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← De eruditione filiorum nobilium (On the Education of Noble Children)/Book 1 · De eruditione filiorum nobilium
Chapter 36Erud.1.36

De moribus bonis formandis in adolescente.

The Marvel of Youthful Steadiness

Drawing on Varro and Ambrose, the text marvels that humility and steady character are especially rare in youth, since that age is naturally hot, fragile, and prone to vice.

If, then, following Varro, the steadiness of the finest character in a boy is something to be astonished at, it seems all the more admirable in a young person, given the heat of that age — as Ambrose says when explaining that phrase about the blessed immaculate one: 'I am a young man and despised' — 'Humility,' he says, 'is rare among the young, and therefore something to be marveled at.'✦ While youth is in its prime, while strength is solid, while the blood runs hot — . . — while weakness goes unnoticed, while pleasure is eagerly pursued. The same author says in the same work: 'Youth is freer in love, more heedless about falling, more fragile in the face of weakness, harder to correct.' The same author says in book 10 of On the Appeals and Weakness of Man: 'You want to consume me with the sins of my youth.' How aptly that age has seized upon complaint, because it has grown more accustomed to being slippery toward vice.

The Perils and Weakness of Adolescence

The author contrasts the virtues of childhood and old age with the special dangers of adolescence, which is weak, vice-driven, and resistant to correction.

Childhood has its innocence, old age its prudence. . . Youth. . . Youth has the shame of erring. Adolescence alone is weak in strength, feeble in counsel, burning with vice, disdainful toward those who correct it, and allured by pleasures.

The Way of a Young Person Is Unknown

Using Solomon’s words from Proverbs, the text teaches that the path of adolescence is mysterious and perilous, and only God’s grace can guide the young through it.

These are the words of Ambrose. Whence Solomon in the Proverbs: 'Three things,' he says, 'are difficult for me, and a fourth I do utterly not know: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent over rock, the way of a ship in the middle of the sea, and the way of a man in adolescence.'✦ For just as the traces of the former three are not visible, so the way of a young person is unknown to human beings. Since the whole of it is full of dangers and, as it were, utterly pathless, it seems passable to no one. For it is as difficult to find a way through pathless ground as it is to stand in fire and not be burned, or to run over water and not be submerged. And indeed, as is clear from the words of Augustine set forth above, no one could pass through adolescence free from sins unless the grace of God were present, helping and leading. Therefore, as Cicero says in the second book of On Duties, 'The first commendation of a young person proceeds from modesty, then from devotion toward parents, and from goodwill toward their own.'

Learning Humility from Christ and the Wise

The young are urged to seek wise counsel and imitate Christ’s humility, shown when he listened among the teachers at twelve years old.

From this, too, it's easy to tell which direction a young person is heading if he has placed himself among wise and distinguished men who give sound counsel in public affairs and spends his time regularly in their company. Thus Tully. And this agrees with that passage from Ecclesiasticus 6: 'In the multitude of elders' — that is, of prudent seniors — 'stand, and join yourself to their wisdom with all your heart, so that you may hear every account of God,' and so forth. The Lord himself set an example for the young when, at twelve years old, he sat among the teachers — not indeed teaching, but listening and asking questions — as we read in Luke 2.✦ Hence blessed Bernard says in a certain sermon: 'O humility, virtue of Christ — . . How much you put to shame the pride of our vanity!

Christ’s Silence Rebukes Our Rashness

The author contrasts youthful presumption and rash speech with Christ’s hidden silence, drawing on Bernard of Clairvaux to show that humility frees us from vainglory.

I know too little — or rather, I seem to myself to know something — and now I can't keep quiet, shamelessly and thoughtlessly pushing myself forward and showing off, quick to speak, eager to teach, slow to listen. When Christ remained silent for such a long time, since he was hiding himself, surely he wasn't afraid of empty glory?✦ . . Certainly. . . But for us, not for himself.

Shaping Youth by Discipline and Habit

Because few naturally possess the virtues described, the young must be formed by constant correction, early habit, and the warning that youthful ways often persist into old age.

These are Bernard's words. But because few actually possess the character traits just described — — and since these traits, as Cicero expressed them in words, are held by so very few, young people need to be shaped by constant admonition, rebuke, and correction, in line with that line of Virgil's in the third book of the Georgics:1 Exhort, and persist in the way of training, while the minds of the young are receptive, while their age is still changeable. For as Aristotle says in Book 10 of the Ethics, 'It makes no small difference whether one is accustomed to this or that from youth.' And Solomon says in Proverbs 22: 'A youth follows his own way, and even when he has grown old, he will not depart from it.'✦ Therefore of a man not educated in his youth, it is said in Job 20: 'His bones'—that is, the strengths of the soul—'will be filled with the vices of his adolescence.'✦ The vices of adolescence are called its bones, because that age is prone to them—especially luxury and lasciviousness. About these, Cicero says in his book On Old Age: 'A youth… . . …I approve, in which there is something of an old man.'

The Cost of Wasted Youth

The text warns that youthful vice, especially lust, ages the body prematurely and exhausts the soul’s strength, yet God’s grace calls the young to bear His yoke early.

. . And the very weakening of youthful strength is brought about by vices more often than old age is — for lustful, life-dominant youth hands over an exhausted body to old age. So says Cicero. Hence of certain persons who indulge in unbridled lust, it is said in Nahum 3: 'They will fall in their own bodies because of the multitude of the fornications of the beautiful and pleasing prostitute.'✦ And where Jerome interprets 'They will fall,' the Septuagint translators read 'They were weakened.' For all these reasons, the opposite is rightly said in Lamentations 3: 'It is good for a man when he has borne the Lord's yoke from youth.' Therefore, against the three aforementioned vices of youth, three virtues especially are to be formed in them — namely:✦ against arrogant pride — humility; against lust — chastity; against wantonness — maturity.

Forming Humility Through Obedience

Humility is to be formed in the young through obedience to parents, teachers, and elders, as commanded by Peter and illustrated by Cyprian.

