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← De eruditione filiorum nobilium (On the Education of Noble Children)/Book 1 · De eruditione filiorum nobilium
Chapter 40Erud.1.40

Quod uir preterita debet recolere et presencia attendere.

The Threefold Duty of Self-Examination

A man of mature age must examine his life across three times—past, present, and future—recalling both miseries and blessings as a path to wisdom.

In short, since a man takes his name from virtue, whoever reaches manly age should strive to be what he's called. For as it is read in Isaiah 13: 'A man will be more precious than gold.'1 And since that age is stronger than the others, standing as it does between childhood and old age, as if at a vantage point — so that a person may have eyes looking inward, ahead, and behind — he ought to recall the past, provide for the future, and still attend to the present, following the words of Seneca in his book on virtues: 'Let your mind be distributed across three times: order the present, foresee the future, remember the past.'2 This is also why there is that line from Deuteronomy 32: 'If only they would be wise, and understand, and foresee the last things!'3 Let him recall the past, then — both bad things and good, whether miseries or kindnesses. I mean the miseries that come from punishments and even from faults. For each kind of misery —

The Lowliness of Human Origin

To curb the arrogance of nobility, one must recall the misery and uncleanness of one's conception and birth, following the wise man's confession in Wisdom 7.

Both punishment and fault trace their beginning almost from the very origin of man. Therefore, to keep in check the arrogance that rises from nobility itself, let the noble man call to mind the misery and uncleanness of his own origin, following the example of the wise one in the book of Wisdom, chapter seven, who says: 'I am indeed also a mortal man, like all others, and of the earthly race of the one who was first made, and I was fashioned as flesh in my mother's womb.' In the time of ten months I was coagulated in blood from the seed of man, and by the pleasure of fitting sleep. And being born, I received the common air, and likewise I fell upon the earth that was made, and I uttered the first voice — the same as all others — weeping. In swaddling clothes I was nourished, and with great cares. For no one from among the kings had any other beginning of birth.' Let him consider these things. And in this he rebukes the pride of certain great men, who think neither of their own origin nor of their end, but only of their present glory.

Bernard's Rebuke of Worldly Glory

Bernard of Clairvaux strips away the trappings of rank and wealth to reveal the naked, wretched man beneath—grieving that he was born to labor, not to honor.

Let them hear what blessed Bernard says in his tenth book to Pope Eugene: "A wholesome bond, so that when you consider yourself the supreme pontiff, you should attend equally to the most vile ash — not indeed that it once was, but that it is."45 . . . Finally, if silk and jewels and metals and all such things — with which you walk stuffed like certain passing morning clouds —6 . . from the face of your own consideration, scattering it, you will have blown it away — there will meet you a naked man, and poor, and wretched, and miserable: a man grieving that he is a man, blushing that he is naked, weeping that he was born, murmuring that man was born to labor, not to honor.78

The Misery of Human Life from Birth to Death

Citing Job 14:1, Bernard describes the human condition as brief, fearful, and laden with misery, and calls the reader to sober self-examination.

A human being born of a woman, and because of this laden with guilt; living a short span of time, and because of this filled with fear; burdened with many miseries, and because of this accompanied by weeping.✦ . . These things — . . Consideration holds you in place; it won't let you fly away, nor walk in things too great and wonderful for you.✦ Bernard, these things.

Augustine and the Weeping of Birth

Augustine and the classical tradition confirm that human life begins in weeping, not laughter—Zoroaster's monstrous laugh at birth portended only evil.

On this too — the misery of human origin — Augustine says in his book On the City of God, chapter 21: "Who would not shudder and choose to die, if the choice set before one were either to undergo death or to return once more to infancy?" Indeed, the fact that this life begins not from laughter but from weeping — what evils it has entered into, even the prophets did not fully know.✦ They say that Zoroaster, the moment he was born, laughed. Nor did that monstrous laughter portend anything good for him, even though he was skilled in the magical arts. . . the inventor. .

The Heavy Yoke upon All Men

Sirach 40 declares that no one—from king to pauper—escapes the heavy yoke of toil from womb to grave; recalling this breeds true humility and compunction.

. And the king of the Bactrians was overcome in war by Ninus, king of the Assyrians. Finally, just as it is read in Ecclesiasticus 40: 'A great occupation has been created for all men, and a heavy yoke upon the sons of Adam, from the day of their departure from their mother's womb to the day of burial into the mother of all — their thoughts and the fears of their heart toward the inventions of expectation, and the days of ending: from one who sits in glory upon a throne, even to one humbled to earth and ashes; from the one who wears jacinth and bears a crown, even to the one who is clothed in rough linen.'9 See — no one is exempt from that heavy yoke. Whoever, therefore, calls these things to mind and recognizes his misery conceives humility. And just as the evils of punishment must be recalled to humble oneself, so also the evils of sin must be recalled for repenting and grieving, according to that word of Ezekiel — which is read in Isaiah 38: 'I will reflect on,' he says, 'all my years in the bitterness of my soul.'✦10 In these two kinds of things there is cause for lament: sins committed and time wasted.

Lamenting Sins and Lost Time

Bernard teaches that new life pleases little those who do not lament the old; two things must be mourned—sins committed and time wasted.

Hence blessed Bernard, in a certain sermon, says: 'The newness of life pleases little the one who does not yet lament the old things.'11 . . Sins, that is—12 offenses, and . . lost time.'13

The Healing of Sins through Recognition

Sins must be recalled for healing: an unrecognized disease cannot be cured, and the beginning of salvation is the knowledge of sin.

