Migne Reading Room
PL 61 · cols. 330–342
Paulinus of Nola, Letters
Letter XXXII
semper tota venerantibus. Sed istam inputribilem virtutem et indetribilem soliditatem de illius profecto carnis sanguine bibit, quae passa mortem non vidit corruptionem. Speramus autem et vobis non solum benedictionis monimento, sed et incorruptionis seminario futurum, ut ejus inspectio fidem vestram etiam de recordatione beati illius latronis accendat, qui bene verso latrocinio, longas in magnis laboribus sanctorum vias de momenti fide et momento confessionis anticipans, non immerito ante ipsos apostolos et martyres praeparatum ipsis ab initio, ut ait, regnum primus invasit, et pius coeli praedo diripuit, quia Christum crucifixum similitudine suae poenae videns in eo statu, de quo etiam discipulorum fides turbata nutaverat, Dominum tamen majestatis, ut erat, confessus est; et petens in regno Dei memoriam sui fieri, in gloriam resurrectionis ante ipsam resurrectionem credidit: quam apostoli, posteaquam facta est, non tantum videndo, sed experiendo crediderunt. Nec ipsi tamen de resurrectione carnis potius quam de resurrectionis qualitate dubitantes; quia videlicet qui in orbem terrarum mittendi forent ad omnium gentium informationem, non auribus tantum, sed et oculis praedicandam fidem capere debebant, ut quod firmius didicissent, constantius edocerent.
ever whole to those who venerate it. But this incorruptible power and undiminishable solidity it has surely drunk from the blood of that flesh which, having suffered death, did not see corruption (Ps. 15:10; Acts 2:27). And we hope that it will be for you not only a memorial of blessing but also a seed-bed of incorruption, so that the sight of it may kindle your faith also by the remembrance of that blessed robber who, his robbery well turned, outstripping the long ways of the saints in great labours by a moment's faith and a moment's confession, not undeservedly was the first, before the apostles and martyrs themselves, to storm the kingdom prepared for them from the beginning, as He says (Matt. 25:34), and as a devout robber of heaven carried it off as plunder; because, seeing Christ crucified in the likeness of his own punishment, in that state over which even the faith of the disciples had wavered in confusion, he nonetheless confessed Him the Lord of majesty, as He was; and, asking to be remembered in the kingdom of God (Luke 23:43), he believed into the glory of the resurrection before the resurrection itself: which the apostles, after it had come to pass, believed not only by seeing but by experiencing. Yet even they doubted not so much the resurrection of the flesh as the quality of the resurrection (Luke 24:39; John 20:27); because, to be sure, those who were to be sent into the whole world for the instruction of all nations had to receive the faith they were to preach not with their ears only but with their eyes too, so that what they had learned more firmly they might teach more steadfastly (Matt. 28:19).
EPISTOLA XXXII.
LETTER XXXII.
1. Insertis his versiculis patens pagina sollicitavit linguam et manum ut occuparet vacantia, et succurrit animo esse quod scriberem. Perquam enim gratulor, quod unam cordis et corporis nostri, operum quoque et votorum similitudinem ostenderimus, eodem tempore basilicas dominicis adjicientes ovilibus. Tu vero etiam baptisterium basilicis duabus interpositum condidisti, ut nos in horum quoque operum, quae visibiliter exstruuntur, aedificatione superares. Sed Domino gratias, qui dedit nobis in quo et vinci victoriam duceremus. Vincimus enim voto, in quo vincimur gratia ab eo quem nobis judicio anteponimus, dilectione comparamus. Tu es iste quem loquimur; tu inquam pars nostri major; et melior; tu requies nostra, tu gaudium, in te reclinatio capitis nostri, et mentis habitatio est. Quae non tantum in praesenti tempore, sed ut speramus et confidimus
1. With these little verses inserted, the page lying open stirred tongue and hand to fill its empty spaces, and it came to mind that there was something for me to write. For I rejoice exceedingly that we have shown one likeness of heart and body, of works also and of vows, adding basilicas to the Lord's sheepfolds at the same time. But you have also built a baptistery set between two basilicas, so as to surpass us in the building also of these works which are raised visibly. But thanks be to the Lord, Who has given us something in which we might count even being defeated a victory. For we conquer in desire, in which we are conquered in grace by him whom we set before ourselves in judgement and make our equal in love. You are the one of whom we speak; you, I say, are the greater part of us, and the better; you are our rest, you our joy; in you is the reclining of our head and the dwelling of our mind. Which not only in the present time but, as we hope and trust
Editors' notes and page, col. 330
Footnotes
(f) ‹anchor: constantius edocerent› · call in col 330
Matth. XXVIII, 19.
Matthew 28:19.
Editors' notes (*) ‹anchor: EPISTOLA XXXII (heading)› · call in col 330 Alias 12; quae autem 32 erat, nunc 42. Scripta anno 403, et missa cum superiore.
Formerly 12; and the one that was 32 is now 42. Written in the year 403, and sent with the preceding one.
(printed under page 168)
(e) ‹anchor: Insertis› · call in col 330
Ms. Vien., Compositis. Edit. Schot. in marg., Recensitis.
The Vienna manuscript has "Compositis"; Schott's edition, in the margin, "Recensitis".
(printed under page 168)
(f) ‹anchor: vacantia, et› · call in col 330
Ms. Vien., occurrit.
The Vienna manuscript has "occurrit".
(printed under page 168)
(g) ‹anchor: Tu vero› · call in col 330
Ms. Reg., eodem: non male.
The Royal manuscript has "eodem": not badly.
(printed under page 168)
Editors' prose
Expostulat cum Severo, a quo cum S. Martino ad sacrum fontem depictus fuerat. Mittit versus inscribendos, qui ostendant id factum ut esset Paulinus exemplo poenitentibus, Martinus innocentibus. Conditam a se S. Felicis basilicam describit, et epigrammata basilicis Nolanae et Fundanae inscripta mittit. Tum misericordiae opera, et spiritualis in anima templi aedificationem egregie commendat.
He remonstrates with Severus, who had had him painted with St Martin at the sacred font. He sends verses to be inscribed there, to show that this was done so that Paulinus might be an example to penitents, and Martin to the innocent. He describes the basilica of St Felix which he has built, and sends the epigrams inscribed on the basilicas of Nola and Fundi. Then he warmly commends works of mercy and the building of a spiritual temple in the soul.
<!-- note: Argumentum of Epistola XXXII. A note-call (superscript 1, to the dating note at the page foot) after "commendat" omitted. "depictus": scan reads like "depicius"; set "depictus" (UNSURE whether a misprint). -->
Page
- running head: 329 EPISTOLA XXXII. 330 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹semper tota venerantibus›; B ‹fessus est; et petens›; C ‹basilicis Nolanae et Fundanae› (in the argumentum); D ‹cio anteponimus, dilectione›
- old-edition numerals: 195 after ‹operum,›
in Domino perpetua nobis ab ipsius munere, et in ipsius corpore ac spiritu manebit. Ideo si quid per gratiam Domini amplius agas, nobiscum profecto, certe pro nobis agis.
in the Lord, will remain for us everlasting by His gift, both in His body and in His spirit. So if by the grace of the Lord you do anything more, you do it surely with us, certainly for us.
2. Sed in eo metuo ne operibus tuis, quibus iniqua viarum secularium dirigis, et clivosa complanas, ex illo, de quo semper conqueror affectu in nos tuo, salebram offensionis immisceas, quod splendidos devotionis in Christo tuae titulos nostris nominibus infuscas; et justis laboribus hanc iniquitatem inseris, ut locum sanctum etiam vultibus iniquorum polluas. Recte enim in loco refectionis (id est baptisterii) humanae Martinus pingitur, qui coelestis hominis imaginem perfecta Christi imitatione portavit; ut deponentibus in lavacro terrenae imaginis vetustatem, imitanda coelestis animae occurrat effigies. Noster vero quis illic locus est, qui nec infantibus innocentia, neque viris concurrimus sapientia? et ab immaculatis malitia, a perfectis infirmitate distinguimur? Quae ergo societas lumini et tenebris? lupis et agnis? serpentibus et columbis? hoc est, nobis et Martino? Nonne tu lactis et fellis poculum miscuisti? Sed bene, quod non ut in liquoribus uno calice confusis, ita in hominibus eodem loco mixtis, si discrepent meritis, boni suavitas amaritudine mali venenatur: contraque evenit ut peccator justo compositus magis sordeat, et peccatore collato magis justus eluceat, Quominus moveor errore caritatis tuae, quia nullam beato illi fecisti injuriam, potiusque ad gloriam illius contulisti, ut contra despicabilem facies venerabilis pingeretur, quo splendor ejus comparatione tenebrarum clarius emicaret, qui etiam in splendoribus sanctorum conspicua claritate praefulget. Et quidem nisi scirem te impenso nimii in nos amoris studio hanc informasse picturam, malitiosum te et callidum criminarer, qui nostrae humilitatis obscuras animorum nocte personas, ex adversi juxta parietis regione depictas sancto capiti contulisses, ut illum tantum pingeres, nos vero potius deformares, quos jure conspecta Martini facie despuendos ad probrum ridiculae comparationis exponeres. Sed ne nostri causa, quorum multo amore dum falleris, falsum facis, haec commentatio tua de caritate prolapsa irrideretur; ut revera potest et debet.
2. But in this I fear that, into your works, by which you straighten the crooked places of the world's roads and level the steep ones, you are mixing a rough stone of stumbling, out of that affection of yours towards us of which I always complain: in that you darken the splendid inscriptions of your devotion in Christ with our names, and insert this iniquity into righteous labours, so as to pollute a holy place even with the faces of the wicked. For rightly is Martin painted in the place of human refreshment (that is, of the baptistery), he who bore the image of the heavenly man by a perfect imitation of Christ; so that those who in the washing put off the oldness of the earthly image may meet the likeness of a heavenly soul to be imitated. But what place have we there, who match neither infants in innocence nor men in wisdom, and are set apart from the spotless by malice, from the perfect by weakness? What fellowship, then, has light with darkness (2 Cor. 6:14)? wolves with lambs? serpents with doves? that is, we with Martin? Have you not mixed a cup of milk and gall? But it is well that, unlike liquids poured together in one cup, among men mingled in the same place, if they differ in merits, the sweetness of the good is not poisoned by the bitterness of the bad: rather the contrary happens, that the sinner set beside the just is the more sullied, and the just, compared with the sinner, shines out the more. All the less am I disturbed by the error of your charity, since you have done that blessed man no injury, but rather have added to his glory, in that a venerable face was painted opposite a despicable one, so that his splendour might flash out the more brightly by comparison with darkness, he who even in the splendours of the saints (Ps. 109:3) shines forth with conspicuous brightness. And indeed, did I not know that you had designed this picture out of the lavish zeal of an excessive love for us, I would accuse you of malice and cunning, for having set beside that holy head the figures of our lowliness, dark with the night of our souls, painted on the stretch of the wall facing it, so as to paint him alone and rather to disfigure us, whom, once Martin's face had been seen, you would expose, justly to be spat upon, to the disgrace of a ridiculous comparison. But lest on our account, for while you are deceived by great love of us you do what is false, this design of yours, slipping from charity, should be mocked; as indeed it can and should be.
3. Hac tantum gratia parvi tibi in versiculis de hujusmodi tua pictura ad te mittendis, ut consilii tui ratio proderetur, qua salubriter novorum hominum informationi studens, diversas longe sibi imagines proposuisses; ut emergentes a sacro fonte, et vitandum et sequendum pariter conspicarentur. Itaque sic habes; si placet, utere.
3. For this reason only have I complied with you in the little verses to be sent to you about this picture of yours: that the reasoning of your plan might be made known, by which, wholesomely zealous for the forming of new men, you had set before them images far unlike each other; so that those emerging from the sacred font might behold at once what is to be shunned and what is to be followed. So here you have it; if you please, use it.
