Ambrose

1. Prima littera 'Aleph' dicitur, cuius interpretatio 'doctrina'¹. sollicitus ergo auditor plenos doctrinae esse uersus qui secuntur debes praesumere.

2. Beati inmaculati in uia, qui ambulant in lege domini. beati qui scrutantur testimonia eius, in toto corde exquirunt eum.² quam pulcher ordo, quam plenus doctrinae et gratiae! non prius: qui scrutantur testimonia eius dixit — potuit enim conuenire secundum litteram —, sed prius: beati inmaculati in uia. ante enim uita quam doctrina quaerenda est. uita enim bona et sine doctrina habet gratiam, doctrina sine uita integritatem non habet; in maliuolam etenim animam non cadet sapientia.³ ideoque ait: quaerent me mali et non inuenient,⁴ quia inprobitate caecatur mentis oculus et caligante sibi iniquitate mysteria profunda inuenire non potest. primum ergo exercenda est uitae militia, corrigendi mores. cum haec instituerimus ad cursum debitum, ut sit offensionis correctio, puritatis gratia, tunc ad studia percipiendae cognitionis ueniamus suo ordine et uia. prima igitur sunt moralia, secunda mystica. in illis uita, in his cognitio, ita ut, si perfectionem requiras, nec uita sine cognitione nec cognitio sine uita sit, utrumque adstipuletur alteri. ideoque ait scriptura: seminate uobis ad iusti-

-tiam, uindemiate ad fructum uitae, inluminate uobis lumen cognitionis.⁵ non prius 'inluminate', sed 'seminate'; nec solum 'seminate' prius 'ad iustitiam', sed etiam 'uindemiate', inquit, 'ad fructum uitae'; et sic 'inluminate lumen cognitionis', ut perfectio non solum consitis, sed etiam receptis fructibus adprobetur. in primo quoque psalmo hunc ordinem tenuit, ut in uia ambulandum doceret prius et tunc in lege meditandum. qui enim non abiit in consilio impiorum,⁶ utique de pietatis uia et iustitiae semita non recessit meritoque in uia ambulans beatus pronuntiatur et die ac nocte meditationem legis exercens habet gratiam beatitudinis.

3. Quam institutionem secutus Salomon librum de Prouerbiis scripsit, quo moralem locum uberius expressit, naturalem in Ecclesiaste, mysticum in Canticis canticorum. quamquam si diligenter discutias, et in Prouerbiis mystica pleraque repperies et in Canticis moralium suauitatem. nam utique mysticum est: sapientia aedificauit sibi domum et subdidit columnas septem; interfecit suas hostias et cetera.⁷ hoc quoque in Canticis, licet tam mysticum quam morale, in quo blanditiarum suauitas et affectus amantis exprimitur: osculetur me ab osculo oris sui, quoniam optima ubera tua super uinum et odor unguentorum tuorum super omnia aromata.⁸

4. Constitue ergo uirginem desponsatam multo tempore et iusto feruentem amore, quae multa praeclara opera dilecti probabilium testium adsertione cognouerit, desideriis suspensis dilatam frequenter iam non ferentem moras, quae omnia fecisset, ut sponsum uideret, aliquando uotis potitam suis ad inprouisum sponsi aduentum gaudio turbatam non quaerere primordia salutationis, non

uerborum uices,⁹ sed statim quod desiderasset exigere. ita ergo et sancta ecclesia, quae in primordiis mundi desponsata in paradiso, praefigurata in diluuio, adnuntiata per legem, uocata per prophetas diu redemptionem hominum, euangelii decorem, dilecti expectasset aduentum, inpatiens morae in oscula ruit dicens: osculetur me ab osculo oris sui¹⁰ et delectata osculis adiecit: quoniam optima ubera tua super uinum.

5. Et ut moralius dicamus, intellege mihi carnem illam, quae madefacta fuerat in Adam serpentis ueneno, quae criminum marcebat fetore, quae procedebat in filiabus Sion alta ceruice¹¹ et nutibus oculorum et itinere pedum trahens tunicas et pedibus suis ludens, crinibus cincinnis et conpositis uultibus atque redimiculis et omni affectato decore plus dedecens, eandem tamen plurimis edoctam oraculis, quod uenturus esset qui serpentis inlecebris exclusis sancti spiritus infunderet gratiam, ut omnis caro uideret salutare dei,¹² omnis caro ad deum ueniret, inarsisse desiderio, sed metuentem, ne ut inpatiens, ut lasciua, ut luxuriosa, ut querula, sicut ante fuerat, displiceret, quamuis longiore quam ferre iam poterat morantis aduentus dominici expectatione quateretur, non inmurmurantem tamen nec transgredientem, sed leuantem in omni loco puras manus sine ira et disceptatione¹³ in habitu ornato, cum uerecundia et sobrietate ornantem se, non intortis crinibus aut auro aut margaritis aut ueste pretiosa, sed his quae castitatis et bonae conuersationis decerent gratiam,¹⁴

orare dicentem: osculetur me ab osculo oris sui, quoniam optima ubera tua super uinum.¹⁵ iam uolebat adhaerere Christo caro, iam festinabat innubere, ut esset unus spiritus et fieret caro Christi, quae erat ante meretricis.¹⁶ 'osculetur, inquit, me' — osculatur nos dei uerbum, quando sensum nostrum spiritus cognitionis inluminat — et tamquam despiciens omnes iucunditates et delectationes suas, caelestibus cupiens inhaerere mandatis ait: 'quoniam optima praecepta testamentorum tuorum super omnem adpetentiam carnis et saeculi uoluptatem'.

meminerat enim se in Eua ante sic lapsam, dum uoluptatem corporis praefert mandatis caelestibus. unguentum exinanitum nomen tuum,¹⁷ hoc est: totus inmundus inpuritatibus diuersorum facinorum fetebat hic mundus; nunc spirat ubique suauitas pudicitiae, unguentum fidei, flos integritatis. et a moralibus uenit ad mystica dicens: introduxit me rex in cubiculum suum. exultemus et laetemur in te; diligamus ubera tua super uinum.¹⁸ simplex est enim osculum, negotiosum autem cubiculi secretum.

