CAPUT LXIV. De vi, vel efficacia timoris sine quo nec mala deserimus, nec bona inchoamus
The Power and Necessity of Fear
Fear has great power both to cast down and to restore, and without it we cannot abandon evil or begin good.
But so that we may speak a little more openly about this affection, it seems to have greater power than the others, whether for good or for evil. Indeed, the mind is often cast down by it from its upright state; yet once cast down, however it happened, it is never restored without it. For who is set free from any sin, however small, without fear? Without fear we never abandon our evils; without fear we don't even begin to do what is good.
Reuben: The Allegory of Fear
Jacob's words about Reuben reveal that fear is the firstborn, strength, and beginning of sorrow, as explained through allegory.
Don't Jacob's words speak this plainly about him, if they're rightly understood, where it is said: Reuben, my firstborn, you are my strength, the beginning of my sorrow, first in gifts, greater in dominion. And there follows that other saying as well, about which we've already said something: You have been poured out like water; you shall not grow. But how this Reuben is the firstborn, or how he is the beginning of sorrow, is clear enough, I think, from what has already been said above; but how he is Jacob's strength, and the rest of what is said about him, can easily be shown: You, he says, are my strength. For who has ever come out the victor in that battle where the spirit desires against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit?
Fear as the Foundation for Victory and Sorrow
Without fear, no one can overcome their desires, and fear must precede any useful sorrow of the soul.
Who, I ask, has ever defeated such a vast army of their own desires if they fought without fear? It's right, then, that he is the firstborn, because every good begins with the fear of the Lord; it's right that he is called strength, because through the fear of the Lord the heart is made strong against its desires; it's right that he is the beginning of one's sorrow, because a useful sorrow accompanies the fear of the Lord.1 For if the soul's sorrow is to be each person's own and prove useful to them, the fear of the Lord must go before it.
Read the original Latin
Sed ut de hoc affectu aliquid loquamur apertius, majorem prae caeteris sive ad bonum, sive ad malum efficaciam habere videtur. Siquidem ab illo frequenter a suo mens rectitudinis statu dejicitur, sed quolibet modo dejecta sine illo nunquam reparatur. Quis enim de quovis peccato quamlibet parvo sine timore liberatur? Sine timore mala nostra nunquam deserimus; sine timore bona operari, nec saltem inchoamus. Nonne de eo hoc illa verba Jacob manifeste loquuntur, si recte intelligantur ubi dicitur: Ruben primogenitus meus, tu fortitudo mea, principium doloris mei, primus in donis, major imperio. Ubi et illud sequitur, de quo aliqua jam diximus: Effusus es sicut aqua, non crescas. Quomodo autem iste Ruben sit primogenitus, vel quomodo sit principium doloris ex superius jam dictis satis, ut arbitror, manifestum est; quomodo autem sit ejus fortitudo, et caetera quae de eo dicuntur, facile ostendi potest: Tu, inquit, fortitudo mea. Quis enim in illo unquam praelio victor exstitit, ubi spiritus adversus carnem, caro adversus spiritum concupiscit?
Quis, inquam, tam numerosum concupiscentiarum suarum exercitum debellavit, si sine timore pugnavit? Recte ergo primogenitus, quia a timore Domini omne bonum inchoatur, recte fortitudo dicitur, quia per timorem Domini cor contra concupiscentias suas roboratur, recte principium doloris sui, quia timorem Domini utilis dolor comitatur. Ut enim animi dolor cuique suus sit, et sibi utilis existat, necesse est ut eum timor Domini praecedat.
Notes
- 1 ↩utilis dolor: profitable/penitential sorrow that goes with the fear of the Lord, not mere distress; related to compunction without collapsing the Latin into that technical term here.
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