Cyprian of Carthage, The Epistles of Cyprian

Argument.—Cyprian Had Promised Donatus that He Would Have a Discourse with Him Concerning Things Divine, and Now Being Reminded of His Promise, He Fulfils It. Commending at Length the Grace of God Conferred in Baptism, He Declares How He Had Been Changed Thereby; And, Finally, Pointing Out the Errors of the World, He Exhorts to Contempt of It and to Reading and Prayer.

1. Cæcilius Cyprian to Donatus sends, greeting. You rightly remind me, dearest Donatus for I not only remember my promise, but I confess that this is the appropriate time for its fulfilment, when the vintage festival invites the mind to unbend in repose, and to enjoy the annual and appointed respite of the declining year.2 Wearying, scil. “fatigantis.” Moreover, the place is in accord with the season, and the pleasant aspect of the gardens harmonizes with the gentle breezes of a mild autumn in soothing and cheering the senses. In such a place as this it is delightful to pass the day in discourse, and, by the (study of the sacred) parables,3 “Fabulis.” [Our “Thanksgiving Day” = the “Vindemia.”] to train the conscience of the breast to the apprehension of the divine precepts. And that no profane intruder may interrupt our converse, nor any unrestrained clatter of a noisy household disturb it, let us seek this bower.4 [A lover of gardens and of nature. The religion of Christ gave a new and loftier impulse to such tastes universally. Vol. ii. p. 9.] The neighbouring thickets ensure us solitude, and the vagrant trailings of the vine branches creeping in pendent mazes among the reeds that support them have made for us a porch of vines and a leafy shelter. Pleasantly here we clothe our thoughts in words; and while we gratify our eyes with the agreeable outlook upon trees and vines, the mind is at once instructed by what we hear, and nourished by what we see, although at the present time your only pleasure and your only interest is in our discourse. Despising the pleasures of sight, your eye is now fixed on me. With your mind as well as your ears you are altogether a listener; and a listener, too, with an eagerness proportioned to your affection.

2. And yet, of what kind or of what amount is anything that my mind is likely to communicate to yours? The poor mediocrity of my shallow understanding produces a very limited harvest, and enriches the soil with no fruitful deposits. Nevertheless, with such powers as I have, I will set about the matter; for the subject itself on which I am about to speak will assist me. In courts of justice, in the public assembly, in political debate, a copious eloquence may be the glory of a voluble ambition; but in speaking of the Lord God, a chaste simplicity of expression strives for the conviction of faith rather with the substance, than with the powers, of eloquence. Therefore accept from me things, not clever but weighty, words, not decked up to charm a popular audience with cultivated rhetoric, but simple and fitted by their unvarnished truthfulness for the proclamation of the divine mercy. Accept what is felt before it is spoken, what has not been accumulated with tardy painstaking during the lapse of years, but has been inhaled in one breath of ripening grace.

3. While I was still lying in darkness and gloomy night, wavering hither and thither, tossed about on the foam of this boastful age, and uncertain of my wandering steps, knowing nothing of my real life, and remote from truth and light, I used to regard it as a difficult matter, and especially as difficult in respect of my character at that time, that a man should be capable of being born again5 [Another Nicodemus, John iii.]—a truth which the divine mercy had announced for my salvation,—and that a man quickened to a new life in the laver of saving water should be able to put off what he had previously been; and, although retaining all his bodily structure, should be himself changed in heart and soul. “How,” said I, “is such a conversion possible, that there should be a sudden and rapid divestment of all which, either innate in us has hardened in the corruption of our material nature, or acquired by us has become inveterate by long accustomed use? These things have become deeply and radically engrained within us. When does he learn thrift who has been used to liberal banquets and sumptuous feasts? And he who has been glittering in gold and purple, and has been celebrated for his costly attire, when does he reduce himself to ordinary and simple clothing? One who has felt the charm of the fasces and of civic honours shrinks from becoming a mere private and inglorious citizen. The man who is attended by crowds of clients, and dignified by the numerous association of an officious train, regards it as a punishment when he is alone. It is inevitable, as it ever has been, that the love of wine should entice, pride inflate, anger inflame, covetousness disquiet, cruelty stimulate, ambition delight, lust hasten to ruin, with allurements that will not let go their hold.”

4. These were my frequent thoughts. For as I myself was held in bonds by the innumerable errors of my previous life, from which I did not believe that I could by possibility be delivered, so I was disposed to acquiesce in my clinging vices; and because I despaired of better things, I used to indulge my sins as if they were actually parts of me, and indigenous to me. But after that, by the help of the water of new birth, the stain of former years had been washed away, and a light from above, serene and pure, had been infused into my reconciled heart,—after that, by the agency of the Spirit breathed from heaven, a second birth had restored me to a new man;—then, in a wondrous manner, doubtful things at once began to assure themselves to me, hidden things to be revealed, dark things to be enlightened, what before had seemed difficult began to suggest a means of accomplishment, what had been thought impossible, to be capable of being achieved; so that I was enabled to acknowledge that what previously, being born of the flesh, had been living in the practice of sins, was of the earth earthly, but had now begun to be of God, and was animated by the Spirit of holiness. You yourself assuredly know and recollect as well as I do what was taken away from us, and what was given to us by that death of evil, and that life of virtue. You yourself know this without my information. Anything like boasting in one’s own praise is hateful, although we cannot in reality boast but only be grateful for whatever we do not ascribe to man’s virtue but declare to be the gift of God; so that now we sin not is the beginning of the work of faith, whereas that we sinned before was the result of human error. All our power is of God; I say, of God. From Him we have life, from Him we have strength, by power derived and conceived from Him we do, while yet in this world, foreknow the indications of things to come. Only let fear be the keeper of innocence, that the Lord, who of His mercy has flowed6 Or, “shone,” “infulsit.” into our hearts in the access of celestial grace, may be kept by righteous submissiveness in the hostelry of a grateful mind, that the assurance we have gained may not beget carelessness, and so the old enemy creep upon us again.