6. In ipso quoque euangelio pulcherrimus de moralibus locus est, ut unusquisque uas suum mundet, dicente domino: Pharisaee caece, munda prius quod intus est calicis et parapsidis, ut fiat et id quod foris est mundum.¹⁹ nam nisi se unusquisque intus mundauerit, etiamsi foris speciosus uideatur et iustus, similis erit dealbatis sepulchris,²⁰ ut foris quidem iustus uideatur, intus uero sit fetidus.

sic est doctrina sine uitae innocentia. sed nec ipsa doctrina potest mercedem habere, ubi gratiam non habet innocentia. peccatori autem dixit deus: quare tu enarras iustitias meas?²¹ sed reuertamur ad propositum psalmum.

7. Beati, inquit, inmaculati in uia, qui ambulant in lege domini. beati qui scrutantur testimonia eius, in toto corde exquirunt eum.²² primus uersus moralis, secundus mysticus. quis hoc dicit? propheta utique, qui fungebatur eius alloquio, et dicit hoc post eum psalmum, quo descripta est domini nostri Iesu Christi passio. ubi ergo ei diuina sacramenta reuelata sunt et induit dominicae resurrectionis laetitiam et passionis degustauit gratiam, uidit iustorum congregationes, populos redemptorum, perditorum salutem, mortuorum resurrectionem, sanctificationem sacramentorum, exclamauit dicens: beati inmaculati in uia, qui ambulant in lege domini, hoc est: ecce maledicta terra in Adam²³ coepit habere beatitudinem, si tamen legem domini non derelinquat: ecce inmaculatus est homo, qui erat ante pollutus. quam pretiosum est iam custodire praeceptum domini, quam pretiosum etiam praecepti ipsius scire mysterium!

8. Sed quis est inmaculatus? non utique qui in quacumque uia ambulat, sed qui in Christo ambulat. ipse enim dixit: ego sum uia.²⁴ in hac uia qui ambulat, errare non nouit, si tamen ab hac uia numquam recedat. est et uia lex, et ideo, dum inmaculatus est, in lege domini ambulat; nec ambulare in uia hac desinat, ne inmaculatus esse desistat. non declinet in dexteram aut laeuam, non titubet, non resistat, non expectet, sed ambulet superiora obli-

-uiscens et ea quae sunt priora appetens ad destinatum sequatur, ad brauium festinet,²⁵ contendat usque ad finem; finis enim legis est Christus.²⁶ multi uolunt ambulare in uia, sed non usque ad finem. non ambulant Iudaei usque ad finem, qui non usque ad Christum ambulant. non ambulat Manicheus in uia, qui legem refutat. sed ambulat uera fides, quae et legem suscipit et plenitudinem legis agnoscit.

9. Si quis ergo in uia ambulat, scrutetur testimonia domini, quod licet mysticum sit, tamen etiam moralia in se habet, quoniam melius potest ambulare in uia, qui scrutatur domini testimonia. nam ut quis intemperantissimus, captus adulterinae cupiditatis aestu et uictus libidine uel indulgens flagitiis, qui repugnare nolit adpetentiae suae carnis, conuersus huc atque illuc, si neminem forte uideat, in facinus ruit, idem tamen quamuis parata occasione potiendi explorat diligenter omnia, in diuersum oculos suos incuriosus iustitiae, sollicitus famae detorquet frequenter, erubescit testimonium erroris, qui non erubescit errorem, ac si quem forte spectatorem cognouerit facinoris sui, uerecundia sequestrat intemperantiam et, quamuis cum ancilla uel meretrice uulgari, ubi nullum sit deprehendendi periculum, temptamenta moliatur libidinis, pudore tamen inceptum deserit. quanto magis, si quis alleuet mentis oculos et consideret plena esse angelorum omnia, aera terras mare ecclesias, quibus angeli praesunt — mittit enim dominus angelos suos ad defensionem eorum, qui heredes futuri sunt promissorum caelestium²⁷ —, concepto potest renuntiare peccato! unde ista turba innocentium, nisi ex illis peccatoribus? eadem natura est omnium, sed diuersa disciplina. circumcisio nihil est et gentilitas nihil est, sed ob-

-seruatio mandatorum dei[?] naturae ipsius auget gratiam. ⟨an⟩²⁸ merita commutat ille, qui dicit: tenebrae in circuitu, et parietes me operiunt; peccatorum meorum non erit memor altissimus?²⁹

10. Non reueritus esses angelorum praesentiam, si praesentes esse crederes? non metueres non dicam facere, sed loqui aut etiam cogitare quod prauum est, si tibi scriptura diuina suasisset, quia deus cogitationum arbiter, secretorum testis est uerax, sicut ipse ait: estote mihi testes, et ego testis, dicit dominus deus, et puer meus quem elegi?³⁰ hominem uereris praesentem, dei patris et filii non uereris praesentiam? sed non uis credere, ne possis cauere; non uis audire, cum legitur, quia deus nouit occulta hominum,³¹ ne incipias scire quod timeas et timere ne pecces. audi ergo scripturam diuinam, ut conuertaris a uia praua et maligna. noli, sicut caecus oculis corporalibus aut sicut surdus, qui eo, quod non potest uidere aut audire praesentes, solum esse se credit et in plurimorum coetu, dum putat nullum esse praesentem, perpetrare adoritur quod arbitratur esse secretum — non enim potest uidentes uidere qui non uidet —, similiter et tu mentis caecatus oculis noli aestimare quod sine teste delinquas, quia hominis praesentiam declinare potuisti; plures sunt qui redarguant quam quos cauere potuisti. ipsum te fugere tui accusatorem non potes, quem conuenit propria conscientia, et si negas aliis, tibi non negas, et si homini infitiaris, tibi fateris, et si nolueris negare, tuae te cogitationes reuincunt.

