Chapter 12.—Rule for Interpreting Those Sayings and Actions Which are Ascribed to God and the Saints, and Which Yet Seem to the Unskillful to Be Wicked.

18.  Those things, again, whether only sayings or whether actual deeds, which appear to the inexperienced to be sinful, and which are ascribed to God, or to men whose holiness is put before us as an example, are wholly figurative, and the hidden kernel of meaning they contain is to be picked out as food for the nourishment of charity.  Now, whoever uses transitory objects less freely than is the custom of those among whom he lives, is either temperate or superstitious; whoever, on the other hand, uses them so as to transgress the bounds of the custom of the good men about him, either has a further meaning in what he does, or is sinful.  In all such matters it is not the use of the objects, but the lust of the user, that is to blame.  Nobody in his sober senses would believe, for example, that when our Lord’s feet were anointed by the woman with precious ointment,157    John xii. 3. it was for the same purpose for which luxurious and profligate men are accustomed to have theirs anointed in those banquets which we abhor.  For the sweet odor means the good report which is earned by a life of good works; and the man who wins this, while following in the footsteps of Christ, anoints His feet (so to speak) with the most precious ointment.  And so that which in the case of other persons is often a sin, becomes, when ascribed to God or a prophet, the sign of some great truth.  Keeping company with a harlot, for example, is one thing when it is the result of abandoned manners, another thing when done in the course of his prophecy by the prophet Hosea.158    Hos. i. 2.  Because it is a shamefully wicked thing to strip the body naked at a banquet among the drunken and licentious, it does not follow that it is a sin to be naked in the baths.

19.  We must, therefore, consider carefully what is suitable to times and places and persons, and not rashly charge men with sins.  For it is possible that a wise man may use the daintiest food without any sin of epicurism or gluttony, while a fool will crave for the vilest food with a most disgusting eagerness of appetite.  And any sane man would prefer eating fish after the manner of our Lord, to eating lentiles after the manner of Esau, or barley after the manner of oxen.  For there are several beasts that feed on commoner kinds of food, but it does not follow that they are more temperate than we are.  For in all matters of this kind it is not the nature of the things we use, but our reason for using them, and our manner of seeking them, that make what we do either praiseworthy or blameable.

20.  Now the saints of ancient times were, under the form of an earthly kingdom, foreshadowing and foretelling the kingdom of heaven.  And on account of the necessity for a numerous offspring, the custom of one man having several wives was at that time blameless:  and for the same reason it was not proper for one woman to have several husbands, because a woman does not in that way become more fruitful, but, on the contrary, it is base harlotry to seek either gain or offspring by promiscuous intercourse.  In regard to matters of this sort, whatever the holy men of those times did without lust, Scripture passes over without blame, although they did things which could not be done at the present time, except through lust.  And everything of this nature that is there narrated we are to take not only in its historical and literal, but also in its figurative and prophetical sense, and to interpret as bearing ultimately upon the end of love towards God or our neighbor, or both.  For as it was disgraceful among the ancient Romans to wear tunics reaching to the heels, and furnished with sleeves, but now it is disgraceful for men honorably born not to wear tunics of that description:  so we must take heed in regard to other things also, that lust do not mix with our use of them; for lust not only abuses to wicked ends the customs of those among whom we live, but frequently also transgressing the bounds of custom, betrays, in a disgraceful outbreak, its own hideousness, which was concealed under the cover of prevailing fashions.

CAPUT XII. Regula de dictis et factis quasi flagitiosis imperitorum judicio, quae Deo vel sanctis viris tribuuntur. Facta judicantur ex circumstantiis.

18. Quae autem quasi flagitiosa imperitis videntur, sive tantum dicta, sive etiam facta sunt, vel ex Dei 0073 persona, vel ex hominum quorum nobis sanctitas commendatur, tota figurata sunt: quorum ad charitatis pastum enucleanda secreta sunt. Quisquis autem rebus praetereuntibus restrictius utitur, quam sese habent mores eorum cum quibus vivit, aut temperans aut superstitiosus est: quisquis vero sic eis utitur, ut metas consuetudinis bonorum inter quos versatur, excedat, aut aliquid significat, aut flagitiosus est. In omnibus enim talibus non usus rerum, sed libido utentis in culpa est. Neque ullo modo quisquam sobrius crediderit, Domini pedes ita unguento pretioso a muliere perfusos (Joan. XII, 3), ut luxuriosorum et nequam hominum solent, quorum talia convivia detestamur. Odor enim bonus, fama bona est, quam quisquis bonae vitae operibus habuerit, dum vestigia Christi sequitur, quasi pedes ejus pretiosissimo odore perfundit. Ita quod in aliis personis plerumque flagitium est, in divina vel prophetica persona magnae cujusdam rei signum est. Alia est quippe in perditis moribus, alia in Osee prophetae vaticinatione conjunctio meretricis (Osee I, 2): nec, si flagitiose in conviviis temulentorum et lascivorum nudantur corpora; propterea in balneis nudum esse flagitium est.

19. Quid igitur locis et temporibus personisque conveniat, diligenter attendendum est, ne temere flagitia reprehendamus. Fieri enim potest ut sine aliquo vitio cupediae vel voracitatis, pretiosissimo cibo sapiens utatur; insipiens autem foedissima gulae flamma in vilissimum ardescat. Et sanus quisque maluerit more Domini pisce vesci (Luc. XXIV, 43), quam lenticula more Esau nepotis Abraham (Gen. XXV, 34), aut hordeo more jumentorum. Non enim propterea continentiores nobis sunt pleraeque bestiae, quia vilioribus aluntur escis. Nam in omnibus hujuscemodi rebus, non ex earum rerum natura quibus utimur, sed ex causa utendi et modo appetendi vel probandum est, vel improbandum quod facimus.

20. Regno terreno veteres justi coeleste regnum imaginabantur, et praenuntiabant. Sufficiendae prolis causa erat uxorum plurium simul uni viro habendarum inculpabilis consuetudo (Id. XVI, 3, XXV, 1; et II Reg. V, 13); et ideo unam feminam maritos habere plurimos honestum non erat: non enim mulier eo est fecundior, sed meretricia potius turpitudo est, vel quaestum vel liberos vulgo quaerere. In hujuscemodi moribus quidquid illorum temporum sancti non libidinose faciebant, quamvis ea facerent quae hoc tempore nisi per libidinem fieri non possunt, non culpat Scriptura. Et quidquid ibi tale narratur, non solum historice ac proprie, sed etiam figurate ac prophetice acceptum, interpretandum est usque in finem illum charitatis, sive Dei, sive proximi, sive utriusque. 0074 Sicut enim talares et manicatas tunicas habere apud Romanos veteres flagitium erat; nunc autem honesto loco natis, cum tunicati sunt, non eas habere flagitium est: sic animadvertendum est, in caetero quoque usu rerum abesse oportere libidinem, quae non solum ipsa eorum, inter quos vivit, consuetudine nequiter abutitur; sed etiam saepe fines ejus egressa, foeditatem suam, quae inter claustra morum solemnium latitabat, flagitiosissima eruptione manifestat.