Humility must be shaped through lowliness as far as the affections go, through deliberation as far as the understanding goes, and through subjection — which young people owe to their parents, their teachers, and their elders, just as Peter says in his first letter, chapter five: 'Young men, be subject to your elders.'✦ Cyprian the martyr also lists this among the twelve abuses of the age in his book on the subject: he counts a young man without obedience among those vices and says, 'Just as sobriety and moral perfection are expected of the elderly, so deference and subjection are expected of the young.' . . This is properly owed. . . Otherwise, how will the person who did not endure the labor of discipline in youth be honored in old age?

Christ’s Youthful Obedience as Our Model

Bernard and Scripture teach that the young must submit to authority under Christ’s example, who increased in favor with God and was obedient to Mary and Joseph.

This is what Cyprian says. Hence too, blessed Bernard in his sermon on the circumcision of the Lord: 'Let him choose,' he says, . . The faithful person must be subject to a master under whose authority the will is broken, and by the bridle of obedience desire is held in check — so that what the prophet spoke may be fulfilled: 'You have set men over our heads.'✦ Nor should it be thought beneath a servant to have taken on the role of a slave, since the Lord himself did so — for no servant is greater than his master.✦ For he himself, now in maturity of age and wisdom — . . He had grown in favor with God and with people, now that he was twelve years old.✦ . . He had remained in Jerusalem, under the care of the blessed virgin and Joseph.✦ . . He was found in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.✦ . . He went down with them and was obedient to them.✦ And you, therefore, for his sake, be obedient. Good character must also be formed through the practice of seeking counsel, by which young people ought to ask advice from their elders and from those in authority, and humbly defer to them — according to the word in Deuteronomy 32: 'Ask your father, and he will tell you; your elders, and they will speak to you.'✦ Sidonius also says in his letter collection, book 3, that 'Young men gain or attach to themselves the greatest praise for their character whenever, uncertain about the merits of their affairs, they have recourse to the counsel of those with experience.' It was because he lacked this kind of humility that Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, lost the greater part of his kingdom, as we read in 3 Kings, chapter 12. For he rejected the counsel of the elders and turned instead to young men who had been raised with him and stood at his side; and on their advice he chose to make the yoke heavier upon the people.

Rejecting Foolish Counsel

Rehoboam’s rejection of elder counsel and his ruin illustrate the danger of pride and the truth that God humbles the proud and raises the gentle.

And so ten tribes withdrew from him. That's why Ecclesiasticus 47 says of Solomon, 'He left behind Rehoboam, a man small in wisdom, who led the nation astray by his own counsel.'2 And from the same book, chapter 10: 'God destroyed the seats of the proud rulers and set the gentle in their place.'3

Guarding Chastity Through Modesty and Sobriety

Chastity is protected by modesty and sobriety, which restrain the heat of youth and the pleasures of life, as Jerome, Seneca, Ambrose, and Scripture all testify.

In the same way, chastity must be shaped through two other things, namely: through modesty and through sobriety. And this against the two dangers by which chastity is threatened, namely: the heat of youth and the pleasures of life. For Jerome writes of the heat of adolescence in his letter to Furia on preserving widowhood: 'Neither the fires of Etna, nor the volcanic earth, nor Vesuvius and Olympus seethe with such great burnings as the youthful marrow, full and inflamed by feasts.'4 Modesty keeps this desire in check, since it's the opposite of shamelessness. People who burn with lust tend to lose all sense of shame — bold in their advances, even to the point of seizing women by force. But genuine modesty restrains both impulses. On this point Seneca says to Lucilius: 'Modesty in a young person is a good sign.' Hence Ambrose, in his book on duties: 'Just as graciousness is commended in older men and eagerness in young men, so in adolescents modesty is commended as a kind of natural endowment.' . . This modesty must be maintained in the very movement of the body, in gesture and in bearing — for the disposition of the mind is revealed in the posture of the body. . . And the voice is a certain movement of the mind and of the body. . . In bodily beauty as well, modesty stands out all the more — yet in such a way that the beauty itself is not contrived but natural, simple, and seemingly neglected rather than deliberately sought after.5 Certainly, if there is anything in the nature of vice, let art correct it.6 Ambrose says this. Concerning the pleasure of life in foods, drinks, and similar things, blessed Bernard says that 'chastity is endangered by indulgence, just as piety is by business.'7 For that reason Jerome says, as above: 'Whatever is a seedbed of pleasures, consider it poison.' . . For nothing inflames the body and limbs so much, or tickles the genitals, like undigested food and belching convulsed with gas.'8 The same author says: 'When the belly is distended with food and soaked with repeated drinking of wine, genital pleasure follows, and through the disordering of the limbs comes an entire order of vices.'9 This pleasure is tempered by sobriety, concerning which it is said to Titus in the second chapter: 'Exhort young men to be sober.'✦ Finally, maturity of character is likewise to be formed through two things, namely10 through gravity and taciturnity.

Cultivating Maturity, Gravity, and Silence

Maturity is formed by gravity and taciturnity, which restrain insolent gestures and frivolous speech, so that a young person may show authority and self-control.

