Informacio optima sancte Agnetis ad filiam ad bene et laudabiliter viuendum et ad malam vitam et Deo ingratam precauendum; in qua fortitudo et paciencia per currum, per quatuor vero rotas designantur iste quatuor virtutes: perfecte omnia relinquere propter Deum, humilitas et Deum sapienter diligere carnemque discrete refrenare; et ponuntur quedam alia de religiosis.
The Chariot of Virtue
Agnes instructs the bride on the four virtues of the spiritual chariot: detachment, humility, wise love, and self-restraint.
Agnes says to the bride of Christ, "Did you see Lady Pride in her chariot of pride today?" The bride answered her, "I saw her, and I was sick at heart, because flesh and blood, dust and dung, seeks to be praised there where it ought, by all rights, to humble itself." After all, what is such a display but a wasteful squandering of God’s gifts, a craving for the crowd’s admiration, a source of distress for the righteous, a desolation for the poor, a provocation to God, a forgetting of one’s own self, a more severe judgment in the life to come, and the ruin of souls? Agnes replied, "Rejoice, daughter, because you've been rescued from such things." For that reason, I also want to describe for you a certain chariot in which you'll be able to rest securely. The chariot you must sit in, therefore, is fortitude and patience in times of trouble. When you begin to restrain your flesh and commit your entire will to God, pride often stirs in your mind—a pride that lifts you away from yourself and above yourself, as if you were like God and the righteous. Otherwise, impatience and a lack of discernment will surely break him, so he either returns to his old ways or loses his strength, becoming useless for the work of God. You need discerning patience, so you don't retreat out of impatience or persevere without discretion, but instead adapt yourself according to your strength and the circumstances. The first wheel of this chariot is a perfect will to leave everything behind for God's sake, and to desire nothing but God. Many people leave behind worldly things just to avoid hardship, yet they still don't want to lack any of their own comfort or pleasure. Their wheel doesn't turn or pivot well, because when poverty stings, they long for sufficiency; when adversity weighs them down, they demand prosperity. When they’re tested by being brought low, they grumble against God’s providence and crave honors; when they’re commanded to do things that go against their will, they seek their own freedom. Therefore, the will that is pleasing to God is one that desires to possess nothing of its own, whether in prosperity or in adversity. The second wheel is humility, by which a person considers themselves unworthy of all good things, keeping their own sins before their eyes at every hour and judging themselves guilty in the sight of God. The third wheel is loving God wisely. A person truly loves wisely when they look within themselves and hate their own faults, and when they are saddened by the sins of their neighbors and their own parents. They truly rejoice in the spiritual progress of others toward God; they don't want their friend to live for their own personal gain or advantage, but so that they might serve God, and they fear more for them regarding the ways of the world, lest they happen to offend God. This, then, is wise love: hating vices and not encouraging them for the sake of favor or honor, while loving those more whom you see to be more fervent in the love of God. The fourth wheel is the disciplined restraint of the flesh. For anyone who is married and thinks this way—'Look,' they say, 'my flesh is pulling me in disordered ways.' If I live according to the flesh, I know for certain that the Creator of the flesh is angered—He who can strike and weaken, who will kill and judge. Out of love and fear of God, I willingly want to restrain my flesh and live in a way that is proper and ordered for the honor of God. Whoever thinks in this way, while seeking the help of God, will have their wheel accepted by God. If, however, a religious person thinks like this: 'Look, my flesh is pulling me toward pleasure, and the place, the time, the goods, and my age all offer themselves for indulgence, yet with God's help I refuse to sin because of my holy profession and the fleeting good of such pleasure.' I have made a serious vow to God: I entered poor, I will leave even poorer, and I must face judgment for everything. “So, to avoid offending my God, causing my neighbor to stumble, or becoming a perjurer, I choose to abstain.” Such abstinence is worthy of a great reward. If someone is in a position of honor and luxury and thinks to themselves, 'Look, I have an abundance of everything, while the poor man is in need, and yet there is only one God for us all.' What have I earned, and what has he failed to earn? After all, what is the flesh but food for worms? What are all these pleasures but sources of nausea, occasions for weakness, a waste of time, and an invitation to sin? Therefore, I will restrain my flesh so that worms don't revel in it, so that I don't face a more severe judgment, and so that I don't waste my time for penance. And if, by chance, a poorly trained body cannot easily be bent toward a simpler life, I will—little by little—withdraw from it those luxuries without which it can get along just fine, so that it might have what is necessary, not what is superfluous. Anyone who thinks this way and tries, as much as they can, to put it into practice, can be called both a confessor and a martyr; for it's a kind of martyrdom to have luxuries but not use them, to be held in honor but to despise that honor, and to be considered great among people but to think of yourself as the least. Such a wheel is very pleasing to God. Look, daughter, I have fashioned a chariot for you, and your angel is its driver—provided, that is, you don't throw off its bridle and yoke from your neck; which is to say, provided you don't dismiss its healthy inspirations by letting your senses and your heart wander toward empty and vulgar things.1
The Chariot of Vice
The text contrasts the virtuous chariot with the chariot of pride and impatience, driven by the devil toward ruin.
