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TENSION ENVELOPE CORP.
D
JULIANUS POMERIUS
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE
DE VITA CONTEMPLATE
ANCIENT CHRISTIAN
WRITERS
THE WORKS OF THE FATHERS IN TRANSLATION
EDITED BY
JOHANNES QUASTEN, S.T.D.
Professor of Ancient Church History
and Christian Archaeology
JOSEPH C PLUMPE, PH. D.
Associate Professor of New Testament
Greek and Ecclesiastical Latin
The Catholic University of America
Washington, D.C.
No. 4
THE NEWMAN BOOKSHOP
WESTMINSTER, MARYLAND
1947
JULIANUS POMERIU!
THE CONTEMPLATIVE
TRANSLATED AND ANNOTATED
BY
SISTER MARY JOSEPHINE SUELZER, Ph. D.
of the
Congregation of the Sisters of Providence
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana
THE NEWMAN BOOKSHOP
WESTMINSTER, MARYLAND
1947
Nihil obstat:
JOHANNES QUASTEN, S- T. D.
Censor Deputatus
Imprimatur:
PAULUS C. SCHULTE, D. D.
Arcliiepiscopus Indianapolitanus
die 21 lunii 1947
COPYRIGHT 1947
BY THE EDITORS
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
SY J. H FUBST COMPANY, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 3
TEXT 13
BOOK ONE 13
FOREWORD 13
TABLE OF CONTENTS 16
TEXT 17
BOOK Two 53
FOREWORD 53
TABLE OF CONTENTS 55
TEXT 57
BOOK THREE 100
FOREWORD 100
TABLE OF CONTENTS 100
TEXT 102
NOTES ' . 171
To THE INTRODUCTION 173
To BOOK ONE 177
To BOOK Two 183
To BOOK THREE 188
INDEX 197
JULIANUS POMERIUS
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE
INTRODUCTION
A scholar of note asserts that at the time when the glorioub
Church in Africa languished and perished, the illustrious
bishop of Aries, St. Caesarius, saved Augustine's teaching
and the fruits of his great doctrinal struggles, for Gaul and
the Western Church in general; and he adds that Caesarius
owed this accomplishment to his teacher, the African ernigr^
Julianus Pomerius. 1 The same author claims for Pomerius
the further distinction of having bequeathed to us the oldest
pastoral instruction that survives in the West. 2 Most cer-
tainly, the master of Caesarius is to be credited with a place
of honor in the survival and justification of Augustine's name
and teaching; and the thoughtful reader of his one remaining
treatise will not deny him his place in the early history of
pastoral theology. But who other than patrologists and some
few theologians even know the name Pomerius? There are,
it is true, several translations of the De vita contemplatively
all of them now very old and none of them in English; but
even the specialist finds it extremely difficult to locate one
of these in our great libraries.
The name of Julianus Pomerius and what he wrote ex-
perienced a peculiar fate. For at least eight hundred years
his De vita contemplativa was ascribed to St. Prosper of Aqui-
taine (f after 455). It was not until the seventeenth century
that his authorship was contested; but today it is universally
conceded, although not absolutely proved, that the treatise is
from the pen of Julianus Pomerius, 3 the last-recorded of the
rhetors of Gaul. 4
4 INTRODUCTION
Little is known of Pomerius' life. 5 Born in Mauretania in
North Africa, he migrated to Gaul fi and opened a school of
rhetoric in Aries. At some time around 497 the only date
known with any certainty in Pomerius' life he had as pupil
Caesarius, the future bishop and saint of Aries/ Pomerius
was ordained to the priesthood in Gaul, 8 but nothing is
known of the time of his ordination or of his ecclesiastical
career. He is addressed as abbot by one of his correspon-
dents. If this title is exact, it may have come from his
directing at Aries an association of clerics living the common
life, 10 as some passages of the De vita contemplativa appear to
indicate. 11
Pomerius attained considerable fame in his own lifetime.
There are extant some letters written to him by Ruricius,
bishop of Limoges, 12 who had become acquainted with him
on a visit to Aries. In these letters he begs Pomerius to take
up residence in Limoges 1S so that a new circle might benefit
from his learning and piety. Not content with his repeated
invitation to Pomerius, Ruricius wrote to Aeonius, bishop of
Aries, imploring him to prevail upon Pomerius to move to
Limoges. 13a None of these letters produced any effect. Nor
was Ruricius alone in attempting to persuade Pomerius to
desert Aries for a new audience: Ennodius, the future bishop
of Pavia, then a deacon, invited him to Italy, 14 but with no
more success than Ruricius. Pomerius' worth is further wit-
nessed by the continuator of Gennadius, who writes: " He
is still living in a way of life worthy of God, suited to his
profession and his rank." 15
Four treatises are attributed to Pomerius: De anima et
qualitate ems; 16 De virginibus instituendis; De contemptu
mundi et rerum transiturarum; and De vita contemplativa,
which alone has survived. Its preservation may have as ex-
INTRODUCTION 5
planation the fact that at some time between the sixth and
the early eight century it hegan to be regarded as the work of
a more celebrated man, St. Prosper of Aquitaine. How the
error came about is not known; but it is easy to see that once
a treatise which contained high praise of St. Augustine 17
had been mistakenly attributed to St. Prosper, the untiring
champion of the Bishop of Hippo, the ascription would find
ready acceptance. At any rate, from the time of Chrode-
gang (f 766) , 18 bishop of Metz, until the seventeenth cen-
tury, whenever the De vita contemplativa is mentioned, 19
it is attributed to St. Prosper. The Jesuit Jacques Sirmond
was the first to cast doubt upon the ascription to Prosper, 20
basing his argument on a passage in the De vita contem^plativa
(2. 9. i) wherein, Sirmond claims, St. Hilary of Aries is
referred to as long dead, a reference that could not have been
made by St. Prosper since he survived St. Hilary by only some
sixteen years. The passage in question reads: " What did
the saintly Hilary do? Did not he also leave all his goods
to his parents or sell them and distribute the proceeds to the
poor? Yet, when because of his perfection he became bishop
of the church of Aries, he not only held what that church
owned at the time but also increased it by accepting numerous
legacies from the faithful. These most holy and perfect
bishops (St. Paulinus of Nola and St. Hilary), then, show
by plain deeds that what they did can and should be done."
It is debatable whether the lines just quoted imply that St.
Hilary had died a long time before they were written. They
seem barely to indicate that he was no longer alive when
they were composed; there is nothing to prevent their having
been written at some time in the sixteen or more years
between St. Hilary's death and St. Prospers.
Cardinal Noris 21 argued more cogently against St. Pros-
6 INTRODUCTION
per's authorship by pointing out that it is extremely unlikely
that St. Prosper, ardent in his admiration for St. Augustine,
would have praised St. Hilary as freely as the writer of the
De vita contemplative, did in the passage already cited, since
St. Hilary opposed St. Augustine's theology of grace whereas
St. Prosper vigorously defended it. Besides, the Augustinism
displayed in the De vita contemplativabioad, moderate, and
thoroughly practical in character 22 -is utterly different from
that of St. Prosper. Moreover, an examination of the style of
St. Prospers genuine works and that of the De vita contem
plativa reveals many dissimilarities. 23
Conclusive proofs that Pomerius wrote the De vita con-
templativa are the testimony of St. Isidore of Seville and the
statement of authorship found in some of the oldest manu-
scripts. A further argument may be deduced from the nature
of the other ascetical writings attributed to Pomerius: he
was certainly qualified to write a work like the De vita
contemplativa.
The testimony of Isidore is explicit: " He (Pomerius) also
published three other books on the contemplation of the
future life and on the way of the active life and also on the
vices and the virtues/' 24 Now, the resume of the contents of
the De vita contemplative as given in the foreword to Book 3,
reads: " In the first volume I dealt with the contemplative
life and the questions to what extent the active life differs
from it and how you can with the help of God become a
sharer in the contemplative virtue itself. In the second book
I treated, by God's gift, what I thought should be said of the
active life, too: I showed the usefulness of religious rebuke
and the virtue of patience and the way the possessions of the
Church should be administered and the manner of spiritual
abstinence. Now it remains for me to undertake a discussion
INTRODUCTION 7
of the vices and the virtues, not relying on an endowment
of which I am not conscious, but assisted by your prayers."
This summary agrees exactly with the statement of Isidore.
Further, at least four of the oldest manuscripts of the De
vita contemplativa tear the name of Pomerius as author.
Sirmond himself saw two of these in the seventeenth century:
one in the library of Charles de Montchal, archbishop of
Toulouse; the other at Angers. P. Quesnel witnessed to the
presence in the monastery of La Trappe of a copy of the
treatise with Pomerius given as author. In the chapter library
of the cathedral of Beauvais a very old codex is said to have
existed, showing the same ascription. 25 Today no one seri-
ously contests that Pomerius is the author of the work. 26
The De vita contemplativa is an expression of the ideals of
the contemplative and the active life, supplemented by a dis-
cussion of the vices and the virtues. Composed at the urgent
request of a bishop, its first two books are directed to bishops,
though the lessons inculcated apply to all clerics; the third
book, as has been well said, addresses itself to every Chris-
tian. 27 The editio princess 2S opens thus: " In the name of
the most high Maker here begins the foreword of the book
of the blessed Prosper on the contemplative life and the rule
(norma) of ecclesiastics." At the close of the volume the
phrasing is: " Here end the three books of Prosper, doctor
yraeclarissimus, treating concisely, in elegant style, subjects
that are useful and necessary for everyone on the contem-
plative life, that is, and on the active life and on the virtues
and the vices." These titles are more descriptive than the
short label currently in use; 29 but Schanz-Hosius-Kriiger and
Cayre 30 maintain that the present title, though seemingly
pertinent to the first part of the work alone, really fits the
whole, for the contemplative life, as Pomerius conceives it,
8 INTRODUCTION
is far from exclusive: it presupposes and motivates the active
life; and since progress in the active life, essential to the
attainment of the contemplative life, is "brought about^ by
growth in virtues, a discussion of the virtues and the vices
rightly finds a place in a work on the contemplative life.
The date of the composition of the De vita contemplative!,
is unknown, tut it can be assigned with probability to the
close of the fifth century or the opening of the sixth. Scholars
are agreed that it is the work of a mature and experienced
person, 31 an inference borne out by Isidore, who places it last
in his enumeration of Pomerius' writings. 32 One may gather
from the nature of the treatise that Pomerius was already a
priest when he composed it: it is not at all likely that the
bishop who urged him to write would have asked a layman
to treat of the duties of ecclesiastics; and Pomerius indicates
his priestly rank when he expresses fear that clerical critics
will accuse him of being traitorous in the charges he makes
against worldly churchmen. 55
The identity of the bishop Julianus at whose request the
treatise was written and to whom it is dedicated cannot be
established with any certainty. The name Julianus was very
common in the fifth and sixth centuries. The conjecture that
the addressee was Julianus, bishop of Carpentras, still seems
preferable; it is favored especially by the nearness of Carpen-
tras to Aries. 84
The work's one claim to some originality at least in the
West and to being a Latin classic lies in its instructing the
bishops and, by implication, the clergy in general to combine
in their ministry the active life and the contemplative. In this
we have doctrine that goes back to the Greek philosophers,
with whom the concept of activity and philosophic contem-
plation, of the /3os Trpa/cnKos and ftios fatoprjrucog, plays an
INTRODUCTION 9
important role. The School of Alexandria adopted and Chris-
tianized the idea of an active-contemplative life. Clement of
Alexandria, for example, requires that every virtue be both
active and contemplative. He stresses a permanent joining
of Christian works and Christian gnosis, of what the phi-
losophers termed activity (jrpdrreiv) and contemplation
(0ea>p0- He follows Plato, for whom perfection postulates
activity as well as contemplation. 35 With Origen a clearer
distinction is drawn between active and contemplative life,
and his thinking on the subject is influenced much more by
the Christian outlook. 35 Origen all but forgets the ancient
provenience of this distinction and studies the Gospels for
exemplifications of these two forms of life. He is the first
to apply the famous Gospel episode of Martha and Mary to
the problem: Mary symbolizes the contemplative life, Mar-
tha, the active life. Origen further came to the definite con-
clusion that the contemplative life is superior to the active,
while Clement preferred a vita mixta.
The masters of the School of Alexandria, notably Origen,
were certainly not unknown in Gaul. ST However, the unique
theme chosen by Julianus Pomerius was one that also occu-
pied St. Augustine. 38 Whether the author was indebted to
him in this matter or to the remoter Alexandrian prototypes,
remains, like many other problems posited by Pomerius, to be
investigated. Briefly, he develops his theme as follows: the
union of the contemplative and the active life in the ministry
is discussed in Book i , The contents of Book z treat problems
confronting those who aim at this union: their conduct
towards sinners; their profitable use of the possessions of the
Church; the excellence of detachment; the nature of absti-
nence. Pomerius' distinction between the active life and the
contemplative is founded less on a manner of life than on
i o INTRODUCTION
states of soul that of the soul which is seeking perfection
(the active life) and that of the soul which possesses and
enjoys it (the contemplative life). This conception, less ex-
teriorized than the modern notion, is also more profound.
It leads, moreover, to a union of the two ways of life, for the
contemplative life perfects the active life without suppressing
it. 39
Pomerius teaches that the true and perfect contemplative
life can be attained only in heaven through the beatific vision,
but that even here below souls who have made the perfect
renunciation obtain through hope a participation in the spiri-
tual joys of the other life a participation that is really a life
of contemplation, but of a lower order. In his comparison
of the active and contemplative life, both present and future,
the author appears to identify the active life with the sum
total of the efforts men must make to subdue their passions;
but in the rest of the treatise the term is made to include all
the efforts priests make to lead the faithful to the practice
of virtue. The contemplative life here on earth, Pomerius
teaches, is effected to some degree by meditation and the read-
ing of the Scriptures; but the perfection of pastoral zeal may
be taken as the sure proof that the contemplative life has
been attained ( i. 25. i): "If holy priests . . . convert many
unto God by their holy living and preaching; if they display
no imperiousness, but do everything humbly; ... if in the
lives they live and in their preaching they seek not their own
glory but Christ's; ... if they console the afflicted, feed
the needy, clothe the naked, redeem the captives, harbor
strangers . . . : who will be such a stranger to faith as to
doubt that such men are sharers in the contemplative virtue? "
In his treatment of the vices (Book 3), Pomerius recog-
nizes only four capital sins: two of the first rank, pride and
INTRODUCTION 1 1
cupidity; and two less important, envy and vanity. Their
remedies are fear of the Lord and charity. Of the four car-
dinal virtues he considers that three temperance, justice,
and fortitude perfect the life of action; whereas prudence,
which he associates closely with wisdom, the rule of the
other virtues, perfects man in the order of practical reason,
which guides him in all his actions. In connection with his
treatment of justice, Pomerius produces (3. 28) a remarkably
modern chapter on " social virtue "sodalis virtus and the
duty it imposes on those who are able to work for the good
of society.
Much of Pomerius' teaching is inspired by St. Augustine,
his professed model. His doctrine on the contemplative life
does not go so far as St. Augustine's, but it, too, provides for
a kind of vision of God, a feeble anticipation of the future
vision. He follows St. Augustine also in tracing the vices
to pride and their remedy to charity. Like St. Augustine he
adopts the classic division of the four moral virtues and places
prudence and wisdom in particular relief.
The style 40 of the De vita contemplativa is, for the most
part, clear and smooth, more elegant than vigorous. There
are passages that rise to eloquence; 41 but digressions and
needless repetitions mar the quality of the work. This un-
questionably is due in large part to the fact that Pomerius
dictated the treatise. 42 The author repeatedly disclaims all
learning and expresses contempt for showy declamation; 48
but his writing and his occupation as rhetor show that he was
well-trained in the rhetoric of his age. 44 His knowledge of
secular learning appears in his quotations from Terence,
Cicero, and Vergil, and in his echoes from other authors.
Moreover, it appears that he was conversant with Greek. 45
Pomerius' references to his own rusticitas are to be interpreted
1 2, IlSTTRODUCTION
as an affectation of modesty hardly more than rhetorical
formulae or as a manifestation of that strange fifth-century
attitude towards secular learning that caused men like En-
nodius to be converted from belles lettres as other men from
sin.
The text used for the present translation is that of J. B. le
Brun des Marettes and EX Mangeant, contained in S. Pros-
peri Aquitani opera omnia (Paris 1711) appendix 1-84, re-
printed in ML 59 (Paris 1847) 415-520. Degenhart's col-
lations of four rather inferior manuscripts * 6 not used for the
Paris edition have been examined, but none of the readings
suggested by him for adoption appeared necessary or accept-
able (but cf. below, 188 n. 18).
A French translation of the De vita contemplativa is re-
ported by Ceillier. This is by J. Bouillon and was printed in
Paris in 1 576. A second French translation forms volume 8
of the series, Le pretre dapres les Peres (Paris 1842), edited
by J. M. Raynaud. J. G. Pfister's German translation, Der
heilige Prosper ilber das beschauliche Leben (Wurzburg
1826), as also Bouillon's French version, the present translator
was unable to consult.
BOOK ONE
FOREWORD
For long have I stood firm against your wish, my Lord
Julianus, most zealous of bishops. Not that I was obstinately
stubborn, but I was conscious o my incompetence. For I
thought, and perhaps the thought was justified, that even
you could charge my presumption with improvident rashness,
were I to undertake lightly and without any deliberation so
great a work, one which ought surely to be treated pains-
takingly. Evidently, it behooved me first to assess the im-
portance of the subject I was to discuss, and then, the Lord
helping, if my talent upon examination held out the quali-
fications needed, to agree to undertake the task you imposed.
Considering these and similar points with careful attention,
I thought it necessary to hold myself a while from the pre-
sumption of writing. But because, as well as thinking of
the difficulty of the work enjoined, I had to consider the
authority of the one who enjoined it, neither did I wish to
oppose you further, nor did I deem it right, being certain
that your prayer, coming from the one who commissioned
me, would give much greater aid to my abilities than the
f ormidableness of the theme itself would burden them. The
result was that my mind, diffident of its own capability, was
encouraged to obey your command by this consideration:
that it would not now be the part of humility to persist in
silence, but rather of pride to refuse any longer the burden
13
14 JULIANUS POMERIUS
placed on shoulders however weak. Though my inelegance x
made me incapable to assume this task, I trust, since you
imposed it, that I may be made capable through your con-
fidence in me.
2. This, too, heartened me to give myself a trial: to
attempt great things would itself be great 2 even if nothing
were to result from one's discussion. For the treatment of
vital questions, though possibly not giving information to the
mind of him who fails to find what he is seeking, at least
exercises the talent of the investigator so that he learns by
seeking and not finding that he does not know what he
perhaps presumed he knew; and, as a result of being made
aware of his ignorance, he searches for what he has per-
ceived is lacking, preserves what he has found, and per-
severingly makes use of what he has preserved; or if he has
been able to treat profitably and explain adequately, for
example, a passage proposed to him from Sacred Scripture,
he does not pride himself on his discovery of truth but glories
in the Lord, who has enlightened him inwardly to understand
the things on which he was to shed light. For, as learning
without the gift of God, which is charity, makes one con-
ceited, so it edifies if charity is mingled with it. 3 And thus,
he who wishes to speak of God either says nothing and no
vanity carries him away; or if he does say something and is
convinced that he has received it from God, he has reason
to thank God and not to ascribe it proudly to the power of his
own talent.
3. But now I shall append the questions themselves in the
order in which you have proposed them for solution. You
bid me, then, to discuss in a few words the nature of the con-
templative life and to explain as briefly as I can the difference
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 15
between it and the active life; whether one charged with
ruling a church can become a sharer in the contemplative
virtue; whether those who contemn the divine commands
should receive calm toleration or should be reproved in pro-
portion to their sins with ecclesiastical severity; whether it is
expedient to hold the goods of the Church to provide for
the community life of the brethren and their support, 4 or
to spurn them through love of perfection; what should be
regarded as perfection in abstinence, and whether it should
be considered necessary only for the body or for the soul as
well; to what extent simulated virtues differ from true vir-
tues; from what prior causes and by what later additions
vices usually are engendered and increased, and by what
remedies, as by so many medicines, they can with God's help
be lessened or corrected; in how many ways or degrees each
virtue can be perfected; and whether there is truth in the
theory of the philosophers which established four virtues as
so many fountains of all virtues and also four vices as so
many sources of all evils. 5 These, then, are the ten questions
which you wanted me to explain, not that their exposition
might afford you any knowledge, but rather that your zeal,
should I properly discharge the task you imposed, might
bring some edification to students of such matters by an ex-
planation of these and similar questions. Of course, if you
did not understand them, you would not have proposed
them for elucidation in this formidable array. You wished
me, nevertheless, to discuss things you already knew either
that you might correct or reprove me if I should make any
unreasonable exposition, or that at least through your care
and my writing orthodox explanations could be made known
to others. Accordingly, let me now discuss the nature of
the contemplative life, the Lord helping me through your
prayers.
1 6 JULIANUS POMERIUS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
i. The contemplative life is properly that life in which
the Lord will be seen by the clean of heart. 2. The nature
of the future life. 3. The holy are to be separated from the
wicked by the same judgment of God whereby formerly the
blessed angels were separated from the unclean spirits. 4.
The resurrection and the life of the saints. 5. The happiness
of the contemplative life even here below delights those who
contemn the things of the world. 6. The perfection of the
contemplative life which is possible here below cannot be
compared to its future perfection. 7. The holy can see God
perfectly only after attaining the happiness of the future life.
8. The nature and degree of perfection of the contemplative
life in this flesh; and how those who despise the world apply
themselves to the enjoyment of that life. 9. There is as much
difference between the perfection of this life and the future
as between the perfect who are unwilling to sin and those
who can no longer sin. 10. On earth the holy saw God
in a created form which He assumed. 1 1 . The nature of the
glorified bodies which are to be in the resurrection.
12. The difference between the contemplative life and
the active.
13. Holy priests can become sharers in the contemplative
life. 14. The writer explains that he does not make bold
to teach the teachers of the Church. 1 5. The negligence of
the priest who, because he acts contrary to his preaching,
cannot fill the role of teacher. 16. The danger that awaits
those who either wish to abandon the church entrusted to
them or neglect to direct it zealously. 1 7. An appeal to one
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK: ONE 17
who is worried because lie can neither abandon his church
nor direct it, suggesting that he may rule it better by example.
1 8. It profits a priest little to show by example what should
be done, unless by teaching he also indicates what must be
believed. 19. The virtue of faith. Its province is not only to
believe and to understand, but also to perform good works.
20. It avails a priest nothing to live a good life, if by his
silence he does not correct him who lives a bad life. 21.
The sad picture of a priest who lives carnally. 22. According
to the statement of the Prophet they perish through their own
fault who with a perverse will spurn the rebukes or admoni-
tions of priests. 23. Priests, including those who can do
otherwise, should teach so simply that all may understand
what they teach. 24.^ The difference between teachers who
edify the Church by teaching simply and those who vaunt
their own eloquence by brilliant oratory. 25. Characteristics
of priests who wish to become sharers in the contemplative
life.
CHAPTER 1
The contemplative life is properly that life in 'which the Lord
will he seen hy the clean of heart.
i. The contemplative life, in which the intelligent crea-
ture, purified from all sin and restored in every part, is
destined to see its Creator, takes its name from contempla-
ting that is, seeing. If this is so, that life in which God can
be seen is to be regarded as contemplative. But in the
present life, replete as it is with woes and mistakes, there is
no doubt that God cannot be seen as He is. In the future life,
then, which because of this is called contemplative, He is to
be seen. And that is right: for, if to see God is supreme and
1 8 JULIANUS POMERIUS
solid happiness, and if supreme Happiness is regarded as the
reward of the blessed, and if rewards are not given to those
still fighting, but will be given after the triumph to those who
have conquered: who does not understand that all the saints
will see God in that everlasting life where they will rejoice
without end? There will they rejoice where they will receive
their reward; there will they receive their reward where they
will triumph over enemies who are not only defeated but
annihilated; there will they triumph where they will have no
further adversary.
2. But in this life, however hard we struggle and with the
help of the Lord lay low the throngs of enemies that sur-
round us, yet if we do not want to be conquered, we shall
never leave off fighting. Nor do battles already manfully
fought out make of us conquerors who no longer have any-
thing to fear; but the more do the foes' renewed attacks
harass us. And so, since according to the saying of Holy
Scripture all human life is a trial upon earth, 6 then will the
trial end when the fight also ends; then will the fight end
when after this life certain victory follows the fight, so that
all soldiers of Christ 7 who to the end of their present life,
aided from on high, untiringly resist their enemies may, when
their wearisome journey in foreign parts has at last ended,
reign happy in their homeland. There human nature will
be so restored and so healed of every single infirmity that no
sin will remain in it, nor will it any longer be able to sin.
All this will be its reward: once it has been made partaker of
the contemplative life, it will behold without satiety the
Author of its happiness, rejoice in Him, obtain from Him
that for which it has hoped, and remain forever in the state
it has attained by holy living.
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 19
CHAPTER 2
The nature of the future life.
But now, what shall I say of the nature of that future life,
which one ought rather to believe in than to speak of? And
yet, so far as I can speak, I should not remain silent merely
because I cannot say as much as I wish. Certainly, because
we believe God to be ineffable, 8 we must not therefore re-
frain from saying what we can of Him. So, too, speak of that
life we should, though more is believed than is put down in
writing; for, plainly, not so much can be set forth in language
as can be embraced by the soul; and the comprehension of
the human mind, however profound, remains short of the
full greatness of the reality itself. The future life, then, is
believed to be happily everlasting and everlastingly happy,
where there is true security, secure tranquillity, tranquil hap-
piness, happy eternity, eternal happiness; e where there is
perfect love, no fear, everlasting day, a blissful freedom of
movement, 10 and one spirit in all secure in the contemplation
of their God and in their abiding with Him; where that
city X1 which is the blessed assembly of holy angels and men
shines bright with splendid reward; where everlasting sal-
vation abounds and truth reigns; where no one deceives or
is deceived; whence none of the blessed is cast out and
whither no evil one is admitted.
20 JuLIANUS POMERIUS
CHAPTER 3
The holy are to he separated from the wicked hy the same
judgment of God whereby formerly the blessed
angels ^vere separated from the unclean spirits.
1. And this also will happen, we believe, by the just
judgment of God, whereby not only in recompense but also
in location the just are to be separated from the unjust ever-
lastingly: that those who are being rewarded will not come
to the end of their reward, nor the damned, to the end of
their punishment. For incorruptibility and immortality will
be given also to the bodies of the damned in order that they
may not come to the end of a punishment that is eternal, and
that their penalty which is endless may not consume them but
punish them. So, too, the bodies of the just will be endowed
with blessed incorruptibility and immortality 12 that they may
abide in glory and that everlasting glory may abide in them.
2. This judgment, which we say will take place between
the just and the unjust, is the same, we believe, that was
instituted between the holy and the unclean angels. 13 For,
though they had been created without sin and had the happy
commission of serving God, some of them, being corrupted
of their own free will, did not wish to remain as they had
been made; and when in a whirlwind of deadly pride 14 they
had risen as enemies against their Creator, they were cast
from the heights of heaven. These the judgment of God con-
demned with this punishment: namely, that since they did
not wish to persevere when they could, they neither wish nor
are able to be restored. For it was in the nature of their trans-
gression that they were struck by the punishment of an
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 21
irrevocable judgment; and it surely was consonant with a
condemnation utterly just that they lost completely the desire
and the ability to he reinstated; just as it was, on the other
hand, according to the will of the holy angels to remain in
their high station when the wicked of their own accord fell;
and it happened by divine and just judgment that their
desire of remaining with God became the voluntary and
happy necessity of abiding with Him always. And, therefore,
because they have never sinned and no longer have the power
to sin, having once been made participators in that contem-
plative life, they behold without satiety the Author of their
happiness; and since they have been made everlastingly
happy by reason of their steadfastness, they are secure in the
permanence of their stay. They receive supreme and true joy
from divine contemplation, in which they delight without
being surfeited. Tirelessly and lovingly they serve their
God, so perfectly happy that they neither desire to become
happier, nor can they.
CHAPTER 4
The resurrection and the life of the saints.
i. This is the contemplative life, the blessed life; those
who attain it by accomplishing good works will be like the
blessed angels 15 and together with them will reign eternally
with God. What they here believed there they will see;
contemplating the essence of their Creator with clean hearts,
they will rejoice with everlasting happiness; imbued with a
divine and reciprocal love, they will be happily devoted to
their God and to each other forever. When they have re-
gained their bodies endowed with incorruption and immor-
22 JULIANUS POMERIUS
tality, 16 they will receive citizenship in the heavenly home-
land; 1T and, heing made citizens forever, 18 they will obtain
the rewards promised them. There a happiness so great will
be showered upon them, so great will he their recompense of
heavenly delights, that they will thank the Author of their
reward for His great gifts and at the same time experience
no satiety from receiving blessings in such abundance. There
mind will be open to mind in the same manner that bodily
appearances are to bodily eyes, because there will be so great
and so perfect a sinlessness of men's hearts that they will
have reason to thank God 7 who made them sinless, and will
not have to blush because of the offensiveness of any stains
of sins; for neither sins nor sinners will be there, and those
who will be there will no longer be able to sin. No secrets
will then be hidden from the perfectly blessed who with
clean hearts 19 will seeand this is excellence far greater-
God Himself. Indeed, human beings will be so perfect
that they cannot further be changed for better or for worse,
2. This human substance, elevated to the likeness of its
Maker, 20 will recover in an improved state all the blessings
bestowed by nature which it had corrupted through sin:
understanding without error; memory without forgetfulness;
thought without wandering; charity without pretense; sensa-
tion without sin; soundness without weakness; happiness
without sorrow; life without death; facility without hind-
rance; abundance without satiety; and well-being in every
respect without disease. For whatever has here been harmed
in the human body, whatever wild beasts have bitten off,
or an unfortunate accident has taken away, or various diseases
have removed or human cruelty has cut off; or if fire or
anything else has produced any disability; or if old age,
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 2,3
troublesome even to the healthy, has caused the tody to fail:
these and similar injuries to the body one resurrection will
there repair; and incorruptible soundness will preserve those
bodies which will have been renewed in all their members. 21
3. Hence, all who will be there, though varying in rank
because of their varying merits, will, nevertheless, be happy
with one perfection; for each one's rewards will be sufficient,
and those already perfect cannot receive more than their
rewards. Just as satiety of the body leaves all equally sated
though individually persons may have taken not the same
amount of food but only according to their capacity, so all
the saints, though distinguished by some difference in their
levels, will be perfect with one happiness because they will
also be happy with one perfection. Besides, in that place
of such happiness no one will arrogate greater merit to him-
self, because no arrogance will exist there; nor will he who is
lower be envious of the one above him, because no envy is
possible there. And thus, although a diversity of mansions 22
will exist there, yet there will be the greatest equality of one
perfection in those who will have one happiness of the
heavenly kingdom.
CHAPTER 5
The "happiness of the contemplative life even here loelow
delimits those -who contemn the things of the world.
i . That man longs to merit this happiness who renounces
all present things for the sake of the things to come, and,
being lifted from domestic cares, which sometimes hinder
the progress of those trying to live perfectly, to that sublimity
of divine contemplation, overcomes even the very affections
2,4 JULIANUS POMERIUS
of his flesh. By despising all things below, which very often
cast to earth souls that feel secure by reason of the sanctity
of their past life, he even approaches things celestial; and
he is carried as much nearer to divine things as he ascends
above all things human through a desire of perfection. He is
confident that if with uncompromising will he prefers the
contemplative life here to uncertain honors, wealth with the
anxiety that it brings, and ephemeral delights, he will find
true honors, wealth without care, and eternal delights when
he has arrived at the perfection of the contemplative virtue
in that blessed life where he will be by God's reward. In-
deed, who will be more honorable than he whom the divine
mercy has blessed with dignity equal to the angels '? 2S Who
will be richer than he whom the ineffably abounding hap-
piness of the heavenly kingdom has enriched? Or what even
here is more delightful than divine contemplation, which
fills those who truly yearn for it with the incorruptible sweet-
ness of the future reward? For, in truth, the contemplative
life even on earth delights its lovers by a consideration of
future blessings and illumines with the gift of spiritual wis-
dom those who devote themselves to it with the whole bent
of their minds, as far as can be done in this life; and by means
of a certain incentive for reaching perfection it sets them
aglow for that fullness of the divine vision of which they,
intent upon their desire for heaven, have hope, so that what
they now behold in obscurity 24 and do not completely discern
they may then see in that revelation. 25
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 2,5
CHAPTER 6
The perfection of the contemplative life which is possible
here below cannot he compared to its future per-
fection.
1 . Therefore, I have not so spoken of the sublimity of the
contemplative life in the future, where perfection is to be
perfected, as to say that in the present life it cannot be
secured by all who despise the world, if only they turn to it
with entire zeal; if, burning with a desire for it, they scorn
the enticements of the present, and, made much too strong
to be ensnared by worldly occupations, apply themselves to
meditation on divine subjects and the future promises. But
if we consider the statement of the Apostle Paul wherein he
distinguishes between that knowledge which is here and
that which will exist there, saying: We know in part and we
prophesy in part, 26 we cannot and should not compare the
divine contemplation which is in this life with that of the
future life; for the same Apostle adds: But when that which
is perfect is come meaning in that life then that which is
in part shall he done away. 27 And thus, what we now under-
stand in part we shall then, when we have been brought to
that fullness of divine contemplation, see perfectly.
2. And yet, because there all things will be comprehended,
not piecemeal, but together and entirely, one should not on
that account despair of at least some knowledge in this frail
body. For, although the corruptible body is a load upon the
soul, and the earthly habitation presseth down the mind that
museth upon many things* 8 still, so far as is possible, the
human mind, which its Creator made to His own image,
should strive even here to see God intellectually by faith so
l6 JULIANUS POMERIUS
that it may see Him more fully when by His gift it attains
the vision of its Maker. Note how strikingly the holy Apostle
distinguishes between faith and sight when he says: We
-walk by faith, not by sight. Faith, then, it is by which one
walks, and sight it is which is seen; for in this life, where
we advance through faith by right living, we walk, as it
were, by the steps of our good works. In the future life,
however, where we shall attain sight, there will no longer
he a place to which we may walk as though advancing far-
ther; but we shall see with insatiable delight that vision to
which we have come by walking spiritually through faith.
CHAPTER 7
The holy can see God perfectly only after attaining the
happiness of the future life.
i. Therefore, those who fully desire it and with God's
help are capable of it are so to be encouraged to the con-
templative life as to be mindful that the perfection of the
divine contemplation itself is reserved for that blessed life
which is to come; that there they may see God perfectly as
He is where they themselves will also be made perfect by
attaining eternal life and the heavenly kingdom. But if in
this life human frailty could have perfectly contemplated
the essence of God, never would the holy Evangelist have
said: No man hath seen God at any time. 30 He did not say:
" No one will see Him." To show plainly, then, that the
sight of God was not refused holy men but deferred, what he
denied for the present time he promised for the future,
saying: Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see
God. 31 Nor did he say here: " For they see God." Conse-
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 2,7
quently, if God, who in this life neither in the past nor
present could be seen without the assumption of some form,
is to be seen in the future life, there the perfection of divine
contemplation is to be hoped for where there will be the
fullness of all good things.
CHAPTER 8
The nature and degree of perfection of the contemplative
life in this flesh; and how those who despise the
world apply themselves to the enjoyment of that
life.
i. Let the pursuer of the contemplative life, then, ap-
proach his Creator to be enlightened in heart; let him watch-
fully serve Him by contemplating Him and untiringly en-
joying Him; let him desire Him continually; for love of Him
let him flee all that could turn Him away; let him rest all
his thoughts and all his hope on His pleasure. Let him take
time for holy meditations on the Sacred Scriptures; let him,
being divinely illumined, delight in them. There let him
consider his whole being as in some gleaming mirror; let him
correct what he sees disordered; let him hold to what is right;
reform what is deformed; cultivate what is beautiful; preserve
what is sound; by careful reading strengthen what is weak.
Let him not tire of reading the commandments of his Lord,
love them without growing weary, fulfill them efficaciously;
and, being adequately instructed by them, let him under-
stand what he should avoid and what he should pursue.
Let him devote himself to an examination of the mysteries
of the same Divine Scriptures, read of Christ there prophe-
sied, 32 see Him represented, understand the perdition of the
3*
28 JULIANUS POMERIUS
reprobate people according to prophecy, mourn its fulfillment,
rejoice in the salvation of the Gentiles. Let him hold fast
the things that were predicted and accomplished in the past;
let him trust future promises. Far removed from the noise of
worldly concerns, let him ardently ponder those things where-
by he may inflame his soul to a desire of his future reward.
Let him be intent on spiritual studies, which may make him
better and better from day to day; let him love holy leisure,
in which he may conduct the business of his soul. Let him
count the earth as dead to him, and let him show himself
crucified to the enticements of an alluring world. 33 Let him
place the vision of his Creator incomparably above delight in
present spectacles. Always let him raise himself by advancing
stages to the summit of divine contemplation; never, not
even for a moment, let him turn from the consideration of
promises for the future to look back upon things of earth. 34
Let him constantly direct the gaze of his mind to the place he
desires to attain; let him place before the eyes of his soul the
happiness of the future life, 35 and let him love it. Let him
neither dread nor desire anything temporal; let neither fear
of losing temporal possessions nor greed of gaining them
weaken the resolution of his mind. Let not prosperity cor-
rupt nor adversity shake him. 36 Let not favorable opinion
arouse his vanity nor unfavorable opinion depress him; let
not misplaced criticism or praise increase his happiness or
take away from it. Let him not rejoice at all in temporal
matters, nor grieve. Unconquered in joy and sorrow, let him
preserve the mien of a steadfast soul; let nothing the world
promises or threatens shake the stable firmness of his heart;
but, remaining always the same and natural, let him not feel
the loss or the gain of this world. 37 And when he, prompted
by a desire of the contemplative life, has fulfilled these and
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 29
similar injunctions, let him unwaveringly believe that he has
not been entirely perfected here but that he will be per-
fected in that blessed future life, and let him tend towards it,
where he will be able to see the essence of God with face
unveiled.
CHAPTER 9
There is as much difference hetween the perfection of this
life and the future as between the perfect who are
unwilling to sin and those who can no longer sin.
1 . Now, just as here in a comparison of the just someone
is called perfect because the just man obeys precepts but the
perfect man goes beyond them, so the latter, when compared
to those who will be absolutely perfect in the blessed life,
is not, so to say, perfectly perfect. Though all his guilt has
been absolved, his weakness has not yet been cured, but it
is in the process of being cured; and, therefore, though he
commits no sin so that he may be truly perfect, he has, never-
theless, the power to sin because he has not been healed by
the removal of all weakness; and so, too, being cleansed from
all sin, there where he will not be able to sin he will be
perfectly whole and supremely perfect.
2. Here, moreover, however much a man is eminent for
the excellence of his sanctity, however much he excels by the
eminence of perfection, he can, it is true, become perfect
according to the capacity of this life, but he is not so secure
in his perfection that he need not be careful of a fall; and,
surely, where anyone is in anxiety, happiness is not absolute.
Happiness should not at all be counted perfect if it is not
secure; and it will be secure only when eternal security will
have taken anxiety away. 88 Therefore, if men are called
30 JlJLIANUS POMEEIUS
happy in this life, they are happy in the hope of future hap-
piness. 39 Actually, however, not here but in that life will
they be happy; for there the happiness of all the blessed will
indeed be perfect where human nature, made perfectly
happy, will see its Creator's glory and its own and will cling
to Him without any fading of its happiness.
CHAPTER 10
On earth the holy saw God in a created form which He
assumed.
Let it not affect the argument that we read that here,
too, God was seen by just men of old; for He was not seen
in this our lowly state as He will be seen in that glorification.
Indeed, without the form of a visible creature, in which He
appeared when and to whom of the just He willed according
to the dispensation of the times, 40 neither could He have been
seen, nor would this be possible now; but we shall be able
to see Him when our pilgrimage has taken us to our home-
land above, and when blessed immortality has clothed our
mortality, and when faith itself, by which we here believed
in the future, has been fulfilled and has led all the truly
faithful to the contemplation of God and the possession of
heavenly rewards.
CHAPTER 11
The nature of the glorified bodies which are to he in the
resurrection.
There the bodies will be of different sexes, it is true, but
without any bodily concupiscence. Then perfect love will
exist among all and no cupidity. 41 Then, too, nothing of
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 31
visible creation will escape bodily eyes because the vision of
incorruptible bodies will undoubtedly be incorruptible; and
it will be incomparably swifter than here so that nothing
visible can be shut off from it. In fact, bodies endowed with
immortality are to shed whatever retards them, but nothing
of their integral being; need will be taken away, not volition,
with the result that without delay of time or hindrance of
weight they will be there where they wish to be; and so,
without any difficulty the body, then spiritualized, will fol-
low wherever the spirit wishes to go, perfect with the equality
of the angels' happiness. Then no regret over children,
parents, or spouses not found there can sadden the blessed, 42
because the excellence of that happiness does not recognize
the names of all bodily relationships which our frailty here
possessed. There all, whoever they are, will be one body;
and each one will rejoice in his own and everyone else's
happiness. Let these words on the contemplative life suffice.
CHAPTER 12
The difference "between the contemplative life and the active.
i. Now let me briefly discuss what the difference is be-
tween the contemplative life and the active. In order that
it may be quite clear, let me compare the two lives: the con-
templative, that is, and the active, bringing out their virtues.
It pertains to the active life to advance in the midst of human
affairs and to restrain the rebellious movements of the body
by the rule of reason; to the contemplative, to ascend above
things human by the desire of perfection and constantly to
devote oneself to the increase of virtues. The active life is
32 JULIANUS POMERJUS
the journeying; the contemplative is the summit. The former
makes a man holy; the latter makes him perfect. It is
characteristic of the active life to inflict injuries on no one;
of the contemplative, to bear inflicted injuries calmly. Nay,
to state this more precisely, one who fulfills the requirements
of the active life is prompt to forgive the man who has sinned
against him; one who follows the contemplative life is pre-
pared rather not to notice than to pardon the offenses by
which he is attacked but not at all affected. The former
controls anger by the virtue of patience; places the bridle of
moderation on unrestrained passions; is touched by carnal
desires but does not consent; is smitten by the curiosity of
this world but is not carried away; is shaken by the attacks of
the devil but is not overcome; and, being subject to his God
with a devoted mind, is not worn down but proved by diverse
temptations. The follower of the contemplative life by holy
virtues overcomes all the feelings which variously affect the life
of mortals; free from all desires and disturbances, he enjoys
blessed quiet; and, being made superior to his temptations
and passions by reason of his untrammeled mind, he is raised
on high by the indescribable joy of divine contemplation.
