PL 61 · cols. 363–366

Paulinus of Nola, Letters

Letter XXXIX

familiare secretum taciti ruris adamasti, non otium negotio praeferens, neque te ecclesiasticae utilitati subtrahens, sed jam pene forensibus turbis aemulos ecclesiarum tumultus et concilia inquieta declinans. Arbitror autem idipsum majoribus ecclesiae utilitatibus praeparari, quod salubri consilio instructioni sanctae vacas, et intentus studiis spiritalibus, quibus solitudo amica est, formas in te quotidie confirmasque Christum, quo et servus utilior, et magister doctior digniorem te ea, in qua nutu Dei positus es, sede perficias, opere pariter et verbo potens; ut lingua et mente tibi concors, veram te apostolicae disciplinae formulam praebeas praecepti Dominici actor et doctor. Ita demum constabit non humano suffragio, sed divino te esse judicio sacerdotem.

you have come to love the familiar seclusion of the quiet countryside, not preferring leisure to business, nor withdrawing yourself from the service of the Church, but turning aside from the tumults of the churches, which now almost rival the crowds of the law courts, and from restless councils. And I think that this very thing is being prepared for the greater service of the Church: that by wholesome counsel you give yourself to holy instruction and, intent on spiritual studies, to which solitude is a friend, you daily form and strengthen Christ in yourself, so that, a more useful servant and a more learned master, you may make yourself more worthy of the see in which you have been placed by the will of God, powerful alike in deed and in word; so that, at one with yourself in tongue and mind, you may show yourself a true pattern of apostolic discipline, a doer and teacher of the Lord's precept (2 Thess. 3:9). So at last it will be established that you are a priest not by human suffrage but by divine judgement.

11. Quod jam probari et fide et vita tua credens, peto et impense rogo, ut nos semper orationibus tuis implices; et quoties fuerit occasio, litteris revisere studeas. Quod quidem a te munus non tam officii capiendi cupidus, quam animi reficiendi studens exigo; ut et solatium caritatis et gaudium simul capiam, cum te mei memorem in negotiis sanctis, ac tui diligentem profectu scientiae spiritalis, et intellectu ardentis in Deum cordis legens videro. Non jam te de sermone virtutis, id est, praedicatione Christi, sed de virtute ipsius sermonis expendens, id est, ut credere te Christum Jesum crucifixum Dominum et Deum loquendo pariter et vivendo confirmes. Quia eodem affectu gestare debemus imaginem coelestis hominis, quo gessimus ante terreni. Alioquin quod nostrum est quis dabit nobis, si non fuerimus tam fideles in nostro, quam fuimus in alieno? In hoc enim facti sumus, ut boni simus, et nostro serviamus Autori; contra cujus praecepta viventes vitio voluntatis nostrae, non solum contra vitam, sed et contra naturam nostram faciemus; et ideo comparabimur jumentis, quibus non est intellectus. Attamen Dei bonitas ita nobiscum paciscitur, ut praeteritae nobis impietatis gratiam faciens, contenta sit vel tales nos esse sibi servos pro nobis, quales adversum nos diabolo fuerimus, dicente Apostolo, ut sicut exhibuimus membra nostra servire iniquitati, sic eadem exhibeamus servire justitiae; videlicet, ut eadem affectione delectemur in Domino, qua delectati sumus in peccato. Sic ambiamus Dei regnum, quomodo ambivimus saeculi dignitatem; et denique tam diligenter curemus bona coelestia, quam terrena curavimus.

