De tribus operibus.
Three Works
Hugh distinguishes the work of God, the work of nature, and the work of the craftsman, showing how each operates and how human power is limited.
There are three kinds of work, in other words: the work of God, the work of nature, and the work of the craftsman imitating nature. The work of God is to create what did not yet exist. Whence that word: In the beginning God created heaven and earth.✦ The work of nature is to bring into act what previously lay hidden. Whence that word: Let the earth bring forth green plants, and so on.✦ The work of the craftsman is to join together what has been separated, or to separate what has been joined. Whence that word: They sewed themselves loincloths.✦ For neither could the earth create heaven, nor could a human being bring forth a plant — and the same human being cannot even add a palm's breadth to their own height.
The Mechanical Arts
Human work is called mechanical or counterfeit because it imitates nature, as shown through examples like sculpture and architecture.
Among these three works, human work — which is not nature but imitates nature — is fittingly called mechanical, that is, counterfeit, just as a secretly substituted key is also called a mechanical key. How the work of the craftsman imitates nature, however, is long and burdensome to work through in detail. Still, we can demonstrate this by way of example in a few instances. The one who cast a statue looked at a human being. The one who built a house looked at a mountain. For as the prophet says: You who send forth springs in the valleys — the waters will pass through the midst of the mountains. The heights of the mountains do not retain the waters. And so a house had to be raised to a certain summit, so that it could safely receive the troubles of rushing storms.
Born Naked
Unlike other creatures born with natural defenses, human beings are created naked and defenseless so that reason might discover what nature gives freely to animals.
The person who first came up with clothing reflected on how every living thing is born with its own built-in defenses to protect itself from harm. Bark surrounds the tree, feathers cover the bird, scales wrap the fish, wool clothes the sheep, hair covers beasts of burden and wild animals, a shell shelters the tortoise, and ivory makes the elephant unafraid of spears. And yet it hasn't happened without reason that while every living creature has the weapons for its nature born along with it, human beings alone are born defenseless and naked. For it was fitting that nature should provide for those creatures that don't know how to look out for themselves, while for a human being, this same condition would furnish an even greater opportunity for discovery, since the things given to other creatures by nature, a person would arrive at through their own reasoning. For human reason shines far more brightly now by discovering these same things than it would have by simply possessing them. And not without reason does the proverb resound that:
Resourceful Hunger
Driven by need, human reason has hammered out every art form, producing countless crafts that now cause us to marvel at nature herself as the true craftsman.
A resourceful hunger has hammered out every art form. By this line of reasoning, those things you now see held in the highest regard in human studies were discovered. By this same reasoning, infinite kinds of painting, weaving, carving, and casting have sprung up, so that now we marvel at nature herself as the true craftsman.
Read the original Latin
Sunt etenim tria opera, id est, opus Dei, opus naturae, opus artificis imitantis naturam. opus Dei est, quod non erat creare. unde illud: In principio creavit Deus caelum et terram. opus naturae, quod latuit ad actum producere. unde illud: Producat terra herbam virentem etc. opus artificis est disgregata coniungere vel coniuncta segregare. unde illud: Consuerunt sibi perizomata. neque enim potuit vel terra caelum creare, vel homo herbam producere, qui nec palmum ad staturam suam addere potest.
in his tribus operibus convenienter opus humanum, quod natura non est sed imitatur naturam, mechanicum, id est, adulterinum nominatur, quemadmodum et clavis subintroducta mechanica dicitur. qualiter autem opus artificis imitetur naturam, longum est et onerosum prosequi per singula. possumus tamen exempli causa in paucis id demonstare. qui statuam fudit, hominem intuitus est. qui domum fecit, montem respexit. quia enim, ut ait propheta, qui emittis fontes in convallibus, intra medium montium perstransibunt aquae. eminentia montium aquas non retinet. ita domus in altum quoddam cacumen levanda fuit, ut irruentium tempestatum molestias tuto excipere posset.
qui usum vestimentorum primus adinvenit, consideravit quod singula quaeque nascentium propria quaedam habeant munimenta quibus naturam suam ab incommodis defendunt. cortex ambit arborem, penna tegit velucrem, piscem squama operit, lana ovem induit, pilus iumenta et feras vestit, concha testudinem excipit, ebur elephantem iacula non timere facit. nec tamen sine causa factum est quod, cum singula animantium naturae suae arma secum nata habeant, solus homo inermis nascitur et nudus. oportuit enim ut illis, quae sibi providere nesciunt, natura consuleret, homini autem ex hoc etiam maior experiendi occasio praestaretur, cum illa, quae ceteris naturaliter data sunt, propria ratione sibi inveniret. multo enim nunc magis enitet ratio hominis haec eadem inveniendo quam habendo claruisset. nec sine causa proverbium sonat quod:
Ingeniosa fames omnes excuderit artes.
hac equidem ratione illa quae nunc excellentissima in studiis hominum vides, reperta sunt. hac eadem pingendi, texendi, sculpendi, fundendi, infinita genera exorta sunt, ut iam cum natura ipsum miremur artificem.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Gen.1.1 — In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- ↩Gen.1.11 — And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation—plants yielding seed, fruit trees bearing fruit according to their kinds, whose seed is in them, upon the earth." And it was so.
- ↩Gen.3.7 — Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Didascalicon de Studio Legendi (On the Study of Reading) companion
Hugh said begin with small daily portions. Start tomorrow.
Chosen Portion serves one short, ordered devotional reading each day — the medieval lectio pattern, free on iOS.
Hugh taught that formation comes from ordered, incremental daily reading, and Chosen Portion is that ordered daily portion delivered to your phone.
- A curated daily portion in 2-3 minutes, no decision fatigue about what to read
- Progress through complete historic works in order, the way Hugh prescribed
- Free app plus a weekly email unpacking one reading in depth