes such a judgement elsewhere on similar spurious books which have crept into the works of the Fathers. For what profit would our Aelred, and other learned and pious men, have hoped for from that? Someone may attribute the lucubrations of others to himself to win himself a name; heretics too have sometimes falsely ascribed to the Fathers books crammed with errors; but to pious Catholics, who shrink from fiction and falsehood, this was foreign. It came about, therefore, through the error of those who edited the works of the Fathers, that works not theirs were mixed in with them. This little work On Friendship, indeed, bears in the manuscripts here and there the name of Aelred, abbot of Rievaulx: in fact it is a dialogue, whose interlocutors are Aelred himself and Ivo, one of his monks. It is arranged, moreover, in three books, and is four times longer than in Augustine, where, since it is mutilated, it is no wonder if it appears less pleasing. But the little flowers of speech which Erasmus picks at, "ita quod", "pro invicem" and the like, do not adorn the work so much that it did not succeed, as the same Erasmus admits, in being believed to be Augustine's. The Fathers often spurned their own eloquence, and gladly adopted the phrases of Scripture in our version, though less elegant.
Page
- running head: 659 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. PARS I. — ASCETICA. 660 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹Cum adhuc puer›; B ‹affectionum valerem revocare›
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: the title (BEATI AELREDI / ABBATIS RIEVALLIS / DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA / LIBER.), the editors' italic preface above and PROLOGUS. are printed full-width across cols 659-660 at the head of the page; set under col 659 in reading order. The preface prints "ita quod pro invicem" in roman as quoted phrases. "tomo I.V" printed with a stray point between I and V; read as IV.
in praefato libello legeram: et jam mirabar, quod non mihi more solito sapiebant. Jam tunc enim nihil, quod non dulcissimi Jesu fuisset melle mellitum, nihil quod non sanctarum Scripturarum fuisset sale conditum, meum sibi ex toto rapiebat affectum. Et iterum atque iterum ea ipsa revolvens quaerebam, si forte possent Scripturarum auctoritate fulciri. Cum autem in sanctorum litteris de amicitia plura legissem, volens spiritualiter amare, nec valens, institui de spirituali amicitia scribere, et regulas mihi castae sanctaeque dilectionis praescribere.
[…] I had read in the aforesaid little book; and now I wondered that they did not savour to me as they used to. For already then nothing that had not been honeyed with the honey of the most sweet Jesus, nothing that had not been seasoned with the salt of the holy Scriptures, carried off my affection wholly to itself. And turning those same things over again and again, I sought whether perhaps they could be supported by the authority of the Scriptures. And when I had read many things about friendship in the writings of the saints, wishing to love spiritually and not being able, I undertook to write on spiritual friendship, and to prescribe for myself rules of a chaste and holy love.
Opusculum igitur in tribus distinximus libellis: in primo, quid sit amicitia, et quis ejus fuerit ortus vel causa commendantes; in secundo, ejus fructum excellentiamque proponentes; in tertio, quomodo et inter quos possit usque in finem indirupta servari, prout potuimus, enodantes. In hujus igitur lectione si quis profecerit, Deo gratias agat, et pro peccatis meis apud Christi misericordiam intercedat. Si quis autem superfluum aut inutile putat esse, quod scripsimus, parcat infelicitati meae, quae fluxum cogitationum mearum hujus meditationis me compulit occupatione restringere
We have therefore divided the little work into three little books: in the first setting forth what friendship is, and what was its origin or cause; in the second, putting forward its fruit and excellence; in the third, unravelling, as far as we could, how and among whom it can be kept unbroken to the end. If anyone, then, profits from reading it, let him give thanks to God, and intercede for my sins with the mercy of Christ. But if anyone thinks what we have written superfluous or useless, let him spare my unhappiness, which compelled me to restrain the flow of my thoughts by being occupied with this meditation.
Editors' notes and page, col. 660
Page
- running head: 659 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. PARS I. — ASCETICA. 660 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹tia in praefato libello›; B ‹quomodo et inter quos›
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: the title, editors' preface and PROLOGUS. printed full-width above this column are set under col 659 (see n659). The prologue ends at "restrin-gere" with no final stop and the rest of the column blank; "restriu gere" is split at the line end without a hyphen and set whole.
LIBER PRIMUS.
BOOK ONE.
De ortu amicitiae
On the origin of friendship
AELREDUS. Ecce ego et tu, et spero quod tertius inter nos Christus sit. Non est modo, qui obstrepat; non est, qui intercidat amica colloquia, gratae huic solitudini nullius vox vel tumultus irrepit. Age nunc, charissime, aperi pectus tuum, et amicis auribus quidquid placet instilla, nec ingrate accipiamus locum, tempus et otium. Nam paulo ante in turba fratrum me residente, cum omnes undique circumstreperent, et alius quaereret, alius disputaret; et iste de Scripturis, ille de moribus, alter de vitiis, de virtutibus alter quaestiones ingererent, tu solus tacebas: et nunc caput erigens, parabas aliquid proferre in medium: sed quasi vox in ipsis interciperetur faucibus, iterum demisso capite tacebas: nunc parvo intervallo secedens a nobis, et iterum rediens tristem vultum praeferebas, quibus omnibus mihi duntaxat dabatur intelligi, te ad proferendum tuae mentis conceptum, et horrere multitudinem, et optare secretum. IVO. Profecto ita est, et gratulor plurimum, intelligens quod cura tibi est de puero tuo; cujus tibi mentem, mentisque propositum non alius quam spiritus charitatis aperuit. Et utinam hoc mihi tua concedat dignatio, ut quotiescunque filios tuos, qui hic sunt, visitaveris, vel semel mihi liceat, caeteris remotis tui habere copiam, et aestus pectoris mei sine perturbatione proferre!
AELRED. Here are you and I, and I hope that Christ is a third between us. There is no one now to make a din; there is no one to cut short friendly conversation; into this welcome solitude no one's voice or tumult creeps. Come now, dearest, open your heart, and pour into friendly ears whatever you please, and let us not receive ungratefully the place, the time and the leisure. For a little while ago, as I sat in the crowd of the brethren, when all were making a noise on every side, and one was asking questions, another disputing, and this one about the Scriptures, that one about morals, another about vices, another about virtues, were thrusting questions forward, you alone were silent; and now, raising your head, you were getting ready to bring something forward into the midst; but as though the voice were caught in your very throat, you lowered your head again and were silent; now withdrawing a short distance from us, and returning again, you wore a sad face; from all of which I was given to understand only that, to bring forth what your mind had conceived, you both shrank from the crowd and wished for privacy. IVO. It is indeed so, and I rejoice greatly, understanding that you care for your boy, whose mind, and the purpose of his mind, none other than the spirit of charity has opened to you. And would that your graciousness would grant me this, that whenever you visit your sons who are here, I may be allowed, at least once, with the others sent away, to have access to you, and to bring forth the surgings of my heart without disturbance!
AELREDUS. Faciam quidem, et libens. Delector enim plurimum, quod te pronum ad haec vana et otiosa non video; sed semper aliquid utile et profectui tuo necessarium proloqui. Loquere ergo secure, et cum amico omnes curas tuas cogitationesque commisce; ut vel discas aliquid vel doceas, des et accipias, profundas et haurias. IVO. Ego quidem paratus sum, non docere, non dare, sed accipere; haurire non profundere: sicut mihi aetas praescribit, imperitia cogit, hortatur professio. Sed ne in his tempus ad alia necessarium insipienter insumam, volo, me aliquid de spirituali amicitia doceas, videlicet quid sit, quid pariet utilitatis, quod ejus principium, quis finis; utrum inter omnes esse possit, et si non inter omnes, inter quos: quomodo etiam possit indirupta servari, et sine aliqua dissensionis molestia sancto fine concludi.
AELRED. I will indeed, and gladly. For I am greatly delighted that I do not see you inclined to these vain and idle things, but always speaking out something useful and needful for your progress. Speak, then, without fear, and share all your cares and thoughts with a friend, so that you may either learn something or teach, give and receive, pour out and draw in. IVO. I for my part am ready, not to teach, not to give, but to receive; to draw in, not to pour out: as my age prescribes, my inexperience compels, and my profession urges. But so as not to spend foolishly on these things time needed for other things, I want you to teach me something about spiritual friendship: namely, what it is, what benefit it will bring, what its beginning is, what its end; whether it can exist among all, and if not among all, among whom; and also how it can be kept unbroken and brought to a holy end without any trouble of dissension.
AELREDUS. Miror, cur a me haec aestimas esse quaerenda, cum satis superque ab antiquissimis, excellentissimisque doctoribus de his omnibus constet esse tractatum: maxime cum pueritiam tuam in hujusmodi studiis triveris, et Tullii Ciceronis librum
AELRED. I wonder why you think these things should be asked of me, when it is plain that all of them have been treated more than enough by the most ancient and most excellent teachers; especially since you wore away your boyhood in studies of this kind, and the book of Tullius Cicero […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 661
Footnotes
(23) ‹filios tuos› · printed under col 661, full-width across the foot of cols 661-662
Videtur Ivo fuisse monachus non Rievallis, sed alterius monasterii Rievalli subditi.
Ivo seems to have been a monk not of Rievaulx, but of another monastery subject to Rievaulx.
Page
- running head: 661 DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA. — LIB. I. 662 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹AELREDUS. Ecce ego et tu›; B ‹nobis, et iterum rediens›; C ‹otiosa non video›; D ‹AELREDUS. Miror, cur›
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: LIBER PRIMUS. and the sub-caption "De ortu amicitiae" are printed full-width at the head of the page; set under col 661. The speaker names AELREDUS and IVO are printed in small capitals and set in capitals. The footnote numeral is read as 23 (3/5 look alike in small figures).
De amicitia legeris; ubi copiosissime de omnibus quae ad eam spectare videntur jucundo stylo disseruit, et quasdam, ut ita dicam, leges in ea ac praecepta descripsit. IVO. Non usquequaque ipse mihi ignotus est liber, utpote qui in eo aliquando plurimum delectabar; sed ex quo mihi de sanctarum Scripturarum favis aliquid coepit emanare dulcedinis, et mellifluum Christi nomen sibi meum vindicavit affectum, quidquid sine coelestium litterarum sale, ac dulcissimi illius nominis condimento, quamvis subtiliter et eloquenter disputatum legero, vel audiero, nec sapidum mihi potest esse, nec lucidum. Eapropter vel ea ipsa quae dicta sunt, si tamen sunt consona rationi, vel certe alia, quae disputationis istius poscit utilitas velim mihi Scripturarum auctoritate probari: et quemadmodum ea ipsa, quam inter nos oportet esse, amicitia, et in Christo inchoetur, et secundum Christum servetur, et ad Christum finis ejus et utilitas referatur, plenius edoceri. Constat enim Tullium verae amicitiae ignorasse virtutem, cum ejus principium finemque, Christum videlicet, penitus ignoraverit.
[…] On Friendship, in which he discoursed most copiously, in a pleasant style, on all the things that seem to concern it, and set down in it certain laws, so to speak, and precepts. IVO. That book is not altogether unknown to me, seeing that I once took the greatest delight in it; but ever since something of sweetness began to flow out to me from the honeycombs of the holy Scriptures, and the honey-flowing name of Christ claimed my affection for itself, whatever I read or hear without the salt of the heavenly writings and the seasoning of that most sweet name, however subtly and eloquently it is argued, can be neither savoury nor clear to me. For that reason I should like either the very things that have been said, if they are indeed in accord with reason, or at any rate the other things that the usefulness of this discussion demands, to be proved to me by the authority of the Scriptures; and to be taught more fully how that very friendship which ought to exist between us may both be begun in Christ, and be kept according to Christ, and have its end and usefulness referred to Christ. For it is plain that Tullius did not know the power of true friendship, since he was wholly ignorant of its beginning and end, namely Christ.
AELREDUS. Victus sum, fateor, ut quasi me ipsum nesciens, nec vires proprias metiens, de his non quidem te doceam, sed tecum potius conferam; cum ⟨tu⟩ ipse viam utrisque aperueris, lumenque illud splendidissimum, in ipsa inquisitionis nostrae janua accenderis, quod nos non sinat errare per devia; sed certo tramite ad certum finem propositae quaestionis perducat. Quid enim sublimius de amicitia dici potest, quid verius, quid utilius, quam quod in Christo inchoari, et secundum Christum produci, et a Christo perfici debeat, prob⟨a⟩tur? Age nunc, et quid primum de amicitia videatur esse quaerendum, edicito. IVO. Primum quid sit amicitia, arbitror disserendum; ne videamur in inani pingere, si nesciamus quid sit illud, de quo debeat disputationis nostrae series, tenorque procedere.
AELRED. I am overcome, I confess, so that, as though not knowing myself nor measuring my own strength, I will not indeed teach you about these things, but rather confer with you; since you yourself have opened the way for us both, and at the very threshold of our inquiry have kindled that most splendid light which will not let us wander along byways, but will lead us by a sure path to the sure end of the question proposed. For what can be said of friendship more sublime, what more true, what more useful, than what is proved: that it ought to be begun in Christ, carried forward according to Christ, and perfected by Christ? Come now, and declare what seems to be the first thing to be asked about friendship. IVO. First, I think, we must discuss what friendship is, lest we seem to be painting on emptiness, if we do not know what that thing is about which the course and tenor of our discussion ought to proceed.
AELREDUS. Nonne satis tibi est hinc, quod ait Tullius. Amicitia est rerum humanarum et divinarum, cum benevolentia et charitate consensio? IVO. Si tibi sufficit ista definitio, mihi judico satisfactum.
AELRED. Is not what Tullius says enough for you on this: "Friendship is agreement on things human and divine, with goodwill and charity"? IVO. If that definition suffices for you, I judge that I am satisfied.
AELREDUS. Ergo quibuscunque fuerit de rebus humanis atque divinis sententia eadem, eademque voluntas cum benevolentia et charitate, ad amicitiae perfectionem eos pervenisse fatebimur. IVO. Quidni? Verumtamen charitatis vel benevolentiae nomine, quid ethnicus ille significare voluerit, non video.
AELRED. So we shall acknowledge that those who have the same judgement and the same will about things human and divine, with goodwill and charity, have attained to the perfection of friendship. IVO. Why not? Yet I do not see what that pagan meant to signify by the name of charity or of goodwill.
Editors' notes and page, col. 662
Page
- running head: 661 DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA. — LIB. I. 662 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹De amicitia legeris›; B ‹ctoritate probari›; C ‹quaestionis perducat›; D ‹humanis atque divinis›
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: footnote (23) printed full-width across the foot of cols 661-662 belongs to col 661 (see n661). "De amicitia" (Cicero's title) printed in italic. Damaged type: "cum ⟨tu⟩ ipse" (the word is a black blot), "prob⟨a⟩tur" (gap in the type); "opo:tet" read as oportet (worn r).
AELREDUS. Forte nomine charitatis mentis affectum, benevolentiae vero operis expressit effectum. Nam ipsa in rebus humanis atque divinis, mentibus utriusque chara, id est suavis et pretiosa debet esse consensio: benevola etiam et jucunda, in rebus exterioribus, operum exhibitio. IVO. Fateor, placet mihi satis ista definitio, nisi et ethnicis et Judaeis, iniquis insuper Christianis eam convenire putarem. Quod autem vera amicitia inter eos, qui sine Christo sunt, esse non possit, mihi fateor esse persuasum.
AELRED. Perhaps by the name of charity he expressed the affection of the mind, and by that of goodwill the effect in deed. For the agreement itself in things human and divine ought to be dear to the minds of both, that is, sweet and precious; and the showing of deeds in outward things ought also to be kindly and pleasant. IVO. I confess that definition pleases me well enough, were it not that I thought it fitted pagans and Jews, and wicked Christians besides. But I confess I am persuaded that true friendship cannot exist among those who are without Christ.
AELREDUS. Satis nobis in consequentibus elucescet, utrum definitio minus aliquid habeat, vel superabundet in aliquo; ut vel reprobetur a nobis, vel quasi sufficiens, et extra nihil recipiens admittatur. Ex ipsa tamen definitione, quamvis forte tibi minus videatur esse perfecta, intelligere utcunque poteris, quid sit amicitia. IVO. Non sim tibi oneri, rogo te, si non ista sufficiant, nisi ipsius vocabuli rationem mihi enucleaveris.
AELRED. It will become clear enough to us in what follows whether the definition lacks something or has too much in some respect, so that it may either be rejected by us, or be admitted as sufficient and taking in nothing beyond. From the definition itself, however, although it may seem to you less than perfect, you will be able to understand in some fashion what friendship is. IVO. I beg you, let me not be a burden to you if these things are not enough for me unless you unfold to me the meaning of the word itself.
AELREDUS. Geram tibi morem, si tamen parcas inscientiae meae, ut me non cogas docere, quod nescio. Ab amore, ut mihi videtur, amicus dicitur, ab amico amicitia. Est autem amor quidam animae rationalis affectus per quem ipsa aliquid cum desiderio quaerit et appetit ad fruendum; per quem et fruitur eo cum quadam interiori suavitate, amplectitur et conservat adeptum. Cujus affectus et motus in Speculo nostro, quod satis cognitum habes, quam lucide potuimus ac diligenter, expressimus. Porro amicus quasi amoris, vel, ut quibusdam placuit, ipsius animi custos dicitur; quoniam amicum meum amoris mutui, vel ipsius animi mei oportet esse custodem, ut omnia ejus secreta fideli silentio servet; quidquid in eo vitiosum viderit, pro viribus curet et toleret; cui et gaudenti congaudeat, et dolenti condoleat, et omnia sua esse sentiat, quae amici sunt. Amicitia igitur ipsa virtus est, qua talis dilectionis ac dulcedinis foedere ipsi animi copulantur, et efficiuntur unum de pluribus. Unde ipsam amicitiam non inter fortuita et caduca, sed inter ipsas virtutes, quae aeternae sunt, etiam mundi hujus philosophi collocarunt, quibus Salomon in Proverbiis consentire videtur: Omni, inquiens, tempore diligit, qui amicus est (Prov. XVII), manifeste declarans amicitiam aeternam esse, si vera est; si autem esse desierit, nec veram fuisse, cum videretur existere. IVO. Quid est igitur, quod inter amicissimos graves ortas inimicitias legimus?
AELRED. I will humour you, provided you spare my ignorance and do not force me to teach what I do not know. A friend (amicus), it seems to me, is named from love (amor), and friendship (amicitia) from friend. Love is a certain affection of the rational soul, through which it seeks something with desire and strives after it in order to enjoy it; through which also it enjoys it with a certain inward sweetness, and embraces and keeps it once obtained. Its affection and movements we have set out, as clearly and carefully as we could, in our Mirror, which you know well enough. Further, a friend is called, as it were, the guardian of love, or, as some have preferred, of the soul itself; since my friend ought to be the guardian of our mutual love, or of my very soul, so that he may keep all its secrets in faithful silence; whatever fault he sees in it he may cure and bear as far as he can; he may rejoice with it when it rejoices and grieve with it when it grieves, and feel that all that is his friend's is his own. Friendship, then, is that virtue by which souls are joined by the bond of such love and sweetness, and are made one out of many. Hence even the philosophers of this world placed friendship not among things fortuitous and perishable, but among the virtues themselves, which are eternal; and Solomon seems to agree with them in Proverbs, saying: "He who is a friend loves at all times" (Prov. 17), plainly declaring that friendship is eternal if it is true; and that if it ceases to be, it was not true even when it seemed to exist. IVO. How is it, then, that we read of grave enmities arising between the closest friends?
AELREDUS. De his suo loco uberius, si Deus voluerit, disputabimus; hoc volo interim credas, nunquam fuisse amicum, qui laedere potuit eum, quem in amicitia semel recepit; sed nec eum verae amicitiae gustasse delicias, qui vel laesus desiit diligere, quem semel amavit. Omni enim tempore diligit, qui amicus est; etsi arguatur, etsi laedatur, etsi tradatur flammis, etsi cruci affigatur, omni tempore diligit qui amicus est; et, ut ait noster
AELRED. Of these things we shall discuss more fully in their place, God willing; meanwhile I want you to believe this, that he who could harm one whom he had once received into friendship was never a friend; and that neither has he tasted the delights of true friendship who, even when harmed, ceased to love one whom he had once loved. For he who is a friend loves at all times: though he be reproached, though he be harmed, though he be given to the flames, though he be fastened to a cross, he who is a friend loves at all times; and, as our […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 663
Page
- running head: 663 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. PARS I. — ASCETICA. 664 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹AELREDUS. Forte nomine›; B ‹tatur. Ex ipsa tamen›; C ‹Porro amicus quasi›; D ‹Omni, inquiens›
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: none
Hieronymus, « Amicitia quae desinere potest, nunquam vera fuit. » IVO. Cum tanta sit in amicitia vera perfectio, non est mirum quod tam rari fuerint hi, quos veros amicos antiquitas commendavit. Vix enim, ut ait Tullius, tria vel quatuor amicorum paria, in tot retro saeculis fama concelebrat. Quod si nostris, id est Christianis temporibus, tanta est raritas amicorum, frustra, ut mihi videtur, in hujus virtutis inquisitione desudo, quam me adepturum, ejus mirabili sublimitate territus, jam pene despero.
[…] Jerome: "Friendship that can cease was never true." IVO. Since there is such perfection in true friendship, it is no wonder that those whom antiquity commended as true friends were so rare. For scarcely three or four pairs of friends, as Tullius says, does fame celebrate in so many ages past. But if in our times, that is, Christian times, friends are so rare, it seems to me that I toil in vain in the search for this virtue, which, terrified by its wonderful loftiness, I now almost despair of attaining.
AELREDUS. Magnarum rerum, ut ait quidam, ipse conatus magnus est. Unde virtuosae mentis est, sublimia semper et ardua meditari; ut vel adipiscatur optata, vel lucidius intelligat, et cognoscat optanda, cum non parum credendus sit profecisse, qui virtutis cognitione didicit, quam longe sit a virtute. Quamvis de nullius virtutis acquisitione desperandum sit Christiano, cui quotidie ex Evangelio vox divina resultat: Petite et accipietis, etc. (Matth. VII.) Nec mirum si inter ethnicos verae virtutis rari fuerunt sectatores, qui virtutum largitorem Dominum nesciebant, de quo scriptum est: Dominus virtutum ipse est Rex gloriae (Psal. XXIII).
AELRED. In great things, as someone says, the very attempt is great. Hence it belongs to a virtuous mind always to ponder things lofty and arduous, so that it may either attain what it desires, or understand more clearly and come to know what is to be desired; since he must be believed to have made no small progress who, through knowledge of virtue, has learned how far he is from virtue. And yet a Christian must despair of acquiring no virtue, for the divine voice sounds out to him daily from the Gospel: "Ask and you shall receive", etc. (Matt. 7). Nor is it any wonder if among the pagans the followers of true virtue were rare, since they did not know the Lord, the giver of virtues, of Whom it is written: "The Lord of virtues, He is the King of glory" (Ps. 23).
In cujus profecto fide, non dico tria vel quatuor, sed mille tibi proferam paria amicorum; qui quod illi de Pilade et Oreste pro magno miraculo dicunt vel fingunt, parati erant pro invicem mori. Nonne, secundum Tullianam diffinitionem, verae amicitiae virtute pollebant, de quibus scriptum est: Multitudinis credentium erat cor unum et anima una: nec quisquam aliquid suum esse dicebat, sed erant illi omnia communia? (Act. V.) Quomodo non inter eos rerum divinarum et humanarum, cum charitate et benevolentia fuit summa consensio, quibus cor erat unum et anima una? Quot martyres pro fratribus animas posuerunt! quot non pepercerunt expensis, non laboribus, non ipsius corporis cruciatibus! Credo te multoties, non sine lacrymis, legisse puellam illam Antiochenam, pulcherrima cujusdam militis fraude ereptam lupanaribus, ipsum postmodum socium habuisse martyrii, quem custodem pudicitiae invenerat in lupanari. Multa tibi hujus rei proferrem exempla, nisi et prolixitas prohiberet, et silentium nobis ipsa copia indixisset. Annuntiavit enim Christus Jesus, et locutus est, et multiplicati sunt super numerum. Majorem, inquit, hac dilectionem nemo habet, quam ut animam suam ponat quis pro amicis suis (Joan. XV). IVO. Ergone inter amicitiam et charitatem nihil distare arbitrabimur?
Indeed, in faith in Him I will bring forward for you not three or four, but a thousand pairs of friends, who were ready to die for one another, which those men tell or invent of Pylades and Orestes as a great marvel. Were they not strong, according to Tullius' definition, in the virtue of true friendship, of whom it is written: "The multitude of believers had one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that anything was his own, but all things were common to them" (Acts 5)? How was there not among them the highest agreement on things divine and human, with charity and goodwill, who had one heart and one soul? How many martyrs laid down their lives for their brethren! How many did not spare expense, nor labours, nor the tortures of the body itself! I believe you have many times read, not without tears, of that girl of Antioch, snatched from the brothel by a most beautiful stratagem of a certain soldier, who afterwards had as companion of her martyrdom the very man whom she had found as the guardian of her chastity in the brothel. I would bring forward for you many examples of this, were it not that length forbids, and their very abundance had imposed silence on us. For Christ Jesus proclaimed, and He spoke, and they were multiplied beyond number. "Greater love than this," He says, "no one has, than that one lay down his life for his friends" (John 15). IVO. Shall we then think there is no difference between friendship and charity?
AELREDUS. Imo plurimum; multo enim plures gremio charitatis, quam amicitiae amplexibus recipiendos, divina sanxit auctoritas. Non enim amicos solum, sed et inimicos sinu dilectionis excipere, charitatis lege compellimur. Amicos autem illos solos dicimus, quibus cor nostrum, et quidquid in illo est, committere non formidamus; illis vicissim nobis, eadem fidei lege et securitate constrictis.
AELRED. On the contrary, a very great one; for divine authority has decreed that far more are to be received into the bosom of charity than into the embraces of friendship. For by the law of charity we are compelled to take into the bosom of love not only friends but enemies also. But we call friends only those to whom we are not afraid to entrust our heart and whatever is in it, they in turn being bound to us by the same law of faith and security.
Editors' notes and page, col. 664
Page
- running head: 663 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. PARS I. — ASCETICA. 664 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹Hieronymus, « Amicitia›; B ‹non parum credendus›; C ‹lebant, de quibus›; D ‹ret, et silentium›
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: the last word "con-strictis" runs over the break to the head of col 665 with no hyphen printed; set whole at the end of col 664. "Imo" printed with a worn m ("Ino"). Scripture quotations printed in italic.
IVO. Quam multi saeculariter viventes, et sibi in quibuslibet vitiis consentientes simili sibi foedere copulantur, et prae cunctis mundi deliciis gratum, et dulce etiam talis amicitiae vinculum experiuntur! Non sit tibi molestum inter tot amicitias, illam quam spiritualem ad differentiam aliarum credimus nominandam, quae illis quodammodo involvitur et obscuratur, et illam quaerentibus et desiderantibus occurrunt et obstrepunt, ab earum, ut ita dixerim, communione secernere; ut illarum comparatione clariorem eam nobis, ac proinde optabiliorem faciens, ad ejus nos acquisitionem vehementius excites et accendas.
IVO. How many who live in a worldly way, and agree with one another in any vices whatever, are joined to one another by a like bond, and find the tie of such a friendship pleasing, and even sweet, above all the delights of the world! May it not be troublesome to you, among so many friendships, to separate from their fellowship, so to speak, that one which we believe should be called spiritual to distinguish it from the others, which is in some way entangled and obscured by them, while they get in the way of those who seek and long for it and clamour around them; so that, making it clearer to us by comparison with them, and therefore more desirable, you may more vehemently rouse and kindle us to acquire it.
AELREDUS. Falso sibi praeclarum amicitiae nomen assumunt, inter quos est convenientia vitiorum; quoniam qui non amat, amicus non est, non amat autem hominem, qui amat iniquitatem. Qui enim diligit iniquitatem non amat, sed odit animam suam (Psal. X); qui vero suam non diligit animam, utique alterius amare non poterit. Unde colligitur eos amicitiae falso nomine gloriari, fallique ejus similitudine, non veritate fulciri.
AELRED. Those between whom there is an agreement in vices falsely take to themselves the splendid name of friendship; since he who does not love is not a friend, and he who loves iniquity does not love a man. For "he who loves iniquity" does not love, but "hates his own soul" (Ps. 10); and he who does not love his own soul will certainly not be able to love another's. Hence it is gathered that they glory in the false name of friendship, and are deceived by its likeness, not upheld by its truth.
Verumtamen cum in hac tali amicitia, quam vel libido commaculat, vel avaritia foedat, vel incestat luxuria, tanta ac talis experiatur dulcedo: libet conjicere, quantum habeat suavitatis illa, quae quanto honestior est, tanto est securior; quanto castior, tanto jucundior; quanto liberior, tanto felicior. Patiamur tamen ut, propter quamdam, quae in affectibus sentitur, similitudinem, etiam illae amicitiae quae verae non sint, amicitiae nuncupentur, dum tamen ab illa quae spiritualis est, et ideo vera, certis judiciis distinguantur. Dicatur itaque amicitia alia carnalis, alia mundialis, alia spiritualis. Et carnalem quidem creat vitiorum consensus; mundialem spes quaestus accendit; spiritalem inter bonos vitae, morum studiorumque similitudo conglutinat. Verum amicitiae carnalis exordium ab affectione procedit, quae instar meretricis divaricat pedes suos omni transeunti, sequens aures et oculos suos per varia fornicantes; per quorum aditus usque ad ipsam mentem pulchrorum corporum, vel rerum voluptuosarum inferuntur imagines: quibus ad libitum frui, putat esse beatum; sed sine socio frui, minus aestimat esse jucundum. Tunc motu, nutu, verbis, obsequiis, animus ab animo captivatur, et accenditur unus ab altero, et conflantur in unum: ut inito foedere miserabili, quidquid sceleris, quidquid sacrilegii est, alter agat ⟨et⟩ patiatur pro altero; nihilque hac amicitia dulcius arbitrantur, nihil judicant justius: idem velle, et idem nolle, sibi existimantes amicitiae legibus imperari. Haec itaque amicitia nec deliberatione suscipitur, nec judicio probatur, nec regitur ratione; sed secundum impetum affectionis per diversa raptatur; non modum servans, non honesta procurans, non commoda incommodave prospiciens; sed ad omnia inconsiderate, indiscrete, leviter, immoderateque progrediens. Idcirco vel quasi quibusdam furiis agitata, a
Yet since in such a friendship as this, which lust stains, or avarice befouls, or luxury defiles, so great and such a sweetness is experienced, one may well guess how much sweetness that one has which, the more honourable it is, the more secure it is; the more chaste, the more pleasant; the more free, the more happy. Let us allow, however, that on account of a certain likeness felt in the affections, even those friendships which are not true may be called friendships, provided that they are distinguished by sure judgements from that which is spiritual, and therefore true. Let one friendship, then, be called carnal, another worldly, another spiritual. The carnal is created by agreement in vices; the worldly is kindled by the hope of gain; the spiritual is cemented among the good by likeness of life, of morals and of pursuits. Now the beginning of carnal friendship proceeds from an affection which, like a harlot, spreads its feet to every passer-by, following its ears and eyes as they go whoring after various things; through whose entrances images of beautiful bodies or of voluptuous things are borne into the very mind: to enjoy these at will it thinks is blessedness, but to enjoy them without a companion it reckons less pleasant. Then by movement, by nod, by words, by services, soul is captivated by soul, and one is set on fire by the other, and they are fused into one; so that, having entered into a wretched pact, whatever crime, whatever sacrilege there is, the one does and suffers for the other; and they think nothing sweeter than this friendship, judge nothing more just, reckoning that to will the same and not to will the same is laid upon them by the laws of friendship. This friendship, then, is neither undertaken with deliberation, nor approved by judgement, nor ruled by reason; but it is swept in different directions according to the impulse of affection, keeping no measure, providing for nothing honourable, looking to neither advantage nor disadvantage, but advancing to everything thoughtlessly, indiscriminately, lightly and immoderately. Therefore, as though driven by certain furies, […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 665
Page
- running head: 665 DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA. — LIB. I. 666 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹strictis. IVO. Quam multi›; B ‹amat autem hominem›; C ‹ctibus sentitur›; D ‹verbis, obsequiis›
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: col opens with "strictis", the end of "con-strictis" set whole in col 664. Damaged type: "agat ⟨et⟩ patiatur" (the word is a blot). "spiritalem" printed beside "spiritualis" (a real variant, not logged).
semetipsa consumitur, vel eadem levitate resolvitur, qua contrahitur. At amicitia mundialis, quae rerum vel bonorum temporalium cupidine parturitur, semper est plena fraudis atque fallaciae; nihil in ea certum, nihil constans, nihil securum; quippe quae semper cum fortuna mutatur, et sequitur marsupium. Unde scriptum est: Est amicus secundum tempus, ⟨et⟩ non permanebit in die tribulationis (Eccli. VI). Tolle spem quaestus, et statim desinet esse amicus. Quam amicitiam quidam versus ita eleganter derisit:
[…] it is consumed by itself, or is dissolved by the same lightness by which it is contracted. But worldly friendship, which is brought forth by desire for temporal things or goods, is always full of fraud and deceit; nothing in it is certain, nothing constant, nothing secure; for it always changes with fortune and follows the purse. Hence it is written: "There is a friend for a season, and he will not abide in the day of tribulation" (Sir. 6). Take away the hope of gain, and at once he will cease to be a friend. This friendship a certain verse has mocked thus elegantly:
Non est personae sed prosperitatis amicus,
He is the friend not of the person but of prosperity,
Quem fortuna tenet dulcis, acerba fugat.
whom sweet fortune holds and bitter fortune puts to flight.
Attamen hujus amicitiae vitiosae principium quosdam plerumque ad quamdam verae amicitiae provehit portionem: eos scilicet, qui primum spe lucri communis foedus ineuntes, dum sibi in iniquo mammona fidem servant, in rebus duntaxat humanis, ad maximum perveniunt gratumque consensum.
Yet the beginning of this faulty friendship often carries some people forward to a certain share in true friendship: those, namely, who, first entering into a pact in the hope of common gain, while they keep faith with one another in the unjust mammon, come, at least in human things, to a very great and pleasing agreement.
Attamen vera amicitia nullo modo dicenda est, quae commodi temporalis causa suscipitur et servatur. Amicitia enim spiritalis, quam veram dicimus, non utilitatis cujusque mundialis intuitu, non qualibet extra nascente causa, sed ex propriae naturae dignitate, et humani pectoris sensu desideratur, ita ut fructus ejus praemiumque, non sit aliud quam ipsa. Unde Dominus in Evangelio: Posui vos, inquit, ut eatis, et fructum afferatis (Joan. XV), id est ut invicem diligatis. In ipsa namque vera amicitia itur proficiendo, et fructus capitur perfectionis illius dulcedinem sentiendo. Amicitia itaque spiritalis, inter bonos, vitae, morum, studiorumque similitudine parturitur, quae est in rebus humanis atque divinis, cum benevolentia et charitate consensio. Quae quidem diffinitio, ad amicitiam exprimendam, satis mihi videtur esse sufficiens; si tamen more nostro charitas nuncupetur, ut amicitia omne vitium excludatur, benevolentia autem ipse sensus amandi, qui cum quadam dulcedine movetur interius, exprimatur. Ubi talis est amicitia, ibi profecto est idem velle et idem nolle, tanto utique dulcius, quanto sincerius; tanto suavius, quanto sacratius; ubi sic amantes nihil possunt velle quod dedeceat, nihil quod expediat, nolle. Hanc nempe amicitiam prudentia dirigit, justitia regit, fortitudo custodit, temperantia moderatur; de quibus suo loco disputabimus. Nunc autem si de eo, quod primum quaerendum putasti, videlicet quid sit amicitia satis dictum existimas, edicito. IVO. Sufficiunt plane ea, quae dicta sunt, nec aliquid mihi suggeritur, quod ultra quaeram. Sed antequam ad alia transeamus, scire desidero, unde primum amicitia inter mortales orta est, natura an casu, an necessitate aliqua, vel certe praecepto, aut lege humano generi imposita in usum venerit, usus vero eam commendabilem fecerit.
Yet that is in no way to be called true friendship which is undertaken and kept for the sake of temporal advantage. For spiritual friendship, which we call true, is desired not with an eye to any worldly usefulness, nor for any cause arising from outside, but from the dignity of its own nature and the feeling of the human heart, so that its fruit and reward is nothing other than itself. Hence the Lord in the Gospel says: "I have appointed you that you should go and bear fruit" (John 15), that is, that you should love one another. For in true friendship itself one goes forward by making progress, and the fruit is gathered by feeling the sweetness of that perfection. Spiritual friendship, then, is brought forth among the good by likeness of life, of morals and of pursuits; and it is agreement on things human and divine, with goodwill and charity. This definition, indeed, seems to me quite sufficient to express friendship; provided that, in our usage, it is charity that is so named, so that every vice is excluded from friendship, while by goodwill is expressed the very feeling of loving, which is moved inwardly with a certain sweetness. Where there is such friendship, there indeed is to will the same and not to will the same, all the sweeter the more sincere it is, the more pleasant the more sacred; where those who love thus can will nothing that is unbecoming, and refuse nothing that is expedient. This friendship, indeed, prudence directs, justice rules, fortitude guards, temperance moderates; of which we shall speak in their place. But now, if you think enough has been said on what you judged must first be asked, namely what friendship is, say so. IVO. What has been said is plainly sufficient, and nothing occurs to me that I would ask further. But before we pass on to other things, I desire to know whence friendship first arose among mortals: whether by nature, or by chance, or by some necessity, or whether indeed it came into use as a precept or law imposed on the human race, and use made it commendable.
AELREDUS. Amicitiae, ut mihi videtur, primum ipsa natura humanis mentibus impressit affectum, deinde experientia auxit, postremo legis auctoritas ordinavit. Deus enim summe potens et summe bonus, sibi ipsi sufficiens bonum est; quoniam bonum
AELRED. It seems to me that nature itself first impressed the affection of friendship on human minds, then experience increased it, and finally the authority of law set it in order. For God, supremely powerful and supremely good, is a good sufficient to Himself, since His good […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 666
Page
- running head: 665 DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA. — LIB. I. 666 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹semetipsa consumitur›; B ‹munis foedus ineuntes›; C ‹Amicitia itaque spiritalis›; D ‹ratur; de quibus›
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: the last word "bo-num" is hyphenated across the break to col 667; set whole at the end of col 666. The two verses ("Non est personae ...") are printed indented in italic, one line each. Damaged type: "tempus, ⟨et⟩ non" (the word is a blot). "id est" after (Joan. XV) printed as a heavy blot-like "Id"; read as lower-case id.
suum, gaudium suum, gloria sua, beatitudo sua ipse est; nec est aliquid extra ipsum quo egeat, non homo, non angelus, non coelum, non terra, nec aliquid, quod in ipsis est. Cui omnis creatura proclamat: Deus meus es, quoniam bonorum meorum non eges (Psal. XV). Nec tantum sibi sufficit ipse, sed et omnium rerum sufficientia ipse est, dans aliis esse, aliis et sentire, aliis insuper et sapere, ipse omnium existentium causa, omnium sentientium vita, omnium intelligentium sapientia. Ipse itaque summa natura omnes naturas instituit, omnia suis locis ordinavit, omnia suis temporibus discrete distribuit. Voluit autem, nam et ita ratio ejus aeterna praescripsit, ut omnes creaturas suas pax componeret, et uniret societas; et ita omnia ab ipso, qui summe et pure unus est, quoddam unitatis vestigium sortirentur. Hinc est, quod nullum genus rerum solitarium reliquit, sed ex multis quadam societate connexuit. Nam ut ab insensibilibus ordiamur, quae humus, vel quod flumen unum unius generis gignit lapidem: aut quae silva unam unius generis arborem profert? Ita inter ipsa insensibilia quasi amor quidam societatis elucet, cum nihil eorum solum sit, sed cum quadam sui generis societate et creetur, et persistat.
[…] His joy, His glory, His beatitude, is He Himself; nor is there anything outside Him that He needs, neither man, nor angel, nor heaven, nor earth, nor anything that is in them. To Him every creature cries out: "Thou art my God, for Thou hast no need of my goods" (Ps. 15). Nor is He sufficient only to Himself, but He is Himself the sufficiency of all things, giving to some being, to others also feeling, to others besides also wisdom; He Himself the cause of all that exists, the life of all that feels, the wisdom of all that understands. He, then, the supreme nature, established all natures, set all things in order in their places, distributed all things with discernment in their times. And He willed, for so His eternal reason prescribed, that peace should compose all His creatures and fellowship unite them; and that thus all things should receive from Him, Who is supremely and purely one, a certain trace of unity. Hence it is that He left no kind of things solitary, but bound them together out of many by a certain fellowship. For, to begin with insensible things, what soil or what river produces one single stone of one kind? Or what forest brings forth one single tree of one kind? So even among insensible things there shines out a certain love, as it were, of fellowship, since none of them is alone, but each is both created and persists with a certain fellowship of its own kind.
Verum inter ipsa sensibilia quanta amicitiae species et societatis amorisque fulgeat imago, quis facile dixerit? Certe cum in caeteris omnibus irrationabilia deprehendantur, in hac tamen parte ita humanum animum imitantur, ut pene ratione agi aestimentur. Ita se sequuntur, ita colludunt sibi, ita motibus simul et vocibus suum exprimunt et produnt affectum, tam avide et jucunde mutua societate fruuntur, ut nihil magis quam ea, quae amicitiae sunt, curare videantur. Sic etiam in angelis divina sapientia providit, ut non unus videlicet crearetur; sed plures; inter quos grata societas, et amor suavissimus eamdem voluntatem, eumdem crearet affectum; ne cum alter superior, inferior alter videretur, locus pateret invidiae, si non obstitisset charitas amicitiae, et ita solitudinem excluderet multitudo, jucunditatem augeret in pluribus charitatis communio. Postremo cum hominem condidisset, ut bonum societatis altius commendaret: Non est bonum, inquit, homini esse solum, faciamus ei adjutorium simile sibi (Gen. II). Nec certe de simili, vel saltem de eadem materia, hoc adjutorium divina virtus formavit, sed ad expressius charitatis et amicitiae incentivum, de ipsius substantia masculi feminam procreavit. Pulchre autem de latere primi hominis secundus assumitur, ut natura doceret omnes aequales, quasi collaterales, nec esset in rebus humanis superior vel inferior, quod est amicitiae proprium. Ita natura mentibus humanis, ab ipso exordio amicitiae et charitatis impressit affectum, quem interior mox sensus amandi, quodam gustu suavitatis adauxit. At post lapsum primi hominis, cum refrigescente charitate cupiditas subintrasset, fecissetque bono communi privata praeponi, amicitiae charitatisque splendorem avaritia
But among sensible things themselves, who could easily say how great a likeness of friendship and what an image of fellowship and love shines out? Certainly, although in all other respects they are found to be irrational, yet in this respect they so imitate the human soul that they might almost be thought to act by reason. So they follow one another, so they play together, so by movements and cries alike they express and betray their affection, so eagerly and pleasantly do they enjoy their mutual fellowship, that they seem to care for nothing more than for the things of friendship. So too in the angels divine wisdom provided that not one only should be created, but many; among whom a pleasing fellowship and a most sweet love should create the same will, the same affection; lest, since one seemed higher and another lower, room should lie open to envy, had not the charity of friendship stood in the way; and so the multitude would exclude solitude, and the communion of charity among many would increase their delight. Finally, when He had made man, in order to commend more highly the good of fellowship, He said: "It is not good for man to be alone; let us make him a help like himself" (Gen. 2). And indeed the divine power did not form this help from like matter, or even from the same matter, but, as a more express incentive to charity and friendship, it brought forth the woman from the very substance of the man. And it is beautiful that the second is taken from the side of the first man, so that nature might teach that all are equal, as it were side by side, and that there should be in human affairs no superior or inferior, which is the property of friendship. Thus from the very beginning nature impressed on human minds the affection of friendship and charity, which an inward sense of loving soon increased with a certain taste of sweetness. But after the fall of the first man, when, as charity grew cold, cupidity had crept in and had caused private things to be put before the common good, avarice […] the splendour of friendship and charity […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 667
Page
- running head: 667 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. PARS I. — ASCETICA. 668 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹num suum, gaudium›; B ‹unus est, quoddam›; C ‹agi aestimentur›; D ‹ei adjutorium›
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: the column opens with "num", the end of "bo-num", set whole in col 666. "ne cum alter" printed with a worn e ("no").
invidiaque corrupit; contentiones, aemulationes, odia, suspiciones corruptis hominum moribus invehens. Tunc boni quique inter charitatem et amicitiam distinxerunt; animadvertentes quod etiam inimicis atque perversis sit impendenda dilectio; cum in bonos et pessimos esse non possit voluntatum vel consiliorum ulla communio. Amicitia itaque, quae sicut charitas inter omnes primum et ab omnibus servabatur, inter paucos bonos naturali lege resedit, qui videntes a multis sacra fidei et societatis jura violari, arctiori se dilectionis et amicitiae foedere constrinxerunt; inter mala, quae videbant et sentiebant, in mutuae charitatis gratia quiescentes. Verum his, in quibus omnem virtutis sensum oblitteravit impietas, ratio, quae in eis exstingui non potuit, ipsum amicitiae et societatis affectum reliquit; adeo ut sine sociis nec avaro divitiae, nec ambitioso gloria, nec voluptas placere posset luxurioso. Compacta sunt itaque etiam inter pessimos quaedam societatis foedera detestanda; quae amicitiae pulcherrimo nomine palliata, lege et praeceptis a vera amicitia fuerant distinguenda; ne cum ista appeteretur, in illa propter quamdam ejus similitudinem incaute incideretur.
[…] and envy corrupted, bringing contentions, rivalries, hatreds and suspicions into the corrupted morals of men. Then all good men distinguished between charity and friendship, observing that love must be spent even on enemies and the perverse, while between the good and the very wicked there can be no communion of wills or of counsels. Friendship, therefore, which like charity was at first kept among all and by all, settled by natural law among a few good men, who, seeing the sacred rights of faith and of fellowship violated by many, bound themselves by a closer bond of love and friendship, resting, amid the evils they saw and felt, in the grace of mutual charity. But in those in whom impiety had blotted out every sense of virtue, reason, which could not be extinguished in them, left the very affection of friendship and fellowship; so much so that without companions neither riches could please the avaricious man, nor glory the ambitious, nor pleasure the voluptuous. So even among the very wicked certain detestable pacts of fellowship were concluded, which, cloaked with the most beautiful name of friendship, had to be distinguished from true friendship by law and precepts, lest, while true friendship was sought, one should incautiously fall into the other on account of a certain likeness to it.
Sic amicitiam, quam natura instituit, quam roboravit usus, legis auctoritas ordinavit. Manifestum proinde est amicitiam naturalem esse, sicut virtutem, sicut sapientiam, et caetera, quae propter se, quasi bona naturalia, et appetenda sunt et servanda: quibus omnis, qui ea habet, bene utitur, quibus nullus prorsus abutitur. IVO. Nonne, quaeso te, sapientia multi abutuntur; qui ex ea hominibus placere cupiunt, vel in seipsis pro collata sibi sapientia superbiunt; vel certe hi, qui eam venalem habent, et quaestum existimant pietatem?
Thus friendship, which nature instituted and use strengthened, the authority of law set in order. It is plain, therefore, that friendship is natural, like virtue, like wisdom, and the other things which, as natural goods, are to be desired and kept for their own sake: which everyone who has them uses well, and which no one at all abuses. IVO. Do not many, I ask you, abuse wisdom: those who desire to please men by it, or who are proud in themselves of the wisdom bestowed on them; or at any rate those who hold it for sale and reckon piety a means of gain?
AELREDUS. Hinc tibi satisfaciet noster Augustinus, cujus verba sunt haec: « Qui sibi placet, stulto homini placet, quia profecto stultus est, qui sibi placet. » Qui vero stultus est, sapiens non est. Et qui sapiens non est, non habendo utique sapientiam, sapiens non est. Quomodo igitur sapientia male utitur, qui sapientiam non habet? Sic et superba castitas virtus non est; quia superbia ipsa, quae vitium est, eam quae virtus putabatur, sibi conformem facit; ideo jam non virtus, sed vitium est. IVO. Sed pace tua dico, non congruum mihi videtur, quod amicitiae sapientiam adjunxisti, cum inter illas nulla sit comparatio.
AELRED. On this our Augustine will satisfy you, whose words are these: "He who pleases himself pleases a fool, for he who pleases himself is certainly a fool." But he who is a fool is not wise. And he who is not wise is not wise precisely by not having wisdom. How, then, does he use wisdom badly who does not have wisdom? So too proud chastity is not a virtue; because pride itself, which is a vice, makes that which was thought a virtue conform to itself; and therefore it is no longer a virtue but a vice. IVO. But, by your leave, I say that it does not seem fitting to me that you have joined wisdom to friendship, since there is no comparison between them.
AELREDUS. Saepe minora majoribus, bona melioribus, inferiora fortioribus, etsi non coaequantur, conjunguntur tamen, maxime in virtutibus; quae licet a se graduum diversitate discrepent, quadam sibi tamen similitudine vicinantur. Vicina enim est virginitati viduitas, viduitati conjugalis castitas; quamvis inter has virtutes magna sit differentia, in eo tamen, quod virtutes sunt, nonnulla est convenientia. Neque enim ideo pudicitia conjugalis virtus non est, quia praecellit continentia vidualis; quibus licet sancta praeferatur virginitas, earum tamen
AELRED. Often lesser things are joined to greater, good things to better, weaker things to stronger, even though they are not made equal to them, especially among the virtues; which, although they differ from one another by a diversity of degrees, are yet neighbours to one another by a certain likeness. For widowhood is neighbour to virginity, and conjugal chastity to widowhood; although there is a great difference between these virtues, yet in this, that they are virtues, there is some agreement. For conjugal modesty is not therefore no virtue because the continence of widows excels it; and although holy virginity is preferred to them, yet their […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 668
Page
- running head: 667 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. PARS I. — ASCETICA. 668 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹invidiaque corrupit›; B ‹gui non potuit›; C ‹IVO. Nonne, quaeso›; D ‹conformem facit›
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: Augustine's words printed within « ».
gratiam non obliterat. Quamvis si ea, quae de amicitia dicta sunt, diligenter advertas, invenies eam sapientiae sic vicinam vel infertam, ut pene dixerim, amicitiam nihil aliud esse, quam sapientiam. IVO. Obstupesco, fateor, nec facile id mihi persuaderi posse, existimo.
[…] grace it does not blot out. And yet, if you attend carefully to what has been said about friendship, you will find it so close to wisdom, or so grafted into it, that I would almost say that friendship is nothing other than wisdom. IVO. I am astonished, I confess, and I do not think I can easily be persuaded of it.
AELREDUS. Exciditne tibi dixisse Scripturam: Omni tempore diligit, qui amicus est? (Prov. XVII.) Ait etiam, sicut meministi, noster Hieronymus: « Amicitia quae desinere potest, nunquam vera fuit. » Amicitiam etiam nec subsistere quidem sine charitate, satis superque monstratum est. Cum igitur in amicitia et aeternitas vigeat, et veritas luceat, et charitas dulcescat, utrum nomen sapientiae tribus his debeas abrogare, tu videris. IVO. O quid est hoc? dicamne de amicitia quod amicus Jesu Joannes de charitate commemorat: Deus amicitia est?
AELRED. Has it slipped your mind that Scripture said: "He who is a friend loves at all times" (Prov. 17)? Our Jerome too, as you remember, says: "Friendship that can cease was never true." And it has been shown more than enough that friendship cannot even subsist without charity. Since, then, in friendship eternity flourishes, truth shines and charity grows sweet, you must see for yourself whether you ought to deny the name of wisdom to these three. IVO. Oh, what is this? Shall I say of friendship what John, the friend of Jesus, records of charity: "God is friendship"?
AELREDUS. Inusitatum quidem hoc, nec ex Scripturis habet auctoritatem: quod tamen sequitur de charitate, amicitiae profecto dare non dubito, quoniam: Qui manet in amicitia, in Deo manet, et Deus in eo (I Joan. IV). Quod, cum de ipsius fructu vel utilitate coeperimus disputare, manifestius pervidebimus. Nunc, si quid sit amicitia, pro simplicitate ingenioli nostri satis diximus, caetera, quae enucleanda proposuisti, alio tempori reservemus. IVO. Licet aviditati meae nimis ista sit molesta dilatio, ad hoc tamen non solum tempus coenae, cui deesse non permittitur; sed etiam multorum, quibus debitor tu es, exspectatio satis onerosa compellit.
AELRED. This is unusual, indeed, and has no authority from the Scriptures; yet what follows about charity I certainly do not hesitate to grant to friendship, since "he who abides in friendship abides in God, and God in him" (1 John 4). This we shall see more clearly when we begin to discuss its fruit or usefulness. Now, if we have said enough, according to the simplicity of our poor wit, about what friendship is, let us reserve for another time the other things you proposed to be unfolded. IVO. Although this delay is very troublesome to my eagerness, yet not only the hour of supper, which we are not permitted to miss, compels it, but also the expectation, burdensome enough, of the many to whom you are a debtor.
LIBER SECUNDUS.
BOOK TWO.
De fructu amicitiae et excellentia ejus.
On the fruit of friendship and its excellence.
AELREDUS. Jam nunc, frater, accede: quidnam causae fuerit, quod paulo ante, cum carnalibus illis carnalia compararem, solus sedebas, modicum semotus a nobis; et nunc oculos huc illucque vertebas, nunc frontem confricabas manu, nunc capillos digitis contrectabas, nunc iram ipsa facie praeferens, aliquid tibi praeter votum accessisse, crebra vultus mutatione querebaris, edicito. GALTERUS. Profecto ita est. Quis enim patienter sustineat tota die, nescio quos exsecutores Pharaonis tui habere copiam; nos autem, quibus specialiter debitor es, nec rarum tecum habere posse colloquium?
AELRED. Come here now, brother, and tell me what was the reason why, a little while ago, when I was dealing with carnal matters with those carnal men, you sat alone, a little apart from us; and now you turned your eyes this way and that, now rubbed your forehead with your hand, now fingered your hair, now, showing anger in your very face, complained by frequent changes of expression that something had befallen you against your wish. WALTER. It is indeed so. For who could patiently bear that some officers or other of your Pharaoh should have access to you all day long, while we, to whom you are especially a debtor, cannot have even an occasional conversation with you?
AELREDUS. Et illis quoque gerendus est mos, quorum vel optamus beneficia, vel maleficia formidamus. Quibus vel nunc tandem exclusis, tanto mihi gratior est solitudo, quanto molestior inquietudo praecessit. Nam optimum cibi condimentum fames est; nec mel aliave species vinum sic sapidum reddit ut sitis vehemens aquam. Quocirca erit tibi forte haec nostra collatio quasi cibus vel potus quidam spiritualis, eo jucundior, quo aestus praecessit ardentior. Age jam, et quod anxio pectore paulo ante parabas evolvere, in medium proferre non differas. GALTERUS. Faciam quidem, nam ⟨si⟩ velim de hora causari, quam isti nobis reliquere brevissimam, videbor mihi eam facere breviorem. Dic nunc, rogo te, utrum elapsum animo sit, an adhuc memoria teneas; quid inter te quondam, et tuum Ivonem de amicitia spirituali convenerit; quas tibi ipse proposuerit quaestiones: quantum in earum enucleatione processeris, quid de his quoque stylo tradideris.
AELRED. Those too must be humoured whose benefits we desire or whose harm we fear. Now that they are at last shut out, solitude is the more welcome to me the more troublesome the disquiet that went before. For hunger is the best seasoning of food; nor does honey or any other spice make wine as savoury as a violent thirst makes water. So this conference of ours will perhaps be to you like a kind of spiritual food or drink, the more pleasant the more burning the heat that preceded it. Come now, and do not put off bringing into the open what a little while ago, with an anxious heart, you were getting ready to unfold. WALTER. I will indeed, for if I should wish to complain about the hour, which those men have left us very short, I shall seem to myself to make it shorter still. Tell me now, I beg you, whether it has slipped from your mind or you still hold in memory what was once agreed between you and your Ivo about spiritual friendship; what questions he put to you; how far you advanced in unfolding them; and what you also committed to writing about them.
AELREDUS. Equidem charissimi mei recordatio, imo continuus amplexus et affectus, ita mihi semper recens est, ut, licet humanis exemptus conditioni satis dederit, in meo tamen animo nunquam
AELRED. Indeed the remembrance of my dearest one, or rather my continual embrace and affection for him, is always so fresh to me that, although, taken from human affairs, he has paid his debt to our condition, yet in my mind he […] never […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 669
Page
- running head: 669 DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA. — LIB. II. 670 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹gratiam non obliterat›; B ‹AELREDUS. Jam nunc, frater› (first line of Book II); C ‹praecessit. Nam optimum›; D ‹enucleatione processeris›
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: Book I ends in the upper halves of BOTH columns of this page; below them a rule, then the full-width caption LIBER SECUNDUS. / "De fructu amicitiae et excellentia ejus.", then two columns again. By the reading-order rule the upper half of col 670 ("Joannes de charitate commemorat ..." to "... exspectatio satis onerosa compellit.", with marginal letter A beside its first line; no footnotes) is set under this column's rail in c669_a, then the caption and the lower half of col 669 in c669_b; col 670's rail stands where its text resumes below the caption ("videatur obiisse"). The new speaker GALTERUS is printed in small capitals and set in capitals. Damaged type: "nam ⟨si⟩ velim" (the word is a blot). "infertam" printed, probably for insertam (misprint list).
videatur obiisse. Ibi enim semper mecum est, ibi mihi religiosus ejus vultus elucet, ibi mihi dulces ejus arrident oculi, ibi ejus jucunda mihi verba sic sapiunt, ut vel ego videar cum eo ad meliora transisse; vel ipse mecum adhuc in inferioribus conversari. Scis autem, quia plures praeterierunt anni, ex quo schedula ipsa, cui de spirituali amicitia ejus interrogationes, measque responsiones impresseram, nobis elapsa est. GALTERUS. Non me latent ista; sed, ut verum fatear, hinc tota aviditas et impatientia tota descendit; quod schedulam ipsam ante hoc triduum repertam, et tibi traditam, a quibusdam accepi. Ostende eam, quaeso, puero tuo: non enim requiescit spiritus meus, donec conspectis omnibus, et quid illi disputationi desit, advertens; ea quae mihi vel mens propria, vel inspiratio occulta suggesserit esse quaerenda, ad tuae paternitatis examen proferam, aut reprobanda, aut admittenda, aut exponenda.
[…] seems to have died. For there he is always with me, there his devout face shines upon me, there his sweet eyes smile at me, there his pleasant words have such savour for me that either I seem to have passed over with him to better things, or he still to be living with me among lower ones. But you know that many years have gone by since that very sheet, on which I had set down his questions and my answers on spiritual friendship, slipped away from us. WALTER. These things are not hidden from me; but, to confess the truth, from this comes down all my eagerness and all my impatience: that I have heard from certain people that this very sheet was found three days ago and handed to you. Show it, I beg, to your servant: for my spirit does not rest until, having looked through it all and noticing what is lacking to that disputation, I bring before the examination of your paternity the things that either my own mind or a hidden inspiration may have suggested ought to be asked, to be either rejected, or admitted, or expounded.
AELREDUS. Geram tibi morem; sed solus volo legas quod scriptum est, nec efferatur in publicum: ne forte aliqua resecanda, addenda nonnulla, plurima vero corrigenda aestimaverim. GALTERUS. Ecce adsum, habens aures ad tua verba suspensas; tanto certe avidius, quanto ⟨id⟩ quod de amicitia legi, dulcius sapuit. Quoniam igitur, quid sit amicitia, legi magnifice disputatum; quid cultoribus suis pariat utilitatis, velim mihi insinues. Cum enim res tanta sit, ut certis rationibus visus es comprobasse; tunc primum vehementius appetitur, cum finis ejus fructusque cognoscitur.
AELRED. I will humour you; but I want you alone to read what is written, and that it not be brought out in public: lest perhaps I should judge some things must be cut away, some added, and very many corrected. WALTER. See, here I am, with ears hanging upon your words; the more eagerly, surely, the more sweetly what I read about friendship savoured to me. Since, then, I have read a splendid discussion of what friendship is, I should like you to explain to me what benefit it brings to those who cultivate it. For though the thing is so great, as you seem to have proved by sure reasons, it is only then sought the more vehemently when its end and fruit are known.
AELREDUS. Non id pro tantae rei dignitate a me explicari posse praesumo; cum in rebus humanis nihil sanctius appetatur, nihil quaeratur utilius, nihil difficilius inveniatur, nihil experiatur dulcius, nihil fructuosius teneatur. Habet enim fructum
AELRED. I do not presume that this can be set out by me as the dignity of so great a thing deserves; since among human things nothing holier is sought, nothing more useful is looked for, nothing is found with more difficulty, nothing is experienced as sweeter, nothing is held more fruitfully. For it has fruit […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 670
Page
- running head: 669 DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA. — LIB. II. 670 (one head across the page; as recorded in n669)
- marginal letters: A ‹Joannes de charitate› (beside the first line of the upper half, which is set in c669_a); B ‹videatur obiisse›; C ‹desit, advertens›; D ‹probasse; tunc primum›
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The upper half of this column (Book I, from "Joannes de charitate commemorat" to "exspectatio satis onerosa compellit.") is set under the col 669 rail in c669_a by the reading-order rule; the full-width caption LIBER SECUNDUS. / "De fructu amicitiae et excellentia ejus." is set in c669_b. This column's rail stands where its text resumes below the caption ("videatur obiisse"), continuing the paragraph that ends col 669 ("nunquam", no hyphen). Damaged type: "quanto ⟨id⟩ quod" (the word is a blot). Speakers AELREDUS and GALTERUS in small capitals, set in capitals.
vitae praesentis et futurae; ipsa enim omnes virtutes sua ostendit suavitate, vitia sua virtute confodit: adversa temperat, componit prospera: ita ut sine amico inter mortales nihil fere possit esse jucundum: et homo bestiae comparetur, non habens qui secum collaetetur in rebus secundis, in tristibus contristetur; cui evaporet, si quid molestum mens conceperit; cui communicet, si quid praeter solitum sublime vel luminosum accesserit. Vae soli, quia, cum ceciderit, non habet sublevantem se! (Eccle. IV.) Solus omnino est, qui sine amico est. At quae felicitas, quae securitas, quae jucunditas est, habere cum quo aeque audeas loqui, ut tibi; cui confiteri non timeas, si quid deliqueris; cui non erubescas revelare, in spiritualibus ⟨si⟩ quid profeceris; cui cordis tui omnia secreta committas, et commendes consilia?
[…] of the present life and of the future; for it displays all the virtues by its own sweetness, and pierces the vices through by its own virtue: it tempers adversity and sets prosperity in order: so that without a friend almost nothing among mortals can be pleasant, and a man is likened to a beast when he has no one to rejoice with him in prosperity and to grieve with him in sorrow; no one to whom he may pour out whatever trouble his mind has conceived; no one with whom he may share whatever sublime or luminous thing beyond the ordinary has come to him. Woe to him that is alone, for when he falls he has none to lift him up! (Eccles. 4) He is wholly alone who is without a friend. But what happiness, what security, what joy it is to have one with whom you dare to speak as freely as with yourself; to whom you are not afraid to confess whatever fault you have committed; to whom you do not blush to reveal whatever progress you have made in spiritual things; to whom you may entrust all the secrets of your heart and commit your plans?