And this is directed against two evils found in lasciviousness, namely: insolence of gesture and lightness of speech. For gravity is a virtue by which a person, guiding and moderating the impulses of his own actions and movements, brings them to a fitting deliberateness and maturity. Whence the psalmist says, 'Among the grave people I will praise you.'11 And this is highly fitting for young men: that what in old men comes from weakness, in them may come from virtue — following that saying of Tully in his book *On Old Age*: 'I approve a young man,' he says, 'in whom there is something of the old.'12 Hence Ambrose, writing on the blessed immaculate one, says: 'It anticipates the stages of maturity — whoever, placed in youth, puts on the gravity of old age and governs youthful minds with a certain veteran continence.'13 . . and arranges. This kind of gravity or maturity is in them a kind of authority.14 Hence the Apostle writes to Timothy: 'Let no one despise your youth' — that is, show yourself to be such that no one on account of that age would dare despise you.✦1516 Hence also Jerome commends Neopotian on this point, writing to Heliodorus: 'Neopotian,' he says, 'a young man —17 . . he took care. . . He gave no opening in himself to any whisper of foul rumor, so that those who sneered at his youth were astonished by his self-control. . . He tempered the cheerfulness of his expression with gravity of manner, and in his laughter you would perceive joy, not loud guffawing. So far, Jerome. Furthermore, maturity is a virtue by which, with a certain fruitful quietness of mind, a person restrains himself from words — not only foul or superfluous ones, but even useful ones — in keeping with that verse of the Psalm: 'I was struck dumb and humbled, and I fell silent even from good things.'✦ This too is especially fitting for a young man: to restrain in himself both garrulity and presumption. As it is said in Ecclesiasticus 32: 'Young man, speak in your own case only when it's strictly necessary.' If you've been asked twice, keep your answer brief. In many matters, act as though you don't know — listen, silent and questioning at the same time. Among the great, don't presume; and where the elders are, don't speak much. We've already cited, just a moment ago, an example from Christ's youthful silence. As Ambrose says, as noted above: 'While youth's vigor is strong in a young person, while the blood runs hot, while weakness goes unnoticed, while joy abounds, great moral maturity must be cultivated — so that nature may be overcome.' And the Lord seems to have loved this kind of character in that young man mentioned in Mark 10: 'Jesus, looking at him, loved him.' But no one can truly be formed or reformed for this unless they keep and carry out God's commandments, according to that Psalm: 'By this the young person corrects his way, by keeping your words.'

The Rich Young Man and the Danger of Greed

The example of the rich young man who went away sorrowful shows that no character is complete without keeping God’s commandments and detachment from possessions.

In this, however, the young man fell short: having heard the Lord's counsel to give up everything for his sake, he went away grieving — for he had many possessions, as the same passage records.✦ He did not, therefore, keep that precept of the Lord found in Luke 12: 'Watch and beware of all greed, etc.'✦ Furthermore, for the formation of character in adolescence, a threefold awareness is of great value — namely:18 the coming of old age, of death, and of the future judgment. Of old age, I say — because then a person cannot easily take on new and unfamiliar ways, just as an old horse cannot grow accustomed to a bridle. Hence Seneca says to Lucilius: 'For the young person, one must prepare; for the old, one must make do.' Hence too it is said in Ecclesiasticus 25: 'What you did not gather in your youth, how will you find it in your old age?' It is therefore best to serve God in youth and to put on good character — which is to offer God a sacrifice that is strong and rich.19

Remember Death and Serve God in Youth

The text exhorts the young to offer God their strength in youth rather than wasting it on the world, the flesh, or the devil, and to remember death’s nearness.

Otherwise, as we read in Malachi 1: 'Cursed is the deceitful man who has a male in his flock and, making a vow, sacrifices a lame one to the Lord.'✦ For, as Ambrose says above, 'What can have any claim to praise if it turns a body worn out by pleasures and already chilled by the cold of old age to the late duties of devotion, having already laid aside the vigor of the elders?' For there is no crown unless there has been a hard struggle.' These are Ambrose's words. And since no one can serve two masters, it is far better, more useful, and more honorable for a person to spend his early years in the service of God than in the service of the world, the flesh, or the devil.✦ Whence Solomon in Proverbs 5: 'Do not give,' he says, 'your honor to strangers and your years to a cruel one,' namely.✦ To the devil, 'Lest outsiders be filled with your strength and your labors end up in another's house, and you groan in your final years, when you have consumed your flesh and your body and say: "Why have I come to hate discipline, and my heart did not yield to rebukes, nor did I hear the voice of those teaching me, and I did not incline my ear to my teachers."'✦ 'Honor' he calls either the divine image, the flower of youth, or even the baptismal grace, which a young man sells when he exposes it for the pleasure of sin. And so his strength — that is, the deeds done by the powers of his soul and body — is drained by outsiders; that is, demons feed on it and grow sated, estranged from eternal life, according to the word of Hosea 7: 'Strangers have devoured his strength, and he himself did not know it.'✦ And then he groans in his final years — that is, in old age or the weakness of declining years — when, now broken by frailty and the unfamiliarity of virtue, he can no longer begin anything good. That is why Ovid says in Book Three of the Art of Love: As long as your strength and years allow it, endure hard work. Bent old age will come on silent foot. . . . You who are coming, be mindful now and already of old age, so that no time slips by you idle. But as Cicero says in his book on old age, 'In the pursuits and labors of youth, it is not realized when or how old age creeps up.'20 So gradually, without our noticing, life grows old — it is not broken suddenly, but is extinguished by long duration.21 Tibullus also says in book two: In fact, it's often the case that the old have done harm to the young. Hence also Ovid, from an untitled book: The fleeting age slips by in secret and deceives, and the swift year glides on with horses given free rein.

Youth’s Frailty and the Call to Early Devotion

Since death is certain but its hour uncertain, and youth is especially frail, the young must not presume on long life but remember their Creator before old age and suffering come.

