CAPUT XXVI. De rigore abstinentiae, et vigore patientiae, et eorum proprietate
The peace that comes from abstinence and patience
The soul that desires no worldly pleasure and fears no hardship through abstinence and patience enjoys peace, even rejoicing in insult.
For how great do you think the peace of heart—or the calm—is, to not desire any of this world's pleasures and to not fear any of its hardships? Of these, one is gained through Gad, and the other is secured through Asher.1 For what would he desire among this world's pleasures who, out of love for abstinence, refuses the delights offered him? Or what of this world's hardships would he fear who, strengthened by the virtue of patience, triumphs even over the evils laid on him? As it is written about the apostles: The apostles went away rejoicing from the presence of the council, because they had been considered worthy to suffer insults for the name of Jesus; and as Paul commands: rejoicing in tribulation.✦ So what could diminish that person's joy who even exults over insult inflicted on him, or over any hardship whatever?
True blessedness is within
Whatever the flesh endures for God's sake brings inner blessedness, which consists in lacking what you do not want and possessing what you do.
So whatever the flesh endures as hard for the love of God belongs to the soul's blessedness.2 For where the body is worn down, the conscience is made glad. And the more unhappy he seems outwardly, the more blessed he clearly is within. For the joy of blessedness rests on two things: being free of what you don't want, and having what you do want. Indeed, we call happy the person who suffers nothing he doesn't want, and we judge blessed the one who has at hand whatever he desires.
Gad and Asher: abstinence and patience as happiness and blessedness
Abstinence, called Gad (happiness), tramples worldly pleasures, while patience, called Asher (blessedness), finds affliction everywhere for love of God.
So the one who, out of longing for heavenly things, hates the world's pleasure will surely be able, through abstinence, to avoid his enemy everywhere. Rightly, then, the rigor of abstinence is called Gad—that is, happiness—who tramples everywhere the world's enticements, which he detests.3 Likewise, the one who for love of God loves the body's affliction—where, I ask, will he not find something by which he can be afflicted? If, then, the one who finds everywhere what he loves is rightly counted blessed, the vigor of patience is justly so as well.4 It is named Asher—that is, blessed—the one for whom everything he desires meets him from every side.5
The lovers compared: world versus God
Those who love God can always find what they love, while those who love the world find only frustration; thus the lover of affliction is happier than the lover of worldly goods.
Look: two lovers—one of God, the other of the world. This one loves temporal affliction for God's sake; that one longs for a temporal fullness of goods. The one can find everywhere what he loves for God's sake; the other can nowhere lay hold of the fullness of goods for which he thirsts.6 Which of these is more blessed? Again, look: two others—one of them hates the adversity of this world, but the other detests worldly pleasure. But where, I ask, will the one ever be able to avoid his enemy—or where will the other ever be unable to trample his?7 Which of these, I ask, is happier?
Scriptural witness and the full meaning of Gad and Asher
Scripture calls the one who does not trust in riches blessed, and the one who endures temptation blessed, confirming that Gad and Asher extend to all the senses.
Blessed, says Scripture, is the one who has not gone after gold, and has not put his hope in the treasuries of money. And again: Blessed is the one who endures temptation, because after being tested, they will receive the crown of life.✦ These are Gad and Asher: the first tramples worldly glory underfoot; the second willingly suffers the world's hardship for God's sake. So this is something to note carefully and keep deep in mind: Sacred Scripture chose to call the labor of abstinence not a calamity but happiness, and determined to call the rigor of patience not wretched but blessed. But here we want to note briefly that by Gad we should not understand only abstinence from food and drink; rather, by Gad and Asher we understand abstinence from every superfluous delight, or patience under any bodily affliction, in all things that delight or torment the flesh through the five senses.