Quid igitur jucundius, quam ita unire animum alterius, et unum efficere de duobus, ut nulla jactantia timeatur, nulla formidetur suspicio, nec correptus alter ab altero doleat, nec laudantem alter alterum adulationis notet vel arguat? Amicus, ait Sapiens, medicamentum est vitae (Eccli. VI). Praeclare quidem id. Non enim validior vel efficacior est vulneribus nostris in omnibus temporalibus medicina, quam habere qui omni incommodo occurrat compatiens, omni commodo occurrat congratulans; ut, junctis suis humeris, onera sua invicem tolerent, nisi quod unusquisque propriam levius quam amici portet injuriam. Amicitia ergo secundas res facit splendidiores, adversas partiens communicansque reddit leviores. Optimum ergo vitae medicamentum amicus. Nam et philosophis etiam placuit. Non aqua, non sole, non igne pluribus locis utimur, quam amico. In omni actu, in omni studio, in certis, in dubiis, in quolibet eventu, in fortuna qualibet, in secreto, in publico, in omni consultatione, domi forisque ubique amicitia grata, amicus necessarius, utilis gratia reperitur. Quocirca amici, ait Tullius, et absentes adsunt sibi, et egentes abundant, et imbecilles valent: et quod difficilius est dictu, mortui vivunt. Igitur amicitia est divitibus pro gloria, exsulibus pro patria, pauperibus pro censu, aegrotis pro medicina, mortuis pro vita, sanis pro gratia, imbecillibus pro virtute, robustis pro praemio. Tantus enim amicos honor, memoria, laus, desideriumque prosequitur, ut et eorum vita laudabilis, et mors pretiosa judicetur: et quod his omnibus excelsius, quidam gradus est amicitia vicinus perfectioni, quae in Dei dilectione et cognitione consistit; ut homo ex amico hominis Dei efficiatur amicus, secundum illud Salvatoris in Evangelio: Jam non dicam vos servos, sed amicos meos (Joan. XV). GALTERUS. Ita, fateor, tua me movit oratio, ita in amicitiae desiderium totum animi mei succendit appetitum, ut nec vivere me crediderim, quandiu hujus tanti boni, tam multiplici fructu caruero. Sed hoc quod ultimum posuisti, quod me totum rapuit, et pene abripuit a terrenis, plenius mihi
What, then, is more pleasant than so to unite another's soul with one's own, and to make one out of two, that no boasting is feared, no suspicion dreaded, that neither is hurt when corrected by the other, nor brands or accuses the other of flattery when he praises him? A friend, says the Wise Man, is the medicine of life (Sir. 6). That is excellently said indeed. For there is no stronger or more effective medicine for our wounds in all temporal things than to have one who meets every misfortune with compassion and every good fortune with congratulation; so that, shoulders joined, they bear one another's burdens, except that each carries his own injury more lightly than his friend's. Friendship, then, makes prosperity more splendid, and by dividing and sharing adversity makes it lighter. A friend, therefore, is the best medicine of life. Indeed the philosophers too were of this view. We do not use water, or the sun, or fire in more places than a friend. In every act, in every pursuit, in certainties, in doubts, in any event whatever, in any fortune, in private, in public, in every deliberation, at home and abroad, everywhere friendship is found welcome, a friend necessary, and his favour useful. Therefore, says Tully, friends are present to each other even when absent, and rich even when in want, and strong even when weak: and, what is harder to say, they live even when dead. So friendship is glory to the rich, a fatherland to exiles, wealth to the poor, medicine to the sick, life to the dead, grace to the healthy, strength to the weak, a reward to the strong. For such honour, remembrance, praise and longing follow friends that their life is judged praiseworthy and their death precious: and, what is loftier than all these, friendship is a kind of step near to perfection, which consists in the love and knowledge of God; so that a man, from being the friend of man, becomes the friend of God, according to that saying of the Saviour in the Gospel: I will not now call you servants, but My friends (John 15). WALTER. So much, I confess, has your speech moved me, so much has it kindled the whole appetite of my soul with desire for friendship, that I should not think I was living so long as I lacked so great a good with so manifold a fruit. But this last thing you put forward, which carried me away entirely and all but snatched me from earthly things, [explain] more fully to me […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 671
Page
- running head: 671 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. PARS. I. — ASCETICA. 672 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹vitae praesentis et futurae›; B ‹ceris; cui cordis›; C ‹tia ergo secundas›; D ‹becillibus pro virtute› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 672)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: Damaged type: "in spiritualibus ⟨si⟩ quid profeceris" (the word is a blot). Scripture quotations printed in italic, set plain. The column continues the paragraph from col 670 ("Habet enim fructum", no hyphen) and ends mid-sentence ("plenius mihi", no hyphen).
enodari desidero; quod scilicet amicitia optimus ad perfectionem gradus existit. Et opportune satis hic nunc noster Gratianus intravit, quem ipsius amicitiae alumnum jure dixerim: cujus totum studium est amari et amare; ne forte amicitiae nimium avidus, ejusque similitudine deceptus, falsam pro vera, fictam pro solida, pro spiritali carnalem recipiat. GRATIANUS. Ago gratias humanitati tuae, frater, quod non vocato, sed se impudentius ingerenti, nunc tandem ad spiritale convivium concedis accessum. Nam si me serio, non ludo alumnum amicitiae appellandum putasti, debueram in sermonis principio accersiri, nec aviditatem meam posita verecundia prodidissem. At tu, Pater, perge quo coeperas, et causa mei aliquid mensis appone; ut, si non satiari ut iste (qui nescio quot ferculis devoratis, nunc me quasi ad reliquias suas fastidiosus ascivit), saltem modicum valeam refocillari.
[…] I desire to have unravelled: namely, that friendship is the best step towards perfection. And quite opportunely our Gratian has come in here just now, whom I might rightly call the nursling of friendship itself: whose whole zeal is to be loved and to love; lest perhaps, being too greedy for friendship and deceived by its likeness, he should accept the false for the true, the feigned for the solid, the carnal for the spiritual. GRATIAN. I give thanks to your kindness, brother, that to one not invited, but thrusting himself in rather shamelessly, you now at last grant access to the spiritual banquet. For if you thought I should be called the nursling of friendship in earnest and not in jest, I ought to have been summoned at the beginning of the discussion, and I should not have laid aside my modesty and betrayed my greed. But you, Father, go on where you had begun, and for my sake set something on the table; so that, if I cannot be filled as he has been (who, after devouring I know not how many dishes, has now fastidiously invited me as it were to his leftovers), I may at least be refreshed a little.
AELREDUS. Non verearis, fili, quoniam tanta restant adhuc de amicitiae bono dicenda, quae si quilibet sapiens prosequeretur, nos nihil dixisse putares. Verum quomodo ad Dei dilectionem et cognitionem, gradus quidam sit amicitia, paucis adverte. In amicitia quippe nihil inhonestum est, nihil fictum, nihil simulatum, et quidquid est, ⟨id⟩ sanctum et voluntarium, et verum est. ⟨Et⟩ hoc ipsum quoque charitatis proprium est. In hoc vero amicitia speciali praerogativa praelucet, quod inter eos, qui sibi amicitiae glutino copulantur, omnia jucunda, omnia secura, omnia dulcia, omnia suavia sequuntur. Ex charitatis igitur perfectione plerosque diligimus, qui nobis oneri sunt et dolori; quibus licet honeste, non ficte, non simulate, sed vere voluntarieque consulimus, ad secreta tamen eos amicitiae nostrae non admittimus. Quocirca in amicitia conjunguntur honestas et suavitas, veritas et jucunditas, dulcedo et voluntas, affectus et actus. Quae omnia a Christo inchoantur, per Christum promoventur, in Christo perficiuntur. Non igitur videtur nimium gravis vel innaturalis ascensus, de Christo amorem inspirante, quo amicum diligimus, ad Christum, semetipsum amicum nobis praebentem, quem diligamus; ut suavitas suavitati, dulcedo dulcedini, affectus succedat affectui. Itaque amicus, in spiritu Christi adhaerens amico, efficitur cum eo cor unum et anima una, et sic per amoris gradus ad Christi conscendens amicitiam, unus cum eo spiritus efficitur in osculo uno. Ad quod osculum anima quaedam sancta suspirans, Osculetur me, inquit, osculo oris sui (Cant. I). Consideremus istius osculi carnalis proprietatem, ut de carnalibus ad spiritalia, de humanis ad divina transeamus. Duobus alimentis vita hominis sustentatur, cibo et aere. Et sine cibo quidem aliquandiu potest subsistere, at sine aere ne una quidem hora. Itaque ut vivamus, ore haurimus aerem, et remittimus. Et ipsum quidem quod emittitur vel recipitur, spiritus nomen obtinuit. Quocirca in osculo duo sibi spiritus obviant, et miscentur
AELRED. Do not be afraid, son, since so much still remains to be said of the good of friendship that, if any wise man were to pursue it, you would think we had said nothing. But mark in a few words how friendship is a kind of step towards the love and knowledge of God. For in friendship there is nothing dishonourable, nothing feigned, nothing pretended, and whatever there is, that is holy and voluntary and true. And this very thing is also proper to charity. But in this friendship shines forth by a special prerogative, that among those who are joined to one another by the glue of friendship, all things that follow are pleasant, all secure, all sweet, all delightful. By the perfection of charity, then, we love very many who are a burden and a grief to us; for whom, although we provide honourably, not feignedly, not with pretence, but truly and willingly, yet we do not admit them to the secrets of our friendship. Therefore in friendship are joined honour and delight, truth and pleasantness, sweetness and good will, affection and action. All these are begun from Christ, are advanced through Christ, are perfected in Christ. It does not seem, then, too steep or unnatural an ascent from Christ, Who inspires the love with which we love a friend, to Christ, Who offers Himself to us as a friend to be loved; so that sweetness may follow upon sweetness, delight upon delight, affection upon affection. And so a friend, cleaving to his friend in the spirit of Christ, is made one heart and one soul with him, and thus, climbing by the steps of love to the friendship of Christ, he is made one spirit with Him in one kiss. Sighing for this kiss a certain holy soul says: Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth (Song 1). Let us consider the property of this carnal kiss, so that we may pass from carnal things to spiritual, from human to divine. The life of man is sustained by two nourishments, food and air. Without food indeed he can survive for some while, but without air not even for one hour. And so, in order to live, we draw in air by the mouth and give it back. And that very thing which is breathed out or taken in has obtained the name of spirit. Therefore in a kiss two spirits meet each other, and are mingled […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 672
Page
- running head: 671 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. PARS. I. — ASCETICA. 672 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹enodari desidero›; B ‹scio quot ferculis›; C ‹jucunda, omnia secura›; D ‹ctui. Itaque amicus› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 671)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: Damaged type: "quidquid est, ⟨id⟩ sanctum" and "⟨Et⟩ hoc ipsum" (each word a blot; supplied from blot width and sense). New speaker GRATIANUS in small capitals, set in capitals. Ends mid-sentence ("et miscentur", no hyphen).
sibi, et uniuntur: ex quibus quaedam mentis suavitas nascens, osculantium monet et perstringit affectum. Est igitur osculum corporale, osculum spiritale, osculum intellectuale. Osculum corporale impressione fit labiorum; osculum spiritale conjunctione animorum; osculum intellectuale per Dei spiritum, infusione gratiarum. Osculum proinde corporale non nisi certis et honestis causis aut offerendum est, aut recipiendum: verbi gratia in signum reconciliationis, quando fiunt amici, qui prius fuerant inimici adinvicem. In signum pacis, sicut communicaturi in Ecclesia, interiorem pacem exteriori osculo demonstrant. In signum dilectionis, sicut inter sponsum et sponsam fieri permittitur; vel sicut ab amicis, post diuturnam absentiam, et porrigitur et suscipitur. In signum catholicae unitatis, sicut fit cum hospes suscipitur. Sed sicut plerique aqua, igni, ferro, cibo ⟨et⟩ aere, quae naturaliter bona sunt, in suae crudelitatis vel voluptatis satellitium abutuntur; ita perversi et turpes, etiam hoc bono, quod ad ea significanda quae diximus, lex naturalis instituit, sua quodammodo flagitia condire nituntur: ipsum osculum turpitudine tanta foedantes, ut sic osculari nil sit aliud quam adulterari. Quod quam sit detestandum, quam abominandum, quam fugiendum, quam aversandum, quilibet honestus intelligit.
[…] with each other, and are united: and from them a certain sweetness of mind arises, which moves and grips the affection of those who kiss. There is, then, a bodily kiss, a spiritual kiss, an intellectual kiss. The bodily kiss is made by the pressing of the lips; the spiritual kiss by the joining of souls; the intellectual kiss through the Spirit of God, by the infusion of graces. The bodily kiss, accordingly, is not to be offered or received except for definite and honourable reasons: for example, as a sign of reconciliation, when those who had formerly been enemies to one another become friends. As a sign of peace, as those about to communicate in the Church show inward peace by an outward kiss. As a sign of love, as it is permitted to take place between bridegroom and bride; or as it is both offered and received by friends after a long absence. As a sign of catholic unity, as is done when a guest is received. But just as very many abuse water, fire, iron, food and air, which are by nature good, in the service of their own cruelty or lust; so the perverse and the base strive in some way to season their crimes even with this good, which the natural law instituted to signify the things we have mentioned: defiling the kiss itself with such foulness that to kiss thus is nothing other than to commit adultery. How detestable this is, how abominable, how much to be fled, how much to be shunned, any honourable man understands.
Porro osculum spiritale proprie amicorum est, qui sub una amicitiae lege tenentur: non enim fit oris attactu, sed mentis affectu: non conjunctione labiorum, sed commistione spirituum, castificante omnia Dei spiritu, et ex sui participatione coelestem immittente saporem. Hoc osculum dixerim Christi, quod ipse tamen porrigit non ore proprio sed alieno; illum sacratissimum amantibus inspirans affectum, ut illis videatur quasi unam animam ⟨in⟩ diversis esse corporibus; dicantque cum Propheta: Ecce quam bonum ⟨et⟩ quam jucundum, habitare fratres in unum (Psal. CXXXII). Huic ergo osculo assuefacta mens, et a Christo totam hanc dulcedinem adesse non ambigens, quasi secum reputans et dicens: ⟨O⟩ si ipsemet accessisset; ad illud intellectuale suspirat, et cum maximo desiderio clamans: Osculetur me, dicit, osculo oris sui (Caut. I); ut jam terrenis affectibus mitigatis, et omnibus, quae de mundo sunt, cogitationibus desideriisque sopitis, in solius Christi delectetur osculo, et quiescat amplexu, exsultans et dicens: Laeva ejus sub capite meo, et dextera illius amplexabitur me (Cant. II). GRATIANUS. Amicitia haec, ut video, non est popularis, nec qualem eam somniare consuevimus. Nescio quid hic Galterus hactenus senserit; ego aliud nihil amicitiam esse credidi, quam inter duos tantam voluntatum identitatem, ut nihil velit unus, quod alter nolit; sed tanta sit inter utrosque in bonis malisque consensio, ut non spiritus, non census, non honor, nec quidquam, quod alterius sit, alteri denegetur, ad fruendum pro voto, et abutendum. GALTERUS.
Further, the spiritual kiss is properly that of friends who are held under the one law of friendship: for it is made not by the touch of the mouth but by the affection of the mind: not by the joining of lips but by the mingling of spirits, while the Spirit of God makes all things chaste and by His participation sends in a heavenly savour. This kiss I should call Christ's, which yet He offers not with His own mouth but with another's; breathing into those who love that most sacred affection, so that it seems to them as it were one soul in different bodies; and they say with the Prophet: Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity (Ps. 132). The mind, then, grown accustomed to this kiss, and not doubting that all this sweetness comes from Christ, as though reflecting within itself and saying: O, if He Himself would come; sighs for that intellectual kiss, and crying out with the greatest desire says: Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth (Song 1); so that now, earthly affections being softened and all thoughts and desires that are of the world being lulled to sleep, it may delight in the kiss of Christ alone and rest in His embrace, exulting and saying: His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me (Song 2). GRATIAN. This friendship, as I see, is not a common one, nor such as we are accustomed to dream of. I do not know what Walter here has felt so far; I believed friendship to be nothing other than such an identity of wills between two people that the one wills nothing that the other does not will; but that there is such agreement between the two in good things and bad that neither spirit, nor wealth, nor honour, nor anything that belongs to the one is denied to the other, for enjoyment at will and for use to the full. WALTER.
Editors' notes and page, col. 673
Page
- running head: 673 DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA. — LIB. II. 674 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹sibi, et uniuntur›; B ‹sentiam, et porrigitur›; C ‹oris attactu›; D ‹(Caut. I); ut jam› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 674)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: Damaged type: "cibo ⟨et⟩ aere", "animam ⟨in⟩ diversis", "bonum ⟨et⟩ quam jucundum", "⟨O⟩ si ipsemet" (each word a blot; supplied from sense). Misprints (misprint list): "monet" printed, probably for movet; "Caut." printed for Cant. (checked at zoom 6). Scripture quotations printed in italic, set plain. The column ends with the speaker name GALTERUS., his speech beginning at the head of col 674.
Longe aliud in priori dialogo memini me didicisse, ubi ipsa diffinitio amicitiae posita et exposita, merito ad ejus fructum altius inspiciendum me vehementius animavit. De qua sufficienter instructi, certam nobis metam, quatenus debeat amicitia progredi, cum diversorum diversa sententia sit, petimus praefigi. Sunt namque quidam, qui contra fidem, contra honestatem, contra commune bonum vel privatum, favendum putant amico. Quidam solam fidem detrahendam judicant, caetera non cavenda. Alii pro amico contemnendam pecuniam, expuendos honores, majorum inimicitias subeundas, exsilium etiam censent non fugiendum; se ipsum, in quibus non obsit patriae, nec contra fas alium laedat, etiam in inhonestis et turpibus exponendum. Sunt et qui hanc metam in amicitia constituunt, ut unusquisque, sicut erga seipsum, sic et efficiatur erga amicum. Quidam amico in omni beneficio vel obsequio vicem rependere, satis dare amicitiae credunt. Mihi sane nulli horum esse credendum, hac nostra collatione satis persuasum est; unde aliquam certam mihi in amicitia metam a te opto constitui, maxime propter hunc Gratianum, ne forte secundum nomen suum, ita velit esse gratiosus, ut incaute fiat vitiosus. GRATIANUS. Haud ingrate hanc tuam pro me accipio sollicitudinem: nisi tamen sitis audiendi praepediret, forte jam nunc tibi redderem talionem. Sed quid potius ad tuas inquisitiones respondere velit, pariter audiamus.
I remember that I learned something far different in the earlier dialogue, where the very definition of friendship, set out and expounded, rightly spurred me the more vehemently to look more deeply into its fruit. Being sufficiently instructed about this, we ask that a definite limit be fixed for us as to how far friendship ought to go, since different people hold different opinions. For there are some who think that a friend should be favoured against faith, against honour, against the common or private good. Some judge that only faith is to be withheld, and that other things need not be guarded against. Others hold that for a friend money is to be despised, honours spat upon, the enmities of the great undergone, even exile not fled from; and that one should expose oneself, in things in which one does not harm one's country nor wrong another against right, even in dishonourable and base things. There are also those who set this limit in friendship, that each should be towards his friend just as he is towards himself. Some believe that to repay a friend in kind for every benefit or service is enough to satisfy friendship. For my part, I am well persuaded by this conference of ours that none of these is to be believed; hence I wish some definite limit in friendship to be set for me by you, above all on account of Gratian here, lest perhaps, in keeping with his name, he should wish to be so gracious that he incautiously becomes vicious. GRATIAN. I do not ungratefully accept this concern of yours for me: yet, were it not that my thirst to listen held me back, I might perhaps pay you back in kind right now. But let us hear together what he would rather answer to your questions.
AELREDUS. Certam in amicitia metam Christus ipse praefixit: Majorem, inquiens, hac dilectionem nemo habet, quam ut animam suam ponat quis pro amicis suis (Joan. XV). Ecce quousque tendi debet amor inter amicos, ut scilicet velint pro invicem mori. Satisne vobis istud?
AELRED. Christ Himself has fixed a definite limit in friendship: Greater love than this, He says, no man has, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15). See how far love between friends ought to be stretched: namely, that they be willing to die for one another. Is that enough for you?
GRATIANUS. Cum major esse non possit amicitia, cur non satis sit? GALTERUS. Quid si pessimi quique vel ethnici, in consensu facinorum et flagitiorum sic se diligant, ut velint pro invicem mori, eosne ad summam amicitiae conscendisse fatebimur?
GRATIAN. Since there can be no greater friendship, why should it not be enough? WALTER. What if all the worst men, or heathens, in agreement in crimes and vices, so love one another that they are willing to die for one another, shall we confess that they have climbed to the summit of friendship?
AELREDUS. Absit, cum inter pessimos amicitia esse non possit! GRATIANUS. Describe nobis, quaeso, inter quos vel oriri potest, vel servari.
AELRED. Far from it, since friendship cannot exist among the worst! GRATIAN. Describe to us, I beg, among whom it can either arise or be preserved.
AELREDUS. Breviter dico: inter bonos oriri potest, inter meliores proficere, consummari autem inter perfectos. Quandiu enim quemquam ex studio malum delectat, quandiu ei voluptas gratior est puritate, temeritas moderatione, adulatio correptione, quomodo ad amicitiam vel aspirare eum fas est, cum ortus ejus ex virtutis opinione procedit? Difficile igitur, imo impossibile tibi est, vel initia ejus degustare, si fontem, de quo oriri potest, nescieris. Foedus est enim amor, nec amicitiae nomine dignus, quo turpe aliquid exigitur ab amico; quod necesse est eum facere, qui necdum vitiis aut sopitis aut depressis, ad quaelibet illicita vel illicitur, vel impellitur. Unde illorum detestanda sententia
AELRED. I say briefly: it can arise among the good, advance among the better, and be consummated among the perfect. For so long as evil delights anyone by his own choice, so long as pleasure is more welcome to him than purity, rashness than moderation, flattery than correction, how is it right for him even to aspire to friendship, since its origin proceeds from the esteem of virtue? It is difficult, then, nay impossible, for you even to taste its beginnings if you do not know the source from which it can arise. For that love is foul, and not worthy of the name of friendship, by which something base is demanded of a friend; which he must needs do who, his vices being neither lulled to sleep nor put down, is either enticed or driven to any unlawful things whatever. Hence the detestable opinion of those […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 674
Page
- running head: 673 DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA. — LIB. II. 674 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹Longe aliud in priori›; B ‹nendum. Sunt et qui›; C ‹mus.›; D ‹inter quos vel oriri› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 673)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: "respondere" printed with a damaged p (looks like "resoondere"); read as worn type, not a misprint. "diffinitio", "eum fas est" set as printed. Ends mid-sentence ("detestanda sententia", no hyphen).
est, qui, contra fidem et honestatem, pro amico aestimant faciendum. Nulla enim excusatio peccati est, si amici causa peccaveris. Protoplastus Adam salubrius praesumptionis arguisset uxorem, quam, gerendo ei morem, vetitum usurpasset (Gen. III). Multo etiam melius servi regis Saul fidem domino servaverunt, contra ejus imperium manum sanguini subtrahentes, quam Doeg Idumaeus, qui regiae crudelitatis minister, Domini sacerdotes sacrilegis manibus interfecit (I Reg. XXII). Jonadab quoque amicus Ammon (II Reg. XIII) laudabilius amici prohibuisset incestum, quam quo potiretur optato, consilium praebuisset. Sed nec amicos Absalon amicitiae virtus excusat (II Reg. XVI), qui perduellioni praebentes assensum, contra patriam arma tulerunt. Et ut ad haec nostra tempora veniamus, multo certe felicius Otto Romanae cardinalis Ecclesiae, ab amicissimo suo recessit Guidone, quam Joannes suo adhaesit in tali schismate Octaviano. Cernitis igitur, nisi inter bonos amicitiam stare non posse. GRATIANUS. Quid igitur nobis cum amicitia, qui boni non sumus?
[…] is theirs who think that things against faith and honour should be done for a friend. For there is no excuse for sin if you have sinned for a friend's sake. Adam, the first-formed, would more wholesomely have rebuked his wife for her presumption than, in humouring her, have usurped what was forbidden (Gen. 3). Much better too did the servants of King Saul keep faith with their lord, withholding their hand from blood against his command, than Doeg the Edomite, who, as the minister of the king's cruelty, slew the priests of the Lord with sacrilegious hands (1 Sam. 22). Jonadab too, the friend of Amnon (2 Sam. 13), would have acted more laudably had he forbidden his friend's incest than in offering him counsel by which he might obtain his desire. Nor does the virtue of friendship excuse the friends of Absalom (2 Sam. 16), who, giving their assent to treason, bore arms against their country. And to come to these times of ours, far more happily, surely, did Otto, cardinal of the Roman Church, withdraw from his dearest friend Guido than John cleaved to his friend Octavian in so great a schism. You see, then, that friendship cannot stand except among the good. GRATIAN. What, then, have we to do with friendship, who are not good?
AELREDUS. Ego bonum non ita ad vivum reseco, ut quidam, qui neminem volunt esse bonum, nisi eum cui ad perfectionem nihil desit. Nos hominem bonum dicimus, qui secundum modum nostrae mortalitatis, sobrie, et juste, et pie vivens in hoc saeculo (Tit. II), nihil ⟨a⟩ quolibet inhonestum petere, nec rogatus velit praestare. Inter tales profecto amicitiam oriri, a talibus perfici posse, non ambigimus. Nam qui vel fidem, vel patriae periculum, vel alterius contra jus et fas laesionem excipientes, semetipsos amicorum exponunt libidini, eos non tam stultos dixerim, quam insanos: qui parcentes aliis, sibimet non aestimant esse parcendum; et aliorum providentes honestati, suam infeliciter produnt. GALTERUS. Fere in illorum cado sententiam, qui amicitiam dicunt esse cavendam, rem videlicet plenam sollicitudinis, atque curarum, nec timoris vacuam, multis etiam obnoxiam doloribus. Nam cum unicuique satis superque sit, sui curam gerere, incautum dicunt, se sic aliis obligare, ut necesse sit cum multis implicari curis, et affligi molestiis. Nihil praeterea difficilius aestimant, quam amicitiam usque ad diem vitae extremum permanere, turpeque nimis sit, post initam amicitiam, rem in contrarium verti. Unde tutius judicant, sic quemquam amare, ut possit odire cum velit, sic amicitiae laxandas habenas, quas vel astringat, cum velit, vel remittat. GRATIANUS. Frustra igitur tu in loquendo, nos in audiendo laboravimus, si tam facile ab amicitiae tenuerimus appetitu; cujus nobis fructum tam sanctum, tam utilem, tam acceptum Deo, perfectioni tam vicinum, tam multipliciter commendasti. Sit illi ista sententia, cui placet sic amare hodie, ut cras oderit; sic amicus omnibus esse, ut nulli sit fidus; hodie laudans, cras vituperans; hodie blandiens, cras mordens; hodie pa⟨r⟩atus ad oscula, cras ad opprobria promptus;
AELRED. I do not cut the good so close to the quick as some do, who will have no one to be good except him who lacks nothing for perfection. We call a man good who, living soberly and justly and godly in this world according to the measure of our mortality (Titus 2), neither wishes to ask anything dishonourable of anyone nor to grant it when asked. Among such men, surely, we do not doubt that friendship can arise and by such men be perfected. For those who, setting aside either faith, or danger to their country, or injury to another against right and law, expose themselves to the caprice of their friends, I should call not so much foolish as mad: who, sparing others, think they need not spare themselves; and, providing for others' honour, unhappily betray their own. WALTER. I almost fall in with the opinion of those who say that friendship is to be avoided, as a thing, that is, full of anxiety and cares, not free from fear, and liable to many sorrows too. For since it is enough and more for each to take care of himself, they say it is incautious to bind oneself to others in such a way that one must be entangled in many cares and afflicted with troubles. Moreover, they think nothing more difficult than for friendship to last to the last day of life, and that it is too shameful, after a friendship has been entered upon, for the thing to be turned into its contrary. Hence they judge it safer so to love anyone that one can hate when one wishes, and so to slacken the reins of friendship that one may either tighten or loosen them when one wishes. GRATIAN. In vain, then, have you laboured in speaking and we in listening, if we so easily hold back from the desire for friendship, whose fruit, so holy, so useful, so acceptable to God, so near to perfection, you have commended to us in so many ways. Let that opinion be his who is pleased so to love today that he will hate tomorrow; so to be a friend to all that he is faithful to none; praising today, reviling tomorrow; flattering today, biting tomorrow; ready for kisses today, prompt for insults tomorrow;
Editors' notes and page, col. 675
Page
- running head: 675 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. PARS I. — ASCETICA. 676 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹est, qui, contra fidem›; B ‹arma tulerunt›; C ‹gimus. Nam qui›; D ‹amicitiam usque ad diem› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 676)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: Damaged type: "nihil ⟨a⟩ quolibet" (a blot), "pa⟨r⟩atus" (visible gap). The column ends "prom-", completed from the head of col 676 ("ptus;") and set whole here as "promptus;". "Ammon" printed for Amnon (a spelling of the name, not logged as a misprint); English gives Amnon. Scripture references printed in italic, set plain.
cujus amor vili pretio comparatur, levissima recedit offensa. GALTERUS. Felle putabam carere columbos; verumtamen haec istorum sententia, quae sic displicet Gratiano, qualiter refelli possit, edicito.
[…] whose love is bought at a cheap price and departs at the slightest offence. WALTER. I used to think that doves were without gall; nevertheless, tell us how this opinion of theirs, which so displeases Gratian, can be refuted.
AELREDUS. Pulchre de his Tullius: Solem, inquit, e mundo tollere videntur, qui amicitiam e vita tollunt, qua nihil a Deo melius habemus, nil jucundius. Qualis sapientia amicitiam detestari, ut sollicitudinem caveas, curis careas, exuaris timore! quasi virtus ulla sine sollicitudine vel acquiri possit, vel servari. Itane in te, sine tua magna sollicitudine, aut prudentia contra errores, aut temperantia contra libidines, aut justitia contra malitiam, aut fortitudo contra ignaviam pugnat? Quis, rogo, hominum, maxime adolescentium sine dolore maximo vel timore, tueri pudicitiam, vel lascivientem valet refrenare affectum? Stultus Paulus, qui noluit sine aliorum cura et sollicitudine vivere; sed intuitu charitatis, quam virtutem maximam credidit, infirmabatur cum infirmis, urebatur cum scandalizatis. Sed et tristitia illi magna erat, et continuus dolor cordi ejus, pro fratribus suis secundum carnem. Deserenda igitur illi charitas erat, ne sub tot timoribus ac doloribus, nunc quos genuerat, iterum parturiens (Gal. IV); nunc fovens ut nutrix (II Thess. I), nunc ut magister corripiens (Col. I); nunc timens, ne sensus illorum a fide corrumperentur (II Cor. II); nunc cum multo dolore multisque lacrymis ad poenitentiam provocans (II Cor. II); nunc eos, qui non egerunt poenitentiam, lugens.
AELRED. Finely does Tully speak of these men: They seem, he says, to take the sun out of the world who take friendship out of life, than which we have nothing better from God, nothing more pleasant. What wisdom is this, to detest friendship in order to avoid anxiety, to be free of cares, to be stripped of fear! As though any virtue could be either acquired or kept without anxiety. Does prudence against errors, or temperance against lusts, or justice against malice, or fortitude against cowardice, fight in you without great anxiety on your part? Which of men, I ask, especially of young men, is able without the greatest pain or fear to guard chastity or to rein in wanton affection? Foolish was Paul, then, who would not live without care and anxiety for others; but in view of charity, which he believed the greatest virtue, he was weak with the weak, he burned with those who were scandalized. And he had great sadness and continual sorrow in his heart for his brethren according to the flesh. So he should have abandoned charity, lest he be under so many fears and sorrows: now in travail again with those whom he had begotten (Gal. 4); now cherishing them like a nurse (2 Thess. 1), now reproving them like a master (Col. 1); now fearing lest their minds be corrupted from the faith (2 Cor. 2); now with much sorrow and many tears calling them to repentance (2 Cor. 2); now mourning those who had not done penance.