The follower of the active life, by harboring the stranger,
clothing the naked, governing the subject, redeeming the
captive, protecting him who is oppressed by violence, is con-
tinually cleansing himself from all his sins and enriching his
life with the fruits of good works. The other, having given
his possessions for the use of the poor, in one act divests
himself of the world and raises himself to heaven with all
his strength. He casts the things of the world upon the
world and delivers himself up with a devoted mind to Christ,
of whom he asks that immortal riches be given him as a poor
man; begs daily to be protected as one weak; desires to be
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 33
clothed with the garment of Immortality 43 as one naked;
prays to be defended from the attacks of invisible enemies as
one oppressed by the frailty of the flesh; and desires that the
land of heaven be given him as one who is a stranger.
2. The active life has an anxious course; the contempla-
tive, everlasting joy. In the former a kingdom is being ac-
quired; in the latter it is received. The active life causes men
to knock at the gate as though with the hands of good works;
the contemplative life calls into their homeland those who
have completed their course. In the former the world is
contemned; in the latter God will be seen; and, to pass over
many things I have not the power to mention, those who in
this active life have triumphed over the evil spirits will in
that contemplative life, which is supremely happy, become by
God's reward equal to the holy angels and will reign forever
happy with Him in that city above.
And thus, because I have already said much of the con-
templative life in the foregoing and because the second book
will contain what is to be said of the active life, let these
statements suffice so that in the discussion to follow I may
consider the other matters, too, which I will treat with the
third question as my theme up to the end of this book. Let
us now consider whether one charged with ruling a church
can become a sharer in the contemplative life.
CHAPTER 13
Holy priests can become sharers In the contemplative life.
i. One who diligently considers what I have previously
said about the contemplative life and who, being adequately
instructed, understands when and where its perfection can
34 JULIAJSTUS POMERIUS
be attained will not doubt that princes of tbe churches can
and should become followers of the contemplative life; for,
whether, according to the opinion of some, the contemplative
life is nothing but the knowledge of future and hidden
things; or whether it is freedom from all occupations of the
world; or the study of Sacred Scripture; or what is recognized
as more perfect than these, the very vision of God: I do not
see what objection can be brought forward to prevent holy
priests from attaining the four things I have mentioned. Of
course, two of them, the first and the lastnamely, the
knowledge of hidden and future things and the very vision
of God will be incomparably more excellent in that blessed
life than in this, enmeshed as it is in diverse errors, since the
knowledge of all things as well as the very essence of God
will be fully and perfectly apprehended. But the two be-
tweenthat is, freedom from all occupations of the world and
the study of Sacred Scripture bishops 44 can have even here;
but those who on separating themselves from all the entangle-
ments of world affairs do not grow sluggish in idleness but
pursue the business of their perfection and who, turning
from the folly of worldly wisdom, untiringly devote them-
selves to the Word of God, become truly wise, have knowledge
of heavenly matters, despise worldly affairs, refute the op-
ponents of sound doctrine, instruct the obedient, apply them-
selves to holy virtues by which they may each day become
closer to God, and, eager for their own improvement as well
as for that of all their disciples, receive even here some taste,
as it were, of the contemplative life, whereby they are more
keenly stimulated to it. But there, having been made last-
ingly happy, they will rejoice in its perfection. Accordingly,
they are not made vain because here they are honored as
leaders of all faithful Catholics; but they rejoice rather that
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 35
there they will be more distinguished members of Christ,
who is the Head of priests and of all the faithful.
2. But if, God forbid, entangled by worldly business, they
extend the boundaries of their estates without limiting their
covetousness 45 and give themselves everywhere to choice
delights which weaken soul and body; if they seek not the
glory of Christ 46 but their own, deceived by the honors of
the fawning crowd, and believe what others say of them
rather than believe their own conscience; if they place all
their joy not in their future reward nor in sanctity of life but
in their rank alone and, although they love to be what they
are believed to be, are never dissatisfied with themselves, and,
because they are content with themselves, are not solicitous
for their improvement: who does not see that such men, if
they continue in such conduct and do not correct themselves
before the end of their present life, cannot share in the
contemplative life? Only those attain it who have made
efforts to be what they have become; who strive not to seem,
but to be, what they are; who are distinguished not by the
praise of others but by their own conduct, conspicuous not
only because of their own rank but more because of the
nobility of their priestly life; who are bishops not by title
only but by virtuemen fit for the contemplative life, and
coheirs of the joys of heaven. 41
CHAPTER 14
The writer explains that he does not make hold to teach the
teachers of the Church.
And lest my words appear presumptuous to anyone if they
portray what all priests should not be or should be, I think
36 JuLIANUS POMERIUS
that I ought to speak not of the generality tut of a single
person and preferably of you, who rashly permit me to say
it imposed on me the duty of a precarious discussion. Nor
should I treat points unknown to you but the usual ones
which we are wont to consider in our conversations together.
After this brief declaration, I think that no one can justly
impute rashness to my quoting any more than to my argu-
ment, as though I were daring to teach my fathers, 48 from
whom I am ready to receive and to learn the pattern of living.
CHAPTER 15
The negligence of the priest who, because he acts contrary
to his preaching, cannot pit the role of teacher.
Consider, then, the most serious things you were wont to
say, while I listened with approval, of the administration of
a bishop who, putting in second place the care of the people
entrusted to him, desires the goods of this life more ardently
than those of the afterlife, and, unmindful that he must give
an account to the Sheperd of all shepherds 49 not only of
himself but also of the flock entrusted to him, gives no
thought to his own ruin and that of his charges. The sins
of the erring do not sadden him, nor do the gains of those
making progress bring him joy; but, being solicitous of himself
alone, and, moreover, often not even of himself, he has no
interest in the good or evil that his charges do. He does not
preach perseverance to the just, penance to the wicked, con-
tempt of the world to the converted, future punishment to the
estranged. He cannot say to those who disregard his warn-
ing: (C Think of the future judgment" a thing which he
himself perchance does not consider; to those who love the
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 37
world: " Love not the world/' if love of the world delights
him; to the ambitious: " Give up your ambition/' if ruinous
ambition carries him away; to drunkards: " Beware of drunk-
enness/' if he swills wine to the point of losing his senses.
Stuffed with sumptuous dinners, he cannot recommend to his
charges the abstinence he spurns; addicted to the vice of
covetousness, he cannot dissuade the avaricious from a love
of money; holding fast to enmities, he will lack the courage
with priestly calm to reconcile the minds of those at variance;
he blushes to preach to judges the justice which he himself
corrupts in favor of a powerful person; he does not defend
the oppressed if he either honors or despises individuals.
Whatever good he omits he will not order to be done, and
whatever evil he commits he will not forbid to be done be-
cause by his own contradictory action he either loses or
lessens the authority that must be his as a teacher.
CHAPTER 16
The danger that awaits those -who either wish to abandon
the church entrusted to them or neglect to direct it
zealously.
When you called to mind these and similar things, you
were sorry that you had accepted a bishopric, which, just as
it sheds lustre upon its administrator if it is well managed, so,
too, condemns him who neglects it. When you wished in
consequence to abandon the church entrusted to you, as if
unequal to rule it, and to withdraw to some solitary spot,
not so much from a desire for rest as from despair of fulfilling
your charge, nothing forced you to change your decision for
the better except your fear of incurring a greater danger. For,
38 JULIANUS POMERIUS
if it is dangerous not to steer a ship cautiously through the
waves, how much more dangerous is it to abandon it storm-
tossed to the swelling billows? Though it is better not to
enter such a ship, once a man has taken it over, it behooves
him to cast away fear of the stormy sea, and, taking hope of
reaching shore, to steer into port without any loss of cargo.
Since this comparison pleased you, I added: " And so a
church, which sails the sea of the world like a great ship, 50
which is buffeted by various waves of temptations in this life,
tossed to and fro by the attacks of unclean spirits as though
by stormy waves, dashed against the rocks and shoals of
scandals, hemmed in as if by a reef of heavy sand, should
not be deserted but should be directed. Just as it will bring
all its passengers safely to port when it is controlled by the
watchfulness of its pilot, so it will cause the loss not only
of its passengers but also of the pilot himself if it is swamped
by the waves or set adrift/'
CHAPTER 17
An appeal to one who is worried because he can neither
abandon his church nor direct it, suggesting that he
may rule it better by example.
As I proceeded with these and similar points, you were
deeply moved and grieved that you had been reduced to this
necessity: you could neither discharge your office with any
zeal nor abandon it without sin. And then I felt compassion
with your holy sighs because of that affection of heart which
binds me to you, and I told you that by praying you could
accomplish what you could not effect by teaching; that faith-
ful Catholics usually profit more by good example than by
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 39
brilliant words; 51 and that the best and perfect teaching is
that which a spiritual way of life exemplifies, not that which
empty speech utters; and that on Judgment Day we shall be
asked not for words but for deeds; that it is scarcely possible
to persuade what the tongue teaches if one's life does not
accord with one's tongue; that, on the other hand, it is pos-
sible to gain approval, whether you preach or not, for what
you establish as worthy by deeds and impress on people
disposed to follow an example, as something they can find
delight in achieving. You derived some relief from my sug-
gestions; and forthwith you replied, if I remember correctly,
as follows:
CHAPTER is
It profits a Driest little to show hy example -what should he
done, unless hy teaching he also indicates -what
must he helieved.
" Even if all perfection were to consist in deed alone and
not also in faith and if a man were to be asked on Judgment
Day not what he had believed but what he had done, who
would be so presumptuous as to flatter himself on his justice
if he had disregarded the importance of the Church's doc-
trine? For we ought not only, according to the Apostle, to
show an example to the faithful 52 but also to teach those
faithful who have been divinely entrusted to us for instruc-
tion: of the Father, how He is held to be the only unbegotten
One; of the Son, how He is generated from the Father; of
the Holy Spirit, how He, proceeding from the Father and
the Son, can be called neither unbegotten nor begotten;
how these three are one, and how this one is not divided but
is distinguished into three; and how neither the Father nor
40 JULIANUS POMERIUS
the Holy Spirit, but only the Son, born ineffably of the
Father alone, took on complete human nature without any
change of His substance; and how He proved Himself true
God and man by His virtues and His sufferings; allowed
Himself to be captured; willed to be put to death; arose on
the third day; by His own power raised into heaven the
humanity He had taken from us; by the example of His
resurrection gave us, reborn in Him, the hope of rising hap-
pily; made us His members; 53 threatened with punishment
not those who believe in Him but those who abandon Him; 5 *
and promised His adherents the kingdom of heaven. 55
CHAPTER 19
The virtue of faith. Its province is not only to believe and
to understand, hut also to perform good works.
(t These and other things a priest should know in order to
teach, and the people should believe in order to understand
what is taught, as the Apostle says : Unless you believe you
will not understand From this it may be gathered that
faith does not come from reason, but reason comes from
faith; nor does he who understands believe, but he who
believes understands; and he who understands does good, as
is written elsewhere: He would not understand that he
might do well. 57 He did not say ' could not/ but ' would
not understand/ so that we may know that the phrase * to
be unwilling to understand ' is nothing but ( to be unwilling
to believe/ Therefore, in order that anyone may do good,
let him be zealous to understand; and let him believe in order
that he may understand. But because the same Apostle says:
Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 41
a teacher of the Church ought to preach what the one about
to believe should hear; for without preaching there will of
course be no hearing, as the same Apostle attests, saying:
How shall they hear without a preacherl* 59 If , then, no one
hears without a preacher; if without hearing he does not
believe; if without faith he does not understand; if without
understanding he does not do good: the word of faith should
be preached so that hearing he may believe, believing he
may understand, and understanding he may do good per-
severingly. For he who can use the choice of free will is
justified neither by works without faith nor by faith alone
without works. 60 And, therefore, if with the heart we be-
lieve unto justice, hut with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation^ the unbeliever, by not having faith, will be
able to have neither justice of heart nor salvation.
CHAPTER 20
It avails a Driest nothing to live a good, life, if hy his silence
he does not correct him who lives a had life.
" However, what will the Apostle's saying avail namely,
that we should give example to the faithful, 02 if he who has
been charged with exhorting the good and reproving the
bad, by living well shows himself to the good for imitation
but by his silence does not correct the bad? For, if I am not
mistaken, on this account a priest must live a holy life: that
he may not make his words void by inconsistent acts if he
does not do what he preaches should be done, or if he has
presumed to preach what he does not do. But if he has
acted otherwise, 63 he accomplishes nothing among those who
know his life because he has been appointed over a church of
42 JULIANUS POMERIUS
God for this purpose: not only by living a good life to instruct
otters by the example of his manner of life, but also by
preaching faithfully to set each one's sins before his eyes;
to show what punishment awaits the obdurate, what glory
is in store for the obedient; to neglect no one's salvation
through despair; to mourn for the souls of those who are
unwilling to be corrected, imitating the Apostle, who says:
I mourn many of them that sinned before and have not done
venance; 64 and again: Who is -weak and I am not weak?
Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire? 65
2. " Therefore, since he knows that if he spares the rich
and the powerful, if he even favors those who live a bad life,
he causes their ruin and at the same time perishes himself,
he should both live a holy life because of the example he
must give, and teach because of the charge of his ministry,
being certain that his personal justice will not avail him from
whose hand a doomed soul is required. When any other
person who has no obligation to teach perishes, he alone will
pay the penalty of his crime; but he who has the commission
of dispensing the word, however holy the life he lives, if he
is either embarrassed or afraid to reprimand those who live
wickedly, perishes with all who are lost through his silence.
And what will it profit him not to be punished for his own
sin if he is to be punished for another's"? If I am not mis-
taken, this is what the Lord states through the Prophet
Ezechiel under the threat of some fear, when he says to him:
So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the
house of Israel. Nor should we give passing heed to the
fact that He calls a priest a * watchman/ It is the work of a
watchman to look out from a higher place and to see more
than all others: so, too, a priest should stand out above all
by the sublimity of his pattern of life and should have the
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 43
attraction of a superior knowledge of the way of life whereby
he may be able to instruct those who live under him.
3. " Let us now see what the Word of God has on this.
Thou shalt hear the word from -my mouth, He says, and shalt
tell it them from me: 6T that is to say, a priest should speak
what he has learned from divine reading, what God has
inspired in him, not what he has invented by the suppositions
of his human understanding. Thou shalt tell it them from
me, He says: * from me, not from yourselves, shall you speak
my words. You have no cause to be proud of them as though
they were your own/ ' From me, 9 He says, * tell them/ And
now let us hear what he should announce: When I say to
the wicked: O wicked man, thou shalt surely die: if thou
dost not speak to ivarn the wicked man from his way, that
wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his
Hood at thy hand. 68 What could be said more clearly, more
patently? ' If/ He says, f you have not spoken to the impious
that he should guard himself from his impiety, and he should
die, I will require his hlood at thy hand! That is to say, ' If
you do not tell him his sins, if you do not reprove him
that he may he converted from his wickedness and live, 69 I
shall cause both you who did not rebuke him and him who
sinned because you were silent, to be lost in everlasting
flames/ Who, I ask, will have so stony a heart, who will be
so unfeeling, 70 that this judgment does not frighten him?
Who will be so far from faith that he does not believe this
judgment?
44 JULIANUS POMERIUS
CHAPTER 21
The sad picture of a Driest who lives carnally.
1. " But as long as we, seduced by temporal things, seek
in this life our profit and honor, we strive to be not better
than others but richer, not holier but more honored. We do
not think of the flock of the Lord which has been entrusted
to us to feed and guard, but we think carnally of our own
pleasure, of power, riches, and other allurements. We wish
to be called shepherds without making any effort to be such.
We shun the labor of our office, seek its dignity. We do not
beat off the beasts of unclean spirits who are tearing the
flock; and we ourselves consume what is left by them when
we not only do not reprove but even reverence rich or influ-
ential sinners for fear that they, being offended, may not
direct their usual gifts to us or may withdraw the favors we
desire. And so, captivated by their gifts and favors, nay,
enslaved to them because of these things, we shrink from
speaking to them of their sinfulness or of the judgment to
come. And for that reason the Word of God pounds at our
pride with warnings, but our hearing gives no admittance to
anything whereby we may profit; for, held captive by the
sweetness of the present life, we have no desire to consider
what everlasting punishment awaits our negligence.
2. " Against shepherds, then, on whose empty name we
delude ourselves, these things are said: Thus saith the Lord:
Woe to the shepherds of Israel, that fed themselves. Should
not the flocks he fed by the shepherds? You ate the milk,
and you clothed yourselves with the wool; you killed that
which was fat; hut my flock you did not feed. The weak
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 45
you have not strengthened, and that which ivas sick you have
not healed. That which was broken you have not hound, up;
that which was driven away you have not brought again;
neither have you sought that which was lost; hut you ruled
over them with rigor and with a high hand. And my sheep
were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they be-
came the prey of all the beasts of the field. 71 And a little
later: Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:
As I live, saith the Lord God, forasmuch, as my flocks have
been made a spoil, and my sheep are become a prey to all
the beasts of the field because there was no shepherd; for
wty shepherds did not seek after my flock, but the shepherds
fed themselves and fed not my flock. Therefore, ye shep-
herds, hear the ^vord of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord:
Behold, I myself come upon the shepherds. I will require my
flock at their hand, and I will cause them to cease from feed-
ing the flock any more; neither shall the shepherds feed
themselves any more
3. " Who would not tremble at these words? Who would
hear them without insufferable fear of the judgment to come
except one who either does not understand or does not be-
lieve in what is to come? But because God so openly revealed
what He wished to be carried out and so strengthened it with
the authority of His name that it might be easier to contemn
such evident and divine things and this it is wrong even to
say than to pretend not to understand or not to believe them,
when we hear, Thus saith the Lord: who except one who
does not believe in God does not believe that it will be as the
Lord says? As for the statement: Woe to the shepherds,
who except one who does not consider the future does not
understand that this ' woe ' was placed as a curse and that
46 JULIANUS POMERIUS
he means us by the word ' shepherds '? Being made shep-
herds, we undertook to feed the sheep of the Lord; and we
feed ourselves when we do not look to the good of our flock
but attend to that which promotes and increases our own
pleasures. We receive the milk and wool of Christ's sheep,
enjoying the daily offerings and tithes of the faithful; and we
lay aside the care of feeding and refreshing our flocks, by
whom in unnatural order we expect to be fed. We do not
cure by spiritual advice the man w 7 ho is sick because of his
sins; we do not give strength or relief by our priestly help to
the man who is broken by diverse tribulations; we do not
call back the wanderer to the way of salvation; we do not
seek with a shepherd's solicitude the man already lost through
despair of pardon. We have become men of power only for
this end: that we might assume a tyrannical rule over our
subjects not that we might defend the afflicted from the
violence of the powerful who rage against them like wild
beasts.
4. " Hence it is that some are lost, being grievously har-
assed not only by the powerful of this world but also which
is worse by us. These it is the dire warning of the Lord
that He will require at our hand, when He says: I will
require -my sheep at the hand of the shepherds; and I will
cause them to cease feeding them any further. What does
this mean but: 'I will deprive those shepherds who feed
themselves, not my flock, of their sublime dignity and cast
them away among the reprobate because they did not want to
guard their honor '? Because I was terrified by the con-
sideration of these and similar things, fear and trembling are
come upon me, and darkness hath covered me; and I said:
' Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and he
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 47
at rest? > 7S And this is the full account of why I wept, think-
ing of my inexperience and my future end; and I wished to
lay down the burden of my bishopric and to withdraw and
flee, to remain in solitude and there await the Lord, who
w r ould save me 74 from my troubled heart and from the storm
of my unbearable anxieties."
CHAPTER 22
According to the statement of the Prophet they perish
through their own fault who with a perverse will
spurn the rebukes or admonitions of priests.
i. To this I then replied: "You utter these things with
bitter lamenting, and you exaggerate to the offense of bishops
or, at least, o the episcopal dignity, as though in that place
where you read those things which rightly alarmed you there
were not also other passages which, since you overlooked
them, I shall touch upon briefly in defense of the sacerdotal
office. 75 After those words with which the Prophet indicates
the end of negligent priests, he speaks thus of the bishop
who shows concern for his office: But if thou tell the wicked
man that he may he converted from his ways, and he he not
converted from his way, he shall impioiisly die in his iniquity;
hut thou hast delivered thy soul. 76 Here, certainly, it is shown
with sufficient clarity that, whether their hearers profit or
not, priests should not be silent before them; that they are
not on that account guilty if the people by chance do not
hear their words or if they despise them after hearing them;
but that they are guilty if they refrain from correcting them.
For, if obstinate persons when admonished do not derive
advantage either from the example of their pastors' lives or
4 JULIANUS POMERIUS
from the words of their doctrine, they are the cause of their
own ruin; and in their sins they surely cannot involve their
teachers, whose examples and words they despised.
2,. " This thought the same Prophet pursues more clearly
in another place, saying: If (a watchman) see the sword
coming ^l'pon the land and sound the trumpet and tell the
people, then he that heareth the sottnd of the tmmpet, -who-
soever he he, and doth not look to himself, if the sword come
and cut him off, his hlood shall he u^pon his own head. He
heard the sound of the trumpet and did not look to himself;
his Hood shall he on him. But if he look to himself, he shall
save his lifeJ 7 Here, moreover, the Word of God shows
what he who performs the office of watchman should do:
namely, when he sees the sword coming upon the land
the wrath of God, that is, upon sinners who are given over
to earthly works he should under no circumstances be silent;
and as long as they cling to their sins, he should not cease to
declare that the punishment of the divine displeasure awaits
them; indeed, he should rebuke them loudly and publicly
for this the word trumpet implies that so by cleansing them-
selves from their sins they may escape the punishment of
future damnation. If, however, worldly men contemn him
who reproves them and makes known the future wrath which
already threatens its despisers, their blood is upon themselves;
and it is impossible that the priest who did not pass over
their sins in silence should share the punishment that awaits
them.
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 49
CHAPTER 23
Priests, including those who can do otherwise, should teach
so simply that all may understand, what they teach.
" And certainly a bishop will not excuse himself on the
plea of ignorance, as though he cannot teach because his
speech is not adequate and clear; for a priest's doctrine should
be none other than his life, and those who listen can profit
enough if they hear their teachers teach even with simplicity
what they see them perform in a spiritual manner, as the
Apostle says: Although . . . rude in speech, yet not in
knowledge From this it may be understood that a teacher
of the Church should not parade an elaborate style, lest he
seem not to want to edify the Church of God but to reveal
what great learning he possesses. 79 Not in the glitter of his
words, then, but in the virtue of his deeds let him place all
his confidence in preaching. Let him delight not in the
shouts of the people who acclaim him but in their tears. Let
him be zealous to desire not applause 80 from the people but
their sighs. That especially let the teacher of the Church
elaborate which may make his hearers better men by reason
of sound discussions, not applauders through vain flattery.
The tears which he desires his listeners to shed let him first
weep himself and so inflame them by the contrition of his
own heart. Such should be the simplicity and straightfor-
wardness of the bishop's language: though this may mean less
good Latin, 81 it should be restrained and dignified so that it
prevents no one, however ignorant, from understanding it but
sinks with a certain charm into the heart of all who hear it.
50 JULIANUS POMERIUS
CHAPTER 24
The difference between teachers who edify the Church by
teaching simply and those who -vaunt their own
eloquence hy "brilliant oratory.
"In fine, the purpose of rhetoricians is one thing, and
that of teachers should be another. The former with all the
force of their eloquence aspire to the display of studied decla-
mation; the latter by moderate and ordinary language seelc the
glory of Christ. The former clothe empty subject matter
with extravagant verbal ornamentation; the latter adorn and
grace simple words with true ideas. Rhetoricians endeavor
to hide the ugliness of their thoughts by a veil, as it were,
of fine language; 82 teachers try to give grace to the inelegance
of their statements by means of precious thoughts. The
former put all their glory in the favor of the people; the latter,
in the assistance of God. The former speak in a manner
worthy of applause and avail their hearers nothing; the latter
teach in ordinary language and instruct their imitators be-
cause they do not vitiate their doctrine by any affectation of
an ornate style.
CHAPTER 25
Characteristics of priests who wish to become sharers in
the contemplative life.
i. " Therefore, if holy priests not such as the divine
threat declares are to be sentenced and condemned, 83 but
such as the apostolic teaching commends 8 * convert many to
God by their holy living and preaching; if they display no
imperiousness, but do everything humbly and show them-
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 51
selves through love of holy charity affable to those over whom
they have been placed; if they in some cases cure the weak-
nesses of their carnally living brethren by the medicine of
healing words and in others bear patiently with those whom
they judge to be incurable; if in the lives they live and in
their preaching they seek not their own glory but Christ's;
if they do not woefully waste either their words or their deeds
as the price of courting favor, but always ascribe to God
whatever honor is paid them as they live and teach in a
priestly manner; if the dutiful greetings of those they meet
do not make them proud but weigh them down; if they
consider themselves not honored but burdened by the praises
of those who compliment them; 85 if they console the afflicted,
feed the needy, clothe the naked, redeem the captives, harbor
strangers; if they show wanderers the way of salvation and
promise hope to those who despair of gaining pardon; if they
spur on those who make progress, and arouse those who are
delaying, and are constantly occupied with whatever pertains
to their office: who will be such a stranger to faith as to
doubt that such men are sharers in the contemplative virtue,
by whose words as well as example many become coheirs of
the kingdom of heaven? 86
2. " These are the ministers of the word, 87 helpers of God,
oracles of the Holy Spirit. Through such men God is re-
conciled with His people; the people are instructed unto
God. These are the successors of the Lord's Apostles, who,
wondrously endowed with apostolic virtues, rule the churches
which the former established by sublime miracles; who de-
fend the Catholic faith by preaching, or if necessity demands,
by the rending of their limbs. To maintain the faith in all
its strength they are prepared to lose their possessions and
5^ JULIANUS POMERIUS
even to die. They grow with the virtues of faithful Catholics
who make progress through them, God being the cause; and,
clinging inseparably to their God, in whom they are confident
that their true and lasting goods are stored, they spurn the
fleeting joys of this world/'
Thus far have I prolonged my talk, with the fullness of
detailed discussion, on three topics: here I have, I think,
adequately shown the nature of the contemplative life, the
difference there is between it and the active life, and how
priests can become sharers in the contemplative virtue.
Therefore, at length bringing this book to a close, I shall,
God helping my effort because of your prayers, treat three
further questions in the second book; thus in the third book
I can deal with the four remaining topics, which involve the
doctrine of the vices and virtues to be discussed.
BOOK TWO
FOREWOKID
i. Having presented in the preceding book the norm of
the contemplative life, I have set myself the task, according
to the strength the Lord will grant me, to treat the active life
as I promised. Wherefore, as I did in the preface to the
first book, here, too, I shall in a few words make known the
obligation imposed on me to write; for, if I could without
impairment of obedience have refused what you commanded,
never by the impulse of my own will would I give myself
over to be attacked by the malevolent tooth of critics who,
refusing to consider how reluctantly I undertook to write
this, will perhaps attribute it all what is wholly your bidding
to the vice of vanity; and this all the more if, in speaking
of matters wherein the way of life incumbent upon practi-
cally all ecclesiastics is described, I should write of anything
that might offend the minds of those who live in a worldly
manner; and because they would see in the description of
the ecclesiastical life their own conduct made public some-
thing which they wish to be unknown rather than corrected
in their carnal-mindedness they would be aroused and
would rage against me as the betrayer of their deeds; and
though they would judge that what I had brought out with
the help of God was judiciously said, they would, neverthe-
less, argue that I should not have said it; and so they would
mock at either the subject of the discussion or the person
53
54
POMERIUS
treating it. But because a sensible mind should seek the
fruit of obedience incomparably more than avoid the oppro-
brium of unjust blame, I believed the judgment of those who
would find fault with my words to be a more tolerable
burden than the danger of obstinate disobedience. Confi-
dent, then, that you, who commanded me to discuss this,
will beg and gain for me from the Lord the power of finishing
my task and will excuse my presumption among those who
are going to criticize me, I shall despatch the work I have
begun, aided by your prayers.
2. But before I take up in detail each of the questions
you proposed, I think I should make a few general remarks
about the matter to be discussed in this little book. Thus it
will become evident why I said in advance that I could be
criticized by those who pay more attention to who says a
thing than to what he says; who investigate with distorted
examination not tke reasoning of the statements but the rank
of those who utter them, and flinch from having mentioned
to them that which they do not wish to do or become. They
prefer to remain ignorant of a point of doctrine, even one
they are eager to know, rather than to learn it from a person
of inferior rank, although truth, from whatever source it
becomes manifest, is to be attributed not to human proficiency
but to God; and they should believe truth not merely when
coming from certain sources but from all truth, which is
of itself such that it does not first become great when great
men teach it; no, truth itself makes great those who have
the capacity of teaching it or learning it.
Now, you wished the nature of the active life explained
to you for this reason: that you might prove that you and
your followers always have lived and are living in accordance
with it, not that you might learn from my discussion how to
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 55
live. The religious way of life is really the active life, which
teaches how superiors should rule and love those under
them, and, being not less careful of the salvation of their
charges than of their own, should with paternal care provide
what they know is advantageous for them; and how subjects
should serve their superior as members of the body serve the
head/ and with great love should carry out his orders as
the will of God, judging that to be holy, profitable, and
necessary for them which has pleased their superior, not that
which the pride of a corrupt mind has dictated to them for
their destruction. And for that reason, being grounded in
the virtue of obedience and patience, they do not discuss the
orders of their superiors but fulfill them; and when strictness
of discipline requires that they be severely reproved, they
bear magnanimously the correction they have received and
ascribe their chastisement not to the passions of those who
rebuke them but to their own negligences.
How priests also should treat and rule their subjects-
commoners and nobles, the rich and the powerful the sequel
of this book will contain. As I have already said repeatedly,
I would not venture to write these things if I could have
refused you anything. But now let me set down the questions
to be discussed. You asked, then, whether those who con-
temn the divine commands should receive calm toleration or
should be reproved in proportion to their sins with ecclesi-
astical severity.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
i . According to the different kinds of sinners some are to
be tolerated, others are to be censured. 2. In praise of holy
priests. 3. The apostolic testimony and its exposition* 4.
56 JULIANUS POMERIUS
An objection: Why do holy priests whose care it is to
reprove those who live wickedly, bear religious pretenders
calmly? 5. In reply: Certain considerations may require
the gentle treatment of the faults of some. 6. Those who
do not think on their own sins show no patience in reproach-
ing others. 7. The remedial value of confessing one's sins;
the punishment incurred by deceitful concealment of sins. 8.
Those who reprove unjustly and insincerely are liars and
will be condemned by the divine judgment.
9. Priests should have nothing of their own and should
receive the possessions of the Church as common goods of
which they are to render an account to God. 10. The harm
done to their soul by those who, having enough of their own,
take anything from the Church, which feeds the poor. n.
The case of those who even with profit to their soul are
supported by the resources of the Church. 12. The obliga-
tion of those clerics who are too ^yeak to renounce their
possessions. 13. True joys and true riches; the goods of this
life are but an impediment to lovers of the blessings to come.
14. The interpretation of the Apostle's statement: They
who work in ike holy place eat the things that are of the holy
place. 15. Covetousness and its domination of those of
whom it has once taken possession. 16. Those possess God
more perfectly who renounce earthly possessions from their
hearts.
1 7. Those profit nothing who though abstaining from food
are slaves to their vices; nor does it avail those who do their
own will to renounce their possessions. 18. The first man
lost great blessings by his disregard of abstinence. 19. The
sin of the first man and the evils which followed his sin by
>the judgment of God. 20. Having been restored in Christ, we
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 57
shall regain all the blessings which we lost when corrupted
in Adam. 21. The life incumbent upon those who desire to
imitate Christ. 22. The practice of temperance in those who
desire to abstain from the pleasure of delicacies or from an
immoderate eating of common foods and from an immoderate
use of wine. 23. The desire of meats, not their nature, defiles
those who use meats. 24. It is often beneficial to place hos-
pitality shown to visitors before fasting or abstinence.
CHAPTER l
According to the different kinds of sinners some are to be
tolerated, others are to be censured.
If all together suffered from the very same trouble of mind
and, being afflicted with identical disorders of the soul, did
not differ from one another, it would be necessary to tolerate
all or to reprove all. But as it is, some are to be borne with,
others are to be chastised 2 because according to the difference
in sinners the type of prescription also differs. And, surely,
different remedies are to be applied to sins 3 just as the sins
themselves arise from different causes. For the habit of sin
entices many; others the opportunity for some temporal gain
allures to sin; frailty inclines some; ignorance of the good
causes some not to know that they are sinning, and, though
they are reproached, the fascination that evil holds for them
prevents them from ever learning what they do not know.
I do not mention those who are stained by the sins of others
to which they consent. I also omit those who, desiring to
attain what they love or refusing to suffer what they fear,
either betray the Catholic faith or barter away the excellence
of truth for falsehood. But this I do say: who does not know
58 JULIANUS POMERIUS
that men sin in one way by unpremeditated thought, in
another by determination; in one way by speech, in another
by deed; in one way by necessity, in another of their own
will?
2. Since, then, men sin in so many and such very different
ways, who does not understand that those whose maladies are
so varied certainly cannot be cured by one and the same
method? Besides, human frailty spurns God's precepts in
two ways: either by doing what He has forbidden or by not
doing what He has ordered. But since those who do not
perform His commands contemn Him in His precepts not
only for the reasons I have stated but also for others I have
not mentioned, so they all should be cured, now by teaching,
now by exhortation, now by tolerance, now by rebuke, so
that with Christ's help the salvation of no one in this life
should be despaired of.
Now, then, if I have made it sufficiently clear that we
should use both forbearance and reprimand in dealing with
those who spurn the divine commands, I ought to show,
while you help me through your merits and prayers, by
whom, how, in what order, and how long those who are
being cured should be cared for.
CHAPTER 2
In praise of holy priests.
i. And lest my discussion, as expressing human opinion,
fail to commend itself to belief and lose its effect by being
trusted too little, I shall try to show by divine testimony that
those things are true which I have proposed to prove with
the help of the Lord. Let me first, however, bring out a few
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 59
points in praise of true priests who are the heads of churches.
They especially have received the charge of caring for souls.
Ably bearing the responsibility for the people entrusted to
them, they untiringly supplicate God for the sins of all as
for their own; and, like an Aaron, 4 offering the sacrifice of a
contrite heart and a humble spirit, 4 * which appeases God,
they turn the wrath of future punishment from their people.
By the grace of God they become indicators of the divine
will, founders of the churches of Christ after the Apostles,
leaders of the faithful, champions of truth, enemies of per-
verse teaching, amiable to all the good, terrifying even in
appearance to those of evil conscience, avengers of the
oppressed, fathers of those regenerated in the Catholic faith,
preachers of the things of heaven, shock troops in battles
unseen, patterns of good works, examples of virtues, and
models for the faithful. They are the glory of the Church,
in whom her lustre is enhanced; they are the very strong
pillars 5 which, founded on Christ, support the whole multi-
tude of believers; they are the gates of the eternal city through
which all who believe in Christ enter unto Him; they are
the gatekeepers who have received the keys of the kingdom
of heaven; they are also the stewards of the royal house whose
decision assigns each one's rank and office in the court of the
eternal King.
2. These are they who have merited the priesthood not by
courting favor but by living spiritually; who, elevated not by
the support of human patronage but by divine approbation,
do not applaud themselves because of the excellence of their
high office; who do not hold their heads high because of the
honor they have received but are occupied with the labor
imposed; who on being advanced think not of their pre-
5*
60 JULIAKUS POMERIUS
eminence but of their weight of cares; who do not glory in
the dignity of their office but rather labor under their burden
when appointed. Such men Holy Scripture calls " watch-
men/' e men who w 7 atch over everyone's acts and examine
with the application of a holy curiosity how each one lives
at home with his family and in the community with his
fellow citizens. Those with whom they are satisfied they
encourage by honoring them; those whom they find wicked
they correct by reproving them; and if they are not willing
to be corrected, they bear it calmly since they will gain fruit
in abundance either because of their strictness if those whom
they chided have improved, or because of their patience, not-
withstanding that those with whom they show forbearance
have not accepted correction.
CHAPTER 3
The apostolic testimony and its exposition.
i. But now let me cite the divine proofs as I promised.
In the Acts of the Apostles the Apostle Paul says: Behold, I
know that all you among whom I have walked, preaching
the kingdom of Jesus Christ, shall see my face no more.
Wherefore, I take you to witness this day that I am clear
from the Hood of all men; for I have not spared to declare
unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed to yourselves
and to the whole flock wherein the Holy Ghost hath placed
you bishops to rule the Chiirch of God, which He hath pur-
chased with His own Hood. 7 <f The kingdom of God/' he
says, " I have preached, walking among you, that I might
keep myself free from the damnation of all those who, after
hearing the word of the saving doctrine, are not moved to
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 61
salvation/' He preaches the kingdom of God 8 who does not
cease to preach of the future life, which has no end; of
divine contemplation, which has no palling weariness; of the
happiness of the saints, which does not fail; of gaining the
likeness of angels: 9 so that if his listeners have not been
willing to be drawn to these ineffable blessings, he who
preached to them and was not silent is not to blame.
2. But as to what he adds in the following: For I have
not spared to declare unto you all the counsel of God what
else does he mean to be understood except that the teacher
of the Church reveals the direction of God and this the
Apostle calls " the counsel of God "to those whom he
teaches? Now, he reveals the plan of the divine direction
when he teaches that fathers by showing love to their children
should merit it from the Lord, who is the Father of all; that
children should show due honor to their fathers, not con-
strained by the fear of being disinherited, but prompted by
the desire of future reward. For fathers by loving their child-
ren, as much as children by showing honor to their fathers,
fulfill the command of the Lord, who ordered both these
things to be done. He teaches that husbands should pre-
serve the fidelity of the marriage bed with their wives; that
wives should please their husbands not by the care given to
alluring beauty or by the exquisiteness of their dress, but
by the gravity of their morals and the holiness of their acts;
that masters should treat their slaves mercifully, 11 showing
themselves their brother servants in Christ, 12 and that slaves
should so obey their masters from their hearts that they
accomplish the will not only of their masters but also of God,
who commands this; 13 that citizens should maintain true
peace with their fellow citizens, friends with friends, parents
62 JULIANUS POMERIUS
with children; that in business no one should deceive another
by crafty fraud or in a mutual agreement break the faith
which the other party wishes to be kept.
3. Through these and similar statements the priest by
preaching announces, and the people by obeying receive
God's counsel, without which no one reaches the kingdom
wherein only such as carry out the divine counsel will by
God's plan share in celestial rewards. Then, as to the Apos-
tle's statement: Take heed to yourselves and to the -whole
flock wherein the Holy Ghost hath placed yo^l bishops to
rule the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His
own blood, 14 who does not see that then do priests take
heed to themselves when by living holy lives and by preach-
ing faithfully the will of the Lord they take heed to the
Church of God, so that it is not difficult for them to bear
with the weak ones of the Church 15 for whose redemption
the Author of life deigned to give Himself over to death?
But let those who are taught show understanding; let those
who are rebuked manifest at least some progress for the
reprimand they have received; let those who are treated with
forbearance finally feel ashamed of their grave sins and by
profiting from their correction give joy to their teacher,
through whose patience they are gently treated; let them, I
say, cheerfully hear what God's word commands them by
the mouth of the Apostle: Obey, he says, your prelates and
be subject to them; for they watch as being to render an
account of your souls; that they may do this with joy and
not with grief. For this is expedient for you* 6
4. Therefore, those who hear should obey their teachers
and be subject to them with reverence. They do this who,
when given a reproof, accept it willingly and do not oppose
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 63
those who rebuke them. But as to what he says: For they
-watch as being to render an account of your souls, he clearly
shows concern for the people entrusted to him who, watchful
in his conduct as well as in his preaching, carefully searches
out the snares of the ancient enemy lest the devil by subtle
cunning steal anyone, like a wolf while the shepherd sleeps,
and bring him with himself to eternal torture, snatching him
away unto the shepherd's loss. But because among those
who are chastised some correct themselves obediently while
others continue to the end in their perversity, on that account
he says of priests: that they may do this with joy and not
with grief. Priests rebuke with joy when those they reprove
draw profit; and they rebuke with grief when they sorrow
that they accomplish nothing in those who ignore them.
And thus, he says that it is expedient for the faithful that
priests reproach ^vith joy and not with grief; that the faithful
give joy to their teachers by their correction and increase their
happiness by their progress.
CHAPTER 4
An objection: Why do holy priests whose care it is to reprove
those who live wickedly, hear religious pretenders
calmly?
i. I had not yet completed my discussion about holy
priests, on which subject I was venturing to say more, when
one of our friends came in and curiously asked me what I
was dictating. After I had it read to him, he said: " There
is no doubt that all bishops ought to be such as your dis-
cussion has set forth and that in our day there are many
among us full of priestly good qualities as you have truthfully
64 JULIANUS POMERIUS
said; but with this established that it pertains to their office
to correct the unruly with priestly authority, to teach the
ignorant, to refute those who attack sound doctrine, why is
it that they do not extend this attention of theirs to all? Why
do they not reprove others, too, with the same force? I mean
those w 7 ho, pretending to be converted, cast off nothing of
their former ways, being changed not in their hearts but only
in their dress, not in fact but only in appearance.
2. " These are the people w 7 ho, content to have renounced
the world in word only, not in deed, live in a worldly manner
and hide their faults under the empty profession of a better
life and, cloaked by the name of pretended religion, assume
a reputation for virtue instead of true virtue. They preach
great things but do not perform them; they attack vices but
do not lay aside their own. In public they pretend to be
displeased with what they do in secret; they are eager to seem
great, not to become great; they praise those by whose com-
mendation they desire to be praised; they fast that they may
sell the pallor of their face for noxious esteem. Prompt to
censure others, they do not allow anyone to criticize them
even slightly. For the sake of public appearance they pretend
patience, but in their mind they hide carefully the poison of
wrath, 17 ready to harm when they find an opportunity to
harm; unconcerned over their own deeds, they become cen-
sors of others with insolent liberty. They impudently foist
themselves upon holy virgins and widows and are smitten
with so much affection for them that they would more readily
withdraw from communion with the Church a wicked thing
even to say than from their company. Although perhaps
they do not sin with them, yet, by furnishing matter for evil
suspicion, they stain their life with the stigma of a bad
reputation.
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 65
3. "I pass over those persons who, with an undulating
motion of their unsteady body, step along with their garments
flowing to their ankles, and moving wave-like, as it were, in
the wanton flexings of their hips, betray the dissoluteness of
their souls in steps that sway with sinuous movement. Who
can bear with those who, affecting shammed honesty, under-
take the cause of orphans and widows with feigned piety as
though to protect them? 1S Their motive is to add the pos-
sessions of such to their own and, becoming rich from being
poor, or richer from being rich, wickedly to build up their
slender resources: the day when they will live more sumptu-
ously by reason of their bulging possessions, they must never
lack material for the pleasures of their gluttonous appetites.