11. Heliseo adsistebant angeli quos uidebat, et ideo agmina

hostium non timebat: sed timebat puer eius, qui angelos non uidebat. aperuit oculos eius ad uocem prophetae gratia dei, uidit angelorum exercitus et credidit esse praesentes, quos antea, quia non uidebat, putabat absentes.³² et tu lege prophetam, ut uideas; lege, ut aperiat oculos tuos, ne te hostilis legio perterreat et obsessum esse te credas qui liber es, qui munitus es spiritalibus turmis, si prophetam non derelinquas. cum tibi propheta loquitur, quia deus dixit: ego caelum et terram compleo,³³ cum tibi propheta dicit: quia plures nobiscum sunt,³⁴ quia in circuitu nostro angeli sunt, attolle oculos mentis et uidebis non solum angelos, sed etiam deum, qui dicat tibi: aperi mihi, soror mea, proxima mea.³⁵ pulsat ad ianuam et quando tu dormis; si tamen uel excitatus euigiles uel uocatus ianuam tui pectoris aperias, introibit. quodsi fugias lectionem propheticam, si domi non legas, in ecclesia audire nolis, nonne, sicut ille, qui auerso coniuet obtutu, ne uideat quod possit uidere, claudit oculos, ne aspiciat, cui potestas uidendi est, aut sicut in furore plerique iniecere manus oculis suis, ita et tu primo auerteris coniuenti magis dissimulatione quam refragatione praerupta? nam cum ad ecclesiam uenis et christianum te adseris, sanus uideris, aperis oculos, quibus possis uidere; sed dum audire dissimulas quae leguntur, claudis, ne uideas tibi, etsi aliis uidere uideris, inicis etiam quasdam perfidiae et intemperantiae manus oculis animae tuae et caecitatem infers cordi tuo, quod est grauius, uoluntariam, ut uidens non uideas, audiens non audias.³⁶

12. Putas te solum esse, cum fornicaris, et non recordaris, quia oculi domini uident orbem terrarum?³⁷ non audis dicentem:

ecce uenit hora, ut dispergamini unusquisque in sua et me solum relinquatis: sed non sum solus, quia pater mecum est?³⁸ adest ergo pater, adest et filius dei, adsunt ministri, adsunt Cherubim et Seraphim, quae dicunt: sanctus sanctus sanctus, plena est terra maiestatis tuae.³⁹ plenus est mundus sanctarum uirtutum, quia plenus est nequitiarum; plenus est orbis terrarum remediis, quia plenus est laqueis. putas quod in lupanari Christus te non uideat, quem uidet lupanar intrare? putas quod in adulterio te non deprehendat, quem uidet adulterium cogitantem? num parietes refugit, qui spectat errores, et secretum criminis auersatur, qui scenam criminis intuetur? an putas tunc primum te intrare meritorium, cum fornicem meretricis ingrederis? intrasti iam, quando cogitationes tuas meretrix introiuit, intrasti iam, quando ad potiendae prostibulae cupiditatem gressu mentis intrasti, pulsasti lupanaris fores, quando ad mulieris concupiscendae decorem oculos mentis aperuisti. et si uerum audire uis, quomodo te in lupanari non uidit Christus, quando te uidit, quia adulterando in corde tuo te ipsum lupanar esse fecisti? denique ipse dicit dominus Iesus: qui uiderit mulierem ad concupiscendum eam, iam adulterauit eam in corde suo.⁴⁰ unde tamen tam religiosus in opinione, qui tam probrosus in crimine?

13. Sed adquiesco tibi, quod Iesus te nolit uidere, nolit reuincere qui nolit accusare, nolint uidere et angeli; sed uidet diabolus qui tecum introiuit, immo qui te introduxit, uident ministri eius qui te circumdederunt, ne uideres angelos dei, uidet Behal, uidet

legio, qui te inpulerunt, ne quis reuocaret, ne quis teneret. noli putare, quod conludium tibi praestet silentii. qui uult tecum supplicii habere consortium, studet plures similes sui uidere et in eo habet gloriam, quod plures perditos fecerit. ipse est incentor, ipse accusator; ipse in Iudam introiuit,⁴¹ ipse eum ad proditionem inpulit, ipse misit ad laqueum. quanti dicturi sunt in illo die aduersus eum: 'tu nos circumuenisti, tu inpulisti!' exemplum quaeris? accipe dicentem Euam praeuaricationis suae auctorem fuisse serpentem.⁴² sed illum implicauit, non se absoluit, cui respondit dominus: 'non praeceperam, ne gustaretis de ligno solo, quod est in medio paradiso?'⁴³ respondebit ergo et pluribus: 'diabolum audistis suadentem noxia; me non potuistis audire uitalia mandantem?'