5. But if you keep the way of innocence, the way of righteousness, if you walk with a firm and steady step, if, depending on God with your whole strength and with your whole heart, you only be what you have begun to be, liberty and power to do is given you in proportion to the increase of your spiritual grace. For there is not, as is the case with earthly benefits, any measure or stint in the dispensing of the heavenly gift. The Spirit freely flowing forth is restrained by no limits, is checked by no closed barriers within certain bounded spaces; it flows perpetually, it is exuberant in its affluence. Let our heart only be athirst, and be ready to receive: in the degree in which we bring to it a capacious faith, in that measure we draw from it an overflowing grace. Thence is given power, with modest chastity, with a sound mind, with a simple voice, with unblemished virtue, that is able to quench the virus of poisons for the healing of the sick, to purge out the stains of foolish souls by restored health, to bid peace to those that are at enmity, repose to the violent, gentleness to the unruly,—by startling threats to force to avow themselves the impure and vagrant spirits that have betaken themselves into the bodies of men whom they purpose to destroy, to drive them with heavy blows to come out of them, to stretch them out struggling, howling, groaning with increase of constantly renewing pain, to beat them with scourges, to roast them with fire: the matter is carried on there, but is not seen; the strokes inflicted are hidden, but the penalty is manifest. Thus, in respect of what we have already begun to be, the Spirit that we have received possesses its own liberty of action; while in that we have not yet changed our body and members, the carnal view is still darkened by the clouds of this world. How great is this empire of the mind, and what a power it has, not alone that itself is withdrawn from the mischievous associations of the world, as one who is purged and pure can suffer no stain of a hostile irruption, but that it becomes still greater and stronger in its might, so that it can rule over all the imperious host of the attacking adversary with its sway!

6. But in order that the characteristics of the divine may shine more brightly by the development of the truth, I will give you light to apprehend it, the obscurity caused by sin being wiped away. I will draw away the veil from the darkness of this hidden world. For a brief space conceive yourself to be transported to one of the loftiest peaks of some inaccessible mountain, thence gaze on the appearances of things lying below you, and with eyes turned in various directions look upon the eddies of the billowy world, while you yourself are removed from earthly contacts,—you will at once begin to feel compassion for the world, and with self-recollection and increasing gratitude to God, you will rejoice with all the greater joy that you have escaped it. Consider the roads blocked up by robbers, the seas beset with pirates, wars scattered all over the earth with the bloody horror of camps. The whole world is wet with mutual blood; and murder, which in the case of an individual is admitted to be a crime, is called a virtue when it is committed wholesale. Impunity is claimed for the wicked deeds, not on the plea that they are guiltless, but because the cruelty is perpetrated on a grand scale.

7. And now, if you turn your eyes and your regards to the cities themselves, you will behold a concourse more fraught with sadness than any solitude. The gladiatorial games are prepared, that blood may gladden the lust of cruel eyes. The body is fed up with stronger food, and the vigorous mass of limbs is enriched with brawn and muscle, that the wretch fattened for punishment may die a harder death. Man is slaughtered that man may be gratified, and the skill that is best able to kill is an exercise and an art. Crime is not only committed, but it is taught. What can be said more inhuman,—what more repulsive? Training is undergone to acquire the power to murder, and the achievement of murder is its glory. What state of things, I pray you, can that be, and what can it be like, in which men, whom none have condemned, offer themselves to the wild beasts—men of ripe age, of sufficiently beautiful person, clad in costly garments? Living men, they are adorned for a voluntary death; wretched men, they boast of their own miseries. They fight with beasts, not for their crime, but for their madness. Fathers look on their own sons; a brother is in the arena, and his sister is hard by; and although a grander display of pomp increases the price of the exhibition, yet, oh shame! even the mother will pay the increase in order that she may be present at her own miseries. And in looking upon scenes so frightful and so impious and so deadly, they do not seem to be aware that they are parricides with their eyes.

8. Hence turn your looks to the abominations, not less to be deplored, of another kind of spectacle.7 [Alas, that in the modern theatre and opera all this has been reproduced, and Christians applaud!] In the theatres also you will behold what may well cause you grief and shame. It is the tragic buskin which relates in verse the crimes of ancient days. The old horrors8 Errors, v. l. of parricide and incest are unfolded in action calculated to express the image of the truth, so that, as the ages pass by, any crime that was formerly committed may not be forgotten. Each generation is reminded by what it hears, that whatever has once been done may be done again. Crimes never die out by the lapse of ages; wickedness is never abolished by process of time; impiety is never buried in oblivion. Things which have now ceased to be actual deeds of vice become examples. In the mimes, moreover, by the teaching of infamies, the spectator is attracted either to reconsider what he may have done in secret, or to hear what he may do. Adultery is learnt while it is seen; and while the mischief having public authority panders to vices, the matron, who perchance had gone to the spectacle a modest woman, returns from it immodest. Still further, what a degradation of morals it is, what a stimulus to abominable deeds, what food for vice, to be polluted by histrionic gestures, against the covenant and law of one’s birth, to gaze in detail upon the endurance of incestuous abominations! Men are emasculated, and all the pride and vigour of their sex is effeminated in the disgrace of their enervated body; and he is most pleasing there who has most completely broken down the man into the woman. He grows into praise by virtue of his crime; and the more he is degraded, the more skilful he is considered to be. Such a one is looked upon—oh shame! and looked upon with pleasure. And what cannot such a creature suggest? He inflames the senses, he flatters the affections, he drives out the more vigorous conscience of a virtuous breast; nor is there wanting authority for the enticing abomination, that the mischief may creep upon people with a less perceptible approach. They picture Venus immodest, Mars adulterous; and that Jupiter of theirs not more supreme in dominion than in vice, inflamed with earthly love in the midst of his own thunders, now growing white in the feathers of a swan, now pouring down in a golden shower, now breaking forth by the help of birds to violate the purity of boys. And now put the question, Can he who looks upon such things be healthy-minded or modest? Men imitate the gods whom they adore, and to such miserable beings their crimes become their religion.9 [Compare Tertullian, vol. iii. pp. 87 et seqq.]

