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Chapter 39Erud.1.39

De puerilibus euacuandis in uirili etate.

The Apostle's Call to Put Away Childish Things

Drawing on 1 Corinthians 13 and Matthew 18, the author introduces the Pauline imperative to lay aside childish ways upon reaching manhood, while distinguishing childlike virtues to be imitated—innocence and humility—from childish vices to be abandoned.

But when, through the earlier stages of life, they have reached a mature age, then it is indeed necessary to fulfill what the Apostle says in his first letter to the Corinthians. 13: 'When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I reasoned as a child.'✦ But when I became a man, I put away the things that belonged to childhood.'✦ For although among the ways of boys there are certain things that are praiseworthy and for that reason to be imitated, nevertheless there are very many things that are also to be avoided. A certain innocence is to be imitated in them, according to that word of the Apostle in the first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 14.✦ 'In malice,' he says, 'be as children, but in understanding be perfect.'✦ Humility is also to be imitated, according to that word of the Lord in Matthew, chapter 18.✦ 'Whoever,' he says, 'humbles himself like this child, that one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.'✦

Chastity to Imitate, Childish Manners to Shun

The author commends purity of life as a childlike virtue worth imitating, then warns against retaining childish manners into adulthood, citing Sirach, Isaiah, and the principle that it is worse to be childish than to be a child.

Purity of life — or chastity — is likewise to be imitated. For this reason, after commending chastity, children were brought to him and he blessed them, as we read in Matthew 19. Furthermore, the things in them that are properly called childish are to be avoided. To give an example: it is monstrous and abominable for a man — now grown, now even old — to suck at the breast, and far more so to retain childish manners. This is what the Lord hates — namely, a foolish old man — as we read in Ecclesiasticus 25. Hence it is also said in Isaiah 45: 'A boy who is a hundred years old will die, and a sinner who is a hundred years old will be accursed.' For just as it is worse to be bestial than to be a beast — because being a beast comes from nature, but being bestial comes from vice — so it is worse to be childish than to be a child.

Seneca on Laying Aside the Boy's Mind

Seneca's letter to Lucilius is quoted at length, celebrating the transition from boy's robe to man's garment and urging the further transition from boyish mind to philosophical seriousness, noting that childishness persists even when boyhood has passed.

Seneca, in his third letter to Lucilius, writes: 'Think about how much joy you felt when you set aside the boy's robe and put on the garment of a man, and were led into the forum.' Look forward to a greater joy still, when you set aside the boy's mind and enter into the seriousness of philosophy. For as yet it is not boyhood that stays with us — something far worse — childishness remains. And this is all the worse, because we have the authority of old men but the faults of boys — not only of boys, but of infants. They fear trivial things, and what is false — we fear both.'

Three Forms of Childishness to Be Laid Aside

The author defines and illustrates three forms of childishness—speaking, thinking, and being wise childishly—with scriptural support from Psalms, Deuteronomy, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and 1 Corinthians, and the example of Esau selling his birthright.

Seneca says these things. So childish things must be put away from a man, as the apostle testifies about himself, clearly. To speak childishly is to speak without premeditation, judgment, or deliberation. On the contrary, of the just man it is said that he arranges his words with judgment. And elsewhere: 'The mouth of the just man will meditate on wisdom, and his tongue will speak judgment.' Likewise, to think childishly is to provide only for the present and not for the future. —according to that passage in Deuteronomy 30: 'Would that they were wise, and understood, and provided for the last things!' Hence it is also said in Proverbs 6: 'Go to the ant, you lazy one, and consider her ways and learn wisdom, which, though she has no leader, no teacher, and no ruler, prepares her food in summer and gathers in the harvest what she may eat.'✦ Hence also in Ecclesiastes 4: 'Better is a poor and wise boy than an old and foolish king, who does not know how to foresee the future; and sometimes someone goes out from prison and chains to a kingdom, while another born in a kingdom is consumed by poverty.' Likewise, to be wise in a childish way — that is, to prefer temporal things to spiritual ones — just as children are accustomed to value apples or trifles of that sort more than their own inheritance. Whence it is said by the same apostle, 1 [Corinthians] to [the] Corinthians. 14: 'Do not, children, become so in your understanding.'✦ For such people are likened to Esau, who gave up his birthright for a worthless lentil stew, just as it is read in Genesis 25. These, then, are the three things the apostle rightly says he has laid aside, namely: Speaking childishly, thinking childishly, being wise childishly. In short, certain vices are characteristic of children, and for this reason they must be laid aside or avoided.