11. Believing that this is already proved both by your faith and by your life, I ask and earnestly beg that you always enfold us in your prayers, and that whenever there is occasion you take care to visit us by letter. This service I demand of you not so much from desire of receiving a courtesy as from eagerness to refresh my soul, so that I may receive at once the comfort of charity and joy, when by reading I see you mindful of me in holy business, and careful of yourself through progress in spiritual knowledge and through the understanding of a heart burning towards God. I weigh you now not by the word of power, that is, the preaching of Christ, but by the power of the word itself, that is, that you confirm, alike by speaking and by living, that you believe Christ Jesus crucified to be Lord and God. For with the same affection we must bear the image of the heavenly man with which we bore before that of the earthly (1 Cor. 15:49). Otherwise who will give us what is our own, if we have not been as faithful in what is ours as we were in what was another's (Luke 16:12)? For we were made for this, that we should be good and serve our own Maker; living against His precepts by the fault of our will, we shall act not only against our life but also against our nature; and therefore we shall be compared to the beasts, which have no understanding. And yet the goodness of God makes such a compact with us that, granting us pardon for our past impiety, it is content that we be at least such servants to Him on our own behalf as we were to the devil against ourselves, as the Apostle says, that as we yielded our members to serve iniquity, so we should yield the same to serve justice (Rom. 6:19); that is, that we should delight in the Lord with the same affection with which we delighted in sin. So let us canvass for the kingdom of God as we canvassed for the dignity of the world; and in short let us care for heavenly goods as diligently as we cared for earthly ones.

EPISTOLA XXXIX.

LETTER XXXIX.

Editors' notes and page, col. 363

Scripture references

(printed under page 185)

(a) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 363

II Thess. III, 9.

2 Thessalonians 3:9.

(printed under page 185)

(b) ‹anchor: ante terreni› · call in col 363

I Cor. XV, 49.

1 Corinthians 15:49.

(printed under page 185)

Luc. XVI, 12.

Luke 16:12.

(printed under page 185)

(d) ‹anchor: non est intellectus› · call in col 363

Psal. XLVIII, 13, et xxxi, 9; Tob. VI, 17.

Psalm 48 (Vulg.):13, and 31:9; Tobit 6:17.

(printed under page 185)

(e) ‹anchor: servire justitiae› · call in col 363

Rom. VI, 19.

Romans 6:19.

(printed under page 185)

Editors' prose

Aprum docet quomodo ager cordis sit colendus: ubi et verba Joelis de eruca, locusta, brucho et rubigine, pulchre admodum ad quatuor animae passiones trahit.

He teaches Aper how the field of the heart is to be tilled; here he also applies, very aptly, the words of Joel on the caterpillar, the locust, the cankerworm and the mildew to the four passions of the soul (Joel 1:4).

Page

running head: 363 | S. PAULINI NOLANI EPISTOLAE (head cut at right edge of image)
marginal letters: A familiare secretum taciti ruris; B cerdotem.; C nostrum est quis dabit nobis (line ending "Alioquin quod"); D in peccato. Sic ambiamus
old-edition numerals: 234 after viventes

PL 61:364

Sanctis, merito venerabilibus ac dilectissimis fratribus APRO et AMANDAE, PAULINUS et THERASIA peccatores.

To the holy brethren Aper and Amanda, deservedly venerable and most beloved, Paulinus and Therasia, sinners.

1. Aliis reditus de patrimoniis pensitatione solemni praebeantur: nobis, quibus possessio caritas vestra in Christo est, reditus ab officiis affectionis vestrae sumitur, et in litterarum vestrarum humanitate numeratur. Gratias Domino Deo nostro, qui bona viva pro mortuis et caducis rependens, vos quoque nobis uberrimum fundum largitus est. Nam ut in rebus terrenis carior fundus est, qui aut avaris agricolae sui votis proflua ubertate respondet, aut delicati possessoris oculis amoenitate blanditur; ita nunc in nostris praediis spiritalibus, id est, sanctis fratribus, quos nobis caritas Christi connexuit, et in aeternam possessionem dedit, is nobis opimior ager aestimatur homo, qui fuerit nostri diligentior et fructuosior nobis, salutarium commodorum ministratione. Quod cum ita sit, videte quantam vos massam hujuscemodi possessionis habeamus, cum praeter affectum quem in nos mutuo effunditis, alia, quibus pares esse non possumus, munera copiis linguae et mentis vestrae †opimus conferatis. Officia enim et eloquia litterarum vestrarum, quae nobis largiter annuo commeatu penditis, indicant quam ampla possessio nobis, et quam fertilis terra Deo sitis: jam tricesimum fructum de vestra inter vos continentia proferentes, et quotidianis fidei communis augmentis sexagesimo propinquantes, et de prole virginea centesimum pollicentes.

