Quomodo in omnibus operibus suis debeat homo esse circumspectus
The Necessity of Daily Self-Examination
A person must scrutinize thoughts, words, and deeds daily, learning and growing through the practice of good works and experience.
This last point remains — and perhaps the most necessary of all: that a person should be circumspect and provident in everything they do, and by daily examination scrutinize their own thoughts, words, and deeds before their own conscience. The wise truly learn by doing, and through the practice of good works they grow, by daily advances, into a deeper recognition of virtue. For through experience of the things they do, they become more cautious about what they'll need to do in the future.
The Hidden Snares of Good Intentions
Even well-intentioned actions can become traps when the end is neglected, and only by examining the outcome can one discern the true quality of one's motives.
For one sees that often a task believed to have been begun with good intention hurls a person all the more swiftly into the snare of deception, the more carelessly they treat the end of the action because they felt secure about their original intention, and unwary, they rush toward a pit as though on a level road — because they see what they're doing, but they don't heed what their deed ought to lead to. Likewise, one fails to consider that it sometimes happens that the disposition of the mind is so ambiguous that a person can't discern the quality of their own intention unless they look to the outcome of the work. But if one carefully considers toward what end the mind's inclination tends, then at last the vice is clearly recognized — the very thing about which the mind had previously flattered itself falsely concerning its own virtue.
The Diligent Watch Over One's Deeds
Circumpection requires a detailed daily checklist of one's actions and a rhythm of morning and evening self-examination before God.
And there is found yet another reason why circumspection is necessary for a person at all times: because even in doing what is good, one becomes all the more skilled the more diligently, keeping a watchful eye on their deeds, they strive to surpass themselves day by day in progress — when they carefully attend to what they're doing, what they ought to do, whether they're doing what needs to be done; whether they're doing it to the extent and in the way it should be done; whether they're not mixing some evil into the good work; whether the good they do, they fulfill with the devotion that is proper; whether they love another's good as their own; whether they censure their own evil as they would another's. Day by day they summon their life to judgment: in the morning, when they ought to rise, they consider what they did through the night; in the evening, when they go to bed, they consider what they did through the day — how much more eager than usual they were for the good to be done, how much more steadfast than usual in overcoming evil.
Learning from Failure and the Psalmist's Petition
When one has fallen through negligence or the enemy's snares, only trained discernment—echoing the psalmist's prayer for a clean heart—can guard against future deception.
If you've presumed to do something you shouldn't have, if in some undertaking of your own you've been tripped up by the enemy's snares — how, in the end, can you guard against the deception that lies ahead, once the fraud has been exposed? How can you keep an unexpected temptation from catching you off guard and casting you down into evil, or keep present negligence from deceiving you through lack of discernment even in a good work? Whoever trains their heart in this pursuit, I believe, will quickly arrive at that sound and wholesome knowledge which, as we said above, the psalmist asked to be given to him for the sake of preserving discipline and goodness.
Transition to the Teaching on Discipline
Having established the need for circumspection, the author now turns to define, value, and explain the observance of discipline.
It remains, then, that we now set forth also those things concerning discipline that need to be shown to us. We will teach you, then: first, what discipline is; then, what it's worth; and finally, how it ought to be observed.
Read the original Latin
Restat hoc novissimum et maxime fortassis prae caeteris necessarium, ut videlicet homo in omnibus operibus suis sit circumspectus et providus, quotidiana discussione cogitationes, locutiones pariter et facta sua apud semetipsum examinet. Sapientes quippe semper agendo discunt, et per exercitium bonorum operum quotidianis profectibus in majorem virtutis agnitionem excrescunt. Per experientiam namque eorum quae faciunt, ad ea quae postmodum agenda erunt, cautiores fiunt. Videt enim quod saepe opus quod bona intentione inchoari creditur, tanto citius hominem in deceptionis laqueum praecipitat, quanto de intentionis suae principio securus finem actionis minus observat, et imprudens quasi via plana ad foveam currit, quia videt quid faciat, sed quid factum suum sequi debeat, non attendit. Item non considerat quod nonnunquam evenire solet, ut affectus animi ita ambiguus sit, ut nisi ex fine operis discernere non possit homo qualitatem suae intentionis. Si vero diligenter consideret ad quem finem tendat mentis affectio, tunc jam plane vitium esse dignoscitur, in quo prius sibi animus falso de virtute blandiebatur. Et rursum invenitur aliud adhuc esse propter quod circumspectio homini ubique necessaria est, quoniam ad id etiam quod bonum est, agendum tanto magis homo peritus efficitur, quanto diligentius facta sua circumspiciens, seipsum quotidie in proficiendo superare conatur, cum sollicite attendit quid agat, quid agere debeat, utrum id quod faciendum est, faciat; utrum quantum et qualiter faciendum est faciat; utrum bono operi malum aliquod non admisceat; utrum bonum, quod agit quanta oportet devotione impleat; utrum alterius ut suum bonum diligat; utrum suum ut alterius malum reprehendat. Per singulos dies vitam suam ad judicium vocat, mane quando surgere debet considerat quid egerit per noctem; in vespere quando cubitum vadit, considerat quid egerit per diem, quantum ad bona agenda solito alacrior, quantum ad mala vincenda solito constantior.
Si quid ex iis quae agenda non erant praesumpserit, si in aliquo opere suo insidiis inimici supplantatus sit, qualiter demum per indicium transactae deceptionis futuram illius fraudem cavere possit, quatenus eum nec superveniens tentatio improvidum ad malum opus dejiciat, neque indiscretum in bono opere praesens negligentia fallat. Quisquis cor suum in ejusmodi studio exercet, existimo quod cito ad illam bonam et salubrem scientiam perveniat, quam, sicut supra diximus, ad servandam disciplinam et bonitatem psalmista dari sibi postulabat. Restat igitur nunc ut ea quoque, quae de disciplina nobis demonstranda sunt, proferamus. Docebimus ergo vos primum quid sit disciplina, deinde quid valeat, postremo quomodo observari debeat.
De Institutione Novitiorum (On the Instruction of Novices) companion
Keep the novice's rule going, one morning at a time
The Chosen Portion app serves a short historic devotional reading and prayer each day, so your new rule has content waiting for you every morning.
Hugh trained novices with fixed daily portions of instruction; Chosen Portion continues that method by delivering one fixed devotional portion each day.
- A 2-minute historic reading and prayer delivered every morning
- Texts drawn from 78 works of royal and monastic devotion, 1000-2020
- Free on iOS — start day 8 of your rule the moment you finish the checklist