Six Childish Vices to Be Avoided

The author begins enumerating vices characteristic of children that must be laid aside: foolishness, uncleanness, and inconstancy, each illustrated with scriptural references and vivid examples of vacillating behavior.

The first is foolishness, about which it is said in Proverbs 22: 'Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child.' Because of this, as has been said, the apostle says: 'Do not be children in your thinking.' The second is uncleanness, such as sitting in the mud, soiling one's clothes, and things of that sort. This is what men or old men do when they linger in their vices, according to that passage in Jeremiah 48: 'Moab has been fertile from his youth and has settled in its dregs, etc.' The third is inconstancy, about which it is said in Proverbs 29: 'A boy left to his own will brings shame to his mother.' Such are those who now want one thing and now another, according to that proverb. 13: 'The lazy person wants and yet does not want.' Today they set out on the road to paradise; tomorrow, the road to hell.

Inconstancy of the Divided Heart

Expanding on inconstancy, the author quotes a vivid description of the inconstant person who begs and scorns in turn, then cites Solomon on the inconsistent heart and Cato's warning that the self-divided person fits nowhere.

One day they build up, the next they tear down, according to that saying in the book of letters: What he begs for, he scorns; what he just let slip, he demands back. He rages and clashes with life itself in its whole order — he tears down, he builds up, he replaces square things with round. This is what Solomon says in Proverbs 15: 'The heart of fools will be unlike' — that is, inconsistent. to himself. Therefore Cato says: By resisting yourself, reject yourself — you're your own worst enemy. The person who is at odds with himself will never fit anywhere.

Shamelessness and Boyish Desire

The fourth and fifth childish vices are treated: shamelessness, which publicly exposes sin, and boyish desire, which craves harmful beautiful things; each is supported by scriptural texts from Isaiah, Ecclesiasticus, Daniel, Proverbs, and a further quotation from Seneca.

The fourth is shamelessness, by which — namely — they lay bare their own shameful parts, and things of that kind. This is what those do who shamefully make their sins public, according to that word of Isaiah 3: 'They proclaimed their sin as if it were Sodom, and they did not hide it.'✦ The fifth is childish desire, by which people are accustomed to crave beautiful things even when they are harmful — like a burning coal or a sword, and the like. This is what those do who, seeing carnal or worldly beauty, immediately desire it, not paying attention to what Jerome says: that the appearance of a woman is like a fiery sword — according to that passage in Ecclesiasticus 9: 'On account of the appearance of a woman many have perished, and from this desire blazes up like fire.' Hence it is also said to that old man, inveterate in evil days, in Daniel 13: 'The seed of Canaan and not of Judah — appearance deceived you, and desire overthrows your heart.' Therefore Solomon says in Proverbs — 'How long, little children, will you love childishness? And you fools — do you desire the things that are harmful to yourselves? And will the ignorant hate knowledge?'✦ And Seneca, writing to Lucilius in his twenty-eighth letter, says: "Count them up, and you'll be ashamed to want the things you wanted as a boy." And from the same vein, Martial the cook—

Childish Fear and the Fear of God

The sixth vice—childish fear, which fears trivial things over serious ones—is treated with a quotation from Martial, followed by extensive scriptural teaching from Psalms, Isaiah, 1 Maccabees, and Matthew on fearing God rather than man, closing with a philosopher's sententia on the fear of God.

