De triplici intelligentia.
The Three Senses of Scripture
Scripture is understood through three senses: historical, allegorical, and tropological.
First of all, you should know that Scripture has three ways of being understood: the historical, the allegorical, and the tropological.
Not Every Passage Bears All Three Senses
It is neither necessary nor always possible to find all three senses in every scriptural passage.
Now not everything found in the divine word needs to be twisted into this kind of interpretation, so that every single passage is taken as containing the historical, the allegorical, and the tropological sense all at once. Although in many places this can fittingly be applied, still, applying it everywhere is either difficult or impossible.
The Harp of Divine Wisdom
Using the image of a harp, Hugh shows how Scripture's different senses work together, with some passages serving history, others moral conduct, and a few uniting all three, making the whole sweeter through its layered design.
For just as in harps and similar musical instruments not everything that is touched produces a musical sound — only the strings do — while the rest of the harp's body was made so that the strings would have somewhere to be attached and braced, the place the musician would reach to draw out the sweetness of the melody, so in the divine words some things are meant to be understood only in a spiritual sense, some serve the weightiness of moral conduct, some are stated according to the plain historical sense, and some few can fittingly be expounded historically, allegorically, and tropologically all together. So in a wonderful way all of Scripture, fitted and arranged by God's wisdom so aptly to its parts, sounds out the sweetness of spiritual understanding in the place of strings, while whatever is contained in it either runs through the sequence of history and the solidity of the letter, holding together scattered statements about the mysteries and, as if binding them into one — much like a hollow wooden frame stretched over the extended strings — receives the strings' sound into itself and gives it back to the ears more sweetly, because the sound was shaped not only by the string but also by the wood as the body formed it. And so honey in the honeycomb is all the sweeter, and whatever is sought with greater effort is found with greater longing.
Discerning Each Sense in Its Proper Place
The reader must assign each scriptural passage the sense it calls for, yet often a single passage fittingly yields all three senses together.
Therefore you should approach Scripture in such a way that you don't look for the historical sense everywhere, or the allegorical everywhere, or the tropological everywhere, but assign each passage in its proper place, as reason requires. And yet often in one and the same passage all three can be found together — as when the truth of the historical sense and something mystical are introduced through allegory, and at the same time what should be done is shown through the tropological sense.
Read the original Latin
Primo omnium sciendum est, quod divina scriptura triplicem habet modum intelligendi, id est, historiam, allegoriam, tropologiam. sane non omnia quae in divino reperiuntur eloquio ad hanc intorquenda sunt interpretationem, ut singula historiam, allegoriam et tropologiam simul continere credantur. quod etsi in multis congrue assignari possit, ubique tamen observare aut difficile est aut impossibile. sicut enim in citharis et huiusmodi organis musicis non quidem omnia quae tanguntur canorum aliquid resonant, sed tantum chordae, cetera tamen in toto citharae corpore ideo facta sunt, ut esset ubi connecterentur, et quo tenderentur illa quae ad cantilenae suavitatem modulaturus est artifex, ita in divinis eloquiis quaedam posita sunt, quae tantum spiritualiter intelligi volunt, quaedam vero morum gravitati deserviunt, quaedam etiam secundum simplicem sensum historiae dicta sunt, nonnulla autem quae et historice, et allegorice, et tropologice convenienter exponi possunt. unde modo mirabili omnis divina scriptura ita per Dei sapientiam convenienter suis partibus aptata est atque disposita, ut quidquid in ea continetur aut vice chordarum spiritualis intelligentiae suavitatem personet, aut per historiae seriem et litterae soliditatem mysteriorum dicta sparsim posita continens, et quasi in unum connectens, ad modum ligni concavi super extensas chordas simul copulet, earumque sonum recipiens in se, dulciorem auribus referat, quem non solum chorda edidit, sed et lignum modulo corporis sui formavit. sic et mel in favo gratius, et quidquid maiori exercitio quaeritur, maiori etiam desiderio invenitur. oportet ergo sic tractare divinam scripturam, ut nec ubique historiam, nec ubique allegoriam, nec ubique quaeramus tropologiam, sed singula in suis locis, prout ratio postulat, competenter assignare. saepe tamen in una eademque littera omnia simul reperiri possunt, sicut historiae veritas et mysticum aliquid per allegoriam insinuet, et quid agendum sit pariter per tropologiam demonstret.
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