And so sins must be recalled for the sake of healing and amendment. On the healing of sins, Maximian says:14 When a disease goes unrecognized, there is no cure for it.

The Remedy Matched to the Wound

Drawing on Augustine, Prosper, and Jerome, the text teaches that each sin requires its proper remedy—fasting heals the body's passions, prayer heals the mind's plagues.

On the contrary, Seneca says to Lucilius: 'The beginning of salvation is the knowledge of sin.' . .' And just as it belongs to a watchful person to recount a dream, so to confess one's own sins is a sign of wholeness.15 The same author, in Agamemnon: The person who repents of having sinned is almost innocent. As Augustine says in his book on penance, 'The satisfaction of penance is to cut out the causes of sins and not to give their temptations any opening.' And as Prosper says in the second book On the Contemplative Life, 'For sins, unlike remedies must be applied, just as the sins themselves arise from unlike causes.' Indeed, as Jerome says in his commentary on Mark, 'The remedy for each wound must be one proper to it.' What heals the heel doesn't heal the eye. . . By fasting the passions of the body are healed; by prayer, however, the plagues of the mind must be healed. Hence, when the evil spirit was driven out of the person, the Lord said that this kind is not cast out except by prayer and fasting.

Redeeming Wasted Time

Paul urges the Ephesians to redeem the time; Seneca calls old age to account for years wasted in vain pursuits, and the poet laments how briefly we labor at great things.

On the recovery of time, the apostle says to the Ephesians (6): 'Redeem the time, because the days are evil.'✦ Hence also Seneca, in the seventh book of his Natural Questions: 'Let old age cast up to itself the years wasted among vain pursuits.'16 . . And let toil make good the losses of a lifetime wickedly taken away.17 . . Let your occupations be given back — your inheritance, by far.18

Recovering What Is Lost through Penitence

If the mind turns back to self-contemplation at life's end, it can recover through diligent use of the present whatever time has been lost.

. . Let worry be released. For if the whole mind is free and turns back, at the very least, to the contemplation of itself at life's end, it will accomplish this and stand firm for itself; and measuring each day the shortness of time, it will recover through diligent use of the present life whatever has been lost. For the passage from penitence to honorable things is most faithful. Therefore, in the words of the poet: We raise our spirits to great heights, and yet in the briefest time we labor at the greatest things. . .

Hastening the Pace of Reform

Seneca and Cicero urge the reader to hasten the work of reform without excuse of age, for the spirit grows when it considers how much remains, not how much is left to oneself.

So let's do what's customary on a journey. Since we've set out too slowly, let's pick up the pace, weigh the delay, and take up the great work without any excuse of age.1920 The spirit grows whenever the greatness of what's been undertaken is revealed, and one considers how much remains to the purpose, not how much is left to oneself.2122 These words are Seneca's. On account of this recurrence of time, Tullius says in his oration on Batilina: 'I have heard and seen many —2324 . . — who had surrendered their entire youth to pleasures, yet turned back to honest fruit, and proved themselves to be serious and illustrious men.'2526

Recalling the Benefits of God

One must recall past benefits to repay them, especially those of God and parents; Bernard calls us to give thanks to our Maker, Benefactor, Redeemer, and Rewarder.

A person ought also, as has been said, to recall past benefits in order to repay them — and especially the benefits of God and of parents. The benefits of God, I say — concerning which blessed Bernard says on the Psalm "He Who Dwells": "Let us give thanks, brothers, to our Maker, our Benefactor, our Redeemer, our Rewarder."✦27 . . For the first thing he granted us is what we are — since he himself made us. . . He made us, I say.

The Fourfold Gift of Creation and Providence

God's first benefit is existence itself; the second is His abundant provision for sustenance, education, consolation, correction, and delight—all given freely.

. . And by the body he is an excellent creature, but even more so by the soul, since it is distinguished by the image of the Creator, sharing in reason, and capable of eternal blessedness.✦ Furthermore, as to the mind, it is most of all to be admired among creatures, cleaving to itself by the incomprehensible craftsmanship and unsearchable wisdom of the Founder.✦2829 . . ' Furthermore, in the second benefit — how abundantly, how most generously, how much he has bestowed on us for sustenance, how much for education, how much for consolation, how much even now for correction, and how much also for delight!30 But these two benefits he bestows freely and twofold.

The Free Gift of Redemption

The third benefit is redemption, given freely yet personally—God made us from nothing and saved us for nothing, and the ungrateful heart is not sleeping but dead.

. . This is without merit and without any effort of our own. . . And now, ungrateful man, consider from this the third work of your redemption.31 . .

God Made Himself for Our Sake

God not only made us and all things for our sake but made Himself one flesh with us, that we might become one spirit with Him—yet the heart that does not pour out thanksgiving is dead.

This too has been given freely—but freely given, in the sense that it pertains to you. . . Not freely, where he is concerned. You have been made safe for nothing—and certainly not from nothing. Why is your heart so sluggish in the face of all this? No—it is not sleeping, it is dead: that heart which does not respond to this blessing, which does not pour itself out entirely into thanksgiving and the voice of praise. .

Bernard on God's Constant Aid and Our Ingratitude

Bernard rebukes our inattention to God's constant care—He made us, made all things for us, made Himself for us, and will make us one spirit with Him—yet we neglect the Giver.