Remembering death is also useful for this, according to the saying in Ecclesiasticus 7: 'Remember your last things, and you will never sin.' As Gregory says in the Moralia, book 16: 'Our graves bear witness to what our flesh is.' . . And nothing serves so well to tame that desire as for each person to consider: this thing I love while it is alive — what sort of thing will it be when it is dead? Gregory says these things. And a young man should not flatter himself about a longer life, because in this mortal life no confidence can be anything but foolish. As Anselm says in the Proslogion: 'Nothing is more certain than death, but nothing more uncertain than the hour of death.' And Ambrose says: 'Death lies in ambush for the young; for the old, it stands at the door.' Hence Seneca to Lucilius: 'You are young,' he says, 'so what difference does it make? . . . It is uncertain in what place death is waiting for you. So you should expect her in every place.' For this reason Cicero says, as noted above: 'From youth one ought to have meditated on this, so that we may disregard death. Without this meditation no one can be at peace in spirit, since one must most certainly die, and the time at which it will happen is uncertain.' This is what's said in Job 31: 'I don't know how long I'll last, and whether my Maker will take me away after a little while.' It's also said this way in Ecclesiastes 9: 'A person doesn't know their end, but just as fish are caught on a hook and birds are trapped in a snare, so people are caught in an evil time, when it suddenly overtakes them.'22 That's why Cicero says in his book On Old Age: 'In vain does a young man hope or promise himself he'll live long.'23 . . What, then, is more foolish than to cling to uncertain things as though they were certain? . . . What of the fact that youth has far more chances of death than old age? For young men fall into illness more easily, suffer more severely, and are cured with greater difficulty. . .' In this respect too the old man is in a better position, because what the young man hopes for, he himself has already attained: the one wants to live long, the other has lived long. . . Although . . . And yet nothing seems to me long-lasting in which there is some final point. For when that point arrives, then what has passed by has flowed away; this alone remains — what each person has gained through virtue and right deeds. . . Death also comes to young people, with nature opposing and resisting. . . And so it's a heavy burden for the young; for the old, it comes almost of its own accord, with no effort at all, and so it's easy. Think of fruit on a tree: when it's unripe, you have to tear it off by force, but once it's ripe and soft, it drops on its own— In the same way, violence tears life away from the young; from the old, maturity does. Thus far Cicero. For all this reason, it says in Ecclesiastes chapter twelve: 'Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the time of affliction comes, et cetera.'✦ Both the troubles of old age and the anguish of death are touched on there.

Rejoice, but Know God Will Judge

The chapter concludes with Solomon’s counsel to rejoice in youth yet remember judgment, removing anger and wickedness from heart and flesh through penance and discipline.

Now, concerning the third point — namely, the memory of the future judgment — in Ecclesiastes 11, after Solomon had said that in the future, past deeds will be reproved on account of their vanity, he immediately adds — speaking with deliberate irony — 'So then, young man, rejoice in your youth, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth; walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes. But know this: for all these things God will bring you to judgment.'✦ And since the ways of a young person's heart are perverse in two respects, as was stated above, namely: a hot-tempered spirit and sensuous pleasure, he immediately adds: 'Remove anger from your heart, and put away wickedness from your flesh.'✦ For the wickedness of guilt — that is, carnal pleasure — must be removed through the hardship of penance, through the discipline of the flesh, according to the words of Ecclesiasticus 11: 'Wickedness brings forgetfulness of lust to its height.'

Read the original Latin

Si autem iuxta uarronem obstupescenda est optimorum morum in puero constancia, multo magis et in adolescente propter etatis feruorem videtur admiranda, sicut dicit ambrosius super beati immaculati uerbum illud exponens adolescentulus sum ego et contemptus: ‘Rara,’ inquit, ‘est in iuuenibus humilitas, ideoque miranda. Dum etas uiget, dum uires solide, dum sanguis estuat . . . dum debilitas ignoratur, dum leticia frequentatur.’ Idem in eodem: ‘Iuuentus est ad amorem liberior, ad lapsum incautior, ad infirmitatem fragilior, ad correctionem durior.’ Idem in libro io de interpellationibus et infirmitate hominis: ‘Consumere,’ inquit, ‘me uis peccatis adolescencie mee. Pulchre id etatis ad querelam arripuit, quia magis ad uicium esse lubricum consueuit.

Habet et puericia innocenciam, senectus prudenciam . . . iuuentus . . . delinquendi uerecondiam. Adolescencia sola est inualida uiribus, infirma consiliis, uicio calens, fastidiosa monitoribus, illecebrosa deliciis.’

Hec ambrosius. unde salomon in prouerb. xxx: ‘Tria,’ inquit, ‘sunt difficilia michi et quartum penitus ignoro: viam aquile in celo, uiam colubri super petram, viam nauis in medio mari et viam uiri in adolescencia.’ Sicut enim priorum trium non apparent vestigia, sic adolescentis uia hominibus est ignota. Cum enim tota sit plena periculis et quasi penitus inuia, nulli videtur esse peruia. Sic enim difficile est in inuio uiam inuenire, sicut in igne stare et non conburi uel currere super aquam et non submergi. Et reuera, sicut patet ex uerbis augustini superius positis, nullus adolescenciam immunis a peccatis transire posset, nisi gracia dei iuuans ac ducens adesset. Itaque, sicut dicit tullius in libro de officiis iio, ‘prima quidem adolescentis conmendacio proficiscitur a modestia, deinde pietate in parentes, in suos beniuolencia.

De hinc etiam facile in optimam partem cognoscitur, si ad uiros sapientes et claros ac bene consulentes rei publice se contulerit et cum eis assiduus sit.’ Hec tullius. Cui consonat et illud ecclesiastici vi: ‘In multitudine presbyterorum,’ id est seniorum prudencium, ‘sta et sapiencie illorum ex corde coniungere, ut omnem narracionem dei possis audire etc.’ Super hoc et dominus exemplum prebuit adolescentibus, quando duodennis sedit in medio doctorum non quidem docens, sed audiens et interrogans, ut legitur in luca ii. unde dicit beatus bernardus in quodam sermone: ‘O humilitas uirtus christi . . . quantum confundis superbiam nostre uanitatis!

Parum aliquid scio uel pocius michi scire uideor et iam silere non posum, impudenter et imprudenter me ingerens et ostentans, promptulus ad loquendum, uelox ad docendum, tardus ad audiendum. christus cum tanto tempore silebat, cum seipsum abscondebat, nunquid inanem gloriam timebat . . . utique . . . sed nobis, non sibi.’