9. Oh, if placed on that lofty watch-tower you could gaze into the secret places—if you could open the closed doors of sleeping chambers, and recall their dark recesses to the perception of sight,—you would behold things done by immodest persons which no chaste eye could look upon; you would see what even to see is a crime; you would see what people embruted with the madness of vice deny that they have done, and yet hasten to do,—men with frenzied lusts rushing upon men, doing things which afford no gratification even to those who do them. I am deceived if the man who is guilty of such things as these does not accuse others of them. The depraved maligns the depraved, and thinks that he himself, though conscious of the guilt, has escaped, as if consciousness were not a sufficient condemnation. The same people who are accusers in public are criminals in private, condemning themselves at the same time as they condemn the culprits; they denounce abroad what they commit at home, willingly doing what, when they have done, they accuse,—a daring which assuredly is fitly mated with vice, and an impudence quite in accordance with shameless people. And I beg you not to wonder at the things that persons of this kind speak: the offence of their mouths in words is the least of which they are guilty.10 [Rom. i. 26, 27. The enormous extent of this diabolical form of lust is implied in all these patristic rebukes.]

10. But after considering the public roads full of pitfalls, after battles of many kinds scattered abroad over the whole world, after exhibitions either bloody or infamous, after the abominations of lust, whether exposed for sale in brothels or hidden within the domestic walls—abominations, the audacity of which is greater in proportion to the secrecy of the crime,—possibly you may think that the Forum at least is free from such things, that it is neither exposed to exasperating wrongs, nor polluted by the association of criminals. Then turn your gaze in that direction: there you will discover things more odious than ever, so that thence you will be more desirous of turning away your eyes, although the laws are carved on twelve tables, and the statutes are publicly prescribed on brazen tablets. Yet wrong is done in the midst of the laws themselves; wickedness is committed in the very face of the statutes; innocence is not preserved even in the place where it is defended. By turns the rancour of disputants rages; and when peace is broken among the togas,11 The dresses of peace. the Forum echoes with the madness of strife. There close at hand is the spear and the sword, and the executioner also; there is the claw that tears, the rack that stretches, the fire that burns up,—more tortures for one poor human body than it has limbs. And in such cases who is there to help? One’s patron? He makes a feint, and deceives. The judge? But he sells his sentence. He who sits to avenge crimes commits them, and the judge becomes the culprit, in order that the accused may perish innocently. Crimes are everywhere common; and everywhere in the multiform character of sin, the pernicious poison acts by means of degraded minds. One man forges a will, another by a capital fraud makes a false deposition; on the one hand, children are cheated of their inheritances, on the other, strangers are endowed with their estates. The opponent makes his charge, the false accuser attacks, the witness defames, on all sides the venal impudence of hired voices sets about the falsification of charges, while in the meantime the guilty do not even perish with the innocent. There is no fear about the laws; no concern for either inquisitor or judge; when the sentence can be bought off for money, it is not cared for. It is a crime now among the guilty to be innocent; whoever does not imitate the wicked is an offence to them. The laws have come to terms with crimes, and whatever is public has begun to be allowed. What can be the modesty, what can be the integrity, that prevails there, when there are none to condemn the wicked, and one only meets with those who ought themselves to be condemned?

11. But that we may not perchance appear as if we were picking out extreme cases, and with the view of disparagement were seeking to attract your attention to those things whereof the sad and revolting view may offend the gaze of a better conscience, I will now direct you to such things as the world in its ignorance accounts good. Among these also you will behold things that will shock you. In respect of what you regard as honours, of what you consider the fasces, what you count affluence in riches, what you think power in the camp, the glory of the purple in the magisterial office, the power of licence in the chief command,—there is hidden the virus of ensnaring mischief, and an appearance of smiling wickedness, joyous indeed, but the treacherous deception of hidden calamity. Just as some poison, in which the flavour having been medicated with sweetness, craftily mingled in its deadly juices, seems, when taken, to be an ordinary draught, but when it is drunk up, the destruction that you have swallowed assails you. You see, forsooth, that man distinguished by his brilliant dress, glittering, as he thinks, in his purple. Yet with what baseness has he purchased this glitter! What contempts of the proud has he had first to submit to! what haughty thresholds has he, as an early courtier, besieged! How many scornful footsteps of arrogant great men has he had to precede, thronged in the crowd of clients, that by and by a similar procession might attend and precede him with salutations,—a train waiting not upon his person, but upon his power! for he has no claim to be regarded for his character, but for his fasces. Of these, finally, you may see the degrading end, when the time-serving sycophant has departed, and the hanger-on, deserting them, has defiled the exposed side of the man who has retired into a private condition.12 [Confirmed by all the Roman satirists, as will be recalled by the reader. Conf. Horace, Sat., vi. book i.] It is then that the mischiefs done to the squandered family-estate smite upon the conscience, then the losses that have exhausted the fortune are known,—expenses by which the favour of the populace was bought, and the people’s breath asked for with fickle and empty entreaties. Assuredly, it was a vain and foolish boastfulness to have desired to set forth in the gratification of a disappointing spectacle, what the people would not receive, and what would ruin the magistrates.