1. Let others be furnished with revenues from their patrimonies by the yearly payment of rent; for us, whose possession is your charity in Christ, revenue is drawn from the services of your affection and is counted out in the kindness of your letters. Thanks be to the Lord our God, Who, repaying living goods for dead and perishable ones, has bestowed on us you too as a most fruitful estate. For as among earthly things that estate is dearer which either answers the greedy wishes of its farmer with overflowing fertility or charms the eyes of a fastidious owner with its pleasantness, so now among our spiritual farms, that is, the holy brethren whom the charity of Christ has joined to us and given us for an eternal possession, that man is reckoned by us the richer field who is the more careful of us and the more fruitful to us in supplying wholesome benefits. This being so, see how great a mass of possession of this kind we have in you, since besides the affection which you pour out on us in return, you bestow, out of the riches of your tongue and mind, other gifts which we cannot match. For the services and eloquence of your letters, which you pay us generously by a yearly courier, show how ample a possession you are to us and how fertile a land to God: already bringing forth the thirtyfold fruit from your continence with each other, drawing near to the sixtyfold by daily increases of the faith you share, and promising the hundredfold from your virgin offspring (Matt. 13:8; Mark 4:8; Luke 8:8).

2. Nam quod scribitis impedimenta vestri esse propositi possessiones filiorum, qui causa sint necessitatis istius qua terrena curatis, cum coelestia desideretis, in multimodam potius vobis exercendae fidei perficiendaeque virtutis materiam divino haec esse proposita consilio judicamus. Cum enim haec universa mundi possessio propter hominem constituta, hominique subjecta videatur, quis ambigat in omni loco mundi, in omni parte naturae utilitates homini paratas, e quibus non solum carnalia emolumenta capiamus, sed multo magis spiritalia perlegamus. Propterea dicit per Salomonem ipsa rerum opifex Sapientia, quae disponit omnia suaviter, ab Altissimo creatam rusticationem, ut eam non corporali tantum, sed etiam spiritali studio colas. Denique quantum de rure ad eruditionem animae trahi possit, docet, cum sectatores suos ad formicam et apem mittit, quae utraque ruris animalia sunt, illa de frugibus vitae provida, et ista de floribus mellis operaria. Et Dominus in Evangelio, quam multa de rusticis docuit exemplis, de ficu arbore, et de flavescentibus propinqua jam messe regionibus ultimorum temporum signa demonstrans; et in agro esse discendum

2. As for your writing that the possessions of your children are hindrances to your purpose, being the cause of that necessity by which you care for earthly things while you desire heavenly ones, we judge rather that these have been set before you by divine counsel as manifold material for exercising faith and perfecting virtue. For since this whole possession of the world appears to have been established for man's sake and made subject to man (Gen. 1:26), who would doubt that in every place of the world, in every part of nature, advantages have been prepared for man, from which we may not only take bodily profits but much more gather spiritual ones? Therefore Wisdom herself, the maker of things, who orders all things sweetly (Wis. 8:1), says through Solomon that husbandry was created by the Most High, so that you should cultivate it not with bodily effort only but also with spiritual. Indeed she teaches how much can be drawn from the countryside for the instruction of the soul when she sends her followers to the ant and the bee (Prov. 6:6 and 30:25; Sir. 11:3), both of which are creatures of the countryside, the one provident of the fruits of life, the other a worker of honey from the flowers. And the Lord in the Gospel (Luke 13:6; John 4:35; Mark 13:28; Luke 21:29; Matt. 24:40; Matt. 13:25), how much He taught by rustic examples, showing the signs of the last times by the fig tree and by the fields yellowing as the harvest draws near; and that it must be learned that in the field

Editors' notes and page, col. 364

Footnotes

(f) ‹anchor: centesimum pollicentes› · call in col 364

Matth. XIII, 8; Marc. IV, 8; Luc. VIII, 8.

