Ambrose

XXI. LITTERA SIN.

1. Incipit littera 'Sin', quae Latine dicitur 'super uulnus'. super uulnus quid est nisi medicamentum, quo uulneris acerbitas mitigatur? super uulnus oleum infunditur, ut omnis uulneris molliatur asperitas; super uulnus malagma, super uulnus alligatura, quibus omne uulnus fouetur. ubi ergo spes refundendae est sanitatis, ibi adhibentur medicamenta uulneribus. ubi autem omne caput in dolore et omne cor in maestitia, non est uulnus neque cicatrix, non plaga cum feruore,¹ hoc est: ubi non portio, sed uniuersitas periclitatur et quadam corrupti totius corporis tabe consumitur, ibi non est malagma inponere neque oleum neque alligaturam. multo igitur commodius, ut sit uulnus, quod foueas atque constringas, quam sine uulnere mors serpat interior.

2. Sed est non solum corporis uulnus, sed etiam mentis, quod oleo quodam mollioris alloquii et pacifici sermonis suauitate mitescit. sunt fomenta uerborum, sunt medicamenta caelestium praeceptorum, quibus omne nequitiae uirus aboletur. sunt legis uincula quae non adurant, sed magis liberent alligatos, et malagma spiritale, quo conlisa animae quaedam membra solidentur.

3. Consideremus igitur quid sit uulnus, quid supra uulnus: principes persecuti sunt me gratis² uulnus est, exulto ego in uerba tua, sicut qui inuenit spolia multa,³ super uulnus est, quia uerbis dominicis uulneris dura curantur.

4. In Threnis quoque Hieremiae habes sub hac littera scriptum: audisti obprobrium eorum, domine, omnia consilia eorum aduersum me, labia insurgentium mihi et meditationes eorum aduersum me tota die, sessionem eorum et resurrectionem eorum;⁴ uulnus est. sed subiecit: aspice in oculis eorum, redde illis retributionem, domine, secundum opera manuum ipsorum;⁵ super uulnus est, quia uindicta plerumque dolorem solet uulneris mitigare. et infra idem Hieremias ait: gaude et laetare, filia Idumaeae quae habitas in Geth, et quidem ad te transibit calix, bibes et inebriaberis adhuc;⁶ super uulnus est. calix enim domini remissio peccatorum est, quo sanguis effunditur, qui totius redemit peccata mundi. hic calix inebriauit gentes, ne proprii meminissent doloris, sed ueterem obliuiscerentur errorem. bona igitur ebrietas spiritalis, quae turbare corporis nescit incessum, leuare mentis nouit uestigium. bona ebrietas poculi salutaris, quae maestitiam peccatricis abolet conscientiae, iucunditatem uitae infundit aeternae. ideo scriptura dicit: et poculum tuum inebrians quam praeclarum est!⁷

5. Medicamentum igitur super uulnus est, quia medicus ipse dominus Iesus, qui uulnera nostra curauit, infundens uinum et oleum et alligans uulnera Adae illius, qui descendens ab Hierusalem a latronibus uulneratus est.⁸ caueat ergo unusquisque, ne descendat ab Hierusalem; peccatis enim suis unusquisque descendit et meritis ascendit. aut, quia fragiles sumus, qui descendit currat ad illum Samaritanum, custodem operis sui, custodem legis et gratiae, ut uulneri suo possit inuenire medicinam, qui alligaturam uerborum caelestium super uulnus inponat dicens: paenitentiam agite; adpropinquauit enim regnum caelorum.⁹ bona alligatura, quae fracta animae tuae ossa conectat et soliditate reparata in pristinas uires reformet ac discissos artus¹⁰ sine ulla sibi cicatricis offensione restituat.

6. De litterae interpretatione satis pro captu nostro dictum putamus. adoriamur sancti prophetae uersus considerare, quos spiritu sancto reuelante subiecit: principes persecuti sunt me gratis, et a uerbis tuis trepidauit cor meum.¹¹ si ueterem repetamus historiam, et Saul et Abessalon et multi alienigenae principes sanctum Dauid persecuti sunt, sed nemo de eo potuit triumphare. sunt et principes mundi rectoresque tenebrarum,¹² qui te in tuo pectore conantur obprimere et persecutionum saeua intus operantur, promittentes regna terrarum, honores atque diuitias, si fragili mente subcumbas et oboediendum eorum imperiis arbitreris. isti principes interdum gratis persecuntur, interdum non gratis. gratis persecuntur apud quem nihil suum inueniunt et eum subiugare contendunt, non gratis persecuntur eum, qui se eorum dederit pote-

-stati et in possessionem saeculi totus intrauerit. in suos enim iure sibi dominatum uindicant atque ab his mercedem iniquitatis efflagitant.

7. Bene hoc martyr dicit, quod iniuste persecutionum tormenta sustineat, qui nihil rapuerit, nullum uiolentus oppresserit, nullius sanguinem fuderit, nullius torum putauerit esse uiolandum, qui nihil legibus debeat et grauiora latronum sustinere cogatur supplicia, qui loquatur iusta et non audiatur, qui loquatur plena salutis et inpugnetur, ut possit dicere: cum loquebar illis, inpugnabant me gratis.¹³ gratis igitur persecutionem patitur qui inpugnatur sine crimine, inpugnatur ut noxius, cum sit in tali confessione laudabilis, inpugnatur quasi ueneficus, quia in nomine domini gloriatur, cum pietas uirtutum omnium fundamentum sit. uere frustra inpugnatur, qui apud impios et infidos impietatis accersitur, cum fidei sit magister.