14. Et ideo operemur iustitias. non enim qui operantur iniquitatem in uiis eius ambulauerunt. tu mandasti mandata tua custodire nimis. utinam dirigantur uiae meae ad custodiendas iustificationes tuas! tunc non confundar, cum respiciam in omnia mandata tua.⁴⁴ non solum: 'mandasti', inquit, 'custodire mandata tua', sed etiam: 'custodire nimis'. quando hoc mandauit? in paradiso quidem mandauit Adae, ut custodiret mandata,⁴⁵ sed fortasse non mandauerat nimis custodire et ideo lapsus est, ideo inflexus uoce mulieris suae, ideo deceptus erat a serpente putans quod, si in parte aliqua recederet a mandato, non penitus erraret. sed quia semel a semita mandatorum recessit, totam deseruit uiam. inuenit eum serpens extra uiam et expoliauit omnibus, nudum reliquit. ideo dominus, quia lapsus erat qui in paradiso

erat, postea per legem per prophetas per euangelium per apostolos monuit, ut nimium custodias mandata domini dei tui. omne, inquit, uerbum quod locutus fueris, reddes pro eo rationem.⁴⁶ noli dissimulare: ab aliquo mandato iota unum uel unus apex non praeterit.⁴⁷ noli recedere de uia. si in uia ambulans uix tutus es a latrone, quid facies, si te extra uiam uagantem inuenerit? dirigantur gressus tui et, ne infirmus sis ad dirigendum, precare, ut dominus dirigat uias tuas.

15. Hic optat: utinam dirigantur uiae meae⁴⁸; alibi dicit: expectans expectaui dominum, et exaudiuit me; et statuit pedes meos in petra et direxit gressus meos.⁴⁹ roga ergo et tu, ut dominus dirigat uestigia mentis tuae, quo possis domini custodire iustificationes. non confunderis, cum respexeris in omnia mandata: ante enim confusus es in Adam et Eua. denique nudus factus es, operuisti te foliis, quia confundebaris, abscondisti te a conspectu dei, quia erubescebas, ita ut diceret tibi deus: Adam, ubi es?⁵⁰ cum illi dicit, tibi dicit: Adam enim interpretatione Latina 'homo' dicitur, hoc est: 'homo, ubi es?' et Adam respondit: 'timens, quia nudus eram⁵¹ et tota mente confusus, ante conspectum tuum uenire non ausus sum'. ergo ne confundamur, custodiamus mandata domini et custodiamus omnia: nam si quis unum mandatum custodiat et aliud praeuaricetur, nihil ei prodest. custodiuit se aliquis a sanguine, non custodiuit ab adulterio; utique in uno conuictus punitur etiam legibus saecularibus nec prodest ei alterius criminis abstinentia, si in altero fuerit deprehensus.

16. Confitebor tibi, domine, in directione cordis — aduertis quas uias dirigas? —, in eo cum didi-

-cero iudicia iustitiae tuae. iustificationes tuas custodiam, non derelinquas me usque quaque.⁵² hoc loco mystica plenius cognoscere se uelle testatur, ut ingrediatur penetralia mysteriorum caelestium et aperiantur sibi thesauri sapientiae et scientiae in Christo absconditi.⁵³ unde et Salomon ait: adtrahe nos; post te in odore unguentorum tuorum curremus. introduxit me rex in cubiculum suum.⁵⁴ et fortasse illud, quod ait supra: osculetur me ab osculis oris sui,⁵⁵ significat spiritus sancti superuenientis gratiam, sicut angelus ad Mariam dixit: spiritus sanctus superueniet in te, et uirtus altissimi obumbrabit tibi.⁵⁶ quando autem introduxit eam rex in cubiculum suum, passionis tempus, lateris conpunctio declaratur, sanguinis effusio, sepulturae unguentum, resurrectionis mysterium, ut osculum quasi sponsa acceperit, in cubiculum autem Christi sit introducta ecclesia non iam quasi tantummodo desponsata, sed etiam quasi nupta, nec solum thalamum sit ingressa, sed etiam legitimae claues copulae consecuta, ideoque quasi in thalamo sita ait: colligatio guttae[?] frater meus mihi, inter media ubera requiescit.⁵⁷ quodsi cubiculum quaerimus, ipse nos edoceat, qui ait: tu autem cum orabis, intra in cubiculum tuum et clauso ostio ora patrem tuum in abscondito.⁵⁸ cubiculum ecclesiae corpus est Christi; introduxit eam rex in omnia interiora mysteria, dedit ei claues, ut aperiret sibi thesauros scientiae sacramentorum, clausas ante fores panderet, cognosceret quietis gratiam, defuncti somnum, uirtutem resurrectionis.

17. In illo cubiculo iustitias domini Iesu nupta repperit. quae sunt illae iustitiae? utique sacramenta baptismatis, sicut legimus, quia, cum uenienti ad baptismum diceret Iohannes: ego a te debeo baptizari, et tu uenis ad me?,⁵⁹ respondit Iesus: sine modo; sic enim decet nos implere omnem iustitiam.⁶⁰ in illo cubiculo iustificationes didicit, consilium dei cognouit, sicut scriptum est, quia omnis populus audiens et publicani iustificauerunt deum, baptizati baptismo Iohannis; Pharisaei autem et legis periti consilium dei spreuerunt in se, non baptizati ab eo.⁶¹ quod illi spreuerunt, nos elegimus et sequimur consilium dei, quia nihil potest esse sublimius: hoc enim diuinum, quo fit remissio peccatorum. cum didicerit itaque iustitias domini, deum timens non confundetur. denique et Paulus ait: in nullo confundar.⁶²