. And so your God made you — he made so many things for your sake. And he made himself for your sake. . . He himself has become one flesh with you, and he will also make you one spirit with himself.✦ Let these four things not depart from your heart, not from your mouth, not from your memory, not from your affection. 'But we' — as the same author says elsewhere in the same treatise — 'we do not attend to, or attend less to, the reverence due to the one who presides, the protection of the one who shields us, the gifts of the one who bestows them, the grace shown to the ungrateful — no, to the many graces by which he goes before us and comes to our aid.'

God's Many Modes of Visiting Us

God fills us with His splendors, visits us through angels, instructs us through human beings, and comforts us through Scripture—yet we neglect ourselves all the more.

And now, through himself, he fills our souls with splendors; now through angels he visits us; now through human beings he instructs us; now also through the Scriptures he comforts and teaches us. . . Why do we take up only what serves ourselves, and why do we alone neglect our own selves?32 Is it because help comes to us from every side that we should therefore be indifferent to ourselves?33 On the contrary, it is precisely for that reason that we should be all the more vigilant. For there would not be such great concern carried on for us in heaven and on earth alike, if great necessity did not seem to weigh upon us.34 These are Bernard's words.

What Shall I Render to the Lord?

With David we ask what we can render to the Lord for all His gifts; Micah answers: do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God—and honor your parents.

Considering all this, then, one might say with David: "What can I give back to the Lord for all he has given me?"✦ To whom, namely —35 To this question Micah, in chapter six, gave the answer: "I will show you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you.✦ Surely, to do justice and to love mercy and to walk carefully with your God."✦36 One ought also to recall the benefits received from parents — their bringing you into the world, their upbringing, and the like — and to repay them in turn, so as to fulfill what is said in Ecclesiasticus, chapter seven: "Honor your father and do not forget the groanings of your mother.37 Remember that without them you would not exist, and repay them, just as they repaid you."38 But this subject has been treated more fully above. Nevertheless, one ought also to attend to present things — namely:39

Examining the Inner Life

One must attend not only to outward things but far more to the inner life—what one loves, fears, rejoices in, and grieves over—for the stranger devours his strength unawares.

his own condition and the vanity of temporal things. In his own state of life he should consider not only outward things but far more the inward ones. For as blessed Bernard says in his sermon on the first day of Lent: 'Wretched is the man who goes entirely into what lies outside him, ignorant of his own inner life, thinking himself to be something when he is nothing — he deceives himself.'4041 The psalmist speaks in the voice of such a person: 'I am poured out like water, and all my bones are scattered.'42 Another prophet also says: 'Strangers have devoured his strength, and he himself did not know it.'✦43 . . Pay close attention, O man: what you love, what you fear, where your joy comes from — and what saddens you.44

Progress and Failure in the Spiritual Life

Spiritual conversion is a lifelong work; one must attend both to progress lest it fail and to failure so that one may grow, for without recognizing progress there can be no gratitude.

. . Because the whole heart exists in these four affections, concerning which the Lord says through the prophet: 'Turn to me with your whole heart.'✦ Now this spiritual conversion can by no means be accomplished in a single day — would that it might be brought to completion in the whole of this life, which we pass in this body.45 There, then, two things must be attended to by a person — namely:46 progress, lest it fail — and failure, so that one may grow. For as blessed Bernard says: 'If a person does not understand their own progress, how can they give thanks for it?' Hence it is said in First Corinthians.47

Gratitude as the Channel of Grace

Failure to recognize God's gifts makes us ungrateful and dries up the fount of grace; Bernard teaches that streams of grace return to their source so they may flow again.

1 John 3:24: 'We have received the Spirit, who is from God, so that we may know the things that have been given to us by God.'✦ For if we don't know this, we are ungrateful, and through this we dry up the very fount of grace for ourselves. For as Bernard says somewhere, 'To the place whence the streams of graces flow out, they return, so that they may flow again.' On the other hand, ingratitude is the stepmother of grace, drying up the fountain of mercy. We need to attend to our failings even more than to our advances — or rather, to our advances too, as blessed Gregory says: 'It is necessary in a certain way to see by not seeing'; that is, by seeing our advances not with the eyes of pride but with the eyes of gratitude. We should look at them for the acknowledgment of graces received, not for self-exaltation. Whence the same Gregory, in the Morals, book twenty-two: 'Holy men,' he says, ' .

Forgetting What Lies Behind

Like travelers, we should look not at what we have done but at what remains; Gregory and Bernard teach that the good not yet done matters more than the good already accomplished.

. And if in understanding they rejoice together in the gift of the One who bestows it, still, those who would merit it consider the debt of work yet owed. . . And by the custom of travelers, we should not look at how much we have already done, but at how much remains to be done. . . Furthermore. . . The good we haven't yet done matters more than the good we've already accomplished. Gregory said this. Hence Bernard, writing on the psalm 'He who dwells': 'This is truly great strength and the highest security: when you live devoutly and yet pay more attention to what you lack than to what you seem to have already obtained, forgetting what lies behind and stretching yourself toward what lies ahead.'✦✦ Bernard said this.

All Is Vanity under the Sun

Ecclesiastes declares all things under the sun to be vanity—a theme the chapter now develops through classical and patristic witnesses.

Furthermore, regarding the contemplation of the vanity of things, it is said in Ecclesiastes 1: 'I saw all that is done under the sun.'✦ And behold, all is vanity.'✦

The Emptiness of Worldly Possessions

Worldly things bring no fullness, support, or satisfaction; Cicero, Seneca, Job, and Gregory all confirm that such goods are not truly good and the fool's rooted prosperity is quickly cursed.

