LXXIIII. De inepta laetiiia.

LXXIIII. De inepta laetiiia.

The image of the fool signifies a foolish joy, which follows anger here, because it is like vengeance and a relief from wrath; for when a person, having completed their anger, shows joy, they dishonor their enemies, where those who see him rejoice are more deeply pained by the insult inflicted upon them. What has form from above down to the loins resembles a human, except that its hands are like those of a monkey; because humans, who should turn their knowledge of good toward heavenly longings, instead lead themselves into carnal desires through the multiplication of various vanities; and thus they exceed the proper way of holy living and restraint; from which all their actions are often distorted by foolishness, since what does not suit a person, they frequently accomplish in shameful, bestial ways. But from the loins down, it resembles a goat, because such beings, having forgotten what they are, are led by a bestial understanding into foolish desires, and they leap over what is rational, not seeking to possess a discerning intellect or a pure discipline in their reasoning. Therefore, his feet are so deeply fixed in those mentioned shadows that you can't see the path to perfection, because his wandering ways are entangled in various vanities and do not lead to justice; for while they are darkened by wicked deeds, they do not reveal the truth of fidelity, but are utterly abolished and found in no trace of holiness. However, since it has no clothing, but appears completely bare, this means that it is not surrounded by any spiritual joy; the heart is naked before God, because it tends toward instability and seeks no sighs in heaven, but is entirely fixated on earthly and transient things, caring nothing for eternal matters, as it also demonstrates in its earlier words. But the spirit responds to the care, as has been said; and as the earthly things tend toward the eternal, so do they.