Qiuie aint necesmria et quasi clauea philosopkandi
The Keys to Wisdom
True philosophy requires a humble mind, a quiet life, and a reliance on divine grace rather than intellectual pride.
And that simplicity is a friend to truth; and what it means to wrestle with an angel or to feed him; and what it means, or what good it does, to leave one's homeland for the sake of wisdom. The old man of Chartres expressed in a few words what the keys to learning are, and what things help those who philosophize on their way toward contemplating the beauty of truth. Although I'm not captivated by the sweetness of his meter, I approve of the meaning and believe it should be faithfully instilled in the minds of those who philosophize. He says, therefore: A humble mind, a desire to seek, a quiet life, silent scrutiny, poverty, and living in a foreign land—these things are accustomed to unlock what is obscure to many in their reading. For the Lord gives grace to the humble, and He confers the understanding of truth upon those who, having been initiated in fear, faithfully adhere to Him in love and in the execution of His commandments. For, by the testimony of the wise, those who trust in the Lord will understand the truth, but God resists the proud. Who will philosophize if He is unwilling? Or if He resists in any way, will anyone succeed? Humility means you don't look down on your teacher or on any kind of knowledge, unless it's the kind that religious life has rejected. If, as the saying goes, nothing is done right against the grain, who will ever reach true knowledge without the One who is the Lord of all knowledge, and in whom all the treasures of wisdom are hidden? To attempt this is truly a massive undertaking—harder and far greater than, to use a fable, snatching the club from the hand of Hercules. Actually, it's far less than that, since it's nothing at all—if, that is, what is absolutely nothing can be called greater or smaller than anything else. Whoever sets out on the path of philosophy should humbly knock at the door of His grace, for in His hand is the book of all knowledge, which is opened only by the Lamb who was slain to lead the wandering servant back to the way of wisdom and true happiness. It's useless for anyone to pride themselves on their intellectual capacity, the tenacity of their memory, the diligence of their study, or the fluency of their speech. Because if these things are used on the wrong path, the more effective they seem, the further they will lead you astray; for just as a horse that runs off the path faster takes longer to get home, so it is with anyone who rides it. Simplicity, however, is joined to humility, and it is through this that the intelligence of those who learn is most helped.
Scripture as the Angelic Guide
We must approach the Scriptures with reverence and struggle with them like Jacob with the angel, seeking truth rather than mastery.
Humility accepts what is written by those more learned, and simplicity, if anything seems to have been said otherwise than it should have been, interprets it in the better light of faith. It's foolish for someone to try to dominate the Scriptures—which are meant to instruct him—and to try to twist them to fit his own understanding, even when they resist. For to look for something in them that isn't there is to block your own understanding, not to learn from another. Weren't the eyes of the disciples kept from recognizing the wisdom that walked with them in their fervor, because they were slow to understand what the prophets had spoken, looking for what was absent from the prophets' own minds and failing to notice Christ, who was hidden in the letter? But because they sought what was hidden with an ardent desire of love, the Wisdom they were seeking appeared and opened their eyes so they could understand the Scriptures and, seeing the Lord, acknowledge their own slowness. For the desire to learn is only profitable if the hunger for knowledge itself is directed toward Christ. Yet He is not recognized except in the breaking of the bread, because the meaning of the Scriptures isn't seen at all unless it is given to the soul as a refreshment of faith or of character. Whoever attempts to grasp the integrity of the Scriptures by the strength of his own intellect or study for his own pleasure stands excluded from the sanctuary of philosophy, a stranger to the understanding of the truth. The men of Sodom, too, were struck with blindness when they tried to corrupt the angels who came to rebuke their wickedness and were their guests; wandering around the wall and groping in the midday sun, they were enveloped in thick darkness and drowned by the just judgment of God. In the same way, while the arrogant and the wicked wander around the wall of the Scriptures, they fail to reach the faithful meaning that dwells in the house of the simple—the one with whom God speaks, and who sees the angel that rebukes wickedness. For the angel is indeed the Scripture itself, which God sent down into the Sodom of this world to rebuke the wickedness of men. “Hear the word of the Lord, you princes of Sodom; listen with your ears to my words, you people of Gomorrah.” We must serve the Scriptures, then, not try to master them—unless, perhaps, someone thinks himself worthy to master the angels. The just are said to have adored them and served them food; and does human arrogance want to be placed above them? They are fed, however, with the food of faith and good works; for the Samaritan woman also fed the Angel of Great Counsel at the well in this way; and it will likely be of no use to have adored them if the food is taken away. Is