18. Et quia nullus potest perfectus esse sine fauore dei neque tutus, ideo rogare debet, ne penitus eum relinquat deus. nam supra rogauit Dauid, ne derelinqueretur, dicens: ne derelinquas me, domine deus meus,⁶³ hic ait: ne derelinquas me usque quaque,⁶⁴ hoc est 'multum'. supra forte quasi adhuc inperfectus et in magnis perturbationibus positus, ne derelinqueretur, timebat. hic autem iam fortior non timet derelinqui, ut temptetur, sed rogat, ne penitus derelinquatur. plerumque enim derelinquit deus quos uult probari, penitus autem derelinquit quos deserit. dereliquit penitus Iudam, non dereliquit autem sanctum Iob, in cuius patrimonium, in cuius corpus potestatem diabolo dedit, in animam non dedit;⁶⁵ nam si dedisset in animam, penitus

dereliquisset eum. numquid non ideo relictus est Iob, ut relictus probaretur, probatus coronaretur? dereliquit igitur Iudam, cui ait: quod facis, fac celerius:⁶⁶ dereliquit enim penitus, quem sceleris sui permisit effectui. alios autem apostolos cum uidisset esse turbatos, quia dixerat: quo ego uado, uos non potestis uenire,⁶⁷ addidit: non turbetur cor uestrum,⁶⁸ et infra: iterum uenio et accersio uos ad me ipsum, ut ubi sum ego et uos sitis.⁶⁹ denique turbatus Petrus, qui derelinqui timeret, ait: domine, quo uadis? uidit dominus turbari eum et respondit ei: quo ego uado non potes me modo sequi, sequeris autem postea.⁷⁰ sic et in mari cum titubaret, clamauit ad Christum et porrexit ei dexteram Christus, ne penitus derelictus periret.⁷¹

19. Nemo autem debet inflari, quod numquam derelinquatur, uel dolere, quod aliquando derelinquatur, siquidem ipse filius se dicit derelictum, sicut habes: deus deus meus, respice me; quare me dereliquisti?⁷² et ille quidem numquam derelictus a patre est, cum quo pater semper est: scriptum est enim: ecce iam uenit hora ut dispergamini unusquisque in sua et me solum relinquatis: sed non sum solus, quoniam pater mecum est.⁷³ sed secundum corpus, in quo est traditus passioni, uox ista processit, quoniam derelinqui nobis uidemur, quando sumus in periculis constituti. unde et Paulus ait de patre deo: qui filio proprio non pepercit, sed pro nobis omnibus tradidit eum.⁷⁴ dereliquisse uidetur, quia non pepercit, qui tradidit

morti: sed non penitus dereliquit, cui dicitur: quia non derelinques animam meam in inferno nec dabis sanctum tuum uidere corruptionem.⁷⁵

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1. The first letter is called Aleph, whose interpretation is doctrine.¹ You, therefore, attentive hearer, ought to presume that the verses which follow are full of doctrine.

2. Blessed are the unspotted in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who search his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart.² What a beautiful order! how full of doctrine and grace! He did not say first, who search his testimonies — that might have suited if read merely according to the letter — but first, Blessed are the unspotted in the way. For life is to be sought before doctrine. A good life, even without doctrine, has grace; doctrine without life lacks integrity, for wisdom shall not enter into a malicious soul.³ Therefore he says: The wicked shall seek me, and they shall not find me,⁴ because the eye of the mind is blinded by depravity, and when iniquity casts its shadow, profound mysteries cannot be discovered. First, then, the soldiering of life must be exercised, the morals corrected. When we have set these things upon their due course — so that there is correction of offense and the grace of purity — then let us come, in their proper order and way, to the studies that perceive knowledge. First, therefore, are the moral things; second, the mystical. In the former, life; in the latter, knowledge — so that, if you require perfection, neither life without knowledge, nor knowledge without life, but each lending its support to the other. Therefore Scripture says: Sow for yourselves unto justice,

reap to the fruit of life, light up for yourselves the light of knowledge.⁵ Not first 'light up,' but 'sow'; nor merely 'sow' first 'unto justice,' but also 'reap,' he says, 'to the fruit of life'; and so 'light up the light of knowledge,' that perfection may be approved not only by what is sown but also by the fruits received. In the first psalm too he kept this same order, that he might first teach us to walk in the way, and then to meditate on the law. For he who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly⁶ has surely not departed from the way of piety nor from the path of justice; and so, walking in the way, he is rightly proclaimed blessed, and exercising day and night his meditation on the law, he has the grace of beatitude.

3. Following this same instruction, Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs, in which he expressed the moral matter at greater length, the natural in Ecclesiastes, the mystical in the Song of Songs. Yet if you discuss them carefully, you will find many mystical things in Proverbs too, and the sweetness of moral things in the Song. For mystical assuredly is this: Wisdom hath built herself a house, and hath hewn out seven pillars; she hath slain her victims, and the rest.⁷ In the Song also — though as much mystical as moral, in which the sweetness of caress and the affection of one who loves is expressed — we find: Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth, for thy breasts are better than wine, and the odor of thy ointments above all spices.⁸

4. Picture, then, a virgin long betrothed and burning with a just love, who has come to know many of her beloved's noble works through the witness of trustworthy reporters; her desires hanging in suspense, her many delays now no longer endurable, who would have done anything to see her bridegroom — when at last she has gained her wish, at the bridegroom's unhoped-for arrival, struck dumb with joy, she does not seek out the formalities of greeting, no

exchange of words,⁹ but presses straight to what she has so long desired. So too the holy Church, who, betrothed in the world's first beginnings in paradise, prefigured in the flood, announced through the law, summoned through the prophets, had so long awaited the redemption of mankind, the splendor of the Gospel, the coming of her beloved — impatient of further delay, she rushed into kisses, saying: Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth¹⁰; and, delighting in those kisses, she added: for thy breasts are better than wine.