Abluitis quicunque animas et membra lavacris, / Cernite propositas ad bona facta vias.
All you who wash souls and limbs in the font, / behold the ways set before you towards good deeds.
Adstat perfectae Martinus regula vitae: / Paulinus veniam quo mereare docet.
Martin stands here, the rule of the perfect life: / Paulinus teaches how you may earn pardon.
Hunc peccatores, illum spectate beati: / Exemplar sanctis ille sit, iste reis.
You sinners, look on this one; you blessed, on that: / let that one be the pattern for the saints, this one for the guilty.
Editors' notes and page, col. 331
Footnotes
Scripture references (printed under page 169)
(a) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 331
II Cor. VI, 14.
2 Corinthians 6:14.
(printed under page 169)
(b) ‹anchor: in splendoribus sanctorum› · call in col 331
Psal. CIX, 3.
Psalm 109:3.
(printed under page 169)
(c) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 331 or 332
Id est pecuniae. Vide epist. 1 append., n. 6.
That is, of money. See Letter 1 of the appendix, no. 6.
(printed under page 169)
Page
- running head: 331 S. PAULINI NOLANI EPISCOPI 332 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹fidimus in Domino› (between the columns); B ‹tanda coelestis animae›; C ‹pingeretur, quo splendor›; D ‹jusmodi tua pictura› (between the columns)
- old-edition numerals: 196 after ‹nobis et›
- other: The first word 'fidimus' is the end of 'con-fidimus' split from col. 330, where it is set whole; it is set here too as printed, and the English begins after it. Verse couplets are set one couplet per paragraph, lines divided by ' / '. Inline editors' gloss '(id est baptisterii)' set as printed. 'parvi' as printed (= parui, 'I complied'). Comma before 'Quominus' as printed. Numbered note call 3 omitted.
Item de eodem:
Likewise on the same:
Dives opum Christo, pauper sibi, pulchra Severus / Culmina sacratis fontibus instituit.
Rich in wealth for Christ, poor for himself, Severus / raised a fair building for the sacred fonts.
Et quia coelestes aulam condebat in actus, / Qua renovarentur fonte Deoque homines:
And since he was founding a hall for heavenly acts, / in which men might be renewed by the font and by God,
Digna sacramentis gemina sub imagine pinxit. / Disceret ut vitae dona renatus homo.
he painted, in a twin image, things worthy of the sacraments, / that man reborn might learn the gifts of life.
Martinum veneranda viri testatur imago: / Altera Paulinum forma refert humilem.
One man's venerable likeness bears witness to Martin: / the other form portrays the lowly Paulinus.
Ille fidem exemplis et dictis fortibus armat, / Ut meriti palmas intemerata ferat.
The one arms faith with examples and brave words, / that it may bear the palms of merit unsullied.
Iste docet, fusis redimens sua crimina nummis, / Vilior ut sit res, quam sua cuique salus.
This one teaches, redeeming his crimes with coins poured out, / that wealth should be cheaper to each than his own salvation.
4. Certe probatur jam te non ridendum, magisque probandum, si hac tantum ratione longissime dissimiles cominus pinxisse videaris; ut in Martino forma justitiae et summa virtutum, in nobis conscientiae iniquitatis obtritio et confessio cerneretur, ut et beatis exemplum pateret et miseris. In illo speculum fortitudo, in nobis solatium haberet ignavia. Illum intuerentur, qui praeceptum sufficerent implere virtutibus: in nobis consolarentur, qui remedium vellent afferre criminibus. Quia innocentiae fiducia destitutis, et nexu iniquitatis adstrictis, sola ut captivis potest redemtio subvenire. Quaeso te tamen, ne obedientiam meam crimen facias, si versus tuos illos luminis et favorum, sicut denuntiasti, auferas. Verecunde quaeso illud magis, quam vere minatus sis; et, si istos adscribendos putaveris, illi permaneant, ut horum quasi gemmulae sint, et faciant vilibus pretium et claro atra distinguant. Sane accepta licentia dixi linguae meae, non juxta prophetam, ut maneret in requie sua, et custodiret vias meas sed potius oppositae sibi custodiae frenos rumperet, dum serviret tibi. Ita te diligo, ut magis de obtemperande tibi quam de multiloquio peccatum timerem.
4. Surely it is now proved that you are not to be laughed at but rather approved, if you are seen to have painted side by side two so utterly unlike for this reason only: that in Martin the pattern of righteousness and the sum of the virtues, in us the contrition and confession of a conscience of iniquity might be seen, so that an example might lie open both to the blessed and to the wretched. In him fortitude would have a mirror, in us sloth a consolation. On him those would gaze who were able to fulfil the commandment by their virtues: in us those would take comfort who wished to bring a remedy to their crimes. For to those bereft of the confidence of innocence and bound fast by the bond of iniquity, as to captives, redemption alone can bring help. Yet I beg you not to make my obedience a crime by removing, as you announced, those verses of yours on the light and the honeycombs. I ask, modestly, that you may have threatened this rather than meant it in truth; and, if you think these should be added, let those remain, so that they may be like little gems among these, and lend value to the cheap and set off the dark with the bright. Indeed, having taken licence, I told my tongue, not as the prophet did, to remain in its rest and keep my ways (Ps. 38:2), but rather to break the reins of the guard set against it, so long as it served you. I so love you that I would fear sin more from obeying you than from much speaking (Prov. 10:19).
5. Quam ob rem etiam basilicis tuis versiculos, quasi votivos sacris fontibus titulos destinavi. Si quid in his apte locutus videbor, haec quoque fratris Victoris gratia est, cujus oculis et verbis omnia quae in Christo Domino fecisti et agis vidi; et ideo versus quos et de basilicis interposui ipso autore censebis, qui materiam dictavit enarratione factorum tuorum. De baptisterio igitur ipso erunt isti, de cujus pictura tantum sunt illi superiores.
5. For this reason I have also intended little verses for your basilicas, as votive inscriptions for the sacred fonts. If I seem to have spoken aptly in them, this too is owed to brother Victor, through whose eyes and words I have seen all that you have done and are doing in Christ the Lord; and so you will reckon that the verses which I have also inserted about the basilicas have him for their author, who dictated the matter by his account of your deeds. These, then, will be on the baptistery itself, while those above are only on its painting.
Hic reparandarum generator fons animarum / Vivum divino lumine flumen agit.
Here the font, begetter of souls to be restored, / drives on a living stream with divine light.
Sanctus in hunc coelo descendit Spiritus amnem, / Coelestique sacras fonte maritat aquas:
The Holy Spirit comes down from heaven into this river, / and weds the sacred waters to a heavenly spring:
Concipit unda Deum: sanctamque liquoribus almis. / Edit ab aeterno semine progeniem.
the wave conceives God, and from its nourishing waters / brings forth a holy offspring from eternal seed.
Mira Dei pietas! Peccator mergitur undis, / Mox eadem emergit justificatus aqua,
Wondrous the loving-kindness of God! The sinner is plunged in the waves, / and soon rises from the same water justified;
Sic homo et occasu felici functus et ortu, / Terrenis moritur, perpetuis oritur.
so man, having passed through a happy setting and a rising, / dies to earthly things and rises to everlasting ones.
Culpa perit, sed vita redit; vetus interit Adam, / Et novus aeternis nascitur imperiis.
Guilt perishes, but life returns; the old Adam dies, / and the new is born for eternal dominion.
Sequentes ad basilicarum picturam sunt.
The following are for the painting of the basilicas.
Corpore, mente, fide, castissimus incola Christi / Condidit ista Deo tecta Severus ovans.
In body, mind and faith a most chaste indweller of Christ, / Severus, rejoicing, founded these roofs for God.
Totus et ipse Dei templum viget hospite Christo, / Gaudentemque humili corde gerit Dominum.
He too, wholly a temple of God, flourishes with Christ for his guest, / and in a humble heart bears the Lord, Who rejoices there.
Ecce velut trino colit unam nomine mentem: / Sic trium sancta mole sacravit opus.
See: as he worships one mind under a threefold name, / so he has hallowed the work with a holy pile of three.
Editors' notes and page, col. 332
Footnotes
(d) ‹anchor: juxta prophetam› · call in col 332
Psal. XXXVIII, 2.
Psalm 38:2.
(printed under page 169)
(e) ‹anchor: peccatum timerem› · call in col 332
Prov. X, 19.
Proverbs 10:19.
Editors' notes (printed under page 169)
(a) ‹anchor: Mox› · call in col 332
Sic mss. codices Reg., Vat. et Vien. cum editis quinque, licentia poetica. Edit. Poelm., idem. Vide carm. 15, v. 334.
So the Royal, Vatican and Vienna manuscripts, with five editions, by poetic licence. Poelmann's edition has "idem". See Poem 15, line 334.
(printed under page 169)
Page
- running head: 331 S. PAULINI NOLANI EPISCOPI 332 (one head across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹Item de eodem› (between the columns); B ‹exemplum pateret et miseris›; C ‹oppositae sibi custodiae›; D ‹Concipit unda Deum› (between the columns, position approximate)
- old-edition numerals: 197 after ‹in nobis›; 198 after ‹rumperet,›
Ampla dedit populo geminis fastigia tectis, / Legibus ut sacris congrueret numerus.
He gave the people a spacious height under twin roofs, so that the number might accord with the sacred laws.
Nam quia latorem duo Testamenta per unum / Pacta Deum in Christo copulat una fides:
For since one faith binds together the two Testaments, covenants made in Christ through one God their giver,
Iste duas inter diversi culminis aulas / Turrito fontem tegmine constituit.
this man set the font between two halls of differing roof, under a towered covering,
Laeta novos geminis ut mater Eclesia partus / Excipiat sinibus, quos aqua protulerit.
so that Mother Church, glad, might take her new offspring to her twin bosoms, the offspring the water has brought forth.
Aula duplex tectis, ut Eclesia Testamentis: / Una sed ambobus gratia fontis adest.
The hall is double in its roofs, as the Church is in its Testaments; but one grace of the font is present to both.
Lex antiqua novam firmat, veterem nova complet: / In veteri spes est, in novitate fides.
The ancient Law establishes the new, the new fulfils the old: in the old is hope, in the newness faith.
Sed vetus atque novum conjungit gratia Christi; / Propterea medio fons datus est spatio.
But the grace of Christ joins old and new; therefore the font is placed in the space between.
Inde parens sacro ducit de fonte sacerdos / Infantes niveos corpore, corde, habitu;
From there the priest, a parent, leads out of the sacred font infants snow-white in body, heart and dress;
Circumdansque rudes festis altaribus agnos, / Cruda salutiferis imbuit ora cibis.
and, setting the untaught lambs around the festal altars, he steeps their unripe mouths in the food of salvation.
Hinc senior sociae congaudet turba catervae: / Alleluia novis balat ovile choris.
Hence the older throng of the allied company rejoices together: the sheepfold bleats Alleluia with new choirs.
6. Cum hos operibus unanimitatis tuae manufactis dedissem, illam non manufactam in domestica tua ecclesia gratiam Dei, qua perpetuum tibi hospitem in ea Clarum largitus est, silere non potui. Itaque sanctae ipsius memoriae versus, non quia aliquid divinis ejus meritis dignum loqui possem, sed ut studium plurimae in illius animam caritatis exprimerem, ausus sum facere, et unanimitati tuae mittere. Quos tu coram Domino sanctae et cohospitanti tecum semper in Domino animae ejus recitans, excusabis audaciam meam, et commendabis obsequium.
6. When I had given these verses to the works made by the hands of your Unanimity, I could not keep silent about that grace of God not made by hands in your household church, by which He has granted you Clarus as your perpetual guest in it. So I have ventured to compose verses to his holy memory, not because I could say anything worthy of his divine merits, but to express the zeal of the very great love I bear towards his soul, and to send them to your Unanimity. Reciting them before the Lord and before his holy soul, which shares your lodging with you always in the Lord, you will excuse my boldness and commend my service.