it not written that the patriarch was vigorous in his desire to seek? Seeing the ladder whose top touched heaven, he saw the angels ascending and descending and the Lord himself leaning on the ladder. He wrestled with the angel until dawn broke, and didn't give up until, exhausted by the angel, he was weakened in his thigh and obtained the grace of the blessing he sought from the angel who yielded to him. These things happened to him in spirit or in symbol, but as the Apostle testifies, these figurative events serve us. Therefore, on our pilgrimage, let us take hold of the angels of the Scriptures, and struggling with them in an tireless contest, let us not give way until the dawn of truth illuminates us. Nor should it be enough to know the truth unless, as the thigh of our love for temporal things withers, we more easily attain the approach to true virtue through angelic blessing, the more we limp in our appetite for temporal things, having been stirred by the love of eternal ones. For this struggle leads to the point where, by the testimony of the triumphant human, God himself—who is the highest truth—is seen face to face. Whatever good appears in faith or in works is a certain image of the divine vision. And rightly, the dawn does not benefit the angel without the blessing, because the knowledge of truth without the grace of good work does not yield the fruit of a healthy conscience. Furthermore, we are encouraged to pursue knowledge not only by domestic examples but by foreign ones as well. For Solon, who had always burned with the highest fervor for wisdom, on his final day, while his friends were sitting by and discussing, raised his head—already nearly submerged by fate—and when asked why he had done this, he replied: 'So that when I have grasped this thing you are discussing, I may die.'
The Discipline of the Philosopher
A life of study requires detachment from worldly tumult and the distractions of the crowd to maintain focus on the truth.
Inertia would have surely vanished from among men if they entered into life with the same spirit with which Solon departed from it. Carneades, that tireless and long-serving soldier of wisdom, completed ninety years in his studies; for him, the end of living and the end of philosophizing were one and the same. Cato, while in his eighty-sixth year, still possessed a youthful spirit, manly strength, and the gravity of an elder; he was so active in public life that no one noticed a slower memory, any weakness in his sides, a broken body, sluggish limbs, or a hindered tongue. He even sought to be instructed in Greek literature, which he learned late, almost as an old man; and once he had gained the glory of eloquence for himself, he made it his aim to be considered an expert in civil law as well. His son, however, was a marvelous offspring worthy of his father, and burned with such a desire for learning that he couldn't even restrain himself from reading Greek books in the curia where the senate was gathered; by this very industry, he showed others the times. Some are lacking, while others are left over for the times. Even a pagan teaches that a quiet life is necessary, for he considers a student's work empty if he is struck by the crowd of tumults pressing in upon him from his enemies. He says: 'What place is there for genius, unless our hearts, which don't admit two cares at once, are vexed by song alone and carried off to the masters of Cirrha and Nisa?' It is the work of a great mind not to be astonished at preparing a blanket, or to look at chariots, horses, and the faces of the gods, or to see what kind of Fury confounds Rutilus. For the blind man in the Gospel teaches that a crowd hinders the light of truth, as the crowd going before and following him rebuked him equally so that he would be silent. For as the Lord says, whoever is caught up in the crowds is troubled by many things; and nothing is more destructive to study or to the practice of good character. If, as Cicero suggests, study is the intense application of the mind to a task with great willingness, then a mind troubled and distracted by many things certainly isn't being faithfully occupied in a single work of virtue. But the exercise of study is most profitable when virtue grows stronger in everything a person reads or hears, through a quiet, inward scrutiny of true judgment; for there, reason examines everything and weighs the value of all things in the balance. However, a quiet life is impossible if the necessities of nature are taken away; and conversely, if the mind revels in the luxuries of life, an abundance of things extinguishes the light of reason. Therefore, the fruitful poverty of men—which is both a guardian of true humility and a companion of virtue—is applied to these matters so that this moderator may curb luxury and, with its own goads, compel a person to remain mindful of themselves and to persist steadily in the duty of virtue. It's an honorable thing, as the wise man says, to have a cheerful poverty; yet it isn't truly poverty if it's cheerful, but rather something better than the riches of Croesus. This is why Democritus, though he could have been counted among the wealthy—for his riches were so great that his father could easily have provided a feast for the army of Xerxes—donated his inheritance to his country, keeping only a very small sum, so that he might be more free to devote his mind to the study of literature. Having stayed in Athens for many years and dedicating every moment of his time to acquiring and practicing learning, he lived as a stranger to that city, a fact he himself attested to in a certain volume.