Videtis quomodo virtutes nituntur auferre ⟨a⟩ mundo, qui comitem illarum sollicitudinem e medio tollere non formidant. Stulte Chusai Arachites amicitiam, quae erat ei cum David (II Reg. XVI), tanta fide servavit, ut sollicitudinem securitati praeferret; malletque amici participare doloribus, quam parricidae gaudiis honoribusque dissolvi? Ego eos non tam homines, quam bestias dixerim, qui sic dicunt esse vivendum, ut nulli consolationi sint, nulli etiam oneri vel dolori, qui nihil delectationis ex alterius bono concipiant, nihil amaritudinis sua aliis perversitate inferant, amare nullum, amari a nullo curantes. Absit enim, ut eorum quemquam amare concesserim, qui amicitiam quaestum putant! tunc se solis labiis profitentes amicos, cum spes alicujus commodi temporalis arriserit, vel cum amicum cujuslibet turpitudinis ministrum facere tentaverint. GALTERUS. Cum igitur certum sit multos amicitiae similitudine falli, expone, quaeso, cujusmodi amicitias cavere, quas appetere, colere et servare debeamus.
You see how those strive to take the virtues away from the world who do not fear to remove from the midst the anxiety that is their companion. Was it foolishly, then, that Hushai the Archite kept the friendship he had with David (2 Sam. 16) with such faithfulness that he preferred anxiety to security, and would rather share the sorrows of his friend than be relaxed in the joys and honours of a parricide? I should call them not so much men as beasts who say one must live in such a way as to be a consolation to no one, and also a burden or grief to no one; who take no delight from another's good, and bring no bitterness to others by their own perversity, caring to love no one and to be loved by no one. Far be it from me to grant that any of those love who think friendship a source of gain! They profess themselves friends with their lips alone when the hope of some temporal advantage has smiled on them, or when they have tried to make their friend the servant of some baseness or other. WALTER. Since, then, it is certain that many are deceived by the likeness of friendship, explain, I beg, what kinds of friendship we ought to beware of, and which we ought to seek, cultivate and keep.
AELREDUS. Cum dictum sit eam nisi inter bonos non posse subsistere, facile tibi est percipere nullam amicitiam quae bonos dedeceat recipiendam. GRATIANUS. Sed nos fortasse in hac discretione quid deceat, vel non deceat, caligamus.
AELRED. Since it has been said that it cannot subsist except among the good, it is easy for you to perceive that no friendship which is unbecoming to the good is to be accepted. GRATIAN. But perhaps we are in the dark in this discernment of what is becoming and what is not.
AELREDUS. Geram vobis morem, et quae nobis occurrerint fugiendae, breviter adnotabo. Est amicitia puerilis, quam vagus et lasciviens creat affectus,
AELRED. I will humour you, and will briefly note those that occur to me as to be shunned. There is a childish friendship, which a wandering and wanton affection creates,
Editors' notes and page, col. 676
Page
- running head: 675 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. PARS I. — ASCETICA. 676 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹ptus; cujus amor›; B ‹dolore maximo›; C ‹cans (II Cor. II)›; D ‹tant! tunc se solis› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 675)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column begins with the end of "prom-ptus;", set whole in col 675. Damaged type: "auferre ⟨a⟩ mundo" (a blot; a or e, the sense is the same). The column ends "affe-", completed from the head of col 677 ("ctus,") and set whole here as "affectus,". "(II Thess. I)" printed for the nurse image (1 Thess. 2:7); set as printed, English follows the printed reference. Scripture references printed in italic, set plain.
divaricans pedes suos omni transeunti: sine ratione, sine pondere, sine mensura, sine alicujus commodi vel incommodi consideratione. Haec ad tempus vehementer afficit, et stringit, blandius allicit. Sed affectus sine ratione motus bestialis est, ad quaeque illicita pronus, imo inter licita et illicita discernere non valens. Licet autem amicitiam plerumque affectus praeveniat, nunquam tamen sequendus, nisi eum et ratio ducat, et honestas temperet, et regat justitia. Igitur haec amicitia, quam diximus puerilem, eo quod in pueris magis regnet affectus, ut infida, et instabilis, et impuris mista semper amoribus, ab his quos spiritualis amicitiae dulcedo delectat, omnimodis caveatur; quam non tam amicitiam, quam amicitiae dicimus esse venenum, cum in ea amoris nunquam modus possit servari legitimus, qui est ab animo ad animum; sed honestam ejus venam, ex carnis concupiscentia fumus quidam emergens, obnubilet et corrumpat; et neglecto spiritu, ad carnis desideria trahat. Eapropter primordia amicitiae spiritualis, primum intentionis habeant puritatem, rationis magisterium, temperantiae frenum; et sic suavissimus accedens affectus ita profecto sentietur dulcis, ut esse nunquam desinat ordinatus.
[…] spreading its feet to every passer-by: without reason, without weight, without measure, without any consideration of advantage or disadvantage. For a time it affects vehemently and binds, and allures quite seductively. But affection without reason is a bestial movement, prone to every unlawful thing, nay unable to distinguish between lawful and unlawful. And although affection very often goes before friendship, it is never to be followed unless reason both leads it and honour tempers it and justice rules it. This friendship, then, which we have called childish, because in children affection reigns more, is to be avoided in every way by those whom the sweetness of spiritual friendship delights, as being faithless and unstable and always mixed with impure loves; and we say it is not so much friendship as the poison of friendship, since in it the lawful measure of love, which goes from soul to soul, can never be kept; but a kind of smoke rising from the lust of the flesh clouds and corrupts its honourable vein; and, the spirit being neglected, drags it to the desires of the flesh. Therefore let the beginnings of spiritual friendship have first purity of intention, the mastery of reason, the bridle of temperance; and so the sweetest affection, coming upon them, will surely be felt as sweet in such a way that it never ceases to be ordered.
Est et amicitia, quam pessimorum similitudo morum conciliat; de qua dicere supersedeo, cum nec amicitiae nomine digna, ut superius diximus, habeatur. Est praeterea amicitia, quam consideratio alicujus utilitatis accendit, quam multi ob hanc causam et appetendam, et colendam, et conservandam existimant. Quod si admittimus, quam multos omni amore dignissimos excludemus: qui cum nihil habeant, nihil possideant, profecto nihil commodi temporalis ab eis vel adipisci poterit quis, vel sperare. Si vero inter commoda duxeris consilium in dubiis, consolationem in adversis, et caetera hujusmodi: haec utique ab amico exspectanda sunt, sed sequi debent ista amicitiam, non praecedere. Necdum enim quid sit amicitia didicit, qui aliam ejus vult esse mercedem, quam ipsam; quae tunc plane merces erit colentibus eam, cum tota translata in Deum, in ejus contemplatione sepelit quos univit. Nam cum multas et magnas utilitates pariat amicitia fida bonorum, non illam tamen ab istis, sed ab illa istas procedere non ambigimus. Neque enim a beneficiis, quibus Berzellai Galaadites David (II Reg. XX) parricidam filium fugientem et suscepit, et fovit, et muneravit amicum, inter tantos viros partam credimus amicitiam, sed ab ipsa potius tantam gratiam processisse non dubitamus. Nam quod rex viri illius prius eguerit, nemo qui cogitet. Verum quod ipse viri magnarum opum, nihil pro his mercedis a rege speraverit, hinc advertere perspicuum est, quod omnes delicias divitiasque civitatis pronius offerenti, nihil suscipere acquievit, suis volens esse contentus. Sic et foedus illud venerabile, quod inter David et Jonathan non spes futurae utilitatis, sed virtutis contemplatio consecravit, multum utrisque
There is also a friendship which likeness of morals among the worst men brings about; of this I forbear to speak, since, as we said above, it is not held worthy even of the name of friendship. There is besides a friendship which regard for some advantage kindles, which many think is for this reason to be sought, cultivated and preserved. But if we admit this, how many most worthy of all love shall we exclude: who, since they have nothing and possess nothing, surely no one will be able either to gain or to hope for any temporal advantage from them. But if you count among advantages counsel in doubts, consolation in adversity, and other things of this kind: these are certainly to be expected from a friend, but they ought to follow friendship, not go before it. For he has not yet learned what friendship is who wishes its reward to be anything other than itself; which will plainly be a reward to those who cultivate it when, wholly transferred into God, it buries in His contemplation those whom it has united. For although the faithful friendship of the good brings forth many and great advantages, yet we do not doubt that these proceed from it, not it from these. For we do not believe that the friendship between such great men was born of the benefits with which Barzillai the Gileadite both received and cherished and rewarded his friend David (2 Sam. 20) as he fled from his parricide son, but we do not doubt that so great a kindness rather proceeded from the friendship itself. For no one would think that the king had previously needed that man. But that he himself, a man of great wealth, hoped for no reward from the king for these things is clear to see from this: that when the king most readily offered him all the delights and riches of the city, he consented to accept nothing, wishing to be content with his own. So too that venerable covenant which not the hope of future advantage but the contemplation of virtue consecrated between David and Jonathan, much to both […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 677
Page
- running head: 677 DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA. — LIB. II. 678 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹ctus, divaricans pedes›; B ‹nenum, cum in ea›; C ‹quam multi ob hanc›; D ‹rum, non illam tamen› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 678)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column begins with the end of "affe-ctus,", set whole in col 676. "ipse viri magnarum opum" printed, probably for vir (misprint list). "(II Reg. XX)" printed for Barzillai (2 Sam. 17 and 19); set as printed. "venam", "mista" set as printed. Ends mid-sentence ("multum utrisque", no hyphen).
novimus contulisse; cum istius industria vita sit alterius conservata; illius beneficio, hujus non sit posteritas deleta. Cum igitur in bonis semper praecedat amicitia, sequatur utilitas; profecto non tam utilitas parta per amicum, quam amici amor ipse delectat. Utrum igitur de fructu amicitiae satis dixerimus, utrum etiam certas personas, inter quas oriri et servari possit, et perfici, lucide dixerimus; utrum praeterea assentationes, quae falso amicitiae nomine palliantur, manifeste prodiderimus; utrum quoque certas metas, quousque tendi debeat amor inter amicos, ostenderimus; vos judicate. GRATIANUS. Hoc ultimum non satis recordor enodatum.
[…] we know to have conferred; since by the diligence of the one the life of the other was preserved, and by the kindness of the other the posterity of this one was not destroyed. Since, then, among the good friendship always goes before and advantage follows, surely it is not so much the advantage gained through a friend as the love of the friend itself that delights. Whether, then, we have said enough about the fruit of friendship, whether we have also clearly stated the definite persons among whom it can arise and be preserved and be perfected, whether moreover we have plainly exposed the flatteries that are cloaked under the false name of friendship, whether too we have shown the definite limits to which love between friends ought to be stretched, you judge. GRATIAN. This last I do not recall to have been sufficiently unravelled.
AELREDUS. Recolitis, ut credo, eorum me refellisse sententiam, qui metas amicitiae in flagitiorum et facinorum consensu constituunt; illorum quoque, qui usque ad exsilium progrediendum putant, et sine alterius laesione, quamlibet turpitudinem. Nihilominus et illorum, qui secundum speratae utilitatis modum, quantitatem amicitiae metiuntur. Nam duas earum, quas proposuit Galterus, nec mentione dignas existimavi. Quid enim ineptius esse potest, quam amicitiam hactenus extendi, ut in officiis vel obsequiis vicem rependat amico: cum omnia illis debeant esse communia, quibus nimirum esse debet et cor unum, et anima una? Quam turpe et illud, ut non aliter afficiatur quis erga amicum, quam erga se ipsum! cum unusquisque de se humilia, sublimia sentire debeat de amico. His igitur falsis amicitiae finibus explosis, finem amicitiae ex verbis Domini proferendum putavimus; qui mortem ipsam pro amicis sanxit non esse fugiendam. Verum ne forte, si quilibet turpes sic affecti vellent pro invicem mori, ad amicitiae summam crederentur evecti, diximus inter quas personas oriri possit, et perfici amicitia; deinde illos, qui ob multas sollicitudines et curas, quas generat, cavendam eam existimant, ineptiae credidimus arguendos. Postremo, quae amicitiae bonis omnibus sunt cavendae, quam breviter potuimus enodavimus. Patet proinde ex his omnibus certa, et vera spiritualis amicitiae meta; nihil scilicet negandum amico, nihil pro amico non sustinendum, quod minus sit quam ipsa pretiosa corporis vita, quam ponendam pro amico divina sanxit auctoritas. Quocirca cum vita animae corporis sit multo praestantior, hoc omnino negandum censemus amico, quod mortem inferat animae, quod nihil aliud est quam peccatum, quod Deum separat ab anima, animam a vita. Verum in his, quae vel exhibenda sunt amico, vel pro amico toleranda, quis servandus sit modus, quae cautio adhibenda, non est temporis hujus evolvere. GRATIANUS. Non parum mihi Galterum nostrum fateor contulisse, cujus interrogatione provocatus, summam omnium, quae disputata sunt, brevi comprehendens epilogo, quasi prae oculis in ipsa memoria depinxisti. Age jam precor, et in ipsis officiis amicorum quis servandus sit modus, vel quae cautio adhibenda, nobis expone.
AELRED. You recall, I believe, that I refuted the opinion of those who set the limits of friendship in agreement in vices and crimes; that also of those who think one should go as far as exile, and any baseness whatever provided it does no injury to another. Likewise that of those who measure the quantity of friendship according to the measure of the advantage hoped for. For two of those which Walter put forward I did not think worthy even of mention. For what can be more foolish than that friendship should extend only so far that one repays a friend in kind in duties or services: when all things ought to be common to those who ought, surely, to have one heart and one soul? How base too is this, that a man should be disposed towards his friend no otherwise than towards himself! since each ought to think humble things of himself and lofty things of his friend. These false limits of friendship being thus exploded, we thought the limit of friendship should be brought forward from the words of the Lord, Who ordained that death itself is not to be fled from for one's friends. But lest perhaps, if any base men so disposed were willing to die for one another, they should be believed to have been raised to the summit of friendship, we said among what persons friendship can arise and be perfected; then we thought that those who judge it must be avoided because of the many anxieties and cares it begets should be convicted of foolishness. Lastly, we unravelled as briefly as we could which friendships are to be avoided by all good men. From all these things, therefore, the sure and true limit of spiritual friendship is plain: namely, that nothing is to be denied to a friend, nothing not to be endured for a friend, which is less than the precious life of the body itself, which divine authority has ordained must be laid down for a friend. Therefore, since the life of the soul is far more excellent than that of the body, we judge that this is to be altogether denied to a friend which brings death to the soul, which is nothing other than sin, which separates God from the soul and the soul from life. But what measure is to be kept, what caution applied, in the things that are either to be shown to a friend or to be borne for a friend, is not for this time to unfold. GRATIAN. I confess that our Walter has conferred no little on me, for, challenged by his question, you have gathered the sum of all that has been discussed into a brief epilogue and painted it as it were before our eyes in the memory itself. Come now, I pray, and set out for us what measure is to be kept, or what caution applied, in the very duties of friends.
Editors' notes and page, col. 678
Page
- running head: 677 DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA. — LIB. II. 678 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹novimus contulisse›; B ‹facinorum consensu›; C ‹His igitur falsis›; D ‹nendam pro amico› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 677)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column ends at "nobis expone." with no hyphen.
AERLEDUS. Et haec, et alia quaedam de amicitia restant dicenda; sed hora jam praeteriit, et ad aliud negotium isti, qui modo venerunt, sua, ut cernitis, importunitate compellunt. GALTERUS. Invitus certe recedo, cras profecto cum se tempus obtulerit, rediturus. Videat autem Gratianus, ut praesto sit mane, ne ipse nos incuriae, aut nos eum tarditatis arguamus.
AELRED. Both these and certain other things about friendship remain to be said; but the hour has now passed, and these men who have just come are pressing me, as you see, with their importunity to other business. WALTER. Unwillingly indeed I withdraw, but I shall surely return tomorrow when the time offers. But let Gratian see that he is here in the morning, lest he accuse us of negligence or we accuse him of slowness.
LIBER TERTIUS.
BOOK THREE.
Quomodo et inter quos possit amicitia indirupta servari.
How and among whom friendship can be preserved unbroken.
AELREDUS. Unde, et quo? GRATIANUS. Non te latet adventus mei causa.
AELRED. Where from, and where to? GRATIAN. The cause of my coming is not hidden from you.
AELREDUS. Num adest Galterus? GRATIANUS. Videat ipse, certe tarditatis non potest arguere nos hodie.
AELRED. Is Walter here? GRATIAN. Let him see to it; he certainly cannot accuse us of slowness today.
AELREDUS. Vis, ea quae proposita sunt prosequamur? GRATIANUS. Habeo ei fidem: nam et praesentiam ejus mihi reor necessariam, cui et sensus est acutior ad intelligendum, et lingua eruditior ad interrogandum, et memoria tenacior ad retinendum.
AELRED. Do you wish us to pursue what was proposed? GRATIAN. I have faith in him: for I think his presence necessary to me too, since he has a sharper sense for understanding, a more learned tongue for questioning, and a more retentive memory for retaining.
AELREDUS. Audisti, Galtere? Amicitior tibi est Gratianus, quam putabas. GALTERUS. Quomodo mihi amicus non esset, qui nullius non est? Sed quia utrique adsumus, promissi tui non immemores, otio huic non simus ingrati.
AELRED. Did you hear, Walter? Gratian is more friendly to you than you thought. WALTER. How should he not be a friend to me, who is a friend to everyone? But since we are both here, not forgetful of your promise, let us not be ungrateful for this leisure.
AELREDUS. Fons et origo amicitiae amor est: nam amor sine amicitia esse potest, amicitia sine amore nunquam. Amor vero ex natura, aut ex officio, vel ratione sola, vel ex solo affectu, nonnunquam ex utroque simul procedit. Ex natura, sicut mater diligit filium. Ex officio, quando ex ratione dati et accepti, quidam speciali affectu conjunguntur; ex sola ratione, sicut inimicos, non ex spontanea mentis inclinatione, sed ex praecepti necessitate diligimus. Ex solo affectu, quando aliquis ob ea sola, quae corporis sunt, verbi gratia, pulchritudinem, fortitudinem, facundiam, sibi quorumdam inclinat affectum. Ex ratione simul et affectu, quando is, quem ob virtutis meritum ratio suadet amandum, morum suavitate, et vitae laudandae dulcedine in alterius influit animum: et sic ratio jungitur affectui, ut amor ex ratione castus sit, dulcis ex affectu. Quis horum vobis amicitiae videtur commodatior? GALTERUS. Hic ultimus sane, quem et virtutis comtemplatio format, et morum suavitas ornat. Sed utrum omnes, quos sic diligimus, ad illud amicitiae admittendi sint dulce secretum, scire desidero.
AELRED. The fount and origin of friendship is love: for love can exist without friendship, friendship never without love. Love proceeds either from nature, or from duty, or from reason alone, or from affection alone, sometimes from both together. From nature, as a mother loves her son. From duty, when by reason of what is given and received certain people are joined by a special affection; from reason alone, as we love our enemies, not from a spontaneous inclination of the mind but from the necessity of the precept. From affection alone, when someone inclines the affection of certain people towards himself by those things alone which belong to the body, for example beauty, strength, eloquence. From reason and affection together, when he whom reason persuades to be loved for the merit of his virtue flows into another's soul by the sweetness of his character and the delightfulness of a praiseworthy life: and so reason is joined to affection, so that love is chaste from reason and sweet from affection. Which of these seems to you more suited to friendship? WALTER. This last surely, which both the contemplation of virtue forms and the sweetness of character adorns. But I desire to know whether all whom we love in this way are to be admitted to that sweet secret of friendship.
AELREDUS. Primo ponendum est solidum quoddam ipsius spiritalis amoris fundamentum, in quo ejus sunt collocanda principia; ut sic recta quis linea ad ejus altiora conscendens, ne fundamentum negligat vel excedat, maximam cautelam adhibeat. Fundamentum illud Dei amor est, ad quem omnia, quae vel amor suggerit vel affectus; omnia, quae vel occulte aliquis spiritus, vel palam quilibet suadet
AELRED. First must be laid a solid foundation of this spiritual love itself, on which its beginnings are to be placed; so that one who thus climbs by a straight line to its higher reaches may take the greatest care not to neglect or overstep the foundation. That foundation is the love of God, to which all things that either love or affection suggests; all things that either some spirit secretly or openly any […] urges […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 679
Page
- running head: 679 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. PARS I. — ASCETICA. 680 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹AERLEDUS. Et haec›; B ‹AELREDUS. Unde, et quo?› (first line of Book III); C ‹quia utrique adsumus›; D ‹quem ob virtutis meritum› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 680)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: Book II ends in the upper halves of BOTH columns of this page; below them a rule, then the full-width caption LIBER TERTIUS. / "Quomodo et inter quos possit amicitia indirupta servari.", then two columns again. By the reading-order rule the upper half of col 680 ("recedo, cras profecto" to "tarditatis arguamus.", with marginal letter A beside its first line; no footnotes) is set under this column's rail in c679_a; the caption and the lower half of col 679 follow in c679_b; col 680's rail stands where its text resumes below the caption. The column ends "sua-", completed from col 680 below the caption ("det") and set whole here as "suadet". Misprints (misprint list): "AERLEDUS." printed for AELREDUS; "comtemplatio" for contemplatio. A speck after "Quomodo" in the caption is not a stop and is not set. "Habeo ei fidem" set as printed.
amicus, referenda sunt: diligenterque inspiciendum, ut quidquid astruitur, fundamento conveniat, et quidquid illud excedere deprehenditur, ad ejus formam revocandum, et secundum ejus qualitatem omnimodis corrigendum, non dubites. Nec omnes tamen, quos diligimus, in amicitiam sunt recipiendi, quia nec omnes ad hoc reperiuntur idonei. Nam cum amicus tui consors sit animi, cujus spiritui tuum conjungas et applices, et ita misceas, ut unum fieri velis ⟨e⟩ duobus, cui te tanquam tibi alteri committas, cui nihil occultes, a quo nihil timeas: primum certe eligendus est, qui ad haec aptus putetur; deinde probandus, et sic demum admittendus.
[…] friend, are to be referred: and it must be carefully examined that whatever is built upon it accords with the foundation; and whatever is found to go beyond it, do not hesitate to call it back to its form and to correct it in every way according to its quality. Yet not all whom we love are to be received into friendship, because not all are found fit for it. For since a friend is the sharer of your soul, to whose spirit you join and fit your own, and so mingle them that you wish to become one out of two, to whom you entrust yourself as to another self, from whom you hide nothing, of whom you fear nothing: first, surely, he must be chosen who is thought fit for these things; then tested, and so at last admitted.
Stabilis enim debet esse amicitia, et quamdam aeternitatis speciem praeferre, semper perseverans in affectu. Et ideo non puerili modo, amicos mutare vaga quadam debemus sententia. Quoniam enim nemo detestabilior, quam qui amicitiam laeserit, nihilque magis animum torqueat quam vel deseri ab amico vel impugnari; cum summo studio eligendus est, et cum maxima cautela probandus: admissus autem sic tolerandus, sic tractandus, sic sequendus, ut quandiu a praemisso fundamento irrevocabiliter non recesserit, ille ita tuus, et tu illius sis, tam in corporalibus quam in spiritualibus; ut nulla sit animorum, affectionum, voluntatum, sententiarumve divisio. Cernitis ergo quatuor gradus, quibus ad amicitiae perfectionem conscenditur: quorum primus est electio, secundus probatio, tertius admissio, quartus rerum divinarum et humanarum cum quadam charitate et benevolentia summa consensio. GALTERUS. Recordor te in prima illa tua disputatione, quam cum tuo habuisti Ivone, diffinitionem hanc satis probasse; sed quia de multis amicitiarum generibus disputasti, utrum omnes comprehendat, scire desidero.
For friendship ought to be stable, and to show a certain likeness of eternity, always persevering in affection. And therefore we ought not, in a childish way, to change our friends by some wandering judgement. For since no one is more detestable than he who has wounded friendship, and nothing torments the soul more than to be either deserted or attacked by a friend, he must be chosen with the utmost zeal and tested with the greatest caution: but once admitted he must be so borne with, so treated, so followed, that as long as he has not irrevocably departed from the foundation laid down before, he may be yours and you his, as much in bodily as in spiritual things; so that there is no division of souls, affections, wills or judgements. You see, then, four steps by which one climbs to the perfection of friendship: of which the first is choice, the second testing, the third admission, the fourth agreement in things divine and human with a certain charity and the highest goodwill. WALTER. I remember that in that first discussion of yours, which you held with your Ivo, you sufficiently approved this definition; but since you have discussed many kinds of friendship, I desire to know whether it comprehends them all.
AELREDUS. Cum vera amicitia nisi inter bonos esse non possit, qui nihil contra fidem vel bonos mores, velle possint, aut facere: profecto non quamlibet, sed ipsam quae vera est, amicitiam diffinitio ista complectitur. GRATIANUS. Quare non et illa, quae ante hesternam collationem me plurimum delectabat, aeque probanda est idem scilicet velle, et idem nolle.
AELRED. Since true friendship cannot exist except among the good, who can neither will nor do anything against faith or good morals, that definition surely embraces not any friendship whatever, but that which is true. GRATIAN. Why is not that one too, which before yesterday's conference delighted me very much, equally to be approved: namely, to will the same thing and not to will the same thing.
AELREDUS. Certe inter eos, quorum fuerint emendati mores, vita composita, ordinati affectus; nec istam arbitror repudiandam. GALTERUS. Videat
AELRED. Certainly among those whose morals have been amended, whose life is well ordered, whose affections are set in order, I do not think that this one either is to be rejected. WALTER. Let […] see […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 680
Page
- running head: 679 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. PARS I. — ASCETICA. 680 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹recedo, cras profecto› (beside the first line of the upper half, which is set in c679_a); B ‹det amicus, referenda›; C ‹Et ideo non puerili›; D ‹missio, quartus rerum› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 679)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The upper half of this column (end of Book II, "recedo, cras profecto" to "tarditatis arguamus.") is set under the col 679 rail in c679_a by the reading-order rule; the full-width caption LIBER TERTIUS. with its sub-caption is set in c679_b. This column's rail stands where its text resumes below the caption; the first syllable there ("det") completes "sua-det", set whole at the end of col 679, so the rail stands at "amicus, referenda sunt". Damaged type: "velis ⟨e⟩ duobus" (a blot). "diffinitionem", "diffinitio" set as printed. The column ends "GALTERUS. Videat" with no hyphen.
Gratianus, ut tam in se ipso quam in eo, quem diligit, ista praecedant; et sic idem velit et nolit cum ipso; nihil sibi volens concedit nihil ipse praestare rogatus, quod injustum vel inhonestum, vel indecens sit. Sed de quatuor his quae praemisisti, quid sentiendum sit, a te exspectamus doceri.
[…] Gratian [see to it] that these things come first, both in himself and in the one whom he loves; and so let him will and not will the same thing with him, wishing nothing to be granted to himself, and when asked, himself offering nothing that is unjust or dishonourable or unseemly. But as to these four things which you set out first, we wait to be taught by you what should be thought.
AELREDUS. Primum igitur de ipsa electione tractemus. Sunt vitia quaedam, quibus si quis fuerit involutus, non diu amicitiae leges vel jura servabit. Hujusmodi ad amicitiam non facile eligendi sunt; sed si alias eorum vita moresque placuerint, agendum cum eis summopere est, ut sanati ad amicitiam habeantur idonei: videlicet iracundi, instabiles, suspiciosi, verbosi. Difficile quippe est, eum, quem saepe iracundiae furor exagitat, non aliquando insurgere in amicum; sicut in Ecclesiastico scribitur. Est amicus, qui odium, et rixam, et convicia denudabit (Eccli. XVI). Unde ait Scriptura: Noli esse amicus homini iracundo, neque ambules cum viro furioso; ne sumas scandalum animae tuae (Prov. XXII). Et Salomon: Ira inquit, in sinu stulti requiescit (Eccle. VII). At cum stulto diu servare amicitiam, quis non credit impossibile? GALTERUS. At nos te vidimus, si non fallimur, cum iracundissimo homine summa religione colere amicitiam: quem usque ad vitae ejus finem nunquam a te laesum, quanquam ipse te saepe laesisset, audivimus.
AELRED. First, then, let us treat of the choice itself. There are certain vices in which, if anyone has been entangled, he will not long keep the laws or rights of friendship. Men of this kind are not easily to be chosen for friendship; but if in other respects their life and morals have pleased, one must work with them with the utmost effort, so that, once healed, they may be held fit for friendship: namely the irascible, the unstable, the suspicious, the talkative. For it is difficult for one whom the fury of anger often drives not at some time to rise up against his friend; as is written in Ecclesiasticus. There is a friend who will lay bare hatred and strife and reproaches (Sir. 6). Hence Scripture says: Do not be a friend to an angry man, and do not walk with a furious man, lest you take a stumbling-block to your soul (Prov. 22). And Solomon: Anger, he says, rests in the bosom of a fool (Eccles. 7). But who does not believe it impossible to keep friendship long with a fool? WALTER. But we have seen you, if we are not mistaken, cultivating friendship with the greatest scrupulousness with a most irascible man; and we have heard that you never hurt him up to the end of his life, although he often hurt you.
AELREDUS. Sunt quidam ex naturali conspersione iracundi, qui tamen hanc ita comprimere et temperare solliciti sunt passionem, ut in quinque quibus, teste Scriptura, amicitia dissolvitur atque corrumpitur, nunquam prosiliant; quamvis nonnunquam amicum inconsiderato sermone vel actu, vel zelo minus discreto offendant. Tales si forte in amicitiam receperimus, patienter tolerandi sunt, et cum nobis constet de affectu certitudo, si quis fuerit vel sermonis vel actionis excessus, amico id indulgendum est; vel certe sine aliquo dolore jucunde insuper, in quo excesserit, commonendum. GRATIANUS. Ille tuus, quem prae omnibus nobis, ut multis videtur, tibi probas amicum, aliquid, quod tibi displicere nullatenus potuit ignorare, ante paucos dies, ut nos putabamus, ira praeventus et dixit et fecit; cui tamen nihil prioris gratiae imminutum nec credimus, nec videmus. Unde non parum obstupuimus, quod cum tu, ubi nos mutuo loquimur, nihil velis vel modicum praeterire, quod velit ipse; ipse modicum quid, tui causa, non potuerit sustinere. GALTERUS. Audacior me multo est iste. Nam et ego ista novi, sed tuum erga eum animum non ignorans, nihil tibi de his loqui praesumpsi.
AELRED. There are some who are irascible from their natural make-up, who are nevertheless so careful to restrain and temper this passion that they never break out into the five things by which, as Scripture witnesses, friendship is dissolved and corrupted; although they sometimes offend a friend by an unconsidered word or deed, or by a zeal too little discreet. If we have perhaps received such men into friendship, they must be patiently borne, and since we are certain of their affection, if there has been any excess either of word or of deed, it must be pardoned to the friend; or at any rate he must be admonished, without any resentment and pleasantly besides, of the point in which he went too far. GRATIAN. That friend of yours, whom above all of us, as many think, you approve as your friend, a few days ago, as we supposed, being overcome by anger, both said and did something which he could by no means have been unaware would displease you; yet we neither believe nor see that anything of his former favour has been lessened. Hence we were not a little astonished that, while you, where we speak with one another, will not pass over even a little of what he wishes, he could not bear some small thing for your sake. WALTER. He is much bolder than I. For I too knew of these things, but, not being ignorant of your mind towards him, I did not presume to say anything to you about them.