Matthew 13:8; Mark 4:8; Luke 8:8.

(printed under page 185)

(g) ‹anchor: subjecta videatur› · call in col 364

Gen. I, 26.

Genesis 1:26.

(printed under page 185)

(h) ‹anchor: creatam rusticationem› · call in col 364

Sap. VIII, 1.

Wisdom 8:1.

(printed under page 185)

(i) ‹anchor: apem mittit› · call in col 364

Prov. VI, 6, et xxx, 25; Eccli. XI, 3.

Proverbs 6:6, and 30:25; Ecclesiasticus 11:3.

(printed under page 185)

(j) ‹anchor: in Evangelio› · call in col 364

Luc. XIII, 6; Johan. iv, 35; Marc. XIII, 28; Luc. XXI, 29; Matth. XXIV, 40; Matth. XIII, 25.

Luke 13:6; John 4:35; Mark 13:28; Luke 21:29; Matthew 24:40; Matthew 13:25.

Editors' notes

(*) ‹anchor: EPISTOLA› · call in col 363 Alias 30; quae autem 39 erat, nunc 25. Scripta anno 405.

Otherwise numbered 30; and the one that was 39 is now 25. Written in the year 405.

(printed under page 185)

(a) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 364

Addita ex mss. codicibus Reg. et Vien. et editis quatuor particula et, ex iisdem mss. codicibus et Grin. reposuimus formas.... confirmasque. Ed. Rosv., Grav. et Schot., formans.... confirmansque.

Having added the particle "et" from the Regius and Vienna manuscript codices and four printed editions, we have restored from the same manuscript codices and Gryphius "formas ... confirmasque". The editions of Rosweyde, Gravius and Schott: "formans ... confirmansque".

(printed under page 185)

(b) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 364

Sic emendavimus ex ms. codice Regio et editis quatuor. Ed. Rosv., ei.

So we have corrected from the Regius manuscript codex and four printed editions. Rosweyde's edition: "ei".

(printed under page 185)

Ms. Vatic., patrimonii.

The Vatican manuscript: "patrimonii".

(printed under page 185)

(d) ‹anchor: annuo commeatu› · call in col 364

Ms. codex Viennensis, impenditis.

The Vienna manuscript codex: "impenditis".

(printed under page 185)

Page

running head: S. PAULINI NOLANI EPISCOPI 364 (left half cut at image edge)
marginal letters: A Sanctis, merito venerabilibus; B possessionem dedit, is nobis; C 2. Nam quod scribitis; D tum de rure ad eruditionem
old-edition numerals: 235 after fidei

PL 61:365

monens, quo caveamus in spiritu, ne fidei nostrae aemulam fraudem, sicut zizaniam tritico, inimicus interserat. Itaque nos agrum suum dixit, seque ipsum ostendit in nobis vitae nostrae satorem; et animarum discrimina variis terrarum expressit ingeniis. Ne sterilis sit caveamus; nos quoque ipsos ad fecunditatem Deo debitam et nobis utilem contentis in lege Domini studiis excolamus.

warning us to be on our guard in the spirit, lest the enemy sow among us a deceit that rivals our faith, as cockle among the wheat. So He called us His field, and showed Himself to be the sower of our life in us; and He expressed the differences of souls by the various natures of soils. Let us take care that it be not barren; let us too cultivate ourselves, by studies intent on the law of the Lord, to the fruitfulness that is owed to God and profitable to us.

3. Igitur cum in agro es, et rus tuum spectas, te quoque ipsum Christi agrum esse cogita, et in te sicut in agrum tuum respice. Qualem agri tui speciem fieri a villico tuo postulas, talem Deo Domino cordis tui redde culturam; et intellige, quidquid in agro tuo tibi displiceat aut placeat, idem in anima tua placere Christo, aut displicere. Si vasta peccatis quasi dumis sordeat, neque propheticis aut apostolicis nubibus compluatur, in aridam solitudinem gratia deserente damnabitur. Si vero sui diligens, orationibus crebris semet excolat, et sacris Litteris opimetur, et intimum cordi aratrum crucis imprimat, et rastro divini timoris spinas suas eruat, ignitoque Dei verbo uratur in culpis, luminetur in sensibus; tunc necesse est ut spatiari in tuo corde patremfamilias et omnes animae tuae regiones peragrare delectet; et pro te in suo adgaudens tibi dicat, si diligens tui cultor appareas: Euge, serve bone, intra in gaudium Domini tui: quia fidelis fuisti in paucis, super multa te constituam.

