PL 39 · cols. 1709–1712

Augustine, Sermones 388-395 (Classis V, Sermones dubii)

Sermon CCCXCII

Nec de vestris divitiis haec ornamenta proferatis: quia odit superbos et quasi de suo se jactare cupientes. Quid autem habes quod non accepisti (I Cor. IV, 7)? Ipsa ergo donat unde illi placeas. Tantum dilige eam, et servabit te; circumda eam, et exaltabit te; honora eam, et amplexabitur te: ut det capiti tuo coronam gratiarum (Prov. IV, 9). Clara est et quae nunquam marcescet sapientia, et facile invenitur ab his qui diligunt illam (Sap. VI, 13). Proponite hanc adjungere vobis, in illam suspirate, in illam exardescite, in illam deperite. Te ipsum abnega tibi; ne illi te abneges dum places tibi. Non habet amaritudinem conversatio illius (Id. VIII, 16). Si amatores estis, hanc amate; si formosi estis, Deo placete; si juvenes estis, diabolum vincite. Daniel ab angelo vir desideriorum appellatus est (Dan. X, 11). Quae illa ejus erant desideria, nisi quibus in sapientiae pulchritudinem ardenter inhiabat; quia et in juvenili aetate calcavit lasciviam, et regum superbiam pressit captivus, et ora leonum clausit inclusus?

And do not bring out these ornaments from your own riches: for she hates the proud and those who wish to boast as if of what is their own. For what do you have that you have not received (1 Cor. 4:7)? She herself, then, gives that by which you may please her. Only love her, and she will keep you; encircle her, and she will exalt you; honour her, and she will embrace you: that she may give to your head a crown of graces (Prov. 4:9). Bright and never fading is wisdom, and she is easily found by those who love her (Wis. 6:13). Resolve to join her to yourselves, sigh for her, burn for her, be desperately in love with her. Deny yourself to yourself; lest you deny yourself to her while you please yourself. Her company has no bitterness (Wis. 8:16). If you are lovers, love her; if you are handsome, please God; if you are young, conquer the devil. Daniel was called by the angel a man of desires (Dan. 10:11). What were those desires of his, if not those by which he gaped ardently after the beauty of wisdom; since even at a youthful age he trampled on wantonness, and as a captive he pressed down the pride of kings, and when shut in he shut the mouths of lions?

6. Feminis etiam junioribus dicta conveniunt. In ecclesiis non se ostentent. Nec vos, feminae adolescentulae, alienum a vobis arbitremini hunc esse sermonem. Ad vos enim, non tamen ut confundam vos, haec dico, sed ut filias meas charissimas moneo: juvenilia desideria fugite. Nuptae Susannam, viduae Annam, virgines Mariam cogitate. Nec in publicum propterea procedatis, ut florem feni vestri oculis hominum ostentare cupientes, in domo vitae mortem quaeratis. Omnis enim caro fenum, et claritas hominis ut flores feni. Quid ergo facietis cum fenum aruerit, flos deciderit? Verbum autem Domini, quod manet in aeternum (Isai. XL, 6-8), cineres vestros non facile inventurum putatis, quod nunc superba aetatis viriditate contemnitis? Ecce iterum dico atque contestor, Juvenilia desideria fugite. Si auditis hoc, si obtemperatis, si tanquam Dei verbum cum honore et timore suscipitis, non solum pulchri ante oculos Dei, sed etiam sani eritis. Si autem de hac admonitione nostra etiam jocos fortasse amatorios vobis faciatis; de ipsis ferramentis medici mortifera vobis vulnera infligetis. Certe Judaei qui Dominum crucifixerunt (cum audimus, horrescimus et ingenti exsecratione prosequimur), sed tamen illi cum de sua luxuria cogitarent, deliciosorum agrorum solitudines meditabantur, dicentes: Nullum pratum sit quod non pertranseat luxuria nostra (Sap. II, 8). Quomodo ergo parceret Christo, si eum invenisset in terra, qui quidem non solitaria prata irritandis libidinibus suis, sed frequentissimas ecclesias elegit regnantis in coelo? Ecce tertio contestor et dico, desideria juvenilia fugite. Danielis desideriis aestuate. Filii, a juventute vestra eligite doctrinam, et usque ad canos invenietis sapientiam (Eccli. VI, 18).

