CAPUT XXV. De gemina virtutum prole quae nascitur ex edomita sensualitate
The Birth of Gad and Asher
The allegory of Zilpah's sons introduces the virtues of abstinence and patience, born from sensuality in proper order.
But for now, let what we've said about Bala's sons be enough; it remains for us to say something about Zilpah's sons. So when Leah saw that her sister Rachel was already rejoicing over adopted children, she herself was moved to give her maidservant to her husband, so that she too might exult with her sister over the adoption of sons.✦ If, then, as we said above, we should take Zilpah as sensuality, what other offspring of virtue can she bear, I ask, except learning both to live temperately in prosperity and to keep patience in adversity? These are Gad and Asher, Zilpah's two sons: namely, the rigor of abstinence and the vigor of patience.✦ So Gad is born first, but Asher is born later, because we must first be temperate with the goods that are our own; afterward we must also be strong enough to endure evils that come from outside.
The Blessedness of Virtue's Pain
Though born in pain, abstinence and patience bring peace and purity, as Leah's exclamations show.
This is the twin offspring of the virtues, which Zilpah bears in pain—yet for her mistress's great blessedness. For through abstinence or patience the flesh is certainly afflicted, but the mind is thereby settled into great peace and calm. That is why, when Gad was born, Leah cried out, 'How fortunate!' And again, when Asher is being born, she declares, 'This is for my blessedness.'✦✦ Mine, she says, not hers.1 For when sensuality is worn down outwardly through the flesh, the heart's affection is restored to the integrity of purity.
Read the original Latin
Sed haec interim filiis Balae dicta sufficere volumus; restat nunc de filiis Zelphae aliquid loquamur. Videns itaque Lia sororem suam Rachel de adoptiva jam prole gaudere, provocatur et ipsa ancillam suam viro suo tradere, ut possit et ipsa cum sorore sua de filiorum adoptione exsultare. Si igitur, ut superius dictum est, per Zelpham sensualitatem debemus accipere, quam aliam, quaeso, virtutis prolem potest ipsa gignere, nisi ut discat et in rebus prosperis temperanter vivere, et in adversis patientiam habere? Isti sunt Gad, et Aser, duo filii Zelphae, rigor videlicet abstinentiae et vigor patientiae. Gad itaque nascitur prior, Aser autem gignitur posterior, quia prius est ut temperantes simus ad bona propria; postea etiam ut fortes simus ad toleranda mala aliena. Haec est gemina virtutum proles, quam Zelpha quidem parit in dolore, verumtamen ad magnam beatitudinem dominae suae. Per abstinentiam siquidem vel patientiam caro quidem affligitur, sed ad magnam inde pacem et tranquillitatem animus componitur. Hinc est quod, nato Gad, Lia exclamat, dicens: Feliciter; et iterum Aser nascendo pronuntiat, dicens: Hoc pro beatitudine mea.
Mea, inquit, non sua. Unde enim sensualitas per carnem exterius atteritur, inde cordis affectio ad puritatis integritatem reparatur.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Gen.30.9-Gen.30.13 — And Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, and she took Zilpah her maidservant and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Gen.30.10 — And Zilpah, Leah's maidservant, bore Jacob a son. Gen.30.11 — And Leah said, "A company has come!" So she named him Gad. Gen.30.12 — And Zilpah, Leah's servant, bore a second son to Jacob. Gen.30.13 — Then Leah said, 'Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed.' So she named him Asher.
- ↩Gen.30.10-Gen.30.13 — And Zilpah, Leah's maidservant, bore Jacob a son. Gen.30.11 — And Leah said, "A company has come!" So she named him Gad. Gen.30.12 — And Zilpah, Leah's servant, bore a second son to Jacob. Gen.30.13 — Then Leah said, 'Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed.' So she named him Asher.
- ↩Gen.30.11 — And Leah said, "A company has come!" So she named him Gad.
- ↩Gen.30.13 — Then Leah said, 'Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed.' So she named him Asher.
Notes
- 1 ↩Richard glosses Leah’s naming of Asher: the blessedness is the mistress’s (reason’s), not the handmaid’s (sensuality’s), even though sensuality bears the virtues in pain.
Benjamin Minor (The Twelve Patriarchs / Preparation of the Mind for Contemplation) companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
- Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
- A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
- Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent