CAPUT XXX. Unde maxime soleat laus surgere, et quod vera laus sit de recta voluntate
Virtue’s Snare and the Mandrake of Praise
Virtuous works often breed pride rather than humility, so the true marvel deserving praise is the soul that, after such works, still trembles with the fear of God, as symbolized by Reuben finding mandrakes after Gad and Asher.
But we know that the works of the virtues—those that nourish other virtues—almost always snuff out humility. The works people marvel at when they come through Gad and Asher—that is, works of abstinence and patience—tend to make the person doing them not fearful but puffed up, and not so much humble as headstrong.1 What, then, is even more worth marveling at? What deserves more praise than when, from the very thing that so often snuffs it out in others, reverence for the fear of God is not lessened but increased?2 So because we tend to single out with special praise the person we see still trembling not a little at a slight offense—not only against God, but against other people—even after works of the virtues, Reuben is rightly said to have found mandrakes after Gad and Asher were born. For we find it a marvel that anyone advances from outstanding works toward pride rather than toward fear.3
The Fragrance of Good Works: Mandrakes of True Praise
The mandrakes are found after Zilpah’s sons (actions), not Leah’s (wills) or Bilhah’s (thoughts), teaching that a good will becomes known and praiseworthy only when it manifests in good works, like fragrant mandrakes spreading far and wide.
It's well worth noting that these mandrakes we've been talking about are read as found not after Leah's many children were born, nor after Bilhah's twin sons, but right after the birth of Zilpah's sons. For wills belong to Leah's sons, thoughts to Bilhah's sons, and actions to Zilpah's sons. So how can we admire—or when will we praise—wills or thoughts, however right and however useful, that we barely see? And although true praise belongs to a right will, still we don't praise it unless it shows itself in action. For through a good work a good will becomes known, so that it can rightly win the praise of a good name—like mandrakes fragrant far and wide.4 So Leah's offspring is thought to find the mandrakes after Zilpah gives birth, as it were, when a good will, made plain through a good work, is honored on every side with wonderful proclamations of praise.
Read the original Latin
Sed scimus quia virtutum opera quae caeteras virtutes nutriunt, pene semper humilitatem exstinguunt. Solent enim quae per Gad et Aser fiunt hominibus miranda, abstinentiae videlicet et patientiae opera, operantem non timidum, sed tumidum reddere; non tam humilem, quam contumacem efficere. Quid igitur amplius mirandum? quid magis omnium laude praedicandum, quam cum unde in aliis saepe exstinguitur, divini timoris reverentia non minuitur, sed augetur? Quia ergo solemus singulari laude efferre, quem videmus etiam post virtutum opera non solum de Dei, sed de hominum parva offensa non parum trepidare, recte Ruben mandragoras post natos Gad et Aser invenisse dicitur; quia quemlibet ex operibus praeclaris ad tumorem non ad timorem profecisse miramur.
Notandum sane quod hae, de quibus locuti sumus mandragorae, nec post natos tot Liae, nec post geminos liberos Balae, sed post nativitatem filiorum Zelphae statim leguntur inventae. Ad filios namque Liae voluntates, ad filios Balae cogitationes, ad filios Zelphae pertinent actiones. Voluntates itaque seu cogitationes, quamvis rectas, quantumlibet utiles, quomodo miramur, vel quando laudabimus quas minime videmus? Et quamvis vera laus sit de recta voluntate, eam tamen non laudamus nisi appareat in opere. Per opus enim bonum bona voluntas innotescit, ut jure bonae opinionis laudem, quasi quasdam late fragrantes mandragoras invenire possit. Quasi ergo post partum Zelphae, proles Liae mandragoras invenire creditur, quando voluntas bona, per bonum opus manifesta, miris laudum praeconiis undique honoratur.
Notes
- 1 ↩timidum / tumidum is a deliberate contrast: not made timid with holy fear, but swollen with pride. contumacem is stubborn/defiant rather than merely confident.
- 2 ↩unde points back to the praiseworthy works of virtue just named: the same source that often extinguishes reverent fear in others can, in the rare case, increase it.
- 3 ↩tumorem continues the tumidum image from s2: the swelling of pride, set against timorem, holy fear. mandragoras here carries the allegory's sense of good repute / praise arising after works of abstinence and patience.
- 4 ↩bonae opinionis laudem rendered as 'the praise of a good name' (good reputation), not as flattery; the will is what becomes known and so can receive that praise.
Benjamin Minor (The Twelve Patriarchs / Preparation of the Mind for Contemplation) companion
A daily portion of stillness
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