Nominis ut titulo, sic mentis lumine Clarus
Clarus, bright by the title of his name as by the light of his mind,
Presbyter hoc tegitur, sed membra caduca sepulcro;
a priest, is covered by this tomb, but only his perishable limbs;
Libera corporeo mens carcere gaudet in astris,
his mind, freed from the prison of the body, rejoices among the stars,
Pura probatorum sedem sortita piorum.
pure, having been allotted the seat of the proven faithful.
Sancta sub aeternis altaribus ossa quiescunt,
His holy bones rest beneath the eternal altars,
Ut dum casta pio referuntur munera Christo,
so that while chaste gifts are offered to the loving Christ,
Divinis sacris animae jungantur odores.
the fragrance of his soul may be joined to the divine rites.
Item de eodem, ut quos malueris legas: sed ego scio in hoc te potius ambigere debere, non ut aliquos ad titulum eligere, sed de nullo debeas injuriam sancto Dei facere.
Also on the same man, so that you may read whichever you prefer: but I know that in this you will rather have to hesitate, not over choosing some of them for the inscription, but over doing wrong to God's saint by leaving out any.
Presbyter hic situs est meritis et nomine Clarus,
Here lies the priest Clarus, bright in merits and in name,
Martino studiis comes, et meriti modo consors:
companion of Martin in his pursuits and now sharer in his merit.
Digna pio domus est altaria, sub quibus artus
A worthy house for the devout man is the altar, beneath which his limbs
Conditur exanimos; nam spiritus aethere gaudet,
lie buried lifeless; for his spirit rejoices in the heavens,
Discipulumque pari sociat super astra magistro.
and above the stars joins the disciple to a master his equal.
Clare fide, praeclare actu, clarissime fructu, / Qui meritis titulum nominis aequiparas,
Clarus, bright in faith, brighter in deed, brightest in fruit, you who match the title of your name with your merits:
Casta tuum digne velant altaria corpus, / Ut templum Christi contegat ara Dei.
the chaste altars fittingly veil your body, so that the altar of God may cover a temple of Christ.
Sed quia, tu non hac, qua corpus, sede teneris, / Qui meritis superis spiritus involitas;
But since you are not held in this seat where your body is, you who as a spirit fly up by your merits to the heights;
Sive patrum sinibus recubas, Dominive sub ara / Conderis, aut sacro pasceris in nemore:
whether you recline in the bosom of the fathers, or are laid beneath the altar of the Lord, or are fed in the sacred grove:
Qualibet in regione poli situs aut paradisi, / Clare sub aeterna pace beatus agis;
in whatever region of heaven or of paradise you are placed, Clarus, you dwell blessed in eternal peace.
Haec peccatorum bonus accipe vota rogantum, / Ut sis Paulini Therasiaeque memor.
Kindly receive these prayers of sinners who ask, that you may be mindful of Paulinus and Therasia.
Dilige mandatos interveniente Severo, / Quos ignorasti corpore sic meritos.
Love those commended to you through Severus's intercession, whom in the body you did not know to be so deserving.
Unanimi communis amor sit fomes utrisque / Perpetui summo foederis in Domino.
Let a common love be to the two of one mind the kindling of an everlasting bond in the most high Lord.
Non potes implicitos divellere; si trahis unum, / Unus adhaerentem, quo rapitur, rapiet.
You cannot tear apart those entwined; if you draw one, the one will draw along the one who clings to him, wherever he is drawn.
Editors' notes and page, col. 333
Footnotes
Second series (lettered references and glosses) (printed under page 170)
(a) ‹anchor: mater Eclesia› · call in col 333
Vide not. 239.
See note 239.
(printed under page 170)
(b) ‹anchor: ut Eclesia› · call in col 333
Vide ibid.
See the same place.
(printed under page 170)
(c) ‹anchor: Infantes niveos› · call in col 333
Vide not. 144.
See note 144.
(printed under page 170)
(d) ‹anchor: Hinc senior› · call in col 333
Id est recentes. Vide carm. 25, v. 211.
That is, "recentes" (fresh). See Poem 25, line 211.
(printed under page 170)
(a) ‹anchor: (a) Cruda› · call in col 333
Ita ms. codex Vatic. cum 2 editis. Ms. Vien. et Latinius, Pura. Ms. Reg. et editi tres, Cura, mendose. Ed. Schot., Cara.
So the Vatican manuscript, with two editions. The Vienna manuscript and Latinius have "Pura"; the Royal manuscript and three editions, "Cura", wrongly; Schott's edition, "Cara".
(printed under page 170)
(b) ‹anchor: Conditur› · call in col 333
Artus conditur exanimos. Vide eumdem Graecismum carm. 22, v. 53. Edd. quatuor, exanimus, mendose: artus enim singulari numero non effertur.
"Artus conditur exanimos" (he is buried as to his lifeless limbs). See the same Graecism in Poem 22, line 53. Four editions have "exanimus", wrongly: for "artus" is not used in the singular.
(printed under page 170)
(c) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 333 or 334
Sic mss. codices et ed. Rosv. licentia poetica. Gravius, Grinaeus, Schottus et Poelmannus offensi in secundam syllabam productam in martyria, substituerunt insignia.
So the manuscripts and Rosweyde's edition, by poetic licence. Gravius, Grynaeus, Schott and Poelmann, offended by the lengthened second syllable in "martyria", substituted "insignia".
(printed under page 170)
Page
- running head: 333 | EPISTOLA XXX[II] (right part of head cut off in the image)
- marginal letters: A ‹Ampla dedit populo›; B ‹dedissem, illam non manufactam›; C ‹Divinis sacris animae›; D ‹Conderis, aut sacro›
- old-edition numerals: 199-200 after ‹coram›
- other (Q3): "Eclesia" (single c) is printed twice in the first poem, both times with a call to the note "Vide not. 239": set as printed. The editors' cross-reference "(V. carm. 24, v. 438)" after "sanctae et" is not set (its English rendering removed). Superscript note numbers 6–11 omitted. Verse re-set one couplet (elegiacs) or one line (hexameters) per paragraph, per the unit rule.
Ergo individuos pariter complectere fratres / Utque sumus, sic nos dilige participans / Sic Deus accivit, sic nos Martinus amavit; / Sic et tu pariter Clare tuere pares. / Non meritis, sed amore pares; tu sancte valebis / Exorare, pares et meritis fieri, / Si cum Martino socia pietate labores, / Ut vincant vestrae crimina nostra preces: / Et simul in vestri ducamur sorte Severi, / Vestraque nos semper protegat ala sinu.
So embrace alike the inseparable brothers, and as we are, so love us as a sharer: as God has called us, as Martin loved us, so do you too, Clarus, guard us alike as equals. Equals not in merits but in love; you, holy one, will be able by prayer to obtain that we be made equals in merits too, if you labour with Martin in fellow devotion, so that your prayers may overcome our sins; and may we be led together in the lot of your Severus, and may your wing ever shelter us in its fold.
7. Quod si Dominus desiderium animae vestrae fecerit secundum fidem vestram, adjiciens ornatui et sanctificationi operum vestrorum, ut sacros cineres de sanctis gloriosorum apostolorum aut martyrum reliquiis adipiscamini (quia hujus voti praesumtione vos aliam apud Primuliacum nostram et priore majorem basilicam praeparasse cognovimus) dignum opere fidei vestrae, et operis fideliter elaborati dedicatione proculdubio celeberrima, sanctorum quoque reliquiis decens arbitramur, ut hoc etiam quod de cruce misimus, pariter depositum sacratumque veneremini. Quod si ita placuerit, placitum vestrum hi, si videbitur, versiculi nuntiabunt:
7. But if the Lord fulfils the desire of your soul according to your faith, adding to the adornment and sanctification of your works that you obtain sacred ashes from the holy relics of the glorious apostles or martyrs (for we have learned that in anticipation of this wish you have prepared another basilica at our Primuliacum, larger than the former one), we judge it worthy of the work of your faith, and fitting for the dedication, no doubt most celebrated, of a work faithfully wrought, and fitting too for the relics of the saints, that you should venerate this also which we have sent from the cross, laid up and consecrated together with them. If this pleases you, these little verses, if you see fit, will announce your pleasure:
Divinum veneranda tegunt altaria foedus, / Compositis sacra cum cruce martyribus. / Cuncta salutiferi coeunt martyria Christi, / Crux, corpus, sanguis, martyris ipse Deus. / Namque Deus semper vobis sua munera servat; / Atque ubi Christus, ibi Spiritus, et Pater est. / Sic ubi crux, et martyr ibi: qua martyr, ibi et crux, / Martyrii sanctis quae pia causa fuit. / Illa cibum vitae mortalibus, illa coronas, / Quae Domino famulos participant, peperit. / In cruce fixa caro est qua pascor; de cruce sanguis. / Ille fluit, vitam quo bibo, corda lavo. / Christe, tuo coeant simul haec tua dona Severo, / Fortior et testis sit crucis iste tuae. / Carne tua vivat, tuus illi pocula sanguis / Praebeat, in verbo vivat agatque tuo. / Quaque tuum socio Martinum ascendere Claro / Vidit, et ipse tuo munere vectus eat.
The venerable altars cover a divine covenant, the martyrs being laid to rest together with the sacred cross. All the testimonies of Christ the Saviour meet here: the cross, the body, the blood, God Himself, the Martyr's. For God ever keeps His gifts for you; and where Christ is, there is the Spirit, and the Father. So where the cross is, there too is the martyr; where the martyr is, there too is the cross, which was for the saints the holy cause of their martyrdom. The cross brought forth food of life for mortals, and brought forth the crowns that make servants sharers with the Lord. On the cross was fixed the flesh by which I am fed; from the cross the blood. That blood flows by which I drink life, and wash my heart. Christ, let these Thy gifts come together at once for Thy Severus, and let him be a stronger witness of Thy cross. Let him live by Thy flesh, let Thy blood give him to drink, let him live and act in Thy word. And by the way by which he saw Thy Martin ascend with Clarus his companion, may he too go, borne by Thy gift.
8. Si vero magis placeat vobis hanc de cruce benedictionem ad quotidianam tutelam atque medicinam in promptu habere, ne semel condita in altario, non semper ad manum, ut usus exigit, praesto sit, sufficit et illa ad basilicae consecrationem gratia, scilicet Dominus cum apostolis et martyribus; quorum venerandus cinis si sine crucis consortio subjiciatur altaribus, hic opertos titulus indicabit:
8. But if you would rather have this blessing from the cross at hand for daily protection and healing, lest, once laid up in the altar, it should not always be ready to hand as need requires, then that grace too suffices for the consecration of the basilica, namely the Lord with the apostles and martyrs; and if their venerable ashes are placed beneath the altars without the company of the cross (see note 147), this inscription will point out those covered there:
Pignora sanctorum divinae gloria mensae / Velat apostolicis edita corporibus. / Spiritus et Domini medicis virtutibus instans / Per documenta sacros viva probat cineres. / Sic geminata piis adspirat gratia votis, / Infra martyribus, desuper acta sacris. / Vota sacerdotis, viventum et commoda, parvo / Pulvere sanctorum mors pretiosa juvat.
The glory of the divine table veils pledges of the saints, brought forth from apostolic bodies. And the Spirit of the Lord, present in healing powers, proves the ashes sacred by living proofs. So a twofold grace breathes upon devout prayers, from the martyrs below, from the sacred rites above. The precious death of the saints, in a little dust, aids the prayers of the priest and the welfare of the living.
9. Habes versus operibus quidem tuis sanctis et magnificis indignos, persuasioni tamen tuae, quam
9. You have verses unworthy indeed of your holy and magnificent works, yet to your persuasion, which
Editors' notes and page, col. 334
Footnotes
(e) ‹anchor: corpus› · call in col 334
Vide not. 146.
