CAPUT XXXII. Quod disciplina cogitationum non possit custodiri sine disciplina sensuum
The Necessity of Gad
Without the discipline of the senses (Gad), the discipline of thoughts (Dan) is futile.
But we need to understand this: discipline of the body without discipline of the heart is undoubtedly useless, and discipline of our thoughts cannot be maintained at all without discipline of the senses. It is clear enough that without the help of Gad, who must keep watch against outward things, Dan labors inside in vain when he tries to establish peace among the citizens. For what good is it for Dan to keep cutting off the causes of discord while judging his people, unless Gad takes care to block the provocations of vice from entering through the gates of the senses—like a hostile army?1 For even though Dan constantly sits on the judgment seat, even though he never stops settling the quarrels of clashing thoughts, he toils in vain at settling the citizens' discord unless, with the same zeal, Gad fortifies our city through discipline of the senses and fiercely strikes the hostile ranks of the vices in the battle of abstinence.
Girded for Battle
Gad is first girded through restraint of the senses, then fights bravely.
And so it is also written: "Gad, girt for battle, will fight before him."✦ For only then does Dan usefully keep watch within against the treachery of traitors, when Gad outside bars and attacks the enemies who rush against him. So Gad is girded first, so that he may fight bravely afterward. Gad undoubtedly girds himself when he restrains the loose wandering of the senses through discipline.
The Victory of Discipline
Gad defeats fleshly desires through mortification, and Dan orders the city within.
Gad fights a fierce battle then, when he cuts down fleshly desires through mortification of the flesh. For a great slaughter of the enemies is made, and that hateful army of vices is more quickly put to flight, when the body's senses are restrained by discipline from wandering, and the appetite of the flesh is reined in from pleasure through abstinence. So in this way, as we can all experience, Dan sets our city in order from within, and Gad fortifies it from without.
Read the original Latin
Hoc autem nosse oportet, quia disciplina corporis, sine disciplina cordis, absque dubio inutilis est; disciplina vero cogitationum, sine disciplina sensuum, omnino observari non potest. Unde satis constat quia sine adjutorio Gad, qui contra exteriora vigilare debet, Dan, in componenda civium pace, intus inaniter laborat. Quid enim juvat, judicante Dan populum suum, assidue causam discordiae amputare, nisi studeat Gad per portas sensuum irritamenta vitiorum (quemdam videlicet quasi hostilem exercitium) non admittere? Quamvis enim Dan assidue in throno judicii resideat, quamvis rixas altercantium cogitationum indesinenter componat, frustra utique in componenda civium discordia desudat, nisi eodem studio Gad ad civitatem nostram per sensuum disciplinam muniat, et hostilia vitiorum agmina abstinentiae praelio acriter feriat. Unde etiam scriptum est: Gad, accinctus praeliabitur ante eum. Tunc enim utiliter Dan contra proditorum perfidiam intrinsecus vigilat, cum Gad extrinsecus occursantes hostes excludit et oppugnat. Prius itaque Gad accingitur, ut fortiter postmodum praelietur. Gad procul dubio tunc se accingit, quando sensuum dissolutionem per disciplinam restringit.
Tunc Gad forti praelio dimicat, quando desideria carnalia per carnis mortificationem trucidat. Magna namque hostium strages efficitur, citiusque odiosus ille vitiorum exercitus in fugam convertitur, cum sensus corporis per disciplinam ab evagatione restringitur, et appetitus carnis per abstinentiam a voluptate refrenatur. In hunc itaque modum, ut omnes experiri possumus, Dan civitatem nostram componit intrinsecus, Gad munit extrinsecus.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Gen.49.19 — Gad — a raiding band shall raid him, but he shall raid at their heels.
Notes
- 1 ↩Source has 'hostilem exercitium'; context and the military metaphor of the chapter strongly favor 'exercitum' (army). Rendered as 'hostile army'.
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