Caput 16. De diabolo et tentationibus ejus. Diaboli ubique laquei.

The tempter was absent, and you made sure he was absent. Place and time were absent, and you made sure they were absent. The tempter was present, the place was there, the time was there, but you kept me from consenting. The dark tempter came, just as he is, and you strengthened me so that I would despise him.¹ The strong, armed tempter came; and so that he would not conquer me, you restrained him, and strengthened me. The tempter came disguised as an angel of light; you rebuked him so that he would not deceive me, and you enlightened me so that I would recognize him. For he is, Lord, that great red dragon, the ancient serpent, called the devil and Satan, having seven heads and ten horns (Rev.² 12:3), whom you created to sport in this great and wide sea, in which there are countless creeping things, and animals small and great (Ps.³⁴ 103:25–26); that is, the various kinds of demons, who day and night do nothing but roam around seeking someone to devour—unless you snatch us away. For he himself is that ancient dragon who rose up in the paradise of delight, who with his tail sweeps away a third of the stars of heaven and throws them down to the earth (Rev. 12:4), who corrupts the waters of the earth with his poison so that those who drink them die, who spreads gold for himself like mud (Job 41:21), and who is confident that the Jordan will flow into his mouth (Ibid.⁵ 40:18), who was made so that he would fear no one. And who will defend us from his bites, who will snatch us from his mouth, except you, Lord—you who crushed the heads of the great dragon? Stretch your wings over us, Lord, so that we may flee beneath them from the face of this dragon who pursues us, and with your shield free us from his horns. For this is his constant pursuit, his one desire: to devour the souls you created. And so we cry out to you: free us from our daily adversary, who—whether we sleep or stay awake, whether we eat or drink, or whatever work we do—presses in on us day and night in every way, with tricks and devices, now openly, now in secret, aiming poisoned arrows at us to kill our souls. And yet, Lord, ours is the worst madness: because even while we keep seeing the dragon against us with open mouth, ready to devour, we still sleep and revel in our laziness, as if we were safe before the one who desires nothing else than to destroy us. The enemy always keeps watch without sleep so he can kill; and we refuse to wake from sleep so we can guard ourselves.⁶ See — he has stretched countless snares before our feet, and filled all our paths with traps to catch our souls. And who will escape? He has set snares in riches, snares in poverty; he has stretched snares in food, in drink, in pleasure, in sleep, in wakefulness; he has set snares in word and in deed, and in every path of ours. But you, Lord, deliver us from the snare of the hunters, and from the harsh word (Ps.^✦ 90:3): so that we may give thanks to you, saying, Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth.⁷ Our soul has been rescued like a sparrow from the snare of the hunters: the snare is broken, and we have been set free (Ps. 123:6–7).⁸

Read the original Latin

Tentator defuit; et ut deesset, tu fecisti. Locus et tempus defuit; et ut haec deessent, tu fecisti. Adfuit tentator, non defuit locus, non defuit tempus; sed ut non consentirem, tu me tenuisti. Venit tentator tenebrosus, ut est; et ut eum despicerem, tu me confortasti. Venit tentator fortis armatus; et ut me non vinceret, eum refrenasti, et me roborasti. Venit tentator transfiguratus in angelum lucis; et ut me non deciperet, tu eum increpasti, et ut eum cognoscerem, tu me illuminasti. Ipse enim est, Domine, draco ille magnus, rufus, serpens antiquus, vocatus diabolus et satanas, habens capita septem et cornua decem (Apoc. XII, 3), quem creasti ad illudendum huic mari magno et spatioso manibus, in quo sunt reptilia quorum non est numerus, et animalia pusilla et magna (Psal.

CIII, 25, 26); id est, diversa daemoniorum genera, quae nihil aliud die noctuque operantur, nisi quod circumeunt quaerentes quem devorent, nisi tu eripias. Ipse enim est draco antiquus ille, qui ortus est in paradiso voluptatis, qui cauda sua trahit tertiam partem stellarum coeli, et eas mittit in terram (Apoc. XII, 4), qui veneno suo corrumpit aquas terrae, ut bibentes homines moriantur, qui sternit sibi aurum quasi lutum (Job XLI, 21), et habet fiduciam quod influat Jordanis in os ejus (Id. XL, 18), qui factus est ut nullum timeat. Et quis defendet a morsibus ejus, quis eruet ab ore ejus, nisi tu, Domine, qui confregisti capita draconis magni? Praetende, Domine, super nos alas tuas, ut fugiamus sub eis a facie draconis hujus, qui nos persequitur, et scuto tuo libera nos a cornibus ejus. Hoc enim est continuum studium suum, hoc unicum desiderium suum, ut animas devoret quas creasti. Et ideo ad te clamamus; libera nos ab adversario nostro quotidiano, qui, sive dormiamus, sive vigilemus, sive comedamus, sive bibamus, sive quodcumque opus operemur, omnibus modis instat die ac nocte, fraudibus et artibus, nunc palam, nunc occulte, sagittas venenatas contra nos dirigens, ut interficiat animas nostras.

Et tamen, Domine, pessima insania nostra, quia cum continue videamus contra nos draconem ore aperto paratum ad devorandum, nihilominus dormimus et lascivimus in pigritiis nostris, tanquam securi ante eum, qui nihil aliud desiderat quam ut nos perdat. Inimicus ut occidat, semper vigilat sine somno: et nos ut custodiamus nos, nolumus evigilare a somno. Ecce tetendit ante pedes nostros laqueos infinitos, et omnes vias nostras implevit decipulis ad capiendas animas nostras. Et quis effugiet? Laqueos posuit in divitiis, laqueos in paupertate, laqueos tetendit in cibo, in potu, in voluptate, in somno, in vigiliis: laqueos posuit in verbo et in opere, et in omni via nostra. Sed tu, Domine, libera nos de laqueo venantium, et a verbo aspero (Psal. XC, 3): ut confiteamur tibi dicentes, Benedictus Dominus, qui non dedit nos in captionem dentibus eorum. Anima nostra sicut passer erepta est de laqueo venantium: laqueus contritus est, et nos liberati sumus (Psal.

CXXIII, 6, 7).

Scripture echoes

↩Ps.91.3 — Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.

Notes

1 ↩ut est taken comparatively ('as he is' / true to his nature), not as purpose.
2 ↩Printed sentence breaks mid-citation after Apoc.; reference completed in the next sentence as XII, 3.
3 ↩Begins mid-citation from Apoc. XII, 3 and ends mid-citation of the Psalm (completed in the next section as CIII, 25, 26).
4 ↩spatioso manibus follows the Vulgate idiom for a broad/spacious sea; rendered as 'wide sea.' ad illudendum rendered as 'to sport,' matching the Leviathan/Psalm sense of playing in the sea.
5 ↩sternit sibi aurum quasi lutum follows the Vulgate Job Leviathan line; rendered as spreading gold for himself like mud.
6 ↩The second ut-clause states the purpose we ought to have (guarding ourselves), while nolumus refuses the means; the irony is deliberate.
7 ↩confiteamur rendered as give thanks / praise in the psalmic sense, not juridical confession.
8 ↩Citation fragment completing the previous sentence’s “(Psal.”; Vulgate Psalm 123:6–7 (Hebrew/English Psalm 124:6–7).

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