"Alas," he says, "our years are badly reckoned." . . We're infants, and yet we seem like old men. . . Life isn't about living long, but about being strong. The sixth is a childish fear, by which people fear false things more than true ones — ghostly companions more than evil spirits, and trivial matters more than serious ones — a mother's rod more than an enemy's sword. So too do those who love vanity act in the same way. For from vain love comes vain fear, according to that line from the Psalm: 'You have set its boundary with terror.'1 And elsewhere: 'There indeed,' it says, 'they trembled with fear where there was no fear.'✦2 Against this, Isaiah 8 says: 'Do not fear what they fear, but let the Lord of hosts himself be your dread and your terror.'✦3 And again: 'Do not,' it says, 'fear the reproach of men or be afraid of their blasphemies.'✦4 For just as a garment, so the moth eats them, and just as wool, so the worm devours them.✦5 And again: 'Who are you,' it says, 'that you should fear a mortal man and a son of man, who will wither like grass — and you have forgotten the Lord your Maker?'✦6 So too Mattathias, urging his sons in the first book of Maccabees, says: 'Do not fear the words of a sinner, because his glory is dung and worm.' 'Today he is exalted, and tomorrow he will not be found.' And the Lord says in the Gospel of Matthew: 'Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.'✦ And truly, because they do not fear where fear is most due, it follows by right judgment that they fear where there is nothing to fear. As the philosopher says: 'Fear God, and all things will fear you.' But you will fear all things, if you have not feared God.

Read the original Latin

Cum autem per etatum priorum gradus ad uirilem statum accesserint, tunc quidem oportet implere, quod dicit apostolus Ia corinth. xiii: ‘Cum essem paruulus, loquebar ut paruulus, cogitabam ut paruulus, sapiebam ut paruulus. Quando autem factus uir, euacuaui, que erant paruuli.’ Siquidem licet in moribus puerorum quedam sunt laudabilia et ob hoc imitanda, plurima tamen nichilominus eciam sunt uitanda. Nam imitanda quidam est in eis innocencia, secundum illud apostoli Ia ad corinthios xiiii. ‘Malicia,’ inquit, ‘paruuli estote, sensibus autem perfecti.’ Imitanda eciam est humilitas, secundum illud uerbum domini in matheo xviii. ‘quicunque,’ inquit, ‘humiliauerit se sicut paruulus iste, hic est maior in regno celorum.’

Imitanda est iterum uite puritas siue castitas. Ob hoc enim post conmendacionem castitatis oblati sunt ei paruuli et benedixit eis, ut legitur in matheo xix. Porro uitanda sunt in eis ea, que proprie dicuntur puerilia. verbi gracia monstruosum est et abhominabile hominem iam uirum uel senem mamillam suggere, multoque magis pueriles mores retinere. Hoc est enim quod odit dominus, sc. senem fatuum, ut legitur in ecclesiastico xxv. hinc etiam dicitur in ysaya xlv: ‘Puer centum annorum morietur et peccator centum annorum maledictus erit.’ Sicut enim peius est bestialem esse quam bestiam, quia bestiam esse est a natura, bestialem ex uicio, sic peius est puerilem esse quam puerum.

unde seneca ad lucilium epistola iii: ‘Tenes . . . ,’ inquit, ‘memoria, quantum gaudium senseris, cum pretexta posita uirilem togam sumpsisti et in forum deductus es. Maius exspecta, cum puerilem animum deposueris et te in uiros philosophie transtuleris. Adhuc enim non puericia, sed quod est grauius, puerilitas remanet. Et hoc quidem peius est, quod habemus actoritatem senum, sed vicia puerorum, nec puerorum tantum, sed infancium. Illi leuia, hij falsa formidant, nos utraque.’

Hec seneca. Euacuanda ergo sunt puerilia uiro, sicut testatur apostolus de seipso, videl. pueriliter loqui, hoc est sine premeditatione ac iudicio et deliberacione. Nam econtra dicitur de uiro iusto, quod disponit sermones suos in iudicio. Et alibi: ‘os iusti meditabitur sapienciam et lingua eius loquetur iudicium.’ Item pueriliter cogitare, sc. de solis presentibus et non de futuris prouidere, iuxta illud deuteronomij xxx: ‘utinam saperent et intelligerent ac nouissima prouiderent.’ unde et dicitur in prouerbiis vi: ‘vade ad formicam, o piger, et considera uias eius et disce sapienciam, que cum non habeat ducem nec preceptorem nec principem, parat sibi estate cibum et congregat in messe, quod comedat.’