12. But those, moreover, whom you consider rich, who add forests to forests, and who, excluding the poor from their neighbourhood, stretch out their fields far and wide into space without any limits, who possess immense heaps of silver and gold and mighty sums of money, either in built-up heaps or in buried stores,—even in the midst of their riches those are torn to pieces by the anxiety of vague thought, lest the robber should spoil, lest the murderer should attack, lest the envy of some wealthier neighbour should become hostile, and harass them with malicious lawsuits. Such a one enjoys no security either in his food or in his sleep. In the midst of the banquet he sighs, although he drinks from a jewelled goblet; and when his luxurious bed has enfolded his body, languid with feasting, in its yielding bosom, he lies wakeful in the midst of the down; nor does he perceive, poor wretch, that these things are merely gilded torments, that he is held in bondage by his gold, and that he is the slave of his luxury and wealth rather than their master. And oh, the odious blindness of perception, and the deep darkness of senseless greed! although he might disburden himself and get rid of the load, he rather continues to brood over his vexing wealth,—he goes on obstinately clinging to his tormenting hoards. From him there is no liberality to dependents, no communication to the poor. And yet such people call that their own money, which they guard with jealous labour, shut up at home as if it were another’s, and from which they derive no benefit either for their friends, for their children, or, in fine, for themselves. Their possession amounts to this only, that they can keep others from possessing it; and oh, what a marvellous perversion of names! they call those things goods, which they absolutely put to none but bad uses.

13. Or think you that even those are secure,—that those at least are safe with some stable permanence among the chaplets of honour and vast wealth, whom, in the glitter of royal palaces, the safeguard of watchful arms surrounds? They have greater fear than others. A man is constrained to dread no less than he is dreaded. Exaltation exacts its penalties equally from the more powerful, although he may be hedged in with bands of satellites, and may guard his person with the enclosure and protection of a numerous retinue. Even as he does not allow his inferiors to feel security, it is inevitable that he himself should want the sense of security. The power of those whom power makes terrible to others, is, first of all, terrible to themselves. It smiles to rage, it cajoles to deceive, it entices to slay, it lifts up to cast down. With a certain usury of mischief, the greater the height of dignity and honours attained, the greater is the interest of penalty required.

14. Hence, then, the one peaceful and trustworthy tranquillity, the one solid and firm and constant security, is this, for a man to withdraw from these eddies of a distracting world, and, anchored on the ground of the harbour of salvation, to lift his eyes from earth to heaven; and having been admitted to the gift of God, and being already very near to his God in mind, he may boast, that whatever in human affairs others esteem lofty and grand, lies altogether beneath his consciousness. He who is actually greater than the world can crave nothing, can desire nothing, from the world. How stable, how free from all shocks is that safeguard; how heavenly the protection in its perennial blessings,—to be loosed from the snares of this entangling world, and to be purged from earthly dregs, and fitted for the light of eternal immortality! He will see what crafty mischief of the foe that previously attacked us has been in progress against us. We are constrained to have more love for what we shall be, by being allowed to know and to condemn what we were. Neither for this purpose is it necessary to pay a price either in the way of bribery or of labour; so that man’s elevation or dignity or power should be begotten in him with elaborate effort; but it is a gratuitous gift from God, and it is accessible to all. As the sun shines spontaneously, as the day gives light, as the fountain flows, as the shower yields moisture, so does the heavenly Spirit infuse itself into us. When the soul, in its gaze into heaven, has recognised its Author, it rises higher than the sun, and far transcends all this earthly power, and begins to be that which it believes itself to be.13 [What a testimony to regeneration! Cyprian speaks from heathen experience, then from the experience of a new birth. Few specimens of simple eloquence surpass this.]

15. Do you, however, whom the celestial warfare has enlisted in the spiritual camp, only observe a discipline uncorrupted and chastened in the virtues of religion. Be constant as well in prayer as in reading; now speak with God, now let God speak with you, let Him instruct you in His precepts, let Him direct you. Whom He has made rich, none shall make poor; for, in fact, there can be no poverty to him whose breast has once been supplied with heavenly food. Ceilings enriched with gold, and houses adorned with mosaics of costly marble, will seem mean to you, now when you know that it is you yourself who are rather to be perfected, you who are rather to be adorned, and that that dwelling in which God has dwelt as in a temple, in which the Holy Spirit has begun to make His abode, is of more importance than all others. Let us embellish this house with the colours of innocence, let us enlighten it with the light of justice: this will never fall into decay with the wear of age, nor shall it be defiled by the tarnishing of the colours of its walls, nor of its gold. Whatever is artificially beautified is perishing; and such things as contain not the reality of possession afford no abiding assurance to their possessors. But this remains in a beauty perpetually vivid, in perfect honour, in permanent splendour. It can neither decay nor be destroyed; it can only be fashioned into greater perfection when the body returns to it.

16. These things, dearest Donatus, briefly for the present. For although what you profitably hear delights your patience, indulgent in its goodness, your well-balanced mind, and your assured faith—and nothing is so pleasant to your ears as what is pleasant to you in God,—yet, as we are associated as neighbours, and are likely to talk together frequently, we ought to have some moderation in our conversation; and since this is a holiday rest, and a time of leisure, whatever remains of the day, now that the sun is sloping towards the evening,14 [See Cowper, on “the Sabine bard,” Task, b. iv. But compare even the best of Horatian epistles with this: “O noctes cœnæque Deum,” etc. What a blessed contrast in Christian society!] let us spend it in gladness, nor let even the hour of repast be without heavenly grace. Let the temperate meal resound with psalms;15 [Here recall the Evening Hymn, vol. ii. p. 298.] and as your memory is tenacious and your voice musical, undertake this office, as is your wont. You will provide a better entertainment for your dearest friends, if, while we have something spiritual to listen to, the sweetness of religious music charm our ears.

