Letter 23: To my brother Severus,

Why do you wring from us that we should love you more? A sum at its height admits no increase. If the sea can overflow its barriers, and if whatever things keep their natural fullness can experience a temporal increase, then our love for you too can be heaped up further—that love which we fulfill to its very limit, since we love you as we love our own selves. And so, just as we cannot add a cubit to our stature, so we cannot make the heap of our love for you any higher; yet to our longings we set no measure. For you who suppose that you satisfy us by this constant exercise of your courtesy and devotion, by which you try to compensate for your presence to us with letters so frequent, you rather provoke the appetite of love, and the less you fill it with the favor of your letters, the more, by that very diligence and the graciousness of your speech, you supply us with cause to long for the very thing that is you, our brother of so singular a oneness of mind in Christ. For what can be done more diligently toward God and toward one's neighbor than what you display in us toward Christ? In whom both commandments of God are fulfilled, since the same one is to us both God by the majesty of his nature and made our neighbor by the assumption of our nature. Therefore, as you advance, your love is brought to its consummation, that love which in him, the perfect one, is infinite, because it is bounded in Christ, of whose greatness there is no end; but let our boundary be in him, that through him we may live without end—we for whom Christ is both the general beginning, since through him are all things, and the special summit, since he is the head of the body whose members we are. Sweet and upright is the Lord; sweet to me in you, and how great the multitude of his sweetness, you are to me; for however great you are, in whatever mind, in whatever tongue you are, you are wholly longing, and you taste to me of the sweetness of Christ like a garden to me, like the scent of a full field, which you have gathered by running in the fragrance of his ointments. For you yourself are a field for him, who in turn is a field for us. For in him we sow, and from him we reap. But you are a field—not that one bristling with thorns or dry with sands or rough and bare with stones, in which the seed once sown is either choked or abandoned or scorched, but that one which God has blessed with the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth. Hence your tongue too drips with the word of God, and your fertile heart multiplies the seed received from God with spiritual fruit, so that from your fruits the reaper may fill his hand and his bosom—he who gathers the sheaves—that is, God himself, who is both the sower and the reaper of his word in us. He is also the hand who is the right hand of God, which we fill with good works; the same is also that bosom of Abraham, in which we rest by the reward of our works. Thus this God, abounding in us through your love, blesses, visits, feeds, and enlightens us not only by your letters but also by your letter-carriers, opening to us through both the good treasure of your heart; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, and, as it is said, every living thing is gathered to its like. Therefore God has blessed you, because the innocent and the upright have cleaved to you, and you have not sat with the wicked; you have hated iniquity, you love your soul, which you have cast away in Christ, that, lost to this life, it might be preserved for the eternal life, gaining itself by its own loss, if through the love of Christ it become cheap to itself. With this disposition, esteeming cheap to yourself the sweetness of your soul—which is cheap to you but precious to God—as we breathe in, in the shrines of your mouth that breathe forth Christ, we bless the Lord, the Word of God, God, who, just as in that man himself whom he bore, so also in our minds passes through certain stages of bodily age: he is born, grows, is strengthened, grows old. But he must be prayed to, lest in us he be for long or continually a little child, weak and poor. In you indeed, as we boast—since your good is our glory—we, experiencing his progress, recognize him grown great in goodness, a little child in malice, an old man in wisdom, strong in faith, and in the spirit of devout humility poor, rich in love. For by your earlier services toward our lowliness you had outstripped all others, being—as we have often testified—more zealous than all our friends, more devoted than our kinsmen, and more loving than our brothers. But now, by this office in place of a visit to us, you have surpassed even your own kindness and gone beyond it. For it was enough for us to earn your letters by yearly exchanges and to see those sent by you, in whom we might hold not only the substitute for your presence but also the image of your faith. Yet it was not enough for you to celebrate the established observance with a customary performance. Your great love made it a long delay for you to keep silent from us through the lingering of winter. Your heart grew warm within you, and in meditation on devotion a holy fire of good impatience blazed up in you. Nor was it enough to hasten to us by sending letters, unless you also heaped up the favor of your words even concerning your holy companions by a chosen bearer. Blessed is the man whom you chose and took up for this service, by which you lend to God; for although in the true profession of our conscience we are sinners, yet, judging falsely in the opinion of your simplicity, as you say, you love us with a love no longer of man but of Christ, as saints, and therefore you will receive the reward of a prophet, because for the name of Christ you receive even those who are not prophets with the honor of prophets. But to us a like favor is not owed for this office, by which we received the brother Victor—coming to us in the name of God and in your person—with the deepest affection and great rejoicing. For we, useless servants, did only this much, which we ought to have done, since manifest truth compelled us to receive and venerate in him a pure sheep, whom not only the sheep's fleece showed forth, but the spirit of meekness and the modesty of Christ, expressed in his speech and his silence, revealed. Truly we recognized in him the pattern of the blessed saints Martin and Clarus, whose follower of an illustrious master, in the next interval, we have come to know him to be, on your authority. That he is of the offspring of the one in regeneration, and that he was the companion of the other on the road, Victor, the son of peace, has affirmed. Truly a man, as you wrote, of God, humble in heart, not lowly in grace, a vessel of mercy and a dwelling of the Most High, whom God receives and delights in with the gentle lodging of a trembling soul—he added to us many blessings besides those which he was bringing from you, twofold, in letters and in cloaks, blessings out of the riches of his mind, being most welcome to us not only by his spiritual companionship but also diligent in bodily service. For I dare to confess the matter of our burden, while I keep silent to you about nothing of his good qualities, which I know for certain are your joy, since the good of your intimate friend is your portion. He served me, therefore; he served me, I say—and woe to me, wretch that I am, I suffered it—he served even a sinner, who himself did not serve sin; and I, unworthy, was ministered to by a servant of righteousness. But hence I hope for some relief from so great a weight, in that I did not claim the holy brother's service out of pride, but admitted it from fear of grieving his love and from faith in receiving his blessing. For his holy service in the name of God was a blessing to me, and his servile love in the spirit of liberty. For this reason I received his voluntary good both for his own benefit, presuming that he would be the more powerful in entreaty on my behalf the more merit he had acquired from the works of religion. Surely he will work by his prayers, lest there be added to my burdens by his fruits what came to him from me. For I loved, I confess, the blessing in his service, fearing lest, if rejected, it should withdraw far from me, since I held it written: "He would not have blessing, and it shall be far from him." And so I gave myself wholly to his hands and his innermost being, since through the inward parts of love he applied his serving hands as anointer to my limbs and as washer to my feet, full of generous affections but a snatcher-away of servile works, scarcely allowing me to furnish water to his hands. For from your book I came to love the grace of this service of his, that I might at least sip the smallest little drop from the sacred deeds of Martin. But he himself daily wished not only to wash my feet but also, if I would suffer it, to wipe my shoes, greedy of inward mastery and therefore untiring in bodily servitude. But about the washing of feet I confess that only once did I yield, after the apostolic example, since I had read that he offered his feet to be washed by the Lord who serves. For they would not have had a part in the inheritance except by the service of one ministering, since the good Lord and master of saving things conferred by the ministry of serving the merit of ruling, and offered an example of human humility, by which he was preparing the fellowship of divine sublimity. Hence, having perceived the mystery of so great a gift and understood the greatness of the good, those who at first, at the minister's preparation, had trembled to offer their feet, now asked to be washed not their feet only but their whole selves up to the head. And I too, venerating the Lord Jesus in the brother Victor—since every faithful soul is from God, and the humble heart is the heart of Christ—confess that for the remedy of my weakness I desired a better fellow-servant to touch me with oil or water. Nor was I disappointed of the help I presumed upon; for as though medicated by pious hands, the oil from that very gentleness of the ointment glided more softly into my marrow, and the bones that had been humbled rejoiced. My soul blessed the Lord, and all my inward parts blessed his holy name. For this exercise of devotion, more than of the body, profited the invigorating of my senses, by which the good brother, composing my fragile joints with shaping hand, raised up also the vigor of my mind by restoring my bones, with faith assisting his hands, no doubt, so that while the hand of a loving man guided my weak flesh, the grace of a believing man might wash my compassionate soul, and what outwardly was the oil of health might become to me inwardly the oil of gladness. Receive now another service of the same man in our perception, by which, taking care not only of our refreshment but also of our frugality, he taught us to take an easy meal with simple food, gruels cooked in a drop of oil and an abundance of water; but he seasoned these with such salt of grace, with such sweetness of love, that we did not miss cooks and seasonings, since simplicity joined to love mingled into the pure water the oil of sweetness, which no troublesome swarm of flies drove out. But this spiritual cook, more skilled in feeding the inner man, in order that he might destroy the food of gluttony, made our gruels not of wheat flour but of meal or millet. And lest in this very thing he should seem to deal too daintily with us—he who was preparing to imbue us with the appetite of monks—he mixed bean with panic-grass, so that we might the sooner lay aside our senatorial fastidiousness. But in the blessing of his sweetness we had delights of the soul, rejoicing that the brother fed us, even in carnal ministries, with the spiritual food of the prophets. For in his mingled crushing he imitated those loaves of tribulation which the prophet Ezekiel was bidden to make for himself from various kinds of grain and corn, and that for the representation of the Jewish confusion—they who, forgetting God, changed their glory into the likeness of a calf eating hay—and to cook them in the dung of oxen, and, when cooked, to take them up under the stinking ash with the tears of captivity in a measure: namely, that they might foresee the coming punishment of their perfidy bodily marked in the prophet, and even thus be turned back to the Lord, if the offended wrath of God should recall them to repentance, declared not only in words but also expressed in the bodies of the prophets. The brother Victor wished, therefore, that we should learn to humble the soul not only with fasting but also with food, and, by the recollection of old sins and the understanding of present ones, to eat sorrowing the bread of grief; although in part he spared us, mixing only bean with the millet and panic-grass—which, however, was perhaps more a matter of forgetfulness than of moderation. For the holy man, with faithful caution, would have feared to withdraw anything from us of holy Scripture, and, in order to fulfill the whole confection of the prophetic bread according to the word of God, he would also have mixed lentil and barley and vetch into the pot, so that, with the heat boiling outside its rims from fruits unlike one another, as if the cooking resisted itself, the failing jar might crackle with cracks. Nevertheless, filling the capacious crock from the scantier grains, he set before us platters smoking with much steam, and not only filled the whole compass of our little table but also vaporized the space of our little cell with a rank fog; and, in order to multiply the blessing for us, he brought also another prophet's meal to our little supper, so that he might set before us Elisha's pot, into which he cast meal; nor did he boil in a herb of poison but a seasoning of health, doing in the name of the Lord everything that he did. Whereby, safe and secure, we did not cry out to him, "Man of God, there is death in the pot," since now in our pot is life, after the Lord Jesus, the Word of God, was made flesh and dwelt in us; and the earthen vessels of our body, slipped from his hands by the slipperiness of our voluntary depravity and worn by long-continued sins, that the potter himself might renew them to a better use, he took up in himself, being made himself too from the clay of our body like a vessel, as he says, "lost"—that is, into the likeness of the flesh of sin, that out of sin he might condemn sin. And therefore he says, "Moab is the pot of my hope," since he took a body not only from Judah but also from Moab—that is, not only from the origin of the saints but also from that of sinners. He, having sanctified for us forever the rawness boiled down, as it were, through the pot of our flesh, made his flesh our food. For his flesh, as he himself says, is truly the food of life. It is also that pot, according to Jeremiah, burning sins and consuming them with that fire of which he says, "I came to send fire upon the earth"—which let us pray to be kindled in us too, that in the pot of the Lord's body, that is, the Church, we may be boiled down, and, with our vices burned away and ourselves purged, we may be made silver tried by fire, proven for the earth, purified sevenfold, so that now, no longer brushwood to be burned but fruitful branches, we may abide in the same Lord, that is, the true vine, and that the same Lord may become for us food, that sweet cluster which, hung for us on the beam of the cross, both showed the fruit of the land of promise and gave the taste, so that we may no longer follow the cheap grasses of an untilled field, among which we run the risk of plucking even the pestilent clusters of wild vines. Which surely happens to us when the soul, whose cultivation is the word of God, lies foul with the thorns of worldly cares, sighing over this life of an age short and barren of good, and among superfluous deeds we gather harmful sins, as poisonous shoots among wild herbs, and so cast death into the pot of our body or heart. But thanks be to God, who has freed us from the body of this death through Christ Jesus our Lord, by whom, mingling the power of his spirit with our weakness, both the bitterness of our malice and the sterility of our uselessness have been changed into sweetness and fruitfulness, the word of God being poured into our inmost parts, as if converting them by the sprinkling of saving or living salt. Let us return to the brother Victor, who made even the vessel of our little supply of flour copious with blessing out of the use of his appropriation, which he made in the name of God, so that he might give us something even from the jar of the blessed Elijah—with which that heavenly prophet, filled in the sacred word to an unfailing sufficiency, fed the blessed widow of Zarephath with her sons through the three years' famine. In which widow, even then through the prophet, Christ, as I think, was feeding his Church not with the bread of wheat but of the word, concerning which he says, "Blessing I will bless her widow"—that widow, namely, whom the apostle says to be free, her husband being dead, for whatever marriage she will, since, the law ceasing—whose end is Christ—the Church, making its passage to the liberty of grace, married Christ as a widow of the law. The oil of grace and the flour of blessing of this vessel has not now failed in the hunger of all the nations outside, whose wretched starvation from the food of life and the faith of the Trinity that famine of three years long ago fittingly prefigured. But, to conclude on this established theme, our flour so felt the grace of the Lord in the hand of the brother Victor that what scarcely before sufficed for loaves now abounds even for gruels, and feeds with a twofold ministry the monkish brotherhood greedy for evening food after fasts, distending it with leavened rounds or loosened meal. But this same Victor of mine, although he strove to introduce stronger foods to our stomach, yet the brother—necessary to our weakness—took thought also for this, that he made up the deficiencies of our faith in the taking of those gruels, and completed the works of his hands with one helper for us in this dish, whom, received from among rustic folk, we nourish again at home, an old man in bodily age, an infant in mind, since, now failing in old age, he was reborn in grace and blossomed into newness of life out of the oldness of the flesh. Victor's kitchen and his accustomed food fattened him as a man out of rustics and as one apt, since toothless. This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him. He delivered him from darkness and the shadow of death; and now, sprinkled with hyssop and cleansed, he feasts in the voice of exultation and confession and cries out: "I went astray like a sheep that was lost. I will bless the Lord at all times, who has given me understanding and rescued me from the mire of the dregs and put into my mouth a new song. I was younger, and I have grown old; but my days have not failed in vanity, since he who is mighty has done great things for me. He has given me drink from the torrent of his pleasure, and my flesh has blossomed again. He has sent me a giving of corn in abundance and has filled my empty soul, and now my old age is in the mercy of fatness, until I sleep in peace and rest in the length of days." I come now to the greater service of the brother Victor toward me, by which he deigned to shear me with his own hands—which very thing, however, he wished me to owe to you, saying at your command that he was disclosing his craft to me. Therefore I asked him that what he had done with skilled hand you both might do by added prayers, namely, that, the Lord being entreated by your prayers, our sins—by which, multiplied above the hairs of our head, we keep our soul uncombed—might not be shorn off by a cutting in the middle, but be destroyed to the quick, as if by a scraping razor. Now there is for us a razor sometimes of saving, sometimes of pestilent, cutting. The razor of remedy and of adornment is to us Christ God, who circumcises our heart, shaves away our vices, smooths the head of the soul, and tends the face of the mind; and he purges and frees us, as that captive woman in the law, from the bristly hair of wretched servitude, so that, about to be joined to the Lord—like her about to pass over into marriage with an Israelite man—we may be stripped of the crimes of our flesh as of barbarian locks, and then, with our senses made new, may shine forth as with fresh hair, and may consecrate our life to God in chastity and frugality, as if feeding a Nazarite's lock. But we must beware lest that hostile razor from the opposite side—which, in the first-formed ones deceived by harmful fraud, shaved the head of the human race—climb up onto our head, that is, our faith, by which Christ is made our head, and despoil us of spiritual grace as of that Nazarite lock, which—how much it remains a good to those who keep it and is plucked off to the destruction of the unwary—that sacred hero in the book of Judges, made holy by oracles, is a proof: unconquered with his lock preserved, captive with it cut off, and again strong with it grown back. And would that he had been as prudent to beware of the woman as he was strong to strangle the lion! But, conquered by carnal enticement, he who had conquered by spiritual grace, when he had prevailed over the strong, was overcome by weakness. Which it is necessary that they suffer who do not subject their woman, that is, their flesh, to her husband, that is, the spirit, under the laws of God, and, like soft husbands, acquiesce with flowing minds to an evil-counseling wife—degenerate from that master who, as soon as he knew Christ, among the very first beginnings of his warfare, a victor in the great contest, did not acquiesce to flesh and blood. Let us see, then, all the things that Samson suffered, corrupted by his faithless wife, since we sinners shall bear spiritually the same things which he bore carnally, expressed for our instruction. For thus, when the grace of Christ has been violated in us, as his hair was cut, the enemy will mock; he will take away our eyes, will cast us into prison, and