AELREDUS. Homo certe ille mihi charissimus est, semel a me receptus in amicitiam, a me nunquam poterit non amari. Unde si forte in hac parte fortior illo fui, et ubi utriusque voluntas non concurrebat in unum, meam mihi facilius fuit, quam illi suam frangere voluntatem; ubi nulla interveniebat inhonestas, nec fides laedebatur, nec minuebatur virtus, cedendum amico fuit, ut et tolerarem in quo
AELRED. That man is certainly most dear to me; once received by me into friendship, he can never not be loved by me. Hence if perhaps in this respect I was stronger than he, and where the will of each did not run together into one, it was easier for me to break my will than for him to break his; where no dishonour intervened, and faith was not injured, and virtue was not diminished, I had to yield to my friend, so that I might both bear with [him] in what […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 681
Page
- running head: 681 DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA. — LIB. III. 682 (one head across the page; see n682)
- marginal letters: A ‹Gratianus, ut tam in se›; B ‹insurgere in amicum›; C ‹bus, teste Scriptura›; D ‹stupuimus, quod cum tu› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 682)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: PATROL. CXCV. (foot of column)
- other: The column opens with "Gratianus", completing the sentence "GALTERUS. Videat" that ends col 680 (no hyphen). "concedit" printed for "concedi" (logged). "(Eccli. XVI)" printed for Sir. 6:9 (logged as a misprint for VI). "Est" is followed by a stray mark in the type, not set. "GRATIANUS" (lower half) has its point faint or missing; set with the point.
videbatur excessisse, et ubi pax ejus periclitabatur, voluntatem ejus meae praeferrem. GALTERUS. Sed cum prior ille jam in fata concesserit, alter tibi, licet nos non viderimus satisfecerit: illa nobis quinque, quibus amicitia sic laeditur ut dissolvatur, velim nobis enuclees, ut eos, qui nullo modo eligendi sunt in amicos, cavere possimus.
[…] he seemed to have gone too far, and, where his peace was endangered, prefer his will to mine. WALTER. But since that former one has now gone the way of fate, and the other, though we did not see it, has made amends to you, I should like you to explain to us those five things by which friendship is so injured that it is dissolved, so that we may beware of those who are in no way to be chosen as friends.
AELREDUS. Audite, non me, sed Scripturam loquentem: Qui conviciatur amico dissolvit amicitiam. Ad amicum, etiamsi produxerit gladium, non desperes: est enim regressus ad amicum. Si aperuerit os triste, non timeas (Eccli. XXII). Vide quid dicat. Si forte ira praeventus amicus eduxerit gladium vel si verbum protulerit triste; si quasi non amans ad tempus tibi sese subtraxerit, si tuo suum aliquando praetulerit consilium, si a te in aliqua sententia vel disputatione dissenserit, non his amicitiam aestimes dissolvendam. Est enim, ait, concordia ad amicum, excepto convicio, et improperio, et superbia, et mysterii revelatione, et plaga dolosa. In his omnibus effugiet amicus. Diligentius proinde haec quinque consideremus, ne nos eis amicitiae vinculis constringamus, quos ad haec vitia vel iracundiae furor, vel alia quaelibet passio compellere consuevit.
AELRED. Hear not me but Scripture speaking: He who reviles a friend dissolves friendship. Towards a friend, even if he has drawn a sword, do not despair; for there is a way back to the friend. If he has opened a sad mouth, do not fear (Sir. 22). See what it says. If perhaps a friend, overcome by anger, has drawn a sword, or if he has uttered a sad word; if, as though not loving, he has withdrawn himself from you for a time; if he has sometimes preferred his own counsel to yours; if he has disagreed with you in some opinion or dispute, do not judge that friendship is to be dissolved for these things. For there is, it says, concord towards a friend, except for reviling, and reproach, and pride, and the revealing of a secret, and a treacherous wound. In all these a friend will flee away. Let us therefore consider these five more carefully, lest we bind with the bonds of friendship those whom either the fury of anger or any other passion is accustomed to drive into these vices.
Convicium quippe laedit famam, charitatem exstinguit. Tanta est enim homiuum malitia, ut quidquid ira instigante ab amico jaculatum fuerit in amicum, quasi secretorum suorum prolatum conscio, si non credatur, verum esse clametur. multi enim sicut propriis laudibus, ita in aliorum vituperationibus delectantur. Quid scelestius improperio, quod etiam falsa objectione innocentis faciem miserando rubore perfundit? At superbia quid minus ferendum? quae solum id quo fractae amicitiae subveniendum fuerat, humilitatis et confessionis excludit remedium, reddens hominem audacem ad injuriam, tumidum ad correptionem? Secretorum revelatio, qua nihil est turpius, nihil exsecrabilius, nihil amoris, nihil suavitatis relinquens inter amicos, sed omnia replens amaritudine indignationis, et odii atque doloris felle cuncta conspergens. Hinc scriptum est. Qui denudat arcana amici perdit fidem (Eccli. XXIV). Et paulo post. Denudare amici mysteria, desperatio est animae infelicis (ibid.) Quid enim inf⟨e⟩licius illo, qui perdit fidem, et desperatione languescit? Ultimum illud, quo dissolvitur amicitia, plaga dolosa est, quae non est aliud quam occulta detractio. Plaga certe dolosa; plaga serpentis est et aspidis mortifera: Si mordeat serpens in silentio, ait Salomon, nihil eo minus habet, qui occulte detrahit (Eccle. X). Quemcunque igitur in his vitiis assiduum inveneris, cavendus tibi est ille; nec, donec sanetur, ad amicitiam eligendus. Abjuremus convicia, quorum ultor est Deus. Semei, fugientem a facie Absalon santum David conviciis impetens (III Reg. II), inter haereditaria verba, quae pater filio moriens delegavit, auctoritate Spiritus sancti decernitur occidendus. Improperium nihilominus caveamus. Infelix
For reviling injures reputation and extinguishes charity. For so great is the malice of men that whatever has been hurled by a friend against a friend at the prompting of anger is proclaimed to be true, as though uttered by one privy to his secrets, even if it is not believed. For many delight in the censure of others just as in their own praises. What is more wicked than reproach, which, even by a false charge, suffuses the face of the innocent with a pitiable blush? And what is less to be borne than pride, which shuts out the only remedy by which a broken friendship ought to have been helped, that of humility and confession, making a man bold to do injury and swollen against correction? The revealing of secrets, than which nothing is more shameful, nothing more execrable, leaves nothing of love, nothing of sweetness between friends, but fills all things with the bitterness of indignation and sprinkles everything with the gall of hatred and grief. Hence it is written: He who lays bare the secrets of a friend loses faith (Sir. 24). And a little after: To lay bare the mysteries of a friend is the despair of an unhappy soul (ibid.). For what is more unhappy than he who loses faith and languishes in despair? The last thing by which friendship is dissolved is the treacherous wound, which is nothing other than secret detraction. A treacherous wound indeed; it is the deadly wound of the serpent and of the asp: If a serpent bites in silence, says Solomon, he who detracts in secret has nothing less than it (Eccles. 10). Whomever, therefore, you find persistent in these vices, you must beware of him; nor is he to be chosen for friendship until he is healed. Let us forswear reviling, of which God is the avenger. Shimei, who assailed holy David with revilings as he fled from the face of Absalom (1 Kgs. 2), is decreed by the authority of the Holy Spirit to be put to death, among the words of inheritance which the father, dying, entrusted to his son. Let us beware no less of reproach. Unhappy […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 682
Page
- running head: 681 DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA. — LIB. III. 682 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹videbatur excessisse, et ubi›; B ‹quando praetulerit consilium›; C ‹vituperationibus delectantur›; D ‹licis (ibid.) Quid enim› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 681)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: 22 (foot of column)
- other: "nobisquinque" printed without a space (set "nobis quinque"). "homiuum" (turned n) and "santum" (for sanctum) logged as misprints. "clametur. multi" set as printed (lower-case after a point). "inf⟨e⟩licius": one letter lost in damaged type. "eligendi" and "occidendus" damaged but legible. The column ends "In-", completed from the head of col 683 and set whole as "Infelix" at the end of this column. "(Eccli. XXIV)" is printed for a verse of Sir. 27; left as printed.
Nabal Carmelus, David servitutem et fugam improperans, a Domino percuti meruit, et occidi (I Reg. XXV). Quod si forte contigerit, in aliquo nos legem amicitiae praeterire, vitemus superbiam et amici gratiam humilitatis beneficio repetamus. Rex David amicitiam, quam Naas regi filiorum Ammon exhibuerat (II Reg. X), cum filio ejus Hanon misericorditer obtulisset, ille superbus et ingratus amico, contumeliam adjecit contemptui; ob quam causam tam ipsum, quam populum ejus et urbes, gladius simul et ignis absumpsit. Super omnia autem; amicorum revelare secreta sacrilegium arbitremur, quo, fides amittitur, et animae captivatae desperatio importatur. Hinc est quod impiissimus Achitophel (II Reg. XVII), parricidae consentiens, cum ei patris consilium prodidisset, cernens suum, quod contra illud dederat non mancipatum effectui, dignum proditore finem, laqueo suspensus promeruit. Postremo detrahere amico venenum amicitiae reputemus, quod Mariae frontem lepra perfudit (Num. XII), et ejectam extra castra sex diebus, populi communione privavit.
[…] Nabal of Carmel, who reproached David with his servitude and flight, deserved to be struck by the Lord and to die (1 Sam. 25). But if it should perhaps happen that we pass over the law of friendship in some matter, let us avoid pride and seek back our friend's favour by the benefit of humility. When King David had mercifully offered to Hanun his son the friendship which Nahash, king of the sons of Ammon, had shown [him] (2 Sam. 10), he, proud and ungrateful to his friend, added insult to contempt; for which cause the sword and fire together consumed both himself and his people and cities. But above all let us judge it a sacrilege to reveal the secrets of friends, by which faith is lost and despair is brought upon the captive soul. Hence it is that the most impious Ahithophel (2 Sam. 17), consenting with the parricide, when he had betrayed to him the father's counsel, seeing that his own, which he had given against it, was not carried into effect, earned an end worthy of a traitor, hanged by a noose. Lastly let us reckon detraction against a friend the poison of friendship, which covered the forehead of Miriam with leprosy (Num. 12) and, when she had been cast out of the camp for six days, deprived her of the communion of the people.
Nec solum nimium iracundi, sed etiam instabiles, et suspiciosi In hac electione cavendi sunt. Cum enim amicitiae magnus fructus sit securitas, qua te credis et committis amico: quomodo in ejus amore aliqua potest esse securitas, qui omni circumfertur vento, omni acquiescit consilio? Cujus affectus molli luto comparatus, diversas et contrarias tota die, pro arbitrio imprimentis, suscipit et format imagines. Quid praeterea magis competit amicitiae, quam pax quaedam ad invicem et tranquillitas cordis, cujus semper expers est suspiciosus? Nunquam enim requiescit. Suspiciosum quippe semper curiositas comitatur, quae continuos ei stimulos acuens, inquietudinis et perturbationis ei materias subministrat. Si enim viderit amicum secretius loquentem cum aliquo proditionem putabit. Si se benevolum alt⟨e⟩ri praebuerit, vel jucundum, ille se minus diligi proclamabit. Si eum corripuerit, odium interpretabitur. Si laudandum crediderit, irrisum se calumniabitur. Sed nec verbosum arbitror eligendum, quia vir linguosus non justificabitur. Vides, inquit sapiens, hominem promptulum ad loquendum, magis illo spem habet stultus (Prov. XXIX). Is igitur tibi eligendus est in amicum, quem non iracundiae furor inquietet, non instabilitas dividat, non conterat suspicio, non verbositas a debita gravitate dissolvat. Praecipue utile est, ut eum eligas, qui tuis conveniat moribus, tuae consonet qualitati. Inter dispares quippe mores, ut beatus ait Ambrosius, amicitia esse non potest: et ideo convenire debet sibi utriusque gratia. GALTERUS. Ubi ergo talis invenietur, qui nec iracundus sit, nec instabilis, nec suspiciosus? Nam verbosus quisquis est, latere non potest.
Not only the excessively irascible, but also the unstable and the suspicious are to be avoided in this choice. For since a great fruit of friendship is security, by which you entrust and commit yourself to a friend, how can there be any security in the love of one who is carried about by every wind and acquiesces in every counsel? His affection, compared to soft clay, receives and forms all day long different and contrary images at the will of whoever presses upon it. Besides, what befits friendship more than a certain mutual peace and tranquillity of heart, of which the suspicious man is always devoid? For he never rests. Curiosity always accompanies the suspicious man, and, sharpening continual goads for him, supplies him with matter for disquiet and disturbance. For if he sees his friend speaking rather privately with someone, he will think it treachery. If his friend shows himself kindly or pleasant to another, he will proclaim that he himself is loved less. If his friend rebukes him, he will interpret it as hatred. If his friend thinks him worthy of praise, he will complain falsely that he is mocked. But neither do I think the talkative man should be chosen, since a man full of tongue will not be justified. You see, says the wise man, a man hasty to speak; a fool has more hope than he (Prov. 29). He, then, is to be chosen by you as a friend whom the fury of anger does not disquiet, instability does not divide, suspicion does not wear down, talkativeness does not loosen from due gravity. It is especially useful that you choose one who agrees with your character and is in harmony with your quality. For between unlike characters, as blessed Ambrose says, there can be no friendship; and therefore the good will of each must agree with the other. WALTER. Where, then, will such a man be found, who is neither irascible, nor unstable, nor suspicious? For whoever is talkative cannot be hidden.
AELREDUS. Licet non facile queat reperiri, qui non his passionibus moveatur; multi certe sunt, qui his omnibus superiores inveniuntur: qui iracundiam patientia comprimant, levitatem servata
AELRED. Although one who is not moved by these passions cannot easily be found, there are certainly many who are found superior to them all: who restrain anger by patience, [and] lightness by the preserved […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 683
Page
- running head: 683 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. PARS I. — ASCETICA. 684 (one head across the page; see n684)
- marginal letters: A ‹felix Nabal Carmelus›; B ‹ricidae consentiens›; C ‹die, pro arbitrio imprimentis›; D ‹magis illo spem habet› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 684)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column opens with "felix", the end of "In-felix", set whole at the end of col 682; the rail stands at "Nabal Carmelus". "regi" (for rex, "Nahash, king of the sons of Ammon") logged as a probable misprint. "suspiciosi In hac" set as printed with a capital I. "alt⟨e⟩ri": a gap in the type. "praebuerit", "proclamabit" damaged but legible. "Super omnia autem;" and "quo, fides" punctuated as printed. "sex diebus" as printed (Num. 12 has seven days). The column ends "servata" with no hyphen.
gravitate cohibeant, suspiciones dilectionis co⟨n⟩templatione propellant. Quos maxime in amicitiam quasi exercitatiores assumendos dixerim, qui vitia virtute vincentes, tanto securius possidentur, quanto fortius, etiam tentantibus vitiis resistere consueverunt. GRATIANUS. Ne quaeso, irascaris, si loquar. Ille tuus, de quo paulo ante fecimus mentionem, quem a te receptum in amicitiam non dubitamus: utrum tibi iracundus videatur, scire desidero.
[…] gravity, [and] drive away suspicions by the contemplation of love. These I would say should most of all be taken into friendship as being better trained, who, overcoming vices by virtue, are held the more securely the more strongly they have been accustomed to resist vices even when these tempt them. GRATIAN. Please do not be angry if I speak. That friend of yours whom we mentioned a little while ago, whom we do not doubt to have been received by you into friendship: I wish to know whether he seems to you irascible.
AELREDUS. Est quidem; at in amicitia minime. GRATIANUS. Quid est, rogo te, in amicitia non esse iracundum.
AELRED. He is indeed; but in friendship not at all. GRATIAN. What does it mean, I ask you, not to be irascible in friendship?
AELREDUS. Inter nos contractam amicitiam non dubitatis. GRATIANUS. Prorsus.
AELRED. You do not doubt that a friendship has been contracted between us. GRATIAN. Absolutely.
AELREDUS. Quando inter nos iras, rixas, dissensiones, aemulationes vel contentiones ortas audistis? GRATIANUS. Nunquam; sed hoc non illius, sed tuae patientiae imputamus
AELRED. When have you heard of angers, quarrels, dissensions, rivalries or contentions arising between us? GRATIAN. Never; but we ascribe this not to his patience but to yours.
AELREDUS. Fallimini. Nullo modo enim iram, quam non refrenat affectus, cujusquam patientia refrenabit, cum patientia magis iracundum excitet in furorem, in hoc aliquid sibi vel modicum solatium praestari cupiens, si in jurgiis se illi aliquis parem exhibeat. Ille sane de quo nunc nobis sermo est, ita mihi amicitiae jura conservat, ut commotum aliquando, etiam jam prorumpentem in verba solo nutu cohibeam, et ea quae displicent nunquam producat in publicum; sed ad evaporandum suae mentis conceptum, semper exspectet secretum. Quod si non ei amicitia, sed natura praescriberet, nec ita virtuosum, nec ita laude dignum judicarem. Si vero, ut assolet, ab ejus aliquando meus sensus dissentiat; ita alterutro nobis deferimus, ut aliquando ille meam suae, plerumque ego suam meae praeferam voluntatem. GALTERUS. Satis datum est Gratiano. Sed mihi velim enuclees, si forte quis incautius in eorum inciderit amicitias, quos cavendos paulo ante dixisti, vel si qui eorum quos eligendos dixisti, aut in ea ipsa vitia, aut in alia forte deteriora corruerint, qualis eis servanda sit fides, qualis exhibenda gratia.
AELRED. You are mistaken. For in no way will anyone's patience rein in anger which affection does not rein in, since patience rather rouses the irascible man to fury, as he desires some solace, however small, to be afforded him in this, if someone shows himself his equal in quarrels. That man, indeed, of whom we are now speaking, so keeps the laws of friendship with me that, when he is at times stirred, and even already bursting out into words, I restrain him by a mere nod, and he never brings forth in public the things that displease him, but always waits for privacy to let the feeling of his mind evaporate. If it were not friendship but nature that prescribed this to him, I would not judge him so virtuous nor so worthy of praise. But if, as happens, my opinion sometimes differs from his, we so defer to one another that sometimes he prefers my will to his own, [and] more often I prefer his will to mine. WALTER. Gratian has been given enough. But I should like you to explain to me, if perhaps someone has rather incautiously fallen into the friendships of those whom you said a little before must be avoided, or if any of those whom you said should be chosen have fallen either into those very vices or perhaps into others worse, what kind of faith is to be kept with them, what kind of favour shown.
AELREDUS. Haec, si fieri potest, in ipsa electione, vel etiam probatione cavenda sunt; ne videlicet nimis cito diligamus, maxime indignos. Digni autem sunt amicitia, quibus in ipsis causa est, cur diligantur. Attamen in his, qui probati dignique putantur, erumpunt saepe vitia, tum in ipsos amicos, tum in alienos, quorum tamen ad amicos redundat infamia. Talibus amicis omnis diligentia adhibenda est, ut sanentur. Quod si impossibile fuerit, non amicitiam rumpendam, vel dissolvendam arbitror, sed ut quidam eleganter ait, potius paulatim dissuendam; nisi forte quae⟨d⟩am intolerabilis injuria exarserit, ut neque rectum, neque honestum sit, ut non statim alienatio vel disjunctio fiat. Si enim aliquid molitur amicus, aut in patrem, aut in patriam, quod subita et festinata egeat correctione; non amicitia laeditur, si perduellis et inimicus prodatur. Sunt alia vitia, pro quibus amicitiam non rumpendam, ut diximus, sed paulatim dissolvendam judicamus; ita tamen
AELRED. These things, if it can be done, are to be guarded against in the choice itself, or even in the testing; that is, that we do not love too quickly, above all the unworthy. Those are worthy of friendship in whom there is in themselves a reason why they should be loved. And yet in those who are thought proven and worthy, vices often break out, now against their friends themselves, now against strangers, the disgrace of which nevertheless overflows onto their friends. With such friends every care must be applied that they may be healed. But if this proves impossible, I think friendship is not to be broken or dissolved, but, as someone elegantly says, rather to be unstitched little by little; unless perhaps some intolerable injury has flared up, such that it is neither right nor honourable that estrangement or separation should not take place at once. For if a friend plots something, either against his father or against his country, which needs sudden and hasty correction, friendship is not injured if the traitor and enemy is betrayed. There are other vices on account of which we judge that friendship is not to be broken, as we have said, but to be dissolved little by little; yet in such a way […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 684
Page
- running head: 683 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. PARS I. — ASCETICA. 684 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹gravitate cohibeant›; B ‹siones, aemulationes›; C ‹amicitia, sed natura›; D ‹tur. Attamen in his› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 683)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column continues the sentence ending "servata" in col 683 (no hyphen). Gaps in the type supplied: "co⟨n⟩templatione", "quae⟨d⟩am". Damaged but legible: "producat", "aliquid", "sed", "Haec". "iracundum." (a question) and "imputamus" (no stop) punctuated as printed. "alterutro" as printed. The column ends "ita tamen" with no hyphen.
ut non usque ad inimicitias, ex quibus jurgia, maledicta, contumeliaeque gignuntur, erumpant. Turpe enim nimis est, cum eo hujusmodi gerere bellum, cum quo familiariter vixeris. Nam etsi his omnibus ⟨a⟩b eo, quem in amicitiam receperas, impetaris, quibusdam quippe moris est, ut cum ipsi sic vixerint, ut jam non mereantur amari, si forte eis aliquid evenerit adversi, culpam retorqueant in amicum; laesam dicant amicitiam, et omne consilium, quod amicus dederit, suspectum habeant: et proditi, cum eorum in palam culpa processerit, non habentes ultra quid faciant, in amicum odia et maledicta congeminent, detrahentes in angulis, in tenebris susurrantes, se mendaciter exaltantes, et alios similiter accusantes. Si igitur his omnibus, post dimissam amicitiam, impetaris, quandiu tolerabilia fuerint, ferenda sunt: et hic honos veteri amicitiae tribuendus, ut in culpa sit, qui faciat, non is qui patiatur injuriam. Amicitia quippe aeterna est, unde: Omni tempore diligit qui amicus est (Prov. XVII). Si te laeserit ille, quem diligis, tu tamen dilige. Si talis fuerit, ut illi amicitia subtrahatur, nunquam tamen subtrahatur dilectio. Consule quantum potes saluti ejus, prospice famae, nec unquam amicitiae ejus prodas secreta, quamvis tua ipse prodiderit. GALTERUS. Quae sunt, rogo, illa vitia, pro quibus amicitiam paulatim dicis esse solvendam?
[…] that they do not break out into enmities, from which quarrels, curses and insults are born. For it is exceedingly shameful to wage war of this kind with one with whom you have lived familiarly. For even if you are assailed with all these things by one whom you had received into friendship (for it is indeed the custom of some, when they have lived in such a way that they no longer deserve to be loved, if some adversity has perhaps befallen them, to turn the blame back upon their friend; to say that friendship has been injured, and to hold every counsel their friend has given as suspect; and, when exposed, once their fault has come out into the open, having nothing further to do, to redouble hatred and curses against their friend, detracting in corners, whispering in the dark, exalting themselves falsely and likewise accusing others): if, then, you are assailed with all these things after the friendship has been given up, as long as they are bearable they must be borne; and this honour is to be paid to the old friendship, that the one who does the injury, not the one who suffers it, is at fault. For friendship is eternal; hence: He who is a friend loves at all times (Prov. 17). If he whom you love has hurt you, love him nevertheless. If he is such that friendship must be withdrawn from him, yet let love never be withdrawn. Take thought for his salvation as much as you can, look out for his reputation, and never betray the secrets of his friendship, though he himself has betrayed yours. WALTER. What, I ask, are those vices on account of which you say friendship is to be dissolved little by little?
AELREDUS. Quinque illa, quae paulo ante descripsimus; maxime autem revelatio secretorum, et occulti morsus detractionum. His sextum addimus. Si eos, qui tibi aeque diligendi sunt, laeserit, eisque, quorum tua interest providere saluti, ruinae et scandali materiam, etiam correptus praebere non desierit, maxime ubi vitiorum te tangit infamia. Non enim amor praeponderare debet religioni, non fidei, non charitati civium, non plebis saluti. Rex Assuerus superbissimum Aman, quem prae caeteris amicum habuerat, suspendit in cruce (Ezech. VII), amicitiae, quam ille fraudulentis consiliis laeserat, salutem multitudinis et charitatem praeponens uxoris. Jahel uxor Aber Cinei, licet pax fuerit inter Sisaram et domum Aber, plebis tamen salutem huic amicitiae praeferens, ipsum Sisaram clavo sopivit et malleo (Judic. IV). Sanctus propheta David, cum de jure amicitiae cognationi Jonathae debuerat pepercisse (II Reg. XXI), audiens tamen a Domino, propter Saul et domum ejus sanguinum, quia occiderat Gabaonitas, populum fame tribus annis jugiter laborasse, septem viros de cognatione ejus, Gabaonitis dedit puniendos. Hoc autem nolo vos ignorare, inter perfectos, quos sapienter electos et caute probatos, vera et spiritualis amicitia copulavit, non posse intervenire dissidium. Cum enim amicitia de duobus unum fecerit, sicut id quod unum est, non potest dividi, sic et amicitia a se non poterit separari. Patet igitur, hanc amicitiam, quae patitur sectionem, ex ea parte qua laeditur, nunquam fuisse veram. In hoc tamen amicitia probabilior, et magis virtus probatur, quod nec in eo qui laeditur, desinit
AELRED. Those five which we described a little while ago; but above all the revealing of secrets and the hidden bites of detraction. To these we add a sixth: if he injures those whom you are equally bound to love, and, even when rebuked, does not cease to furnish matter of ruin and scandal to those whose salvation it is your concern to provide for, above all where the disgrace of his vices touches you. For love must not outweigh religion, nor faith, nor the charity of fellow citizens, nor the welfare of the people. King Ahasuerus hanged on a cross the most proud Haman, whom he had held as a friend before the rest (Esther 7), preferring the welfare of the multitude and his love for his wife to the friendship which Haman had injured by his fraudulent counsels. Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, although there was peace between Sisera and the house of Heber, yet preferring the welfare of the people to this friendship, put Sisera himself to sleep with a nail and a hammer (Judg. 4). The holy prophet David, when by the law of friendship he ought to have spared the kindred of Jonathan (2 Sam. 21), yet, hearing from the Lord that the people had suffered from famine continually for three years because of Saul and his house of blood, since he had killed the Gibeonites, gave seven men of his kindred to the Gibeonites to be punished. But I do not want you to be ignorant of this: that between the perfect, whom, wisely chosen and carefully proved, a true and spiritual friendship has joined together, no disagreement can intervene. For since friendship has made one out of two, just as that which is one cannot be divided, so too friendship cannot be separated from itself. It is plain, then, that a friendship which suffers division was never true on the side on which it is injured. Yet in this the friendship is more commendable, and its virtue is the more proved, that even in the one who is injured it does not cease […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 685
Page
- running head: 685 DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA. — LIB. III. 686 (one head across the page; the right half read in n686)
- marginal letters: A ‹ut non usque ad inimicitias›; B ‹post dimissam amicitiam›; C ‹Si eos, qui tibi aeque›; D ‹jure amicitiae cognationi› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 686)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column continues "ita tamen" at the foot of col 684 (no hyphen). "⟨a⟩b eo": the a lost in damaged type (only a trace of the b shows). "gerere" has a stray mark over the e, not set. Damaged but legible: "enim", "in amicitiam", "tu", "charitati". "(Ezech. VII)" printed for Esther 7 (logged). "Aber", "Sisaram", "sanguinum" as printed. The column ends "desinit" with no hyphen.
esse quod fuit; diligens eum, a quo non diligitur; honorans eum, a quo spernitur, benedicens eum, a quo maledicitur; benefaciens ei, qui sibi quod perniciosum est, machinatur. GALTERUS. Quomodo ergo amicitia solvitur, si excluso talia sunt exhibenda ab eo, a quo solvitur?
[…] to be what it was: loving him by whom it is not loved; honouring him by whom it is spurned, blessing him by whom it is cursed; doing good to him who plots what is ruinous to it. WALTER. How then is friendship dissolved, if such things are to be shown to the one shut out by him by whom it is dissolved?
AELREDUS. Ad amicitiam quatuor pertinere specialiter videntur: scilicet dilectio et affectio, securitas et jucunditas. Ad dilectionem spectat, cum benevolentia beneficiorum exhibitio. Ad affectionem, interior quaedam procedens delectatio. Ad securitatem, sine timore et suspicione omnium consiliorum et secretorum revelatio. Ad jucunditatem, de omnibus quae contingunt, sive laeta sint, sive tristia; de omnibus quae cogitantur, sive nociva sint, sive utilia; de omnibus quae docentur vel discuntur, quaedam dulcis et amica collatio. Videsne, in quibus ab his qui merentur, solvenda est amicitia? Subtrahitur certe illa interior delectatio, quam ex amici pectore jugiter hauriebat; perit securitas, qua sua illi arcana revelabat; seponitur jucunditas, quam amica confabulatio pariebat. Familiaritas proinde illa, in qua talia continentur, ei neganda est, non subtrahenda dilectio: et hoc cum quadam moderatione et reverentia, ut si non nimius fuerit horror, semper antiquae amicitiae quaedam videantur remansisse vestigia. GRATIANUS. Mihi certe placent ista, quae dicis.
AELRED. Four things seem to belong especially to friendship: namely love and affection, security and pleasantness. To love belongs the showing of benefits with good will. To affection, a certain inward delight coming forth. To security, the revealing of all counsels and secrets without fear and suspicion. To pleasantness, a certain sweet and friendly sharing about all things that happen, whether they are glad or sad; about all things that are thought, whether they are harmful or useful; about all things that are taught or learned. Do you see in what respects friendship is to be dissolved with those who deserve it? That inward delight which he used to draw continually from his friend's breast is certainly withdrawn; the security by which he used to reveal his secrets to him perishes; the pleasantness which friendly conversation used to bring forth is set aside. Therefore that familiarity in which such things are contained must be denied him, but love is not to be withdrawn; and this with a certain moderation and reverence, so that, if the horror has not been excessive, some traces of the old friendship may always seem to have remained. GRATIAN. These things that you say certainly please me.
AELREDUS. Jam, de el⟨e⟩ctione si sufficiunt ista quae diximus, insinuate. GALTERUS. Vellem, ut eorum, quae dicta sunt, summa sub brevi nobis epilogo traderetur.
AELRED. Now tell me whether these things we have said about choice suffice. WALTER. I should like the sum of what has been said to be handed to us in a brief epilogue.