6. What has been said suits younger women too. They should not show themselves off in the churches. Nor should you, young women, think that this sermon is foreign to you. For I say these things to you, not however to put you to shame, but I admonish you as my dearest daughters: flee youthful desires. Let the married think of Susanna, widows of Anna, virgins of Mary. Nor should you go out in public for this purpose, that, wishing to display the flower of your grass to the eyes of men, you seek death in the house of life. For all flesh is grass, and the glory of man as the flowers of grass. What then will you do when the grass has withered, when the flower has fallen? But the Word of the Lord, which abides for ever (Isa. 40:6–8), do you think it will not easily find your ashes, [that Word] which you now despise in the proud greenness of your age? See, again I say and solemnly declare: Flee youthful desires. If you hear this, if you obey, if you receive it as the word of God with honour and fear, you will be not only beautiful before the eyes of God, but also sound. But if you perhaps even make amorous jests for yourselves out of this admonition of ours, you will inflict deadly wounds on yourselves with the very instruments of the physician. Certainly the Jews who crucified the Lord (when we hear of it, we shudder and pursue them with great execration), yet even they, when they thought about their lust, had in mind the solitudes of delightful fields, saying: Let there be no meadow which our lust does not pass through (Wis. 2:8). How then would he spare Christ, had he found Him on earth, who has chosen not solitary meadows for stirring up his lusts, but the most crowded churches of Him who reigns in heaven? See, a third time I solemnly declare and say: flee youthful desires. Burn with the desires of Daniel. Sons, from your youth choose instruction, and even to grey hairs you will find wisdom (Sir. 6:18).

SERMO CCCXCII. Ad conjugatos.

Sermon 392. To the married.

CAPUT PRIMUM. — 1. Mulier curvata symbolum generis humani. Apostolum audivimus nobis dicentem, Legatione fungimur pro Christo, exhortantes reconciliari Deo (II Cor. V, 20). Non exhortaretur ut reconciliaremur, nisi inimici fuissemus. Ergo erat totus mundus inimicus Salvatori, amicus captivatori: hoc est, inimicus Deo, amicus diabolo. Et totum genus

Chapter One. — 1. The bent woman a symbol of the human race. We have heard the Apostle saying to us: We perform an embassy for Christ, exhorting [you] to be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:20). He would not exhort us to be reconciled, unless we had been enemies. Therefore the whole world was an enemy to the Saviour, a friend to the captor: that is, an enemy to God, a friend to the devil. And the whole race

Editors' notes and page, col. 1709

Footnotes

(*) ‹anchor: SERMO CCCXCII› · call in col 1709 * Emendatus ad duos cl. ad gr. ph. rm. v. et ad Am. Er. Par. Lov.

Corrected against two manuscripts cl., against gr., ph., rm., v., and against the Amerbach, Erasmus, Paris and Louvain editions.

(printed under page 117)

(a) ‹anchor: SERMO CCCXCII› · call in col 1709

(printed under page 117) (a) Alias, 49 inter Homilias 50.

Elsewhere, no. 49 among the Fifty Homilies.

(printed under page 117)

(b) ‹anchor: Ad conjugatos› · call in col 1709

(printed under page 117) (b) In manuscriptis libris Homiliarum quinquaginta inscribitur, « De muliere curva. » In Flori autem Collectione, ad I Cor. VII, appellatur « Sermo ad conjugatos : » sic etiam in vetustissimo Ms Phimarconensi et aliis nonnullis, quibus in codicibus incipit ad isthaec verba, cap. 2, « Audite, charissimi, » nec habentur quae praecedunt de mulieris curvae sanatione. Ex duobus saltem sermonibus unus iste conflatus est, cujus partes dubitare vix licet quin omnes pertineant ad Augustinum.