will assign us, like asses, to the turning of mills. Whence the Lord, lest we make our neck, not subjected to the yoke of Christ, worthy of the ass's mill, admonishes us through the prophet: "Be not made like the horse and the mule, in which there is no understanding." For man, as the same prophet says elsewhere, not understanding his honor—that is, the dignity of his nature, which by reason rules over the other living things on earth, made rational for this purpose, that he might know how to understand and worship his author—abusing so great a gift of the Creator unto the license of his own error, is compared to the beasts and is made like to them. Which we see plainly fulfilled in the king of Babylon, who, as the punishment of impious stolidity and senseless pride, stripped of human sense, endured these things with a beast's heart. For indeed man, placed in error and fallen back from righteousness, justly deserted, like Samson, by the power of wisdom and grace alike, is punished with blindness and with the mill, since he is worthy of the labor of a beast of burden who has bereaved himself of the light of reason and has cast down the servant of his body into the likeness of beasts. Consider the life of mortals of this kind, so that the whole appearance of a grinding beast may meet you. As that man covered his bodily eyes with rags, so this man, with the eyes of his mind sewn up by the filth of his life, through the errors of his senses, as if around the windings of mills, turns wretchedly at his toilsome post, useless to his own use and laborious for another's; he stands in the way of sinners, fettered with the chains of his own desires, and is himself a prison to himself, besieged by the darkness of his error and matted with the squalor of his conscience; in his own self he suffers the prison-workhouse of a mill, turning the stone of his heart, hardened by the obstinacy of iniquity, as a millstone, making flour for his enemies out of the corrupted grain of his soul. For, as it is written, "The sinner runs out of his own soul," so he who works sin grinds out the hostile wheat from the mill of his life, to feed the devil, to whom the soul becomes bread which is its own famine. But if the spirit becomes not always departing but at some time returning, then, like the hair brought back, so by the reflowering of grace it will be made whole again. But, that we may weave the whole letter out of hairs, it is a pleasure to indulge the discourse and to follow that strong man of the Lord even to his end. For both in his blindness and in his death we shall marvel at the divine mysteries of the sacred secret foreshadowed; and as to what is written—that he laid low more of his enemies as he was dying than he had struck down in his whole prior lifetime—I think that in the chief place it must be interpreted as the force of the Lord's passion, by which the house of the devil fell and the kingdom of death was loosed. Which kingdom—while Christ ever lives, as he lives, even before his carnal coming, in the majesty of his nature with the Lord the Father as God the Word—had nevertheless reigned, the ages being arranged in their order from Adam to Moses, with the power of death raging in license, and had grown with sin understood from the law and not avoided; this kingdom the King of kings and dispenser of times, the Son of God, by his passion divided and demolished, made God under the law, that he might free those subjected to the law—made through a woman, but a woman in sex, a virgin in childbearing, that the Creator of both sexes might sanctify both, by taking up the Word, by being born through a woman. And so by dying he destroyed death itself, loosing, as it is written, the enmities in his flesh and making both one—that is, man and God—whom in himself God and man, Christ Jesus, joined together, in whom the substance of each nature laid aside discord and acknowledged the eternal covenant of unifying grace. Despoiled by the brigandage of the devil and wounded on the way, the brother in the Levite, the brother in the priest, had passed us by—those whom the law had redeemed neither with sacrifices nor with prophets. But that Samaritan did not pass us by, who on our account took up even the insult of this name; he did not pass us by, since he was not a hireling but the true and good shepherd, who had come to lay down his soul for the sheep. He, pitying his man passed over by those who went before and not cared for, drew near and took him up upon his own beast—that is, in the incarnation of the Word—and, commended with the oil of grace and the wine of his passion to the innkeeper—that perfect master of the nations—healed him for the price of two denarii, in the two testaments, about to render to that man also, for blessed virginity, rich thanks out of the countless fruits of this good, and countless crowns, since, adding this counsel to the precept, he supererogated out of his own. This brother, therefore, was not such as we (for in condition the Lord differed from servants and in nature God differed from mortals), but nevertheless he too was that man of whom it is written, "And he is a man, and who shall know him?" Nor is he therefore our brother—although even this divine devotion, for the lowliness of his heart, granted as a name to his servants, saying, "I will declare your name to my brothers"—yet by our arrogance he is not to be dared to be called brother, nor because he deigned to be made man, since even by his very birth as man he has nothing in common with us, who, apart from the manner of our generation, was made flesh of the Holy Spirit, with the inviolate virginity of his holy mother, both conceived and born. And therefore, made our body without any contagion of our body, he did not give to God his own propitiation, since he himself was the propitiation, nor the price of redemption of his own soul but of ours, since the Savior did not need salvation. For we, sold under sin, needed the price of redemption, and therefore for our sake he was man, for our sake the form of a servant, for our sake the son of a handmaid. He who is blessed and the sanctifier of the holy was nevertheless made for us both sin and a curse, which he was not, that he might absolve us—who from transgression were sin and from condemnation were a curse—from both, fastening both to the cross in his own flesh. Therefore I think it was said, "A brother does not redeem; a man will redeem," since those whom a brother had not redeemed—that is, the prophet or the lawgiver, who was only a man—this man redeemed, who was also God. For "God," he says, "was in Christ reconciling the world to himself." For a man of this kind alone could prevail against the sentence of death and the sting of sin, so as to abolish the bond of death and humble the slanderer, contending against him, however, not by the majesty of his nature but in the habit of ours, and wresting nothing from him by violent domination, but overcoming him by the law of justice. For since the woman, deceived, and the man cast down through the woman, the malicious one—with a desire of harming, indeed, but yet as if by the most equitable right of victory—was claiming every offspring of the first man, as guilty, by the laws of death, his power had force for just so long, until he should kill the just one, in whom he could show nothing worthy of death, not only because he was slain without crime, but also because he was born without lust—to whom that one had subjected those he had captured, so that whatever was born thence, as the fruit of his own tree, he might retain by a desire of having that was depraved indeed, but yet by a right of possessing that was not unjust. And so most justly he is compelled to release those who believe in him whom he most unjustly killed, so that both, in that they die temporally, they may pay the debt, and, in that they live forever, they may live in him who paid for them what he did not owe. Wherefore I think that he himself is for us that lion, in whose dead mouth we have found the food of honey. For what is sweeter than the word of God? And what is stronger than the right hand of God? Or in whose dead mouth are there honeycomb and bees, except in the one in whose word are the good of our salvation and the gathering of the nations? Of which nations many have rather placed the figure in this lion, since the people of the nations who believed was before a body of savagery, but is now Christ's, in which the apostles, like bees, stored the honey of wisdom from the dew of heaven and the flowers of divine graces, and, as food went forth from the mouth of the eater, since the nations, formerly wild toward God, taking the received word of God with a faithful heart, sent forth the belching of salvation. But those who rather propose Christ in the same lion to themselves set forth Samson as a figure of the Jews, namely so that the Jew should kill that lion as if it were Christ, assigning this too to a mystical preparation—that at that very time most fitting, when he was seeking marriage, he wrought the desired slaughter of the powerful beast, namely because the marriage which was made in Christ and the Church could not be confirmed unless the lion of the tribe of Judah were killed. For the same Lord is both that lion who conquered and the lion's whelp, of his own accord put to sleep and raised up again by his very self, of whom it is written, "Who shall raise him up?" For sacrificing voluntarily for us to the Father the victim of his own body, the same highest and eternal priest took up again his soul, as he himself testifies, by the same power by which he laid it down. He is the lion's whelp, since he is the Son of God, and the same is the lion, since he is equal to the Father. Wherefore, as it seems to me, this fits the lion more aptly: "Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong, sweetness"—namely, from our Savior (if it be), whose word is life, who both ruminated for us this food, teaching, and brought it forth, imparting it; and, if it please otherwise, that out of the eater food may thus come forth, since this lion of the tribe of Judah, a victor for us, snatching us from the mouth of the opposing lion, therefore hunts that he may save, captures that he may absolve, breaks that he may make solid, chews that he may make whole, eating in us that by which we are corrupted. Wherefore let us pray to become the prey of this lion, lest we be the prey of the hostile lion. Let us be made food of God, lest we be food of the serpent. Let Christ eat us, lest the devil devour us. For while Christ eats, as I have said, in us is consumed that by which we are consumed. For Christ is life, and we shall not be able to lay aside this mortal nature unless we are absorbed, since Christ devours our death. But we cannot be the food of Christ unless we do his will, so that in turn he too may become food for us, in whom we always live, if we live according to his precepts. So therefore out of the strong comes forth sweetness, when, with the bitterness of our malice through him changed into the sweetness of goodness, we proceed forth as sweet food from his word—he who restored to life unto sin those whom by eating he consumed. He alone is strong, sweetly strong, who freed the poor man from the rich and powerful one, who, destroying the savagery of my body through the mystery of his devotion into the death of his own body, there ate the food of life where the famine of wretched death was parched, who changed for me offense into grace, sin into righteousness, weakness into strength, death into life, confusion into glory, exile into a kingdom. We who were hearing, "You are earth, and into earth you shall go," now hear, "Your conversation is in the heavens." And so that figure which is woven again in Samson, whether grown hairy again or dying, I think fits also every servant of Christ. For a man who has been forestalled in some sin, when, by repenting healthfully, he returns to the restoration of grace, as though with hairs growing back—setting, like a bronze bow, his arms, that is, the faith of true hope and the hope of unfeigned faith, exercising likewise his hands for battle in the works of devotion, the exercise of which is profitable to all things—then, strong with certain sinews of a good conscience and a firm faith, will dare to attack and will be able to overturn the columns of the enemies. But these are the columns of the hostile house, on which it leans, in which, as if our victor, he feasts, mocking the captives, if he uses our limbs as the arms of his iniquity. We cast down, therefore, this enemy by the ruin of his house, that is, of the subjugated flesh, by whose assistance the enemy, shut up within within our very selves, shakes our soul with an inward war; made powerful over us by the crime of our own will, he has our vices as henchmen against us, and assaults our inner man by the ministry of the outer. But let us remember the covenant, in which, buried together with Christ through the grace of baptism, we swore into the sacraments of the cross, that we may no longer act as living in this world, and that now not we but Christ may live in us. When this is restored to us, to the honor of our head, the house of the devil will fall, and the whole cohort of enemies will die with the death of our sin. Wherefore I learn to die together with Samson not only by his death to my enemies—that is, by mortifying my flesh, to slay sin at the same time, so that, the spirit surviving, I may triumph as a victor of salvation, and may say to my soul, "Turn, my soul, into your rest, since the Lord has dealt well with me"—but also by the blindness of Samson, by which, captured only in his bodily eyes, he did not lose the spiritual ones, I am enlightened to a good understanding, so that by his example I may know which eyes I ought rather to have. For that man would not have called upon the Lord for the help of his strength, unless he had had the eyes of his mind unharmed, to which the light is Christ, in whose light we shall see light. But if it always burns in the lamp of our body, then the works of darkness will set, and the prince of this world is cast outside—not indeed outside this world, with which, as it is written, he will be made void at the condemnation, with those judged, in a mingled end, but outside our hearts, from which, if we receive Christ, he is expelled. Therefore, since those who are of his part imitate him, let us imitate the Lord Jesus, who has called us into the lot of his inheritance and bidden us take up his sweet yoke, that he might shake off from us that heavy yoke of the law and of death. But there is also hair as a yoke of lightness; for, as divine Scripture teaches us, light is the hair of the saints, heavy that of the impious. This is either of strength, as in Samson, or of sanctification, as in Samuel; that is either of weight, as in Absalom, or of squalor, as in Nebuchadnezzar. By which discord of men and of hairs we are taught to reckon works in the hairs, since indeed for the Assyrian king, condemned to solitude and savagery, the mournful matting of his unshorn head bristled into a lion's mane, so that even in bodily appearance he passed over into a beast, he who was an exile not only from his kingdoms but also from human senses, recalling a lion by his sad hair, a vulture by his curved claws, an ox by his sense and his fodder—lest he bear in his punishments the likeness of only one beast who in his ways had been like to many. Yet at last, God being understood, and restored both to sense and to his kingdom, he too became for us an example of faith, that we may fear to lose by sinning the kingdom which is within us, and remember to recover it by repenting. Nor could Absalom, although proud both in body and in head, say what Samson said: "If I am shorn, my strength will depart from me"; since he did not have in his most beautiful hair, however much, that strength which was not of the bodily hairs but of spiritual grace, which the impious man could not have. For the strength and wisdom of God is Christ, who did not approach a parricidal soul, since he did not dwell in a body subject to sins. Indeed, that even the necessity of tonsure declared, shows that his head of hair was cut off because of the mass of his iniquities. For thus you have it: "He used to shear his head, because it was weighed down; but when he was shorn, he weighed the hairs of his head, and they were a hundred shekels by the royal weight." By which it can be expressed more openly that the hairs are numbered according to works, since in the head of the impious man Scripture marked not any strength but only a burden of hairs? "He weighed," it says, "the hairs of his head." For the glory of the impious man is his own iniquity. Nor does his evil working alone delight him, but also, as a certain one says, the report of his wickedness. Whence you have that in the psalms: "Why do you glory in malice, you who are powerful in iniquity?" For the light of the impious is darkness, their honor a shadow, their loftiness a passing-away, their head the devil; and therefore hair is a weight, on account of which Scripture calls the hair of that parricide heavy with a royal weight—that is, with a devilish weight; for every impious man is the kingdom of the devil. So also "those who are clothed in soft garments," it says, "are in the houses of kings"—that is, of the princes of this air and the leaders of spiritual wickedness; in whose houses and kingdoms they live, either hard with impiety or soft with wantonness, whose riches are sin, their journeys slippery, their end destruction, their glory in hell, their house in the tomb. The hairs of such men are crimes, and therefore those cannot be hairs to them with which the sacred warrior loosed the ropes of his enemies and the new cords as if they were soft threads; but rather those of which it is written, "The ropes of sinners have entwined me." For by his own sins the soul is both entangled and pressed down. Which the prophet fully proves, who says, "My iniquities have laid themselves upon my head; like a heavy load they have weighed upon me." You see how heavy hairs the sinner has. But for him to whom Christ is hair, it is light and swift, and he exults, saying, "God, who has girded me with strength and set my way unspotted, who has made my feet like a deer's and set me upon high places." For the yoke, as I have said, and the hair of Christ is light, since, serving Christ, we work good things, by which, winged, we are carried up into the heights. Whence the apostle says even to Christians placed in the flesh, "But you are now not in the flesh but in the spirit." For the flesh, subjected to a soul made subject to God, passes over into spirit, not by a change of substance but of life. And so I wish for myself both the death of Samson and his blindness, that I may live and see for God. For perhaps that man, having received—for the sake of the future mystery—his strength in his hair, did not desire to receive at the same time his eyes, as he had lost them, for this reason: that that strength of heavenly grace, healthy in its inward lights, had no need of bodily sight. By this example, therefore, let us too, with our senses straining toward the Lord, blind our carnal eyes by turning away from worldly things—of which the prophet desired to be deprived, when he said, "Turn away my eyes, lest they see vanity." And the Lord himself, declaring the blindness of the Jews' eyes, says, "If you were blind, you would not have sin." Let us recall by what ruin the eyes were opened to them in paradise—eyes which they had enlightened by God just so long as they kept them closed to sin. For then at last they drank in the shame of their adult age, when they lost, by the crime of transgression, the chastity of a good conscience, by whose light they were clothed. And therefore it is the loss of true light to use the lights for the practice of darkness and to blind to heavenly things the eyes fixed on earthly ones. But the soul is enlightened by such blindness, by which it despises the world that it may behold God. Since "everything," it says, "that is in the world is the concupiscence of the eyes," for this reason the apostle, teaching that our sight is to be dimmed to this world and clouded to Christ—to him, namely, who enlightens every man coming into this world, that is, the mind of every man coming—urges us from the sight of present things to the regard of eternal ones, and says, "Do not seek the things that are in this world; for the figure of this world passes away," and again the same: "Seek the things that are above, where Christ is at the right hand of the Father." For all things, as Ecclesiastes says, are vanity under the sun. Accordingly, above the sun is truth. So also those who stand in truth, even if they live within the world in bodily habitation, are nevertheless above the world in heavenly conversation, and with flying spirit climb and surmount the choirs of the stars or the poles of the heavens, and act higher than the elements, not subject to the things and uses of the elements, but, with their life fixed in Christ, become higher than the world, abiding in him who is over all, God blessed for the ages. You see how the doctrine that imitates Christ transfers us from mortal things to God, together with the example of virtue, taking away the veil from our heart, so that with unveiled face we may contemplate unto the glory of God—which is hidden from unbelievers by the veil of the law, uncovered for the faithful by the revelation of the Gospel. Now, then, there is no need to us of that carnal hair. For "the old things," it says, "have passed away, and behold, now all things are new," since "light has risen in the darkness for the upright in heart, the Lord merciful and compassionate and just." "But the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." And therefore the wearing of hair was an honor then, when that spiritual veil of the law had still to be borne even in bodily habit: now it is a burden, after the sun of eternal liberty has shone and Christ has been made our head, who would lift us as from a yoke so also from the burden of our depressed heads. Therefore