They are rightly called vanity, because they bring no fullness to the one who possesses them, no support to the one who leans on them, no satisfaction to the one who enjoys them — that is, to the one who feeds on them. For this reason, the lover of such things is addressed in the Psalm: 'Why do you love vanity and seek falsehood?'✦ Therefore, let vanity be carefully observed, so that it may be despised. As Tully says in the fifth book of the Tusculan Disputations: 'Those things are not to be called or considered good, by which one who abounds in them is allowed to be utterly wretched.' Moreover, as Seneca says to Lucilius: 'Anyone can despise all things; no one can possess all things. Therefore, the shortest road to riches is through the contempt of riches.' The wise one in Job chapter five implies the contempt of this vanity and worldly glory: 'I saw,' he says, 'a fool with a firm root, and I immediately cursed his beauty.'✦ Gregory, explaining this, says: 'A fool with a firm root — .

The Pleasant Road to Destruction

Worldly prosperity is like a pleasant meadow leading to prison; those who admire the glory of others see it as great only until they witness its end.

. It is as if someone reaches a prison by way of pleasant meadows, while through the prosperity of present life they are heading toward destruction. . . Indeed, when some people perceive the glory of certain others, . . they consider it something great.

Human Glory Revealed as Nothing

When the dying are seen, human glory is confessed as nothing; one should perceive at once, even in the height of glory, that its power too is nothing.

. . But when — . . they see them dying, because human glory — . . There is nothing left—and they confess it with a groan. . . And they say, 'Look—how utterly nothing man is!'✦ They would speak this more truly if, when they saw a man in glory, they also considered his passing away—and, as they watched him go, perceived at the same time that his power too is nothing. . . Well, then, it is rightly said:

Cursing the Fool's Beauty

Gregory explains Job 5:3: the fool with a firm root is cursed at once because his beauty and power are seen together with the punishment that follows—the end of joy is grief.

. . I cursed its beauty at once. And if it were said, Against the fool's beauty I did not delay in cursing — it's because when I perceived this, I saw at the same time the punishment that follows. . . and its power. . . I have rejected it.' Up to this point Gregory has been hinting at both the vanity of present worldly happiness and the punishment that follows, in keeping with that proverb: 14: 'The end of joy grief occupies.'

Read the original Latin

Denique, quia uir a uirtute nominatur, qui ad etatem uirilem accedit, studeat esse quod dicitur. Nam ut legitur in ysaia xiii: ‘preciosior erit uir auro.’ Et quoniam etas illa forcior est ceteris et inter puericiam et senium, uelut in meditullio, ut sit animal oculatum intus et ante et retro, debet preterita recolere, futura prouidere ac presencia nichilominus attendere, iuxta illud senece in libro de uirtutibus: ‘Tribus,’ inquit, ‘temporibus animus tuus dispensetur: presencia ordina, futura prouide, preterita recordare.’ Hinc est eciam illud deuteronomij xxxii: ‘utinam saperent et intelligerent ac nouissima prouiderent.’ Recolat ergo preterita, sc. mala et bona, siue miserias et beneficia. Miserias inquam penarum et etiam culparum. Nam utraque miseria, sc.

pene et culpe, inicium habet ab ipsa hominis origine. idcirco uir nobilis ad repressionem elacionis ex ipsa nobilitate surgentis recolat originis proprie miseriam et immundiciam, exemplo sapientis in libro sapiencie vii dicentis: ‘Sum quidem et ego homo mortalis similis omnibus et ex genere terreni illius, qui prior factus est et in uentre matris figuratus sum caro. Decem mensium tempore coagulatus sum in sanguine ex semine hominis et delectamento sompnij conuenientis. Et ego natus accepi communem aerem et similiter in factam decidi terram et primam uocem omnibus similem emisi plorans. In inuolumentis nutritus sum et curis magnis. Nemo enim ex regibus aliud habuit natiuitatis inicium.’ Hec ille. et in hoc suggillat quorundam magnatum superbiam, qui nec originem suam nec finem cogitant sed tantum presentem gloriam.

Audiant itaque quod dicit beatus bernardus in libro io ad eugenium papam: ‘Salubris copula, ut cum cogitas te summum pontificem, attendas pariter uilissimum cinerem non quidem fuisse, sed esse. . . . Denique si sericam et gemmas et metalla et huiusmodi cuncta, quibus suffarcinatus incedis ueluti quasdam nubes matutinas transeuntes . . . a facie considerationis tue dissipans exsufflaueris, occurret tibi homo nudus et pauper ac miser et miserabilis, homo dolens, quod homo sit, erubescens, quod nudus sit, plorans, quod natus sit, murmurans, quod homo natus sit ad laborem, non ad honorem.

Homo natus de muliere et ob hoc cum reatu, breui uiuens tempore et ob hoc cum metu, repletus multis miseriis et ob hoc cum fletu . . . Hec te . . . consideracio tenet in te, nec te auolare sinit, nec ambulare in magnis et mirabilibus super te.’ hec bernardus.

de hac quoque originis humane miserie dicit augustinus in libro de ciuitate dei xxi: ‘Quis non exhorreat et mori eligat, si ei proponatur aut mors percipienda aut rursus infancia? Que quidem quod non a risu sed a fletu orditur hanc lucem, quid malorum ingressa sit, prophetas quodam modo nesciens. Solum, quando natus est, ferunt risisse zoroastrem. Nec ei boni aliquid monstruosus ille risus portendit, cum licet arcium magicarum . . . inuentor . .