Now I also want to tell you about the chariot that lady was sitting in. That chariot is clearly her impatience—that is, impatience against God, against her neighbor, and against herself: It judges God by questioning His hidden judgments because things don't go according to its own wishes; it acts maliciously toward its neighbor because it doesn't get what they have; and it is impatient with itself, impatiently revealing the hidden things of its own heart. The first wheel of this chariot is pride, which shows itself when you put yourself before others, judge them, look down on the humble, and chase after honors. The second wheel is disobedience to God’s commandments, which brings into your heart excuses for your own weakness, the downplaying of your own guilt, presumption of heart, and the defense of your own malice.2 The third wheel is a craving for worldly things, which leads to extravagance in spending what one has, negligence and forgetfulness of oneself and of the future, anxiety of heart, and a lukewarmness toward the love of God. The fourth wheel is self-love, which causes a person to shut out the reverence and fear of their God, and to pay no attention to their own end or to the judgment. The devil drives this chariot, and he makes the soul eager and bold to pursue everything he puts into its heart. The two horses pulling the chariot are the hope of a long life and the desire to keep on sinning until the very end. The restraint, however, is the shame of confession. This shame, through the hope of a long life and the desire to persist in sin, pulls the soul away from the straight path and weighs it down in sin. It's a state that can't be stirred by terror, shame, or warning; but when it thinks it's standing firm, it will sink into the depths unless the grace of God helps it. Christ speaks again of that same lady: "She is a viper with a harlot's tongue, the gall of dragons in her heart, and the most bitter poison in her flesh." Because of this, her eggs will be poisonous. Blessed are those who do not experience their burden."
Read the original Latin
Agnes loquitur sponse Christi: "Vidisti," inquit, "dominam Superbiam in curru superbie hodie?" Cui sponsa respondit: "Vidi," inquit, "et tabescebam, quia caro et sanguis, puluis et stercus se ibi laudari querit, ubi merito debet se humiliare.
Quid enim est talis ostentacio nisi prodiga donorum Dei consumpcio, vulgi admiracio, iustorum tribulacio, pauperum desolacio, Dei prouocacio, suiipsius obliuio, iudicii futuri grauior diiudicacio et dispendium animarum?"
Respondit Agnes: "Gaude, filia, quia a talibus erepta es. Propterea et describere tibi currum quendam volo, in quo te secure poteris reclinare. Currus itaque in quo sedere debes est fortitudo et paciencia in tribulacionibus.
Cum enim homo carnem refrenare ceperit et totam voluntatem suam Deo committere, aut sollicitat mentem superbia, que hominem eleuat a se et supra se, quasi similis sit Deo et hominibus iustis,
aut certe frangit eum impaciencia et indiscrecio, ut vel redeat ad solita vel deficiat in viribus, ut ineptus sit in labore Dei.
Propterea est opus paciencia discreta, ut nec impaciens retrocedat nec indiscrete perseueret, sed in viribus et temporibus se conformet.
Prima vero rota currus istius est voluntas perfecta omnia relinquendi propter Deum nilque desiderare nisi Deum.
Nam sunt multi, qui temporalia relinquunt eo fine, ut aduersitatibus careant et tamen nichil eis desit ad utilitatem et voluptatem.
Quorum rota non est bene ductilis et versatilis, quia cum pungit paupertas, desiderant sufficienciam; cum grauat aduersitas, requirunt prospera;
cum temptat eos deieccio, murmurant de disposicione diuina et affectant honores; cum precipiuntur contraria, querunt proprias libertates.
Ergo illa voluntas est Deo placita, que nichil de suo habere desiderat nec in prosperitate nec in aduersitate.
Secunda rota est humilitas, qua homo reputat se ad omnia bona indignum ponens ante oculos suos omni hora peccata sua, reum se existimando in conspectu Dei.
Tercia rota est diligere Deum sapienter. Ille plane sapienter diligit, qui seipsum circumspiciendo odit vicia sua, qui contristatur de peccatis proximorum et parentum suorum,
letatur vero de spirituali eorum profectu ad Deum, qui amicum suum non optat viuere ad utile et commodum suum proprium, sed ut Deo seruiat, timetque ei plus de mundano processu, ne forte offendat Deum.