See note 146.
(printed under page 170)
(f) ‹anchor: semper vobis› · call in col 334
Forte nobis.
Perhaps "nobis" (for us).
Editors' notes (printed under page 170)
(d) ‹anchor: qua› · call in col 334
Sic emendavimus ex editis Poelm., Grin. et Schot., quod praecedentibus bene respondet. Alii codd., martyris et crux.
So we have corrected it from the editions of Poelmann, Grynaeus and Schott, which answers well to what precedes. Other manuscripts have "martyris et crux".
(printed under page 170)
(e) ‹anchor: tuo munere› · call in col 334
Ita ms. Vien. favente ms. codice Regio. Alii junctus
So the Vienna manuscript, with the Royal manuscript's support. Others have "junctus" (joined).
(printed under page 170)
Page
- running head: EPISTOLA XXXII. | 334
- marginal letters: A ‹Ergo individuos pariter›; B ‹fidei vestrae, et operis›; C ‹Christe, tuo coeant›; D ‹Spiritus et Domini medicis›
- old-edition numerals: 201-202 after ‹Pater est.› (before ‹Sic ubi crux›)
habes tibi de me (Subaudi magis) quam mihi credere, competentes. Quos si non erubueris spectandos domesticae ecclesiae tuae parietibus inscribere, vindicabor. Credo enim vel tunc de meis ineptiis erubesces; et poenitebit te desiderii et exactionis tuae, cum aedificia, quae immaculata adhuc operis tui gratia splendent, obscurata naeniis insipientiae meae; et, ut digno meis versibus verbo utar, caccabata, ridentibus multis vel nauseantibus confusus aspicies. Nec laborabis fallere, ut te lector autorem putet; cum ineptia nemini in te nota, possit instruere lectorem, ne tibi meum carmen, id est, crimen imponat: qui tamen vel proditoris vel scriptoris nomine culpandus es. Sed ne quis me injuriosum judicet illa regula qua perscribitur: Quod tibi nolueris, alii ne feceris: idem a me prius basilicas meas pertulisse praesentibus illi documentis probabis: ut hoc quoque ostendas unanimitatem nostram, quod sive gratia sive injuria me tibi comparans, eadem in tuas qua etiam in meas aedificationes temeritate peccavi. Sed hujus sive gratiae, juxta patientissimum mei animum tuum; sive juxta meum indignissimum munus, injuriae autor aut reus noster tibi Victor habeatur, qui sanctissimus nostrae caritatis interpres hoc se tibi gratiorem a nobis redire praesumsit, quo depressior sub injusto ineptiarum ad te nostrarum onere revertisset. Nam hoc etiam accrescere fascibus suis voluit, ut nostrarum tibi basilicarum versus simul picturasque portaret. Meritoque faciet, si cum hac se tibi querimonia deficiens et curvus intulerit, ut clamet: Ecce propter mandata labiorum tuorum ego ambulavi vias duras; et clamet: Super dorsum meum fabricati sunt peccatores, qui in tot epistolas prolongaverunt iniquitatem suam.
you have of me (understand: rather) than to believe me, suited. If you are not ashamed to inscribe them on the walls of your household church to be looked at, I shall be avenged. For I believe that then at least you will blush at my follies, and you will repent of your desire and your demand, when, confounded, amid the laughter or the nausea of many, you see the buildings that still shine unstained by the grace of your work darkened by the dirges of my foolishness and, to use a word worthy of my verses, smeared with soot (see note 148). Nor will you have to labour to deceive, so that the reader thinks you the author; since an ineptitude known in you to no one can inform the reader, so that he does not lay my poem, that is, my crime, upon you: yet you are to be blamed under the name either of betrayer or of scribe. But lest anyone judge me guilty of wrong by that rule in which it is written: What you would not have done to you, do not do to another (Tobit 4:16), you will prove to him, by the evidence in front of him, that I first made my own basilicas suffer the same: so that you may show our unanimity in this too, that, whether it is a favour or an injury that I liken myself to you, I have sinned against your buildings with the same rashness as against mine. But whether of this favour, in view of your most patient mind towards me, or of this injury, in view of my most unworthy gift, let our Victor be held by you as author or culprit; for he, the most holy interpreter of our love, presumed that he would return from us the more welcome to you the more weighed down he came back to you under the unjust burden of our follies. For he even wished this to be added to his bundles, that he should bring you the verses of our basilicas together with their pictures. And he will rightly do so if he comes into your presence fainting and bent, with this complaint, crying out: Behold, for the commands of your lips I have walked hard ways (Ps. 16); and crying out: Upon my back the sinners have built, who have prolonged their iniquity into so many letters (Ps. 128:3).
10. Recepi igitur et hunc ad peccata mea tumulum, ut fratri cupidissimo talis sarcinae, qua ejus anima gravato corpore levaretur, praestarem quam desiderabatur injuriam. Nam et vere ad unanimitatem nostram congruere haec illius postulatio videbatur, qua asserebat ut oporteret tibi nostras in Domino aedificationes ita notescere, ut nobis tuas in titulis et in picturis indicare voluisses. Hac igitur ratione persuasus, basilicas nostras tuis, sicut et operis tempore et voti genere conjunctae sunt, ita etiam litteris compaginare curavi: ut in hoc quoque nostra conjunctio figuraretur, quae jungitur animis, et distat locis; sic et ista, quae in nomine Domini eodem spiritu elaborata construximus, diversis abjuncta regionibus, ejusdem tamen epistolae serie sibi tamquam contignata visentur. Basilica igitur illa quae ad dominaedium nostrum communem patronum in nomine Domini Christi Dei jam dedicata celebratur,
10. So I took on this heap too, to add to my sins, so that to a brother most eager for such a load, by which his soul would be lightened as his body was burdened, I might render the injury he desired. For indeed this request of his seemed truly to accord with our unanimity, in which he maintained that our buildings in the Lord ought to become known to you just as you had wished to show us yours in inscriptions and pictures. Persuaded therefore by this reasoning, I have taken care to join our basilicas to yours in a letter as well, just as they are joined both in the time of the work and in the kind of vow: so that in this too our union might be figured, which is joined in souls and separated by places; so these buildings also, which we have built, wrought in the name of the Lord by the same spirit, though set apart in different regions, will yet be seen in the sequence of the same letter as if joined under one roof. That basilica, then, which, already dedicated in the name of the Lord Christ God, is thronged as the house of our lord, our common patron,
Editors' notes and page, col. 335
Footnotes
Second series (scripture references and cross-references) (printed under page 171)
(a) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 335
Tob. IV, 16.
Tobit 4:16.
(printed under page 171)
(b) ‹anchor: ambulavi vias duras› · call in col 335
Psal. XVI, 2.
Psalm 16:2 (as read on the scan; the words quoted are Ps. 16:4).
(printed under page 171)
(c) ‹anchor: iniquitatem suam› · call in col 335
Psal. CXXVIII, 3.
Psalm 128:3.
(printed under page 171)
(d) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 335 or 336
Not. 152.
Note 152.
(printed under page 171)
(e) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 335 or 336
Not. 153.
Note 153.
(printed under page 171)
(f) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 335 or 336
Not. 154.
Note 154.
(printed under page 171)
(g) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 335 or 336
Not. 155.
Note 155.
(printed under page 171)
(h) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 335 or 336
Not. 156.
Note 156.
(printed under page 171)
(i) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 335 or 336
Not. 157.
Note 157.
(printed under page 171)
(j) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 335 or 336
Not. 158.
Note 158.
(printed under page 171)
(a) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 335
Mss. Reg. et Vien. cum editis quatuor, spectandis.
The Royal and Vienna manuscripts, with four editions, have "spectandis".
(printed under page 171)
(b) ‹anchor: tamquam› · call in col 335
Ita edit. Rosv. Vera lectio, quae confirmatur carm. 25, v. 12, et 57. Mss. tres codices cum editis quatuor, consignata.
So Rosweyde's edition. It is the true reading, confirmed by Poem 25, lines 12 and 57. Three manuscripts, with four editions, have "consignata".
(printed under page 171)
(c) ‹anchor: Domini Christi› · call in col 335
Addidimus Dei ex mss. Reg. et Vien. Haec lectio confirmatur n. 12, v. 1.
We have added "Dei" from the Royal and Vienna manuscripts. This reading is confirmed by no. 12, line 1.
(printed under page 171)
Page
- running head: 335 | S. PAULINI NOLANI EPIS[TOLAE] (right part of head cut off in the image)
- marginal letters: A ‹habes tibi de me›; B ‹tur: Quod tibi nolueris›; C ‹deficiens et curvus›; D ‹compaginare curavi›
- old-edition numerals: (none)
quatuor ejus basilicis addita, reliquiis apostolorum et martyrum intra apsidem trichora (forte legendum trichoram; vid. not. 150) sub altaria sacratis, non solo beati Felicis honore venerabilis est, apsidem solo et parietibus marmoratam camera musivo illusa clarificat; cujus picturae hi versus sunt:
added to his four basilicas, with relics of apostles and martyrs consecrated beneath the altar within the three-lobed apse (see note 149) (perhaps read "trichoram"; see note 150), is venerable not only for the honour of blessed Felix; a vault adorned with mosaic (see note 151) lights up the apse, which is faced with marble on floor and walls; and these are the verses of its picture:
Pleno coruscat Trinitas mysterio, / Stat Christus agno; vox Patris coelo tonat: / Et per columbam Spiritus sanctus fluit. / Crucem corona lucido cingit globo; / Cui coronae sunt corona apostoli, / Quorum figura est in columbarum choro. / Pia Trinitatis unitas Christo coit, / Habente et ipsa Trinitate insignia: / Deum revelat vox paterna, et Spiritus: / Sanctam fatentur crux et agnus victimam. / Regnum et triumphum purpura et palma indicant. / Petram superstat ipse petra Ecclesiae, / De qua sonori quatuor fontes meant, / Evangelistae viva Christi flumina.
The Trinity flashes forth in full mystery: Christ stands in the lamb; the voice of the Father thunders from heaven; and through the dove the Holy Spirit flows down. A crown girds the cross with a shining orb; and to this crown the apostles are a crown, whose figure is in the choir of doves. The holy unity of the Trinity meets in Christ, the Trinity too having its own emblems: the Father's voice and the Spirit reveal Him as God; the cross and the lamb proclaim Him the holy victim. The purple and the palm signify His kingship and triumph. He, the rock of the Church, stands upon a rock, from which four sounding springs flow out, the evangelists, living rivers of Christ.
11. Inferiore autem balteo, quo parietis et camerae confinium interposita gypso crepido conjungit aut dividit, hic titulus indicat deposita sub altari sancta sanctorum.
11. On the lower band, where a ledge set in plaster joins or divides the boundary of wall and vault, this inscription points out the holy things of the saints laid up beneath the altar.
Hic pietas, hic alma fides, hic gloria Christi, / Hic est martyribus crux sociata suis. / Nam crucis e ligno magnum brevis astula pignus, / Totaque in exiguo segmine vis crucis est. / Hoc Melani sanctae delatum munere Nolam, / Summum Hierosolymae venit ab urbe bonum. / Sancta Deo geminum velant altaria honorem, / Cum cruce apostolicos quae sociant cineres. / Quam bene junguntur ligno crucis ossa piorum, / Pro cruce ut occisis in cruce sit requies!
Here is devotion, here kindly faith, here the glory of Christ; here is the cross joined to its martyrs. For a small splinter from the wood of the cross is a great pledge, and the whole power of the cross is in the tiny fragment. Brought to Nola by the gift of holy Melania, this supreme good came from the city of Jerusalem. The holy altars veil a twofold honour for God, for they unite the ashes of apostles with the cross. How well the bones of the devout are joined to the wood of the cross, so that those slain for the cross may have rest in the cross!