8. Uerum qui gratis inpugnatur fortis esse debet et constans. quomodo ergo subtexuit: et a uerbis tuis trepidauit cor meum?¹⁴ trepidare infirmitatis est, timoris atque formidinis; sed est etiam infirmitas ad salutem, est etiam timor sanctorum: timete dominum, sancti eius,¹⁵ et: beatus uir qui timet dominum.¹⁶ qua ratione 'beatus'? quia in mandatis eius cupiet nimis.¹⁷ pone ergo martyrem inter pericula constitutum, cum inde inmanitas bestiarum ad incutiendum terrorem infremat, aliunde stridor candentium laminarum et flamma fornacis ardentis exaestuet, ex parte alia personent tractus grauium catenarum, hinc carnifex cruentus adsistat: pone, inquam, circumspectantem omnia plena suppliciis, deinde cogitantem mandata diuina, illum ignem perpetuum, illud sine fine incendium perfidorum,

illam poenae recrudescentis aerumnam, trepidare corde, ne, dum praesentibus cedit, perpetuis se dedat exitiis, perturbari animo, dum futuri iudicii romphaeam illam terribilem¹⁸ quadam conspectus specie contuetur. nonne hanc trepidationem fiduciae uiri constantis aequabis? in eundem concurrit effectum confidentia cupientis aeterna et diuina trepidantis. sit tamen fortior ille qui sperat, sit fortior qui praesumit.

9. Utinam ego talis esse merear, ut, si forte persecutor ingruerit, non considerem suppliciorum meorum acerbitates, non metiar tormenta, non poenas, non cogitem ullius atrocitatem doloris, sed haec omnia leuia ducam, trepidem autem ne Christus me neget, ne Christus excludat, ne me repellat de concilio sacerdotum, si indignum eo collegio iudicauerit. uideat magis, licet permotum corporalium terrore poenarum, plus tamen trepidantem futura iudicia! etsi dixerit mihi: modicae fidei, quare dubitasti?,¹⁹ porriget tamen dexteram et insurgentis fluctus saecularis huius mole turbatum fida mentis statione firmabit.

10. Sequitur uersus secundus: exulto in uerbis tuis, sicut qui inuenit spolia multa.²⁰ bona ergo trepidatio a uerbis dei, si exultationem generat; qui enim trepidat a uerbis dei, postea exultat in dei uerbis. ergo qui habet in aula sua, corde uidelicet suo, uerba dei, excludit sermones principum a corde suo, excludit timor timorem. si enim quis ingressus balneas solis deponit aestus et calor excludit calorem, quanto magis diuini iudicii terror hunc terrorem excludit humanum, feruorem gratiae saecularis gratiae feruor aeternae!

11. Exultat ergo qui habet uerbum dei; habet enim spolia multa quae Iudaeis abstulit, habet prostrati hostis exuuias. sicut Dauid abstulit Goliae gladium et ipsius gladio caput eius exsecuit,²¹ sic uerus Dauid, humilis atque mansuetus dominus Iesus, intellegibilis Goliae caput armis ipsius amputauit. arma enim diaboli gentes erant, fide autem gentium uulneratus caput quod habebat amisit. detracta sunt spolia prostrato, uasa eius direpta, quia alligatus est fortis.²² uas diaboli caro erat hominis peccatoris; sed posteaquam in Christum credidimus, caro nostra coepit esse uas electionis, ut habes de apostolo Paulo, qui ad gentes missus est, dictum ad Ananiam a domino Iesu: uade, quoniam uas electionis mihi est.²³ merito ergo uocatum nomen est Christi uelociter spolia detrahe, cito diuide, quia, priusquam sciat puer uocare patrem aut matrem, accipiet uirtutem Damasci et spolia Samariae contra regem Assyriorum.²⁴ ergo rex Assyriorum, eorum scilicet quos uanos perfidia fecerat, amisit spolia quae tenebat. et ut iterum cognoscas, quia spolia Christus a diabolo, quae in Adam ille inuaserat, uindicauit, et Sabain uiri excelsi ad dominum Iesum alligati uinculis transierunt atque ipsum adorare coeperunt,²⁵ quia captiuam duxit captiuitatem.²⁶ ideo caput eius abstulit, ut ipse caput esset corporis interempti. merito nunc gentes toto orbe caput regale circumferunt, quia membra sunt Christi.

12. Cognouisti de nationibus, cognosce etiam de Iudaeis, quibus dominus Iesus abstulit spolia, hoc est regnum caelorum abstulit et dedit genti facienti fructum eius.²⁷ abstulit uirtutem panis et uirtutem aquae, prophetam et admirabilem consiliarium et prudentem architectum et²⁸

sapientem auditorem illis abstulit, nobis dedit; merito exulto, sicut qui inuenit spolia multa.²⁹ sine labore meo inueni spolia quae non habebam, inueni Heptateuchum, inueni Regnorum libros, inueni prophetarum scripturam, inueni Esdram, inueni Psalmos, inueni Prouerbia, inueni Ecclesiasten, inueni Cantica canticorum, inueni admirabilem consiliarium Christum, inueni Paulum prudentem architectum, inueni sapientem auditorem populum christianum, qui nouit ea quae leguntur audire; ille enim audit, qui ea quae audit intellegit. lex spiritalis est;³⁰ non illam audit Iudaeus qui audit corporaliter, sed ille audit qui audit in spiritu. habent illi libros, sed sensum librorum non habent; habent prophetas, sed non habent quem illi prophetauerunt. quomodo enim habent quem non receperunt?³¹ ideo cum Moyse et Helia mihi apparuit,³² quia ab illis recessit. multa habet spolia qui habet dei uerbum; habet resurrectionem, habet iustitiam, uirtutem atque sapientiam, habet omnia, quia omnia in ipso constant.³³ Hebraei spoliauerunt Aegyptios et uasa eorum abstulerunt;³⁴ Iudaeorum spolia habet populus christianus et totum habemus, quod illi habere se nesciebant. illi aurum et argentum materiale abstulerunt, nos aurum mentis accepimus, nos adquisiuimus caelestis sermonis argentum.