Read the original Latin
Quanta enim putas pax cordis est, vel tranquillitas, nulla hujus mundi oblectamenta concupiscere, nulla ejus adversa formidare? Quorum unum per Gad adipiscitur, alterum per Aser obtinetur. Quid enim de hujus mundi oblectamentis concupiscat, qui oblata delectamenta amore abstinentiae recusat? Vel quid de hujus mundi adversis timeat, qui virtute patientiae roboratus de illatis etiam malis triumphat? Sicut de apostolis scriptum est: Ibant apostoli gaudentes a conspectu concilii, quoniam digni habiti sunt pro nomine Jesu contumeliam pati; et sicut per Paulum praecipitur: In tribulatione gaudentes. Quid igitur illius gaudium imminuat, qui etiam de illata contumelia vel qualibet pressura exsultat? Ad beatitudinem ergo animi spectat, quidquid pro Dei amore caro durum tolerat. Unde enim corpus atteritur, conscientia exhilaratur.
Et quo exterius videtur infelicior, eo interius constat esse beatior. Duo enim sunt ex quibus constat gaudium beatitudinis, carere eo, scilicet quod nolis, et habere quod velis. Felicem siquidem dicimus qui nil patitur quod nolit, et illum beatum judicamus cui suppetunt quae cupit. Qui igitur pro coelestium desiderio saeculi voluptatem odit, profecto per abstinentiam hostem suum ubique declinare poterit. Recte ergo rigor abstinentiae Gad, id est felicitas dicitur, qui ubique calcat saeculi blandimenta quae detestatur. Item qui pro amore Dei afflictionem corporis diligit, ubi, quaeso, non inveniat aliquid unde affligi possit? Si ergo jure beatus creditur, qui ubique invenit quod amat, juste vigor patientiae. Aser, hoc est beatus, nominatur, cui undique obviat quod desiderat.
Ecce duo amatores, unus Dei, alter saeculi. Iste propter Deum diligit temporalem afflictionem, ille desiderat temporalem bonorum plenitudinem. Ille quidem ubique invenire potest quod propter Deum diligit, iste nusquam apprehendere potest bonorum plenitudinem quam sitit. Quis horum beatior? Item ecce alii duo, quorum unus odit mundi hujus adversitatem, alter autem detestatur mundanam voluptatem. Sed ubi, quaeso, vel ille hostem suum declinare poterit, vel iste inimicum suum calcare non possit? Quis horum, quaeso, felicior? Beatus, inquit Scriptura, qui post aurum non abiit, nec speravit in pecuniae thesauris.
Et item: Beatus vir qui suffert tentationem, quoniam, cum probatus fuerit, accipiet coronam vitae. Isti sunt Gad et Aser, quorum prior calcat mundanam gloriam, alter propter Deum libenter patitur mundi pressuram. Valde itaque notandum et profunde retinendum quod Scriptura sacra abstinentiae laborem non calamitatem, sed felicitatem appellare voluit, et patientiae rigorem non miserum, sed beatum appellare decrevit. Hoc autem breviter hic commemorare volumus, quod per Gad non solam illam quae in cibo et potu est abstinentiam intelligere debemus; imo per Gad et Aser intelligimus omnis superfluae delectationis, aut cujuslibet corporalis afflictionis abstinentiam vel patientiam, in omnibus quae per quinque sensus carnem delectant aut cruciant.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Acts.5.41 — So they went away from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name.
- ↩Jas.1.12 — Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him.
Notes
- 1 ↩Richard allegorizes the patriarchs: Gad and Asher name the twin gains of the prior sentence—freedom from craving worldly pleasure and freedom from fear of hardship (developed in 1.26.2 as felicitas and beatus).
- 2 ↩animi is genitive of animus (mind/spirit), not anima; rendered 'soul' for the interior spiritual person in Richard's contemplative psychology.
- 3 ↩Gad is allegorized from the patriarchal name-etymology (happiness/fortune); Richard identifies the virtue of rigorous abstinence with that name.
- 4 ↩The Latin clause ends at 'juste vigor patientiae' without an explicit finite verb; the predicate is supplied from the parallel argument and the following sentence naming Asher.
- 5 ↩Asher is allegorized from the patriarchal name-etymology (blessed/happy); Richard identifies the vigor of patience with that name.
- 6 ↩Latin iste/ille flip between s2 and s3; English follows content (lover of God vs. lover of worldly goods), not strict deictic continuity.
- 7 ↩hostem/inimicum: for the hater of adversity, the enemy is hardship; for the detester of pleasure, the enemy is worldly pleasure. The rhetorical force is that the first cannot fully escape adversity, while the second can always refuse/trample pleasure.
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