12. Totum vero extra concham basilicae spatium, alto et lacunato culmine geminis utrimque porticibus dilatatur, quibus duplex per singulos arcus columnarum ordo dirigitur. Cubicula intra porticus quaterna longis basilicae lateribus inserta, secretis orantium vel in lege Domini meditantium, praeterea memoriis religiosorum ac familiarium accommodatos ad pacis aeternae requiem locos praebent. Omne cubiculum binis per liminum frontes versibus praenotatur, quos inserere his litteris nolui, eos tamen quos ipsius basilicae aditus habent, scripsi; quia possent, si usurpare velis, et ad tuarum basilicarum januas convenire, ut istud est:
12. The whole space of the basilica outside the apse (see note 159), under a high and coffered roof, is widened by twin porticoes on either side, along which a double row of columns runs, arch by arch. Chambers (see note 160) within the porticoes, four on each of the long sides of the basilica, provide places suited to the privacy of those praying or meditating on the law of the Lord (Ps. 1:2), and besides to the memorials of the devout and of our household, for the rest of eternal peace. Every chamber is marked on the front of its threshold with two verses, which I did not wish to put into this letter (see note 161); but I have written those which the entrances of the basilica itself bear, because, if you wish to use them, they could suit the doors of your basilicas too, as this one:
Pax tibi sit, quicumque Dei penetralia Christi / Pectore pacifico candidus ingrederis.
Peace be to you, whoever you are who enter, pure, with a peaceful heart, the sanctuary of Christ God.
Vel hoc, de signo Domini (id est signo crucis) super ingressum picto hac specie, qua versus indicat:
Or this, on the sign of the Lord (that is, the sign of the cross) painted above the entrance in the form that the verse describes:
Cerne coronatam Domini super atria Christi / Stare crucem, duro spondentem celsa labori / Praemia: tolle crucem, qui vis auferre coronam.
See the crowned cross of the Lord standing above the courts of Christ, promising lofty rewards to hard toil: take up the cross, you who wish to carry off the crown.
Alteri autem basilicae, qua de hortulo vel pomario quasi privatus aperitur ingressus, hi versiculi
But for the other basilica, where an entrance, private as it were, opens from a little garden or orchard, these little verses
Editors' notes and page, col. 336
Footnotes
(k) ‹anchor: Hoc Melani› · call in col 336
Not. 138.
Note 138.
(printed under page 171)
(l) ‹anchor: Domini meditantium› · call in col 336
Psal. I, 2.
Psalm 1:2.
Editors' notes (printed under page 171)
(d) ‹anchor: Hoc› · call in col 336
Sic reposuimus juxta mss. codices Reg. et Vien et edit. Schot. Verissima lectio. Alii codices, Melanae. Vide not. 138.
So we have restored it following the Royal and Vienna manuscripts and Schott's edition. It is the truest reading. Other manuscripts have "Melanae". See note 138.
(printed under page 171)
Page
- running head: [S. PAUL]I NOLANI EPISCOPI | 336
- marginal letters: A ‹tur, quatuor ejus›; B ‹Petram superstat›; C ‹silicae spatium›; D ‹Vel hoc, de signo›
- old-edition numerals: 203-204 after ‹martyrum›
hanc secretiorem forem pandunt.
open this more private door (see Letter XXVIII, n. 5, and Carm. XXIV, line 613).
Coelestes intrate vias per amoena vireta, / Christicolae; et laetis decet huc ingressus ab hortis, / Unde sacrum meritis datur exitus in paradisum.
Enter the heavenly ways through pleasant green places, worshippers of Christ; fitting too is the entrance here from glad gardens, from where a holy going-out into paradise is given to the deserving.
Hoc idem ostium aliis versibus ab interiore sui fronte signatur:
This same door is marked with other verses on its inner face:
Quisquis ab aede Dei perfectis ordine votis / Egrederis, remea corpore, corde mane.
Whoever you are who go out from the house of God, your prayers duly completed: go back in body, remain in heart.
13. Prospectus vero basilicae non, ut usitatior mos est, orientem spectat, sed ad domini mei beati Felicis basilicam pertinet memoriam (id est tumulum) ejus aspiciens: tamen cum duabus dextra laevaque conchulis intra spatiosum sui ambitum apsis sinuata laxetur, una earum immolanti hostias jubilationis antistiti patet, altera post sacerdotem capaci sinu receptat orantes. Laetissimo vero conspectu tota simul haec basilica in basilicam memorati confessoris aperitur trinis arcubus paribus, perlucente transenna: per quam vicissim sibi tecta ac spatia basilicae utriusque junguntur. Nam quia novam a veteri paries apside cujusdam monumenti interposita obstructus excluderet, totidem januis patefactus a latere confessoris quot a fronte ingressus sui foribus nova reserabatur, quasi diatritam speciem ab utraque in utramque spectantibus praebet, sicut datis inter utrasque januas titulis indicatur. Itaque in ipsis basilicae novae ingressibus hi versiculi sunt.
13. The front of the basilica does not face east, as the more usual custom is, but is turned towards the basilica of my lord the blessed Felix, looking at his memorial (that is, his tomb). Yet since the apse, curving, is widened within its spacious round by two little conches to right and left (see note 162), one of them (see note 163) lies open to the bishop as he offers sacrifices of jubilation, the other (see note 164) receives those praying behind the priest in its capacious hollow. And with a most joyful view this whole basilica opens at once into the basilica of the confessor already mentioned through three equal arches, with a screen letting the light through (see note 165), by which the roofs and spaces of the two basilicas are joined to each other. For since a wall, blocked by the apse of a certain monument set between, cut off the new basilica from the old, it was opened by as many doors on the confessor's side as the new basilica was opened by doors at the front of its entrance, and so it presents an appearance like open lattice-work (see note 166) to those looking from either into the other, as the inscriptions placed between the two sets of doors indicate. So at the entrances of the new basilica itself there are these little verses.
Alma domus triplici patet ingredientibus arcu, / Testaturque piam janua trina fidem.
The kindly house lies open to those who enter by a threefold arch, and the triple door bears witness to the holy faith.
14. Item dextra laevaque crucibus minio superpictis haec epigrammata sunt:
14. Likewise, to right and left, over crosses painted in red, are these epigrams:
Ardua floriferae crux cingitur orbe coronae, / Et Domini fuso tincta cruore rubet. / Quaeque super signum resident coeleste columbae / Simplicibus produnt regna patere Dei.
The lofty cross is girded with the round of a flowering crown, and reddens, dyed with the shed blood of the Lord. And the doves that rest upon the heavenly sign show that the kingdom of God lies open to the simple.
Item de eodem:
Likewise on the same:
Hac cruce nos mundo, et nobis interfice mundum. / Interitu culpae vivificans animam. / Nos quoque perficies placitas tibi, Christe, columbas, / Si vigeat puris pax tua pectoribus.
By this cross put us to death to the world, and the world to us, giving life to the soul by the death of guilt. Thou wilt make us too doves pleasing to Thee, Christ, if Thy peace flourishes in pure hearts.
15. Intra ipsam vero transennam (qua breve illud, quod propinquas sibi basilicas prius discludebat, intervallum continuatur) e regione basilicae novae super medianum arcum hi versus sunt:
15. Within the screen itself (by which that short interval, which formerly shut off the basilicas from each other though they were near, is now bridged), on the side of the new basilica, above the middle arch, are these verses:
Ut medium valli pax nostra resolvit Jesus, / Et cruce discidium perimens duo fecit in unum: / Sic nova, destructo veteris discrimine tecti, / Culmina conspicimus portarum foedere jungi. / Sancta nitens famulis interluit atria lymphis / Cantharus, intrantumque manus lavat amne ministro. / Plebs gemina Christum Felicis adorat in aula, / Paulus apostolico quam temperat ore sacerdos.
As Jesus our peace dissolved the dividing wall, and, destroying the separation by the cross, made the two into one: so we see the new roof, the partition of the old building destroyed, joined by a bond of doors. A gleaming basin flows through the holy courts with serving waters and washes the hands of those who enter with its ministering stream. A twin people adores Christ in the hall of Felix, a people whom Paulus the priest governs with apostolic lips.
Haec vero binis notata versiculis epigrammata super arcus alios dextra laevaque sunt,
And these epigrams, inscribed in pairs of little verses, are above the other arches to right and left:
Editors' notes and page, col. 337
Footnotes
Second series (cross-references) (printed under page 172)
(a) ‹anchor: ingredientibus arcu› · call in col 337
Not. 167.
Note 167.
(printed under page 172)
(b) ‹anchor: Simplicibus› · call in col 337
Not. 168.
Note 168.
(printed under page 172)
(c) ‹anchor: amne ministro› · call in col 337
Not. 169.
Note 169.
(printed under page 172)
(d) ‹anchor: Paulus apostolico› · call in col 337
Not. 170.
Note 170.
(printed under page 172)
(a) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 337
Mss. Reg. et Vien., Quisque domo Domini.
The Royal and Vienna manuscripts have "Quisque domo Domini".
(printed under page 172)
(b) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 337
Sic emendavimus ex ms. codice Vien. Prius erat in basilica.
So we have corrected it from the Vienna manuscript. Before, it read "in basilica".
(printed under page 172)
(c) ‹anchor: puris› · call in col 337
Cum Sacchino ita emendatum, refragantibus omnibus codicibus; quod et sensus postulat, et confirmant n. 12 duo priores versus. Ante erat pars.
Corrected thus with Sacchini, against all the manuscripts; the sense demands it, and the first two lines in no. 12 confirm it. Before, it read "pars".
(printed under page 172)
Page
- running head: 337 | EPISTOLA XXX[II] (right part of head cut off in the image)
- marginal letters: A ‹hanc secretiorem forem›; B ‹molanti hostias jubilationis›; C ‹Alma domus triplici›; D ‹super medianum arcum›
- old-edition numerals: 205-206 after ‹animam.› (before ‹Nos quoque perficies›)
In uno hoc:
On one, this:
Attonitis nova lux oculis aperitur, et uno / Limine consistens geminas simul aspicit aulas.
A new light opens to astonished eyes, and one standing on a single threshold sees two halls at once.
In altero hoc:
On the other, this:
Ter geminis geminae patuerunt arcubus aulae, / Miranturque suos per mutua limina cultus.
The twin halls have opened by thrice-twin arches, and each marvels at the other's adornment through their shared thresholds.
Item in iisdem arcubus a fronte, quae ad basilicam domini Felicis patet, mediana, hi sunt:
Likewise on the same arches, on the face which opens towards the basilica of the lord Felix, on the middle one are these:
Quos devota fides densis celebrare beatum / Felicem populis diverso suadet ab ore, / Per triplices aditus laxos infundite coetus: / Atria quamlibet innumeris spatiosa patebunt / Quae sociata sibi per apertos comminus arcus, / Paulus in aeternos antistes dedicat usus.
You whom devoted faith persuades, in thronging crowds, to celebrate blessed Felix from every quarter, pour in your gatherings freely through the threefold entrance: the courts will lie open, spacious enough for countless numbers, which Paulus the bishop dedicates for everlasting use, joined to each other by arches open close at hand.
In aliis isti bini:
On the others these two:
Antiqua digresse sacri Felicis ab aula, / In nova Felicis culmina transgredere.
You who have gone out from the ancient hall of holy Felix, pass over into the new building of Felix.
Item:
Likewise:
Una fides trino sub nomine quae colit unum, / Unanimes trino suscipit introitu.
The one faith, which worships the One under a threefold name, receives those of one mind by a threefold entrance.
16. In secretariis vero duobus, quae supra dixi circa apsidem esse, hi versus indicant officia singulorum.
16. In the two sacristies which I said above are beside the apse, these verses indicate the purpose of each.
A dextra apsidis:
On the right of the apse:
Hic locus est veneranda penus qua conditur, et qua / Promitur alma sacri pompa ministerii.
This place is the venerable storeroom in which the kindly array of the sacred ministry is laid up, and from which it is brought out.
A sinistra ejusdem:
On its left:
Si quem sancta tenet meditanda in lege voluntas, / Hic poterit residens sacris intendere libris.
If a holy will holds anyone to meditate on the law, here he may sit and give himself to the sacred books.
De Fundana basilica.
On the basilica at Fundi.
17. Egrediamur jam Nolana hac basilica, et in Fundanam transeamus. Fundis nomen oppido est, quod aeque familiare mihi fuit dum maneret possessio, quam illic usitatiorem habui. Itaque vel ad pignus quasi civicae caritatis, vel ad memoriam praeteriti patrimonii, basilicam dare in ipso oppido, quoniam et indigebat, ruinosam et parvam habens, voti fuit. Propterea et hos versiculos adjiciendos putavi, quos illi in hoc oppido dedicandae basilicae paravimus. Nam adhuc in opere est, sed propitio Deo dedicationi propinqua. Quod tamen ea mihi maxime ratio persuasit, quia et in hujus apside designatam picturam meus Victor adamavit, et portare tibi voluit, si forte et eam de duabus elegeris in hac recentiore tua pingere, in qua aeque apsidem factam indicavit. Sed de hac apsida an abside magis dicere debuerim, tu videris: ego nescire me fateor, quia hoc verbi genus nec legisse reminiscor. Verum hanc quoque basiliculam, de benedictis apostolorum et martyrum reliquiis sacri cineres, in nomine Christi sanctorum Sancti, et martyrum Martyris, et dominorum Domini, consecrabunt. Ipse enim testatus est se vicissim confessorum suorum Confessorem futurum. Ideo super hac propter picturam gratia geminatus est titulus.
17. Let us now go out of this basilica at Nola and pass over to the one at Fundi. Fundi is the name of a town which was as familiar to me as Nola while my estate there remained, the one I used most. So, whether as a pledge of a kind of civic affection or as a memorial of my former patrimony, it was my vow to give a basilica in that very town, since it needed one, having only a small and ruinous one. Therefore I thought I should add these little verses too, which we have prepared for the basilica to be dedicated in that town. For it is still under construction, but, God being gracious, close to its dedication. What chiefly persuaded me to this was that my Victor fell in love with the picture designed for its apse and wished to bring it to you, in case you should perhaps choose to have it, of the two, painted in this newer basilica of yours, in which he told us an apse had likewise been made. But whether I ought rather to say "apsida" or "absis" for this, you must see; I confess I do not know, because I do not remember having even read this kind of word. This little basilica too, then, sacred ashes from the blessed relics of apostles and martyrs will consecrate in the name of Christ, the Holy One of the holy, the Martyr of martyrs and the Lord of lords. For He Himself has testified that He in turn will be the Confessor of those who confess Him. Therefore, on account of the picture, the inscription over this one has been doubled (see note 173).
Editors' notes and page, col. 338
Footnotes
(e) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 338
Not. 167.
Note 167.
(printed under page 172)
(f) ‹anchor: veneranda penus› · call in col 338
Not. 171.
Note 171.
(printed under page 172)
(g) ‹anchor: sacris intendere libris› · call in col 338
Not. 172.
Note 172.
Editors' notes (printed under page 172)
(d) ‹anchor: Ideo super› · call in col 338
Sic emendavimus juxta ms. codicem Vien. Alii, praeter.
So we have corrected it following the Vienna manuscript. Others have "praeter".
(printed under page 172)
Page
- running head: EPISTOLA XXXII. | 338
- marginal letters: A ‹In uno hoc›; B ‹In nova Felicis culmina›; C ‹17. Egrediamur jam›; D ‹factam indicavit›
- old-edition numerals: (none)
De pictura.
On the picture.
Sanctorum labor et merces sibi rite cohaerent, / Ardua crux, pretiumque crucis sublime, corona. / Ipse Deus, nobis princeps crucis atque coronae, / Inter floriferi coeleste nemus paradisi, / Sub cruce sanguinea niveo stat Christus in agno, / Agnus ut innocua injusto datus hostia letho. / Alite quem placida sanctus perfundit hiantem / Spiritus, et rutila Genitor de nube coronat. / Et quia praecelsa quasi Judex rupe superstat, / Bis geminae pecudis discors agnis genus haedi / Circumstant solium: laevos avertitur haedos / Pastor, et emeritos dextra complectitur agnos.
The toil of the saints and its reward rightly cleave together: the steep cross, and the cross's sublime prize, the crown. God Himself, for us the Prince of the cross and of the crown, Christ, stands beneath the blood-red cross in a snow-white lamb, amid the heavenly grove of flowering paradise, a Lamb given as an innocent victim to an unjust death. The Holy Spirit pours Himself upon Him, open-mouthed, in the form of a gentle bird, and the Father crowns Him from a glowing cloud. And since He stands as Judge on a towering rock, the two kinds of flock surround His throne, the kids at odds with the lambs: the Shepherd turns away from the goats on the left, and with His right hand embraces the lambs that have served their time.
De reliquiis.
On the relics.
Ecce sub accensis altaribus ossa piorum / Regia purpureo marmore crusta tegit. / Hic et apostolicas praesentat gratia vires / Magis in parvo pulvere pignoribus. / Hic pater Andreas, et magno nomine Lucas, / Martyr et illustris sanguine Nazarius; / Quosque suo Deus Ambrosio post longa revelat / Secula; Protasium cum pare Gervasio. / Hic simul una pium complectitur arcula coetum: / Et capit exiguo nomina tanta sinu.
See, beneath the lighted altars a royal casing of purple marble covers the bones of the devout. Here grace also presents apostolic powers in great pledges in a little dust. Here is father Andrew, and Luke of great name, and Nazarius, a martyr glorious in his blood; and those whom God revealed to His Ambrose after long ages, Protasius with his peer Gervasius. Here one small casket embraces together a holy company, and holds names so great in its little bosom.
18. Haec interim, mi frater, et alia hujusmodi opera visibilia de terrenis in terra labore molieram: sed benedictus Dominus die quotidie, qui facit mirabilia solus: sicut convertit petram in stagnum aquae, sic et terrena coelestibus mutat; et hanc nobiscum, quamquam de suis et hic et ibi rebus permutationem facere dignatur; ut quae corporaliter molieram in terris, latenter in coelis per ipsum aedificentur; tunc revelanda nobis, cum specie (an facie) videbimus, quae nunc per fidem providemus. Itaque hic seminamus, et ibi metimus: hic spargimus, et ibi congregamus: hic vivimus, et ibi conversamur: hic accingimur, et ibi militamus: hic pugnamus, et ibi vincimus; vel si istic vincimus, ibi coronamur. Ita quod istic manu struimus, illic fide condimus. Et harum nobis quamvis terrestrium aedificatio fabricarum si voto et studio spiritali struatur, beata coelestium est praeparatio mansionum. Haec enim aedificantes in Domino ex adeptu fidei, aedificamur ipsi a Domino per ejusdem fidei profectum. Nam et evangelicus ille centurio exemplum nobis est ad spem certam mercedis aeternae, hujus specialiter operis gratia recipiendae; qui ad promerendam filii sanitatem, et ipsum Dominum Jesum fidei suae praedicatorem habendum eo potissimum meriti valuit, quod plebs Domini, quae tunc adhuc in Judaeis tantum erat, illi de Synagogae aedificatae testimonio suffragata est.
18. Meanwhile, my brother, I had laboured to build these and other visible works of this kind from earthly materials on earth: but blessed is the Lord day by day, who alone does wonders (Ps. 67:20; Ps. 71:18; Ps. 113:8): as He turned the rock into a pool of water, so He changes earthly things for heavenly; and He deigns to make this exchange with us, though both here and there the things are His own; so that what I had laboured to build bodily on earth may be built secretly in heaven through Him, to be revealed to us then, when we shall see by sight (or: face to face) (2 Cor. 3:18; 1 Cor. 13:12) what we now foresee through faith. So here we sow, and there we reap (Gal. 6:8); here we scatter, and there we gather; here we live, and there we have our citizenship; here we gird ourselves, and there we serve as soldiers; here we fight, and there we conquer; or rather, if we conquer here, there we are crowned. So what we build here with the hand, we lay up there by faith. And the building of these structures, earthly though they are, if it is raised by us with spiritual vow and zeal, is a blessed preparation of heavenly dwellings (John 14:2). For while we build these in the Lord out of the faith we have attained, we ourselves are built by the Lord through the advance of that same faith. For that centurion of the Gospel too (Matt. 8:5) is an example to us for a sure hope of eternal reward, to be received especially for this kind of work; he availed to win his son's health, and to have the Lord Jesus Himself as the herald of his faith, chiefly by this merit, that the people of the Lord, which then was still only among the Jews, supported him with the testimony of the synagogue he had built (Luke 7:5).
19. Quid igitur miseri nunc quiescimus oscitantes, et quasi non conducti mercenarii, in tumultuoso hujus seculi foro vacua manu stamus? vel si conductis nobis debere patremfamilias suum denarium cogitemus, ut aliquid in vinea ejus operemur, id ipsum quasi indebitum gratumque praestantes, imputare etiam meditamur Domino, tanquam
19. Why then do we wretches now sit yawning (Matt. 20:6), and stand empty-handed, like unhired labourers, in the tumultuous market-place of this world? Or if we think that the householder owes us, as hired men, his denarius, so that we may do some work in his vineyard, offering that very work as if it were unowed and free, we even plan to charge it to the Lord's account, as though
Editors' notes and page, col. 339
Footnotes
Second series (cross-references and scripture references) (printed under page 173)
(a) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 339
Not. 174.
Note 174.
(printed under page 173)
(b) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 339
Not. 175.
Note 175.
(printed under page 173)
(c) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 339
Psal. LXVII, 20; Psal. LXXI, 18; Psal. CXIII, 8.
Psalms 67:20; 71:18; 113:8.
(printed under page 173)
(d) ‹anchor: cum specie videbimus› · call in col 339
II Cor. III, 18; I Cor. XIII, 12.
2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Corinthians 13:12.
(printed under page 173)
(e) ‹anchor: et ibi metimus› · call in col 339
Galat. VI, 8.
Galatians 6:8.
(printed under page 173)
(f) ‹anchor: praeparatio mansionum› · call in col 339
Johan. XIV, 2.
John 14:2.
(printed under page 173)
(g) ‹anchor: evangelicus ille centurio› · call in col 339
Matth. VIII, 5.
Matthew 8:5.
(printed under page 173)
(h) ‹anchor: suffragata est› · call in col 339
Luc. VII, 5.
Luke 7:5.
(printed under page 173)
(i) ‹anchor: quiescimus oscitantes› · call in col 339
Matth. XX, 6.
Matthew 20:6.
(printed under page 173)
(j) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 339 or 340
Exod. XXII, 25; Lev. XXV, 36; Deut. XXIII, 19; Psal. XIV, 5.
Exodus 22:25; Leviticus 25:36; Deuteronomy 23:19; Psalm 14:5.
(printed under page 173)
(k) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 339 or 340
Prov. XIX, 17. Eccli. XXIX, 1.
Proverbs 19:17. Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 29:1.
(printed under page 173)
(l) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 339 or 340
Exod. XXIII, 8; Deut. XVI, 19.
Exodus 23:8; Deuteronomy 16:19.
(printed under page 173)
(m) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 339 or 340
Oseae VI, 6, sec. LXX; Matth. IX, 13.
Hosea 6:6, according to the Septuagint; Matthew 9:13.
(printed under page 173)
(a) ‹anchor: et ibi› · call in col 339
Ante erat metemus. Correctionem nostram probant ea quae sequuntur.
Before, it read "metemus" (we shall reap). What follows proves our correction.
(printed under page 173)
Page
- running head: 339 | S. PAULINI NOLANI [EPISCOPI] (right part of head cut off in the image)
- marginal letters: A ‹De pictura.›; B ‹Hic simul una pium›; C ‹conversamur: hic accingimur›; D ‹suffragata est›
- old-edition numerals: 207 after ‹letho.› (before ‹Alite›); 208 after ‹id› (before ‹ipsum›)
illi potius quam nobis profutura faciamus. O miseri homines! largiri nos aliquid credimus: negotiamur, et liberales habemur, qui avarissimi esse convincimur; et quidem tanto avariores cupidissimis terrae feneratoribus, quanto amplius est coelestia de terrenis, et beata de miseris egenisque rebus emere; quam terrena terrenis et labentibus lapsura mercari, et Dominum quam hominem fenerare. Damnatur in lege qui pecuniam suam dederit ad usuram, et munera super innocentes acceperit: ecce Evangelii gratia ostendit nobis quomodo eadem crimina ad innocentiam sanctitatemque mutentur; nec poenae, sed praemii retributio consequatur, si tantum in praecepta divina salutaris cupiditate fidei convertantur. Da ad usuram pecunias tuas, sed Christo; et salutaris usura est.
we were doing things that would profit Him rather than ourselves. O wretched men! We believe we are giving something away: we are trading, and we are held generous, we who are proved to be most avaricious; and indeed as much more avaricious than the greediest moneylenders of the earth as it is a greater thing to buy heavenly things with earthly ones, and blessed things with wretched and needy ones, than to purchase earthly things with earthly, things that will fall with things that are falling, and to lend at interest to the Lord rather than to a man (see note 70). He is condemned in the Law who has given his money at usury and has taken gifts against the innocent (Exod. 22:25; Lev. 25:36; Deut. 23:19; Ps. 14:5): see, the grace of the Gospel shows us how the same crimes may be changed into innocence and holiness, and may earn a recompense not of punishment but of reward, if only they are turned, with a saving greed of faith, to the divine commands. Lend your money at interest, but to Christ; and the interest is saving (Prov. 19:17; Sir. 29:1).
20. Item in seculo corrupti muneribus reorum judices condemnantur: sed quisquis homo praeventus in aliquo peccato, diffidens innocentiae tuae, affers pretium salutis tuae Judici nostro, ne verearis quasi corruptionis injuriam justitiae Dei facere. Accipit a te Christus libens salutis tuae pretium, quia mavult misericordiam quam sacrificium Sed forsitan quaeris, ubi illum invenies, et qua corrumpas via quem non vides. Surge, inquit, qui dormis, et erige te a mortuis, et attinges Christum: hoc est, discute carnalis inertiae somnum, et depressam cogitatione terrena mentem a mortuis curis, hoc est conversatione carnali, erige, attollens et dirigens in Dominum animam tuam, et attinges Christum. Operando praeceptis ipsius, videbis eum in omni paupere, tanges eum in omni hospite: quoniam sibi fieri ipse testatur quae in ejus nomine minimis ejus fiant. Ecce nobis jam constat quomodo videas invisibilem, et inapprehensibilem comprehendas. Ergo nunc istic pauperemur, ut tunc ibi locupletemur. Nunc ploremus, ut tunc gaudeamus. Nunc esuriemus, ut tunc saturemur. Omni, inquit, tempore pauperes vobiscum habetis. Vides quia nulla nobis occasio est beneficentiae umquam procrastinandae, cum, si voluntas nostra non absit, pauper in promptu sit.
20. Likewise in the world, judges corrupted by the gifts of the accused are condemned (Exod. 23:8; Deut. 16:19): but you, whoever you are, overtaken in some sin and distrusting your own innocence, who bring the price of your salvation to our Judge, do not fear that you are wronging the justice of God by a kind of bribery. Christ gladly accepts from you the price of your salvation, because He prefers mercy to sacrifice (Hos. 6:6, LXX; Matt. 9:13). But perhaps you ask where you will find Him, and by what way you may bribe One whom you do not see. Rise, he says, you who sleep, and raise yourself from the dead, and you will reach Christ (Eph. 5:14): that is, shake off the sleep of fleshly sloth, and raise from dead cares, that is, from fleshly living, your mind weighed down by earthly thought, lifting up your soul and directing it to the Lord, and you will reach Christ. By carrying out His commands you will see Him in every poor man, you will touch Him in every guest: since He Himself testifies that what is done in His name to the least of His is done to Him (Matt. 25:40). See, it is now clear to us how you may see the Invisible and grasp the Ungraspable. So let us be poor here now (see Letter XL, n. 7), that we may be rich there then. Let us weep now, that we may rejoice then. Now we shall hunger, that then we may be filled. You have the poor with you, he says, at all times (Matt. 26:11). You see that no occasion for kindness is ever to be put off by us, since, if our will is not lacking, the poor man is at hand.
21. Commodemus ergo securi nunc egeno, et in pauperibus suis Christo, ut ex ejus abundatura in iisdem gloria participare possimus. Propterea enim Dominus ipse praemonet, dicens: Facite vobis amicos de iniquo mammona. Vides quomodo Omnipotens faciat de nocte lucem, et de iniquitate justitiam? Ut cum defeceritis, inquit, recipiant vos in tabernacula aeterna. Quia vicissitudine quadam copiae vel inopiae humanum genus temperatur, quod in illo inferno divite, et superno paupere evangelicus sermo patefecit, ut intelligamus consilium communis Autoris, quo divitem pauperi, et pauperem diviti praeparavit,
21. Let us then lend without anxiety now to the needy man, and in His poor to Christ, so that we may share in His glory which will abound in those same poor. For this is why the Lord Himself warns beforehand, saying: Make friends for yourselves of the unjust mammon. Do you see how the Almighty makes light out of night, and justice out of iniquity? So that when you fail, He says, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings (Luke 16:9). For the human race is balanced by a certain alternation of plenty and want, as the Gospel's word has made plain in that rich man below and poor man above (Luke 16:19), so that we may understand the counsel of the common Author, by which He has prepared the rich man for the poor, and the poor man for the rich,
Editors' notes and page, col. 340
Footnotes
(n) ‹anchor: attinges Christum› · call in col 340
Ephes. V, 14.
Ephesians 5:14.
(printed under page 173)
(o) ‹anchor: ejus fiant› · call in col 340
Matth. XXV, 40.
Matthew 25:40.
(printed under page 173)
(p) ‹anchor: vobiscum habetis› · call in col 340
Matth. XXVI, 11.
Matthew 26:11.
(printed under page 173)
(q) ‹anchor: tabernacula aeterna› · call in col 340
Luc. XVI, 9.
Luke 16:9.
(printed under page 173)
(r) ‹anchor: sermo patefecit› · call in col 340
Luc. XVI, 19.
Luke 16:19.
Editors' notes (printed under page 173)
(b) ‹anchor: dormis, et› · call in col 340
Ita ms. Reg. cum editis quatuor. Vera lectio quae confirmatur ex sequentibus et ex epist. 9 ad Amandum, num. 2. Ms. Vatic. cum edit. Rosv., erigere.
So the Royal manuscript, with four editions. It is the true reading, confirmed by what follows and by Letter 9, to Amandus, no. 2. The Vatican manuscript, with Rosweyde's edition, has "erigere".
(printed under page 173)
Page
- running head: [S. PA]ULINI NOLANI EPISCOPI | 340
- marginal letters: A ‹illi potius quam nobis›; B ‹20. Item in seculo›; C ‹in omni paupere›; D ‹de iniquo mammona›
- old-edition numerals: 209 after ‹in› (before ‹omni hospite›)
ut abundans egentis substantia alimoniae sit, et opulento inops materia justitiae: ut fiat, sicut Apostolus dixit, aequalitas: et in illo seculo repensanda illis egestate praesenti opibus aeternis, redundet illorum abundantia ad inopiam nostram, si nostra istic abundantia ad illorum indigentiam commodaverit. Seminemus ergo illis carnalia, ut metamus ab illis spiritalia. Laboret nunc de terrenis manus, ut tunc de coelestibus anima reficiatur. Spes praesens aedificet rem futuram. Faciamus istic tecta quae nos illic tegant. Pascatur istic pauper, ubi me divite eget; ut me illic pascat, ubi me egente saturabitur. Videte commercium spiritale; et, si potestis, negate nos avaros, qui terram vendimus et tributum, ut immunitatem regni cum aeternitate coemamus.
so that the rich man's substance may be nourishment for the needy, and the poor man material for righteousness to the wealthy: that there may be, as the Apostle said, equality (2 Cor. 8:14); and that in that age, when their present want is to be repaid to them with eternal riches, their abundance may overflow to our need, if our abundance here has been lent to their want. Let us therefore sow fleshly things for them, that we may reap spiritual things from them. Let the hand labour now over earthly things, that the soul may then be refreshed with heavenly ones. Let present hope build the thing to come. Let us make roofs here which will shelter us there. Let the poor man be fed here, where he is in need while I am rich; so that he may feed me there, where he will be filled while I am in need. See the spiritual trade; and, if you can, deny that we are avaricious, we who sell land and its tax so that we may buy the freedom of the kingdom together with eternity.
22. Fragilem arenam jacimus, ut domum fundemus aeternam, et de vilibus attingamus astra caementis: de quibus non illam confusionis et superbiae turrem destruendam opere irrito machinamur, sed in ipso angulari lapide fundamur, ut surgamus per ipsum in ipsius plenitudinem, qui est turris fortitudinis a facie inimici. Hanc ipse nos turrem aedificare, computatis ante sumtibus, jubet, ne interrupta aedificatione defecti, temeritatis improvidae notam et dignam irrisionem frustra audacis ignaviae perferamus. Sumtus autem noster fides firma est. Ergo et secundum veritatem Dei credens, qui spes, et opes et vires suas Dominum Jesum habet, ejus omnis aedificatio compacta crescit, et surgit in conscensionem in plenitudinem Dei. Itaque nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum, vano aedificantes labore sudabimus. Sed ne, vel perfecta licet, cooperante Domino, aedificatione, resupini securas manus remittamus, adjicit Scriptura divina, quod etiam aedificatam domum nisi Deus idem custodiat, irrita servantium cura vigilabit.
22. We lay down fragile sand so as to found an eternal house, and to reach the stars from cheap rubble: out of which we are not contriving, with futile labour, that tower of confusion and pride which was to be destroyed (Gen. 11:4), but we are founded on the cornerstone itself (Eph. 2:20), so that through Him we may rise into His fullness, who is a tower of strength against the face of the enemy (Ps. 60:4). He Himself bids us build this tower, having first counted the cost (Luke 14:28), lest, failing with the building broken off, we bear the mark of improvident rashness and the deserved derision of a vainly bold sloth. Our cost, however, is firm faith. So too the man who believes according to the truth of God and has the Lord Jesus as his hope, his riches and his strength: his whole building, fitted together, grows (Eph. 2:21), and rises in ascent into the fullness of God. Therefore unless the Lord builds the house, we builders shall sweat in vain labour (Ps. 126:1). But lest, even when the building is finished with the Lord working with us, we should lean back and let our hands drop at ease, divine Scripture adds that unless the same God guards the house even when it is built, the care of the watchmen will keep watch in vain (Ps. 126:1).
23. Oremus ergo Dominum, ut dum nos illi foris aedificamus domicilia quae videntur, ille in nobis intus aedificet illa quae non videntur, domum videlicet illam, ut Magister (id est Paulus. V. ep. 23, n. 24) ait, non manufactam: quam ingressi intelligemus in novissimo, videntes scilicet facie ad faciem quod in aenigmate nunc videmus, et ex parte cognoscimus. Sed nunc, dum adhuc in tabernaculo istius corporis constituti, quasi sub illius antiqui tabernaculi pellibus in deserto et tentoriis agimus, praecedente nos per istius orbis aridam Dei verbo, vel in columna nubis, ut obumbret super caput nostrum in die belli: vel in columna ignis, ut cognoscamus in terra coelestem ejus viam; oremus, ut per haec nunc Ecclesiae tabernacula ingrediamur usque ad domum Dei; ubi et ipse Dominus, ille summus et factus nobis a Domino et excisus a monte, et idem auctus in montem lapis exstat, qui est mirabilis in oculis nostris.
