VISIO QUARTA, cap. V
The Elements Held in Check
The pure aether and divinely ordered waters restrain destructive elemental forces so that creatures are not overwhelmed by unchecked plagues.
But the pure aether resists those scales and this cloud, so that they don't inflict plagues on creatures beyond measure, because the same aether, lying between the fires and the waters, mitigates the upper parts with its own purity and sweetness, and also tempers the lower parts, and doesn't produce plagues from itself, since if the individual elements struck creatures, nothing would come to their aid, and they could neither endure nor survive.1 But waters, by divine arrangement, are sometimes compressed through fire, so that they don't flow apart in an unconstrained outpouring. And so they emit a certain smoke, which however is no more harmful than a person's breath hurts anyone.
Penitence That Tempers Judgment
The harmless moisture that limits plague becomes an image of pure penitence, which softens divine vengeance and renders God merciful toward the creature.
And the same smoke tempers the lower parts with a suitable moisture, so that they don't extend their plagues further than they ought, just as pure penitence mitigates divine vengeance and punishment, and makes God appeasable toward his creature.2
The Source and Meaning of Pestilence
A pestilential mist descends from the upper air, raising questions about its origin, the resistance it encounters, the divine judgment behind all plagues, and the spiritual significance of these phenomena.
A pestilential mist spreads from the circle of the strong white air down toward the earth — and where it comes from, and why the density of watery air resists it so it doesn't become excessively harmful, and why plagues of any kind are never brought upon human beings except by God's judgment — and what all these things signify.
Read the original Latin
Sed purus aether et squamis istis et nebulae huic resistit, ne supramodum creaturis plagas inferant, quia idem aether inter ignes et aquas medius existens, puritate et suavitate sua superiora mitigat, subteriora quoque temperat, nec plagas de se producit, quoniam si singula elementa creaturas ferirent, nec aliquid illis subveniret, nec durare, nec subsistere possent. Aquae vero secundum divinam dispositionem aliquando per ignem comprimuntur, ne incongrua effusione diffluant. Unde et illae quemdam fumum emittunt, qui tamen nocivus non est, sicut nec halitus hominis ullum laedit. Idemque fumus convenienti humore subteriora temperat, ne plagas suas plus quam debent extendant, ut et pura poenitentia divinam ultionem et vindictam mitigat, Deumque creaturae suae placabilem facit.
De nebula pestifera a circulo fortis et albi aeris ad terras se extendente, unde creetur, et quod ei densitas aquosi aeris ne supramodum noxia sit resistat, et quod plagae quaevis nunquam nisi Dei judicio super homines inducuntur, et quid haec omnia designent.
Notes
- 1 ↩The passage uses elemental cosmology (aether, fire, water, scales, cloud, smoke) as an extended analogy for divine governance restraining destructive forces; 'supramodum' is rare/uncertain, rendered 'beyond measure'.
- 2 ↩The analogy shifts: smoke moderating lower elements parallels pure penitence moderating divine punishment; 'pura poenitentia' is the human/divine counterpart to the cosmic restraining mechanism.
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