5. And to put it more morally: understand for me that flesh which had been steeped, in Adam, with the serpent's venom, which was rotting in the stench of crimes, which went forth among the daughters of Sion with neck held high¹¹, with darting eyes and mincing step, trailing her gowns and toying with her own feet, with curled and crimped hair, with painted face, with ribbons and every kind of affected ornament that disgraced more than it adorned — yet that same flesh, taught by many oracles that one would come who, casting out the serpent's seductions, would pour in the grace of the Holy Spirit, that all flesh might see the salvation of God¹², that all flesh might come to God — was set ablaze with longing; yet she feared, lest as before she had been impatient, lascivious, wanton, peevish, she might still displease; though she was shaken by an expectation of the delaying Lord's coming longer than she could now endure, neither murmuring nor transgressing, but lifting up in every place pure hands without anger and disputing¹³, in seemly attire, adorning herself with modesty and sobriety, not with curled hair or gold or pearls or costly raiment, but with such things as became the grace of chastity and good conduct¹⁴,

praying and saying: Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth, for thy breasts are better than wine.¹⁵ Now the flesh longed to cleave to Christ, now she hastened to be married, that she might be one spirit¹⁶ with him and might become Christ's flesh, who before had been a harlot's. 'Let him kiss me,' she says — for the Word of God kisses us when the Spirit of knowledge enlightens our understanding — and as if despising all her former delights and pleasures, longing to cleave to heavenly commandments, she says: 'for the precepts of thy testaments are better than every appetite of the flesh and pleasure of the world.'

For she remembered that in Eve she had once fallen this same way, when she preferred bodily pleasure to the heavenly commandments. Thy name is as ointment poured out¹⁷ — that is: this whole world had stank, foul with the impurities of every kind of crime; now there breathes everywhere the sweetness of chastity, the ointment of faith, the flower of integrity. And from the moral she comes to the mystical, saying: The king hath brought me into his cellars. Let us be glad and rejoice in thee; we shall love thy breasts above wine.¹⁸ For the kiss is simple, but the chamber's secret is intimate work.

6. In the Gospel itself there is also a most beautiful moral text, that each of us should cleanse his own vessel, the Lord saying: Blind Pharisee, cleanse first what is within the cup and the dish, that what is outside may also be made clean.¹⁹ For unless each one cleanses himself within, even if outwardly he should appear handsome and just, he will be like whited sepulchres,²⁰ outwardly indeed seeming just, but within stinking.

So is doctrine without innocence of life. But neither can doctrine itself have its reward where innocence does not have its grace. But to the sinner God hath said: Why dost thou declare my justices?²¹ But let us return to the psalm we set out to expound.

7. Blessed, he says, are the unspotted in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who search his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart.²² The first verse is moral, the second mystical. Who is it that says this? The prophet, surely, who served the divine address; and he says it after that psalm in which the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ is described. So when the divine sacraments had been revealed to him, and he had put on the joy of the Lord's resurrection and tasted the grace of his Passion, when he had seen the assemblies of the just, the peoples of the redeemed, the salvation of the lost, the resurrection of the dead, the sanctification of the sacraments, he cried out, saying: Blessed are the unspotted in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. That is: behold, the earth that was cursed in Adam²³ has begun to know beatitude, if only it does not abandon the law of the Lord; behold, the man who was once polluted is now unspotted. How precious it is now to keep the precept of the Lord, how precious also to know the mystery of the precept itself!

8. But who is the unspotted? Surely not he who walks in any way whatsoever, but he who walks in Christ. For he himself said: I am the way.²⁴ He who walks in this way knows not how to err, provided that he never depart from this way. The law too is a way, and therefore, while a man is unspotted, he walks in the law of the Lord; nor let him cease to walk in this way, lest he cease to be unspotted. Let him not turn aside to the right hand or the left, let him not waver, not resist, not pause, but walk forgetting the things

that are behind, and reaching forth to those that are before, let him follow on toward the goal, let him hasten to the prize²⁵, let him strive even to the end; for the end of the law is Christ.²⁶ Many wish to walk in the way, but not to the end. The Jews do not walk to the end, who do not walk all the way to Christ. The Manichee does not walk in the way, who refuses the law. But the true faith does walk, which receives the law and acknowledges its fullness.

9. If anyone, therefore, walks in the way, let him search the testimonies of the Lord — which, though it is mystical, has nonetheless its moral side too, since he can the better walk in the way who searches the testimonies of the Lord. For just as some most intemperate man, caught in the heat of adulterous lust, overcome by passion or yielding to outrages, who is unwilling to fight back the appetite of his flesh, looks this way and that, and if perchance he sees no one, plunges into the crime — yet that same man, even with opportunity right at hand for satisfying his desire, scans every direction carefully, careless of justice but solicitous of his reputation, often turning his eyes away — he blushes at the testimony of his sin who does not blush at the sin itself; and if perchance he discovers some witness to his deed, shame restrains his intemperance, and even though it be with a household servant or a common harlot, where there is no risk of being caught, the moment he attempts the lust, embarrassment makes him abandon what he had begun. How much more, if a man should lift up the eyes of his mind and consider that all things are full of angels — air, lands, sea, the churches over which the angels preside — for the Lord sends his angels for the protection of those who shall be the heirs of the heavenly promises²⁷ — could he not reject the sin he had conceived! Whence comes this throng of innocents but from those very sinners? The nature of all is the same; what differs is the discipline. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping

of the commandments of God[?] — this is what increases the grace of nature itself. ⟨Or⟩²⁸ does he change his deserts, who says: Darkness is round about me, and the walls cover me; the Most High will not remember my sins?²⁹

10. Would you not have stood in awe of the angels' presence, if you believed they were present? Would you not fear, I will not say to do, but even to speak or even to think what is depraved, if Holy Scripture had persuaded you that God is the judge of thoughts, the truthful witness of secrets — as he himself says: Be ye my witnesses, and I am a witness, saith the Lord God, and my servant whom I have chosen?³⁰ You stand in awe of a man who is present, but not of the presence of God the Father and of the Son? But you do not wish to believe, lest you should be cautious; you do not wish to hear, when it is read, that God knoweth the secrets of men³¹, lest you begin to know what you should fear and to fear lest you sin. Listen, then, to divine Scripture, that you may turn away from the depraved and malignant way. Do not, like the man who is blind in his bodily eyes or the deaf, who, because he cannot see or hear those present, believes himself to be alone, and in a crowded gathering, while he supposes no one to be present, sets out to commit what he thinks is hidden — for he who does not see cannot see those who do see — likewise you, blinded in the eyes of your mind, do not suppose you sin without a witness because you have managed to avoid the presence of a man; there are more witnesses to convict you than the ones you managed to avoid. You cannot escape from your own accuser, whom your conscience itself meets; and even if you deny it to others, you do not deny it to yourself; even if you disown it to a man, you confess it to yourself; and even if you refuse to deny it, your own thoughts convict you.