we now dare, in the voice of exultation and confession, to proclaim as free men, "Let us break their bonds and cast off from us their yoke." For now is the acceptable time, now the day of salvation, since now truth is present not in the shadow of a cloud but in the light of its own body. And opportunely for the time of grace, the appearance of liberty too has at hand a barber, who may both relieve us of the longer veil of our head, so that even the bodily form may witness to the benefit of spiritual grace, and the serenity of an unveiled brow may display the gladness of inward liberty. To women only has apostolic authority left their hair, since, although for them too one faith with us removes the veil of the heart, yet the covering of the head and the shading of the brow demands the adornment of modesty; and therefore the perfect master of faith and discipline teaches that hair is unseemly for a man, since the head of a man, which is Christ, cannot be hidden—which is also that city built upon a mountain, in the Church, which is the body of Christ. And so what is unbecoming for a man is an adornment for a woman, who is head to no one, but with the cultivation of honesty adorns the man and the order of the body, which is woven from the head—Christ from God, and the man from Christ, and the woman from the man—and, placed as in a foundation, she sustains it. But Christ makes her too a sharer, through the fellowship of the body and the weaving of its members, even of the highest head, in whom there is neither male nor female. Let them by all means have hairs, with which, like that gospel sinful woman, they may wipe the footsteps of Christ and be entangled at the feet of wisdom, so that they may know nothing but to love wisdom, to embrace nothing but virtue, to kiss nothing but chastity, and so that, sprinkled at least with the final dew of the heavenly word, they may say, "For the dew that is from you is health to us." Let our women's hairs be the deeds of spiritual virtues, fastings, acts of mercy, prayers; for such hairs become a man too. Let the grace of Christ adorn them, not hairs; the gem of chastity, not of stone; and let the ointment of works, not of perfumes, be fragrant in them. Let them remember that they are daughters of that king's daughter, whose glory is all from within. Let them understand why the apostle bade them be covered with a longer veil of the head: "on account of the angels," he says—those, namely, prepared for seduction, of whom the saints shall judge. For these more wantonly try the weaker vessels, just as the serpent attacked not Adam but Eve. Whence they are also forbidden to teach in the Church, lest, with spirit exalted, they dare to gaze upon the decrees of wisdom, and, with knowledge puffing them up, fly apart. Surely it will avail for the confusion of the evil ones, if they see a woman covering her senses under the appearance of ignorance through silence, confessing the discipline of her understanding by a modest bearing, so that the serpent may not dare to approach her again to tempt her, in despair of capturing her. But not in vain does the apostle teach that this ought to be done especially at that time, when a woman either prays or prophesies. For then she comes into the conception of the spirit, and therefore then she the more excites the envy of the tempter, when, breathing into a perfect man, she goes beyond the bounds of her weakness. But that the apostle feels the same about prayer as about prophecy is no wonder, since in another place too he says that prayer is in the spirit; for "even when we pray," he says, "we do not know how it ought to be asked, but the Spirit himself teaches us." Therefore, since in prayer too there is a spiritual conception, lest, as it is written, the deceit and snare of the enemy meet a woman acting beyond the bounds of her little vessel, the apostle wills that in her bearing there be shown that she has power over her head, by which she may be both governed and defended—that very humility of heart conferring strength upon her, by which she presses down the haughtiness of knowledge with the rudder of discipline, and prefers to fear rather than to be high-minded, safer when silent through the fear of faith than skilled with a ready tongue, pressing her brow with hair in vain, unless she has also veiled it with modesty. Therefore, in common, every soul, let us strive to be adorned with those hairs which God counts, as he himself says: "But even the hairs of your head are all numbered." But whose head's hairs would he deign to number more than that one's, of whose crown he himself is the head? Of whom it is said, "His head is as gold, Cephas"—by which name I think some more excellent and purer gold is signified, like that from the land of Havilah. For this gold is the form of the saints, who shine like lights in the head of the body and are gold tried by fire for God. Since, namely, he finds them, refined through the trials of sufferings in the furnace of this world, as it is written, worthy of himself, he also struck in them the sacred coin of his own image, imprinting on their hearts and tongues the word of his truth, and establishing those same as money-changers, that according to his form they might mint coins approved to the Lord, and, the figure of Caesar abolished from us, might stamp the living token of the eternal king, so that, inscribed with the spirit of redemption, with neck now free from the yoke and brow fortified with the title of salvation, we might sing, "The light of your countenance is signed upon us, Lord." With the utmost effort, therefore, let us strive so to prepare ourselves that we may deserve to be the hairs and gold of the divine head, which to us through the grace of God is Christ. For from that head itself sprouts that hair, of which it is written, "His hair is as flocks of goats." And well are the flocks of Christ designated by the name especially of those animals, whose use is chiefly in milk, since everyone who believes Christ to be God embraces with the faith of devotion the whole fullness of the Trinity in him whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit. And therefore that very mother of all the living, the Church, the body of Christ, overflows with the juice of devotion, and her good breasts are above wine. In which I think it signified that the liberty of grace in the milk of mercy is sweeter than the harshness of austerity in the wine of the law's justice. For "the letter," it says, "kills"—you see the strong wine of censure; "but the spirit gives life"—you see the gift of the breasts and the effect of milk. But let this, as you prefer it to be understood, be given to the seed, by which the first milking of those being born coalesces. Good breasts, therefore, which the good shepherd, who laid down his soul for the sheep, milked into those infants, out of whose mouth he perfected praise for himself, that he might destroy the enemy of the good and the defender of evil. Of these flocks of goats was that man of the flock, who suckled the little ones of Christ, not yet fit for solider food, with tender nourishment, to whom he was saying, "I gave you milk to drink, not food; for you were not yet able, but neither are you yet able." But when we have grown by the nourishment of this milk, our footsteps first strengthened by the conception of faith, we shall grow up into the vigor of youth, and, with patience confirmed through faith and love, we shall lift up our hands into a more robust action, and shall live by the works of virtues as by stronger food, that we may become also those hairs of which it is written, "His hairs are black firs, like a raven"—that is, a crow, but this good crow is neither that one forgetful of returning to the ark, but that one mindful of feeding the prophet, to whom are well compared the rivals of those firs, the hairs, of which he says, "Good and black firs, bringing the ships of Tarshish"; whence now this raven is not the crow of night but of light, by whose color the hairs are beautiful, the saints therefore being a royal and priestly race, with whom the divine head is purpled as with the purple of his glory, since youthful grace too especially clothes the flowering age in hair of this color. Not to be dissembled, however, is that this bird is found in the Scriptures sometimes as a form of sin, sometimes as a species of grace. For it seems to be death-bringing, when it is brought forth for the punishment of the impious, since "evil things," as it is written, "God sends through evil angels," or when, in the vengeance of a curse, it is said, "The eye that mocks his father and mother, let the crows of the valleys dig it out." But the same bird is praiseworthy, either when it feeds the prophet in the morning with bread and in the evening with flesh, or when the young of the crows call upon the name of the Lord. But also its color is drawn sometimes in the saints, sometimes in the impious. For the bride of Christ says that she is dark and comely, and the Lord set darkness as his hiding place. And again, on the contrary, we are admonished by the apostle, lest darkness overtake us. Yet those black and good firs, bringing the ships of Tarshish, are according to the form of him who is dark and comely alike. For his members too are the saints, who, just as palms flourishing and cedars multiplying, so are also black and good firs, since in the Church—that is, the mountain of God—they stand out with the summits of their merits, like firs on their own mountains. And just as those are fit for the building of ships, so those princes of the people, hewn from the mountain of the law as from Lebanon, wove the ark of the Lord, or the ship—that is, the Church, about to sail through the floods of this world—out of the nations smoothed by the word of God, and taught the body, joined together into the framework of love with faith binding it, to cut the waves of this world unrottingly. But now too the souls instructed unto apostolic faith are firs black and good: black indeed no longer from sin, as I think, but rather blackened either from bodily indwelling or from the warlike dust, as it were, of inward exercise, or from dust-laden sweat; good, however, on account of their spiritual conversation even in the nights of their bodies. So too the ships, which float upon the waves of the world, are armed both with the faith of the true and with the work of the just, on the right hand, as it is written, and on the left, as if with oars, who are steered by the word of God as by a rudder, and spread the sails of their senses to the breeze of the Holy Spirit, and bind the sail of their heart with the bonds of love, as with ropes, to the yard-arm of the cross. And their mast is the rod from the root of Jesse, which steers the whole four-oared galley of our body, and to which, if we are bound—according to that poetic fable, in prophetic truth—tied with voluntary bonds, and with our ears stopped not with wax but with faith, nor the ears of the body but of the heart, we sail safe and harmless past the rocks of pleasures, like the cliffs of the Sirens, against the various enticements of this world, equal in their power to capture and to harm. But let us be bound to this tree with a most strong rope, fastened in hope, faith, and love, believing with our hearts and confessing with our mouths the undivided Trinity, which is the triple cord that is not broken. With this cord let our works too be woven, by which, as by a rope, the mast of our faith may be raised, the yard-arm of love, and the sails of our life may be filled, so that we too may be those firs which, woven into great rafts, were brought from Tarshish for the building of the temple, or likewise the ships, that we may rival that one which once brought to Solomon choice gold and the wealth of Tyre. But our trading ought to be carried on so much the more zealously and profitably, by how much our eternal king Jesus is more excellent than that temporal Solomon. For "behold," it says, "a greater than Solomon is here," who will not crush us with a vehement wind among the ships of Tarshish, if by the good conduct of our life we bring to him gain, which is the most precious merchandise to God, that he himself may receive his own price from us, since he himself is also the pearl, and the whole conduct of this spiritual trade strives to procure it for itself. For the purchasing of which, if our means suffice, we shall carry over this great and spacious sea not a burden that presses us down but one that lifts us, and we shall dare to wake the Lord sleeping in us through our sloth—if we deserve to carry him even sleeping—so that, rebuking the winds of hostile spirits or even of our own senses, he may make us safe from faintheartedness and storm, and may calm the seas for us as we strive toward his tranquillity, that he may bring us, as ships laden with his own wealth, into the harbor of salvation, and, glad, place green crowns upon our prows victorious over the waves. Let us be also the right hand of that one who is wholly right hand, not having a left in our deeds, that we may deserve to stand at the right hand of the judge, or rather to be the right hand of the judge himself, and that the Lord the rewarder may count up our works in the day of recompense like the hairs of his own head—as he himself has foretold in the Gospel—to be pronounced at the judgment, when with divine blessing and kingly attribution he will reward the merits of spiritual virtues, that is, the most beautiful locks of his own head, such as that woman too, in the type of the Church, drenching and wiping the footsteps of Christ with ointment and tears, pleased him not so much by the price of her gifts as by the affection of her service. For the Lord loved in her not the ointment but the love, by which, modestly shameless and devoutly importunate, without fear of reproach and rebuff, she penetrated the Pharisee's house—a house foreign to her, uninvited—with that violence by which the kingdom of heaven is seized, and, hungering so much for the heavenly word, ran not to his riches but to the feet of Christ, and in them washed and fed herself, and made those very feet, so to speak, her shrine and altar. In which she poured a libation with her weeping, made an offering with ointment, sacrificed with affection. For the sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit, which she, sacrificing to God, deserved not only remission of sins but also the glory of being proclaimed together with the gospel of his name. And since she bore the image of the Church to be called from the nations, she bore in herself all the insignia of the saving mystery: she was anointed with the chrism of her gift, she had the tears of penitence for her washing-place, the inward parts of love for her sacrifice, and she partook beforehand with hands and mouth of the very living and life-giving bread; the blood too of the cup, before there was a cup of blood, she tasted in advance with sucking kisses. Blessed is she, who tasted Christ in the flesh and in the very body of Christ received the body of Christ, deservedly preferred to the Pharisee, who, though he was feeding Christ, was serving the Jew while he feasted, fasting and hungry not for food, as I have said, but greedy for salvation. Blessed is she, who deserved to be figured under this appearance too in the type of the Church, so that in the house and banquet of the Pharisee not the Pharisee himself but the sinful woman was justified unto pardon. The importunity of this woman did more. For indeed the order of the mystery arranged from the ages demanded, according to that prophetic blessing of father Noah, that the dwelling of Japheth pass over into the tents of Shem—that is, that in the house of the law and the prophets the Church should rather be justified, younger in age but greater by the law of grace, whence in the person of John himself, whence the law itself professes of the law: "He who comes after me was made before me, since he was before me." But so that even in type the Church might agree with her head, she had well taken the form of a sinful woman, since Christ too took the form of a sinner. But the Jew, about to have neither head nor foundation in Christ, had anointed neither the head of Christ nor his feet, both of which the gospel woman had drenched with precious ointments. Therefore the synagogue has from Christ neither the oil of grace nor the water of refreshment, whose type that Pharisee bore, around whom, the very fountain of the saving oil and water being present, both the water and the oil of love dried up. Concerning this fountain he had foretold through the prophet, "Let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head," just as he could say to his Church, "You have fattened my head with oil"—she who had brought a precious ointment not only in its compounding but also in its vessel, which was fragrant with the grace and virtue of many herbs or flowers mixed into one. Who could compound such, except the Church? Who, fragrant from the various flowers and juices of heavenly graces, breathes manifold sweetnesses to God from diverse nations, and exhales the prayers of the saints, like aromatics kindled in censers, by the fragrant spirit of truth, so that the bridegroom himself may rejoice over her, abounding with the perfumes of such flowers or the dews of such liquids, with that voice with which he caresses her in the Song of Songs: "My dove," he says, "my perfect one, since my head is filled with dew"—the head of Christ is God—"and my hairs"—the election of the saints, in whom the Father rejoices in Christ—"my hairs with the drops of the night." Dew, as we know, is not the moisture of rain but of refreshing, by which the grasses, dry from the daily heat, are refreshed. The earth is sprinkled with the bright drops of this dew only on a clear night. Whence it is given to understand that those drops of the night, with which wisdom rejoices that her head and hairs have been moistened, are the form of the saints, which the apostle also designates as gleaming in the stars, which shine equally on the clear nights on which dews fall. But what night is to be thought of in spiritual understanding, except the passion of the Lord, which also enlightened the day? Of which I think it is written, "And night is illumination in my delights." But thus too you may think this world a night, which, by the conversion of the nations—whose darkness it dreaded before their faith—has been made serene, as with clouds, and now, with the light of the Church as in the full mirror of the perfect moon, and with holy men as pure stars in the serenity, the works of the faithful, by which each one, giving life to his soul, refreshes it from the thirst of its past dryness, distill, like dews, in this night of the world, as we have said. And therefore Christ rejoices that his head is filled with such dew, and, though the enlightener of our nights, he rejoices that his hairs are nevertheless drenched with the drops of our night, since his refreshment and refection is that working of the faithful, by which either brothers are helped or the needy are cherished. Therefore, finally, he spurned the voice of Judas too, who, having received in his heart the spirit of the devil, begrudged the woman's ointment to the feet of Christ. For by works of devotion and mercy Christ is both anointed and lent to and fed. But the traitor, before he betrayed the Lord, betrayed his own perfidy—he whom not the care of the poor but of his own thefts had moved, and the envy of an unfaithful mind, so that, judging that ointment, however precious, yet cheapest by comparison with the Lord's blood, to be more precious than the saving body, he was indignant at the woman devoutly prodigal, whom the Lord himself testifies to have wrought a good work upon him, teaching that the care of the needy is to be put after, but only for himself, that in this he might show, since with a perverse heart he had preferred mercy to faith, although faith is the kindling of works, and the teacher himself surpasses his own precepts. Except that in this too the son of perdition showed how cheap he held Christ, who said that the ointment which was poured over Christ perished. And therefore he is not in the price of the blood of Christ, since he cannot have as redeemer the one whom he preferred to have as a thing for sale, and rightly the contractor of death is excluded from the commerce of life, to be condemned by his own judgment, by which he sold for thirty pieces of gold him whom the woman, as he himself had reckoned, anointed for three hundred; but in this perverse, that, esteeming the Lord himself cheap, he counted that ointment which was sent ahead for his saving burial dear. Truly, like the devil, ignorant of the grace of God, in which he would have no portion, he esteemed great, not out of love but out of envy, the price of his death, by which he saves us freely—he who buys at a great price, who does not sell. For he wishes to make us precious by the cheapness of his own gift. He himself is more precious to us by this devotion, that he wishes himself to be esteemed cheap, so that he may be bought by all. "For since," it says, "he himself made the poor man and the rich man," and his care is equally for all; whence he says, "Freely you have received grace, freely give." By the gratuitous wealth of this grace the rich Peter, having no money, enriched with health the weak poor man, desirous only of a needy alms. And so let us be in need of greed for gold, that we may abound in grace, and, growing cheap to this world through voluntary poverty, let us be made a precious ointment for the Lord. For we shall breathe to God the good odor of Christ, if, carrying about the death of Christ in our body and manifesting the life in the spirit, we are fragrant with the odor both of the Lord's passion and resurrection. But we put ointment upon the body of Christ if we devote our substance and our life to faith in his truth and obedience to his precept. Then, in his body, we shall be fragrant with ointments filling the whole house, if with perfect love we can ever say, "But to me the world is crucified"—to me who