Chapter XXIII.

Jests, although at times they may be quite proper, should be altogether banished among clerics. The voice should be plain and frank.

102. Men of the world give many further rules about the way to speak,125    Cic. de Off. I. 37. which I think we may pass over; as, for instance, the way jesting should be conducted.126    Cic. de Off. I. 29, § 103. For though at times jests may be proper and pleasant, yet they are unsuited to the clerical life. For how can we adopt those things which we do not find in the holy Scriptures?

103. We must also take care that in relating stories we do not alter the earnest purpose of the harder rule we have set before us. “Woe unto you that laugh, for ye shall weep,”127    S. Luke vi. 25. says the Lord. Do we seek for something to laugh at, that laughing here we may weep hereafter? I think we ought to avoid not only broad jokes, but all kinds of jests, unless perchance it is not unfitting at the time for our conversation to be agreeable and pleasant.

104. In speaking of the voice, I certainly think it ought to be plain and clear.128    Cic. de Off. I. 37, § 133. That it should be musical is a gift of nature, and is not to be won by exertion. Let it be distinct in its pronunciation and full of a manly vigour, but let it be free from a rough and rustic twang. See, too, that it does not assume a theatrical accent, but rather keeps true to the inner meaning of the words it utters.

CAPUT XXIII.

0054B

Jocos etsi nonnumquam honesti sint, tamen in ecclesiasticis viris omnino proscribendos: vocem autem puram ac simplicem esse oportere.

102. Multa praeterea de ratione dicendi dant praecepta saeculares viri, quae nobis praetereunda arbitror, ut de jocandi disciplina. 29 Nam licet interdum honesta joca ac suavia sint, tamen ab ecclesiastica abhorrent regula; quoniam quae in Scripturis sanctis non reperimus, ea quemadmodum usurpare possumus?

103. Cavenda enim etiam in fabulis, ne inflectant gravitatem severioris propositi. Vae vobis, qui ridetis, quia flebitis (Luc. VI, 21)! ait Dominus: et 0054C nos ridendi materiam requirimus, ut hic ridentes, illic fleamus? Non solum profusos, sed omnes etiam jocos declinandos arbitror; nisi forte plenum 0055A suavitatis et gratiae sermonem esse, non indecorum est.

104. Nam de voce quid loquar, quam simplicem et puram esse satis arbitror: canoram autem esse naturae est, non industriae. Sit sane distincta pronuntiationis modo, et plena succi virilis; ut agrestem ac subrusticum fugiat sonum, non ut rythmum affectet scenicum, sed mysticum servet.