VISIO QUARTA, cap. LXXI

The Stomach of the World

The stomach and the world's capacity are compared as vessels that receive, hold, and dispense, showing how creatures and works fill and empty the soul.

But the stomach — whose seat is in the belly, and into which foods are sent, and from which they are sent out, and which is bound with the entrails like a sack — shows the capacity of the world, which creatures fill by sprouting and growing. And they render it, when failing, as if empty — this is the case with man, who like the moon grows and wanes, through the soul, which is filled with all creatures, works; and just as blood is in the veins, so all the works of man are in the soul.¹ When it has been filled with good works according to its desire, it ascends into an eternal dwelling, where it may be refreshed with the food of life; and when it is occupied with evil works, it descends, about to perish, into the stinking rottenness of infernal punishments.² For God, who gave the commandment to Adam, wills that man be under the commandment, in the observance of which the soul with joy gathers the works of salvation, which are sent lamentably into the exile of perdition when man, by the desires of his flesh, has consented by relinquishing the commandment.³ But just as the stomach, which receives and sends out food, is bound with the entrails, so the soul itself works with all creatures, whether in the ascent of good or in the descent of evil in man. And just as creatures flourish and are green in summer but dry up and fail in winter, so the soul itself flourishes and is green, rejoicing in good works, and dries up and fails, grieving in evil works. The stomach too does no good by being empty, just as the capacity of the world would not be useful if it were emptied of its diverse creatures. For this capacity is the dispenser of the powers and fruitfulness of the earth, because it leaves her neither deserted nor empty in anything necessary for the office of fruits; since if the world were narrow and constricted, so as to lack expansion, it could not bear the fullness of creatures that it now has.⁴

The Twofold Knowledge of the Soul

The soul needs knowledge of both good and evil to love and fear God rightly, to govern the person, and to bear the fruit of holy works.

In the same way, it wouldn't help a person to have only one kind of knowledge, since at that point they'd be as good as empty—unable to begin or complete any work, or to tell the light of day from the darkness of night. But whoever is now filled with both kinds of knowledge, through the good knowledge loves God along with good works, and through the bad knowledge knows Him too, yet fears Him as they recognize evil deeds.⁵ But the soul dwells in the body with great anxiety, like a head of household in his own home — always worried that he'll be robbed of his possessions — since the soul is constantly concerned that a person, through the entanglement in sins, might not be stripped of the holy desires that come through it.⁶ But when a person, wearied by their sins, has at some point given in to the soul, it—rejoicing at this—sets all their sins before them in their bitterness, and makes the desires of heaven sweet to them, sweeter than honey and honeycomb, and very often makes them holy and leads them to the heavenly kingdom. For just as a person would die if their stomach were always empty, so the soul could by no means exist without these two kinds of knowledge; and just as the world would dry up if it were empty of both good and bad fruit, so the soul would turn out dry and empty if it lacked the works that a person carries out through these two kinds of knowledge. For it arranges everything that belongs to a person, directing them on the right path with sound judgment, and through the goodness of God—from whom it is, being divine—and through the holy works it carries out along with the person, it is confident that it will have a dwelling place in the land of the living.⁷ Through the knowledge of the good, by which it recognizes evil, it judges that evil to be wrong—even though that same evil is often compelled to work through the body—and if it did not have this knowledge of good and evil, it would be like a bellows with which a smith does nothing.⁸ And just as the world would be without any fullness of fruit if it didn't bud forth in greenness, so the soul too would be without the honor and blessedness of good works if it didn't blossom in the reason of the knowledge of good and evil.

The Soul's Final Vision

The soul moves the body to work, and according to the rightness or perversity of those works, it either beholds God forever or is driven from that vision.

And so, just as the air helps the earth to bear fruit, the soul too, through its own powers, moves the body to carry out whatever works are to be done; and if those works are right, the soul, adorned forever, perfectly beholds God and the angels and the blessed souls; but if they are perverse, it is driven away from this vision as something unclean.