do not love riches, nor the honors of the world, who do not love the things that are my own, but the things that are Christ's, who do not love the things that are seen, but the things that are not seen. These will be to us for virtue and holy ministry, our hairs, with which we may both wipe the feet of Christ and may be able to break the ropes of sinners, and may, in the spirit of liberty, say rejoicing, "You have broken my bonds; to you I will sacrifice a victim of praise." But while there is space for running, while there is time for serving, let us feed hair of this kind and imitate not only the love of that gospel sinful woman, that with great love we may wash away great debts, but also her importunity, that we may snatch salvation from the wrath that hangs over us. Seeking the bread of life in season and out of season, let us knock at the door of the householder even by night. For "in the nights," it says, "lift up your hands unto the holy places." Wearing down, as was commanded, the thresholds of everyone wise in Christ, let us everywhere snatch at the food of life, wherever let us hunt for the word of God; let us hang on the mouth of all the faithful, since in every faithful one the Spirit of God breathes; and it is necessary that even from the least servant of God some drop of heavenly wisdom distill, which may bedew the dryness of my heart and overflow for me, above the rivers of the wise of this world, unto the drink of profit, since "I prefer to speak five words in the law than many thousands in a tongue," just as "one day in the courts of the Lord" to live "than thousands in the tents of sinners," since "the Spirit breathes where he wills, and I hear his voice and know not whence he comes." Therefore wherever I shall catch his breeze, from wherever I shall gather even his slender breath. Even unworthy, even if I hear that the just one has come into the house of the Pharisee, I will strive to snatch the favor of the host, to snatch, if I can, the kingdom of heaven. Wherever the name of Christ shall sound to me, I will run up; into whosoever's inner house I shall learn that the just enter, I too will hasten. When I shall have found wisdom, when I shall have found justice reclining in the inner chambers of someone, I will run to the feet of Christ, that I may be marked even with the last footprint of wisdom; nor will I disdain the feet, nay rather I will desire that Christ touch my head even with his own feet. That woman touched the hem, and was healed; even the passing of the apostolic body, by its overshadowing, healed others. Let us spread out our hairs for him—that is, let us strew before him all the dignities of our distinctions, and let us be cast down from our own selves, that we may be exalted by him who dwells on high and regards the lowly things. Let us confess our sins with tears, so that that heavenly justice may say of us too, "With tears she has washed my feet and wiped them with her hairs." For perhaps for this reason he did not wash his own feet, when he washed the disciples', that we might wash them with our tears. That soul is of no mean merit, of which wisdom can say, "From the moment she entered, she has not ceased to kiss my feet." What is this kiss except the eternal pledge of that love which covers a multitude of sins? These kisses the Church was even then preparing for her bridegroom, when she sang, "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth." Which privilege catholic love alone justly claims for itself, which, alone and perfect, asks from the mouth of the Word himself, for one husband, the kisses of truth, lest it be polluted by the poison of heretical fraud, as by the kisses of an incestuous foreign mouth. Let us, therefore, fix chaste kisses on the feet of Christ, that we may deserve to rise from the feet to the head, and, growing into the higher members of the body, may now dare to ask for the kisses of his very face and mouth from close at hand. And when, sipping the word of God with a pure heart, we shall have tasted how sweet the Lord is, then may our soul, kindled in all its inward parts in the love of wisdom, be refreshed with a sweet ardor, and, transfixed with the fiery arrows of the Lord's love, by which every other delight of hostile pleasures is slain, may say in a heart pricked with compunction, "For I am wounded with love." But blessed is he who can even with a kiss anoint the feet of Christ. Who would burn my wretched mouth and purge my tongue with that heavenly coal, that I might deserve to touch even the heel of Christ with the very tip of my mouth, and, with head bowed, to wipe only the holy footprints, so that my head might rather be wiped by the feet of Christ, and, while I lick the divine feet, I might atone for my unclean lips with the chaste footprints. Let us exhort one another, therefore, and in rivalry say, "Come, let us adore and weep before the Lord who made us." Weeping for him, we shall sow our joys; anointing his footprints, we shall heal our wounds. For whatever we expend upon Christ, we rather confer upon ourselves. Finally, that woman, by drenching Christ, washed herself; by wiping his feet, she cleansed her own sins; by loving him, she loved herself. And therefore she deserved to hear, "Daughter, your faith has saved you"—which he who was of the sons of the kingdom did not deserve to hear, and she was more justified by her service than he by his banquet. For the Pharisee had not believed; she was believing. Finally, he was saying, "This man, if he were a prophet, would surely know what kind of woman she is who touches him"; and therefore he was not justified by the banquet, to which he had invited Christ as if merely a man, imputing perhaps to him—who for our sake was even poor—that he had made so much of receiving a poor man, a rich man, at his own feast. But she would not have hoped, with so great a striving of service and expense and tears, for the remission of sins, unless she had believed God to be in Christ; and therefore, even at the last footprint of the Savior, she found the head of her salvation. Where will you boast yourself, wretched Jew? In your own house our sinful woman has gone before you, having entered into your labors. For you were feasting that you might be proud; she was fasting that she might serve. And the water which you had refused to pour out from your pitchers, she ministered from her own eyes. The feet of Christ, which you wiped not even with a cloth, she wiped with her hair. Those which you, unworthy, would not touch even with your hands, she did not cease to caress with kisses. But surely you rather should have owed this service to the guest received in your house, if even by the example of the fathers you had kept the law of hospitality; but it is enough for you, unto pride, to boast father Abraham. And therefore she went before you, who by faithful affection proved herself rather a daughter of your father—from whom this inhumanity too convicts you of being a degenerate, by which you disdained to wash the feet of the Lord, when both Abraham washed those of angels and the Lord himself those of little servants; although even then the father of faith washed the feet of Christ too, whom, seeing him as one of three with prophetic eyes, he adored. And therefore he himself thus rebukes you with present voice: "If you were the sons of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham," and added, "He saw my day and rejoiced." But he blessed also those who did not see, but believed together with those who saw. Whence it is manifest that faith was acquired by us, and that the nature of perfidy remains over for you. Let them, therefore, have to themselves their arrogance, their riches, their nobility and their own righteousness, who glory in Abraham as father more in body than in spirit, uncircumcised in heart and Jews only in flesh. For us, both unto salvation and unto glory, Christ is enough, and he crucified, who raised us up from stones into sons of Abraham, while for them, on the contrary, the sons of Abraham harden into stones of our origin. For us, Ephraim, blessed at the left to the right hand, profits; them, in Manasseh, who by the presumption of seniority had stood at the grandfather's right, the left hand transferred to the head denoted by the mystery of the cross, since the cross, a stumbling-block to the Jews and the future glory of Christians, would make that one left from right, and me right from left, since, while the Jews slip into our deserts and we invade their sown fields, they are in blindness what we were, and we are by grace what they were. But we shall not so rejoice in our salvation as to be glad at your destruction. For we have been taught by the brother of your body but the master of our spirit not to insult over the broken branches, since we ourselves were grafted into the tree of your stock not out of our works but out of the gifts of the mercies of God. But the common Lord, the father of Christians, that is, the God of the faithful, is able to insert you too into the bosoms of your natural bark and to replant you in your own soil—he who marrowed us with the juice of your fatness through the benefit of adoption, so that one root may sustain both, fruitful unto the Lord in one. Meanwhile I prefer the riches of our sinful and poor woman in tears and affection to yours in impiety and the letter, her fast to your banquet. I prefer to be bound among her hairs at the feet of Christ than to recline among your dishes with you, beside Christ but without Christ. If only I have ointment for the feet of Christ now, I shall not, at his coming, lack oil for my torches. And woe to me, if my ointment be cheap; for there is need of a precious one, that I may deserve to be buried together unto his burial, with whose death unless I die together, by his resurrection I shall not live. Let us love, therefore, him whom it is a debt to love. Let us kiss him whom to kiss is chastity. Let us be joined to him to whom to be married is virginity. Let us be subjected to him, under whom to lie is to stand above the world. For his sake let us be cast down, to whom to fall is resurrection. With him let us die together, in whom is life. And how worthily shall we be able to return the favor to this Lord, in whom even dead we live, who in turn deigns to be to us whatever we, his little servants, shall have been to him! For so does he mingle himself with us and join us to himself that what he himself has received he makes to profit us, and what is given to us—that is, to his least ones—he counts as received to himself. So also, joining his own to his honor, he has communicated to us almost all things, even his own names. As he is called the virtue of God, so he deigns that virtue be to us also. For "God is our refuge and strength." An inheritance, as we are to him, so he is to us. For just as you have in Moses, "His people Jacob became the portion of God," so also you have in the psalms, "The Lord is my portion." And just as he says of himself, "I am the light of this world," so also he said to his own, "You are the light of this world." "I am," he says, "the living bread"; and we all are one bread. "I am the true vine"; and to you he says, "I have planted you a fruitful vine, wholly true." Christ is the mountain of God, in which it has well pleased God to dwell, and his saints are the mountains of God, fertile mountains, from which he enlightens us, marvelous from the eternal mountains. Christ is the rock: "for they drank of the spiritual rock following them, and the rock was Christ." Even to his disciple he did not deny the grace of this name, to whom he says, "Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." But why do we marvel that he granted to his servants his own names, with whom he shares both his Father and his kingdom? For he gave power to those receiving him to become sons of God, and, so far as it lies in him, he said to all men, "You are gods and all sons of the Most High." But we, by the crime of our own wills, die like men and fall like one of the princes. For one of the princes of the angels he was, before, falling by being cast down, he became the devil, to whom it is said, "How did Lucifer fall, who used to rise in the morning?" But we are not condemned, like that one, to eternal destruction, since he was the author of sin and will be punished both for himself and for man, he who perished by the same crime by which he destroyed. But man did not deserve to be exterminated forever from paradise and to be earth, since divine justice judged more leniently that he had sinned by another's mind than by his own. It is more criminal to deceive than to be deceived, and to devise sin than to do it. And therefore the consenter to the fraud was punished temporally and unto amendment, but the inventor of death was destined to eternal punishment, for whom the penalty of sin will never fail, since it never ceases. And so not an angel, not a legate, as it is written, but the Lord himself came to raise up those struck down, to loose the fettered, and to save what had perished. But that he might confound that deceiver of ours by a mutual deception, as it were, the only-begotten Son of God deigned, through the mystery of his devotion, to take up the very nature of our frailty, that out of that very thing which it had deceived, the devil might be conquered, and he who always was, as he is, under the power and laws of God might be made subject to man. What, then, shall we render to him for all the things that he has rendered to us? For he has rendered—but, as a good Lord, good things for evil, to whom we had heaped up evil things for good. He was blessing, and we were cursing. He was healing, and we were blaspheming; he was justifying the impious, and was reckoned among the unjust. What, then, shall I render to him for my evils which he bore, what for his goods which he bestowed? What for the flesh he took up? What for the blows? What for the reproaches? What for the scourges? What shall I repay for the cross, the death, the burial? Be it so, let us render cross for cross, funeral for funeral: shall we be able to render that which we have all things from him and through him and in him, and which we ourselves who have are? For he made us, and not we ourselves, and our soul is always in his hands. Let us render, therefore, love for a debt, charity for a gift, grace for money. For woe to us, unless we love. But when may I hope, wretched and needy as I am, to be able to render to this Lord that which not even the apostles profess to have rendered? Hear, finally, one of them confessing that he has not rendered, who says, "Who has first given to him, and it shall be repaid him?" But thanks to him, who remits to us the interest of so great a loan and grants us the relief of an immense obligation, requiring of us only the love of himself, which, setting it in the chief place among his precepts, he showed how, even as paupers, we might pay him an insoluble debt. Let no one, therefore, excuse himself by the difficulty of paying, since no one can say that he does not have a will. Not sacrifices, not costly gifts, not hard labors are demanded of us; in us is that from which we may pay. For our affection is a thing within our power; let us expend it upon the Lord, and we pay. Finally, David, freed from the hand of all his enemies, in the full security of his salvation, paying not with the wealth of his kingdom but of his spirit, said, "I will love you, Lord, my strength." I add even further that he who is the creditor will become a debtor, if we pay him, with a gratuitous loving spirit, the price of his own goodness, which he bestows on us as undeserved. But he is loved even in our very selves, since he himself said that this would be the sign of his disciples, if they should love one another with the love by which he himself loved us—that is, that we should have one heart and one soul in Christ, and that each should do to his neighbor what he wishes to be done to himself. Wherefore we the more glory in your love in the Lord, which alone makes us pay to God, in some measure, even one of our great and innumerable debts. For in all our other goods we profess ourselves scarcely so much as initiated, even in a few; in your love alone we profess ourselves perfected.

XXIII. SEVERO FRATRI PAVLINVS. Quid extorques, ut te plus amemus? crescere summa non recipit. si potest mare superfluere obices suos et quaecumque naturalem plenitudinem seruant incrementum temporale sentire, potest et caritas in te nostra cumulari, quam suo fine conplemus, cum te sicut nosmet ipsos diligamus. itaque ut. cubitum ad staturam nostram adicere, sic amoris tui cumulum facere non possumus; desideriis tamen modum nullum ponimus. qui enim existimas satisfacere te nobis adsiduitate ista honorificentiae ac pietatis tuae, qua praesentiam tuam nobis tam frequentibus epistolis conpensare conaris, sollicitas potius gulam caritatis tantoque minus exples gratia litterarum, quanto maiorem sedulitate ipsa et humanitate sermonis tui causam suggeris te ipsum, tam unicae nobis unanimitatis in Christo frater, desiderandi. quid enim fieri diligentius in deo et proximo potest, quam quod in nobis exhibes Christo? in quo dei praeceptum utrumque conpletur, quia idem nobis et deus est maiestate naturae suae et adsumptione nostrae proximus factus est. hoc igitur in te proficiente consummatur caritas tua, quae sit in ipso infinita perfecto, quia finitur in Christo, 4] (Prou. 8, 29; Hier. 5, 22). 7] (Matth. 6, 27). FLMOPU . — ad sulpitiu seueru ■ XI • M, paulini ad sulpiciu seuet5 IH - L; incipit • III • 0, epistola pauliui ad seuerum monacum ubi ei gratias agit pro missis epistolis U 2 Seuero fratri (Crater P) paulinus ppistola tertia FP, Paulinus seruus christi Iesu seuero kmo fri secundum communem fidem in deo patre et christo ifiu salutari (salutare L) nostro salutem LM 5 tempore 0 7 diligimus M 8 comulum 0 13 gratiam 0 14. quanto maiorem sedulitate Ov, maior est (ex maiorem P m. 2) sed humanitate FPU, maiorem (maiore L) humilitate LM 15 nobis tam unicae M unanimitate F1 16 desiderandi v, desiderande M dntS Ov 18 praeceptum] pceptum tuum Ov, praeceptum suum RoSlC . utrimque P 19 adsumptioni FOP, assumptioni U 21 infinito Lebrun ex eod. Vienn . pfecto OP1, profecto FptU, perfectio LM Lelrrun, perfecta v cuius magnitudinis non est finis; sed nobis in eo finis sit, ut per ipsum sine fine uiuamus, quibus Christus et generale initium est, quia per ipsum omnia, et speciale fastigium, quia caput corporis, cuius membra sumus. dulcis et rectus est dominus, dulcis in te mihi et, quam (multa) multitudo dulcedinis eius, tu mihi; nam quantus es, qua mente, qua lingua es, totus desiderium es et mihi dulcedinem Christi sapis ut hortus mihi, ut odor agri pleni, quem in odorem unguentorum illius currendo legisti. nam et ager tu illi es, qui uicissim ager nobis est. in ipso enim serimus et ab ipso metimus. ager uero tu, non ille spinis horridus aut harenis aridus aut petrosis asper et nudus, in quo semen datum aut subfocatur aut destituitur aut uritur, sed ille, quem benedixit deus a rore caeli et ubertate terrae. unde et lingua tua uerbo dei rorat et cor tuum fertile deo semen exceptum spiritali fruge multiplicat, ut de fructibus tuis inpleat manum suam messor et sinum suum qui manipulos conligit, hoc est ipse deus, qui uerbi in nobis sui et seminator et messor est. ipse et manus qui dextera dei, quam bonis operibus inplemus; idem et ille Abraham sinus est, in quo operum mercede requiescimus. Sic hic deus in tua caritate nobis abundans non solum litteris tuis nos sed et tabellariis benedicit uisitat pascit inluminat, utroque nobis aperiens thesaurum bonum cordis tui; ex abundantia enim cordis os loquitur et, omne, inquit, animal ad simile sibi congregatur. propterea 1] Ps. 144,3. 3] Roin. 11,36. 4] (Eph. 1,22; Col. 1,18). 5] Ps. 24, 8 et 30, 20. 8] Gen. 27, 27. 11] (Mattb. 13,4). 13] Geu. 27,28. 16] Ps. 128,7. 20] (Luc. 16,22). 24] Matth. 12,34. 25] Eccli. 13,20. 26] Ps. 24, 21 et 25, 5. 2 Christus] ipse M et] est F 5] est om. F quam multa scripsi, quam FOPU, quam magna LM, quanta v 6 quantus quantus FPU •t- diel quam mte 0 7 lingaa totus M es om. L 8 ortus FM 9 ungentorum eius M ille P1 10 nobis ager FPU ab] in FPU 11 spinis om. FPU 17 colliget FPU 19 qui] et M 20 abrahę P 22 sic 0, si FPUv, oni. LM 24 utrique U nobis 0, nobis munere cet . bonum om. FU 25 enim inquit FLOPU, om. M; enim deleui benedixit te deus, quia innocentes et recti adhaeserunt tibi, et cum inpiis non sedisti; odisti iniquitatem, diligis animam tuam, quam proiecisti in Christo, ut huic uitae perdita seruaretur aeternae, damno sui semet ipsam lucrifaciens, si per caritatem Christi uilescat sibi. quo affectu uilis tibi et pretiosae deo animae tuae suauitatem in fanis oris tui Christum spirantibus odorantes benedicimus dominum, dei uerbum deum, qui sicut in ipso illo homine, quem gessit, ita in nostris mentibus gradus quosdam corporeae aetatis exequitur: nascitur crescit roboratur senescit. sed orandus, ne in nobis diu aut iugiter paruulus et infirmus et pauper sit. in te quidem, ut gloriamur, quia bonum tuum gloria nostra est, profectus eius experientes agnoscimus bonitate grandem, malitia paruulum, sapientia senem, fide fortem et in spiritu piae humilitatis pauperem, caritate diuitem. nam prioribus erga humilitatem nostram officiis alios anteuerteras, omnibus nostris, ut saepe testati sumus, et amicis studiosior et proximis religiosior et fratribus diligentior. nunc uero ista nostrae uisitationis uice etiam temet ipsum supergressa humanitate superasti. sat enim nobis erat annuis commeatibus emereri litteras tuas et a te missos uidere, in quibus non solum uicem praesentiae tuae sed et fidei teneremus effigiem. tibi tamen satis non fuit institutam obseruantiam sollemni perfunctione celebrare. longum tibi multa dilectio fecit mora hiemis a nobis silere. concaluit cor tuum intra te, et in meditatione pietatis sanctus tibi bonae inpatientiae ignis exarsit. nec suffecit litterarum ad nos editione maturare, nisi gratiam sermonis tui etiam de sanctis comitibus tuis lecto perlatore cumulares. 2] Ps. 10, 6; Ioh. 12, 25. 14] (I Cor. 14, 20). 24] Ps. 38, 4. 2 sedisti Ov, sedes cet . 