Why, then, do not those who have divinely received the
power to censure reprove such persons? Do they not fear
that perhaps, by sparing those who live in such a manner,
they appear to approve their deeds? What of the fact that
they even admit them to the clerical office and O shame-
as though it were not enough that they leave severity alone
and do not censure such men, even honor them besides? "
CHAPTER 5
In reply: Certain considerations -may require, the gentle
treatment of the faults of some.
i. But I replied: " If you recall what I have said of holy
priests, you have been adequately answered; for the teachers
of the Church, as I have already said above, should possess
both the faculty of censure in order to chastise and patience
in order to tolerate with fortitude those who are unwilling to
be corrected. Thus they obey the command of the Apostle,
66 JlJLIANUS POMERIUS
who instructed Timothy, saying: Reprove, entreat, rebuke
in all patience and doctrine, 19 as though he would say: " Re-
prove your equals; entreat your elders; rebuke your juniors."
But he added in all patience and doctrine because the man
gently reprimanded shows reverence for his reprover, while
one who is offended by the harshness of immoderate correction
accepts neither the reproof nor salvation. So, too, in another
place the same Apostle says : You ivho are stronger, bear the
infirmities of the weaker Therefore, they calmly tolerate
as sick those whom they cannot correct by reproof. Accord-
ingly, because it is not expedient to rebuke all severely or to
treat all gently, holy priests know and distinguish between
those whom they should reprove with moderate severity and
those whom they should tolerate with priestly magnanimity;
and thus they have regard not for the wishes but for the
advantage of all for whom they provide by God's grace. Be-
sides, they forbear to honor some who seek honor unduly,
for whom they know it is not advantageous, not through the
vice of any envy but through a counsel of deep prudence; and
they honor others who desire to be hidden, so that they may
open a way for them to greater advancement. They chastise
those of whom they know that they can bear rebuke; and
they feel their way with those who cannot bear reproof, as
being weak, not by flattering them because they are such but
by compassionating the infirmities of such persons if it hap-
pens that they cannot be healed otherwise.
2. " But if the weak who cannot be cured by the applica-
tion of reproof are debarred from communion with the
Church, being burdened beyond measure by the weight of
intolerable sadness, they either break down and shun the
sight of all holy persons through whom they could be restored
THE COISTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 67
to God, or are certain to leap into every shameless sin if they
are embittered; and they will do in public the evil they used
to do in secret. They fall into so great madness through
despair of regaining salvation that with insolent wit they
turn the serious words of their reprovers into evil jests; and,
turning upon themselves with deadly cynicism, 21 they boast
of their own baseness, and thus feast the evil joys of the
w r icked. On this account, then, those who cannot be re-
proved because of their weakness are to be tolerated with
gentle compassion. And, truly, if you produce a healthy
sense of shame in a sinner because you blush for him and if
by the tender compassion of your heart you transfer to him
the shame which you assume for his sins, you will easily
repress in him all laxity with regard to sin and take from
him all the overbearance which incites to wanton baseness.
Then modesty, guardian of integrity, will adorn his behavior
so that what formerly seemed despicable to him when he was
despicable pleases him, and that seems despicable to him
which formerly pleased him when he was displeasing to all
the good. He will follow holy men by loving them; and by
following them he will fashion himself gradually to their
likeness by correcting his previous way of life, with the result
that, as laborious as it was for him to climb to the summit of
virtue, so base would it be to him to descend again to the
vices he rejoices to have abandoned. For, just as virtue is
oppressive to the wicked, so vicious pleasure is bitter to the
friend of virtue. There you see how one who thinks of
nothing but the salvation of those he wishes to help treats all
sinners gently, or rebukes them."
68 JULIANUS POMERIUS
CHAPTER 6
Those who do not think on their awn sins show no patience
in reproaching others.
It is a fact that a man is ignorant of his own sins, which
he ought to acknowledge and mourn, as long as he pries and
prohes into those of others. But if, turning to himself, he
looks to his own morals, he seeks not what he may especially
blame in others but what he may grieve for in himself. We
should, then, not be prompt to rebuke the faults of our
brethren but sorrow over them so that, carrying our burdens
for one another, we can fulfill the law of Christ, 22 who surely
did not chide our sins but who bore them as the Evangelist
says: Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him %vho taketh away
the sins of the ^vorW 3 Therefore, if He who was without
any sin whatsoever suffered us sinners with ineffable affec-
tion and does not cease to suffer us, desiring not our death
but our improvement not the death of sinners but their
salvation 24 why should not we, after the example of our
Savior and Lord, bear with the weak, seeing that we our-
selves are weak and wish God to bear with us, or, should we
be strong, can yet become weak, being frail"?
CHAPTER 7
The remedial value of confessing one's sins; the punishment
incurred hy deceitful concealment of sins.
Furthermore, sins themselves are so hidden those of others
from us and our own from them that very often a saint is
concealed among sinners, and a sinner attains the reputation
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 69
of a saint. When an innocent man cannot protect himself,
the rash suspicion of a judge condemns him, while the clever-
ness of an alert talent clears a guilty man; but of course in
such cases not the divine judgment but the human is de-
ceived. And is it remarkable that we do not know without
their own confession what the souls of others are, since we
so know even ourselves today as not to know what we are
going to be tomorrow? But when any of our brethren reveal
to us the sins which oppress them, as they show physicians
the wounds troubling them, we should endeavor with the
help of God to heal them as quickly as possible to prevent
their growing worse because of the lack of attention. And
as to the sins of any persons that somehow come to light
though in their guilt they did not intend to confess them,
whatever sins are not remedied by the gentle medication of
patience are to be cauterized and cured by the fire, as it were,
of kindly reproof.
2. But if even the remedy of such gentle forbearance and
kindly reprimand avails nothing in persons who, though long
endured and admonished for their own good, refuse to
amend, like decaying parts of the body they should be cut
off by the knife of excommunication. 25 Otherwise, just as
morbid flesh, if not removed, impairs the health of the rest
of the body by the infection it brings, so those who despise
correction and persist in their infirmity, by remaining with
their depraved morals in the company of the good people, will
infect them by the example of their own wickedness. But
those whose sins escape human notice, being neither self-
confessed nor exposed by others, if they have been unwilling
to confess them and amend, will have God, whom they have
as their witness, as their avenger also. 26 And what do they
70 JULIANUS POMERIUS
profit In escaping Kuman judgment when, if they persist in
their evil, they will go hy God's punishment into eternal
torture? If, however, they become their own judges and, as
though avengers of their own iniquity, here exercise the
voluntary penalty of a most severe punishment against them-
selves, they will exchange eternal torments for temporal; and
with their tears flowing from true contrition of heart they
will extinguish the flames of the everlasting fire. But those
who, established in any clerical rank, commit grave sin in
secret deceive themselves by empty persuasion if they think
they ought to receive Communion and discharge their office
because they escape the notice of men by hiding their sin.
3. For, apart from those sins which are so slight that they
cannot be avoided and for the expiation of which we call
upon God daily, saying: Forgive us our debts as we also
forgive our debtors, 27 we must avoid those grave sins which,
when published, cause those who commit them to be con-
demned by human judgment. Those, however, who commit
them and fear to confess them lest they receive the just
penalty of excommunication, communicate without good rea-
son; nay, truly, they heap up the wrath of the divine indigna-
tion doubly against themselves, both because they pretend
innocence to men and because, contemning God's judgment,
they are ashamed to abstain from the altar through human
respect. Therefore, those will more easily reconcile God who
acknowledge their sin, not convicted by human judgment,
but of their own accord; 2S who either reveal it by their own
confession or who, if others do not know what they are in
secret, bring sentence of voluntary excommunication against
themselves; 29 and, separating themselves not in heart but in
duties from the altar which they ministered, mourn for their
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 71
life as though it were dead, being sure that when God has
been reconciled to them by the fruits of efficacious penance
they not only will recover what they have lost but will also
be made citizens of the eternal city and receive everlasting
joys.
CHAPTER 8
Those who reprove unjustly and insincerely are liars and will
he condemned hy the divine judgment.
Now, it is not for me to say anything of those who,
prompted by slight suspicion, rebuke men who live uprightly
so that they confuse and discourage them through un-
grounded correction and thereby seek for themselves the
glory of an ill-considered severity. Of these God's word speaks
so clearly that it does not need an expositor; for the Holy
Spirit says in Ecclesiasticus: There is a lying reh^ike in the
anger of an insolent man; and there is a judgment that is not
good. Indeed, the rebuke of an insolent and domineering
man, which here is called " lying/' is the judgment of pride
and not of any humility, and therefore is not good. What
could be said more plainly, more patently, than to say that
he who rebukes falsely is " insolent "? For he who reproves
falsely is insolent; and he who is insolent reproves falsely.
Likewise, He says in Proverbs: A false witness shall not he
unpunished; and he that speaketh lies shall not escaped
Who is a false witness if not he who accuses any man of
crimes without due inquiry? He says that one who rebukes
unjustly shall not he unpunished for this reason that, by
reproving when no faults demand censure, he wishes the
innocent to seem guilty. But when He says of the man who
7^ JULIANUS POMERIUS
rebukes unjustly that he shall not escape, what else is to be
understood except that he who reproves anyone, not to correct
him, but to vaunt himself insultingly, will not escape the
anger of God?
But let what I have said suffice concerning those who de-
spise God's precepts and concerning the virtue of correction
and patience. I must not, by dwelling too long on one
question, touch upon the rest too briefly, nor tax your atten-
tion by the length of an immoderately extensive volume.
Let us see, then, what the contents of the next chapter teach
us further: whether, so it reads, it is expedient to hold the
goods of the Church to provide for the community life of the
brethren and their support, 32 or to spurn them through love
of perfection.
CHAPTER 9
Priests should have nothing of their own and should receive
the possessions of the Chitrch as common goods of
-which they are to render an account to God.
i . It is expedient to hold the goods of the Church and to
despise one's own possessions through love of perfection.
For the wealth of the Church is not one's own, but common;
and, therefore, whoever has given away or sold all that he
owns and has become a despiser of his own property, when
he has been put in charge of a church, becomes steward of all
the church possesses. Thus the saintly Paulinus, 33 as you
yourself know better than I, sold the immense estates he
had and distributed the proceeds to the poor. But when after-
wards he had become bishop, he did not contemn the prop-
erty of his church but administered it most ^ faithfully. By
doing this he showed sufficiently both that one's own posses-
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 73
sions should be despised for the sake of perfection and that
those things which are common property of the Church can
be possessed without harm to perfection. What did the saintly
Hilary do? 34 Did not he also leave all his goods to his parents
or sell them and distribute the proceeds to the poor? Yet,
when because of his perfection he became bishop of the
church of Aries, he not only held what that church owned
at the time but also increased it by accepting numerous
legacies from the faithful. These most holy and perfect bish-
ops, then, show by plain deeds that what they did can and
should be done. Surely, these men, most certainly learned in
secular as well as divine studies, who had given up all their
own property, would never have kept the property of the
Church if they had known that it should be despised.
2. The conclusion is that such great men who, wishing
to become followers of Christ, renounced all they had, held
the property of the Church not as owners but as stewards.
And, therefore, knowing that the possessions of the Church
are but the vows 33 of the faithful, the ransom of sinners, and
the patrimony of the poor, they did not claim them for their
own use, as being their own, but divided them as a trust
among the poor. For this is to despise things while possessing
them to hold them not for oneself but for others, not to seek
property for the church because of a lust to possess but to
accept it because of the sacred obligation to aid the needy.
What the Church owns she has in common with all those
who have nothing; and she should not give anything of it
to those who have enough of their own, since to give anything
to those who have is only to squander it.
74 JULIANUS POMERIUS
CHAPTER 10
The harm done to their soul by those who, having enough
of their own, take anything from the Church,
which feeds the poor.
1 . Further, those who, though having possessions of their
own, desire to be given something do not take without griev-
ous sin that wherefrom a poor man was to receive his living.
It is evidently of clerics that the Holy Spirit says: They
eat the sins of my people.* 6 Now, here those who have noth-
ing of their own take not sin but the sustenance they evi-
dently lack; conversely, those who have possessions take not
the sustenance in which they abound but the sins of others.
Even the poor, if they can help themselves by their crafts
and labors, should not usurp what the weak and the sick
ought to receive, lest the Church in her capacity of furnishing
the necessities of life to those destitute of every comfort be
embarrassed by the fact that even such as are in no need at
all are recipients of her aid and be unable to assist those
she should,
2. They, moreover, who serve the Church and, believing
that they should receive a return for their labor as their due,
either accept readily or demand what they do not need, are
too carnal-minded if they think that those who serve the
Church faithfully receive earthly pay and not rather eternal
rewards. It is but natural that in the world the profession of
arms, having no heavenly recompenses to give, pays out
earthly ones to those who fight valiantly; hence, it certainly
is a shame if the faithful and laborious devotion of clerics
renounces eternal rewards for temporal pay. If, however, a
minister of the Church does not have the wherewithal of
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 75
life, let not the Church give him his recompense here, but
let her furnish him the necessities of life. Thus he will
receive the reward of his labor in the future a reward to
which he looks forward, established in the hope of the Lord's
promise. Again, as to those who, ostensibly self-sufficient,
do not ask that anything be given them as their due, but yet
live at the expense of the Church, it is not for me to say with
what kind of sin they presume to take the food of the poor.
By \vhat they pay out to themselves they only put an
additional burden upon the Church, which they should have
aided with their own resources; hence, you will perhaps find
them living in community so as not to feed any of the poor
or take in strangers or cause a reduction of their own wealth
through every-day expenditures. But if they do give any of
their income to the Church in return for their own support,
they must not by silly bragging make display of themselves
before the indigent whom the Church feeds and clothes;
for one who strips himself of the things of the world, or
one who, having nothing, desires nothing, is more perfect
than he who of his many possessions gives something to the
Church and perhaps boasts of what he has given.
3. The things I say are severe, and I do not deny it.
Severe they are, but only to such as are unwilling to observe
them. Yet, if these things are done: difficult as they are to
those who do not do them, they immediately become easy
when they do them. Hence, it is not the impossibility of
doing them, but their strangeness, that makes difficult the
things we are unwilling to perform; let them become a habit,
and, done again and again, they cause no one trouble. After
all, I ask you, which of the things I have mentioned is diffi-
cult? That a man should not take from the Church what he
does not need? Or that he should renounce that which he
76 JULIANUS POMERIUS
possesses without cogent reason? If he does not wish to aban-
don his possessions on this account that he may have where-
with to live, why does he take that for which he will be
accountable? Why does he go elsewhere to multiply the sins
he commits with his own possessions?
CHAPTER 11
The case of those who even with profit to their soul are
supported by the resources of the Church.
Accordingly, the priest to whom the office of administra-
tion has been entrusted will receive from the people, not
only without cupidity but also with a reputation for conscien-
tiousness, things to be distributed; and he will dispense them
faithfully he who has either left that which was his own to
his kinsfolk or distributed it to the poor or added it to the
property of the Church, and placed himself for the love of
poverty in the number of the poor, so that he himself lives
as one voluntarily poor on what he administers to the poor.
Clerics, too, poor either by choice or by birth, whether living
in homes of their own or in community houses, can receive
with fullness of virtue the necessities of life because greed of
possessing does not lead them to accept them, but the neces-
sity of living forces them.
CHAPTER 12
The obligation of those clerics who are too weak to renounce
their possessions.
Those, however, who are so weak that they cannot re-
nounce their possessions, if they leave the things they were
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 77
going to receive to a steward to be given to the indigent,
keep their own property without sin because in a certain
manner they, too, give up their possessions when, being
content with their own, they take nothing of what they think
is due their labor or their rank. But if they think that they
should receive a portion of those things that are given to the
Church for this reason that they may not appear to throw it
away, and if they think that they cannot abandon their pos-
sessions because it is improper for them to be reduced to
poverty in the midst of their families, let them realize that
it is an abomination for people of means to be fed with the
alms of the poor.
CHAPTER 13
True joys and true riches; the goods of this life are lout an
impediment to lovers of tlie blessings to come.
i . Alas, how subtly the master of deceit ensnares us, with
what blindness he veils the eyes of our mind lest, eager for
joy, we discover a truer source of joy, or, desiring to grow in
riches, learn what riches we should incomparably prefer.
For it is indeed good to rejoice; but if the one who rejoices
does not rejoice for the reason he should, his joy cannot be
good. For the thief, too, rejoices when he has stolen what he
wants; the drunkard, when he has found opportunity for a
desired debauch; the adulterer, when he attains the pleasure
of enjoying the body for which he lusts. But although it is
a good thing to rejoice, it is a great evil to rejoice in these and
similar things, in which the world, which will perish with its
lovers, wishes us to rejoice. These are the things we should
spurn so that we may rejoice ineffably in a good conscience,
78 JULIANUS POMERIUS
in holiness of morals, in the increase of virtues, in the gift
of God ? and in the promise of the future kingdom.
2,. To acquire wealth is also a great good; tut to grow rich
from a source whence you should not is not an advantage to
he desired but a calamity to he shunned. For there is no one
more unfortunate and no one more miserable than he who
prospers by unjust gains, whom frauds and thefts enrich.
Those riches we ought to seek which can both adorn and
protect us, which we cannot acquire or lose against our will;
which arm us against the attacks of the enemy, separate us
from the w 7 orld, commend us to God, enrich and ennoble our
souls; which dw 7 ell with us and within us. These are to be
considered our wealth: modesty, which makes us modest;
justice, which makes us just; piety, which makes us pious;
humility, which makes us humble; gentleness, which makes
us gentle; innocence, which makes us innocent; purity, which
makes us pure; prudence, which makes us prudent; temper-
ance, which makes us temperate; and love, which makes us
dear to God and men, powerful in virtues, despisers of the
world, and pursuers of all good. 37 These are the holy virtues
not of all but of the holy; the possessions not of the proud
rich but of the humble poor; the patrimony of hearts, the
incorruptible riches of good morals, in which only those
abound who renounce carnal riches from their hearts. Al-
though these latter are also good since they have been created
by a good God, yet, because they are common to the good and
the wicked, spiritual men strive to renounce them so that
they can attain to those incomparably better things which
are the property of all good persons; for the good which even
the wicked possess is not so excellent a good as that which
only the good possess.
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 79
3. When the unjust possess a bodily good, it Is their re-
ward; when the just possess it, it is not their recompense but
a temporal consolation. Thus, the loss of a temporal good
becomes a trial to the just, a punishment to the unjust; for
the just man, captivated by a desire for heavenly things, does
not at all feel It whether he possesses all temporal things or
loses them, while the wicked man does not lose without
sorrow what he possesses with delight. Consequently, those
who fight for God should with all their hearts shun riches,
which those who desire to possess do not seek without labor,
do not find without difficulty, do not preserve without care,
do not possess without anxious effort, do not lose without
grief. Moreover, the Apostle says to the soldiers of Christ:
I -would have you to lie without solicitude] 3S and, The desire
of money is the root of all evils, which some coveting have
erred from the faith and have entangled themselves in many
sorrows. And so, earthly wealth is, for those who love it
wickedly, material not for pleasures but for sorrows; where-
fore, it is expedient that the property of the Church be posses-
sed to provide support for those who serve not the world,
whose fleeting joys they spurn, but God, whose ineffable
blessings they desire.
CHAPTER 14
The interpretation of the Apostles statement: They who
work in the holy place eat the things that are of
the holy place.
Of such men, it appears, the Apostle says: They who work
in the holy place eat the things that are of the holy place;
and they that serve the altar partake with the altar. 40 If he
did not intend this to be understood of those who renounce
8o JULIANUS POMERIUS
their own possessions, he certainly would not have followed
this up with: So also God ordained that they who preach the
Gospel should live ley the Gospel. 4 * They live by the Gospel
who wish to have nothing of their own, who neither have nor
desire to have anything, possessing not their own things but
things in common. What does it mean " to live by the Gos-
pel " except that the laborer should receive the necessaries
of life there where he works? Nevertheless, the Apostle, who
so preached the Gospel that he did not live by the Gospel but
furnished his necessities by his own hands, boldly says of
himself: But I have used none of these things. 42 And why
he said this he revealed, continuing: for it is good for me
to die rather than that any man should make my glory void. 43
He says that his glory would have been made void if he had
wished to receive his subsistence from those to whom he
preached; for he wished to receive the reward of his labor not
in this life but in the future life. But if he who had nothing
wished to live not by the Gospel wherein he labored but by
his own hands lest he lose the glory of his reward, what of us
who do not wish to give up our own property, because of
love of possessing not because of the necessity of living, and
who in addition wish to receive not what might give us the
necessities of life but what might increase our possessions by
damnable gains?
CHAPTER 15
Covetousness and its domination of those of whom it has
once taken possession.
i . Here imperious covetousness orders us, spurning things
divine, to concentrate on the ruinous accumulation of earthly
possessions so that we place all our solicitude and care in
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 81
them, boast of them with unwholesome vanity, neglect to
become poor in spirit, being conceited by the greatness of an
extensive estate. O crime unheard of! Despising the sweet
yoke of Christ, we take on ourselves through a voluntary
inclination of our minds the iron rule of covetousness and,
disregarding the light yoke of our Lord, \vhich does not
oppress its subjects but exalts them, pile on our shoulders a
leaden weight which can be dropped more easily than borne;
for covetousness, which places this weight on us who freely
choose to be enslaved, can be more easily spurned than satis-
fied and those who have surrendered willingly to their
captor will no longer have the will to resist it when it rules
them tyrannically. And by a just judgment of God it happens
that we who did not wish to resist covetousness when it was
on the point of entering can no longer resist it when it has
entered.
2. O lamentable servitude of a shamefully conquered
mind! O unbearable dominion of fiendish covetousness! In
order to bring into its own service as many of its enemies as
possible/ 4 it promises them amazing things and forces them,
wretched and pitiful as they already are, into shameful evils
by deceiving them with the promise of earthly goods. It holds
us bound by the chains of bittersweet gains and captive as
our sovereign; and it does not draw us against our will, but,
what is worse, it leads us willing to go wherever it wishes.
It ravages in us whatever modesty and sense of shame it finds;
and those of us it has already claimed for its triumphs, as
though it suspected that we might yet recover our senses, it
disarms of all concept of honor: we who were unwilling to
resist it must not at any time rebel against it. It carries us off
and makes us, greedy for gain, stray through all manners of
82 JULIANUS POMERIUS
acquiring wealth. It does not allow us freedom of mind,
nor with the mind restless and moody does it permit calm
and rest to the body; and like so many cadavers cast out as
carrion to birds and beasts of prey, it turns its captives over to
unclean spirits to be not merely torn but devoured by the
voracious jaws of deadly crimes, yet not so that they cease to
live but that they continue to live in torment. In fine, in
bodies still alive they carry their own death; that is to say,
they are living and dead at the same time. Thence it is that
when we live in sin we feel in the pleasure of enjoying carnal
things how much an increase in our accumulated wealth
delights us; and, being, as it were, dead to virtues, we do not
feel what a great poverty of virtues we suffer.
CHAPTER 16
Those possess God more perfectly wlio renounce earthly
possessions from their hearts.
i. This is why it is expedient to hold the goods of the
Church, not to satisfy and foster pleasure but to provide for
the community life of the brethren and their support so that,
while one person shoulders the cares of all living in his com-
pany, all those under him may enjoy spiritually a fruitful
leisure and quiet. (I inserted that adverb for this reason that
if he who enjoys a leisurely quiet does not live spiritually, he
lives in the manner of cattle.) And, therefore, he whom no
care of bodily need disquiets, no occupation of domestic busi-
ness distracts, no litigant troubles, no calumniator persecutes :
for what else should he be solicitous, being free of these and
similar troubles, except that whereby he may become better,
lessen his faults by daily improvements, increase his virtues,
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 83
and gain possession of spiritual goods in place of the carnal
goods he has renounced? Let him exercise himself in these
goods with the aid of God, always embrace and love them,
and prefer them not only to all his other delights but also
to the very torturings 45 of his own flesh, so that he who has
left himself nothing that he is afraid to lose may with so
great a firmness of faith retain those things for which he has
abandoned his possessions that, if necessary, he would will-
ingly give his life for them.
2. Let him, then, whom the pomp of possession entices,
with a disengaged heart possess God, who possesses all that
He has created, and in Him he will have whatever he holily
desires to have. But because no one possesses God save him
who is possessed by God, let him first be the possession of
God, and God will become his possessor and portion. 46 And
who can be more fortunate than he whose Creator becomes
his wealth and whose inheritance the very Godhead deigns to
be if only he honors Him by holy works, attributes all his
success to Him, always lives in and through Him, and pos-
sesses nothing earthly along with Him? For the Creator of
all, whom nothing of His creation can equal, disdains to be
possessed along with the things He has made. In short, what
further does he seek whose Maker becomes his all? Or what
suffices him whom He does not suffice? That man possessed
Him and was possessed by Him, who said in the Spirit:
O Lord, -my portion, I have said, I would keep Thy law; 4T
and: The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my
cup* 8 But when He Himself says: You shall not give to the
sons of Levi part among their brethren; I, the Lord, am their
portion** He shows clearly that those who have renounced
the portion of an earthly inheritance are entitled to possess
God spiritually. Enriched by His gifts, they despise all that
84 JULIANUS POMERIUS
is considered excellent in this world and desire to possess Him
and to be possessed by Him, to enjoy Him alone, and to cling
inseparably to Him.
3. From this it may be understood that he who pursues
and loves temporal goods and worldly joys which will perish,
has not learned how numerous are the divine delights. For
who can seek anything else whose possession God deigns to
her Or w T ho for His love does not contemn all that is con-
sidered great? Let him ? then, who wishes to possess God
renounce the world so that God may be his blessed possession.
But he whom the flattery of earthly possession still attracts
does not renounce the world because, as long as he does not
renounce his possessions, he serves the world, whose goods he
retains; and surely he cannot at the same time serve the world
and God. And, therefore, God wished his worshippers to
renounce all for which the world is loved, so that, concupis-
cence of the world having been cast out, divine love could
increase and grow perfect in them. And so God ordained
that tithes 50 and first fruits, first-born 51 and sin offerings, 52
and gifts \vhich He commanded to be offered to Himself
should be distributed to the priests and ministers in order
that, while a most devoted people furnished them the neces-
saries of life, they themselves might minister to their Creator
and Shepherd with undisturbed minds and might advance in
His worship without any bodily solicitude lest, being en-
meshed in earthly occupations, they be unable to take good
care of the duties proper to their office.
4. Now, however, that priests of the Christian age manage
rather than serve the possessions of the Church, even in this
they serve God because, if the things conferred on the Church
belong to God, he does the work of God who from the motive
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 85
not of any cupidity but of the most faithful stewardship does
not neglect the things consecrated to God. Wherefore, the
possessions which priests receive from the people should not
be considered as to be accounted of the w r orld but of God.
For, if the vestments and vessels and other things ministers
used for the sacred rites \vere called holy and could no
longer be turned to human use when once consecrated by
divine ministers, 53 w r hy should we not consider as holy the
things conferred on the Church, which the priests use for
necessary purposes, not to serve luxury, as things of the world,
but to serve holy ends, as things consecrated to God? Thus,
the goods of the Church, collected for this purpose, should
serve the needs of all those who place themselves under one
person out of love for perfection and do not claim their own
for themselves; and whatever progress they make, being freed
from all occupation, becomes the fruit of him who alone has
been occupied in behalf of many. And, consequently, he
who bears responsibility for all who live under him advances
in the advancement of his community with the result that, as
his occupation has become the fruitful leisure of all his sub-
jects, so their glorious perfection may be considered the honor
and glory of their superior.
CHAPTER 17
Those profit nothing who though abstaining from food are
slaves of their vices; nor does it avail those who do
their own will to renounce their possessions.
i. You also asked what should be regarded as perfection
in abstinence, and whether it should be considered necessary
only for the body or for the soul as well. If this virtue which
86 JlJLIANUS POMERIUS
is called abstinence sanctifies the whole man when it is
perfect, it is necessary not only for the body but also for
the soul because the whole man is composed of body and
soul. But in those who, dominated by diverse vices, deny
themselves any of the things conceded to our use, this denial
should be understood as abstinence, it is true, but carnal and
imperfect. On the other hand, that should be regarded as
spiritual and perfect which makes the one w T ho abstains hos-
tile to the enticements of carnal pleasures as well as to all
sins; one whose soul is not corrupted by the disorders of
desires and whose physical strength is not weakened by
pleasures sought at the command of an imperious appetite.
He, then, is to be considered truly abstinent who has freed
himself of all vices, and who, having retrenched his bodily
pleasures, strives not to satisfy the concupiscence of his flesh
but only to sustain life by taking what is necessary. For,
indeed, whatever one takes without which he can live is
taken not to sustain life but to foster the luxury of the flesh.
2. This virtue, then, which is called abstinence with re-
gard to abstaining not merely from all dainty foods but also
from all evils, although necessary for every single person, is
to be considered especially pertinent and proper to those who,
according to the practice read of in the Acts of the Apostles,
have one heart and one soul, 54 being inflamed by the fire of
divine love, and who, living under the rule of one man, have
everything in common, provided, however, that they have
one life as they have one substance, and that there is no
division of minds among those who have their possessions in
common. For, in order that a holy union of hearts may be
effected and maintained, a fixed sharing of possessions is
necessary. Otherwise, what does it avail persons to cast off
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 87
their possessions if they do not give up their own will, con-
sidering that it is a far more excellent thing to renounce their
own will than to renounce their property? Even the philoso-
phers of this world could renounce their possessions, 55 and
nowadays some heretics can; 56 but the former, since they
were lovers of their own will, did not live according to the
will of God, and the latter by insisting on their own will
contradict the Lord's will. Consequently, not that which
even the enemies of God do commends us to Him but that
which is done only by persons who are true Christians and,
therefore, lovers of God. These are they who, abandoning
their wills and their possessions, subject themselves with all
their heart to their Creator and make their will depend on
His will and so, being captivated by a love of justice, despise
whatever their carnal senses suggest that they should strive
for and do.
CHAPTER 18
The first man lost great blessings })j his disregard of 'abstinence.
i. Now, if 'the first man had willed to keep himself in
that happiness of paradise by not eating of the fruit of the
one forbidden tree, he would not have lost that state of great
felicity, nor would the willful transgression of the saving
precept have condemned him to the necessity of corruption
and mortality so that he, being corrupted by sin, would either
defile or destroy the great benefits of his God which he had
received in his original state. For who can adequately re-
count what great blessings contempt for abstinence took
away from him? Being endowed with the dignity of a reason-
ing mind, he bore the likeness of his Creator; subject to his
God alone, he beheld all things subject to himself; by God's
88 JULIANUS POMERIUS
command the fruitfulness of all the trees of paradise served
the needs of his life abundantly; 5T the tree of life by the
gift of his Creator furnished a mystical .food, not to give him
life but to prevent his dying; and as long as this food was
eaten, it preserved the one who partook of it in one and the
same state thus indicating the figure of a certain sacra-
ment 5S so that it did not permit him to deteriorate because
of any infirmity or to be changed by age and to grow old or
to be destroyed by death. Irksome care did not disturb his
quiet, anxious labor did not trouble his leisure, sleep did not
overtake him against his will, nor did fear of losing his life
distress him since he was sure of immortality. He had ready
nourishment, a body healthy in every part, emotional tran-
quillity, a clean heart; he was ignorant of the evil of punish-
ment, a dweller in paradise, unacquainted with sin, fit for
God. 59
2. Lastly, who was happier than he to whom the world
was subject, no one hostile, his soul free, and God visible?
For, unless before his sin man was accustomed to see God in
the assumption of visible creation, how would he, directly he
became a sinner, hide from the face of the Lord whom he
had never seen? Before his sin, then, Adam could see God
just as the Patriarchs saw Him. But when he said: I heard
Thy voice . . . and I was afraid, 60 he had already fallen from
that holy state of seeing God; he had already made himself
unworthy to see God. I heard Thy voice, he said, and I was
afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself. 61 Oh, how
much security those of good conscience have! And how much
the shameful commission of sin humiliates them in their con-
fusion, like those who hid themselves from God's face, con-
founded by their wickedness, not by their nakedness! They
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 89
blushed not because they were exteriorly naked of garments
but because within they were bare of divine protection. 6 " In
fact, before their sin they were naked and did not blush 63
because they had done nothing contrary to the will of God
so that they should feel ill at ease.
CHAPTER 19
The sin of the first man and the evils which followed his sin
hy the judgment of God.
i. But now, if you will, let us see how those first human
beings committed so great a sin which cast them from para-
dise into this exile of a life full of grief and in them, con-
demned the whole human race from the beginning. Now,
they would not have eaten of the forbidden tree, so it seems
to me, if they had not been desirous to do so; nor would they
have so desired if they had not been tempted; nor tempted if
they had not been deserted; nor deserted by God if they had
not first deserted Him; 64 nor would they have deserted God
if they had not been proud and had not damnably craved
likeness to God. This they would have acquired without
death of body if, living under God, they had obeyed the
command they had been given, so that they who had in
nature received the possibility of not dying would in glory
attain the impossibility of dying 65 and would there have
obtained the reward of not being able to sin if here it had
been their merit not to want to sin. Hence, open concupis-
cence would not have moved them, ruined by their striving
after divinity, from their Creator to a creature unless hidden
pride had first seduced them; and the devil would not have
served them such perfidious advice 66 through the serpent if
90 JULIANUS POMERIUS
he had not first ensnared their appetite. I/, he said, yon shall
have tasted of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
yoiir eyes shall lie opened; and you shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil* 7 These are those three things which the
Apostle Saint John declares are in the world and must not he
loved by the friends of God. He says: Love not the world
nor the things which are in the world; ... for all that is in
the world is the concupiscence of the flesh and the concupis-
cence of the eyes and the pride of life If those who had
already fallen away from the love of God had not "begun to
love these things, never would they have believed the counsel
of the serpent, who persuaded them to evil.
2. Thus, concupiscence of the flesh was satisfied by them
because they tasted of the forbidden tree; concupiscence of
the eyes, because they wished their eyes to be opened; and
the pride of life, because they believed they could become the
same as God. Seduced, then, by the pleasure of the flesh
and the curiosity of the eyes and the pride of life, they were
cut off from the tree of life, which gave them the grace of
warding off death and of keeping their well-being; and their
bodies contracted a diseased condition so that according to the
judgment of God they are considered as dead since that day
on which in punishment they incurred the necessity of death;
and through the tree which for this reason is called that of
the knowledge of good and evil from which they to their
woe failed to abstain when they could, they learned by their
penalty what difference there was between the good they had
lost and the evil they had incurred; whereas, if, when they
had lost so great a good, they had incurred no evil, they per-
haps would not have realized what a blessing they had lost.
For health becomes more precious when pain tortures; and
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 91
the bitterness of illness lends appreciation of health that is
lost. And so they began, not by being taught but by experi-
ence, to know this evil which it would have been better for
them to remain ignorant of, so that from their very misery
they might understand how 7 great a happiness they had lost,
and that at least the just enduring of the evil of punishment
might move those \vhom the loss of a natural good w 7 ould
perhaps not have moved. These things I have said, by a
digression I considered necessary, of the first human beings
in order that those \vho do not wash to undergo the punish-
ment of their damnation may avoid the example of their fall.
CHAPTER 20
Having been restored in Christ, we shall regain all the
blessings which we lost when corrupted in Adam.
To be sure, though we were born carnally of Adam, we
should nevertheless imitate not him but Christ, in whom we
have been reborn and in whom we live when, being renewed
to our profit, we lay aside our old way of life. What is it to
imitate Adam except to be punished by death for our carnal
desires and concupiscences? And what is it to imitate Christ
except to be crucified to our carnal concupiscences and de-
sires? In the same way, to lay aside our old way of life is
nothing but to live not according to the flesh, which grows
old and dies but according to God, who alone can continu-
ally renew and make happy those who persevere in Him.
Wherefore, as when we were in Adam we all fell by his
fall, so let us also, since we have begun to be in Christ, who
deigned to die for us all, rise spiritually with Him, being dead
to sin with Him. In Adam we lost all the blessings we could
7*
92 JULIANUS POMERIUS
have; in Christ we will receive even greater gifts and gifts
that are everlasting if we follow steadfastly in His footsteps. 69
Adam by his guilt rendered us subject to all evils; the com-
ing of Christ freed us from these by His grace. The former
transmitted to us his guilt and his punishment; the latter,
who, being conceived and born without sin, could not partake
in our guilt, by undertaking our punishment effaced both
our guilt and its penalty. In a word, Adam took paradise
from us; Christ gave us heaven.
CHAPTER 21
The life incumbent on those who desire to imitate Christ.
i. And, therefore, if we wish to be in Him what we
should be, as Saint John the Apostle says, as He walked, 70
so we also should walk spiritually. What is it to walk as
He walked except to contemn all prosperity which He de-
spised; not to fear adversities which He bore; to do gladly
what He did; to teach men to do what He commanded; to
hope in what He promised; and to follow where He Himself
went before? And what is it to follow Him except to show
favors even to the ungrateful, not to repay evildoers according
to their deserts, to pray for our enemies, to love the good, to
compassionate the perverse, to exhort the estranged, to receive
in charity those who return, and to tolerate with patience the
deceitful and the proud? To this the statement of Saint Paul
the Apostle also refers: If you be risen with Christ, seek the
things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand
of God 71 Those rise with Christ who, like Him, die to sin-
with this difference, however, that He died not to His own
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 93
sin but to ours. Each of us, on the other hand, dies not to the
sin of all but to his own sin.
2. What is it to die to sin except not to live at all to works
that condemn one to punishment/ 2 to covet nothing carnally,
to strive for nothing? Just as one who is dead in the flesh, he
who is dead to sin detracts no one any longer; opposes and
despises no one; corrupts no one's chastity by clever ruse;
shows himself violent to no one; calumniates and oppresses
no one; does not envy the good or insult the afflicted; does
not serve the luxury of the flesh; does not, being given over
to drink, enkindle his thirst more and more by drinking; does
not take fire from the torch of hatred; does not pursue unjust
gains; does not flatter the powerful or the rich; is not carried
away by restless curiosity; is not distracted by the care of
domestic business; does not delight in the obsequious salu-
tations of those he meets; is not disturbed by the insults of
the haughty. No pride turns his head; windy ambition does
not dash him headlong; vainglory does not ignobly torment
him; the desire of a brilliant reputation does not inflame him;
occupation with another's business does not ensnare him; the
love of evil does not entice him to the company of evildoers;
the madness of insane anger does not attack him; the desire
for sumptuous luxury does not trouble him; the heat of
spirited contention does not undo him. No boldness makes
him impudent; injustice, unjust; severity, harsh; inconstancy,
fickle; contumely, insulting; madness, violent; gluttony, sen-
sual; disobedience, rebellious; boasting, vain; perfidy, un-
faithful; levity, light-minded; cruelty, inhuman; shameful
appetite, a glutton; restlessness, impatient; instability, unset-
tled; spiritual infirmity, inconstant; animosity, angry; froward-
ness, mistrustful; vanity, loquacious; malice, insulting. He
94 JULIANUS POMERIUS
is completely removed from the enticements of earth, re-
moved from uncleanness and enmity, removed from harmful
treachery, removed from rapine in the dark and in the open,
removed from lying and perjury: removed, in fine, from
every manner of shameful excesses and crimes by which
those who live carnally offend God and, being dead in sin,
do not serve Him. As, I say, one who is dead in the flesh can
neither do nor suffer the things I have mentioned, so also the
lives of those who, living for God, crucify their flesh with the
vices and concupiscences 73 have nothing to do with these and
similar vices.
CHAPTER 22
The practice of temperance in those who desire to abstain from
the pleasure of delicacies or from an immoderate
eating of common foods and from an immoderate
use of wine.
i . They mortify their members which are upon the earth 7 *
when they chastise their intemperate body by continued fasts,
when they keep their appetite within the limit of necessity,
when with moderate strictness they not only refrain from
the more luxurious foods but even in common foods allow
their flesh nothing to satisfy its craving, but only as needed to
sustain its life. They are convinced that delicacies are not
a detriment if taken without desire, while ordinary foods, if
taken with desire, very often harm the progress of abstinence.
Hence it is that holy David restrained his craving for water
and when his men offered it to him, poured it out in order
that it might not appear that he was satisfying his desire for
it; 75 on the other hand, the undesired eating of meat did not
harm holy Elias. 70 Thus it may be understood that the truly
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 95
abstinent condemn not the qualities of foods but concupis-
cence, and that they mortify their sensuality by not using
food or drink which they crave. Those, moreover, who wish
to abstain not only in kind but also in amount of food are
careful to eat only what seems enough to restore their stomach
and to take away hunger. They do not purpose to satisfy
their appetite by their eagerness to eat, but restrain it; and
not repletion but their will limits their eating. They will
repress the desire of the more dainty foods as much as eating
common food to excess; they do not wish to enervate them-
selves by rich foods, the flesh growing unruly, or gorge them-
selves on common foods; for abstemious men are wont to be
neither gourmets nor gluttons.
2. Now, what shall I say of abstaining from wine or of
drinking it? In this regard the holy Apostle fixed a sure
rule, saying: Be not drunk with wine, wherein is luxury, 77
as though he were to say: " An excessive use of wine, not
its nature, causes and fosters debauchery; therefore I do not
forbid you to use wine, but I forbid you to become intoxi-
cated. For a moderate use of wine strengthens a weak
stomach, but drunkenness weakens mind and body/' Ac-
cordingly, to his disciple Timothy, who had already broken
his health by prolonged severe abstinence and had spoiled his
stomach by drinking water, he prescribes the use of a little
wine, saying: Do not still drink -water, but use a little wine
for thy stomach's sake and thy frequent infirmities. 7B And
so people do not violate abstinence who drink wine not with
drunkenness in mind but only for the health of their body;
whose desire does not proffer it to them but whose infirmity
allows it. If such weakness is not present, they should abstain
from it; otherwise, the drinking of wine, which strengthens
9& JULIANUS POMERIUS
the sick body, may set aflame a healthy body. For, although
no one has called it a sin to use wine or oil, we ought not to
give these things to the flesh that desires them for fear that
when we begin to yield it things that are permitted, it may
demand unlawful things and, since we have humored it in
small things, may lead us on to culpable misdeeds; and for
fear that the body, confounding the natural order, may not
serve the spirit, but the spirit, the body which has the upper
hand. Besides, it is a fruit of abstinence that it makes the
mind itself alert; it also renders the body agile, not heavy unto
lassitude but obedient to the spirit that controls it. The
feelings, too, which a surfeit of delicacies is said to make
dull and listless, the habit of abstemiousness relieves and
refines with the polish, so to speak, of a religious exercise.