. et rex bactrianorum a nino rege assyriorum bello superatus sit.’ Denique, sicut legitur in ecclesiastico xl, ‘occupacio magna creata est omnibus hominibus et iugum graue super filios adam a die exitus de uentre matris eorum, usque in diem sepulture in matrem omnium cogitaciones eorum et timores cordis ad inuenciones exspectacionis et dies finitionis a presidente super sedem gloriosam usque ad humiliatum in terram et cinerem ab eo, qui utitur iacincto et portat coronam usque ad eum, qui cooperitur lino crudo.’ Ecce quod nullus excipitur ab illo graui iugo. Qui ergo hec in memoria recolit, miseriam cognoscens humilitatem concipit. Et sicut mala pene recolenda sunt ad se humiliandum, sic et mala culpe ad penitendum atque dolendum, secundum illud ezechie, quod legitur in ysaya xxxviii: ‘Recogitabo,’ inquit, ‘omnes annos meos in amaritudine anime mee.’ In quibus duo genera sunt deflenda, sc. peccata conmissa et tempora perdita.

unde beatus bernardus in quodam sermone, ‘Parum,’ inquit, ‘placet ei uite nouitas, qui nondum vetera plangit . . . peccata sc. admissa et . . . tempus amissum.’

Itaque peccata recolenda sunt ad curandum et emendandum. De curacione peccatorum dicit maximianus:

Non intellecti nulla est curacio morbi.

Contra uero dicit seneca lucilio: ‘Inicium salutis est noticia peccati . . .’ Et sicut ‘uigilantis est narrare sompnium, sic peccata sua confiteri sanitatis est indicium.’ Idem in agamennone:

Quem peccasse penitet, pene innocens est.

ut autem dicit augustinus in libro de penitencia, ‘satisfaccio penitencie est peccatorum causas excidere nec eorum suggestionibus aditum indulgere.’ Et ut ait prosper in libro ii de uita contemplatiua, ‘peccatis dissimilia sunt adhibenda remedia, sicut ex dissimilibus causis ueniunt ipsa peccata.’ Siquidem, ut dicit Jeronimus super marchum, ‘cuiusque uulneris medicina adhibenda est ei propria. Non enim sanat oculum quod calcaneum . . . Jejunio sanantur passiones corporis, oracione uero sanande sunt pestes mentis.’ Hinc de maligno spiritu ab homine expulso dictum est a domino, quod hoc genus non eicitur nisi in oracione et ieiunio.

De temporum recuperacione dicit apostolus ad ephesios vi: ‘Redimentes tempus quoniam dies mali sunt.’ Hinc et seneca in libro de naturalibus questionibus vii: ‘Obiciat sibi senectus annos inter studia uana consumptos . . . et dampna etatis male exempte labor sarciat . . . Occupaciones reddantur, patrimonij longe .

. . cura soluatur. Si enim totus animus uacet et ad contemplacionem sui saltem in ipso fine respiciat, faciet ac sibi instabit et cotidie temporis breuitatem meciens; quicquid amissum est, diligenti uite presentis usu recolliget: fidelissimus enim est ad honesta transitus ex penitencia. Itaque iuxta poetam:

tollimus ingentes animos et maxima paruo tempore molimur . . .

Faciamus igitur et quod in itinere fieri solet. Qui tardius eximus, uelocitate pensantes moram festinemus, magnumque opus absque etatis excusacione tractemus. Crescit animus, quociens cepti magnitudinem ostenditur et cogitat, quantum proposito, non quantum sibi supersit.’ Hec seneca. propter hanc temporis recuracionem dicit tullius in oracione de batilina: ‘Multos audiui et vidi . . . qui totam adolescenciam voluptatibus dedissent se ad frugem bonam recepisse, graues homines atque illustres fuisse.’

Debet etiam, ut dictum est, recolere beneficia preterita ad retribuendum, maximeque beneficia dei et parentum. beneficia, inquam, dei, de quibus dicit beatus bernardus super psalmum ‘Qui habitat’: ‘Agamus fratres gracias factori nostro, benefactori, redemptori, remuneratori nostro . . . Primum enim quod nobis prestitit, que sumus nos, quoniam ipse fecit nos . . . fecit, inquam, .

. . et secundum corpus egregiam creaturam, sed magis secundum animam, utpote ymagine creatoris insignem, racionis participem, sempiterne beatitudinis capacem. Porro secundum animum maxime preceteris admirandam creaturis sibi coherentem incomprehensibili artificio inuestigabili sapiencia conditoris . . .’ Porro ‘in secundo beneficio quam copiosius, quam liberalissimus, quanta nobis largitus est ad sustentacionem, quanta ad erudicionem, quanta ad consolacionem, quanta ex hoc iam ad correctionem, quanta eciam ad delectacionem. verum hec duo beneficia gratis et dupliciter impendit .

. . hoc est sine merito et sine labore nostro . . . Ceterum, o homo ingrate, ex hoc iam tercium opus redempcionis tue attende . . .

Gratis etiam hoc prestitum, sed gratis quod ad te pertinent . . . non gratis quod ad illum. Nempe saluus factus es pro nichilo, ac certe non de nichilo. Quid ad hec dormitat affectio? Ymmo uero mortua est illa, non dormit que huic beneficio non respondet, que se totam in graciarum actionem et uocem laudis non effundit . .