3 diligi L 6 et] at M pretios U suauitate U 7 sperantibus 0 benedicimus 0, benediximus cet . 8 ipso om. FPU 11 aut infirmus FP et pauper sit M in mg . 18 bonitate] karitate M 14 et in om. M 16 anto uiceras LM 18 hunc U uisitatiouis nostrae M 19 superasti] uicisti M 24 sileri v 25 tuum L an ras., meum FU 26 in patientia FPU nec] nec tibi M, hec U sufficit FLPU litterum ad nos 0, ad nos litterarum FPU 27 editionem coni. Latinius Benedictus, quem in hoc munus elegisti et adsumpsisti, quo deum feneras, quia etsi peccatores nos uera conscientiae nostrae professione, tamen tuae simplicitatis opinione falsa putans, ut ais, sanctos non iam hominis sed Christi caritate nos diligis, et idcirco mercedem prophetae accipies, quia propter nomen Christi prophetarum honore accipis etiam non prophetas. nobis uero similis gratia non debetur huius officii, quo fratrem Victorem in nomine dei tuaque persona ad nos uenientem intima affectione et magna gratulatione suscepimus. id enim tantum fecimus inutiles serui, quod facere debuimus, quoniam perspicua ueritas cogebat nos ouem puram in eo suscipere atque uenerari, quem non solum ouem pellis, uerum spiritus mansuetudinis et expressa in uerbo eius atque silentio Christi modestia reuelabat. uere recognouimus in eo sanctorum formulam beatorum Martini et Clari, quem proximo interuallo inlustris magistri sequacem te auctore cognouimus. horum se unius in regeneratione esse progeniem, alterius in uia comitem fuisse filius pacis Victor adseruit. homo uere, ut scripsisti, dei, humilis corde, non humilis gratia, uas misericordiae et mansio altissimi, quem recipit et oblectat placido animae trementis hospitio, is nobis benedictiones praeter illas, quas a uobis geminas in litteras et palliis adferebat, plures addidit de opibus mentis suae, non solum contubernio spiritali gratissimus nobis, sed et corporeo famulatu sedulus. audeo enim rem oneris nostri fateri, dum tibi nihil de eius bonis taceam, quae gaudium tuum esse certo scio, quoniam portio tua est bonum familiaris tui. Seruiuit ergo mihi, seruiuit, inquam, et uae mihi misero, passus sum, seruiuit et peccatori qui non seruiebat peccato: 1] Ps. 64, 5. 5] Matth. 10,41. 10] Luc. 17,10. 18] Luc. 10, 6. 19] Matth. 11, 29.- 1 absumpsisti U 4 falsa— sanctos om. M ait FLU scs L homines FPU 10 suscipimus FOPU 12 in eo om. FPU 13 pellis scripsi, pelle M uerum Ov, om. L3f, sed FPU spiritu FptU mansuetudine v et] sed et LM 14 reuelebat 0 uere] ut FPU 15 formula U 16 quem-cognouimus bis scripsit F 17 esse om. FPU 21 recepit P 23 suo U1 24 "corpereo L1 27 pro certo LM 29 qui passus pptlJ, quod passus v sum] suum F et] etiam FPU et ego indignus a seruo iustitiae ministrabar. sed hinc mihi leuamen aliquod tanti ponderis spero, quod sancti fratris famulatum non superbia uindicaui, sed contristandae caritatis metu et fide capiendae benedictionis admisi. benedictio enim mihi erat sancta in nomine dei famulatio et in libertatis spiritu famula dilectio. ob hoc uoluntarium eius bonum et pro ipsius utilitate suscepi, praesumens eo potentiorem exorandi pro me futurum, quo plus meriti de religionis operibus adquisisset. aget profecto orationibus suis, ne meis oneribus adcreuerit quod etiam ex me accessit fructibus suis. dilexi enim, fateor, in eius obsequio benedictionem, timens ne repudiata elongaret a me, quia scriptum tenebam: noluit benedictionem, et elongabitur ab eo. dedi itaque me totum manibus eius atque uisceribus, quia per uiscera caritatis manus famulas et membris meis unctor et pedibus lotor adhibebat, liberalium plenus affectuum sed seruilium praereptor operum, uix ut me aquam ministrare manibus suis sineret. ex libro enim tuo istius gratiam seruitutis adamaui, ut minimam saltem guttulam de sacris Martini actibus delibarem. ipse uero cotidie non solum pedes meos lauare, sed et calciamenta, si paterer, tergere cupiebat, auarus dominationis internae et idcirco corporeae seruitutis inpiger. Sed de pedibus lauandis tantum semel fateor apostolico me exemplo cessisse, quos legeram pedes suos lauandos seruienti domino praebuisse. neque enim partem in hereditate nisi famulantis obsequio recepissent, quoniam bonus dominus et salutarium magister seruiendi ministerio dominandi meritum conferebat et humilitatis humanae praebebat exemplum, 6] (Philem. 14). 12] Ps. 108, 18. 24] (Ioh. 13, 9). 1 manifestabar U mihi hinc F 3 concitaudę LM, contestandae v 4 metu scripsi, meae causa M, meae cet . 6 ob] et ob F 8 pro me om. F quod OP1 religionis 0, religiosis eet . adquississet 01 12 elonguaret L, elongaretur Mv 14 qui U 15 uictor 01 lutor 0 16 preceptor FP\'U, praereptor uel praecerptor Ducaeus 17 ut uix LM manibus suis sineret om. F 18 saltim L 19 uere FU 24 cessisse eiemplo U seruienti] scribenti U 25 partim 0 28 prebaebat 0, conferebat FPU IIVIJII. Pavlini Nol. epistulae. 11 quibus diuinae sublimitatis parabat consortium. unde perspecto muneris tanti mysterio et intellecta boni magnitudine qui primo ministrantis apparatu pedes offerre trepidauerant iam non pedes tantum sed totos se usque ad caput perlui rogauerunt. et ego dominum Iesum in fratre Victore ueneratus, quia omnis anima fidelis ex deo est et humilis corde cor Christi est, fateor, ad remedium infirmitatis optaui, ut oleo me uel aqua melior conseruus adtingeret. nec inritus fui praesumptae opis; nam quasi medicatum manibus piis oleum de ipsa unguenti mansuetudine mihi lenius in medullas perlapsum est, et exultauerunt ossa humiliata. benedixit anima mea dominum, et omnia interiora mea nomen sanctum eius. nam et sensibus uegetandis proderat haec pietatis magis palaestra quam corporis, qua frater bonus artus mihi fragiles manu fingente conponens, mentis quoque uigorem recreatis ossibus erigebat cooperante procul dubio manibus fide, ut dum infirmam carnem manus diligentis duceret, conpatientem animam gratia credentis elueret fieretque mihi intus oleum laetitiae quod foris erat oleum sanitatis. Accipe modo aliam eiusdem in nostris sensibus seruitutem, qua non solum refectionis nostrae sed et parsimoniae curam gerens, facilem nos uictum cibo simplici capere coctis in gutta olei et aquae copia pultibus docuit; sed eas tanto gratiae sale, tanta dulcedine caritatis condiebat, ut coquos et condituras non desideraremus, quia aquae puro oleum suauitatis, quod nulla muscarum inportunitas exterminauit, simplicitas caritati iuncta miscebat. uerum spiritalis coquus interiorem hominem cibare doctior, quo destrueret escam gulae, non 6] Matth. 11,29. 11] Ps. 50,10. 12] Ps. 102,1. 19] (Ps. 44, 8). 25] (Eccle. 10, 1). 1 sublitatis U 3 repudiauerant FU 4 ad L s. I . 7 octaui U 9 piis manibus M 10 ungenti LV, ungeutis Rosw . 12 nomini sancto F1 14 palestra magis M corpori LM qua M\'Pl, quę OP%, *qua LM, quia FU et P s. I . 15 tingente fort . conponens om. FPU meritis LO 17 duceret] mulceret LM 20 seruieutem Pl 21 qua scripsi, quia LMO, quam P1, quod FP"U 24 coqus M1 25 puro 0, purum LM, purae cet . 27 quoquus U 28 quod FLPU siligine nobis pultes sed farina confecit aut milio. ac ne in hoc ipso delicatius nobiscum agere uideretur qui nos ad orexim monachorum parabat inbuere, fabam intriuit panicio, quo citius senatorium poneremus fastidium. sed in benedictione dulcedinis animae delicias habebamus, gratulantes quod frater etiam in carnalibus ministeriis spiritalis propheticis nos cibis pasceret. nam in contritione permixta panes illos tribulationis imitatus est, quos Ezechiel propheta de uario frugis et farris conficere sibi genere iussus est et ad expressionem Iudaicae confusionis, qui obliti deum inmutauerunt gloriam suam in similitudinem uituli manducantis fenum, in stercore boum coquere coctosque sub foetido cinere cum lacrimis captiuitatis in mensura sumere, uidelicet ut superuenturam perfidiae suae poenam corporaliter in propheta signatam prouiderent et uel ita reuerterentur ad dominum, si eos ad penitendum non solum uerbis denuntiata sed etiam corporibus prophetarum expressa offensi dei ira reuocaret. Voluit ergo frater Victor, ut non solum ieiunio sed et cibo humiliare animam disceremus et recordatione peccatorum ueterum intellectuque praesentium tristes manducare panem doloris, quamuis ex parte nobis pepercerit fabam tantum milio panicioque confundens, quod tamen forsitan obliuionis magis quam moderaminis fuerit. nam homo sanctus fideli cautione metuisset aliquid nobis de scriptura sancta subtrahere, et ut totam iuxta dei uerbum confectionem prophetici panis inpleret, 8] (Ezech. 4, 5). 10] Ps. 105,20. 20] (Fs. 126, 2). 2 ipso hoc LM oryxim LMO 3 panitio FLMO, panico U 4 senatorum LM imponeremus F fastidium 0, fastigium cet . 8 hiezechiel L denario FPU 9 genere conficere sibi M uisus FPU 10 obliti sunt F 12 bouum PU coquere ex eaque re P* coctosque om. F captiuatis LO 13 mensura mensam F, mensam P* perfidiei P 14 suae] siue U 15 reuertentur 0 dom 0 16 denunciatam FP, deuumptiatam U 17 expressam FPaU offensi M-v, offerens cet . di ex do 0 iram FU 21 perceperit P1 21 panicio (panitio P, panico U) milioque FPU 22 confondens FU quid U 25 totum F profectionem FPU 11* lentem quoque et hordeum et uiciam miscuisset in crumilum, ut aestuantibus extra sui labra feruoribus dissimilium sibi fructuum quasi repugnante coctura fatiscens rimis olla crepitaret. nihilominus tamen de paucioribus frugibus testam capacem replens intulit nobis multo nidore catina fumantia totumque non solum mensulae nostrae ambitum sed et cellulae nostrae spatium olida caligine uaporauit atque, ut multiplicaret nobis benedictionem, alterius quoque prophetae prandium cenulae nostrae contulit, ut Elisaei nobis ollam inferret, in quam misit farinam; nec herbam ueneni sed condimentum salutis incoxit, in nomine domini gerens omne quod agebat. quo tuti atque securi non exclamauimus ad eum: homo dei, mors in olla, quia iam in olla nostra uita est, postquam dominus Iesus dei uerbum caro factus est et habitauit in nobis; et uasa fictilia nostri corporis uoluntariae nobis prauitatis lubrico de suis manibus elapsa et diuturnis contrita peccatis, ut in meliorem usum figulus ipse renouaret, adsumpsit in semet ipso, factus et ipse de nostri corporis limo tamquam uas, ut ait, perditum, id est in similitudinem carnis peccati, ut de peccato damnaret peccatum. et ideo dicit: Moab olla spei meae, quia non solum ex Iuda sed ex Moab, hoc est non solum de sanctorum sed etiam de peccatorum origine corpus adsumpsit. qui decocta quasi per ollam carnis nostrae cruditate sanctificauit in aeternum nobis 1] (Ezeçh. 4, 9). 9] (nil Reg. 4, 41). 12] ib. 40. 14] Ioh. 1,14. 17] (Hier. 18, 6). 18] Ps. 30, 13. 19] Rom. 8, 3. 21] Ps. 59, 10. 1 quoque] que F ordeum FMPU crubilum 0, cumulum v, grumulum coni. Lebrun, cumerum maluit Cauchius 2 extuantibus FPU I i u sua (ll m. 2) M, uasis RostV . 5 catinam 0 famantia 0, infumantia v con 1 6 celle LM 7 nostrae om. M 9 cenule FU jtulit M elizei F, helisei LMOP 10 quam L, qua cet . 12 quo] quod P1 tuti atque] utique FP\'lJ, uti atque P1 15 et uasa] uasaque M nostrae LM 18 inseniet ipso U corporis nostri F 19 ut ait 0 v, om. ctf . in a. l. 711.2 P 22 etiam om. FPlJ 23 qui 0, quos FP1, quo M, quod LP7U 24 crudelitate U nob 1 eternu cibu M cibum carnem suam. caro enim eius, ut ipse ait, uere cibus uitae est. ipsa est et illa secundum Hieremiam olla urens peccata et illo igni consumens, de quo ait: ignem ueni mittere in terram, quem et in nobis optemus accendi, ut in olla dominici corporis id est ecclesia concoquamur perustisque uitiis defaecati efficiamur argentum igne examinatum, probatum terrae, purgatum septuplo, ut iam non urenda sarmenta sed palmites fructuosi in eodem domino id est uera uite maneamus fiatque nobis idem dominus ad escam dulcis ille botrus, qui nobis in crucis uecte suspensus de terra repromissionis et fructum ostendit et gustum dedit, ut non iam sectemur uilia ruris inculti gramina, inter quae etiam pestiferos uiticularum siluestrium racemos carpere periclitemur. quod certe nobis accidit, cum squalente curarum saecularium spinis anima, cui cultura dei uerbum est, uitam hanc aeui breuem et boni sterilem suspirantes, inter actus superuacuos peccata noxia quasi inter agrestes herbas germina uenenata conligimus et sic in ollam corporis uel cordis nostri mortem mittimus. sed gratias deo, qui nos liberauit de corpore mortis huius per Christum Iesum dominum nostrum, quo infirmitati nostrae sui spiritus uirtutem permiscente et amaritudo malitiae nostrae et sterilitas inutilitatis infuso praecordiis uerbo dei uelut conuertente salutaris aut uiuidi salis aspergine ad dulcedinem fecunditatemque mutata est. Recurramus ad fratrem Victorem, qui uas etiam farinulae nostrae ex usu usurpationis suae, quam in nomine dei faciebat, copiosum de benedictione fecit, ut aliquid etiam de 1] Ioh. 6, 58 et 48. 2] (Hier. 1, 13). 8] Luc. 12, 49. 6] Ps. 11,7. 8] (Ioh. 15,2). 9] (Num. 13,24). 15] (Luc. 8,11). 19] Rom. 7,24 et 25. 2 uita 0 ieremiam M 3 igni 0, igne cet . 5 conquoquamur M, couquocamur F, curacuoquamur II 7 terre P1, ter pptu 8 id est r* om. F 10 botruus O1 11 promissionis L iam non PU 12 interque FOU 13 uitucularum U 15 spinis 8. I. m. 2, curis in text. M 17 agresteas F 18 collegimus M 19 misimus M 22 in precordiis F 23 conuertende U, conuerteutente L aut] et M beati Eliae hydria nobis daret, qua propheta caelestis in uerbo sacro ad sufficientiam indeficientem repleta benedictam cum filiis Sareptae uiduam per triennii famem pauit. in qua uidua iam tum per prophetam Christus, ut opinor, ecclesiam suam non frumenti sed uerbi pane pascebat, de qua dicit: uiduam eius benedicens benedicam; illam scilicet uiduam, quam apostolus ait mortuo uiro quibus uolet nuptiis liberam, quia desinente lege, cui finis est Christus, ad gratiae libertatem transitum faciens ecclesia Christo quasi uidua legis innupsit. huius nunc uasis oleum gratiae et benedictionis farina non defecit in omnium foris gentium fame, quarum miseram a cibo uitae et fide trinitatis inediam congrue praefigurauit illa quondam triennii fames. sed, ut super hoc institutum concludam, ita domini gratiam farina nostra in fratris Victoris manu sensit, ut quae uix ante sufficiebat panibus nunc abundet et pultibus fraternitatemque monacham uespertini post ieiunia cibi auidam duplici ministerio fermentatis orbibus aut soluto farre distendat. Verum idem Victor meus quamuis fortioribus cibis inducere stomachum nostrum studeret, tamen et hoc infirmitati nostrae frater necessarius consulebat, quod defectiones fidei nostrae in illis pultibus adsumendis adinplebat et opera manuum suarum consummabat uno pro nobis adiutore istius ferculi, 1] (III Reg. 17,16). 5] Ps. 131, 15. 6] (Rom. 7,3). 7] (I Cor. 7, 39). 10] (III Reg. 17, 16). 1 behati 01 helifl LMO, helie FP, hplie U ydria M, hidria L a 2 benedicta 0 cum filiis om. FPU 3 sarapte FOPU 5 seruerbi 0 7 uoluerit M s. 1. m. 2 8 ad gratiae] a gratia 0, a gratia ad v 10 nunc] olim sup. scr . m. 2 M non 0, om. cet . deficit U 11 gentium foris LM et fame F 12 illa illa F quodam FU 13 triremii F ut 0, om. cet . 14 manu LtO, manus cet . 15 paucis sufficiebat LM habundat F 16 mouachorum FP, monacorum U uespertini Rosw., uespertinis M cibi 0 Rosw., cibis cet . 17 ministerio] aut add. Rosw . fermentatis urbibus (utribus v) FOPUv, frumentationibus uel frumentaciis orbibus coni. Sacch . haut 0 18 distaendat 0, discendat F 20 hoc om. FPU, in hoc LM 21 necessario coni. Sacch . defensores F 22 adsumendis 0, assumendis FPU, absumendis LMv quem ex rusticanis receptum domi renutrimus aetate corporis senem, mentis infantem, quia iam senectute deficiens renatus est gratiae, in nouitatem uitae de uetustate carnis effloruit. eum fratris Victoris coquina et adsueto cibo ut ex rusticis hominem et apto ut edentulum saginauit. iste pauper clamauit, et dominus exaudiuit eum. eripuit eum de tenebris et umbra mortis; et nunc adspersus hyssopo et emundatus in uoce exultationis et confessionis epulatur et clamat: erraui sicut ouis quae perierat. benedicam dominum in omni tempore, qui mihi tribuit intellectum et eripuit me de luto faecis et inmisit in os meum canticum nouum. iuuenior fui, et senui; sed non defecerunt in uanitate dies mei, quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est. torrente uoluptatis suae potauit me, et refloruit caro mea. frumentationem mihi misit in abundantiam et saturauit animam inanem, et nunc senectus mea in misericordia pinguedinis, donec in pace dormiam et requiescam in longitudinem dierum. Venio nunc ad maiorem fratris erga me Victoris operam, qua me suis manibus tondere dignatus est, quod ipsum 5] Ps. 33, 7 et 106, 14. 9] Ps. 50, 9; 118, 176 et 33, 2; 39, 3. 12] Ps. 77, 33; Luc. 1, 49; Ps. 35, 9 et 27, 7; 77, 25. 1 ruticanis F enutrimus M, remittimus F 2 qua P1, qui FP\'U 3 est fort. delendum gratia FPXU in] et in M nouitate FPU 4 hunc M, cum FU quoquina L1 cibo et apto ut ex rusticis hominem FU ut ex rusticis hominem P s. I. m. 2 ut] et FP, om. U 5 staginauit U 7 hysopo LOU, ysopo MV, isopo F 10 tribuit mihi F 12 iuuenior 0, iunior cet . 14 est s. I. m. 2 F uoluntatis OPU tue in sue corr. P\' 16 habundantia Mx animain meam FU 17 pini gnedonis O, pinguet PPU, pingui LM 18 obdormiam LM longitudine FPU dieruml explicit add. LM, finit liber • III - add. Ov. — quae secuntur ut nouam epistolam inscribunt LMOP: incipit eiusdem de artificio liber • IIII • fratri optimo souero meropius paulinus Ov, epfa eiusdem ad eundem XX. L, ad sulpititim seuerum XII. seuero fratri unanimo salutem M, eiusdem de artificio (uictoris add. m. 2) fratri optimo seuero meropius paulinus (continuatur cum superiore quia una est epistola add. m. rec.) P, atque hanc epistolae partem posteriore loco L et M exhibent tamen beneficium tibi debere me uoluit, mandato tuo dicens se mihi artem suam prodere. propterea rogaui eum, ut quod perita manu fecit id inpensis orationibus ambo faciatis, uidelicet ut exorato precibus uestris domino peccata nostra, quibus super capillos capitis multiplicatis animam habemus inpexam, non accisione medii tondeautur, sed ad uiuum quasi nouacula radente perimantur. est autem nobis nouacula nunc salutiferae, nunc pestiferae sectionis. remedii et decoris nouacula nobis Christus deus est, qui cor nostrum circumcidit, uitia radit, animae caput leuigat et faciem mentis accurat; nosque ut illam in lege captiuam purgat et liberat horrido miserae seruitutis capillo, ut coniungendi domino, uelut illa in Israelitae uiri nuptias transitura, criminibus carnis nostrae quasi barbaris crinibus exuamur, deinde sensibus innouatis ut comis rudibus enitescamus uitamque nostram quasi Nazaraeum crinem pascentes deo in castitate et parsimonia consecremus. Cauendum uero, ne illa inimica ex diuerso nouacula, quae in protoplastis noxia fraude deceptis generis humani caput rasit, in caput nostrum hoc est fidem, qua nobis caput Christus efficitur, adscendat nosque gratia spiritali tamquam illo Nazaraeo crine dispoliet, qui quanto seruantibus bono maneat et exitio decerpatur incautis, ille in Iudicum libro ab oraculis sacer heros argumento est, inuictus crine seruato, captiuus absciso et iterum fortis renato. utinamque tam prudens ad cauendam mulierem quam fortis ad strangulandum leonem! sed carnali uictus inlecebra qui gratia spiritali uicerat, cum praeualuisset forti, ab infirmitate superatus est. quod patiantur necesse est qui suam feminam id est carnem uiro suo 4] Ps. 39, 13 9] (Col. 2, 11). 13] (Deut. 2, 12). 15] (Num. 6,5). 22] (Iudic. 16, 19). 25] (Iudic. 14, 6). 6 occisione P1, accisione in abscisione corr. L tondeatur U uinum U1 7 radente-nouacula s. 1. L 8 remedire (om. et) U 10 radens M aciem FU 11 nosqq; LM purgaret (om . et) FP\'U 12 mesere F 18 israhelitae 0 14 barbaricis M innouatis 0, renouatis cet . 15 nazarenum L 16 parsimonia et castitate F 17 ex] e M 19 fide 0 22 iudicium L 25 transgulandum M 27 preuoluisset 01 quod] qui U 28 feminem 01 hoc est spiritui in dei leges non subiugant et tamquam malesuadae coniugi molles mariti fluentibus animis adquiescunt, degeneres ab illo magistro, qui mox ut agnouit Christum, inter ipsa militiae rudimenta magni certaminis uictor non adquieuit carni et sanguini. Videamus itaque omnia, quae Samso pertulerit ab infida uxore corruptus, quia eadem peccatores spiritaliter feremus, quae ille carnaliter ad nostram eruditionem expressa sustinuit. ita enim nobis uiolata Christi gratia, ut illi incisa coma, hostis inludet; auferet oculos, mittet in carcerem et uertendis molis uelut asinos deputabit. unde nos dominus, ne collum nostrum non subditum iugo Christi dignum faciamus asinaria mola, admonet per prophetam: nolite fieri sicut equus et mulus, quibus non est intellectus. homo enim, ut alibi dicit idem propheta, non intellegens honorem suum hoc est naturae suae dignitatem, quae ceteris in terra animantibus ratione dominatur, ideo rationalis factus, ut auctorem suum intellegere nosset et colere, abutens tanto munere creatoris ad licentiam erroris sui conparatur iumentis et similis efficitur. quod in rege Babylonio uidemus euidenter inpletum, qui stoliditatis inpiae et uecordis superbiae poenam sensu hominis exutus in beluino haec corde sustinuit. etenim homo in errore positus et a iustitia relapsus, iuste ut Samso sapientiae pariter et gratiae uirtute desertus, caecitate punitur et mola, quia dignus est opere iumentario, qui semet ipsum lumine rationis orbauerit et in similitudinem beluarum corporis seruus abiecerit. 4] Gal. 1, 16. 6] (Iudic. 14,1.16). 12] (Matth. 11, 29; 18, 6). 13] Ps. 31, 9. 18] (Ps. 48, 13). 20] (Dan. 4, 30). 23] (Iudic. 16, 21). 