EPISTOLA PRIMA. AD DONATUM . (Erasm., Pamel., ep. II. Rigal., ep. I. Oxon., Lips., liber de Gratia Dei.)

0191A

ARGUMENTUM.---Promiserat Donato Cyprianus sermonem se cum illo habiturum de rebus divinis; jam 0192A promissis admonitus satisfacit, ac multis gratiam Dei per Baptismum collatam commendans, quantum sit mutatus ab illo significat, et ad oculum demonstratis mundi erroribus, ad contemptum ejus, ad assiduam denique lectionem et orationem adhortatur.

I. CAECILIUS Cyprianus Donato salutem. Bene admones, 0193A Donate charissime. Nam et promisisse me memini, et reddendi tempestivum prorsus hoc tempus est, cum , indulgente vindemia, solutus animus 0194A in quietem solemnes ac statas anni fatiscentis inducias sortitur . Locus etiam cum die convenit et mulcendis sensibus ac fovendis ad lenes auras blandientis 0195A autumni hortorum facies amoena consentit. Hic jucundum sermonibus diem ducere et studentibus fabulis in divina praecepta conscientiam pectoris erudire. Ac ne colloquium nostrum arbiter profanus impediat, aut clamor intemperans familiae strepentis obtundat, petamus hanc sedem. Dant secessum vicina secreta; ubi dum erratici palmitum lapsus nexibus pendulis per 0196A arundines bajulas repunt, viteam porticum frondea tecta fecerunt. Bene hic studia in aures damus; et dum in arbores et in vites oblectante prospectu oculos amoenamus, animum simul et auditus instruit et pascit obtutus: quamquam tibi sola nunc gratia, sola cura sermonis est. Contemptis voluptariae visionis illecebris, in me oculus tuus fixus 0197A est. Tam aure quam mente totus auditor es, et hoc, amore quo diligis.

II. Caeterum, quale vel quantum est quod in pectus tuum veniat ex nobis? Exilis ingenii angusta mediocritas tenues admodum fruges parit, nullis ad copiam foecundi cespitis culminibus ingravescit. Aggrediar tamen facultate qua valeo; nam et materia dicendi facit mecum . In judiciis, in concione pro rostris, opulenta facundia volubili ambitione jactetur. Cum vero de Domino 0198A Deo vox est, vocis pura sinceritas non eloquentiae viribus nititur ad fidei argumenta, sed rebus. Denique accipe non diserta sed fortia, nec ad audientiae popularis illecebram culto sermone fucata , sed ad divinam indulgentiam praedicandam rudi veritate simplicia. Accipe quod sentitur antequam discitur, nec per moras temporum longa agnitione colligitur, sed compendio gratiae maturantis hauritur.

III. Ego cum in tenebris atque in nocte 0199A coeca jacerem, cumque in salo jactantis saeculi nutabundus ac dubius vestigiis oberrantibus fluctuarem, vitae meae nescius, veritatis ac lucis alienus, difficile prorsus ac durum pro illis tunc moribus opinabar quod in salutem mihi divina indulgentia pollicebatur, ut quis renasci denuo posset, 0199B utque, in novam vitam lavacro aquae salutaris animatus , quod prius fuerat exponeret, et, corporis licet manente compage , hominem animo ac mente mutaret. Qui possibilis , aiebam, est tanta conversio, ut repente ac perniciter exuatur quod vel genuinum situ materiae naturalis obduruit, vel usurpatum diu senio vetustatis inolevit? Alta haec et profunda penitus radice sederunt. Quando parcimoniam discit qui epularibus coenis et largis dapibus assuevit? et qui pretiosa veste conspicuus in auro atque in purpura fulsit, ad plebeium se ac simplicem cultum quando deponit? Fascibus ille oblectatus et honoribus, esse privatus et inglorius non potest. Hic stipatus clientium cuneis, 0200A frequentiore comitatu officiosi agminis honestatus, poenam putat esse cum solus est. Tenacibus semper illecebris necesse est, ut solebat, vinolentia invitet, inflet superbia, iracundia inflammet, rapacitas inquietet, crudelitas stimulet, ambitio 0200B delectet, libido praecipitet .

IV. Haec egomet saepe mecum. Nam, ut ipse quamplurimis vitae prioris erroribus implicitus tenebar, quibus exui me posse non crederem, sic vitiis adhaerentibus obsecundans eram, et desperatione meliorum, malis meis veluti jam propriis ac vernaculis offavebam. Sed, postquam, undae genitalis auxilio superioris aevi labe detersa, in expiatum pectus serenum ac purum desuper se lumen infudit, postquam, caelitus spiritu hausto, in novum me hominem nativitas secunda reparavit, mirum in modum protinus confirmare se dubia, patere clausa, lucere tenebrosa , facultatem dare quod prius difficile videbatur, geri posse quod impossibile putabatur , ut esset agnoscere 0201A terrenum fuisse quod prius carnaliter natum delictis obnoxium viveret, Dei esse coepisse quod jam Spiritus sanctus animaret. Scis ipse profecto et mecum pariter recognoscis quid detraxerit nobis quidve contulerit mors ista criminum, vita virtutum. Scis ipse, nec praedico. In proprias laudes odiosa jactatio est; quamvis non jactatum possit esse, sed gratum, quicquid non virtuti hominis adscribitur, sed de Dei munere praedicatur; ut jam non peccare esse coeperit fidei, quod ante peccatum est, fuerit, erroris humani. Dei est, inquam, Dei est 0202A omne quod possumus. Inde vivimus, inde pollemus, inde sumpto et concepto vigore , hic adhuc positi futurorum indicia praenoscimus. Sit tantum timor innocentiae custos, ut, qui in mentes nostras indulgentiae coelestis allapsu clementer Dominus influxit , in animi oblectantis hospitio justa obtemperatione teneatur, ne accepta securitas indiligentiam pariat, et vetus denuo hostis obrepat.