. Itaque fecit te deus tuus, fecit tam multa propter te. fecit et seipsum propter te . . . factus est ipse caro una tecum, te quoque secum faciet spiritum unum. Non recedant quatuor hec a corde, non ab ore, non a memoria, non ab affectione.’ ‘At nos,’ ut idem alibi dicit in eodem tractatu, ‘non attendimus aut minus attendimus reuerenciam presidentis, custodiam protegentis, beneficia largientis, ingrati gracie, immo tam multiplicibus graciis, quibus preuenit nos et subuenit nobis.

Et nunc quidem per se implet splendoribus animas nostras, nunc per angelos uisitat, nunc per homines instruit, nunc etiam per scripturas consolatur et erudit . . . Quid nos solis nobis non assumus et soli nosmetipsos negligimus? An quia nobis undique subuenitur, ideo nobis est dissimulandum? Immo uero propterea studiosius est uigilandum. Non enim tam magna pro nobis in celo pariter et in terra sollicitudo gereretur, si non magna nobis incumbere necessitas uidetur.’ Hec bernardus.

Hec igitur attendens quis dicat cum dauid: ‘Quid retribuam domino pro omnibus, que retribuit michi?’ Cui, sc. questioni, respondit micheas vi: ‘Indicabo,’ inquit, ‘tibi, o homo, quid sit bonum et quid dominus requirat a te. Utique facere iudicium et diligere misericordiam et sollicitum ambulare cum deo tuo.’ beneficia quoque parentum recolere debet, ut procreacionem, educacionem et huiusmodi ac rependere uicem ut impleat, quod dicitur in ecclesiastico vii: ‘honora patrem tuum et gemitus matris ne obliuiscaris. Memento, quoniam nisi per illos non fuisses et retribue illis, quomodo et ipsi tibi.’ Verum de hac materia plenius dictum est supra. Debet nichilominus attendere presencia, videl.

statum proprium et uanitatem rerum temporalium. In statu proprio debet considerare non solum exteriora sed multo magis interiora. Nam ut dicit beatus bernardus in sermone de capite ieiunij: ‘Miser homo, qui totus pergit in eo que foris sunt et ignarus interiorum suorum putans se aliquid esse, cum nichil sit, ipse se seducit. Siquidem in hominis huiuscemodi persona dicit psalmista: sicut aqua effusus sum et dispersa sunt omnia ossa mea. Alius quoque propheta, Comederunt, inquit, alieni robur eius, et ipse nesciuit . . . Attende sollerter, homo, quid diligas, quid metuas, unde gaudeas uel contristeris .

. . quia totum cor in hiis iiiior affeccionibus existit, de quo per prophetam dominus dicit: Conuertimini ad me in toto corde uestro.’ Que quidem spiritualis conuersio nequaquam una die ualet perfici, utinam uel in omni uita, qua degimus in hoc corpore, ualeat consummari. Ibi ergo attendenda sunt homini duo, sc. profectus, ne deficiat et defectus, ut proficiat. Nam ut dicit beatus bernardus, ‘si profectum suum homo non intelligit, quomodo de illo gracias agit.’ Ideo dicitur Ia corinth.

ii: ‘Accepimus spiritum, qui ex deo est, ut sciamus, que a deo donata sunt nobis.’ Nam si nescimus, ingrati sumus ac per hoc fontem gracie nobis desiccamus. ut enim dicit bernardus, ‘ad locum, unde exeunt, flumina graciarum reuertuntur, ut iterum fluant.’ Econtra uero ingratitudo nouerca est gracie siccans fontem misericordie. Magis eciam opus est nobis defectus nostros quam profectus attendere, immo profectus, ut dicit beatus gregorius, ‘oportet quodam modo non uidendo uidere’; videndo sc. ad graciarum actionem, non videre ad elacionem. unde idem gregorius in moralibus libro xxii: ‘viri sancti,’ inquit, ‘ . .

. et si intelligendo congaudent muneri largitoris, merentes tamen considerant debitum operis . . . Moreque viatorum non debemus aspicere, quantum iam egimus, sed quantum superest, ut agamus . . . Amplius .

. . bona, que nondum fecimus quam ea, que iam fecisse gaudemus.’ Hec gregorius. hinc et beatus bernardus super psalmum ‘qui habitat’: ‘Hec est utique magna uirtus et summa securitas, cum et pie uiuis et tamen plus attendis que tibi desunt quam que obtinuisse uideris, oblitus que retro sunt et in anteriora te extendens.’ hec bernardus. Porro de consideracione uanitatis rerum dicitur in ecclesiaste i: ‘Vidi cuncta que fiunt sub sole. Et ecce uniuersa uanitas.’

Recte dicuntur vanitas, quia nec conferunt plenitudinem continenti nec fulcimentum innitenti nec sacietatem comedenti, id est perfruenti. Ideo talium amatori dicitur in psalmo, ‘ut quid diligitis uanitatem et queritis mendacium?’ Propter hoc igitur uanitas attendatur, ut contempnatur. Nam, ut dicit tullius in tusculanis libro v, ‘non sunt ea bona dicenda nec habenda, quibus habundantem licet esse miserrimum.’ Ceterum, ut dicit seneca lucilio, ‘contempnere aliquis omnia potest, habere omnia nemo potest, breuissima igitur ad diuicias uia per contemptum diuiciarum est.’ huius uanitatis et glorie mundane contemptum insinuat sapiens in iob v: ‘Ego,’ inquit, ‘uidi stultum firma radice et maledixi pulcritudini eius statim.’ Quod exponens dicit gregorius: ‘Stultus firma radice . .