1 in lege dei F, uvi. M subiungat U male sua de PU, male suadenti LM 2 coniuge FU acquiescant U1 4 ipso F malitiae O1 6 samso 0, sampson FMU, sanson LP 7 peccantes M 8 qua M condicionem L 14 aequus 0 16 qua L 17 ratioe s. 1. m. rec. (?) M dominantur F 18 nossceret P, nosceret FU, posset (s. I.1 nosset 71.. rec.) M 21 pena* M, pęna L, om. FPU 23 samso 0, sampson F, sanson MPU 27 abiicerit U Considera huiusmodi mortalium uitam, ut tota tibi species iumenti molentis occurrat. ut ille pannis oculos corporis, sic iste sordibus uitae suae oculos mentis obsutus per errores suorum sensuum quasi circa ambages molarum laboriosa miser statione uersatur, usui suo uacuus et operosus alieno; stat in uia peccatorum, conpeditus uinculis cupiditatum suarum, et ipse sibi carcer est obsessus tenebris erroris sui et conscientiae squalore concretus; in semet ipso pistrini ergastulum patitur, saxum cordis sui pertinacia iniquitatis induratum quasi molam uersat, farinam hostibus suis de corrupta animae suae fruge conficiens. quia, sicut scriptum est, peccator de anima sua currit, ita qui peccatum operatur de mola uitae suae hostile triticum molit, ut zabulum pascat, cui panis fit anima quae sibi fames est. quod si non semper uadens sed aliquando reuertens spiritus fiat, uelut coma reduci ita gratia reflorente integrabitur. Sed ut totam de capillis texamus epistolam, iuuat indulgere sermoni et illum domini fortem usque ad finem suum prosequi. nam et in caecitate ipsius et in morte diuini sacramenta mysterii praelineata mirabimur, quodque scriptum est plures ilium hostes strauisse morientem quam toto prius uitae suae tempore perculisset, arbitror principe loco uim dominicae passionis interpretandam, qua zabuli domus cecidit et regnum mortis solutum est. quod, uiuente semper, ut uiuit, Christo et ante carnalem aduentum suum in maiestate naturae suae apud dominum patrem deo uerbo, tamen dispositis in ordinem suum saeculis ab Adam usque ad Moysen, mortis potestas licentia bacchante regnauerat et de lege intellecto nec euitato peccato 5] (Ps. 1, 1). 11] Prou. 7, 23. 14] (Ps. 77, 39). 20] (ludic. 16, 30). 27] (Rom. 5, 14). 1 ut scripsi, et w 2 occurret LM ut] ut enim M 3 sordidus F obsut\' M sed ob eras., obsutos 0 5 uersaturus. uisu 0 10 hostibus suis] corporis sui FPU 13 zabolum 0 14 famis 0 15 spiritus Ov, cristi Ff xpi PU, xps LM 17 epistulam 0 20 quodque scripsi, quia quod 10 21 prius toto FPU 22 perculisset scripsi, perculisse sed FO, perculisse M, piculisse L, pertulisse sed PU 23 interpretondam L1 zaboli 0 dnlfi Ov, deum cct . 26 dei uerbo FU, manente deo uerbo M 27 moysem v 28 bachante FLMP, baccante U cre*uerat (a eras.) L creuerat, hoc regnum rex regum et dispensator temporum dei filius passione sua diuisit ac diruit, deus factus sub lege, ut subiugatos legi solueret, factus per mulierem, sed mulierem sexu, uirginem partu, ut sanctificaret utrumque sexum creator utriusque, suscipiendo uerbum, nascendo per feminam. itaque mortem ipsam moriendo destruxit, soluens, ut scriptum est, inimicitias in carne sua et faciens utrumque unum id est hominem et deum, quem in se ipso conexuit deus et homo Christus Iesus, in quo utriusque substantia naturae discordiam posuit et unificantis gratiae aeternum foedus agnouit. spoliatos nos zabuli latrocinio et uulneratos in uia praeterierat frater in leuita, frater in sacerdote, quos lex nec sacrificiis redemerat nec prophetis. sed non praeteriuit ille Samarites, qui propter nos huius etiam nominis suscepit iniuriam; non praeteriuit, quia non erat mercennarius sed uerus et bonus pastor, qui animam suam pro ouibus positurus aduenerat. hic hominem suum praetermissum a praeuiis nec curatum miseratus accessit et iumento suo hoc est uerbi incarnatione suscepit et oleo gratiae et uino passionis suae commendatum stabulario, perfecto illi magistro gentium, in duobus testamentis denarii mercede sanauit, redditurus illi et beatae uirginitatis de innumeris huius boni fructibus uberes gratias et innumerabiles coronas, quia hoc consilium praecepto adiciens de suo supererogauit. Non ergo erat iste frater (et conditione dominus a seruis et natura deus a mortalibus discrepabat), sed tamen et 2] Gal. 4, 4. 6] Eph. 2, 14. 12] (Luc. 10, 31. 32). 16] (Ioh. 10,18 et 12). 19] (Luc. 10, 34). .1 et] ac FPU 2 filiis F dirruit FPU 3 legis Ov 4 utrimque U 5 suscipendo P uerbum 0, uirum cet . 7 inimititias 0 8 in se ipse M de 9 utramque 0 substantiam 0 10 posuit (de m. 2) M uiuificantis M 11 zaboli OPU 12 frater in leuita om. U 13 samarites v, samaritis OJ 14 etiam huius M 15 mercenarius FP **et (et eras.) L 17 suum] 2 carmndti ae saucium coni. Sacch . curratum 0 19 curatum stabularis comendatfl| (iwrmdSK m 2) M 20 perfecto 0, profecto cet . 23 hoc Ov, in hoc cet . praecepto consilium M 24 super errogauit PU 25 frater] nam add. M, qui add. v 26 tm L et om. LM homo erat ille, de quo scriptum est: et homo est, et quis cognoscet eum? neque ideo frater noster, quamquam et hoc diuina pietas pro humilitate cordis sui famulis nomen indulserit dicens: narrabo nomen tuum fratribus meis, tamen nostra adrogantia non audendus dici frater, nec quia homo fieri dignatus est, qua et ipso hominis ortu nihil habet commune nobiscum, qui citra nostrae generationis usum caro factus de spiritu sancto intemerata sacrae matris uirginitate et conceptus et natus est. et ideo sine ullo corporis nostri contagio nostrum corpus effectus, non dedit deo placationem suam, quia ipse propitiatio erat, nec pretium redemptionis animae suae sed nostrae, quia non egebat salute saluator. nos enim uenditi sub peccato egebamus pretio redemptionis et ideo propter nos homo, propter nos forma serui, propter nos filius ancillae. qui benedictus et sanctificator sanctorum pro nobis tamen et peccatum et maledictum factus est, quod non erat, ut nos, qui et ex praeuaricatione peccatum et ex damnatione maledictum eramus, ab utroque absolueret, utrumque in sua carne adfigens cruci. ideo dictum puto: frater non redimit, redimet homo, quia quos frater non redemerat hoc est propheta seu legislator, qui homo tantum erat, hic homo redemit, qui et deus erat. deus enim, inquit, erat in Christo reconcilians sibi mundum. huius enim modi homo solus praeualere potuit aduersus sententiam mortis et aculeum peccati, ut chirographum mortis aboleret et humiliaret calumniatorem, non tamen ei maiestate naturae suae sed habitu nostrae congrediens et nihil ei extorquens uiolento 1] Hier. 17, 9. 4] Ps. 21, 23. 10] Ps. 48, 8. 11] I Ioh. 2, 2. 12] (Rom. 7, 14). 14] (Phil. 2, 7). 15] II Cor. 5, 21; Gal. 3, 13. 19] (Col. 2,14). Ps. 48,8. 22] II Cor. 5, 19. 25] (Col. 2, 14). (Ps. 71, 4). 6 qua Opl, quia cet . ipso 0, in ipso cet . 11 pretio 0 12 salutem 0 14 in forma M 17 pr . et om. FLM 18 utrinque U 19 cruce 01 20 non redemit frater FPU uon s. I. 0 redimit 0, redemit P 22 qui et Ov, quia cet . erat inquit M 23 enim modi PUp, enim modo 0, modi enim FLM 25 cyrographum FMP, cirographum U 27 nostro F ei om. FPU dominatu, sed superans eum lege iustitiae, ut, quoniam femina decepta et deiecto per feminam uiro omnem prolem primi hominis tamquam peccatricem legibus mortis malitiosa quidem nocendi cupiditate sed tamen ut aequissimo iure uictoriae uindicabat, tamdiu potestas eius ualeret, donec interficeret iustum, in quo nihil dignum morte posset ostendere, non solum quia sine de(lict)o occisus est, sed etiam quia sine libidine natus, cui subiugauerat ille quos ceperat, ut quicquid inde nasceretur tamquam suae arboris fructus praua quidem habendi cupiditate sed tamen non iniquo possidendi iure retineret. iustissime itaque cogitur dimittere credentes in eum, quem iniustissime occidit, ut et, quod temporaliter moriuntur, debitum exoluant et, quod semper uiuunt, in illo uiuant, qui pro eis quod non debebat exoluit. Quamobrem puto et ipse nobis leo ille est, in cuius mortui ore cibum mellis inuenimus. quid enim dulcius dei uerbo? et quid fortius dei dextera? aut in cuius mortui ore fauus et apes nisi in cuius uerbo salutis nostrae bonum et congregatio gentium? quarum potius figuram plerique in hoc leone posuerunt, quia populus gentium qui credidit corpus feritatis erat ante, nunc Christi est, in quo apostoli uelut apes a rore caeli et diuinarum floribus gratiarum mella sapientiae condiderunt, ac, si esca ab ore edentis exierit, quia prius efferae deo nationes receptum dei uerbum fideli corde sumentes ructum salutis ediderint. qui uero Christum magis in eodem sibi leone, proponunt Samso Iudaeorum figuram, uidelicet ut illum leonem quasi Christum Iudaeus occiderit, id quoque adsignantes mysticae praeparationi, quod eo potissimum tempore, quo coniugium petebat, optatam potentis beluae egerit 1] (Gen. 8, 13). 13] (Ps. 68, 5). 15] (Iudic. 14, 8). 7 delicto coni. Lebrun, causa M, deo cet . 8 ceperat Pv, coeperat cet . exinde v 11 qui F 14 debeat U 19 plerique figuram M 28 condidere FPU si] sic LMU 25 ediderint 0, ediderunt cet . sibi in eodem M 26 preponunt F, proponunt dicunt M samso 0, samson L, sanso FPU, sanson M, samsonem v iudeorum esse M ut ex et F m. 2 27 leonem om. FPU xpm (m in ras.) L 29 optabam Fl caedem, quia uidelicet non posset firmari coniugium, quod in Christo et ecclesia pactum est, nisi occiso leone de tribu Iuda. idem enim dominus leo ille, qui uicit, et catulus est leonis, sua sponte sopitus et a semet ipso resuscitatus, de quo scriptum est: quis suscitabit eum? uoluntarie enim sacrificans pro nobis patri hostiam sui corporis idem summus et in aeternum sacerdos, animam suam, sicut ipse testatur, eadem resumpsit potestate qua posuit. hic leonis catulus, quia filius dei, et idem leo, quia aequalis patri. quare, ut mihi uidetur, huic aptius est leoni: de edente exiuit esca et de potente dulce, scilicet a saluatore nostro, (si,) cuius sermo uita est, hanc nobis escam simul et ruminauit docens et prompsit inpertiens, et, si placet aliter, ut de edente esca sic exeat, quia hic leo de tribu Iuda pro nobis uictor ei ore nos aduersi leonis eripiens ideo uenatur, ut seruet, capit, ut absoluat, frangit, ut solidet, mandit, ut integret, hoc in nobis edens quo corrumpimur. quamobrem optemus huius leonis praeda fieri, ne simus praeda leonis inimici. efficiamur esca dei, ne simus esca serpentis. edat nos Christus, ne zabulus uoret. edente enim Christo, ut dixi, in nobis consumitur quo consumimur. Christus etenim uita est, et mortale hoc non poterimus deponere, nisi absorbeamur, quia mortem nostram deuorat Christus. cibus autem Christi esse non possumus, nisi faciamus uoluntatem eius, ut uicissim et ipse nobis cibus fiat, in quo semper 2] (Eph. 5, 32). Apoc. 5, 5. 3] Gen. 49, 9. 5] Ps. 53, 8. 7] (Hebr. 7, 17). 8] (Ioh. 10, 18). 10] Iudic. 14, 14. 14] I Petr. 5,8. 21] (Ioh. 14,16). 22] (I Cor. 15,54). 23] (Ioh. 4, 34). 24] (Ioh. 6, 48). 2 tribubus F 3 leo ille 0, et leo F, et leo ille cet . 5 uoluntarie Ov, uoluntariam cet . 6 corporis sui LM et om. LM 8 catulus leonis LM 9 est et M ideo F quia om. F 10 huic] cui F, nulli L in ras . 11 scilicet a scripsi, nisi a 0, nisi L, nisi ad FPU, quam in ras. L, a quo enim egressa est nisi a M, a quo enim nisi a v saluatori (i in ras.) nostro L si add., om . « 12 uitae est FPU, uita et est L, uita est et qui v promisit FPU 13 imparciens FPU et] aut fort . ut de] unde FPU 16 iu Ov, om. cet . 19 zabolus OPU, diabolus F uocet L1 20 consumitur] absumitur LMv 24 ut Ovf et cet . et Or, om. cet . uiuimus, si ad eius praecepta uiuamus. sic ergo de potente exit dulce, cum amaritudine malitiae nostrae per ipsum in dulcedinem bonitatis commutata dulcis a uerbo eius esca procedimus, qui quos edendo consumpsit peccato reparauit ad uitam. solus hic potens, dulciter potens, qui liberauit pauperem ab auaro potente, qui feritatem mei corporis per mysterium pietatis suae in mortem sui corporis perimens, ibi cibum uitae edit, ubi miserae fames mortis arebat, qui mihi offensionem gratia, peccatum iustitia, infirmitatem uirtute, mortem uita, confusionem gloria, regno mutauit exilium. qui audiebamus: terra es et in terram ibis, nunc iam audimus: conuersatio uestra in caelis est. Itaque illam speciem, quae in illum Samso uel recrinito uel moriente retexitur, et in omnem Christi famulum conuenire arbitror. homo enim, qui praeuentus fuerit in aliquo peccato, ut salubriter paenitendo ad instaurationem gratiae quasi capillis renascentibus reuertitur, ponens ut arcum aereum brachia sua id est fidem spei uerae et spem fidei non fictam, exercens idem ad proelium manus suas operibus pietatis, cuius exercitatio ad omnia utilis est, tum ut quibusdam bonae conscientiae et fidei firmae lacertis ualens audebit inuadere et poterit uertere inimicorum columnas. hae autem sunt columnae hostilis domus, quibus nititur, in qua uelut nostri uictor epulatur inludens captis, si membris nostris ut armis suae 5] Ps. 71, 12. 11] Geu. 3, 19. Phil. 3, 20. 15] Gal.6, 1. 17] Ps. 17,35. 19] (Ps. 143, 1). 20] 1 Tim. 4, 8. 1 si eius praecepta seruemus M 2 exiit PU, exigit F amaritudiu nem 0 3 commutatam 0, comitata. L 4 quos scripsi, nos w 5 petens IP quia LMU 7 morte M ibi] ubi P1 8 aedit FL, t faIDee dedit M famis P1 mortis fame (ł femu m. 2) M, famis morte (rte in ras.) L mortis P s. 1. m. 2 10 audiuimus FLPU 11 nostra conuersatio LM 13 sampso 0, sapso F, sanso PU, sanson M, samson L, samsone v 15 in om. F 17 capillis L 8. 1 . 18 est fide 0 19 fictae Rosto. 20 tunc M 21 uolens U 22 inuadere] carnalia desideria desifarat Sacch . euertere uel uellere coni. Sacch . haejg L, quae FOti, que PU autem] quidem v 23 hostiles 0 24 operatur JJ capitis Ll iniquitatis utatur. deicimus ergo hunc inimicum domu sua interitu subiugatae carnis, qua adiutrice intus in nobismet ipsis hostis inclusus intestino animam nostram bello quatit, crimine uoluntatis nostrae potens nostri factus, nostra aduersus nos uitia satellites habet interioremque nostrum ministerio exterioris oppugnat. Sed meminerimus pacti, quo per baptismatis gratiam consepulti Christo in crucis sacramenta iurauimus, ne iam quasi uiuentes agamus in hoc mundo uiuamusque iam non nos sed Christus in nobis. quo nobis in honorem capitis restituto cadet zabuli domus et tota inimicorum cohors cum peccati nostri morte morietur. quamobrem non solum morte Samso commori disco hostibus meis, hoc est mortificando carnem meam simul interficere peccatum, ut superstite spiritu uictor salutis triumphem et dicam animae meae: conuertere in requiem tuam, quoniam dominus benefecit mihi; sed et caecitate Samso, qua corporeis tantum captus oculis spiritales non amisit, inluminor ad intellectum bonum, ut exemplo illius sciam quos magis debeam oculos habere. non enim inuocasset ille uir dominum in suae uirtutis auxilium, nisi mentis oculos habuisset incolumes, quibus lumen est Christus, in cuius lumine uidebimus lumen. quod si semper ardet in lucerna corporis nostri, tunc opera tenebrarum occident, et princeps huius mundi mittitur foras, non utique extra mundum hunc, cum quo, sicut scriptum est, in damnatione cum iudicatis mixto fine uacuabitur, sed foras a cordibus nostris, a quibus, si Christum recipiamus, expellitur. 10] (Rom. 6,4; Col. 2,12; II Cor. 5,15; Gal. 2, 20). 15] Ps. 114.7. 18] (Ps. 110, 10). 22] Ioh. 8, 12; Ps. 35, 10. 24] Ioh. 35, 12. 1 domu 0, domo cet . hominem nostrum M 8 crucis in M, cruci L, in crucis v 9 in in hoc F 11 zaboli 0, diabuli F1 18 sampso 0, sanso P, samson L, sanson FMU et sic hi codices infra hoc] id FPU 16 quia FPU beneficit L tibi LM 17 tantum om. M 20 uocasset M 21 oculos mentis FPU incolomes 0 24 occidunt c mittetur LM 25 cum - l . 26 uacuabitur om. M sicus U 26 cum iudicatis L, cumiudicatus O, coniudicatus cet . Ergo, quia illum imitantur qui sunt ex parte illius, nos imitemur dominum Iesum, qui nos uocauit in sortem hereditatis suae et tollere nos iussit iugum suum suaue, ut graue illud legis et mortis iugum discuteret a nobis. est autem et crinis ut iugum leuitatis; nam, ut scriptura diuina nos docet, leuis est sanctorum coma, inpiorum grauis. haec aut uirtutis, at in Samso, aut sanctificationis, ut in Samuel; illa aut ponderis, ut in Abessalon, aut squaloris, ut in Nabuchodonosor. qua hominum comarumque discordia docemur in capillis opera censere, siquidem regi Assyrio in solitudinem feritatemque damnato luctuosa concretio capitis intonsi in iubam leonis horruerit, ut etiam corporis specie transiret in beluam qui non solum a regnis suis sed etiam a sensibus exulabat humanis, coma tristi leonem, uncis unguibus uulturem, sensu et pabulo bouem referens, ne unius tantum beluae similitudinem ferret in poenis qui multarum similis fuisset in moribus. Intellecto tamen tandem deo et sensui reformatus et regno, factus et ipse nobis est in exemplar fidei, ut regnum quod intra nos est timeamus amittere peccando et meminerimus repetere paenitendo. nec Abessalon, quamuis decoro et corpore superbus et capite, poterat dicere quod Samso dixit: si tonsus fuero, discedet a me uirtus mea, quia non habebat illam in pulcherrimo licet crine uirtutem, quae non corporalium capillorum sed gratiae spiritalis erat, quam inpius 1] (Ioh. 8, 44; Eph. 1, 11; Col. 1, 12; Matth. 11, 30). 5] (I Ioh. 5,3). 7] (I Reg. 1, 11; II Reg. 14, 26; Dan. 4, 30). 19] (Luc. 17, 22). 21] (II Reg. 14, 25). 22] Iudic. 16, 17. 4 illius F 5 ut s. I. m. 2 F, et IJ nos docet] dicit F 6 aut] autem U 7 ut om. U sanso FPU, sampso 0, samson L, sanson M, sampsone v, et sic codices infra samuhel LMP, Samuele v illa om. FPU, illa autem v 8 abessalon LMO, absalon FPU, Abessalone v in om. U nabucdonosor FPU, nabucodonosor LM, Nabuchodonosore v 9 quam U hominum Ov, omnium cet . crinium comarumque LM in] ut in L 11 iuuam 0 17 tamen tandem Ov, tamen FPU, tandem LM sensu FPU 18 est et ipse nobis LM fin L 19 intra nos] in nobis FPU 20 abyssalon 0, absolou FP, absalon U et om. FU 23 licet in pulcherrimo LM 24 gratia FPU specialis FP, spetialis U inpius] ipsius L IXVIIII. Panlini Nol. epistulae. 12 habere non poterat. uirtus enim et sapientia dei Christus est, qui in parricidalem animam non adibat, quia non habitabat in corpore subdito peccatis. denique capillaturam illius pro iniquitatum mole desectam etiam tonsurae necessitas indicata testatur. sic enim habes: tondebat caput suum, quia grauaretur; cum autem detonsus esset, ponderabat capillos capitis sui, et erant centum siclorum pondere regali. quo apertius exprimi potest pro operibus numerari capillos, cum in inpii capite non aliquam uirtutem sed tantum sarcinam capillorum scriptura signauerit? ponderabat, inquit, capillos capitis sui. gloria enim inpio est iniquitas sua. neque solum operatio eum nequam sed et nequitiae, ut quidam ait, fama delectat. unde illud in psalmis habes: quid gloriaris in malitia, qui potens es in iniquitate? lumen etenim inpiorum tenebrae, honor umbra, celsitudo transitus, caput zabulus et ideo coma pondus est, propter quod scriptura regali pondere grauem illius parricidae comam dicit, hoc est zabulico pondere; zabuli etenim regnum est omnis inpius. sic et qui mollibus uestiuntur in domibus, inquit, regum sunt, hoc est principum aeris huius et nequitiae spiritalis ducum; in quorum domibus et regnis agunt aut inpietate duri aut lasciuia molles, quorum diuitiae peccatum, itinera lubricum, finis interitus, gloria in inferno, domus in sepulchro est. talium crines crimina sunt, et idcirco illi crines esse non possunt, quibus bellator sacer funes hostium et nouas restes quasi mollia fila soluebat, sed illi potius, de quibus scriptum est: funes peccatorum circumplexi sunt mihi. peccatis enim suis 1] (I Cor. 1, 21). 2] Sap. 1, 4. 5] II Reg. 14, 26. 14] Ps. 51, 3. 15] (Ps. 34, 6). 17] (II Reg. 14, 26). 19] Matth. 11, 8; Luc. 7, 25. 20] Ephes. 2, 2. 23] Phil. 3, 19. 24] Ps. 48, 12. 26] (Iudic. 16, 9. et 12, 13). 27] Ps. 118, 61. 2 in om. M parricidialem FPU, paricidalem 0 7 siderum U 8 regali ex galli P2 9 in om. OU 11 est enim impio M 12 eum sola operatio M 14 pr . in om. F 16 zabolus F\'OPČl, diabolus F*, et sic l . 18 17 parricidt; supra homicide M m. 1 24 domus] finis M 25 criuis F 26 funes om. U anima et inplicatur et premitur. quod plene probat propheta, qui dicit: superposuerunt iniquitates meae caput meum, sicut onus graue grauatae sunt super me.. Vides quam graues habeat peccator comas. at cui coma Christus est lenis et uolucer exultat dicens: deus, qui praecingit me uirtute et posuit inmaculatam uiam meam, qui perfecit pedes meos tamquam cerui et super excelsa statuit me. iugum enim, ut dixi, et coma Christi leuis est, quia seruientes Christo operamur bona, quibus pennati in alta prouehimur. unde etiam in carne positis Christianis apostolus dicit: uos autem iam non estis in carne sed in spiritu. subiecta enim subditae deo animae caro transit in spiritum non substantiae commutatione sed uitae. itaque et mortem mihi Samso et caecitatem uolo, ut uiuam et uideam deo. nam forsitan ille receptis propter futurum mysterium in coma uiribus recipere simul, ut amiserat, oculos ideo non desiderauit, quia uirtus illa caelestis gratiae internis sana luminibus corporeo non egebat obtutu. Hoc igitur exemplo et nos contentis ad dominum sensibus carnales oculos saecularium rerum auersione caecemus, quibus orbari propheta desiderabat, cum diceret: auerte oculos- 108 meos, ne uideant uanitatem. et dominus ip.se oculis Iudaeorum caecitatem praeferens s dicit: si caeci essetis, peccatum non haberetis. reminiscamur qua pernicie illis in paradiso oculi sint aperti, quos tamdiu habuerunt inluminatos deo, quamdiu clausos habuere peccato. nam tum demum puberis aetatis suae hauserunt pudorem, cum bonae conscientiae castitatem cuius lumine uestiebantur, praeuaricationis crimine perdiderunt. et ideo ueri luminis damnum est ad usum tenebrarum 21] ps2] Ps. 37, 5. 235] Ps. 17, 33. 258] (Matth. 11, 80). 11] Rom. 8, 9. 21] Ps. 118,37. 23] Ioh. 9, 41. 25] (Gen. 3, 7). 3: Plene 0, bone L, bene cet . 2 supposuerunt M meas FOPUv 30,*v*s PU 4 at] aut L 5 praecinxit v 14 morte M 15 deo -l** jiiej nihil ille Ov mysterium om. M 16 ideo om. M 19 intentls Jtf deum FPU 21 quibur U 26 puberis aetatis sciipsi, puber- D 8 ut aetatis Ov, aetatis FPU, nuditatis LM, pubertatis et nuditatis 8,0 - scientiae F 12* uti luminibus et oculos in terrena defixos caecare caelestibus. inluminatur autem anima tali caecitate, qua despicit mundum, ut conspiciat deum. quia omne, inquit, quod in mundo est, concupiscentia oculorum est, ob hoc apostolus obduci aciem nostram huic mundo et enubilari Christo docens, ei scilicet qui inluminat omnem hominem uenientem in hunc mundum, id est omnis hominis mentem uenientem, sollicitat nos ab aspectu praesentium in suspectum aeternorum et dicit: nolite quaerere quae in hoc mundo sunt; praeterit enim huius mundi figura, et iterum idem: quae sursum sunt quaerite, ubi Christus est ad dexteram patris. omnia enim, ut Ecclesiastes ait, sub sole uanitas. proinde super solem ueritas. ita et qui in ueritate consistunt, etsi intra mundum uiuant habitatione corporea, tamen supra mundum sunt conuersatione caelesti et astrorum choros uel caelorum polos euolante spiritu scandunt et superuadunt celsioresque elementis agunt, non subditi rebus et usibus elementorum, sed adfixa in Christo uita superiores mundo fiunt, manentes in eo qui est super omnia deus benedictus saecula. Vides quemadmodum nos a mortalibus ad deum transferat imitator Christi doctrina pariter exemploque uirtutis, auferens uelamentum a corde nostro, ut reuelata facie contemplemur in gloriam dei, quae infidelibus uelamine legis absconditur, fidelibus euangelii reuelatione detegitur. iam ergo nobis illa carnali coma opus non est. uetera enim, inquit, transierunt, et ecce nunc omnia noua, quoniam exortum est in tenebris lumen rectis corde, misericors et miserator et iustus dominus. dominus autem spiritus est. 3] I Ioh. 2, 16. 