V. Caeterum, si tu innocentiae, si justitiae viam teneas, si illapsa firmitate vestigii tui incedas, si in Deum viribus totis ac toto corde suspensus hoc 0203A sis tantum quod esse coepisti, tantum tibi ad licentiam datur quantum gratiae spiritalis augetur. Non enim, qui beneficiorum terrestrium mos est, in capessendo munere caelesti mensura ulla vel modus est. Profluens largiter Spiritus nullis finibus premitur, nec coercentibus claustris intra certa metarum spatia fraenatur : manat jugiter, exuberat affluenter. Nostrum tantum sitiat pectus et pateat: quantum illuc fidei capacis afferimus, tantum gratiae inundantis haurimus. Inde jam facultas datur, castitate sobria, mente integra, voce pura, virtute sincera , in medelam dolentium posse venenorum virus extinguere ; animorum desipientium labes, reddita sanitate, purgare; infestis jubere pacem, violentis quietem, ferocientibus lenitatem; immundos et erraticos 0203B spiritus, qui se expugnandis hominibus immerserint , ad confessionem minis increpantibus cogere ut recedant, duris verberibus urgere; 0204A conflictantes, ejulantes, gementes incremento poenae propagantis extendere, flagris caedere, igne torrere. Res illic geritur, nec videtur; occulta plaga, et poena manifesta. Ita quod esse jam coepimus acceptus spiritus licentia sua potitur; quod necdum corpus ac membra mutavimus, adhuc carnalis aspectus saeculi nube caecatur. Quantus hic animi potentatus, quanta vis est, non tantum ipsum esse subtractum perniciosis contactibus mundi, ut quis expiatus et purus nulla incursantis inimici labe capiatur, sed adhuc majorem et fortiorem viribus fieri, ut in omnem adversarii grassantis exercitum imperioso jure dominetur!

VI. Atque, ut illustrius, veritate patefacta, divini muneris indicia clarescant, lucem tibi ad cognitionem 0204B dabo; malorum caligine abstersa , operti saeculi tenebras revelabo. Paulisper te crede subduci in montis ardui verticem celsiorem, speculare 0205A inde rerum infra te jacentium facies; et, oculis in diversa porrectis, ipse a terrenis contactibus liber fluctuantis mundi turbines intuere: jam saeculi et ipse misereberis tuique admonitus et plus in Deum gratus, majore laetitia quod evaseris gratulaberis. Cerne tu itinera latronibus clausa, maria obsessa praedonibus, cruento horrore castrorum bella ubique divisa . Madet orbis mutuo sanguine; et homicidium, cum admittunt singuli, crimen est, virtus vocatur cum publice geritur. Impunitatem sceleribus acquirit, non innocentiae ratio, sed saevitiae magnitudo.

VII. Jam, si ad urbes ipsas oculos tuos atque 0206A ora convertas, celebritatem offendes omni solitudine tristiorem. Paratur gladiatorius ludus, ut libidinem crudelium luminum sanguis oblectet. Impletur in succum cibis fortioribus corpus, et arvinae toris membrorum moles robusta pinguescit, ut saginatus in poenam charius pereat. Homo occiditur in hominis voluptatem; et ut quis possit occidere peritia est, usus est, ars est. Scelus non tantum geritur, sed et docetur. Quid potest inhumanius, quid acerbius dici? Disciplina est ut perimere quis possit, et gloria est quod perimit . Quid illud, oro te, quale est ubi se feris objiciunt quos nemo damnavit, aetate integra, honesta satis 0207A forma, veste pretiosa? Viventes in ultroneum funus ornantur, malis suis miseri gloriantur. Pugnant ad bestias, non crimine, sed furore. Spectant filios suos patres: frater in cavea est, et soror praesto est. Et spectaculi licet pretium largior muneris apparatus amplificet, ut moeroribus suis mater intersit, hoc, proh dolor ! mater et redimit; et in tam impiis spectaculis tamque diris et funestis esse se non putant oculis parricidas.

VIII. Converte hinc vultus ad diversi spectaculi 0207B non minus poenitenda contagia: in theatris 0208A quoque conspicies quod tibi et dolori sit et pudori. Cothurnus est tragicus prisca facinora carmine recensere. De parricidiis et incestis horror antiquus, expressa ad imaginem veritatis actione, replicatur, ne, saeculis transeuntibus, exolescat quod aliquando commissum est. Admonetur aetas omnis auditu fieri posse quod factum est. Numquam aevi senio delicta moriuntur, numquam temporibus crimen obruitur, numquam scelus oblivione sepelitur. Exempla fiunt quae esse jam facinora destiterunt. 0208B Tum delectat in mimis turpitudinum magisterio 0209A vel quid domi gesserit recognoscere, vel quid gerere possit audire. Adulterium discitur dum videtur; 0210A et, lenocinante ad vitia publicae auctoritatis malo, quae pudica fortasse ad spectaculum matrona processerat, 0211A de spectaculo revertitur impudica. Adhuc deinde, morum quantalabes, quae probrorum fomenta, quae alimenta vitiorum, histrionicis gestibus inquinari, videre contra foedus jusque nascendi patientiam incestae turpitudinis elaboratam! Evirantur mares, honor omnis et vigor sexus enervati corporis dedecore mollitur, plusque illic placet quisquis virum in feminam magis fregerit. In laudem crescit ex crimine, et peritior quo turpior judicatur. Spectatur hic, proh nefas! et libenter . Quid non possit suadere qui talis est? Movet sensus, mulcet affectus, expugnat boni pectoris conscientiam fortiorem; nec deest probri blandientis auctoritas, ut auditu molliore pernicies hominibus obrepat. Exprimunt impudicam Venerem, adulterum Martem, Jovem 0211B illum suum, non magis regno quam vitiis principem, in terrenos amores cum ipsis suis fulminibus ardentem, nunc in plumas oloris albescere , nunc aureo imbre defluere, nunc in puerorum pubescentium raptus ministris avibus prosilire. Quaere jam nunc an possit esse qui spectat integer vel pudicus. Deos 0212A suos quos venerantur imitantur, fiunt miseris et religiosa delicta.