. quasi per amena prata ad carcerem peruenit, dum per prospera uite presentis ad interitum tendit . . . Nonnulli uero, cum quorumdam gloriam cernunt, . . . magnum aliquid exstimant .

. . Sed cum . . . eos morientes aspiciunt, quod humana gloria . . .

nichil sit, cum gemitu fatentur . . . et dicunt: “Ecce, quam nichil est homo.” Qui hoc ueracius dicerent, si cum in gloria hominem cernerent, tunc eciam eius interitum cogitantes transeuntem simul eius potenciam nichil esse sentirent . . . bene itaque dicitur: .

. . Maledixi pulcritudini eius statim. Ac si diceretur: Contra stulti pulcritudinem moram in maledicendo non habui, quia cum hanc cernerem, simul et penam sequentem uidi . . . eiusque potenciam . .

. reprobaui.’ Huc usque gregorius insinuans et uanitatem felicitatis mundane presentem et penam sequentem, iuxta illud prouerb. xiiii: ‘Extrema gaudij luctus occupat.’

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Job.14.1 — Man, born of woman, is short of days and full of turmoil.
  2. ↩Ps.131.1 — O LORD, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
  3. ↩Job.3.24-Job.3.26 — For before my bread comes my sighing, and my groans pour out like water. Job.3.25 — For the thing I feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has overtaken me. Job.3.26 — I have not been at ease, and I have not been quiet, and I have not rested, yet turmoil has come.
  4. ↩Isa.38.15 — What shall I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it. I will walk softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.
  5. ↩Eph.5.16 — making the most of the time, because the days are evil.
  6. ↩Ps.90.1 — A prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
  7. ↩Gen.1.27 — So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
  8. ↩Ps.139.14 — I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, and my soul knows it very well.
  9. ↩Eph.5.31-Eph.5.32;Gen.2.24 — For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. Eph.5.32 — This mystery is profound—and I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Gen.2.24 — Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
  10. ↩Ps.116.12 — What shall I return to the LORD, for all his benefits toward me?
  11. ↩Mic.6.8 — He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
  12. ↩Mic.6.8 — He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
  13. ↩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.
  14. ↩Joel.2.12 — Yet even now, declares the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.
  15. ↩1John.3.24 — And the one who keeps his commands remains in him, and he remains in that one. And by this we know that he remains in us: by the Spirit he gave us.
  16. ↩Ps.90.1 — A prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
  17. ↩Phil.3.13 — Brothers, I do not yet consider myself to have taken hold of it; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
  18. ↩Eccl.1.14 — I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
  19. ↩Eccl.1.2 — Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
  20. ↩Ps.4.3 — O sons of men, how long will my glory be turned to shame? Why do you love what is empty and seek after lies? Selah.
  21. ↩Job.5.3 — I have seen a fool taking root, and I cursed his dwelling suddenly.
  22. ↩Ps.144.3-Ps.144.4 — LORD, what is man that you take notice of him, the son of man that you think of him Ps.144.4 — Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Candidate scriptural quotation from Isaiah 13; final resolution deferred to tx-08 Moses resolution stage.
  2. 2 ↩Quotation attributed to Seneca, De uirtutibus; source resolution deferred.
  3. 3 ↩Candidate scriptural quotation from Deuteronomy 32; final resolution deferred to tx-08 Moses resolution stage.
  4. 4 ↩"Salubris copula" (wholesome bond/union) is Bernard's image for a sobering self-awareness that ties the reader to mortality; rendered as "wholesome bond" to preserve the paradox of something health-giving that binds.
  5. 5 ↩The embedded quotation is from Bernard of Clairvaux, not Scripture; final source resolution belongs to a later stage.
  6. 6 ↩"suffarcinatus" (stuffed/padded out) conveys being bloated with worldly trappings; rendered as "stuffed" to keep the physical concreteness of the Latin.
  7. 7 ↩"a facie considerationis tue dissipans exsufflaueris" is a dense participial construction: the act of scattering worldly pomp from the mirror of self-examination blows it away like chaff. Rendered with two coordinated participles to preserve the force.
  8. 8 ↩"ad laborem, non ad honorem" — the contrast between labor and honor is central to the chapter's argument about the true nobility of man; preserved exactly.
  9. 9 ↩Quotation attributed to Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 40. Source resolution deferred to tx-08 Moses stage.
  10. 10 ↩The quotation is attributed to Ezekiel but the text itself locates it in Isaiah 38. The quoted words correspond to Isaiah 38:15 (Vulgate). Source attribution deferred to tx-08 Moses stage.
  11. 11 ↩The Latin text is fragmentary; the quotation from Bernard appears to be a paraphrase or loose citation rather than a verbatim extract. The sense is: one who has not yet mourned past sins and failings will find little delight in the new life.
  12. 12 ↩The abbreviation 'sc.' expands to scilicet ('namely, that is'), introducing an explanatory enumeration. The text is fragmentary.
  13. 13 ↩This closes the enumeration begun with 'peccata sc.' and 'admissa et' — the two categories to be lamented are sins committed and time lost, matching the two categories identified in the preceding section (Erud.1.40.6.s7–s8).