13. Sequitur uersus tertius: iniustitiam odio habui et abominatus sum, legem autem tuam dilexi.³⁵ merito odit iniustitiam qui habet arma iustitiae.³⁶ Hebraeus cum haberet haec arma, hoc est legem et prophetas, abominabatur mortuum, quia lex dicit: omnis qui tetigerit mortuum inmundus erit,³⁷ et humanitatis suprema negabat of-

-ficia defunctis; sed legi non est mortuus nisi qui iniustus est. haec est inmunditia iusti, quae iniquitas. quid enim inmundius quam mentem, qua nihil homini pretiosius est datum, turpibus commaculare criminibus et atrocibus efferare commentis? quid illis prodest, quod mortuum hominem uisere reformidant? utinam uita eorum non pollueret adpropinquantem, quorum mors contaminare neminem potest! mors nemini nocet; utinam uita non noceat! contagium enim conluuionis consortium iniquitatis est. quomodo ergo contaminare potest qui iniquus esse iam non potest, cum, etiamsi fuit, tamen esse desiuit? fuge ergo iniquitatem, ne te conprehendat, fuge iniustitiam, quae uiuentes adhuc mortuos facit.

14. Sed nemo fugit iniquitatem nisi qui diligit aequitatem, et ideo ait: legem autem tuam dilexi.³⁸ in lege aequitas est, si spiritalem accipias legem,³⁹ si consurgas cum Christo⁴⁰ et ibi altare sacrosanctum illud caeleste consideres, non altare terrenum, quod hostili populatione destructum est; si illam Hierusalem spectes quae in caelo est,⁴¹ non istam quae a populo Iudaeorum frequentabatur in terris, quae propter incolarum perfidiam a Romano exercitu triumphata iniecto flagrauit incendio; si intuearis in illum principem sacerdotum de quo scriptum est: habentes itaque magnum sacerdotem egressum de caelis, Iesum filium dei, teneamus confessionem fidelem,⁴² qui cotidie aduocatus pro nobis est apud patrem,⁴³ ut, pro quibus in diebus carnis suae misericordi est compassus affectu, pro his operetur remissionem cotidie peccatorum. quae enim spes alia generi humano, nisi omnium uiuentium delicta donentur? ille ergo princeps solus est sacerdotum, cui adstant pii sacerdotes in caelestium sacrarium illud altissimum merito proprii cruoris ingressi. illa

ergo lex diligenda, in qua uerus Hebraeus liber ab omni seruitute uitiorum est, in qua magnum sabbatum⁴⁴ et inoffensa requies defunctorum, in qua mortui populi semen resuscitatur non conmixtione, sed redemptione fraterna. secundum hanc ergo legem odio habet sanctus iniustitiam, non iniustum, qui potest saepe conuerti, nec mortuorum reliquias, sed mortuam iniquitatem exsecratur.

15. Sequitur uersus quartus: septies in die laudem dixi tibi super iudicia iustitiae tuae.⁴⁵ et numero quidem studium sanctae deuotionis exprimitur, sed puto magis quod purus et quietus ac uacuus ab omni onere delictorum declaretur affectus, ut sine ullo iracundae inprecationis aut flagitiosae cupiditatis incendio deferatur oratio, nihil quod alii noceat postulemus, nihil quod nos saecularibus petitionibus decoloret. laudemus in hymnis et canticis, uera semper et iusta ea quae de diuinis canimus laudibus confitentes. non sit anceps et dubia sententia, non discolor mentis intentio, non materialibus negotiis occupata a propositi spiritalis exsecutione deflectat. iustificetur semper iustitia dei tranquillo animo, non otio feriato.

16. Sequitur uersus quintus: pax multa diligentibus nomen tuum, et non est his scandalum.⁴⁶ supra diximus, quia caritas excludit timorem,⁴⁷ nunc dicimus, quia excludit omnem perturbationem.⁴⁸ etenim qui deum diligit, profunda est in eo confirmatae mentis tranquillitas. aqua, inquit, multa excludere non poterit caritatem et flumina non inundabunt eam.⁴⁹ multa aqua diuersarum est passio-

-num et flumina saecularium cupiditatum corporalibus motibus incitata, quae tamen murum caritatis subuertere non possunt. ideoque caritate fundatus dicit: torrentem pertransiuit anima nostra.⁵⁰ numquid aqua maris excludere Moysi potuit caritatem? ut et secundum litteram tibi psalmorum series suffragetur, nempe diligens deum tutum sibi credidit iter esse per maria; qui autem non dilexerunt deum, hi demersi fluctibus dignum sacrilegiis suis exitum pertulerunt. Helias atque Helisaeus Iordanen transmiserant pede;⁵¹ et haec fuit nimiae merces et gratia caritatis. hi igitur ut transirent aquas fluuii Iordanis, passionum fluenta nostrarum mentis prius uestigio transierunt. de hac aqua dicit dominus: si transeas per aquam, tecum sum, et flumina non inundabunt te.⁵² adest iustis suis semper, cum aliquibus teruntur aduersis, si tamen transeant mente constanti, non dubitanti, non fidei turbentur incerto.

17. Transi ergo et tu fidelis animi dilectione. si diuinam uis tibi adesse praesentiam, non solum pax, sed etiam multa pax sit in animo tuo, nulla te proelia diuersae cupiditatis inpugnent, non iracundia stimulet, non libido et, si est pugna, tamen foris, non intus sit.⁵³ proeliare aduersus persequentes, licet et ipsis silentio saepe cedendum sit, quia tibi uincunt. illorum potentia tua est uictoria; tunc denique triumphantur, cum se uicisse crediderint. non ergo te inpugnet auaritia, non cupiditas exagitet, non tristitia deiciat, non inflammet libido, non resupinet superbia, non curuet ambitio, non formido consternat. pax multa abundet, quae superat omnem mentem secundum apostoli sententiam,⁵⁴ quo nihil pulchrius dici potuit. summus

enim sapientiae finis est, ut simus mente tranquilla, non commenticiis poetarum fabulis lubricus turbetur affectus. summus finis iustitiae est, ut iniquitas mentem iusti mouere non possit, uirtutis totius hic finis et corporeae ipsius fortitudinis, ut confecto bello pacem reformet. paci ergo et ipsa plerumque militat fortitudo bellandi; nemo ergo pacificum turbet affectum.

