CAPUT XLIX. De utilitate et venustate verecundiae
Modesty Tempers Zeal
After Zebulun's birth, God gives Leah a daughter Dinah, whose modesty tempers her brother's zealous impulses, though excessive shame can hinder brave works.
And maybe it wasn't without reason that, after Zebulun was born, God decided to give Leah a daughter instead of a son—one who would gently soften her brother's boldness and soothe his raging spirit with soft persuasion. For Zebulun, as is clear from what we said above, has vast impulses and has a huge spirit. But women, as we all know, know better than men how to speak more gently to swollen spirits and how to coax the angry more sweetly. So it seems highly fitting that Dinah is born after Zebulun, so that the brother's fierceness may be tempered by the sister's gentleness. For in every way it greatly moderates the rush of a zealous spirit when someone finds within himself something to blush at. This is certainly the reason, unless I'm mistaken, why Dinah is born after Zebulun: so that her modesty may rein in her brother's impulses. But because Dinah undertakes nothing useful, nothing magnificent, she does not deserve to form a tribe among the people of Israel. Indeed, as has often been said, while she fears being put to shame more than is right, she not only fails to grow strong for brave and manly works, but is also accustomed to hindering them.
The Loveliness of Modesty
Dinah's remarkable beauty and grace make her lovable, drawing admiration and love, as exemplified by Shechem's willingness to undergo circumcision for her.
But however timid she may be—as a woman is—when it comes to bold deeds, she remains careful and watchful in guarding what is honorable; and although she doesn't know how to win favor through strength, she knows how to win it through the beauty of her form. Dinah possesses remarkable beauty and unmatched form—she easily draws the eyes of those who look at her into admiration, and quickly wins over the hearts of her admirers with love for her. After all, who doesn't know how a sense of shame makes people both commendable to everyone and lovable?1 Why else do we almost always hold bashful people more dear than others, if not because when we marvel at their sense of shame and the grace of that restraint, we are somehow drawn by Dinah's beauty, and by the greatness of her beauty we are captivated into love for her?2 Oh, how unmatched is this Dinah's beauty! How celebrated is love for her—whose beauty almost no one fails to admire, and in whose love almost no one fails to take delight! Let Shechem, son of Hamor, be witness to this; he clung to her with such burning love that he would rather have had all his males circumcised without delay than not have her.
Read the original Latin
Et forte non sine causa fuit quod, post natum Zabulon, Deus Liae non filium, sed filiam donare decrevit, quae fratris audaciam blande mitigaret, et furentis animos blanditiis deliniret. Habet enim, ut ex praedictis apparet, Zabulon impetus vastos, et ingentes gerit animos. Sed sciunt, ut omnes novimus, feminae quam viri tumentes animos blandius alloqui, et iratis dulcius blandiri. Valde ergo opportunum videtur quod post Zabulon Dina nascitur, ut ex sororis lenitate fratris ferocitas temperetur. Multum enim per omnem modum zelantis animi impetum temperat, cum in seipso invenit quis unde erubescat. Haec utique est ratio, ni fallor, cur post Zabulon Dina nascitur, ut ejus modestia fratris sui impetus moderetur. Sed quia Dina nil utile, nil magnificum molitur, tribum in populo Israel facere non meretur. Imo etiam saepe, ut dictum est, dum plus justo confundi metuit, ad fortia et virilia non solum non convalescit, sed ea etiam praepedire consuevit.
Sed quamvis pavida sit (utpote femina) ad opera fortitudinis invenitur, tamen provida et circumspecta ad custodiam honestatis; et quamvis nesciat placere per fortitudinem, novit tamen placere per formae pulchritudinem. Est enim Dina admirandae pulchritudinis et formae singularis, et quae intuentium oculos in sui admirationem facile trahat, et admirantium animos cito sua dilectione alliciat. Quis enim ignorat quomodo modestia verecundiae homines omnibus et commendabiles reddat, et amabiles efficiat? Unde namque est quod verecundos homines fere semper caeteris charius amplectimur, nisi quod, in eis dum verecundiae modestiam modestiaeque gratiam miramur, Dinae quodammodo pulchritudine allicimur, et pulchritudinis suae magnitudine in ejus amorem captivamur? O quam singularis hujus Dinae pulchritudo! quam celebris hujus dilectio, cujus pulchritudinem pene nemo non miratur, cujus dilectione pene nemo non delectatur! Hujus rei Sichem filius ille Emor testis sit, qui ei tam ardenti amore inhaesit, ut mallet omnes mares suos absque mora circumcidere quam illam non habere.
Notes
Benjamin Minor (The Twelve Patriarchs / Preparation of the Mind for Contemplation) companion
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