11. To Elisha there stood by the angels whom he saw, and so he

did not fear the host of his enemies; but his servant feared, who did not see the angels. By the grace of God his eyes were opened at the prophet's word; he saw the armies of angels and believed them present, whom before, because he did not see, he had supposed to be absent.³² Read the prophet, then, you also, that you may see; read, that he may open your eyes, lest the host of the enemy terrify you and you suppose yourself besieged when you are free, when you are guarded by spiritual battalions, if only you do not abandon the prophet. When the prophet tells you that God said: I fill heaven and earth³³, when the prophet says to you: There are more with us³⁴, that around us are angels — lift up the eyes of your mind, and you will see not only the angels but also God himself, who says to you: Open to me, my sister, my friend.³⁵ He knocks at the door even when you are sleeping; if only, awakened, you would rouse, or, called, you would open the door of your breast, he will come in. But if you flee the prophetic reading, if you do not read at home, if in the church you refuse to listen, are you not like that man who, with his gaze averted, blinks lest he see what he might see — closing his eyes lest he look, though he has the power to see — or like those who in their fury cast their hands at their own eyes? So also you turn away first by feigning rather than by abrupt resistance: for when you come to church and call yourself a Christian, you appear sound, you open the eyes by which you might see; but when you feign deafness to what is read, you close them, lest you see for yourself, even if you seem to others to see; you even cast certain hands of treachery and intemperance at the eyes of your soul, and bring upon your heart a blindness — what is graver — that is voluntary, that seeing you may not see, hearing you may not hear.³⁶

12. Do you suppose yourself alone, when you commit fornication, and do you not remember that the eyes of the Lord behold the whole world³⁷? Do you not hear him saying:

Behold the hour cometh, that you shall be scattered every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: but I am not alone, because the Father is with me?³⁸ The Father, then, is present, the Son of God also is present, the ministers are present, the Cherubim and Seraphim are present, who say: Holy, holy, holy: the earth is full of thy majesty.³⁹ The world is full of holy powers, because it is full of wickednesses; the round of the earth is full of remedies, because it is full of snares. Do you suppose that Christ does not see you in the brothel, when he sees you entering the brothel? Do you suppose that he does not catch you in the act of adultery, when he sees you contemplating adultery? Does he turn from the walls who watches the errors? Does he avoid the secret of the crime who beholds the stage of the crime? Or do you suppose that you first enter the brothel when you cross the threshold of the harlot's house? You entered already when the harlot entered your thoughts; you entered already when by the step of your mind you advanced to the desire of laying hold of the prostitute; you knocked at the doors of the brothel when you opened the eyes of your mind to the loveliness of the woman you would lust after. And, if you would hear the truth: how is it that Christ did not see you in the brothel, when he saw you, since by committing adultery in your heart you have made yourself the brothel? Indeed the Lord Jesus himself says: Whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart.⁴⁰ Whence then so religious in reputation, who is so shameful in his crime?

13. But suppose, for argument's sake: Jesus does not wish to see you, will not wish to convict you who is unwilling to accuse, the angels too do not wish to see; yet the devil sees, who came in with you — rather, who brought you in; his ministers see, who surrounded you that you should not see God's angels; Behal sees, the

legion sees, who pushed you on, lest anyone call you back, lest anyone hold you. Do not suppose he extends to you the collusion of silence. He who wishes to have your fellowship in punishment is eager to see more like himself, and his glory lies in this, that he has ruined more men. He himself is the inciter, he himself the accuser; he himself entered into Judas⁴¹, he himself drove him to the betrayal, he himself sent him to the noose. How many will say in that day against him: 'Thou hast circumvented us, thou hast pushed us!' Do you ask for an example? Take Eve, declaring that the author of her transgression had been the serpent.⁴² But she only entangled him; she did not absolve herself, to whom the Lord answered: 'Did I not command you not to taste of the one tree only that is in the midst of paradise?'⁴³ He will answer many likewise: 'You listened to the devil persuading you to harmful things; could you not listen to me commanding things of life?'

14. And therefore let us work justice. For they that work iniquity have not walked in his ways. Thou hast commanded thy commandments to be kept exceedingly. O that my ways may be directed to keep thy justifications! Then shall I not be confounded, when I shall look into all thy commandments.⁴⁴ Not only, 'Thou hast commanded,' he says, 'to keep thy commandments,' but also, 'to keep them exceedingly.' When did he so command? In paradise he indeed commanded Adam to keep the commandments⁴⁵; but perhaps he had not commanded him to keep them exceedingly, and so he fell — bent by the voice of his wife, deceived by the serpent, supposing that if he should depart from the commandment in some part, he would not err totally. But because he once departed from the path of the commandments, he abandoned the whole way. The serpent found him outside the way, stripped him of all things, left him naked. And so the Lord, because the man who was in paradise had fallen,

later through the law, through the prophets, through the gospel, through the apostles, urged us to keep the commandments of the Lord our God exceedingly. Every word, he says, which you shall speak, you shall give an account for it.⁴⁶ Do not dissemble: not one iota or one tittle shall pass from any commandment.⁴⁷ Do not depart from the way. If, walking in the way, you are scarcely safe from the robber, what will you do, if he finds you wandering off the way? May thy steps be directed, and, lest you be too weak to direct them, pray that the Lord may direct your ways.