18. Multa generantur ad perturbationem hominis: et uxor plerumque decepta serpentis insidiis animum uiri exagitare conatur et pater fidem filii frequenter inridet et uir suae coniugis mentem temptat obprobriis. sed in his omnibus superat iustus et dicit: quis nos separabit a caritate Christi? tribulatio an angustia an persecutio?⁵⁵ quotiens benefacta crimini dantur, quotiens uirtus obprobrio ducitur, quotiens ipsa ingrata est gratia! uendidit iustus facultates suas, dispensauit pauperibus, nihil sibi reliquit: contemnitur plerumque in ipsa ecclesia, quia diues esse desiuit, sicut scriptum est: si dederit uir omnes facultates suas in caritate, contemptu contemptus erit.⁵⁶ non ergo moueatur; non enim mercedem huius saeculi nec gratiam, sed uitae quaesiuit aeternae. non indignetur, quia homines pecuniis magis quam operibus bonis deferunt. nam si ei propter bonum opus in hoc saeculo deferatur et huius studii fructum hic adipiscatur, dicitur de eo: percepit mercedem suam.⁵⁷ habet quidem opus bonum et hic gratiam, sed breuis portio emerendae salutis est. serua futuris mercedem tuam et istius saeculi obprobria incrementa mercedis tuae iudica. cogita semper apostolicum illud, quod indignae sint passiones huius temporis ad superuenturam gloriam.⁵⁸ nul-

-lis ergo iustus frangatur iniuriis, nullis moueatur periculis, nullis temptetur procellis, siue mors ingruat siue uita siue angeli caelorum.⁵⁹ neque deiciatur aduersis neque extollatur secundis, nusquam sit eius infirmus affectus. et mors temptat et uita temptat; caue scandalum.

19. Qui pacem habet, quae omnem mentem superat,⁶⁰ magnus est, non est de pusillis istis. ideo scandalum pati non debet, quia pusillorum est exagitari scandalo. unde et dominus ait: quicumque scandalizauerit unum de pusillis istis minimis.⁶¹ non solum pusillos, sed etiam minimos dixit quos perturbant scandala, et ideo graui obnoxius poenae est, ut legisti, quicumque turbauerit infirmae mentis infantiam. sicut enim grauiore dignus supplicio est, qui persuaserit crimen infantulo et incautam praecipitarit aetatem, ita, qui inualidum et insipientem et inprouidum circumscripserit persuasione erroris aut exagitatione cordis affectum. uis scire quam infirmus sit qui scandalizatur? non manducabo, inquit, carnem, ne fratrem scandalizem.⁶² quanta infirmitas et quaedam infantia animi, ut eum etiam esca fratris exagitet! unde non potest homini esse praecipitium, quando etiam hinc periculum est?

20. Et quod peius est, infirmitas huiusmodi serpit in multos. uides inopem iustum, temptaris; uides diuitem iniquum, temptaris; uides sine liberis sanctum, temptaris; uides liberis honoribus laudibus saecularibus abundantem iniustum, temptaris. quantae foueae, quanti laquei et, quod est grauius, qui plurimos strangulent! in Sodomitana urbe uix unus Loth qui non temptaretur inuentus est, cuius tamen etiam uxor non potuit laqueos temptationis euadere. Hebraeorum populus maria transiuit, sed non potuit temptamenta trans-

-ire. temptati omnes praeter Iesum et Caleph,⁶³ qui ideo de senioribus terram repromissionis introire meruerunt, quia fuerunt temptationis expertes, nec Aaron introiuit nec Maria,⁶⁴ quia et ipsi temptati sunt, nec Moyses introiuit,⁶⁵ quia dux erat populi qui temptabatur. typus legis, quae excludere temptamenta non poterat, non poterat in terram resurrectionis inducere, quia ista euangelio gratia debebatur. lex pacem non potuit dare; ideo Moyses, quoad uixit, proeliatus semper est; semper legis populus in ancipiti bellorum est. Iesus autem Naue plebis animos profunda pace composuit, quoniam, qui sub lege est, agitatur incertis, qui sub euangelio, audit dicentem: pacem relinquo uobis, pacem meam do uobis,⁶⁶ ideoque diligentibus non est scandalum.⁶⁷

21. Accipe aliter: crux domini Iudaeis scandalum, Graecis stultitia est.⁶⁸ scandalum est perfido, quia dicit Iudaeus: 'ergo hic deus est qui homo uisus est, hic deus est qui ieiunauit, hic deus est qui uapulauit, hic deus est qui crucifixus est, qui de cruce descendere et se liberare non potuit?' denique hoc dicebant tempore dominicae passionis: descendat de cruce et credimus ei. confidit in deo, liberet nunc eum, si uult eum.⁶⁹ non te ista temptent, non te ista perturbent, non in animum tuum huiusmodi se inserant cogitationes. ubi pax est et multa pax, ibi crux Christi non obprobrio, sed saluti est. non fuit obprobrio Petro crux domini, quae tantum ei gloriae dedit, ut inuersis Christum honoraret uestigiis,⁷⁰ metuens ne, si ea specie crucifixus esset qua dominus, affectasse domini gloriam uideretur. crux ergo obprobrium perfido, fideli autem gratia, fideli redemptio, fideli resurrectio est, quia pro nobis passus est dominus, quia illo nos redemit sanguine,

illa ad paradisum resurrectione reuocauit. qui haec credit, quomodo turbari potest, cui spes regni caelestis adsurgit?

22. Sequitur uersus sextus: expectabam salutare tuum, domine, et praecepta tua feci.⁷¹ qui expectat sperat. caritatem ergo spes praecedit, sequitur salus. spes igitur praecurrit effectum. ideo qui expectauit salutem a domino, praecepta domini fecit. unde et dominus amicos appellat in euangelio, non seruos, qui sua praecepta fecerunt.⁷² qui diligit enim facit et qui fecerit merito dilectionis remuneratione donatur.