Hinc et in ecclesiaste iiii: ‘Melior est puer pauper et sapiens rege sene et stulto, qui nescit preuidere in posterum, quod et de carcere cathenisque interdum quis egrediatur ad regnum et alius natus in regno inopia consumatur.’ Item pueriliter sapere, quod est temporalia spiritualibus preferre, sicut pueri poma uel huiusmodi minima solent plus quam hereditatem suam diligere. unde dicitur ab eodem apostolo Ia ad cor. xiiii: ‘Nolite, pueri, effici sensibus.’ Tales enim assimilantur esau, qui dedit primogenita sua pro uili lentis edulio, sicut legitur in genesi xxv. Hec itaque tria merito se dicit apostolus euacuasse, sc. pueriliter loqui, cogitare, sapere. Denique puerorum uicia quedam sunt propria et ob hoc euacuanda siue uitanda.

Primum est stulticia, de qua dicitur in prouerbiis xxii: ‘Stulticia colligata est in corde pueri.’ propter quod, ut dictum est, dicit apostolus: ‘Nolite, pueri, effici sensibus.’ Secundum est immundicia, ut in luto sedere, uestes deturpare et huiusmodi. Sic faciunt uiri uel senes in uiciis conmorantes, iuxta illud ieremie xlviii: ‘Fertilis fuit moab ab adholescencia sua et requieuit in fecibus suis etc.’ Tercium est inconstancia, de qua dicitur in prouerbiis xxix: ‘Puer, qui dimittitur uoluntati sue, confundit matrem suam.’ Tales sunt, qui modo uolunt unum modo aliud, secundum illud prouerb. xiii: ‘vult et nun uult piger.’ Hodie siquidem aggrediuntur viam paradysi, cras uiam inferni.

una die edificant, alia destruunt, iuxta illud oracij in libro epistolarum:

Quod peciit, spernit, repetit, quod nuper omisit, estuat et uite disconuenit ordine toto, diruit, edificat, mutat quadrata rotundis.

Hoc est quod dicit salomon in prouerbijs xv: ‘Cor stultorum dissimile erit,’ sc. sibi ipsi. Ideo dicit cato:

sperne repugnando tibi tu contrarius esse. Conueniet nulli, qui secum dissidet ipse.

Quartum est inuerecundia, qua sc. pudenda sua denudant et similia. Sic faciunt qui peccata sua pudenter publicant, secundum illud ysaie iii: ‘peccatum suum quasi sodoma predicauerunt, nec absconderunt.’ Quintum est puerilis amor, quo concupiscere solent pulcra eciam nociua, ut carbonem ardentem uel gladium et similia. Sic faciunt qui pulcritudinem carnalem uel mundanam videntes statim concupiscunt, non attendentes, quod ait Jeronimus, quod species mulieris est quasi gladius igneus, iuxta illud ecclesiastici ix: ‘Propter speciem mulieris multi perierunt et ex hoc concupiscencia quasi ignis exardescit.’ Hinc et illi seni dierum malorum inueterato dicitur in daniele xiii: ‘Semen chanaan et non iuda, species decepit te et concupiscencia subuertit cor tuum.’ Ideo dicit salomon in prouerb. io: ‘Usquequo, paruuli, diligitis infanciam et stulti, ea que sibi noxia sunt, cupiunt et imprudentes odibunt scienciam?’

Et seneca ad lucilium epistola xxviiia, ‘Numera,’ inquit, ‘et pudebit ea uelle, que puer volueras.’ Hinc et marcialis coquus,

Heu — inquit — nostri male conputantur anni . . . Infantes sumus et senes videmur . . . Non hoc uiuere sed ualere uita est.

Sextum est puerilis timor, quo timent etiam falsa plusquam uera, ut socios laruatos plus quam malignos spiritus, et leuia magis quam grauia, ut uirgam matris plus quam gladium hostis. Sic et illi faciunt, qui uanitatem diligunt. Nam ex amore uano sequitur uanus timor, secundum illud psalmi: ‘Posuisti firmamentum eius formidinem.’ unde et alibi, ‘Illic enim,’ inquit, ‘trepidauerunt timore, ubi non erat timor.’ contra quod dicit ysayas viii: ‘Timorem eorum ne paueatis, sed dominus exercituum ipse sit pauor uester et ipse terror uester.’ Et iterum ii: ‘Nolite,’ inquit, ‘timere opprobrium hominum et blasphemias eorum ne timeatis. Sicut enim uestimentum, sic comedit eos uermis et sicut lanam, sic deuorabit eos tinea.’ Et iterum: ‘Quis tu,’ inquit, ‘ut timeres ab homine mortali et a filio hominis, qui quasi fenum ita arescet et oblitus es domini factoris tui etc.’