In the manuscript books of the Fifty Homilies it is titled "On the bent woman." But in Florus's Collection, at 1 Corinthians 7, it is called "Sermon to the married": so too in the very old Phimarcon manuscript and some others, in which codices it begins at these words, chapter 2, "Hear, dearly beloved," and what precedes about the healing of the bent woman is not found. This one sermon has been put together from at least two sermons, all of whose parts can scarcely be doubted to belong to Augustine.

(printed under page 117)

(a) ‹anchor: jure coeli› · call in col 1710 (printed under the right column of page 117)

(a) Serm. 355, n. 5.

Sermon 355, n. 5.

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humanum, tanquam ista mulier, curvatum erat ad terram. Jam intelligens quidam inimicos istos, clamat adversus eos, et dicit Deo : Curvaverunt animam meam (Psal. LVI, 7). Diabolus et angeli ejus animas hominum curvaverunt ad terras, id est, ut pronae in ea quae temporalia sunt et terrena, superna non quaererent. Nam utique hoc dicit Dominus de muliere ista, quam alligaverat satanas ecce decem et octo annis : et jam oportebat eam solvi a vinculo suo, et solvi in die sabbati. Calumniabantur autem erigenti, qui, nisi curvi (Luc. XIII, 11-16)? Quandoquidem et ipsa quae Deus praeceperat non intelligentes, terreno corde intuebantur. Sacramentum enim Baptismi carnaliter celebrabant, spiritualiter non videbant.

of mankind, like this woman, had been bent down towards the earth. Now someone who understood these enemies cries out against them and says to God: They have bent down my soul (Ps. 56:7). The devil and his angels have bent the souls of men down towards the earth, that is, so that, prone towards those things that are temporal and earthly, they should not seek the things above. For indeed this is what the Lord says about this woman, whom Satan had bound, lo, eighteen years: and it was right that she be loosed from her bond, and loosed on the sabbath day. But they slandered the One who raised her up; who were they, if not the bent? (Luke 13:11–16). For, not understanding even the things that God had commanded, they looked upon them with an earthly heart. For they celebrated the sacrament of Baptism carnally; they did not see it spiritually.

CAPUT II. — 2. Concubinas habere non licet; nec maritatas uxores ducere; nec a marito repudiatas. Audite, charissimi, membra Christi et matris Catholicae filii. Quod dico competentibus, audiant fideles; quod dico fidelibus, audiant competentes; quod dico competentibus et fidelibus, audiant poenitentes; quod dico fidelibus et competentibus et poenitentibus, audiant catechumeni, audiant omnes : omnes timeant, nemo contemnat. Sit mihi in consolationem vester auditus, ne sit vobis in testimonium dolor meus. Competentibus dico, Fornicari vobis non licet. Sufficiant vobis aut uxores aut nec uxores : concubinas vobis habere non licet. Audiat Deus, si vos surdi estis; audiant Angeli ejus, si vos contemnitis. Concubinas vobis habere non licet. Et si non habetis uxores, non licet vobis habere concubinas, quas postea dimittatis, ut ducatis uxores; quanto magis damnatio vobis erit, si habere volueritis et concubinas et uxores? Non vobis licet habere uxores, quarum priores mariti vivunt : nec vobis, feminae, habere viros licet, quorum priores uxores vivunt. Adulterina sunt ista conjugia, non jure fori, sed jure coeli. Nec eam feminam quae per repudium discessit a marito, licet vobis ducere vivo marito. Solius fornicationis causa licet uxorem adulteram dimittere : sed illa vivente non licet alteram ducere. Et vobis, feminae, nec illos viros a quibus per repudium discesserunt uxores eorum, maritos habere conceditur; non licet : adulteria sunt, non conjugia. Contemnitur Augustinus, timeatur vel Christus. Nolite imitari turbam malorum, infidelium, filii mei : nolite sequi vias latas, quarum finis ad interitum ducit. Qui baptizatus fuerit, aut continentiam Deo voveat, aut permaneat cum uxore sua, aut si non habet, ducat uxorem.