23. Sequitur uersus septimus: custodiuit anima mea testimonia tua et dilexit illa nimis.⁷³ plus esse diligere quam custodire et supra diximus, quia custodire interdum necessitatis est uel timoris, diligere caritatis. ideo hic cum dixisset 'custodiui', adiecit 'dilexi', ut custodia amantis fuerit, non timentis. qui nimium diligit, nimium custodit.

24. Sequitur uersus octauus: seruaui praecepta tua et testimonia tua, quoniam omnes uiae meae in conspectu tuo, domine.⁷⁴ beatus qui potest dicere: omnes uiae meae ante te,⁷⁵ qui nolit abscondere omnes cogitationes suas, omnes actus suos. abscondebat Adam uiam suam, abscondebat Eua post culpam, abscondebat Cain necem fratris. in affectu habemus abscondere, non in effectu. plena abscondentis perfidia, etsi apud deum nulla sit latebra. ideo ecclesia in Canticis sua ei secreta monstrabat dicens: adsumam te et ducam te in domum matris meae, in secretum eius quae concepit me.⁷⁶ nam etsi deus omnia uideat cordis occulta, bonum tamen est ut unusquisque animam suam ei aperiat et expandat et

tamquam lumini uel calori eius occurrat. nec inmerito gloriatur ecclesia dicens: ego eram in oculis eius tamquam inueniens pacem,⁷⁷ quoniam uias suas prodere non timebat. iusti ergo est ista uox; oculi enim domini super iustos.⁷⁸ itaque domino Iesu Christo, qui est uia et ueritas,⁷⁹ bene hoc dicitur ab his qui illam ueram uiam fide moribus actuque desiderant inuenire: omnes uiae meae coram te, domine.⁸⁰ nulla enim potest uia bona esse nisi quam tu inluminandam tui uisitatione luminis iudicaueris, cui est honor, gloria, laus, perpetuitas a saeculis et nunc et semper et in omnia saecula saeculorum. amen.

1. The letter 'Sin' begins, which in Latin is called 'over a wound'. What is over a wound but the medicine by which the wound's bitterness is soothed? Over a wound oil is poured, that all the wound's roughness may be softened; over a wound a poultice, over a wound a binding, by which every wound is fomented. Where, then, there is hope of restoring soundness, there medicines are applied to wounds. But where every head is in pain and every heart in sorrow, there is no wound nor scar, nor blow with inflamed heat,¹ that is: where not a part but the whole is in peril, and the body is consumed by a kind of wasting decay of universal corruption, there is no place to apply poultice, nor oil, nor binding. It is far more advantageous, then, that there should be a wound which you may foment and bind up, than that without a wound an inward death should creep on.

2. But there is a wound not only of the body, but also of the mind, which is softened by a certain oil of gentler address and by the sweetness of peaceful speech. There are warm fomentations of words, there are medicines of the heavenly precepts, by which all the venom of wickedness is wiped away. There are bonds of the law which do not burn, but rather set free the bound; and a spiritual poultice, by which certain bruised members of the soul are made whole.

3. Let us therefore consider what is the wound, and what is over the wound: Princes have persecuted me without cause² is the wound; I will rejoice at thy words, as one that hath found great spoil,³ is over the wound, because the harshnesses of the wound are healed by the words of the Lord.

4. In the Lamentations of Jeremiah also you have, written under this same letter: Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, all their counsels against me, the lips of those that rise up against me, and their devices against me all the day, their sitting down and their rising up;⁴ this is the wound. But he subjoined: Look upon their eyes, render them a recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands;⁵ this is over the wound, since vengeance is wont in great measure to soothe the wound's pain. And further on the same Jeremiah says: Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Idumaea, that dwellest in Geth; the cup also shall pass to thee, thou shalt drink and be made drunk yet;⁶ this is over the wound. For the cup of the Lord is the remission of sins, in which the blood is poured out which has redeemed the sins of the whole world. This cup has made the nations drunk, that they might no longer remember their proper sorrow but forget their old error. Good, then, is the spiritual drunkenness, which knows not to disturb the body's gait, but knows how to lift up the mind's footstep. Good is the inebriation of the cup of salvation, which abolishes the sadness of a sinful conscience and pours in the gladness of life eternal. Therefore Scripture says: And thy chalice that inebriateth, how goodly is it!⁷

5. The medicine, then, is over the wound, because the physician himself is the Lord Jesus, who has healed our wounds, pouring in wine and oil and binding up the wounds of that Adam who, coming down from Jerusalem, was wounded by robbers.⁸ Let each one beware, therefore, lest he come down from Jerusalem; for by his sins each one comes down, and by his merits ascends. Or, since we are frail, let him who comes down run to that Samaritan, the keeper of his own work, the keeper of law and of grace, that he may be able to find medicine for his wound — who lays the binding of heavenly words over his wound, saying: Do penance; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.⁹ A good binding, which knits together the broken bones of your soul, and, restoring its solidity, refashions it to its former strength, and brings back its torn limbs¹⁰ without any reproach of scar to itself.

6. Of the letter's interpretation we think we have said enough as our capacity allows. Let us address ourselves to the holy prophet's verses, which by revelation of the Holy Spirit he subjoined: Princes have persecuted me without cause, and my heart hath dreaded thy words.¹¹ If we go back to the ancient history, both Saul and Absalom and many alien princes persecuted the holy David, but no one was able to triumph over him. There are also princes of the world and rulers of the darkness,¹² who try to oppress you in your own breast, and inwardly work the savagery of persecutions, promising the kingdoms of the earth, honors and riches, if with frail mind you should yield and judge that you ought to obey their commands. These princes at times persecute without cause, at times not without cause. Without cause they persecute him in whom they find nothing of their own and whom they strive to subjugate; not without cause do they persecute him who has surrendered himself to their

power and has entered wholly into the possession of the world. For over their own they justly claim dominion for themselves, and from these they exact the wages of iniquity.