AELREDUS. Geram vobis morem. Amorem amicitiae diximus esse principium, nec qualemcunque, sed qui de ratione simul et affectu procedit. Qui quidem et castus est ex ratione, et ex affectu dulcis. Deinde amicitiae ponendum diximus fundamentum, Dei scilicet dilectionem, ad quam omnia, quae suggeruntur, referenda sunt, et utrum ei conveniant, vel ab ea dissideant, explorandum. Quatuor subinde gradus in amicitia, quibus ad ejus summam pervenitur, custodiendos putavimus, cum amicus primum sit eligendus, deinde probandus, tunc demum admittendus, et sic postea ut decet, tractandus. Et de electione tractantes, iracundos, instabiles, suspiciosos atque verbosos exclusimus: non omnes tamen, sed eos duntaxat, qui has passiones nec ordinare, nec moderari possunt aut nolunt. Nam multi his perturbationibus sic tanguntur, ut non solum eorum in nullo laedatur perfectio, sed etiam virtus eorum moderatione laudabilius augeatur. Nam qui velut infrenes, his passionibus ac⟨t⟩i semper feruntur in praeceps, in ea vitia inevitabiliter dilabuntur et corruunt, quibus amicitia, teste Scriptura, et laeditur et dissolvitur; convicia scilicet, et improperium, et secretorum revelatio, superbia, et plaga dolosa. Si tamen haec omnia patiaris ab ⟨i⟩llo, quem semel in amicitiam suscepisti, non statim eam ⟨rum⟩pendam dicimus, sed paulatim solvendam
AELRED. I will humour you. We said that love is the beginning of friendship, and not love of any kind, but that which proceeds from reason and affection together; which indeed is chaste from reason and sweet from affection. Next we said that the foundation of friendship must be laid, namely the love of God, to which all things that are suggested must be referred, and it must be examined whether they agree with it or differ from it. Then we thought that four stages in friendship, by which one comes to its summit, must be kept: that a friend is first to be chosen, then proved, then at last admitted, and so thereafter treated as is fitting. And in treating of choice we excluded the irascible, the unstable, the suspicious and the talkative: yet not all of them, but only those who cannot or will not order or moderate these passions. For many are so touched by these disturbances that not only is their perfection in no way injured, but even their virtue is more laudably increased by moderation. For those who, as if unbridled, are always driven headlong by these passions, inevitably slip down and fall into those vices by which, as Scripture witnesses, friendship is both injured and dissolved: namely revilings, and reproach, and the revealing of secrets, pride, and the treacherous wound. If, however, you suffer all these things from one whom you have once taken into friendship, we say that it is not to be broken off at once, but dissolved little by little […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 686
Page
- running head: 685 DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA. — LIB. III. 686 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹esse quod fuit›; B ‹utilia; de omnibus quae›; C ‹quae dicta sunt, summa›; D ‹electione tractantes› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 685)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column continues "desinit" at the foot of col 685 (no hyphen). Gaps in the type supplied: "el⟨e⟩ctione", "ac⟨t⟩i", "ab ⟨i⟩llo", and "eam ⟨rum⟩pendam" (the line ending "eam" is short and the next begins "pendam"; the syllable is supplied from the sense, cf. "non rumpendam" in col 684; UNSURE). "Quomodo" has a worn d. Damaged but legible: "procedens", "affectionem", "diximus", "tanguntur, ut", "inevitabiliter", "vitia". "excluso" set and translated as printed. The column ends "solvendam" with no stop and no hyphen; the column's text stops somewhat above the foot.
servetur antiquae amicitiae reverentia, ut licet ipsum a secretis tuis amoveas, nunquam tamen ei dilectionem subtrahas, auxilium tollas, neges consilium. Quod si etiam ad blasphemias et maledicta ejus prorumpat insania, ⟨tu⟩ tamen defer foederi, defer charitati, ut in culpa sit qui intulit, non ille qui pertulit injuriam. Porro ⟨si⟩ patri, si patriae, ⟨si⟩ civibus, si subditis, si amicis inventus fuerit perniciosus, statim familiaritatis rumpendum est vinculum, nec unius amor perditioni multitudinis praeferatur. Haec ne proveniant, in ipsa electione cavendum, ut videlicet ⟨is⟩ eligatur, quem non ad ista furor impellat, aut levitas trahat, aut verbositas praecipitet, aut abducat suspicio: maxime, qui non nimium a tuis dissentiat moribus, nec a qualitate discordet. Quia vero de vera amicitia loquimur, quae non potest esse nisi inter bonos, de illis, de quibus, quod non sint eligendi, nulla potest esse cunctatio, ut turpes, avari, ambitiosi, criminosi, nullam facimus mentionem. Si vobis de electione satis datum est, ad probationem deinceps transeamus. GALTERUS. Opportunum hoc; nam mihi semper ad ostium oculus est, ne forte quis irrumpat, qui vel nostris deliciis finem ponat, vel quid amaritudinis misceat, vel aliquid superducat inane. GRATIANUS. Cellerarius adest, cui si concedatur ingressus, non erit tibi facultas ulterius procedendi. Sed ecce ego observo januam, tu Pater, perge quo coeperas.
[…] the reverence of the old friendship is kept, so that, although you remove him from your secrets, you yet never withdraw your love from him, take away your help, or deny your counsel. But if his madness should even break out into blasphemies and curses, do you nevertheless defer to the covenant, defer to charity, so that the one who inflicted the injury, not the one who bore it, is at fault. Further, if he is found to be ruinous to his father, to his country, to his fellow citizens, to those under him, or to his friends, the bond of familiarity must be broken at once, and the love of one man must not be preferred to the ruin of the multitude. Lest these things come about, care must be taken in the choice itself, namely that he be chosen whom fury does not drive to these things, nor levity draw, nor talkativeness hurl headlong, nor suspicion lead astray; above all, one who does not differ too much from your character nor disagree with your quality. But since we are speaking of true friendship, which cannot exist except between the good, we make no mention of those about whom there can be no hesitation that they are not to be chosen, such as the base, the avaricious, the ambitious, the criminal. If enough has been given you about choice, let us pass next to probation. WALTER. This is timely; for my eye is always on the door, lest perhaps someone should burst in who would either put an end to our delights, or mix in something of bitterness, or bring in something empty. GRATIAN. The cellarer is at hand; if he is granted entry, you will have no opportunity of proceeding further. But see, I am watching the door; you, Father, go on where you had begun.
AELREDUS. Quatuor probanda sunt in amico: fides, intentio, discretio, patientia. Fides, ut ei te secure committas. Intentio, ut nihil ex amicitia, nisi Deum et naturale ejus bonum exspectes. Discretio, ut quid praestandum amico, quid ab eo petendum, in quibus contristandum pro eo, in quibus amico congratulandum, pro quibus eum corripiendum, modum, tempus et locum non ignores. Patientia vero, ne correptus doleat, ne corripientem contemnat vel odiat, ut eum pro amico quaelibet adversa sustinere non pigeat. Nihil in amicitia fide praestantius, quae ipsius nutrix videtur et custos. Ipsa se in omnibus adversis et prosperis, laetis et tristibus, jucundis et amaris, praebet aequalem: eodem intuens oculo humilem et sublimem, pauperem et divitem, fortem et debilem, sanum et aegrotum. Fidelis proprie amicus nihil in amico, quod extra ejus animum, intuetur: virtutem in propria sede complectens, caetera omnia quasi extra eum posita, nihil multum probat si adsint, nec cum absint requirens. Ipsa tamen fides in prosperis latet, sed eminet in adversis. In necessitate probatur amicus. Amici divitis multi; sed utrum veri amici sint, interveniens adversitas probat. Salomon: Omni tempore diligit qui amicus est, et frater in angustiis comprobatur (Prov. XVII). ⟨Et⟩ arguens infidelem dicit: Dens putridus, et pes lassus, qui sperat super infideli in die angustiae (Prov. XXV). GRATIANUS. Si prospera nostra nulla unquam adversitas interpolet, quomodo amici probabitur fides?
AELRED. Four things are to be proved in a friend: faith, intention, discretion, patience. Faith, so that you may commit yourself to him securely. Intention, so that you expect nothing from friendship except God and its natural good. Discretion, so that you are not ignorant of what is to be given to a friend, what is to be asked of him, in what things one must grieve for him, in what things one must rejoice with a friend, for what things he must be rebuked, [and of] the manner, time and place. Patience, so that he does not grieve when rebuked, nor despise or hate the one who rebukes him, [and] so that it does not irk him to bear any adversities whatever for his friend. Nothing in friendship is more excellent than faith, which seems to be its nurse and guardian. It shows itself equal in all things adverse and prosperous, glad and sad, pleasant and bitter, regarding with the same eye the humble and the exalted, the poor and the rich, the strong and the weak, the healthy and the sick. The faithful friend, properly speaking, regards nothing in his friend that is outside his mind: embracing virtue in its own seat, he sets no great value on all other things, as placed outside him, if they are present, nor seeks them when they are absent. Yet this faith lies hidden in prosperity, but stands out in adversity. A friend is proved in need. The rich have many friends; but whether they are true friends, adversity, when it comes, proves. Solomon: He who is a friend loves at all times, and a brother is proved in straits (Prov. 17). And rebuking the faithless man he says: A rotten tooth and a weary foot is he who hopes in a faithless man in the day of straits (Prov. 25). GRATIAN. If no adversity ever interrupts our prosperity, how will a friend's faith be proved?
AELREDUS. Multa sunt alia, quibus fides probatur
AELRED. There are many other things by which faith is proved […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 687
Page
- running head: 687 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. PARS I. — ASCETICA. 688 (one head across the page; the right half read in n688)
- marginal letters: A ‹servetur antiquae amicitiae›; B ‹Quia vero de vera amicitia›; C ‹fides, intentio, discretio›; D ‹delis proprie amicus› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 688)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column continues "solvendam" at the foot of col 686 (no hyphen, no stop). Blotted words supplied from the width of the blot and the sense: "⟨tu⟩ tamen defer", "Porro ⟨si⟩ patri", "⟨si⟩ civibus", "ut videlicet ⟨is⟩ eligatur" (UNSURE: a pronoun of one or two letters), "⟨Et⟩ arguens". "verbositas" has a worn a. A stray mark after "GRATIANUS." is not set. The column ends "fides probatur" with no hyphen.
amici, quamvis in sinistris maxime. Nam, ut superius diximus, nihil est quod amicitiam magis laedit, quam consiliorum proditio. Evangelica vero sententia est: Qui in modico fidelis est, et in multo fidelis erit (Luc. XVI). Amicis itaque, quibus adhuc probationem credimus necessariam, non omnia, nec profunda nostra sunt committenda secreta, sed primo exteriora vel modica, de quibus non magnopere curandum est, an celentur an nudentur; cum tanta tamen cautione, ac si plurimum obessent prodita, prodessent autem celata. In quibus si fidelis fuerit inventus, in majoribus experiendum non dubites. Quod si forte sinistrum aliquid de te fama vulgaverit, si quisquam malitia famam tuam fuerit persecutus, et ille nullius ad credendum adducatur suggestione, nulla moveatur suspicione, nulla dubitatione turbetur; de ejus fide ulterius nulla tibi debet esse cunctatio, sed quasi de certa et stabili, non parva exsultatio. GRATIANUS. Recordor nunc tui illius amici transmarini, de quo nobis fecisti saepe mentionem, quem ob hoc verissimum tibi ac fidelissimum probasti amicum, quod falsa de te referentibus, non solum non adhibuerit fidem, sed nec ulla sit haesitatione pulsatus: quod nec de tuo amicissimo, antiquo scilicet Clarae-Vallis sacrista, praesumendum putasti. Sed quoniam de probatione fidei satis actum est, ad caetera enucleanda procede.
[…] of a friend, though most of all in misfortunes. For, as we said above, there is nothing that injures friendship more than the betrayal of counsels. And the sentence of the Gospel is: He who is faithful in little will be faithful also in much (Luke 16). And so to friends for whom we believe probation is still necessary, not all our secrets, nor the deep ones, are to be committed, but first outward or small ones, about which one need not greatly care whether they are concealed or laid bare; yet with as much caution as if, betrayed, they would do very great harm, and concealed, great good. If he has been found faithful in these, do not hesitate to try him in greater things. But if perhaps rumour has spread something unfavourable about you, if anyone has attacked your reputation out of malice, and he is led to believe by no one's suggestion, is moved by no suspicion, is disturbed by no doubt, then you ought to have no further hesitation about his faith, but, as about something certain and stable, no small exultation. GRATIAN. I now remember that friend of yours overseas, of whom you have often made mention to us, whom you proved to be a most true and most faithful friend to you for this reason, that he not only gave no credence to those who reported false things about you, but was not even shaken by any hesitation: which you thought could not be presumed even of your dearest friend, namely the former sacristan of Clairvaux. But since enough has been done about the probation of faith, go on to explain the rest.
AELREDUS. Diximus etiam intentionem esse probandam. Pernecessarium hoc: sunt enim plerique, qui in rebus humanis nihil norunt bonum, nisi quod temporaliter fructuosum sit. Hi amicos sicut boves suos diligunt, ex quibus aliquid boni sperant capturos: qui profecto germana et spiritali carent amicitia, propter Deum et se expetenda, nec in se ipsis naturale contuentur exemplar: ubi facile deprehenditur vis ejus qualis sit, et quanta sit. Ipse Dominus ac Salvator noster verae nobis amicitiae formam praescripsit: Diliges, inquiens, proximum tuum sicut te ipsum (Matth. XXII). En speculum. Diligis te ipsum. Ita plane, si Deum diligis; si nempe talis es, qualem in amicitiam eligendum descripsimus. Aliquam, rogo, a te ipso, hujus tuae dilectionis mercedem judicas exigendam? Minime profecto, sed quod per se sibi quisque charus est. Nisi igitur et ⟨tu⟩ hunc ipsum in alium transferas affectum, charus ille tibi, aeque ut tu, esse non poterit. Tunc, enim erit ipse, quem diligis, alter tu, si tuam in ipsum transfuderis charitatem. Non enim, ut ait sanctus Ambrosius, vectigalis est amicitia, sed plena decoris, plena gratiae. Virtus est, non quaestus, quia pecunia non potitur, sed gratia; nec licitatione pretiorum, sed concertatione benevolentiae. Ejus igitur, quem elegisti, subtiliter est probanda intentio, ne secundum spem commodi cujuslibet tibi velit in amicitia copulari, mercenariam eam aestimans non gratuitam. Certiores autem plerumque sunt amicitiae inopum quam divitum, cum spem lucri sic tollat paupertas, ut amicitiae non minuat, sed potius augeat charitatem. Divitibus itaque assentatorie gratificatur;
AELRED. We said also that intention must be proved. This is very necessary: for there are many who know no good in human affairs except what is profitable in time. These love their friends as they love their oxen, from which they hope to get some good: they indeed lack genuine and spiritual friendship, which is to be sought for God's sake and its own, and they do not contemplate in themselves the natural pattern, in which the force of friendship, what it is and how great it is, is easily discerned. Our Lord and Saviour Himself prescribed for us the form of true friendship: You shall love, He says, your neighbour as yourself (Matt. 22). Behold the mirror. You love yourself. Truly so, if you love God; if, that is, you are such as we have described the man to be chosen for friendship. Do you judge, I ask, that some reward for this love of yours is to be exacted from yourself? Certainly not, but [you love yourself] because each one is dear to himself of himself. Unless, therefore, you too transfer this very affection to another, he will not be able to be dear to you as you are. For then he whom you love will be another you, if you pour your charity into him. For, as holy Ambrose says, friendship is not a thing that pays tribute, but full of seemliness, full of grace. It is a virtue, not a gain, because it is won not by money but by grace; not by bidding up prices, but by a contest of good will. The intention, therefore, of him whom you have chosen must be carefully proved, lest he wish to be joined to you in friendship in hope of some advantage, esteeming it mercenary and not free. Now the friendships of the poor are generally more certain than those of the rich, since poverty so takes away the hope of gain that it does not diminish but rather increases the charity of friendship. And so to the rich one shows favour with flattery;
Editors' notes and page, col. 688
Page
- running head: 687 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. PARS I. — ASCETICA. 688 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹amici, quamvis in sinistris›; B ‹gestione, nulla moveatur›; C ‹qui in rebus humanis›; D ‹ipsum in alium transferas› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 687)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column continues "fides probatur" at the foot of col 687 (no hyphen). A blotted word supplied: "et ⟨tu⟩ hunc". "diligunt" damaged but legible. "Tunc, enim" punctuated as printed. The column ends "gra-", completed from the head of col 689 and set whole as "gratificatur;" at the end of this column.
erga pauperem nemo simulator est. Verum est quidquid defertur pauperi, cujus amicitia invidia vacat. Haec diximus, ut in amicis mores probemus, non aestimemus censum. Sic ergo probatur intentio. Si eum videris tuorum magis cupidum, quam tui; aucupari semper aliquid, quod tua sibi conferri possit industria, honorem, gloriam, divitias, libertatem; in quibus omnibus si dignior illo praeferatur, vel certe in tua non sit potestate quod appetitur, qua tibi intentione adhaeserit, facile pervidebis. Jam nunc de discretione videamus.
[…] towards the poor man no one is a pretender. Whatever is offered to a poor man is true, since his friendship is free of envy. We have said these things so that in friends we may prove their character, not assess their wealth. Thus, then, intention is proved. If you see that he is more desirous of your things than of you; that he is always hunting for something which your efforts could confer on him, honour, glory, riches, liberty; [and] if in all these a worthier man is preferred to him, or at any rate what he seeks is not in your power, you will easily see with what intention he has clung to you. Now let us look at discretion.
Qui tam perverse satis, ne dicam impudenter, talem amicum habere volunt, quales ipsi esse non possunt. Hi sunt, qui leves quoque amicorum transgressiones impatienter ferunt, austere corripiunt, et carentes discretione magna negligunt, contra minima quaeque se erigunt, confundunt omnia, non locum servantes, ubi; non tempus, quando; non personas, quibus quaelibet vel publicare conveniat, vel celare. Quocirca illius, quem eligis, est probanda discretio; ne si improvidum quemquam vel imprudentem tibi in amicitia sociaveris, lites quotidianas et jurgia tibi ipse perquiras. Sane hanc in amicitia necessariam esse virtutem satis facile est pervidere, qua si quis caruerit, instar navis absque gubernaculo, pro impetu spiritus, instabili et irrationabili semper motu feretur. Sic et multae causae deesse non poterunt, quibus illius, quem cupis esse amicum, probetur patientia: cum necesse sit arguere eum quem diligis: quod aliquando quasi ex industria durius fieri oportet, ut sic ejus vel probetur, vel exerceatur tolerantia. Id sane attendendum est, ut licet talia reperiantur in eo quem probas, quae offendant animum, vel alicujus secreti incauta revelatione, vel alicujus temporalis commodi cupiditate, vel minus discreta correptione, vel aliqua debitae lenitatis transgressione, non statim a proposita dilectione vel electione resilias, quandiu correctionis ejus spes ulla relucet. Nec quemquam in amicis eligendis, vel probandis taedeat esse sollicitum; cum hujus laboris fructus vitae sit medicamentum, et immortalitatis solidissimum fundamentum. Cum enim plurimi in thesauris multiplicandis, in bobus et asinis, in ovibus et capris nutriendis, eligendis, comparandis, satis periti sint, indiciaque certa in his omnibus cognoscendis non desint, dementiae res est, eamdem in amicis acquirendis, vel probandis non dare operam, et quasdam addiscere notas, quibus hi, quos eligimus in amicos, ad amicitiam probentur idonei. Cavendus sane est quidam impetus amoris, qui pra⟨e⟩currit judicium, et probandi adimit potestatem. Est proinde viri prudentis sustinere, hunc refrenare impetum, ponere modum benevolentiae, paulatim procedere in affectum, donec jam probato se totum dedat, et committat amico. GALTERUS. Fateor, adhuc me movet illorum sententia, qui sine hujusmodi amicis vivere tutius arbitrantur.
There are those who, perversely enough, not to say shamelessly, wish to have such a friend as they themselves cannot be. These are they who bear impatiently even the light transgressions of their friends, rebuke them harshly, and, lacking discretion, neglect great things, rise up against every least thing, confound everything, observing neither the place where, nor the time when, nor the persons to whom it is fitting that anything whatever should be either made public or concealed. Therefore the discretion of him whom you choose must be proved, lest, if you join to yourself in friendship someone improvident or imprudent, you bring daily quarrels and disputes upon yourself. Indeed it is easy enough to see that this virtue is necessary in friendship: whoever lacks it will be borne, like a ship without a rudder, by the impulse of the wind, always with an unstable and irrational motion. So too there cannot fail to be many occasions by which the patience of him whom you desire to be your friend may be proved, since it is necessary to reprove the one whom you love; and this at times must be done more harshly, as if on purpose, so that his endurance may thus be either proved or exercised. This indeed must be attended to: although such things are found in the one whom you are proving as offend the mind, either by the incautious revealing of some secret, or by the desire of some temporal advantage, or by a rebuke too little discreet, or by some transgression of due gentleness, you should not at once draw back from the love or choice you had resolved upon, as long as any hope of his correction shines. Nor should it weary anyone to be careful in choosing or proving friends, since the fruit of this labour is the medicine of life and the most solid foundation of immortality. For since very many are skilful enough in multiplying treasures, in rearing, choosing and purchasing oxen and asses, sheep and goats, and certain signs are not lacking for recognizing all these things, it is a matter of madness not to give the same effort to acquiring or proving friends, and to learn certain marks by which those whom we choose as friends may be proved fit for friendship. Indeed a certain impulse of love must be guarded against, which runs ahead of judgement and takes away the power of proving. It is therefore the part of a prudent man to hold back, to rein in this impulse, to set a measure to good will, to advance little by little into affection, until he gives himself wholly and commits himself to a friend now proved. WALTER. I confess, I am still moved by the opinion of those who think it safer to live without friends of this kind.
AELREDUS. Mirum hoc, cum sine amicis nulla prorsus vita jucunda sit. GALTERUS. Cur rogo te?
AELRED. This is strange, since without friends no life at all is pleasant. WALTER. Why, I ask you?
Editors' notes and page, col. 689
Page
- running head: 689 DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA. — LIB. III. 690 (one head across the page; the right half read in n690)
- marginal letters: A ‹tificatur; erga pauperem›; B ‹impatienter ferunt›; C ‹gis: quod aliquando›; D ‹satis periti sint› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 690)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column opens with "tificatur;", the end of "gra-tificatur", set whole at the end of col 688; the rail stands at "erga pauperem". A gap in the type supplied: "pra⟨e⟩currit". Damaged but legible: "illo", "tam", "idonei". "Cur rogo te?" punctuated as printed. The column ends "Cur rogo te?" with no hyphen; its text stops somewhat above the foot.
AELREDUS. Ponamus totum genus humanum exemptum mundo, te solum superstitem reliquisse. ⟨Et⟩ ecce coram te omnes mundi deliciae et divitiae, aurum, argentum, lapides pretiosi, urbes muratae, castra turrita, ampla aedificia, sculpturae, picturae. Sed et reformatum te in antiquum cogita statum, omnia habere subjecta, oves ⟨et⟩ boves universas, insuper et pecora campi, volucres coeli et pisces maris, qui perambulant semitas maris (Psal. VIII). Dic rogo nunc, utrum sine socio omnia tibi haec possent esse jucunda? GALTERUS. Minime.
AELRED. Let us suppose that the whole human race has been taken out of the world and has left you the only survivor. And behold, before you all the delights and riches of the world, gold, silver, precious stones, walled cities, towered castles, spacious buildings, sculptures, paintings. And think of yourself also as restored to the ancient state, having all things subject to you, all sheep and oxen, moreover the beasts of the field too, the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, that walk the paths of the sea (Ps. 8). Tell me now, I ask, whether all these things could be pleasant to you without a companion? WALTER. Not at all.
AELREDUS. Quod si unum haberes cujus nescires linguam, ignorares mores, cujus te lateret et amor et animus? GALTERUS. Si non aliquibus signis efficere possem, ut esset amicus, mallem nullum, quam talem habere.
AELRED. And if you had one whose tongue you did not know, whose ways you were ignorant of, whose love and mind were hidden from you? WALTER. If I could not by some signs bring it about that he should be a friend, I would rather have none than such a one.
AELREDUS. ⟨Si⟩ autem unus adesset, quem aeque ut te ipsum diligeres, a quo te similiter diligi non dubitares, nonne omnia, quae prius videbantur amara, dulcia redderentur et sapida? GALTERUS. Prorsus ita est.
AELRED. But if one were present whom you loved equally as yourself, by whom you did not doubt that you were loved in like manner, would not all things that before seemed bitter be made sweet and savoury? WALTER. It is entirely so.
AELREDUS. Nonne quanto plures haberes de talibus, tanto feliciorem te judicares? GALTERUS. Velissime.
AELRED. Would you not judge yourself the happier, the more of such men you had? WALTER. Most truly.
AELREDUS. Haec est illa mira et magna felicitas, quam exspectamus, Deo ipso operante et diffundente inter se et creaturam suam, quam sustulerit, inter ipsos gradus et ordines, quos distinxerit, inter singulos quosque, quos elegerit, tantam amicitiam et charitatem, ut sic quisque diligat alium sicut se ipsum; ac per hoc sicut unusquisque de propria, sic et de alterius felicitate laetetur: et ita singulorum beatitudo omnium sit, et omnium beatitudinum universitas singulorum. Ibi nulla cogitationum occultatio, nulla affectionum dissimulatio. Haec est vera et aeterna amicitia, quae hic inchoatur, ibi perficitur; quae hic paucorum est, ubi pauci boni; ibi omnium, ubi omnes boni. Hic necessaria probatio, ubi est sapientium et stultorum permistio; ibi probatione non egent, quos beatificat ang⟨e⟩lica illa et quodammodo divina perfectio. Ad hanc proinde similitudinem comparemus amicos, quos non secus ac nos ipsos diligamus; quorum nobis nuda sint omnia, quibus omnia nostra pandamus secreta; qui firmi sint, et stabiles, et constantes in omnibus. Putasne quemquam mortalium esse, qui non velit amari? GALTERUS. Non aestimo.
AELRED. This is that wonderful and great happiness which we await, when God Himself works and pours out between Himself and His creature, which He has raised up, among the very grades and orders which He has distinguished, among each and every one whom He has chosen, so great a friendship and charity that each loves another as himself; and through this, just as each rejoices in his own happiness, so too he rejoices in another's; and so the blessedness of each is that of all, and the totality of all blessedness is that of each. There, there is no concealment of thoughts, no dissembling of affections. This is the true and eternal friendship, which is begun here and perfected there; which here belongs to few, where few are good; there to all, where all are good. Here probation is necessary, where there is a mingling of the wise and the foolish; there those do not need probation whom that angelic and in some way divine perfection makes blessed. To this likeness, then, let us compare the friends whom we are to love no otherwise than ourselves; all of whose things are laid bare to us, to whom we open all our secrets; who are firm and stable and constant in all things. Do you think there is anyone among mortals who does not wish to be loved? WALTER. I do not think so.
AELREDUS. Si quem videres inter multos vivere, et omnes habere suspectos, quasi insidiatores capitis sui timere omnes, nullum diligere, nec se diligi a quoquam putare, non eum miserrimum judicares? GALTERUS. Miserrimum plane.
AELRED. If you saw someone living among many and holding them all suspect, fearing them all as plotters against his life, loving no one, and thinking himself loved by no one, would you not judge him most wretched? WALTER. Most wretched indeed.
AELREDUS. Ergo ipsum felicissimum non negabis, qui in eorum, inter quos vivit, visceribus requiescit, amans omnes ⟨et⟩ amatus ab omnibus, quem ab hac suavissima tranquillitate nec suspicio dividat nec timor excutiat. GALTERUS. Optime ac verissime.
AELRED. Then you will not deny that he is most happy who rests in the hearts of those among whom he lives, loving all and loved by all, whom neither suspicion divides nor fear shakes from this sweetest tranquillity. WALTER. Very well and very truly [said].
AELREDUS. Quid si forte de omnibus difficile inventu sit in praesenti, cum id nobis in futurum servetur,
AELRED. What if perhaps [such a thing] is hard to find in the present with regard to all, since that is reserved for us in the future, […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 690
Page
- running head: 689 DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA. — LIB. III. 690 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹AELREDUS. Ponamus totum›; B ‹cere possem, ut esset›; C ‹charitatem, ut sic quisque›; D ‹firmi sint, et stabiles› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 689)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column opens with a new speech (AELREDUS.) after "Cur rogo te?" at the foot of col 689. Blotted words supplied: "⟨Et⟩ ecce", "oves ⟨et⟩ boves", "⟨Si⟩ autem", "omnes ⟨et⟩ amatus"; a gap in the type: "ang⟨e⟩lica". "Velissime" printed for "Verissime" (logged; the same word is printed correctly lower in the column). The column ends "ser-", completed from the head of col 691 and set whole as "servetur," at the end of this column.
quanto plures nobis abundant hujusmodi, tanto nobis feliciores aestimabimus? Nudiustertius cum claustra monasterii circuirem, consedente fratrum amantissima corona, et quasi inter paradisiacas amoenitates singularum arborum folia, flores fructusque mirarer; nullum inveniens in illa multitudine, quem non diligerem et a quo me diligi non confiderem, tanto gaudio perfusus sum, ut omnes mundi hujus delicias supe⟨r⟩aret. Sent⟨i⟩ebam quippe meum spiritum transfusum in omnibus, et in me omnium transmigrasse affectum, ut dicerem cum Propheta: Ecce quam bonum et quam jucundum, habitare fratres in unum! (Psal. CXXXII.) GRATIANUS. Non omnes illos, quos sic diligis et a quibus s⟨i⟩c diligeris, te in amicitiam assumpsisse putabimus?
[…] shall we not count ourselves the happier, the more such men abound to us? The day before yesterday, as I was going round the cloisters of the monastery, with the most loving ring of the brethren sitting together, and was admiring, as it were among the delights of paradise, the leaves, flowers and fruits of each several tree, finding no one in that multitude whom I did not love and by whom I was not confident that I was loved, I was flooded with such joy that it surpassed all the delights of this world. For I felt my spirit poured into all of them, and the affection of all to have passed over into me, so that I might say with the Prophet: Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell in unity! (Ps. 132.) GRATIAN. Are we not to suppose that you have taken into friendship all those whom you love in this way and by whom you are so loved?
AELREDUS. Plerosque omni affectu complectimur, quos tamen ad amicitiae secreta non admittimus; quae maxime in omnium secretorum, et consiliorum nostrorum revelatione consistit: unde Dominus in Evangelio: Jam non dicam vos servos, sed amicos meos; causamque subjungens, qua amici nomine digni haberentur: Quia omnia, inquit, quae audivi a Patre meo, nota feci vobis (Joan. XV). Et alias: Vos amici mei estis, si feceritis quae praecipio vobis (ibid.). De « his verbis, ut sanctus ait Ambrosius (lib. 3, De offic. c. 21), dedit formam amicitiae quam sequamur, ut faciamus amici voluntatem, ut aperiamus secreta nostra amico, quaecunque in pectore habemus, et illius arcana non ignoremus. Ostendamus illi nos pectus nostrum, et ille nobis aperiat suum. Nihil enim occultat amicus. Si verus est, effundit animum suum, sicut effundebat mysteria Patris Dominus Jesus. » Haec Ambrosius. Quam multos ergo diligimus, quibus minus cautum est, sic nostrum propalare animum, et effundere viscera! quorum vel aetas, vel sensus, sive discretio, ad talia sustinenda non sufficit. GALTERUS. Haec amicitia sublimis et perfecta est, ut ad eam aspirare non audeam. Mihi et huic Gratiano illa sufficit, quam tuus Augustinus describit (lib. IV, Meditat. c. 8), colloqui scilicet et corridere, et vicissim benevole obs⟨e⟩qui, simul legere, simul conferre, simul nugari et simul honestari; dissentire interdum sine odio, tanquam homo sibi, atque ipsa rarissima dissensione condire consensiones plurimas; docere aliquid invicem, aut discere ab invicem, desiderare absentes cum molestia, suscipere advenientes cum laetitia. His atque hujusmodi, a corde amantium et redamantium procedentibus signis per os, per linguam, per oculos, et mille motus gratissimos, quasi fomitibus conflare animos, et ex pluribus unum facere. Hoc est quod nos diligendum credimus in amicis; ita ut rea sibi nostra videatur conscientia, si non amaverimus redamantem, aut si amantem non redamaverimus.
AELRED. Many we embrace with all affection whom we nevertheless do not admit to the secrets of friendship, which consists above all in the revealing of all our secrets and counsels: whence the Lord in the Gospel: I will no longer call you servants, but My friends; and, adding the reason why they should be held worthy of the name of friends: Because all things, He says, that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you (John 15). And elsewhere: You are My friends if you do what I command you (ibid.). « From these words, as holy Ambrose says (bk. 3, On Duties, ch. 21), He gave the form of friendship for us to follow: that we should do the will of a friend, that we should open our secrets to a friend, whatever we have in our breast, and should not be ignorant of his hidden things. Let us show him our breast, and let him open his to us. For a friend hides nothing. If he is true, he pours out his mind, as the Lord Jesus poured out the mysteries of the Father. » So Ambrose. How many, then, we love to whom it is not safe thus to disclose our mind and pour out our inmost heart, whose age, or understanding, or discretion is not sufficient to bear such things! WALTER. This friendship is so sublime and perfect that I do not dare to aspire to it. For me and for Gratian here that friendship suffices which your Augustine describes (bk. 4, Meditations, ch. 8): namely to converse and laugh together, and in turn kindly to oblige one another, to read together, to discuss together, to jest together and to be serious together; to disagree at times without hatred, as a man does with himself, and with that very rare disagreement to season a great many agreements; to teach one another something, or to learn from one another, to long for the absent with vexation, to welcome those who come with gladness. By these and such signs, proceeding from the heart of those who love and are loved in return, through the mouth, through the tongue, through the eyes, and a thousand most pleasing movements, as by kindling, to fuse souls together and to make one out of many. This is what we believe is to be loved in friends, so that our conscience seems guilty to itself if we have not loved one who loves us in return, or if we have not loved in return one who loves us.