6] Ioh. 1,9. 9] l Ioh. 2,15. 10] I Cor. 7, 31; Col. 3, 1. 12] Eccle. 1, 14. 19] (Ioh. 15, 4; Rom. 1, 25). 21] (I Cor. 11, 1). 22] II Cor. 3, 18. 25] II Cor. 5, 17. 25] Ps. 111, 4; Ioh. 4, 24; II Cor. 5, 17. 5 huic mundo aciem nostram FPU 7 id -ueuientem om. M 10 figura huius mundi M 12 ait ecclesiastes FPU 16 euolantes LM v 19 quod F 20 tranferdt U 23 in 0, om. eet . uelamine om. LM 24 euangeliis 0 detergitur 0 25 carnalis 0 26 nunc om. FPU noua suut omnia FPU ubi uero spiritus domini, ibi libertas. et ideo tunc honori fuerit capillatio, cum adhuc illud spiritale uelamen legis etiam corporali habitu praeferri oportebat: nunc iam oneri est, postquam sol aeternae libertatis inluxit et caput nobis factus est Christus, qui nos ut iugo ita et onere capitum depressorum leuaret. propterea iam audemus in uoce exultationis et confessionis ut liberi proclamare: disrumpamus uincula eorum et proiciamus a nobis iugum ipsorum. nunc enim tempus acceptum, nunc salutis dies, cum iam non in umbra nubis sed in lumine corporis sui ueritas adest. et oportune ad gratiae tempus et species libertatis tonsori in promptu est, qui nos et prolixiore capitis uelamento leuet, ut gratiae spiritalis beneficium etiam corporalis forma testetur et libertatis internae laetitiam serenitas reuelatae frontis ostentet. Feminis tantum comam apostolica reliquit auctoritas, quia etsi ipsis una nobiscum fides uelamentum cordis amoueat, tamen tegimentum capitis et frontis umbraculum uerecundiae decus postulat; et ideo perfectus fidei ac disciplinae magister docet indecorum uiro crinem, quia abscondi non potest caput uiri Christus, quod est et illa supra montem aedificata ciuitas in ecclesia, quae corpus est Christi. itaque uiro dedecens, feminae decus est, quae nemini caput est, sed honestatis cultu ornat uirum et corporis seriem, quae a capite Christi deo et uiri Christo et mulieris uiro texitur, quasi in fundamentum locata sustentat. sed eam quoque per consortium corporis membrorumque texturam participem et summi capitis facit Christus, in quo nec masculus nec femina 4] (Matth. 11,29). 6] (Ps. 41, 5). 7] Ps. 2, 3. 8] II Cor. 6, 2. 19] Matth. 5, 14; I Cor. 11, 3; Eph. 1, 22. 27] Gal. 3, 8. 1 oneri F, honeri PU 3 honori FPU 5 honere PU depres- sos fort . 6 leuauit M 7 dirumpamus FL 9 non om. L 10 gratiam et 0, gratiam v 11 species-tonsori. Ov, speciem-tonsor cet. promtu L 13 ineterne F 14 reuelatae-etsi ipsis una om. Pl, U add. in mg. P* ostenderet F 17 tegmentum FPU, tegimentum L pra capitalis U 20 su F (p m. 2) 23 seriem corporis M 25 per ex pro U sortium 0 26 tertura M1 sumus. habeant sane capillos, quibus iuxta illam euangelicam peccatricem uestigia Christi tergeant et sapientiae pedibus inplicentur, ut aliud nisi sapientiam amare, nisi uirtutem amplecti, nisi pudicitiam osculari nesciant et ut extremo saltem rore uerbi caelestis aspersae dicant: ros enim, qui abs te est, sanitas est nobis. sint mulieribus nostris comae, spiritalium acta uirtutum, ieiunia misericordiae orationes; tales enim et uirum decent crines. ornet eas Christi gratia, non capilli, castitatis gemma, non lapidis, et operum in his, non odorum fragret unguentum. meminerint esse se filias illius filiae regis, cuius gloria omnis ab intus est. intelligant cur illas apostolus prolixiori capitis uelamento tegi iusserit; propter angelos, inquit, illos uidelicet. ad seductionem parates, de quibus sancti iudicabunt. hi enim petulantius infirmiora uasa pertemptant, sicut non Adam sed Euam coluber adgressus est. unde etiam docere in ecclesia prohibentur, ne exaltato spiritu decreta sapientiae audeant intueri et scientia inflante dissiliant. profecto enim ualeat ad confusionem malorum, si uideant mulierem sensus suos ignorantiae specie per silentium tegere, disciplinam intellectus sui uerecundo habitu confiteri, ut non audeat serpens temptandam rursus adgredi desperatione capiendae. Non frustra autem hoc eo potissimum tempore fieri debere apostolus docet, cum aut oret mulier aut prophetet. tunc enim uenit in spiritus conceptionem, et ideo tunc magis excitat temptatoris inuidiam, cum in uirum perfectum spirans exit terminos infirmitatis suae. quod autem et de oratione eadem apostolus quae et de prophetia sentit, non mirum, cum et alio 1] (Luc. 7, 38). 5] Es. 26, 19. 10] Ps. 44, 14. 12] I Cor. 11, 10. 15] (Gen. 3, 1). 16] (I Cor. 14, 34; I Tim. 2, 12). 22] (I Cor. 11, 5). ri 2 tergant FMPHJ, terg»ant. L 4 pudititiam 0 oscula 0 sale tim L 5 rorem 0 celestis aspr|sso L, celesperse U 7 misericordiae Ot\', misericordia cet . talem U 9 lapides 0 10 flagret LOv, fragrat F, fraglet M ungentum M 11 omnis gloria M 14 hii M uasa om. M 16 ne] ne scilicet M 17 audant U 18 ualeat 0r, ualet cet . 21 disperatione 0 capiendam (am ex e) L 22 autem hoc frustra M 23 orat M prophetat M 26 oratione] tractatione 0 loco dicat orari spiritu; nam et cum oramus, inquit, quemadmodum peti debeat nos nescimus, sed ipse nos spiritus docet. igitur quia et in oratione fit conceptio spiritalis, ne quis, ut scriptum est, mulieri ultra uasculi sui fines agenti dolus hostis et laqueus occurrat, uult apostolus in habitu eius ostendi esse illi supra caput potestatem, qua regatur pariter et defendatur, ea ipsa humilitate cordis uirtutem illi conferente, qua scientiae supercilium premit gubernaculo disciplinae et mauult timere quam altum sapere, tutius tacita per timorem fidei quam perita cum lingua, in cassum pressura frontem capillo, nisi etiam pudore uelauerit. Ergo in commune omnis anima studeamus illis adornari capillis, quos deus numerabiles habet, sicut ipse dicit: sed et capilli capitis uestri omnes numerati sunt. cuius uero ille capitis capillos magis numerare dignetur quam eius, cuius ipse uerticis caput est? de quo dicitur: caput eius ut aurum cephas, quo nomine probabilius aliquod et purius aurum significari puto, sicut illud de terra Euilath. hoc enim aurum forma sanctorum est, qui in capite corporis ut lumina micant et sunt aurum ignitum deo. quia uidelicet eos per examina passionum in huius muni fornace conflatos inuenit, ut scriptum est, dignos se, et in his sacram imaginis suae percussit monetam, inprimens cordibus et linguis eorum ueritatis suae uerbum eosdemque ipsos statuens nummularios, ut secundum suam formam probabiles domino cuderent nummos et abolita de nobis figura Caesaris uiuum regis aeterni nomisma signarent, ut spiritu redemptionis inscripti ceruice iam iugo libera et salutis titulo praemunita fronte caneremus: signatum est super nos lumen uultus tui, domine. 1] I Cor. 14, 15. Rom. 8, 26. 5] (I Cor. 11, 10). 11] (I Tim. 2,9). 13] Luc. 12, 7. 16] Cant. 5, 11. 18] (Gen. 2, 12). 20] Apoc. 3, 18. 21] Sap. 3, 5. 26] (Matth. 22, 21). 28] (Ezech. 9, 4). Ps. 4, 7. 2 spiritualis FU 7 conferentem U 10 praessura 0 15 capillos capitis M numerare magis FPU 17 caefas 0, ophaz LM aurom F 18 ille F euuilat OP, euilat F, eiulat U 21 conflato U 22 dignos se] dignosce FU, dignossce P percursit L 24 mummularios PU 26 nummisma FLMP 27 ut] et ut itl, in FU Summa igitur ope enitamur ita nos conparare, ut diuini capitis, quod nobis per gratiam dei Christus est, crines et aurum esse mereamur. ex ipso enim capite pullulat illa caesaries, de qua scriptum est: capillatura eius ut greges caprarum. et bene illorum potissimum animalium nomine designantur greges Christi, quorum maxime usus in lacte est, quia omnis qui credit deum Christum totam trinitatis plenitudinem in eo, quem pater unxit spiritu sancto, fide pietatis amplectitur. et ideo ipsa mater omnium uiuentium, Christi corpus ecclesia, suco pietatis exuberat, et bona ubera eius super uinum. in quo opinor significari, quod dulcior sit libertas gratiae in lacte misericordiae quam in uino iustitiae legis austeritas. littera enim, inquit, occidit, uides censurae merum; spiritus autem uiuificat, uides uberum munus et lactis effectum. sed hoc, ut tu mauis intellegi, semini detur, quo prima nascentium multra coalescit. bona igitur ubera, quae pastor bonus, qui pro ouibus animam suam posuit, illis inmulsit infantibus, de quorum ore perfecit laudem sibi, ut destrueret inimicum boni et defensorem mali. Ex harum caprarum gregibus erat ille uir gregis, qui » paruulos Christi nondum aptos solidiori cibo teneris lactabat alimentis, quibus dicebat: lacte uos potaui, non esca; nondum enim poteratis, sed nec adhuc potestis. cum autem huius lactis alimonia creuerimus, firmatis primum fidei conceptione uestigiis adolescemus in robur iuuentae, et confirmata per fidem caritatemque patientia leuabimus manus nostras in actionem robustiorem operibusque uirtutum uelut cibo fortiore 2] (Eph. 1, 22). 4] Cant. 4, 1. 6] (Prou. 27, 27). 8] Act. 10, 38. 9] Gen. 3, 20. 10] Cant. 1,1. 13] II Cor. 3, 6. 16] Iob 10, 10. 17] loh. 10, 11. 19] (Ps. 8, 3). 22] I Cor. 3, 2. 1 nitamur LM 5 bn§ L 7 credidit FPU 8 unsit U 10 bene M, bni L 15 sed hoc-coalescit om. M mauis 0 v, magis cct. intellegi semen detur Ov, intellegis emendetur cet.; semini emendaui 16 qui O1 multia U, mulctra M 21 paruuolos 01 nundum PU et infra 25 adolescimus FPU, adulescimus 0 rubur 0 confirmata Ov, firmata cet . 26 caritatemque Ov, caritate atque cet . 27 rubustiorem 0 t uiuemus, ut efficiamur et illi crines, de quibus scriptum est: crines eius abietes nigrae sicut corax id est coruus, sed bonus iste coruus nec ille ad arcam reuertendi inmemor, sed ille pascendi prophetae memor, cui bene conparantur illarum abietum aemuli crines, de quibus dicit: abietes bonae et nigrae, adducentes naues Tharsis; unde nunc corax iste non noctis sed luminis coruus est, cuius colore speciosi crines sunt ideo sancti, genus regale et sacerdotale, quibus diuinum caput ut ostro gloriae suae purpurat, quia et iuuenalis gratia in huius praecipue coloris capillo florentem uestit aetatem. Non dissimulandum tamen, quod auis ista interdum forma peccati in scripturis, interdum gratiae species inuenitur. uidetur enim esse mortifera, cum ad supplicium producitur inpiorum, quia mala, sicut scriptum est, per malos angelos mittit deus, uel cum in ultionem maledicti dicitur: oculum, qui inriserit patrem et matrem, effodiant eum corui de conuallibus. laudabilis autem eadem auis, uel cum prophetam mane panibus et ad uesperam carnibus alit uel cum pulli coruorum inuocant nomen domini. sed et color eius aliquando in sanctis, aliquando in inpiis ducitur. sponsa namque Christi dicit se fuscam esse et decoram, et dominus tenebras posuit latibulum suum. et rursus econtra ab apostolo commonemur, ne nos tenebrae conprehendant. uerum tamen illae abietes nigrae et bonae adducentes naues Tharsis secundum eius formam sunt, quae fusca pariter et decora est. ipsius enim et membra sunt sancti, qui sicut et palmae 2] Cant. 5, 11. 5] III Reg. 5, 8; II Paral. 9, 21. 8] I Pet. 2, 9. 14] Ps. 77, 49. 15] Prou. 30, 17. 19] (Ps. 146, 9). 21] Ps. 17, 12. 23] Ioh. 12, 35. 24] III Reg. 5, 8. 26] (Ps. 91, 15). 2 sucut U corax id est om. M 3 bñe L 6 nunc om. FU, huc O txp. P m. 2 7 coruus M colore scripsi, color w, coloris v 9 austro M, austro L et] et in 0 iuueualis Ov, iuuenilis cet . 10 gratiam Pl in om. FPU capillo om. FPU 13 splicium U perducitur FPU in 14 mala om. LM 15 mittit (in na. 2) M ultioue Ov 17 eadem < auis om. LM 18 pauibus U 20 dicitur v 22 contra L, e contrario 17 24 ille FMPU bn M, bne L florentes et cedri multiplicabiles, ita et abietes nigrae et bonae sunt, quia in ecclesia hoc est dei monte uerticibus meritorum eminent, ut abietes in suis montibus. et sicut illae aptae nauibus contexendis, ita illi principes populi de monte legis ut a Libano excisi arcam domini siue nauem hoc est ecclesiam per huius mundi diluuia nauigaturam edolatis uerbo dei gentibus texuerunt et in conpagem caritatis fide stringente coniunctam fluctus mundi istius inputribiliter secare docuerunt. Sed et nunc eruditae ad apostolicam fidem animae abietes sunt nigrae et bonae: nigrae uero iam non de peccato, ut puto, magis quam adhuc uel de inhabitatione corporea uel de exercitationis internae quasi bellico puluere uel puluerulento sudore nigrantes; bonae tamen propter spiritalem etiam in noctibus corporum conuersationem. sic et naues, quae fluctibus mundi supernatant, et fide ueri atque opere iusti a dextris, ut scriptum est, et sinistris uelut remis armantur, qui uerbo dei quasi gubernaculo diriguntur et ad auram spiritus sancti sensuum suorum sinus pandunt et cordis sui uelum uinculis caritatis ut funibus ad antemnam crucis stringunt. et arbor illis est uirga de radice Iesse, quae totam corporis nostri quadriremem regit et cui si iuxta illam poeticam fabulam in prophetica ueritate nectamur, uoluntariis adstricti nexibus et obstructis non cera sed fide neque corporis sed cordis auribus, contra huius mundi uarias ad capiendum, pares ad nocendum inlecebras tuti et innocui scopulos uoluptatum quasi saxa Sirenum praeteruehimur. adstringamur autem huic arbori fune ualidissimo, uincti in spe fide caritate, credentes cordibus et 15] (II Cor. 6, 7). 20] Es. 11,1. 2 eminet\' 0 5 nauem P in mg. m. 2 cuius Pl 6 edolatis Of), i modullatis cet . 8 inputrabiliter L 11 magisf qua M, magisque r habitatione LM 12 puluerulecto F 13 uigrato M 14 sic et] siccae F, sicce U, sic ut fort . 15 et om. in ras. M 17 et om. FPU n sancti spiritus FPU 19 atenam L, antennam FPU 21 quadriremen 0 et om. M 23 obstructis 0, obstrictis P3, obstricti cet . neque] non FPr; 25 sirenarum M 26 arbori om. M 27 uincti; L et caritate FM credentis L 1 MI oribus confitentes indiuiduam trinitatem, quae est spartum triplex, quod non rumpitur. hoc sparto et opera nostra texantur, quo et rudente fidei nostrae arbor erigatur caritatis antemna et uitae nostrae uela sinuentur, ut simus et abietes illae, quae in fabricam templi magnis ratibus intextae ducebantur a Tharsis, uel idem naues, qui illam aemulemur, quae Solomoni quondam electum aurum et opes Tyrias adferebat. tanto autem studiosius et quaestuosius nostra negotiatio debet agitari, quanto rex noster aeternus Iesus illo temporali Solomone praestantior est. ecce enim, inquit, maior Solomone hic, qui non conteret nos spiritu uehementi inter naues Tharsis, si illi bono actu uitae nostrae lucrum, quod est pretiosissimum deo mercimonium, conuehamus, ut suum ipse pretium accipiat a nobis, quia ipse est et margarita, atque eam tota spiritalis istius mercaturae conuersatio sibi nititur conparare. cui coemendae si facultas nostra suffecerit, non deprimentem sarcinam sed leuantem nos per hoc mare magnum et spatiosum uehemus et dormientem in nobis pro nostra segnitia dominum, si uel dormientem uectare mereamur, excitare audebimus, ut increpans uentos spirituum inimicorum uel etiam nostrorum sensuum saluos nos faciat a pusillo animo et tempestate tendentibusque nobis ad tranquillitatem suam maria consternat, ut quasi naues suarum onerarias opum deducat in portum salutis, uictricibus fluctuum puppibus uirides laetus inponat coronas. 5] (III Reg. 5, 8). 6] (III Reg. 9, 29 et 10,22: II Par. 8,18 et 9, 10). 10] Matth.12, 42 ; Luc.11, 31. 11] Ps.47,8. 14] (Matth. 13,46). 17](Ps.l03, 25). 19] (Matth. 8, 24 ; Marc. 4, 38; Luc. 8, 23). 21 ] (Ps. 54, 9). 23] (Ps. 106,30). 1 quod est fuuiculus triplex M 2 sparto om. M 3 et rudente v, erudiente tAl, ut rudente fort . 3 erigitur FPU antenne FU 6 idem 0, iidem v, eaedem FPU, illae ML illam Ov, illa cet . solomoni 0, salomoni cet. et sic infra 7 condam PU adferebant L, afferebant FMP, offerebant U 8 studio suis U 11 uehementi spiritu M tahrsis L 12 illo F 13 mercimoniam FPU 14 atque eam scripsi, ad - 1 quam 01, quam v 15 *nitit M (f eras.) conparare J corporaliter U, coparandam M 16 coemeuda L 0 r, coemendet F 17 mare om. U 23 et quasi F quasi onerarias F 24 uictricibus LOt" uictricibusque cd. pupibus LMP Simus et dextera eiusdem, qui totus dextera est, non habentes in actibus nostris sinistram, ut ad dexteram iudicis stare uel potius dextera ipsius iudicis esse mereamur et opera nostra in die retributionis sicut capillos sui capitis dominus remunerator adnumeret, ut ipse iam praefatus est in euangelio, pronuntianda iudicio, cum benedictione diuina et adtributione regifica remunerabitur spiritalium merita uirtutum hoc est pulcherrimas sui capitis comas, qualibus et illa in ecclesiae typo mulier Christi uestigia unguento et lacrimis rigans tersit, quae non tam pretio munerum quam obsequii placuit affectu. non enim unguentum in illa dominus sed caritatem dilexit, qua pudenter inpudens et pie inproba sine obprobrii et repulsae metu extraneam sibi domum Pharisaei non inuitata illa ui petulans penetrauit, qua rapitur regnum caelorum, et tantum uerbi caelestis esuriens non ad opes illius sed ad pedes Christi cucurrit seque in illis abluit et cibauit atque ipsos sibi pedes sacrarium, ut ita dixerim, et altare constituit. in quibus libauit fletu, litauit unguento, sacrificauit affectu. sacrificium enim deo spiritus contribulatus, quod illa immolans deo non solum remissionem delictorum sed et gloriam praedicandi cum euangelio nominis meruit. Et quia uocandae ex gentibus ecclesiae imaginem praeferebat, omnia in semet ipsa mysterii salutaris insignia gessit: uncta est chrismate sui muneris, paenitentiae lacrimas habuit in lauacrum, uiscera caritatis in sacrificium et ipsum uiuum 2] (Matth. 25, 33). 4] (Matth. 10, 30; Luc. 12, 7). 14] (Matth. 11, 12). 18] Ps. 50, 19: 20] (Matth. 26, 18; Marc. 14, 9; Ioh. 12, 3). 24] (Luc. 7, 38). 1 dextra F 2 ad O s. I. indicis Ol 4 sui om. M 5 ut - I. 8 comas om. M iam] etiam FPU est, orn. L 6 praenuutianda L, prenunctianda F, prenuncianda 1\', prenumptianda U benediccione 0 merita 7 remunerabit MO\'t, muuera P 8 capitis sui F qualibus]"qua U 9 typho P1 unguento et om. M rigaus om. FPU 11 ungentum M 12 prudenter MU, t pudenter M tIł. 2 13 farisei 0 illa ui petulans om. M 14 rapitur LMv, rapuit FPU, rupitur 0 regna Pl 15 opes] dapes coni. Socch . christi pedes FPU 16 et et F sibi om. F 18 littauit FPU ungento MU effectu L1 19 quod 0, quem cd . 23 semetipsa v, semet ipsam., 24 crismate LMOP 25 uinum U niuificantemque panem manibus et ore praesumpsit, sanguinem quoque calicis, antequam fieret calix sanguinis, osculis sugentibus praelibauit. beata, quae Christum in carne gustauit et in ipso corpore Christi corpus accepit, merito praelata Pharisaeo pascenti licet Christum, quae Iudaeo epulante ieiuna non cibi, at dixi, sed salutis auida seruiebat. beata, quae meruit in ecclesiae typum hac quoque specie figurari, ut in domo et conuiuio Pharisaei non ipse Pharisaeus sed peccatrix ad ueniam iustificaretur. plus huius inportunitas. etenim dispositi a saeculis sacramenti ordo poscebat iuxta illam Noe patris propheticam benedictionem in tabernacula Sem transire habitationem Iapheth, hoc est in domo legis et prophetarum ecclesiam potius iustificari, minorem aeui sed gratiae lege maiorem, unde ipsius in Iohanne persona, unde lex ipsa legis profitetur: qui post me uenit ante me factus est, quia prior me erat. Vt autem etiam in typo congrueret ecclesia capiti suo, bene formam peccatricis acceperat, quia Christus quoque formam peccatoris accepit. sed Iudaeus neque caput neque fundamentum habiturus in Christo nec caput Christi nec pedes unxerat, quod utrumque pretiosis unguentis mulier euangelica inrigauerat. propterea synagogae neque oleum gratiae neque aqua refectionis a Christo est, cuius typum illi Pharisaeo gerenti circa ipsum et olei et aquae salutaris fontem et aqua et oleum caritatis exaruit. de hoc fonte praedixerat per prophetam: oleum peccatoris non inpinguet caput meum, sicut ad ecclesiam suam dicere potuit: inpinguasti in oleo 14] loh. 1, 30. 25] Ps. 140, 5. 26] Ps. 22, 5. 2 suggentibus FL 4 fariseo ut semper 0 5 cibo FPU 6 seruiebat] esuriebat FP\'U 9 plus huius inportunitas om. M plus] pia L importunit atis P1; consequitur quam Pharisaei dapsilitas add. Rosw., quam illius comitas addiderim, si quid addendum seculi FPU 10 sacramti M s. I . prophetiam U 11 iaphet FLPU, iafet 0 13 aeui scripsi, temporum (tpr M, tempore L) aeui 00, temporum aeuo v gratiam FOPU 14 persona unde lex ipsa legis 0, unde lex ipsa legis persoua FPUv, legis persona LM 16 et ecclesia FLPU capitis sui L 18 neque caput neque caput U neque FU 23 aquae L 24 fonte L\'O, forte cet . per prophetara praedixerat M 26 inpingasti L, impingasti M caput meum, quae non solum confectione sed etiam uase pretiosum detulerat unguentum, quod multorum graminum siue florum mixta in unum gratia et uirtute fragrabat. quae potuit nisi ecclesia tale conficere? quae de uariis caelestium gratiarum floribus et sucis odora multimodas suauitates ex diuersis gentibus deo spirat orationesque sanctorum uelut aromata pateris incensa flagrantibus spiritu ueritatis exhalat, ut ei talium florum odoribus seu liquorum roribus adfluenti sponsus ipse gratetur illa qua et in Canticis Canticorum uoce blanditur: columba, inquit, mea, perfecta mea, quoniam caput meum repletum est rore, caput Christi deus et crines eius, electio santorum, quibus pater gaudet in Christo, et crines mei guttis noctis. ros, ut scimus, non est imbris humor sed refrigerii, quo reficiuntur arida ab aestu diurno gramina. huius roris lucidis guttis non nisi serena nocte spargitur terra. unde intellegi datur eas noctis guttas, quibus caput et crines suos sapientia maduisse laetatur, formam esse sanctorum, quam et in stellis apostolus coruscare designat, quae aeque serenis noctibus micant, quibus rores cadunt. quae autem nox intellectu spiritali putanda nisi passio domini, quae et dies inluminauit? de qua puto scriptum: et nox inluminatio in deliciis meis. sed sic et hoc saeculum noctem putes, quod conuersione gentium, quarum ante fidem tenebris horrebat, ut nubibus serenatum est, et nunc ecclesiae lumine quasi pleno lunae perfectae speculo et sanctis hominibus ut puris in serenitate sideribus opera fidelium, quibus animam suam quisque uiuificans a praeteritae siccitatis siti reficit, quasi rores in hac, ut diximus, saeculi nocte destillant. 10] Cant. 2, 10 et 5, 2. 18] (Phil. 2, 15). 21] Ps. 138, 11. 