Hec bernardus. At uero quia pauci mores habent predictos, sc. expressos in uerbis tullij, idcirco plurimi admonicionibus et increpacionibus et correctionibus in eis debent formari, iuxta illud uirgilij in georgicis libro iii:

Hortare uiamque insiste domandi, dum faciles animi iuuenum, dum mobilis etas.

ut enim ait aristotiles in libro io ethicorum, ‘Differt non parum sic uel sic assuesci a iuuentute.’ et salomon in prouerbiis xxii: ‘Prouerbium est adolescens iuxta uiam suam, eciam cum senuerit, non recedet ab ea.’ unde de uiro in adolescencia non erudito dicitur in Job xx: ‘Ossa eius,’ id est vires anime, ‘implebuntur viciis adolescencie sue.’ Adolescencie vicia uocantur ossa, quibus etas illa est prona, maximeque luxuria et lasciuia. De quibus ait tullius in libro de senectute: ‘Adolescentem . . . probo, in quo est aliquid senile .

. . Ac ipsa defectio uirium adolescencie uiciis efficitur sepius quam senectutis, libidinosa enim et uite imperans adolescencia effetum corpus tradit senectuti.’ Hec tullius. unde de quibusdam effrenata libidine fruentibus dicitur in naum iii: ‘Corruent in corporibus suis propter multitudinem fornicacionum meretricis speciose et grate.’ Et ubi ieronimus Corruent interpretatur, lxxta ponunt infirmabantur. propter hec omnia recte dicitur econtra in trenis iii: ‘Bonum est viro, cum portauerit iugum domini ab adolescencia,’ Itaque contra tria predicta vicia adolescencie tres virtutes precipue in eis sunt formande, videl. contra superbam animositatem humilitas, contra libidinem castitas, contra lasciuiam maturitas.

Humilitas formanda est per abiectionem quantum ad affectum, per consultacionem quantum ad intellectum, per subiectionem, quam parentibus et magistris ac senioribus debent exhibere, sicut dicit petrus in prima v: ‘Adolescentes, subditi estote senioribus.’ Hinc et cyprianus martyr in libro de XII abusionibus seculi inter illa ponit adolescentem sine obediencia et dicit: ‘Sicut in senibus sobrietas et morum perfectio requiritur, sic ab adolescentibus obsequium et subiectio . . . rite debetur . . . Alioquin quomodo in senectute honoratus apparebit, qui discipline laborem in adolescencia non sustinuerit?

’ Hec cyprianus. Hinc et beatus bernardus in sermone de circoncisione domini: ‘Eligat,’ inquit, ‘ . . . homo fidelis subiectus esse magistro, sub quo voluntas eius frangatur et obediencie freno concupiscencia reprimatur, sitque quod ait propheta, imposuisti homines super capita nostra. Nec est dedignandum seruo, quod processit in domino, siquidem non est seruus maior domino suo. Ipse namque cum iam etate et sapiencia . .

. apud deum et homines creuisset, cum iam duodennis . . . in ierusalem remansisset, a beata uirgine et ioseph . . . in medio doctorum audiens illos et interrogans inuentus .

. . descendit cum illis et erat illis subditus. Et tu ergo propter illum subditus esto.’ Formanda est eciam per consultacionem, qua debent a senioribus et magistratibus consilia requirere et eis humiliter acquiescere, secundum illud deuteronomii xxxii: ‘Interroga patrem tuum et annunciabit tibi maiores tuos et dicent tibi.’ Dicit eciam sydonius in epistolari suo, libro iii, quod ‘plurimum laudis iuuenes moribus suis applicant uel acquirunt, quociens de negociorum meritis ambigentes ad peritorum consilia recurrunt.’ propter humilitatis huiusmodi defectum amisit roboam filius salomonis pro maiori parte regnum, ut legitur in III Regum xii. Dereliquit enim consilium senum et adhibuit adolescentes, qui nutriti fuerant cum eo et assistebant illi, ac de consilio eorum uoluit aggrauare iugum super populum.

Et ideo decem tribus recesserunt ab eo. unde dicitur de salomone in ecclesiastico xlvii, quod ‘dereliquit post se minutum prudencia roboam, qui auertit gentem consilio suo.’ Hinc eciam dicitur in eodem x: ‘Sedes ducum superborum destruxit deus et sedere fecit mites pro eis.’ Similiter castitas per alia duo formanda est, sc. per uerecondiam et sobrietatem. Et hoc contra duo mala, quibus periclitatur castitas, sc. etatis feruorem et uite uoluptatem. Nam de adolescencie feruore dicit ieronimus ad furiam de seruanda uiduitate: ‘Non ethnei ignes, non uulcania tellus, non ueseuus et olimpus tantis ardoribus estuant, ut iuueniles medulle plene et dapibus inflammate.’

Hunc ardorem moderatur verecondia, que procacitati est contraria. Nam ardore luxurie estuantes solent esse procaces ad rogandum uel eciam rapiendum mulieres. verecundia uero utrumque cohibet, de qua dicit seneca lucilio: ‘verecundia bonum in adolescente signum est.’ Hinc et ambrosius in libro de officiis io: ‘Sicut in senibus,’ inquit, ‘gratuitas et in iuuenibus alacritas, sic in adolescentibus uerecundia uelud quadam nature dote conmendatur . . . Hec in ipso corporis motu, gestu et incessu tenenda est, habitus enim mentis cernitur in statu corporis . .

. et vox quedam est animi corporis motus . . . In ipso quoque corporis decore uerecundia plus eminet, ita tamen, ut ipsum decus non sit effectum sed naturale, simplex, neglectum pocius, quasi expetitum. Sane siquid in natura uicij est, ars emendet.’ Hec ambrosius. De vite uoluptate in cibis et potibus ac similibus dicit beatus bernardus, quod ‘periclitatur castitas in deliciis, sicut et pietas in negociis.’

Ideo dicit ieronimus ubi supra: ‘Quicquid seminarium est uoluptatum, venenum puta . . . Nichil enim sic inflammat corpora membraque titillat genitalia sicut cibus indigestus ructusque conuulsus.’ Idem: ‘uentrem cibo distentum et uini potacionibus irrigatum uoluptas genitalium sequitur et per membrorum ordinem ordo viciorum est.’ Hanc uoluptatem moderatur sobrietas, de qua dicitur ad tytum iio: ‘Iuuenes hortare, ut sobrij sint.’ Denique maturitas similiter per duo formanda est, sc. per grauitatem et taciturnitatem.