CHAPTER 23
The desire of meats, not their nature, defiles those who use
meats.
i. If, however, those who abstain from animal flesh enjoy
fattened pheasants or other costly birds or fishes, 79 they do
not, it seems to me, repress the pleasures of their body but
merely change them; and it is not because of abstinence but
because of some impurity or, at least which is closer to the
truthbecause of the fastidiousness of their squeamish stom-
achs that they refuse common dainties and ordinary foods.
They want the opportunity of satisfying their sensuality not
only with different meats but also with those which are more
choice and more costly. Here, as I have already shown above,
in regard to certain meats which have been given to man to
use, we should not condemn their nature, made by God as
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 97
they are; but we must flee the carnal concupiscences which
the devil has put into the faculties of our flesh. Again, there
are those who wish to be regarded as unusually abstemious
and eagerly seek glory for themselves because of an ostensibly
stricter observance of abstinence; hence, they decide to ab-
stain from all animal foods, only to satisfy the enormous
appetite of their body with exotic fruits and exquisite drinks
and other such fare; so whereas the spirit of abstinence urges
not the use of any particular foods but the controlling of
desire. Moreover, they should be considered to practice tem-
perance more who deny themselves not the eating of certain
things but the enjoyments of the body.
2. Again, those who, while denying themselves the drink-
ing of wine, drown themselves in beakers of various con-
coctions seem to me not to observe abstinence at all because
they keep themselves from wine perhaps so that they may
thus purchase the praise of men; and they make up for the
wine they deny themselves by the sweeter cups of their
pleasures. As regards the use of wine, a person should ab-
stain not from wine alone, but from all that causes drunken-
ness, or from all that causes, if not drunkenness, at least
pleasure, so that he may be perfectly grounded in true absti-
nence and not imposing in external appearance but hollow
within, before men clean, but before God covered with the
filth of counterfeit virtue. Nor should we abstain less from
the desire to possess superfluities than from the pleasure of
eating. For, considering that we have for our use all that we
possess, to wish longingly to have those things which one does
not intend to use, or even to increase our possessions by
gains sought in one way or another, is only to serve, not a
necessity to be suffered, but insufferable covetousness. Nor
98 JULIANUS POMERIUS
can I say: " I keep my property so that I may have something
to give daily to the poor "; for no one gives more perfectly
than he who for the sake of perfection leaves himself nothing
of his own.
CHAPTER 24
It is often 'beneficial to place hospitality to visitors before
fasting or abstinence.
1 . We should, however, do our abstaining and fasting in
such a manner that we do not put ourselves under the neces-
sity of fasting or abstaining; otherwise, we shall be doing an
optional thing under constraint rather than out of piety. If,
for instance, interrupting my fast, I give refreshment to some
visitors, I do not break my fast, but I fulfill a duty of charity.
Again, if by my abstinence I sadden my spiritual brethren,
who I know derive enjoyment from my unbending myself,
my abstinence should be called not a virtue but a vice be-
cause continued abstinence and fasting, unless interrupted
when occasion requires, actually makes me vainglorious and
saddens my brother, whom charity requires me to serve; and
it certainly shows that I have no fraternal charity. For charity
alone without abstinence makes any Catholic perfect; and
abstinence without the addition of charity either brings about
the ruin of all or perishes itself.
2. Because, then, even the Manichaeans and some other
heretics can practice abstinence and fasting, especially since
they detest all flesh not for the sake of abstinence but for
uncleanness, 81 and weaken their bodies by living on bread
and water, let us not attach any significance to our abstaining
from what they also renounce. Let us do so only when
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 99
faith commends our abstinence and charity perfects it. Those
who do not have these virtues can kill themselves, 82 but they
cannot better themselves or become perfect by such absti-
nence. Let us certainly not think ourselves better because of
our abstinence than those Catholic Christians who, whether
through being unable to abstain or not wishing to abstain,
receive with thanks all that is granted for our use; otherwise,
it may be that their humility and other virtues are superior
to ours and for that reason they will rightly outrank us who
fast. Wherefore, if we wish our abstinence and our fasting
to profit us, let us part in the first place "with pride, which
either drives out or lessens all virtues, and with boasting, the
enemy of all virtues; in fact, with all vices whatsoever, so
that our abstinence from pleasure-giving foods may benefit
us. And then will it benefit us to repress our bodies, or,
rather, the evil incitements of our bodies, by the rigor of a
strict abstinence if, freed from carnal desires, we flower in
holy virtues.
But here let the book conclude. Thus I may in the third
volume, with God's help, discuss more extensively and more
fully the virtues and the vices on which I have here touched
briefly.
BOOK THREE
FOREWORD
In the first volume I dealt with the contemplative life and
the questions to what extent the active life differs from it and
how you can with the help of God become a sharer in the
contemplative virtue itself. In the second book I treated, by
God's gift, what I thought should be said of the active life,
too: I showed the usefulness of religious rebuke and the
virtue of patience and the way the possessions of the Church
should be administered and the manner of spiritual absti-
nence. Now it remains for me to undertake a discussion of
the vices and the virtues, not relying on an endowment of
which I am not conscious, but assisted by your prayers.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 . The difference between true virtues and their imitations.
2. Pride is the cause of all vices. 3. Pride, from which
all vices proceed, is overcome by the virtue of humility; and
all vices are routed and perish as they yield to virtues. 4.
Cupidity. This is so mixed with pride that no sin is com-
mitted which does not proceed from both. 5. The torment
of mind with which envy afflicts the envious. 6. The vices
into which concupiscence of the flesh breaks out when a cor-
rupt mind consents to it. 7. Even those whom some com-
100
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 101
pulsion keeps from impurity rise to the love of chastity if they
accustom themselves to live chastely. 8. The marks hy which
one can recognize pride, which is either on the surface in
the reprobate or concealed in the dissembling. 9. The marks
that reveal the envy of the envious. 10. The evils in which
vanity involves the vain. 1 1 , The usefulness of fear; it effec-
tually resists sins. 12. The future judgment, the eternity of
punishment, and the nature of hell. 13. Praise of charity.
14. An interpretation of what the holy Apostle has said about
charity. 15. The perfection conferred by charity on those
established in it.
1 6. The nature of virtue; it permeates those of one mind
with it. 17. The rise of the converted to the height of
perfection.
1 8. The perfection to be attributed to the number four;
the four virtues called principal, being conferred by God,
justify those who live by faith. 19. The nature of temperance
and the effect it produces. 20. The type of persons ennobled
by fortitude of soul. 21 . Justice and, proceeding from it, faith.
22. Equity; the advancement of human society is its concern.
23. The two kinds of injustice. 24. Generosity and the
practice of beneficence. 25, The different kinds of love;
perfect love as distinguished from them. 26. Giving each
man his due. 27. Three virtues temperance, fortitude, and
justice perfect the active life. Prudence, which is the fourth
virtue, furnishes the mind knowledge of hidden things. 28.
The social virtue. Those do wrong who do not help human
society when they can. 29. From the fount of prudence and
wisdom those who are eagerly intent on gaining learning
drink knowledge of all things, 30. The prudent neither harm
others nor permit themselves to be harmed. They will have
102 JULIANUS POMERJUS
consummate prudence without admixture of any error there
where life will be perfect without any sin. 31. The four
emotions. These should not be counted among the vices if
their use proceeds from a good will. 32. These emotions,
without which there is no right living in this life, will not
exist in that future happiness, which will have in store
neither fear nor sorrow. 33. The four virtues called principal
virtues both defend us from sin in the present life and will
remain with us forever to the exclusion of every sin. 34.
The writer offers an apology for his whole work.
CHAPTER l
The difference between true virtues and their imitations.
You have asked me to what extent simulated virtues differ
from true virtues. I shall not say that the difference is the
same as between poison and medicine. Sometimes the cura-
tive effect of medicine upon the body is so hampered as to
be powerless to defend it from the necessity of death; and as
for poison, it does not take life from a body as though it
would not have been taken away if poison had not been
used, but it only hastens the death of a body which would
perhaps have lived a little longer. But I say simply that the
difference between imitations of virtues and true virtues is as
great as the difference between a lie and the truth. Plainly,
the imitation of virtue, which seems to be virtue although it
is not, is nothing but a lie and should therefore be called not
a virtue but a vice. And real virtue is truth. The person who,
having been brought back to life from the death of sin, with
devotion applies himself to such virtue can no longer die
except when he withdraws from it by reason of a depraved
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 103
will; just as, on the contrary, the pretense of virtue, which,
as I have said, is a lie in opposition to the truth, separates
from God, its Life, the soul which will not die but live for-
ever in punishment that is its death, as Scripture says: The
mouth that belieth killeth the so^L 1 And thus, in the same
manner in which virtue, if it is genuine, justifies the soul
that truly applies itself to it, so simulated virtue condemns it
And what does justification of the soul mean, if not that its
life is everlastingly happy and happily everlasting, 2 just as
the soul's condemnation is to he understood as its penalty,
and this proves to be death likewise everlasting?
2. Hence, a soul is doubly guilty if it not only fails to do
good, whereby it might live spiritually, but makes a pretense
of good, under which it may live badly and hide. 3 The proud
man wishes himself to be thought steadfast; the prodigal,
liberal; the avaricious, frugal; the rash, brave; the inhuman,
humane; the gluttonous, refined; the slothful, retiring; the
cowardly, circumspect. Boldness claims the name of confi-
dence, insolence alleges the title of liberty, loquacity imagines
itself eloquent, and the evil of inquisitiveness skulks behind
the appearance of spiritual zeal. Although it is possible by
the aid of human intelligence to recognize these things for
what they are, yet without God's gift, so it seems to me,
virtues can be neither sought nor possessed, nor can their
imitations, made to resemble virtues, be avoided. So true is
this that in our opinion infidels derived no advantage even
if outwardly they practiced some virtues, because they neither
believed that they had received them from their God nor
were they willing to refer them to Him who is the end of all
good things. Nay what is this I say: it availed them nothing?
The fact is, it even harmed them, as the Apostle says:
104 JULIANUS POMERIUS
All that is not of faith is sin. 4 He did not say: " All that is
not of faith has no meaning/' but in saying: All that is not
of faith is sin, he declared that all good things born of faith
are virtues, and these surely justify; or, if they are without
faith, they should not be considered as virtues but as vices,
which do not help those who serve them but condemn them
and cast them down in their pride and bar them from the
land of eternal salvation.
3. But why do I expatiate on these things that have to do
with unbelievers, concerning whom evidently no one is in
doubt? Does not the Apostle call carnal even some of the
faithful, who, though believing in God, live not according to
God but according to men"? He says: And I, brethren, when
I came to you, could not speak to you as unto spiritual, Tout
as unto carnal; . . . for you were not able as yet. But neither,
indeed, are you noiv ahle; for you are yet carnal. 5 And as
though we were going to ask what he intends us to under-
stand by carnal, he promptly adds: For, whereas there is
among you envying and contention, are you not carnal, and
walk according to man? 6 What worse thing can be found
than these two scourges of the soul, jealousy and discord, by
which even in this life the carnal, who live according to man,
are tormented? For discord produces heretics; and jealousy
creates imitators of the devil, who envied paradise to the first
human beings. And so, when the faithful show delight in
justice, piety, compassion, mercy, humility, integrity, and the
other virtues, either they live according to God and should be
credited with having true virtues, which, when attained,
sanctify those who live spiritually and commend them to
God; or they live according to man, in which case their
virtues are not true virtues but imitations, which do not
profit those who live carnally.
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 105
4. Therefore, if one who lives religiously, temperately,
soberly, and compassionately gives the credit to God, by
whose gift he is assisted to live well, he lives according to
Godspiritually. If, however, he ascribes to his own strength
all that he does well, as though he were sufficient to himself,
even without God's help, for doing good, he lives according
to mancarnally; and, in consequence, either he does not live
well, or whatever good he does for the sake of men does not
profit him because, delighted by men's praise, he already
receives here the temporal reward of his works, which he did
for time. He, therefore, lives according to man who lives
according to himself; for he himself evidently is a man 7 and
he is living according to himself. If he can do so, he lives
with whom he pleases, 8 goes where he pleases, sleeps when
and as long as he pleases, eats and drinks when and what and
as much as he pleases, laughs and jokes with whom he pleases;
in fine, a man who desires carnally all things, lawful and un-
lawful, cultivates and pursues as he wishes whatever is sweet
to his nostrils, soft to his touch, delightful to his eyes, and
whatever is pleasing to the other senses of his flesh. But he
who lives according to God does not what delights him car-
nally but what builds him spiritually. He curbs all the crav-
ings of his flesh by delights in spiritual desires. He places
future things before present. He subdues the flesh to the
spirit; and whatever he desires or does he wishes to proceed
not from his own will but from the will of God, whom he
longs with all his strength to please.
5. If, then, it has now become fairly clear that they who
pretend virtues evidently do not have true virtues, and that
they pretend them who do good not from faith or because
of God but only because of men, by practicing almsgiving and
Io6 JULIANUS POMERIUS
fasts or abstinence and the other good works; and who do this
not to become good but to pretend to men that they are good;
not to receive an eternal reward but to gain popular esteem :
let us now see from what prior causes and by what later
additions vices usually are engendered and increase, and by
what remedies, as by so many medicines, they can with God's
help be lessened or corrected.
CHAPTER 2
Pride is the cause of all vices.
i. This is indeed a very involved question; but if you
beseech Him who said: It is not you that speak, lout the
Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you] 9 and elsewhere :
Open thy mouth wide, and I -will fill it the things that are
impossible for me as a man become possible when the Lord
enlightens and teaches me. Let us, then, consider what
causes precede, what vices come after. In order that this
might seem more plausible, let not your prudence ask this
of me; but by you and by me and by everyone let Divine
Scripture be consulted and let it give the replythe Scripture
which, as if we actually were asking it, set forth an unalter-
able statement, saying: Pride is the beginning of all sin.' 11
What could be said more clearly, what could be more con-
vincing? The beginning, not of some sin, but of every sin is
pride, it says, in order to show plainly that it precisely is the
cause of all sins. Evidently, not only is pride itself a sin, but,
furthermore, no sin in the past, present, or future could be
committed without it. For all sin is nothing but contempt of
God, by which His precepts are trodden underfoot; and that
which prompts men to this contempt of God is pride alone.
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 107
This it was that caused eternal ruin even in the devil himself,
that he should become a devil from being an angel. 12 Then
he, knowing that he had fallen from heaven and had teen
thrust into this prison of the gloomy air 1S because of pride,
lured man with a serpent's cunning to the vice of pride in
order to subvert him whom God had made without any sin;
for the devil was certain that if pride, the cause of all evils,
were given entrance, man would then easily commit all sins,
conceived as they are only in a proud heart.
2. Hence it is that the first man, seduced by the self-
exaltation of a proud spirit, doomed all his posterity, which
took its origin from him, to the necessity of corruption and
mortality so that, becoming corruptible and mortal, he begot
corruptible and mortal beings; and w 7 hat criminal pride had
effected in him thus became the punishment of his sin in
all born of him. And, as a result, we cannot now resist sin
as could he for whom not to sin was nothing else but not to
wish to sin. For us, on the other hand, our desire to live
blamelessly is not enough: strength must come to the aid
of our will, which fails because of its feebleness. In his case
a nature still sound could even help him not to sin, whereas
ours, being now vitiated, hinders us; and the will to sin alone
made him sin, but the necessity that has now been made of
sin very often forces us. Wherefore, we cry to God and say:
Deliver me from my necessities, , 14 And when Divine Scrip-
ture says : Pride is the beginning of all sin, it is perhaps for
this reason that it came first in the devil and through him
man was perverted, concerning whom the Apostle says: By
one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death; and
so death passed upon all men, in -whom all have sinned.
3. But we who sinned in the sin of the first man, not in
108 JULIANUS POMERIUS
our present individual life but in his nature in which we
existed, contracted corruption from his disease of corrupt
pride as if from a root; and in this our corruption we have all
the causes of sins. We do not become corrupt because we sin;
but because we are corrupt, we commit every sin from this
corruption of ours. The first man, however, did not sin be-
cause he was corrupt; but when he was incorrupt, he cor-
rupted himself by sinning and transmitted his corruption to
us. 16 And hence, there where we shall be without any sin.
all our mortality and our entire corruption which resulted
from sin must needs be removed; while here, where our
nature, weakened by sin, has not as yet been restored but is
still being healed by grace, our pious efforts are opposed by
that base concupiscence which is not according to nature,
but which has been imposed and engrafted on our nature as
a punishment a concupiscence which was caused by sin and
which causes sin if it conquers. Although we have this con-
cupiscence as long as we live as mortals, nevertheless, let us
not support it with the desire of our will, and we shall con-
quer; for not by feeling it in us but by consenting to it do we
sin; nor does it conquer us the moment it assails us, but
only if may that not happen! it casts our mind down from
the sublimity of its resolve into consent to sin.
CHAPTER 3
Pride, from which all vices proceed, is overcome by the virtue
of humility; and all vices are routed and perish as
they yield to virtues.
i. If, then, pride is the beginning of every sin and con-
cupiscence is the punishment of sin, evil concupiscence can-
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 109
not be overcome unless pride Is first guarded against by the
virtue of humility, which is its enemy. A proud will causes
the commands of God to he despised; a humble will causes
them to be obeyed. Pride made demons of the angels; hu-
mility renders men like to the holy angels. The former makes
rebels who are subject to the devil; the latter joins the humble
to Christ. The proud desire that what they do not perform
be praised in them; the humble shun recognition of their
good deeds. The former excuse the perversity of their wills
by disclaiming their vices; and by crediting their virtues to
their own strength they boast shamefully. The latter, if
they commit any sin, accuse themselves by confessing it
voluntarily; and by attributing all the good that is in them to
God's divine bounty they continually praise Him. There-
fore, if virtue does not abide in a wicked mind, let pride
yield to the sway of humility because the soul cannot harbor
the reign of virtues unless it has first struck off the yoke of
vices. But then only do vices depart if they are firmly cast
out and made to give place to virtues. Otherwise, if virtues
have not taken the places of the vices which have been ex-
pelled, these bide their time and return.
2. Therefore, let gentleness oppose cruelty in us; let reso-
lute patience check anger; chastity overcome lust; calmness
take away wrath; discreet silence repress loquacity; spiritual
delight lessen carnal desires; the rigor of abstinence blunt the
stings of the flesh; 17 spiritual eagerness replace curiosity;
drunkenness yield to sobriety; clemency master cruelty; seri-
ousness 1S overcome levity. As the love of God and neighbor
increases, let all concupiscence of the world be destroyed;
let true moderation keep out luxury; the virtue of industry
correct sloth; deep humility bridle pride; unsophisticated sim-
110 JuLIAKTUS POMERIUS
plicity drive out folly; let fickleness be routed and not hamper
constancy; let faultless morals strengthen discipline, consider-
ate mercy soften harshness, and acquired goodness utterly
root out evil: so that by the expulsion of vices the glorious
entrance of virtues may be proclaimed. But we shall consider
the virtues in a chapter to follow; now let us continue with
the vices as we have begun.
CHAPTER 4
Cupidity. This is so mixed with yride that no sin is com-
mitted which does not proceed from both.
i . If it has now become sufficiently clear how the Scrip-
tural saying should be understood: Pride is the beginning
of all sin let us also examine this statement of the holy
Apostle: The desire of money is the root of all evils Since
the Holy Spirit, who spoke through the Prophet, spoke also
through the Apostle and cannot contradict Himself, we
should carefully consider why the one chose to call pride
the beginning of all sin and the other, the desire of money
the root of all evil. Or was the Apostle Paul perhaps com-
menting, as was his custom, on the words of the Prophet?
For, whether you say the beginning of all sin or the root of
all evils, you mean one and the same thing. Covetousness
and pride are indeed a single evil inasmuch as no proud man
can be found without covetousness, and no covetous person
without pride. Thus, even the devil, in whom pride holds
the mastery, was covetous of his own power and of man's
ruin; 21 and man himself, by his desire of the forbidden tree
and his striving after the likeness of God, showed the passion
of diseased covetousness. For out of pride are born heresies, 22
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE in
schisms, detractions, envy, talkativeness, toasting, strife, en-
mity, ambition, haughtiness, presumption, vanity, irritability,
lying, perjury, and other such vices. But who doubts that
these come from covetousness, too, since everyone who has
been corrupted by any one of the diseases I have named is
regarded as covetous also?
2. Likewise, since covetousness makes gluttons, libertines,
drunkards, misers, thieves, fornicators, adulterers, perverts,
incestuous men, profligates: how can they be made such
without pride, without which they cannot at all contemn the
precepts of God which forbid all those evils I have enumer-
ated above? Therefore, if we wish to complete victoriously
the course of our struggle, 23 let us beware in the first place of
covetousness and pride not two vices but one from which
all evil acts have their origin. For without pride what sin
can even begin to exist since it is said: Pride is the beginning
of all sin? Or without covetousness, which is the root of all
evils, what evils can be committed since without root all things
are counted as naught or dead? If, then, I cannot commit any
sin unless I consent to the evil pleasure, which is the essence
of covetousness, and contemn God's precepts, which is the
evil of pride, is it not evident that every sin proceeds from
covetousness, the root of all evils, and from pride, which is
called the beginning of all sin?
CHAPTER 5
The torment of mind with which envy afflicts the envious.
Of course, the envious one who by envy makes the good of
another his own punishment, seems not to be tempted to envy
112 JULIANUS POMEKIUS
by any covetousness but only to be troubled by the disease of
pride. 24 But if you examine carefully and thoroughly the
plague by which his soul is inflamed and brought low, you
will find that he is held both by a desire for the damnation of
the man whose death he wishes and by the evil of pride,
whereby he continually grieves that the better man, whom he
envies, is preferred to him. Who can easily express in words
what an evil this is whereby the envious through hatred of a
man attacks the divine good in him, when he should rather
be loved, and that, too, in proportion to the holiness of his
merit? The envious man has by just punishment as many
tormentors as the envied man had praisers. Indeed, excel-
lence of merit makes a man envied; the punishment of sin
makes him envious. Nor can man apply a remedy to him
whose wound is hidden.
CHAPTER 6
The vices into which concupiscence of the flesh breaks out
-when a corrupt -mind consents to it.
i . As to the man given over to concupiscence of the flesh,
does he perhaps appear to have no pride, considering especi-
ally that the very suffering of his lust seems to humble him?
However, if he had not first rebelled against God, whose
saving precept on preserving chastity he contemns by the
presumption of a proud spirit, no wanton desire would tempt
him to impurity. In his soul there takes place a long struggle
between contempt and fear of God, and either contempt of
God gets the upper hand, and his proud soul, letting in carnal
desire, loses its chastity; or fear prevails, and his soul, being
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 113
subject to God, rebuffs carnal desire and pride at the same
time.
Now, gluttony and an abundance of wine shamefully lull
many into impurity; evil thoughts inflame others to the harm
of their purity; occasions they meet cast some from their
resolution of chastity; and some others the example of liber-
tines places under the yoke of impurity.
2. There are others whose soul a base tongue sears 25 or
\vhose base conscience it reveals, who first either take pleasure
in using impure language or in listening to it and then, as
the disease gradually spreads, abandon their honor. With
their sense of shame destroyed, they become vile, and, though
in their indecency they wish to be regarded as elegant, they
now without regard for anything shamelessly mouth their
foul talk. For every man speaks of what he holds dear, and
he hears with pleasure what he dwells on in his thoughts.
Now, thought it is which, if it is decent, chastens the mind,
the same as evil thought defiles it; or rather, if the condition
of the mind does not come from thought but the quality of
thought from the mind, sordid thought does not make a mind
sordid, but from a sordid mind arise sordid thoughts. If this
is so, the forms of beautiful bodies, stealing in through the
eyes, do not trouble an incorrupt soul; and when they do
excite a soul corruptibly, they do not corrupt a healthy soul
but reveal one corrupt by its own choice.
3, Vile words, too, which enter through the ears, what
peculiar strength have they if they have not been freely ad-
mitted by the mind? But when they do prevail, they do not
corrupt that mind but find it already corrupt of its own free
will. For to chaste ears obscene talk vanishes with the sound
and does not invade the sanctuary of a pure heart. The soft
1 14 JULIANUS POMERIUS
caress which tempts a mind already vitiated 26 can this re-
ceive admission to the soul through touch if the soul keeps
inviolate the resolve of its professed faith? 2T Actually, then,
the soul, vitiated by its own will, first loses its integrity and
so admits the pleasure of the touch. Of avoiding the pleasure
of food and drink I have already said enough, I think, in the
second volume, in which I recommended with all possible
brevity the perfection of spiritual abstinence.
4. But here, too, I say this briefly: the delight of the palate
does not break into the mind through the mouth of flesh, nor
does shameful speech break forth from the mind unless the
mind corrupts itself voluntarily before it receives or brings
forth anything that might corrupt it. But if the soul continues
firm under its God by the same God's gift and does not yield
to any seductive pleasures, it neither brings forth nor receives
anything evil.
And now I shall make a few remarks about odors, in order
that I may include in my discussion every temptation of the
five senses. These odors, coming through the nostrils, the
weak mind either desires or by divine aid spurns. If it sub-
jects itself to its Creator and lovingly clings to Him who is
its dignity and salvation, not only does no stain of vices
tarnish it, but no carnal pleasure unmans it. If, however, the
soul wantonly withdraws from the love of its Creator and
Enlightener 28 and, renouncing a good of intrinsic worth,
throws itself upon extrinsic goods, whatever stamina it pos-
sesses is dissipated and all its strength is weakened and
broken. And then spiritual activity becomes burdensome to
it and it becomes restlessly occupied with carnal things so
that it basely desires all it feels through bodily sensation, not
on the point of being corrupted but already corrupt; and
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 115
when the body feels no sensible objects, the soul represents
to itself by pleasure-giving recollection the images of sensible
things. Within itself it hears, without voice, whatever be-
guiling song and obscene joke have flowed through the tor-
tuous windings of the ears. There the evilly sweet odor
which has crept in through the receptive hollows of the nos-
trils is seductively fragrant to it. There the savor admitted
through the enticement of a voluptuous palate delights it.
There it feels vividly any softly alluring sensation that ex-
ternal touch has impressed upon it. There it sees with long-
ing various colors and seductive figures which the curiosity
of its eyes has reported to it.
5. Such a mind, made carnal, very often so delights in
the phantasms of bodies when bodies are absent that, fasci-
nated through the extreme vividness of its evil thought, it
seems to itself to embrace not imaginary but real bodies. And
so, that flux of the body which occurs in sleep without guilt
sometimes happens culpably to those awake. For what occurs
in sleep is one thing; what one does when awake is another.
In the former state the fullness of humor is expelled naturally;
in the latter, it is evilly brought forth by concupiscence. But
this concupiscence in waking hours calls forth this flux in
persons whose base appetite it has aroused through obscene
talk. They are the ones who go into details about women:
this one is awkward, that one, coquettish; this one is homely,
that one, beautiful, The finery of one, the carriage of another,
give pleasure. Gaiety, even without beauty, is praised in one;
beauty alone, in another. Thence they pass to morals: to
such people moderation in speech commends one woman;
boisterous freedom makes another seem wicked. In making
these and similar things the topic of their conversation these
I 1 6 JuLIANUS POMERIUS
men furnish material for their own concupiscence. They are
not lustful, however, for the mere reason that they like to
speak of, or listen to, these things: unless they were already
corrupted by the passion of concupiscence, they would never
say such things or listen to them; for these things do not
corrupt them but show them as corrupt.
6. And lest anyone think that I should be criticized for
candidly reproving such conduct, let him know that it was
perhaps for this reason that the ancients decreed that no
youths should read the Book of Genesis and also part of the
Prophet Ezechiel and the Canticle of Canticles 29 and other
such writings, in which the generations and deeds and names
of certain women have been recorded. Though we believe
these women had historical existence, we understand, never-
theless, that their names symbolize virtues because, just as
they not only delighted their husbands by their good morals
but also, without loss of modesty, charmed those not of their
household by their very great beauty, so holy virtues render
their possessors admirable to all their own and strike those
who do not possess them with a certain admiration. That is
why even those who live badly give precedence to virtues
before vices; for what they do because of their passions is
one thing, what they are forced to approve by their judgment
is another. But lest perhaps those who were still carnal should
receive these spiritual things according to the flesh and not
think upon the virtues which these women represent but
.become enamored of them by thinking carnally of the women
themselves, rightly were the young forbidden to read those
passages. Though they give life when they are spiritually
received, yet when the mentality itself is carnal, it uses them
to furnish the carnal-minded occasions for carnal concupis-
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 117
cence. Such a person frequently has their names on his lips;
he bears in his smitten heart a desire for them and in his soul
holds pent up all the evil he is ashamed to put into practice,
guilty in the judgment not of men but of God.
CHAPTER 7
Even those whom some compulsion keeps from impurity rise
to the love of chastity if they accustom themselves
to live chastely.
Restraint placed upon the body makes such persons chaste,
or the fear of temporal punishment keeps them from an act
of impurity, or opportunity is denied them. But although he
who is chaste by compulsion is impure in will, yet if the man
of temperate body thanks God, the Author of all natures, for
the gift of his nature; and if the man whom fear keeps in
the possession of chastity and the man who is denied the
opportunity for adultery grow accustomed to live chastely:
they very often advance to virtue through necessity; and,
little by little, as the charm of purity increases, they become
truly chaste and advance so far that, showing hatred for the
baseness of impurity not by word of mouth but by virtue,
they no longer resist carnal seductions from fear of punish-
ment, which is characteristic of beginners; but from- detesta-
tion of sin they bridle the unruly passions of the flesh, and
this is the height of consummate chastity. Not that the soul
could ever in this life cease to combat vices; but the very
frequency of its victories supports it and leads it on and,
to the extent this is possible in the present life, perfects it.
Only, it must not let itself be captivated by the delight of
1 1 8 JULIANUS POMERIUS
sensible things and cast itself down to the level of the body;
but, sublimely strengthened by the renunciation of pleasures,
in victory over material things it should rise above the body
and cling to its God, under whose protection the desires that
are spurned cannot vanquish it during life to be glorified
forever.
CHAPTER 8
The marks by which one can recognize pride, which is either
on the surface in the reprobate or concealed, in the
dissembling.
"6*
i. Now, then, let us see by what marks pride can be
detected. Thus, as in the preceding it became clear that
without it no sin can be committed, here I purpose to show
the signs whereby it can be recognized and avoided. I say
nothing about those whom their very appearance and walk
reveal as proud. Their unbending neck, harsh expression,
piercing eyes, 30 and frightening manner of speech shout
undisguised pride. Possessed by the lust of dominating, they
use violence to subject jhose whom they can, confound
human and divine right, are bloated by honors, appropriate
everything everywhere, rejoice in their crimes, and, corrupted
by the passion of pride, find themselves too small for them-
selves. These, then, I pass over people in whom pride rules
so openly that it neither deigns to hide nor can it. Those
wretches alone I speak of, and I warn against their examples
as examples to be avoided, who, when already converted and
making a little progress, are secretly ensnared by pride, cast
into an abyss of woes by its deceitful domination and con-
tinually trampled underfoot to keep them from ever again
raising themselves up. In the hearts of such men pride makes
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 119
room for the devil; as he comes, it throws open to him, as to
one with family rights, the unguarded heart; receives him as
he enters; proclaims the law of evil living to the prisoners it
holds; takes away the armor of virtues from all whom it has
overpowered; stifles whatever remains in them which could
offer resistance to vices, to prevent them from recovering
strength against it.
2. Thence it is that those whom the festering disease of a
proud mind has corrupted do not obey the orders of their
superiors but sit in judgment on them. Rebuked for their
negligence, they either rebel insolently or murmur. They
contend for the higher place; wish impudently to be preferred
even to their betters; mockingly criticize the simplicity of
their spiritual brethren; air their views shamelessly; are bored
by the attention shown them; seek obstinately the attentions
denied them; prefer high birth to morals; highhandedly de-
spise their juniors; do not believe that any person can be
compared to them; disdain to be made equal with their elders;
place themselves above them solely on the strength of their
soul's conceit. They do not observe reverence in obedience,
modesty in speech, discipline in manners. They remain stub-
born of purpose, hard-hearted, boasting in their conversation.
They are deceitful in their humility, obstinate in hate, im-
patient of subjection, covetous of power, hateful to all the
good. They are slothful in doing a good work, 31 disagreeable
in company, difficult to oblige. They are quick to speak of
what they do not know, prompt to trip up others, unfeeling in
regard to all things on which brotherhood subsists; rash in
daring, vociferous in speech, bored by listening, presumptu-
ous in teaching, crudely immoderate in laughter, a nuisance
to friends, a threat to the peaceful, ungrateful for favors,
inflated by attentions, and overbearing towards subjects.
120 JULIANUS POMERIUS
3. These are the marks of raging pride, which offend God
and cause Him to depart and to abandon proud hearts. Feed-
ing on these evils, the devil exults. He is invited to come; he
enters proud minds to master them; raises them up to dash
them down; pampers them to destroy them. Because of this
captivity of the wicked he dances with insatiate glee : that he
should be the lawful master of prisoners whom he has sub-
jected by the weapon of pride and through whom he can
work all the evils I have enumerated above! Rightly, then,
by the just judgment of God are they abandoned, con-
demned as they are to such a punishment of which they are
not aware, because they have not been made bondsmen by
force, but of their own will they surrender to the rule of
deceitful pride; and this they surely can resist, if they wish,
by the choice of their free will since they have been freed
and fortified by the gift of the Holy Spirit. But even such
men, if they conceive the hope of regaining salvation, being
inspired by God to recover it, and do not in despair abandon
themselves in their sins, can be healed by the medicine of
salutary repentance and can by acquiring deep humility be
released from the chains of eternal damnation, if they con-
demn the pride which has thrust them, swollen with it, from
their God. How this can be done I have already said in treat-
ing of pride itself: whence it proceeded, whither it came, and
what it did. For it proceeded from the devil, came to the
first man, and in him corrupted the whole human race, as the
fruit in the root, by the corruption of a nature that sinned of
its own free will. 32
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 121
CHAPTER 9
The marks that reveal the envy of the envious.
Right order requires me, I think, to say a few words also
ahout envy, which has flowed from the fount of pride in so
far as the devil, who perished by pride, burning with the
poison of envy, promptly caused the ruin of the first man;
yes, indeed, it was from the devil that envy proceeded.
Accordingly, since this same devil showed himself envious
through pride not proud through envy pride was not the
fruit of envy, but envy proceeded from the root of pride.
That is why, since my previous discussion has already shown
how much envy afflicts the envious, I think I should not in
this place speak of the punishment of envy, whereby the
envious harrow and kill their own souls. But, the Lord
granting, this alone I ought to show: how the envious through
envy make the merits of those who live holy lives their own
sins; and how greatly envy corrupts the good in those who
either discredit entirely whatever good they hear holy per-
sons have done or said, or turn good deeds into evil by inter-
preting them unfavorably. Every evil which lying rumor has
intimated about the good they immediately believe as though
they themselves had seen it. Maliciously they contradict
those who would prove to them that it is not true. They
imagine everything of their rivals, fret over their advance-
ment. They harbor secret hatreds, and even against those of
their own family they foment trouble. They envy those who
do good, but think highly of those who sin. They rejoice in
the misfortunes of the good, grieve over their successes, burn
with unprovoked enmities, fearing the while that the evil of
122 JULIANUS POMERIUS
their heart will be discovered. They are always bitter, never
knowing what they want. They are friends of the devil,
enemies even of themselves, hateful to all. They are troubled
in joy, joyful in sorrow perverse in both respects. Among
friends they sow discord; they confirm in dissension, if they
can, those who are temporarily at disagreement. They defame
the reputation of the good by means of lies. In spiritual men
they praise carnal things, having in mind to persuade them
that they lack spiritual goodness. They pretend friendships
to trick with what cunning they can those who have incau-
tiously entrusted themselves to them. They increase their
occasions of hatred by evil suspicions. They give joy to the
demons, whose works they pursue; they sadden holy men
who know them. By courtesy they would be friends, but in
their souls they are enemies. 33 They are chaste of speech,
but base in their actions. They are prodigal of secrets, tena-
cious of wrongs, prompt to evil suspicions. Empty of good-
ness, they are full of meanness, gifted for deceit. At heart
they are enemies of virtues, depraved in morals, and treach-
erous to all who live with them in uprightness.
2. These and similar characteristics show that all the
envious are enemies, heart and soul, of the good. Into these
evils do those fall who, by censuring those they should follow
and by hating those they should love, spitefully shut them-
selves off from the society of all upright persons so that the
good they persecute in the good is justly not in them. Con-
sider, I beg you, how their own evils will afflict the envious,
who are afflicted even by the goods of others. Where will
those who are evil in good be able to become good? Or when
will they use evils well who do not cease to use good things
badly? The holy martyrs used evils well, 34 steadfast in wit-
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 123
ness to our Savior and doughty fighters in spiritual warfare.
Afflicted and at the same time proved by tribulations and
loss and by a variety of tortures, they exchanged earthly
goods for heavenly; and, beginning with a good use of evils, 35
they arrived at the joys of everlasting blessings. Similarly,
the envious man uses good things badly because, separated
from all the good which in his wretchedness he abhors, he
will be left to be punished by the torture of his soul. And
who will be able to help the man who through envy sets him-
self up as his own tormentor? Or whence will he contrive
salvation for himself who, by using good things badly, draws
damnation from the material of salvation? Yet if the envious,
too, like other sinners, rise by divine inspiration to the hope
of regaining salvation and are displeased with themselves as
they are because they wish to please God; if they do not
imitate Cain, who, having wickedly killed his brother in
blindness caused by the frenzy of overpowering envy, and
having consigned his soul, branded with fratricide, to the
punishment of everlasting death, being oppressed by despair
of gaining pardon, said to the Lord: My iniquity is greater
than that I may deserve pardon 3G which is to say to God:
" I do not ask You to forgive me because the greatness of my
sins surpasses the greatness of Your pardon/' and, accordingly,
never does one read that he either repented his crime or
merited pardon: if, then, the envious, shunning such an
example, withdraw from themselves and restore themselves
to God and do not leap into the abyss of woes through despair
of their salvation, who doubts, nay, who does not firmly be-
lieve, that they can receive pardon for their former wicked-
ness if only, being cured and healed of the wound of envy, 37
they drive bitterness from their souls by the sweetness of
brotherly love, sincerely loving those whom they formerly
124 JULIANUS POMERIUS
hated so tliat they may be helped to the good of fraternal
union and peace by the example of all the good whose merits
were formerly a source of annoyance to them?
CHAPTER 10
The evils in -which vanity involves the vain.
i . Now that I have made these remarks about envy, I shall
show in the following section in how serious an evil vanity,
too, entangles the vain. In order that vanity may be more
readily avoided, let me show briefly what depravity it con-
tains in itself. Now, vanity is a certain conceited passion of
a listless soul for manifold pleasures. Vanity is greedy to
gain honors and at the same time ignorant as to how to
acquire them. It is flushed by the fever of pretended superi-
orityhollow, morbid, moody. It dominates the light-minded,
charms all the shiftless; it fumes at those who show disagree-
ment, courts those it would captivate, and is invincible once
they have yielded to capture. It is a type of simulated virtue,
the soul of vices, tinder for carnal pleasures, the ruin of
morality, the passion for honors. It dotes upon the wiclced,
is galled by the perfect, brings the irresolute into danger, is
imperious to its subjects, and has only weakness to offer to
the strong. It finds it easy to make captives, fascinates those
it has captured, pricks the ambitious, turns the head of the
narrow-minded, brings humiliation upon the haughty. The
proud are its slaves; at its feet lie the self -exalting; the desper-
ate try to find it; those who face rain run to it; and, ruined,
they fancy that in its possession they stand in security.
2. This is vanity, which, as we consider it, not merely
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 125
saps certain virtues, but when it has been given entrance by
the wicked, consolidates the despotism of vices. But it finds
no entrance in minds that are filled with virtues. Empty
persons, then, and those supported by no virtue it tempts; and
by a certain delight in raging in the open, it plunges those
who are puffed up by the arrogance of ruinous ambition into
secret vices, just as a storm tosses an empty vessel to and fro
on swollen waves and as on a threshing floor the wind carries
off the light chaff while the grain remains of its own weight.
If this is so, vanity does not corrupt men but reveals their
corruption. It tosses them around by the wind of its breath
and spins and whirls them around by shifting desires. By
the bent of their own will they conform themselves to all
its caprices. They boast shamefully of works of which they
are not conscious; wrongly pretend to enjoy the approbation
of all; depreciate holy men in comparison with themselves.
Carrying their heads high because of popular favor, they
judge themselves as lacking no perfection. They delight in
the obeisances of those they meet, bestow favor on those who
flatter them, follow their passions, make themselves accept-
able to all the wicked. They have a penchant for teaching
what they do not know, wish sublime things to be believed
of them, and place pleasure before serious matters. They
abominate in speech what they desire in their hearts. To
their vices they give the names of virtues. They deceive
themselves, deceive those who befriend them. They are
quick to make noble promises, but show themselves liars in
keeping them. Unstable in good, they are tenacious of evil.
Serious in speech, they are base of soul always deceivers.
They are full of joy in prosperity, without strength in ad-
versity. Made arrogant by compliments, they are depressed
under reproaches. Knowing no moderation in joys, they are
126 JULIANUS POMERIUS
eager for the things of the world, but always reluctant in
virtuous matters.
3. Vanity, therefore, pursues those who are marked by
these and similar faults and does not allow them either to
notice their disease or to have recourse to a physician. And
what else is it to go to a physician than that the sick person
recognizes his illness and is not pleased with himself but is
shaken by acts that used to seem glorious to him? Those
persons, certainly, do not act thus who, inflamed with the
desire of winning a reputation, apply themselves only to
those works which buy human approval and who contemn
moral goods. And so much does their eagerness for human
praise obsess them that unconcernedly they undertake and
readily carry out laborious, wearisome projects for the people
to admire and to spread their reputation. Hence it is, too, that
fasting, abstinence, nightly vigils, churchgoing, and the
chanting of psalms, although all these things are done not
without effort, are undertaken even with pleasure by such
as wish to please men thereby. This of course does not
imply that men of God do not also do these things; but that
those who desire fervently to excel also in holy morals are
known to present them to God rather than to men.
4. But if a man is resplendent without, where he can be
considered great, and is filthy within, where God alone sees,
who does not understand that all his continued labors of
abstinence, fasts, and watchings, which love of God makes
bearable for us but love of human praise and burning vanity
make tolerable for him, are not the ornaments of his virtues
but the cloak of his vices? Wherefore, true fasts, vigils, alms-
giving, and other good works of this kind ought to increase
our virtue, not serve to hide our sins; and they should be
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 127
shown to God not in place of right living but along with right
living; for those who through love of perfection are pre-
pared to go beyond the precepts should certainly carry them
out with far greater care. On the other hand, if the envious,
the proud, the arrogant, the covetous do not repress these
and similar evils of their heart and yet wear out their body by
fasts and by the labors of abstinence however prolonged, the
works done for vanity do not justify them, and the vices of
which they fail to rid themselves condemn them.