Chapter II. — 2. It is not lawful to have concubines; nor to marry wives who have husbands; nor women repudiated by a husband. Hear, dearly beloved, members of Christ and sons of the Catholic mother. What I say to the competentes, let the faithful hear; what I say to the faithful, let the competentes hear; what I say to the competentes and the faithful, let the penitents hear; what I say to the faithful and the competentes and the penitents, let the catechumens hear, let all hear: let all fear, let no one despise it. Let your hearing be a consolation to me, lest my grief be a testimony against you. To the competentes I say: It is not lawful for you to commit fornication. Let either wives suffice you, or not even wives: it is not lawful for you to have concubines. Let God hear, if you are deaf; let His angels hear, if you despise it. It is not lawful for you to have concubines. And if you do not have wives, it is not lawful for you to have concubines whom you afterwards dismiss in order to marry wives; how much greater will your damnation be if you wish to have both concubines and wives? It is not lawful for you to have wives whose former husbands are living: nor is it lawful for you, women, to have men whose former wives are living. These are adulterous marriages, not by the law of the forum, but by the law of heaven. Nor is it lawful for you to marry a woman who has departed from her husband by repudiation, while her husband is alive. For the cause of fornication alone is it lawful to dismiss an adulterous wife: but while she is living it is not lawful to marry another. And to you, women, it is not granted to have as husbands those men from whom their wives have departed by repudiation; it is not lawful: these are adulteries, not marriages. Augustine is despised; let Christ at least be feared. Do not imitate the crowd of the wicked, of unbelievers, my sons: do not follow the broad ways, whose end leads to destruction. Whoever has been baptized, let him either vow continence to God, or remain with his wife, or, if he does not have one, let him marry a wife.

CAPUT III. — 3. Poenitentia iis qui a castitatis proposito lapsi sunt amplectenda. Publica poenitentia. Theodosii poenitentia. Audite me, fideles, id est baptizati. Quare moriemini jam renati? Quando baptizati per vias tortuosas et lubricas et immundas itis, nescitis quia peritis? Peritis, filii mei, credite. Non vultis credere? Quid vobis facio? Qui fideles estis, et

Chapter III. — 3. Penance is to be embraced by those who have fallen from the resolve of chastity. Public penance. The penance of Theodosius. Hear me, you faithful, that is, you baptized. Why will you die, already reborn? When, baptized, you go by crooked and slippery and unclean ways, do you not know that you are perishing? You are perishing, my sons, believe it. You do not wish to believe? What am I to do with you? You who are faithful, and

Editors' notes and page, col. 1710

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 1710

¹ Legendum videtur, sabbati.

It seems one should read "sabbati" (of the sabbath).

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(2) ‹anchor: ut ducatis uxores› · call in col 1710

² Sic omnes Mss. At editi, quas postea ducatis uxores ; omisso, dimittatis ut.

So all the manuscripts. But the editions have "quas postea ducatis uxores" (whom you afterwards marry as wives), omitting "dimittatis ut".

(printed under page 117)

(3) ‹anchor: concubinas et uxores› · call in col 1710

³ Editi, et uxores dimittatis. Abest, dimittatis, a manuscriptis.

The editions have "et uxores dimittatis" (and put away your wives). "Dimittatis" is missing from the manuscripts.

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(a) ‹anchor: sed jure cœli› · call in col 1710

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auditis me, si forte talia commisistis, nolite addere; et ut vobis Deus ignoscat, orate. Si non potuistis habere, vel noluistis, pudicitiam conjugalem seu continentiam, et deviastis a proposito vel vinculi conjugalis vel devotae continentiae, sit in vobis dolor et humilitas poenitentiae. Apertius dico: nemo dicat, Non intellexi. Qui post uxores vestras vos illicito concubitu maculastis, si praeter uxores vestras cum aliqua concubuistis; agite poenitentiam, qualis agitur in Ecclesia, ut oret pro vobis Ecclesia. Nemo sibi dicat, Occulte ago, apud Deum ago: novit Deus qui mihi ignoscat, quia in corde meo ago. Ergo sine causa dictum est, Quae solveritis in terra, soluta erunt in coelo (Matth. XVIII, 18)? Ergo sine causa sunt claves datae Ecclesiae Dei? frustramus Evangelium, frustramus verba Christi? Promittimus vobis quod ille negat? Nonne vos decipimus? Job dicit, Si erubui in conspectu populi confiteri peccata mea (Job XXXI, 33). Talis justus, thesauri divini obryzum, tali camino probatus ista dicit; et resistit mihi filius pestilentiae, et erubescit genu figere sub benedictione Dei superba cervix, mens tortuosa? Fortassis, imo quod non dubitatur, propterea Deus voluit ut Theodosius imperator ageret poenitentiam publicam in conspectu populi, maxime quia peccatum ejus celari non potuit; et erubescit senator, quod non erubuit imperator? Erubescit, nec senator, sed tantum curialis, quod non erubuit imperator? Erubescit plebeius sive negotiator, quod non erubuit imperator? Quae ista superbia est? Nonne sola sufficeret gehennae, etiamsi adulterium nullum esset?