Poverty and the True Homeland
Voluntary poverty and the spirit of exile from worldly attachments are essential for the soul to find its true home in wisdom.
Crates the Theban also threw a massive amount of gold into the sea, saying, "Away with you, evil desires; I'll drown you, so that I'm not drowned by you." Anaxagoras, too, when he returned from a long journey to find his property abandoned, said, "I wouldn't be safe if these things hadn't perished." The Socratic oracle is said to be that no one will be wealthy enough to teach unless he believes himself to be poor and needy for the sake of learning; for those who are learning will always lack many things that are pleasant or necessary to know. Philosophy demands a foreign land and sometimes makes one's own land foreign—or rather, it makes the foreign one's own—and it is never burdened by exile. This is what drives away domestic anxieties and those that belong to the flesh, so that a person, turned entirely toward the spirit in a certain way, considers everything that hinders the progress of wisdom to be foreign; yet he is everywhere at home and everywhere in his homeland, because in every place he dwells with himself and with wisdom. And perhaps the Lord invites the patriarch to this when He commands him to go out from his land and his kindred, so that, advancing on his pilgrimage, he may be multiplied into a great nation and successfully acquire the very land he leaves behind, while he despises all worldly things at the call of wisdom. Indeed, virtue grows through the exercise of modest poverty, and strength is more easily overcome by riches than by labors. But whoever fixes the foot of his affection in the kinship of temporal things—to which he is in a way naturally inclined—serves and is diminished; yet all things of the world are successfully acquired by the right of dominion when they are trampled by the foot of the mind through the affection of the heart. But who is there who is even willing to enter upon this difficult path? Who is it that wrestles with the strong angel? Or who, if they do wrestle with him, actually perseveres? Yet the face of truth is not seen without the struggle of wrestling; and unless the bitterness of a poor exile comes first, the union of Rachel and Leah does not grow sweet, nor does a numerous offspring grow up, unless one has crossed the Jordan of fleeting things in the solitude of the staff of virtue. And he who has labored long in the exile of pure contemplation and right action, even while among his own kin, returns rich to his homeland in the two hosts of spiritual and bodily goods. But those who try to philosophize by any other path are mistaken; and when hunger presses, they'll sell their birthright, if they can even find a brother who will trade them a bowl of lentils for the name of wisdom. For it is, as Aristippus is said to have remarked, to indulge in vices to refrain from the study of reading.
Read the original Latin
et quod simplicitas amica ueritati est; et quid sit luctari cum angdo uel cibare eum; et quid sit aut prosit aduocatione sapientiae relinquere patriam. Quae uero sint discendi claues, quae philosophantibus ad intuendam speciem ueritatis uiam eo tendentis expediunt, senex Camotensis paucis expressit. Et, licet metri eius suauitate non capiar, sensum approbo et philosophantium credo mentibus fidehter ingerendum. Ait ergo: Mens humilis, studium quaerendi, uita quieta, scrutioium tacitum, paupertas, terra aliena, haec reserare solent multis obscura legendo. Humilibus namque dat gratiam Dominus et ilHs ueritatis intelligentiam confert qui timore initiati ei in dilectione et executione mandatorum suorum fideliter adherent. Nam, ex testimonio sapientis, qui confidunt in Domino intelligent ueritatem, superbis autem resistit Deus. Quis eo inuito philosophabitur? aut eo renitente in aliquo optinebit?