And now, in this book I have, it is true, regularly added
after the treatment of each vice also the remedies by which it
can be prevented or cured. Still, here I should, the Lord en-
lightening me, summarize and set up some rule whereby
those who make a genuine effort to be guided by it may resist
all sins: nothing so keeps us immune from every sin as the
fear of punishment and the love of God. But in regard to
charity I shall discuss this later as the Lord will grant me,
whose gift this charity is.
CHAPTER 11
The ^tsefulness of fear: it effectually resists sins.
Now let me say a few things about the fear of punishment.
Let a soul before it sins look to the penalty that is due to sin.
Let it weigh against carnal enticements the torture and
anguish that usually pursue the sinner, and no sin will please
it nor will any carnal delight tempt it to sin. In fact, we
yield to our temptations and passions not because we cannot
resist them but because we promise ourselves security in
hiding our sin; and since we believe that we can gloss over
or buy off -our deeds, being tempted by the hope of a pre-
IZ8 JULIANUS POMERIUS
suined impunity, we permit our passion to dominate over us.
But if, at the time he is deliberating about a sin, a man were
to consider with a calm mind what penalty awaits those who
are caught in their sins and wickedness, what punishments
torture them when convicted, what trembling palsies their
limbs, 38 what pallor suffuses their countenance, 39 and, finally,
how much the shame of an evil repute humiliates them and
makes them hateful to all, I do not know whether he could
consent to any sins whatsoever. For what evil deed can be
committed which does not cause a blush even to those whom
their own sins delight? Thence it is that those who vainly
and disgustingly vaunt their good deeds hide the sins which
trouble and humiliate them. Is it not true that even without
human judgment the torments of an accusing conscience rage
against a sinner and even the thoughts of secret guilt afflict
with painful remembrance a soul that realizes its baseness"?
CHAPTER 12
The future judgment, the eternity of punishment, and the
nature of hell.
i. Now consider this: when we shall come to the Last
Judgment to be sentenced by that Judge whom we can
neither deceive by the concealment of crimes 40 nor corrupt by
the offer of any gift to promise impunity; 41 when the secrets
of all begin to be revealed, 42 and not only our deeds and words
but even our very thoughts begin to be shown: what shall we
do before the majesty of so great a Judge? What excuse
shall we be able to offer? WitK what kind of defense shall
we clear ourselves? What penance, which we contemned
in this life, will help us? What good works, which we did
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 129
not perform in this life, will defend us? To what Apostles
or to what other holy saints, whose examples and words we
despised, shall we flee?
But perhaps frailty of Lody will there excuse some. Their
defense, however, will be repudiated hy the examples of all
the saints. Living in the flesh with the frailty of the flesh,
conquering the frailty of the flesh in the flesh, the saints have
taught that what they did surely can be done; and this
especially because they resisted sin not through their own
virtue but through the help of the merciful Lord, who shows
Himself to those who do not seek Him 43 so that they may
seek Him and believe in Him and who defends with His
invincible protection those who believe in Him that they may
not be overcome by sin.
2. What, then, will sinners reply if the Lord says to them:
" If you were able, why did you not resist the desires of sins?
If you were unable, why did you not seek my aid against
sins? Or if you were wounded, why did you not by repent-
ance apply a remedy to your wound? " Will He not, when
they are silent at this and have no excuse to offer, say: Bind
them hands and feet and cast them into exterior darkness;
there shall he weeping and gnashing of teeth; 44 where their
worm shall not die and their fire shall not he quenched? 45
And what does it mean for them, as they stand silent, to be
bound hands and feet if not to be deprived of doing good 46
in hell, where no one confesses God? So, too, to be sent into
exterior darkness will be nothing else but to be banished from
the Lord, who is the Light of minds. 47 The weeping and the
gnashing of teeth, moreover, represent the most poignant
anguish of those who, delivered over to the punishment of
eternal death, are destined to experience not sight 4S but pain.
130 JULIANUS POMERIUS
TKeir continued lamentation, eternal torment, extreme an-
guish, and consciousness of punishment rack their souls but
do not destroy them, punish their damned bodies but do not
annihilate them. The unquenchable fire does not kill those
consigned to it for this reason, that, with the life of sensation
remaining, their punishment may remain and keep them
who are fettered to eternal bodies and whom an undying
second death 49 slays with live flames, in a state of pain rather
than of life. Further, their worm shall not die and their fire
shall not he quenched refers to the whole punishment of the
damned, whom the fire of useless repentance burns and the
worm of a consuming conscience everlastingly gnaws. Ac-
cordingly, when it is said regarding all those who are in hell
that they are " slain/' this does not imply that they may at
some time cease to exist, having been consumed by their
extreme pains, but that it is their penalty to live in pain.
3. To be willing to hear or read these and similar things;
continually to bring them before the eyes of the mind; to
believe that they will happen; to fear without any anxiety;
to consider what an evil it is to be excluded from that joy
of the divine contemplation; to be deprived of the blessed
society of all the saints; to become an exile from the heavenly
homeland; 50 to die to a happy life; to live an everlasting
death; to be thrust into eternal fire with the devil and his
angels where a second death is the exile of the damned and
their life is pain; in that fire not to see that which gives light;
to experience that which causes torture; to suffer the terrible
crackling of the welling flames; to be blinded by the biting
fumes of the reeking abyss; to be immersed in the depths of
the seething inferno; to be forever gnawed by voracious
worms and not to die; to meditate on these and many like
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 131
things is only to renounce all vices and to bridle all carnal
pleasures.
But now, if you will, let us rise from these terrible evils
which strike the minds of the faithful with a healthy terror
and which draw them away from all vicious pleasures evils
which those who love their passions will then make trial of
by their own damnation when, more pitiable than any mis-
fortune, they can no longer change their lives from these
terrifying and lamentable evils let us rise, I say, to those
lofty things by which the minds of those who make progress
ascend to the hope of attaining happiness and, abjuring
earthly things, long for those of heaven. And because they
who desire to advance begin with salutary fear and, by mak-
ing progress, arrive at charity, let me, now that I have, I think,
said enough about the fear of beginners, also treat charity as
He whose gift it is, will grant me.
CHAPTER 13
Praise of charity.
Charity is, so it seems to me, a right will turned com-
pletely from all earthly and present things, joined and united
inseparably to God, inflamed by a certain fire of the Holy
Spirit, from whom it comes and to whom it is referred.
Charity is foreign to every defilement, impervious to corrup-
tion, subject to no defect of changeableness, exalted above all
that is carnally loved, powerful over all the emotions, eager
for divine contemplation, always unconquered in everything;
it is the perfection of good deeds, the boon of morality, the
end of heaven's precepts, the death of crimes, the life of
virtues, the strength of warriors, the palm of victors, the soul
132 JULIANUS POMERIUS
of holy minds, the source of good merits, the reward of the
perfect. It brings back to life those who are dead in their
sins, heals the sick, restores the lost, inspires hope in the
desperate, abides in peaceful minds. It is fruitful in those
repenting, joyful in those making progress, glorious in those
persevering, victorious in the martyrs, full of works in every
one of the faithful. Faith conceives it, hope flies to it, the
increase of all the virtues serves it; and from it every good
work draws its life. Under it obedience grows, through it
patience conquers, because of it religious devotion spurns
carnal enticements. Without it no one has pleased God;
with it no one has been able to sin nor will he be able. This
is true charity, genuine, perfect charity, which the holy
Apostle calls a more excellent way. 5 * And, truly, it is the way
which leads those who walk by it to their homeland because,
just as no one arrives at his destination without a road, so
without charity, which is called a way, men cannot walk but
only go astray.
CHAPTER 14
An interpretation of what the holy Apostle has said about
charity.
i. Now, then, let us learn what this charity is and how
great it is the way not of our feet but of our morals, as the
Apostle teaches. If, he says, I speak with the tongues of men
and of angels, and, have not charity, I am become as sounding
brass or a tinkling cymbal. 52 By tongues , of men and of
angels we ought to understand him to mean the empty oratory
of certain men who speak whatever they wish, correctly, it
may be, and eloquently; but, however excellent the style and
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 133
the content of their speech, nevertheless, if they undertake
the office of teaching from vanity of pleasing more than from
love of counseling; not to teach others, but to show that they
are learned; not to seek the advancement of their audience
but to strive for their applause; if with evil wit they transfer
all their conscience's concern to their tongue and aspire more
earnestly to improve their eloquence than their way of life;
if in the conceit of their empty loquacity they desire their
words to be praised rather than to be acted upon; if they are
solicitous not for the holiness of their labor but for the ele-
gance of a polished style: are not such men rightly compared
to sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal 1 ? Like tinkling brass
or a cymbal they strive to speak great things rather than to do
them, and they do not blush at their inconsistency in living
otherwise than they preach. In order to obscure after a
fashion the baseness of their way of life they do not cease to
preach virtuous things not, however, to help their listeners
by their preaching, but to give themselves the appearance of
practicing what they preach.
2. But let us see what the Apostle adds to this: If, he says,
I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries and
all knowledge, and if I should have all faith so that I could
remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 53 He
does not say this as if no one can have any virtues without
charity; but he says it because those who possess virtues do
not profit by them if they lack charity. Charity is indeed
necessary here in order that all the virtues may avail those
having the highest virtue, charity; and there it will abide even
more perfectly in them when it has led to the sight of God
all who have been faithful to it. Besides, prophecy and the
knowing of all mysteries and knowledge and even faith itself
134 JULIANUS POMERIUS
and the rest of such gifts, 54 which are considered necessary
not for the perfection of the faithful but for their frailty,
cannot he needful for those arriving at that perfection of the
saints which they, being rooted in charity, are striving to
attain, since incomparably better and more perfect things
will succeed them. For prophecy will not be needed there
because, being accomplished, it will have led to what it
promised; and there will be no need of knowledge, which
like a kind of lamp enlightens the faithful in the night of this
world, because in the perpetual day of that life the living
Sun 55 will shine upon the just; and the knowing of mysteries
and faith itself will not be necessary because Christian per-
fection will have arrived at what was signified by mystery and
believed by faith. But here, certainly, there is need of
charity, which separates us from the devil, purifies us from
sin, reconciles us to God; there, however, it will be perfect
when it has joined the perfect to God, by whom it was given.
3. The Apostle, still amplifying the praise of divine char-
ity, adds: If I should distribute my goods to feed the poor,
and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not
charity, it profiteth me nothing. 56 And this is right; for, if
we are to be asked in that last examination not what we did
but why we did it, what will almsgiving or surrendering the
body to death profit us if we have not charity? We ought,
then, to seek and possess that virtue without which neither
almsgiving nor the killing of the body nor all those things
which were named above nor any other virtues whatsoever
lead any to salvation; for no good action or suffering unless
it springs from faith that worketh by charity 57 will be able
to help us. Wherefore, no damnable sin will be able to abide
and no good will be lacking in those who abound in charity,
the cleanser of all stain and the mother of all virtues. For
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 135
if, indeed, charity is patient, is kind; if it envieth not, dealeth
not perversely, is not puffed up, is not ambitious, seeketh not
her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth
not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; if it heareih all
things, helieveth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all
things; 5S and if it imparts to those in whom it exists all the
goods it possesses; who can be more perfect in this life than
those who abound in so many virtues, charity reigning among
them?
4. Accordingly, when we see that some men, established
on the rock of patience, oppose stout hearts to raging evils;
when we see them disposed by an abundance of holy benig-
nity and wishing to share their possessions with everyone;
not parched by any firebrands of burning envy; not doing
any double-dealing but showdng simple sincerity to all; not
conceited by any arrogance of ruinous vanity; not contending
for the possessions of others because of the crime of covetous-
ness; not seeking their own before the common good; not
scheming evil for anyone, by whatsoever injuries they are
provoked; not rejoicing in anyone's iniquity or in the evil
of their own works but in the truth; suffering all trouble-
some persons and all troubles with firm tranquillity of soul;
when we see their faith in their fear of future punishments
that are threatened by God; their joyous hope of promised
rewards; their desire, expressed in their brave endurance, for
the revelation of the sons of God; when, then, we see that
some men can do these and similar good things, we may know
that it is not by the greatness of their own virtue that they can
accomplish what they ardently wish and what they do, but
that it is by the help of that charity which is not of ourselves
but which was poured forth in our hearts hy the Holy Ghost,
who is given to us
136 JULIANUS POMERIUS
CHAPTER 15
The perfection conferred "by charity on those established in it.
1 . Accordingly, if we show charity to God and our neighbor
from a pure heart and a good conscience and an unfeigned
faith, it becomes easy for us to resist sin, abound in all
virtues, despise the allurements of the world, and accomplish
even with delight all that is difficult or troublesome for human
frailty; and this, provided that we love God with the perfect
charity which we have from Him, with our whole heart, with
our whole soul, and with all our strength. 61 For a man sins
in that part in which he loves God less; if we love Him with
our whole heart, there will be no part in us wherein we may
serve the desires of sins. And what is it to love God except
to be occupied with Him in our soul, to conceive the desire
of enjoying the sight of Him, to have hatred of sin and con-
tempt of the world, to love one's neighbor 62 also, whom He
decreed should be loved in Himself, and in that love to
observe a legitimate measure and not to pervert the estab-
lished order of love? Those pervert the order of love and do
not observe the measure of loving who either love the world,
which ought to be despised; or love their bodies more, which
they should love less; or do not love their neighbors as them-
selves; or perhaps do not love God more than themselves. 63
2. But in regard to the world, which ought not to be loved
at all, there is the statement of our God Himself made
through the Apostle Saint John: Love not the world.** Our
body, however, since it is part of us, we should love so that
we may have regard, as nature ordains, for its health and
frailty, and consider how it may, appointed as it is to be
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: Boon THHEE 137
subject to the spirit, attain eternal salvation and receive im-
mortality and incorruptibility, and may not by yielding to its
passions weaken the strength of the soul yielding in turn to
it, nor mar its purity and corrupt all its dignity by the disease
of love for itself. As to our neighbors, we then love them as
ourselves when we love them not for any advantage to
ourselves, not for benefits expected or received, 65 not for
affinity or blood relationship, but for this reason alone that
they share our nature; for we do not love them as ourselves
when we love them for the reasons stated above. And, cer-
tainly, no one loves his neighbor as himself on this account,
that the person loved is his brother or sister, father or son,
mother or daughter, grandson or granddaughter. In fact, he
who so loves shows a carnal love, because not those alone
whom the bond of blood joins to us are to be considered our
neighbors; but we should think of all men as our neighbors
since they are sharers, as I have said, in our nature. For if
we love our kinsfolk, no matter how obstinate, base, and
unprincipled they are, more than holy individuals whom we
call strangers to us according to blood, not only do we love
carnally, but we even sin gravely by such a love for them.
3. Accordingly, we love all our neighbors as ourselves
when, in regard to morality and to gaining eternal life, we
have concern for their salvation as for our own; when we
imagine ourselves in their sins and dangers; and when, just
as we wish them to help us, so we come to their aid according
to our strength, or if we have not the means to help them,
have the will to do so. This, then, is the whole love of your
neighbor: the good you would like conferred on yourself you
wish also for him; and the evil you do not want to happen to
yourself you do not want to happen to him either. 66 Now,
I 38 JULIANUS POMERIUS
those love God more than themselves who for love of Him do
not spare their temporal welfare; who deliver themselves to
tribulations and dangers; who are prepared to be stripped of
their possessions, to be exiled, to renounce their parents and
wives and children; and who, in fine, not only do not shrink
from the very death of the body but even die gladly, desiring
to give up the life of their body rather than God, the Life
of their life,
4, This, then, is the order of love \vhich we should main-
tain according to the word of the Holy Spirit, He set in order
charitv in me: 7 namely, that, as well-ordered charity de-
mands, we should love God in the first place, and that for
His sake we should love in Him, in as far as He ordains, that
which we ought to love. For He commands us to love our
bodies because of ourselves, our neighbors as ourselves, and
God more than ourselves. But this is to be done in such a
way that we devote ourselves more to those whom acquaint-
ance brings in nearer connection with ourselves, provided
their repute is not blameworthy and their way of life com-
mends them, and that we regard the advancement of all as
our own and grieve compassionately over the sins of others
as over our own. Thus, then, can those who love God per-
fectly be perfect in this life; and they love Him perfectly who,
by willing what He wills and by not willing what He does
not will, do not consent to any sins, whereby He is offended,
and always exert themselves to cherish and preserve the vir-
tues \vhich He deigns to bestow. These are they who sin-
cerely believe that He gave them the power to accomplish all
the good they have been able to do. Whatever evil they have
committed they ascribe to the fault of their own will; what-
ever good they have not been able to accomplish they continu-
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 139
ally ask Him that they may be able; when they have been
able, they thank Him. They charitably wish that His bles-
sings, which they have attained, may be granted to others
also; and, extending the breadth of their love even to their
enemies, they wish all to be what they are.
Enough has been said of vices and their remedies. Now
let me tell briefly how each virtue can be acquired.
CHAPTER 16
The nature of virtue; it 'permeates those of one mind with it.
1 . Every holy virtue is a divine thing, without body and
most pure. Unclean minds do not stain it; on the contrary, it
purifies unclean minds. By sharing it shapeless things are
given shape; dead things are raised up; sickness is cured;
wrongs are righted; opposition is reconciled. Only God and
he to whom God has given it possess it. It lives in the soul,
but it sanctifies soul and body. No one acquires it against
his will, no one loses it except when deceived by his own
will. No one can give it to himself though he can take it
away; on the other hand, he can neither give it to another
nor take it from him.
2. Therefore, when a virtue of such greatness has shone
upon anyone who up to that time has been languishing in
his passions and has aroused in him a healthy longing to
desire it, straightway a conflict of two contradictory desires
arises in his soul, and his will draws his mind back and forth,
divided against itself by a double love, now by abandoning
what he had chosen, now by choosing what he had aban-
doned; and this lukewarm middle course, so to say, between
io 4
140 JULIANUS POMERIUS
virtue and vice harasses and tortures Kim while he is driven
this way and that by the diversity of his thoughts. For until
a man by a strong determination confirms himself in what he
has chosen as long as he at one moment does not wish what
he formerly wished; at another, begins to wish what he did
not wish, as though placed in some crossroad 6S of indecision
that conflict of wills torments him. On one side virtue re-
minds him of his salvation and calls to him; on the other,
vicious habit detains him when he wishes to withdraw from
it and calls him back and by reminding him of his wonted
pleasure tempts him, now that he has turned from it some-
what but has not been fully converted to virtue, and presents
to him all the delights which he formerly basely enjoyed. It
also instills in him evil desires which fetter him, and it se-
ductively whispers some temptation to him, now almost dis-
heartened, and it implores him not to prefer pain to pleasure,
sorrow to joy, doubt to certainty, future enjoyment to present;
to think how painful and difficult it is to be without sweet
delights, to renounce carnal allurements, to be burdened by
the hardships of continued abstinence, to be racked by end-
less fasts and vigils, to seek by a sure affliction of the flesh
the prize of a doubtful reward, to take arms to resist the devil,
who is skilled in deception; to avoid his tricks and deceits by
the caution of a vigilant soul; to consider, finally, how
wretched it is for one who has been overcome by the unrea-
sonableness of so much austerity and deceived by a ruse of
the devil to return to what he had foresworn, to enjoy the
pleasure he had cast away, and to delight in all which he had
spurned by imprudently undertaking a laborious way of life.
3. With these and similar arguments the habit of vice
plagues one who is undecided in the presence of a holy
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 141
resolution. On the other hand, the virtue called temperance
stoutly dissuades his hesitation and invites him to the pure
pleasures and chaste delights which all its lovers enjoy. It
offers him in his nakedness the garment of justice. It shows
him, enlightened, the ornament of its own splendor. It prom-
ises him, distrustful of himself, the help of its protection. It
encourages him and appeals to him to lay aside his inde-
cision and to take up a spiritual way of life; to be confident
that he will persevere in the execution of the resolution he
has taken not by his own ability but by the mercy of the Lord;
relying not on his own strength but on the help of all-
powerful grace, to take up victorious arms against the devil's
attacks; to consider how many men and women have been
able and are able to do what he despairs of being able to do;
to believe firmly that he will have the power from the same
source from which they received it; with sure hope to prefer
spiritual goods to carnal, heavenly to earthly, future to present.
CHAPTER 17
The rise of the converted to the height of perfection.
i. But when anyone, won by the convincing fairness of
virtue, has broken to some extent with his former way of
life, immediately there meets him another temptation against
which he must struggle. For vanity of the world will attack
the man whom carnal passion has abandoned in defeat, an
example of which we have in those who deny themselves the
enjoyment of lustful passion and allow their will the license
of windy vanity. They have no intercourse with shame, but
give in to ambition. They have a splendid table service and
142- JULIANUS POMEE-IUS
garments carefully tailored to serve their ostentation, boys
with neatly curled hair and powerful horses for their pag-
eants, hawks and well-fed hounds for the hunt, frequent
hunting parties to show their magnificence; they pretend that
a display of gorgeous trappings is necessary ornature.
2,. And, to laugh immoderately; to raise the voice in in-
solent hilarity; to be a ready listener to filthy jokes; to make
the sorrow of others their own joy by causing them trouble;
to heap gallantries on the fashionable, however vile they are;
to disparage the worthy who lack the necessities of life; to
build vast and magnificent homes; to increase their posses-
sions without end; to brood over absorbing the property of
others if opportunity offers: these things they regard as a
matter not of covetousness but of some utility. Thus they
not only deliberately do the things I have mentioned and
many others like them but they even laugh at those who
take them to task. They deem that persons who brand deeds
lawful and customary for nobles with the charge of ambition,
are talking nonsense. However, he who with the aid of God
has conquered this vice also and, supported by the strength
of spiritual temperance, has trampled on all that could keep
him from perfection inclines his mind to holy virtue with the
devotedness of a good will. Then he joyfully and faithfully
obeys every nod of his sovereign, Queen Virtue, and so, being
made one spirit with his God, he always does and" thinks of
nothing but that whereby he may become purer and nobler
and may overcome the attractions of all the vices by pure
delights.
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 143
CHAPTER 18
The perfection to be attributed to the number four; the four
virtues called principal, being conferred by God,
justify those who live by faith.
1 . Let us now consider whether there is truth in the theory
of the philosophers by which they establish four virtues as
so many fountains of all virtues and also four vices as the
sources of all evils. That the principal virtues number four,
is not only held by the philosophers, but our own authorities
are in agreement with them. 69 But why there are four and
what are the works of each I ought to show briefly, the Lord
enlightening me.
Practically everyone knows that the number four is con-
secrated to perfection. 70 Thus, the whole world is composed
of four parts or corners : east and west, south and north; and
the name of ADAM, who is the father of the human race,
and the generic word HOMO are made up of four letters*
The body also, being made up of four elements, contains in
itself the mystery of the quaternary number. That there are
also four emotions 71 of the soul itself, which we use either
for good or for evil, even the ancients wisely discovered; and
posterity has accepted and approved their conclusions.
2. The four rivers which flow from the fount of paradise, 72
the four Gospels, the four wheels of the divine chariot, and
the four wings and four faces of the four animals 73 also
abundantly commend the dignity of this number. And so we
should carefully consider how much holiness these virtues,
which contain so much perfection in their number, confer on
144 JULIANUS POMERIUS
the Christian soul, and how no perfection exists anywhere
which is not in these virtues. For, if temperance makes one
temperate; prudence, prudent; justice, just; and fortitude,
strong: I do not know what can he more perfect than he who
acts temperately, prudently, justly, and strongly. And so it is
indeed difficult to name the virtues which spring from the
four which I have called principal virtues, though, when we
begin to show their nature and works, perhaps from the very
dispositions of each it will be apparent from which virtue
each arises.
3. But this we should know and believe in the first place:
these four virtues and all the virtues that spring from them
are the gifts of God, and no one possesses them, did possess
them, or will possess them unless God, who is the principle
and source of all the virtues, has conferred them on him. For
anyone who at any time in any nation lived by faith, believing
in God, could surely by His gift become temperate and pru-
dent, just and strong. On the contrary, those who, not know-
ing God or even blaspheming Him, have lived without faith
are to be considered as not having the ability to receive any
of these virtues from God or to possess them.
CHAPTER 19
The nature of temperance and the effect it produces.
i. .But now let us see what is proper to each of the virtues.
Temperance makes a man temperate, abstemious, frugal,
sober, moderate, chaste, silent, serious, modest. Residing in
the soul, this virtue bridles lust, tempers the affections, mul-
tiplies holy desires and represses corrupt ones, sets in order
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 145
all that is disordered within us, strengthens all that is well-
ordered, removes wicked thoughts and implants holy ones,
quenches the fire of lustful passion, kindles the tepidity of
our soul hy a desire of future reward, soothes our mind with
peaceful tranquillity, and ever preserves it intact from every
storm of vices. Temperance reduces our intemperance in
food and drink to just limits so that we are content with what
is placed before us; so that we do not trazenly ask for what
our host perhaps does not have; do not offend others by what
appeals to our desires; do not let the intemperate craving of
our appetite appear; do not criticize those who prefer to ab-
stain from foods which we eat or embarrass those who per-
chance eat those things from which we abstain and thank
God for them, since we realize that it is a very wretched
thing to condemn others for taking food or drink or to lay
claim to sanctity because of our abstinence.
2. By temperance we reverence our elders; honor our
equals fraternally; give the favor of paternal love to our
juniors. We are silent when an older person is talking; wait
for him to signal us to speak; do not lift our voices immoder-
ately in conversation; do not allow our laughter to break out
into rude hilarity; do not detract anyone or bear calmly with
detractors, realizing that both detractors and those who agree
with them are corrupted by the passion of vanity. Such per-
sons wish others to seem vile so that they may praise them-
selves by comparison with those they criticize and may seem
not to have those vices which they maliciously reprove in
others. This evil temperance removes; he who wishes to
serve it looks not for what he may censure in his brethren but
for a reason to praise God. And it is accordingly characteristic
of this temperance not only that we are temperate in the use
146 JULIANUS POMERIUS
of all our members but also that we willingly do all the things
that make us moderate and sober. But let these words about
temperance suffice so that I may also discuss fortitude.
CHAPTER 20
The type of persons ennobled by fortitude of soul.
i. That should be counted as fortitude of soul which not
only remains unshaken when attacked by diverse troubles but
also does not weaken and succumb to any enticements of
pleasure. But if the soul really breaks the attacks of raging
evils; if it resists whatever calamities assail it; if it continues
untired amid the harshness of the assaults made upon it,
amid the blasts of pressing anxieties, amid enmities and perils
and persecutions of many kinds, and yet boasts of resisting
its enemies by its own power and exults not in the gift of
God, whereby it is enlightened, but delights carnally in the
favor of the crowd which praises it; and if it rejoices more
for being praised than for having reason to be praised, and
therefore prefers human praise to the divine gifts: who doubts
that this disposition of soul cannot be called virtue? If it
were virtue, it would stoutly resist such temptations also; nor
would it give in to soft things when with the help of the Lord
it had overcome hard and difficult things. Yes, there are
people whom covetousness of the world makes impervious to
strong passions; but here one should not praise their self-
control but marvel at their insensibility. 74
2. Those whom love of God renders strong to bear their
sufferings, no delight of the flesh, no enticement of evil
passions can corrupt because, if not what we suffer but why
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 147
we suffer is the important thing, patience does not reside
in those who bear distress calmly, but only in those whom
justice has caused to bear it strongly. Accordingly, the Lord
did not say: Blessed are they that suffer persecution, and
hold His peace; but He added: for justice sake, 75 in order
that He might clearly show that not suffering but motive
constitutes true patience; and so He promised happiness not
to those suffering persecution but to those suffering it for
justice sake. If this is so, endurance of evils that must be
overcome is then true patience if it is just; and patience is
just in those whose insuperable determination yields neither
to sorrows nor to pleasures. But we have this fortitude of
soul from Him whom we praise with the Prophet: The Lord
is my strength and my praise; and He is become my salva-
tion. 76 He is our strength because by His invincible protec-
tion He so strengthens us against all the vices that prosperity
does not enervate our soul nor does adversity cast it down.
And then does the Lord become our praise when we wish
men not to praise us because of God's gifts, but to praise His
gifts in us. Those whose salvation the Lord has become can-
not boast of their own virtue.
3. Let him, then, whose strength of soul is the Lord
yield to no carnal desires, give in to no passions; let him
conquer ambition and the esteem of the crowd. Let not the
love of money enslave him; let not the anguish caused by
sufferings and losses cast him down. Let God be his whole
praise, perfect glory, pure delight, sure hope, firm security,
unimpaired strength, incorrupt health, so that whatever in
this world pleases the carnal may displease him; whatever
seems precious may become worthless; whatever appears bril-
liant may pale in contemplation of things to come. Let him
148 JULIANUS POMERIUS
not permit himself to be strangled by what he has already
strangled by God's grace. It certainly seems all the more
shameful for his soul to be overcome by the vices he has
overcome; and it profits him nothing to have overcome some
of his vices if he becomes subject to one he has neglected to
master. For not that man is wont to be considered strong who
distinguishes himself by undertaking labors and dangers or
who begins to bridle and rule his passions; but he should be
regarded great and noble, valiant and worthy of the name
of fortitude, who permits no vice to renew war on him or to
conquer him. Only let faintheartedness not be present lest
we despair of being able to do what we can do; let there be
no vicious presumption lest we ascribe to ourselves what we
are able to do only by the grace of God. For, whether we
despair of God's gift whereby we are strengthened, or boast
of our own ability, we are not equal to the task of resisting
vices. At all events, fortitude of soul should drive out the
cowardice of despair as well as overcome boasting.
CHAPTER 21
Justice and, proceeding from it, faith.
Up to this point I have discussed the virtue called forti-
tude. Now let us see what assistance justice also affords us
in this life and how it, too, cannot be overcome by any at-
tacks of vices in the hearts of those who have given themselves
over to it. For faith, which is the foundation of justice, 77
which no good works precede" and from which they all pro-
ceed, cleanses us from all sins, enlightens our minds, concili-
ates us to God, and unites us with all who share our nature.
It inspires us with the hope of future reward, increases holy
virtues in us, and confirms us in their possession.
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 149
CHAPTER 22
Equity; the advancement of human society is its concern.
From justice equity also flows, which makes us call the
necessities of all men our own and makes us believe we were
born not for ourselves alone but also for mankind in general.
It makes us avoid whatever can harm any man as though it
were to harm ourselves; for we who are men should think
nothing human alien to us. 78 Of beasts it is of course
characteristic to live for themselves and not to share their
advantages. 79 We differ from them not only by the gift of
intelligence but also by respect for the equality of law if,
looking on the advantage or disadvantage of others as on our
own, we live for the benefit of all who share our nature.
Furthermore, if it is the nature of wild animals to attack, to
W 7 ound or kill one another, who doubts that it accords with
human excellence for men to aid, teach, and edify one
another, and to care for the advantage of all as for their own?
From this it may be understood that those who, though they
were born human, persist in oppressing and deceiving their
fellow men, degenerate into the habits of wild beasts by a
change not of their nature but of their manner of life.
CHAPTER 23
The two kinds of injustice.
i. There are two kinds of injustice: one, whereby we
inflict injuries; the other, whereby we neglect to avert those
inflicted by others when we can. For in a certain sense we
ourselves are oppressors when we scorn the downtrodden
I 50 JULIANUS POMERIUS
though we are able to defend them from oppression. Nor
does it avail me anything that I do not circumvent or deceive
a man if I permit him to be deceived or circumvented. This
same thing may be understood of sins; for, if I see a man
commit a sin and I not only do not reprove him but even
consent to his sin, I make myself a sharer in his damnation;
and I sin in all who sin when, because of a certain malice in
my unfeeling soul, I do not censure those who I know have
sinned or are sinning.
2. And, certainly, we should not listen to those who say
they cannot reprove sinners for the reason that they do not
wish to make enemies of persons who are unwilling to correct
themselves. While they are careful of the good will of their
brethren, these men are careless of their salvation. But if we
reprove not out of pride but out of mercy and with a certain
compassion of a sympathetic soul, and if they feel that we are
moved not less by their sins than by our own, either they,
being changed for the good, give thanks to God with us; or
if the attraction of sinning still keeps them in sin, and if,
seeing that we are concerned for their salvation, they wish to
return evil for good, we should prefer to incur the enmity of
those who are unwilling to be corrected rather than to risk
offending God by humoring sinners. However, since I have
already said much about these things in the second book, 80
let me finish treating the other aspects of justice as I began.
CHAPTER 24
Generosity and the practice of beneficence,
i. From the fountain of justice there also proceed gener-
osity, beneficence, charity, and the rest of such virtues where-
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 151
by men can be helped in many ways. It is generosity which
overflows even upon those who seem to lack nothing; on
this generosity the surplus of domestic goods is spent.
The works of beneficence are many, which mercifully
relieve the need of the afflicted and purchase an inheritance
of the heavenly kingdom with earthly wealth, provided only
that the benefaction is done without any ostentation and that
the unseemly love of popular esteem is not our inducement
to exercise compassion. Some are to be found who, it is true,
help the various necessities of different persons; but they are
motivated by the desire of acquiring a reputation, or they are
moved by carnal pity, or they are constrained by the hope of
receiving back what they give or by the need of making a
return for what they have received.
2. There are others whom shrewd covetousness alone
prompts to give anything to the poor. Their purpose in
bestowing certain things is that in this life they may receive
greater things. And whatever has been given them as pastors
of the poor to spend on the needy, for whose sustenance they
have received it, they spend entirely, or almost entirely, on
their own pleasures; and what is worse they shamefully
crave to be counted among the generous and compassionate or
even to be praised above them. Utterly different from all
these and their kind are those who wish not themselves, but
God, to be praised in their deeds. They are led to good work
by the hope of future recompense and wish to have as witness
of their labor Him alone from whom they believe with all
the fibers of their faith that they will receive their reward.
I5 2 JULIAJMUS POMERIUS
CHAPTER 25
The different kinds of love; perfect love as distinguished from
them.
Now, then, because the subject requires it, I shall also
note a few things here about charity, of which I have already
said much in this book. I say nothing of carnal love, which,
beginning in marriage, extends unto children; for such love
we have in common with cattle and beasts. I pass over love
of relatives also, because evidently this, too, still pertains to
flesh and blood. Nor do I say anything of the love which,
though we love our friends according to it, is, nevertheless,
also referable to some temporal advantage. Not that these
loves are not honorable since they are natural to all; but the
love wherewith we freely love God and our friend is incom-
parably superior. But he who loves his friend for any profit
proves that he loves not his friend but his own advantage.
And, indeed, he who loves a person for any temporal thing
will cease to love him when the object, inasmuch as it is
temporal, ceases to exist. But one who loves for the sake of
God just as God is eternal, so that love for his friend will
remain forever. And, accordingly, because there is no greater
or better object of love than God, love for Him is perfect love.
If, however, He is loved at all for His gifts, He is surely not
loved freely since then that for which He is loved is placed
above Him a thing which it is wicked even to say. But for
all His lovers He Himself is their blessed life and eternal
salvation and everlasting kingdom and joy. These, they who
love God will receive; for He alone will be all things to them
when He -will loe all in all. Bi
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 153
CHAPTER 26
Giving each man his d^ie.
Therefore, if in this life we are trying to fulfill justice,
whose work it is to render each man his due, let us give our-
selves back to God by whom we were made, and let us not
permit ourselves to be dominated by those things over which
we have been placed in command according to our nature.
Let reason master the vices; let the body be subject to the
soul and the soul to God; and the whole perfection of man
is accomplished. And so, we, too, being made sharers in
justice, render each man his due if we neglect inferior things
for better ones, and carnal delights for virtues; and just as in
reasoning we prefer living things to non-living, sentient to
living, intelligent to sentient, immortal to mortal, so by living
well let us prefer useful things to those things that give
pleasure, the honorable to the useful, the holy to the honor-
able, and perfection to holiness. But' the body will not be
able to conform to the spirit, nor the appetite to reason, un-
less God, who created that spirit and body, being pleased
with our thoughts, rests in us and works in our heart like a
true tiller of the soil 82 in his field, so that whatever faith
plants in it and devotion waters He Himself may bring to
the increase of perfect maturity and may so subdue our evil
desires, when we have become subject to Him of our own
accord, that from our very works it may be apparent who
dwells in us 83 and whose will is done in us.
I 54 JULIANUS POMERIUS
CHAPTER 27
Three virtues temperance, fortitude, and justice perfect the
active life. Prudence, ivhich is the fourth virtue,
furnishes the mind knowledge of hidden things.
This is the order of nature and of justice. He who is
careful to hold and observe it will fulfill the perfection of
the active life. For this active life those three virtues, of
which I have said by request, God granting, what I believed
should be said, are helpful; for temperance and fortitude of
soul and justice constitute spiritual action, without which
that knowledge which seems to pertain to prudence is of no
avail, since it will profit us nothing to have learned what we
should do unless we strive to carry out what we have learned.
The capacity of the soul, then, which is divided into appe-
tite and reason, is helped to attain the perfection of a good
act and to gain knowledge of hidden things by these four
virtues on which I have already dwelt at some length. By
three of them: that is, temperance and fortitude of soul and
justice, the appetite itself is formed so that an act may be
done; prudence, on the other hand, enlightens reason, which
is the eye of the mind, so that reason may govern the appe-
tite and the appetite submit to reason. For every virtue, as
the ancients put it, consists in just three things: one is in
examining in each case what is true and sincere the proper
office of prudence, which I shall treat in its own place; the
second, in restraining and tempering the disordered emotions
of the soul, which the Greeks call yathe** so that all inclina-
tions, which the Greeks call hormai* 5 are made subject to
reason; the third, in wishing to use those with whom we are
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 155
associated so as to gain the fullness of their salvation and our
own. All these are seen to belong to the work of the other
three virtues; among them temperance and fortitude are par-
ticularly strong in restraining and bridling the disturbances of
the soul which many call passions, others, infirmities. 86
When these have been tempered and put in order according
to a certain formula of temperance and fortitude, all virtues
without any contradictions of vices reign in the man who is
subject to his Creator.
CHAPTER 28
The social virtue. Those do wrong who do not help human
society when they can.
i. Now, justice, whereby those who have practiced it
become just, is regarded as something of a social virtue be-
cause it grows with the kindness it shows others. For who
does not himself profit by that very thing whereby he wishes
another to profit? Who does not make God compassionate
to himself when he has shown himself compassionate to-
wards the afflicted or erring? Or how will he not increase all
his goodness in himself who not only does not envy those
who have possessions but, in as far as he can, by the inspira-
tion of God even shares his goods with those who have no
possessions?
In view of this one should consider whether they act justly
who, removing themselves from all occupations and devoting
themselves to spiritual pursuits, do nothing for human society
and, preferring their own desires to the advantage of all,
disregard the common good by choosing a welcome freedom.
For, to be unwilling to help the afflicted when you can, to
11*
156 JULIANUS POMERIUS
wish to enjoy restful quiet without regard for the common
good is surely not equity. Those who respect this equity all
live for the good of all and, as though bom for one another,
guard and love one another's salvation. And, consequently,
they act contrary to justice who, when they have been chosen
because of the merit of their way of life or their learning,
give preference to leisurely study over the fruitful good of
ruling the common folk and who, though they could help the
Church in its labors, shun the work of a burdensome admini-
stration for the sake of enjoying repose.
2. But since there are many who realize that they are
unequal to so great a responsibility, such men rightly do not
accept it even when they are pressed lest they appear to wish
not to undertake labors for the Church but to seek honors,
whereas ecclesiastical dignity should be neither sought nor
refused. 87 If those who really can command people and be
useful to them have not been asked, rightly do they give
themselves to study to gain wisdom. But if administrators,
who prosper* through those who make progress because of
them, and if scholars, who advance by themselves under God
by acquiring spiritual wisdom, remain in their chosen way
of life, they proceed by different roads, it is true, but they
travel towards one homeland and arrive at one kingdom,
doing service in different capacities as Christ, the King of
all, 88 calls them. For who does not know that as studious
leisure fills the man who is free from carnal affairs with the
ineffable sweetness of heavenly wisdom, so the spiritual occu-
pation of holy labors brings manifold fruits to him who is
taken up with the good of human society? In those spiritual
studies, too, who can sufficiently estimate how much ecclesi-
astical men can profit since by teaching their inferiors they
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 157
exercise themselves; and by conferring with those equally
learned they become more careful in many things; and by
listening to those who are more learned they renounce opin-
ions they had imprudently formed, hold right opinions more
firmly, understand mysteries, and reach decisions in those
matters about which they were fluctuating in doubt? But
since the plan of my discussion requires me to say a few
things also concerning prudence, the fourth cardinal virtue,
let what I have said of justice suffice.
CHAPTER 29
From the fount of prudence and wisdom those who are
eagerly intent on gaining learning drink knowledge
of all things.
i . Prudence and wisdom are generally associated with the
investigation and discovery of truth. With that in view, I
think that he cannot rightly be called wise who has not pru-
dence, nor can he be called prudent who has not wisdom.
Wherefore, if the work of prudence and wisdom is regarded as
nothing but the investigation and discovery of truth, he who
can prudently seek the truth and wisely find it will rightly be
called prudent and wise. This I would say first, in order that
whatever will be said of prudence can in its entirety be under-
stood as having been said of wisdom also, because these two
virtues are so connected and united and so little can either
of them exist without the other that what is imprudent can-
not be called wisdom, and what is unwise cannot be called
prudence. Now, if the whole perfection of human life con-
sists in action and in knowledge, just as I have proved that
action is perfected by the union of temperance and fortitude
358 JULIANUS POMEHIUS
and justice, so let me prove that knowledge of things comes
from the acquisition of prudence.
2* Knowledge of things, proceeding as it does from the
fountain of prudence and wisdom, enlightens all spiritual
persons who have cleansed themselves of carnal vices and
inflames those who have turned from all pleasure in harmful
curiosity to the desire of contemplating virtue, with these
results: by gaining knowledge of divine and human things
they become truly prudent and wise; they foresee and at the
same time guard against 89 evils which threaten them; and
they realize that there are no evil things except those which
make men evil. No passions banish any part of their modera-
tion or tranquillity since they are, so to speak, unconscious of
them. They distinguish between false and real goodness.
They prudently hold that nothing in this world occurs by
chance or without justice, "but that everything happens
through God, who wills and permits it; those who think
differently they either wisely teach or reprove. They under-
stand that the various sorrows and 'diverse weaknesses which
afflict men subject to death do not always follow from sins
that have preceded but often happen to those born in corrup-
tion from the very nature of their mortality; and, knowing
that they are not condemned but that they are proved by
present adversities/ acting manfully, they seize the oppor-
tunity from that bearing of sorrows to gain patience; they
do not harm others or allow themselves to be harmed.