Et hoc contra duo mala, que sunt in lasciuia, sc. insolencia gestuum et leuitas uerborum. Est enim grauitas virtus, qua quis actionum ac motuum suorum impetus regens ac moderans ad conpetentem moram et maturitatem reducit. unde psalmista, ‘In populo,’ inquit, ‘graui laudabo te.’ Et hoc multum decet adolescentes, ut, quod in senibus est ex debilitate, sit in eis ex uirtute, iuxta illud tullij in libro de senectute: ‘Adolescentem,’ inquit, ‘probo, in quo est aliquid senile.’ Hinc et ambrosius super beati immaculati: ‘Etates,’ inquit, ‘maturitatis precurrit quisquis in adolescencia positus senilem grauitatem induit et iuueniles animos veterana quadam continencia regit . . .

atque conponit.’ huiusmodi grauitas uel maturitas est in eis quasi auctoritas. unde apostolus scribit thymotheo: ‘Nemo adolescenciam tuam contempnat,’ hoc est, talem te exhibe, ut nemo propter etatem illam audeat te contempnere. Hinc et ieronimus neopocianum super hoc conmendat, scribens ad heliodorum: ‘Neopocianus,’ inquit, ‘iuuenis . . . curam habuit . .

. ut nullam in se daret fabulam rumoris obsceni, ut, qui mordebantur ad eius etatem, stuperent ad continenciam . . . Hilaritatem frontis temperabat grauitate morum et in risu gaudium intelligeres, non cachinnum.’ Hec ieronimus. Porro maturitas est virtus, qua cum quadam animi fructuosa quiete quis a uerbis non solum fedis aut superfluis sed eciam utilibus se temperat, iuxta illud psalmi: ‘Obmutui et humiliatus sum et silui a bonis.’ Hec quoque maxime decet adolescentem ad reprimendum in eo garrulitatem atque presumptionem.

unde dicitur in ecclesiastico xxxii: ‘Adolescens, loquere in tua causa uix cum necesse fuerit. Si bis interrogatus fueris, habeat capud responsum tuum. In multis esto quasi inscius et audi tacens simul et querens. In medio magnatorum non presumas et ubi sunt senes, non multum loquaris.’ hinc et exemplum de christi adolescentis taciturnitate induximus paulo ante. Sicut ergo dicit ambrosius ubi supra, ‘dum etas in adolescente uiget, dum sanguis estuat, dum debilitas ignoratur, dum leticia frequentatur, grandis morum est assuefacienda maturitas, quo natura vincatur.’ Et huiusmodi mores dilexisse uidetur dominus in adolescente illo, de quo dicitur in marcho x: ‘Jesus autem intuitus eum, dilexit illum.’ verum nullus potest ad hoc ueraciter informari uel reformari nisi custodiendo et implendo mandata dei, iuxta illud psalmi: ‘In quo corrigit adolescencior viam suam in custodiendo sermones tuos.’

In hoc autem defecit idem adolescens, qui audito consilio domini de omnibus pro ipso relinquendis abiit merens; erat enim multas possessiones habens, sicut legitur ibidem. Non ergo custodiuit illud preceptum domini, quod habetur in luca xii: ‘videte et cauete ab omni auaricia etc.’ Porro ad informationem morum in adolescencia multum valet triplex memoria, sc. senectutis et mortis et futuri iudicii aduentus. Senectutis, inquam, quia tunc non potest homo de facili mores nouos et insuetos induere, sicut nec senex equus freno assuescere. unde seneca lucilio, ‘Iuueni,’ inquit, ‘est parandum, seni utendum.’ hinc etiam in ecclesiastico xxv dicitur: ‘Que in iuuentute tua non congregasti, quomodo inuenies in senectute tua.’ Ideo optimum est deo in iuuentute seruire ac mores bonos induere, quod est hostiam deo fortem ac pinguem offerre.

Alioquin, ut legitur in malachia i: ‘maledictus dolosus, qui habet masculum in grege suo et uotum faciens immolat debile domino.’ Nam, ut dicit ambrosius ubi supra, ‘quid potest habere laudis, si corpus voluptatibus effetum et iam senectutis gelu frigidum ad sera deuotionis officia deposito iam seniorum uigore conuertat. Non est enim corona, nisi ubi fuerit difficilis lucta.’ Hec ambrosius. Et utique cum nemo possit duobus dominis seruire, multo melius et utilius et honestius est homini priores annos suos consumere in seruicio dei quam in seruicio mundi uel carnis uel dyaboli. unde salomon in prouerbiis v: ‘Ne des,’ inquit, ‘alienis honorem tuum et annos tuos crudeli,’ sc. dyabolo, ‘ne forte impleantur extranei viribus tuis et labores tui sint in domo aliena et gemas in nouissimis, quando consumpseris carnes tuas et corpus tuum et dicas: “Cur detestatus sum disciplinam et increpacionibus non acquieuit cor meum, nec audiui uocem docencium me et magistris non inclinaui aurem meam.” ’ Honorem uocat uel diuinam ymaginem uel iuuentutis florem uel eciam graciam baptismalem, quem iuuenis uendit, dum eum pro peccati uoluptate exponit.

Sicque uiribus eius, id est operibus virium anime et corporis implentur extranei, id est delectantur et saciantur demones a uita eterna alieni, secundum illud osee vii: ‘Comederunt alieni robur eius et ipse nesciuit. Et tunc gemit in nouissimis,’ id est in senio uel senectute, ‘quando iam pre debilitate et insuetudine nichil boni potest incipere.’ Ideo dicit ouidius in libro de arte iii:

Dum uires annique sinunt, tolerate labores. iam veniet tacito curua senecta pede. . . . venture memores iam nunc estote senecte, sic nullum vobis tempus abibit iners.

verum ut dicit tullius in libro de senectute, ‘in studiis laboribusque iuuentutis non intelligitur, quando uel quomodo senectus obrepit. Ita sensim absque sensu etas senescit, nec subito frangitur, sed diuturnitate extinguitur.’ Dicit eciam tibullus libro iio:

Sepe quidem cani nigros lesere capillos.