3. So when you are in the field and look over your land, think that you yourself too are Christ's field, and look into yourself as into your own field. Whatever appearance you demand that your steward give your field, render such cultivation of your heart to the Lord God; and understand that whatever in your field displeases or pleases you, the same in your soul pleases or displeases Christ. If it lies waste and foul with sins as with brambles, and is not rained on by prophetic or apostolic clouds, it will be condemned to a dry wilderness as grace forsakes it. But if, careful of itself, it cultivates itself with frequent prayers, is enriched by the sacred Scriptures, presses the plough of the cross deep into the heart, roots out its thorns with the rake of divine fear, and is burned in its faults and enlightened in its senses by the fiery word of God, then the Householder must needs take delight in walking in your heart and traversing all the regions of your soul; and rejoicing over you in what is His own, He will say to you, if you show yourself a careful cultivator of yourself: Well done, good servant, enter into the joy of your Lord: because you have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many (Matt. 25:21; Luke 19:17).

4. Nos vero ipsi, qui perverso ordine consilium validis infirmi damus, quid pro nobis respondeamus, qui tam pauperes, quam putas, spiritali potius quam terrena re sumus; non virtute mentis, sed inopia virtutis humiles. Angustus ille, quem lato potens ore describis, vix unici caulis ferax et capax hortulus, nos ipsi sumus; et ultra betam semicoctam, ut propheta dixit, insipidi; faciamus ne in domo nostra caulis ille solus insulsus sit. Excusabilius tamen ille non habet salem, quem inopiae nostrae necessitate, aut parcimoniae vitio non accepit; nos potius elixi, nos culpabilius insulsi, in quibus superabundante de peccatis voluntariis insipientia, sal apostolicus evanuit; et a facie peccatorum nostrorum spiritalia condimenta fugerunt. Sed nisi vestris orationibus reficiamur, nec ipse unicus caulis in nobis virebit, penitusque desertis etiam insulsum olus deerit.

4. But what are we ourselves to answer for ourselves, who in perverse order, weak as we are, give counsel to the strong; who are as poor as you think, but rather in spiritual than in earthly substance; humble not by strength of mind but by want of strength? That narrow little garden which you describe with your broad and powerful speech, scarcely bearing or holding a single cabbage, is ourselves; and more insipid than a half-cooked beet, as the prophet said (Isa. 51:20, according to the Seventy); let us take care that the cabbage is not the only thing in our house without salt. Yet it has the better excuse for lacking salt, since it did not receive it because of the necessity of our poverty or the fault of our thrift; it is rather we who are boiled, we who are more culpably without salt, in whom, as folly abounds from wilful sins, the apostolic salt has lost its savour (Matt. 5:13); and spiritual seasonings have fled from the face of our sins. But unless we are refreshed by your prayers, not even that single cabbage will flourish in us, and, wholly forsaken, we shall lack even unsalted greens.

5. Orate igitur ne germina animae nostrae nocens eruca populetur, ne mentis segetem edax locusta consumat, ne praecordiis nostris piger bruchus insideat, et intimas vitalium fibras ultima harum bestiolarum comes rubigo exedat. Urgent enim interiorem nostrum malae bestiae; et importunae alites frequenter infestant, ut a nobis, si possint, verbi semen abripiant. Sed gratias Deo, quod non juxta viam

5. Pray, then, that the harmful caterpillar may not lay waste the shoots of our soul, that the greedy locust may not consume the crop of our mind, that the sluggish canker-worm may not settle in our breast, and that blight, the last companion of these little creatures, may not eat away the inmost fibres of our vitals (Joel 1:4). For evil beasts press upon our inner man; and troublesome birds often harass us, to snatch the seed of the word from us if they can. But thanks be to God that not beside the way

Editors' notes and page, col. 365

Scripture references

(printed under page 186)

(a) ‹anchor: te constituam› · call in col 365

Matth. XXV, 21, Luc. XIX, 17.