Talis ergo est sapiens dileccio odiendo vicia, non fouendo propter fauorem vel honorem eosque plus diligendo, quos in amore Dei viderit feruenciores.
Quarta rota est refrenacio discreta carnis. Quicumque enim est in coniugio et cogitat sic: 'Ecce,' inquit, 'trahit me caro inordinate. Si vixero secundum carnem, scio pro certissimo, quod irascitur conditor carnis, qui plagare potest et infirmare, qui occidet et iudicabit.
Ideo ob amorem et timorem Dei refrenare volo beniuole carnem meam, viuere modo debito et ordinato ad honorem Dei.' Quicumque taliter cogitat petens adiutorium Dei, eius rota accepta erit Deo.
Si vero religiosus est et cogitat sic: 'Ecce trahit me caro ad deliciosa, offert se eciam locus, tempus et bona et etas ad delectandum, attamen adiutorio Dei nolo peccare propter professionem sanctam et momentaneum delectacionis bonum.
Magnum quippe est quod voui Deo: pauper ingressus sum, pauperior egrediar, iudicium de cunctis sum subiturus.
Ideo, ne offendam Deum meum, ne scandalizem proximum meum, ne meipsum faciam periurum, abstinere volo.' Talis abstinencia digna est mercede magna.
Si vero aliquis est in honore et deliciis et cogitat sic: 'Ecce ego habundo in omnibus, et pauper deficit, et tamen unus Deus est omnium. Quid promerui ego et quid demeruit ille? Quid vero est caro nisi cibus vermium?
Quid vero tot delicie nisi nausee et occasio infirmitatis, perdicio temporis et peccati inductiuum? Ideo refrenabo carnem meam, ne in ea vermes lasciuiant, ne grauius iudicium subeam, ne tempus penitencie inaniter expendam,
et si forte caro male educata non poterit faciliter flecti ad grossiora, ut pauper subtraham ei (tamen paulatiue) delicaciora aliqua, sine quibus bene potest subsistere, ut necessitatem habeat non superfluitatem.'
Quicumque ergo sic cogitat et faciendo conatur, quantum potest, hic et confessor et martir vocari potest, quia martirii genus est delicias habere et deliciis non uti, in honore esse et honorem contempnere, magnum esse apud homines et minima sentire de seipso. Itaque talis rota multum placet Deo.
Ecce, filia, currum figuraui tibi, cuius angelus tuus est auriga, si tamen frenum eius et iugum a collo non excusseris, id est si inspiraciones eius salubres non dimiseris, sensus tuos et cor tuum ad inania et scurrilia relaxando.
Nunc eciam currum, in quo domina illa sedebat, dicere tibi volo. Currus plane impaciencia eius est, scilicet contra Deum et contra proximum et contra seipsam:
contra Deum iudicando occulta iudicia eius, quia non prosperatur ad votum; malignando contra proximum, quia non consequitur bona eius; impaciens quoque in seipsam est occulta cordis sui impacienter ostendendo.
Huius currus rota prima superbia est preferendo se aliis et alios iudicando, contempnendo humiles et honores ambiendo.
Secunda rota est inobediencia preceptorum Dei, que inducit in cor eius excusacionem infirmitatis sue, leuigacionem culpe sue, presumpcionem cordis malicieque defensionem.
Tercia rota est cupiditas mundialium, que inducit ei prodigalitatem in expendendo que habet, negligenciam et obliuionem sui et futurorum, anxietatem cordis, tepiditatem ad amorem Dei.
Quarta rota est suiipsius amor, per quem excludit a se Dei sui reuerenciam et timorem, finemque suum et iudicium non attendit.
Huius currus auriga est Dyabolus, qui eam ad omnia que ipse miserit in cor eius facit hylarem et audacem. Duo vero equi, qui trahunt currum, spes est longe vite et voluntas peccandi usque in finem.
Frenum vero pudor confessionis est. Qui quidem pudor sic per spem longe vite et voluntatem perseuerandi in peccato trahit animum a recto tramite et in peccato sic onerat,
quod nec terrore nec pudore nec ammonicione surgere potest; sed cum stare firmiter se credit, nisi iuuante gracia Dei descendet in profundum."
Item loquitur Christus de eadem domina: "Hec est vippera que linguam habet meretricam, fel draconum in corde, venenum amarissimum in carne. Ideo oua eius erunt venenosa. Felices erunt qui non experiuntur onus eorum."
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin 'scurrilia' refers to buffoonery, vulgarity, or coarse, mocking speech; 'relaxando' here implies a loosening of discipline or a letting-go of one's guard.
- 2 ↩The Latin 'leuigacionem' (lightening/making light of) is rendered here as 'downplaying' to capture the sense of minimizing one's own culpability.
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