7. Well does the martyr say this: that he endures unjustly the torments of persecutions, who has snatched nothing, oppressed no one by violence, shed no one's blood, judged no man's bed worthy of violation, who owes nothing to the laws and is forced to suffer punishments graver than those of robbers — who speaks just things and is not heard, who speaks things full of salvation and is assailed, that he may say: When I spoke to them, they fought against me without cause.¹³ Without cause, then, does he suffer persecution who is assailed without crime, assailed as if guilty when in such a confession he is praiseworthy, assailed as a sorcerer because he glories in the name of the Lord — when piety is the foundation of every virtue. Truly without cause is he assailed who, among the impious and faithless, is impeached for impiety, when he is the master of faith.

8. But he who is assailed without cause ought to be brave and constant. How then did he add: and my heart hath dreaded thy words?¹⁴ To dread is the mark of weakness, of fear and dismay; but there is also a weakness unto salvation, there is also a fear of the saints: Fear the Lord, all ye his saints,¹⁵ and: Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord.¹⁶ On what reckoning 'blessed'? Because in his commandments he shall delight exceedingly.¹⁷ Set, then, the martyr placed amidst dangers, when on one side the savagery of beasts roars to strike terror, on another the hiss of glowing plates and the flame of the burning furnace blaze up, on another side the dragging of heavy chains resounds, and here a bloody executioner stands by — set him, I say, looking round at all things full of tortures, then thinking on the divine commandments, that perpetual fire, that endless burning of the unfaithful,

that hardship of the ever-renewing punishment, dreading in his heart, lest, while he yields to things present, he hand himself over to perpetual destruction; troubled in soul, while he beholds with a kind of vision that terrible flaming sword¹⁸ of the future judgment. Will you not match this dread to the boldness of a constant man? Both run together to one and the same effect — the confidence of one who hopes for things eternal and the dread of one who fears the divine. Yet let him be the stronger who hopes; let him be the stronger who presumes.

9. Would that I might deserve to be such a man that, if perchance the persecutor should rush in, I should not consider the sharpness of my own torments, should not measure the agonies, the punishments, should not think on the savagery of any pain, but should count all these things light, while I dread, on the other hand, lest Christ should deny me, lest Christ should shut me out, lest he should drive me back from the council of priests, if he judge me unworthy of that fellowship. Let him rather see that, though I am shaken with the terror of bodily punishments, I am yet the more shaken in dread of the judgments to come! Even if he shall say to me: O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt?,¹⁹ yet he will stretch forth his right hand, and, troubled though I be by the surging mass of this world's flood, by the sure standing of his mind he will steady me.

10. The second verse follows: I will rejoice at thy words, as one that hath found great spoil.²⁰ Good, then, is the dread that comes of the words of God, if it begets exultation; for he who dreads the words of God thereafter rejoices in the words of God. So he who has in his court (that is, in his heart) the words of God shuts out the speech of princes from his heart; one fear shuts out another. For if a man, on entering the baths, lays aside the heat of the sun, and one heat shuts out another, how much more does the terror of divine judgment shut out this human terror, and the fervor of eternal grace the fervor of worldly favor!

11. He rejoices, therefore, who has the word of God; for he has great spoil which he has taken from the Jews, he has the spoils of his cast-down enemy. As David took away Goliath's sword and with that very sword cut off his head,²¹ so the true David, the humble and meek Lord Jesus, with the spiritual Goliath's own arms struck off the head he had. For the arms of the devil were the nations, but, wounded by the faith of the nations, he lost the head he was wearing. Spoils have been stripped from the prostrate; his vessels have been carried off, because the strong man is bound.²² The vessel of the devil was the flesh of sinful man; but after we have believed in Christ, our flesh has begun to be a vessel of election, as you have, concerning the apostle Paul, who was sent to the nations, said by the Lord Jesus to Ananias: Go, for he is to me a vessel of election.²³ Rightly therefore is Christ's name called Hasten to take spoils, swiftly to divide; for before the child shall know to call father or mother, he shall receive the strength of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria, against the king of the Assyrians.²⁴ So the king of the Assyrians, namely of those whom perfidy had made vain, lost the spoils he held. And that you may know again that Christ has reclaimed from the devil the spoils which the devil had seized in Adam, even the men of Saba, the lofty, passed over to the Lord Jesus, bound in chains, and began to adore him,²⁵ because he led captivity captive.²⁶ Therefore he took off his head, that he himself might be the head of the slain body. Rightly now do the nations throughout the whole world bear about the kingly head, because they are the members of Christ.

12. You have learned of the Gentiles; learn also of the Jews, from whom the Lord Jesus took spoils — that is, he took away the kingdom of heaven and gave it to a nation that should bring forth its fruit.²⁷ He took away the strength of bread and the strength of water, the prophet, and the wonderful counsellor and the prudent architect and²⁸

the wise hearer — from them he took these things away, to us he gave them; rightly I rejoice as one that hath found great spoil.²⁹ Without labor of mine I have found spoils I did not have: I found the Heptateuch, I found the books of Kings, I found the writings of the prophets, I found Esdras, I found the Psalms, I found Proverbs, I found Ecclesiastes, I found the Song of Songs, I found Christ the wonderful counsellor, I found Paul the prudent architect, I found the Christian people the wise hearer, who knows how to hear the things that are read; for he hears who understands what he hears. The law is spiritual;³⁰ the Jew, who hears it carnally, does not hear it, but he hears it who hears in the spirit. They have the books, but they do not have the meaning of the books; they have the prophets, but they do not have him whom the prophets foretold. For how do they have him whom they did not receive?³¹ Therefore with Moses and Elijah he appeared to me,³² because he withdrew from them. He has many spoils who has the word of God; he has the resurrection, he has righteousness, virtue and wisdom, he has all things, because all things consist in him.³³ The Hebrews despoiled the Egyptians and took away their vessels;³⁴ the spoils of the Jews has the Christian people, and we have it all, what they did not know they had. They took away gold and silver of matter; we have received gold of the mind, we have acquired the silver of heavenly speech.