Matthew 25:21, Luke 19:17.

(printed under page 186)

(b) ‹anchor: ut propheta dixit› · call in col 365

Isai. LI, 20, juxta LXX.

Isaiah 51:20, according to the Septuagint.

(printed under page 186)

Matth. V, 13.

Matthew 5:13.

(printed under page 186)

(d) ‹anchor: rubigo exedat› · call in col 365

Joel. I, 4.

Joel 1:4.

(printed under page 186)

(e) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 365

Matth. XIII, 4.

Matthew 13:4.

(printed under page 186)

(a) ‹anchor: intimum cordi› · call in col 365

Ms. Vien., et in intimum cordis, aratrum crucis imprimat.

The Vienna manuscript: "et in intimum cordis, aratrum crucis imprimat".

(printed under page 186)

(b) ‹anchor: nos› · call in col 365

Edit. Schot. et Sacchin., pejus, non male.

The editions of Schott and Sacchini: "pejus", not badly.

(printed under page 186)

Page

running head: 365 EPISTOLA XXX[IX] (cut at image edge)
marginal letters: A monens, quo caveamus; B peccatis quasi dumis sordeat; C terrena re sumus; D deerit.
old-edition numerals: 236 before peragrare

PL 61:366

de manu serentis excidimus, sed in ipsa potius via seminati sumus, id est in catholicae matris gremio constituti: a quo ne projiciamur ut abortivi, ipsius misericordia opus est, ut intellectum det nobis in via hac qua ingredi jussit, ac praestitit; et confirmet super nos oculos suos, ne efficiamur sicut equus et mulus quibus non est intellectus.

we fell from the sower's hand, but rather were sown in the way itself (Matt. 13:4), that is, set in the bosom of our Catholic mother: and that we may not be cast out of it like untimely births, we need His mercy, that He may give us understanding in this way in which He bade and enabled us to walk, and may fix His eyes upon us, lest we become like the horse and the mule, which have no understanding (Ps. 31:8).

6. Sed ad rusticationis nostrae verba redeamus: nam ipse Deus noster et Pater agricola est; et Deus salutaris noster, vera vitis est; et Spiritus sanctus, rigator animarum est. Fiat igitur nobis per orationes vestras, ut summus paterfamilias, et coelestis agricola, et diligens hortulanus visitet, et frequentet, et signet hortum animae nostrae, sicut illum in quo docuit, oravit, resurrexit. Firmet in nobis caritatis suae nexum, ut manentia in ipso sarmenta vivamus. Imperet nubibus suis ut pluant super nos, et a corde nostro improbas carnalium cogitationum passiones, ut illa animalia bonis frugibus inimica submoveat. Ne fiat in nobis verbum illud prophetae; Residuum erucae comedit locusta, et residuum locustae comedit bruchus, et residuum bruchi comedit rubigo. Sunt enim in corpore nostro principalia totidem incentiva vitiorum, spes, metus, gaudium, dolor; quibus maxime genus turbatur humanum, duobus praesentibus et duobus futuris: praesentibus, aegritudine animi, vel gaudio: futuris, metu, vel spe. Unde cavendum est, ne dum alterum ex his vitium fugimus, incurramus contrarium.