2 multarum FPU 3 uirtutes 0 fraglabat M, flagrabat OL 4 ecclesia nisi F quod FPU 5 adora U 7 fragrantibus FPU exalat FLMPU et ei FPU 8 affluentib; 0 9 garetur U, generaretur F 10 post . mea L s. I . 11 rore id est fort . 12 eius om. 0 13 simus FU umor LO 14 reficimur FU 15 spergitur F tarra om. M 19 mictant U 20 que est F 21 illuminatio] mea add. Rosw . sic et scripsi, et si F, u si et cet . 23 conuersatione LP, cuione M 25 perfectae 0, perfecta cet . 28 destillant 0, distillant cet . Et ideo caput suum Christus tali repletum rore laetatur et inluminator noctium nostrarum tamen guttis noctis nostrae crines suos gaudet esse perfusos, quia ipsius refrigerium et refectio est illa fidelium operatio, quibus uel fratres iuuantur uel inopes confouentur. ideo denique et uocem Iudae aspernatus est, qui recepti corde suo zabuli spiritu mulieris unguentum Christi pedibus inuidebat. operibus enim pietatis et misericordiae et ungitur et feneratur et pascitur Christus. uerum traditor antequam proderet dominum, perfidiam suam prodidit, quem non pauperum sed furtorum suorum cura commouerat et liuor mentis infidae, ut unguentum illud quamlibet pretiosum, dominici tamen sanguinis conparatione uilissimum, pretiosius corpore salutari iudicans, indignaretur in feminam pie prodigam, quam ipse dominus bonum in se opus testatur operatam, docens egentium curam esse posthabendam, sed sibi tantum, ut in eo ostenderet, ut corde peruerso fidei misericordiam praetulisset, cum fomes operum fides sit et praeceptis suis praestet ipse praeceptor. nisi quod in hoc quoque filius perditionis ostendit, quam uilem Christum haberet, qui unguentum, quod supra Christum effundebatur, perire dixit. et ideo non est in pretio sanguinis Christi, quia habere non potest redemptorem quem maluit habere uenalem, et iure a commercio uitae mortis contractor excluditur suo ipsius damnandus iudicio, quo triginta aureis uendidit eum, quem mulier, ut ipse taxauerat, unxit trecentis; sed in hoc peruersus, qui ipsum uili aestimans 1] (Cant. 5,2). 6] (Ioh. 13,2; Matth. 26,10; Marc. 14,6). 9] (Ioh. 12,6). 23] fbiatth. 26, 15; Marc. 14, 5; Luc. 22, 5). 1 laetatua LOP1 2 tamen om. FlJ 3 esse perfusos gaudet FPU 6 quia F recepti 0, recepto cet. in corde M zaboli OPU, diabuli F* 8 foneratur in textu, a-t fouetur in mg. M m. 1, serenatur FP (s. 1. m. 3) v 10 pauperem F furorum 0, futurorum L 1 causa M commoueatur F, conmoueatur U 11 quodlibet F 14 in se dns ipse bonum M 15 dicens FPU esse v, sibi M, se cet . sed sibi-ostenderet om. M fjuod 16 ut FOPU, iprobans M, quod L 17 praestet] praeferri debeat M 18 et ipse FLU 19 uile L et qui 0, ut qui v 21 qui FPU 23 quod L, q U, qui F 24 aureis] argenteis, sed in mg . af aureis. sed euangelium dicit argi M m. 1 uncxit 0, unxerat FPU 25 qui] quod M v exstimans U, aestimant 01 dominum unguentum illud, quod in salutarem nobis eius sepulturam praemittebatur, caro aestimauit. uere ut zabulus ignarus gratiae dei, in qua illi non esset portio, non caritate sed inuidia magno aestimauit pretium mortis eius, qua nos gratis seruat qui magno emit, non uendit. nos enim ille uult pretiosos facere sui muneris uilitate. ipse nobis hac pietate pretiosior, quod se uili uult aestimari, ut ab omnibus ematur. quoniam enim, inquit, ipse fecit pauperem et diuitem, et aequaliter illi cura est pro omnibus. unde ait: gratis accepistis gratiam, gratis date. huius gratiae gratuitis opibus diues Petrus debilem pauperem et tantummodo egenae stipis cupidum pecuniam non habens sanitate ditauit. Itaque egeamus auaritia auri, ut abundemus gratia et per inopiam uoluntariam uilescentes huic saeculo pretiosum domino efficiamur unguentum. spirabimus enim bonum Christi odorem deo, si mortem Christi in corpore nostro circumferentes et uitam in spiritu manifestantes et passionis dominicae et resurrectionis odore fragremus. mittimus autem unguentum in corpus Christi, si substantiam uitamque nostram in fidem ueritatis eius et praecepti oboedientiam conferamus. tunc in eius corpore replentia domum totam unguenta fragrabimus, si caritate perfecta possimus umquam dicere: mihi autem mundus crucifixus est, non amanti diuitias, non honores saeculi, non amanti quae propria sunt, sed quae sunt Christi, non amanti quae uidentur, sed quae non uidentur. hae nobis erunt in uirtutem et ministerium sanctum comae, quibus et pedes Christi detergeamus et funes peccatorum rumpere possimus et 5] (I Cor. 6, 20). 8] Matth. 10, 8. 9] Act. 3, 6. 16] II Cor. 2, 15. 4, 10. 22] Gal. 6, 14. 24] (Phil. 2, 21). 1 saluatorem F nobis om. M 2 premittebantur 01 caro] caro pcio M in mg. m. 1 extimauit U zabolus FlOPU, diabolus P 4 magna FPU extimauit FPU 6 precisior U 7 exstimari U 10 gratiam om. M 13 auricia L ut OP, et. cet . abondemus FlP gratiam 0 16 deo FPU 18 odorem O1 fraglemus M, flagremus LO mittemus Uv 19 fide 0 21 fraglabimus M, flagrabimus LO 23 onore 0 25 hee M, haec LO 26 uirtute 0 27 detergamus FMPU, deterg*amus (e eras.) L post . et om. FOPU in spiritu libertatis gratulantes dicere: disrupisti uincula mea, tibi sacrificabo hostiam laudis. Sed dum currendi spatium, dum seruiendi tempus est, pascamus huiusmodi comam et imitemur non solum dilectionem illius euangelicae peccatricis, ut amore magno magna debita diluamus, sed et inportunitatem eiusdem, ut praeripiamus irae inminenti salutem. oportune inportune panem uitae quaerentes patrisfamilias ianuam et nocte pulsemus. in noctibus enim, inquit, extollite manus uestras in sancta. omnis in Christo sapientis limina, ut iussum est, exterentes ubique captemus cibum uitae, ubicumque aucupemur uerbum dei; de omnium fidelium ore pendeamus, quia in omnem fidelem spiritus dei spirat; et necesse est a minimo dei seruo uel guttam caelestis sapientiae destillare, quae ariditatem mei cordis inroret et mihi supra huius saeculi sapientium flumina ad potum utilitatis exuberet, quia malo quinque uerba loqui in lege quam multa milia in lingua, sicut unam diem in atriis domini uiuere quam milia in tabernaculis peccantium, quoniam spiritus ubi uult spirat, et audio uocem eius et nescio unde ueniat. igitur ubicumque auram eius captabo, undecumque uel tenuem halitum legam. uel indigni uel in domum Pharisaei audiam iustum uenisse, contendam praeripere hospitis gratiam, praeripere si possim regnum caelorum. ubicumque mihi resonauerit Christi nomen, accurram; ad cuiuscumque interiorem domum legum intrare cognouero, et ipse properabo. cum repperero sapientiam, cum repperero iustitiam in 1] Ps. 115, 16 et 17. 8] (Luc. 11, 5 et 8). Ps. 133, 2. 16] I Cor. 14, 19. 17] Ps. 85, 11. 19] Ioh. 3, 8. 1 gratulanter M dirupisti F, dirumpisti L 6 deluamus 0 7 iminentis LM importune oportune LM pamem F, pane 0 s. I . 8 patrifamilias L ianuas U 9 omnis enim F 10 iussum 0, iustum cet . e sed in ras. P* 10 ubique MU 12 pendamus L 14 in cfilestis L distillare FL lpU 15 portum MO 16 mallo 01 17 unum Lebum 19 eius] es 0 21 alitum LMO uel indigni] quocumque uel in domum si indigni Rosw . uel indigni M 22 domo OP 26 repperiero P1 cum r. iustitiam om. U repperiero P1 in om. F XXVIIII. Paulini Nol. epistnlao. 13 alicuius penetralibus recumbentem, curram ad pedes Christi, ut uel extremo sapientiae uestigio signer; nec fastidiam pedes, immo optabo, ut uel pedibus suis tangat caput meum Christus. illa fimbriam tetigit, et curata est; alios et transitus apostolici corporis inumbrando sanauit. Expandamus illi capillos, id est omnes nostrorum insignium dignitates ante ipsum sternamus, et deiciamur a nobismet ipsis, ut exaltemur ab illo, qui in altis habitat et humilia respicit. lacrimis delicta nostra fateamur, ut de nobis quoque dicat iustitia illa caelestis: lacrimis rigauit pedes meos et capillis suis tersit. fortasse enim ideo non lauerit pedes suos, cum discipulorum lauaret, ut eos nostris lacrimis nos lauemus. non mediocris anima illa meriti est, de qua potest dicere sapientia: ex quo intrauit, non cessauit osculari pedes meos. quod est hoc osculum nisi pignus aeternum illius caritatis, quae operit multitudinem pecatorum? haec oscula sponso suo iam tunc parabat ecclesia, quando cantabat: osculetur me ab osculis oris sui. quod priuilegium sola sibi catholica dilectio iure uindicat, quae unica atque perfecta uni uiro ab ipsius ore uerbi petit oscula ueritatis, ne fraudis haereticae ueneno ut incesti oris alieni osculis polluatur. Pedibus ergo Christi oscula casta figamus, ut mereamur a pedibus in caput surgere et in superiora corporis membra crescentes iam de proximo uultus audeamus et oris ipsius oscula postulare. et cum dei uerbum puro corde libantes gustauerimus quam suauis est dominus, tunc anima nostra totis in amore sapientiae uisceribus accensa dulci refrigeretur ardore et confixa ignitis dominicae caritatis sagittis, 1] (Matth. 9,10). 4] (Act. 5,15). 8] Ps. 112,5. 10] Ioh. 18, 5. 14] Luc. 7, 45. 16] I Pet. 4, 8. 18] Cant. 1, 2. 1 penetrabilibus FU, penitralibus 0 2 sapientiam L1 3 ymo PU tanguat L 4 post . et om. M transitus LM, transitu cet . 6 illic FU 7 dignitatis L1 ipsum] spiritum U, illum LM et decidamur F, deiciamurque M 9 respicit] in celo et in terra add. F 10 dicit FU 11 non ideo F lauerat LM 12 laueret L 101 nos lacrimis nostris FPU 13 lauaremus FPU 14 intraui LOU 15 quid Rosw . 19 unita U1 21 incesti 0, incestis cet . 21 horis U 25 oscula Ov, osculum LM, om. FPU quibus omnis alia inimicarum delectationum delectatio interficitur, dicat in corde conpuncto: quoniam uulnerata caritatis ego sum. beatus uero qui potest et osculo unguere pedes Christi. -quis mihi misero os adureret et linguam meam caelesti illo carbone purgaret, ut uel calcaneum Christi mererer summo tenus ore contingere et subdito capite sola sancta tergere, ut caput meum potius Christi pedibus tergeretur et, dum pedes lambo diuinos, piarem casti labia inmunda uestigiis. Exhortemur ergo nos inuicem certatimque dicamus: uenite adoremus et ploremus ante dominum, qui fecit nos. illi flentes nostra gaudia seminabimus, illius uestigia perunguentes uulnera nostra sanabimus. quicquid enim Christo inpendimus, nobis potius conferimus. denique illa perfundendo Christum se abluit, pedes illius detergendo sua peccata mundauit, illam diligens se dilexit. et ideo meruit audire: filia, fides tua te saluam fecit, quod ille, qui erat de filiis regni, non meruit audire, magisque iustificata est haec seruitio quam ille conuiuio. Pharisaeus enim non crediderat, ista credebat. denique ille dicebat: hic si esset propheta, scisset utique quae esset mulier, quae eum tangit; et ideo non iustificatus est conuiuio, ad quod quasi tantum hominem inuitauerat Christum, inputans forte illi, qua propter nos et pauper erat, quod tanti fecisset in dapes suas pauperem diues adsumere. illa uero non tanto ambitu seruitutis et inpendii et lacrimarum sperasset remissionem peccatorum, nisi deum credidisset in Christo; et ideo in extremo licet saluatoris uestigio caput suae salutis inuenit. Quo te, miser Iudaee, iactabis? in domo tua te peccatrix nostra praeuenit ingressa in labores tuos. tu enim 2] Cant. 2, 5; cf. 4, 9. 3] (Es. 6, 7). 10] Ps. 94, 6. 15] Luc. 7, 50. 19] Luc. 7, 39. 23] (II Cor. 8, 9). 1 delectatio] dilectio v interficietur FPU 2 uulneratae L, uulnerate FP\'U caritates P1, caritate M 3 unguere 0, ungere cet., tangere Rosw . 6 soleam sanctam LM 8 casti 0, castis cet . 9 eiortemur FLxOPU 14 illius] xpi M tergendo LXM numdauit U 17 hoc FPU 19 scisset] sciret LMv 20 tangit eum LM 22 qua 0, quia cd., qui v et om. FU 24 post . et om. M 13* epulabaris ut superbires, illa ieiunabat ut seruiret. et quam de urceis tuis effundendam negaueras aquam, illa de suis oculis ministrabat. tu pedes Christi nec linteo, illa crine detersit. quos tu, indigne, nec manibus contingere uoluisti, illa osculis mulcere non destitit. at certe tu potius hoc ministerium in domo tua recepto hospiti debuisses, si uel exemplo patrum fas hospitale seruasses; sed sufficit uobis ad superbiam iactare patrem Abraham. et ideo te illa praeuenit, quae affectu fideli se potius patris tui filiam conprobauit, a quo te degenerem etiam ista inhumanitas arguit, qua dedignatus es lauare pedes domini, cum et Abraham angelorum et ipse dominus lauerit seruulorum; quamquam tunc quoque fidei pater etiam Christi pedes lauerit, quem unum de tribus propheticis uidens oculis adorauit, et ideo uos ipse sic increpat ore praesenti: si filii Abraham essetis, opera Abraham faceretis, et addidit: ille uidit diem meum et gauisus est. beauit autem et qui non uiderunt, sed cum uidentibus crediderunt. ex quo manifestum est nobis adquisitam fidem, tibi perfidiae superesse naturam. Sibi ergo habeant adrogantiam, sibi diuitias, sibi nobilitatem et iustitiam suam qui Abraham patrem corpore magis quam spiritu gloriantur, incircumcisi corde et sola carne Iudaei. nobis et ad salutem et ad gloriam satis est Christus et ipse crucifixus, qui nos de lapidibus in Abraham filios excitauit, illis contra de Abraham filiis in nostrae originis lapides obrigescentibus. nobis Ephrem sinister ad dexteram benedictus proficit; illos in Manasse, qui praesumptione senioris auo dexter 1] (Ioh. 4, 38). 3] (Luc. 7, 44). 7] (Gen. 18, 3. 19, 2. 24, 81). 14] Ioh. 8, 39. 16] Ioh. 20, 29. 22] (Ioh. 8, 39; Act.. 7, 51; I Cor. 2, 2). 25] (Matth. 8, 9). 27] (Gen. 48, 14). 2 negaueris FU oculis 0 5 hac L 6 doma L 8 fidei M 10 leuare U 11 lauarit L 1 15 abrahf M addit v 16 beauit 0, beati cet., beatus v 17 uiderant FOP1 18 perfidia P Lebrun superesse scripsi, perisse at Lebrun, non perisse v 20 ad arrogantiam h FU, ad aroganciam P 24 crucifLxus est FPU 25 abraę M 26 efrem M, effrem cet . 26 sinester 01 adstiterat, translata in caput sinistra crucis mysterio denotauit, quia crux Iudaeis scandalum, Christianis futura gloria, illum esset sinistrum factura de dextero et me dexterum de sinistro, quia, Iudaeis in nostra deserta labentibus et nobis in illorum sata inuadentibus, sunt caecitate quod fuimus et sumus gratia quod fuerunt. sed non ita nostra salute gaudebimus, ut uestro laetemur interitu. docti enim sumus a uestri corporis fratre sed spiritus nostri magistro non insultare ramis fractis, quia ipsi non ex operibus sed ex muneribus miserationum dei in arborem uestrae stirpis inoleuimus. potens autem est communis dominus, sed Christianorum pater hoc est fidelium deus, item uos genuinis corticis uestrae sinibus inserere et uestro cespiti replantare, qui nos uestrae pinguedinis suco per adoptionis beneficium medullauit, ut utrosque in unum domino fructificantes radix una sustineat. Interim malo peccatricis et pauperis nostrae diuitias in lacrimis et affectu quam tuas in inpietate et littera, illius ieiunium quam tuum conuiuium. malo inter capillos illius Christi pedibus inligari quam inter dapes tuas tecum iuxta Christum sine Christo discumbere. si modo unguentum ad pedes Christi non habeam, in aduentu eius ad meas faces oleum non habebo. et uae mihi, si unguentum meum uile sit; pretioso enim opus est, ut consepeliri merear sepulturae eius, cuius nisi morte conmoriar, resurrectione non uiuam. ergo illum amemus, quem amare debitum est. illum osculemur, quem osculari castitas est. illi copulemur, cui nupsisse uirginitas est. illi subiciamur, 2] (I Cor. 1, 28). 5] (Ioh. 4, 38). 8] (Rom. 11, 18). 17] (Luc. 7, 38). 21] (Matth. 25, 3). 23] (Rom. 6, 4). 1 extiterat FPU ministerio 0 denotauit ex designauit P m. 2 2 scandalo 0 3 dextro FLM me] in FPU dextrum FMPU 4 post . in om. LM eorum FPU 5 sunt ex siue P m. 2 cecitas n FP\'U 6 fuere FPU ura M gaudemus FLM 7 inte interitu L uestris 0 10 tirpis U 11 est om. U 12 idem 0 nos F genuiuis F, geminis U uestris F, urie M 14 dum LM 16 mallo 01 i i 18 mallo 01 19 pedibus x M 20 sine Christo om. LM x pedes M 22 uilescit FPU 23 eius] esi (cf. p. 193,19) 0 sub quo iacere supra mundum stare est. propter illum deiciamur, cui cadere resurrectio est. illi conmoriamur, in quo uita est. Et quam digne uicem huic domino referre poterimus, in quo et mortui uiuimus, qui uicissim nobis hoc esse dignatur, quicquid illi fuerimus seruuli sui! ita enim se inmiscet nobis ac nos sibi conserit, ut quod ipse accepit nobis proficere faciat, quod nobis id est minimis eius tribuitur sibi acceptum ferat. sic et honori suo inplicans suos prope omnia nobis, etiam nomina sua conmunicauit. ut uirtus dei dicitur, ita et nobis uirtus esse dignatur. deus enim nostrum refugium et uirtus. hereditas ut illi nos, et ille nobis. nam sicut habes in Moyse: facta est dei portio populus eius Iacob, ita et in psalmis habes: portio mea dominus. et sicut ipse de se ait: ego sum lux huius mundi, ita et ad suos dixit: uos estis lux huius mundi. ego sum, inquit, panis uiuus; et nos omnes unus panis sumus. ego sum uitis uera; et tibi dicit: plantaui te uitem fructuosam, omnem ueram. mons dei Christus, in quo bene placitum est deo habitare in eo, et sancti eius montes dei, montes uberes, de quibus nos inluminat mirabilis a montibus aeternis. petra est Christus: bibebant enim de spiritali sequenti eos petra, petra autem erat Christus. etiam discipulo suo huius uocabuli gratiam non negauit, cui dicit: super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam, et portae inferi non praeualebunt aduersus eam. Sed quid miramur eum famulis suis. indulsisse sua nomina, quibus et patrem suum participat et regnum. dedit 4] (Col. 3, 3). 5] (Luc. 12, 37). 7] (Matth. 25, 40). 10] Ps. 45, 2. 12] Deut. 32, 9. 13] Ps. 118, 57 et 141, 6. 14] Ioh. 8, 12. 15] Matth.5,14. 21] I Cor. 10,4. 23] Matth. 16, 18. 27] Ioh. 1,12. 4 hoc est dignatur P1, est dignatus FP\' U 6 accipit LM 7 faciat] qui add. v 9 ut] et FPU 13 sicut om. FPU 14 sum om. L huius om. M ita et Ov, idem M, et idem cet . 15 huius om. FMPU 16 uitis MOv, ait uitis cet . fera 01 18 habitare L s. I . 19 mortes U 21 cristus est F enim] autem FPU sequenti Ov, consequenti cet . 23 cui] cum FPU 25 aduersus] ad LPU 26 indulxisse F nomina sua F enim potestatem recipientibus se filios dei fieri, et, quantum in ipso est, omnibus dixit hominibus: dii estis et filii excelsi omnes. nos uero nostrarum crimine uoluntatum sicut homines morimur et sicut unus de principibus cadimus. unus enim principum angelorum fuit, antequam deiciendo cadens fieret zabulus, cui dicitur: quomodo cecidit lucifer, qui mane oriebatur? sed non sicut ille in aeternum interitum damnati sumus, quia ille auctor peccati fuit simulque pro se et pro homine punietur, qui eodem periit scelere, quo perdidit. homo autem non in finem meruit exterminari paradiso et terra esse, quia diuina iustitia lenius iudicauit aliena mente peccasse quam propria. criminosius est decipere quam decipi et peccatum excogitare quam facere. et ideo temporaliter et ad emendationem punitus est fraudis adsensor, in aeternum autem supplicium destinatus mortis inuentor, cui numquam deficiet poena peccati, quia numquam desinit. itaque non angelus, non legatus, ut scriptum est, sed ipse dominus uenit erigere adlisos, soluere conpeditos et saluum facere quod perierat. sed ut illum deceptorem nostrum mutua quasi deceptione confunderet, per mysterium pietatis suae dignatus est unigenitus dei filius ipsam nostrae fragilitatis suscipere naturam, ut de ipsa, quam deceperat, zabulus uinceretur et qui semper sub dei uirtute et legibus fuit ut est homini subiugaretur. Quid ergo illi retribuemus pro omnibus, quae retribuit nobis? retribuit enim, sed ut bonus dominus bona pro malis, cui nos mala pro bonis ingesseramus. benedicebat, et maledicebamus. ille sanabat, et nos blasphemabamus; iustificabat inpios, et cum iniquis deputabatur. quid ergo illi pro malis meis quae pertulit, quid pro bonis suis quae. 2] Ps. 81, 6. 4] (Ps. 81, 7). 6] Es. 14, 2. 18] (Ps. 145, 8). Lue. 19,10. 24] Ps. 115,12. 28] Es. 58, 12. 1 enim] eis F 2 est om. U 4 et L 5 principium F 6 zabolus OP 9 punitur FPU perit LO, petijt M 10 fine FOPU 11 terra. (m eras.) L leuius FPv 15 nuquam pęna peccati numquam deficiet M 16 numquam peccare desinit M 19 illud M 22 ipsa L zabolus OP 23 ut] et L est] esse M 24 retribuimus FOPUv 28 ego FU contulit referam? quid pro suscepta carne? quid pro alapis? quid pro obprobriis? quid pro flagellis? pro cruce obitu sepultura rependam? esto, reddamus crucem pro cruce, funus pro funere: numquid poterimus reddere quod ex ipso et per ipsum et in ipso habemus omnia et ipsi qui habemus sumus? ipse enim fecit nos, et non ipsi nos, et anima nostra semper in manibus eius. reddamus ergo amorem pro debito, caritatem pro munere, gratiam pro pecunia. uae enim nobis, nisi dilexerimus. Quando autem sperem me miserum et egenum huic domino posse reddere, cui nec apostoli se reddidisse profitentur. audi denique unum de ipsis confitentem se non reddidisse, qui dicit: quis prior dedit ei, et retribuetur illi? sed ipsi gratias, qui nobis tanti fenoris remittit usuras et obligationis inmensae conpendium praestat, solam a nobis dilectionem sui repetens, quam inter praecepta sua principali loco ponens ostendit quomodo illi insolubile debitum etiam inopes solueremus. nemo se igitur excuset difficultate soluendi, quia nemo se potest dicere animum non habere. non sacrificia, non munera sumptuosa, non duri labores exiguntur a nobis; in nobis est unde soluamus. res enim potestatis nostrae est noster affectus; hunc domino inpendamus, et soluimus. denique Dauid liberatus de manu omnium inimicorum suorum pro salutis suae plena securitate non regni opibus sed animi soluens ait: diligam te, domine, uirtus mea. Addo etiam amplius eum, qui creditor est, debitorem fore, si illi pretium bonitatis suae, quam nobis indebitam praestat, gratuita diligentes animo pensione soluamus. diligitur autem et in nobismet ipsis, quia ipse dixit hoc signum fore 4] Rom. 11, 36. 5] Ps. 99, 3. 13] Rom. 11, 35. 24] Ps. 17, 2. 1 pr . quid om. FPU alt . quid om. FPU 2 pro obitu FPU sepultura om. U 5 sumus] ab eo sumus Fp\'JU 7 amore U 12 de] illi ex LM 13 qui dicit quis] quis inquit M ei M (nu m. 2) retribuitur FOPUv 14 fęnoris MO, foeneris PU 18 igitur se F 19 munera] itinera FPU 21 soluamus LM 23 omnium om. F 24 opes LM 26 amplius: cum U 28 diligente U discipulorum suorum, si diligerent inuicem dilectione qua ipse dilexit nos, id est ut cor unum et unam animam habeamus in Christo et id quisque proximo suo faciat, quod sibi fieri cupit. quo magis tua caritate gloriamur in domino, quae sola nos facit aliquatenus uel unum de magnis et innumeris debitis deo soluere. in omnibus enim aliis bonis uix nos tantum uel in paucis initiatos, in tua tantum dilectione profitemur esse perfectos.