Hinc et ouidius sine tytulo libro io:

labitur occulte fallitque uolubilis etas, et celer admissis labitur annus equis.

ad hoc etiam est utilis memoria mortis, iuxta illud ecclesiastici vii: ‘Memorare nouissima tua et in eternum non peccabis.’ ut enim dicit gregorius in moralibus libro xvi, ‘que sit carnis substancia, testantur sepulcri . . . Nilque sic ad eius desiderium edomandum valet, quam ut quisque hoc, quod diligit uiuum, quale sit mortuum, penset.’ Hec gregorius. Neque uero sibi iuuenis blandiatur de longiori vita, quoniam in hac vita mortali non potest esse nisi stulta confidencia. ut enim in prosologion dicit Anselmus, ‘nichil morte cercius, sed nichil hora mortis incercius,’ et ambrosius, ‘Mors est,’ inquit, ‘iuuenibus in insidiis, que senibus est in ianuis.’

unde seneca ad lucilium, ‘Junior,’ inquit, ‘es; quid refert? . . . Incertum est, quo te loco mors exspectet. Itaque tu illam in omni loco exspecta.’ ideo dicit tullius ubi supra: ‘Meditatum esse debet ab adolescencia, ut mortem negligamus. Sine qua meditatione nemo tranquillo animo potest esse, cum certissime sit moriendum, et quo tempore sit incertum.’

Hoc est quod dicitur in iob xxxi: ‘Nescio, quamdiu subsistam et si post modicum tollat me factor meus.’ Hinc eciam dicitur in ecclesiaste ix: ‘Nescit homo finem suum, sed sicut pisces capiuntur hamo et sicut aues non prehenduntur laqueo, sic capiuntur homines tempore malo, cum eis extimplo supervenerit.’ Ideo dicit tullius in libro de senectute: ‘Frustra sperat adolescens uel promittit se diu victurum . . . Quid enim stulcius quam incerta pro certis habere? . .

. Quid eciam quod illa etas multo plures quam senectus habet mortis casus? Facilius enim in morbos adolescentes incidunt, grauius egrotant, tristius curantur . . .’ In hoc etiam ‘melioris conditionis est senex, quia, quod sperat adolescens, ipse consequtus est, ille uult diu uiuere, iste diu vixit . . .

Quamquam . . . michi quidem nec diuturnum videtur, quicquam in quo est aliquid extremum. Cum enim id aduenit, tunc id quod preteriit, effluxit; hoc tantum remanet, quod virtute et recte factis quisque consequtus est . . . Mors eciam contingit adolescentibus aduersante et repugnante natura .

. . et ideo grauis, senibus vero uenit tanquam sponte, nulla ui adhibita, et ideo leuis. Sicut ergo poma ex arboribus, si cruda sunt, ui auelluntur, si matura et cocta, decidunt. Sic vis adolescentibus uitam aufert, senibus maturitas.’ Hec tullius. propter hec omnia dicitur in ecclesiaste xii: ‘Memento creatoris tui in die iuuentutis tue, antequam veniat tempus afflictionis etc.’ ubi tanguntur et inconmoda senectutis et afflictio mortis.

Porro de tercio, sc. de memoria futuri iudicii, in ecclesiaste xi, postquam dixit salomon, quod in futuro vanitatis arguentur preterita, loquens assertiue statim subiungit, loquens yronice: ‘letare ergo iuuenis et in adolescencia tua et sit cor tuum in diebus iuuentutis tue et ambula in viis cordis tui et intuitu oculorum tuorum et scito, quod pro omnibus hiis adducet te deus in iudicium.’ Et quia uie cordis adolescentis peruerse due sunt, ut dictum est supra, sc. animositas iraconda et uoluptas lasciua, protinus adiungit: ‘Aufer iram a corde tuo et amoue maliciam a carne tua.’ Malicia siquidem culpe, id est uoluptas carnalis, amouenda est per maliciam pene, per castigationem carnis, iuxta illud ecclesiastici xi: ‘Malicia hore obliuionem facit luxurie maxime.’