AELREDUS. Amicitia haec carnalium est, et maxime adolescentium, quales aliquando fuerant ipse et suus, de quo tunc loquebatur, amicus: quae tamen, exceptis nugis et mendaciis, si nulla intercesserit
AELRED. This friendship is that of carnal men, and above all of young men, such as he himself and his friend of whom he was then speaking had once been: which nevertheless, excepting trifles and lies, if no […] has intervened […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 691
Page
- running head: 691 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. PARS I. — ASCETICA. 692 (one head across the page; the right half seen at the head of col 692)
- marginal letters: A ‹vetur, quanto plures›; B ‹mus? / AELREDUS. Plerosque›; C ‹habemus, et illius arcana›; D ‹tanquam homo sibi› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 692)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column opens with "vetur,", the end of "ser-vetur", set whole at the end of col 690; the rail stands at "quanto plures". Gaps in the type supplied: "supe⟨r⟩aret", "Sent⟨i⟩ebam", "s⟨i⟩c", "obs⟨e⟩qui". The Ambrose passage is printed with guillemets, opening before "his verbis" and closing before "Haec Ambrosius"; set as printed. The lines from "Vos amici mei estis" to "(lib. 3, De offic. c. 21)" are smeared in the scan (read also at zoom 6): "his", "offic." and the chapter number "21" are read from the traces (UNSURE: 21 or 22). The column ends "interces-", completed from the head of col 692 (the first line there, "serit inhonestas", seen at zoom 4) and set whole as "intercesserit" at the end of this column. The lower part of col 692 above the imported text is SA04's.
inhonestas, spe uberioris gratiae toleranda est, quasi quaedam amicitiae sanctioris principia; quibus, crescente religione et spiritualium studiorum parilitate, accedente etiam maturioris aetatis gravitate et spiritualium sensuum illuminatione, purgatiori affectu ad altiora, quasi e vicino conscendant: sicut heterna die ab hominis ad Dei ipsius amicitiam, ob quamdam similitudinem diximus facilius transeundum. Sed jam tempus est, ut, quemadmodum amicitia sit colenda, deinceps videamus.
[…] indecency, it is to be tolerated in the hope of a richer grace, as being, so to speak, certain beginnings of a holier friendship; from which, as the religious life grows and with parity in spiritual pursuits, and with the added gravity of a riper age and the illumination of the spiritual senses, they may climb with a more purified affection to higher things, as from close at hand: just as we said yesterday that, because of a certain likeness, the passage from the [friendship] of man to the friendship of God Himself is made more easily. But now it is time that we see next how friendship is to be cultivated.
Firmamentum igitur stabilitatis et constantiae in amicitia fides est; nihil est enim stabile quod infidum est. Simplices quippe, et communes, et consentientes, et qui iisdem rebus moveantur, esse debent amici ad invicem: quae omnia pertinent ad fidelitatem. Non enim fidum potest esse multiplex ingenium et tortuosum; neque qui non eisdem rebus moventur, nec eisdem consentiunt, nec stabilis esse possunt amicitiae aut fidei. Prae omnibus autem cavenda est suspicio, quae est amicitiae venenum.
The foundation, then, of stability and constancy in friendship is fidelity; for nothing is stable that is unfaithful. For friends ought to be towards one another simple, and affable, and of one mind, and moved by the same things: all of which pertain to fidelity. For a manifold and tortuous character cannot be faithful; nor can those who are not moved by the same things, nor agree about the same things, be steadfast in friendship or in faith. Above all, however, suspicion is to be guarded against, which is the poison of friendship.
Non unquam de amico mala sentiamus, nec mala dicenti credamus vel consentiamus. Accedat hinc in sermone jucunditas, hilaritas in vultu, suavitas in moribus, in oculorum etiam nutu serenitas, in quibus haudquaquam mediocre in amicitia condimentum. Tristitia namque et severior facies habet quamdam honestam gravitatem, sed amicitia quasi remissior aliquando debet esse, et liberior et dulcior, ad comitatem facilitatemque sine levitate et dissolutione proclivior. Est praeterea illius amicitiae, parem esse inferiori superiorem. Saepe enim quidem inferioris gradus vel ordinis, vel dignitatis, vel scientiae, ab excellentioribus assumuntur in amicitiam: quos oportet omnia, quae extra naturam sunt, contemnere et aestimare quasi nihilum et inane; et in pulchritudinem amicitiae, quae non sericis vel gemmis ornatur, non possessionibus dilatatur, non pinguescit deliciis, nec abundat divitiis, non honoribus extollitur, non dignitatibus inflatur, semper attendere; et sic ad originis recurrentes principium, aequalitatem, quam natura dedit, non autem circumpendentia, quae mortalibus cupiditas praestitit, subtili examinatione considerare. Itaque in amicitia, quae naturae simul et gratiae optimum donum est, sublimis descendat, humilis ascendat; dives egeat, pauper ditescat: et ita unusquisque alteri suam conditionem communicet, ut fiat aequalitas. Unde scriptum est. Qui multum habuit, non abundavit: ⟨et⟩ qui modicum, non minoravit (II Cor. VIII).
Let us never think evil of a friend, nor believe or assent to one who speaks evil. Let there be added to this pleasantness in speech, cheerfulness in the face, sweetness in manners, serenity even in the glance of the eyes; in which things there is no mean seasoning in friendship. For sadness and a sterner face have a certain honourable gravity, but friendship ought at times to be, as it were, more relaxed, and freer and sweeter, more inclined to courtesy and affability without levity and dissoluteness. It belongs, moreover, to that friendship that the superior be equal to the inferior. For often those of lower rank or order, or dignity, or knowledge, are taken into friendship by those more excellent: and these ought to despise all things that are outside nature and reckon them as nothing and empty; and always to look to the beauty of friendship, which is not adorned with silks or gems, is not enlarged by possessions, does not grow fat on delicacies, nor abound in riches, is not raised up by honours, is not puffed up by dignities; and so, running back to the beginning of their origin, to consider with careful scrutiny the equality which nature gave, and not the trappings with which greed has furnished mortals. Therefore in friendship, which is the best gift of nature and of grace together, let the lofty descend, let the lowly ascend; let the rich be in want, let the poor grow rich: and so let each share his condition with the other, that there may be equality. Whence it is written. He who had much did not have too much; and he who had little did not have too little (2 Cor. 8:15).
Nunquam ergo tuo te praeferas amico, sed ⟨si⟩ forte in iis quae diximus superior inveniris, tunc te magis amico submittere non cuncteris, praestare confidentiam, extollere verecundum, et tanto plus ei conferre honoris, quanto minus conferendum conditio vel paupertas praescribit.
Never, then, prefer yourself to your friend; but if perhaps you find yourself superior in the things we have mentioned, then do not hesitate to submit yourself the more to your friend, to offer him confidence, to raise up his modesty, and to confer upon him the more honour, the less his condition or poverty prescribes what is to be conferred.
Praestantissimus juvenum Jonathas, non regium stemma, nec regni exspectationem attendens, foedus iniit cum David, et servum in amicitiam adaequans Domino, sic fugatum a patre, sic latitantem in eremo,
Jonathan, most excellent of young men, heeding neither his royal lineage nor the expectation of the kingdom, entered into a covenant with David, and, making the servant equal to the lord in friendship, thus when put to flight by his father, thus when hiding in the wilderness,
Editors' notes and page, col. 692
Page
- running head: 691 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. PARS I. — ASCETICA. 692 (one head across the page; recorded in n691)
- marginal letters: A ‹serit inhonestas›; B ‹nent ad fidelitatem›; C ‹temque sine levitate›; D ‹et gratiae optimum donum› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 691)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column opens with "serit", the end of "interces-serit", set whole at the end of col 691 by SA03; this column's text begins at "inhonestas". The upper part of the column (to "(II Cor. VIII).") was set by SA04; the rest ("Nunquam ergo" to "in ere-") is imported from R0321 and was checked against the page: one correction, "sed si forte" to "sed ⟨si⟩ forte" (the word is blotted). The import begins new paragraphs at "Nunquam ergo" and "Praestantissimus", which are run in on the page. "heterna" printed for "hesterna" (logged). "parilitate" read at zoom 6. "Non unquam", "Unde scriptum est." (full stop before the quotation) and "nec stabilis esse possunt" set as printed. Blotted word supplied: "⟨et⟩ qui modicum". The column ends "ere-", completed as "eremo" in the imported text.
sic adjudicatum morti, neci destinatum, sibi praetulit; se humilians, et illum exaltans. Tu, inquit, eris rex, et ego ero secundus post te (I Reg. XX). O praeclarissimum verae amicitiae speculum! Mira res! Rex furebat in servum, et quasi in aemulum regni totam patriam excitabat, sacerdotes arguens proditionis, pro sola suspicione trucidat; lustrat nemora, valles exquirit, montes et rupes armata obsidet manu, omnes se regiae indignationis spondent ultores: solus Jonathas, qui solus justius poterat invidere, patri resistendum putavit, deferendum amico, praebendum in tanta adversitate consilium, et amicitiam regno praeferens: Tu eris, ait, rex, et ego ero secundus post te. Et vide, quomodo pater adolescentis contra amicum excitabat invidiam, conviciis urgens, terrens minis, spoliandum regno, honore privandum commemorans. Cum enim in David mortis sententiam protulisset, Jonathas amico non defuit. Quare morietur David? Quid peccavit? Quid fecit? Ipse posuit animam suam in manu sua, et percussit Philistaeum, laetatus es. Quare ergo morietur? (ibid.). Ad hanc vocem versus in insaniam rex, lancea nisus est confodere Jonatham cum pariete, addensque convicia minis: Fili, inquit, mulieris ultro virum rapientis; scio quia diligis eum in confusionem tuam, et in confusionem ignominiosae matris tuae. Deinde totum virus, quo pectus juvenis aspergeretur, evomuit, adjiciens verbum ambitionis incitamentum, fomentum invidiae, zeli et amaritudinis incentivum. Quandiu vixerit filius Isai, non stabilietur regnum tuum. Quis non moveretur his verbis, non invideret? Cujus amorem, cujus gratiam, cujus amicitiam non corrumperent, non minuerent, non obliterarent? Ille amantissimus adolescens amicitiae jura conservans, fortis ad minas, patiens ad convicia, propter amicitiam regni contemptor, immemor gloriae, sed memor gratiae. Tu eris, inquit, rex, et ego ero secundus post te. Repertos quosdam dicit Tullius, qui pecuniam praeferre amicitiae sordidum aestimarent; illos autem impossibile reperiri, qui honores, magistratus, imperia, potestates, opes non amicitiae anteponant; ut cum ex altera parte proposita haec sint, ex altera jus amicitiae, non multa illa malint. Imbecillis est enim natura ad contemnendam potentiam. « Ubi enim, ait, invenies, qui honorem amici anteponat suo? » Ecce inventus est Jonathas victor naturae, gloriae ac potestatis contemptor, qui honorem amici suo praeferret. Tu eris, inquiens, rex, et ego ero secundus post te. Haec est vera, perfecta, stabilis et aeterna amicitia: quam invidia non corrumpit, non suspicio minuit, non dissolvit ambitio; quae sic tentata non cessit, sic arietata non corruit; quae tot conviciis pulsata cernitur inflexibilis, tot lacessita injuriis permansit immobilis. Vade ergo, et tu fac similiter (Luc. X).
thus when adjudged to death, destined for slaughter, he preferred him to himself, humbling himself and exalting him. You, he said, shall be king, and I shall be second after you (1 Sam. 20). O most glorious mirror of true friendship! A wondrous thing! The king raged against his servant, and stirred up the whole country as against a rival for the kingdom; accusing the priests of treachery, he slaughters them on suspicion alone; he scours the woods, searches out the valleys, besieges mountains and crags with armed hand; all pledge themselves avengers of the king's indignation: Jonathan alone, who alone could more justly have envied, judged that his father must be resisted, his friend deferred to, counsel given him in so great adversity; and preferring friendship to the kingdom: You, he says, shall be king, and I shall be second after you. And see how the young man's father stirred up envy against his friend, pressing him with reproaches, terrifying him with threats, reminding him that he would be stripped of the kingdom, deprived of honour. For when he had pronounced sentence of death upon David, Jonathan did not fail his friend. Why shall David die? What has he sinned? What has he done? He put his life in his hand, and struck the Philistine, and you rejoiced. Why then shall he die? (ibid.). At this word the king, turned to madness, tried to pin Jonathan to the wall with a lance, and, adding reproaches to threats: Son, he said, of a woman who of her own accord seizes a man; I know that you love him to your own confusion, and to the confusion of your shameless mother. Then he vomited out all the venom with which the young man's breast might be sprinkled, adding a word that was a spur to ambition, a kindling of envy, an incentive to jealousy and bitterness: As long as the son of Isai lives, your kingdom shall not be established. Who would not be moved by these words, who would not envy? Whose love, whose favour, whose friendship would they not corrupt, not lessen, not blot out? That most loving young man, keeping the laws of friendship, brave before threats, patient before reproaches, for friendship's sake a despiser of the kingdom, unmindful of glory but mindful of grace: You, he says, shall be king, and I shall be second after you. Tully says that some are found who would reckon it base to prefer money to friendship; but that it is impossible to find those who would not put honours, magistracies, commands, powers, riches before friendship; so that, when these are set on one side and the claim of friendship on the other, they would not much prefer the former. For nature is weak for despising power. « For where, he says, will you find one who would put his friend's honour before his own? » Behold, Jonathan has been found, conqueror of nature, despiser of glory and power, who preferred his friend's honour to his own. You, he says, shall be king, and I shall be second after you. This is true, perfect, stable and eternal friendship, which envy does not corrupt, suspicion does not lessen, ambition does not dissolve; which, thus tempted, did not give way, thus battered, did not fall; which, struck by so many reproaches, is seen to be unbending, provoked by so many injuries, remained immovable. Go, then, and do you likewise (Luke 10).
Verum, si tibi praeferre quem diligis, durum vel etiam impossibile judicas; vel parem eum tibi facere, si vis
But if you judge it hard, or even impossible, to prefer to yourself him whom you love, then at least to make him your equal, if you wish […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 693
Footnotes
(24) printed at the foot of this column; its call is in col 694 ("ait sapiens"), set in n694.
Page
- running head: 693 DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA. — LIB. III. 694 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹mo, sic adjudicatum›; B ‹terrens minis, spoliandum›; C ‹vixerit filius Isai›; D ‹tentiam. « Ubi enim› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 694)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column opens with "mo", the end of "ere-mo", set whole as "eremo" at the end of col 692. The whole column is imported from R0321 and was checked against the page: it agrees except that the import carried the last words of its closing sentence ("esse amicus, non negligas."), which are printed at the head of col 694; they were moved to c694_a and the English split at the break. The column ends "si vis" with no hyphen.
esse amicus, non negligas.
[…] to be a friend, do not neglect [it].
Non enim amicitia recte colitur, a quibus aequalitas non servatur. Defer amico ut aequali, ait Ambrosius (lib. III De offic. cap. 21), ne te pudeat ut praevenias amicum officio. Amicitia enim nescit superbiam. Fidelis quippe amicus medicamentum est vitae, immortalitatis gratia.
For friendship is not rightly cultivated by those among whom equality is not kept. Defer to your friend as to an equal, says Ambrose (De offic., Bk. III, ch. 21), and let it not shame you to be the one who anticipates your friend in kindness. For friendship knows no pride. A faithful friend, indeed, is a medicine of life, a grace unto immortality.
Jam in beneficiis, quomodo colenda sit, attendamus, et hinc aliquid de alienis manibus extorqueamus. Haec lex, ait quidam, in amicitia sanciatur, ut ab amicis honesta petamus, et pro amicis honesta faciamus, nec exspectemus ut rogemur; cunctatio semper absit! ⟨Si⟩ perdenda est pecunia propter amicum, multo magis amici utilitatibus vel necessitatibus conferenda. Sed non omnes omnia possunt. Abundat iste pecunia, ille agris et possessionibus; alter in consiliis plus potest, alter magis excellit in honoribus. In his qualem te debeas exhibere amico, prudenter adverte.
Let us now consider how [friendship] is to be cultivated in benefits, and here let us wrest something from the hands of others. Let this law, says someone, be established in friendship, that we ask honourable things of friends, and do honourable things for friends, and do not wait to be asked; let delay always be absent! If money is to be lost for a friend's sake, much more is it to be bestowed on a friend's advantage or needs. But not all can do all things. This one abounds in money, that one in lands and possessions; one has more power in counsel, another excels more in honours. Consider prudently what sort of person you ought to show yourself to your friend in these things.
Et de pecunia satis dedit Scriptura: Perde, inquit, pecuniam propter amicum (Eccli. XXVI). Sed quia oculi sapientis in capite ejus, si nos simus membra et Christus caput, faciamus quod ait Propheta: Oculi mei semper ud Dominum (Psal. XXIV), ut ab eo accipiamus vivendi formam, de quo scriptum est: Si quis indiget sapientia, postulet a Domino, qui dat omnibus affluenter, et non improperat (Jac. I). Sic igitur des amico, ut non improperes, non mercedem exspectes, non frontem obducas, non vultum avertas, non deponas oculos: sed serena facie, hilari vultu, sermone jucundo intercide verba petentis: occurre benevolentia, ut non rogatus videaris praestare quod petitur. Ingenuus animus nihil magis erubescendum aestimat, quam rogare. Cum igitur tibi cum amico tuo esse debeat cor unum et anima una, injuriosum est, si non sit et pecunia una. Haec igitur lex in hac parte inter amicos teneatur, ut sic se sibi suaque impendant, ut qui dat, servet hilaritatem; qui accipit, non perdat securitatem. Booz cum Ruth Moabitidis advertisset inopiam (Ruth. II), post messores suos legentem spicas alloquitur, consolatur, invitat ad convivium puerorum, et verecundiae ejus ingenue parcens, jubet messoribus etiam de industria spicas relinquere, quas illa colligeret absque pudore. Sic et nos debemus amicorum necessitates subtilius explorare, petiturum beneficiis praevenire, talem in dando modum servare, ut ille gratiam videatur praestare, qui accepit, magis quam ille, qui dedit. GALTERUS. Nobis igitur, quibus nihil accipere, nihil dare permittitur, qualis erit in hac parte spiritalis amicitiae gratia?
And concerning money Scripture has said enough: Lose, it says, money for a friend's sake (Sir. 26). But since the eyes of the wise man are in his head, if we are the members and Christ the head, let us do what the Prophet says: My eyes are ever towards the Lord (Ps. 24:15), that we may receive the pattern of living from Him of Whom it is written: If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of the Lord, Who gives to all abundantly and does not reproach (Jas. 1:5). So then give to your friend in such a way that you do not reproach him, do not expect a reward, do not knit your brow, do not turn away your face, do not lower your eyes: but with a serene face, a cheerful countenance, pleasant speech, cut short the words of the one asking: meet him with goodwill, so that you seem to furnish what is asked without being asked. A noble mind reckons nothing more shameful than to ask. Since, then, you and your friend ought to have one heart and one soul, it is wrong if you do not also have one purse. Let this law, then, be kept among friends in this matter, that they so spend themselves and their goods on one another that he who gives keeps his cheerfulness, and he who receives does not lose his ease of mind. Boaz, when he had noticed the want of Ruth the Moabitess (Ruth 2), speaks to her as she gleans ears behind his reapers, consoles her, invites her to the young men's meal, and, generously sparing her modesty, orders the reapers even to leave ears on purpose, which she might gather without shame. So we too ought to search out our friends' needs more closely, to forestall with benefits one who is about to ask, to keep such a manner in giving that he who received seems to be conferring the favour rather than he who gave. WALTER. For us, then, who are permitted neither to receive nor to give anything, what will be the grace of spiritual friendship in this matter?
AELREDUS. Felicissimam vitam, ait sapiens, ducerent homines, si duo haec verba de medio tollerentur, Meum et Tuum. Magnam certe praestat spiritali amicitiae firmitatem sancta paupertas, quae ideo sancta est, quia voluntaria. Cum enim peremptorium sit amicitiae cupiditas, tanto facilius amicitia
AELRED. Men would lead a most happy life, says a wise man, if these two words, Mine and Yours, were taken out of their midst. Holy poverty certainly lends great firmness to spiritual friendship, and it is holy precisely because it is voluntary. For since greed is deadly to friendship, so much the more easily is friendship […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 694
Footnotes
(24) ‹AELREDUS. Felicissimam vitam, ait sapiens› · printed under col 693
Plato.
Plato.
Page
- running head: 693 DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA. — LIB. III. 694 (one head across the page; recorded in n693)
- marginal letters: A ‹esse amicus, non negligas›; B ‹possunt. Abundat iste›; C ‹vultu, sermone jucundo›; D ‹amicorum necessitates› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 693)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column opens "esse amicus, non negligas.", completing the sentence that ends col 693 at "si vis" (moved here from the imported c693_a). "Non enim amicitia" to "immortalitatis gratia." is imported from R0321 and agrees with the page; SA04 set the rest from "Jam in beneficiis". Blotted word supplied: "⟨Si⟩ perdenda est pecunia" (a solid blot of two letters' width, read at zoom 4). "ud Dominum" printed for "ad Dominum" (logged; read at zoom 7). "(Eccli. XXVI)" is printed for "Perde pecuniam propter amicum", which is Sir. 29:13; a loose citation correctly printed, left as printed. "de:emus" and "praesta e" (worn type) read as debemus, praestare. Speakers GALTERUS and AELREDUS in small capitals, set in capitals. The column ends "ami-", completed from the first word of col 695 ("citia") and set whole as "amicitia" at the end of this column.
parta servatur, quanto animus ab illa peste purgatior invenitur. Sunt tamen alia in spiritali amore beneficia, quibus et adesse sibi, et prodesse possunt amici. Primum ut solliciti sint pro invicem, erubescant alter pro altero, alter gaudeat pro altero, alterius lapsum ut suum lugeat, alterius profectum suum existimet. Quibus modis potest erigat pusillanimem, suscipiat infirmum, consoletur tristem, iratum sustineat. Sic praeterea oculos revereatur amici, ut nihil quod inhonestum sit agere, nihil quod dedeceat, loqui praesumat. Cum enim quidquid ipse deliquerit, ita redundet in amicum, ut non solum intra se erubescat et doleat; sed etiam is qui videt vel audit, sibi, ac si ipse peccasset, improperet; profecto licet non sibi, amico tamen credit esse parcendum. Optimus itaque comes amicitiae verecundia est, et ideo maximum ornamentum tollit amicitiae, qui ab ea tollit verecundiam. Quam saepe conceptam ab intus iracundiae flammam, et jam in publicum erumpentem, amici mei nutus compescuit vel exstinxit! quoties verbum indecens usque ad fauces progressum, austerior illius aspectus repressit!
[…] preserved once gained, the more the mind is found purified of that plague. There are, however, other benefits in spiritual love, by which friends can both stand by one another and profit one another. First, that they be anxious for each other, that one blush for the other, one rejoice for the other, that each mourn the other's fall as his own and reckon the other's progress his own. By whatever means he can, let him raise up the faint-hearted, support the weak, console the sorrowful, bear with the angry. Moreover, let him so revere his friend's eyes that he presumes to do nothing that is dishonourable, to say nothing that is unbecoming. For since whatever he himself has done amiss so redounds upon his friend that not only does he blush and grieve within himself, but also the one who sees or hears reproaches himself as though he himself had sinned, he surely believes that, though not himself, yet his friend must be spared. The best companion of friendship, therefore, is modesty, and so he who takes modesty away from friendship takes away its greatest ornament. How often has a nod of my friend checked or quenched the flame of anger conceived within and already bursting out into the open! How often has his sterner look held back an unseemly word that had come as far as the throat!
Quam sepe incautius resolutus in risum, vel in otiosa lapsus, in ejus adventu debitam gravitatem recepi! Praeterea quidquid suadendum est, ab amico facilius recipitur, et securius retinetur, cujus magna in suadendo debet esse auctoritas, cum nec fides ejus dubia, nec adulatio sit suspecta. Amicus igitur amico, quod honestum est, suadeat secure, manifeste, libere. Nec solum monendi sunt amici, sed si opus fuerit, objurgandi. Nam cum quibusdam molesta sit veritas, siquidem ex ea nascitur odium, secundum illud: Obsequium amicos, veritas odium parit; obsequium tamen illud multo molestius est, quod peccatis indulgens, praecipitem amicum fieri sinit. Maxime autem culpandus est amicus, et hinc praecipue objurgandus, si veritatem aspernatur, et obsequiis atque blanditiis in crimen impellitur. Non quod debeamus amicis dulciter obsequi ⟨et⟩ plerumque blandiri; sed in omnibus servanda moderatio est, ut monitio acerbitate, et objurgatio contumelia careat. In obsequiis vero vel blanditiis, suavis quaedam ⟨et⟩ honesta affabilitas adsit; assentatio vero vitiorum adjutrix procul amoveatur; quae non solum amico, sed nec libero quidem digna est. Cujus autem aures veritati clausae sunt, ut ab amico verum audire non possit, hujus salus desperanda est. Quocirca, sicut ait Ambrosius, si quid vitii in amico deprehenderis, corripe occulte; si te non audierit, corripe palam. Sunt enim bonae correctiones, et plerumque meliores, quam tacita amicitia. Etsi laedi se putet amicus, tu tamen corripe. Etsi amaritudo correptionis animum ejus vulneret, tu tamen corripe. Tolerabiliora enim sunt amici vulnera, quam adulantium oscula. Errantem igitur amicum corripe. Super omnia tamen cavenda est in correptione ira et amaritudo mentis: ne non tam videatur amicum velle corrigere, quam suo stomacho
How often, when I had carelessly let myself go in laughter or slipped into idle talk, have I recovered due gravity at his coming! Moreover, whatever is to be urged is more readily received, and more securely retained, from a friend, whose authority in urging ought to be great, since neither is his faith in doubt nor is flattery suspected in him. Let friend, then, urge upon friend what is honourable, securely, openly, freely. And friends are not only to be admonished, but, if need be, rebuked. For although truth is troublesome to some, since hatred is born of it, according to that saying: Compliance breeds friends, truth hatred; yet that compliance is far more troublesome which, indulging sins, lets a friend go headlong. But a friend is most to be blamed, and chiefly to be rebuked on this account, if he spurns the truth and is driven into crime by compliance and flatteries. Not that we ought to comply sweetly with friends and very often to flatter them; but in all things moderation is to be kept, so that admonition be free of harshness, and rebuke of insult. In compliance or flattery, however, let there be a certain sweet and honourable affability; but let assentation, the helper of vices, be removed far away; for it is worthy not only not of a friend, but not even of a free man. But he whose ears are so closed to truth that he cannot hear the truth from a friend, his salvation is to be despaired of. Wherefore, as Ambrose says, if you detect any fault in your friend, rebuke him privately; if he will not hear you, rebuke him openly. For corrections are good, and often better than a silent friendship. Even if your friend thinks himself hurt, rebuke him nevertheless. Even if the bitterness of correction wounds his mind, rebuke him nevertheless. For the wounds of a friend are more tolerable than the kisses of flatterers. Rebuke, then, an erring friend. Above all, however, anger and bitterness of mind are to be avoided in correction: lest he seem not so much to wish to correct his friend as […] his own temper […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 695
Page
- running head: 695 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. PARS I. — ASCETICA 696 (one head across the page; no full stop after ASCETICA)
- marginal letters: A ‹citia parta servatur›; B ‹men credit esse parcendum›; C ‹quod honestum est, suadeat›; D ‹vitiorum adjutrix› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 696)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column opens with "citia", the end of "ami-citia", set whole as "amicitia" at the end of col 694; the rail stands at "parta servatur". "sepe" printed in "Quam sepe incautius" (logged; "saepe" is printed correctly higher in the column). Blotted words supplied: "obsequi ⟨et⟩ plerumque", "quaedam ⟨et⟩ honesta". "Non quod debeamus" set and translated as printed (no negative). The column ends "quam suo stomacho" with no hyphen.
satisfacere. Vidi enim aliquos in amicis corrigendis, conceptam amaritudinem, ebullientemque furorem, nunc zeli, nunc libertatis nomine palliare: et secutos impetum, non rationem, sua tali correptione nunquam prodesse, imo et obesse plurimum. At inter amicos nulla vitii hujus excusatio est. Debet enim amicus amico compati, condescendere, vitium ejus suum putare, corripere humiliter, compatienter. Corripiat eum vultus tristior, sermo dejectior, intercipiant verba lacrymae; ut non solum videat, sed etiam sentiat correptionem ex amore, et non ex rancore procedere. Si forte primam correptionem respuerit, recipiet vel secundam. Tu interim ora, tu plora; tristem praeferens vultum, pium servans affectum. Exploranda est etiam animi illius qualitas. Nam sunt, quibus blanditiae prosunt, et his libentius acquiescunt. Sunt, qui pro nihilo eas ducunt, et facilius verbo vel verbere corriguntur. A⟨m⟩icus proinde ita se conformet et aptet amico, ut ejus congruit qualitati: et cui in exteriori adversitate debet adesse, his quae sunt adversa spiritui, multo magis festinet occurrere.
[…] to satisfy. For I have seen some who, in correcting their friends, cloaked the bitterness they had conceived and their boiling rage, now under the name of zeal, now of liberty; and, following impulse, not reason, they never did good by such correction, but rather did very great harm. But among friends there is no excuse for this vice. For a friend ought to suffer with his friend, to condescend to him, to regard his fault as his own, to rebuke him humbly, with compassion. Let a sadder face rebuke him, a more downcast speech; let tears break off the words; so that he may not only see but also feel that the correction proceeds from love and not from rancour. If perhaps he rejects the first correction, he will accept at least the second. You meanwhile pray, you weep, showing a sad face, keeping a loving affection. The quality of his mind must also be explored. For there are those whom gentle words profit, and they yield to these more willingly. There are those who count them as nothing, and are more easily corrected by a word or a blow. A friend, therefore, should so conform and fit himself to his friend as suits his quality: and if he ought to stand by him in outward adversity, much more should he hasten to meet the things that are adverse to his spirit.
Igitur sicut monere et moneri proprie amicitiae est; et alterum libere facere, non aspere; alterum patienter accipere, non repugnanter: sic habendum est, in amicitiis nullam pestem esse majorem, quam adulationem et assentationem: quae sunt levium hominum, atque fallacium, ad voluntatem loquentium omnia, nihil ad veritatem. Nulla proinde sit inter amicos cunctatio, simulatio nulla, quae maxime repugnat amicitiae. Debet quippe amico veritatem; sine qua nomen amicitiae valere non potest. Corripiet me, ait sanctus David, justus in misericordia, et increpabit me: oleum autem peccatoris non impinguet caput meum (Psal. CXL). Simulator et callidus provocat iram Dei. Inde Dominus per prophetam: Popule meus, qui beatum te dicunt, ipsi te decipiunt, et viam gressuum tuorum dissipant (Isa. III). Simulator enim ore, ut Salomon ait, decipit amicum suum (Prov. XI). Quocirca sic colenda est amicitia, ut si forte certis ex causis admittenda videatur dissimulatio, sed simulatio nunquam. GALTERUS. Quomodo, quaeso, dissimulatio necessaria est, quae ut mihi videtur, semper vitium est?
Therefore, just as to admonish and to be admonished is proper to friendship, and to do the one freely, not harshly, and to receive the other patiently, not resistingly: so it must be held that in friendships there is no greater plague than flattery and assentation, which belong to fickle and deceitful men, who say everything to please and nothing for the truth. Let there be, therefore, no hesitation between friends, no pretence, which is most repugnant to friendship. For one owes the truth to a friend; without it the name of friendship can have no force. The just man, says holy David, will rebuke me in mercy, and will chide me: but let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head (Ps. 140:5). The pretender and the crafty man provoke the wrath of God. Hence the Lord [says] through the prophet: O my people, those who call you blessed, they deceive you, and destroy the way of your steps (Isa. 3:12). For the pretender with his mouth, as Solomon says, deceives his friend (Prov. 11:9). Wherefore friendship is to be so cultivated that, if perhaps for certain reasons dissimulation seems admissible, pretence never is. WALTER. How, I ask, is dissimulation necessary, when, as it seems to me, it is always a vice?