IX. O si possis, in illa sublimi specula constitutus, oculos tuos inserere secretis, recludere cubiculorum obductas fores, et ad conscientiam luminum penetralia occulta reserare! aspicias ab impudicis geri quod nec possit aspicere frons pudica, videas quod crimen sit et videre, videas quod vitiorum furore dementes gessisse se negant et gerere festinant: libidinibns insanis in viros viri proruunt; fiunt quae nec illis possunt placere qui faciunt. Mentior nisi alios qui talis est increpat. Turpes turpis infamat, et evasisse se conscium credit, quasi conscientia satis non sit. Iidem in publico accusatores, in occulto rei, in semetipsos censores 0212B pariter et nocentes: damnant foris quod intus operantur; admittunt libenter quod cum admiserint criminantur: audacia prorsus cum vitiis faciens , et impudentia congruens impudicis. Nolo mireris quae loquuntur hujusmodi; ore illo quidquid jam voce delinquitur minus est.

0213A X. Sed tibi, post insidiosas vias, post diversas orbe toto multiplices pugnas, post spectacula vel cruenta vel turpia, post libidinum probra vel lupanaribus prostituta vel domesticis parietibus obsepta, quorum quo secretior culpa, major audacia est, forum fortasse videatur immune, quod ab injuriis lacessentibus liberum, nullis malorum contactibus polluatur. Illuc aciem tuam flecte. Plura illic quae detesteris invenies, magis oculos tuos inde divertes. Incisae sunt licet leges duodecim tabulis, et publice aere praefixo jura praescripta sint, inter leges ipsas delinquitur, inter jura peccatur. Innocentia nec illic ubi defenditur reservatur. Saevit invicem discordantium rabies, et inter togas pace rupta, forum litibus mugit insanum, hasta illic et gladius et carnifex praesto est, ungula effodiens, 0213B equuleus extendens, ignis exurens, ad hominis corpus 0214A unum supplicia plura quam membra. Quis inter haec vero subveniat? Patronus ? praevaricatur et decipit. Judex? sed sententiam vendit. Qui sedet crimina vindicaturus admittit, et ut reus innocens pereat, fit nocens judex. Flagrant ubique delicta, et passim multiformi genere peccandi per improbas mentes nocens virus operatur. Hic testamentum subjicit, ille falsum capitali fraude conscribit; hic arcentur haereditatibus liberi, illic bonis donantur alieni; inimicus insimulat, calumniator impugnat, testis infamat. Utrobique grassatur in mendacium criminum prostitutae vocis venalis audacia, cum interim nocentes nec cum innocentibus pereunt . Nullus de legibus metus est; de quaesitore, de judice pavor nullus. Quod potest redimi non timetur. Esse jam inter nocentes innoxium crimen 0214B est . Malos quisquis non imitatur offendit. 0215A Consensere jura peccatis, et coepit licitum esse quod publicum est. Quis illic rerum pudor, quae esse possit integritas, ubi qui damnent improbos desunt, soli ibi qui damnentur occurrunt?

XI. Sed, ne nos videamur eligere fortasse pejora, et studio destruendi per ea oculos tuos ducere quorum tristis atque aversandus aspectus ora et vultus conscientiae melioris offendat, jam tibi illa quae ignorantia saecularis bona opinatur ostendam. Illic etiam fugienda conspicies. Quos honores putas esse, quos fasces, quam affluentiam in divitiis, quam potentiam in castris , in magistratu purpurae speciem, in principatu licentiae potestatem, malorum blandientium virus occultum est et arridentis nequitiae facies quidem laeta, sed calamitatis 0215B abstrusae illecebrosa fallacia; instar quoddam 0216A veneni, ubi, in lethales succos dulcedine aspersa calliditate fallendi sapore medicato, poculum videtur esse quod sumitur; ubi epota res est, pernicies hausta grassatur. Quippe illum vides qui, amictu clariore conspicuus, fulgere sibi videtur in purpura. Quibus hoc sordibus emit ut fulgeat, quos arrogantium fastus prius pertulit, quas superbas fores matutinus salutator obsedit, quot tumentium contumeliosa vestigia stipatus in clientium cuneos ante praecessit, ut ipsum etiam salutatum comes postmodum pompa praecederet, obnoxia non homini, sed potestati! neque enim coli moribus meruit ille, sed fascibus. Horum denique videas exitus turpes, cum auceps temporum palpator abscessit, cum privati latus nudum desertor 0216B assecla foedavit. Tunc laceratae domus plagae 0217A conscientiam feriunt, tunc rei familiaris exhaustae damna noscuntur, quibus redemptus favor vulgi, et caducis atque inanibus votis popularis aura quaesita est. Stulta prorsus et vana jactura , frustrantis spectaculi voluptate id parare voluisse quod nec populus acciperet et perderet magistratus!