15. Here he wishes: O that my ways may be directed⁴⁸; elsewhere he says: With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and he heard me; and he set my feet upon a rock and directed my steps.⁴⁹ You also, then, ask that the Lord may direct the steps of your mind, that you may keep the justifications of the Lord. Thou shalt not be confounded, when thou shalt look into all thy commandments: for before, you were confounded in Adam and Eve. Indeed you were made naked, you covered yourself with leaves, because you were confounded; you hid yourself from the face of God, because you blushed, so that God said to you: Adam, where art thou?⁵⁰ When he says it to him, he says it to you — for Adam in Latin interpretation is called man, that is: 'Man, where art thou?' And Adam answered: 'Fearing, because I was naked⁵¹, and confounded with my whole mind, I dared not come into thy sight.' Therefore, that we may not be confounded, let us keep the commandments of the Lord — and let us keep them all: for if a man keeps one commandment and transgresses another, it profits him nothing. One man kept himself from blood, but did not keep himself from adultery; surely once convicted in one charge, he is punished even by the secular laws, and abstinence in another crime profits him not, if in another he is caught.

16. I will praise thee, O Lord, in the directing of my heart — do you note what ways you direct? — in this, when I have learned

the judgments of thy justice. I will keep thy justifications: forsake me not utterly.⁵² In this place he testifies that he wishes to know the mystical things more fully, that he might enter into the inner sanctuaries of the heavenly mysteries and have opened to him the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden in Christ.⁵³ Whence Solomon also says: Draw us; we shall run after thee in the odor of thy ointments. The king hath brought me into his cellars.⁵⁴ And perhaps that which he said above, Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth⁵⁵, signifies the grace of the Holy Spirit coming over her, just as the angel said to Mary: The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee.⁵⁶ But when the king brought her into his cellars, the time of the Passion is declared — the piercing of the side, the shedding of blood, the ointment of burial, the mystery of resurrection — that as a bride she might receive a kiss, and into the cellars of Christ she might be brought, the Church, no longer merely betrothed but as it were married, and not only entered the bridal chamber but had received the lawful keys of the union; and so, as if seated in the bridal chamber, she says: A bundle of myrrh[?] is my brother to me; he shall abide between my breasts.⁵⁷ But if we seek the cellar, let him himself teach us, who says: But thou, when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret.⁵⁸ The cellar of the Church is the body of Christ; the king brought her into all the inner mysteries, gave her the keys, that she might open for herself the treasures of the science of the sacraments, that she might throw open the doors before closed, that she might recognize the grace of repose, the sleep of the deceased, the power of the resurrection.

17. In that cellar the bride found the justices of the Lord Jesus. What are those justices? Surely the sacraments of baptism, as we read: when John said to him as he came to be baptized: I ought to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?⁵⁹, Jesus answered: Suffer it now: for so it becometh us to fulfil all justice.⁶⁰ In that cellar she learned the justifications, she came to know the counsel of God, as it is written: And all the people hearing, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with John's baptism. But the Pharisees and the lawyers despised the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized by him.⁶¹ What they despised, we have chosen, and we follow the counsel of God, because nothing can be more sublime: for this is divine, by which there is the remission of sins. So when she has learned the justices of the Lord, fearing God she shall not be confounded. So Paul also says: In nothing shall I be confounded.⁶²

18. And because no one can be perfect or safe without God's favor, he must therefore ask that God may not utterly forsake him. For above, David asked not to be forsaken, saying: Forsake me not, O Lord my God⁶³; here he says: Forsake me not utterly⁶⁴ — that is, 'much.' Above, perhaps, as one still imperfect and placed in great disturbances, he feared lest he should be forsaken. But here, now stronger, he does not fear to be forsaken so as to be tested, but asks that he be not utterly forsaken. For God often forsakes those whom he wishes to be tested; but he utterly forsakes those whom he abandons. He utterly forsook Judas; but holy Job he did not forsake — over whose property and body he gave the devil power, but over his soul he did not give it⁶⁵; for if he had given it over the soul, he would utterly

have forsaken him. Was Job not perhaps left, that being left he might be tested, and being tested might be crowned? He forsook, then, Judas, to whom he said: What thou doest, do quickly⁶⁶: he utterly forsook one whom he allowed to the consummation of his crime. But the other apostles, when he saw they were troubled because he had said: Whither I go, you cannot come⁶⁷, he added: Let not your heart be troubled⁶⁸, and below: I come again, and will take you to myself, that where I am, you also may be.⁶⁹ So Peter, troubled, who feared to be forsaken, says: Lord, whither goest thou? The Lord saw that he was troubled and answered him: Whither I go thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow afterwards.⁷⁰ And so on the sea, when he wavered, Peter cried out to Christ, and Christ stretched out his right hand to him, lest, utterly forsaken, he should perish.⁷¹

19. Yet no one ought to be puffed up, that he is never forsaken, or grieve, that he is sometimes forsaken — since the Son himself says he is forsaken, as you have it: My God, my God, look upon me; why hast thou forsaken me?⁷² And he indeed was never forsaken by the Father, with whom the Father always is — for it is written: Behold, the hour now cometh, that you shall be scattered every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: but I am not alone, because the Father is with me.⁷³ But according to the body, in which he was given over to the Passion, that voice came forth, because we seem to ourselves forsaken when we are placed in dangers. Whence Paul also says of God the Father: He that spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.⁷⁴ He seems to have forsaken because he did not spare, who delivered

him over to death; but he did not utterly forsake him, to whom it is said: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption.⁷⁵

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