3. Such the Lord in the Gospel commands us to become,
saying: Be ye -wise as serpents and simple as doves; 01 for the
simple cannot circumvent anyone, nor do the prudent permit
themselves to be circumvented. But if in any contract or in
a conversation or in anything else one does not let himself
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 159
be deceived and yet deceives another, such a man does not
have prudence, which is the cause of salvation rather than
of perdition, but he pretends to have it; for virtue differs
from vice precisely in this: the latter corrupts sound things;
the former heals what the attack of vice had corrupted. And
thus, a really prudent man is eager to help all whom he can
in order that he may increase his fruits by the merits of all
who are won to God through him. But if he plans anyone's
damnation or rejoices over the fate of one who perishes, a
man necessarily perishes himself before he causes another to
be lost; and the perdition which he wishes to another begins
with his own ruin.
CHAPTER 30
The prudent neither harm others nor permit themselves to
he harmed,. They will have consummate prudence
without any admixtvire of error there where life
will he perfect without any sin.
i. As I was saying, those who, being made prudent by
sharing in prudence, approach their God not by walking
but by living in a holy manner in the degree to which they
are prudent by the gift of God, cannot perish through either
their own sin or another's; but since their prudence is not
yet so perfect as it will be in that life wherein no error at
all can overtake those who live perfectly, even prudent men
sometimes yield to deceptive sins. These men are not de-
praved in will but, being human, they fall through human
error. Nor are they at this time made perfect by the com-
plete attainment of prudence and wisdom as they will be
there where they can no longer be ignorant of anything and
can no longer commit sin.
l6o JULIANUS POMERJUS
2. But if here below a good deed could have been dis-
cerned perfectly from an evil deed, never would he pray to
be cleansed from his secret sins who says: From my secret
ones cleanse me, Lord; and from those of others spare Thy
servant. 92 In these words he makes it clear enough that even
those who live holy lives through the gift of the Holy Spirit,
nevertheless, because of some frailties which they bear, know-
ingly or unknowingly either fall at times into sin or consent
to another's sin. In this life, then, where sin is committed
by will or by error or by weakness, 93 those who with the help
of God do not sin voluntarily actually live above reproach.
But because error or weakness can involve them in sins, they
trustingly ask Him to enlighten and cure them who was
called on exultingly in the Spirit by the man who said: The
Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? 9 *
Thus, when the light bestowed by the gift of prudence and
wisdom has taken away blindness and when salvation, in-
fused by the grace of God, has cured our weakness, then
the mind, being divinely illuminated and healed, is not de-
ceived by human error in regard to those things it should
avoid or seek so as either to defend error for truth or to reject
truth for error; and it is able without any hindrance of weak-
ness to effect the good it has chosen.
3. Yet the salvation of this life whereby one lives mortally
is one thing; the salvation of that life where our mortality
will be granted immortality is another. In the present life
we have been saved in hope; in the other we shall be saved
in reality. Here our salvation is such that we still can perish;
there whoever has been saved will no longer be able to perish.
And so, the knowledge which affords us an understanding
of things while living in the night of this world is to be
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 161
considered, when compared to its future fullness, as a part
of knowledge, not the whole. For this reason the holy Apostle
says: For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But
when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall
he done away. 36 He declares that it will be done away, that is,
consummated, because the part of knowledge which is to be
perfected is really not to be done away, but it is to be made
full by the perfect. Accordingly, in that place where there
will be perfect salvation of all faithful Catholics, where there
will be incorruptibility and blessed immortality, there the
true perfection of prudence and wisdom and the entire under-
standing of all things will exist because knowledge will have
been brought to perfection by the doing away with the part.
CHAPTER 31
The four emotions. These should not he counted among
the vices if their use proceeds from a good will.
i. Let us now see what careful' study may discover about
the four emotions also, which the stupidity of the worldly
wise 9Q regards as vices. For if only sinners or the wicked
could at all fear and grieve, desire and rejoice, rightly could
some of these emotions be called not dispositions but dis-
orders. Since, however, such impulses of the soul are found
in the holy Apostles and Prophets, who would be so foolish
as to regard as vices those emotions whereby those who more
than the rest of men resisted vices pleased God? Accordingly,
the Apostle Paul speaks of fear in these terms: But I fear
lest, as the serpent seduced Eve lay his subtilty, so also your
minds should he corrupted . . . from the innocence that is in
Christ* 7 Likewise, of desire he confidently says: I desire to
1 62 JULIANUS POMERIUS
lie dissolved and to be with Christ* 8 And of sadness, too,
which others call sorrow, the same vessel of election and
teacher of the Gentiles " says: That I have great sadness
and continual sorrow in my heart ... for my brethren, -who
are my kinsmen according to the fZesk 100 And of joy also,
after saying in writing to the Romans: Your obedience is
published in every place, he says, I rejoice in you; but 1
would have you to he wise in good and simple in evil. 101
He who wishes to criticize this fear or this sorrow, this desire,
this joy, criticizes the Apostle himself, who not only pleased
God hy such emotions but even reproved certain men as
guilty because they were without affection. 102 And the Pro-
phet, too, in saying: I rejoiced at the things that were said
to me* and, in the person of our Lord: I looked for one
that would grieve together with me, hut there was none 4 '
commends such joy and sadness. And when another says:
The fear of the Lord driveth out sin 5 and: The desire of
wisdom hringeth to the kingdom,* he not only does not
censure but even praises the emotion of spiritual desire and
fear of the Lord,
2. Not by having these emotions, then, but by using them
badly, do we transgress. For the nature of human emotions
indicates the Creator of man; their quality shows man's good
or bad will. 107 And so, these same impulses which are emo-
tions in men become virtues in those who use them well and
passions or agitations or, as some like to say, disorders in those
who lead evil lives. 108 Nor should we listen to the Stoics, 109
who contend that these emotions can and should be utterly
eradicated because there is no sensation at all where no
impulse of fear or of sorrow, of desire or of joy is found.
Then, as though they regretted their own proposition, making
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 163
an exception of sadness, which they say does not befall the
soul of the wise man, they declare that the other emotions,
with change of name, do exist in the wise. They say caution
instead of fear; happiness instead of joy, and wish instead of
desire as if a wise man does not fear, yet takes precautions;
or wishes, yet does not desire; or does not rejoice in this life,
yet is happy. They do not, however, believe that his soul
grieves since sadness, which usually comes from the commis-
sion of sin, cannot by any remembrance of sin trouble the
wise man, who they think commits no sin. That this reason-
ing is utterly without foundation, our Lord, born according
to the flesh, shows; for He both sorrowed and wept. 110 Yet
this sadness wherewith He was sad did not come to Him from
His own sins since He who was conceived and born without
sin not only did not sin but also could not sin. 111
3. However, in order that those who think.that a wise man
cannot be sad or sorrowful may be refuted by their own
authors, too, let them read what their most learned writer
says: " For not to grieve at all is achieved not without paying
a high price of callousness in the soul and of insensibility in
the body/' 112 But as to fear, which they consider an evil,
our Scripture says: The fear of the Lord is holy, enduring
for ever and ever^ However, we must properly confess that
this fear is different from that other penal fear of which the
Apostle says: Fear is not in charity; lout perfect charity
casteth out fear, 114 for the latter fear deters from evil those
who wish to sin and holds them in good against their will;
but the former fear, of which the Prophet says: He that is
without fear cannot he justified,' 1 grows the more with the
increase of charity; and it is one thing for a man to fear lest
he incur an evil for which he may be punished; it is another,
164 JULIANUS POMERIUS
to fear lest he lose a good whereby he is delighted. Not all
fear, then, should be regarded as a vice, but only that of
which it is written: Because fear hath pain.^* On the other
h&nd, that fear of which it is said: The fear of the Lord
driveth out sin., and: He that is without sin cannot he
justified, and: The fear of the Lord is holy, enduring for
ever and ever, should not be counted among the vices but
should rather be considered as an enemy of the vices.
4. Now, when they say: " The good will; the bad desire ";
or, " The good are happy; the evil rejoice/' who of sound
mind would admit these distinctions'? Nay, who in his right
mind would not refute them? For our Scripture reproves the
man of evil will, saying: Be not willing to make any manner
of lie; 117 and Tullius, the orator of greatest renown, counts
desire as a good when he says: " I desire, conscript fathers,
to be forbearing "; 11S and one among their group, Vergil,
disparages happiness, saying:
Thence they fear and desire, grieve and are happy; 119
for he counted the happiness of an evil mind as evil. And
among us joy is counted as a good, as the Prophet says : Be
glad in the Lord and rejoice, ye just
5. And so, without any unnecessary distinction of the
Stoics, all the just and those perfected by entire holiness of
morals fear and take precaution, will and desire, rejoice and
are happy, sorrow and grieve. It makes a great difference,
though, what they fear or shun, take precautions about, will,
or desire; why they rejoice or are happy, sorrow or grieve.
They fear to lose the inheritance of the celestial kingdom;
they desire to reach their heavenly homeland. They grieve
when tempted; they rejoice when freed from temptation. And
thus, a right mind has right emotions; a wicked mind, wicked
emotions, 121
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 165
6. The holy bishop Augustine, keen in mind, charming in
eloquence, skilled in human learning, zealous in ecclesiastical
labors, celebrated in daily disputations, self-possessed in his
every action, Catholic in his exposition of our faith, pene-
trating in the solution of problems, prudent in the refutation
of heretics, and wise in explaining the canonical writings 122
he, I say, whom I have followed in these little books to the
best of my ability, in this manner settles the question I am
treating, saying: " If these impulses, these emotions, which
come from a love of good and from holy charity, are to be
called vices, let us allow that what are real vices are called
virtues. But since these emotions follow right reason when
they are used as they should be, who would then dare to call
them diseases and vicious passions'? " 123 In order to show that
these emotions are in us from the condition of our mortality
and that they are necessary for this life, not for the future
life, the same doctor adds a little farther on: " But though
we have these emotions rightly and according to God, they
belong to this life, not to that which we hope will be/' 124
CHAPTER 32
These emotions, without -which there is no right living in
this life, will not exist in that future happiness,
which will have in store neither fear nor sorroiv.
And so, if these emotions were not in us by reason of our
infirmity, never would we yield for long to them by sorrowing
or weeping against our will. But we feel that they are neces-
sary for this life because in this mortality we cannot live at
all rightly without them. For, if one does not fear or beware
as long as he lives mortally lest he himself or another, whom
I 66 JULIANUS POMERIUS
Ke loves in Christ, lose his faith; if he is not saddened or
does not grieve over his own sins or his neighbor's; if he
neither rejoices nor shows happiness over progress; if he does
not wish for or desire virtue: not only does he not live rightly
but he even loses the feeling of humanity itself. In that
blessed life, however, where all corruptibility and mortality
will be blotted out and they will arrive who are to be there,
where there can be neither tears nor sighs, there all the saints
will have perfect love, no fear, and everlasting joy. There
they will have a right will and no desire; for by enjoying the
celestial blessings which they longed to attain they will lack
nothing which they might further desire; and in that region
of everlasting security and perfect peace and happiness they
will not suffer the pangs of fear or sorrow. Fear, however
not that -fear which charity casteth out 125 but that which
charity fosters perchance will endure for ever and ever 120
because those things to which that fear has led will endure
for ever and ever.
CHAPTER 33
The four virtues called principal virtues both defend as from
sin in the present life and will remain with us
forever to the excliision of every sin.
i . But although those four virtues of which I have spoken
briefly will exist there, they will, nevertheless, be present 127
in a way far different from that of this life where they are in
incessant conflict with vices and where, because of the un-
certain outcome of the undecided struggle, they sometimes
abandon the negligent who are unwilling to hearken to
them, and again through the mercy of God go over to or
return to others who repent of their sins. For, although tern-
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 167
perance will exist there, it will not be in order to check or
vanquish evil "desires or vices but in order to perfect those
whom it here defended from the assault of intemperance,
with the result that the blessed reception of their reward will
completely satisfy them, made perfect in every part.
2. There, too, fortitude of soul will exist, not in order to
repel any evils or to sustain them calmly but to maintain the
blessed firmly in their eternal goodness without any evils.
There perfect justice will exist in all the perfect, not in
order to maintain a distinction between virtues and vices,
for the bodies themselves will no longer be subject to vice,
but in order to confer everlasting rewards on the perfect.
This will then happen when through the destruction of all
carnal concupiscence the spirit will not lust against the flesh
nor the flesh against the spirit, 128 but the soul, subject to God,
will reign in everlasting peace with the flesh subject to it and
will cling happily to its Creator forever.
Now, as to prudence, which is regarded great even here
where it enlightens prudent men in some dark manner* 29
what will it be there where without any deceiving figures it
will show the truth to the perfect whom here the search of
truth delighted? There the perfect, being divinely enlight-
ened by receiving the fullness of prudence and wisdom, will
without any hindrance of corruptibility and mortality know
all they here desired to know perfectly and could not know;
and they will contemplate not only the nature of all created
things but also the very majesty of their Creator with face
unveiled.
1 68 JULIANUS POMERIUS
CHAPTER 34
The writer offers an apology for his whole work.
1. And so ? with your leave, let this book also come to a
close; otherwise, if it is unduly drawn out, it may displease
not only because of its wretchedness but also because of its
excessive wordiness. This, however, I entreat and beg of all
who may chance to read it: to ascribe to the fault of my
incompetence whatsoever they find worthy of blame in the
matter itself, which I have treated as I could, and conde-
scendingly to make allowance for me since, in my desire to
obey the one who charged me with this, I presumed to take
up a task quite exceeding my strength. But that which they
approve as having been said conformably to the Catholic
faith, let them attribute to God, who giveth to all men abund-
antly and upbraideth not:, 13 and for all those things may they
give thanks with me.
2. For the rest, the niceties of an elegant style are not a
concern to me; nor am I ashamed if my discussion, which
perhaps meets approval in regard to subject matter, offends
some lovers of empty words by the rudeness of its unculti-
vated language; for I could not employ in my discourse what
I did not acquire by studying with a learned master/ 31 And
yet, since a consciously elaborated style weakens the vital
force of ideas and since studied brilliance drains all the vigor
of what is said, who would not judge that I was right to
disregard the desire to write something striking even if I
could have attained it, like a man accomplished in speaking?
Wherefore, I considered that composition adequate for my
task which would bring out mental concepts with a measure
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 169
of indispensable clarity, not that which would serve to fasci-
nate the ears. For, if I am not mistaken, a good Latin style is
one that expresses briefly and clearly the things to be under-
stoodprovided of course that the proper signification of or-
dinary words is observed not one that luxuriates in the
beauteous charm of flowery eloquence. 132 Besides, the pru-
dent-minded are pleased not by the ornamental but by the
forceful; for things have not been provided for the sake of
words, but words have been devised to express things. 133
3NTOTES
INTRODUCTION
1 Cf. C. F. Arnold, Caesarius von Ar elate und die gallische Kirche
seiner Z,eit (Leipzig 1894) 84.
3 Ibid. 83. Of course, the history of pastoral instruction and the-
ology in the West before Pomerius includes such illustrious names
as St. Ambrose (De officiis ministrorum') , St. Jerome (^Ad Nepoti-
anum, Ad Heliodorum, Ad Rusticum*) , and above all St. Augustine
(De catechizandis rudibus, De doctrina Christiana), whom Pomerius
confesses (3. 31. 5) to have followed throughout as his guide.
3 Isidore, De vir. ill. 25. 31 (ML 83. I096A) alone uses the name
Julianus. H. Howitt in his English translation of the 1930 edition
of Cayre's Precis de patrologie et d'histoire de la theologie employs
the spelling Pomarus.
4 Cf . E. Norden, Die antike Kunstprosa (Leipzig 1923) 631-42,:
"Der neue Stil Gallien."
5 The chief sources are Isidore, loc. cit., and the continuator of
Gennadius, De vir. ill. 98 Richardson.
6 Arnold, op. tit., 82, suggests that Pomerius' change of residence
may have been caused by the persecution of the African Church by
the Vandals. If this is so, the probable date is before 484, since
Gunthamund's tolerant rule began in that year.
7 Vita S. Caesarii Episcopi 1.8 (ML 67. 1004 f.). In this early
biography, as well as often in the sermons of St. Caesarius, one
finds echoes of Pomerius' teaching as expressed in the De vita con-
templativa; cf. Arnold, op. cit. 122-28. For Pomerius' influence in
determining the interest and respect shown by St. Caesarius for
the writings of St. Augustine, and, indirectly, the justification of the
Doctor of Grace in Gaul, cf. Arnold, 83 f., 115 ff., 125; also A. Mal-
nory, Saint Cesaire, eveque d' Aries (Paris 1894) 23. For a critical
estimate of the work of Malnory and Arnold, see P. Lejay, " Ce"saire,"
Diet, de theol. cath. 2. 2 (1932) 2,185.
8 Ps.-Gennadius, loc. cit.
9 Ruricius, Ep. i. 17, 2. 10 (CSEL 21. 369 f., 385 f.).
10 Arnold, op. cit. 82, thinks that prior to his coming to Gaul
Pomerius had been at the head of some monastery in Africa. D.
173
174 NOTES
Mangeant in his Admonitlo to the treatise (reprinted in ML 59.
411-15) suggests that Pomerius may have been in charge of the
same monastery which St. Caesarius later governed (from ca. 499
to ca. 503), before his elevation to the episcopacy of Aries; cf. M.
Chaillan, S, Cesaire (Paris 1921) 30. This would place Pomerius'
death in ca. 499, for the Vita S. Caesarii Eyiscoyi (i. n) says ex-
pressly that Caesarius was chosen in the place of the dead abbot.
Regarding this suggestion, see Arnold, op. cit. 92; also below, n. 13.
"Notably 2.10.2; 2.16 and 17; 3.28. Cf. O. Bardenhewer,
Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur 4 (Freiburg i. Br. 1924) 599.
12 Cf. above, n. 9.
13 It is hardly likely that Ruricius would have tried to persuade
a man who was in charge of a monastery to desert the establishment
over which he had been placed.
13a Ruricius, Ep. 2. 9 (CSEL 21. 385).
14 Ennodius, Ep, 2.6 (CSEL 6.44). This invitation must be
dated not earlier than 493, the year in which Ennodius received
orders.
15 Loc. dt.
16 Summaries of the eight books of this treatise are given by Isidore
and the continuator of Gennadius (cf. above, nn. 3 and 5). Isidore
remarks that in Book 2 of the De Anima Pomerius argues for the
corporeality of the soul. Since Faustus of Riez (+490-500) had
revived the error of Tertullian and had spread it with considerable
success, the imputation is likely.
17 De vita contewplativa 3. 31. 6.
18 Chrodegang is the author of a rule which provided for com-
munity life, vita canonica, among the secular clergy of his see. In
it he quotes from the De vita contemplativaj ascribing it to Prosper
(Mansi 14, 328).
19 It is exploited or quoted at some length by Paulinus of Aquileia
(+802) in his Liber exhortationis (ML 99. 197-282); Halitgar of
Cambrai (+ ca. 830), De vitiis et virtutibus (ML 105. 657-78); and
by Jonas of Orleans (j-ca. 843) in De institutione laicali (ML 106.
121-278). It is used more briefly by Theodulphus of Orleans (+ 821)
in his treatise De Syiritu Sancto (ML 105. 259-76); Rhabanus Maurus
(+856), Tractatus de anima (ML no. 1109-120); and by Atto of
Vercelli in his (ca. 940) De pressuris ecclesiasticis (ML 134. 82-93).
The De vita contemylativa appears also in the records of synods at
Aix-la-Chapelle (817) and Paris (829); cf. Mansi 14,231 and 540.
In subsequent ages writers continued to regard St. Prosper as its
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: INTRODUCTION 175
author. Cf. R. Ceillier, Histoire generate des auteurs sacres et
ecclesiastiques 15 (Paris 1748) 452 f.
20 Mangeant, loc. cit.; cf. also Ceillier, ibid. 453.
21 Mangeant, loc. cit.
22 Cf. F. Cayre, Precis de Patrologie 2 (2nd ed., Paris 1933) 179;
G. Fritz, " Pom&re," Diet, de theol cath. 12. 2 (1935) 2543.
23 See below, n. 40. For further discussion of the elimination of
Prosper as the author, cf. L. Valentin, S. Prosper d'Aquitaine
(Toulouse 1900) 651-55.
24 Loc. cit. The continuator of Gennadius says merely: Memini
legisse me olim eius dictatum . . . et alium de vitiis et virtutibus
praeti tula turn.
25 Cf, Ceillier, op. cit. 453; Mangeant, loc. cit.
26 J. G. Pfister's German translation is the latest publication to
attribute the treatise to St. Prosper: Der hi Prosper uber das
beschauliche Leben (Wurzburg 1826).
27 Cf. J. Zellinger, "Pomerius," Lex. f. Theol u. Kirche 8 (1936)
362. O. Bardenhewer, op. cit. 600, summarizes the contents of the
treatise as follows : "Das Ganze ist . . . ein Vademecum, ein Lehr-
und Erbauungsbuch fur Kleriker, welches im ersten und zweiten
Teile die Bahnen einer Pastoralanweisung einschlagt." Fritz, loc.
cit.j approves of this summary, though he remarks by way of cor-
rection that the first two books, however applicable they may be to
the clergy in general, are actually addressed to bishops only. See
also the observations below, 179 n. 44.
28 Prosper de vita contemplativa atque actuali: sive de norma
ecclesiasticorum ([Speyer, Peter Drach] 1487). The translator ex-
amined a copy of this in the Union Theological Seminary Library,
New York. The publisher and place of publication have been
supplied: cf. M. B. Stillwell, Incunabula in American Libraries
(New York 1940) P935-
29 Arnold, op. cit. 83, counts as one factor contributing to the
obscurity of the De vita contemplativa its " ill-suited and probably
spurious title,"
80 M. Schanz C. Hosius G. Kriiger, Geschichte der romischen
Literatur 4. 2 (Munich 1920) 555; Cayr6, op. cit. 2. 182.
81 Cayr6, op. cit. 2. 177, praises the firm moderation with which
some delicate questions are handled in the treatise a moderation
that reveals the prudence and wisdom of the experienced writer.
82 The continuator of Gennadius, who mentions only Book 3 of
1 76 NOTES
the treatise, likewise places it at the end of his enumeration of
Pomerius' works.
33 Foreword to Book 2.
34 Cf. Ceillier, op. cit. 453; Mangeant, loc. cit. For Julianus of
Vienne, see Arnold, op. cit. 210.
35 Cf . A. J. Festugiere, Contemplation et vie contemplative selon
Platon (Paris 1937).
se Cf . especially W. Volker, Das Vollkommenheitsideal des Ori-
genes (Beitr. z. hist. Theol. 7, Tubingen 1931 ~) 76 ff.; also A. Lieske,
Die Theologie der Logostnystik bei Origenes (Miinst. Beitr. z. Theol.
22, Miinster i. W. 1938) 88, 134 f., passim.
37 Hilary of Poitiers and Rufinus had done much to make Origen
known in Gaul; cf . Arnold, op. cit. 50 f .
38 Cf. Conf. 13. 18; De civ. Dei 19. 19; De Trin. i. 17-21; etc.
See below, n; F. Cayre", La contemplation augustinienne. Principes
de la spiritualite de Saint Augustin ([Paris 1927]).
39 Cayre, Precis de patrologie 2. 178 n. 3.
40 The style of the De vita contemplativa is treated by F. Diibner,
Nouvelle ckoix des PP. latins i (Paris 1852} extract 22; F. Degen-
hart, Studien zu Julianus Pomerius (Progr. Eichstatt 1905); Sr. M.
Agnes Cecile Prendergast, The Latinity of the De Vita Contempla-
tiva of Julianus Pomerius (Cath, Univ. of Am. Patr. Stud. 55,
Washington 1938). See also C, J. Armstrong's review of the last-
named work in Class. Weekly 32 (1939) 211 f.
41 For example, the descriptions of the proud and the vain in 3. 8
and 3. 10.
42 Pomerius himself states that he dictated this work; cf . 2. 4. i .
Regarding the same method of composition as employed by St.
Augustine with the same unfortunate results, cf. J, P. Christopher's
note on De catechizandis rudibus, 15.23: ACW 2 (1946) 119
n. 145.
43 Forewords to Books i and 2; i. 23; 3. 14; 3. 34.
44 Pomerius is not a Ciceronian, but an exponent of the Second
Sophistic. Cf. Armstrong, loc. cit.
45 This is inferred from his treatment of certain Scripture passages :
cf. Degenhart, op. cit. 3; Fritz, loc. cit. 2543. Arnold, op. cit. 83 n.
242, deduces the same from a statement of Ennodius, Ep. 2. 6.
46 Cod. r8524b, 18565, 18609, and 18665 in the Konigliche Hof-
und Staatsbibliothek in Munich.
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 177
BOOK ONE
1 Pomerius uses the word rusticitas, which is the opposite of
urbanitas; in the words of Quintilian, Inst. or. 6. 3. 17: Urbanitas
dicitur, qua quidem significari video sermonem praeferentem in
verbis et sono et usu proprium quendarn gustum urbis et sumptam
ex conversatione doctorum tacitam eruditionem, denique cui con-
traria sit rusticitas. Regarding the author's confession, repeated at the
end of the treatise (3. 34. i), cf. the Introduction, u.
2 The expression is proverbial. Cf. Propertius, Eleg. 2. 10.6: in
magnis et voluisse sat est. See A. Otto, Die Sprichworter und sprich-
wortlichen Redensarten der Romer (Leipzig 1890) 362.
3 Cf. i Cor. 8. i.
4 Congregandis fratribus aut alendis. Congregari could be thought
of here as employed in the same sense as the earlier and more usual
term colligere (collectio, collected) : to gather for divine services,
especially the Eucharistic Sacrifice. However, from other passages
in Pomerius it appears that the term should be interpreted otherwise.
At the close of 2. 8 the question as formulated here is repeated
verbatim: Utrum congregandis fratribus aut alendis expediat facili-
tates Ecclesiae possideri an perfectionis amore contemni. The answer
expedit facultates Ecclesiae possideri, et ymprias contemni (i. 9.
O is elaborated in the following chapters, 9-16. In this section the
author asserts vigorously that the possessions of the Church should
be used for the sustenance of the poor, unde pauper victurus (9. i),
whose patrimony they are, patrimonia pauperum (9. 2). But the
poor spoken of principally by Pomerius are the clergy, those born
poor or who laudably have made themselves poor by voluntarily
giving up all their earthly goods: clerici . . . qitos pauperes aut
voluntas aut nativitas fecit (n). These are the fratres referred to
as congregandi and alendi; and the problem for discussion is: whether
it is good and desirable for a bishop to be actively engaged as a
steward in administering the Church's possessions in order to provide
for the common or community life ^congregandis') and support
(aZendis) of his subordinates, the clerici who live in fraternitate
with him under the same roof. This interpretation is given in greater
detail in a study of Pomeriana prepared by one of the Editors, Dr.
Plumpe, for Vigiliae Christianae (Oct. 1947).
5 Cf. below, 192 n. 69.
1 78 NOTES
6 Job 7.1, quoted according to the Septuagint. The Vulgate
reads : The life of man uyon earth is a warfare.
7 For the history of the idea that Christ is the emperor and the
Christians His soldiers, see A. Harnack, Militia Christi (Tubingen
1905); E. L. Hummel, The Concept of Martyrdom according to St.
Cyprian of Carthage (Studies in Christ. Ant. 9, Washington 1946)
56-90. For the pre-Christian period, cf . H. Emonds, " Geistlicher
Kriegdiehst. Der Topos der militia spiritualis in der antiken Philo-
sophic," Heilige Uberliefening, Festgabe L Herwegen (Miinster i.
W. 1938) 21-50.
8 Cf. Job 37, 23.
9 Note the very effective wordplay : Ergo f utura vita creditur
beate sempiterna et sempiterne beata, ubi est certa securitas, secura
tranquillitas, tranquilla iucunditas, felix aeternitas, aeterna felicitas.
10 Alacer motus. As St. Augustine states in the Enchiridion 9 1
(cf. L. Arand, ACW 3 [1947] 86), they will be without weight or
encumbrance sine onere, difficultate; they will have tanta facilitas,
quanta felicitas. Cf. i Cor. 15. 43 ff.; and below, i. n.
11 Even anterior to patristic usage the civitas concept is employed
often in the Bible; for examples, cf. Ps. 45. 5; 47. 2, 3, 9; 86. 3; Heb.
ii. 10, 16; 12. 2; 13. 14.
12 Cf. i Cor. 15.53.
13 Cf. Job 4. 18; Isa. 14. 12; Apoc. 12. 7-10.
14 Cf . J. P. Christopher's translation of Augustine's De catechizan-
dis rudibus, ACW 2 (1946) 126 n. 191.
15 Cf. Mark 12. 25.
16 Cf. i Cor. 15.53.
17 Cf. Tertullian, Adv. Marc. 3. 24; also below, 190 n. 50.
18 Cf. Heb. 13,14.
19 Cf. Ps. 23.4; 50.. 12; Prov. 20.9.
20 Cf. Gen. i. 27; 5. i; Wisd. 2. 23; James, 3. 9.
21 Cf. Augustine, Enchir. 91; De civ. Dei 22. 20.
22 Etsi erit ibi distantia mansionum. Cf. John 14.2: In domo
Patris mei mansiones multae sunt. See Augustine's interpretation of
these mansiones : In loan. Ev. tract. 67. 2.
23 Cf. Matt. 22. 30; Mark 12. 25.
24 Cf. i Cor. 13.12.
25 Cf. Rom. 8. 19. -
26 1 Cor. 13.9.
27 Ibid. 13. 10.
28 Wisd. 9. 15. Cf. Augustine, De civ. Dei 14. 3.
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 179
1 2 Cor. 5. 7.
30 i John 4. 12.
31 Matt. 5. 8.
32
32 Cf. John 1.45.
33 Cf . Gal. 5. 24.
34 Cf. Luke 9. 62.
35 Cf. Phil. 3. 13 f.
36 Cf. below, 3. 20. 2.
87 Cf. Augustine, De beata vita 4. 32; Retract, i. 2, 4.
38 Cf. Augustine, De civ. Dei 14. 25.
39 Cf. ibid. 19. 20.
40 For examples in Holy Scripture, see Gen. 12.7; 17.1; 18. i;
26.2,24; Exod. 3.2; 3 Kings 9.2; 2 Par. 7.12. The problem is
discussed by Augustine, De civ. Dei 10. 13. In Enchir. 59 he also
speaks of angels appearing in human form, ut non solum cernerentur,
verum etiam tangerentur. Regarding the Old-Testament appearances
of God in human form theophanies the Fathers before St. Augus-
tine almost universally believed that only God the Son thus mani-
fested Himself. See J. Barbel, Christos Angelas (Theophaneia 3,
Bonn 1941) 47-107. Augustine broke with this tradition. Cf.
especially the second and third book of his De Trinitate, and M.
Schmaus, Die psychologiscke Trinitatslehre des hi. Augustinus
(Miinst. Beitr. z. Theol. n, Munster i. W. 1927) 20-22, 160-63.
See also J. Lebreton, " Saint Augustin theologien de la TriniteL
Son ex6gse des theophanies," Misc. Agostin. 2 (Rome 1931) 821-36.
41 Augustine, De civ. Dei 22. 1 7 : Sed mihi melius sapere videntur,
qui utrumque sexum resurrecturum esse non dubitant. Non enim
libido ibi erit, quae confusionis est causa.
42 Cf. Augustine, De serm. Domini in monte i. 15. 41.
43 The " garment of immortality," TO ZvSvpa -rijs a<t>Qap<ria<;, is a
favorite term of the early Christian writers. Cf. F. J. Dolger, Sfhragis
(Paderborn 1911) 193; the same, Sol Salutis (2nd. ed., Munster i.
W. 192,5) 370, The term goes back to Pythagorean circles of Egypt.
See J. Quasten, "A Pythagorean Idea in Jerome/' Amer. Jour, of
Philol. 63 (1942) 207-15; W. J. Burghardt, " Cyril of Alexandria
on 'Wool and Linen/" Traditio 2 (1944) 484-86.
44 Here the word 'pontifices is used. We have already met the
term in the first sentence of the Foreword: mi domine studiosissime
pontificum. It occurs again in the following passages: i. 13. 2; 1.15.
i; i. 22. i (here also pontificatus")-, i. 23 (twice); 2. 9. i. The word
is most important in determining the subjects of Pomerius' treatise,
180 NOTES
the persons whose spiritual advancement and duties and failings are
discussed in this unique work, particularly in the first two books.
Pomerius speaks ahove all concerning the bishops of his time, not
the clergy in general. Because the author frequently makes mention
of sacerdotes, "priests," and because practically everything that he
sets forth on the subject of pastoral responsibilities is eminently appli-
cable to the parochial clergy of our own day, it is too readily asserted
(e, g., by Bardenhewer: cf. above, 175 n. 27) that the De vita con-
templativa was written as a pastoral instruction for the clergy; and
because evidently the writer when speaking of pontifices and sacer-
dotes applies both terms to the same group of clerics, it is asserted
(e.g., by Prendergast, oj?. cit. 101) that Pomerius calls a priest
fontifex (in 2. 9. i). But in all instances pontifices is a designation
for bishops, as it always was among Christians before and after
Pomerius. It is they who are referred to as sacerdotes, a usage that
can be illustrated many times from Cyprian to Gregory of Tours-
decades after the De vita contemplativa was written; for examples,
cf . Du Cange, " Sacerdos," Gloss, med. et inf. Lat. 7 (ed. nova, Niort
1886) 254. The present observations are illustrated in detail from
Pomerius' text and from historical considerations in a paper by Dr.
Plumpe (cf. above, 177 n. 4).
45 This recalls Horace's description of the greedy rich man, Odes
2. 1 8. 23 ff.: Quid quod usque proximos | revellis agri terminos et
ultra | limites clientium salis avarus?
46 Cf. 2 Cor. 4. 4; 8. 23.
47 Cf. Rom. 8. 17.
48 Quasi patres meos audeam docere. The word patres is here used
in the sense of a holy, spiritual fatherhood. Ecclesiastical superiors-
bishops, abbots, etc. were familiarly so termed because of their
office of instructing, guiding, correcting, and consoling their subjects.
Such a superior was a father to the Christian faithful, as can be seen
from the very early testimony of the Martyrium Poly car ^i (12.2
Funk-Bihlmeyer). When Polycarp, aged bishop of Smyrna, had
professed his faith in the stadium, the enraged people cried : " This
is the teacher (St&aovcoAoO of Asia and the father of the Christians
Grar?)/) TO)]/ -xflurnav&v)" The superior was also eminently the father
of the ministers working under him. Already St. Paul calls Timothy
his "beloved son in faith" (r Tim. i. 2) and St. Peter speaks of
"my son Mark" (i Peter 5. 13). Cf. Augustine, De mor. Eccl.
Cath. 31.67, regarding the yatres among the cenobites; for further
instances in later writers, including Caesarius of Aries, cf . Du Cange,
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK ONE 181
Gloss, med. et inf. Lat. 6 (1886) s. v. Read B. Steidle, " Heilige
Vaterschaft," Ben. Monatsschr. 14 (1932) 2158:.; the same, "Abba
Vater," ibid. 16 (1934) 88 ff.
49 St. Augustine (Serm. 138. 5) also calls Christ the Good Shep-
herd (cf . John 10. 1 1 ff.) : Pastor pastorum, the Shepherd of shepherds.
50 F. Degenhart, op. cit. 18, calls this Pomerius' finest figure. The
metaphor Ecclesia-navis goes back to subapostolic times; c. Ignatius
of Antioch, Pol. 2. 3. It is known to Tertullian and Hippolytus of
Rome and is used by Cyprian frequently. For Pomerius the bishop
is a pilot of the ship of the Church : long before him Cyprian called
Pope Lucius the gubernator, pilot or captain, of the Navis Ecclesia
(cf. Ep. 61. i). Among many other occurrences, note particularly
the striking passages in the Canones Ecclesiastici Apostolorum 2. 7.
57. Note also Augustine, In loan. Ev. tract. 25. 5; Enarr. in Ps.
103, serm. 4. 5; Serm. 63. i ff.; 75. 3. 4. Cf. H. Rahner, Griechische
Mythen in christlicher Deutung (Zurich 1945) 430-92. For the
Church represented as a ship in ancient Christian art, see G. Stuhl-
fauth, "Das Schiff als Symbol der altchristlichen Kunst," Riv, di
archeol. crist. 19 (1942) 111-41.
51 Cf . Augustine, De doctr. Christ. 4, 27. 59 f .
52 Cf. 2 Thess. 3. 9; i Peter 5. 3.
03 Cf. i Cor. 6. 15; 12. 27; Eph. 5. 30.
54 Cf. Mark 16. 16.
55 Cf. Matt. 19. 28; Luke 22. 29 f.
00 Isa. 7. 9, quoted according to the Septuagint. The Vulgate
reads: If you will not believe, you shall not continue. Note the
writer's lapse in attributing the passage to the Apostle (= St. Paul)!
One manuscript seems to read propheta or prophetia for Apostolo.
67 Ps. 35* 4-
58 Rom. 10. 17. The Vulgate reads: "by the word of Christ.
Ibid. 10. 14; cf. Augustine, Conf. i. i.
60 Cf. Mark 16. 16; James 2. 17.
61 Rom. 10. 10.
62 Cf. above, n. 51.
68 That is, if he does not preach.
64 2 Cor. 12. 21.
. 11.29.
Ezech. 33.7. C. F. Arnold, op. cit. 122 and n. 364a, observes
that the qualities of Caesarius' sermons their outspokenness and
stirring picturesqueness remind us of the manner of the prophet
Ezechiel; that it is not by mere chance that in discussions of the
1 82 NOTES
duties of the clergy both he and his teacher, Pomerius, revert especi-
ally to Ezechiel; and that in the present section (20-22) Pomerius
relies exclusively on that prophet for the Scriptural basis of his
observations on pastoral obligations.
67 Ezech. 33. 7.
68 Ibid. 33. 8.
69 Ezech. 3. 1 8.
70 Quis . . . tarn saxei pectoris, quis tarn feneus. This probably is
a reminiscence of Pliny the Younger, who writes (Ep. 2. 3. 7) that
one who has no desire to become acquainted with the rhetorician
Isaeus is saoceus ferreusque.
71 Ezech. 34. 2-5.
72 Ibid. 34. 7-10.
73 Ps. 54. 6 f .
74 Cf. Prov. 20. 22; Lam. 3. 26; Mich. 7. 7.
75 Cf . above, n. 44.
76 Ezech. 33. 9.
77 Ibid. 33. 3-5. The word speculator, " watchman/' is introduced
from v. 2.
78 2 Cor. 1 1. 6.
79 Pomerius evidently is very familiar with St. Augustine's views
on the matter of eloquence and style as set forth in his outline of
homiletics in the last half of the third book and in the fourth book
of the De doctrina Christiana.
80 In Gaul the Christians were especially demonstrative during ser-
mons. Sidonius relates (Ep. 9. 3. 5) that he shouted himself hoarse
as he listened to the sermons of Faustus of Riez. Cf . Arnold, op. cit.
126; J. Zellinger, " Der Beifall in der altchristlichen Predigt," Pest-
gabe A. Knopfler (Freiburg i. Br. 1917) 403-1 5 .The injunction
given here by Pomerius had been stated with equal vigor by St.
Jerome, Ep. 52, 7 (Ad Nepotianum) : Dicente te in ecclesia, non
clamor populi, sed gemitus suscitetur. Lacrimae auditorum laudes
tuae sink
81 See the last paragraph of this treatise.
82 Phalerati sermonis. Phalerati suggests the metal disks worn on
the breast as military decorations, as well as the trappings for the
forehead and breast of horses. Cf. Malnory, op. cit. 21. Symmachus
and Sidonius Apollinaris also use the word in reference to rhetorical
ornamentation. In classical Latin we find Terence, Phorm, 3. 2, 16,
employing the phrase phalerata dicta" fine speeches."
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 183
83 Cf . the passages quoted in the preceding discussion, Ezech.
33-3-9J 34-2-iQ.
84 Cf. i Tim. 3. 2-4.
85 Note the homoeoteleuta : si non infientur . . . sed graventur;
nee honorari se, sed onerari. . . . Observe also the play on words in
the second pair.
86 Cf. Rom. 8. 17. This sentence furnishes a companion picture to
the description given above, 13. 2, of those priests who cannot share
in the contemplative life. Note the similar grammatical construction
employed in the two passages.
87 Cf. Luke 1.2.
BOOK TWO
1 Cf. Eph. 6. 5 ff.; Titus 2. 9 f.; i Peter 2. 18; also i Cor. i. 12 ff.;
Eph. 5. 22-30.
2 As John Chrysostom, De sacerd. 6. 4, puts it, the priest must show
himself xp 7 ] ^^ K & L <wvnjpw C" both kind and severe "), according
to the condition and disposition of those under his charge.
3 Pomerius, like many early Christian writers, often speaks of
man's sinfulness and his spiritual restoration in medical terms. For
a very detailed comparison of the priest's care of souls with the
physician's practice of medicine, read Gregory of Nazianzus, Or.
2. 16-34. Cf. also John Chrysostom, loo. tit.
4 Cf. Exod. 30,10; Lev. 6.2-16; Num. 16.46-48; i. Par. 6.49.
4a Cf. Ps. 50. 19.
5 Cf . GaL 2. 9; also Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians 5. 2, for
which see J. A. Kleist's observation, ACW i (1946) 106 n. 26.
6 Ezech. 3. 17.
7 Acts 20. 25-28.
8 It is curious to note that in the quotation Pomerius has just given
from the Acts he inadvertently writes " the kingdom of Jesus Christ "
for " the kingdom of God."
9 Cf. Mark 12.25.
10 Acts 20. 27. Arnold, op. cit. 124, shows from the present para-
graph, among others, to what extent Caesarius was indebted to
Pomerius, his teacher, for the theory which he applied in his sermons.
11 Compare with this St. Paul's words to the master of the con-
verted fugitive slave Onesimus (Philem. i.i5ff.): Forsitan enim
ideo discessit . . . ut aeternum ilium reciperes : iam non ut servum,
184 NOTES
sed pro servo carissimum fratrem. . . . The passage in Pomerius indi-
cates that slavery still existed, although under the influence of
Christianity the Roman emperors had passed a number of laws for
the betterment of the slaves. As early as 316 Constantine gave
Christian masters the power to liberate their slaves in church in the
presence of the clergy and the people (Codex Justin, i. 13. i). Cf. P.