AELREDUS. Falleris, fili, nam et Deus dissimulare dicitur peccata delinquentium, nolens mortem peccatoris, sed ut convertatur, et vivat. GALTERUS. Distingue, rogo, inter simulationem et dissimulationem.
AELRED. You are mistaken, son, for God too is said to dissimulate, [that is, to pass over,] the sins of offenders, not willing the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live. WALTER. Distinguish, I beg, between pretence and dissimulation.
AELREDUS. Simulatio, ut mihi videtur, deceptorius quidam consensus est, contra judicium rationis, quam Terentius in persona Gnatonis satis eleganter expressit. « Negat quis? Nego. Ait? Aio. Postremo imperavi egomet omnia mihi assentari. » Et forte haec ethnicus ille de nostris mutuavit thesauris, sensum prophetae nostri suis exprimens verbis. Nam et hoc ipsum ex persona plebis perversae dixisse prophetam, manifestum est: Videte nobis vana, loquimini nobis placentia (Isa. XXX). Et
AELRED. Pretence, as it seems to me, is a kind of deceitful assent against the judgement of reason, which Terence expressed quite elegantly in the person of Gnatho. « Does anyone say no? I say no. Does he say yes? I say yes. In short, I have ordered myself to assent to everything. » And perhaps that heathen borrowed these things from our treasures, expressing in his own words the sense of our prophet. For it is plain that the prophet said this very thing in the person of a perverse people: See vain things for us, speak to us pleasing things (Isa. 30:10). And […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 696
Page
- running head: 695 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. PARS I. — ASCETICA 696 (one head across the page; recorded in n695)
- marginal letters: A ‹satisfacere. Vidi enim›; B ‹qualitas. Nam sunt›; C ‹tio, simulatio nulla›; D ‹AELREDUS. Falleris, fili› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 695)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column opens "satisfacere.", completing the sentence that ends col 695 without a hyphen. A gap in the type supplied: "A⟨m⟩icus proinde". "ejus congruit qualitati" and "Videte nobis vana" (Isa. XXX) set as printed. The Terence quotation is printed within guillemets. Speakers GALTERUS and AELREDUS in small capitals, set in capitals. The column ends "Et" with no hyphen.
alias: Prophetae prophetabant mendacium, et sacerdotes applaudebant manu, et populus meus dilexit talia (Jer. V). Hoc vitium ubique detestandum est, semper et ubique cavendum. Porro dissimulatio dispensatoria quaedam est, vel poenae vel correptionis dilatio, sine consensu interiori, pro loco, pro tempore, pro persona. Neque enim si quis amicus constitutus in plebe deliquerit, subito et palam objurgandus est; sed dissimulandum pro loco, imo et quantum salva veritate fieri potest, excusandum quod fecit, et ad debitam correptionem exspectandum familiare secretum. Sic eo tempore, quo animus intentus pluribus, minus est ad ea quae dicenda sunt idoneus, vel, aliis supervenientibus causis, paululum commotior sensus ei fuerit aliquantulum perturbatus, dissimulatione opus est, donec interiori tumultu sedato, corripientem aure pacatiore sustineat. David rex, cum praeventus concupiscentia homicidum adulterio copulasset, correpturus eum propheta Nathan (II Reg. XII), regiae deferens majestati, non subito, nec mente turbata tantae personae crimen impegit, sed congrua dissimulatione praemissa, prudenter ipsius regis, contra se ipsum, sententiam extorsit. GALTERUS. Mihi perplacet ista distinctio. Sed scire velim, si amicus potentior fuerit, possitque ad honores vel quaslibet dignitates, quos voluerit promovere; utrum debeat eos quos diligit, et a quibus diligitur, caeteris in tali promotione praeferre, et inter ipsos, quos amplius diligit anteferre?
[…] elsewhere: The prophets prophesied a lie, and the priests clapped their hands, and my people loved such things (Jer. 5:31). This vice is to be detested everywhere, to be guarded against always and everywhere. Dissimulation, on the other hand, is a kind of dispensation, a deferring either of punishment or of correction, without inward assent, according to the place, the time, the person. For if some friend, set among the people, has done wrong, he is not to be rebuked suddenly and openly; but it is to be dissimulated because of the place, nay, as far as can be done with the truth kept safe, what he did is even to be excused, and for the due correction a private moment between intimates is to be awaited. So at a time when the mind, intent on many things, is less fit for what has to be said, or when, other causes having arisen, his feelings have become a little more stirred and somewhat disturbed, there is need of dissimulation, until, the inward tumult having subsided, he may bear the one correcting him with a calmer ear. When King David, overcome by concupiscence, had joined murder to adultery, the prophet Nathan, being about to rebuke him (2 Sam. 12), deferring to the royal majesty, did not charge so great a person with the crime suddenly or with troubled mind, but, having first used a fitting dissimulation, prudently drew from the king himself a sentence against himself. WALTER. This distinction pleases me greatly. But I should like to know: if a friend is rather powerful, and is able to promote whom he will to honours or to any dignities, whether he ought to prefer those whom he loves, and by whom he is loved, to the rest in such promotion, and among them to put first those whom he loves more?
AELREDUS. Et in hac parte quomodo colenda sit amicitia, operae pretium est indagare. Sunt enim nonnulli, qui se putent non amari, quia non possunt promoveri; seque contemni causentur, si non curis et officiis implicentur. Unde non parvas discordias inter eos, qui putantur amici, ortas novimus, ita ut indignationem divortium sequeretur, divortium maledicta. Itaque in dignitatibus vel officiis, maxime ecclesiasticis, magna cautio adhibenda est: nec attendendum quid possis praestare, sed quid ille, cui praestas, poterit sustinere. Plures quippe sunt diligendi, qui tamen non sunt promovendi; et multos laudabiliter et dulciter amplectimur, quos non sine gravi nostro peccato, et illorum summo periculo, curis et negotiis implicaremus. Quocirca semper in his ratio sequenda est, non affectus; nec his imponendus est honos vel onus istud, quos habemus amicitiores, sed quos ad ea sustinenda credimus aptiores. Ubi tamen virtutis invenitur aequalitas, non multum improbo, si aliquantisper affectus suas inserit partes. Nec quisquam se idcirco dicat contemptum, quia non promotum; cum Dominus Jesus Petrum Joanni in hac parte praetulerit, nec ideo subtraxerit Joanni affectum, quia Petro dederat principatum. Petro commendavit Ecclesiam suam, Joanni dulcissimam matrem suam (Joan. XXI). Petro dedit claves regni sui, Joanni reseravit arcana pectoris sui. Petrus ergo sublimior, Joannes securior. Petrus licet in
AELRED. In this matter too it is worth while to examine how friendship is to be cultivated. For there are some who think they are not loved because they cannot be promoted, and complain that they are despised if they are not involved in cares and offices. Whence we know that no small discords have arisen among those who are thought to be friends, so that estrangement followed indignation, and curses followed estrangement. Therefore in dignities or offices, especially ecclesiastical ones, great caution must be used: and one must consider not what you can bestow, but what he on whom you bestow it will be able to bear. For there are many who are to be loved who yet are not to be promoted; and we embrace many, praiseworthily and sweetly, whom we could not involve in cares and business without grave sin of our own and the utmost danger to them. Therefore in these matters reason must always be followed, not affection; nor is that honour or burden to be laid on those whom we hold more friendly, but on those whom we believe more fit to bear them. Where, however, equality of virtue is found, I do not much disapprove if affection puts in its share for a while. Nor let anyone say that he is despised because he is not promoted; since the Lord Jesus preferred Peter to John in this respect, and yet did not withdraw His affection from John because He had given the primacy to Peter. To Peter He commended His Church, to John His most sweet mother (John 21). To Peter He gave the keys of His kingdom, to John He opened the secrets of His breast. Peter, therefore, is the more exalted, John the more secure. Peter, although in […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 697
Page
- running head: 697 DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA. — LIB. III. 698 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹alias: Prophetae prophetabant›; B ‹tulum perturbatus›; C ‹plius diligit anteferre›; D ‹rum summo periculo› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 698)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column opens "alias:", continuing "Et" at the foot of col 696 (no hyphen). "homicidum" printed for "homicidium" (logged; read at zoom 6; UNSURE whether a letter has dropped out, which would make it damaged type, homicid⟨i⟩um). "(Joan. XXI)" is printed for Christ's commending His mother to John, which is John 19; a loose citation correctly printed, left as printed. Speakers GALTERUS and AELREDUS in small capitals, set in capitals. The column ends "Petrus licet in" with no hyphen.
potestate constitutus, dicente Jesu: Unus ex vobis tradet me (Joan. XIII), cum caeteris timet et trepidat, Joannes ex sinus sui participatione factus audacior, innuente Petro, quisnam ille esset, interrogat. Petrus ergo exponitur actioni, Joannes reservatur affectui; quia Sic, inquit, eum volo manere, donec veniam (Joan. XXI). Exemplum enim dedit nobis, ut et nos ita faciamus. Praestemus amico quidquid amoris est, quidquid gratiae, quidquid dulcedinis, quidquid charitatis: futiles honores et onera illis, quos praescripserit ratio, imponamus, scientes quia nunquam vere diligit amicum, cui amicus ipse non sufficit, nisi haec vilia et contemptibilia adjecerit. Cavendum autem magnopere est, ne tenerior affectus majores utilitates impediat: dum eos, quos ampliori charitate complectimur, ubi magna spes fructus uberioris elucet, nec absentare volumus, nec onerare. Haec est enim amicitia ordinata, ut ratio regat affectum, nec tam quid illorum suavitas, quam quid multorum petat utilitas, attendamus.
[…] power, when Jesus said: One of you will betray Me (John 13:21), fears and trembles with the rest, John, made bolder by his share in His bosom, asks at Peter's nod who it might be. Peter, then, is exposed to action, John is reserved for affection; for, So, He says, I will him to remain until I come (John 21:22). For He gave us an example, that we too should do likewise. Let us bestow on a friend whatever belongs to love, whatever to grace, whatever to sweetness, whatever to charity: idle honours and burdens let us lay on those whom reason shall prescribe, knowing that he never truly loves his friend for whom the friend himself is not enough unless he adds these cheap and contemptible things. But great care must be taken that a tenderer affection does not hinder greater advantages: when, where a great hope of richer fruit shines out, we are unwilling either to send away or to burden those whom we embrace with a larger charity. For this is ordered friendship, that reason rule affection, and that we consider not so much what their sweetness as what the advantage of many requires.
Recordor nunc duorum amicorum, qui licet exempti praesentibus, mihi tamen vivunt, semperque vivent; quorum primum in initiis meae conversionis, quadam mihi morum similitudine, et studiorum parilitate comparaveram, cum adhuc essem adolescens; alterum ab ipso fere pueritiae suae tempore a me electum, et multifarie multisque modis probatum, cum jam aetas mihi variaret capillos, in summam amicitiam assumpsi. Et illum quidem nullo adhuc curae pastoralis onere pressus, nulla rerum temporalium sollicitudine distentus, claustralium deliciarum, et spiritualium dulcedinum, quibus tunc initiabar, socium consortemque delegeram: nihil exigens, nihil praestans, praeter affectum, et ipsius affectus suave quoddam, prout charitas dictabat, judicium. Istum jam juvenem in meae sollicitudinis partem ascitum, in his sudoribus meis habui coadjutorem. Inter utramque hanc amicitiam, memoria praeeunte discernens, video priorem inniti magis affectui, alteram rationi; quamvis nec illi affectus defuerit, nec illam ratio deseruerit. Denique prior in ipsis amicitiae nostrae principiis ereptus mihi, eligi potuit, sicut praescripsimus, non probari: alter a puero usque ad mediam aetatem dimissus mihi, et a me dilectus, per omnes amicitiae gradus, quousque talium potuit imperfectio, mecum ascendit. Et primum quidem virtutum ejus contemplatio illi meum inclinavit affectum; quem ego olim ab Australibus partibus in Aquilonarem hanc solitudinem duxi, ego regularibus disciplinis primus institui. Extunc ipse victor corporis, laboris etiam et inediae patiens, plurimis exemplo fuit, admirationi multis, mihi gloriae ⟨et⟩ delectationi. Ex jam tunc eum in amicitiae principiis nutriendum putavi: utpote quem onerosum nulli, sed omnibus gratum intuebar. Ingrediebatur et egrediebatur pergens ad imperium seniorum, humilis, mansuetus, gravis moribus, sermone rarus, indignationis nescius, murmuris,
I remember now two friends who, though taken from among the living, yet live for me and always will live; the first of whom I had gained at the beginnings of my conversion, through a certain likeness of character to mine and a parity of pursuits, when I was still a young man; the other, chosen by me almost from the very time of his boyhood, and tested in many and various ways, I took into the highest friendship when age was already changing the colour of my hair. The first, indeed, I had chosen, when I was as yet pressed by no burden of pastoral care and distracted by no anxiety over temporal things, as companion and sharer of the delights of the cloister and of the spiritual sweetnesses into which I was then being initiated: demanding nothing, offering nothing, except affection, and a certain sweet judgement of that affection, as charity dictated. This one, taken already as a young man into a share of my charge, I had as a helper in these my labours. Distinguishing between these two friendships, with memory going before, I see that the former rested more on affection, the latter on reason; although affection was not lacking to the one, nor did reason forsake the other. In short, the former, snatched from me in the very beginnings of our friendship, could be chosen, as we have written above, but not tested: the other, sent to me from boyhood to middle age, and loved by me, ascended with me through all the degrees of friendship, as far as the imperfection of such as we are allowed. And first, indeed, the contemplation of his virtues inclined my affection to him; he it was whom I once brought from the southern parts into this northern solitude, whom I myself first instructed in the disciplines of the rule. From then on, victor over the body, patient also of toil and fasting, he was an example to very many, a wonder to many, a glory and delight to me. And already then I judged that he should be nourished in the beginnings of friendship, since I saw him a burden to none but pleasing to all. He went in and out, going at the bidding of the seniors, humble, meek, grave in manner, sparing of speech, knowing no indignation, of murmuring,
Editors' notes and page, col. 698
Page
- running head: 697 DE SPIRITUALI AMICITIA. — LIB. III. 698 (one head across the page; recorded in n697)
- marginal letters: A ‹potestate constitutus›; B ‹ampliori charitate›; C ‹quidem nullo adhuc›; D ‹diam aetatem dimissus› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 697)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column opens "potestate constitutus", continuing "in" at the foot of col 697 (no hyphen). Blotted word supplied: "gloriae ⟨et⟩ delectationi". "Ex jam tunc" printed where "Et jam tunc" is expected (logged; UNSURE: possibly a worn t); the English translates "And already then". "futiles honores" and "dimissus mihi" set and translated as printed. The column ends "mur-", completed from the first line of col 699 ("muris,") and set whole as "murmuris," at the end of this column.
et rancoris, et detractionis ignarus: incedebat quasi surdus non audiens, et sicut mutus non aperiens os suum. Ut jumentum factus est (Psal. XXXVII), sequens obedientiae frenum, et jugum disciplinae regularis mente et corpore infatigabiliter portans. Ingressus aliquando adhuc puer cellam infirmorum, correptus est a sancto Patre et praedecessore meo, quod tam cito puer se quieti inertiaeque dedisset; sic erubuit, ut mox egressus tam ferventer corporalibus se subderet exercitiis, ut multis annis, nec cum gravi aegritudine urgeretur, aliquid sibi de consueto rigore laxaverit. Haec eum mihi invisceraverant miris modis, et ita in animum induxerant meum, ut mihi eum de inferiori socium, de socio amicum, de amico amicissimum facerem. Videns enim eum in quosdam canos virtutis et gratiae profecisse, fratrum usus consilio, onus ei subprioratus imposui. Quod quidem invitus, sed quia obedientiae se devoverat, modeste suscepit.
[…] and of rancour and of detraction unaware: he went about as one deaf, not hearing, and as one dumb, not opening his mouth. He became as a beast of burden (Ps. 37), following the bridle of obedience, and bearing the yoke of the discipline of the rule untiringly in mind and body. Having once, while still a boy, entered the infirmary, he was rebuked by the holy Father, my predecessor, for having given himself to rest and idleness so early, a boy as he was; he blushed so deeply that, going out at once, he subjected himself so fervently to bodily exercises that for many years, not even when pressed by grave illness, did he relax anything of his accustomed rigour. These things had lodged him in my heart in wonderful ways, and had so brought him into my mind that from an inferior I made him a companion, from a companion a friend, from a friend a most dear friend. For seeing that he had advanced to a kind of grey-haired maturity of virtue and grace, I followed the counsel of the brethren and laid on him the burden of the subpriorate. This he accepted unwillingly indeed, but modestly, because he had vowed himself to obedience.
Egit tamen mecum secreto, ut dimitteretur, praetendens aetatem, praetendens inscitiam, praetendens amicitiam, qua jam initiabamur: ne forte hac occasione vel minus diligeret, vel diligeretur minus. Sed his nihil proficiens, coepit libera voce quidquid timebat utrisque, quidquid sibi in me minus placebat, humiliter et modeste proferre in medium: sperans, ut postea confessus est, hac me quasi praesumptione offensum, ad id posse, quod petebat, facilius inclinari. Sed haec ejus mentis vocisque libertas, amicitiae nostrae cumulum addidit; quia volebam eum amicum habere non minimum. Cernens tunc ille me gratum habere, quod dixerat, respondisse humiliter ad singula, satis dedisse de omnibus, se non modo nihil offensionis, sed insuper copiosiorem fructum percepisse; coepit me et ipse arctius solito diligere, habenas laxare affectui, et meo se pectori totum infundere. Ita et mihi ejus libertas, et mea sibi probata patientia est. Ego quoque vicem rependens amico, accepta occasione durius objurgandum putavi, nec quibusdam quasi conviciis parcens, cum libertati meae nec impatientem reperi, nec ingratum. Coepi deinde consiliorum meorum ei revelare secreta, et fidelis inventus est. Ita inter nos amor crevit, concaluit affectus, charitas roborabatur, donec ad id ventum est, ut esset nobis cor unum et anima una, idem velle et idem nolle, essetque hic amor timoris vacuus, offensionis nescius, suspicione carens, adulationem exhorrens. Nihil inter nos simulatum, fucatum nihil, nihil inhoneste blandum, nihil indecenter durum, circuitus nullus, nullus angulus, sed omnia nuda et aperta; qui meum pectus quodammodo suum putarem, et ejus meum, ipseque similiter. Ita in amicitia recta linea gradientibus, nullius correptio indignationem, nullius consensio culpam pariebat. Unde se amicum in omnibus probans, meae paci, meae quantum poterat prospiciebat quieti. Ipse se periculis objiciebat, scandalis emergentibus obviabat.
Yet he pleaded with me in private that he might be released, alleging his age, alleging his inexperience, alleging the friendship into which we were then being initiated: lest perhaps by this occasion he should either love less or be loved less. But gaining nothing by these, he began with a free voice to bring out into the open, humbly and modestly, whatever he feared for us both, whatever pleased him less in me: hoping, as he afterwards confessed, that I, offended as it were by this presumption, could be more easily inclined to what he asked. But this freedom of his mind and voice added the crowning measure to our friendship; for I wished to have him as no small friend. Then, seeing that I took in good part what he had said, that I had replied humbly to each point and given satisfaction on all, and that he had received not only no offence but a more abundant fruit besides, he too began to love me more closely than before, to slacken the reins to affection, and to pour himself wholly into my breast. So his freedom was proved to me, and my patience to him. I too, repaying my friend in turn, when an occasion came, thought he should be rebuked more severely, and did not spare certain words that were almost reproaches; yet I found him neither impatient of my freedom nor ungrateful. Then I began to reveal to him the secrets of my counsels, and he was found faithful. So love grew between us, affection warmed, charity was strengthened, until it came to this, that we had one heart and one soul, the same willing and the same not willing, and this love was empty of fear, knew no offence, lacked suspicion, shrank from flattery. Nothing between us was feigned, nothing painted, nothing dishonourably flattering, nothing unbecomingly harsh; no roundabout way, no hidden corner, but all things naked and open; so that I reckoned my breast in a manner his, and his mine, and he likewise. So, as we walked in a straight line in friendship, the rebuke of neither gave rise to indignation, the assent of neither to fault. Hence, proving himself a friend in all things, he provided, as far as he could, for my peace, for my quiet. He exposed himself to dangers, he met scandals as they arose.
Editors' notes and page, col. 699
Page
- running head: 699 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. FARS II. — HISTORICA. 700 (one head across the page; "FARS" for PARS, logged under col 700; the head already names Pars II, the historical works, though this page is still De spirituali amicitia)
- marginal letters: A ‹muris, et rancoris›; B ‹nos virtutis et gratiae›; C ‹addidit; quia volebam›; D ‹crevit, concaluit affectus› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 700)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column opens with "muris,", the end of "mur-muris", set whole at the end of col 698; the rail stands at "et rancoris". "(Psal. XXXVII)" is printed after "Ut jumentum factus est", which is Ps. 72:23 (Vulgate); Ps. 37 answers the preceding deaf-and-dumb image; a loose citation correctly printed, left as printed. The column ends "obviabat." with no hyphen.
Volebam ei aliquando aliquid de his temporalibus, quia jam infirmabatur, praebere solatium; sed ille prohibebat, cavendum dicens ne amor noster secundum hanc carnis consolationem metiretur; ne id magis carnali affectui meo, quam ejus necessitati ascriberetur, et sic mea auctoritas minueretur. Erat igitur quasi manus mea, quasi oculus meus, baculus senectutis meae. Ipse spiritus mei reclinatorium, dolorum meorum dulce solatium; cujus amoris sinus excipiebat laboribus fatigatum, cujus consilium recreabat tristitia vel moerore demersum. Ipse commotum pacificabat, ipse leniebat iratum. Quidquid minus laetum emergebat, referebam ad eum; ut, quod solus non poteram, junctis humeris facilius sustinerem. Quid ergo? Nonne quaedam beatitudinis portio fuit sic amare, et sic amari; sic juvare et sic juvari; et sic ex fraternae charitatis dulcedine in illum sublimiorem dilectionis divinae splendorem altius evolare, et in scala charitatis nunc ad Christi ipsius complexum conscendere; nunc ad amorem proximi ibi suaviter repausandum descendere?
I wished at times to give him some comfort from these temporal things, since he was already ailing; but he forbade it, saying that care must be taken lest our love be measured by this consolation of the flesh; lest it be ascribed to my carnal affection rather than to his need, and so my authority be diminished. He was therefore, as it were, my hand, as it were my eye, the staff of my old age. He was the resting-place of my spirit, the sweet solace of my griefs; the bosom of his love received me when I was wearied with labours, his counsel refreshed me when I was sunk in sadness or grief. He calmed me when I was agitated, he soothed me when I was angry. Whatever less happy thing arose, I referred to him, so that what I could not bear alone I might bear more easily with shoulders joined. What then? Was it not a certain portion of blessedness so to love and so to be loved, so to help and so to be helped, and so from the sweetness of brotherly charity to fly up higher into that more sublime splendour of divine love, and on the ladder of charity now to climb to the embrace of Christ Himself, now to come down to the love of neighbour, there to rest sweetly?
In hac igitur amicitia nostra, quam exempli gratia inseruimus, si quid cernitis imitandum, ad vestrum id retorquete profectum. Sed ut tandem collationem hanc nostram vel sole ruente claudamus, ab amore profectam amicitiam non dubitatis. Qui vero semetipsum non amat, alium amare qui potest? Et cum ex similitudine amoris, quo ipse sibi charus est, amorem proximi debeat ordinare; se autem non diligit, qui turpe aliquid vel inhonestum, vel a se exigit, vel sibi imperat. Primum igitur est, ut semetipsum quisque castificet, nihil sibimet indulgens, quod indecens sit; nihil sibi subtrahens, quod utile sit. Sic vero se ipsum diligens, diligat et proximum, eamdem regulam sequens. Sed quia hic amor multos colligit, ex ipsis eligat, quem ad amicitiae secreta lege familiari admittat, in quem suum copiose infundat affectum: denudans pectus suum usque ad inspectionem viscerum et medullarum, cogitationum et intentionum cordis. Eligatur autem non secundum affectionis lasciviam, sed secundum rationis perspicaciam; similitudine morum, et contemplatione virtutum. Deinde sic se impendat amico, ut levitas omnis absit, jucunditas adsit; nec ordinata desint benevolentiae et charitatis officia, vel obsequia. Jam exinde probetur fides ejus, probetur honestas, probetur patientia. Accedat paulatim consiliorum communio, assiduitas parilium studiorum, et quaedam conformatio vultuum. Sic enim conformari sibi debent amici, ut statim cum alter alterum viderit, etiam similitudo vultus unius in alterum transfundatur; sive fuerit dejectus tristitia, sive jucunditate serenus. Ita electus atque probatus, cum certum tibi fuerit, nihil eum velle, quod dedeceat vel petere ab amico, vel praestare rogatum: constiteritque tibi amicitiam eum putare virtutem, non quaestum; adulationem fugere, detestari assentationem: inventusque fuerit liber cum discretione,
In this friendship of ours, then, which we have put in by way of example, if you see anything worth imitating, turn it to your own progress. But that we may at last close this conference of ours, now at least that the sun is going down: you do not doubt that friendship springs from love. But he who does not love himself, how can he love another? And since he ought to order the love of his neighbour after the likeness of the love by which he is dear to himself, he does not love himself who either demands of himself or commands himself anything shameful or dishonourable. The first thing, then, is that each should make himself chaste, indulging himself in nothing that is unbecoming, withholding from himself nothing that is useful. And so, loving himself, let him love his neighbour also, following the same rule. But since this love gathers many, let him choose from among them one whom he may admit by the law of intimacy to the secrets of friendship, into whom he may pour out his affection abundantly, laying bare his breast even to the inspection of its inmost parts and marrow, of the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Let him be chosen, however, not according to the wantonness of affection but according to the clear sight of reason, by likeness of character and the contemplation of virtues. Then let him so spend himself on his friend that all levity be absent and pleasantness present; nor let the ordered offices of benevolence and charity, or its services, be lacking. From then on let his faith be tested, his honesty tested, his patience tested. Let there come little by little a sharing of counsels, a constancy in like pursuits, and a certain conforming of countenances. For friends ought to be so conformed to each other that as soon as one sees the other, the likeness of the one's face passes over into the other, whether he be cast down with sadness or serene with gladness. Chosen and tested in this way, when you are certain that he wishes neither to ask of a friend, nor when asked to grant, anything that is unbecoming; and it is clear to you that he reckons friendship a virtue, not a gain; that he shuns flattery and detests assentation; and he has been found free with discretion, […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 700
Page
- running head: 699 B. AELREDI ABBATIS RIEVALL. OPP. FARS II. — HISTORICA. 700 (one head across the page; recorded in n699; "FARS" for PARS logged as a misprint)
- marginal letters: A ‹Volebam ei aliquando›; B ‹dam beatitudinis portio›; C ‹debeat ordinare›; D ‹omnis absit, jucunditas› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 699)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column opens "Volebam", a new sentence after "obviabat." at the foot of col 699. "alium amare qui potest?" and "vel sole ruente" set as printed. The column ends "liber cum discretione," with no hyphen; the work runs on into cols 701-702 (the catalog's end at 700 is short).
patiens in correptione, firmus et stabilis in dilectione: tunc illa spiritalis sentitur dulcedo; quam bonum scilicet, et quam jucundum, habitare fratres in unum (Psal. CXXXII). Quam utile tunc dolere pro invicem, laborare pro invicem, cum unusquisque pro altero semetipsum negligere dulce habet, alterius voluntatem suae praeferre, illius necessitati magis quam sui ipsius occurrere, adversis semet opponere et exponere.
[…] patient in correction, firm and steadfast in love: then that spiritual sweetness is felt; how good, namely, and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in one (Ps. 132:1). How profitable it is then to grieve for one another, to labour for one another, when each finds it sweet to neglect himself for the other, to prefer the other's will to his own, to meet the other's need rather than his own, to set himself against adversities and expose himself to them.
Interea quam dulce habent conferre invicem, sua studia mutuo patefacere, simul examinare omnia, et de omnibus in unam convenire sententiam! Accedit et pro invicem oratio, quae in amici memoria tanto efficacius, quanto affectuosius ad Deum emittitur, profluentibus lacrymis, quas vel timor excutit, vel affectus elicit, vel dolor educit. Ita pro amico orans Christum, et pro amico volens exaudiri a Christo, ipsum diligenter et desideranter intendit: cum subito et
Meanwhile, how sweet they find it to confer together, to open their pursuits to each other, to examine all things together, and to come to one mind about all things! There is added, too, prayer for one another, which, in the remembrance of a friend, is sent up to God the more efficaciously the more affectionately it is sent, with flowing tears, which fear strikes out, or affection draws forth, or grief brings out. So, praying to Christ for his friend, and wishing to be heard by Christ for his friend, he turns to Him diligently and longingly: when suddenly and […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 701
Page
- running head: 701 DE BELLO STANDARDII. 702 (one head across the page; the head of the next work)
- marginal letters: A ‹patiens in correptione›; B ‹vel dolor educit› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 702; only those beside this unit's text recorded)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column opens "patiens in correptione", continuing "liber cum discretione," at the foot of col 700 (no hyphen). Only the upper part of the column belongs to this unit: the text ends "cum subito et" (no hyphen) above a full-width rule, and continues at the head of col 702. Below the rule, across both columns, stands the large title of the next work (B. AELREDI ... [De bello Standardii]) and its text; that belongs to its own unit and was not read or set here.
insensibiliter aliquando affectus transiens in affectum, et quasi e vicino ipsius Christi tangens dulcedinem, incipit gustare quam dulcis est, et sentire quam suavis est.
[…] imperceptibly at times, affection passing into affection, and as it were touching from close at hand the sweetness of Christ Himself, he begins to taste how sweet He is, and to feel how gentle He is.
Ita a sancto illo amore, quo amplectitur amicum, ad illum conscendens, quo amplectitur Christum, spiritualem amicitiae fructum pleno laetus ore carpet, plenitudinem omnium exspectans in futurum: quando timore sublato quo nunc pro invicem metuimus et solliciti sumus, omni adversitate depulsa, quam oportet nunc ut pro invicem sustineamus, mortis insuper aculeo cum ipsa morte destructo, cujus n⟨o⟩s punctionibus plerumque fatigati, necesse est, ut pro invicem doleamus, securitate concepta in summi illius boni aeternitate gaudebimus; cum haec amicitia, ⟨ad⟩ quam his paucos admittimus, transfundetur in omnes, ⟨et⟩ ab omnibus refundetur i⟨n⟩ Deum, cum Deus fuerit omnia in omnibus (I Cor. XV).
So, ascending from that holy love with which he embraces his friend to that with which he embraces Christ, he will joyfully pluck with full mouth the spiritual fruit of friendship, awaiting the fullness of all things in the future: when, the fear being taken away with which we now fear and are anxious for one another, every adversity being driven off which we must now bear for one another, and the sting of death, moreover, being destroyed together with death itself, by whose pricks we are often wearied, so that we must grieve for one another, we shall rejoice, with security gained, in the eternity of that supreme good; when this friendship, to which here we admit few, will be poured out upon all, and poured back by all into God, when God shall be all in all (1 Cor. 15:28).
Editors' notes and page, col. 702
Page
- running head: 701 DE BELLO STANDARDII. 702 (one head across the page; recorded in n701)
- marginal letters: A ‹insensibiliter aliquando›; B ‹amicitia, ad quam› (letters printed once in the gutter, shared with col 701; only those beside this unit's text recorded)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: The column opens "insensibiliter", continuing "cum subito et" at the foot of the upper part of col 701. THE WORK ENDS in this column at "omnia in omnibus (I Cor. XV).", the last line above a full-width rule; no closing line or FINIS is printed. Below the rule the next work (Aelred, De bello Standardii) begins with its large full-width title; it belongs to its own unit (pointer only). Damaged type supplied: "n⟨o⟩s" (a gap), "⟨ad⟩ quam", "⟨et⟩ ab omnibus" (blots), "i⟨n⟩ Deum" (second letter broken; UNSURE whether "is" is printed). "his paucos" printed where "hic" is expected (logged; translated "here").