23. Let us pray the Lord, then, that while we build for Him outwardly dwellings that are seen, He may build within us those that are not seen, namely that house, as the Teacher (that is, Paul; see Letter XXIII, n. 24) says, not made by hands (2 Cor. 5:1): which we shall understand at the last when we have entered it, seeing, that is, face to face what we now see in a riddle and know in part (1 Cor. 13:12). But now, while we are still placed in the tabernacle of this body, we live as if under the skins of that ancient tabernacle in the desert, and in tents (Exod. 25:40 and 26:30), with the Word of God going before us through the dry land of this world, either in the pillar of cloud (Exod. 23:20; Exod. 13:21 and 14:19), to overshadow our head in the day of battle (Ps. 139:8), or in the pillar of fire, that we may know His heavenly way upon earth (Exod. 13:21; Ps. 66:3); let us pray that through these tabernacles of the Church we may now enter as far as the house of God (Ps. 41:5, according to the Roman Psalter); where the Lord Himself also, that highest Stone, made for us by the Lord and cut from the mountain, and the same Stone grown into a mountain, stands forth, who is wonderful in our eyes (Ps. 117:23).
Editors' notes and page, col. 341
Footnotes
Scripture references (printed under page 174)
(a) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 341
I Cor. VIII, 14.
1 Corinthians 8:14 (as read on the scan; the numerals are unclear).
(printed under page 174)
(b) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 341
Gen. XI, 4.
Genesis 11:4.
(printed under page 174)
(c) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 341
Ephes. II, 20.
Ephesians 2:20.
(printed under page 174)
(d) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 341
Psal. LX, 4.
Psalm 60:4.
(printed under page 174)
(e) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 341
Luc. XIV, 28.
Luke 14:28.
(printed under page 174)
(f) ‹anchor: compacta crescit› · call in col 341
Ephes. II, 21.
Ephesians 2:21.
(printed under page 174)
(g) ‹anchor: vano aedificantes labore› · call in col 341
Psal. CXXVI, 1.
Psalm 126:1.
(printed under page 174)
(h) ‹anchor: cura vigilabit› · call in col 341
Ibid.
The same.
(printed under page 174)
(i) ‹anchor: non manufactum› · call in col 341
II Cor. V, 1.
2 Corinthians 5:1.
(printed under page 174)
(j) ‹anchor: ex parte cognoscimus› · call in col 341
I Cor. XIII, 12.
1 Corinthians 13:12.
(printed under page 174)
(k) ‹anchor: tentoriis agimus› · call in col 341
Exod. XXV, 40, et XXVI, 30.
Exodus 25:40 and 26:30.
(printed under page 174)
(l) ‹anchor: in columna nubis› · call in col 341
Exod. XXIII, 20; Exod. XIII, 21, et XIV, 19.
Exodus 23:20; Exodus 13:21 and 14:19.
(printed under page 174)
(m) ‹anchor: in die belli› · call in col 341
Psal. CXXXIX, 8.
Psalm 139:8.
(printed under page 174)
(n) ‹anchor: coelestem ejus viam› · call in col 341
Exod. XIII, 21; Psal. LXVI, 3.
Exodus 13:21; Psalm 66:3.
(printed under page 174)
(o) ‹anchor: ad domum Dei› · call in col 341
Psal. XLI, 5, juxta Psalt. Rom.
Psalm 41:5, according to the Roman Psalter.
(printed under page 174)
(p) ‹anchor: nobis a Domino› · call in col 341
Psal. CXVII 23.
Psalm 117:23.
(printed under page 174)
(q) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 341 or 342
Psal. LXXX, 7.
Psalm 80:7.
(printed under page 174)
(r) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 341 or 342
I Cor. III, 10, I Pet. II, 5.
1 Corinthians 3:10; 1 Peter 2:5.
(printed under page 174)
(s) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 341 or 342
Sap. III, 6.
Wisdom 3:6.
(printed under page 174)
(a) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 341 or 342
Reposuimus quia, ex mss. Reg. et Vien. et editis codicibus quatuor. Edit. Rosv., qui.
We have restored "quia" from the Royal and Vienna manuscripts and four printed editions. Rosweyde's edition has "qui".
(printed under page 174)
Page
- running head: 341 | EPISTOLA XXX[II] (right part of head cut off in the image)
- marginal letters: A ‹ravit, ut abundans›; B ‹22. Fragilem arenam›; C ‹que nisi Dominus›; D ‹per istius orbis›
- old-edition numerals: 210 after ‹omnis› (before ‹aedificatio›)
Ipse se nunc aedificationi nostrae et fundamento praestet et culmini, quia ipse est initium et finis. Super eamdem petram, nam et petra Christus est, extra quam nemo potest domum stabilem fundare, non stipulam, aut fenum, et paleas, sicut in Aegypto servientes in cophino, manus congerant; ne luteis aedificiis operum sordidorum laterem, ut aiunt, lavemus, et incurvati oneribus laborum servilium devertamus dorsum nostrum a Domino; quia ut conversos ad se reficit lumine, ita aversos afficit caecitate.
Let Him now give Himself both as foundation and as roof to our building, for He Himself is the beginning and the end. Upon that same rock, for the rock also is Christ, apart from which no one can found a stable house, let our hands not heap up stubble, or hay, and chaff, like those who served in Egypt with the basket; lest in the mud buildings of filthy works we wash a brick, as the saying goes, and, bent under the burdens of servile labours, turn our back away from the Lord (Ps. 80:7); for as He refreshes with light those turned towards Him, so He strikes with blindness those turned away.
24. Videamus autem aedificantes, quid de nostra fragili terrenaque substantia dignum divino fundamento superaedificare possimus, ut ab ipso principali lapide vivificati, lapides in fabricam templi coelestis aptemur. Aurum sensus nostri et sermonis argentum conflemus in Christo, ut nos in hujus mundi fornace purgatos, aurum ignitum, et moneta imaginis suae dignum ipse placitarum sibi animarum discussor efficiat, nosque ipsos illi de operibus luminis pretiosos lapides afferamus. Neque in cordibus ligni duritia stolidi, neque in operibus fenea siccitate aridi, neque in fide vel caritate mobiles et infirmi levium fragilitate palearum; sed ut opus arbitrii nostri non arsurum paretur, et inconcussum pacifica operatione consurgat, oremus Altissimum eam pacem aedificationis nostrae, qua paries ille aliquando in templi murum factus est, ut malleus, et securis, et omne vas ferreum non audiatur in ea: nec sicut postea in ejusdem templi reparatione, inimica Persarum invidia fabricam resurgentem hostilis impediat et interrumpat incursus. Sic enim in domum orationis et pacis perficiemur, si nulla nos carnalium cogitationum cura concidat, nullus quietem nostram seculi tumultus interstrepat. Malleus enim nobis cura victus et cura vestitus est: securis et ferrum nobis cupiditas temporalium, et nocturnus mortuis timor, et livor inimicus, et res hujus seculi; in cujus aut malae cura, aut bonae amore anima conditur, mens compeditur; et pax bonae voluntatis, quae compositis religioso silentio sensibus confirmatur, atque orationis intentio, quae inoffensa de libero et puro corde dirigitur, carnalium oblatratione curarum, quasi interstrepente malleo, vel securi feriente, convellitur. Sed quia major est qui in nobis est quam qui in hoc mundo, potens est Dominus conterere satanam sub pedibus nostris, ut impleatur et illa pro nobis prophetia: Contritus est malleus universae terrae.
24. Let us see, then, as we build, what we can build, out of our fragile and earthly substance, that is worthy of the divine foundation, so that, made alive by that chief stone itself, we may be fitted as stones into the building of the heavenly temple (1 Cor. 3:10; 1 Pet. 2:5). Let us melt down the gold of our understanding and the silver of our speech in Christ, so that He Himself, the assayer of the souls that please Him, may make us, purged in the furnace of this world (Wis. 3:6), fire-tried gold, coin worthy of His image, and that we may bring ourselves to Him as precious stones from the works of light. Let us be neither stupid in heart with the hardness of wood, nor dry in works with the drought of hay, nor unstable and weak in faith or love with the frailty of light chaff; but, that the work of our will may be made ready not to burn, and may rise unshaken by peaceful working, let us pray the Most High for that peace for our building (Ps. 121:6) by which that wall was once made into the wall of the temple, so that hammer and axe and every iron tool were not heard in it (III Kgs. 6:7, LXX): and let not, as afterwards in the restoration of that same temple, a hostile attack, through the inimical envy of the Persians, hinder and interrupt the rising building (I Esdras 4:4). For so shall we be made perfect into a house of prayer and peace, if no care of fleshly thoughts cuts us down, if no tumult of the world drowns our quiet with its din. For the hammer to us is the care for food and the care for clothing; the axe and the iron are to us the desire of temporal things, and the night-time fear of the dead, and hostile envy, and the affairs of this world; in which the soul is buried, the mind fettered, either by care for what is bad in it or by love of what is good; and the peace of good will, which is made firm when the senses are composed in religious silence, and the intent of prayer, which is directed unhindered from a free and pure heart, are torn up by the barking of fleshly cares, as if by a hammer making its din or an axe striking. But since greater is He who is in us than he who is in this world (1 John 4:4), the Lord is able to crush Satan under our feet (Rom. 16:20), so that that prophecy too may be fulfilled for us: The hammer of the whole earth is broken (Jer. 50:23).
25. Expedit autem nobis, ut etiam aedificatum cordis nostri templum saepe Dominus Jesus revisat, veniens in flagello timoris sui, ut ejiciat de nobis mensas nummulariorum, et venditores boum vel columbarum; ne quod avaritiae commercium animus noster exerceat, neque in nostris sensibus tarditas
25. It is good for us, moreover, that the Lord Jesus should often revisit the temple of our heart even when it is built, coming with the scourge of His fear, to cast out of us the tables of the money-changers and the sellers of oxen or doves (Matt. 21:12; Mark 11:15); lest our mind carry on any trade of avarice, or the sluggishness
Editors' notes and page, col. 342
Footnotes
(t) ‹anchor: aedificationis nostrae› · call in col 342
Psal. CXXI, 6.
Psalm 121:6.
(printed under page 174)
(u) ‹anchor: non audiatur in ea› · call in col 342
III Reg. VI, 7, sec. LXX.
3 Kings (1 Kings) 6:7, according to the Septuagint.
(printed under page 174)
(v) ‹anchor: interrumpat incursus› · call in col 342
I Esd. IV, 4.
1 Esdras (Ezra) 4:4.
(printed under page 174)
(x) ‹anchor: in hoc mundo› · call in col 342
I Johan. IV, 4.
1 John 4:4.
(printed under page 174)
(y) ‹anchor: sub pedibus nostris› · call in col 342
Rom. XVI, 20.
Romans 16:20.
(printed under page 174)
(z) ‹anchor: universae terrae› · call in col 342
Jer. L, 23.
Jeremiah 50:23.
(printed under page 174)
(aa) ‹anchor: venditores boum vel columbarum› · call in col 342
Matth. XXI, 12, Marc. XI, 15.
Matthew 21:12; Mark 11:15.
Editors' notes (printed under page 174)
Page
- running head: EPISTOLA XXXII. | 342
- marginal letters: A ‹Ipse se nunc›; B ‹argentum conflemus›; C ‹tem hostilis impediat›; D ‹potens est Dominus›
- old-edition numerals: 211 after ‹factus› (before ‹est›)