VISIO TERTIA, cap. III
The Winds of Virtue and Weariness
The south wind lifting the firmament symbolizes how good works and virtues raise the soul against temptation, while the north wind pressing it down represents how weariness and tribulation humble the soul until divine grace restores it.
You also see that from the day when the days begin to grow longer, the south wind I mentioned, along with its companion winds, lifts that same firmament upward in the southern region toward the north, right up to the day when they stop lengthening beyond that point, as if gradually raising it by supporting it — because when good works are extended through a faithful person in the light of truth, the breath of uprightness coming with other virtues from the fire of justice raises that person's inner spirit, burning with justice, upward against the desire of the flesh, worn and tested by many temptations, lifting it up to good faith, raising it well and in an ordered way.12 But from the same day when the days begin to grow shorter, the north wind, shunning the brightness of the sun along with its companion winds, gradually presses that same firmament downward, driving it back from the north toward the south, until the south wind begins to raise it again with the lengthening of days — that is, when weariness and slowness in good works have seized a person and led them into fatigue, and also when bodily tribulation, by which the same person resisting diabolic persuasion had previously afflicted themselves in many ways, and when weariness with the brightness of those same works had caused them to neglect their spirit, then tribulation touches that person inwardly with contrary thoughts and sends them inward, so that they restrain themselves in these afflictions and lay aside the rigor they once had in them — because the grace of God, like the south wind, kindly and mercifully indulges their sins, and so gradually deceives them, until the fire of God's gifts, rightly judging these things, brings their spirit back through this struggle in the flesh to its former vigor of virtue.34
The Circle of Fire Above
A vision of a circle of fire surrounding the firmament and sending forth wind to temper the course of the planets.
What the circle appearing in the upper fire might mean—surrounding the whole firmament on the one hand, and on the other sending forth the wind blowing through the upper regions and, by some kind of tempering process, regulating the course of the planets.
Read the original Latin
Vides quoque quod a die illo quo dies prolongari incipiunt, praefatus australis ventus cum collateralibus suis idem firmamentum in australi plaga sursum versus septentrionem usque in diem quo usque ultra non prolongantur, quasi fulciendo paulatim attollat, quia cum in luce veritatis bona opera per fidelem hominem extenduntur, ab igne justitiae exspiratio rectitudinis cum aliis virtutibus veniens, interiorem spiritum ipsius in ardente justitia, sursum contra concupiscentiam carnis, quamplurimis tentationibus attritum et probatum, usque ad bonam fidem erigendo, bene et ordinate attollit. Quod autem ab eodem die quo dies abreviari incipiunt, septentrionalis ventus cum collateralibus suis claritatem solis abhorrens, ipsum firmamentum a septentrione ad austrum repellendo paulatim deprimit, usque dum auster illud iterum ad longitudinem dierum erigere incipiat, hoc est quod cum hominem in bonis operibus taedium et tarditas apprehendendo in fatigationem duxerunt, tribulatio etiam corporalis, qua se idem homo diabolicae persuasioni resistens, multis modis prius afflixerat, et claritatem eorumdem operum taedio affectus neglexerat, spiritum illius contrariis cogitationibus interius tangit, ipsique immittit, quatenus se in his afflictionibus contineat, rigoremque, quem in eis habuit, deponat, quoniam gratia Dei velut in austro benigne et clementer ipsi peccata sua indulgeat, sicque illum paulatim decipit, quosque ignis donorum Dei haec recte dijudicans, spiritum ipsius in carne hoc modo certamen, iterum ad pristinum vigorem virtutum reducat.
Quid circulus in superiori igne apparens significet tam totum firmamentum cingens, quam ventum superiora perflantem et planetarum cursum regradendo temperantem emittens.
Notes
- 1 ↩The image is allegorical: the south wind raising the firmament pictures grace-driven growth in good works, with the 'fire of justice' and 'breath of uprightness' representing the virtues that lift the soul upward against fleshly desire.
- 2 ↩exspiratio rendered 'breath' (not 'exhalation' or 'emanation') to capture the sense of something flowing out from the fire of justice.
- 3 ↩The 'grace of God indulging sins' is paradoxical: the text seems to mean that divine mercy, by kindly easing the person's condition, can gradually lull them into spiritual complacency — grace experienced as deceptive comfort rather than transformive call.
- 4 ↩decipit rendered 'deceives' — the Latin carries the sense that gradual easing can become a subtle spiritual trap, not that God intends deception.
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