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Ps.68.6 — A father of orphans and a judge of widows is God in his holy dwelling.
  2. ↩Prov.30.18-Prov.30.19 — Three things are too wonderful for me; four I do not understand: Prov.30.19 — The way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent upon a rock, the way of a ship in the heart of the sea, and the way of a man with a young woman—
  3. ↩Luke.2.46 — After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
  4. ↩John.12.36 — While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light. Jesus said these things, and after departing, he hid himself from them.
  5. ↩Prov.22.6 — Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
  6. ↩Job.20.11 — His bones are full of his youthful vigor, and with him it lies down in the dust.
  7. ↩Nah.3.5-Nah.3.6 — "I am against you, declares the LORD of Hosts, and I will lift your skirts over your face; I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame. Nah.3.6 — And I will throw filth upon you, and make you vile, and set you as a spectacle.
  8. ↩Lam.3.27 — It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
  9. ↩1Pet.5.5 — Likewise, younger people, submit to the elders. And all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
  10. ↩Ps.65.12 — You have crowned the year of your goodness, and your paths drip with abundance.
  11. ↩John.13.16 — Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
  12. ↩Luke.2.52 — And Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
  13. ↩Luke.2.44-Luke.2.45 — But supposing him to be in the company, they went a day's journey, and sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances. Luke.2.45 — and not having found him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.
  14. ↩Luke.2.46 — After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
  15. ↩Luke.2.51 — And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and he was subject to them. And his mother kept all these things in her heart.
  16. ↩Deut.32.7 — Remember the days of old; consider the years of generation after generation. Ask your father, and he will recount to you; your elders, and they will tell you.
  17. ↩Titus.2.6 — Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.
  18. ↩1Tim.4.12 — Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
  19. ↩Ps.39.2 — I said, 'I will guard my ways, that I do not sin with my tongue; I will keep a muzzle on my mouth, while the wicked are before me.'
  20. ↩Mark.10.21 — And Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, "One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me."
  21. ↩Luke.12.15 — And he said to them, "Take care, and guard yourselves against every kind of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of one's possessions."
  22. ↩Mal.1.14 — Cursed is the cheat who has a male in his flock and vows it, yet sacrifices a blemished one to the Lord, for I am a great King, says the Lord of Hosts, and my name is feared among the nations.
  23. ↩Matt.6.24;Luke.16.13 — No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Luke.16.13 — No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
  24. ↩Prov.5.9 — lest you give your vigor to others, and your years to the cruel one
  25. ↩Prov.5.10-Prov.5.12 — Lest strangers feast on your strength, and your labors enrich a foreigner's house. Prov.5.11 — and you will groan at your end, when your body and your flesh are consumed Prov.5.12 — And you will say, "How I have hated discipline, and my heart has despised correction!"
  26. ↩Hos.7.9 — Foreigners have devoured his strength, yet he does not know it; gray hairs are sprinkled upon him, yet he does not know.
  27. ↩Eccl.12.1 — Now remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years arrive when you will say, 'I find no pleasure in them.'
  28. ↩Eccl.11.9 — Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and in what your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
  29. ↩Eccl.11.10 — Remove vexation from your heart, and put evil away from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are fleeting.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The Latin is a single long sentence; broken into two English clauses with an em-dash to preserve the parenthetical force of the opening 'At uero quia…' clause from s2 flowing into s3.
  2. 2 ↩The embedded quotation attributed to Ecclesiasticus 47 is a candidate scripture allusion; final Moses resolution pending.
  3. 3 ↩The embedded quotation attributed to the same book, chapter 10, is a candidate scripture allusion; final Moses resolution pending.
  4. 4 ↩The Latin text contains several corrupt forms (ethnei, uulcania, ueseuus, olimpus, medulle, inflammate). The translation renders the most plausible intended sense: Aetnaei (of Etna), Vulcania (volcanic), Vesuvius, Olympus, medullae (marrow), inflammati/inflammatae (inflamed). The Jerome quotation is a candidate allusion; final Moses resolution pending.
  5. 5 ↩The connective chain ita…tamen…ut is rendered with 'yet in such a way that' to preserve the concessive-result force. Sed ('but') before naturale introduces a corrective contrast: the beauty is not an effect/artifice but something natural.
  6. 6 ↩This sentence is attributed to Ambrose in the following sentence (s7). The Latin closes with an apostrophe mark (') indicating a quotation.
  7. 7 ↩Quoted saying attributed to Bernard (of Clairvaux). The Latin periclitatur conveys being at risk or endangered, stronger than merely 'is tested.'
  8. 8 ↩conuulsus modifies ructus; rendered as 'convulsed with gas' to convey the physical sense of violent belching.
  9. 9 ↩per membrorum ordinem rendered as 'through the disordering of the limbs' to capture the sense that bodily disorder leads to moral disorder; ordo viciorum as 'an entire order of vices' to preserve the wordplay on ordo.
  10. 10 ↩sc. is the abbreviation for scilicet; rendered as 'namely' to introduce the following specification.
  11. 11 ↩The quoted phrase 'In populo graui laudabo te' echoes Psalm 34:19 (Vulgate) or a similar psalmic expression, but the exact source anchor awaits Moses resolution.
  12. 12 ↩The Tullian quotation ('Adolescentem probo, in quo est aliquid senile') is from Cicero, De Senectute. Source anchor preserved; final resolution deferred.
  13. 13 ↩The phrase 'super beati immaculati' likely refers to a commentary on the Immaculate Virgin (Mary) or on a blessed immaculate figure; the exact referent is context-dependent and left for review.
  14. 14 ↩Quasi rendered as 'a kind of' to capture its force as a softening/simile marker rather than a full 'as if.'
  15. 15 ↩Quotation from 1 Timothy 4:12 (Vulgate). The Latin follows the Vulgate reading closely.
  16. 16 ↩Ut introduces a purpose clause ('so that'), rendered naturally as 'that' after the imperative 'show yourself.'
  17. 17 ↩The Latin text appears to break off mid-sentence after 'iuuenis.' The quotation from Jerome is incomplete in the supplied source. Translation follows the available text faithfully.
  18. 18 ↩'triplex memoria' rendered as 'threefold awareness' to capture the sense of keeping these things in mind, rather than mere intellectual memory.
  19. 19 ↩'hostiam Deo fortem ac pinguem' — the sacrificial metaphor draws on Old Testament language of fat, unblemished offerings. Rendered 'strong and rich' to convey the sense of a worthy, substantial sacrifice without flattening the imagery.
  20. 20 ↩The Latin text attributes this quotation to Cicero's De Senectute. The quotation is a paraphrase rather than a verbatim citation.
  21. 21 ↩The correlative construction nec subito ... sed diuturnitate ('not suddenly, but by long duration') is rendered with an em-dash to preserve the contrastive force in natural contemporary English.
  22. 22 ↩The Latin reads 'aves non prehenduntur laqueo' (birds are NOT seized by a snare), which contradicts the Vulgate (Ecclesiastes 9:12 reads 'aves laqueo comprehendantur') and the logic of the simile. The negative appears to be a source-text corruption; the translation follows the corrected sense required by the parallel with fish and the temporal clause that follows. Final resolution belongs to a later stage.
  23. 23 ↩The Latin reads 'sperat' (hopes) where the Ciceronian original (Cato Maior 7.24) reads 'se sperat' (hopes for himself). The sense is preserved; the quotation is loosely cited.

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