hear me, if perhaps you have committed such things, do not add to them; and pray that God may forgive you. If you were not able, or were not willing, to keep conjugal chastity or continence, and have strayed from the commitment either of the conjugal bond or of devoted continence, let there be in you the sorrow and humility of penance. I speak more plainly: let no one say, I did not understand. You who after [taking] your wives have defiled yourselves with unlawful intercourse, if besides your wives you have lain with some woman, do penance, such as is done in the Church, so that the Church may pray for you. Let no one say to himself, I do it in secret, I do it before God: God, Who is to forgive me, knows, because I do it in my heart. Was it then said without cause, Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matt. 18:18)? Were the keys then given to the Church of God without cause? Do we make the Gospel void, do we make void the words of Christ? Do we promise you what He denies? Are we not deceiving you? Job says, If I blushed in the sight of the people to confess my sins (Job 31:33). Such a just man, the refined gold of the divine treasury, proved in such a furnace, says these things; and does a son of pestilence resist me, and does a proud neck, a twisted mind, blush to bend the knee under the blessing of God? Perhaps, indeed as is not doubted, God willed for this reason that the emperor Theodosius should do public penance in the sight of the people, especially because his sin could not be concealed; and does a senator blush at what the emperor did not blush at? Does one blush, not even a senator, but merely a curial, at what the emperor did not blush at? Does a plebeian or a merchant blush at what the emperor did not blush at? What pride is this? Would it not alone suffice for Gehenna, even if there were no adultery?

CAPUT IV. — 4. Christianae mulieres quomodo zelare debeant viros suos. Postremo, fratres mei, audiunt me viri, audiunt me feminae, quid ad me irascimini? Utinam faciatis quod scriptum est, Irascimini, et nolite peccare (Psal. IV, 5). Timere debeo, ne contingat mihi quod contigit apostolo Paulo, quod modo cum legeretur, si intenti fuistis, audistis: Ergo inimicus factus sum vobis verum praedicans (Galat. IV, 16)? Et si ita est, fiat. Si necesse est ut inimicus sim vobis, melius vobis opto esse, quam justitiae. Commendo vos custodiendos etiam uxoribus vestris. Filiae meae sunt, sicut et vos filii mei estis. Audiant me: zelent viros suos; non sibi servent vanam gloriam, qua solent a maritis impudicis matronae laudari, quia impudicitiam virorum suorum aequo animo ferunt. Nolo talem patientiam habeant christianae mulieres: prorsus zelent viros suos; non propter carnem suam, sed propter animas illorum. Omnino ego moneo, ego praecipio, ego jubeo: episcopus jubet, Christus in me jubet. Novit ille in cujus conspectu ardet cor meum. Ego, inquam, jubeo. Nolite viros vestros permittere fornicari. Interpellate contra illos Ecclesiam. Non dico, judices publicos, non proconsulem, non vicarium, non comitem, non imperatorem; sed Christum. In caeteris omnibus ancillae estote virorum vestrorum, subditae ad obsequium. Nulla sit in vobis protervitas,