Allard, Les esclaves Chretiens (6th ed. Paris 1914) 332 ff.; J. Man-
quoy, Le christianisme et I'esclavage antique (Liege-Paris 1927)
55 ft; A. T. Geoghegan, The Attitude towards Labor in Early
Christianity and Ancient Culture (Stud, in Christ. Ant. 6, Washing-
ton 1945) 103; 137; 145; 223 ff. We may note here, too, that
Caesarius, Pomerius' pupil, showed a great interest in the lot of
manumitted slaves, as is attested by the records of the Council of
Agde (506) over which Caesarius presided: cf. cc. 7, 29 (Mansi
8. 325, 329 = Hefele-Leclercq 2. 2. 984, 991 f.).
12 The Apostles and early Christians described themselves as " ser-
vants of Christ " and " servants in Christ." Cf . S. Weber, Evangelium
und Arbeit (Freiburg i. Br. 1898) 97 f.; H. Rengstorf, "Die Christen
als SovXoi Gottes und des Christus," in G. Kittel, Theol Worterb. z.
N. Test. 2 (1935) 276-80.
13 Cf. Epk 6. 5-9; Titus 2.9^; i Peter 2. 18.
14 Acts 20. 28.
15 Cf. Rom. 14. i and 15. i.
16 Heb. 13. 17. Note that Pomerius has expedit, "is expedient,"
for non expedit, " is not expedient," of the Vulgate.
17 Cf. Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians 15. i (trans, by J. A.
Kleist, ACW [1946] i. 18): "Those whose peaceful intentions are
but a mask."
18 Cf. Isa. 10. 2; Matt. 23. 14; Luke 20. 47. Cf. St. Jerome's letter
to Nepotian, Ep. 52.6, 16. Pomerius seems to have been well ac-
quainted (see also above, 182 n. 80; below, 187 n. 80) with this
famous letter.
19 2 Tim. 4. 2.
20 Rom. 15.1. The Vulgate reads: Now we that are stronger
ought to bear the infirmities of the weak.
21 Male dicaces in se. Addressing Antony, Cicero says (,Phil. 2.
78) : populum etiam dicacem in te reddidisti.
22 Cf. Gal. 6. 2.
23 John i. 29.
24 Cf. Ezech. 18. 23; 33. 11; i Tim. 2. 4; 2 Peter 3. 9.
26 Cf. Matt. 5, 29 f .; Mark 9. 42-46.
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 185
26 Cf. Jer. 29. 23.
27 Matt. 6. 12.
28 Cf. Prov. 1 8. 17.
29 It seems that Pomerius leaves it to the conscience of the cleric
who committed mortal sins in secret to impose a penance upon
himself without confessing his sins publicly. The reason is that
public penance, which was demanded for such sins, created the
canonical impediment of irregularitas. See Isidore of Seville's prin-
ciple that penance should be performed in such a way, ut a sacer-
dotibus et levitis Deo tantum teste fiat, a ceteris vero adstante coram
Deo solemniter sacerdote: De eccl. off. 2. 6 (PL 83. 802). Cf. B.
Poschmann, Die abendlandiscke Kirchenbusse vm fruhen Mittelalter
(Breslau 1930) i58ff.
s Eccli. 19.28.
31 Prov. 19. 5.
32 Congregandis fratribus aut alendis: cf. above, 177 n. 4.
33 Bishop of Nola (+431), to whom his revered teacher, the
rhetorician and poet Ausonius, addressed three letters in an effort to
win him from his resolve to receive baptism and to take leave of
the world entirely. Paulinus* replies are preserved in his Carmina
10 and ii. Both St. Jerome and St. Augustine admired him greatly
and both carried on correspondence with him.
34 Archbishop of Aries (+499). He, too, exchanged letters with
St. Augustine.
85 Vota, that is, given to the Church by the vows or promises of
the faithful.
86 Osee 4. 8.
37 Cf. Titus 2. 14.
38 1 Cor. 7. 32.
39 i Tim. 6. 10.
40 i Cor. 9. 13.
41 Ibid 9. 14.
42 Ibid. 9. 15.
43 Ibid.
44 1 follow the reading of the manuscripts, quos potest faciat suos-,
Le Brun des Marettes-Mangeant wrote quos potest vincere, victores
faciat suos. This would mean that covetousness conquers certain
people and then makes them apostles, conquerors in its behalf. This
seems a rather unusual thought, one which does not receive further
development by Pomerius in what follows.
45 That is, to joys that in the end bring only torturing grief.
1 86 * NOTES
46 Cf. Dent. 10.9; 32.9; Jos. 13.33; Ps. 72.26; Eccli. 17-1?;
45. 27; Lam. 3. 24; Zach. 2. 12; and elsewhere.
47 Ps. 118.57.
48 ibid. 15.5.
49 C. Num. 18. 20, 23; Deut. 10. 9 and 18. i.
50 C. Deut. 12. 26; i Mac. 3. 49.
51 Cf. Exod. 22.29; 25.2; 35.5; Lev. 2.12; Deut, Kings, Esd.
passim.
52 Cf. Num. 6. 14.
58 Cf . Lev. 22. 2.
54 Acts 4. 32.
55 The Cynics, for example, and later the Stoics. Cf . the char-
acterization of Diogenes of Synope in T. Gomperz, Greek Thinkers
2 (trans, by G. G. Berry, New York 1905) 155 ff. See M. Olphe-
Gaillard, " Les philosophies de Fantiquite greco-romaine," s. v. " As-
cetisme," Diet, de spir. i (1937) 950-60.
56 Pomerius is here thinking most probably of the Priscillianists,
who had their stronghold in Gaul and were notorious for their
rigorous asceticism and their condemnation of all worldly possessions.
57 Cf. Gen. i. 29 and 2. 9.
58 The fruit of the tree of life is here regarded as a prefiguration
of the Eucharist. For Methodius of Philippi, Symp. 9. 3, this fruit
typified the fruit of faith.
59 Capax Dei.
60 Gen. 3. 10.
61 Ibid.
62 Protecticme divina nudatL In the Latin the original meaning of
pro-tegere is clearly felt: "to cover before or in front/' "to cover
over/'
63 Cf. Gen. 2. 25 and Augustine, De civ. Dei 14. 17; also De pecc.
mer. et remiss. 32. 36.
64 Cf. 2 Par. 24. 20,24; Augustine, De civ. Dei 13. 15.
65 Note the wordplay: ut qui posse non mori acceperant in natura,
non posse mori consequerentur in gloria. This (observe also in the
following: non posse peccare') is quite certainly a reminiscence of
the same phrasings in Augustine, Enchir. 105: God wished to show:
quam bonum sit animal rationale quod etiam non peccare possit;
quamvis sit melius quod peccare non possit; to which there is the
parallel of : minor f uit immortalitas . , . in qua posset etiam non mori,
quamvis maiora futura sit in qua non possit mori, Cf . L. A. Arand,
ACW 3 (1947) 100 and n. 344.
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK Two 187
66 Propinaret ferale consilium : the picture of the devil serving a
poisoned cup.
67 Gen. 3. 5. The Vulgate reads: For God doth know that in what
day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes. . . .
68 i John 2. 15 f.
69 Cf. i Peter 2.2,1.
70 i John 2. 6.
71 Col. 3. i.
72 On the subject of abnegation see J. Guibert nd R. Daeschler,
"Abnegation/* Diet, de spir. i (1937) 67-110.
73 Gal. 5. 24.
7 * CoL 3. 5.
75 Cf. 2 Kings 23. 1 6; i Par. n. 16 ff.
76 Cf. 3 Kings 17.6.
77 Eph. 5. 1 8.
78 i Tim. 5. 23. Cf. Augustine, De mor. Eccl. Cath. 33. 72.
79 Cf. E. Vacandard, " Careme," Diet, de la theol. cath. 2. 2 (1910)
1733. Socrates in his Ecclesiastical History (5. 22) says that many
ate fish in Lent, some even ate birds, under the pretext that, accord-
ing to Moses, birds took their origin from the sea. Malnory, op. cit.
208, remarks that carnes and sanguis were more heavily restricted
than birds because, " as naturalists and mystics admit, fowl is less
heavy to body and soul."
80 Cf . Augustine's Lenten sermon, Sera. 207. 2 : Videas enim
quosdam pro usitato vino inusitatos liquores exquirere, et aliorum
expressione pomorum, quod ex uva sibi denegant, multo suavius
compensare; cf. also Serm. 210.8. 10; De mor. Eccl. Cath. 31.67;
Jerome, Ep. 52. 12 (here sorbitiunculae delicatae = " exquisite drinks "
are also mentioned).
81 This is set forth in the anti-Manichaean writings of St. Augus-
tine; e. g., De mor. Munich. 15. 36; Contra Faust. 6. 6-8.
82 That is, through rigorous fasting and abstinence.
1 88 NOTES
BOOK THREE
1 Wisd. i. ii. Cf. Augustine, De civ. Dei 19.28; Enchir. 92 f.;
Serm. 2,6. i Guelferb. (529 Morin).
2 Perpetue loeata ac Ideate perpetua.
8 A negative turn is here given to the old proverb: qui bene latet
bene vmt: cf. Ovid, Trist. 3.4.25; Horace, Ep. i. 17. 10; also A.
Otto, op. cit. 189.
* Rom. 14. 23. This passage also holds an important place in
St. Augustine's discussions of whether the infideles are capable of
practicing virtutes: De nwpt. et cone. i. 4; Contra lul. Pelag. 4. 25 ff.
If Pomerius denies any value to virtues practiced by pagans, he means
supernatural value. St. Augustine holds the same opinion.
5 i Cor. 3. i f. The Vulgate does not have " when I came to you/'
6 Ibid. 3. 3.
7 For the contrast, vivere secundum hominemvivere secundum
Deu-m, see also Augustine, De civ. Dei 14.4; Serm. 97. 2. 2.
8 1 follow the reading of some manuscripts : Qid si yotuerit, est
(for si fotuerit esse) cum qutbus vult. . . .
Matt. lo, 20.
10 Ps. 80. ii.
11 Eccli. 10. 15.
12 Cf. Isa. 14. 12 ff.; Luke 10. 18; Apoc. 12. 8 f.
13 That is in the view of the ancientsthe lower air. For the air
considered as the medium in which the devil and evil spirits exist
and ply their nefarious activities, cf. Eph. 2. 2: . . . aliquando am-
bulastis . . . secundum principem potestatis aeris huius. See ibid.
6. 12; Athanasius, De Incarn. 25; Augustine, De Gen, ad litt. 3. 15;
11.33: ... pecca tores angelos minime dubitemus detrusos tamquam
in carcerem caliginis huius aeriae circa terras; De agone Christ, i;
Enchir. 9. 28 (cf. L. A. Arand, ACW 3 [1947] 36 and n. 68).
14 Ps. 24.17.
15 Rom. 5. 12.
10 Cf. Augustine, De civ. Dei 14. 3: corruptio corporis quae aggra-
vat animam, non peccati primi est causa, sed poena; nee caro corrupti-
bilis animam peccatricem, sed anima peccatrix fecit esse corruptibilem
carnem.
17 Cf. 2 Cor. 12.7.
18 So Degenhart, op. cit. 33, conjecturing severitas on the basis of
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 189
the variant securitas in two MSS. not used by Le Brim des Marettes-
Mangeant. Of course, in the contrast, the accepted reading, maturi-
tas, yields practically the same meaning.
lfl Eccli. 10. 15.
20 i Tim. 6. 10.
21 Augustine, op. cit. 14. 3.
22 Augustine, De Gen. contra Munich. 2. 8. 10: Est mater omnium
haereticorum superbia.
28 Cf. Acts 20. 24; 2 Tim. 4. 7.
2 * Pomerius continues to speak of pride as a disease (morbus). St.
Augustine has the same conception of it: cf. Serm. 175. i; Enarr. in
Ps. 1 1 8, serm. 9. 2.
25 Cf. James 3. 6.
20 The Latin suggests Prudentius, Hamart. 302 f .
27 Professionis suae propositiim : with reference to the solemn bap-
tismal confession or profession of faith. Cf. Augustine, Conf. 8. 2. 5.
28 Cf. Prov. 29. 13.
29 For the Canticle of Canticles, see Origen, In Cant. Cant, prol.,
preserved in the translation by Rufinus: moneo et consilium do omni,
qui nondum carnis et sanguinis molestiis caret neque ab affectu
naturae materialis abscedit, ut a lectione libelli huius eorumque
quae in eo dicuntur, penitus temperet. Aiunt enim observari etiam
apud Hebraeos, quod nisi quis ad aetatem perfectam maturamque
pervenerit, libellum hunc ne quidem in manibus hob ere permittatur.
Continuing, Origen also mentions the other two Biblical boots
referred to by Pomerius and states (ifczd.) : that it has been handed
down to him that among the Hebrews the youth was taught the
entire Bible in one and the same course of instruction, but that four
parts were reserved to be imparted latex ad ulthnum: i. e. principium
Genesis, in quo mundi creatura describitur, et Ezechielis prophetae
principia, in quibus de Cherubim refertur, et finem, in quo templi
aedificatio continetur, et hunc Cantici Canticorum librum. It is
probable that Pomerius was acquainted with Origen's testimony
through the translation by Rufinus of Aquileia. Note, however, that
Origen does not say, as does Pomerius, that the entire Book of
Genesis was prohibited reading. Gregory of Nazianzus, Or. 2. 48,
also refers to the ancient Hebrew tradition reported by Origen. He
states that certain parts of Scripture were withheld from readers
who had not yet completed their twenty-fifth year, though he does
not specify which parts were forbidden.
190 NOTES
80 for the phrasing, cf. Vergil, Aen. 7.415; 10. 447; Lucan, Phars.
7,291.
31 Cf. Titus 1. 1 6.
S2 The language used here (et in ipso totum genus humanum,
velut in radice fructum, naturae sponte peccantis vitiations corrupt)
recalls Augustine, who states concerning the first man (Enchir.
8. 26) : stirpem quoque swam, quam 'peccando in se tamquam in
radice vitiaverat. . . .
33 Velut amid in obsequio, hostes in animo. This evidently harks
back in part to the vulgare froverbium (Augustine in a letter to
Jerome, Ep. 82. 31) as formulated by Terence, Andr. 68: Obsequium
amicos, veritas odium parit. This was quoted by Cicero, Lactantius,
Rufimis, and others. Cf. Otto, oy. dt. 368.
34 The idea of man turning evil to good tnalo bene wtiis found
often in the writings of St. Augustine. Thus, when a man gives up
his life for another, he turns the evil of death to good (De pecc. mer.
et remiss. 2.28.45). Cf. Mausbach, oy. dt. i. 10; 2. i8of.; L. A.
Arand's observations on Augustine, Enchir. 8. 27: ACW 3 (1947)
1 22 n. 66. See also the following note.
35 Cf. especially Augustine, De civ. Dei 13. 5; 19. 10.
36 Gen, 4.13.
37 Cf. Prov. 14. 30.
38 Cf. Vergil, Aen. 3.29 f.
39 Cf. ibid., 4. 499; also Ovid, Trist. 3. 9, 18.
40 Cf. Ps. 68. 6; 89. 8.
41 Cf. Deut. 10. 17; 2 Par. 19. 7,
42 Cf, i Cor. 4. 5.
43 Cf. Isa. 65. i and Rom. 10. 20.
44 Matt. 22. 13.
45 Isa. 66. 24; Mark 9. 44.
4G The Latin has only actione yrivari. In the translation actio is
taken in the pregnant sense of " doing good/' " doing good works/'
as is also suggested by a variant in one of the manuscripts: boni
opens actione frivari.
47 Cf, Ps. 26.1; Mich. 7.8; John 8.12; 12.35; 12.46; i John
i. 5; etc,
48 That is, beatific vision.
49 Cf. Apoc. 2. 1 1; 20. 6, 14; 21.8. See Augustine, De civ, Dei
19.28; Enchir. 92 f.; Serm. 26. i Guelferb. (529 Morin).
50 Cf. also 1.1.2; 1.2; r. 10. i; 1.12.2; 3.13; 3.28,2; 3.31*5.
St. Augustine, too, is fond of calling heaven our homeland f atria,
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 191
patria caelestis: De doctr. Christ, i. 9. 9; i. 10. 10; In loan. Ev. tract.
30. 7; Serm. 91. 7. 9; 92. 3. 3; 103. 5. 6; 159. i. i. Note also the title
of one of his sermons addressed to the catechumens: De cantico novo
et de reditu ad coelestem yatriam ac viae periculis (ML 40. 677 ff.).
Earlier, St. Cyprian uses the same term for heaven: cf. the magni-
ficent passage in De mort. 26. See Heb. 11.16: Nunc autem
meliorem patriam) appetunt, id est, caelestem; above, 178 n. 17.
51 i Cor. 12. 31.
**Ibid. 13.1.
5S IKd. 13.2.
54 Cf. Augustine, Cont. litt. PetiL 2. 77. 172; De unico baft. 7. u;
In loan. Ev. tract. 9. 8.
55 The " living Sun " is God or Christ. For the history of this
term, see F. J. Dolger, Sol salutis (2nd ed., Miinster i, W, 1925).
56 i Cor. 13. 3. The Vulgate has: all my goods.
57 Gal. 5. 6.
58 i Cor. 13.4-7.
59 Rom. 5. 5.
60 i Tim. i. 5.
C1 Cf. Deut. 6. 5; Matt. 22. 37; Mark 12. 30; Luke 10. 27.
2 Cf. Matt. 5. 43.
63 The exposition in this section quite certainly is modeled on St.
Augustine's De doctrina Christiana (cf. i. 27. 28).
64 i John 2. 15.
65 This recalls the conditions required by Cicero of true love in
true friendship (De amic. 100): . . . nulla indigentia, nulla utilitate
quaesita.
66 Cf. Tob. 4. 1 6; Matt. 7. 12; Luke 6. 31.
67 Cant. 2. 4.
68 The moral allegory of the Two Ways or the crossroads was a
favorite commonplace in Christian and pagan antiquity. See Lac-
tantius, Inst. div. 6. 3, where he speaks of the ancient tradition
according to which the pattern of human life resembles the letter
"Y": during his youth, an individual's life runs an even course;
but when he arrives at the threshold of manhood, the way he has
been traveling divides and runs on in opposite directions; and he
is faced with the quandary of which new way to follow that of
inactivity, ease, comfort, vice, or that of incessant effort, rugged
action, virtue. Cf. also the same author, Efit. 59. The tradition re-
ferred to by Lactantius as having been propagated by ancient phi-
192 NOTES
losophers and poets Is best known from the celebrated fable of
Hercules at the crossroads. In this narrative, as told by the sophist
Prodicus of Ceos (cf. Xenophon, Mem. 2. i. 21-34), the hero, con-
fronted by a division of the road along which he has been going
and by two women advancing towards him from the diverging paths,
chooses to follow the one woman, modest and dignified and inviting
him to a life of virtue, rather than to accept the solicitations of the
other, enticing him to a life of pleasure and ease. Cf . also Cicero,
Deoff. 1.118.
In early patristic literature the theory of the Two Ways plays a
very prominent role. It forms the first part (1-6) of the Didache:
the way of life and the way of death. It constitutes the second part
of the so-called Letter of Barnabas (18-21): the way of light and
the way of darkness. The way of life and the way of death are further
set forth in the paraphrase made of the Didache in the first part of
the seventh book of the Apostolic Constitutions. These documents
show to what great extent the teaching of morality in early Christi-
anity followed the model of the Two Ways; and here Christ had of
course gone before, Matt. 7. 1 3 f . : . . . broad is the way that leadeth
to destruction . . . and strait is the way that leadeth to life.
69 Regarding the four cardinal virtuesprudence, fortitude, tem-
perance, justice and their opposites: Aeschylus, Septem 610 (a
verse expunged by Wilamowitz in his edition of Aeschylus), is
perhaps the first who mentions these four virtues together. Plato
saw in these virtues four kinds of virtues, whereas the Stoics re-
garded them as different manifestations of one and the same virtue*
This fourfold division of the fundamental virtues is often found in
Cicero: De off. i. 15 ff.; De fin. 3. 25 ff.; Parad. Stoic. 3. 21 f.; Part,
orat. 76 ff.; etc. Cf . J. Kunserniiller, Die Herkunft der ylatonischen
Kardinaltugenden (diss. Munich 1935).
In Christian ethics and morality St. Augustine above all gave it a
place. He had become acquainted with it as a young man through
his reading of Cicero's Hortensius*, cf . the fragment of this lost work
preserved in the De Trin. 14. 12. It may be that in this matter
Pomerius derived the philosophorum sententia directly from Cicero
or from St. Augustine's writings. Regarding the latter, see also De
mor. Eccl Cath. 25; De div. quaest. 83. 31; De lib. arb. i. 27; 2. 50,
52; De civ. Dei 19. 25; and for a proper appraisal of these passages,
cf. J. Mausbach, Die Ethik des hi Augustinus (2nd ed., Freiburg i,
Br. 1929) i. 207 ff. Concerning ancient "lists of virtues and vices/'
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 193
c. A. Vogtle, Die Tugend- und Lasterkataloge in Neuen Testament
(Neutest. Abh. 16, Miinster i. W. 1936) $.
70 Antiquity made much of the mystical significance of certain
numbers, especially in the interpretation of the Bible. The sacredness
of the number 4 was seen in the following Scriptural passages: Gen.
2. 10 ff.; Dan. 7. 2 ff.; Apoc. 4. 6 ff. Passages in which the Fathers
treated the same mystical number are: Victorinus, De fabr. mundi
(3.456 Routh); Ambrose, Hexaem. 4.9.34; De Abrah. 2,9.65;
Jerome, In Ev. Matt. 2. 15. 33; Augustine, Enarr. in Ps. 6. 2; Serm.
252. 10. i o; etc. Cf. J. Sauer, " Zahlensymbolik," Lex. f. Theol. u.
Kirche 10 (1938) 1025-30; H. Lesetre, "Nombre," Diet, de la Bible
4 (1908) 1677-97; for Pomerius, O. Zockler, Die Tugendlehre des
Christentums . . . , mit besonderer Rucksicht auf deren zahlen-
symbolische Einkleidung (Giitersloh 1904) 93-95.
71 These four emotions or "affections" (affectiones) are: desire
(cupiditas), joy (laetitia), fear (metus*), and sadness (tristitia). Cf.
Augustine, De civ. Dei 14. 6 ff.; In loan. Ev. tract. 46. 8.
Cf. Gen. 2. 10.
73 Cf. Ezech. 1.5-23.
74 Cf. Augustine, Enarr. in Ps. 103, serm* 4. 14: Nolite vobis
tribuere fortitudinem. Si vestra est, inquit, et mea non est: duritia
est, non fortitude; also De mor. Eccl. Cath. 22. 41.
75 Matt. 5. io,
70 Exod. 15. 2; Ps. 117. 14; Isa. 12. 2.
77 Cf. Phil. 3. 9; Augustine, Op, imperf. cont. lul. 2, 158; In loan.
Ev. tract. 50. 6; also Cicero, De off. i. 7. 23 : Fundamentum autem
est iustitiae fides.
78 Cf. Terence, Heaut. 77: Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum
puto. This sententious verse was often quoted or alluded to: cf.
Cicero, De off. 1.9.30; De leg. i. 12.33; Seneca, Ep. 95. 53; Am-
brose, De off. 3. 7. 45; etc. See Otto, op. cit. 165 f.
78 In the passage cited in the previous note, St. Ambrose, dis-
cussing the unfair treatment of strangers, argues the opposite: namely,
that beasts do have consideration for their kind and give mutual
assistance among themselves.
80 Chapters i and 2.
81 i Cor. 15. 28; cf. Augustine, De civ. Dei 19. 20; 22. 30.
62 Tamquam verus agricola in agro suo. St. Augustine likewise
calls God the agricola, the farmer who tills and waters the soil of
our soul and receives our good works as His harvest: cf. Enarr. in
Ps. 66. i; 102.4; Conf. 2.3. 5. The inspiration for this beautiful
194 NOTES
metaphor comes from St. Paul, i Cor. 3.7-9: . . . Dei agricultura
estiSj Dei aedificatio estis.
83 Qui sit habitator noster.
84 Pomerius refers to the Peripatetics and Stoics. Cf . Augustine,
De civ. Dei 9. 4; 14. 8.
85 Cf, Augustine, ibid. 19. 4.
86 Augustine, ibid. 9.4: Duae sunt sententiae philosophorum de
his animi motibus, quos Graeci Tra&y, nostri autem quidam, sicut
Cicero (De fin. 3. 10. 35; Tusc. disp. 3. 4. 7) perturb ationes, quidam
affectiones vel affectus, quidam vero, sicut iste de Graeco expressius,
'passiones vocant.
87 Cf. Augustine, ibid. 19. 19, where he also quotes St. Paul: i
Tim. 3. i : Qui episcopatum desiderat, bonum opus desiderat.
88 Cf. Matt. 2.2; 27. n; Mark 15.2; John 18.37; i Tim. 6. 15;
etc. For the New Testament concept of Christ as King, cf. K. L.
Schmidt, "jSocriAevV' " /foo-iA.eta," in G. KitteTs TheoL Worterb. z.
Neuen Test, i (1933) 577-79, 581 f. The Fathers, particularly St.
Augustine, have developed fully the idea of Christ's kingship.
89 This is the original, etymological meaning of the old Roman
word prudentia < pro-videntia, from pro = prae)-videre: a "fore-
seeing " and " providing against." It is this eminently practical and
useful prudence and wisdom, as contrasted with Greek book wisdom
and scientific knowledge, which Cicero throughout his writings
claims for the Romani antiqui, the ancestors who had made Rome
mistress of the world. Cf. J. C. Plumpe, Wesen und Wirkung der
auctoritas maiorum bei Cicero (diss. Munster: Bochum-Langendreer
1935) es P- 3 2 "48 tyrudentia, sayientia).
90 Cf. James i. 12; Augustine, De civ. Dei 9. 5.
91 Matt 10. 1 6.
92 Ps. 18. 13 f.
63 Cf. Augustine, Enchir. 22. 81: Duabus ex causis peccamus, aut
nondum videndo quid facere debeamus; aut non faciendo, quod
debere fieri iam videmus. Quorum duorum illud ignorantiae malum
est, hoc infirmitatis. See L. A. Arand, ACW 3 (1947) 1 3& n - ^78-
94 Ps. 26.1.
85 Cor. 13. 9 f.
96 This reference is to the Stoics and their doctrine of apathy.
97 2 Cor. 11.3. The Vulgate reads a simplicitate for a castitate.
The best manuscripts of the original Greek have both: fab ry$
a-TrX&rrjTos /cat rij$ wyvoryros. We make the curious observation that
in St. Augustine, who usually reads a castitate, we find both versions
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE: BOOK THREE 195
within the same treatise: In loan. Ev. tract. 8.4, a simplicitate et
castitate; ibid. 13. 12, a castitate.
98 Phil. i. 23. The Vulgate has desiderium habens for cupio.
99 This title St. Paul uses himself, i Tim. 2. 7 : in quo positus sum
ego praedicator et apostolus (veritatem dico, non mentior) doctor
gentium in fide et veritate.
100 Rom. 9. 2 f.
101 Ibid. 1 6. 19.
102 2 Tim. 3. 3.
103 Ps. 121. i.
104 Ibid. 68.21.
105 Eccli. i. 27.
106 Wisd. 6.21.
107 Cf. Augustine, De civ. Dei 14. 6.
108 Cf. above, 194 n. 84.
109 See M. Olphe-Gaillard, " Stoicisme," s. v. " Asc6tisme," Diet,
de spir. i (1937) 953-7; J. Stelzenberger, Die Eeziehung der fruh-
christlichen Sittenlehre zur Ethik der Stoa (Munich 1933).
110 Cf. Matt. 26. 37; Luke 19. 41; John n. 35.
111 Cf. Heb. 4.15; 2 Cor. 5.21; John 8.29,46; 14.30; i John
3. 5; Tertullian, De an. 41 : Solus Deus sine peccato, et solus homo
sine peccato Christus, quia et Deus Christus; De carne Christi 16;
Hippolytus, Cont. Noet. 17; Gregory of Nazianzus^ Or. 30.21;
38. 13; John Chrysostom, In i Cor. horn. 38. 2. Cf. L, Atzberger,
Die Unsiindlichkeit Christi (Munich 1883).
112 The Academic Grantor of Soli, quoted by Cicero, Tusc. disy.
3. 6. 12. Grantor wrote a treatise On Sorrow, on which Cicero drew
extensively in the third book of the Tusculan Disputations and on
which he modelled his own De consolatione, written soon after his
daughter's death in 45 B. C.
113 Ps. 18.10,
114 i John 4. 1 8.
115 Eccli. 1.28.
116 i John 4. 1 8.
117 Eccli. 7. 14.
118 Cicero, In Cat 1.2,4.
110 Vergil, Aen. 6. 733, also quoted by St. Augustine in a similar
discussion: De civ. Dei 14. 3.
120 Ps. 31.11.
121 Cf. Augustine, De civ. Dei 14. 6.
122 This tribute to St. Augustine and his teaching is particularly
1 96 NOTES
noteworthy: though coming from a fellow African, it was written
in territory that still heard Augustine accused of heresy. It was here
that John Cassian "became the father of semi-Pelagianism, which in
Pomerius 5 day was still strong in the Rhone country. Pomerius'
estimate of St. Augustine also contradicted the opinion of other
eminent opponents of Augustinism, such as Vincent of Lerins and
Faustus of Riez.
123 De civ. Dei 14. 9.
124 Ibid.
125 i John 4. 1 8; cf. above, 3. 31. 3.
126 Cf. Ps. 1 8. 10 and above, 3. 31. 3.
127 Cf. Augustine, De mus. 6.16.51,55. In Ep. 155.3.12, he
states that in the blessed afterlife these virtues will no longer be
needed, that they unite into one virtue; cf. ibid. 16.
128 Cf. Gal. 5. 17.
129 Ubi in aenigmate quodam prudentes ilhiminat probably with
reference to i Cor. 13. 12,, in which St. Paul contrasts our present
seeing with the beatific vision: Videmus nunc per speculum in
aenigmate\ tune autem facie ad faciem.
130 James i. 5.
151 Degenhart, o'p. cit. 2,, deduces from this that Pomerius was
self-taught. See the Introduction 1 1 f .
132 This recalls a well-known chapter in St. Augustine : De doctr.
Christ. 4. 2,8.
133 St. Augustine, ibid., has a similar sententious statement regard-
ing the teacher and the words he uses in teaching : Nee doctor verbis
serviat, sed verba doctori.
INDEX
INDEX
Aaron, 59
abnegation, 187
abstemiousness, 96
abstinence, nature of, 6, 9; per-
fection in, 16, 85-87, 114; spir-
itual, 100; 1 06, 109, i2,6f.,
140, 145
actio, 190
action, 12,2,, 134, 154, 157, 165,
191
actione privari, 190
active life, 6-9, n, 15, 31-33, 52-
54, 100, 154
activity, and contemplation, 9;
spiritual, a burden to the
carnal-minded, 114; 188
Acts of the Apostles, 60, 86
Adam, saw God as Patriarchs
did, 88; man born carnally of,
91; not to be imitated, 91; 143
administrators, ecclesiastical, 156
1 admonitions, of priests, 47. See
correction
adulterer, adultery, 77, in, 117
adversity, borne by Christ, 28,
92; 28, 125, 147, 158
advice, spiritual, 46
Aeonius, bishop of Aries, 4 '
Aeschylus, Seytem 610: 192
affectation, of style to be avoided
by teachers, 50
affection (s), of the flesh, 2,3; of
religious pretenders, 64; of
Christ for sinners, 68; 144, 193
affliction, 140
Africa, 3, 4, 173
afterlife, 36, 196. See heaven,
homeland
Agde, council of, 184
age, old, 22; unknown in para-
dise, 88; Christian, 84
agitations, 162. See disorders,
passions
agreement, faith in a mutual, 62
agricola, God as, 193
air, gloomy, 107; lower, 188
Aix-la-Chapelle, synod of, 174
alacer motus, 178
Allard, P., 184
allurements, 136, 140
alms, of the poor, 77
almsgiving, 105, 126, 134
altar, 70 f., 79
ambition, to be avoided, 37; 93,
in, 125, 142, 147
Ambrose, St., and pastoral in-
struction, 173
De Abrah. 2. 9. 65: 193; De
offv J 73; 3- 7- 45 : 193; Hex-
aem. 4. 9. 34: 193
ancients, the, 116, 143, 154
angels, assembly of, 19; dignity
of, 24; happiness of, 31; man
will gain likeness to 33, 61;
judgment of holy and wicked,
20 f .; became devils through
pride, 107, 109; the devil and
his, 130; 132
anger, of God, 72; of the insolent,
71; 32, 93, 109, 135
Angers, 7
animosity, 93
199
100
INDEX
antiquity, 191, 193
Antony, 184
anxiety, accompanies wealth, 24
precludes perfect happiness
29; of bishops, 47; 130, 146
apathy, doctrine of Stoics, 194
apostle(s), 25 ., 39, 41 f., 49, 51,
59-62, 65 f., 79 f., 90, 92,
losf, 107, no, 129, 132-34,
136, 161-63, 181, i84f.
Apostolic Constitutions, 192
appearance, bodily, 22; of God in
human form in Old Testa-
ment, 179; 133
appetite(s), of first human beings
ensnared by devil, 89 f.; to be
restrained, 94-97; 65, 86, 115,
145, i53f.
applause, sought by vain clerics,
133
approbation, divine 59; claimed
by vanity, 125
Arand, L. A., 178, 186, 188, 190,
194
Aries, 3, 4, 8, 73, 174
armor, of virtues, 119
Armstrong, C. J., 176
Arnold, C. F., 173, 174, 175, 176,
181, 182, 183
arrogance, unknown in heaven,
23; of ambition, 125
art, ancient Christian, 181
asceticism, of Priscillianists, 186
Athanasius, De Incarn. 25: 188
Atto of Vercelli, De pressuris ec-
cleciasticiSj 174
Atzberger, L., 195
Augustine, St., teaching of pre-
served in the West, 3; views
on contemplative life, 9, 1 1 ; a
writer of pastoral instruction, j
173; admired by St. Prosper, 6;
model of Pomerius, 1 1 ; praised
by him, 5, 165; St. Caesarius,
3, 173
Conf. i. i: 181; 2. 3. 5: 193;
8. 2. 5: 189; 13. 18: 176; Contra
Faust. 6.6-8: 187; Contra lul.
Pelag. 4.255.: 188; Contra
litt. Petil. 2.77. 172: 191; De
agone Christ, i : 188; De Toeata
vita 4.32:179; De cat. rud.
173; 178; 15.23: 176; De civ.
Dei 9. 4: 19419. 5: 194; 10.13:
179; 13. 5: 190; 13. 15: 186;
14. 3: 188, 195, 178; 14. 4:
188; 14. 6ff.: 193; 14. 6: 195;
14,8: 194; 14.9: 196; 14. 17:
186; 14.25: 179; 19.4: 194;
19. 10: 190; 19. 19: 176, 194;
19. 20: 179, 193; 19. 25: 192;
19. 28: 188, 190; 22. 17: 179;
22. 20: 178; 22. 30: 193; De
div. quaest. 83. 31: 192; De
doctr. Christ. 1.9. 9: 191; i.
10. 10: 191; i. 27. 28: 191;
3: 182; 4: 182; 4. 27. 59 f.:
181; 4. 28: 196; De Gen. ad
litt. 3. 15: 188; ii. 33: 188;
De Gen. contra Manich. 2. 8.
10 : 189; De lib. orb. i. 27:
192; 2. 50, 52: 192; De mor.
Eccl. Cath, 22. 41: 193; 25:
192; 31. 67: 180, 187; 33. 72:
187; De mor. Manich. 15. 36:
187; De miis. 6. 16. 51, 55:
196; De nuft. et cone. i. 4:
1 88; De pecc. mer. et remiss.
2. 28. 45: 190; 32. 36: 186;
De serm. Domini in monte i.
15. 41 : 179; De Trin. i. 17-21 :
176; 2: 179; 3: 179; 14. 12:
INDEX
201
192; De unico Tyapt. 7. 1 1 : 191;
Enarr. in Ps. 6. 2: 193; 66. i:
193; 102. 4: 193; 103, serm. 4.
5: 181; 103, serm. 4. 14: 193;
1 1 8, serm. 9. 2: 189; Enchir.
8. 26: 190; 8. 27: 190; 9. 28:
1 88; 22. 81: 194; 59: 179; 91:
178; 92 f.: 188, 190; 105: 186;
Ep. 16: 196; 82. 31: 190; 155.
3. 12: 196; In loan. Ev, tract.
8. 4: 195; 9. 8: 191; 13. 12:
195; 25. 5: 181; 30.7: 191; 46.
8: 193; 50. 6: 193; 67. 2: 178;
Op. imperf. contra lul. 2. 158:
193; Retract, i. 2, 4: 179;
Serm. 63. i ff. : 181; 75. 3. 4:
181; 91. 7. 9: 191; 92. 3. 3:
191; 97. 2. 2: 188; 103. 5. 6:
191; 138. 5: 181; 159. I. i:
191; 175. i: 189; 207. 2: 187;
210. 8. 10: 187; 252. 10. 10:
193; 26, i Guelferb.: 188, 190
Augustinism, 6, 196
Ausonius, 185
austerity, 140
Author, God, 21 ., 62, 117
authority, of God's name, 45;
priestly, 64; needed for teach-
ing, 37J 143
authors, ancient, 163
baptism, 185
Barbel, J., 179
Bardenhewer, O., 174?., 180
beasts, the powerful compared to,
46; of unclean spirits, 44; 22,
45, 82, 149, 152, 193
beatific vision, 10, 190, 196* See
sight
beauty, of women, 61, 115!:.
beginners, spiritual, 131
being, 27, 31
believers, 59
belles lettres, 12
beneficencej 1 50 .
benignity, 135
Berry, G. G., 186
Bible, forbidden in part to He-
brew youth, 116, 189; 178, 193
j3io<S OztoprjTLKOSy TTpaKTLKOS, 8
birds, as food, 96, 187; 82
birth, clerics poor by, 76; high,
preferred to morals by the
proud, 119
bishopric, a burden, 47; 37
bishops, addressees of Pomerius,
7f., 175; and contemplative
life, 34; 35, 36, 47, 63, 72 f.,
165, 177, 1 80. See priests,
minister
blessed, the, not saddened by ab-
sence of relatives in heaven,
3 1 ; *9> 3
blessings, future, 22, 24, 77; lost
by Adam through neglect of
abstinence, 87-91; 61, 79, 123,
139
blood, 43, 48, 62, 137, 152
boasting, 93, 99, 111, 148
body, as well as soul everlastingly
rewarded and punished, 20;
regained with immortality and
incorruption in heaven, 21; re-
stored to soundness in heaven,
22 f,; aided by abstinence, 96;
25, 30 f ., 65, 69, 77, 82, 85 f .,
88, 94-96, 113, 115, 130, 134,
136, 138, 153, 163, 187
boldness, 93, 103
Bouillon, J., 12
bragging, 75
bread, Manichaeans live on, 98
202
INDEX
brethren, spiritual, 119; commun-
ity life of, 15, 72, 82; faults of,
68f.;8 3 , 145, 162
brother, 98, 123, 137
brother servants, in Christ, 61
brotherhood, 119
Burghardt, W. J., 179
Caesarius, bishop of Aries, in-
debted to Pomerius in sermons,
173, 181, 183; and St. Aug-
ustine, 3, 173; 4, 1 80, 183 f.
Cain, 123
calamities, 146
callousness, 163
calm, calmness, 82, 109
calumniator, 82
Canones Ecclesiastic} Apostolo-
rum 2. 7. 57: 181
Canticle of Canticles, 116, 189
capax Dei, 186
care, unknown in paradise, 80;
paternal, of superiors, 55; of
souls compared to practice of
medicine, 183; domestic, a hin-
drance to the perfect life, 23;
127
carnal-mindedness, 53
carnes, 187
Carpentras, 8
carriage, of women, 115; im-
modest, 65
Cassian, John, 196
catechumens, 191
Catholics, 34, 52, 98 f .
Cayre, F., 7, 173, 175$.
Ceillier, R., 12, i7J>f.
cenobites, 180
Chaillan, M., 174
changeableness, 131
chanting, of psalms, 126
chariot, the divine, 143
charity, mother of all virtues,
134; remedy of vices, n; bet-
ter than fasting and abstinence,
98 f.; 22, 51, 92, 127, 131 f.,
135-37; i5 152.7 163, 165 f.
chastisement, 55
chastity, 93, 109, ii2f., 117. See
modesty, purity
children, 31, 6 1 f., 138, 152
XpycTTOv Kal avcrrrjpovj 183
Christ, prophesied in the Scrip-
tures, 27; the Redeemer, 91 f.;
the Good Shepherd, 181; the
Shepherd of all shepherds, 36,
181; the King, 156, 194; as
emperor, 178; the support of
priests, 59; members of, 35; 18,
32, 161 f., 166, 192
Christopher, J. P., 176, 178
Christianity, Christians, 87, 99,
178, 180, 182, 192
Chrodegang, St., bishop of Metz,
5. 174
Church, the, 49, 59, 62, 64-66,
72-75, 156, 177; African, 173
church(es), 33 f., 51, 59, 72
churchgoing, 126
Cicero, 11, 190, 194
De amic. too: 192; De con-
solatione, 195; De fin. 3, 25 ff. :
192; 3. 10. 35: 194; De leg.
i. 12.33: 193; De off. 1.7.23:
193; i. 9. 30: 193; i. 15 ff.:
192; i. 118: 192; Hortensius,
i$2;Incat. 1.2.4: 195: Parad.
Stoic. 3. 21 f: 192; Part, orat.
76 ff.: "192; Phil ^. 78: 184;
Tusc. disp., 195; 3. 4. 7: 194;
3. 6. 12: 195
INDEX
203
citizens, of heaven, 22; of the
eternal city, 71; 61
citizenship, in the heavenly
homeland, 22
city, of heaven, 19, 33; eternal,
59,71
civitas, concept, 178
clemency, 109
Clement of Alexandria, 9
Clement of Rome, Epistle to the
Corinthians 5. 2: 183; 15. i:
184
clergy, living in common sup-
ported by the Church, 177; 8,
174 f., 180, 182
clerici, 177
clerics, must not receive Com-
munion in sin, 70; 4, 7, 74, 76
Codex Justiniani i. 13. i: 184
coheirs, of heaven, 35, 51
colligere, 177
commands, of God, 55, 58, 61,
109; of the Apostle, 65
commandments, of the Lord, 27
common life, 4, 177
Communion, not to be received
by clerics in sin, 70
communion, with the Church,
64,66
community, 60, 75, 85
community houses, 76
community life, 15, 72, 82, 174,
177
compassion, 67, 104, 151
composition, rhetorical, 168
conceit, 1 19
concepts, mental, 168
concupiscence, followed pride in
the first human beings, 89;
punished by death, 91; of the
world, 84; of the flesh, 30, 86,
90; repressed by imitators of
Christ, 91; to be fled, 97; io8f.,
112-117, 167
condemnation, of wicked angels
and men, 21; of wicked souls,
103
conduct, 35, 63
confession, baptismal, 189; of
sins, 68-70, 109
confidence, 103
congregandis jratribus aut alen-
dis, 177, 185
congregari, 177
conscience, 35, 59, 77, 113, 128,
i3> *33> i3 6 l8 5
conscientiousness, 76
constancy, no
Constantine, 184
contemplation, source of joy to
the angels, 21; 8 f., 17, 19,
24 f., 27 f, 30, 32, 61, 130 f. ?