Humilitas est ut nec personam docentis contempnat quis aut quamcunque scientiam, nisi forte quam religio reprobauit. Si, ut dici solet, inuita Minerua nichil recte aggrea dimur, quis ad scientiam sine eo perueniet qui scientiarum Dominus est et in quo sunt omnes sapientiae thesauri absconditi? Hoc utique moliri arduum nimis est et difficilius et longe maius quam, ut fabularum utamur uerbis, clauam eripere de manu Herculis. Immo certe longe minus est, quoniam nichil est; si tamen quod omnino nichil est, aliquo maius aut minus est. Quisquis ergo uiam philosophandi ingreditur, ad hostium gratiae eius humiliter pulset, in cuius manu liber omnium sciendorum est, quem solus aperit Agnus qui occisus est ut ad uiam sapientiae et uerae felicitatis seruum reduceret aberrantem. Frustra quis sibi de capacitate ingenii, de memoriae tenacitate, de assiduitate studii, de linguae uolubilitate blanditur. Quia, si haec in inuio fuerint, quo efficaciora uidentur, eo longius aberrabunt; nam et equus quo uelocius aberrat, eo tardius domum quisquis insidet redit. Est autem humilitati coniuncta simplicitas qua discentium intelligentia plurimum adiuuatur.
Humilitas enim his quae scribuntur a doctioribus adquiescit, et simplicitas, si qua secus ac oportuit dicta uidentur, in partem meliorem fidei interpretatione retorquet. Ineptus enim est qui scripturis, a quibus instruendus est, appetit dominari et captiuato sensu earum ad intellectum suum eas nititur trahere repugnantes. Nam in eis quaerere quod non habent, proprium sensum obstruere est, non addiscere alienum. Nonne et discipulorum oculi tenebantur ne sapientiam quae eos ex ardore comitabatur agnoscerent, quia tardi erant ad intelligendum quae prophetae loquebantur, quaerentes quod aberat a mentibus prophetarum et non attendentes Christum qui latebat in littera? Sed quia caritatis ardenti studio quaerebant quod latebat, Sapientia quie quaerebatur aflfiiit et aperuit oculos eonmi ut intelligerent Scripturas et suam uiso Domino arguerent tarditatem. Sic enim prodest quaerendi studium, si auiditas ipsa sciendi referatur ad Christum. Sed nec ipse nisi in fractione panis agnoscitur quia mens Scripturarum, nisi refectio fidei aut morum detur animae, omnino non uidetur. Quisquis enim ad uoluptatem suam ingenii aut studii uiribus Scripturarum integritatem attemptat, quasi a sacrario philosophiae exclusus, ab intelligentia ueri alienus extat.
Nam et Sodod mitae, dum angelos correptores malitiae et uiri iusti hospites corrumpere uoluerunt, cecitate percussi sunt, et, circa parietem aberrantes, palpando in meridie, crassis tenebris obuoluti, iusto Dei iudicio submersi sunt. Sic, dum elati et maligni oberrant ad parietem Scripturarum, sensum fidelem, qui in domo simplicis, cum quo est sermocinatio Dei et qui correptorem malitiae uidet angelum, non adtingunt. Angelus siquidem Scriptura est, quam Deo mittente constat ad increpandam malitiam hominum in mundi Sodomam descendisse. Audite, inquit, uerbum Domini, principes Sodomorum; auribus percipe uerba mea, populus Gomorrae. Seruiendum est ergo Scripturis, non a dominandum, nisi forte quis se ipsum dignum credat ut angelis debeat dominari. Vtique uiri iusti eos adorasse et cibum ministrasse leguntur; et eis humana temeritas uult praef erri? Cibantur autem fidei et bonorum operum cibis; nam et magni consilii Angelum ad puteum sic cibauit mulier Samaritana; et forte eos adorasse non proderit, si cibus subtrahatur. Nonne quaerendi studio uiguisse scribitur patriarcha qui, scalam uidens, cuius summitas celum tangebat, angelos adscendentes et descendentes uidit et ipsum Dominum innixum scalae, et cum angelo, donec aurora illucesceret, luctaminis certamen exercuit, nec ante ab angelo fatigatus adquieuit ut cederet quam femore altero debilitatus benedictionis gratiam uoti compos a cedente angelo reportaret?