13. The third verse follows: I have hated and abhorred iniquity, but thy law have I loved.³⁵ Rightly does he hate iniquity who has the arms of justice.³⁶ The Hebrew, when he had these arms — that is, the law and the prophets — would abhor a dead body, because the law says: Whosoever toucheth a dead body shall be unclean,³⁷ and would refuse the last offices

of human kindness to the dead; but to the law no one is dead except the unjust man. This is the uncleanness of the just: it is iniquity. For what is more unclean than to defile the mind, than which nothing more precious has been given to man, with foul crimes, and to make it savage with atrocious devices? What does it profit them, that they shudder to look upon a dead man? Would that their life did not pollute the one who approaches them, whose death cannot contaminate any! Death harms no man; would that their life did not harm! For the contagion of pollution is companionship with iniquity. How then can he contaminate who can no longer be unjust, since, even if he was, he has nevertheless ceased to be? Flee, then, iniquity, lest it lay hold on you; flee injustice, which makes the living dead while still alive.

14. But no one flees iniquity except him who loves equity, and therefore he says: thy law have I loved.³⁸ In the law is equity, if you receive the law spiritually,³⁹ if you rise with Christ⁴⁰ and there contemplate that holy and heavenly altar, not the earthly altar that has been destroyed by hostile sack; if you look toward that Jerusalem which is in heaven,⁴¹ not this one which was thronged on earth by the people of the Jews, which, on account of the perfidy of its inhabitants, was burned in the fire kindled by the triumphing Roman army; if you look upon that prince of priests of whom it is written: Having therefore a great priest gone out of the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold our profession of faith,⁴² who daily is our advocate with the Father,⁴³ that for whom in the days of his flesh he had compassion with merciful affection, for them he may daily work the remission of sins. For what other hope is there for the human race, unless the offenses of all the living be forgiven? He, then, alone is the prince of priests, beside whom stand the holy priests, who, by the worth of their own blood, have entered into that highest sanctuary of the heavenly things. That,

then, is the law to be loved, in which the true Hebrew is free from every slavery to the vices, in which is the great Sabbath⁴⁴ and the unbroken rest of the dead, in which the seed of a dead people is raised again, not by intermingling but by fraternal redemption. According to this law, then, the holy man hates iniquity, not the unjust man, who can often be converted, nor does he execrate the relics of the dead, but iniquity itself when it is dead.

15. The fourth verse follows: Seven times a day I have given praise to thee, for the judgments of thy justice.⁴⁵ By the number indeed the zeal of holy devotion is expressed; but I think rather that the affect is shown to be pure and quiet and free from every burden of offenses, that prayer may be offered without any flame of angry imprecation or shameful desire — that we may ask nothing that may harm another, nothing that may stain us with worldly petitions. Let us praise in hymns and canticles, ever confessing as true and just the things we sing in divine praises. Let no judgment be uncertain or doubtful, no intention of mind discordant, none, taken up with material affairs, turn aside from the carrying out of its spiritual purpose. Let the justice of God be ever justified with a tranquil spirit, not in idle leisure.

16. The fifth verse follows: Much peace have they that love thy name, and to them there is no scandal.⁴⁶ We have said above that charity excludes fear,⁴⁷ now we say that it excludes every disturbance.⁴⁸ For he who loves God has within him a profound tranquillity of confirmed mind. Many waters, it says, cannot exclude charity, and the floods shall not overwhelm it.⁴⁹ Many waters are the passion of diverse

afflictions, and floods are the worldly desires set in motion by bodily impulses, which yet cannot overthrow the wall of charity. And so, founded upon charity, he says: Our soul hath passed through the torrent.⁵⁰ Could the water of the sea exclude Moses' love? — that the series of the Psalms also may support you according to the letter, since assuredly the lover of God believed his journey through the seas to be safe; but those who did not love God, drowned in the waves, met an end worthy of their sacrileges. Elijah and Elisha crossed the Jordan dry-shod;⁵¹ and this was the great reward and grace of charity. These men, then, that they might cross the waters of the river Jordan, first crossed the floods of our passions with the foot of the mind. Of this water the Lord says: If thou pass through the water, I am with thee, and the floods shall not overwhelm thee.⁵² He is always present to his just ones, when they are worn down by certain adversities, if only they cross over with constant mind, not doubting, not troubled by any uncertainty of faith.

17. Cross over, then, you also, by the love of a faithful soul. If you wish the divine presence to be with you, let there be in your soul not only peace, but also much peace; let no battles of conflicting desire assail you, let not anger goad you, nor lust; and if there is a fight, let it be without, not within.⁵³ Fight against your persecutors — though to them too you must often yield by silence, since by that they are conquered for you. Their power is your victory; they are then triumphed over, when they have believed themselves to have conquered. Let avarice not assail you, then, let not desire stir you up, let not sadness cast you down, let not lust inflame, let not pride overthrow, nor ambition bend, nor terror dismay. Let much peace abound, which surpasseth all understanding, according to the Apostle's saying,⁵⁴ than which nothing more beautiful could be uttered. For the highest

end of wisdom is that we be of tranquil mind, that the slippery affect be not disturbed by the made-up fables of the poets. The highest end of justice is that iniquity may not be able to move the mind of the just; this is the end of every virtue and of bodily fortitude itself, that, having finished the war, it may restore peace. To peace, then, the very fortitude of fighting most often serves; let no one then disturb the peaceful affect.

18. Many things are bred to a man's perturbation: even the wife, often deceived by the snares of the serpent, tries to harass her husband's spirit; and the father often mocks his son's faith; and the husband tempts his own wife's mind with reproaches. But amid all these the just man prevails and says: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? tribulation, or distress, or persecution?⁵⁵ How often are good deeds reckoned crimes, how often is virtue counted reproach, how often is favor itself ungrateful! The just man has sold his goods, has dispensed them to the poor, has left nothing for himself: in the very church he is most often despised, because he has ceased to be rich, as it is written: If a man should give all his substance for charity, he shall despise it as nothing.⁵⁶ Let him not, then, be moved; for he sought not the reward of this age, nor its favor, but the reward of life eternal. Let him not take it ill that men prefer money to good works. For if he be honored on account of a good work in this age, and reap the fruit of his zeal here, it is said of him: He hath received his reward.⁵⁷ He has, indeed, in this life too the grace of his good work; but it is a small portion of the salvation he is to earn. Reserve your reward for the things to come, and judge the reproaches of this age the increase of your reward. Always think on that apostolic saying, that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come.⁵⁸

By no injuries, then, let the just man be broken, by no perils be moved, by no storms be tempted, whether death press upon him, or life, or angels of the heavens.⁵⁹ Let him not be cast down by adversity, nor lifted up by prosperity; let his affect nowhere be infirm. Both death tempts and life tempts; beware of scandal.