147
contemplative life, its nature, 27;
delights men even on earth,
23 f.; on earth cannot be com-
pared to the future life of con-
templation, 25 f.; 6-1 1, 14 f-,
17 f., 21, 23 f., 28, 31-35, 52 f,,
100, 183
contemplative virtue, the, 10, 24,
5 i f.
contempt, of God, 106, 112; of
the world, 36; of abstinence,
87; 136
contention, 93, 104
contrition, 49, 70
contumely, 93
conversation, 115, 119, 145, 158
corporeality, of the soul argued
in Pomerius' de anitna, 174
204
INDEX
correction, 55, 62 . y 66, 71 f . - See
exhortation, rebuke, reprimand
corruption, causes sin in us, 108;
revealed by vanity, 125; 107 f.,
131, 158
corruptibility, i66f.
counsel, of God, 61 f.
courtesy, 122
covetousness, effects of, 80-82;
35 f,, 97, 110-112, 135, i4 2 >
146., 151, 185
cowardice, 148
crafts, 74
Grantor of Soli, On Sorrow, 195
creation, 31, 83
Creator, man's likeness to His,
25, 87; to be seen in contem-
plative life, 17, 21; 20, 27 f.,
30, 83, 87 f., 114, i55> l6 ^
167
creature, 30
crime, 71, 81 f., 94, 118, 123, 128,
I3 1
criticism, 28, 53
crossroad, of indecision, 140; of
life, 191. See Two Ways
cruelty, 22, 95, 109
cunning, of the serpent, 107; of
the envious, 122
cupiditas, 193
cupidity, 11, 30, 76, 85, ilof.
curiosity, of the eyes seduced first
parents, 90; 32, 60, 93, 109,
113, 158
curse, pronounced by the Lord on
negligent priests, 44-46
cynicism, 67
Cynics, 186
Cyprian, St., 180
Demori. 26: 191; Ep. 61. i:
181
Cyril of Alexandria, 179
Daeschler, R., 187
damnation, 60, 112, 120, 123,
131, 150, 159
darkness, 46, 129
David, 94
day, everlasting, 19, 134
death, unknown in heaven, 22;
unknown in paradise, 88; pun-
ishment of first sin, 87-91;
second, 130; 62, 68, 82, 92-94,
103, 107, 112, 123, 129-31,
134, 138, 158
debauchery, caused by excessive
use of wine, 95
debtors, debts, 70
deceit, deceivers, 122, 125, 140
Degenhart, F., 12, 176, 181, 188,
196
delicacies, 94-97, 99
delight(s), 22, 24, 26, 28, 35, 79,
83 f., 105, 109, 118, 125, 127,
136, 140-42, 146 f., 153
demons, made by pride, 109; 122
depravity, of vanity, 124
desire(s), 24 f., 28, 31 f., 86, 91,
94, 99, 109 f., H2f., 118,
125 f., 129, 135 f., 139 f.,
144 f. 147, 153, 155, 161-64,
i66f.
despair, 46, 123, 148
determination, of the strong, 47;
?8
detraction, detractors, m, 145
devil, fell through pride, 107,
109?.; 32,63, 89 f., 104, iY9f,
122, 130, 134, 140, 187 f.
devotion, 74, 132, 153
Didache, 192
dignity, of man is God, 114; of
INDEX
205
man equals angels', 24; of the
soul, 137; episcopal, 47; of
priestly office, 60, 156; of the
number four, 143; 44
Diogenes of Synope, 186
dinners, sumptuous, 37
disciples, of zealous bishops, 34
discipline, 55, no, 119
discord, 122
disease, of soul, in; of a proud
mind, 119; of pride, 112, 189;
of vanity, 125; of self-love, 137;
of impure speech, 113; 22, 165
disobedience, 93
disorders, 57, 86, 161 f, See agi-
tations, diseases, passions
disobedience, 54
dissension, 122
dissoluteness, 65
doctor, St, Augustine, 165
doctor gentium, 195
Doctor of Grace, 173
doctrine, of the Church, 39; of
the vices and virtues, 52; 60,
66
Dolger, F. J., 179, 191
double-dealing, 135
dress, 61
drinking, 93, 94-97
drunkenness, 37, 77, 95, 109, in
Dubner, F., 176
ears, open to vile talk, 113, 115.
See hearing
earth, 18, 24, 28, 30
Ecclesia navis, 181
ecclesiastics, rule of, 7; way of
life of, 53
Ecclesiasticus, 71
elders, 66, 119, 145
Elias, 94
eloquence, less important than
subject matter, 50; not desirable
in teaching, 50; Augustine's
views on, 182; 133, 165, 169
Emonds, H., 178
emotions, 131, 143, 154, 161-65
emperor(s), Christ as, 178; Ro-
man, 184
endurance, 135, 147
evSu/za TTJS acf>6apcria5y 179
enemies, 59, 63, 81, 87, 92, 122,
139, 146, 150, 164
enjoyment(s), of God, 27; of the
body to be restrained, 92-97;
140
Enlightener, God the, 114
enmity, 37, 94, in, 146, 150
Ennodius, bishop of Pavia, 4, 12
Ep. 2. 6: 174, 176
enticement, 25, 28, 86, 94, 127,
132, 146. See temptation
envious, the, marks of, 121-24;
afflictions of, inf.; 126
envy, impossible in heaven, 23;
11, in, 121-24, 135
equity, 149, 156
error, unknown in heaven, 22;
the present life enmeshed in,
34; 159, 1 60, 174
eternity, 19, 128
ethics, Christian, 192
Eucharist, 186
Eucharistic Sacrifice, 177
Eve, 161
evil(s), 15, 67, 70, 77, 81, 86,
107, 110-12, 121, 127, 130 f.,
*35> 137. MS. i45~47; i5 8 .
162-64,167,190. See sin, vices
evildoers, 19, 92, 93, 164
example, of our Lord, 68; good,
INDEX
avails more than preaching,
38; o the proud to be avoided,
1 1 8; required of priests, 42; 59,
129
excommunication, 69
exhortation, 58. See correction
expiation, of sins, 70
eye(s), of the soul, 28; of the
proud, 1 1 8; temptation of the,
113; reason that of the mind,
154
Ezechiel, 42, 116, 181, 182, 189
facility, perfect in heaven, 22
faith, 30, 40, 51 f., 79, 83, 104,
J 53> ^9; distinguished from
sight, 26; the foundation of
justice, 148; the Catholic, 51,
57> 59> 168
faithful, the, holy priests are
leaders of, 59; superiors are
fathers of, 180; vows of, 73,
l8 5;%73> i4> i3*> i32<> 134
fall, of first parents, 87-92; spir-
itual, to be feared, 29
falsehood, 57
family, 60, 77
fastidiousness, of appetite, 96
fasting, 94-99, 106, 126 f., 140
Father, Spirit of the, 106; 39*
See Holy Spirit
fatherhood, spiritual, 180
father(s), of the human race,
143; of the Church, 179, 193,
194; Spiritual, 56, 59, 180;
conduct of, 61; 137
faults, 64 f., 68, 71, 82, 125, 138,
1 68
Faustus of Riez, 174, 182, 196
favors, 44, 50, 92, 119, 125, 146
fear, u, 19, 46, 112, 131, 135,
1 6 1-66, 193
feeling, 32, 166
Festugiere, A. J., 176
fickleness, no
fidelity, of the marriage bed, 61
fighters, spiritual, 123
finery, of women, 1 1 5
fire, of divine love, 86; everlast-
ing, 70, 129, 130; of reproof,
69; of passion, 145; 22
firmness, 28
fish, 96, 187
flames, everlasting, 43, 70, 130
flesh, mortification of the, 93-97;
24, 27, 33, 69, 83, 86, 105,
109, 129, 140, 146, 152, 162,
163, 167
flock, entrusted to clerics, 36,
44 f.
folly, 34, no
food, mystical, furnished by the
tree of life, 88; abstinence
from, 85, 94-99; 23, 75, 86, 145
forbearance, 58, 60, 62, 69
forgetfulness, 22
fornicators, 1 1 1
fortitude, 11, 65, 144, 146, 147,
148, 154, 155, 157, 167, 192
four, significance of the number,
M3. 193
fowl, 187
frailty, 26, 31, 33, 57, 58, 129,
134, 136, 1 60
fratreSj 177
fraud, 62, 78
free will, angels corrupted
through their own, 20; 120
freedom, of mind, 82; of move-
ment, 19; from occupations of
the world, 34; 115, 155
INDEX
207
friends, 61, 119, 122, 152
friendship, pretended by the en-
vious, 122; 191
Fritz, G. ? i75f.
frowardness, 93
fruit(s), spiritual, 32, 71, 156;
first, 84; of the tree of life,
87 f., 1 86
future, the, 30, 45, 75
gain, 28, 57, 78, 80, 81, 93
garment, of immortality, 33, 179;
65, 89, 141, 142
gatekeepers, of heaven are priests,
59
Gaul, 3, 4, 9, 173, 182, 186
generations, of women of the
Old Testament, 116
generosity, 1 50 f .
Genesis, 116, 189
Gennadius, continuator of, 4,
173-75
Gentiles, 28
gentleness, 78, 109
Geoghegan, A. T., 184
gift(s), of God,. 22, 26, 78, 83 f,
103, 114, 120, 133 f., 144, 146-
48, 152, 1591".; of the Holy
Spirit, 120; of spiritual wisdom,
24; of the rich, 44
glory, 20, 30, 35, 42, 59, 71, 80,
8j, 147
gluttons, gluttony, 93, 95, in,
113
Gnosis, Christian, 9
God, belief in, 45, 104, 144;
cannot be seen in this life, 17,
27; object of contemplation,
i8ff.; His assumption of a
created form, 30; Christ as,
40; will of, 55; precepts of, 72,
in; grace of, 59, 66, 148;
wrath of, 48; mercy of, 166;
judgment of, 20, 70, 81, 90,
120; the avenger, 69; kingdom
of, 60, 61; our love of, 109,
126, 127, 136, 138, 146, 152;
possession of, 83 f .; enemies of,
87; contempt of, 106; sons of,
135; men of, 126; as Life, 103;
as Light, 129; tills the soil of
our soul, 153, 193; passim. See
Father, Son, Christ, Holy
Spirit, Creator, Word of God,
etc.
Godhead, the, 83
gods, 90
Gomperz, T., 186
goodness, spiritual, 122; no, 155,
158, 167
good (persons), 59, 78, 92, 119,
122, 164
good (moral), 36, 78, 103, 122,
125 f., 135, 137 f., 143, 1 60,
162-64, 190; the common,
i??f.
good(s), of the Church, 72, 82,
85; temporal, 36, 79, 8 1, 83 f.,
122, 134; spiritual, 83, 141
good works, all proceed from
faith, 148; hope inspires to,
151; a means to the contempla-
tive life, 21, 193; the proud are
slothful in, 119; 26, 33, 59, 190
Gospels, 9, 80, 143, 158
gourmets, 95
grace, 59, 66, 141, 148, 160,' 173
greed, 28, 76
Greeks, the, 154
Gregory of Nazianzus, Or. 2, 16-
34: 183; 2. 48: 189; 30. 21 :
195; 38. 13: 195
208
INDEX
Gregory of Tours, 180
grief, 62, 185
gubernator, of the Ecclesia navis,
181
Guibert, J., 187
guilt, 29, 69, 128
Gunthamund, king of the Van-
dals, 173
habit, 57, 75, 140, 149
Halitgar of Cambrai, De vitiis et
virtutibus, 174
happiness, of angels, 31; of saints,
61; of future life, 19, 2,3 f., 28,
30, 87, 131; of those attaining
the contemplative life, 21 f.;
reward of the blessed, 18;
promised to those who suffer
for justice' sake, 147; not per-
fect in this life, 29; lost by first
man, 87-91; of teachers, 63;
163-66
hardships, 140
Harnack, A., 178
harshness, 110, 146
hate, hatred, of sin, 136; har-
bored by the envious, 121 f.;
93> JI 9
haughtiness, in
head, of priests is Christ, 35; of
the churches are the priests,
59; is served by its members,
5?
health, aided by abstinence, 96;
appreciated when lost, 90 f .;
69, 136, 147
hearing, the source of faith, 40.
See ears
heaven, lost by proud angels, 20;
regained for us by Christ, 92;
our homeland, 18, 19, 30, 33,
132, 156, 164, 190 f.; 35, 51,
59, 107, 131
Hebrews, 189
hell, 128-31
Hercules, 192
heresies, heretics, 87, 104, no
hilarity, 142, 145
Hilary, bishop of Aries, 5 f., 73,
185
Hilary of Poitiers, 176
Hippolytus of Rome, 181
Cont. Noet. 17: 195
holiness, 61, 78, 112, 133, 143,
153. l6 4
Holy Spirit, proceeding from the
Father and the Son, 39; 51,
71, 74, 120, 138, 1 60. See
Spirit
homeland, of heaven, 18, 19, 30,
33, 130, 132, 156, 164, 190 f.
homiletics, outline of, in De
doctr. Christ. , 182
homo, 143
homoeoteleuta, 183
honesty, 65
honor(s), of priests, 46, 51, 59;
sought by the vain, 124-27;
shown by parents and children,
61; 24, 35, 66, 81, 85, 113,
118, 156
hope, 27, 30, 127?., 132, 135,
141, 147 f., 151, 1 60
Horace, Odes 2. 18. 23 ff.: 180
Hosius, G, 7, 175
hospitality, 98
Howitt, H., 173
human race, 89, 120, 144
humanity, 166
humiliation, 124
humility, 13, 71, 78, 99, 104, 109,
INDEX
209
Hummel, E. L., 178
hunger, 95
husbands, 61, 116
idleness, 34
Ignatius of Antioch, Pol. 2. 3:
181
ignorance, 57
illness, causes health to be ap-
preciated, 90 f.; 126
image, of the Creator, 25; of
sensible things, 115
imitations, of virtues, 102-106
immortality, garment of, 33; of
bodies in the resurrection, 21;
possessed also by the damned,
20; 30 f,, 137, i6of.
impediment, canonical, 185
imperiousness, avoided by holy
priests, 50
impulses, of the soul, 161 f., 165
impurity, of some foods, 96;
112 f., 117
income, of priests, 75
inconstancy, 93
incorruptibility, incorruption, 20,
21, 137, 161
indecency, 113
indecision, i4of.
indignation, divine, 70
inelegance, 14, 50
inferiors, 156
infideles, 188
infidels, 103
infirmities, unknown in paradise,
87-91; cured by wine, 95; 66,
69* 93; *55> l6 ?
iniquity, 43, 47, 70, 123, 135
injuries, bodily, repaired in
heaven, 23; 32, 135, 149
injustice, 93, 149
innocence, 70, 78, 161
inquisitiveness, 103
insensibility, 146, 163
insolence, 103
inspiration, divine, 123, 155
instability, 93
instruction, pastoral, 180
integrity, of soul lost voluntarily,
114; 67, 104
intelligence, 149
intemperance, 145, 167
investigation, of truth, 157
irregular itas, 185
irritability, m
Isaeus, the rhetorician, 182
Isidore of Seville, 6-8
De. eccl. off. 2. 6: 185; De
vir. ill. 25. 31: 173 f.
Israel, 42
Italy, 4
Jerome, St., 179, 185
Ad Heliodorum, 173; Ad
Rusticum, 173; Ad Nepotia-
num (Ep. 52): 173; Ep. 52. 6,
16: 184; 52. 7: 182; 52. 12:
187; In Ev. Matt. 2. 15. 33:
193
jests, evil, 67, 115, 142. See talk,
wit
John Cassian, 196
John Chrysostom, De sacerd. 6.
4: 183; In i Cor. horn. 38. 2:
195
John the Evangelist, 90, 92, 136
Jonas of Orleans, De institutione
laicali, 174
joy(s), 28, 33, 35, 62 f,, 67, 70,
77, 79, 84, 122 f., 125, 130,
140, 142, 152, 162-64, 1 66,
185, 193
210
INDEX
Judge, 128
judgment, of God on sin of first
man, 20 f., 89; divine, 69-71,
8 1, 117; human, 69 f., 117,
128; future, 36, 44 f., 128-31;
of pride, 71
Judgment Day, 39
Julianus, bishop, addressee of the
De vita contemplativa, 8, 13
Julianus, bishop of Carpentras, 8
Julianus, attested by Isidore as
Pomerius' name, 173
Julianus of Vienne, 176
just, the, 20, 29, 36, 134, 164
justice, n, 37, 41, 78, 87, 104,
141, 144, 148,150,153-56,158,
167, 192
justification, of the soul, 103; of
Augustine in Gaul, 173
keys, of the kingdom of heaven,
59
kindness, 155
King, eternal, 59; of all, 156
kingdom, heavenly, 23 f ., 26, 33,
51, 59-62, 78, 151 f., 156, 162,
164, 183
kinsfolk, 76, 137, 162
Kittel, G., 184, 194
Kleist, J. A., 183
knowledge, 25, 34, 49, 133 f.,
154, i57f., 1 60 f., 194
Kriiger, G., 7, 175
Kunsemuller, J., 192
labor, reward of, in future life,
80; 59, 74 f., 126 f., 133, 148,
151, 156, 165
laborer, 80
Lactantius, 190
Epit. 59: 191; Inst. div. 6.
3: 191
laetitia, 193
Lamb of God, 68
language, of teachers, 49 f.; im-
pure, 113. See style
Last Judgment, 128
Latin, essence of a good style in,
169; style less important than
subject matter, 49
laughter, 119, 145
law(s), of the Lord, 83; of Christ,
68; human, 149; pertaining to
slavery, 184
laxity, 67
leaders, of the faithful, 34, 59
learning, 1561*., 165
Lebreton, J., 179
Le Brun des Marettes, J. B., 12,
185, 189
legacies, accepted for the Church,
73
leisure, holy, loved by the fol-
lower of the contemplative life,
28; fruitful, of subjects, 82, 85;
studious, 156
Lejay, P., 173
Lent, 187
Lesetre, H., 193
letters, of the alphabet, 143
Letter of Barnabas 18-21 : 192
Levi, some of, 83
levity, 93, 109
liars, 71, 125
libertines, in, 113
liberty, 64, 103
license, 141
lies, 71, I02f., 122
Lieske, A., 176
life, present, ijL> 24-27, 29 .,
INDEX
211
35, 80, 157, 1 60, 163, 165; past,
24; future, 17, 19, 22, 24-30,
34, 61, 80, 134, 159 ., 165;
eternal, 22, 26; of virtues, 131;
of the soul is God, 103; of the
faithful is God, 138, 152; of
the damned, 130; 48, 91 f.,
131, 157. See active life, con-
templative life, way of life
light, of the minds is God, 129;
of the faithful is the Lord, 160;
absent from hell fire, 130; way
of, 192
likeness, to God sought by first
human beings, 89, no; of men
to God, 87; of men to angels,
61
Limoges, 4
lists of virtues and vices, ancient,
192
loquacity, 103, 109, 133
love, kinds of, 152; of God, 84,
86, 109, 126 ., 136, 138, 146;
of neighbor, 109, 136-38, 166;
of self, 137; of perfection, 72,
85; of good, 165; of justice, 87;
of poverty, 76; of body, 136,
138; of money, 37, 147; of hu-
man praise, 126, 151; of the
world, 37, 136; perfect in future
life, 19, 30, 1 66; effects of, 78;
*33> *39> 191
Lucan, P liars. 7. 291 : 190
Lucius, Pope, 181
lust, 73, 109, 112, 118, 144
luxury, 85 f., 93, 95, 109
lying, 94, in
madness, 67, 93
magnanimity, priestly, 66
majesty, of the Creator revealed
in heaven, 167; of the great
Judge, 128
Maker, 22, 26, 83
malice, 93, 150
Malnory, A., 173, 182, 187
Mangeant, D., 12, 174-76, 185,
189
Manichaeans, 98
mankind, 149
Manquoy, J., 184
mansiones, 178
marriage, 61, 152
Martha and Mary, 9
Marty rium Polycaryi 12. 2: 180
martyrs, 122, 132
Mary and Martha, 9
master, and slaves, 61, 183 f.; of
deceit, 77; 120
Mauretania, 4
Mausbach, J., 190, 192
meat, 94, 96
medicine, of penance, 120; of
healing words, 51; 102, io6 7
i8 3
meditation, leads to the contem-
plative life, 10, 24; on the
Scriptures, 27
members, of Christ, 35; of the
body, 23, 55, 146
memory, perfect in heaven, 22
mercy, divine, 24, 141, 166;
human, 104, 110, 150
merits, of the just vary, 23; 124,
132, 156, 159
Methodius of Philippi, Symy. 9.
3: 186
metus, 193
mind, comprehension of, 19;
aided by abstinence, 96; cor-
rupts itself voluntarily, 114;
22, 24 f., 28, 32, 55, 57, 82,
212,
INDEX
*., 125, 128, 132, 139, 142,
148, 154, 164 L
minister, of the word, 51; of
divine worship, 84 f.; of the
Church, 74, 180
miracles, 51
misers, in
misfortune, 131
moderation, 109, 158
modesty, 67, 78, 81, 116, 119.
See chastity, purity
money, desire of, causes all evils,
79, no; love of ,37, 147
Montchal, Charles de, arch-
bishop of Toulouse, 7
morality, morals, 61, 68 f., 78,
IIO, 115 f., 119, 122, 126, 131,
132, 137, 164, 192
worbus, 189. See disease
mortality, 30, 107^, 158, 160,
165-67
Moses, 187
mother, of all virtues is charity,
134
mysteries, 27, 133 f., 143, 157
mystics, 187
nakedness, of Adam, 88
naturalists, 187
nature, human, 30, 108, 148, 153;
human, will be restored in
heaven, 18; of glorified bodies
in the resurrection, 30; of all
created things to be known in
heaven, 167; of virtue, 139;
of the emotions, 162; of ani-
mals, 149; 22, 154
Navis Ecclesia, 181
necessities, of human beings,
74 f., 80, 142, 149, 151
necessity, of sickness and death a
punishment of original sin,
90 f.; as a cause of sin, 58, 107;
of living, 76
negligence, 55, 119
neighbor, love of, 109, 136-38,
1 66
Nepotianus, 182, 184
night, of this world, 1 60
nobles, 142
Norden, E., 173
Noris, Cardinal, 5
norm, of the contemplative life,
53; of ecclesiastics, 7
nostrils, instrument of tempta-
tion, ii4f.
numbers, sacredness of, 193
obedience, 54 f., 119, 132, 162
obligations, pastoral, 182; of
weak clerics, 76
odors, source of temptation, 114?.
offerings, daily, of the faithful,
46
Olphe-Gaillard, ML, 186, 195
Onesimus, 183
oppression, oppressors, 149, 150
opprobrium, 54
oracles, of the Holy Spirit, 51
orator, oratory, 132, 164
opiuii, 154, 194
Origen, 9, 176
In Cant, Cant. proL, 189
orphans, 65
ostentation, 142, 151
Otto, A., 177, 190, 193
Ovid, Trist. 3. 9. 18: 190
pagans, 188
pain, causes health to be appreci-
ated, 90 f.; 129 f,, 140, 164
INDEX
of temptation,
213
palate, source
1 14!:.
palm, of victors, 131
paradise, 87-89, 104, 143
pardon, 51, 123
parents, 31, 61, 138
Paris, synod of, 174
passiones, 194
passions, 10, 32, 55, no, 116-18,
124 f. ? 127 f., 131, 137, 139,
141, 145-48, 155, 158, 162,
165, See agitations, disorders
pastors, 47, 151. See shepherds
TrMrj, 154, 194
patience, 55, 60, 62, 64-66, 68 f .,
72,92, 100, 109, 132, 135, 147,
158
patres, 180
patria, 1 90 f .
Patriarchs, saw God visibly, 88
pattern, of living, 36; of good
works, 59; of human life, 191
Paul the Apostle, 25, 60, 92, no,
161, 180-83, 194-96
Paulinus of Aquileia, Liber ex-
hortationis, 174
Paulinus, bishop of Nola, 5, 72,
i8 5
Carmina iof.: 185
peace, 61, 124, 147, i66f.
penalty, of sin, 127 f.; of the
damned, 20, 130; of excom-
munication, 70
penance, to be imposed on self
secretly by clerics, 185; 36, 42,
71, 128
perdition, 27, 159
perfection, of divine contempla-
tion reserved for heaven, 26 f .;
of the contemplative virtue,
24 f,; 23, 29, 72 f., 85, 98,
125 f., 134, 136, 142-44, i53f.,
161
perfidy, 93
Peripatetics, 194
perjury, 94, in
persecutions, 146 f., 173
perseverance, 36
perturb ationes, 194
perverts, in
Peter, St., 180
Pfister, J. G., 12, 175
phaleratus seTmo, 182
philosophers, 15, 87, 143, 191 f.
physicians, 69, 126, 183
piety, 65, 78, 104
pilgrimage, of life, 30
pillars, of the Church founded on
Christ, 59
pilot, of the Ship of the Church,
181
pity, 151. See compassion
Plato, 9, 192
pleasure, 27, 44-46, 67, 77, 79,
82, 86, 94-99, in, 113-15, 1 1 8,
124-27, 131, 140 f., 146 f., 151,
153. 158
Pliny the Younger, Ep. 2. 3. 7:
182
Plumpe, J. G, 177, 1 80, 194
poison, of wrath, 64; of envy,
121; 102
pollution, culpable and inculpa-
ble, 115
Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, 180
Pomarus, 173. See Pomerius
Pomerius, Julianus, rhetor, 3, n;
addressed as abbot, 4; invited
to Limoges and Italy, 4; dic-
tated the De vita contempla-
tiva, 11, 176; his attitude to-
ward learning, n; his Icnowl-
2I 4
INDEX
edge of Greek, 1 1 ; his influence
on Caesarius of Aries, 173; 6-
10, 173-84, 1 86, i88f., 193 f.,
196
De anima et qualitate ems,
4, 174; De contemptu mundi
et rerum transiturarum, 4; De
virginibus instituendis, 4; De
vita contemplativci, 3-8, 173-76,
1 80
pcmtifzcflfais, fontifices, 179
Poschmann, B., 185
possessions, 5 f., 9, 28, 30, 32, 65,
72-77, 80, 83-87, 97, 100, 135,
138, 142, 148, 155
posterity, 107, 143
poverty, 76 f .
praise, 28, 35, 51, 58-60, 97, 105,
I 4 6f.
praying, accomplishes more than
teaching, 38
preacher, preaching, 36, 41, 59,
63, 133
precepts, 29, 58, 72, .106, in,
127, 131
prelates, 62
Prendergast, Sr. M. A. C., 176,
180
presumption, in, 148
pretenders, religious, 63 f.
pride, seduced first human be-
ings, 89; causes all sin, 106-
114; mother of heresies, no,
189; marks of, 118-20; iof,,
13, 20, 44, 55, 71, 90, 93, 104,
121, 150, 189
priests, share in the contempla-
tive life, 10, 33-35; called
watchmen, 42; praise of holy,
58-60; should teach simply, 49;
should have nothing of their
own, 72; their office a burden,
60; guilty through silence, 41;
and bishops, 180; 35 f., 47, 55,
62 ff., 65 f., 76, 84 f. See
bishops, minister
priesthood, 59
princes, of the churches, 34
Priscillianists, 186
Prodicus of Ceos, 192
professio, confession of faith, 189
profligates, in
progress, towards the perfect life
hindered by domestic cares, 23;
spiritual, 62 f., 85, 118, 166
promises, the Lord's, 75; future,
25, 28, 78; of the faithful, 185;
125
property, of the Church, 72 f.,
76, 79; renunciation of, 72-77;
80, 87, 98, 142
prophecy, 28, 133 f.
Prophet(s), 42, 47 f., no, 116,
147, 161-64, *8i f.
Prosper of Aquitainc, reputed
author of the De vita contem-
plativa, 3, 5 f., 174^
prosperity, despised by Christ, 92;
28, 125, 147
protection, invincible, of God,
129, 147; given by virtue, 141
pro-tegere, 186
Proverbs, 71
prudence, n, 144, 154, 157-61,
167, 192, 194
prudentia y 194
Prudcntius, llamart. 302?.; 185)
punishment, of the wicked an-
gels, 20; of wicked men, 20;
awaits the obdurate, 42, 48;
awaits negligent priests, 44; of
concealment of sin, 68; of sin
INDEX
21 =
makes a man envious, 112; 20,
36, 59, 7> 79> I0 7> 121-24,
127-30, 135
purity, 78, 113, 117, 137. See
chastity, modesty
Pythagorean circles, in Egypt,
179
Quasten, J., 179
Queen Virtue, 142
Quesnel, P v 7
Sliet, 32, 82, 156
uintilian, Inst. or. 6. 3. 17: 177
Rahner, H., 181
ransom, of sinners, 73
rapine, 94
Raynaud, J. M., 12
reading, of Scriptures, 10; of com-
mandments of the Lord, 27;
divine, 27, 43
reason, comes from faith, 40; eye
of the mind, 154; guide to all
of man's actions, 11; 31, 153 f.,
165
rebuke, 6, 58, 71, 100. See cor-
rection, exhortation, reprimand
recompense, of those obtaining
contemplative life, 22; 20, 75,
79, 151
redemption , 62
relationships, physical, 31, 137
relatives, 152
religion , pretended, 64
remedies, spiritual, 57, 69, 106,
112, 127, 129, 139
Rengstorf, H., 184
renunciation, effect of, 10; of
pleasures, 118
repentance, 130
reprimand, 58, 62, 69. See re-
buke, reproach, reproof
reproach, 125, 160
reproof, 62, 65 f., 69
reputation, of the good defamed
by the envious, 122; evil, 128;
64, 126, 151
rest, 47, 82
restlessness, 93
resurrection, of bodies, 21, 23, 30
revelation, 24, 135
reverence, 62, 66
rewards, spiritual, 18-20, 22-24,
28, 30, 33, 6if., 74 f., 80,
105 f., 132, 135, 140, 148, 151,
167
Rhabanus Maurus, Tractatus de
anima, 174
rhetoricians, differ in purpose
from teachers, 50; 185
riches, sought by carnal priests,
44; true, 77 f.; immortal, 32;
79
rights, human and divine, 118;
family, 119
rites, sacred, 85
rivers, of paradise, 143
Romani antiqui, 194
Romans, the, 162
Rome, 194
Rufinus, 176, 189, 190
ruin, I2i, 124
rule, of reason, 31; of avoiding
sin, 127; of ecclesiastics, 7; of
carnal priests, 46
Ruricius, bishop of Limoges, 4,
174
% I. 17: 173; 2. ID: 173;
2. 9: 174
rustidtas, 11, 177
2l6
INDEX
sacerdotes, 180
sacrament, figure of a, 88
sacrifice, Eucharistic, 177; of a
contrite heart, 59
sadness, 66, i62f., 193
saints, 18, 23, 68 f., 129, 134, 166
salvation, God is man's, 1 14, 152;
not to be despaired of in this
life, 58; of subjects to be
guarded, 55; 19, 41 ., 46, 61,
65, 67 f,, 104, 120, 123, 150,
155 f., 159 f.
sanctity, of past life gives false
security, 24; 29, 35, 145
sanctuary, of a pure heart, 113
sanguis, 187
sapientia, 194
satiety, unknown in contempla-
tion of God, 21 f.; of body, 23
Sauer, J., 193
Savior, 68, 123
scandals, 38
Schanz, M*, 7, 175
schisms, in
Schmaus, M., 179
Schmidt, K. L., 194
scholars, 156
School of Alexandria, 9
Scriptures, Sacred, a mirror, 27;
14, 18, 60, io6f., 163 f., 176,
189
Second Sophistic, 176
secrets, to be revealed at the Last
Judgment, 128; not hidden in
heaven, 22; betrayed by the
envious, 122
secular learning, 12
security, 29, 124, 127, 147, 166
seeing, is contemplation, 17
self-control, 146
self -exaltation, 107
Semi-Pelagianism, 196
Seneca, Ep. 95. 53: 193
sensation, 22, 114 f., 130, 162
senses, 87, 114
sensuality, 95 f.
Septuagint
Job 7. i: 178; ha. 7. 9: 181
seriousness, 109
sermons, of Caesarius of Aries,
173, 181, 183; of Faustus of
Riez, 182
serpent, 89 f., 107, 158, 161
servants, of Christ, 160, 184
services, divine, 177
severity, 15, 55; ecclesiastical,
65 f., 71; 93
shame, 67, 81, 113, 128
sheep, of the Lord, 45 f. See
flock
Shepherd, the Good, 181; of all
shepherds, 36; 84
shepherds, priests, 36, 44-46. See
pastors
ship, a church compared to a, 38,
181
sickness, 139
Sidonius Apollinaris, Ep. 9. 3. 5:
182
sight, distinguished from faith,
26; of God, 26, 133, 136. See
beatific vision
silence, of negligent priests, 41;
109
simplicity, 109, 119
sin(s), of first man, 87-90; con-
fuses man, 88; concealment of,
68, 86, 128; occasions of, differ,
57, 62; all caused by pride,
io6f., io8f.; mortal, com-
mitted by clerics, 185; 18, 2,0,
iz> W, 3*, 55> 57> 67-70, 74-
INDEX
217
76, 82, 123, 126-29, 13^ J 34>
136-38, 148 f., i59f., 162-64,
1 66. See evil, vices
sin offerings, 84
sincerity, 135 ~
sinfulness, man's, 183; in others
overlooked by carnal priests, 44
sinlessness, in heaven, 22
sinners, differ in kind, 57; hon-
ored by carnal priests, 44; 22,
67 f., 73, 123, 127, 129, 150,
161
Sirmond, J., 5, 7
slavery, slaves, 61, 85, 124, 183 f.
sleep, 88, 115
sloth, 109
sobriety, 109
socialis virtus, 1 1
society, of the saints, 130; human,
122, 149, 155 f.
Socrates, Ecclesiastical History 5.
22: 187
soldiers, of Christ, 18, 79, 178
solicitude, 79 f., 84
Son, the, generated by the Father,
39; 179
son(s), beloved in faith, 180; of
Levi, 83; 137
song, 115
sorrow, unknown in heaven, 22;
28, 79, 122, 140, 142, 147, 158,
162, 165
soul, cast to earth by love of
things below, 24; oppressed by
body, 25; the four emotions of,
143, 161-65; corporeality of, ar-
gued in Pomerius' De anima,
*74J 47> 59. 6afc, 65, 69, 74,
76, 78, 85 f., 103, lOp, II2f.,
ii 4 f., 121,123-25,127,135-37,
139 f., 148, 150, 153 ., 167,
187
soundness, perfect, in heaven,
22 f.
speculator, 182
speech, 49, 58, 114, n8f., 122,
125
Spirit, of the Father, 106; 160.
See Holy Spirit
spirit, the, to be obeyed by the
body, 31, 96, 137; in heaven
its struggle with the flesh will
cease, 167; 19, 59, 81, 107, 112,
142, 153, 167
spirit(s), evil, 20, 33, 38, 44, 82,
1 88
Steidle, B., 181
Stelzenberger, J., 195
stewards, of heaven, 59; of a
church's possessions, 72 f., 77;
bishops as, 177
stewardship, of priests, 85
Stillwell, M. B., 175
Stoics, 162, 164, 1 86, 192, 194
stomach, restored by food, 95;
helped by wine, 95; fastidious,
9 6
strangers, treatment of, 32, 51,
193; to heaven, 33; and kins-
folk, 137
strength, 86, 125, 131, 136, 141,
147, 1 68
struggle, in, 1 66
studies, 28, 34, 73
Stuhlfauth, G., 181
stupidity, of the worldly wise,
161
style, of the De vita contempla-
tiva, n; ornate, to be avoided
by teachers, 50; Augustine's
2l8
INDEX
views on, 182; 132 f., i68f. See
language
subjects, oppressed by carnal
priests, 46; oppressed by the
proud, 119
sublimity, of divine contempla-
tion, 23; of the future contem-
plative life, 25
suffering, 134, 146^
Sun, the living, 134; 191
superiors, ecclesiastical, 55, 180;
duties of, 55; advance in the
advancement of their subjects,
85
support, of clerics, 177; of the
brethren, 15, 72, 75, 82
suspicion, 64, 69, 71, 122
sustenance, needed by the poor,
'74> 151
sweetness, of the future reward,
24; of the present life capti-
vates carnal priests, 44; of
brotherly love, 123; 156
sword, symbolizing the wrath of
God, 48
Symmachus, 182
synods, of Aix-la-Chapelle and
Paris, 174
table service, 141
talk, obscene, 113, 115. See jests
talkativeness, in
teacher(s), 35, 49 f., 61-63, 6 ?>
162, 180, 185, 196
teaching, a method of curing
souls, 58; required of bishops,
39; should be simple, 49; bore-
some to the proud, 119; 125,
133, 196
temperance, practice of, 94-99;
ir, 78, 142, 144-46,
i66., 191 f.
temptation(s), 32, 38, 114-17,
127, 140 f., 146, 164. See en-
ticement
tepidity, 145
Terence, n
Andr. 68: 190; Heaut. 77:
193; Phorm. 3. 2, 16: 182
Tertullian, error of, on corporeal-
ity of the soul, 174; 181
Adv. Marc. 3. 24: 178; De
an. 41 : 195; De carne Christi
16: 195
testimony, divine, 58; apostolic,
60
theft, 78
Theodulphus of Orleans, De
Sipiritu Sancto, 174
theophanies, 179
thieves, 77, in
thirst, 93
thought, free from distraction in
heaven, 22; 58, 113, 128, 140,
/45> 153
Timothy, 66, 95, 180
tithes, 46, 84
tolerance, toleration, 15, 55, 58
torment, eternal, 70, 130; of cov-
etousness, 82; of envy, 1 1 1 f .;
of conscience, 128. See torture
torture, eternal, 63, 70, 130; 123,
127. See torment
Toulouse, 7
tranquillity, 88, 135, 145, 158
transgression, nature of the an-
gels', 20; Adam's, 87
treachery, 94
tree, of life, 90; of the knowledge
of good and evil, 905 the for-
bidden, 87-90, no
trial, human life is a, 1 8
INDEX
219
tribulations, 46, 123, 138. See
troubles
Trinity, the, 39
tristitia, 193
troubles, 57, 82, 135, 142, 146,
See tribulations
truth, excellence of, 54; comes
from God, 54; reigns in heaven,
*9; 57> 59> loa f., *35> i57 ?
1 60
Tullius, 164
Two Ways, the, 191 f.
unbegotten One, the, 39
uncleanness, moral, 94; of foods
argued by the Manichaeans,
9 8
understanding, without error in
heaven, 22; needed for good
works, 41; 43, 62, i6of.
union, of the active and con-
templative life, 8 f.; of hearts,
86; fraternal, 124
uprightness, 122
iirbanitas, 177
use, of physical members, 145; of
food and drink, 94-99; of vest-
ments and vessels in sacred
rites, 85
Vacandard, E., 187
vainglory, 93
Valentin, L,, 175
Vandals, 173
vanity, evil results of, 124-27; u,
28, 8x, 93, in, 125, X33,,i4i>
14?
Vergil, ii, 164
Aen, 3* 29 f.: 190; 6. 733:
195; 7, 415: 190; 10. 447: 190
vessel(s), of election, x6fc; for
sacred rites, 85; 125
vestments, 85
vices, all proceed from pride, 106-
110; the capital, iof., io6ff.;
emotions regarded as such, 161-
65; how virtues differ from,
159; 64, 66, 99, passim. See
evil, sin
Victorinus, De fabr. mundi 3.
456: 193
vigils, 126, 140
Vincent of Lerins, 196
violence, 32, 118
virgins, 64
virtue(s), the principal (cardi-
nal), n, 143 ff., 192 f.; how
differing from their imitations,
icaf.; of faith, 40; of priests
and the faithful, 52; increase
of, 82; 35, 59, 64, 67, 78, passim
virtutes, 188
vision, of God, n, 24, 26, 28, 34;
of incorruptible bodies, 31
visitors, hospitality to, 98
vita canonica, 174
vita mixta, 9
Vita S. Caesarii Episcopi i. 8:
173; I. 11: 174
Vogtle, A., 193
Volker, W., 176
volition, 31
vota, 185
vows, 73, 185
Vulgate, 178, 181, 184, 187?.,
191, 194 f,
wandering, mental, unknown in
heaven, 22
watchings, 126
watchman, 42, 48, 60, 182
water, refused by David, 94 f.;
2,2,0
INDEX
Manichaeans live on bread
and, 98
way, of life, 43, 53, 55, 67, 91,
133, 141, 156; of death, 192;
of salvation, 46, 51; 47, 132.
See Two Ways
weakness, unknown in heaven,
22; 29, 43, 67, 124, 158, 1 60
wealth, God is the Christian's,
83; is a good, 78; of the
Church, 72; earthly, 24, 75,
79, 82, 151
Weher, S., 184
weight, unknown to glorified
bodies, 178; of cares, 60
welfare, 138
West, the, 3, 173
wheels, of the divine chariot, 143
wicked, the, 20, 36, 43, 67, 78,
1 20, 124 f., 161
wickedness, 69, 123, 128
widows, 65
Wilamowitz, U., 192
will, divine, 55, 59, 62, 87, 89,
153; human, 24, 58, 87, 131,
138 f., 142, 150, 160-66. See
free will
wine, use of, 94-97; 1 1 3
wisdom, n, 24, 34, 156-62, 167,
194
wit, insolent, 67; evil, 133. See
jests
woes, 1 1 8, 123
women, subject of obscene talk,
Word of God, Scripture, 34, 43-
45,48
words, of the Lord, 40, 45, 62,
71; human, 39, 41, 51, 113,
128 f., 133, 143, 168 f.
wordplay, 178, 183, 186
world, 25, 28, 32, 37, 68, 77-79,
84 f., 90, 136, 141, 146 f., 158,
1 60
worship, 84
wrath, of God, 48; of the divine
indignation, 70; of future pun-
ishment, 59; poison of, 64; 109
writings, canonical, 165
Xenophon, Mem. 2. 1.21-34: 192
yoke, of Christ, 81; of vices, 109
youth, Hebrew, forbidden certain
portions of the Bible, 189
zeal, 10, 25, 103
Zellinger, J,, 175, 182
Zockler, O., 193