Haec ei in spiritu aut figura contigerunt, sed nobis, Apostolo teste, figuralia seruiunt. In uia ergo peregrinationis nostrae apprehendamus angelos Scripturarum et infatigabili certamine luctantes cum eis non cedamus donec nos aurora ueritatis illustret. Nec solam nosse sufficiat ueritatem nisi, femore amoris temporalium marcescente, eo uerae uirtutis aditum de benedictione angelica facilius consequamur quo magis etemorum amore excitato in appetitu temporalium claudicamus. Eo enim lucta ista perducit ut triumphantis hominis testimonio Deus ipse, qui summa ueritas est, facie ad faciem uideatur. Quicquid enim boni in fide aut operibus apparet, imago quaedam diuinae uisionis est. Et recte aurora sine benedictione non expedit angelum, quia notitia ueritatis sine gratia bonae operationis sanae eonscientiae non habet fructum. Porro ad studium quaerendi non modo domesticis sed etiam extraneis animamur exemplis. Nam Solon, qui simimo sapientiae feruore semper flagrauerat, supremo die, assidentibus amicis et conferentibus, iam fere mersum fatis caput erexit,interrogatusque cur hoc fecisset,respondit: Vt, cum istud quicquid est de quo disputatis percepero, moriar.
Migrasset profecto ex hominibus inertia si eo animo uitam ingrederentur quo eam Solon egressus est. Cameades laboriosus et diutumus sapientiae miles in studio nonaginta expleuit annos; ei siquidem idem uiuendi et philosophandi finis fuit. Cato, octogesimum et sextum agens annum, animo tamen iuuenili, uirili robore, grauitate senili, in re publica agens ut nec memoriam tardiorem aut laterum infirmitatem aut quassatam camem, membra torpentia aut linguam impeditam quisquam animaduerteret, Grecis etiam litteris appetitit erudiri qui sero et fere senex Latinas didicit; cum uero sibi eloquentiae gloriam comparasset, id egit ut iuris quoque ciuilis peritissimus haberetur. Eius uero proles mirifica et patre Catone digna adeo doctrinae cupiditate flagrauit ut ne in curia quidem, qua senatus cogebatur, temperaret sibi quo minus Grecos libros lectitaret; qua quidem industria ostendit aliis tempora. deesse, alios superesse temporibus. Vitam quietam necessariam esse uel ethnicus docet qui studentis inane exercitium reputat si ad hostium eius a prementium se tumultuum turba pulsat; ait enim: Quis locus ingenio nisi cum se carmine solo uexant et dominis Cirrae Nisaeque feruntur pectora nostra duas non admittentia curas? Magnae mentis opus nec de lodice paranda attonitae, curras et equos faciesque deoram adspicere et qualis Rutilum confundat Erinis. Nam quod turba ueritatis lumen impediat cecus euangelicus docet, quem turbae praecedentes et sequentes increpabant pariter ut taceret.