19. He who has the peace which surpasseth all understanding⁶⁰ is great; he is not of those little ones. Therefore he ought not to suffer scandal, because it belongs to the little ones to be agitated by scandal. Whence the Lord also says: Whosoever shall scandalize one of these little ones⁶¹ — he said not only 'little ones', but even 'least', whom scandals trouble; and so he is liable to a heavy punishment, as you have read, who shall trouble the infancy of a feeble mind. For just as he is worthy of a graver penalty who has talked some little child into a crime and has cast headlong into ruin a heedless age, so likewise he who has hemmed in the weak and the unwise and the unprovident with the persuasion of error or with the agitation of his heart's affect. Will you know how feeble is he who is scandalized? I will not eat flesh, he says, lest I scandalize my brother.⁶² What weakness, what infancy of soul, that even his brother's food disturbs him! Whence then can there be no headlong ruin for a man, when from this very thing the danger comes?

20. And what is worse, weakness of this kind creeps into many. You see a just man poor — you are tempted; you see an unjust man rich — you are tempted; you see a holy man without children — you are tempted; you see an unjust man abounding in children, in honors, in praises, in worldly successes — you are tempted. How many pits, how many snares, and, what is graver, snares that strangle the most! In the Sodomite city scarcely one Lot was found who was not tempted, whose very wife also could not escape the snares of temptation. The people of the Hebrews crossed the seas, but could not pass through

the temptations. All were tempted save Joshua and Caleb,⁶³ who therefore alone of the elders deserved to enter the land of promise, because they were free from temptation; nor did Aaron enter, nor Mariam,⁶⁴ for they too were tempted; nor did Moses enter,⁶⁵ for he was the leader of the people that was tempted. The figure of the law, which could not exclude temptations, could not lead them into the land of resurrection, because that grace was due to the Gospel. The law could not give peace; therefore Moses, as long as he lived, was always at war; the people of the law are always in the uncertainty of wars. But Joshua-the-son-of-Nun composed the souls of his people in deep peace, since he who is under the law is driven by uncertainties, while he who is under the Gospel hears him who says: Peace I leave you, my peace I give you,⁶⁶ and therefore for them that love there is no scandal.⁶⁷

21. Receive it another way: the cross of the Lord is to the Jews a scandal, to the Greeks foolishness.⁶⁸ It is a scandal to the unbeliever, because the Jew says: 'Therefore is this God who was seen as man, this God who fasted, this God who was beaten, this God who was crucified, who could not come down from the cross and free himself?' And so they were saying this in the time of the Lord's Passion: Let him come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let him now deliver him, if he will have him.⁶⁹ Let not these things tempt you, let not these things disturb you, let no thoughts of this kind insinuate themselves into your soul. Where there is peace and much peace, there the cross of Christ is not for reproach but for salvation. Not for reproach was the cross of the Lord to Peter, which gave him so great a glory, that he honored Christ with feet inverted,⁷⁰ fearing lest, if he should be crucified in the very form in which the Lord was crucified, he should seem to have aspired to the Lord's glory. The cross, then, is a reproach to the unbeliever, but to the believer grace, to the believer redemption, to the believer resurrection — because for us the Lord suffered, because by that blood he redeemed us,

by that resurrection he called us back to paradise. He who believes these things, how can he be troubled, when the hope of the heavenly kingdom rises up for him?

22. The sixth verse follows: I waited for thy salvation, O Lord, and have done thy commandments.⁷¹ He who waits, hopes. Hope, therefore, precedes charity, salvation follows. Hope, then, runs ahead of the effect. Therefore he who has waited for salvation from the Lord has done the Lord's commandments. Whence also the Lord in the Gospel calls them friends, not servants, who have done his commandments.⁷² For he who loves, does; and he who has done is rightly endowed with the recompense of love.

23. The seventh verse follows: My soul hath kept thy testimonies, and hath loved them exceedingly.⁷³ That to love is more than to keep we have said also above, since to keep is sometimes a matter of necessity or of fear, but to love is a matter of charity. Therefore here, when he had said 'I have kept,' he added 'I have loved,' that the keeping might be of one loving, not fearing. He who loves much, keeps much.

24. The eighth verse follows: I have kept thy commandments and thy testimonies, because all my ways are in thy sight, O Lord.⁷⁴ Blessed is he who can say: all my ways are before thee,⁷⁵ who is unwilling to hide all his thoughts, all his deeds. Adam was hiding his way, Eve was hiding hers after her sin, Cain was hiding the killing of his brother. We have something to hide in affect, not in effect. Full of perfidy is the man who hides, even though there is no hiding-place with God. Therefore the Church in the Canticles showed her secrets to him, saying: I will take thee and bring thee into the house of my mother, into the secret place of her that conceived me.⁷⁶ For though God sees all the hidden things of the heart, it is good nonetheless that each one open his soul to him and spread it out, and

run to him as to a light or to warmth. And not without reason does the Church glory, saying: I was in his eyes as one finding peace,⁷⁷ since she was not afraid to disclose her ways. This, then, is the voice of the just; for the eyes of the Lord are upon the just.⁷⁸ And so to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the way and the truth,⁷⁹ this is well said by those who desire to find that true way by faith, by morals, and by deed: all my ways are before thee, O Lord.⁸⁰ For no way can be good but that which thou shalt have judged worthy to be enlightened by the visitation of thy light — to whom is honor, glory, praise, perpetuity, from the ages and now and ever and unto all the ages of ages. Amen.