Read the original Latin

Sed stomachus, cujus sedes in ventre est, et cui cibi immittuntur, et a quo emittuntur, et qui ut saccus ligatus est cum visceribus, capacitatem mundi ostendit, quem creaturae germinando et crescendo replent. et quem deficiendo quasi inanem reddunt, hoc est quod homo, qui sicut luna crescit et deficit, per animam, quae omnibus creaturis repleta est, operatur, et sicut sanguis in venis est, sic omnia opera hominis in anima sunt. Quae cum bonis operibus secundum desiderium suum repleta fuerit, in aeternam mansionem ubi cibo vitae reficiatur ascendit, et cum malis operibus occupatur, in fetentem putredinem infernalium poenarum peritura descendit. Deus enim, qui praeceptum Adae dedit, hominem sub praecepto esse vult, in cujus observatione anima opera salvationis cum gaudio colligit, quae in exsilium perditionis lacrymabiliter mittitur, cum homo desideriis carnis suae praeceptum relinquendo consenserit. Sed sicut stomachus, qui cibum recipit et emittit, cum visceribus ligatur, sic ipsa cum omnibus creaturis vel in ascensione boni, vel in descensione mali in homine operatur. Et sicut creaturae in aestate florent et virent, in hieme vero arescunt et deficiunt, ita ipsa in bonis operibus gaudendo floret et viret, et in malis operibus dolendo arescit et deficit. Stomacho etiam non prodest ut vacuus sit, quemadmodum nec capacitati mundi utile esset, si diversis creaturis evacuaretur. Capacitas quoque ista dispensatrix virium fructuositatis terrae est, quia eam nec desolatam, nec vacuam in ulla re quae necessaria ad officium fructuum est dimittit, quoniam si mundus arctus et constrictus esset, ita ut dilatatione careret, plenitudinem creaturarum, quam nunc habet, ferre non posset.

Sic et homini non prodesset si tantum unam scientiam haberet, quoniam quasi vacuus tunc esset, cum nullum opus incipere aut perficere, seu lucem diei vel tenebras noctis discernere posset. Qui modo in duabus scientiis plenus est, et per bonam scientiam Deum cum bonis operibus amat, quem etiam per malam mala opera cognoscendo timet. Anima vero cum magna sollicitudine in corpore, sicut paterfamilias in domo sua, habitat, qui semper sollicitus est ne in bonis suis depraedetur, quoniam ipsa curam istam ne homo per involutionem peccatorum a sanctis desideriis, quae per ipsam fiunt, despolietur semper habet. Cum autem homo propter taedium peccatorum suorum animae aliquando consenserit, ipsa, inde gaudens, homini omnia peccata sua in amaritudine proponit, et coelestia desideria super mel et favum ei dulcia faciens, ipsum sanctum saepissime efficit, et ad coelestia regna perducit. Sicut enim homo periret si stomachus vacuus semper foret, sic anima sine istis duabus scientiis nequaquam esse posset; et ut mundus aresceret si a bonis et malis fructibus inanis esset, ita anima arida et inanis existeret si operibus quae homo per has duas scientias operatur careret. Ipsa namque omnia quae hominis sunt in rectum iter dirigendo cum discretione recte dispensat, et per bonitatem Dei, a quo divina est, per sancta etiam opera quae cum homine operatur mansionem in terra viventium se habituram confidit. Per scientiam quoque boni, qua malum cognoscit, illud injustum esse judicat, quamvis idem malum per corpus coacta saepe operetur; et si scientiam istam boni et mali non haberet, sicut follis cum qua faber nihil operatur esset. Et sicut mundus absque omni plenitudine fructuum esset, si non in viriditate germinaret, sic etiam ipsa sine honore et beatitudine bonorum operum esset, si in rationalitate scientiae boni et mali non floreret.

Quod in similitudinem aeris terram ad fructificandum juvantis, anima quoque per vires suas corpus ad quaelibet opera exsequenda moveat, quibus, si recta fuerint, in aeternum decorata, Deum et angelos et beatas animas perfecte intueatur; si vero perversa, velut immunda ab hac visione repellatur.

Notes

1 ↩The antecedent of 'quem' shifts: first the stomach/world capacity, then the soul. The sense is that both, when depleted, are rendered void; the soul is the subject of the second half.
2 ↩The subject 'Quae' refers back to the soul (anima). The contrast is between the soul's ascent through good works and its descent through evil ones.
3 ↩The syntax of the final clause is compressed: 'cum homo desideriis carnis suae praeceptum relinquendo consenserit' — 'when man has consented to the desires of his flesh by relinquishing the commandment.'
4 ↩The feminine referent of 'eam' is the earth (terrae), with 'capacitas' as the subject. The sense is that the earth's capacity is never left barren in anything needed for fruitfulness.
5 ↩The 'two knowledges' are knowledge of good and of evil; the soul filled with both loves God through the good and fears God through awareness of evil.
6 ↩Involutio peccatorum suggests being wrapped up or entangled in sins; the soul guards against the person being despoiled of holy desires.
7 ↩Terra viventium echoes biblical language for the land of the living (e.g., Ps 26:13 Vulg.); the soul's confidence rests in God's goodness and its cooperative holy works.
8 ↩The bellows simile: without the knowledge of good and evil, the soul is as useless as an idle bellows in a smith's hand — it produces no work.

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