CAPUT L. Quomodo verecunda mens modestiae metas transgreditur, cum per superbiam et vanam gloriam corrumpitur
Modesty for Dinah, Not for God
Many people avoid shame by cutting away faults for the sake of human respect rather than for God, and this false circumcision is born of love of one's own excellence and vainglory.
Oh, how many people even today there are who often don't put off doing for love of Dinah what they meant to do for God—and who, once an occasion of shame has arisen, don't delay cutting away the excesses of their private parts that they ought to have cut away for God, so as to keep their sense of modesty from harm—and who would rather undergo the hardship of circumcision in cutting off the excesses of their life than seem shameless and live without modesty!1 But who is Sichem, or who is his father? Or what do names like these mean—Sichem, which is interpreted as shoulder or labor, and Emor, which means donkey?2 But if we look at what they did, we find out more quickly who they are. For who are those who usually circumcise their private parts not so much for God as for Dinah, not so much for conscience as for modesty? Who else, I ask, would they be than love of one's own excellence and love of vainglory? Such a son from such a father: from love of one's own excellence comes love of vainglory.3
The Foolish Boasting of Vainglory
The boaster is exposed as a fool and rightly called an ass, since he glories either in what he does not have or in gifts that are not his own.
So now notice this Emor—how foolish he is—and you'll find how rightly he is called a donkey. So let's see what he puffs himself up on, and what he glories in. If it's about something he doesn't have, but thinks he has — what, I ask you, could be more foolish than this folly? But if he does have it, let him hear what the Apostle says to him: "What do you have that you did not receive?" And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? And in fact, having received something isn't the glory of the one who receives it, but is truly the glory of the One who gives. For what does a human being have as his own except sin? And what kind of boasting is it — glorying in your own evil, or in a good that isn't yours? So then a boaster like this — as truly as he is a fool, just as rightly he is also called an ass.
Sichem's Toil and Issachar's Rest
Sichem's labor is contrasted with Issachar's willing bearing of the load for true rest, showing that works done for praise remain vain labor while the same labor for rest is good.
And what's more, the fact that Sichem is said to mean "shoulder" or "labor" seems to belong to the same point. For we carry loads on our shoulders, and by doing so we certainly labor. So Sichem puts his shoulder under the load to carry it, and he gladly sweats at the work—but only to make a name for himself. Let us now recall what we read about Issachar: "Issachar," it says, "a strong donkey, saw that rest was good and that the land was excellent, and he put his shoulder under to carry." There Issachar considers himself a donkey and bends his shoulder to the load. Here Emor is called a donkey, and Sichem is shown to have a shoulder given to hard labor.4 You see that whatever is done for true joy is put entirely to work for vain joy.5 Issachar labors for the rest he saw. Sichem labors for the vanity of praise he craves.6
The Labor of Hypocrites
Sichem is rightly called not hardworking but labor itself, because his toil does not lead to true rest, as the labor of hypocrites shows.
Still, he is rightly called not hardworking, but labor itself, because through his labor he is not led to true rest.7 And that he is rightly called labor is shown by the labor of hypocrites, who labor only to win the empty favor of people.
Read the original Latin
O quam multi usque hodie sunt qui, quod pro Deo facere voluerunt, saepe pro amore Dinae efficere non differunt, et pudendorum superflua, quae pro Deo amputare debuerant, orta confusionis occasione, pro evitando verecundiae detrimento amputare non tardant, et malunt in amputandis vitae suae superfluis circumcisionis molestiam subire, quam impudentes videri, et sine verecundia esse! Sed quis est Sichem, vel quis pater ejus? Vel quid sibi volunt hujusmodi nomina Sichem, quod interpretatur humerus vel labor, et Emor quod sonat asinus? Sed si eorum facto consulimus, qui sint citius invenimus. Qui enim sunt qui solent non tam pro Deo quam pro Dina, non tam pro conscientia quam pro verecundia pudenda sua circumcidere: qui, inquam, alii erunt, quam amor propriae excellentiae et amor vanae gloriae. Talis filius de tali patre, de amore propriae excellentiae amor vanae gloriae. Attende nunc ergo hunc Emor, quam sit stultus; et invenies quam recte nuncupetur asinus. Videamus ergo unde extollitur, unde glorietur.
Si de eo quod non habet, sed habere se credit, hac, quaeso, stultitia quid stultius excogitari potest? Si autem habet, audiat quid ei Apostolus dicat: Quid habes quod non accepisti? Si autem accepisti, quid gloriaris quasi non acceperis? Et quidem accepisse non accipientis, sed veraciter est gloria dantis. Quid enim habet homo proprium nisi peccatum? Et quale erit gloriari de malo proprio, sive de bono alieno? Talis itaque gloriator, quam vere est stultus, tam recte appellatur et asinus. Sed et quod Sichem humerus vel labor dicitur, ad idem pertinere videtur.
Humeris enim onera portamus, et hoc agendo utique laboramus. Supponit itaque Sichem humerum suum ad portandum, et libenter desudat, sed ad solum nomen sibi faciendum. Recolamus modo quod de Issachar legimus: Issachar, inquit, asinus fortis vidit requiem quod esset bona, et terram quod esset optima, et supposuit humerum suum ad portandum. Ibi Issachar asinum se reputat, et humerum suum ad portandum inclinat. Hic Emor asinus dicitur, et Sichem laboriosum humerum habere demonstratur. Videtis quia quidquid agitur pro laetitia vera, totum exercetur pro laetitia vana. Issachar laborat pro requie quam vidit. Sichem pro laudis vanitate quam concupiscit.
Recte tamen non laboriosus, sed labor appellatur, quia per suum laborem ad veram requiem non perducitur. Quod autem recte labor dicatur, testatur labor hypocritarum, qui tantum laborant pro adipiscendo vano favore hominum.
Notes
- 1 ↩Dinah here continues the allegory of modest bashfulness (verecundia) from the previous chapter; Sichem’s circumcision for her love (Gen 34) is spiritualized as cutting off excesses for reputation rather than for God.
- 2 ↩Medieval onomastic tradition (not a modern philological claim): Sichem as humerus/labor, Emor as asinus.
- 3 ↩Elliptical apposition: Emor (the father) = love of one's own excellence; Sichem (the son) = love of vainglory, which springs from that father.
- 4 ↩Emor (Hamor) and Sichem (Shechem) are kept in the Latin forms of the source; the allegory contrasts true humble labor (Issachar) with labor bent on renown.
- 5 ↩The contrast is between labor ordered to true rest/joy (Issachar) and the same outward labor redirected wholly to empty applause (Sichem).
- 6 ↩The finite verb is elliptical in the Latin (laborat understood from the previous sentence); English supplies 'labors' for clarity.
- 7 ↩Latin contrasts laboriosus (hardworking/industrious) with labor (toil itself): Sichem is not praised as a diligent worker, but named as empty toil, since his effort never reaches true rest (requies).
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