VISIO QUARTA, cap. XXXIII
The Measure in All Created Forms
Every visible form carries both a name and a measure, reflected in the equal proportion of the eyes and their seeing.
But just as no visible form exists without a name, so none exists without measure. That is why both of a person's eyes have an equal measure, and their speculative vessels exist as equal in their circuit.1
Discretion as the Balanced Eye of the Soul
God separates virtues from vices so that a person, through circumspection, may hold to balanced discretion and avoid falling into excess or despair.
For God has separated virtues from vices and holy works from sins, just as he distinguished the creatures known to us by their forms and names from one another, so that a person, in the circumspection available to them, might foresee whatever is good — as in an eye — and in considering their sincere good intention, might hold to an equal and balanced discretion, so that if they exceed proper measure in what is good, they don't fall into the depths, or if they grasp at excess in what is evil, they don't utterly perish in despair.23
The Soul's Judgment and the Insufficiency of Penance
A rational soul must render reward for good and punishment for evil, yet no penance could ever match eternal recompense.
Because the judgment of a rational soul ought to assign reward to the good and punishment to the evil, and because measured against eternal recompense no penance would be enough — even if it surpassed every grain of sand and every drop of the sea.
Read the original Latin
Ut autem nulla forma visibilis sine nomine est, sic nulla sine mensura est. Unde etiam ambo oculi hominis aequalem mensuram habent, atque speculativa vasa eorum in circuitu suo aequalia existunt. Deus enim virtutes a vitiis, sancta quoque opera a peccatis separavit, velut creaturas quae homini notae sunt formis et nominibus suis ab invicem discrevit, ita ut etiam homo in circumspectione quae sibi, quemadmodum in oculo, quaelibet bona praevideat, et etiam in consideratione bonae intentionis suae, sinceram aequalemque discretionem habeat, ne si in bono modum excesserit, in profundum corruat, aut ne si in malo nimietatem apprehenderit, in desperatione omnino pereat.
Quia judicium rationalis animae et bono praemium et malo poenam debeat constituere, et quod ad comparationem aeternae retributionis nulla poenitentia sufficeret, etiamsi arenam omnem et maris guttas transcenderet.
Notes
- 1 ↩'speculativa vasa' is a difficult phrase: 'speculative vessels' renders literally; the precise sense in this optical-spiritual analogy is uncertain.
- 2 ↩The phrase 'in circumspectione quae sibi...quemadmodum in oculo' is rendered to preserve the optical analogy; the exact nuance of 'circumspectione' here may blend moral vigilance with the visual metaphor.
- 3 ↩'sinceram aequalemque discretionem' — rendered 'sincere...equal and balanced discretion'; the coupling of sincerity, equality, and discretion in a single phrase is compressed and interpretive.
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