De diversis libris, et quis liber vitae dicatur.
Two Kinds of Books
The text distinguishes between books written by God and books written by human beings.
There are, however, different kinds of books. Some are books written by God, others written by human beings.
The Frailty of Human Books
Human books are made from perishable materials by mortal authors and cannot give enduring life, so they are books of death rather than life.
The books that people write are made from the skins of dead animals or from some other perishable material, and once they have lasted a little while, they too grow old and dissolve into nothing in their own way, leaving behind no trace of themselves. And all those who read these books die eventually, and no one living forever is ever found. Therefore, because these books are made from dead things by mortals who themselves have died, and because they cannot give their readers and their lovers a life that endures forever, they are by no means worthy to be called books of life, but rather books of death, or of the dead, or of those who are dying.
The Book of Life
The eternal, incorruptible book whose very words are life is truly the book of life, and distinguishing these things leads to deeper understanding.
But if I could find such a book — whose origin is eternal, whose essence is incorruptible, whose knowledge is life, whose writing is indelible, whose gaze is desirable, whose teaching is easy, whose knowledge is sweet, whose depth is unfathomable, whose words are innumerable, and yet one word is all things — this would be the book of life. Distinguishing these things in this way, we will see more deeply.
Read the original Latin
Sunt autem diversi libri. Alii enim sunt libri scripti a Deo, alii scripti ab hominibus. Libri, quos scribunt homines, ex pellibus mortuorum animalium, sive ex alia qualicunque corruptibili materia fiunt, et cum pusillum duraverint, ipsi quoque veterascunt, et quadam sua more resolvuntur in nihilum, nullum de se deinceps relinquentes vestigium. Et istos libros omnes qui legunt, moriuntur aliquando, et nemo semper vivens invenitur. Ii ergo, quia ex mortuis a mortalibus morituti fiunt, et suis lectoribus, suis amatoribus vitam semper permanentem dare non possunt, nequaquam libri vitae, sed mortis potius, vel mortuorum, vel morientium appellari digni sunt. Quod si ego talem librum invenire possim, cujus origo aeterna, cujus incorruptibilis essentia, cujus cognitio sit vita, cujus scriptura indelebilis, cujus inspectus desiderabilis, cujus doctrina facilis, cujus scientia dulcis, cujus profunditas imperscrutabilis, cujus verba innumerabilia, et unum tamen verbum omnia, hic sit liber vitae. Hos sic distinguentes altius videbimus.
De Arca Noe Morali et Mystica (On the Moral and Mystical Ark of Noah) companion
Keep the ark under construction
Hugh's method only works with daily practice — the Chosen Portion app gives you a short, structured devotional every morning, free.
Hugh's daily discipline of ordered meditation continues in Chosen Portion, which serves one structured devotional portion each day so the mind returns to the same interior work Hugh prescribed.
- A 10-minute structured meditation delivered each morning
- Progress through classic texts like Hugh's in small daily portions
- Build a 30-day streak of ordered prayer instead of improvised moments