XII. Sed et quos divites opinaris continuantes saltibus saltus et, de confinio pauperibus exclusis, infinita ac sine terminis rura latius porrigentes, quibus argenti et auri maximum pondus et pecuniarum ingentium vel extructi aggeres vel defossae strues, 0218A nos etiam inter divitias suas trepidos cogitationis incertae sollicitudo discruciat, ne praedo vastet, ne percussor infestet, ne inimica cujusque locupletioris invidia calumniosis litibus inquietet. Non cibus securo somnusve contingit. Suspirat ille in convivio, bibat licet gemma; et cum epulis marcidum corpus torus mollior alto sinu condiderit , vigilat in pluma; nec intelligit miser speciosa sibi esse supplicia, auro se alligatum teneri, et possideri magis quam possidere divitias atque opes. Atque, o detestabilis caecitas mentium et cupiditatis insanae 0219A profunda caligo! cum exonerare se possit et levare ponderibus, pergit magis fortunis angentibus incubare, pergit poenalibus cumulis pertinaciter adhaerere. Nulla in clientes inde largitio est, cum indigentibus nulla partitio ; et pecuniam suam dicunt quam, velut alienam domi clausam, sollicito labore custodiunt, ex qua non amicis, non liberis quicquam, non sibi denique impertiunt. Possident ad hoc tantum ne possidere alteri liceat. Et, o nominum quanta diversitas! bona appellant ex quibus nullus illis nisi ad res malas usus est.

XIII. An tu vel illos putas tutos, illos saltem inter honorum infulas et opes largas stabili firmitate securos, quos regalis aulae splendore fulgentes armorum excubantium tutela circumstat? Major illis quam caeteris 0219B metus est. Tam ille timere cogitur quam timetur. Exigit poenas pariter de potentiore sublimitas, sit licet satellitum manu septus , et clausum 0220A ac protectum latus numeroso stipatore tueatur. Quam securos non sinit esse subjectos, tam necesse est non sit et ipse securus. Ante ipsos terret potestas sua quos facit esse terribiles. Arridet ut saeviat, blanditur ut fallat, illicit ut occidat, extollit ut deprimat. Foenore quodam nocendi, quam fuerit amplior summa dignitatis et honorum, tam major exigitur usura poenarum.

XIV. Una igitur placida et fida tranquillitas, una solida et firma et perpetua securitas, si quis, ab his inquietantis saeculi turbinibus extractus, salutaris portus statione fundatus, ad coelum oculos tollat a terris, et ad Domini munus admissus, ac Deo suo mente jam proximus, quicquid apud caeteros in rebus humanis sublime ac magnum videtur, infra 0220B suam jacere conscientiam glorietur. Nihil appetere jam, nihil desiderare de saeculo potest qui saeculo major est. Quam stabilis, quam inconcussa tutela 0221A est, quam perennibus bonis caeleste praesidium, implicantis mundi laqueis solvi, in lucem immortalitatis aeternae de terrena faece purgari! Viderit quae in nos prius infestantis inimici pernicies insidiosa grassata sit. Plus amare compellimur quod futuri sumus, dum et scire conceditur et damnare quod eramus. Nec ad hoc pretiis aut ambitu aut manu opus est, ut hominis summa vel dignitas vel potestas elaborata mole pariatur; sed gratuitum de Deo munus et facile est . Ut sponte sol radiat, dies luminat, fons rigat, imber irrorat, ita se Spiritus coelestis infundit. Postquam auctorem suum, coelum intuens, anima cognovit, sole altior et hac omni terrena potestate sublimior, id esse incipit quod esse se credit.

0221B XV. Tu tantum, quem jam spiritalibus castris coelestis militia signavit, tene incorruptam, tene sobriam religiosis virtutibus disciplinam. Sit tibi vel oratio assidua vel lectio: nunc cum Deo loquere, nunc Deus tecum: ille te praeceptis suis instruat, ille disponat. Quem ille divitem fecerit , nemo pauperem faciet: penuria esse nulla jam poterit cui semel pectus coelestis sagina saturavit. Jam tibi auro distincta laquearia et pretiosi marmoris crustis 0222A vestita domicilia sordebunt, cum scieris te excolendum magis, te potius ornandum, domum tibi hanc esse potiorem quam Dominus insedit templi vice, in qua Spiritus sanctus coepit habitare. Pingamus hanc domum pigmentis innocentiae, luminemus luce justitiae: haec umquam procumbet in lapsum senio vetustatis, nec, pigmento parietis aut auro exolescente foedabitur. Caduca sunt quaecumque fucata sunt, nec fiduciam praebent possidentibus stabilem quae possessionis non habent veritatem. Haec manet cultu jugiter vivido, honore integro, splendore diuturno. Aboleri non potest nec extingui, potest tantum in melius corpore redeunte 7 formari.

XVI. Haec interim brevibus, Donate charissime: 0222B nam, etsi facilem de bonitate patientiam , mentem solidam , fidem tutam salutaris auditus oblectat, nihilque tam tuis auribus gratum est quam quod in Deo gratum est, moderari tamen dicenda debemus simul juncti et saepius collocuturi . Et, quoniam feriata nunc quies ac tempus est otiosum, quicquid inclinato jam sole in vesperam diei superest, ducamus hanc diem laeti, nec sit vel hora convivii gratiae coelestis immunis. Sonet psalmos 0223A convivium sobrium; et ut tibi tenax memoria est, vox canora, aggredere hoc munus ex more . Magis charissimos pasces, si sit nobis spiritalis auditio, prolectet aures religiosa mulcedo.