Siquidem, dicente Domino, qui uersatur in turbis turbatur erga plurima; quo nichil studiis aut bonis moribus exercendis pemiciosius est. Si enim studiura, ut Ciceroni placet, est uehemens applicatio animi ad aliquid agendum magna cum uoluntate, profecto mens quae turbata ad plura distrahitur nequaquam in uno uirtutis opere fideliter occupatur. Sed studii tunc exercitatio plurimum proficit, cum uirtus, in singulis quae legit aut audit homo, tacito apud se ueri iudicii scratinio conualescit; ibi namque ratio cuncta examinat et fractum omnium appendit in statera. Ceterum uita quieta esse non potest, si naturae necessaria subtrahuntur; et e contra, si luxuriat animus in deliciis, rerum affluentia lumen rationis extinguit. Vnde fecunda uirorum paupertas et uerae humilitatis custos et socia uirtutis praemissis adhibetur ut luxuriam moderatrix ista compescat et stimulis suis hominem sui memorem officio uirtutis iugiter instare compellat. Honesta quidem res est, ut ait sapiens, leta paupertas; nec tamen est paupertas, si leta, sed Cresi diuitiis potior. Vnde Democritus, cum diuitiis censeri posset quae tantae fuerant ut pater eius exercitui Xersis epulum dare ex facili potuerit, quo magis uacuo animo studiis litteraram esset operatus, parua admodum summa retenta, patrimonium suum patriae donauit. Athenis autem compluribus annis moratus, omnia temporum momenta ad percipiendam et exercendam doctrinam conferens, ignotus illi urbi uixit, quod ipse quodam uolumine testatus est.
Crates quoque ille Thebanus, proiecto in mare non paruo auri pondere: Abite, inquit, pessum malae cupiditates, ego uos mergam ne ipse mergar a uobis. Sed et Anaxagoras, cum a diutina peregrinatione patriam repetisset possessionesque desertas uidisset: Non essem, inquit, ego saluus, nisi istae perissent. Socraticum fertur oraculum neminem locupletem futurum ut doceat, nisi se ad discendum pauperem et egenum credat; semper enim discentibus plura deerunt quae scitu iocunda aut necessaria sunt. Terram alienam philosophia exigit et suam interdum alienam facit, immo alienam facit suam, et nullo umquam grauatur exilio. Hoc est quod domesticas et quae camis sunt abigit soUicitudines ut homo, totus quodammodo uersus in spiritum, omne quod sapientiae profectum impedit, reputet alienum; ubique tamen domi et ubique in patria, quia ubique locorum apud se et ubique apud a sapientiam commoratur. Et forte huc patriarcham inuitat Dominus, dum eum exire de terra et de cognatione sua praecipit, ut in peregrinatione proficiens multiplicetur in gentem magnam ipsamque terram adquirat feliciter quam relinquit, dum ad uocationem sapientiae omnia quae sunt mundana contempnit. Siquidem uirtus modestae paupertatis exercitio crescit et fortitudo fsicilius diuitiis quam laboribus expugnatur. Qui uero in cognatione temporalium, quibus quodammodo ingenitus est, pedem sui figit aflfectus, seruit et minoratur et iure dominii feliciter adquiruntur omnia quae mundi cordis afiectione quasi mentis pede calcantur.
Sed quis est qui hanc arduam uiam uel intrare disponat? Angelum fortem quis aggreditur? aut quis, si aggreditur, perseuerat? Nec tamen sine discrimine colluctandi uidetur facies ueritatis et, nisi pauperis exilii amaritudo praecedat, Rachelis et Liae coniugatio non dulcescit nec subcrescit soboles numerosa, nisi in uirtutis baculo lordanem labentium solitudo transierit; et in duabus turmis spiritualium et corporalium bonorum in patriam diues regreditur qui etiam inter cognatos exul in purae contemplationis et rectae operationis labore diutius sudauit. Qui uero alia uia philosophari nituntur, errant; et urgente fame primogenita distrahent, si tamen inuenerint germanum qui uel lenticulam sapientiae pretii nomine largiatur. Est enim, ut fertur dixisse Aristippus, indulgere uitiis a legendi studio temperare.
Policraticus companion
Study the argument weekly; pray the tradition daily
Pair the outline with the Chosen Portion app, which serves short daily portions from the same royal devotional tradition — free on iOS.
John of Salisbury argued that rulers must keep the law of God before their eyes daily; Chosen Portion gives modern readers that same daily discipline in five minutes a morning.
- 8 weeks, one book per week, with the 3-4 key chapters flagged in each
- Discussion questions usable for a reading group from week one
- A daily 5-minute companion portion in the app alongside your weekly study