6. But let us return to the language of our husbandry: for our God Himself, the Father too, is the husbandman; and God our Saviour is the true vine (John 15:1); and the Holy Spirit is the waterer of souls. May it be granted us, then, through your prayers, that the supreme Householder, the heavenly husbandman and careful gardener, may visit, frequent and mark the garden of our soul, as He did that garden in which He taught, prayed and rose again (Matt. 26:36 and 28:6; Mark 14:32). May He strengthen in us the bond of His charity, so that we may live as branches abiding in Him. May He command His clouds to rain upon us, and remove from our heart the wicked passions of carnal thoughts, as He removes those creatures hostile to good crops. Let not that word of the prophet be fulfilled in us: What the caterpillar left the locust has eaten, and what the locust left the canker-worm has eaten, and what the canker-worm left the blight has eaten (Joel 1:4). For there are in our body just as many principal incitements to vice: hope, fear, joy, grief; by which the human race is chiefly troubled, two present and two future: the present, by sorrow of mind or by joy; the future, by fear or by hope. Hence we must take care lest, while we flee one of these vices, we run into its opposite.

7. Ergo in eruca, et locusta, et brucho, et rubigine, nostrarum affectionum intelligendae sunt passiones; quarum aliae breviter in corde haereant, aliae paulatim crescant; et si abjectae non fuerint, usque ad medullas perveniant, et omnem succum ebibant animae. Vide enim qualiter ista sibi congruant in cordibus nostris monstra vitiorum, qualia in frugibus accidunt vitia monstrorum. Nam, verbi gratia, si quid vetitum concupiscam, et mox abjiciam cogitationem, eruca est in folio sedens, quae decussa, si abjecero quidem, sed rursus redierit cogitatio, et coeperit abjici, et redire crebrescat, locusta est avolans et revertens. Quod si coeperit immorari, et majus habuerit spatium in comedendo, quam avolando, bruchus dicitur. Quod si ipse bruchus qui non satis avolat, sed magis sedet, non fuerit abjectus, in rubiginem vertitur: quae jam penitus inhaerescens, ut de stipula, sic de anima, numquam aut difficile expellitur.

7. So in the caterpillar, the locust, the canker-worm and the blight we are to understand the passions of our affections; of which some cling briefly in the heart, others grow little by little, and, if they are not cast off, reach to the marrow and drink up all the sap of the soul. For see how these monsters of vice in our hearts correspond to the plagues of monsters that befall the crops. For example, if I desire something forbidden and at once cast the thought away, it is a caterpillar sitting on a leaf, which is shaken off; if I do cast it away, but the thought comes back, and begins to be cast off and to return more and more often, it is a locust flying away and coming back. But if it begins to linger and spends more time in eating than in flying off, it is called a canker-worm. And if the canker-worm itself, which does not readily fly off but rather sits, is not cast off, it turns into blight: which, now clinging deep within, is never, or only with difficulty, driven out of the soul, as out of the stalk.

8. Vereor ne dum loquacius vos fatigo, ipse vobis molestius quam locusta aut bruchus insederim. Discutite igitur ut erucam, et procul abjicite hanc chartulam, ne de longiore contactu sermonis nostri rubiginem insipientiae nostrae colligatis, qua desplendescat nitor cordis vestri, et vigor mentis hebetetur.

8. I fear that, while I weary you with too much talk, I may myself have settled on you more troublesomely than a locust or a canker-worm. Shake off this little paper, then, like a caterpillar, and throw it far away, lest from longer contact with our discourse you gather the blight of our folly, by which the brightness of your heart may lose its lustre and the vigour of your mind be dulled.

Editors' notes and page, col. 366

Footnotes

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Psalm. xxxi, 8.

Psalm 31 (Vulg.):8.

(printed under page 186)

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Johan. xv, 1.

John 15:1.

(printed under page 186)

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Matth. XXVI, 36, et xxviii, 6; Marc. XIV, 32.

Matthew 26:36, and 28:6; Mark 14:32.

(printed under page 186)

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Joel. I, 4.

Joel 1:4.

Editors' notes

(printed under page 186)

Mss. Reg. et Vien., atque decussa. Ed. Grin. et Latin., qua decussa.

The Regius and Vienna manuscripts: "atque decussa". The editions of Gryphius and Latinius: "qua decussa".

(printed under page 186)

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Ms. codex Vien., Decutite.

The Vienna manuscript codex: "Decutite".

(printed under page 186)