  14. 14 ↩Maximian is a proper name (likely Maximianus, a patristic or medieval source); the attribution introduces a quotation that follows in the next section.
  15. 15 ↩sanitatis rendered as 'wholeness' to capture both physical health and spiritual soundness; could also be 'health' or 'soundness' depending on intended emphasis
  16. 16 ↩Obiciat sibi is rendered as a jussive/optative subjunctive ('let old age cast up to itself'), following the candidate gloss. The rhetorical force is exclamatory — old age as accuser.
  17. 17 ↩Exempte is morphologically uncertain (see candidate gloss). Rendered as a passive participle 'taken away' modifying the losses; the ablative absolute or adverbial reading is plausible. The jussive subjunctive sarciat is rendered 'let make good' to preserve the optative force.
  18. 18 ↩The sentence is syntactically compressed and possibly fragmentary. Patrimonij longe is rendered as an ablative of separation or degree: 'your inheritance, by far' — i.e., the patrimony is owed back to a far greater extent. The jussive reddantur is rendered 'let be given back.'
  19. 19 ↩Qui: gloss uncertain; rendered as causal 'since' to fit the exhortatory context. The word could also function as a relative pronoun ('we who…'), but the causal reading better connects to the preceding sentence.
  20. 20 ↩eximus: tense ambiguous between present ('we go out') and perfect ('we have gone out'); perfect chosen to match the sense of a journey already begun.
  21. 21 ↩cepti magnitudinem: the genitive 'cepti' (of what has been begun/undertaken) modifies 'magnitudinem'; agreement is unclear in the source, but the sense is the magnitude of the enterprise once begun.
  22. 22 ↩proposito … sibi supersit: the contrast is between what remains relative to the goal set and what remains for one's own comfort or ease.
  23. 23 ↩recuracionem: medieval form of 'recursionem'; rendered as 'recurrence' in the sense of the cyclical return of time or seasons.
  24. 24 ↩Batilina: identity uncertain; possibly a proper name or place. Left untranslated as a proper noun.
  25. 25 ↩frugem bonam: literally 'good fruit,' here in the sense of productive, virtuous living — rendered as 'honest fruit' to capture the moral weight.
  26. 26 ↩dedissent: syncopated pluperfect subjunctive of 'dedo'; rendered as 'had surrendered' to convey the past-before-past force.
  27. 27 ↩The quotation attributed to Bernard on Psalm 90 (Vulgate Psalm 89), "Qui habitat." The four titles — factor, benefactor, redemptor, remunerator — form a rhetorical sequence of gratitude common in medieval homiletic tradition.
  28. 28 ↩preceteris: form uncertain; rendered as 'among others / beyond others' in the sense of 'above all other creatures'
  29. 29 ↩sibi coherentem: rendered 'cleaving to itself' — the mind's self-coherence or self-unity as a mark of its excellence
  30. 30 ↩The opening quotation mark in the normalized text has no matching close in this section; the quotation likely continues into the next section.
  31. 31 ↩The 'third work of redemption' likely refers to a tripartite scheme of divine benefits (possibly creation, preservation, and redemption, or a threefold aspect of redemption itself); the precise referent is not fully clear from this section alone.
  32. 32 ↩assumus: glossed as 'take up' (i.e., adopt/undertake for ourselves); the form may reflect a normalized correction of an original variant.
  33. 33 ↩dissimulandum: impersonal gerundive rendered as 'be indifferent' / 'be neglected'; the sense is that we should not disregard ourselves.
  34. 34 ↩sollicitudo gereretur: contrafactual subjunctive expressing that God's solicitude is proportionate to human need.
  35. 35 ↩'sc.' is the standard abbreviation for 'scilicet' (namely). The sentence is left incomplete, serving as a transition to the Micah quotation that follows.
  36. 36 ↩'iudicium' rendered as 'justice' in the prophetic sense of righteous judgment and fair dealing, not merely legal judgment. 'sollicitum ambulare' captures a careful, attentive walking — a life lived with deliberate awareness of God's presence.
  37. 37 ↩The two 'ut' clauses express purpose: recollecting benefits so as to repay them, and repaying so as to fulfill Scripture. 'gemitus matris' (the groanings of your mother) refers to the labor and suffering of childbirth and child-rearing.
  38. 38 ↩'nisi per illos non fuisses' — a counterfactual: you would not have been (brought into existence) except through them. 'retribue illis' continues the quotation from Ecclesiasticus 7.
  39. 39 ↩'videl.' is the abbreviation for 'videlicet' (namely, that is to say). The colon signals that what follows in the next section will enumerate the 'present things' to attend to.
  40. 40 ↩The quotation from Bernard is a candidate allusion; final source attribution belongs to a later stage.
  41. 41 ↩capite ieiunij rendered as 'the first day of Lent' following the candidate gloss's liturgical sense; alternative reading 'the beginning of fasting' is possible.
  42. 42 ↩Psalm quotation candidate; final verse attribution belongs to tx-08 Moses resolution.
  43. 43 ↩Prophetic quotation candidate; final source attribution belongs to tx-08 Moses resolution.
  44. 44 ↩contristeris is a rare/dubious form; rendered as 'what saddens you' following the candidate gloss. The subjunctive mood is preserved in the indirect-question construction.
  45. 45 ↩utinam introduces an optative wish; rendered as 'would that' to preserve the subjunctive longing.
  46. 46 ↩sc. = scilicet, introducing an explanatory enumeration that follows.
  47. 47 ↩Ia corinth. is an abbreviated reference to 1 Corinthians; the specific verse is not identified in the source. Candidate allusion pending Moses resolution.

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