CAPUT XXXI. Quomodo virtutibus praedictis muniatur tam disciplina cordis, quam corporis
The Twofold Guard of the Conscience
The sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, Dan and Gad, guard the city of conscience from within and without, restraining interior thoughts and repelling exterior temptations through discernment and abstinence.
But this about the sons of those two maidservants must not be passed over carelessly; it must be held in constant memory: that through their constant vigilance and watchful custody, the city of our conscience is wonderfully guarded and makes great progress. For Bilhah's firstborn sets it in order from within; Zilpah's firstborn, for his part, fortifies it from without.1 Through Dan, evils rising up inside are held in check; through Gad, evils rising up from outside are driven back. For we all know that every temptation rises either from outside or from within: from within, through thought; from outside, through the senses. For at one moment it knocks from within through thought; at another it gets ready to break in from outward things through the senses.2 Indeed, the enemy is used to supplying from within the counsels of error at one moment, and at another to pressing from outside the goads of pleasure. But since the discipline of thoughts belongs to Dan, while the discipline of the senses falls to Gad, Dan must certainly stay awake for the judgment of discernment, and Gad must fight bravely through the practice of abstinence. It belongs to the one to quiet civil discord; to the other, to drive back the enemy's assault.3
The Peril of Neglect
When Dan or Gad grows careless, the heart falls either by deception or by force, showing that both inner and outer vigilance are equally necessary.
One keeps watch against betrayal by fellow citizens; another against assault by the enemy. One guards against treachery, another against violence. For when Dan is careless, the mind is easily deceived; when Gad acts more sluggishly, it is suddenly swept into shameful pleasure. But what difference does it make whether the city of our heart falls by force or by fraud, whether civil discord or a hostile hand overthrows it?
Read the original Latin
Hoc autem de duarum istarum filiis ancillarum non negligenter praetereundum, sed jugi memoria retinendum, quod ex eorum jugi vigilantia vigilique custodia, conscientiae nostrae civitas mire custoditur, multumque progreditur. Primogenitus namque Balae eam componit intrinsecus; primogenitus vero Zelphae munit eam extrinsecus. Per Dan reprimuntur mala intus exsurgentia; per Gad repelluntur mala exterius insurgentia. Omnes namque scimus, quia omnis tentatio surgit, aut exterius, aut interius: interius, per cogitatum; exterius, per sensum. Modo enim intus per cogitationem pulsat; modo de exterioribus per sensus irrumpere parat. Solet nimirum inimicus nunc ab intus ministrare consilia erroris, nunc a foris admovere incitamenta voluptatis. Sed, quia ad Dan pertinet disciplina cogitationum, ad Gad autem spectat disciplina sensuum, debet utique Dan evigilare ad discretionis judicium, Gad dimicare fortiter per abstinentiae exercitium. Unius est sedare civilem discordiam; alterius est repellere hostilem pugnam.
Hic vigilat contra civium proditionem; ille contra hostium incursionem. Iste contra perfidiam, ille contra violentiam. Dan namque negligente, mens facile decipitur; Gad segnius agente, subito ad turpem delectationem rapitur. Sed quid interest utrum civitas cordis nostri per vim an per fraudem pereat, utrum discordia civilis an manus hostilis eam subvertat?
Notes
- 1 ↩eam refers back to conscientiae nostrae civitas (the city of our conscience). Primogenitus Balae = Dan; primogenitus Zelphae = Gad in Richard's allegory.
- 2 ↩Subject of pulsat/parat is tentatio from the previous sentence.
- 3 ↩Unius/alterius continue Dan (interior civil discord among thoughts/citizens of the heart) and Gad (exterior hostile attack through the senses).
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