Chapter IV. — 4. How Christian women ought to be jealous over their husbands. Finally, my brothers, the men hear me, the women hear me: why are you angry with me? Would that you did what is written, Be angry, and do not sin (Ps. 4:5). I ought to fear lest there happen to me what happened to the apostle Paul, which you heard just now when it was read, if you were attentive: Have I then become your enemy by preaching the truth (Gal. 4:16)? And if it is so, so be it. If it is necessary that I be your enemy, I would rather be [an enemy] to you than to justice. I commend you to be guarded by your wives as well. They are my daughters, just as you too are my sons. Let them hear me: let them be jealous over their husbands; let them not keep for themselves the vain glory for which matrons are wont to be praised by unchaste husbands, because they bear the unchastity of their husbands with equanimity. I do not wish Christian women to have such patience: let them be altogether jealous over their husbands; not for the sake of their own flesh, but for the sake of their husbands' souls. I absolutely admonish, I instruct, I command: the bishop commands, Christ commands in me. He knows, in Whose sight my heart burns. I command, I say. Do not permit your husbands to commit fornication. Appeal to the Church against them. I do not say to the public judges, not to the proconsul, not to the vicar, not to the count, not to the emperor; but to Christ. In all other things be handmaids of your husbands, subject to them in obedience. Let there be no insolence in you,

Editors' notes and page, col. 1711

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 1711 (not visible in the page foot)

¹ Sic Mss. Editi vero, vel vinculo conjugali, vel devotione continentiæ.

So the manuscripts. But the editions have "vel vinculo conjugali, vel devotione continentiæ" (either by the marriage bond or by the vow of continence).

(printed under page 118) (a) Serm. 132, cap. 2, n. 2.

Sermon 132, chapter 2, n. 2.

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nulla superbia, non contumeliosa cervix, non aliqua inobedientia: prorsus tanquam ancillae servite. Sed ubi ventum fuerit ad illud negotium, ubi vos beatus Apostolus aequavit, dicens, Uxori vir debitum reddat, similiter et uxor viro; subintulit, Uxor non habet potestatem corporis sui, sed vir. Quid te extollis? Audi quod sequitur: Similiter et vir non habet corporis sui potestatem, sed mulier (I Cor. VII, 3, 4). Ubi ad hoc ventum fuerit, clamate pro re vestra. Aurum tuum vendit maritus pro necessitate sua: ferto, femina; ferto, ancilla; noli litigare, noli contradicere. Contemptus auri tui, dilectio est viri tui. Si villam tuam pro necessitate sua vendat, quae est et tua (non enim potest esse ipsius, quae non sit tua, si est charitas in te, quae debet esse in uxore), ferto patienter; et si dubitat, tu offer: contemne omnia propter amorem viri tui. Sed castum opta, pro castitate litiga. Patienter pereat villa tua, non anima ipsius te patiente pereat.

no pride, no insolent neck, no disobedience of any kind: serve altogether as handmaids. But when it comes to that matter in which the blessed Apostle made you equal, saying, Let the husband render the debt to the wife, and likewise also the wife to the husband, he added, The wife does not have power over her own body, but the husband. Why do you exalt yourself? Hear what follows: Likewise also the husband does not have power over his own body, but the wife (1 Cor. 7:3–4). When it comes to this, cry out for your cause. Your husband sells your gold for his need: bear it, woman; bear it, handmaid; do not quarrel, do not contradict. Contempt for your gold is love for your husband. If he sells your estate for his need, which is also yours (for nothing can be his which is not yours, if there is in you the charity which ought to be in a wife), bear it patiently; and if he hesitates, offer it yourself: despise all things for love of your husband. But desire him chaste, contend for chastity. Let your estate perish while you bear it patiently; let not his soul perish while you look on patiently.