Hinc eciam mathathias filios suos exortans primo machabeorum ii: ‘a uerbis,’ inquid, ‘uiri peccatoris ne timueritis, quia gloria eius sterchus et uermis est. Hodie extollitur et cras non inuenietur.’ Et dominus in euangelio mathei x: ‘Nolite,’ inquit, ‘timere eos, qui occidunt corpus, animam autem non possunt occidere, sed pocius eum timete, qui potest animam et corpus perdere in gehennam.’ Et reuera, quia non timent ubi maxime est timendum et recto iudicio sequitur, ut timeant, ubi non est timendum. unde philosophus, ‘Deum,’ inquit, ‘time et omnia timebunt te. At omnia timebis, si deum non timueris.’

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩1Cor.13.11 — When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I reasoned as a child; but when I became an adult, I put away childish things.
  2. ↩1Cor.13.11 — When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I reasoned as a child; but when I became an adult, I put away childish things.
  3. ↩1Cor.14.20 — Brothers, do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
  4. ↩1Cor.14.20 — Brothers, do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
  5. ↩Matt.18.4 — Whoever makes himself low, like this child—this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
  6. ↩Matt.18.4 — Whoever makes himself low, like this child—this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
  7. ↩Prov.6.6-Prov.6.8 — Go to the ant, you lazy one; observe her ways and become wise. Prov.6.7 — which has no commander, officer, or ruler— Prov.6.8 — It prepares its bread in summer; it gathers its food at harvest.
  8. ↩1Cor.14.20 — Brothers, do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
  9. ↩Isa.3.9 — The look on their faces bears witness against them; they declare their sin like Sodom, they do not hide it. Woe to their souls, for they have dealt out evil to themselves.
  10. ↩Prov.1.22 — How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? Scoffers delight in their scoffing, and fools hate knowledge.
  11. ↩Ps.13.5 — But I trust in your steadfast love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
  12. ↩Isa.8.12-Isa.8.13 — Do not call a conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, and do not be terrified. Isa.8.13 — But the LORD of hosts, him you shall regard as holy; let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
  13. ↩Isa.51.7 — Hear me, you who know righteousness, a people whose law is in their hearts. Do not fear the reproach of mere mortals, and do not be dismayed by their insults.
  14. ↩Isa.51.8 — For like a garment they will be eaten by moths, and like wool they will be eaten by a grub; but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation for generation after generation.
  15. ↩Isa.51.12-Isa.51.13 — I, I am the one who comforts you. Who are you that you fear a mortal who must die, a human being who is given over to the grass? Isa.51.13 — And you have forgotten the LORD your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth. And you have lived in fear continually, all day long, because of the fury of the oppressor, when he was ready to destroy. But where is the fury of the oppressor now?
  16. ↩Matt.10.28 — And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Psalm 138:12 (Vulgate) / Psalm 139:12 (Hebrew numbering). The Latin 'Posuisti firmamentum eius formidinem' is a direct quotation from the Vulgate psalm.
  2. 2 ↩Psalm 13:5 (Vulgate) / Psalm 14:5 (Hebrew numbering). The quotation 'Illic enim trepidaverunt timore ubi non erat timor' is a direct citation from the Vulgate psalm.
  3. 3 ↩Isaiah 8:12–13 (Vulgate). The quotation 'Timorem eorum ne paueatis, sed dominus exercituum ipse sit pauor uester et ipse terror uester' is a direct citation from Isaiah.
  4. 4 ↩Isaiah 51:7 (Vulgate). The quotation 'Nolite timere opprobrium hominum et blasphemias eorum ne timeatis' is a direct citation from Isaiah.
  5. 5 ↩Isaiah 51:8 (Vulgate). The quotation 'Sicut enim uestimentum sic comedit eos uermis et sicut lanam sic deuorabit eos tinea' continues the Isaiah passage from the previous sentence.
  6. 6 ↩Isaiah 51:12–13 (Vulgate). The quotation 'Quis tu ut timeres ab homine mortali et a filio hominis qui quasi fenum ita arescet et oblitus es domini factoris tui' is a direct citation from Isaiah.

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