CAPUT V. — 5. Caput mulieris vir. Ducat hic in bonum, illa sequatur. Non dico viris, ut in hac causa zelent uxores suas. Scio quia faciunt, novi. Quis ferat uxorem adulteram? Et imperatur feminae ut ferat adulterum virum! O justitia! Quare, rogo te? quare? Quia ego sum vir. Vir es? in fortitudine tua probemus, quia vir es. Vir es? vince libidinem. Quomodo vir, quo uxor est fortior? Tu es caput mulieris, vir, verum est. Si caput est, ducat, uxor sequatur. Sed ubi recta est domus, caput mulieris vir. Si caput es, duc: sequatur illa caput suum. Sed vide quo eas. Noli ire quo non vis ut sequatur: noli ire quo times pedissequam, ne in foveam adulterii simul ruatis: ne cum tu facis, doceas quod facis. Dolet tibi anima, si in foveam adulterii ambo simul ruatis: doleat tibi, si tu solus ruas. Zelas, non vis ut ruat illa: time, tu noli ruere. Nolite autem, pudicissimae feminae, imitari impudicos viros vestros. Absit a vobis. Aut vobiscum vivant, aut soli pereant. Impudico marito non debet mulier pudicitiam, sed Deo illam debet, Christo illam debet. Non propter illum faciat, qui non meretur; sed propter Christum faciat. Pretium suum attendat, tabulas suas legat. Postremo quod libet sentiat, qui forte indignatur, quia talia disputo: nam scio, qui sapiunt, amant inde me; quia non sine causa scriptum est, Corripe sapientem, et amabit te; corripe insipientem, et adjiciet odisse te (Prov. IX, 8). Non dixit, Incipiet; sed, adjiciet: quia jam oderat. Ergo scio quia sapientes amant me in hoc. A communione se cohibeant, qui sciunt quia novi peccata ipsorum; ne de cancellis projiciantur. Quorum autem nescio, hos coram Deo convenio. Agant etiam ipsi poenitentiam, et deinceps ab immunditia abstineant fornicationum suarum.

Chapter V. — 5. The husband is the head of the woman. Let him lead into good, let her follow. I do not say to husbands that in this matter they should be jealous over their wives. I know that they are; I have learned it. Who would bear an adulterous wife? And the woman is commanded to bear an adulterous husband! O justice! Why, I ask you? why? Because I am a man. Are you a man? Let us test by your strength that you are a man. Are you a man? Conquer lust. How are you a man, when your wife is stronger than you? You are the head of the woman, husband; it is true. If he is the head, let him lead, let the wife follow. But where the house is rightly ordered, the husband is the head of the woman. If you are the head, lead: let her follow her head. But see where you are going. Do not go where you do not want her to follow: do not go where you fear [to have] her as your follower, lest you fall together into the pit of adultery: lest, when you do it, you teach what you do. It pains your soul if you both fall together into the pit of adultery: let it pain you if you alone fall. You are jealous, you do not want her to fall: be afraid, do not fall yourself. But do not, most chaste women, imitate your unchaste husbands. Far be it from you. Let them either live with you, or perish alone. A woman does not owe her chastity to an unchaste husband, but she owes it to God, she owes it to Christ. Let her not do it for his sake, who does not deserve it; but let her do it for Christ's sake. Let her consider her price, let her read her [marriage] tablets. Finally, let him think what he pleases who is perhaps indignant because I discuss such things: for I know that those who are wise love me for it; because not without reason is it written, Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you; rebuke a foolish man, and he will add to hating you (Prov. 9:8). He did not say, He will begin; but, he will add: because he already hated. So I know that the wise love me in this. Let those keep themselves from communion who know that I know their sins, lest they be cast out from the chancel rails. But those whose [sins] I do not know, these I summon before God. Let them too do penance, and henceforth abstain from the uncleanness of their fornications.

CAPUT VI. — 6. Poenitentes mutentur. Catechumeni imitentur bonos de Ecclesia. Poenitentibus dico: quid est quod agitis? Scitote, nihil agitis. Quid prodest quia humiliamini, si non mutamini? Catechumenis dico: exardescite voluntate ad percipiendam gratiam. Sed eligite vobis in Ecclesia Dei quos imitemini. Si

Chapter VI. — 6. Let penitents be changed. Let catechumens imitate the good in the Church. To penitents I say: what is it that you are doing? Know that you are doing nothing. What does it profit that you are humbled, if you are not changed? To catechumens I say: burn with the will to receive grace. But choose for yourselves in the Church of God those whom you may imitate. If

Editors' notes and page, col. 1712

Footnotes

(a) ‹anchor: doceas quod facis› · call in col 1712

(printed under page 118)